The St Simons Equestrian Center

05/19/2024

Put Mom in the photo. Take a candid of a friend's child that will make her feel powerful and capable of riding the 16.3hh thoroughbred. Post the unserious side of our sport, when schooling practice is in gym shorts and neon socks. 💙🩵💚

05/14/2024

We are opting out of pony camp this summer (it's a good thing--family and horses and riding lessons and horse shows and even a bit of summer vacation??--so we get some summer fun) but Trini and Kelli at Golden Isles Riding Academy have hosted so many of our students over the years at their camp and our riders come "home" so happy! Head over to GIRA and sign up for a fantastic camp experience this summer ☀️ 🐴🌴

Golden Isles Riding Academy is a family-oriented full service stable, conveniently located off Highway 82 in Brunswick. Just 4 miles from I-95 exit 29.

04/19/2024

Happy 6th birthday to the sweetest, coziest, SMARTEST, lazy pony around, BOUNCE! We are so proud of how hard you and Hattie are working together. Being a young rider with a young horse is so tough but Hattie is genuinely the most patient barely-teenager I've ever met and her green bean will benefit from her patience and focus on correct riding for years and years 💚

04/17/2024

After an unintentional 3 month hiatus, we're back on social media! Without a single photo of a horse 😅 Being a parent AND a barn owner AND a trainer AND an instructor feels impossible at times. And then I go watch the first grade production of "Swamped!" co-starring my son as the Blue Butterfly and Ellie as the rainbow butterfly and realize how many our riders are in the audience or on stage...and I feel really lucky I get to take a photo like this. (Sadly missing sweet co-star Lydia who was home sick 😭)
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Every person in this picture is a lesson rider and beloved part of our barn family. Couldn't have asked for a better clientele (even when my kid riders look at me funny when I'm not wearing breeches/wranglers/boots/dirt) 🩵🐎💜

01/27/2024

This is my dirt. There is other mud pits like it, but this one is mine. My dirt is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My dirt, without me, is useless dirt. Without my dirt, I am uselessly...clean.
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--Skittles, January 2024

11/09/2023

I'm ✨not✨ a hoarder 😤

11/03/2023

😭😭😭

11/02/2023

Me, conducting a potential schooling rider interview: "And are you taller or shorter than 5'6"?"
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Interviewee: "Actually I'm only 4'11."
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Me, observing her trial ride on a sassy pony on a cold day, post body clip: "Oh, and you're sticky too. Sticky AND short."
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Me to 5'8, 175 lbs, recovering from 100000 injuries me: YESSSSSSS the ponies are gonna get RODE.
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Welcome Madison to SSEC, all 4'11" of her! (For reference, Skittles here is 15hh on a tall day 😅).

09/15/2023

It's the start of body clipping season. In lieu of flowers, please send wine, ibuprofen, and clipper oil 💀🤎😵

09/02/2023

🤦🏼‍♀️🫣

And I had just gotten my round pen set exactly the way I wanted it 😭 This was AFTER we spent money being doubley sure to remove all water oaks and pines from everywhere near a structure or a fence, just to lose two live oaks!

Check out St Simons Equestrian Center's video.

09/02/2023

When Mom was busy rinsing off her very good boy, 5 year old Tenley snuck an unplanned ride (hence the dress and sparkly shoes) on the purple pony 💜🐴 We love a good matchy matchy dress/helmet/saddle pad/ear bonnet combo!

08/18/2023

✨✨HIRING✨✨

We are now hiring for a farm hand position! Part time to start, with a potential move to full time. Flexible, salaried schedule, GREAT for a college student. PTO after 6 months.

JOB DUTIES: feeding horses, cleaning stalls, general farm maintenance. Must be able to lift 50 lbs, have reliable transportation, pass a drug test, and have some general horse experience.

We are a small boarding and lesson facility on the north end of St Simons Island, specializing in individual care plans for competition-based horses. We pride ourselves on a supportive, healthy work environment, holding the highest standards of care for our animals, and promoting equine education in our staff members.

Contact the page for additional information.

07/22/2023

This kidlet Lydia had the best ride of her whole 6 years on the planet today with her favorite pony Lulu and we are so super proud of her!

