Windy Willow Equestrian

11/12/2024

We love our tiny equestrians! This little girl was such a delight to work with today. She’s just 2 1/2 years old and loves coming to the barn to see Lulu.

11/06/2024

Nothing like an 83 degree November day for our barns to get a new splash of barn red ❤️🐴❤️. Thank you Tony Ramirez for making our barns more beautiful!

10/31/2024

Wishing all of our students a safe and spooky Halloween filled with fun! 🎃 👻 🕷️

10/27/2024

What a perfect day we had for our Fall Fest Event 🍁🐴 🍎 at the barn. Students & guests enjoyed horse time, horse-themed games, a costume horse parade and festive treats! We just love how creative these kids got with their costumes! From an inflatable King Kong (loved this one!) to Super Woman & her super hero horse, a cowboy and a cowgirl, a dinosaur, Hermione Granger, Wednesday, and more! So creative and so much fun! 🎃 👻

This definitely going to be a repeat event next year!

10/13/2024

🐴⭐️🐴⭐️🐴⭐️🐴⭐️🐴⭐️🐴⭐️🐴⭐️🐴

WE ARE HIRING!

Windy Willow Equestrian’s team is growing! We are eager to add an enthusiastic, talented rock star riding instructor to our already amazing team. If you have a passion for teaching, creating inspiration within your students and enjoy working with great people, we want to talk with you!

Job Title: Riding Instructor

Location: Windy Willow Equestrian, Millwood, VA

Position Type: Part-time, Flexible Hours

Job Summary

We are seeking a skilled and passionate Riding Instructor to join our team. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in equestrian training and teaching, with the ability to instruct riders of varying skill levels and ages. The Riding Instructor will provide lessons, manage the safety of students and horses, and promote a positive, encouraging learning environment.

Responsibilities

• Plan and conduct riding lessons for students of all ages and skill levels.
• Teach a range of disciplines, including (dressage, hunt seat, eventing)
• Assess and monitor student progress, providing constructive feedback and setting individual goals.
• Ensure the safety and well-being of students and horses at all times.
• Manage and maintain tack, equipment, and facility in accordance with safety and cleanliness standards.
• Prepare horses for lessons, including tacking up, and ensuring their proper care post-lesson.
• Communicate effectively with students, parents, and team members regarding schedules, progress, and any issues that arise.
• Organize and participate in horse shows, clinics, and other equestrian events as required.

Qualifications

• Certification from a recognized equestrian organization (encouraged but not necessary) such as ARIA, CHA, PATH Intl., BHS, or USHJA) is preferred.
• Proven experience as a riding instructor or similar role.
• Strong understanding of horse care, behavior, and stable management.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to adapt teaching methods to suit different learning styles and age groups.

Benefits

* Competitive weekly pay based on experience and qualifications.
* Paid Training program
* Opportunities for professional development and certification.
* Bonuses available
* Riding Opportunities

How to Apply

Please send your resume, cover letter, and references to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!

10/13/2024

What a great day we had showing at the Clarke/Frederick Open Horse Show! Bryleigh, Danica, Emma and Jade all showed in their very first horse show and were BRILLIANT! Ava & Heather showed for the second time and really showcased their horses nicely. We couldn’t be more proud of all the hard work these young ladies put into getting ready for this show and bringing the Halloween 🎃 spirit out today with their creative costumes. Our horses were rock stars, too- beautifully turned out and took such good care of our students.

Congratulations to all today on a very successful show day!

Thank you to Gabi for helping coach today and for all of our amazing parents & family members who support our youngsters on show days and beyond!

10/05/2024

10/05/2024

Just a great group of students enjoying a perfect early Autumn 🍂 evening in the arena. So proud of everyone’s efforts tonight to partner with their horse. Way to go!

10/04/2024

This horse & rider just keep better by the ride. Lovely, solid work ethic happening right here.

09/30/2024

Today’s lessons were all about grid work to improve balance, rhythm and straightness. Great take-aways for all and new challenges to add next week!

09/20/2024

Deionte and Hailey working on self carriage in the trot.

09/17/2024

Need a new helmet? It’s Helmet Awareness Week and you can save big this week.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15NMG4yEhaUs2x5B/?mibextid=WC7FNe

09/16/2024

Great day for Stewart & Garett Davies at Sandstone today. We literally decided last minute to put Stewart in additional classes to see how he would do and Garett’s lesson today ended up being “let’s do a horse show”. They were stars! Garett hadn’t been in the ring in years and had only ridden Stewart once. Zero prep, zero warm-up and they placed 6th and 4th in the Hunter Hack amongst seasoned riders and horses. Way to go!

09/15/2024

2nd show of the weekend at Sandstone Farm. Stewart (Blue Bayou) is making his debut in the Hunter’s. Emmalene Morris rode him beautifully in the VHSA Junior/Amateur Equitation placing 4th in a class of 12. Stewart was cool, calm and collected in warm-up so we had a great feeling about his ability to handle himself with a large group of riders in the arena. He was unphased and did his job like a champ.

Now we’re waiting for Garett Davies to ride him in the Hunter Hack.

09/15/2024

GO TEAM WINDY WILLOW!!!! 🐴🙌🐴🙌🐴

What a beautiful day for a horse show! After a brutally hot summer of foregoing showing, we got horses & students into the show ring. Excellent job girls! We are so very proud of your accomplishments today. Everyone did a spectacular job getting their horses beautifully turned out and show ready. Classes were big but you girls all grabbed ribbons class after class. 🙌🙌.

Thank you to our show parents and grandparents who provided encouragement, nourishment, support and “base camp” set-up! It takes a village!

Thank you to the wonderful folks at the Clarke/Frederick Open Horse Show for hosting such a nice show. We will surely be back!

09/12/2024

Just a beautiful week for riding here at Windy Willow Equestrian. It doesn’t get much better than this!

09/08/2024

Congratulations to Rachel L on her purchase of 2019 Oldenburg GOV Galatoire’s Gold. Galatoire was bred and loved by us and we are looking forward to watching him progress with his new family in Massachusetts. We’ll miss his playful spirit in the barn! A big thank you to Emmalene Morris for riding this young horse over the last year and putting much needed miles and skills on him.

09/07/2024

Fantastic work ethic from these lovely ladies and their horses today. Super solid efforts in shortening and lengthening the stride at the trot and over poles, leg yields at walk and trot, and halt/canter, canter/halt transitions. Really nice job!