As a horse owner since the age of 11, hard work is hard-wired into Chris Hayatian’s being. As a Pony Club District Commissioner for several years, volunteering is also hard-wired into her being. Both attributes make Chris a wonderful Galway Downs volunteer.
Chris continues to volunteer here even though her two daughters are busy with young horses and straight-A college studies and don’t compete as often as they used to.
“I love to volunteer,” says Chris. “I feel like the show runs so much smoother when you have volunteers who’ve been doing it for a long time and who understand the sport.”
Chris first became familiar with Galway Downs as DC for the River Hills Pony Club. Chris and her husband Rick’s daughters Peyton, 21, and Lauren, 18, started riding at 6 and 9 years of age. “They went up through the levels and we would always volunteer. Our club was not a Pony Club Riding Center run by a professional — it was a regular Pony Club, so it was basically a non-profit ran by the parents.”
Pony Club parent volunteering aligns with the organization’s commitment to producing self-sufficient horse people. Moms and dads are not in the barn holding the horses or holding hands – they’re doing the behind-the-scenes organization that enables Rallies to reward horsemanship and team spirit.
Chris is used to juggling volunteering with a busy life in the “real world.” She works for Nabisco – from her home starting long before COVID made that relatively normal. (S’Mores and Cotton Candy Oreos are in season now and are not to be missed!, Chris shares.)
She also manages the family’s boutique-size boarding and rehab facility, Norco Valley Ranch. This is another family endeavor. The girls help with the horses and Rick is a master at the construction and repair projects that come with horse property ownership.
What is Free Time Anyway?
Galway Downs was a natural segue when her daughters moved on from Pony Club. Chris is grateful to have her mother, Carol Christiansen, often volunteering with her.
Score running is Chris’ favorite volunteer role because she’s on the move all the time. With a desk-bound job during the week, she loves walking from the judges’ boxes or cross-country score collectors’ booths to the office and back – all day long as needed.
Ring stewarding is her next favorite assignment. “I have this little system where I use a white board with all the riders’ exhibitor numbers and their ride time on it, and the clock. The riders can see how many rides before them, and I don’t have to yell out who’s on deck, who’s next, etc.”
Chris is a team player and she’ll do whatever volunteer task is asked of her. Jump judging is fun, especially if she’s stationed at a water complex or another challenge spot. Scribing, however, is not high on her list – only because it involves sitting still all day.
All In The Family
Horses have been at the heart of the Hayatian family since before the girls were born. “It was always my dream to have my own horse property,” Chris shares. After she and Rick married, they found that dream property – a one-acre parcel with a relatively small house and lots of room for horses.
Chris grew up rodeo-ing and team roping. Peyton and Lauren did that, too, along with gymkhana sports and parades before adding dressage and jumping with their Pony Club involvement.
Chris’ mom trails rides and Peyton and Lauren are bringing project horses along. Peyton has a 5-year-old Off The Track Thoroughbred, Brochacho, she picked up as a 3-year-old. At the Galway Downs Horse Trials in May, the pair contested the Beginner Novice division, earning a super dressage score and going double clear on cross-country and stadium jumping. As an assistant trainer for Stacia Arnold, Peyton enjoys professional guidance, but the sweat equity invested in her horses’ development is all hers.
After a stellar start at Norco Community College, Peyton heads to her dream school, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, in the fall to pursue an applied mathematics degree.
Lauren finished her first year of junior college with an all-A report card and is also bringing along project horses – currently a 3-year-old Hanoverian bought at a bargain because it required someone skilled enough to handle the task.
Both girls were part of the Future Farmers Of America program and are familiar with the business side of owning animals. They raised and sold pigs to help fund their horse habits back then.
“Our kids grew up with horses in the backyard and they fell in love with them.” They were raised in the perfect neighborhood. Norco, aka “Horse Town USA,” is a place where you can ride horses almost anywhere — to McDonalds and other hang-outs, where hitching posts are more than a quaint decorate object. Extensive trails system, including riverbeds, provide plenty of places to ride without having to haul away.
Hayatian family horses stay in the family. Peyton’s first Pony Club horse, Little Dude, is going strong at 21 as a lesson horse for Peyton’s young students. Another horse enjoys retirement trail riding due to mild, but unsolvable soundness issues.
“We keep them because we love them,” Chris explains. “It means more to us to be good to our horses than it does to go to a show.”