Stanford E. Moore’s love of horses began when he was a little boy growing up on a farm back in Ahoskie, North Carolina. His Grandfather had two horses that he immediately fell in love with. One a black stallion named “Stubby” because of his headstrong nature and a one-eyed grey mare named “Snowball”, which he loved dearly.
The horses were a big part of his young life back then living on hundreds of acres. Early morning farm work before and after school was a way of life, but “two horses can sure take the work out of it”. Moore’s grandfather Buster “Bus” Moore passed away when he was an early teen with all of the livestock sold by the family. Even so, the love of horses never left and Moore vowed that, when in position to, he would own horses of his own.
After high school Moore joined the Army, where he served for nearly four years. He decided to depart after returning home from Desert Storm. He studied Aero Science in college and was always naturally gifted in Art. After college, Moore moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and furthered his education in pursuit of an electrical engineering career. He was later hired by two major corporations in the Research Triangle Park in engineering research and design.
After meeting his wife Shekina in 1997, he was soon introduced to her uncle and his mentor, Pastor Dr. Arlee Griffin, Jr. He was a lover of horses and the owner of Arkofa Farms, a 200 acre Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred Breeding farm. Volunteering on the farm, Moore began learning true horsemanship from the staff of trainers. He purchased a 16.3 hand bay appendix bred quarter/thoroughbred fresh off of the track named “Good Grief I’m A Hero” and he immediately fell in love with him.
The rest is history.
Moore went on to walk away from Corporate America and partnered with an Inc. 500 telecom/energy company where he became one of it’s Senior VPs. He is the visionary and Publisher of Black Reins Magazine with Literacy Moguls (TM) Publishing Company, spotlighting the black cowboy. Moore is raising awareness of a strong tradition rarely seen in the many novels, films and television series dedicated to the tales of the old West and today’s black cowboys.