Crouse Equestrian

01/11/2024

01/05/2024

When it's cold, Cece and Oreo become personal heaters for the trainers! ❄️

01/03/2024

Love our barn community! ❤️

01/01/2024

And here we go! 😍 #2024

12/31/2023

My girl is looking so grown up. 🖤

Thanks to and for an awesome clip job!

12/25/2023

Merry Christmas! 🎄

12/24/2023

Christmas Eve trail ride in 60 degrees! 🎄

12/19/2023

Despite a nightmare weather forecast with 20-25 mph winds and a torrential downpour from a hurricane, combined with freezing temperatures, this awesome group of students finished up our 2023 season with an great weekend. Super proud of the horsemanship, determination, progress and partnership shown this weekend!

12/07/2023

The girls of the barn. 💗

11/24/2023

Thankful every day for each client and horse I get to work with. ❤️

11/20/2023

Because who doesn't want to start off the week with this cute face? 😍

11/15/2023

A little reminder we also offer family photo sessions! We have limited availability for the holiday season, so make sure to send us a message if you're interested in capturing your family with our herd. 📸

11/10/2023

One proud trainer of this awesome group of riders. 👏

11/10/2023

I am super behind on posting, but I am SO proud of both my training horses and their performance last week at FRC.

Queso conquered the show ring scaries and gave me a wonderful ride to 68.08% in Training 1 and took home the blue at his second ever show! It was the perfect way to end the season with this golden boy, and I can't wait to see what he brings for next year.

Apollo brought home a 65.63% and a second place ribbon at his first show. Super proud of this boy for focusing so well in the very busy atmosphere and trying so hard!

10/31/2023

Happy Halloween! 🎃

10/31/2023

Happy Halloween! 🎃

10/29/2023

And that's a wrap on the 2023 dressage season! I am SO proud of this baby horse. She conquered her second show ever, her first show in a (admittedly very scary and busy) indoor arena and first time at first level! She tried her heart out and brought me home a blue and a red. Saturday she was very tense and spooky, but showed glimpses of all she has to offer to the judges. She came out on Sunday with much more relaxation and we felt the most together as a partnership we have yet! With a few tiny mistakes on my side, we still were able to come home with a 66.8% and some wonderful comments from the judges, which I am so thrilled with. Go baby Ember! 🖤

10/29/2023

Bought unstarted out of a backyard in Georgia 8 months ago, to a favorite in the dressage ring of a National show. Turbo 900 and Maddie N absolutely killed it this weekend! Maddie piloted him around brilliantly and the pair brought home 3 blues with a personal best score for Maddie of 64.7% and wonderful comments at Turbo's first recognized show. Go ! 🥇

10/16/2023

Hey everyone! Regan wanted to help announce that Crouse Equestrian will be taking a Thanksgiving Break from November 20-24th, with normal lessons resuming the 26th. We will also be taking a Christmas break the 21st-25th, with normal lessons resuming the 26th. Every student will receive a lesson credit on their package for these dates. We look forward to this holiday season! 🥂

10/14/2023

HUGE congratulations to the Sampson family on their new addition Happy Feet! We are so thrilled to have her in our barn! 😍

10/08/2023

Jazz gave me a heck of a comeback to the eventing world! 🥈

With a 32 in dressage, and double clear in both jump phases we snagged second place in a competitive division. I think this guy is just starting to show me what he's capable of and I'm excited to see where he goes!

Super disappointed that a fall yesterday kept me from crossing that finish line with my best friend and assistant trainer Reece, but very grateful both horse and rider are okay. Excited to watch their comeback!

10/06/2023

48 hours out from my first trial back in a year and a half. Let's get it Jazz. 👏

10/01/2023

God, I hoped it would be a decade before I wrote this post, but life doesn't always turn out the way I hope.

To my Rosie girl, I've got an endless list to be thankful for you and I'm unsure if I can put into words all you've done for me. You were truly one of a kind. You are the reason why I'm a mare person now, you taught me and everybody who has come through this program so much.

I'm so so angry at the barn that had you before me, and the way they treated, abused you and broke your body down, which lead to me only getting a short amount of time with you.

What started out as a routine lameness evaluation unfortunately uncovered so much more. The vet said "this one is gritty as hell" and he was right. You hid so much from me in the way you were feeling.

I fought with absolutely every resource in my power to make you spend the rest of your days pain free and happy. While I think you truly were happy and so beyond loved, the pain beat our efforts.

I promised you that you would never suffer again when I found out what you'd been through, and while it breaks me, I held true to that promise for you.

I never knew a plain bay thoroughbred would be one of the most incredible horses I've ever had, but you changed my life and so many others.

Fly high my beautiful girl Rose Velvet. Say hi to my boys up there. 🩷

P.S. I'm not okay friends. Please be patient with us for the near future as we heal this big hole in our heart and program. I will not be answering my phone or email today.

09/23/2023

RARE BOARDING OPENING!

Come join our little slice of paradise. We have a very rare full board, partial training board or full training board spot open at our facility conveniently located 12 minutes from downtown Asheville starting October 18th.

This is perfect for someone looking for a barn with a love for eventing or dressage, and trail riding! We travel to local and overnight shows frequently, as well as offsite schooling, trail riding and so much more.

