Published: October 31, 2006 03:37 pm            

Horse play

Ranch is a breeding ground for up-and-coming quarter horse riders

Melissa Koser has three rules for the riding students at MK Quarter Horses: 1. Have fun; 2. Maintain a B average in school; 3. Don’t cry.

The rules are cheerfully obeyed, and in less than three years the 23-acre East Avenue stable has built a year-round clientele that ranges from a 3-year-old girl to an 87-year-old woman. Most are teenage girls, but eight moms have also joined the club for aerobic riding.

Koser, now 23, was 20 when she began leasing the land from heart doctor John Macaluso. The graduate of SUNY Morrisville, who works with former classmate Nick Snyder, has 36 stalls, a 75-foot-by-125-foot indoor riding arena, a 100-foot-by-200-foot outdoor arena, a pasture and trails.

Koser grew up on a Pennsylvania horse farm between Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre. She moved to Louisiana and then to Youngstown at the invitation of Snyder. Snyder, also 23, was playing hockey in Ontario at the time.

Snyder and Koser first leased a farm about 2 miles from their current East Road site for six months. Macaluso’s children took riding lessons and the cardiologist offered to lease his property. News of the MK ranch spread by word of mouth.

“This is one big family. Everybody gets along,” Koser said. “Kids come after school and all day Saturday.”

“I think it’s just the whole atmosphere, being around the animals, everyone is nice,” said Rachel DeMayo, a Lewiston-Porter student who didn’t have much riding experience before coming to MK. “It really picked up when Melissa came to Youngstown. She’s a really nice person. She helps you out and gives good advice. She really knows her stuff, and it’s cool to learn from her every day.”

DeMayo, who leads the Ontario junior varsity rodeo circuit in goat-tying, has the best dismount. That’s getting off the horse while it’s running and getting to the goat in a hurry.

“I love being all around horses,” DeMayo said. “I have a lot of fun there. It’s my sport, I guess.”

Like other students, DeMayo has learned barrel racing and pole bending. Students are also being introduced to roping.

Alexandra Whitford, 15, is a student at Grand Island High School whose interest in riding was restored by Koser two years ago.

“She makes it a lot of fun. She lets us do a lot,” she said. “I got far in two years, like a lot of other people. I’ve grown to love it.”

MK serves as a holding center for horses going to Canada and transports horses. With connections at Woodbine Race Track in Toronto, Koser was able to buy Slew Shine, a grandson of Seattle Slew, the only Triple Crown winner (1977) to finish undefeated.

“Slew Shine broke a bone in his right foot last year and was worth nothing to them.” Koser said. “I got him for pretty cheap, and he breeds all of our horses.”

Koser’s 87-year-old rider hits the trails in the summer. The 3-year-old girl has learned to ride a pony.

“The kids pay for one lesson a week, but they are here every day and they get their riding for free because, in return, they clean stalls, feed the horses, sweep the barn,” Koser said. “We don’t cancel lessons. You ride no matter what.”

Koser, who has been with horses her entire life, is a hands-on teacher.

“I know how I want my riders to ride. I’ve been everywhere. I know how it should work,” she said. “I do it by example. I get on and show them how it’s done. Kids and adults who have taken lessons their whole life have never had a trainer get on and show them. Most just tell them how to do it.”

Koser, seasoned on the rodeo circuit herself, works at making sure her school doesn’t break Rule No. 1. The kids have fun.

“We have free lessons and she works with us on the weekends,” Whitford said.

“I was never told ‘no,’ ” Koser said. “My dad always made sure, if I put 100 percent into something, he would be 100 percent behind me. He had horses his whole life. His father had horses his who life.”

Koser is in the process of getting everything necessary to take the team to rodeos in Canada and to the American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio. Next summer, the MK riders will go to the Canadian National finals.

“These kids have been working so hard and wanting to do this so bad. I don’t want to let them down,” Koser said.

Koser, who plans to get back in the rodeo circuit next year, has a reliable person ready to take the reins and is confident the children who have been staples at her Youngstown ranch for the past two years know the routine.

Contact Bill Wolcott at 439-9222, Ext. 6246.

•••

MK Quarter horses

• WHERE: 3360 East Ave., Youngstown.

• OWNER: Melissa Koser.

• HORSES & STALLS: 36.

• WHAT: Ridin’ & Ropin; English and Western.

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