09/10/2026
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Thank you to the Town of Crawford for featuring Juckas Riding Stables! We are so proud to be a part of this wonderful community. Juckas Riding Stables
Town of Crawford Business Spotlight: Juckas Stables
Lori Maney Lentini did not foresee herself as a horseback riding-stable owner. With a strong interest in mental health, she worked in Human Resources, ran community mental health clinics and wrote a book, “Anxiety Insights: What Gets to Us and What Gets Us Through.” This all changed in a night and what she calls a “grief-soaked decision, made over a couple bottles of wine” with her nephew, Brian.
Lori grew up on a horse farm in Goshen. Her father, Don Maney, owned a tack shop, and he bought and sold horses. “If you owned a horse within ten counties, you knew who Don Maney was,” she recounts. Lori grew up riding, then went to Hofstra and commuted to Wall Street, eventually moving to Montgomery when she had kids.
Don Maney and Karen Juckas were together for over forty years when they passed in 2020 within three weeks of each other. Karen left the farm to her daughter Pam from Pine Bush. In 2021, a remembrance ceremony was held for Karen. Lori’s nephew Brian Stevens came down from Lake Placid to attend and stayed with her. “Brian is the horse person. He loves and knows everything there is to know about horses,” she affirms. At this point, Pam was about to sell the farm. Lori and Brian did not want the land to go to developers; they wanted it to stay in the family. They considered Karen to be both mom and grandma as she had been alongside them and Don for almost their entire lives. They made the fateful decision to join forces and buy the farm.
Since that day, Lori and Brian have maintained the farm’s business of trail rides, lessons, summer camp and boarding, and they have initiated many new additions including Date Night Rides, Pizza & Beer Rides, photo shoots, a Riding Team, Gymkhanas, and Cow Sorts. Juckas Riding Stables is also open all year round now.
What does Lori like about having a business in the Town of Crawford? “I love Pine Bush. It’s home to me. We are always here. I have a lot of good friends and business collaborators. Many of the local business owners are very supportive of us and each other.”
What’s the future for Juckas Riding Stables? “The core of our business is trail rides. A big percentage of the people who come here have never ridden before. Brian is continuing to offer new programs, develop our Riding Team and offer clinics while making improvements in operations and systems. He would love to re-establish a tack shop one day.”
As the interview winds down, Lori tells me, “We’re not fancy. We’re not an exclusive barn. We really just enjoy the western lifestyle. We love to introduce people to the sport of riding.”
Supervisor Menendez and the Town Board thank Juckas Stables for their unique contribution to our community. You can find information about them on their page: https://www.facebook.com/juckasridingstables. If you would like your Town of Crawford business to be featured in a spotlight, contact Seniors Community Service Director Joan Miller at [email protected].
Photo by Sharon MacGregor
