THE TEAM
Roxann Hart
General Manager and Co-Founder
Roxann is a lifelong horsewoman who began showing Arabians in 1956. After graduating from Rollins College with a degree in business and economics, she combined her avocation with her vocation by establishing Rohara Arabians in 1968.
Roxann is the general manager of Rohara Arabians, and is active in all areas of farm development, breeding and training. In addition, she shows in the amateur halter division, where she has won multiple Scottsdale, regional and national championships in Arabians and Half-Arabians, as well as the National Show Horse Registry’s national championship in amateur driving. She was named the Arabian Professional and Amateur Horseman Association’s Amateur Halter Horsewoman of the Year in 2003, and in 2008, with her husband Karl, she accepted the APAHA’s Breeder of the Year Award for Rohara Arabians.
Roxann travels extensively to Arabian functions in Europe, Central and South America, studying breeding programs here and abroad. In recognition of her achievements, she was awarded the 2010 United States Equestrian Federation’s Ellen Scripps Davis Memorial Breeders’ Cup Award, joining a select group of horsemen representing all breeds. In 2011 Roxann received the Arabian Horse Time Breeders’ Choice Award for Breeder of the Year.
Although she has enjoyed the accolades and the recognition they have brought to Rohara, Roxann’s favorite endeavor—and her mission—has remained the same over the years: she loves the successful breeding and marketing of Arabian horses to a national and international clientele.
Karl V. Hart
Co-Founder
Karl V. Hart was born and raised on a farm in Mayo, Fla., where in addition to cultivating row crops, his father bred Quarter Horses. Karl took his own approach to a career: he dropped out of high school at 17, enlisted in the Air Force, and spent three years in Europe before pursuing his education. When he returned to civilian life, he attended Florida State University and was awarded a B.S. degree in 1960, then attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina on a Falk Teaching Fellowship. He received his law degree from Harvard School of Law, where among other accomplishments, he was the founding editor of the Harvard Journal of Legislation. Upon graduation, he clerked for a United States District Court Judge for one year and then joined the oldest law firm in South Florida, located in Miami.
Karl and Roxann were married in 1968, and founded Rohara Arabians that same year. While Roxann has been responsible for hands-on management of the farm, Karl has practiced as a civil litigation attorney representing some of the largest companies in the world. Over the years, however, he has always contributed general advice on the management of the farm, especially regarding financial, breeding and purchasing decisions.
In addition to his law practice, Karl has been very active in the governing bodies of both the Arabian horse industry and the general horse show world. In 1974 and 1985, he served as president of the Arabian Horse Association of Florida, and he has served six terms as the Arabian Horse Association’s Region 12 Director (1976-1980, 1988-1993 and 1998-2001). He is currently in his sixth three-year term as a director of the United States Equestrian Federation (formerly the American Horse Shows Association and USA Equestrian), the governing body of equestrian sports (1983-1990, 1993-2000 and 2001 to present). Since 2003, Karl has been president of the USA Equestrian Trust, which is the successor of AHSA and USAE in all aspects other than as the rule-making body of equine sports. He has worked on many of the standing and special committees of both the International Arabian Horse Association (the forerunner to AHA) and USEF or its predecessors.
John Rannenberg
Resident Trainer
Shortly after Rohara Arabians relocated from Miami to Orange Lake, Fla., in the early 1980s, it emerged as one of the nation’s premiere equestrian ventures. In 1985 John Rannenberg, resident trainer for singer Kenny Rogers’ Beaver Dam Farms, joined Rohara. In the years since, John’s expertise has netted six Arabian Professional and Amateur Horseman’s Association Awards, an APAHA Horseman of the Year title, and countless national championships in halter, English pleasure, country English pleasure, pleasure driving, country pleasure driving, informal combination, western pleasure, hunter pleasure, show hack, native costume, saddle seat equitation, and park.
Today, more than two decades later, the name John Rannenberg has become synonymous with professional achievement and opportunity. Correspondingly, the name Rohara symbolizes the same lofty reputation around the world that he has been instrumental in establishing in the United States, Canada, Europe, and South America.
Since 1987, John also has had his own breeding program of purebreds and Half-Arabians, which has produced more than 20 national titles. Many times he has enjoyed being the breeder, trainer and owner at the time of the win.
He has still found time to serve as president of the Ocala Arabian Horse Association for more than six years, heading up such activities as horse shows, training clinics, guest speakers, and the very popular Horse Lovers Tour of Marion County.
John holds the highest level United States Equestrian Federation judges license at the regional/national level. He has enjoyed judging throughout the United States, including many regionals, the Youth Nationals and Canadian Nationals, and internationally, in Australia and at the Brazil Nationals.