What We Offer

Lightacres offers individually tailored programs to suit each horse's need. Personalized care from stall rest and daily grooming to full exercise is included in our program. Daily bandaging, medication, hand-walking and paddock time from small paddocks to large is available for rehab horses. Daily time on the exercise machine on a program designed to fit each individuals need can be a part of a horse's rehabilitation. Work under-saddle for a horse close to returning to training is available as part of a personalized program.
Lightacres has a veterinarian on site weekly, so horses needing close veterinary supervision will get it. The veterinary clinic is a short twenty-minute trip away, and we frequently take horses in for ultra sounds, radiographs, shock-wave therapy and other treatments. Our farrier is excellent and works closely with the veterinarians to provide any type of corrective or therapeutic shoeing necessary.
Lightacres program can rehabilitate your horse. We are prepared to take whatever problem you have, from horses simply needing a break to horses in need of repair and rehabilitation.

The Staff

All programs, including exercise, feeding, medication and bandaging are managed by Sue Lightner. Lori Clark directs all office tasks, keeping track of the horse's veterinary schedules and ordering supplies and medications. Miguel Espinoza is the ranch foreman. Miguel has worked for some of the top stables in the country. He does daily feeding and footing upkeep. Miguel handles horses of all ages with confidence and has had experience with virtually every type of bandage there is. He is amazing in his ability to notice any change in a horse's behavior and to call attention sometimes before a problem develops. Maria Espinoza, Miguel's wife, personally prepares all supplementary feed and medications daily.

The Facility

Lightacres offers box stalls and paddocks ranging in size from small to large. There are grass turn-outs for horses who have reached that stage in their rehabilitation. The property has two outdoor rings and an indoor with excellent footing. A six-horse exerciser, which is covered and features airfoot footing allows for careful exercise of horses returning from injury. Our exerciser has the capacity for up to twenty different computerized programs so that rehab can be specifically tailored to meet each horse's needs. There is a veterinarian onsite weekly as well as a top farrier who also works at the equine clinic.

Lightacres is honored to have Dr. Brad Jackman, owner of Pioneer Equine Hospital and a board Certified Surgeon personally overseeing the ongoing care of our horses.

Pioneer Equine Hospital is only twenty minutes from the farm and offers a complete surgical unit and state of the art diagnostic and treatment equipment. The owner, manager, and staff of Lightacres live onsite which allows for checks on horses twenty-four hours a day if necessary.

I have spent nearly all of my life with horses. Growing up on a Quarter horse farm, I spent my youth working on the ranch. I fed, cleaned stalls, medicated horses and handled mares, stallions, foals, young horses and riding horses of all ages. For the past twenty-seven years, I've owned and operated Lightacres, a hunter-jumper training facility in Northern California. Lightacres has produced many champion horses and riders at all levels. Through the years, l've dealt with many injuries that befall equine athletes, along with illnesses, surgeries and assorted maladies. Many times I've made it my personal mission to rehabilitate horses who have had potential career ending injuries with an almost 100% success rate. Injuries to suspensory ligaments, tendons and collateral ligaments top my complete recovery list. Lightacres has handled many post surgical cases, stifle problems, joint infections and even broken bones. I have been admired for my perseverance, especially for those horses I brought back to full work in the face of seemingly impossible odds. I have decided to take what I have learned and to make my experience and knowledge available to those in need of rehabilitation for their horses. I look forward to the opportunity to provide more horses with a second chance. --Sue Lightner