About Romain
Born and raised in France, Romain Ampe started playing ''cowboy'' with his sister's old paint mare, "Gitane" at 8 years old and hasn't gotten off a horse since! At age 11 he was introduced to reining by a family friend who was a non pro and has been following his dream of becoming a top trainer ever since. His focus and passion for excellence has led Romain to where he is today. Early on Romain knew he was going to do whatever it took to become a top horse trainer so he decided to move to Canada and learn from trainers there. While in Canada Romain learned some of the basics from Eddy Franks, and from there moved to Germany to take a position as an assistant trainer at Doering Quarter Horses. While there he was starting two-year olds as well as learning more about both reining and cutting. After spending a few years at Doering ranch Romain's passion for reining had grown and he knew that he wanted to pursue a career strictly with reining. From there he took a training position with one of Europe's top reining trainers, Rudi Kronsteiner; Europe's first million dollar rider.
Romain learned a lot from Rudi and in 2006 made the move to the United States to really jump start his career. He worked as an assistant for many great trainers over the years such as Brian Bell, Bryant Pace, Tracer Gilson, Matt Mills and Ruben Vandorp. While working for Ruben, Romain was given the opportunity to show Einsteins Revolution alongside Mike McEntire and help him to become the first horse to reach the $300,000 in lifetime earnings. In these first few years Romain earned about $4500 in earnings. In January, 2009 Romain decided to go out on his own and start Ampe Performance Horses. He took the head trainer position at 5B ranch working for Dave Belson in Arizona. While in Arizona Romain met his future wife Lauren. After working at 5B for about a year Romain decided to follow his heart and move with Lauren back to the East Coast closer to her family and took a position training horses for Ed and Nadine Galbraith at Morning Star Performance Horses. While there Romain was able to train and show some great horses and took his lifetime earnings to over $10,000. In an effort again to move closer to Lauren's family Romain and Lauren moved a little more north to Maryland in 2011, where Romain became the head trainer at Summer Wind Farm working for Bob LaPorta. While at Summer Wind Romain's career really took off and he increased his life time earnings to over $120,000. In May 2015 Romain decided to move out on his own and moved his business to Cowpens, SC.
Romain's enthusiasm and love for reining and the horse is evident in his style of training and teaching. Romain has created a program that gives non pros the opportunity to develop better skills and results at any level. Romain says, "Our goal is to make sure we are providing the highest quality of services, whether our customers want to buy, have their horse trained, sold or shown, meeting the needs of our customers and caring for the horses is our top priority". Romain recently ventured our on his own and moved his business to Cowpens South Carolina and is renting stalls from Chris and Sara Roux. Romain and Lauren wed in September 2013 and welcomed their first daughter Adriana in July 2014.
If your seeking a trainer to take your horse to the next level or help you reach your own reining goals, call or visit Ampe Performance Horses today!