Manor Hill Farm

10/14/2025

Hilariously accurate. 🤣

10/11/2025

We ventured to the Radnor Hunt Trials today. Congratulations to Ava on Grace for getting first in Elementary rider! She will be bumping up to starter after this lovely graduation. And! Congratulations to Lisa for getting 3rd in Elementary senior on Dixie. A year ago Lisa had a terrible back injury and now she’s competing again! Very proud of both ladies and amazing ponies today. Well done!
A huge Thankyou to our coaches Nicole and Nancy Ligon for wisdom and a big Thankyou to Radnor Hunt for a lovely show experience. We are so fortunate to have this gem close to home. We all had a great time despite the cold misty rain.

10/11/2025

10/06/2025

We went to the FCEA dressage schooling show today. A huge thank you goes to Lynne for coming out and coaching Ava. She was so encouraging and kept Avas head in the game when her pony was just not in a fancy dressage mood. How do you wake up a very sluggish tired and hot pony?
Ava was exhausted and her legs were noodles at the end- but she held it together because we had Lynne there with us. She was an excellent buffer for the both of us. There is no crying in baseball and sometimes you need another mom that can keep the mom and kid as cool as cucumbers. Kids will often vent to their moms but cant do it with their coaches.
We arrived home and all the boarders were there to support, we didn’t beat our last score but we came home to a champion barn filled with family, support and words of wisdom.
As I always say: practice makes perfect, and there is no perfect with horses. You can always get better and learn something new with each ride. All the practice doesnt guarantee it will happen at the show. It takes an army and many moms to help each other figure things out.

09/30/2025

Daily rant: the tortoise and the hare.

I do my best thinking while vacuuming or mucking. Today I was going through a list in my head of all the people that are struggling in some way with their horse and putting myself in their situation of “what would I do?”.

Here are some examples:
1. Horse mom spent a year searching for the perfect horse for her kid that needs a confidence booster. They find that horse and now it won’t load into the trailer to go to lessons. The excitement quickly went south and now they have new challanges with this new to them horse. Nothing is ever smooth sailing.

2. Super amazing kid that has a ton of confidence and is a great rider has a pony that randomly bucks and they have spent months trying to figure out whats wrong with the pony. Kid and mom are frustrated but they will never give up on loving this pony and are determined to solve this new problem. It has set the kid back and slowed her lessons down, and hurt her ego a little but what I’m seeing is the best education ever. That kid can ride a bucking broncho that is unpredictably nuts and is learning patience in the hardest most loving way while having the best vets help them solve this problem. She loves that pony and they are sticking with it.

3. An older lady has constant hip pain. Finding a surgeon that can fix it has taken months- meanwhile she cant ride her horses but is still getting an education watching other people ride her horses. As frustrating as it is to be on the bench, when shes able to ride again her horse will be in great shape with a bunch more training and skills. Even though she can barely walk from the pain she still comes to look after her horses everyday. Nothing will stop her from seeing her babies.

4. Kid had an accident and has a concussion that has slowed her down greatly. She still goes to the barn and is gradually working her way back to full strength and figuring out this brain trauma. The entire summer was a loss for them but they keep on trying and in the meantime are learning to train a green horse from the ground up. They are working around the problems and hoping time will heal.

5. Owners pony went lame and they spent over a year dumping every intervention and dollar they had to make this pony sound again. They did everything they could. Pony never recovered even after surgery so now they have lost a lot of money and time and will have to retire their favorite pony. Finding the perfect home to retire where they can still visit the pony they love.

These are just some stories. Every true horse person has hit a speedbump. This sport isnt like car racing. If you want to do horses, something will always go wrong. The biggest part is knowing how to handle the struggle in the best way possible for the horse. True horsemanship is knowing it’s not a race. Slow and steady wins too as long as the horse comes first.
I have seen so many struggles and set backs and am amazed at the love and patience I have seen with many. If you have a set back always put the horse first. If you don’t… you probably shouldn’t have one. It’s expensive, it’s frustrating, it can be heart breaking, and the bench is a difficult place to be. Yet- if you can get through all that the biggest reward is knowing you are a true horseman.
It’s always the tortoise that wins this race.

