Cottage Hill Farm

Early morning rides are the best!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1B2QXGUxAg/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Every riding instructor has seen it. The student who comes in timid, unsure, and barely able to halter a horse but leaves years later with a quiet confidence that has nothing to do with ribbons and everything to do with what happened between them and that animal along the way.

Horses shape character in ways that no other sport or activity quite replicates. This character building only happens when the program prioritizes horsemanship over performance and long term growth over short term wins. Here is what that actually looks like and why it matters for the families you work with:

1. It starts with finding the right program and the right instructor.
The size of the facility matters far less than the quality of what happens inside it. A small, boutique barn with a dedicated instructor who teaches genuine horsemanship is worth ten times a large facility that churns students through lessons without ever putting them on the ground with a horse. When families come to you looking for lessons, help them understand what to look for - an instructor who teaches riding and horse care, responsibility alongside position, and patience alongside aids. That combination is where the real education lives.

2. Time on the ground matters as much as time in the saddle.
Grooming, tacking up, learning to read a horse's body language, understanding why the horse did what it just did - this is not the boring part of the lesson that happens before the real work begins. This is the real work! A student who understands equine behavior and communication becomes a safer, more empathetic, and more effective rider than one who only ever sits on a horse and waits to be told what to do.

3. Here is what horses actually teach young riders...
a. Patience and perseverance because a horse does not respond correctly on the first try and neither does a rider. Both have to keep working at it.
b. Empathy and emotional awareness because horses communicate entirely through body language and a rider who learns to read that becomes fluent in a form of communication that transfers directly into every human relationship they will ever have.
c. Leadership and confidence because a good lesson horse requires the rider to step up and communicate clearly. Many of our school horses do not hand over cooperation for free. They require a student to develop and use genuine communication skills to earn it.
d. Accountability because a horse in your care depends on you showing up whether you feel like it or not. That lesson in responsibility is one of the most valuable things the barn environment teaches.
e. Work ethic and resilience because mucking stalls, grooming in winter, and riding through the hard lessons when nothing is clicking builds the kind of grit that transfers directly into school, work, and life.
f. Humility because horses do not care about social status, popularity, or what brand of breeches a rider is wearing. They respond to feel, timing, and intention. Every rider gets humbled eventually and learning to come back from that is one of the barn's greatest gifts.

A note for the families in your program:
Consistency matters enormously. A student taking one lesson per week is getting a taste of riding. A student riding twice a week progresses significantly faster and not just in skill but in all of the above. Riding is not a casual pastime, it is a commitment and the families who approach it that way are the ones whose children get the most out of it.

The programs worth building are the ones that measure success not just in ribbons won but in the kind of people their students become. That is a longer game than show results and it is also a far more meaningful one.

Have you seen horses change a student in ways that had nothing to do with their riding? Drop it in the comments... I want to hear your stories.

A schooling day for our babies!

Fun lesson with a great group!

Fiona is expecting!

🌟 RARE OPENING AT COTTAGE HILL FARM 🌟
Looking for the perfect place to level up your equestrian journey? Cottage Hill Farm currently has ONE stall available! Located in beautiful Cu***ng, GA, we are a premier Hunter/Jumper program dedicated to excellence, safety, and the highest standard of equine care. 🐴✨
What we offer:
✅ Comprehensive training & lesson programs (Beginner through Advanced)
✅ Specialization in developing young horses 🦄
✅ Continuing education, clinics, and a full horse show schedule
✅ Select leases available for adults and children
Our Facility Features:
🛡️ Top-Tier Security: Gated entry with passcode, monitored fire alarm system, and 24/7 camera surveillance.
🏠 Expert Care: Professional, experienced staff with 24-hour on-site presence. Owners live on property!
🍽️ Premium Nutrition: Top-quality feed and hay tailored to your horse’s needs.
☁️ Ultimate Comfort: Large 12x12 or 14x14 matted stalls in insulated, well-ventilated barns with individual fans.
🏟️ Amenities: 220 x 150 arena, round pen, wash racks, and secured tack rooms.
Please note: We are a full-service training facility; no pasture board available.
Come join our CHF family! We pride ourselves on a professional yet supportive environment for both horse and rider. 🏆
Inquire today before this spot is gone!
📲 Text: 678-357-9204
📧 Email: [email protected]

Starting one of our babies, under saddle! Lots of hard work to get to this point. Great job, Rachel and Myla.

Christmas morning at CHF! Merry Christmas!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17aMqPqp2T/?mibextid=wwXIfr

"The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. So I give you some of my favorite pearls of wisdom, in no particular order. Some of these are from trainers of mine, both past and present, some are widely recognized from BNT, some have nothing to do with horses by origin but still apply, and some are from my own head.

- If a horse says no, you either asked the wrong question or asked the question wrong.

-An average hunter course has 100 strides. Only 8 of them are jumps. Don’t sacrifice the 92 for the 8.

- On approaching a fence: good riders wait until it’s time to go. Great riders go until it’s time to wait.

- Don’t squat with your spurs on.

- It is NEVER the horse’s fault. Yes, sometimes a horse may take advantage of a situation, but there is ALWAYS something the rider could do differently to change the situation.

- Pass left hand to left hand.

- You can only lie to your horse so many times before they call your bluff.

- Horses do not know what they are worth. They do not know, or care, what they are capable of. They only care about the way you treat them.

- Injuries and colic happen almost exclusively at 10:00 pm on a Saturday.

- Shoes get lost almost exclusively when preparing to leave for a show.

- If you work hard, try your best, and never give up, your efforts will not go unnoticed.

- And you will be rewarded with opportunities when you least expect it.

- If you work hard, try your best, and never give up, you will still fail sometimes.

- Video doesn’t lie – after being told repeatedly that I was lifting my right hand before every fence, and swearing up and down that I was certainly NOT lifting my right hand before every fence… I was—in fact—lifting my right hand before every fence. Sometimes your brain lies to you. Video does not.

- On being nervous going into the show ring: you’re just not that big of a deal. No one at the show is watching you close enough to know every mistake you might make, except for the judge and your trainer, and you are paying them to watch.

- Be patient – there are no shortcuts. Any shortcut you may try, will actually be the long way.

- Check your personal issues and emotions at the door. Your horse will know. It usually does not go well.

- If your horse is in front of your leg, you have options.

- We never lose. We either win or we learn.

- Ride like a winner. You cannot act like flip flops and expect to be treated like Louboutins.

- If you have to pick only two things to think about during a course, pace and track are the two you should choose. The rest cannot happen without pace and track.

- Give yourself and your horse brain breaks. Go have fun, go hack out in the woods, go swimming ba****ck, read a book in the paddock, whatever. Just allow yourself time to have fun.

- At home there’s no reason to jump as big as you show every time. The basics are the basics regardless of the jump height. Save your horses legs.

- The horse world is very small. Remember this and don’t burn your bridges and be mindful of your words.

- Clean your tack. Groom your horse. Properly. Every day. If you can control nothing else, you can control your turn out. There is no excuse to not do the minimum effort.

- No matter what the problem is, the solution is almost always add more leg.

- Ride the horse you have today. Not the one you had yesterday. Not the one you want to have. The horse under you at this moment is the only one that matters.

- You go where you look. The human head weighs 10 pounds. Unless you would like to end up on the ground, do not look down.

- Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

📎 Save & share this article by PonyMomAmmy at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2020/09/15/equestrian-advice-to-ride-and-live-by/