By Marilyn Morris-Mayer And while they’re proud of their thriving show stables and their select band of broodmares that produce many of their show winners today, Pinetree is a horse endeavor that started on a shoestring with a lot of dedication and vision. The journey from a modest 5-acre family home to the impressive 25-acre horse operation, with it’s huge outdoor arena and lush manicured lawns and paddocks with tall pines and palm trees, starts with the fun and often adventure-filled story of a young couple, Jimmy and Doris Collier. Jimmy & Doris grew up in Pompano Beach... Jimmy Collier is a man who treasures his family, his horses and his land. The son of a Florida bean farmer, Jimmy got his first horse when he was a teen. “We lived in Pompano, but we farmed in Delray Beach and when I was about 14 or 15 my dad got me a horse that we kept at the farm,” Jimmy explains. “The horse was so good that I could ride around the farm and hunt quail and shoot a gun right off his back. He never flinched; he was a good boy.” Doris Tinder’s dream as a child was to have a horse, but it never worked out for her. “My father was into fishing,” Doris recalls, “so he always had a boat.” She and her dad were very close, but her pleas for a horse were not answered--instead, he bought her a boat! “On my 16th birthday he took me to the boat yard and unveiled this 19-foot ski boat,” she notes, “and I had to pretend I loved it--but I was scared to death of it.” As Jimmy grew up, he admits he “got into girls” and left the horses behind. By the time he met Doris, when she was 18 and he was 20, he was divorced and the father of two children, a son and a daughter, whom he was raising. Doris and Jimmy fell in love and were married, despite all the warnings from well-meaning folks who were sure there was no way the marriage would last for a young woman who was starting out with a ready-made family. “He was the man of my dreams,” Doris says simply, noting that there was no way that it would not work for them. The Collier’s “won” a pony...
Six years into their marriage, Doris and Jimmy had a daughter, Lori, and shortly after that they began to think that it would be fun for the whole family--Jimmy, Doris and the three children--to get involved with horses. “One night there was this drawing for a pony,” Jimmy recalls with a laugh, “and I’m not too sure but I think some of our friends kind of rigged it for us to win the pony. And he was a little ole pony--about as big as a dog. We called him ‘Peanuts.’” They rented a small portion of a 700-acre parcel of land for Peanuts and the whole family made trips out there as their entertainment. Their young son, Kevin, wasn’t much for riding like his sisters, Denise and Lori, were, but Jimmy notes that Kevin loved to go out with his BB gun and just play and enjoy the land. Meanwhile, Jimmy was working to support his family and slowly but steadily moving up the ladder at the company where he held his first and only job (he now co-owns the company). His boss then was a family friend who had taken an interest in Jimmy when he played baseball in high school. “He was a real big baseball fan and he’d come watch me play...and he offered me a job.” Jimmy’s boss started him on the loading docks and told him the work was going to be light work, but it didn’t quite turn out that way. “The first day we had to unload insulated cement from a box car. They weighed 100 pounds per bag,” Jimmy notes with a chuckle, “and I think I weighed maybe 125 pounds!” Whether it was unloading boxcars or sweeping the floors to get his start, Jimmy was happy to do it. When his boss wanted to move him up to something else, it was Doris that encouraged her husband to try it each step up. “Doris was behind me each time; thank God she was. She helped me a lot.” Land of their own... Jimmy and Doris were friends with several other couples who had horses and rented small portions of the 700 acres where the Collier’s kept their horse, and one day one of their friends brought a flyer listing acreage for sale in Loxahatchee. Jimmy says no one was quite sure where Loxahatchee was, but they checked it out on the map and saw it was just a stones throw west of West Palm Beach. It was being sold in 10-acre lots for $2,500.00 per acre so the two couples went together to split ten acres. “We were lucky if we had two