Meet the Colorado Horsecare Foodbank Team

The Colorado Horsecare Foodbank team is an all-volunteer team of practical, down-to-earth horse owners and horse professionals who have come together to build this nonprofit into a strong, growing organization. Here’s a look at the key people who have built Colorado Horsecare Foodbank into one of the leading hay banks in Colorado and the United States.

Juliana Lehman

Founder and Executive Director,
Colorado Horsecare Foodbank

Juliana Lehman has a lifetime of experience with, and a love of, horses. She grew up on a 200-acre ranch in serious horse country with many notable horse trainers. Tom Dorrence was her neighbor. Juliana’s father was a horseman who started teaching her to ride when she was four years old. Her father taught her the Old Vacquero Method of riding using a “soft hand,” i.e. no hard pulling on a horse’s mouth. One of their neighbors in the canyon also taught her to ride English.

Her first horse was a cantankerous Welsh pony named Ranger, who was “barn sour” and loved to kick and buck. Once Juliana took him into her life, he calmed down under the gentle Vacquero method of riding and with all the roaming over hill and dale.

Her favorite childhood memories are saddling up and riding the land with her father. Those were the days when you could ride through anyone’s property as long as you followed common sense and universal “ranch rules,” i.e., if a gate is closed, go through it, and then close it again. If the gate is open, ride through, and leave it open, as the owner wished. Juliana and her father rode trails over the hill country between San Benancio Canyon and Carmel Valley.

When Juliana was 13, her parents divorced, and she and her mother moved from the ranch. Her horse was sold, and, to this day, she wonders what happened to him. As a result, she understands how sending a horse away forever powerfully affects the children in horse families.

After Juliana had grown up and moved to the city, and her parents had died, she found that she needed to re-connect with her roots. She leased Leighanne, a palomino quarter horse mare, and later took full ownership of her, and then purchased Desi, a feisty Arabian mare. CHF Board Member Kelly Hendricks, a horse trainer, became a friend at this time, and helped her train her horses, and ultimately, became a Colorado Horsecare Foodbank board member.

Juliana lives in Evergreen with her husband, Richard, along with two dogs, three cats, two horses, two rams, and three “part-time” yaks. Prior to running Colorado Horsecare Foodbank, Juliana owned and operated several very successful small businesses.

Kelly Hendricks

Colorado Horsecare Foodbank Board Member

Kelly Hendricks lives in Conifer, Colorado with her husband, Jeremy, and two sons. She teaches riding to beginners ages four and up. The family owns Pikes View Ranch, which consists of 40 gorgeous mountain acres, a group of wise and patient schooling horses, a herd of Navajo Churro sheep, chickens, and some goats. Her lifelong passion is to help riders improve their skills through dressage basics and natural horsemanship.

Kelly grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and studied Government and Economics at Lehigh University in Allentown. Her first career was in sales and marketing with horse-training as a side business. By 1998, Kelly transitioned to a full-time career in horse training. About that time, she met Juliana Lehman, who became not only a riding student, but a good friend. Once Juliana founded Colorado Horsecare Foodbank, Kelly stepped onto the board, and has been with CHF ever since.

Marty Jackson

Colorado Horsecare Foodbank Board Member
& “Hay Gal”

Marty grew up with horses. By the age of seven, she was guiding tourists on horseback in Green Mountain Falls. Marty currently is a horse owner who lives in Black Forest near Colorado Springs. She and her family, friends, horses, and dogs lived through the Black Forest fires of 2013, and she knows first-hand how important a hay bank can be after a natural disaster. Marty says she knew CHF’s mission was important, but it really hit home after she was directly affected by a wildfire.

Her background and work experience are diverse. Marty has worked as a private investigator; an animal cruelty investigator; a project manager; a construction manager; and currently as an equipment engineer in the wireless industry. Marty’s primary responsibility at CHF is to manage the procurement and distribution of emergency hay. As such, Marty maintains great relationships with hay producers in the United States and Canada, and she has designated herself CHF’s “hay gal.”

Marty also is working on another aspect of emergency response for horses after natural disasters: she’s developing solutions to provide emergency stabling for horses when they are displaced because of natural disasters.