07/18/2023

Welcome "Skittles" to the SSEC, completing our little lesson herd. He's a 15hh, 15 y.o appaloosa with experience over fences at local shows and has worked as a beach, trail, and lesson horse. His former home loved him dearly and we are happy to have him home with us!

06/27/2023

When the heat index is 10000000°, you ride ponies ba****ck in the shady round pen 🥵 Feat. Grace & Berry and Lydia & Lulu.
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Is ba****ck a legitimate form of equestrian practice or is it just lazy horsemanship?
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Both riders today discovered how sensitive their ponies were to their seat cues and what happens when you use your lower leg grip to catch your balance. (Hint: zoom!). Neither had ever ridden ba****ck before and practicing ba****ck allowed both riders to develop a new feel for their stabilizing muscles they'd never experienced before.
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Grace turned her pony using just her hips, understood the connection between her swung back lower leg and her seat, and Lydia stopped her pony using her seat and worked on using her long legs to regain her balance at the trot.
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Both riders had no idea how hard ba****ck riding was and developed an appreciation for the ba****ck trick riders they watch online.

06/07/2023

Soccer + horseback riding + gymnastics all in one day = less posting trot practice and more trail riding 🌳🌴

05/29/2023

Happy 19th birthday to our Lulu, the pony who apparently refuses to age (or jump baby crossrails at the appropriate height). We love you, our beloved Pasture/Spicy/Flying Potato!
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Photo of Barrett jumping his first crossrail ever, at his request, on the last day of kindergarten 🤯

05/21/2023

The SSEC littles brought home some big ribbons!
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Olivia and Here I Am placed in every single class in two new divisions and two jackpots. Highlights include a 2nd against adults in the WT ground poles and remembering her equitation pattern without any review! (We heard the ring announcer dismiss several riders throughout the day and reminding riders to LEARN their patterns before they entered the ring).
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Barrett and Here I Am came second in the U/S against an adult on a lovely horse in the walk division and ended up Reserve Champion overall for the entire walk category--including a WESTERN division the day before 🥳
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And we are leaving with a full trailer. Welcome Crowne Pointe to the barn 👑

05/20/2023

Great start to our first day of showing! Olivia and Here I Am earned a 2nd and 4th of 6 in a ground poles division, and I got to ride this lovely mare with Olivia in an open jackpot class, where we brought home 1st and 2nd 🏆 Very proud of this little, she earned a 2nd against a couple of adult riders, including our Neon's owner!
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Tomorrow Barrett and Olivia both ride, onto day two 💃🐎

05/20/2023

I had to make a tough--but correct--decision to cancel SSEC's pony camp this summer. While I'm 9 months out of brain surgery and doing better managing with long Covid, I'm still not 100%, and our campers deserve me at my best.

In prior years, our students have attended and LOVED GIRA's horse camp and I enjoyed hearing their camp stories (and how well they were treated by another barn). Contact Kelli for info and registration!

Our summer camps are filling up fast! Some are FULL already. Don’t miss out this summer! Contact Trini for more information or to reserve your spot. 🐎❤️

05/06/2023

🚨🏇Pre Derby Poll🏇🚨

Today marks 50 years since the record breaking win by Secretariat in the 1973 Run for the Roses, the Kentucky Derby 🌹 He set a track record that STILL STANDS TODAY!

To celebrate his incredible legacy, here's a fun poll:

SSEC is home to two Jockey Club thoroughbreds who are both related to Big Red.

POLL: Which one is MOST closely related, Aidan (chestnut gelding) or Hazel (bay mare)?

🫠 Poll option currently not working on fb, so vote by liking the photo of the horse 📸

Results and their pedigrees will be posted after the running of the 149th Kentucky Derby!

