Afton Stables

Afton Stables Full service Dressage Facility. Training, Coaching and Boarding available. Open for trailer in lessons now.

Leaping towards 2025 with Koko-loco 🐴 🤸‍♂️
12/18/2024

Leaping towards 2025 with Koko-loco 🐴 🤸‍♂️


We heard it was - so we thought we’d share some of our residents past and current. Starting with the OG Afton Stables ...
12/14/2024

We heard it was - so we thought we’d share some of our residents past and current. Starting with the OG Afton Stables horses; Koko, Ben, Cookie, Eoghain, Bob, and Gerry… and followed by some of our newer or recent residents. We are so lucky to have these amazing creatures in our lives!!!

aftonstables

Anesia wears many hats… she is both Assistant Trainer and Groom! She helps with stretching and bodywork and does medica...
12/10/2024

Anesia wears many hats… she is both Assistant Trainer and Groom! She helps with stretching and bodywork and does medication and feeding management. Her new favorite horse on the farm is Braeden owned from .p.dressage 🐴

We appreciate you, Anesia!

We are obsessed with this pair 🤩 and Braeden 🦄p.dressage they’re perfect together 💕
12/07/2024

We are obsessed with this pair 🤩 and Braeden 🦄p.dressage they’re perfect together 💕

All the horses have been ridden and this is the only place we want to be ⛄️ 🥶
12/03/2024

All the horses have been ridden and this is the only place we want to be ⛄️ 🥶

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃🍁🍽 from our furry friends to you and yours. We are grateful for our Afton Stables family, and this ...
11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃🍁🍽 from our furry friends to you and yours.

We are grateful for our Afton Stables family, and this safe, beautiful place we call home. What are you thankful for?

✨What a month we have had at Afton Stables! In the last 30 days we have welcomed three new horses to our farm. 😯Rio is ...
11/23/2024

✨What a month we have had at Afton Stables! In the last 30 days we have welcomed three new horses to our farm. 😯

Rio is Mary’s new squeeze, a beautiful who perfectly matches his elegant and talented owner.

Farm owner is delighted with her new dance partner, Nino. A kind young from with tons of potential and a calm demeanor.

Lastly client makes the perfect match with her new dressage horse Braeden from .p.dressage in Pennsylvania. This is flashy, hardy, and incredibly well-behaved.

We love seeing the right horses and owners come together 🦄🎉❤️🥹

Sweet faces 🦄 📸
11/21/2024

Sweet faces 🦄
📸

✨💙The bright side 🦄✨🌞. Bienvenido Niño, the new owner of Angela’s heart.
11/12/2024

✨💙The bright side 🦄✨🌞. Bienvenido Niño, the new owner of Angela’s heart.

Today we are celebrating veterans and and all they do to support those who have served when they return. We are happy ...
11/11/2024

Today we are celebrating veterans and and all they do to support those who have served when they return. We are happy to host Hope’s Heroes as they help veterans with horsemanship skills in a safe environment. We love watching the power of horses at work!

📝We had a great weekend full of learning with and Bruno Greber! Thank you to all who participated, attended, and of co...
11/04/2024

📝We had a great weekend full of learning with and Bruno Greber! Thank you to all who participated, attended, and of course thank you to our expert clinicians 🤓

🍂We are ready to welcome auditors and participants for our “Form & Function” clinic with and Bruno Greber 🍁 ...
11/01/2024

🍂We are ready to welcome auditors and participants for our “Form & Function” clinic with and Bruno Greber 🍁


It’s very important to practice with 🤪
10/29/2024

It’s very important to practice with 🤪

10/29/2024

“We have to make friends with the canter.”

If you watch many riders school a horse, they will trot until the proverbial cows come home, will walk now and again to give the horse, (or themselves) a break, but will manage to avoid doing much practice in the canter.

I don’t think I am making this up. I think that if a random group of riders could somehow be timed, the amount of elapsed minutes and seconds of canter work would be far lower than time spent trotting.

Maybe that’s OK, maybe no big deal, but schooling at the canter has some important benefits that the trot can’t provide.

The canter is the gait that has the most potential uplift, that gives that nano second of upwards thrust, Reiner Klimke said to think of each canter stride as “a miniature jump.” So to build in more lifting power, the canter, with that moment of three legs off the ground, is more effective than the trot where two legs are up, two on earth, in diagonal pairs.

I have heard it said that the trot “borrows” lift from the canter, that the quality of the trot just following a good canter will be more buoyant, if only briefly.

Also, if you are a jumping rider, the canter is the gait from which most jumping happens, and it’s so important to be able to lengthen and shorten the canter, to create an adjustable canter, and it can’t be practiced at any other gait.

Certainly, the canter is more tiring for the horse, so it shouldn’t be overdone, but neither should it be avoided. This is a good quote that I heard---not sure who came up with it---

“We have to make friends with the canter.”

