by Kim Redo | Photos courtesy of Samantha Powell
When most folks think of Oklahoma, the images of cowboys, cattle, and open grassy plains come to mind. Appropriately named, Paradigm Farm fills some of those open spaces with a new breed of horsemen. The multifaceted hunter-jumper facility covers a wide range of interests, including owner-operator Samantha Powell’s coaching of the University of Oklahoma (OU) equestrian team.
The OU team competes in the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA), showing predominantly in Texas and Oklahoma. The shows are broken down by regions and zones, culminating at the national level. The IHSA uses equitation-based catch riding. Riders learn to ride and train on several horses. At the horse show, contestants draw for horses they have never ridden before.
In 2024, Lexi Smith won reserve champion in the IHSA zone finals and tenth overall in the national finals.
“Each year since I started coaching, we have had riders qualify for the nationals,” Powell stated. “We’ve been blessed.”
Jumpers are the equivalent of team ropers in the western horse world. In a timed event, the horse-and-rider partners must traverse a course of jumps of varying construction. The pair with the fastest time wins. Penalties such as for knocking down poles are added to the overall times. Hunters are judged more on precision. The elegance of their movement is paramount to a higher score. Judges consider overall cadence, rhythm, impulsion, and style over fences.
Solid Ground
Powell landed south of Oklahoma City after years of having been a Navy brat living just about everywhere. Her mother loved horses and purchased an eventing facility. So young Samantha fell right into the horse world from an early age. After having leased different barns in the Oklahoma City area, she sublet a small farm and started her business.
A few farms later, after her subsequent marriage to firefighter Matt (aka Sparky) Powell (whose parents owned the first farm she had leased), the new couple purchased a modest farm in Washington, Oklahoma, on Interstate 35 between Purcell and Norman.
Since that time, October 2013, the business has flourished. According to Powell, she and her husband chose the name of the farm aptly. She says, “The name Paradigm is because this farm was a big change for us. We owned this one.” After years of leasing properties and pulling up stakes, she was on solid ground.
Powell has ridden under the tutelage of many clinicians, including Mike Huber, 1980 U.S. Olympic equestrian team member, and Australian Marji Armstrong, who works in classical horsemanship. Much of Powell’s knowledge is self-taught during years of riding numerous horses in training and in competition. Following in her mother’s boots, she started in eventing, switching to hunters-jumpers in her twenties. It was a good move. She shares her ever-expanding range of knowledge and experience through coaching and teaching.
Powell’s current position as the OU equestrian team coach is not a job she takes lightly. She works hard at it, in addition to training, teaching, and running a growing breeding program at home.
True Horse People
What does Powell find exciting about all this work?
“I love producing talented, rideable, fun horses and creating good horsemen, not just giving lessons to people who expect to be riders without learning about the horse. I want a true horse person.”
Despite not advertising her business, Powell’s barn is full.
“There are not really many hunter-jumper barns in our area. We are a small family business with a lot of irons in the fire, but we want to keep it this way. And this enables us to stay a high-quality operation. All my clients are here through word of mouth.”
Paradigm lays claim to having produced national pony finals qualifiers every year until 2024.
“In 2024, we did not have any pony riders because we were more focused on breeding and the OU team. But we plan to be back next year,” Powell said. One student, Adeline Fowler from Bentonville, Arkansas, won the United States Hunter Jumper Association’s Pony Derby Challenge in 2022.
Despite the many wins in Powell’s own career, including Rider of the Year through the now defunct Greater Oklahoma Hunter Jumper Association in the mid-2000s, she no longer competes, mostly because of time constraints.
“Maybe down the road in a few more years, I’ll get back into it,” she said. Right now, she is working hard on the farm’s breeding program, partnering with Avalon Equine in Wynnewood.
Powell’s main assistant is her daughter Alana Boyle, who helps in all aspects of the business. She holds a degree in equine science from Oklahoma State University and completed a six-month equine reproductive internship at the Four Sixes Ranch (6666 Ranch) in Texas. Powell’s daughter Austyn is five years old and is dubbed the Wild Child. She loves the farm and the horse-show lifestyle. Matt Powell is a team roper. He helps with various jobs for the farm and business.
Paradigm Farm is on Facebook and has a website, www.paradigmfarmllc.com.
For more information about the OU equestrian team, go to www.oklahoma
equestrian.org.
