Both Russ and Kelly bring many unique talents to their business. For several years, Russ owned and operated several Tae Kwon Do schools in North Central Iowa. In 1987, he was ranked 8th in the world in Open Free Sparring Competition and in 1989 was granted the prestigious title of Regional Instructor of the Year by the ATA. Also in this same year, he broke the national record of breaking 5,000 boards with his bare hands in under 8 hours - a record he still holds.

With this background, Russ brings a strong competitive drive and acute business savvy to the partnership necessary to bring KnR Arabians to the top of the Arabian industry. Kelly, on the other hand, has the necessary experience with horses. It all started when at age 3, she and her first pony, Daisy, won the first place ribbon at a parade in Perry, IA in 1968. Her love for horses has grown every day since. Her father, Doug VanCleave, was a "horse trader" of sorts. "Most of the horses we owned were grade horses. We didn't have a lot of money but always had beautiful horses. Dad would be able to go to a horse sale and could see through the mud and dirt and tell if there was a good horse under there," Kelly says. "We always had between 5 - 10 horses on the small farm in Bristow, Iowa and never once lost money on an animals." Kelly's talent of spotting "diamonds in the rough" so to speak, has helped build the KnR Arabian her to what it is today.

Today you may see some of the most beautiful and finest bred animals of the Arabian breed at the Hampton stable. Kelly also brings with her an artistic talent necessary to promote the business. Together Russ and Kelly are a powerful team intent on succeeding in this business. The Reynolds began showing their stock in 1994, Kelly and her horse BRD Roads Joi were named Overall High Point Champions by the AHSI. Russ and his horse AZA Shah attained the title of High Point Halter horse. The Reynolds horses continued to win many blue ribbons throughout the midwest in Region X and XI in 1994 and into 1995.

A terrible tragedy occurred in July of 1995, bringing the Reynolds' plans

to a screeching halt. While out doing chores one morning, Kelly accidentally fell out of the hay loft. The fall pushed the femur of her left leg through the knee and lodged it into the tibia, cracking the tibia 6 inches down her shin. This happened right in the middle of another promising show season. Doctors told Kelly that she may never walk again un-aided by a cane. Riding was definitely out of the question. Another fall may totally destroy the leg beyond repair. Kelly spent two weeks in the hospital while doctors took bone out of her hip to try to reconstruct the knee and tibia. She spent another three months in a hospital bed just looking out the window at her horses and getting more and more depressed each day. Russ would take the video camera out to film the horses so Kelly could at least watch what was happening at the farm to keep her spirits up. Everything the Reynolds had fought so hard to accomplish was now being threatened. They now had 15 head of horses on the farm and two very demanding jobs. Russ was forced to sell some of the horses as he couldn't keep up with everything that needed to be taken care of. Kelly was also the newsletter editor for the Arabian Horse Society and this had to continue to be printed,. She had started the Jr. and Sr. Queen Contest for the Society and was responsible for getting them to the Iowa State Fair Cowgirl Contest. She couldn't let them down - all the paperwork still needed to be filled out. Another duty the Reynolds had taken on was chairing the High Point Program for the Society. They needed to continue to gain sponsorships for the program and to tabulate the incoming points for all the horses in the contest or the High Point program would die. Kelly was also the Youth Coordinator for the club - again responsible for getting all necessary paperwork out to the International Youth Director to keep their teams in the competition. In order to keep everything going, Russ moved a computer next to Kelly's hospital bed complete with a fax, printer and modem. Even though she was completely immobile, she still managed to supervise her department at the plastics plant, write the newsletter, keep the kids in the Youth competition, get the Queens enrolled in the Cowgirl Contest, and maintain the High Point Program. After three months in a hospital bed and wheelchair, the doctors finally let Kelly go back to work. She was upright and using a walker. Unfortunately, her office was on the second floor

overlooking the production area. Russ carried her upstairs every morning and back down at the end of the work day. "I feel that any obstacle can be overcome. All you need to do is be persistent and never give up." Russ said "I knew Kelly would get better and I never let her get down. I kept telling her that she would someday walk and ride again - she just couldn't give up."

It took two surgeries and a year and a half on crutches before Kelly began to walk by herself - unaided! At this time, a new business proposition had arisen. A new, bigger plastics facility was being built in Ames, IA. They needed a Quality Systems Manager. Kelly succeeded in landing the position at Ball Plastics. This required her to travel quite extensively, again taking her away from the farm. It was necessary for her to visit the other Ball Plastics facility to build her Quality department from scratch and to visit many of her customers to introduce the new company to them. She travels from New York to California to Georgia just to name a few locations. It wasn't long before Russ also moved to the Ball Plastics plant as an Assistant Production Manager. Kelly and Russ make an impressive team and even this company could see that both brought the necessary experience and drive to make a plant start-up successful.

With the additional income, of course, there came further expansion to the farm. An addition of 15 stalls is in progress. A new indoor hot/cold wash rack and full artificial insemination lab. The Reynolds also have plans of adding on another 60 x 80 riding arena to their facility. "We have hired a farm manager, Vivian Mobley, to help us since the business is expanding so rapidly." Russ says. "We just can't seem to keep up!"

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