Kristina Runyeon is one of the talented instructors at Concordia Stables. She has been riding and working with horses for over 24 years. Her passion for horses was sparked by her mom who allowed her to take pony rides at every fair or festival they attended. She had her first riding lesson at her 8th birthday party and has been riding ever since. Throughout her career, she has had the opportunity to work with accomplished professionals in a variety of disciplines. She has trained and competed in hunters, equitation, jumpers, and dressage. Kristina spent several years restarting thoroughbreds off the track, and starting young horses to give them a successful start to their ridden career. She spent many years successfully competing along the east coast and on the Arabian circuit.

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Kristina taught elementary special education for eight years and began teaching riding lessons part-time at Honey Brook Stables, former farm campus of Horse Class, while continuing to teach in the classroom. With the desire to combine her passion for education and horses, she decided to turn her focus to solely teaching others how to improve their riding and horsemanship. With the closing of Honey Brook Stables, she joined the team at Concordia Stables to continue serving riders and their equine partners.

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Using her experience as a schoolteacher, Kristina individualizes instruction and utilizes strategies that work for each student. She takes the time to get to know each student, their strengths, and their goals. She enjoys watching the relationship between horse and rider grow, and strives to develop well-rounded equestrians who have empathy and communicate clearly with their horses. She believes riding and working with horses can foster essential life skills such as responsibility, confidence, patience, problem-solving, and resilience. She is kind, compassionate, detail-oriented, and clear in her instruction. Her approach is proven to be successful and meaningful for all types of riders and horses.

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In addition to teaching, Kristina is also passionate about continuing her own education through taking lessons, attending clinics, and taking advantage of online education. Professionally, she received her bachelor’s degree in pre-k through 4th grade education and pre-k through 8th grade special education in 2014. When she is not teaching or training, she enjoys spending time with friends, family, her two dogs Ollie and Linc, and her leased horse Athena. Kristina is Safe Sport certified.