CARIBOU, Maine — After years of raising her own horses, Ariel Shaul wants others to experience the joys and healing powers of bonding with these animals.
Shaul, her family and their six horses moved to Caribou from central New York in August and opened Shaul’s Spurs & Furs Ranch, a horse boarding and riding facility, on 24 acres of property they purchased on the Belanger Road. Shaul and several trainers give English- and Western-style riding lessons, offer boarding space for horses and host community groups for horse-themed gatherings.
Shaul’s Spurs & Furs Ranch joins an array of other horse facilities serving central Aroostook, including the long-running Pine & Spurs Riding Club in Fort Fairfield; East of Eden Stables, a therapeutic riding center in Presque Isle; and Unbridled Faith, a horse training and lesson center in Caribou.
Only three months after arriving, Shaul is already seeing her programs grow in popularity. Fifteen of the barn’s 20 horse stalls are occupied, including stalls for her family’s horses, and 14 students regularly take riding lessons, mostly children but also several teens and adults.
Many students board their horses in Shaul’s barn, groom them and clean their stalls, which Shaul said has led to some fast friendships.
“A lot of times we forget that there’s more to life than work, but when you’re here with this big animal, they are all you think about,” she said. “The horses just like that you’re there spending time with them.”
Shaul’s love of horses began when she was growing up in a rural area of New York west of Albany. Until she was 13, she lived across the street from a horse boarding facility and learned to ride there. Her family later moved to land that allowed them to own their own horse, a thoroughbred red roan quarter horse named Merlin.
Merlin initially had trust issues with humans and often resisted Shaul’s commands. But instead of giving up, Shaul tried a new tactic.
“I just drew in the reins and said, ‘Ok. I’m not gonna fight it anymore.’ And he looked at me like he was saying, ‘Well, it’s about time,’” Shaul said. “It gave me a lot of grit and determination.”
While studying animal science at the State University of New York, Cobleskill, Shaul competed in the jumping and flat riding classes of the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association’s regional and zone championships, the latter of which was a qualifier for nationals.
Shaul never made it to nationals, but considers the lessons she learned to be the biggest rewards.
“We would generally get on horses that we’d never ridden before,” Shaul said. “It taught me about patience and communication.”
After graduating college in 2002, Shaul worked various jobs within emergency medical services, real estate and construction. When the COVID pandemic began, Shaul and her husband Tim started their own meat processing facility, specializing in custom red meat from cows, pigs and sheep, after seeing local demand increase.
Along the way Shaul raised her own horses but dreamed of opening a boarding facility like the one she had grown up around. She and Tim do not have family in Maine but had visited the state several times and were especially fond of Aroostook County.
“The people up here are my kind of people: down to earth, self-reliant and just good people,” Shaul said.
When the Shaul family, which includes daughters Jacalyn, 10, and Elvira, 7, found the Belanger Road property online, it was the ideal chance to settle in Aroostook. In addition to the stable, they just opened a custom meat processing facility out of a former two-car garage on their property, focusing on game animals like deer, bear and moose.
Shaul Spurs & Furs Ranch has given many young people life-changing encounters with horses, including 16-year-old Sierra Jordan of Woodland.
Jordan said that she’s always been shy and never a great student in school, but riding and bonding with an 18-year-old thoroughbred named Troy has eased her anxieties and brought her out of her shell.
“It has really turned my life around. I have good grades now and I made it on the honor roll for the first time,” Jordan said. “I think a lot of people my age would benefit from this. The people here are amazing.”
Jordan has blossomed so much that now the family is trying to find their own horse to purchase and board at Shaul’s facility, said her mother Aimee Whitmore.
Shaul wants to continue reaching out to young would-be riders. This week she hosted the stable’s first youth gathering, a visit from the Boys and Girls Club of Presque Isle.
Shaul, her daughter Elvira and horse trainer Jadison Borges showed the children, who ranged from elementary to middle school aged, how to properly saddle and ride a horse at the stable’s 50 feet by 130 feet indoor arena.
“It was a lot of fun,” said 12-year-old Brooklynne Suggs, after riding Luda, a 15-year-old male paint horse.
Brian O’Connor of Presque Isle said he was impressed with how patient Elvira was while teaching his daughter, 6-year-old Mariah O’Connor, how to ride Mack, a 25-year-old miniature horse.
“It was her first time [on a horse], so it’s a bit nervewracking, but everyone’s so nice here. It’s such a cool thing to see,” Brian O’Connor said.
Shaul said that her future goals include hosting more community gatherings, horse clinics and building an outdoor arena to accommodate lessons and events.
