Woodruff Riding School

03/09/2025

We are ready to greet members of OPRC Piedmont Chapter for a lesson in Obstacles as well as Garrocha. It's a beautiful morning!

11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving from our hearts to yours!
Do you think our beloved Shire Steinway is speaking to us from Heaven? A/I in his image!

06/21/2024

An important topic this week!

05/19/2024

Another engaging Horse Sense Level-up class. We split the younger students and didn't get a picture, but here are the "big kids"! We studied Pony Parts and why you need to know them. It was accompanied with "Jogging your horse for the Vet" practice with discussion of injuries seen in real life. We all know that a list of possible injuries is endless!!!

04/20/2024

We had a wonderful grooming clinic at " Horse Salon 201" this morning. Students had the opportunity to try their hand at clipping my retiree "Amadeus". Students also bathed two other lesson ponies, getting dirty hands on horse care experience.

Horse care and management is a focus in our program. We follow the Horse Sense Learning Levels curriculum 💜

Amadeus, a 22 yr old Shire Sporthorse, has been through several stages of grooming to bring his Cushings coat under control and has been the subject of several sessions shown below. Now I think I have my magnificent boy back!

03/22/2024

This was a topic we were discussing last night during lessons - Horse Sense barn and pasture safety. Please take the time to read this. It is so true!!! And why we put feed pans in under the stall screens every day. Stay safe 🐴

If there is one thing we wish people who love horses would know for sure it is this...

Feeding horses is dangerous work.

And people don't pay enough attention to that fact while doing it.

I personally knew of a family whose dad fed his beloved herd, in the middle of them, every day, from a bucket. 7 horses-daily practice-for several years. People told him it wasn't safe but he always said "My babies would never hurt me." After not hearing from him for 3 days his daughter went over to his place and the beloved horses were grazing peacefully all around her father who had died with a fractured skull and his feed bucket 5 feet away from it.

Did they mean to hurt him? Absolutely not. But food changes everything for horses and food in a herd setting is a mess. Even food not in a herd setting can be a mess.

When you are setting up your barn and stalls don't make the mistake of having to walk into them to feed. Either fix it so you can dump feed through a hole or so you can open the door and feed from right there.

We know of a trainer who got hurt by a nice horse sent by a client because she had to walk into a stall 6 feet to the corner away from the door to feed.

And don't pour your feed while your horse pins it's ears and crowds you. Teach them to give you space and have happy ears before you will dump it for them.

One of our rescue horses accidently broke one of our officers' arm badly at feed time a couple of years ago. Though the horse was alone in a pasture, the neighboring horse rushed over to the shared fence. He wheeled around to kick that horse and got our officer instead. She spent 11 months in casts and braces.

If you have to feed in a group setting in a pasture you need to set it up so that you can pour through the fence if at all possible.

We are serious and we mean it. Feeding horses is one of the most dangerous things you will do. We sure hope you will realize this and always be aware.

(This is the short cast by the way. The first one went up to her shoulder)

03/18/2024

We had a beautiful day for a St. Patrick's day potluck and Learning Levels awards ceremony. Look at all those ribbons and smiles! We have been working hard - of course Ben had to be front and center!
Congratulations to all! 🏆🦄🏅

11/07/2023

I watched part of this and it was quite interesting! This pony was nothing short of angelic. Some little rider is going to have a really nice live pony some day!

“A pony walks into a library … ” Is it the foundation of a joke in need of a punch line? The start of a melatonin-induced dream? Or a captivating scene from the National Sporting Library & Museum’s Founders’ Room in Middleburg, Virginia?

08/19/2023

Part of running a good riding school is making sure your students know horses. Not just how to ride them! This activity will give students many ways to learn - read it, see it, touch it, and apply! Here are the preparations for a really fun way to teach facial markings to the younger kids, and maybe even a few grown ups!! Whose markings did I borrow? Recognize anybody?

07/06/2023

I can't thank Kevin & Evelyn LaVigne of Windy Ridge Mustangs of VA enough for sharing their knowledge, humor, and expertise with our students this week. The mustangs were pretty surprised at the number of people inside their home, but still turned their attention to Evelyn and Kevin. The differences in the horses after the same amount of training time opened many eyes. Horses are trained on their own schedule, not ours, and no two are the same. Evelyn and Kevin demonstrated several of the techniques they use in keeping with their Positive Reinforcement philosophy to develop and shape new behaviors. The once untouched horses will become horses who can be groomed, haltered, lead, have their hooves handled, and load onto a trailer at the end of their training time.

The discussions were informative and fun, and the enthusiastic chatter on our way home was wonderful!

Thank you again for your hospitality!

02/04/2023

This was such a fun day at Windy Ridge Mustangs of VA !!

12/17/2022

A fun way to learn Horse Breeds and Colors at today's Horsemanship lesson. We had a fun party afterwards. Boy, can this group cook!!!
Many thanks go to the Sampsell family for lending me some Breyer Horses! ❤