Alderaan Farm

08/31/2024

"The most important thing I can do is to encourage all of you to keep horsemanship alive. Challenge our younger, up-and-coming professionals to raise their standards. Encourage them to learn to see things from the horse’s point of view. Be sensitive to the horses. Put the horses first, always. Teach them to treat their clients, employees, and fellow exhibitors with the utmost respect. One comment, one piece of encouragement, can make a difference. It can be the deciding factor for whether those who make up the next generation become good people and excellent horsemen."
Adapted from Carleton's National Show Hunter Hall of Fame Acceptance Sp*ech in 2019
📷 Alden Corrigan Media

08/21/2024

Good advice.

08/16/2024

I had someone ask me this week why attendance is one of the factors that affects scheduling.

I thought it was an odd question, because it has a pretty simple answer...open lesson times don't pay bills. So scheduling someone who isn't going to show up regularly isn't a good business decision.

But it really goes deeper than that.

One of the most profound lessons that horses teach us is commitment. Commitment to caring for them, commitment to bettering ourselves, and commitment to setting goals and achieving them.

If you aren't attending the lessons you scheduled (horseback riding or any other sport) regularly, you're missing this point. Your progress will be minimal and you'll end up frustrated.

Holding space for someone who isn't committed to that space will suck the life right out of you. (Read that twice, because it applies every single day of your life). It isn't just a financial drain. It's tough to get excited to teach someone who isn't committed to learning.

So yes, I'm going to schedule riders who are committed to learning and who attend regularly first. Their enthusiasm keeps me going when the day is kicking my butt. They remind me that this purpose is far bigger than just what is happening in the arena.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. 🤣

08/14/2024

❤️

Congratulations to everyone who qualified at our show series for the 2024 Colonial Classic! If your name is on the list, please head to www.colonialclassichorseshow.com for more information on how to enter.

08/08/2024

This.

08/07/2024

Damn.
Now that’s riding.

07/18/2024

😢😢

06/29/2024

An unusual thing to post about, but too funny and precious, so had to share.
You know you are loved when you run into the house in between lessons to p*e, and this is who follows you into the bathroom. 🤣❤️

06/25/2024

And we’re off and running with camp!🏃
Great weather, great kids, and great horses…couldn’t ask for anything more❤️

06/22/2024

Yes to this❤️

Is Gem Twist the best Thoroughbred Showjumper ever?
Gem Twist, who won two Olympic silver medals and was named World’s Best Horse at the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm, ridden by Greg Best he had an incredible career at the Grand Prix level. The gelding is the only horse to have won the "American Grand Prix Association Horse of the Year" title three times, and is regarded as one of the best show jumping horses in history.

06/21/2024

Acquiring students is easy - keeping students is hard

The initial excitement, the enjoyment that comes with experiencing those changes- the light bulb moments, feeling the horse soft and easy and happy with a little adjustment. It’s really fun to watch those in the initial lessons, to make a little tweak in the riders position or mind frame or approach and see quite a change in no time at all.

But time goes on an excitement fades as the work becomes work: it stops being magic and starts to roll into laborious and tedious awareness, habit development or habit changing. You might hit a wall and plateau in development, and have to watch your friends all progress past you while you plug away at learning to not pull when you pick up your reins for example.

Its the difference between chasing a thrill and chasing development- the thrill seekers will be on within a few lessons to something else that gives them a quick burst of “magic,” until the thrill fades there too.

The horsemen and women don’t panic when they’re buried in details, because they know mastery of riding is mastery of details- doing basic things with perfection. They are there when it gets hard and stops being glamorous, and they are the ones their p*ers will call lucky when it looks easy on the other side.

06/13/2024

Sarah and Calis winning trip out of a huge class.

06/13/2024

Some pics of the gang and the Corgi from Saugerties day 2. Also videos from the adventures of Cali and Gus:)
Gus was 7th out of a big Meter class…once again fastest time but one rail🤷‍♀️
And congratulations to Sarah Alstede and her California Queen on the WIN out of 25 in the Amateur .90’s🥳
On to day 3.

