By Aubrey Simpson

"When people see a photograph of my family, they often comment on how beautiful they are. I tell them that it’s because I rent them for the picture," laughs Ken Adkins. Intelligent, funny, articulate and a master storyteller, Ken is a family man, horse trainer and Southern States member from Scarbro, West Virginia.

Speaking of his childhood and first exposure to horses, Ken says, "I was scared to death of horses as a kid. My dad had Tennessee Walkers and we participated in horse shows on the weekends. A lot of my dad’s horses were hyper and would buck you off. Then, when I was ten I rode on my first Quarter Horse and I knew I had found the right horse for me. That was back in 1976 and I’ve always had a horse from then on."

Ken even took his horse to college with him. That’s right! While attending Concord College in West Virginia where he earned an education degree with a major in English Literature, Ken worked as a trail guide at Pipe Stem State Park located near the college. "Riding horses as a trail guide was how I paid for my college education; that and working as a dishwasher at a restaurant," he jokingly adds. Ken’s commitment to education and love of horses would continue to be guiding factors in his life.

Right after college Ken joined the service and married his wife Kelly. "My wife laughed at me because I had outlined this whole list of goals I wanted to achieve and had included the age I hoped to achieve them by," Ken shares. "I didn’t want to get married before twenty-five, I wanted children by the time I was thirty, and then I really wanted to own my own business by the time I hit forty."

In pursuit of these goals, Ken and Kelly both started out teaching. Kelly taught and still teaches special needs children. Ken taught English fulltime at Mount Hope High School and began training horses and riders on the side.

"It didn’t take long for me to figure out that training horses and riders was my real passion," Ken states. "Then Kelly and I had two children, Wyatt Heath now twelve and Madison Cheyenne age seven. I really wanted a schedule that was more flexible. I wanted to spend more time with my kids, to be able to drive them to school, to take time away to go see what they were doing, and to have dinner with my family."

With a lot of support and encouragement from his wife, they bought a farm. "It was pretty scary. We weren’t sure that we could make a living training horses. At first we put everything back into the farm. We built our first barn in 1995. And, I discovered that I had a knack for longe line training. People liked the way I fit a horse. So, I was doing that on the side, and probably, the whole thing took off in 1997. I was making more money training horses than teaching school."

Today, Ken and Kelly own and run a 70-acre farm with a 21 stall barn and an indoor and outdoor training facility. Ken trains horses and riders from seven different states and has dealings with horse lovers in southern Australia. Among Ken’s winnings are the World Palomino Championships in Oklahoma, numerous Top Five and Tens at Quarter Horse Congress, and he just recently returned from the Southern States Showdown in Lexington, Virginia where his clients performed very well. Ken’s specialty is Halter and Western Pleasure. "It’s a unique combination," Ken says, "It puts you at the horse show all day long. I usually start at four in the morning and wind it all up around midnight. Still, it’s the best job that I’ve ever had."

When asked how teaching horses and riders compares to teaching school, Ken laughs, "The horse is always glad to see you. They never talk back compared to kids in high school. As a trainer, you are only as good as the horses that people bring you. We’ve got customers and horses that are both top quality. The past two years have been as enjoyable an experience as you could have in any business."

And it seems that Ken’s passion is more than a family business, it’s a way for the family to have fun together. Kelly, Ken’s wife, is now riding and competing in halter competition. His son, Wyatt, is a top ten dummy calf roper and has been for the past five years. His daughter, Madison, is just starting to ride.

At forty-one, Ken has achieved most of the goals on his list. "The one thing that’s on the ‘honey-do’ list that I want to get done next, is build my wife her dream house. It’s taking us a little longer than we had hoped, but we can’t complain. Life is good."

Maybe the reason Ken and his family look so happy and beautiful in their photograph is because together they are living the picture perfect life, a life that is an inspiration for us all.

Ken Adkins purchases his feed from Kyle Wilson, the manager of Oak Hill (WV) Southern States Coop. Ken uses Southern States feeds exclusively and at this time is using Legends® 14P, Legends® Mare and Foal, Triple Crown® Complete and Legends® Pelleted Rice Bran.

Ken says, "Horse feed is the staple of what we do. What we like about Southern States feed is it’s a one-stop place to shop. They have something for every horse I have. Before I had to use lots of supplements, but not anymore. They have great feed. My dad worked at Southern States in 1966 when they were still delivering grain by railcar. At Southern States you get great people to help you and the quality of the feed is unsurpassed. Just about everywhere you look on our farm you’ll see something we purchased from Southern States."