Dr. Ronda Stavisky has been involved with horses all of her life.  She competed in her first horse show at the age of five and was an active member of the United States Pony Club during her adolescence through high school.  These formative experiences not only included horse show competitions, but a vigorous grounding in horse management and stable management.  After college, Ronda received a Ph.D. from Emory University in 1994 with a focus on Reproductive Biology.  Two post-docs followed, the first at Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, where research was aimed at Assisted Reproductive techniques in monkeys and Great Apes, as well as the endocrinology of Growth and Development.  The second post-doc took place at the Comparative Medicine Clinical Research Center of Wake Forest University where the focus was Women’s Health and the testing of estrogen analogues for hormone therapy in a macaque model –  – a useful education for someone interested in horse breeding!   

Rising Star Farm, founded in 2003 by Ronda and her husband Steve Turpin, is the culmination of Ronda's dreams - a 45 acre farm in Texas where the approved warmblood stallions Cielo B, Kinnaras, Valentino Z, Deja Blue B, and guest stallion Figaro B stand when they are not on the road pursuing their competition careers.  In addition to managing the breeding of the stallions, Ronda also has put together a band of broodmares with exceptional bloodlines and performance records.  Springtime is busy at RSF, with breeding and foaling.  During the remainder of the year, you can find Ronda in the jumper ring with Valentino Z.