Caledon Equestrian School

03/03/2025

We're excited to host and participate in this great clinic. Our horses and ponies can't wait too!

02/26/2025

💤💤

02/22/2025

02/16/2025

Credit
Nathan W. Pyle

02/15/2025

🇨🇦

02/11/2025

A Glorious Day at the farm! Soaking up the good feels ❤️

02/09/2025

The boys ❄️💕

12/28/2024

Had some Christmas fun with some of our show team girls tonight! 🎄🎅🏻

Happy Holidays everyone!

12/17/2024

A woman recently came to me asking how quickly she could learn to canter. Her plan was to take just a couple of lessons, then find a horse to practice on—essentially bypassing the depth of the learning process. The way she framed her question made it clear she saw riding as a task to be rushed, a box to check, much like assembling a burger at a fast-food chain: quick, standardized, and efficient. On the horse, off the horse, no time wasted.

But here’s the truth: horsemanship is not a factory line. It’s not about stamping out a product in record time or skipping foundational steps. Riding isn’t about simply sitting on a horse and pressing the right buttons to get results. It’s a craft, an art, and, at its best, a lifestyle. A true horseman is more like a Michelin-starred chef than a McDonald’s worker. Chefs spend years learning to season, to taste, to adjust. They don’t rush through their recipes, and they don’t cut corners. Instead, they invest in mastering their tools, honing their intuition, and crafting each dish with care and precision.

Similarly, a skilled rider invests in their education. Lessons are the school; they build the foundation. The knowledge you gain through time, effort, and repetition is your seasoning. It’s how you learn to communicate with the horse—to listen as much as you direct, to understand and refine your aids. And the end result? A successful ride—a seamless partnership between horse and rider—is your star dish, your masterpiece.

You can’t achieve that level of excellence by rushing the process or taking shortcuts. A McDonald’s skill set will never create a Michelin-star meal, just as a rushed, shallow approach to riding will never create a true horseman. So, invest in yourself. Take the time to learn, to grow, and to embrace the process. After all, horsemanship is not about reaching a destination quickly—it’s about savoring the journey and the relationship you build along the way.

- Shannen Borges

Please share 🙏

12/16/2024

Today we hosted a very successful Winter Home Show! 🎄
joined us as our wonderful judge, and we were spoiled by our wonderful & supportive parents with a yummy Bake Sale — big hit! 🍪🧁

A big thank you to our coaches and volunteers for helping us run such a smooth day.
We are so lucky to have such a supportive community! 💚💛💚

12/04/2024

Good sweepers = good horsepeople!!

More on the German phrase that says “riding is only learned by sweeping.”

I remember an example of this one night, about 40 years ago, when I was spending a month at Walter Christensen’s dressage training stable, Stal Tasdorf, in Tasdorf, Germany. (photo of Walter teaching)

Walter’s main barn had a cobblestone type of floor, hard to keep clean because of all the indentations, and in various corners were funny little Hansel and Gretel type brooms, straight handles with what looked like a bunch of twigs wired to one end.

Everyone had left, all the working students, all the riders, and here was the master, then coach of the Swedish Olympic dressage team, vigorously giving the aisle one last cleanup before turning out the lights.

In the great scheme of things, why would it matter one iota whether the aisle was immaculate? Early next morning, when all the horses were being fed, hay and straw would get spilled all around, and who was going to see that floor in the middle of the night?

But that’s not the point, is it? And for those who do see the point, they probably would have been at one end of the broom. And for those who can’t grasp why it mattered to Walter, they’d have left it as it was.

To what extent can pride in a way of doing things be taught? Because that’s what’s at play here, I think.

And pride in one detail spills over into pride about other details, until it creates a mindset, a way of being. Or not---And in that way, sweeping teaches riding, tenuous as the connection might seem.

11/14/2024

100%!! This attitude is why we have the best barn kids - we all take pride in our farm, no matter how old it may be!

It is vitally important NOT to be suckered by those magazines that feature “Life Styles Of Your Typical Billionaire Equestrian” into thinking that anything short of over-the-top opulence is somehow deficient.

Sure, if you go on a tour of some of the Lexington, Kentucky stud farms you will see palatial stone barns, groomed landscapes, splashing fountains and chandeliers, but those are designed to woo investors into the racing industry.

Or if some private farm looks like the Taj Mahal, goody for them. It’s possible, often even probable, that extremely lavish trappings disguise average or even mediocre riding abilities. Neatness, though, is different from opulence. As is having a clean or clean-ish barn and tack room. Attention to detail in one area of horse management can often reflect an overall attitude that spills over into the way someone rides and trains.

Neatness begins by picking up a broom. Or a rake. Try not, perhaps, to become one of those people who thinks that manual labor is for “other” people. The word for that attitude is “pretentious.”

11/08/2024

This past weekend CES went to the Royal!
Lots of shopping, learning & fun was had!

We played a little scavenger hunt. Can you figure out what the answers were? ☺️
💚💛💚

10/28/2024

CES show team had a lovely time at the banquet this weekend!
It was great way to celebrate our hard working, kind hearted, and determined girls after a successful season.

We are proud of you girls!
& thank you, Teen Ranch! See you next year ☺️
💚💛💚

10/26/2024

Halloween 2024!
What a great night! Thank you everyone for coming out 🎃👻
💚💛💚

09/24/2024

And that’s a wrap on Show Season 2024!

We could not be more proud of our show team. We have seen so much overall development this summer; the personal growth, the friendships formed, horse-rider bonds, rider growth and more.
It’s an honour to have this wonderful group of ladies represent our school 💚💛💚

A big thank you to our wonderful grooms, we have loved and appreciated your help each show.
&
Thank you for hosting an incredible series of shows. It was a pleasure, as always :)

Time to do our homework over the winter and get ready for 2025! 🤓🐴

💚💛💚

08/31/2024

Some of the Stars in the CES constellation! Cops and Robbers at our annual camp hayloft sleepover.
These ladies make it happen! Under Roxie's supervision, of course!!