Canaan Ranch,
Dedicated to Producing Quality Performance Horses
by Jeannie Blancq-Putney for HorsesDaily

A Top Notch Staff

In 2006, Elizabeth Poulin joined Canaan Ranch as head trainer. Elizabeth is a member of the well-known Poulin family, originally from Maine. She began riding at the age of three and competing at the age of four. “Growing up with so many judges, riders, clinicians in the family I was fortunate enough to always have plenty of horses to ride and learn on,” says Poulin. “My father, licensed ‘S’ judge Tom Poulin, has been my trainer all of my life. Throughout my childhood he put me on his grand prix horses to teach me how to ride at that level. I was able to compete at all levels on many different breeds/ages/levels of talent which I believe taught me ‘feel’. I was taught with a serious focus on the basics of training and of the training scale.”

Boarder, Leslie Fan says, “I happily drive 75 miles (one way) to have my horse at Canaan Ranch.” “I do this for two reasons: 1) the quality of training and instruction from Elizabeth Poulin, and 2) the quality of care provided by Canaan Ranch and after just a few lessons with Elizabeth I soon realized how much she could teach me about achieving true collection, self carriage and expression. I decided to move my horse to take full advantage of having my horse in partial training while still taking lessons to further my education. Yes, people think I am crazy to drive an hour and a half just to ride my horse.

It is worth it to me to have the peace of mind knowing my horse is well taken care of and progressing in his training to bring out the best potential in both of us!”

“Elizabeth Poulin has an intuitive understanding of how to challenge both horse and rider without over facing either,” says Lucitti. “As a result, her horses and clients progress in a correct and confident manner, and on a time scale that is tailored to the individual.

The show record of Elizabeth's clients is testimony to the quality of her training system. Elizabeth's own show record is demonstration not only of her skill as a rider and trainer, but also of the quality of the Canaan Ranch horses.”