About Us
23 Acres
Our facility sits on 23 acres of land which includes wooded ares for trail training, an indoor and outdoor arena, three grass fields, a small dry lot, and a small pond.
21 Stall Barn
Our bran includes 21 stalls, a washbay with hot and cold water, a tack room, a bathroom, a feed room, and an indoor arena. The barn typically stays between 40 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but will drop or raise in extreme highs or lows.
Training
I am currently not taking individual horses in for training, but I am fostering and training horses through Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue. I participated in the 2021 Appalachian Trainer Face Off as the Youth Trainer for Gilligan. I had Batata in for training from November 2021 to May 2022.
Gilligan was at our farm for 100 days of foundational training. At the end of those 100 days we loaded up and went to Winfield, WV to compete in the Appalachian Trainer Face Off. We did not do as well as I had hoped, but that was no fault of Gilligan's and I learned a lot from the experience. Heart of Phoenix pulled Gilligan off of the reclaimed strip mines in southern WV after he and his mother had been chased by ATVs. his mother was injured and passed on the mines, but the rescue was able to get to Gilligan in time to save him. He is a 2020 baby.
Batata is a 2012 Tennessee Walker/Belgian/Haflinger mare. She was in the 2021 Appalachian Trainer Face Off, but did not get adopted long term. She came to our farm November of 2021 with 20 rides. I added 60 additional rides and exposed her to a multitude of situations and riders until we progressed to a point where I no longer had the knowledge to push her further.
Personal Equines
We currently have 1 molly mule(Jenny), 1 miniature horse gelding(Rocky), 1 draft-cross grade gelding(Buddy), and 1 standardbred gelding(Jack), for a total of 4 equines.
Jenny is a 2010 molly mule who does primarily pleasure trails. She came to our farm in 2019 after her pervious owner had passed away and his estate did not know what to do with any of his equines.
Rocky is a 2008 miniature horse gelding. He occasionally does lead-line rides for small children, but is primarily a companion animal.
Buddy is a 1989 draft-cross gelding. He started life teaching children how to barrel race, but retired to our farm in 2015 for light trail riding. He is now completely retired. He has developed PPID, and has only 6 out of 24 molars left in his mouth, with the combination of PPID and lack of teeth he can be difficult to keep weight on. Currently he comes in overnight to eat alfalfa timothy cubes that have been soaked to a soup.
Jack, registered as Gee Wizz Daddy O, is a 2018 registered standardbred gelding. He started life harness racing, but became lame when regularly worked at top speeds. His pervious owners tried stall rest, field rest, and took X-rays and an ultrasound of all of his joints, but could not find the cause. He is completely sound for any level of work as long as he is not consistently at top harness racing speeds. Their working theory is that he had a minor conformation flaw that does not effect him at normal speeds, but becomes a problem at top speeds. I am starting him under saddle, and so far I am extremely pleased with his mind and willingness to learn.
School
I am currently attending the University of Findlay in Ohio for a double major in Western Equestrian Training and Equine Business Management. I am in my sophomore year, and should graduate in 2026. Coming out of Findlay I will have the knowledge to start a horse from the ground up, will have experience in Western Pleasure, Reining, Cutting, Showmanship, Ranch Riding, and much more.
In the summers I will be interning under trainers and in show barns as part of my degree, and the summers that I am free I will be adding more training time on Jack, and continuing to trail ride Jenny.
Coming out of Findlay I plan to start my own training and showing barn, potentially after a few more internships, and start producing well trained, safe, all around western horses. I plan to continue working with rescues to provide training to their horses as well. I plan to provide a few lessons, and travel to a few barns to give lessons on individual's personal horses, but my main focus will be on training and showing horses.