Photos of Secretariat himself posted in comments 🏇

04/23/2023

🥇🥇🥇☑️ Pretty proud trainer momma today 🥺 My little Bear moved up a division on his red pony and was the baby in the ring. No more leadline. I was a bit scared to let him off the leash but I shouldn't have worried....he came first in every class, out of four older riders 😭
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Lydia just started riding with us a few weeks ago and entered the performance leadline on Here I Am, winning the under saddle against a more experienced rider! So excited to watch her learn to ride!
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Paige and Here I Am faced some really quality horses in the AA. As usual, Lulu was the only pony in the division, and Paige was the only teenager. They earned a 2nd in the eq on Sunday and 4th out of 10 on Saturday in two ground poles classes despite picking up the canter twice 😂 (some really exciting poles I guess).
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And I showed for the first time in 6 years on Greased Lightning, coming 2nd in the open under saddle (not bad for an old barrel horse who was STRAIGHT UP OFFENDED at being kept to a trot) and being beaten by Paige and Lulu in an open jackpot 😎. Swipe to the end for my last show before this one. I had to dismount between classes to nurse my then 7 month old and today that chubby baby won his division championship 😭🏆

04/22/2023

Find us on Instagram for highlights of this weekends show at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center.

7 likes, 0 comments - St Simons Equestrian Center () on Instagram: "Neon had a little too much fun in the walk trot ground pole class with Paige. Turned out this was..."

04/13/2023

I don't know how to start this. As I write this at 11 am, I'm sitting in a chair in front of Poppy's stall, watching her happily eat really expensive T&A, picking out the good parts, and trying to figure out how to start her obituary. She's dying in an hour or so, as soon as her grave is completed.

The worst part of this is that she doesn't look sick enough to be put down. There's that quiet voice in my head saying, "you can put this off, you can get another few weeks out of her, it doesn't have to be now, on such a gorgeous spring day. Maybe she's not actually sick after all."

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Poppy: August 2000-April 12, 2023

I met Poppy in 2017. She was a grumpy, girthy, no-nonsense, alpha mare, former fox hunter who cribbed and didn't love kids but tolerated them, mostly. She seemed to have unlimited energy even at 16. To this day, I never saw her tire out. Even last night, during our final sunset ba****ck ride, she was attempting to sneak into a trot, chugging along at the most forward walk she could manage.

She lived at Patten Oaks on St Simons Island for under a year and there met Maddie, her last kid owner. I had just had a baby and Poppy helped me get some confidence back over fences. She had THE GREATEST, FLOATIEST, ROCKING HORSIEST CANTER EVER. Her walk to canter transition was the stuff of dreams.

The program at Patten Oaks closed down, Poppy was officially purchased by then 13 year old Maddie, and moved to another local barn.

I won't go into detail as it's a lonsg, quasi-complicated story, but Poppy is the sole reason The St Simons Equestrian Center exists today, even though she didn't move into our barn until March 2020.

If it wasn't for her, we literally wouldn't be here.

During the first wave of the pandemic, we started using Poppy as a lesson horse. Maddie was busy with high school and volunteer activities, and Poppy was loved on and spoiled with us.

In June 2020, her owner's family made the hard decision to sell her. At this time, lesson horse prices were exorbitant and Poppy, despite being 20, was worth significantly more money than what they'd paid for her initially because of her sheer usefulness. She could do pony rides, the longe line with 5 year olds, walk trot, AND the jumpers with the gutsy teenagers.

I told her owners to come up with a number they wanted for her and we'd start negotiating there.

Maddie's mom sat down in my office, tears all over her face. She told me, "we want her to stay here, where she's loved by y'all so much."

She took the bill of sale from me and wrote "1" on the sale amount line.

Instead of pricing me out (which would have been easy at that point) and making some money, they sold their beloved Poppy to me for a single dollar.

And yes, I gave Maddie's mom that dollar bill.

Best dollar I've ever spent.

I spent the small stash I'd set aside for her purchase for stifle injections, Adequan, Equioxx, Regumate, gastric scoping and ulcer meds, hind gut supplements, chiro, massage therapy, and Iconoclast boots to support aging legs. Turns out, money CAN buy happiness. Our grumpy white mare turned into a cuddle bug who leaned into the curry comb instead of baring her teeth with her ears pinned.

Poppy became the best teacher I've ever met. I learned more about balance, centeredness, and instincts from her than any human trainer. She felt the second her rider would start to lose balance and she'd make a beeline for me. She trained my eye to see the loss of balance faster, or looking for crooked hips making Poppy turn accidentally. If a rider was anxious or stressed, she'd refuse to leave my side in the ring until their breathing settled.

