High Standards Stables

01/15/2025

Sending love and hugs to Lindsay and anyone who loved Luca today. She lost her wonderful boy to a systemic degenerative disease in his tendons.

We’ve had a rough couple months losing a couple horses to weird ailments. First Newb, now Luca. It always sucks. It’s even worse when it happens to the kids. What I can say, is that these tough situations have reinforced what a wonderful group of kids (and adults!) we have. They are true horseman, always thinking about the happiness and health of their animals first, and they are always there for one another in hard times.

01/14/2025

Last weekend a couple horses snuck out for a last minute pop in to CVF schooling show!
Rebecca and Cherrybrook Blues Brother were Champion in the Low Adults, Katy and Eloquent Ethel were Reserve Champion in the Low Adults, and last but not least, while somehow escaping photos yet again 🤔, Sloane took The Frog Prince into the Suitable Hunters on basically a catch ride, and came out Reserve Champion as well! Good work guys!!! Next stop, we’re back at WEC, OH next week!

01/01/2025

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas, Happy first night of Chanukah, and Happy Holidays!!!

12/23/2024

After a horse show break for all the horses and riders, what an amazing start to the 2025 show season!!!

Katelyn Mcphie with
Revita Belu: CHAMPION 🏆in the Children’s Hunters winning 3/4 over fences rounds and the hack (Thanks for riding, Sloane Haddad!), and a score of 84 in the first round of the classic.
Beaverwood’s Hydrangia: Pony Derby winner, CHAMPION🏆 in the regular large ponies, AND a clean swept all the over fences classes in the division, and 🥈 in the classic.
Posh Ettiquitte: Etti recently joined the Mcphie family for good! This week was her first time back in the show ring since a minor injury last year. She was awesome in the large greens, getting top ribbons including a 🥇,and 🥉in the classic.
Viva Valerius: Made his debut in Large greens and exceeded all my expectations for his first go in the division receiving a 🥇and 🥈over fences. We’ve put a lot of hard work into this one and I’m so looking forward to watching him and Kate shine this season.
Gia Mittiga and Greymeadow’s Golden Boy had an excellent weekend in the Short Stirrup finishing RESERVE CHAMPION🏆, and 🥈out of about 30 in the combined limit abd SS classic with scores of 80 and 82. They also received 🥇,🥈,🥈O/F.
Addison Pisanick and City of Love were 7 and 4 out of 17 in the cross rail division after only 3 weeks of working together due to her lease horse sustaining and injury. I’m so impressed with how hard Addison worked to get this done in challenging circumstances.
Hannah Hoyt finally got to make it to WEC with Romeo’s Miss Juliet! They were 5/30ish in the limit/SS eq o/f, 🥉, 7 and 8 out of 28 in the limit hunters, and 7/30 in the limit/SS Classic!
Austin Gowe and Patty Cake were 🥇out if 30 in the limit/SS eq on the flat. They also had great rounds in the limit hunters.
Rebecca Gilmore and Cherry Brook’s Blues Brother had a 🥇in the low adult U/S, a 4th o/f in a big group of low adult riders and 4th in the low adult classic.
Last but not least Stephanie and Cherrybrook’s Blues Brother were 🥇in the USJA U/S and 🥈,🥈o/f in the baby greens.

See you next month WEC!!

11/18/2024

🤩🤩

11/14/2024

Barn family, Please keep Sloane and her family in your thoughts and prayers as they had to say goodbye to Newb today. He was a really good guy and will be dearly missed.

10/28/2024

It was a great, and emotional day as Kate and Posh Opulence took their final rounds together at WIHS, but they went out with a bang! They put in a beautiful round in the WIHS pony medal, scoring an 84.6, which got them into the flat phase, and they finished in the ribbons! Receiving a ‘Best Turned Out’ award was icing on the cake. Nugget is truly the best boy, and his next kid will be SO lucky.

Both ponies tried their hearts out this weekend. Kate and Beaverwood’s Hydrangia finished up great as well! In all the goodbyes with Nugget, Heidi kind of missed the photo opps (Sorry Heidi!!!!), but we’ll have lots of photos of her to come this year as we released this wonderful girl for another season 😊😊😊.

I’m SO proud of Kate and all the hard work she put in to achieve and exceed her goal of making it to indoors.

