| Rockies Unlimited is a partnership of Foxley Farms and Seabrook Stables. Foxley Farms consist of over 800 acres in the beautiful town of Fayetteville, North Carolina. The farm is bordered by the lovely Cape Fear River, in the township known as Gray’s Creek. Owned by Dick & Ashton Fox, Foxley Farms not only produces fine Mountain Horse stock but cotton, soybeans, corn, beans and other cash crops as well. Seabrook Stables is a training facility that was established in 1990 and has trained many champions show horses as well as excellent trail mounts throughout the years. Owned by Stanley & Jamie Hall, Seabrook Stables provides 14 years of experience and knowledge for your Mountain Horse. Rockies Unlimited raises and trains Rocky Mountain, Kentucky Mountain and Mountain Pleasure Horses as well as Spotted Mountain Horses. Well known for their gentle nature and smooth gait, Mountain Horses have become the breed of choice for trail riders as well as the show ring. Experience the pleasure of riding a gentle and smooth gaited Mountain Horse | | |
| - When Jamie and Stanley Hall left for the Southern Horse Festival in Raleigh in December, they thought they were going to just another horse expo to promote Rocky Mountain Horses and planned to spend the weekend telling horse enthusiasts all that the breed has to offer. Little did they know that those horse enthusiasts would include world-renowned trainer and clinician John Lyons.
- Actually, Jamie concedes that she did have hopes of sitting in on Lyons’ clinic, possibly discussing Rockies with him, and perhaps applying his training methods to their training program at Rockies Unlimited in Fayetteville, North Carolina. But never in her wildest dreams did she envision what really happened.
- While stopping by Lyons’ booth, Jamie spoke with Jody, John’s wife, about her hopes of having a picture taken with John and the Halls’ stallion, Bad To The Bone. Jody agreed and Jamie hurried back to the booth to tell Stanley, an avid Lyons fan, the good news.
- The next morning, the Halls, their partners Dick and Ashton Fox, and Rocky Mountain Horse Association Marketing Director Ramona Jackson all anxiously accompanied Bad To The Bone, or Mr. B as he is more affectionately known, to his big photo shoot.
- Jamie recalls John asking if he could put one of his snaffle bits on Mr. B, taking the reins, and talking in his low, mesmerizing voice to Mr. B. Lyons then spent the next hour and a half enrapturing both his audience and his mount. Lyons spoke to the group about the importance of being soft on the horses’ mouths, and the less pressure applied and required the better. He also spoke of the difference between asking and demanding, as well as the proper way to flex a horse.
- “Poor Mr. B didn’t know what hit him,” said Jamie. “He was putty in Mr. Lyons’ hands.”
- “We were all completely amazed at the transformation in our stallion,” she said. “He went from chewing and pulling on the bit to relaxed acceptance of it. From circling around and around while attempting to stand still, to standing quietly with a loose rein while John talked to Stanley.”
- This miraculous transformation was all attained through the use of a full cheek snaffle, no curb chain, and a loose rein.
- “Your horse can perform a four-beat, even-timed gait with no pressure on his mouth, no pulling on the bit, no pulling your arms out of the socket, and seems to do all this just to please you,” Jamie continued, amazed. “So much for all of that old school gaited horse training I’ve seen for the majority of my life.”
- It appears as though Jamie and the rest of the audience weren’t the only ones impressed with what she saw. Lyons himself was equally impressed by what he discovered in a little known breed that day in North Carolina.
- “You have a wonderful horse to offer the horse community,” he said. “Easy going temperament with a great gait, easy to train and ride.”
- “Riding a Rocky Mountain Horse is like eating candy,” Lyons quipped to his ecstatic onlookers.
- The Halls themselves were hooked by the Rocky Mountain Horse’s gentle temperament 14 years ago when they were first introduced to the breed by the late Al Prewitt. Prewitt, originally from Mt. Sterling, KY, moved to Fayetteville in the 1950’s and gradually moved the majority of his horses to North Carolina as well.
- Jamie and Stanley owned team penning and barrel racing Quarter Horses when they were first married, but found them to be too high strung for trail riding and weren’t comfortable with their children on the horses.
- After switching to Rockies, the Halls have made a living training horses for trail and show and promoting show stallions.
- Until July of this year, their collection of Rockies included five broodmares and one stallion. It was then that Prewitt’s family contacted the Halls and asked if they would be interested in any of his horses. The Halls traveled to Bozeman, MT, and hand selected 86 horses for their breeding program, as well as show and trail prospects. It took five days to transport the horses by tractor trailer to North Carolina, and Jamie recalls the moment they arrived as an important one in fulfilling her and Stanley’s dreams.
- “It was 6 a.m., just as the sun was coming up, and we were standing out by the barn when we heard the diesel engines roaring as they came around the curve to the farm,” she remembers. “Talk about a reality check.”
- “At that moment my husband and I looked at each other and said, ‘this is for real!’. Our dream of owning and operating a Mountain Horse farm on a large scale came true at that moment.”
- Now the farm includes 96 Rocky Mountain, Mountain Pleasure, and Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horses. Rockies Unlimited is an 800-acre working farm located at Foxley Farms where the Halls and Foxes raise horses, grow corn, cotton, soybeans and oats.
- Stanley is responsible for managing the farm, while Jamie manages registration paperwork with all three Mountain Horse associations, as well as the breeding and sales programs for the farm. She also works as a district secretary for the Department of Motor Vehicles License and Theft Bureau. The Halls have one son Casey, 22 and one daughter, Crystal, 18.
- The Foxes are involved in the publishing and cheerleading industries as well as the farm on a daily basis. Dick and Ashton’s son, Corbett also helps on the farm, and has a gelding, Jesse James, who is by Rocky Mountain Horse Association two-time International Grand Champion stallion, Tom’s Pride.
- Now that Rocky Mountain Horses have helped Jamie and Stanley fulfill their dream, Jamie hopes to spread the word about the versatility of the breed and all that Rockies have to offer.
- One thing is for certain, it doesn’t hurt to have John Lyons as a fan.
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