~ 12x12 Stalls
~ 56 Acres Of Trails Onsite
~ Huge Sand All Weather Riding Arena With Jumps and Field With XC Elements
~ Free Choice Orchard/Timothy Hay
~ Small Group Turnout
~ Blanketing/Fly Protection
~ AM/PM Feedings
~ Owner Lives Onsite

09/22/2023

Representing Henderson County well! 🐝

09/21/2023

Emma Rose and Rose Velvet are ready for Special Olympics this weekend! 🤩

09/20/2023

You guys know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday. Thank each of you for your wishes and sweet messages. If you had told me this was going to be my life at 22, I wouldn't have believed you, but it's each of my amazing clients and horses I get to work with that have me living my dream! 🤍

09/06/2023

"I didn't think riding lessons would cost that much..."
Well. We wish it didn't. But, if you don't own your own horse and you ride a school horse (horse owned by a riding barn), there is a harsh reality behind the expenses.

As the cost of living for everyone increases, our horses are no exception to that. The days of $5 60lb good quality hay bales is over. Grain is no longer $15 per 50lb bag. So how much does it actually cost today (in 2023, in North East America)?

Let's break it down...
Hay $12 per 40lb bale - 1 bale / day = $360 / month (no access to pasture + free choice hay)
Grain - $30 / bag - 1 bag / week = $120 / month
Bedding - $7 / bag - 3 bags / week = $84 / month

(For reference, these numbers used to be $5 / bale, $15 / bag, $5 / bag )

So far, for just basic supplies for your horse we are at $564 (in comparison to 5 years ago it being $270), excluding any labor costs or facility costs....let's keep going.

Your stall fee (mortgage/rental) will run $350 / month on the low end (with an indoor arena). I have seen dry stall fees cost as much as $500 as well.

The following fees would be divided amongst horses on the property...

Insurance $50 / month
Manure removal / arena/facility maintenance $50 / month on the low end
Utilities $75 / month

Without labor, we are at $1,089.00

Let's say your horse gets a total of thirty minutes of care each day (turn in, turn out, stall cleaning, water bucket refills/cleaning). That 30 minutes probably doesn't include blanket changes or any additional services aside from general care.

Good barn help will not get out of bed for anything less than $20 / hour, so totaling per month your horse would cost $300 per month, assuming your horse didn't recieve more than 30 minutes of care each day. If you run your facility plus teach, you can't be in 2 places at once, so some help is necessary, especially if you don't cut corners in your care.

We are now at $1389.00

We have not accounted for vetting, farrier, or supplements. Let's do that now.

Farrier - $250 every 5 weeks (low end) so let's call it $200 every month (my personal farrier charges $275-325 for 4 shoes, but to keep Facebook from resulting in uproar over expensive shoeing costs - I've estimated it low)
Vet - assuming your horse is healthy annually you would spend maybe $700 so let's say $60 per month if divided
Supplements - that tried and true schoolmaster you ride probably needs some joint support, so let's buy a lower end joint supplement at $50 / month

We added an additional $310.

Your school horse now costs $1,699.00 per month, and there are many more costs associated (like your tack, equipment, tractor, trucks, trailers, etc)

Okay. So how does this school horse pay for himself? Let's say the horse does two 1 hour lessons per day, 5 days a week. That means the horse can produce income 40 hours out of the month. To break EVEN (theoretically, because any horse owner knows the pricing listed above isn't even as comprehensive as it should be) you would need to make sure the horse worked twice a day, 5 days a week, and charge $42.50 per lesson.
Realistically, If you do not overwork your school horse, the horse is probably working 30 hours per month, which would bring us to having to charge $60 per one hour lesson to break even.
But wait....Our instructor hasn't even gotten paid yet! So let's give them $20 per hour, which of course is low. And for reference, that would mean your instructor makes $600 per month.
Now we're at $80 per lesson.

So when you call any facility, and their lesson price is $80 or less, think of this cost break down!
We don't do this for money. We do it because we love to share our passion with the next generation of riders. We wish this weren't the case financially, like the rest of America and how the economy is. We want so badly to have horses be affordable for everyone, but these are the real, true, uncensored costs of owning a horse today. If riding schools don't charge what they need to in order to stay afloat, I fear one day the horse industry will not have school horses, and the only people who will be able to ride are the ones that can afford horse ownership outright, and then pay for lessons on top of that.

*disclaimer* these prices are based on our experience of pricing in the industry. Pricing may vary based on care and diet provided to horse, area of the country, and specific horse requirements. This pricing is assuming the horse is receiving top level but basic care (free choice hay, quality grain, etc). There may be cheaper options available and there may be more expensive options available. I'm sure there will be many comments that say "those are low" or "those prices are high". We are happy to share receipts as these are the legitimate prices we pay!

09/03/2023

Back in the XC saddle and dang it feels good (but still taking it slow all my barn moms worried about my back). And my baby horse is the coolest, this was her first time ever on cross country. 😍

09/02/2023

What a GREAT day at FENCE! I am one proud trainer.

Daphne and Pixie came out with all of their hard work paying off and scored multiple 7.5s and even an 8 to bring home a 62.8% and a 6th in a competitive division. I am SO proud of this tiny pair.

Laurie, Daphne's mom came out for her very first show ever and rode a different horse with only 24 hour notice and put together a very respectable test. It was so amazing to watch this powerhouse of a mom/daughter duo.

Regina and Rose came out quite the dressage queens, with a 62.8% in Intro B bringing home a 4th.

Emma N., one of our newest students came out and showed a beautiful test with Indy, bringing home 4th and a 63%.

Lily and Rose showed up and gave a beautiful Intro B test on their first try at the level, with one error that lead to a 59.6% and 5th.

Lauren and Lincoln tackled their first dressage show and second ever show, bringing home a 3rd %on their first go!

Clementine and Indy came out, also on a 24 hour notice horse change for their first CT, and put together a great test and jump round. Loving watching Clementine grow towards the eventing world!

I love that our show team just keeps growing! Next up, Special Olympics. ❤️