About Tommy

October 2009: Keep up with the latest in Tommy's life & career by clicking here.

Before coming to notoriety as the equine industry's most popular up-and-coming clinician, Tommy Garland gained recognition as one of the country's best trainers and most successful showmen of Arabian and Half Arabian horses.

Tommy has ridden horses virtually all his life and credits his trainer father, also named Tommy, with much of his early learning about horsemanship. Tommy grew up under his father's tutelage training Quarter Horses, Saddlebreds, mules, walking horses and Arabians. "My father had a tremendous gift with horses, and I was lucky to be able to learn from him. He taught me to use patience and care, never to rush with a horse. Some people prefer to forget where they come from - I think about it every day," says Tommy.

In 1985, Tommy left the family training business to strike out training Arabians for Deep Meadow Farm in Waynesboro, VA. Arabians quickly became the center for the next 20 plus years of Garland's show career which has included a multitude of national U.S., Brazilian and Canadian titles in Western Pleasure and Hunter Pleasure with Arabians and Half-Arabians. Not only has he achieved personal success but his amateurs, youth and adult alike, have acquired many National titles.

      Tommy, Dawn, Samantha, Katie & TBird (Tommy Jr.)
Stallions

In 1988, Tommy met his wife, Dawn, at a horse show. Introduced by a mutual acquaintance, the young couple was married three months later. "Dawn's the best thing that ever happened to me," says Tommy. After a long string of successes earning National honors for client horses, as well of those of Dolorosa Arabians of North Carolina and later horses from Double Diamond Ranch of Texas, Tommy was ready to open the doors training in his own facility. In 2000, he and Dawn opened the Garlands Training Facility on 30 acres in Powhatan, Virginia, just 20 minutes outside of Richmond.

As in the past, a string of show ring successes followed and today over 40 horses are in training at the facility. Tommy was voted the Western Pleasure Trainer of the Year in 2002 by the Arabian Professional and Amateur Horseman's Association and has received multiple nominations by his peers for Hunter Pleasure and Western Pleasure Trainer of the Year.

If you subscribe to any equine magazines, you've undoubtedly seen Tommy featured with such other industry notables as Martha Josey, Todd Bergen, and David O'Conner in campaigns for Smart Pak Equine and Pfizer Animal Health.

Tommy especially enjoys working with the younger horses and in 2006 competed in and won the Equine Extravaganza Trainer's Challenge. In that same year, Tommy premiered his own television show, CPR for the Horse & Rider on RFD-TV. Never content without a new challenge, Garland pitched his hat into the ring as a competitor at 2008's prestigious Road to the Horse Colt Starting Competition. Though he entered the event unknown to many, he left with an enthusiastic following who were blown away by his horsemanship and the fantastic results achieved with his colt in just a few short hours. Garland will return to the event in 2009, where he will go toe-to-toe with John Lyons and a yet-as-unnamed third competitor.

Over the last several years Tommy has been asked to do clinics all over the United States and Canada. Tommy feels that the fundamentals that he has used throughout his 30 years of training are universal and will work for any horse, any breed and riders of any skill level.

He and his wife Dawn live in Powhatan, Virginia with their three children; Samantha, Katie and TBird (Tommy Jr.).

High Resolution Photos by Jeff Janson, click to download full res version:
 

Tommy Garland CPR Horsemanship · 915 Dorset Rd. · Powhatan, VA 23139 · 804.598.3657 · Contact Us

Photos provided by Jeff Janson and Road to the Horse.