Rebuild, Refocus, Rebrand – changes around the farm
As the farm approaches its 30th anniversary at the current location, I’m sure many of you have noticed the upgrades and improvements. We have added the treadmill, new stall fronts, and new soft stall matts. The trailers have been upgraded to better facilitate travel and a new well is on the horizon to improve the sprinkler system. Brian will also be building a new 5 stall barn for the broodmares to help support the successful breeding program that earned Andrea USEF Breeder of the Year for 2022. Let’s make this a group goal to repeat in 2023!!
Cedarhill has always been unique in the equestrian community because in addition to being competitive on the show scene (AA, A, C, and IEA), we offer a lesson program. The lesson barn/show barn combo is very rare in our industry. The foundation our lesson program and lesson horses build is what has made us a successful show barn at the local and national level. In an effort to streamline and refocus farm goals as a whole, we decided to end the IEA program making 2022 our last season. This decision was out of respect for our aging lesson herd as well as allowing the focus to be solely on the A/AA and C show circuits. We will continue our Grassroots series as an introductory step into showing and a stepping stone to the more competitive rated shows.
Cedarhill is a farm for those equestrians that see riding as a sport. We expect a lot out of our riders in and out of the ring and we teach the skills to be successful in a competitive environment. We view our horses as athletes as well. The quality of care with the walker, treadmill, laser, pulse, beamer, farriers, vets, etc set them up to be their best when stepping into the show ring. We don’t want to discourage anyone from being part of the Cedarhill family but also want to be upfront that our focus is competition.
We want Cedarhill to be known as a show barn that offers lessons not a lesson barn that goes to shows. We try to offer 2 AA/A shows and 1 C show per month. With each level comes goals. Qualifying for Indoors and Devon – you should have a minimum of 15 A/AA, Gov Cup FInals, Taylor Harris, Maclay, etc all need points to earn your spot. Zone FInals takes the top 20 in each rated division. The C shows offer finals from 2′ – 3′ in both the hunter and equitation ring as well as 2′ and 2’6″ Derby finals. As your trainers we want to know your goals and help make a plan to meet them. We have a decent number of boarders who lease or own show quality athletes, pay show barn prices, but don’t show. We want to know why and how can we change this? Our goal is to have every boarded horse do 6-8 shows per year minimum with the intent of reaching a specified goal.
Summer schedule will open mid April to boarders and lessors, May 1st to lesson clientele. The fall schedule will reflect the new focus with Andrea and Caroline giving priority to those showing on a regular basis. We value each and every member of the Cedarhill Family and look forward to the more streamlined program ahead. Thank you for your loyalty, understanding, and feedback as we strive to serve you and your animals to the best of our ability.