Thom is a U.S.E.F. "R" judge and a professional horseman with a long proven record of success as trainer, coach, farm manager, judge, and rider of show hunters and jumpers.

 Thom and/or his students have won Championships or Reserve Championships at, among others, the Washington International, W.E.F. Wellington (entire circuit), Pennsylvania National, Capital Challenge, Upperville, Ox Ridge, HITS Culpeper, Cosequin USGPL Finals, HITS Ocala Winter Circuit, and the N.C.H.J.A.

 Horses trained by Thom have been VHSA, MHSA, and NCHJA Year-End Champions and Reserve Champions, and he has placed several jumpers on the U.S.E.T. Show Jumping Squad which competed in Europe.

 Thom has judged such shows as Wellington, HITS Ocala, and Gulfport and "AA" shows in fifteen other states, as well as International CSI World Cup Shows and the Canadian National Equitation Regional Medal Finals.

 Thom has been the coach of the Zone Junior Jumper Team at the Pennsylvania National. While Director of Riding at Southern Sem, he coached the Individual National Champion of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association.

Julie Garnett is the barn manager at MacNair's Country Acres Riding School and also an instructor.  Julie graduated from Averett University in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in Equine Science and Biological Psychology.  After college, Julie became a working student at Braeburn Farm under the instruction of Cindy Sydnor, a USDF Examiner and Judge.  As an instructor, Julie is dedicated to the classical training of horse and rider so that he/she may succeed in any discipline in the equine industry.  Although Julie's basis is mostly dressage, she also competed in eventing for the majority of her childhood and coached eventers and jumpers all through college.  Julie is currently working on completing her USDF instructor certification.

Martina was born and grew up in the Czech Republic and has spent her entire life around horses.  At the age of eight, she began working in the barn learning about horse care, show jumpers, and racing ponies.  Progressing through the riding and training of steeplechase and show jumpers, she was showing in dressage and competing in the 4' jumpers by the age of fifteen.  Martina moved to the United States in 1997.  She worked at Brian Bell Performance Training in Smithfield, N.C. as barn manager and trainer, moving to Southern Oak Equestrian Center in 2000.  While there, her responsibilities included barn managing, training at all ages and levels, and leading an active 4H program. Martina joined MacNair's in November 2007 as an instructor, assistant barn manager, and as the leader of our 4-H club. 

Dena is the barn manager of our boarding facility, Country Acres.  Dena has been involved with horses her entire life and we are proud of her expertise in all aspects of horse care and stable management.  Since coming to MacNair's in 1999, her responsibilities have increased to where she is now the horses' best friend and is the person to go to for the answers to most questions. It would be impossible to find a more conscientious and hands-on barn manager than Dena. When not in the barn, Dena is the paddock master at the NCDCTA shows held at MacNair's Country Acres.  She is the person with the clipboard and the ready smile who keeps the shows running on schedule.

Lisa started in the horse business as Director of a residential riding camp where she received the certification of Master Instructor from Camp Horsemanship Association. Later she became a top show groom, barn manager and assistant trainer. Lisa specializes in bringing along green horses and riders, having started the careers of several horses and ponies who went on to become USEF National Champion Horse or Pony of the Year. Lisa has ridden and shown horses who won Championships or Reserves at "AA" shows and coached riders who achieved at this level.

Laura Toombs relocated to Raleigh in 2008 from Los Angeles.  When Laura, her husband Ken, and their children visited MacNair's Country Acres on a fact-finding trip to North Carolina, the girls agreed to move from California but only if they could ride at MacNair's.  It has been a successful pairing ever since.  The mother of two MacNair's students, Laura works part-time in the Riding School office helping students and parents manage riding schedules. Before starting a family, Laura was a Director of Marketing for Price Waterhouse in New York City.

Leigh has been riding since 1991 and spent much of her youth involved in 4-H activities, winning and placing in numerous 4-H Horse Bowl and Hippology competitions at county, district and state levels. She specialized in riding hunters, supplementing that with some dressage. She rode for the College of Charleston Equestrian Team, graduating with a Bachelor's. She then received her Master's in Public Administration with a Graduate Certificate in Public Policy from North Carolina State University. She came to MacNair's in 2005, and competes in hunter and equitation classes at EHA, C and A shows in the Raleigh area.

