Angela Alvarez
General Manager

In March of 1986, Angela came to Varian Arabians. Her medical background served her well when she started in the breeding department as a mare care technician.

Though the years, Angela has worn many hats out of her dedication to the farm and its mission. She was the breeding manager from 1987 - 2016, after Sheila's passing and the increased responsibility handed down to her she released that title to Kristy Gillot in 2017 who has been her assistant for several years. She also has been foaling out the mares at Varian Arabians since 1986, she has foaled over a 1000 mares & still feels it is important for her and the farm that she be there at every birth. 

Angela also is one responsible for the beautiful History Wall that wraps around the inside of the Show Barn and the new addition to the farm "Sheila Varian's Museum".

With Sheila passing the torch to her, Angela now resides as General Manager of Varian Arabians, overseeing all staff, breeding, foaling and training decisions, events, and more. Angela is wholeheartedly dedicated to continuing Sheila’s vision for The Varian Way, as it touches both horses and people.

Angela has been married to her husband Tony since 1974, they have lived across the street from the farm since 1987, raised their family there and have made it a very special place they call home.


They have two daughters, Ryah and Leah. Ryah made Angela and Tony proud grandparents on December 4, 2006 with a beautiful girl, Jaedyn, who can be seen helping at the farm if she is not out on the softball field.

 

Ryah Alvarez
Office Manager

Angela and Tony’s oldest daughter, Ryah was officially added to the Varian Arabians staff roster in 2015. She will likely be the voice the greets you when you call the ranch, and is in charge of records, office management, website and other marketing platforms, events coverage, and more. She shares the same warmth as her mom, and has been a loved figure in the background for many years.

Pictured is Ryah with her daughter Jaedyn. You may recognize Jaedyn as being Kristy and Angela’s shadow at Varian events, evening wearing a “staff” badge. She’s a pretty lucky 9-year-old, living at Varian Arabians and learning the ropes with the best of them.

"Mike" Ismael Perez
Head Halter Trainer

Mike Perez has been a part of Varian Arabians in 1995 after Bob Battaglia suggested Sheila was looking for help. At the beginning, he helped Felix Hernandez getting the horses ready for sale. Sheila liked his attitude and the way he worked with the horses. He helped in the lab for a while and rode the horses with Jaime, but after going to the Scottsdale show with Sheila, it became his dream to work with the halter horses.

He recalls his first time in the show ring, in Paso Robles, with a horse named Brandy Jullyen, winning the Grand Championship. Next show was Pomona, where Sahara Jullyen won Grand Champion and Moon of Jullyen won Reserve Champion. His second year showing, he was in Scottsdale, with five horses. Of those five, four of them made the top ten.

“Sheila taught me that every class, at every show, even if you win the Champion every time, there is always more to learn. She was always right beside me always giving me more ideas, how to show, where to face.” She taught him to go slowly with these babies, to give them time to figure things out, she taught him a softer way with the horses and to always work at improving his technique.

Mike’s been training babies for fifteen years, halter breaking around thirty horses a year. He gives them their first introduction to how to behave and how things work for the rest of their lives. He works with them until they graduate up to Jaime and go under saddle.
  

Kristy Gillot
Breeding/Health Care Manager

Kristy has spent about half of her life at Varian Arabians, starting out when she was about sixteen, right after getting her driver’s license. She started with a summer job bathing and grooming the horses. She graduated from Cal Poly with her major in Animal Science, focusing on Equine Reproduction, and her minor in Agribusiness.  Soon she became Angela’s assistant in the breeding barn. “I went through a lot of phases at Varian Arabians, Angela was always willing to teach me everything and to be disciplined. She was very good to me.”

Kristy was born in Pittsburg, PA. When she was four years old, her Dad, a Chemical Engineer, came to California to work at the Diablo Power Plant. That same year, she started taking riding lessons at Sun King Farms in Arroyo Grande. When she was seven, on her birthday, she got her first horse, a little Arabian Mare named Rainbow’s End. She competed with “Bow” in everything from Hunter to Western Pleasure to Team Penning. 

It was at the Foal Festival in 2014, when she showed a couple foals for Sherry Conrads and Keith Krichke, that she and Sheila really started to get to know one another. “Sheila taught me to never give up on myself or what I believe in. She showed that over and over in her life with the horses and even more so through her illness. Almost every horse lesson she taught me could also be applied to a life lesson. She made me think outside the box.”

Today, she has stepped up to the role of Breeding manager at Varian Arabians and she loves her job. “You get to know all of the horses, they’re like family to me. If I’m having a rough day, I go visit the horses and they always make me feel better. I am so blessed to have grown up out here.”