dollars left in our checkbook from week to week,” Doris recalls, but says they somehow managed to make the payments, financing the five acres over a 10-year period. They had moved up from the “starter” pony, and the two young girls started out showing in the open shows. It was the youngest daughter, Lori, that was passionate about the horses though and stayed with it, and Doris and Jimmy did everything they could to encourage her. “Lori was six years-old when she started showing and she just grew up in the show world,” Doris says, but notes that Lori also got to just have a lot of fun time, too. “She grew up riding bareback and jumping off horses into lakes and swimming--all the fun stuff that a lot of children nowadays don’t get to do.” For a while, Doris and a girlfriend ran a successful boarding stable and Doris took to sewing Lori’s show outfits--anything to support the horse venture without cutting too much in the household budget. “There was many a night that I sat and sewed clothes until four in the morning, and Lori and I would leave at six o'clock in the morning to get to the horse shows.” Doris would take her sewing machine along with them to the shows and sew for others as well. For a long time Jimmy took his vacation time and hauled Doris and Lori to the shows, but when they began their intense high point runs it was time to teach Doris how to drive the rig herself...and off the two would go. Doris says Lori didn’t have a trainer in those early days, but had a lot of help from some good folks along with way. And Lori was dedicated. “I would bring her to the ranch here where we had our horses at six o’clock in the morning before school,” Doris says, “and she’d ride before and after school. She was just driven.” The Collier family picnicked and camped on their five acres for quite some time before actually building a home there and moving in. “We’d come up here and camp and bring friends,” Jimmy recalls, “and everyone would bring their horses and we’d go on trail rides and swim in the pond. All the kids could get together and it was just a good family atmosphere.”
Their first (and last) rodeo! Now, not all of the ventures to forward Pinetree went in the right direction, the Colliers admit with a laugh. Like the 200 x 300 outdoor arena they built when they decided to head in the direction of roping. When that didn’t pan out and they dropped the roping program, they got the idea to rent out their sizable arena for a Mexican rodeo. To say that plan was a disaster is a bit of an understatement, what with more than 600 people showing up and celebrating into the late hours. Jimmy says the only thing that saved them was a heavy rain storm that popped up around midnight, scattering all the participants. The next morning, Jimmy notes, he spent hours emptying trash, picking up discarded food wrappers, soda cans and what seemed like a ton of beer bottles. (He didn’t know the group had arranged to return at noon that day to do their own cleanup as part of the rental agreement). When they showed up at noon, Jimmy was just loading up the last of 20 bags of trash from what would be the Collier’s first--and last--rodeo. Anyway, the one-time rodeo remains a good laugh to this day...and the huge arena is a great size for the current western pleasure, all-around and trail horses that are stabled at Pinetree Quarter Horses today. Their successful show stables and broodmare operation more than makes up for the occasional misadventures. Horses were Lori’s first love... “I was a year-and-a-half old when my parents started me riding,” Lori says. “They just put me up there...and from then on I continued to ride.” She got her start in showing with a special little pony. “I had a little pony named ‘Cody’ and did a lot of open shows with him...and was actually pretty successful.” When Lori was ten, she started the quarter horse circuit and continued all through Youth with a real nice all-around gelding named Royal Kings Image. Their first Quarter Horse Congress, when Lori was 17, the pair took second in horsemanship. “It was really awesome,” Lori recalls. Although she did not have her horse with a trainer during those years, Lori and her mom often enlisted the aid of trainer Ronnie Casper. The “cost” of her lessons brings a smile to Lori as she recalls that her mom paid Ronnie in apple pies!
