Riding Lessons for Horseless Adult Amateurs in Montgomery County, PA

[noreins]

I rode from age 8 - 26, including one half-lease horse in high school, 2 project horses in college, and owning my own for 3 years after college, but took a break after I had to euthanize my OTTB mare to grieve and finish my Master’s degree. I am now in my late 20s, getting ready to graduate at the end of May, and am looking to start getting into lessons again this summer (hoping that will be possible in the current pandemic situation!).

I grew up riding hunters/jumpers, but after I graduated college moved into baby-level eventing. I have no delusions of grandeur, just looking to get back into once-weekly lessons to figure out what I want to do (with the possibility that I might look into a free lease after 6-12 months of getting my fitness back and riding a variety of kinds of horses). I was never a huge fan of jumping so would be open to dressage lessons, but willing to do hunters/jumpers if there is a solid flatwork component to lessons. Eventing would be great too, but not sure if there are places with lesson strings that specialize in eventing around me.

I realize I am a very casual student, and not the kind most places cater to anymore. I will tell anybody that I don’t know if I’m going to buy another horse, and if I do it’s certainly not going to be for a couple years. I just want to ride again, and fall back in love with horses now that I have the time to do so. I know there’s only so far you can go riding once a week, but I really don’t have competitive aspirations and the thing I most enjoy is learning how to communicate with horses and make sure I am the best rider I can be. I do my homework, I maintain a fitness regimen outside of riding, and I read/study the writing of a lot of great horse trainers so I’d like to think I maximize my out-of-saddle time as much as possible. I’m not naturally talented, but I try really hard!

I am located in the Norristown/King of Prussia area of Montgomery County, PA and am looking for local (30-45 minute drive max) suggestions as my roots are in Chester County/Fair Hill, MD area so I am not familiar with the reputations of instructors out here. I have of course Googled but I know some horse people don’t have a great online presence so I am looking for more word-of-mouth recommendations.

[To_the_MAX]

I highly recommend North Ridge Farms / Cathy Gerhart in Sellersville. I just started taking weekly lessons with her earlier this spring before the shutdown. Her barn is immaculate, horses are extremely well cared for, and there’s a lot of nice adult ammies there! It is a hunter/jumper barn but she is a really great instructor and spends a good amount of time on the flat. Plus, I’m sure you could ask for flatwork heavy/jumping light lessons - it saves the horses’ legs so I can’t see why anyone would oppose that.

As far as I know, at the moment she is still not giving lessons to non-boarders because of COVID19, but hopefully will be able to open back up again soon.

[HereComesZach]

There are a couple of lovely barns in north Montgomery county/lower Bucks that might fit your bill. Check out Red Wing Farm, Amber Jewell is the trainer there. She does hunter/jumpers and western. She has really lovely lesson horses and a good program, and her barn has a nice atmosphere.

Also check out Jessica Forliano/Forliano Farm in New Hope. She focuses on hunters/jumpers and dabbles in western as well, and has a natural horsemanship base (not the scary kind.) She has good lesson horses and her barn has a really positive atmosphere as well.

[noreins]

Thank you both for your suggestions! Sure enough, these did not come up on my preliminary list so will be happily adding them! I am hoping it will be possible to visit some places in the near future to be able to talk goals/expectations, but if not I can always just reach out to schedule a trial lesson and see how it goes. A lot of this will obviously depend on when things open back up. I stuck with my first instructor for 10 years because my parents lucked into finding a really great one, but I’ve worked with a few since so I have a pretty good idea of what type of instructor I mesh best with.

Amber Jewell/Red Wing Farm also sounds really familiar, I wonder if she does/has in the past coached an IHSA team? Or maybe provided horses for an IHSA show?

[KellyT2]

OP - I’m in your general area. For a quick refresher - check out the Valley Forge Military Academy.

[To_the_MAX]

@noreins

Thank you both for your suggestions! Sure enough, these did not come up on my preliminary list so will be happily adding them! I am hoping it will be possible to visit some places in the near future to be able to talk goals/expectations, but if not I can always just reach out to schedule a trial lesson and see how it goes. A lot of this will obviously depend on when things open back up. I stuck with my first instructor for 10 years because my parents lucked into finding a really great one, but I’ve worked with a few since so I have a pretty good idea of what type of instructor I mesh best with.

Amber Jewell/Red Wing Farm also sounds really familiar, I wonder if she does/has in the past coached an IHSA team? Or maybe provided horses for an IHSA show?

Yes, she was the coach of Arcadia for quite a while and hosted shows at her farm/provided horses for shows.

[noreins]

@KellyT2

OP - I’m in your general area. For a quick refresher - check out the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Hi Kelly,

I am somewhat familiar with VFMA - I was in IHSA in this area about 10 years ago or so and would travel there often for shows back when Sara McCoy was running the program. I wasn’t aware that they offered lessons to the public, though obviously it’s been awhile.

[KellyT2]

@noreins

Hi Kelly,

I am somewhat familiar with VFMA - I was in IHSA in this area about 10 years ago or so and would travel there often for shows back when Sara McCoy was running the program. I wasn’t aware that they offered lessons to the public, though obviously it’s been awhile.

I believe that they do through the mainline might school. When I rode there, we had rank beginners through.experienced riders in a 10 week class. It is very fast paced but a good quick course on the polo ponies.

[To_the_MAX]

@noreins

Hi Kelly,

I am somewhat familiar with VFMA - I was in IHSA in this area about 10 years ago or so and would travel there often for shows back when Sara McCoy was running the program. I wasn’t aware that they offered lessons to the public, though obviously it’s been awhile.

We probably competed against each other then!
VFMAC is now run by Maria Metz, she is around our age and went to Del Val - not sure if you were in the region when we competed against Del Val or not.

[noreins]

Well this has been a fun side product of this conversation! So I’ll out myself - I was on the University of Delaware Equestrian Team from 2009 to 2012 (I graduated 2013 but didn’t compete during my senior year). I believe for about the first 2 years, Del Val was in our region (and our closest competition!) and when I looked Maria Metz up on Facebook, we have about 5 mutual friends who are all from the team. It would definitely be a blast from the past to ride with her.

[To_the_MAX]

@noreins

Well this has been a fun side product of this conversation! So I’ll out myself - I was on the University of Delaware Equestrian Team from 2009 to 2012 (I graduated 2013 but didn’t compete during my senior year). I believe for about the first 2 years, Del Val was in our region (and our closest competition!) and when I looked Maria Metz up on Facebook, we have about 5 mutual friends who are all from the team. It would definitely be a blast from the past to ride with her.

I was a year ahead of you so I’m sure we crossed paths, although my school was definitely not as competitive! I went to Washington College.

Good luck with your search, and have fun getting back into riding! And if you ever want some extra horsey time that doesn’t involve riding, I’m not too far from you and would love to make more horse friends in the area!