Whistling Ridge Equestrian

06/15/2026

Over the weekend we took the young guns to Farmington Hunt Club’s hunter pace and had the best experience for our horses!

Glendale’s Easter Bonnet, who is a 15.2 hand 2022 homebred of Deb Bossier Norman’s in Berryville, Virginia was steady, confident and incredibly comfortable. After starting her last summer, she went home for a 5 month winter holiday, and came back into work last month. Bonnie is available to the public and you can find out more about her here: https://www.whistlingridgeequestrian.com/glendaleseasterbonnet

Gracedale (Glamourdale x Rousseau) is a gorgeous homebred of David Ziegler who has a bright future in dressage. We started Lil this year and she just celebrated her third birthday. It is so important to us that these colts get a variety of experiences and learn how to carry their riders across a variety of terrain. While her future is competitive dressage, building a happy and healthy horse starts with a well rounded foundation. Lil was a rockstar for her first hunter pace, having to navigate a lot of terrain and cross many waterways and travel across the country with friends!

Our brave leader was Gunner, owned by Drake and Cecilia Bryant. Drake purchased Gunner this summer and has been hitting the trails! They were the perfect combination to bravely lead our young horses trough various terrain and across open fields — where even at a canter Gunner holds a lovely slower and rhythmic pace.

We can’t thank Farmington enough for offering such a lovely experience for our young horses!

📸 by Tiffany McCord

06/14/2026

Deb Norman’s, Glendale’s Augustine having his first little jump school and enjoying an easy trip off property. We started Gus under saddle last summer where he was thoughtfully produced to build confidence and gain easy miles under saddle, then head home for a winter holiday. He is back in action and beginning to learn how to jump under saddle. This fabulous four year old Connemara gelding is by Coud Poker Tartifume (Cooper) and is available to be tried in Somerset, Va.

https://www.whistlingridgeequestrian.com/glendalesaugustine

05/30/2026

Cameron is the type of owner every horse dreams of being lucky enough to have. Bentley has had his share of battles to overcome, and Cameron has hung in there for the long haul to do what she feels is right for her horse. We’ve battle chronic asthma in addition to, volatile behavioral issues and even had to remove an eye. It has been nearly a three year process thus far, but she has been able to take Bentley from an untrustworthy partner even in a confined space (how many times did we get reared, spun, bolted or bucked off with in the arena??), to a soft, happy, and willing partner in many different types of settings. It is a process to rebuild trust in our horses and we are eternally grateful to this pair for believing in our program. We have paired a committed owner with good foundational training, exceptional farrier and veterinary care, routine bodywork and a fitness program to rebuild this horse’s whole life. This pair is a true testimate to what that commitment looks like. It has been an honor to share my life with theirs and it brings me great joy to watch these two confidently ride outside, jumping jumps and bravely traveling terrain.

04/17/2026

Feeling really thankful to be blessed with some nice warmblood three year olds this season!

04/10/2026

Feeling thankful for the springtime and all of the horses we are lucky to work with.

Coming three year old, Lil, having a great time on our weekly outing to lessons.

04/02/2026

March was a busy month for us! We took four horses to the VHC schooling horse trials (Glendale's Brooklyn pictured), five to jumper rounds at Gabby Dickerson Eventing, four to CDCTA’s Fix a test, and rounded out the month with two at Bull Run’s hunter pace. A huge thank you to our clients for all of the fun adventures, the horses for teaching us and making these outings so enjoyable, and to our staff for keeping the wheels turning smoothly! Everyone is feeling really grown up after a full month and we are looking forward to the spring.

📸 Swita Photography

04/01/2026

Spring is in the air and the season of opportunity is here.

Here is your friendly reminder to get out and enjoy your horse!

📸 Celestial Photography

03/31/2026

The only downfall that we have found to owning a Connemara is that they are easy, easy keepers!

We are extremely fortunate to have 16 different turnout options to meet the needs of every individual horse. We have 9 dry lots to help us manage our easy keepers, because in Virginia - particularly in the spring season - insulin resistance is a tremendous worry!

Glendale's Brooklyn sporting her spring season dry lot life... outfitted in her Rambo Protector Fly Sheet, Cashel Fly Mask, her Grand Prix Italian Bell Boots, and snacking with her favorite GG Equine HayPlay Hay Bag.

Only the best for the best!

Being a busy program with a great variety of horses, we put products to the test day in and day out. Interested in our favorite things that withstand the trials and tribulations? Visit our site here:

https://www.whistlingridgeequestrian.com/briesfavoritethings

03/30/2026

Brooklyn and Snail managed to come in 4th at their hunter pace over the weekend with Bull Run! It was such a fun pace and super exposure for the horses, we really enjoyed the terrain!

Hunter Pace Results UPDATED!!
Thank you to everyone who came out to our Spring Hunter Pace today and congratulations to our winners!

Hunter division:
1st Wannabe Pole Dancers, Jeff Beshear and Tiffany Seal
2nd The Highlanders, Mark and Vicky Mitchell
3rd Amy and Andy, Amy Grieves and Andrew Stahling
4th March Hill Mustangs, Abigail Walker, Lindsay Colvin, Fiona Tustin
5th The Walnuts, Deborah Wray, Robin Ellis, Joy Compton, IV Hendrix

Junior division:
1st Ware Fox Fabulous, Izzy Van Hoven and Delaney Garner
2nd The Birdie Bunch, Jessica White and Kate Van Valzah
3rd Ava, Sophie Laporte and Ava Seale
4th Signature Farms Juniors, Sophie Radford, Peyton Redford, Ella Radford, and Ellie Luck

Pleasure division (UPDATED):
1st (TIE) Amissville Duo, Sheri Ruane and Cathy Apicella
Sunday Peeps, Dawn Lee, Maggie Hendricks, and Sunny Smith-Carroll
3rd Tally Ho’s, Lindsey Reininger, Brooke Carr, Carole Boniface, and Dianne Pavlansky
4th Whistling Ridge, Brianna Richards and Jessica Lee
5th (TIE) Two Girls, All Good, Linda Newland and Teresa Stanley
Signature Farm Oldies, Erica Hundley, Chad Hundley, and Sarah Luck
6th Windswept Acres, Kelly Noga and Jordan Bradley
(There was a discrepancy in the Pleasure Division results initially. We apologize!)

Full results with times are posted on the website and ribbons will be mailed out this week. https://bullrunhuntclub.com/hunter-pace

Look for photos from Celestial Photography coming soon!

03/10/2026

Interested in what halters and lead ropes we use? Follow the link below to learn more about our long standing partnership with Bitterroot Saddle Co.

For day to day use we prefer 12 foot leads, but for working through cross country on the line we use 14 foot. Reach out to Julie to get yours today!

https://whistlingridgeequestrian.com/partners