Consider your own schooling practice. Maybe you already utilize enough canter, but if you realize that it’s not a familiar enough sensation, maybe that means something needs to be added?

(Note in photo, 3 hooves off ground)

https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/drf+all+eyes+on+me

A note from our trainer… about her trainer!! ~Bruno graduated from the Swiss Professional Riders Association and became...
10/27/2024

A note from our trainer… about her trainer!! ~

Bruno graduated from the Swiss Professional Riders Association and became a Master Instructor; showing proficiency in Dressage, Vaulting, Driving, Lungeing and Show-Jumping. Later he moved to Vienna to study with and eventually work for Arthur Kottas-Heldenburg, former Chief Rider of The Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Here in the US Bruno has earned his USDF Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medals and helped many achieve them as well.

Bruno is a gifted teacher. He has a modern approach to learning, accentuating the positive and helping riders focus. Bruno’s use of imagery in teaching is unique, providing a picture in your mind where words fail. His library of exercises is extensive and he is skilled in finding which one will work for each pair. He has worked with hunters and jumpers on their flat work, and helped eventers perfect their dressage… because good flat work is good for everyone!!!

My favorite thing about riding with Bruno is achieving things that I didn’t believe were possible. He helps me focus in lessons so that my mind doesn’t get in the way of my riding, pushing me to ride and train better than I ever thought possible.

I would encourage all riders and coaches to audit this clinic!


A note from our trainer ~As a trainer and coach I love the opportunity for my students to work with Wendy. She offers a ...
10/25/2024

A note from our trainer ~

As a trainer and coach I love the opportunity for my students to work with Wendy. She offers a unique perspective on balance in motion, something that we all need to work on.

Oftentimes when I’m teaching I can see an imbalance or limiting movement in a horse and rider pair. Wendy is able to address those issues by finding the root cause.

Lastly, our program has been significantly improved with the use of pads. I cannot tell you honestly how they work, but I know our horses love them! They instantly relax and engage their sling muscles, saving me precious time warming up. I am a firm believer in quality over quantity, so I love it when my horses start off on the right foot (haha).

So I encourage riders and coaches of all disciplines to come audit Wendy’s clinic next Friday, 11/1, from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm at Afton Stables in our cozy indoor!

~ Maddie

Address

7451 Dick Woods Road
Afton, VA
22920

Telephone

+12027705697

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Videos

Join us Saturday, 11/2 for a clinic with USDF Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medalist Bruno Greber. Before his success in the US, Bruno was a Master Instructor in Switzerland as well as Assistant Trainer to Arthur Kottas-Heldenburg. Using his classical credentials and modern success, Bruno is a warm and engaging instructor capable of bringing out the best in both horse and rider. He is mentor to our Trainer @madelinepiplico and an important part of our program. Join us to watch him coach riders on day two of our “Form and Function” series! #dressage #aftonstables #horseriding #dressageforall WENDY MURDOCH & BRUNO GREBER

💀It’s Spooky Season and we’ve got bones on the brain! Come audit our clinic with Murdoch Method on Friday, November 1st! Your skeleton 🩻 ☠️ and your horse’s skeleton will thank you. Also learn about the witchy 🧙magic of SURE FOOT Equine. Friday, 11/1 is the first day of our Wendy Murdoch and Bruno Greber Clinic focusing on form and function. Riding spots are full but we are accepting auditors and riders for our waitlist! We hope to see you there 🎉 ... #aftonstables #albemarlecounty #crozetva #cville #charlottesville #crozet #albemarleva #horse #horse #equine #horses #PRE #dutchwarmblood #horsebackriding #hunterjumper #eventing #dressage #dressagehorse #equestrian #equestrians

Teddy
Teddy

Rosevelt aka “Teddy” is a lightly started 3 year old gelding out of Geneva (Soprano x Ode Aan Liris) and by Gaudi SSF. He has been in training with farm friend Kerry Decker and is available at her farm in Louisa. #dutchwarmblood #kwpn #dressage #dressagehorse

A Day in the Life of an Afton Stables Horse
A Day in the Life of an Afton Stables Horse

We live to serve them 🫡 … and the cats 🐈🐈‍⬛

Pre-Ride Surefoot time
Pre-Ride Surefoot time

AftonStables Angela Doolan and Gerry enjoy a bit of SURE FOOT Equine pad time before their ride. Our horses thrive on the love they receive from their riders 🩷🩷🩷

🐴 Quique is practicing his counter-canter to make his true canter stronger 🩷
🐴 Quique is practicing his counter-canter to make his true canter stronger 🩷

🍂Woodland Bob🍁 We are taking advantage of these warm days, and getting the horses out of the ring as much as possible.

#mudseason in Virginia 🌦️😬

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