Skillman Stables

07/30/2024

Skillman Stables will be sponsoring Best Turned Out awards at the Harford Horse Shows Association Medal Final and Derby. What types of prizes are you guys interested in winning? Boot polishing kits, bathing supplies, treats, gift cards, halters? We are open to suggestions!

07/24/2024

This is at the forefront of all my teaching. I hope if my students take anything away from their time with me it is to love the horse first.

06/12/2024

SATURDAY 6/15 9AM

Hey Everyone!

With the recent deaths in the horse community related to rotational falls, we have decided to bring an expert in Air Vests and safety technology.

Bruce from Protect 2 Ride LLC is coming to the farm to give a demonstration of how the air vest works. If anyone is interested in purchasing a vest from him he will fit it to you and show you how to properly attach it to your saddle, etc.

He carries the vest brands Hit-Air, Airowear, Charles Owen & Tipperary.

Bruce will be here Saturday 6/15 at 9am and anyone is welcome to come learn. It's completely free to watch the demonstration and learn. No purchase necessary but they are available.

06/09/2024

We had a successful day at the Elkridge Harford Hunt Club horse show. The Baltimore County Agricultural Center was a fantastic venue with great footing for the horses. Thank you to everyone who worked to put on this great show!

RH ROWDY BOY and Sami were Champion Novice Equitation and Champion Hopeful Hunter.

DADDYS BOAT MONEY and Sydney were Reserve Champion Novice Equitation with good places in both Hopeful and PreChildrens Hunter.

BLUEGRASS DEMON and Bella were Reserve Champion Pleasure Horse in only their second show together.

HABANERO and Natalie came away with top three placings in both Equitation and Low Children's Hunter.

05/08/2024

What clinicians would you like to see this summer at SS?

05/04/2024

Today was a successful, albeit wet, show for us!

Natalie and HABANERO came home Champion in Low Children's Hunter and Reserve Champion in Equitation 14-17, along with a win in the HHSA Horse Medal.

Sydney and DADDYS BOAT MONEY won both over fences classes to bring home Champion Hopeful Hunter and a top three finish in Novice Equitation.

Sami and RH ROWDY BOY competed over fences for the first time and won Reserve Champion in Pre Child/Adult Hunter. They also were second in the Pre Child/Adult Medal.

Chloe and INTRIGUE had almost a clean sweep of the day, only bringing home one second amongst their blues and Champion Pre Child/Adult and Champion Novice Equitation.

Above the ribbons I am so proud of how each of them rode today! They have worked hard and continue showing their improvements with each trip in the ring.

04/26/2024

Wise words from Olympic Show Jumper 😎🏆
Everything is a learning experience 📈

04/23/2024

We had our first show of the season on Sunday!

Natalie and HABANERO were second in all of their over fences courses throughout the day and placed in each flat.

Sami and RH ROWDY BOY took on their first show together with success, pinning in each of their classes.

Sydney and DADDY'S BOAT MONEY came home with Reserve Champion in Hopeful Hunter and top three placings in Novice Equitation.

Thank you to Vintage Oaks Farm for hosting a great show, always being accommodating and so kind!

04/16/2024

It's going to be a beautiful weekend for horse shows! Make sure to get your entries in on horseshowing.com for St. Timothy's School and Vintage Oaks Farm this weekend. We will see you there!

Online horse show entry, results, schedules, and class counts.

03/23/2024

This past week our trainer, Abi, went to the Trainer's Symposium East at Oldfields School. She learned from some of the greats; Linda Allen, Julie Winkel, Joe Fargis, Jenny Schwarts, and Scott Hofstetter. This was an amazing week of networking and education through many parts of the horse industry from how horses move, think and react, to starting a green horse, how to handle your financials along with ideas to help the income stream, and lessons each day with exercises and training tips for both horse and rider trainers.

03/05/2024

We are back to teaching lessons while admiring the gorgeous sunsets 😍

02/27/2024

We have a small horse available for partial lease on farm. 3 days per week for a nominal lease fee and half of all monthly expenses. Has experience as a lesson horse and significant show miles. Great option for an advanced beginner or intermediate rider. Located in Upper Falls, MD. Available beginning March 1.

02/23/2024

We love it when our students are excited about learning out of the saddle as well as in the saddle. The rain started coming down while Chloe was tacking today, so we swapped to a barn lesson. She learned about bones and joints, function of movement, how to notice a colic and how to treat it, and finished off by learning to wrap a standing bandage.

02/04/2024

Best of luck to all of our riders at IEA Regionals tomorrow.

High School Team and Individuals:
Molly M - Open Flat, Open Fences, and Varsity Open Championship
Iris H - Intermediate Fences
Kayla P - Intermediate Flat
Bella M - Novice Fences
Natalie F - Novice Fences and Flat
Chloe B - Beginner WTC

Future Team and Individuals:
Sami E - Intermediate Fences and Flat
Brynn M - Novice Fences and Flat
Anna D - Novice Fences and Flat
Harper W - Beginner WTC
Sydney B - Beginner WTC
Emma M - Beginner WTC
Lilliana S - Beginner WT

Slay Team AWAWS!

01/14/2024

We had a great time at the HHSA banquet this weekend. All of our riders had an amazing year full of growth and knowledge and we are looking forward to 2024!

