LeFever Training Centre: Embracing Gratitude, Gifts & Giving by Catherine Cole Ferandelli

by CATHERINE COLE FERANDELLI

Kim and husband Dr. James “Jim” Blevins are pleased as punch to be immersed in the next chapter of their Arabian horse dream, breeding multi-generation 100% Alistar Arabians bloodstock.

Kim enthuses, “Our next breeding chapter took our homebred stallion ASA Scandalous Affair (Always A Jullyen V x Sweet Saphire V) from the show pen to trainer, Dale Brown’s breeding shed.”

ASA Scandalous Affair (aka “Scandal”) is a big spoke in the Alistar Arabians wheel of bloodstock-producing aspirations. Breeding him to their homebred mares was the next big step and the results are in … meet the sable stunner, ASA Mercedes.

Born in March 2020, this ebony black filly is out of Alistar’s ASA Midnight Lucille, daughter of Western Pleasure National Champion Midnight Magnum. A classic representation of the Varian breeding program, Kim attests, “Mercedes possesses correct type, substance and athletic, balanced movement. All in all, the perfect combination of her sire and dam.” Energized with Mercedes’ beauty and conformation, the decision was made to start her show career in the yearling filly breeding stakes competitions.

Earlier this year, Mercedes was sent to renowned halter trainer Michael Wilson to prepare for her show debut in Region XII’s Spotlight Stallion Futurity Yearling Filly class. Mercedes’ elegant performance, splendidly handled by amateur Katie McGregor, was rewarded with Champion Spotlight Futurity Filly and Reserve Champion Spotlight Futurity Auction Filly. At Region XV, Mercedes thrilled the spectators again, winning ABS Arabian Yearling Filly. Kim and Jim are overjoyed with her stunning performances, yet equally pleased to see her calmly settle in at the show grounds, always greeting them with a nicker and a contented lick of the lips.

“Through good fortune, listening to expert advice and having brilliant horse friends willing to share their triumphs and failures,” Kim continues, “we’ve been very blessed. We are very small breeders, usually producing one, perhaps two foals a year. Those small numbers typically create lower odds for success, so our breeding results have pleased us beyond measure.”

Alistar Arabians’ goals are not exclusive to simply producing Arabian show horses. From the beginning, their dream has evolved by carefully crafting a small select herd of happy, classically beautiful, athletically gifted bloodstock; horses who are enthusiastic about doing their job, whatever that may be, willing to give their all.

“The foaling journey begins at birth and then proceeds, taking twists and turns,” Kim smiles, and the babies we’ve bred have mostly come from western pleasure ancestry mixed with some halter breeding. Still, we always are attuned to what each of our horses want to be. We have produced hunters, western pleasure horses, and even several reiners. We let our horses show us what they do best, then give them the best training we can find to further their talents.”

Kim and Jim are in every sense, the very essence of Alistar Arabians. Their lifestyle is all about performing the daily duties around the farm and for the horses. “We are the farm staff,” Kim laughs, “hands on with the day-to-day tasks and even the late-night foal watch. Living this life is a huge part of how our big dream started small and stays small, but most of all, carries on with wondrous rewards.”

Looking forward, Scandal has several more purebred and Half-Arabian foals on their way for 2022. He is a Region 12 Spotlight Stallion,

Scottsdale Signature Stallion and AWPA Enrolled, giving opportunities for Scandal’s offspring to compete in varied show competition venues.

At only 6 years old, Scandal’s trainer, Dale Brown, has him in a full bridle, which Kim views as a better than ever western pleasure Scandal. Always a believer in giving a horse plenty of training time, Scandal’s show career and breeding career will continue with Dale and ultimately include Kim showing him in western pleasure amateur competition. It’s the icing on the cake for Kim, who has dreamt since childhood of having her very own Arabian black stallion.

ASA Mercedes with her dam, ASA Midnight Lucille, and her first win at the Region XII Spotlight Championships.

Alistar Arabians surely embodies the words that great dreamer Walt Disney once declared, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” n

by CATHERINE COLE FERANDELLI

Don LeFever has a daily prayer of, “Giving thanks to family, friends, ADHF and the community for our good fortune.”

Life has a way of throwing curve balls when least expected. For the LeFevers, Don’s sudden illness, resulting in a liver and a kidney transplant, served up a literal life and death challenge. A challenge resulting in appreciation of “the good of humanity.”

Located in Western Wisconsin, LeFever Training Centre (LTC) has created an idyllic, successful lesson and training program, no matter what the experience level of the client. Owners Don and Teresa LeFever, along with their son Jordan, pride themselves on welcoming folks to their lesson program with only one prerequisite: their desire to join the LeFever community of riding, caring and loving Arabian horses.

Don LeFever’s passion for Arabian horses took root during his childhood years living in Syracuse, NY; leading him to take on a “summer job” at Midwest Centre at age 16 that lasted for 12 years! Working with the Arabian horse industry’s top-level horses and humans gave Don invaluable experience in starting his own training center. However, Don sought to create a lesson and training center that beaconed to “new” horse lovers seeking a fun, yet safe learning experience—horse owner or not.

Today, LeFever Training Centre gives more than 80 lessons per week, offering fulltime horse training, competes within a busy show schedule, and puts on sold-out summer horse camps and birthday parties. In other words, most anything that involves horses and horse lovers.

LeFever Training Centre is truly a labor of love, an equine gift to a community that offers little else to its citizens in way of leisure activity.

Life was good. And then in 2018 everything changed.

Don’s health spiraled downward, with a serious illness that couldn’t be diagnosed despite seeking top medical specialists. Teresa describes watching her husband fade. “Don continued to worsen, we were taking him from specialist to specialist and no one could figure it out. Finally, a physician at University of Minnesota diagnosed liver failure; thus, Don needed a liver transplant.” For five months Don was hospitalized awaiting a donor, growing weaker and weaker. “At one point, my 5’7” husband weighed 90 pounds,” Teresa remembers.

Don hung on. Teresa, Jordan, friends and family visited daily. Don admits, “Sometimes I would only sense a visitor was sitting with me, I was that weak. Recently, many friends have admitted they were certain their visit was the last time they’d ever see me.”

During this stressful time, Teresa and Jordan continued to operate LeFever Training Centre full time.

Five harrowing months passed before a liver became available. His donor was 19-yearold Alex McFarland, who tragically passed from an asthma attack. Deemed a “high risk” liver, Don’s survival chances were less than 20%, but dismal odds were better than no odds at all, so Don chose the surgery. Additionally, his health was so fragile, he had also been suffering from kidney failure and was attending dialysis three days a week. “Fortunately,” Teresa explains, “Don’s liver transplant put him at the top of the list for a kidney, and six months later, on December 28th, we got the call, and he received a new one.” The roller coaster ride continued, but slowly Don began to improve.