Training and Instruction

Philosophy of Training

The Farm has raised and trained horses since 1972. We are one of the few places in Fairfield County that starts young horses, or solves behavioral problems. And of course we also do short training tune-ups with more finished mounts.

Because horses are expensive to keep, we feel they should do their job well. And we want them to do their job happily. To this end, we specialize in a non-confrontational approach, often called "horse whispering" which promotes the natural alliance of horse and trainer referred to as "joining up." To do this we make significant use of a covered, high-sided round pen followed by a lot of ground work on the lunge line or with long lines. We then progress to work mounted on the flat and finally mounted over fences if the horse is to be a hunter or a jumper.

WBF is also great place to bring your horse for a one month show season tune-up if you do not have a trainer at your barn. We specialize in helping owners with training problems, rehabilitation after injuries, or simply tuning their horse up after a period of inactivity or illness.

If your horse does not ordinarily reside with us, and it has a training problem, we will provide an assessment of the problem, along with a training recommendation that includes an estimate of the time it may take us to correct the difficulty. Our intention is to send you and your horse back to the barn you came from in a happier frame of mind.

As an owner, you can select single session training, or any combination/frequency of training rides, ground work, private lessons, and exercise that suits your degree of chosen involvement and your pocketbook.

And of course, using our covered round pen, we also teach owners to train their own horses, be it horse whispering, the essentials of ground work, the theory of bitting, or the use of a variety of training aids.