06/11/2024

Great day! Great show! Thank you Phoenix Rising Farm and Jessica Brittain for an awesome day❤️
Had a blast helping, and also so happy for the two students that I brought along. Super riding by Caitlin Sferrazza, getting better every show and ending up with nice ribbons in the jumpers, and to our tiny Eleanor…great placings in Beginner Rider, and trying jumpers for the very first time…not only surviving but doing a terrific job.
Thank you Carter for coming with and helping all day!

06/10/2024

I read a theory about why so many riders lack a deep command of basics, and it was explained like this---

Correct basics are hard to master because there is an enormous amount of repetition involved, and if someone has tried something hundreds, possibly thousands of times, and still can’t do it, it is easy for the person to conclude that he/she is taking on an impossible challenge.

In his book “Mastery,” George Leonard wrote that on the quest to become good, there will be long stretches of “seeming non-improvement.”

Like watching grass grow, change is happening, but so slowly that it can’t be measured daily, weekly, or even monthly. But at some point, for those who stick with it, “suddenly” they can do things that before they couldn’t do.

The issue is giving up in frustration before putting in those many many many many months of practice.

That is ONE theory. I am sure there are many others, but this one does ring true.

10/06/2017

Awesome pony for sale! Can do all 3 rings with ease.

Check out this amazing . Show pony for sale Welsh Pony for sale in Long valley, New Jersey USA!

12/04/2016

Tis the season! Many thanks to Hilary Calhoun for the awesome decorations!

04/21/2016

Time to sign up for our awesome summer riding camp! All ages and levels welcome--appropriate for beginners as well as more advanced riders. Inviting, relaxing, educational, nurturing, exciting...all describe our very popular program which we have been running for more than 2 decades. Riding 2X daily, trail riding, horse care/handling/management, lectures, swimming, arts and crafts, and so much more!
Dates are June 27-July 1st; July 18-22; and August 1-5th. Spots are now filling up, so please contact us sooner vs later if interested.

10/08/2015

If you are planning to go on the Medieval Times barn trip on Saturday evening, October 24, and have not yet signed up or let Katy know, this Saturday, 10/10 is the final day to do so. So far there are about 30 of us going, so will no doubt be quite the adventure!!

09/10/2015

We are starting the process of putting together the annual barn trip to Medieval Times:) We are looking at the dates of Saturday, October 17 or Saturday, October 24. Both dates would be for the evening performance (8PM). Please let me know if you have a preference of dates. As always, any and all family members invited!

09/07/2015

It has been a long, busy, and successful summer at Alderaan Farm, and therefore very little time to post individual results from the many horse shows attended...Duncraven, The Ridge, Horse Park, Sussex Benefits and Sussex Fair, Palermo, etc. So we are sending out one huge congratulations to all those on our show team, on all the championships, reserve championships, multiple placings, lessons learned (sometimes the hard way, lol), skills mastered, and finally, the patience and sense of humor developed while participating in a very challenging, often difficullt, and sometimes frustrating sport that we cannot live without! A job very well done Faith Antonek, Gillian Barta, Nicole Belcher, Alex Dietz, Kelly Ernst, Maddie Keegan, Samantha Picheco, Megan Spina, Nicole Vales, and Brooke Wakefoose. In addition, a very heart-felt thank you to all the helpers, parents, family members, friends, and barn family in general, both at shows and at home. Such a fun, awesome, supportive group that we are all blessed to be a part of. The fellowship and camaraderie that we share everyday can be hard to find nowadays. Looking forward to a great rest of the year and an even better 2016!

04/01/2015

Sign up for our Summer Riding Camp!! Our camps are not only about having fun, but also about learning as much as possible about horses and the sport of riding. Riding 2x a day, trail riding, horse care and management, horsemanship skills, lectures, swimming, arts and crafts, and much,much more. Dates are June 29-July 3, July 13-July 17, and Aug 3-7. For more information either message or e-mail us:)

03/22/2015

Happy 14th birthday to our student, Megan Spina!!