01/11/2024

IEA Regional Qualifier - Bella M

01/08/2024

IEA Regional Qualifier - Natalie F

01/04/2024

The *more leg* debate

Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of posts talking about instructors telling their students to “use more leg” and that this is wrong or it’s not being done properly, etc. However, not one post then says how to do it properly. They just criticize.

Also it seems that they forget that a lot of people that ride don’t use their legs hardly at all to steer and ride their horse and use just primarily rein aids.

Shouldn’t we be trying to instruct our students to ride more with their seat and leg aids than their reins?

Also most students do not use enough of their lower leg to support or communicate to their horse properly. The use of the leg must be taught through repetition and feel.

Now I get that overuse of the leg will result in a dull horse but sometimes a student truly is not using enough of their lower leg to effectively communicate because they just don’t know how to effectively and correctly use their leg in relationship to what they are requesting their horse to do.

And the message of using too much leg is confusing to new horse riders. It sends the message of telling them to not use their leg at all which causes a whole slew of issues in itself.

I tell my students that their neutral leg on their horse’s sides should be about the same pressure as their arms resting relaxed at their sides. The leg should not engage more unless they want more energy from the horse or for direction and steering purposes. The leg should be like a gentle hug. Reassuring, giving and feeling for feedback at the same time.

The leg should be held with relaxation with only enough pressure in the stirrup to barely hold a dollar bill in between the ball of your foot and the stirrup.

There should be flexibility in the hip, knee and ankle. This allows for movement and feel for cueing purposes. Soft legs allow for flexibility in the seat and lower back which travels up into the shoulders and the arms and hands. In essence, the status of the leg influences the entire body.

Tight and tense legs cause tension in the thighs, hips and lower back which cause the rider to actually move against their horse. If you are bouncing a lot in the saddle, you might be riding with a tight and tense leg. Tight legs cause riders to put too much pressure in their stirrups which causes them to ride stiff up through their hips and lowers back. It also causes the rider to keep their legs off the horse. This causes lack of communication between the horse and rider and also causes the rider to be more unstable.

We must have balance in our legs and seat. We must learn to wait and feel our horse underneath us and then respond accordingly to them after giving them time to respond to the request. A solid and quiet leg takes time to build but keeping your leg completely off your horse only causes more harm than good.

The use of leg in communicating to a horse and for the importance of balance and position in the saddle is one of the most important things to teach. So rather than poopoo-ing the use of leg, encourage correct leg position and contact.

12/25/2023

IEA Regional Qualifier - Freshman Chloe B in JV Beginner WTC

12/25/2023

Merry Christmas to all!

12/19/2023

Over the next 6 weeks we will be highlighting our IEA regional Qualifiers who will be showing at Regional Finals on Feb 4.

12/18/2023

Day 2 this weekend. Both middle and high school teams took home first place, Sami was Reserve high point rider for middle school. Regional Qualifiers today include:
Brynn M - Future Novice Fences
Bella M - JV Novice Fences
Kayla P - Varsity Intermediate Flat
Molly M - Varsity Open Fences

12/16/2023

Our IEA team rocked it again today with a win for the Future team and 4th place for High School. Both of our teams have qualified for Regionals, eight of our individuals are qualified and we still have more shows to qualify more riders! It will be a busy Regional day for team All's Well at Woodbrook/Skillman.

12/14/2023

We have two ponies available for on site leases

🐴 Toby - 14.1h teenage POA. Has been off for a bit after his owner had a baby. Would need a rider who is ok working through quirks to bring him back. Free lease on farm, low fours off farm.

🐴 Bubba - 13h older WelshX. Showed in the 2' and 2'3 local hunters this past year with years of experience in eventing, show jumping, fox hunting, and Pony club. When in regular work, he is great for kids. Would prefer someone capable of keeping him going w/t/c and jumping. This will be an on farm half lease shared with a Short Stirrup rider.

10/24/2023

One of these things is not like the others...

10/23/2023

A quick reminder that we do have a team store for anyone who is interested in buying apparel.

Embroidery, Screen Printing, Heat Transfer Vinyl. Forget Me Not Designs wants to make sure that you are never forgotten. We are here to make memorable attire and products to fit your every need.

10/23/2023

Abi and INTRIGUE took on WIHS Regional Weekend with nice trips in both the 3' Green and 3'3" Special Hunter. This was their first show together at 3'3! They are ready to step into the 3'3 Greens December 1st.

10/18/2023

Bubba is excited to welcome all of our IEA members as lessons have finally started! We partnered with Alls Well at Woodbrook to create a great team and look forward to our first shows next weekend!

10/10/2023

We had a great day at the HHSA Medal Finals! The girls have worked so hard this year and we're excited to show off in the ring!

10/10/2023

We had a great day at HHSA Medal Finals and Derby on Sunday!

🏅 Chloe catch rode HABANERO to 3rd place of 16 in Long Stirrup
🏅 Sydney and EVERLY AFTER rode to a great 7th place finish of 16 in Long Stirrup
🏅 Natalie and HABANERO fought their way to 4th in the Horse Medal of 15 tough competitors
🏅 Sami and DADDYS BOAT MONEY as well as Natalie and HABANERO rode great in their first ever derbies, just missing the cut offs out of 29 and 37 respectively