09/27/2025

Anyone that works with horses, owns them or rides them has most likely felt all of this in one day. It is an emotional roller coaster. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

09/25/2025

Rant: Farm kids vs. Lesson students.
I have been going back and forth on how I would write this- for inspiration I interviewed my farm kids to get some ideas.

I grew up as the lesson kid. One lesson a week on a lesson horse. I often think about how much I missed, the things I didn’t get, and all the opportunities I never had compared to our daughter who was born into the horse industry. I was a barn rat. My mother would sometimes drop me off at the barn and I would groom, clean tack, and do odd chores to free ride a horse at the end of the day. I remember feeling very frustrated about having to work to ride. I saw the girls that owned their ponies come and all hang out, laughing, and having a great time while I cleaned and scrubbed. They didn’t have to work to ride. I wish someone had told me then that I was actually the lucky one. I was jealous of the farm girls too- they lived on the farm, and got anything they wanted, could take as many riding lessons, and ride all of the horses. It wasn’t fair! As a child all I wanted was to have my own farm. I didn’t mind doing the work but i recognized a class system and was torn on which one I wanted to be.

Doing the work is the biggest difference between the farm kids and lesson kids. The farm kids have many firsts and milestones.
At age 3 they can carry, pull, and lift things that are twice the size of them. At age 6 they can tack up, feed and muck stalls. Nothing is impossible to a farm kid because we applaud the effort and celebrate when they are big or strong enough to do it. Everyday there is a new milestone. Most of it is shocking as to what they can do on their own.

Over time these kids excel from watching, following, and working. The progress is far different from the average kid. These kids are in a whole different league. It shows in everything. At school they show strength, stamina and discipline. At home they show respect, thought, and foresight. It’s a whole different breed of kid. They are strong , independent, responsible and quick thinkers.

It all pays off in the end. The farm kids are given more opportunities because they worked for it. With more opportunities they can go a lot faster. They know that nothing is handed out for free. They can push a 200lb wheelbarrow of manure, tack and groom a horse in under 10 minutes, can handle any size horse with every kind of personality, they can muck 10 stalls in under an hour, they can calculate how many bags of feed they will need for a month to feed 10 horses, they can lift two bales of hay, they can carry 50lb bags of feed, they can diagnose a sick animal, and they can drive a truck the minute they can reach the peddles and see over the steering wheel. They are an essential part of a team.

You dont need to own a barn or be raised on a farm to become a super hero kid. You can be a barn rat. These kids were the backbone to many barns back in the old days. Rarely do we see them anymore. Kids these days want to be paid to work, have cell phones that keep them busy, and expect more for their time and effort. Ask any farm kid. Did they get paid? No. In fact when they work for someone they will refuse payment because opportunities are more valuable.

This is a controversial topic. Obviously, not all farm kids are great and there are some lesson kids that work hard for free. I think we can all agree that if you work hard, doors will open in pretty places.

09/14/2025

Congratulations to Ava and Grace on their impressive scores in Training Level 1&2 at the FCEA dressage schooling show held at Journeys End farm. They always host a lovely, and fun show with kind people and insightful judges.
A special acknowledgement is also due to A to Z equestrian - Zoe Guitier, our dressage trainer, who has worked diligently with this team to optimize their performance.

09/13/2025

We had to run to Equine Exchange Tack Shop to grab the next size up for Ava. She is growing like a w**d. As we were driving home Ava said: That was so much fun! I love all the people at Equine exchange, they all know me and are so nice.
Yes, we do love that store. Michelle, Brooke and Fay and all their staff have outfitted Ava since she was 2 years old and know her ponies well.
Fay helped us come up with a winning Halloween costume idea for plantation this year. She is keeping her eye peeled for accessories. It’s this kind of small shop store experience we love.
There is something great about walking into a store and seeing people that have watched you grow and know all about the things you do and love. They know to keep her next size of favorite brands in stock too.
Ava is a lucky kid to have the best fitting outfits and tack to make her feel her best in the show ring. I’m lucky that equine exchange has consignment, otherwise I would have wardrobes of outgrown clothes. It’s a wonderful way of growing on a budget.

