Bella Vista Stables LLC

05/29/2026

Unpopular truth… every month, someone asks me:

“Do you offer boarding?”

And every month, the answer is no.

Not because I don’t know how. Not because I wasn’t good at it. And not because I didn’t absolutely love it.

For nearly 15 years, I managed boarding facilities, and I loved it. I loved the people, the community, and most of all, the horses.

And that’s exactly why I stopped.

Because when you genuinely love horses, you start noticing things.

You notice the horse with the beautiful social media posts and the dirty stall.

The horse with the blue ribbons and no turnout.

The horse whose owner says they would do “anything” for them, except show up consistently for the ordinary things that matter most.

You start questioning what love really means.
Because love isn’t the championship photo.

Love isn’t the custom saddle pad.
Love isn’t the caption.

Love is clean water.
Love is movement.
Love is a clean stall.
Love is forage.
Love is consistency.

Love is doing the boring things every single day, whether anyone sees them or not.

I am a happier horsewoman because I don’t board. And I’ve got to be happy— because, quite frankly, I’ve got a lot to do.

Today, every horse on this farm is my responsibility. Their care, their exercise, their environment, their training, their wellbeing.

I don’t spend my days frustrated that someone else didn’t clean a stall, scrub a bucket, fill a hay net, or get a horse out.

Because I know it was done.

I know the horses here receive kindness, exercise, structure, and a clean environment every day.

And that peace is worth more than any boarding income ever was.

Instead? We offer daily training, daily exercise, and a level of care that I refuse to compromise on.

The horses deserve nothing less.

05/24/2026

A rare “one horse” show for us (as our second entry decided he required a vet note to skip the show 🙃😵‍💫) turned into a fun and exciting day at the NHDEA Spring Show!

Gia Cannamucio rocked the ring as she always does, taking our exciting little hot rod Superman into several different divisions, doing great in all of them! Big classes and FANCY horses were in attendance this weekend, but if you ask Soup, nothing can outshine his fancy 🤣

Gia and Soup took first place in their first ever Turnout Class! All entries were beautifully turned out, especially our friend Margaret Bailey and her beautiful KWPN Kestrel, with lovely braids, shiny horses, and sharp outfits. The judge told all the exhibitors how difficult this class was to place, as everyone looked so good. Gia and Soup took the win with a 31/35!!! What a fun class that was. Thank you NHDEA for adding that to your program!

Pulling a strong 72% despite some spice from Superman, Gia claimed second place in the Dressage Seat Equitation!

For her first time with stretchy trots, Gia took on the Training Level Test 1 and 3. Superman gets in the show ring and turns it right on, which can be surprising for riders as now this is a horse they aren’t familiar with. Gia handled it all in stride, claiming 3/10 in the Test 1 and 2/13 in the Test 3!

Superman, or Soup as we so lovingly call him, has been such a great addition to our string. We bought him late last fall after nationals where he dabbled in the DSE but was mainly a hunter pleasure horse. He is being trained primarily by our students and we must say, they are doing a fantastic job turning this Ferrari into a real dressage horse. He is so promising, and we are insanely excited for his future.

Congratulations Gia and Soup, thank you for having BVS take you on your dressage journey! And thank you NHDEA for a great show, we truly hope to see this series continue year after year! See you folks again next month!

05/23/2026

Pyramids with big bases and tiny tops---

This dressage statistical analysis was something I found on this fount of accurate knowledge, FaceBook, so it may or may not be true?

Anyway, it is probably somewhat accurate if it follows what we find in many other horse sports, that the numbers of horses and riders at the very highest levels are a miniscule fraction of the total, but the segment which garners the lion’s share of the attention.

Take the recent five star event at the Kentucky Horse Park to catch a glimpse of that played out. First, how many riders in the USA compete either in recognized or unrecognized eventing competitions at any level? This would include unofficial levels that might be called “grasshopper,” “minnow, “ then starter, beginner novice, novice, training, preliminary, intermediate, advanced, and five star advanced.

At Kentucky there were what, 12 USA 5-star riders? 15? Out of thousands who take part in thesport of eventing.

The point is that it gets VERY HARD TO DO at the top. Very expensive. Very full throttle. Very committed. And often, very risk laden.

We have collectively, I think, become sort of “conditioned” by Walt Disney, Walter Farley, other authors and by glowing articles about how some kid with a dream finds a magical horse, forms a mystical bond, and together they fly to the heights.

