Meet

The Owners

Sua Sponte Farm is owned by Mark Taylor and Nicola Dickinson, who have been married for ten years.

Mark grew up around horses, cows, and farming in North Louisiana and participated in rodeos as a teenager. Since then, Mark has been a member of the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, a Sniper Instructor, a Deputy Sheriff, a US Border Patrol Agent, a Federal Air Marshal, and a Supervisory Intelligence Officer. Mark deployed multiple times to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas of the world as well. Today, Mark works in the private sector. Mark is also the COO of Hooten & Young, a producer of fine whiskey and cigars.

Nicky grew up riding and competing in three-day eventing in North Yorkshire, UK. Her passion for horses was inherited from both her mother (Beryl) and her father (Barrie). Beryl used to exercise horses for the local racing trainer near York and Barrie has been a part of the International Racing Association for over 40 years participating in the association in many countries to include the UK, Japan and Hong Kong. Once Nicky graduated from University she had to give up riding due to her career for 20 years. Nicky has spent a number of years working on Capitol Hill, federal law enforcement and supporting the DoD with 7 years of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Nicky currently works in the private sector.

When Nicky’s father passed away a few years ago, the realization of how short life is drove her to stop one day at a local riding school and book a lesson, and that is where the journey back to horses began. Within a couple of months, she purchased Hugh – her first horse in over 20 years. Her lifelong dream has been to own her own equestrian facility where she can not only train and compete, but also help give second chances to off the track thoroughbreds, as well as breeding, importing, sales and training of top-level Sport Horses. Sua Sponte Farm is the realization of that dream.