Debra has been a part of  MacNair’s since 1999, not counting a year off for family leave, since her daughter Logan began her riding career.  Beginning with tack cleaning, feeding, barn work and then assisting with Pony School and Saddle Up, Debra is now in office management.  You can find her in the office most afternoons and all day on Saturdays.

Mary Pope grew up showing pony hunters at A-rated shows in Virginia and Maryland. She took a break from horses to attend Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut earning a Bachelor of Science degree. Mary Pope also earned her Masters degree from the Architecture School at the University of Virginia. Mary Pope began working for Shelby French and Peggy McElveen during the summer, teaching horseback riding in 1989 at Camp Seafarer, advancing to Director in 1992. She began teaching at MacNair's in 1996 on a part-time basis and continues to teach both group and private lessons. She has a Level Three ANRC rider rating and competes in hunter shows on her horse Daniel, as well as serving as supervisor for historic architectural & landscape studies for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Emily began riding in 1991 in Florida, foxhunting and participating in hunter paces, still a favorite thing to do. Later she branched out into showing on the local hunter and 4-H circuit (and was the vice-president of her 4-H Club for three years). Emily volunteered at a therapeutic riding facility, was a member of the FFA horse judging team, spent time as a camp counselor and horseback riding instructor at YWCO camp in Clarkesville, GA, and was, for a time, a free lance instructor and exercise rider. She managed a small boarding/training/show facility in Sanford, FL.  Somehow, she found the time to graduate from FSU with a degree in English and Religion. Emily has dabbled in many disciplines including western pleasure, competitive trail, showmanship (in which she is a self-proclaimed queen), and dressage, as well as hunter/jumpers, but her particular passion is ponies. She is a member of the advisory board for CORRAL and has been a professional riding instructor since 2003.

Elizabeth, in addition to being an instructor, is an Equine Facilitated Life Coach, a Certified Life Coach (through the International Coach Federation) and a graduate of Coach For Life. Her passion is supporting people through the processes of growth, discovery, and transformation; helping them create lives that reflect their values, gifts, and dreams. She has worked for the past 20 years with both youth and adults - mentoring, training, and leading groups, working with addictions recovery and crisis center counseling. Elizabeth has ridden throughout her entire life, primarily hunt seat and dressage. She rode at MacNairs Country Acres during her college years, and afterwards had the privilege of working with Thom and Lisa Pollard at Wakefield Farm, where she assisted with all aspects of a busy hunter/jumper show barn, including bringing along green prospects. Seven years ago she began studying Parelli Natural Horsemanship and now uses that skill both with her own horses and in Equine Facilitated Life Coaching. As a Life Coach, she finds that horses have the capacity to show us certain truths about ourselves, giving us the insight and opportunity to make profound changes in our lives. As an instructor, she teaches the whole person - addressing specific riding skills and also the motivation, mindset, and mutual understanding of the horse and rider.

Kate is currently a student at North Carolina State, majoring in Animal Science (concentrating in livestock) where she is an officer in the Animal Science Club as well as a member of the Collegiate Future Farmers of America. Her riding career started with barrel racing but she switched to riding hunter/jumpers when she was ten. Kate is a former 4-H President and State Level Horse Evaluation Team Member. Kate completed the MacNair's Instructor Course in the summer of 2009 and now, when she is not instructing at the Riding School, rides her horse Chesney. Future plans include owning and running a pony breeding and sales facility.

Johnny was born on Christmas Day, 1962, the first son of William Iredell Hassell and Janet Jackson Hassell of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. William John Hassell, or Johnny as he would be known, grew up the happiest of farm boys, with the best childhood anyone could ever imagine. He left home in 1981 to attend North Carolina State University where he double majored in Field Crops Technology and Agricultural Pest Control, then returned to Elizabeth City and his family's farm. In 1988 he left to begin work as a Marketing Specialist for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture under the honorable Commissioner of Agriculture, Jim Graham. Continuing in state government work, in 1994, under Secretary Franklin Freeman, he became Farm Operations Manager for the Enterprise Division of North Carolina State Government. In 2000, he began work for International Traders Incorporated, marketing agricultural foods (predominantly produce) as well as LeBleu bottled water technology and steam distillation programs. He then became the Waste Management Manager for farms owned and operated by Smithfield Foods, continuing there until November 2008 when he returned to his beloved friends Caroline and Bill Carl as Property and Farm Manager of MacNair's Country Acres.