Canterwood Riding Club is now home to a beautiful Arabian show horse named Pretty Little Liar

or “Aria,” who is enjoying a transition from a major show career to a more relaxed life as a

dressage horse at our facility. Aria is a beautiful horse and showy in her gaits but settling nicely

into a more relaxed life as a Canterwood Riding Club resident.

Aria is now ten years old and the product of a breeding between an Arabian and a very famous

Saddlebred stallion named Udulata’s Nutcracker. Her sire is the most prolific sire of Saddlebred

world champions in the history of the breed and was number one in all of the divisions – five

gaited, three gaited, fine harness, pleasure, and in hand. Aria was initially intended to be a

saddle seat competition horse and showed in Arizona Arabian horse shows. She was a top 10

at Arabian Youth Nationals and competed in Scottsdale Arabian horse shows. She moved to

Washington in 2022 to continue her show career. Her current owners saw her advertised and

fell in love with her. They purchased her in early 2025 and brought her to CRC.

Her owner Jan grew up in Gig Harbor and rode Arabian horses here as a young girl. Jan also

took riding lessons at Canterwood Riding Club long before the Canterwood community was

created. Jan reports that back in the 70s, it was a very large riding facility with trails. The first

houses built in Canterwood were intended to house horses as well as people! Jan met her

husband Rick when she was a young girl. He was also a rider and later a trainer but was also

pursuing an airline career. Rick ultimately became a pilot for American Airlines, and Jan was a

flight attendant for Delta. They had moved away from Gig Harbor due to their aviation careers

but moved back here after Rick retired in 2023 to be closer to family. Both Rick and Jan flew

internationally; Jan still flies international flights out of SeaTac for Delta. Their two children have

also pursued aviation careers and are both pilots! Her daughter is also an accomplished

equestrian.

When Jan and Rick and their family lived in Texas, they owned Arabian mares and rode them

on trails and showed them in Arabian horse shows. They spent hours riding the trails when they

had time off from their aviation work. They owned the Arabian mares for over twenty years and

lost them only recently. That’s where Aria entered the picture; Jan and her daughter saw Aria

advertised for sale and travelled to a trainer’s show barn to buy Aria.

“Aria has been a delight to own,” Jan says. “She is an energetic and fun mare and has a great

work ethic and sense of humor.” Jan notes that CRC has been a perfect fit for her. Having

been a show horse, Aria hadn’t had much interaction with other horses except in the show ring

and did not get turned outdoors during the day. “Having separate outdoor paddocks at CRC

has been such a blessing for her. She gets to be outdoors and see other horses but has her

own safe space. She has met many horse friends and fallen in love with a couple of the

handsome warmblood geldings.”

Jan is very impressed with the horses’ care at CRC due to the high quality of the staff handling

the horses each day and the maintenance of a well-established schedule. “We are thrilled to be

here,” she said.

Both Jan and her daughter are learning about dressage and taking lessons with CRC dressage

trainer Delicia Molton Sorensen. She says she and her daughter may show Aria again in the

future but for now are enjoying just getting to know her. We at CRC feel very fortunate to have

this beautiful horse at our facility as well as her delightful owners.