Through her years as a Youth and then as an Amateur, Lori had numerous successes in the show pen. Often, when she was running for a national title, it was just her and her mom (and two of their dogs) heading out on the road together. Asked if there was one special horse for her through her years of showing, Lori does not hesitate to say that it would be her beloved gelding KCS Connection who they bought as a four year-old and enjoyed for ten wonderful years before he became ill suddenly last Spring and died despite all the vets did to save him. “He was like my best friend,” Lori says, her voice breaking a bit. “He just went out every day and worked his hardest, and tried his hardest.” And the bay gelding with the heart of gold made the AQHA Honor Roll countless times in trail, western riding and western horsemanship; earned more than 1500 Amateur points; collected more than $73,000 in incentive funds; and won the Congress with Lori in 1999 in Western Riding. That year, KCS Connection -- “Luke” to those who knew and loved him -- also took home a Congress trophy in Senior Western Riding. (And to top off the Congress for the Colliers, that is the same year that their stud, Good Time To Shine, stepped up and won Junior Western Riding there. Three Congress trophies in one year). “Every time ‘Luke’ went out in the show ring he just gave his all,” Lori continues. “When he died it was like losing a part of my family.” “He was just an amazing horse and just so much fun to be around,” Doris adds. Another of Lori’s nice horses that is the foundation of their broodmare band today is The Katwoman whom Lori showed hunter under saddle. Many of their current showstring are the get of this talented mare. Lori and Andrew Augsburger meet at the Texas Classic... While on the show circuit in the summer of 2001, Lori met and started dating Andrew Augsburger, a talented trainer who was currently working along side his mentor, Tommy Sheets of New Albany, Indiana. “Andrew was very talented and in the second year of his intern he was taking a full load of horses to horse shows by himself. I just had a lot of confidence in him,” Tommy says. It was Tommy who introduced Lori and Andrew at a show (but Lori admits that she suggested it to Tommy, having seen Andrew earlier at the show). It wasn’t long before Andrew and Lori where burning up the road, meeting up at shows to see one another. Andrew says Tommy was planning to send him to Georgia for the Big A, and he and Lori were planning to meet up there, but Tommy changed his mind at the last minute. That, Andrew notes, was when he knew he wanted to be with Lori and it was time to go out on his own as a trainer. “We had fallen in love,” Andrew recalls, “So me and my buddy took an old truck and fixed it up and we met up with Lori at the Big A.”
Andrew joins Pinetree Quarter Horses... At just about the same time as Andrew arrived in the Florida area, the Collier’s trainer, Melissa White (now Melissa Jones) was leaving Pinetree to be with her future husband, trainer Chris Jones. Andrew signed on as trainer and began a 5 year program to establish a show stable. Three years later, he and Lori were married. Andrew breaks and trains the youngsters from the Colliers’ breeding program and assists Lori as she continues to show in the Amateur division. He also trains for several outside clients, Youth and Amateur, at Pinetree. Andrew has, himself, garnered some impressive wins in the show pen this past few years and was voted the 2006 Professional Horseman of the Year for the State of Florida, receiving the award at the annual banquet last April.
Under Andrew’s guidance, youth rider Allison Strazzulla won the 2006 Justin Rookie of the Year award with her gelding Lethal Secret Weapon. Allison says Andrew is fun to be around but admits he expects alot of his students. “He can get pretty tough, but in the end it all works out. He’s just an awesome guy.” Allison’s mom, Terri, notes that Andrew sets a very high standard for the kids but is also very caring. “I call him a horse whisperer,” says amateur rider, Christine DuFour. “He just has a way about him; he’s very quiet with the horses. And he’ll sit out there with me in the heat of the day until I get it right,” she adds with a smile. Tiffanie Burwell, a youth rider that shows a Pinetree homegrown 3 year-old hunter under saddle mare, Miss Kat Tails, says Andrew’s strongest area is his patience. “He’s just an all-around good trainer,” she adds. Assistant trainer Anthony Douglas signed on with Pinetree two years ago as Andrew’s right hand man, and quickly became like family to the Augsburgers and Colliers. “He’s doing a great job,” says Andrew. “He’s good with the horses and just a genuine all-around good guy. And very dedicated. If we’re at a horse show and I tell him to be at the stalls at 3 o’clock in the morning, he’ll be there!” Although Lori shows as an Amateur and thus does not do any training or coaching herself, all of the students look up to her and the kids also view her as a second mom to them. “She’s just so cool,” says Allison. The newest little cowgirl... The small