Raynham Stables

09/09/2025

Raynham had an amazing first day of our new afterschool program with St. Anne’s elementary school! All of our wonderful schoolies were absolute superstars, and we can’t wait to see what this project has in store for us.

What better way to kick off the school year than with horses? 🐴❤️

09/08/2025

Happy back to school season! We had a great first week of fall lessons and loved seeing all your smiling faces. We’re looking forward to an awesome Fall Session!🐴🍎

As always, we strive to make Raynham the BEST place to ride. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know!

08/19/2025

FALL LESSON FORMS

Hey Raynham Riders! Don't forget that fall lesson forms are due tomorrow. We recreate our lesson schedule from scratch each fall based on student availability. It's super challenging, so providing as many options for times as possible is much, much appreciated!

We plan to have the tentative schedule posted by early next week so there is time to make revisions if needed. The fall session begins on Tuesday, September 2nd.

We have had a fantastic, busy summer and are looking forward to the fall session!

2025/2026 Lesson Availability Form - DUE WED. AUG 20th Our lesson program runs year-round. Once you are scheduled for a lesson time, your time slot is reserved for you throughout the school year...

08/08/2025

Happy International Cat Day! 🐱

Our barn cats play an important role on the farm. Here are a few of of their jobs:

1. Therapy animal - Have you heard them purr? Have you seen their faces? How could you not smile!

2. Horse trainer - These brave little cats run under horses, along fencing, jump out of and over walls and down from the loft into the arena. They keep us on our toes and do an excellent job of helping us desensitize our schoolies!

3. Rodent control - Hunting down rodents and other small pests on the property helps keep the barn a safe and healthy place for humans and horses.

What other jobs would you say the do?

07/23/2025

We want to thank our wonderful students, in collaboration with Wits End Farm & Horse Trials for creating this beautiful jump in honour of our beloved Hercules pony. It is perfectly placed at Wits End, where Herc gave so many riders wings.

He deeply missed and we are so greatful to have this jump to honour his legacy. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone that made this happen, and Stephanie Shatilla for all her hard work coordinating ❤️

Wonderful contributers included: The Shatilla family (Robin Copp, Andy and Grace Shatilla), Lauren and Mary Davies, Isla and Laura Hostick, Rachel and Sue Kocaurek, Ashley Boultbee, Rachel Keaveney, Gabrielle Turcotte, Pippa and Angela Hug, Eliana and Keren Tamir, Lauren Dean, Lucy Santano, and Julia Meneghetti.

05/28/2025

Huge congrats to Daria & Allie! 🎉🎉🎉

This week we're sending out congratulations to two Junior Eventers with outstanding rides at Grandview's Spring Horse Trials.

Congratulations to Daria and Eliza!

Daria, we will get you a 2025 Zara's Legacy of Excellence saddle pad as soon as we can. And, you will both be receiving OEA/Zara’s Legacy of Excellence horse treats. So well deserved!

Next up on the Ontario calendar, is Caledon's first horse trials of the season on June 22. See you there!

All Juniors eligible for Zara’s Legacy of Excellence Award are automatically eligible for the associated Year-End Top Juniors Award that will be announced at the end of the season.

To learn more about this award visit the OEA's website at: https://www.ontarioeventing.ca/annual-awards/zaras-legacy-of-excellence

Thanks to Bahr Saddlery and to the Zara Buren Memorial Foundation for their continued support of Ontario's Junior Eventers.

04/26/2025

Congratulations to all of our amazing Raynham riders for killing it at our spring schooling show! 🎉

This event couldn’t have run without our WONDERFUL volunteers and our amazing coaches. Thank you all for your hard work!

Special thanks to Rachel and Gabby for running our show team prep clinic last night to get everyone ready to rock today, and our awesome guest judges. Sarah Hill judged all of our dressage tests and Steph Shatilla judged our equitation classes.

Great riding, Raynham! 🐴❤️

04/13/2025

We were hoping not to have to make this post for many, many years to come. Yesterday, with a broken heart, we had to say goodbye to the world’s best pony, The Great and Mighty Hercules.

Since we brought him home as a saucy three-year-old in 2007, he found his way into the heart of anyone who met him and taught hundreds of kiddos the ropes. From being the best pony to teach a first lesson for a tiny tot, to competing successfully up to the EV90 level in both Canada and the US, there was nothing he couldn’t do. He was an incredible jumper - we were told his origin story was that a herd of rescue mustangs moved in next door to a Welsh pony farm. The mustang stallion jumped the fence, and 11 months later, an adorable mustang/Welsh Appaloosa pony was born! He solidified this story by jumping clear over the 4’ paddock fence the day we brought him home.

His reputation went far beyond the barn - the brave spotty pony with the big jump was easily recognized, and a favourite of many on the eventing circuit. His contributions to the sport of eventing for safely introducing so many little riders to the sport was honoured in 2019 by his induction to the OEA Hall of Fame.

We want to thank the vets and staff at OVC for their kindness and support during such a difficult time - they were wonderful.

The pony, the myth, the legend - Hercules, there is a pony-sized hole in our hearts. You will be greatly missed. We will always remember the joy and laughter he brought to us all. Please help us say goodbye to The Great and Mighty Hercules and honour him with stories, memories, and photos.

02/20/2025

MAKEUP SPOTS TONIGHT

We have the following spots available for make-up lessons tonight for those who are still looking:

RING ONE

4:00pm - private lesson

Send us an email ASAP if you are interested!

02/17/2025

Hello Raynham Riders!

We have some a last minute make-up lesson spot available TONIGHT!

8:00pm - Novice/Intermediate group - 1 spot

Please send us an email to let us know if you would like the spot above!

Happy Family Day!

02/11/2025

Hey Raynham riders!

We have a makeup spot available tonight at 5:00pm for a private lesson, and two spots at 8:00pm for a group lesson.

Send us an email if you’re interested in claiming a spot!

01/28/2025

And thats the second clinic of our ❄️ winter clinic series ❄️ wrapped! A huge thank you to Jessica Phoenix () for running such an upbeat and informative clinic! 🐴

Jessica provided some key takeaways from this clinic, including:

1. Focusing on riding a consistent “system” of straight lines and turns. She explained that the rider should find and ride a line parallel to their fence, and from that line, choose an adequate turn to approach the fence. In doing so, one keeps the horse’s rhythm consistent and puts their horse in a balanced, straight, and confident place to jump from. Straightness was key to the exercises she challenged our riders with.

2. The importance of using your eyes. Jessica explained that our eyes guide the horse’s energy in the direction we want to go. If our eyes stray from our next jump, we may fall off our line and miss our straight turn off of the line parallel to the fence.

3. Finally, Jessica importantly made sure every single rider had a fun, positive, and confidence-boosting experience. Thank you Jessica, for emphasizing the amazing things about each and every rider while still providing critical feedback!

Keep a look out for our next winter clinic: once again, Meredith Risk from Nobleton Dressage is coming back for another round of lessons! See you there! 😉