09/08/2025

Its the little gestures I love:
I was giving a friend some advice the other day about starting her boarding barn. It takes time to adjust to a new barn and it takes time for a trusting relationship to form. I don’t blame the new boarder for asking about feed, hay, water, turnout etc. a good horse owner will notice everything. It’s our job to make sure that the horses needs are met. I basically summed it up to “we run a horse hotel”. Some hotels are better than others, what sets them apart? Service and quality.

Imagine owning a hotel and your customers leave their room tidy and are happy with your services. It’s a delight.
It makes our job much more pleasing, and we will go above and beyond for happy people and horses.
Today, the tables turned on me. I 100% forgot that one of my amazing boarders needed her horse in early for a training ride. She said she could bring them in herself.

I immediately thought: mental note bring the horses in early so my boarder doesnt have to do that.
I dropped the ball and forgot. It happens. I was getting my boots on to do my normal morning routine and she texted me that she had brought in all the horses and fed them. She wasnt mad either- she enjoyed it.
Finding boarders that are proactive and enjoy helping out is a gift. It’s the little things. We have so many moments like that.
I truly appreciate it and I did enjoy an extra cup of coffee like she told me to do.
Great boarders are members of the round table. I notice every little thing they do and am a very happy house keeper. They make my job easy- a little too easy, they can do it themselves and did for many years. They hold me to a certain standard and I have always tried to impress them.

My job is to make sure they have happy, healthy horses to ride in a safe and clean environment. I want happy horses, happy boarders. If only they knew that their happiness is why I do it.
It’s the little things. Great boarders give us more energy to try a little bit harder next time. Next time, I’m bringing in her horse on time before she even gets here. Thats the kind of service I want to give.

07/06/2025

Rant of the day: comparing gets you nowhere.

Why do people ride horses? There is no real need for horses anymore. We don’t need them for transportation or plowing fields. Horses are for sport and fun. The real answer is because they are addictive and we love them.
There is something new to learn everyday and with each day you are around a horse- you improve as a handler, rider, caretaker, passion-ista etc.

I get asked hundreds of questions from my ten year old horse crazy kid on a daily basis. She often gets a little jealous of the sport. She often forgets to have fun, and I often forget that she is only ten.
I have learned more in these ten years of watching her learn than I have in all my years of riding.
She asks hard questions. “Why is that girl that is younger than me a better rider?” “Why can’t I do that? Or when can I do that?”
“Will I ever be as good as that person?”
“Why did that horse do that?”, “What am I doing wrong?” , “What is wrong with that horse?”, “When can I ride that horse?” .

When you are faced with a borage of inner thought questions and have to answer them in a scholarly way, you tend to rewire your brain.
I know for me personally- I answer my own personal thought questions harshly. “Why cant I get this horse to do A,B,C” and my inner voice will scream at me with the answers that aren’t nice.

My advice to anyone is… be nice to yourself. Inside all of us is that little girl- just trying to learn something new. Don’t compare, avoid envy and jealousy, and just keep trucking forward at your own pace. No story is the same.
When the time, place, and situation is right it will be your turn. Everyone is on their own path of achievement. The tortoise and the hare- quick doesn’t mean you win. Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. Point A to B has many different paths.
Watch and learn. Don’t repeat the same mistake, change it for a different result. Work hard, play hard.
Those are the general answers I usually use.

Stay in your lane and carry on, love your horse and the trail it takes you on. Good things will come of it.
(Photos of fun and why we do it- posted below.)

06/04/2025

It’s our four year anniversary of when we officially owned this farm. Here are a few before and after photos of this day and today from four years ago.