Sheila Varian (August 8, 1937 – March 6, 2016[2]) was an American breeder of Arabian horses who lived and worked at the Varian Arabians Ranch near Arroyo Grande, California. She grew up with a strong interest in horses, and was mentored in horsemanship by Mary "Sid" Spencer, a local rancher and Morgan horse breeder who also introduced Varian to the vaquero or "Californio" tradition of western riding. She started her horse ranch, Varian Arabians, in 1954 with the assistance of her parents. Raising and training horses was her full-time occupation beginning in 1963. She used vaquero-influenced methods of training horses, although she adapted her technique over the years to fit the character of the Arabian horse, which she viewed as a horse breed requiring a smart yet gentle approach.
Varian produced a number of influential Arabian horses whose bloodlines are found in a significant number of winning Arabian show horses in the United States. She began her breeding program with a small number of mares whom she bred to her national champion stallion, Bay Abi. She then acquired three mares from Arabian farms in Poland at a time when that nation was still behind the Iron Curtain and importation of horses to the United States was very difficult. These mares and Bay Abi formed her foundation bloodstock. As of 2016[update], the Varian horses at stud represent the sixth generation of her stallion breeding line, and her foundation mare lines have produced nine generations of offspring. For her accomplishments, Varian received recognition from the United States Equestrian Federation, as well as several awards from various organizations within the Arabian horse industry. For her contributions as breeder and as a horse trainer in the vaquero tradition, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2003.
After she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2013, she sought to place the 230-acre Varian Ranch into a conservation easement to protect the land from development, and in 2015 announced that the California Rangeland Trust would partner with her to purchase the development rights and to allow her long-time ranch manager, Angela Alvarez, to operate the horse breeding program after Varian. After Alvarez, the property would be gifted to the Trust to be sold, the conservation easement running with the land, and the Trust would try to find a buyer that would maintain the Arabian horse breeding program as well. Varian died on March 6, 2016, at age 78.
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^Charlton, April (March 9, 2016). "Famed Arroyo Grande horsewoman dies". Santa Maria Times. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
SheilaVarian (August 8, 1937 – March 6, 2016) was an American breeder of Arabian horses who lived and worked at the Varian Arabians Ranch near Arroyo...
Russell Harrison Varian (April 24, 1898 – July 28, 1959) and Sigurd Fergus Varian (May 4, 1901 – October 18, 1961) were American brothers who founded one...
Varian Mackey Fry (October 15, 1907 – September 13, 1967) was an American journalist. Fry ran a rescue network in Vichy France that helped 2,000 to 4,000...
Online. Accessed October 27, 2010 Varian, Sheila. "Business Sense (Belongs in the Barn Too)". VarianArabians.com. Varian Arabians. Archived from the original...
Faronek, was 50% Crabbet. At the age of 2, Ronteza was sold to SheilaVarian. At Varian's farm in Arroyo Grande, California, she accompanied the mare Farlotta...
disciple, Buck Brannaman, as well as Arabian horse breeder and trainer SheilaVarian. Many horse trainers and owners claim influence from the Dorrance brothers...
trafficking victim who sued her traffickers and sought justice for victims SheilaVarian 1937 – 2016 American horse breeder Margaret Mary Vojtko 1930 – 2013...
(d. 2022) 1937 – Dustin Hoffman, American actor and director 1937 – SheilaVarian, American horse breeder (d. 2016) 1937 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dutch-Swedish...
American actress, 42nd First Lady of the United States (b. 1921) 2016 – SheilaVarian, American horse trainer and breeder (b. 1937) 2017 – Robert Osborne...
complications from a fall. Akira Tago, 90, Japanese psychologist. SheilaVarian, 78, American horse breeder (Arabian horses), ovarian cancer. Raymond...
Drachkovitch, The Hoover Institution Press, 1986, p.301 Sheila Isenberg, A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry, iUniverse, 2005, pp. 158-60. v t e...
January 2009. ISBN 978-1-4381-0890-2. p. 358. Sheila Isenberg. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. Random House, 2001. p. 34. Clive Bush. The...
Mission of Varian Fry. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). pp. 49–. ISBN 978-1-4668-6845-8. Sheila Isenberg (2005). A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry....
ISBN 9780275971243. Retrieved 31 December 2017. Isenberg, Sheila (2005). A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. iUniverse. ISBN 9780595348824. Retrieved 31...
(PDF) from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2021. Varian, Ethan (July 20, 2019). "At the Wedding of Gigi Gorgeous and Nats Getty"...
Hayes Robert Hickmott Jack Holt Sampson Hosking Bob Hoysted Pat Hyland Sheila Laxon Ciaron Maher Kerryn Manning Bob Maumill John F. Meagher Denis Pagan...
the movie French Immersion. Tierney also produced other titles including Varian's War, One Dead Indian, Good Neighbours and Twist. In addition to the big...
TV film 1999 A Season for Miracles Hon. Judge Nancy Jakes TV film 2001 Varian's War Alma Werfel-Mahler TV film 2002 My Sister's Keeper Helen Margaret Chapman...
July 8, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2008. Varian, Sheila. "Ronteza at the Cow Palace". Varian Arabians Website. Varian Arabians. Archived from the original...
quantities". The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics. Vol. 4. pp. 97–98. Varian, Hal R. (1987). "Microeconomics". The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics...
in Palo Alto. Richard R. Ernst, Nobel laureate in chemistry, worked at Varian Associates in Palo Alto. Gene F. Franklin, control engineer and NASA scientist...
York 2011, ISBN 9781448108121, page unavailable Sheila Isenberg, A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry, New York 2019, page unavailable Marino 2011...
Routledge. ISBN 9781134131853.; Prado, Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y (2017). Varian Studies Volume One: Varius. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443893855...
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