BrownHill Stable

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas from your BrownHill buddies!
🎄🐴❄️

Show us a picture of your horsey gifts you got this year in the comments!! 🎁

12/21/2024

❄️☃️❄️

12/13/2024

🎄💚🎅🏼❤️⭐️💛

12/10/2024

Junebug thought the rainwater tonight was an excellent addition to her dinner💧🌧️

11/23/2024

Is it even freshly poured concrete at a barn if there aren’t a few kitty prints in it? 🐾🐾

11/23/2024

Adult camp is always a blast, even with the cold and wind 💨. We definitely missed some of our sick friends 🤧🤒.

11/16/2024

Congrats to everyone on their year end awards for the dressage show season at Friendly Horseman's Club!! 🏆

11/02/2024

Our condolences to Eileen as she said goodbye to Scout this week. Scout made Eileen’s childhood dream of owning a horse come true and in return, she gave him the absolute best life! 💔

On a happier note, we would also like to congratulate Eileen on her adoption of Wrangler! Wrangler is ready to be mostly retired from the lesson program and Eileen is ready to love and spoil another horse. Both are so deserving of this transition!! ❤️

*Wrangler will still be used for some extremely low level lessons as he does thrive on having a job.

10/25/2024

Congrats to our riders on their year end placings for the dressage shows this season!!

10/12/2024

What a great way to end the show season- we’ve seen so much growth this year!

💙❤️💛🤍🩷💚

🔦Special highlight on Joie and Emma for getting year end champion in their divisions!!

09/21/2024

One of our favorite events at the barn each year! Thank you to everyone who made our annual equitation show run smoothly! With an added bonus of a chicken BBQ picnic afterwards 🍗🏆

09/14/2024

It’s beginning to look a lot like fall, but it sure didn’t feel like it today 🍂🍁🥵

09/12/2024

We’re so excited that Pony Tails Club is back after our summer break! Join us tonight from 6:30-8:00pm for unmounted education and lots of FUN!!

Please contact us if you would like to join!!
📧[email protected]
☎️717-354-8718

09/12/2024

Yes!

All I Want To Do Is Jump

I ran a fairly large lesson program for almost 20 years. This is a statement I have heard over and over, both in my lesson barn days and from colleagues today.

All I want to do is jump.

There are a few problems with this. Let's start with the horse. I love the old horseman's saying " horses only have so many jumps in them ". Is that 100, 1000 before it becomes lame.... No one knows....but horses certainly weigh a lot and the concussion landing on those small little legs is significant. Horses also get bored, burned out....and let's face it...sour.
Respect for the horse . The riders job is to do the best thing for the horse. Most horses only need jumped a few days a week. That means if a lesson horse works 5 days a week, only 2 of those are jumping days. 3 of those are purely flatwork or hacking.

Riders : most of jumping well has NOTHING to do with jumping. Riders need to work on pace, transitions, straightness, their position, effectiveness of aids, balance, ability to change positions smoothly ( from 2 point to sitting etc ) and so much more.

So if you are one of those students who Just Wants To Jump , please replace that with "I want to be an effective rider and horseman or woman . I want to do what is best for the horse "

And instructors who cave to this plea from students
Only YOU can set the CULTURE of your barn. Talk frequently about horsemanship and doing right by the animals.

09/07/2024

It went from summer ☀️🍦 to fall 🍂☔️ right in the middle of our day! There were so many good moments, but below are a few of our favorite highlights.

-Emma got reserve champion out of 10 riders.
-Sam cantered for the first time in a hunter show and placed near the top of a big class.
-Aila kept her cool and placed 2nd out of 7 riders over fences after Chessy was a little over exuberant in her canter class because of the wind and rain.
-Carly took baby June to her first hunter show and was reserve champion.
-Joie jumped 2 courses on Marigold for the first time and placed well.
-Olivia continues to shine in the open hunter division and was reserve champion.
-Alea placed in the top of a class with 10 riders and jumped for the first time at a show.

This was a day that definitely required us to roll with the punches. All the girls took it in stride, had wonderful attitudes, and rode fantastic 👊

08/26/2024

We love seeing riders who got their start with us succeed! One of the hardest parts of our job is knowing the right time to encourage students on to new opportunities, but knowing it was the right recommendation makes it all worth it. We knew this horse was talented and special the first time we saw his ‘for sale’ add, when we recommended the pair, and definitely when we took Caden to try him. We love watching this pair progress and can’t wait to see what is next for them!

*Bonus picture of Caden at his first show with us in the comments!!

New to the Real Rider Cup this year is Team Pastured Place....and we'd like to introduce you to CADEN NOLT. Caden is a student from Denver, PA, who has been riding for ten years. He and Virginia-bred Gio Lemon have been partners for four years.

https://therealridercup.com/competitor/cadennolt/?event=2024

! 🏇🏆

Fair Hill Thoroughbred Show
New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program
Retired Racehorse Project

08/13/2024

The room service is pretty good here 🙃 So thankful for our barn helpers and stall cleaners for the pride they take in their work to make sure our horses are well taken care of 🫶🧹

08/04/2024

Has always been our philosophy - and I appreciate how this is written.

Make Them Carry Their Saddle

A father of a darling girl and I were talking last week and he said that he wanted his daughter to ride more and not have to do the work part of the catching, grooming, and saddling. I smiled as I explained.

Riding horses is a combination of strength, timing, and balance. Kids in this country are physically weak (unless they are actively involved with weight training and physical conditioning 4+ times a week.)

When you walk out to the field, you are clearing your stress from being under fluorescent lights all day; feeling the sun soak into your bones. As your body moves on uneven surfaces, it strengthens your legs and core.

When you groom your horse (especially currying), you are toning your arms and stabilizing your core.

When you carry your saddle, your arms, chest, and back are doing isolated strengthening work.

Being near horses, calms and makes you tune into the splendor of these empathetic animals.

When you ride at a posting trot, it’s equivalent to a slow jog calorie burn wise.

After a lesson, the riders are physically tired and mentally quiet and balanced.

Horses feel your heart beat and mirror your emotions back.

Riding large and somewhat unpredictable animals makes you resilient and pushes your expectations.

Working with horses is so much more than learning how to ride.

So parents, make your children carry their saddles. Don’t do the hard parts for them, as long term it actually hurts them. To advance with their riding, they must get stronger. You can help by doing the high parts.

I love having you all at the farm, and am so grateful to get to share these fascinating animals with you.

Hannah Campbell Zapletal