She was famous for her "one shot/only chance" rides. A rider got one chance to ride through an exercise with Poppy's help to show them how it's supposed to go. After that, they had to do the work on their own: steering, leg, balance, correct two point, release.

After the first ride through, no more favors. You were there to learn to ride, not be a passenger.

Let's be honest, though, she wasn't flawless. She loved speed, and was always up for a good gallop even in her advanced years... probably why she made a good fox hunter but a poor arena hunter. She had a notoriously strong head and needed her bits switched out often. She was absolutely terrified of armadillos (the Armadillo of Death who lived in the treeline was legendary among her riders). Her heat cycles were the stuff of hormonal nightmares. She was prone to choke, needed her feed soaked. She cribbed. She had melanomas that ruptured under her tail, arthritis, thin soles, and Cushing's disease.

When she was 22 and I was 42, we started training in dressage. It made both of us better. We set a goal for our levels and maybe a bronze? We got her flying changes back. She learned the turn on the forehand, I learned how to sit the trot.

Shortly after starting our dressage quest, I found out I had a brain tumor that had to come out and she got mysteriously sick while I recuperated from brain surgery. We chalked it up to a Cushing's flare.

Weeks of SMZs, weeks of extra feed (I believe she was on 13 lbs of senior feed plus all the alf and grass hay she could eat), and she still looked crummy. She was depressed. We pulled her from lessons. The vet came out for a cut near her eye and instead spent two hours with an ultrasound looking at her lungs, which sounded like crinkled cellophane through the stethoscope.

"Might be just asthma. Might be EMPF."

I'd never heard of EMPF (equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis). Googling ensued and my heart broke. It's a rare, hard to diagnose, newer disease. EMPF is also terminal in older horses. Poppy was 23. I decided Poppy absolutely did not have EMPF.

"Prognosis is 3-6 months, based on how she sounds now. I'd not bet on 6 months though."

Poppy made it 8 months, and she worked as a leadline pony ride horse until this week. She loved her job, loved her littles. We lifted her Cushing's diet restrictions and gave her every sugary treat she wanted. Her riders came to a unicorn and rainbow themed goodbye photoshoot on a Sunday.

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But she didn't look sick anymore.

The palliative meds work beautifully, until they don't work at all. Amanda would hear her cough all night, and she began doing her job--managing our horses' care in their best interest--with me as the target client. She told me it was time but I couldn't hear it.

Poppy's my favorite horse. My beloved princess baby angel unicorn pony. I wasn't ready.

Today, next to her grave on our property, she laid down quietly, exactly as planned. She died with her head under my hands, listening to the group of folks, the vet team, our staff, and my husband, who loved her and cared for her whispering "good girl, Poppy."

A lung biopsy performed post mortem confirmed she had EMPF. Her lungs were rigid, scarred, filled with small tumors and blisters, and were streaked with strange tan colors, not pink or red. I held the tissue myself. It wasn't healthy.

For the first time since I knew she was terminal, I broke into the ugly cry...of relief. We gave a very sick, but stoic, horse a peaceful end. I knew letting her go today, on a beautiful breezy Georgia spring day, was the right call.

She crossed the rainbow bridge today without her pink, purple, and teal mane and tail, cut off before she walked out of the barn, nor her shoes, and met the other beloved tail-less and shoeless horses on the other side.

We love you forever, sweet Poppykins. Thank you for being the best teacher I could ask for.

04/07/2023

That first post-stifle-injections crossrail in the spring is always the spiciest 😅 Lulu turns 19 next month but shhhh no one tell her!
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(PS huge props to the 10 year old who rode out the ✨1.10m oxer✨, back to a reasonable canter. Her comment to the senior lesson pony while eyerolling? "Lu, the jumps aren't that big. You can calm down now.")

04/06/2023

THIS THIS THIS A MILLION TIMES THIS!!!

We start with arena etiquette immediately, and even though our last show was ✨not✨ great, every single one of our riders used their voices to call "left to left" or "passing inside" to a walker on the rail, and that is something I'm super proud of.

Even though students may feel silly shouting directions at, say, Ms Lori and her giant OTTB while the student is on a slow pony, practice makes perfect.

Safety first!