Diana Zahradnik is the owner and operator of Castlerock Morgans in Belchertown, MA. She is an incredibly skilled and passionate horsewoman, a teacher and trainer, an animal lover, and an outgoing people person.
Diana has always loved horses from a very young age. Every birthday as a girl in the city, Diana wished for a pony of her own. It was not until she could pay her own way through hard work, grit, and determination that Diana finally was able to enter the horse world. After longingly watching other girls with their horses for many years, the moment Diana got her driver’s license, she began volunteering and learning at a barn every spare moment she had. She began by mucking stalls, brushing horses, and helping around the trail riding facility. Eventually her hard work paid off, and she earned the ability to lead trail rides for groups.
When Diana eventually graduated high school and got a full-time job, the first thing she did was buy her own horse. The night Diana brought home E.B. Brass Buttons, a registered 7-year-old liver chestnut Morgan, she couldn’t believe that finally, she was the lucky girl with her very own horse. Diana’s determination and work ethic led her to watch every video, attend every clinic, and take every lesson she could. Diana also volunteered for her local veterinarian, Dr. Clifford Morcum, and accompanied him on many large animal farm calls. She taught hunt seat riding lessons to beginners in Wilbraham. Diana’s mom purchased a registered Arabian horse, CJ King Rana. While Diana trained C.J., she apprenticed with Karen Dodge and showed C.J. on the Arabian circuit. Over the years, Diana became a self-made equine expert with the help of amazing teachers such as Trudy Wessel, a coach for the US Equestrian Team, and highly skilled Morgan trainers such as Chuck Livingston, Cindy Mugnier, and Judy Nason. Diana will forever have deep gratitude for the generosity of these trainers in openly sharing their wealth of knowledge which made her able to gain the skills to compete at a high level in in the Morgan world and to eventually breed and train her own horses.
Through many years, and many horses, Diana honed her craft. She trained winning show horses and competed with her horses in many disciplines including driving, hunt seat, saddle seat, and western pleasure. The culmination of Diana’s years of hard work and dedication was the purchase of a very green Morgan mare named River’s Edge, aka R.E., who was in foal with Castle Rock River’s Empress, aka Murphy, who became the foundation mare for Castle Rock Morgans. Diana then purchased and trained a green 2-year-old Morgan named JMF Classic, aka Reggie. Reggie won numerous ribbons, and given his amazing temperament and trainability, Diana bred Reggie to Murphy and the result was Diana’s heart horse, Castle Rock Murphy’s Law, aka Roo.
Castlerock Morgans 