Classical Dressage Art in Motion

  For those of us that are horse owners who call Upstate New York home for 12 months a year, 2025/2026 winter has been full of challenges.  Despite the best of preparations farms have been waist deep in snow or ice since mid-November. Just getting from A to B has required fortitude. High winds, white out conditions and no real break from bitter cold down to -35 degrees F for days on end has made this winter seem eternal and we can't wait for sun and warmth. It has been decidedly not fun. And yet, the horses don't seem to mind this weather much at all.     Eventually the sun has come out, and the temperatures have warmed to almost freezing on the occasional day during February. Roll on March! Thankfully the weather pattern is supposed to go to a more 'normal' program in the next few weeks. But of course as its March, that means more snow. Here at our farm at Willowview Hill Farm, we are fortunate to enjoy the benefit of a sturdy Morton built indoor arena. We put it up...

This winter has been particularly severe across parts of the U.S. and from our corner of the world in Upstate New York, we can certainly attest to that. Ever since mid-November the snow has covered the fields most days. A few brief breaks from snow cover didn't last long. Additionally the ambient temperatures even without the wind chill factor have been well-below freezing.  Despite horse owners best efforts to stock up for winter with hay and dry forage supplies, many barn owners can already see their supplies diminishing at a faster rate than normal. Horses need hay to keep warm, and grain substitution is simply not a good idea as it increases the risk of colic and does little to help equines stay warm. Though too much grain can make them hot to handle. At Willowview Hill Farm, our organic hay farm in Stamford, New York, we currently have plenty of hay supplies available for sale. In fact, to help horse owners out we've discounted our precious 2nd cut, which will also help u...

  One of the many things you learn as a professional trainer/clinician is that your own horses won't wait. It is almost inevitable that if you are retired from competition but making a living training and working with other people's horses and training other riders, your own horses will come second or even third in the priority lineup. Sadly though, you may learn the hard way that horse's won't wait. While keeping your own horses happy and healthy, maintaining their training routines and programs will always happen, the time spent with them on adventures out together my be limited. The net result is your horse(s) and even your partnership never reaches its full potential. I don't even have many photos of me riding Charrington because I am the photographer in the family and during that time a camera was needed, the cell phone camera was not invented.   This has happened to me. The regret that I should have done more. Although it hasn't really 'happened' t...

  While travel for clinics is always on the table, the Fall season is a particular favorite of mine for getting out and about and helping out. And we include ourselves in that equation of clinc time, often continuing work on our own education here and abroad at this time of year. Before winter training season begins at our Willowview Hill Farm.   Despite the hurricane season being upon us, the Fall weather (particularly in New England) and Europe is beautiful for working horses outside. The pesky flies and bugs have 99% disappeared with the first frosts, and the air is crisp and clean and hopefully remains clear of wild fire smoke.  But aside from the wonders of the falling leaf season and orange- colored cratered valleys, this time of year makes great sense horse wise to get the training progressed and establish new protocols for winter work.      One of the best things about giving clinics at any time of year is the variety of students and horses that arr...

  I think by now most of us have heard of Round-Up, and its detrimental nature to human and animal health. It's proper name, often disguised in other producsts, is Glyphosate. It is applied in a variety of forms including isopropylamine salt, ammonium salt, diammonium salt, dimethylammonium salt, and potassium salt. Guidelines for use are often not followed, either in time frame or quantity, due to the resistance in plants/weeds that has increased since its over-abundance of use, and the desire that is quite understandable in farmers to get their hay dried off as fast as possible. It's extremely worrying that states such as North Dakota and Georgia are amending laws to provide a shield for pharmaceutical manufacturers who produce this stuff and all their other concoctions, that protects them from lawsuits by those harmed by the herbicides and pesticides they manufacture. Find more on that topic on Facebook reel here.  This means ever more products will hit our food cha...

The marketplace for horse boarding services has changed in the post-Covid era. A lot. The rising costs that are hitting the farming community in general are no joke. Willowview Hill Farm, Stamford NY   The other day I had a call from a lady who sounded very 'sound', with good horse knowledge that was looking for a straight boarding option for a couple of pleasure-riding horses. Nothing wrong with that. Or with the fact she wanted a boarding space with good standards of horse care and a well-run facility. Trouble is, can she afford it. Are the prices for horse board that people may be used to paying even last year or the year before, realistic in today's marketplace? At our dressage yard at Willowview Hill Farm, pictured above, we have a small barn and an indoor arena, access to 26 miles of trails, and plenty of turn-out, and organic home-produced hay for feeding our performance horses. We offer dressage training services, with boarding only being available for horses in tra...