Thank you to everyone on our team for their part in keeping our ponies happy, healthy and performing their best at home and at shows! Special shout out to Voltaire Design USA & Canada for being SO fast at getting to us this week when we had a bit of a saddle fitting emergency. Your support and customer service was exceptional.

What a great indoors season!! November brings some actual down time for the humans and horses, but we’ll be back at the horse shows for Presents Under the Tree week at WEC. Until then, ✌🏼.

10/28/2024

❤️❤️❤️

The final award for The Clothes Horse Best Turned Out Horse was actually presented to a pony on Sunday, October 27. Posh Opulence, or “Nugget” in the barn, swayed the judges with a beautiful coat, dapples, and an adorable face, some of which is attributed to his groom, Christina McPhie. It’s a family affair, as Christina’s daughter Katelyn is the rider and owner, and they train with Stephanie Framer.

The pair picked up ribbons in the Medium Pony Hunters and placed tenth in the WIHS Pony Equitation Finals, presented by Huntland. The family, from Wadsworth, OH, has owned Nugget for three years, and this was Katelyn’s final show with the 11-year-old Palomino Welsh Pony gelding by Posh Opposites Attract. Nugget was bred by Ron Dickey DVM.

Typical for a pony, Nugget “eats anything” and loves his food. “He actually really enjoys licking. He likes peppermints, and he loves a salt lick in the barn,” said Katelyn. “My favorite quality about him is how sweet he is. He'll always snuggle, and he's always there to cheer you up.”

This is the pair’s first time at WIHS, and Katelyn enjoyed having her mom groom for her at the show. “She's always there for me,” she said. “She'll have the ponies ready, even if it means that she doesn't get to watch me warm up or be with me all the time, and they always come out looking just the way they should. She always knows what the ponies need.”

10/27/2024

❤️

This image captures the essence of the relationship between a coach and an athlete. It shows how coaches invest pieces of themselves—knowledge, experience, passion—into their athletes, helping them grow, excel, and reach their full potential.

Behind every great athlete is a coach who believed, guided, and gave more than just instructions. They pour time, energy, and heart into molding not only the athlete’s skills but also their character, resilience, and mindset. Coaches are mentors, motivators, and sometimes even life-changers. They give so much of themselves to see others succeed.

To all the coaches out there—thank you for your selflessness, dedication, and unwavering support. You shape not just athletes but also leaders and strong individuals for the future. 🙏

10/22/2024

With simultaneous joy and sadness, it is time to bid Buddy the happiest of retirements. I met Buddy when he was four years old. He came in to the barn to be a school horse in the program I grew up in. I think I was 14. A couple years down the road, Kiersten bought him to be her bffl, but for a lot of her years with him, she’s shared him with the rest of us. And we are so greatful she did!! In the 20 years I’ve known this guy he’s done saddle seat, learned to jump, played IHSA, been the steady eddy beginner lesson horse, been the SMOOTHEST horse to take your first canter on, played babysitter to younger horses in the field, and been a trail horse extraordinaire. Talk about the versatility of the Morgan horse. I will forever love the breed because of him. As a program favorite, I’m sure a lot of riders are going to miss this boy in the barn, but at almost 25, we all know he deserves to hang his bridle up, and go play in field for the rest of his days. Buddy goes to his retirement home on Friday, so any of my students who’d like to bid him farewell, please stop out before then. He’ll gladly accept all your treats, pets, hugs, and well wishes ❤️. And nobody worry, buddy will not be far away. He’ll be down the road in Valley City, kicking it with Wizard (yes, Wiz is still trucking). The two boys have been seperated and reunited several times over their lives, and I’m very excited for them to see each other again. Thank you, Kiersten, for sharing your unicorn with us for so many years. He holds a special place in so many hearts because of you. And thank you, Buddy! For EVERYTHING 💕💕💕💕.

PS- Please share your Buddy memories and/or photos in the comments. We’d LOVE to see them! Below are Bob and Jan. Two of Buddy’s long time riders and fans😊.

10/21/2024

Moments from Harrisburg 😍.

10/14/2024

What a great time we had at Harrisburg! So much love for these ponies who were amazing. What else is new though? We do have some great ponies ❤️. And one more congratulations to Kate for exceeding her goals this week! Thank you to everyone who went out of their way to send us congratulations! Home for a week for some r and r (for the ponies anyway 🤣). Then on to
Washington!