Which CAN happen. Someone DOES win those big lotteries, right? But they are tough odds---.

05/10/2026

Modern horse culture often celebrates the horse that performs the biggest movements, jumps the highest, wins the ribbons, or looks the most impressive online. But Nuno Oliveira measured good riding differently.
He looked at the horse itself.

Was the horse calm? Proud? Willing? Did he move with freedom and softness, or with tension hidden underneath obedience? Because a horse can perform beautifully and still be mentally exhausted inside.

Horses are incredibly adaptable animals. They will tolerate confusion, discomfort, and pressure for a very long time. They learn to keep going even when they are mentally overwhelmed. So people mistake endurance for happiness.

But happiness in work looks different.

The horse stays mentally present. He offers instead of avoiding. The body swings instead of braces. The eye stays soft. He doesn’t rush to escape pressure or shut down emotionally. He understands the work, participates in it, and finishes feeling better—not smaller.

This is why classical masters spoke so much about tact, lightness, patience, and timing. Not because they wanted riding to look elegant, but because the horse’s emotional state mattered. A truly educated horse is not just obedient. He is confident in the conversation.

And this quote forces us to ask a difficult question: Are we training horses to perform for us… or teaching them to feel safe, capable, and proud in the work they do with us?
Because those are not always the same thing.
--

05/05/2026

Back to back weekends proved fruitful for BVS! 🥇

We took four teams out this Sunday to the NH Dressage and Eventing Association’s Spring Schooling Show. Every single pair was doing things for the first time, which is always very novel and exciting!

All four teams rode beautiful tests despite the insane winds and cold temperatures, earning scores up to near 70%, with one of our teams even earning high score of the whole show!

First up was Harriett Brunelle out for the very first time with her beautiful young gelding Stolen Rhapsody. This pair was quite popular amongst the crowd, and of course they “stole” the show for BVS, as we all adore them so deeply, and they received great scores and lovely comments on their tests!

Next up was Grace Plecinoga and her stunning Gypsy Vanner, Emerald Winds Celebration. A familiar pairing to most of you, they took on the dressage court for the first time ever, and blew away the competition! This team celebrated undefeated tests, the Training Level Championship, AND the high score for the entire show, out of 50 riders!

Then we had Katie Leone and her lovely baby boy, Vanguard Excalibur. At not even 4 years old, this youngster and his amateur owner took on the arena in the Western Dressage for his first ever under saddle show! Katie has never done western until very recently, and Cal has been broke for less than a year. Together, they jogged their way around their tests like they’ve been here before, and earned great scores and great ribbons!

Ending the day for us in the First Level was our elegant team of Stella Merrill and Bj’s Superman. This team rocketed through their first show together with promising tests and brilliant movements! Superman has only been with us for a few months and is just learning the sport of dressage. He is being trained primarily by our students and we couldn’t be happier with how he performed!

Something we are so SO proud of- each and every rider, from Intro above, all received rider position scores of 7. You all make BVS so proud!!

Congratulations to our entire team on such an amazing successful weekend full of “firsts” for everyone! Thank you for choosing BVS to guide you on your journey! 🖤✨⚪️

05/02/2026

04/27/2026

BVS survived our first show of the season at the UNH Schooling Dressage Show this weekend!

As usual, we were taking out young and green horses out for first times and confidence, and had a spectacular outing. Each one of our horses earned a top two position, all with great scores that we were very happy with, along with several other ribbons.

Our youngest competing horse (5yo) went out at the 1-3 for her first time in First Level and was a complete doll!!

We even had a couple of our ambitious adult amateurs bring their young and green horses to their first show experiences, ALL BY THEMSELVES and had a great time! Nice job girls, so proud of you and your kids!

Thank you so much to our team and our owners for trusting us with their horses journeys! 🖤💛🤍💜

04/17/2026

This winter, we created a fairly intense Winter Challenge for our riders. A set number of rides, ground work sessions and grooming sessions with a minimum time length per session and a test or patterned created and observed by our trainer were required for this challenge. This challenge was designed to help keep riders motivated to work with their horses during the bitter cold New England winter when most of us would rather stay inside ❄️

We included things like ba****ck rides, pony soccer, ball play, and horsemanship in our challenge, not just riding, so we could offer a variety of ways to motivate horses and riders to stay connected and moving all winter. We had so much fun! ⚽️

Thank you to everyone who participated in our challenge, and congratulations to those who won special awards for personal achievements during this challenge! ⭐️

04/15/2026