• Riding Arabian horses at the age of 3.
• Showing Arabian horses at the age of 6.
• First National Championship won at age 16.
• Started as a professional trainer at age 18 at the family business, Lasma Arabians.
• Headed up the Lasma training programs supervising at peak times up to 270 horses in training and conditioning, 9 assistant trainers, and 35 grooms.
• Founded LaCroix Ltd. in Brenham TX. in 1988.
• Became a practitioner and master practitioner of NLP in 1995.
• Retired from the Arabian show ring in 1998 having garnered over 200 National and Reserve National Championships, in all disciplines, for himself and clients.
• Started full time as an equine consultant and founded Accel Training Systems in 1998.
• During the period of 2000 – 2008 coached clients to an additional 70 plus National Championships.
• Became involved with dressage in 2008.
• Instructed by Ceinwen Muma, Ashleigh Luca Tyson, Hilda Gurney, and Shannon Peters.
• Past licensed AHA judge, winner of APAHA Saddle Seat Trainer of the Year Award.
• Sought after as a clinician, having given numerous clinics and seminars in Canada, South America, and the United States.

A Note from Ray

As I’ve become older, I’ve realized that life is a lot like dressage; there are many transitions.

My entire life has been intimately intertwined with horses, mostly Arabians. Through horses, I have experienced an amazing lifestyle. While some horse trainers have had hands on experience with maybe 300-400 horses during their careers, through Lasma Arabians, LaCroix Ltd., Accel Training Systems and the many seminars I’ve given, I’ve been fortunate to have been involved with several thousand in the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe. Each horse has been one of my teachers. I’ve experienced the thrill of the ultimate victory, myself, and through my clients, hundreds of times.

I’ve been fascinated with accelerated learning for many years. My research in this field led me to become a master practitioner of NLP or Neuro Linguistic Programming. NLP enables me to see through new eyes and be able to communicate what I know in a way that resonates and motivates each individual student. Many dressage enthusiasts also know Jane Savoie, and Mary Wanless through their connections to NLP. Both are amazing dressage coaches who have fine-tuned their ability to communicate and achieve, through NLP.

The importance of all of this is that my experience in horsemanship is different than all but a very, very, few horsemen.

Transitions can begin in unexpected ways. As an Arabian show horse trainer, many horses in my care left me with a bit of their personality, offering a glimpse of perspective. The collective message from all of these horses, after many years, has compelled me to change my definition of horsemanship, and move forward to the path of dressage.

Accel Training Systems was founded on the premise that I could provide a coaching experience that would accelerate each student’s learning curve on horsemanship. The format for change is very simple. People ride/train the way they think. Changing the way your horse works means that it is necessary to change the way you think about what your horse is doing. By changing the way you think, I can change your approach to your horse, your timing of your aids, and the strength of your aids to produce a different outcome. In short, you will be a changed rider…a different rider… a more effective rider.