bundle of joy that has captured the hearts of everyone at Pinetree is Lori and Andrew’s daughter, 2 year-old Cheyenne Augsburger, better known as “Scooter.” And she is crazy about horses! This little cutie with her big brown eyes and ready smile is already showing lead-line, and hitches a ride any time she can in the front of the saddle with her mom or dad when they’re cooling out a horse. She came by her nickname “Scooter” in a humorous way, as it seems that the best mode of transportation around Pinetree is by golf cart, but there is one scooter. When Lori was nearly nine months pregnant, her dad saw her racing around the place on the scooter and was more than a little concerned for the safety of his daughter and future granddaughter. Lori says she wasn’t driving that fast...but Jimmy tells it just a bit different. “She rides 90 miles an hour ‘cause all she knows is speed,” Jimmy says with a laugh. Somehow, the name “Scooter” got transferred to the baby and has stuck ever since. (Heck, they may just have to change the name of the place from “Pinetree” to “Scooter-ville” because Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, and every rider at Pinetree is just crazy about that little girl). A close family... The Colliers feel very fortunate to have the great life that they do, but they have not been without tragedy in their lives, as their daughter Denise died at the young age of 27, leaving an ache in their hearts. Jimmy is proud that he has convinced his son Kevin to join him in his business. Now a superintendent at the Collier’s commercial insulation company, Kevin is the father of two children, a daughter, Jamie, who just graduated from the Florida Culinary Arts Institute, and a son, Daniel. Dan, a Marine, is currently serving in Iraq and a huge yellow ribbon adorns the entry to Pinetree Quarter Horses in Dan’s honor.
Jimmy loves his firm and his longtime employees, but he is happiest when he is on his land caring for it. “You know, a lot of people play golf or go fishing, but I’d rather sit here all weekend. Just do my mowing; get my loader out and clean trees. I don’t care if I leave this place until Monday morning when I go to work.” The grounds are kept immaculate and Jimmy says everybody makes it their job to see that the place is looking good. “I’ll jump on a mower...or Lori or Andrew or Anthony will. All of us pitch in.” A ritual that started with a visit from Andrew’s father some time back is that everyone gathers at Jimmy’s workshed near the main house after work for good conversation (and a cold soft drink or perhaps a beer). Jimmy is always glad to have Andrew in his shop as he says his son-in-law can fix anything mechanical. And Jimmy’s proud of the job he’s done with their horses. “Andrew’s done a great job training the horses and we love him to death.” Doris and Jimmy’s main house is located at the entry of the 25-acres and Lori and Andrew have built a contemporary A-frame at the back area, complete with swimming pool (a favorite gathering spot after riding). Between the houses is the show barns, the outdoor arena and a guest house. Take a walk down one of the lanes and you will see the mares with their babies in individual large grass paddocks. Lori and Andrew say they are so grateful to have Lori’s parents nearby to help with “Scooter” and often Doris will fly out to a show to help if the couple has brought the baby with them on a long run. Just good people... Trainer Ronnie Casper, who stood the Colliers’ stud, Congress Western Riding Champion Good Time to Shine, during the years that they owned him, has known Jimmy and Doris (and young Lori) for some 25 years and counts them as close friends as well as business associates. “Doris is a grand lady...and was like a mother to me,” Ronnie notes. “And Jimmy was a lot like my father – he was home working, trying to pay the bills to keep everybody on the road and showing. He was there and he was a big support.” The Collier’s have contributed much to the Florida horse industry through the years, and for several years Doris served as secretary for the Florida Quarter Horse Association. “They’re very good people,” says Florida Quarter Horse Association show manager, Peg Edmondson of Nokomis, Florida. “Just very hard working and loyal.” Peg has known the Collier family since Lori was a young girl just beginning to show horses. Often, in her role as FQHA secretary, and later with some of the clients at Pinetree, Doris is asked for advice from new people coming into the horse world. “My advice is to surround yourself with knowledgeable vets, blacksmiths and trainers...and absorb all you can from them. And remember there is a way to achieve your dreams if you really want to. Just don’t give up...and keep a positive outlook on it all.” So, if you want to get to know some super nice people who love and produce good quarter horses, who have a keen love of the land, and know the value of family...well, you might just want to head down to Pinetree Quarter Horses in Loxahatchee, Florida. You’re guaranteed a wonderful experience.
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