Havenwood Equestrian Center

04/21/2025

Our more advanced students have been working on their cantering skills. They are doing so great!

03/17/2025

We are looking for a new boarder at Havenwood Farm. Facilities include a good sized indoor and a large outdoor riding arena with excellent footing. Horses are stalled half day (daytime in summer, nighttime in winter) and turned out the other half in 3-4 horse herds rotating between seven 1-2 acre paddocks for good grass management. Paddocks have 2 or 3 sided run in sheds for shelter. Stalls have wall to wall rubber mats and are well bedded with sawdust. They are all set up with wall mounted hay nets, outdoor rated fans for when it’s hot in the summer and heated buckets for when it’s cold in the winter. Horses are fed grain 2x per day and muzzled or blanketed upon turn out or bring in as needed. The property also includes 27 acres of woods with trails for trail riding. Board is $400/month. The ideal boarder has a beginner safe horse they are willing to let us use for two lessons on Tuesday afternoons during the school year in our nonprofit after school program for high school students and possibly one week during the summer. Lessons are taught by a CHA Certified Instructor who is a USDF Bronze Medalist, USPC National Examiner and former Head Coach of the Radford University Equestrian Team. The ideal horse is beginner safe at the walk, trot and canter and possibly over crossrails, though the latter is not required. This donated use is tax deductible as a donation-in-kind as we are a 501(c)(3) organization. Please PM if you are interested.

03/11/2025

Great news! Havenwood Equestrian Center has been accepted as a member of the United States Equestrian Federation’s Community Outreach Program. This program includes organizations that “provide equine-based learning opportunities and support the positive impact horses can have within their local communities” (see their website at https://www.usef.org/about-us/diversity-inclusion/organizations-program.) We are honored and excited to have been accepted as a member organization!

12/31/2024

As we come to the close of the year, we at Havenwood Equestrian Center have much to be grateful for. 2024 was our second year of existence. We welcomed new and returning students to our second school year of after school programming. We were grateful to add wonderful new volunteers who have helped us effectively work with the students each week. We had our first summer day camp in 2024, which was so much fun. Our returning students keep asking if we’ll be doing it again in 2025 (we will) and telling the new ones how great it was. We’ve seen our students make progress in their riding, their horsemanship, their life skills and their academics.

None of this would be possible without our generous donors. We are so grateful for their support! They have truly made a difference in the lives of the students we serve.

If you are doing some last minute end of year giving today, please consider continuing your support of our program by donating using this link: https://www.givelocalnrv.org/organization/Havenwood-Equestrian-Center or on our web page at www.havenwoodequestrian.com.
Our administrative costs are very low so every dollar you give goes towards helping our students learn, grow, and chart a positive path for their future.

We wish you all a very Happy New Year in 2025 and look forward to continuing to grow and develop in our work at Havenwood Equestrian Center.

Sincerely,
The team at Havenwood Equestrian Center

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas from all of us at Havenwood Equestrian Center! Wishing everyone a blessed day!

12/24/2024

Introducing another one of our wonderful volunteers: Judy Altizer has had Arabians since 1990 and has showed Arabians in dressage, hunter and western pleasure. She’s participated in the Roanoke Valley Pony Club for 13 years with her daughter Zoe and as a member, mostly as a mounted instruction coordinator. She is on the Southwest Virginia Dressage Association Board of Directors. Judy used to work as a farrier and still trims her own horses’ feet. She loves trail riding, learning dressage, and volunteering to help make local dressage/CT shows happen. Professionally, Judy works as a Nurse Practitioner. She lives on farm with her husband, Emory, daughter, Zoe, and multiple horses, dogs, cats, and chickens. We are so happy to have Judy helping us with our students at Havenwood Equestrian Center!

12/11/2024

We had a great last day of the semester with our students yesterday. Everyone had a good ride. One student cantered for the first time which is super exciting! Snacks and Mya sported Santa hats in honor of the season. We had our end of semester awards. All of the students met their academic goals for the semester. We had several with perfect attendance for the second half of the semester and several that earned a trail ride for 90% or better attendance. We are so proud of the students for achieving these goals! The students loved the personalized hoodies and equestrian belts they got for Christmas. We had to take a picture with their new gear. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and look forward to starting up again in the new year!

P.S. If you are still considering your end of year giving options, we would very much appreciate your support. You can donate from our website: https://www.havenwoodequestrian.com/donate

12/04/2024

Thank you to all who donated on and leading up to Giving Tuesday! We are so grateful to all of you who support us in our efforts to help local teens! If you wanted to give, but forgot, the donation portals are still open at our website: HavenwoodEquestrian.com or using this link:
https://www.givelocalnrv.org/organization/Havenwood-Equestrian-Center

12/03/2024

We’ve made it halfway to our goal of raising $4000 on Giving Tuesday. Thank you so much to all those who have already donated! You are making a difference and we appreciate it so very much! There is still time! If you would like to support our after school program to help local economically disadvantaged teens through working with horses, you can donate on our website at HavenwoodEquestrian.com or using the link below.

https://www.givelocalnrv.org/organization/Havenwood-Equestrian-Center

12/03/2024

Giving Tuesday is here! After a celebration of Thanksgiving for our many blessings, it’s now our chance to give back. If you wish to support us in our efforts to help local underserved teens through working with horses, please donate using the link below or by going to our website at HavenwoodEquestrian.com. Our Giving Tuesday goal this year is to raise $4000 to help us work to expand our program in the coming year.

https://www.givelocalnrv.org/organization/Havenwood-Equestrian-Center

12/02/2024

Giving Tuesday is tomorrow! Please consider donating to our program as a part of your end of year giving. We believe working with horses helps the economically disadvantaged teens in our program develop confidence, responsibility and resilience. Help us help them become their best selves! Donations can be made using the link below:

https://www.givelocalnrv.org/organization/Havenwood-Equestrian-Center

12/01/2024

Introducing another one of our wonderful volunteers here at Havenwood Equestrian Center: Lorna Myers. Lorna is a new volunteer with us this year for our after school program. Her daughter is a ninth grade student who joined us this fall and is enjoying our program. Lorna’s background is in education and has taught middle school and been an elementary school principal. She volunteers with high school age youth as a leader in her church and with the marching band at Auburn. Lorna has a heart for young people and mentoring them with their academics and as they navigate social settings while growing into young adults. Lorna has been an amazing addition to our program and we are so grateful for her willingness to volunteer her time to work with our students here!

11/29/2024

It’s a day late, but never too late to express gratitude. We are so thankful for the opportunity to work with our wonderful students here at Havenwood Equestrian Center!

11/21/2024

Save the date! Giving Tuesday is coming up on December 3rd. Please consider supporting us in your annual giving. Every dollar goes directly to help the students in our program as we have no paid administrators. You can help make a difference in the lives of local economically disadvantaged teens!

Our Program Havenwood Equestrian Center is a nonprofit horse farm that offers a free after-school program for low-income high schoolers at Auburn High School, in Riner, Virginia. How it worksStudents in grades 9-12 at Auburn High School who qualify for free or...