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Mother-daughter duo have dedicated lives to horsin
07/26/05

By: By Brent Schacherer
Editor Article :

Pinto horse afficionados like to say their favorite breed offers "something for everyone."

Jean and Jaime Liestman are examples of how pinto horses can become everything to someone.

The mother-daughter team own and operate Reflection Farm north of Litchfield, where they turn out some of the top pinto horses in the state and nation.

"I think some people are born with an intense interest in the animals," said Jean Liestman, who with her husband Jerry have four children.

All four Liestman children spent a lot of time around the pinto horses of ReflectionFarm, but it was Jaime, the youngest, who showed the most interest. Now 23 years old, Jaime is a partner in the farm.

"If I would have had to predict,I would have predicted it like that,"Jean said. "You could see it in her from the time she was very young."

Evidence of that nearly lifelong interest are displayed on the walls of a small office in the barn at Reflection Farms. Photographs, ribbons and trophies tell the story of the Liestmans' love affair with pinto horses.

Jean Liestman grew up in the Paynesville area and after graduation from high school attended a horsemanship school in Maryland "a long time ago," she said with a laugh. She returned to Minnesota and started a training stable, where her specialty was work with Arabian horses.

But when the "bottom dropped out of the Arabian market" in the late 1970s, she like others, began considering other options. Liestman turned to crossbreeding Arabians with the spotted pinto horses, which were far more popular. She has been a pinto horse booster ever since, boasting a 20-year membership in the Minnesota PintoHorse Association, for which she has served as vice president the past six years.

That intense interest in horses flowed to her youngest daughter, who says now that she was "pretty much born on a horse."

More than a quaint saying, it was almost true, Jaime Liestman explained. Her mother fell off a horse two days before Jaime was born. The story draws a wry smile and a "shushing" finger over her mother's mouth.

Jaime Liestman began competing in pinto horse shows at 3 years old, and by the time she was 4, she was showing at the Minnesota State Fair. Along the way to adulthood, Jaime has trained and showed champion pintos and served as two-time Minnesota Pinto Queen(2001 and 2002). She will serve as Minnesota Pinto Queen again in 2006.

Among Jaime's champion horses is Alexander the Great, a 6-year-old miniature stallion that stands 29 3/4 inches tall. Alexander the Great was reserve high point champion in the state last year, competing in halter, driving, in-hand jumping, and in-hand trail events. The tiny titan demonstrates his greatest strength in the jumping events, where he regularly leaps barriers greater than his height.

But Alexander the Great is far from the only champion on Reflection Farm, where about 90 horses are stabled -- some owned by the Liestmans, others entrusted to Jean and Jaime for training.

Perhaps the most famous of the Liestmans' pintos is RF Rambo, a 20-year-old stallion that last year was Pinto Horse Association Sire of the Year.

A champion showhorse in his younger days, Rambo breeds about 40 mares a year and his offspring are widely known to possess their sire's same calm, trainable demeanor that has become known as "the Rambo personality."

"He still could compete," Jean Liestman said of Rambo, "but he's worked hard all his life.Now, we're concentrating on his offspring."

Rambo's offspring are easily recognized by their names -- all straight out of Hollywood. Twister,Runs in the Family, Elektra, Good As It Gets, Bring It On, Catch Me If You Can all are Rambo descendants, all named after a movie -- a reflection of Jean and Jaime Liestman's favorite downtime activity.

"We like movies," Jaime said."Half the fun of having these babies is deciding what movie you're going to name them after."

With the constant work that goes on at Reflection Farm, it's amazing the Liestmans have time to watch any movies for which they can name Rambo's offspring. A typical summer day runs from early morning to midnight.

"It's nonstop," Jean Liestman said. "Feeding takes five hours. Then there's cleaning stalls, training, giving lessons, hauling hay, answering phone calls and e-mails."

All of their hard work goes on display at four major horse shows every year, where the Liestmans generally show two of their own horses and eight client horses. They could do more shows, Jean Liestman said, but work on the farm doesn't allow it.

And their energy and resources are focused on the farm, to be sure.

"We're almost always here," Jaime Liestman said."But it's real rewarding when you pull up in your '77 Ford and come home with championships."

With time demands and the draining physical labor necessary to keep Reflection Farm a success, it makes one wonder whether it's all worth it.

But for the Liestmans, there's no question.

"We do it because we love it," Jaime said. "A lot of it is for the animals...and seeing the joy people get from their animals."

Added Jean: "It's like the saying (she found) on the Internet. 'Life is not made up of the breaths we take, but by the moments that take your breath away.' A lot of these horses do that. They take your breath away, how magnificent they are."

If you go

What: Minnesota Pinto Sampler

When: 9 a.m. Saturday

Where: Meeker County Fairgrounds

Why: The Minnesota Pinto Sampler is designed to show off the pinto horse through a series of competitions. It's a streamlined version of a regular three-day pinto show that still offers a broad cross-section of competition, including English and Western Pleasure riding, driving, jumping and showmanship.

Who: Jean Liestman, vice president of the Minnesota Pinto Horse Association, and her daughter, Jaime, partners in Reflection Farm, helped bring the sampler to Litchfield this year.

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