Jeff & Josie Bradner at Fieldcrst Farm do an excellent job of horse management/training. Very nice facility - large ring - manicured fields - happy horses.
[QUOTE=Grataan;4365435]
I can second (third/fourth?) What Oldenburg has said-the only other thing I could add is that these people above have and have had for many years, the reputation of being great barns regardless of the breed/discipline(as in, even the Arabian people know about them)
Call me crazy, but I really miss VA :([/QUOTE]
I miss VA for this very reason, too! VA has such a great market for the competitive h/j’s!!
Perhaps I’m a little sensitive but I grew up riding in Richmond and know every one of these trainers mentioned. They are all good people and when it comes to choosing between them what really matters is what level of horse showing you’re interested in. For those of you who said that Richmond had miserable choices for boarding I encourage you to move where I lived for the past four years, middle TN, and experience the care that I did and you too will write home about the care of Richmond farms.
That being said Hampden Row, now I suppose Spring Valley, is a great choice for hunters, arguably the best in the area. I grew up riding with Sulu Rose-Reed and Derek Reed at Stillmeadows and consider them family. Upon going to law school out of state I gave my horse to them, who had a number of pre-existing and continuing medical problems, because they treat him like family.
They are predominantly known for doing jumpers but we do have several hunters in residence as well. Feel free to PM me any time, they are really great people and I know many people are hesitant because of the turnout situation but they do a great job with managing what space they have and the rings are always dragged and the courses changed weekly.
I also want to go ahead and add Haverhill Farm (http://haverhillequestrian.com/) - Just within the past couple months I moved my horse from northern Virginia to Richmond after graduating from college. I wanted a relatively small facility (I have no need for a large show barn, as I have very limited time for showing at the moment), great care and great trainers available. Neal Blair comes up every Thursday to give lessons at Haverhill, and he’s wonderful, as several other people on this thread have indicated. There’s a good mix of people - from teenagers to 20 somethings to a little older. It’s mainly a Hunter barn, and they do travel to the local hunter shows. They drag the rings daily, keep the barns clean and organized, and are overall just very professional and friendly folks.
Rose Hill Stables Great
Rose Hill Stables. Been riding and boarding there for 6 years. Excellent farm and excellent people!!! Can’t find better care in the area. rosehillstables.net
I’m relatively new to the Richmond area and am looking to move one of my two geldings to a different facility around Richmond. The place I’m currently boarding has tons of trails, but doesn’t have much else in the way of facilities and there are almost no other active riders at the barn.
I do some hunters, some jumpers and like to foxhunt when I can. My gelding will do best in the hunters and I’d like to do schooling shows and a few (4 or less) A shows a year. I’d prefer field board or someplace where they get to be out a good majority of the time and reasonably priced, I’d like to pay less in horse board than I do in rent a month:) I tried googling a number of the names on this thread but didn’t find much in the way of contact information. Would anybody know of or have places they could recommend for boarding and contact information?
Thanks!
Edited to add: I’m looking north of route 60, west of 95 and within ~5miles of 288/64/295/95.
[QUOTE=Monste;4432865]
Perhaps I’m a little sensitive but I grew up riding in Richmond and know every one of these trainers mentioned. They are all good people and when it comes to choosing between them what really matters is what level of horse showing you’re interested in. For those of you who said that Richmond had miserable choices for boarding I encourage you to move where I lived for the past four years, middle TN, and experience the care that I did and you too will write home about the care of Richmond farms.
That being said Hampden Row, now I suppose Spring Valley, is a great choice for hunters, arguably the best in the area. I grew up riding with Sulu Rose-Reed and Derek Reed at Stillmeadows and consider them family. Upon going to law school out of state I gave my horse to them, who had a number of pre-existing and continuing medical problems, because they treat him like family.
They are predominantly known for doing jumpers but we do have several hunters in residence as well. Feel free to PM me any time, they are really great people and I know many people are hesitant because of the turnout situation but they do a great job with managing what space they have and the rings are always dragged and the courses changed weekly.[/QUOTE]
I wonder if I rode your horse when I was with Derek and Sulu? I’m thinking of a handsome chestnut that had some quirky physical issues?
I struggled with “the perfect” boarding option when I was in Richmond. I was familiar with Derek and Sulu only through seeing them at horse shows and initially felt like they wouldn’t be a good fit for me. While I boarded elsewhere, I took some lessons there.
The boarding situation was not all I had hoped. When they found out, they worked with me on a way to keep my horse with them.
They were wonderful. I would love to be able to continue to ride with them, but now I’m too far away. My horse wasn’t as fancy as the other horses there, but they treated us both well. The facilities were great and the combo-training approach was nice.
I was just whining to my husband a day or two ago about how much I miss their laundry room!
I will throw River Run in there for a nice smaller facility http://www.riverrunequestrian.com/. Good care, not to fancy, Charlene is also a nice trainer. They are in Hanover just outside of Mechanicsville.
