Crossroads Farm

09/05/2025

What a lovely day. Students and horses of all levels benefit from gymnastic ground poles and patterns that encourage bending and rhythm.

09/03/2025

This is a great option for make-up lessons and I'm excited to offer this opportunity for CRF students in the future!

Three years ago, our riding program switched to a semester-based format, and we haven’t looked back. The switch has resulted in greater financial security for the barn and instructors and a greater sense of commitment from our riders and families. We’ve changed very little of the new format si...

09/01/2025

This week's challenge course is set and ready to go!

08/29/2025

Making them work!! Who can hold 2 point the longest? 😁

08/25/2025

Beautiful, Sweet Shah went over the Rainbow Bridge today.

He was such a careful and steady leadline pony and taught so many of our begginers and "littles " their first few lessons.

He enjoyed a year of retirement and left us unexpectedly.

Thank you for everything old man. 🦄

08/22/2025

Another beautiful and exciting week here at CRF! We work hard and play hard!

08/17/2025

CRF has enjoyed a busy weekend! We love to see our students grow and learn and then pass that knowledge on to the next generation of equestrians!
The barn is the best place for developing confidence and leadership skills! 🙌 Thank you Stella for being such a great helper today ❤️

08/15/2025

The most important thing you can do as a begginer rider is find an experienced instructor! Starting out right is so much better than starting over!

08/10/2025

A little bit of rain and a little bit of sun 🌞

08/08/2025

Riding in the rain 🌧 💙

08/03/2025

"If there is a debate whether or not faith and animals, particularly dogs and horses, go hand in hand, then allow me to settle it. When I was a teenager, my late mother encouraged me to watch our horse in the pasture. She gently and eloquently shared that watching a horse be a horse was watching God at work. We can bond and connect with our horses without being in arm’s reach as our horses graze, explore, and breeze through a pasture with curiosity, energy, and wonder. They are, in a word, majestic.

[...]

A little over a year before the pandemic began, I started riding again with weekly lessons on a couple of tired yet caring lesson horses. They helped rebuild my confidence after a horrific fall and give me a peace that had been hard to find. In April 2020, the barn closed to non-boarders. That’s when I realized how much one ride a week had done for my fatigued chaplain soul. I did not want to pause riding again. I never imagined owning a horse would ever be possible, as I often joke that chaplains are paid in tears, and the financial stress of owning a horse that most of us are all too familiar with, is worth the joy. After years of chaplaincy and attempting to create a community again in my church while the things I see at work are always at the forefront of my mind, my soul was finding peace again in the sanctuary of pastures and the holy ground of freshly dragged arenas.

Gunner, the barn name I gave my New Vocations graduate after my beloved Arsenal FC, stepped off the trailer and grabbed my heart the way a transformational faith experience does. At home, my half-human, half-dog, Oliver was that space. God sent him my last year of graduate school, in the fall of 2006 and 5 months after losing my first horse, and, in spite of always connecting with animals on a deep level, the life I shared with Oliver was like nothing I’d ever known. He was present for my grief over my horse and a source of pure love and joy.

That kind of love can only be from God."

🔗 Read Jessica Shannon's full article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2022/08/01/i-found-god-in-a-hopeful-place/
📸 © Evelyn Szczepanek / ES Equine Photography