
Diane Soyza
Riding Instructor
Diane began working with horses while she was in college, earning her bachelor’s degree in animal science with an emphasis in equine management. She had grown up in Lansing taking riding lessons, and as an adult hoped to start her equine career. She competed on the Equestrian team for MSU, spent summers at Mystic Lake YMCA camp working her way up to Equine program director her final year, and spent a summer abroad in Northern Ireland learning about performance horses. Following graduation, she took an apprenticeship at an Arabian breeding and training farm in Tucson, Arizona and spent a summer leading trail rides in Keystone, Colorado. She settled in Kalamazoo where she started as a working student at an A-circuit hunter jumper barn. They made her the barn manager, and she took that experience to help build another hunter jumper barn in the area where she spent the next 13 years as an assistant trainer and manager. There she taught clients of all levels, showing and non showing, as well as riding horses in training. She spent a final year at another hunter jumper barn in the Kalamazoo area before coming to Legacy Stables. Diane valued her time in the show world, but is loving working with horses that have such an impact on so many people. Being a part of the Legacy team has been a wonderful opportunity to share her experiences and help others grow their love of horses.