Hermitage Farm

08/28/2023

With rain comes rainbows 🌈

03/22/2023

Who's gonna win? Let's see those muddy ponies!

08/01/2022

Red sky at night…

07/23/2022

Ever the lady 🤣

12/25/2021

Merry Christmas!

10/04/2021

Get out there and enjoy the fall foliage- its even more beautiful on horseback 🍂

09/01/2021

For anyone looking to do a Fall foliage photo shoot with their horse or dog (or both), we highly recommend Kate!

07/20/2021

We had Ariana Sakaris Equestrian Development here teaching a few weeks ago and WOW! So honored to have had her here! Check out her page for some amazing stories from our clinic! Thank you Ariana! Looking forward to working with you more!

I recently taught a wonderful 3 day clinic in Connecticut at Hermitage Farm, hosted by Marissa Rockwell.

It was an amazing 3 days of private lessons. I really love the private lesson format because I can dedicate 100% of my attention and focus onto each horse and rider/handler. There’s nothing more special than being able to fully dial into each horse-human pair and offer the most meaningful and helpful insight and advice for making progress.

Each horse was so unique, and we worked on a variety of things such as Groundwork, Dressage, Liberty work, and even some tricks such as the Spanish Walk and Laydown.

A big theme that trickled into each session was how to not target the "trigger spot" directly, but rather work indirectly first to best prepare the horse mentally for the harder task we will ask them to navigate through later.

For example, I worked with a mare who had a very difficult time with being fly sprayed. I worked with her in detail on many other things first in order to best prepare her mentally and emotionally. I wanted to rewire her whole system on how she would experience fly spray. I worked indirectly "around the bush” first and prepared her with new feelings, then she was able to handle the fly spray beautifully. It was all about building her up first, and showing her how she can experience something differently. I was so proud of her!

I will share more in the coming days on some of the amazing transformations that happened during this clinic! Here in this photo was my youngest rider, who is 11 years old. I worked with her horse at the end of each riding lesson on the laydown, and on the 3rd day he felt comfortable enough to let it happen 😍

07/01/2021

Be sure not to miss Ariana Sakaris Equestrian Development clinic happening here July 10 -12!

That magical connection between a person and their horse. As we wrap up our celebration of Mustangs for our Breed of the Month, we share the story of Ariana S. & Wild Heart. Born in the wild & rounded up in Nevada, Wild Heart competed in the 2017 Kentucky Extreme Mustang Makeover with Ariana, who adopted her after the event. Read about how this Mustang changed her life:
https://yourdressage.org/2021/06/30/wild-hearts/

Photo credit: Photos by Luka

06/04/2021

Ariana Sakaris Equestrian Development will be teaching at Hermitage Farm in Durham, CT!
July 10th and 11th! While participation spots are full! Auditing spots are still available! She will be covering everything from groundwork, liberty, teaching the laydown, and dressage! Please contact Marisa at 203.494.1683 or [email protected] for more information!

05/15/2021

Hermitage Farm would like congratulate Nicole Maria on the purchase of her first horse and welcome King Lehr’s Let’s Dance (Lacy) to the farm! Nicole has been a long time member of the Hermitage family, and we are so excited for her to finally have this lovely mare to call her own❤️

05/01/2021

Sorry Ben, the grass is greener on this side of the fence.

01/03/2021

Stall available in Durham, CT. We offer full board with group turnout. Matted stalls, indoor and lighted outdoor arena, round-pen, and nearby access to trails. Drama free environment and owners on premises. Please call 203-444-0153 or PM for more information.

11/05/2020

We had Melissa here not long ago! Anyone interested in this clinic contact Marisa Rockwell or Felicia!

⭐️ We are excited to announce our clinic dates with Melissa Ashcraft! Come join us for this wonderful educational experience! Spots are filling up quickly, so please reach out to Felicia to reserve your spot today ⭐️

10/30/2020

A few more images from our recent photo shoot with Kate Lussier Photography llc ! Kate did a fantastic job capturing our love for our horses ❤️

10/29/2020

One of our boarders, Blackjack, looking as handsome as ever for his christmas photos! ❤

Now booking wreath sessions!
🎄
Book before Dec. 1st to ensure Christmas delivery of products.
🎅

10/17/2020

One of us hates to be caught on film, the other always gets caught from every angle but the right angle (you decide who’s who). Turns out having the right photographer makes a world of difference! Thank you Kate Lussier for your patience and coaching, putting me at ease and capturing Dottie as pretty on film as she is in real life! Kate Lussier Photography llc

10/12/2020

One of the early images from our photo shoot last week. So excited to share more pictures as I get them!

Ellie - looking like a million bucks.
💰

09/26/2020

Beautiful foggy Fall morning

09/10/2020

08/30/2020

Two spots left for long reining clinic with Dan James on September 8th and 9th! Contact Marisa Rockwell to participate or audit! [email protected]

Past Road to the Horse World Champion Dan James and his 6666 Ranch bred gelding, affectionately known as 'Swampy' conduct a long reining clinic at Road to th...

07/08/2020

*sound on* Anybody else this fired up on hump day?

06/07/2020

When your napping habits constantly give the humans heart failure...

05/31/2020

I keep missing Throwback Thursday and Flashback Friday, so how about So Long Ago Sunday? Enjoy these treasures...

05/30/2020

Let's see your favorite picture of your favorite equine friend(s) in the comments below!

05/19/2020

05/18/2020

Intrest? Alarm? Brilliant idea for world domination? We shall never know...

05/16/2020

The beautiful weather today brought the first of many long trail ride adventures

05/11/2020

The right tablescape can really make or break a dining experience

05/06/2020

And here we see a classic case of Starving Morgan Syndrome. A regular feeding schedule, body score of 6, and glowing coat shouldn’t steer you away from this diagnosis. Two steps left and she could use her hay pile as a pillow to kneel on 🙄