CEC Stables, LLC - Holland Campus

08/15/2024

First week of lessons with our program filling up was a huge success! We still have some availability on Mondays and Tuesdays for new riders. Space is limited and filling up fast! Additional days will be opened as current space fills.

08/07/2024

Roll Call!

CEC Stables Equine Staff have arrived on campus and are ready to get started!

Meet Penny- Penny is a former Grand Prix Show Jumper who is ready for a step down job (though she still thinks the jumps should be way higher). Penny will teach our advanced jumper riders.

Meet Bullseye- Bullseye is a former barrel pony who is much happier doing our true beginner lessons and teaching students principles of riding. This sweet boy loves snuggles💕

Meet D’Artagnan- D’Artagnan is a former hunter show horse. He is a true push ride who is ready for an easier gig than traveling to shows all the time. He will still attend some shows! He and Penny need some time to get back in shape but are ready to step into lessons.

Meet Sophie- Sophie is our youngest in the program and is very willing to please. She is here for the confident intermediate and advanced riders who would like to learn how to work with younger horses. She has a fantastic brain! This girl is going to do great things in the program🩷

Meet Caesar- Caesar was already introduced, but now that the rest of the crew is here, we will introduce him again. Caesar is a VERY well rounded guy and can teach a wide variety of skills. This goofy guy is so much fun to work with, everyone loves Caesar!

08/02/2024

Additional Lesson horses will be arriving this weekend! So excited to get the program in full swing. As the ponies get settled. We have several that will be eligible for partial leases as well! Lessons are required at a discounted rate for those who lease with us.

07/05/2024

CEC Stables will begin offering limited horseback riding lessons starting July 22 with more availability opening up August 1.

Space is limited
- call or text to schedule

06/22/2024

Dressage Solutions: To keep your horse straight ...

Imagine you are riding him on a balance beam. You need to keep him between your leg, seat and hand to keep him centered on the beam.
—Anna Buffini

Anna Buffini is one of eight athlete-and-horse combinations selected to the 2024 Paris Olympics U.S. Dressage Team Short List.

Thanks to Blue Seal for our coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, including rider interviews, competition reports, horse spotlights, photos, videos and more.

06/21/2024

Dressage Solutions: To confirm that your horse is on the vertical ...

Imagine he is a unicorn and has a spiral horn coming straight out of his forehead. If you can see the tip of that horn between his ears, you have perfect in-front-of-the-vertical placement. If his nose is behind the vertical, the horn will not be visible.
— Endel Ots

Endel Ots is one of eight athlete-and-horse combinations selected to the 2024 Paris Olympics U.S. Dressage Team Short List.

Thanks to Cosequin Equine for our coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, including rider interviews, competition reports, horse spotlights, photos, videos and more.

06/19/2024

Training pyramid- you can’t rush training. Every horse learns at their own pace, take the time to understand your horse and lay a proper foundation.

Building a foundation in a horses training is the start to its successes. There are a lot of key components that often get overlooked simply because we as humans are looking for that “finished product” at the snap of a finger.

I found this pyramid years ago and have implemented it into every horse that has come across my path. It has help profoundly and has proved itself in my program. The only thing I’d change is the word collection; I prefer the to replace that with frame. As the word collection to too many means “nose to chest” and that simply not what ANY discipline should be striving for.

Using this pyramid and holding true to it also helps in aiding proper biomechanics of the horse while you’re training and building them up mentally and physically.

My goal is to build a horse that’ll last for many years, not one that’ll be mentally or physically absent in the first few years of its life.

06/18/2024

We LOVE our equine staff💕

Meet Caesar!

Caesar is a super cool, friendly, solid citizen. He has done a bit of everything and LOVES kids! He is wonderful for everything from first time riders to skilled riders looking for more ride time. Caesar is just the best and funny to boot!

Name: Caesar

Show Name: CEC The Eminence

Nickname: Squeezer

Age: 20

Breed: Saddlebred

Color: Black

Height: about 16 hh

Likes: most horse treats, sweet apples, carrots, hasn’t turned his nose up at anything yet.

Dislikes: Caesar is a been a happy go lucky guy. Not a fan of watermelon!

06/18/2024

Recent events have led to some changes here at CEC. We will still be providing top notch care for our boarded horses, but will be gearing up for a lesson and lease program as well.

Meet the trainer!

Sarah Carpenter has loved horses for as long as she can remember. Sarah started her riding career in dressage at the age of ten. Shortly after starting riding she began working in the barn as a young working student helping with barn chores and tacking horses for lessons in exchange for her own lessons and saddle time. In her early teen years she made the change to hunters and jumpers. Working with top trainers in Pittsburgh, PA. Sarah was granted some unique opportunities to ride at home and schooling shows including the barn owner’s personal show horses and a young horse to help start under saddle.

Sarah attended the University of Findlay in Ohio and graduated with an Associates Degree in English Equestrian Studies with an eventing training emphasis. While in college, Sarah continued to ride as many horses as she could and purchased her first horse. Since graduating, Sarah has been teaching everyone from first time riders up through riders looking to refine their skills in dressage, eventing and 3’ plus hunters and jumpers.

Sarah will be splitting her time between CEC Holland Campus, and her program in North Carolina.

02/27/2024

Did You KNOW???
Various studies have shown that playing music, specifically classical or country, can and does affect horses in a positive way. Playing music helps balance equine behavior in a number of ways; one of which because it helps to mask outside sounds and vibrations as well as providing a positive and relaxing effect.

Credit: https://www.horseclass.com/blog/music-and-its-effect-on-horses/ #:~:text=Various%20studies%20have%20shown%20that,a%20positive%20and%20relaxing%20effect.

Playing music helps balance equine behavior in a number of ways; one of which because it helps to mask outside sounds and vibrations as well as providing a positive and relaxing effect.

09/22/2023

Meet Jimmy Buffett. He's one of our little roosters being raised on the farm. I bet you're wondering why his name is Jimmy Buffett.... well, Jimmy is a Buff Orpington, thus the name. 🤣 Wasting away again in Margaritaville!

09/10/2023

Mowing pasture today.