Courser Hill Farms, LLC

12/25/2024

Wishing all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas!

12/03/2024

The struggle was so real. 😂

“I’m not saying the breeches of my younger days, say 1980-2000, were perfect, but they were designed for a generation of thick-skinned riders. Namby-pamby riders need not apply. Our riding pants were a zero-way-stretch affair with pant legs that ended mid-calf and fastened with newly popular Velcro that never quite closed. Imagine, if you will, enduring the 20-minute struggle of getting your leather boots on, only to find the pokey part of the Velcro closure rubbing against your skin whilst snagging on your nylons. We didn’t have time to take our boots off and put them back on, so we toughed it out. ‘Do your worst, Velcro,’ we’d say. And the Velcro did, rasping off little bits of skin until suitable divets were etched from our legs for it to rest for the day. Not only were things happening within our boots, but also just above the top of them. Due to the zero-way-stretch technology, our riding pants, aided by their leather knee patches, had the ability to press our precious kneecaps into unpredictable and unfavorable positions. Our coaches then, as they do now, yelled, ‘Quit gripping with your knees!’ and we, the hapless students, wondered, Then why are there leather knee patches on these stupid pants? Tradition, that’s why. The neat thing, other than the apparent uselessness of the aforementioned patches, was their constant ability to shrink in the wash due to a hot water oversight. This shrinkage meant that the material that sat beneath them would get bunched up and take to burrowing into the side of your knees. We also loved a side-zip breech because it meant we could also wear our belt sideways. Getting these pants done up was a tremendous way to isolate the exact location of your back pain. That quarter waist contort testing our desire for oxygen over fashion as we tucked things in, zipped things up, and got the belt perfectly off-center. I’m not saying that all these New Age breeches are for the birds, I’m just saying they appeal to the masses, whereas in my day, they appealed to the tall and slim. The rest of us just had to get on with it.”

Read Rebecca Berry’s historical account of breeches on Horse Network.

11/14/2024

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.”

10/18/2024

We ❤️ OTTBs!

Jennie Brannigan went viral when she talked about the heart shown by her 5-star mount, Thoroughbred Twilightslastgleam, after he completed cross country at the Kentucky Five Star this spring. Brannigan said then: "Vettings don't matter. Heart does."

What did she mean?

It turns out, Twilightslastgleam, or Comic, suffered an injury during his 7-year-old season that kept him on stall rest and out of competition for a year—“he had a little bit of a hot leg and we took a bone spur out of his ankle and he got Lyme disease,” Brannigan said. After lay-up for those issues, Comic came out of stall rest with a case of significant kissing spines which resulted in spinal fusion that Brannigan said "wouldn't pass a vet" -- this, in addition to an OCD stifle lesion and chronically challenging feet.

And yet, with thoughtful, careful management, Comic is successfully competing at the five-star level once again. He'll run the Maryland five-star this weekend as one of four Thoroughbreds in the top-level three-day eventing compeition.

That's the heart of a Thoroughbred.

📷 EquiSport Photos

09/21/2024

Congratulations Breanna on your purchase of Tap. We are so happy for the two of you. You guys make a great team.

08/26/2024

Congratulations CHF riders!

07/29/2024

We had a great day at the LVDA Decades of Dressage show.

Two of our riders went to their first dressage show and rode beautiful tests with great scores. We encourage all of our riders to show dressage as it encourages classical riding and helps in all aspects of jumping.

Karen Miller Gruber got back in the show ring after 28 years with her green 6 year old Thoroughbred, Cody. She worked really hard to get there and we couldn’t be prouder of her. And on top of all that, she came home with a 2nd place ribbon!

Isabelle went to her first dressage show (and only her 3rd show ever!) and rode Zamperini accurately and beautifully. Her determination paid off and she came home with a 1st and a 3rd!

And our own Adderyn Conway went down the center line with Picasso and performed two beautiful training level tests. Her precision earned her 2 firsts.

Congratulations to all of the riders.

And finally thanks to Sterling Hill Stables for putting on a wonderful show. Can’t wait for more!

07/18/2024

CHF had a great show day! The girls put in some great quality rounds. They have been working hard to fix a couple things and it really showed off today!

07/17/2024

Week 1 of Pony Camp was a success! It was brutally hot but we had a great week. Learned a lot and had so much fun along the way.

06/06/2024

The bestest pony 💕

06/01/2024

Say hello to Edwin, our newest project!

05/26/2024

Congratulations to Adderyn Conway and Picasso on winning Champion in Pleasure and Reserve Champion in the Greens today. Picasso is turning into such a nice all around horse. Tuesday he was a winning dressage horse, Sunday a winning hunter. ❤️❤️

05/25/2024

Congratulations Mollie Peterson on your purchase of Antigua PF!
We are so happy for you! Good luck on your journey.

Thank you Karen Miller Gruber for entrusting us with her sale.