Silver Lining Equestrian Center

07/21/2025

We had a GREAT weekend at Kentucky Horse Park for Kentucky Summer Horse Trial! The xc courses were beautiful, and show jumping was held in the Rolex Arena. The organizing committee did an incredible job and hospitality was top shelf. They had a fantastic competitors party with a great meal for everyone, healthy snacks and drinks set out around the park for everyone all weekend, and even provided ice for each rider. We can't thank them enough for such a top notch experience!

⭐️Ella and Marco made a triumphant return to KY and had a lovely dressage, just one rail In sj, and a stunning clear xc run In the Training division
🥈Hanna and Ana finished 2nd in a big Open Novice division with 3 flawless phases
🌪️Sophie and Twist had a great dressage test, their BEST sj round to date, and then an unfortunate flag error on xc on an otherwise lovely xc trip in the Open Novice
🤍Lynleigh and Socks did their first recognized HT and finished on their dressage score after 3 perfect rides to finish 4th in the Starter division
💗Hayden and Frye finished on their dressage score with 3 flawless phases to finish 5th in the starter division
We got to adopt 2 very special old friends this week as well!
🚀one of our former SLEC instructors (and Frye's previous owner), Claire Robinson, joined us and we all enjoyed watching them have awesome rides in the Intermediate Rider division
🎵Claire Seabrook and our buddy Bowie killed it this weekend finishing in 6th place in the Open Beginner Novice

Huge thank yous to all of our riders and their families for an incredibly fun weekend! Thank you to our sponsors to keep us at our best all the time
Antarès Sellier USA Seminole Feed Grand Meadows TheraPlate Red Ribbon Tack Kingsley USA

07/13/2025

We had a FANTASTIC show at Bouckaert Farm this weekend! Capped off our Advanced Camp week with a big show weekend and it was SO great 🥰
💞Addie and Ariel did their first 3-phase and finished 5th in the Amoeba
🥈Bella and Ronin finished 2nd in their 2nd ever 3-phase
🏆Hayden and Ana won the Starter in their first 3-phase together
🥈Lynleigh and Socks were 2nd in the Starter in their first show/3-phase together
💛Reese and Poppy finished 3rd in the BN
💜Hayden and Frye finished 7th in Hayden's first BN
💛 Charlotte and W***y finished 3rd in Intro Test A
⭐️Emmy and Midnight had a blip late on xc to interrupt their run to a second place finish in their first 3-phase but they'll be on top next time

The vibe this weekend was flawless. Our girls were thanking every volunteer, being great sports, and cheering each other on left and right. I saw several cheering for their friends mid-course and as they were circling to start their courses. So proud of these riders and so thankful for their families!
Antarès Sellier USA Seminole Feed Red Ribbon Tack TheraPlate

07/07/2025

💙🧡let's gooooooo!

06/28/2025

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Things your riding instructor wants you to know:
1. This sport is hard. You don't get to bypass the hard…..every good rider has gone through it. You make progress, then you don't, and then you make progress again. Your riding instructor can coach you through it, but they cannot make it easy.

2. You're going to ride horses you don't want to ride. If you're teachable, you will learn from every horse you ride. Each horse in the barn can teach you if you let them. IF YOU LET THEM. Which leads me to…

3. You MUST be teachable to succeed in this sport. You must be teachable to succeed at anything, but that is another conversation. Being teachable often means going back to basics time and time and time again. If you find basics boring, then your not looking at them as an opportunity to learn. Which brings me to…..

4. This sport is a COMMITMENT. Read that, then read it again. Every sport is a commitment, but in this sport your teammate weighs 1200 lbs and speaks a different language. Good riders don't get good by riding every once in awhile….they improve because they make riding a priority and give themsevles opportunity to practice.

5. EVERY RIDE IS AN OPPORTUNITY. Even the walk ones. Even the hard ones. Every. Single. Ride. Remember when you just wished someone would lead you around on a horse? Find the happiness in just being able to RIDE. If you make every ride about what your AREN'T doing, you take the fun out of the experience for yourself, your horse, and your instructor. Just enjoy the process. Which brings me to...

6. Riding should be fun. It is work. and work isn't always fun.....but if you (or your rider) are consistently choosing other activities or find yourself not looking forward to lessons, it's time to take a break. The horses already know you don't want to be here, and you set yourself up for failure if you are already dreading the lesson before you get here.

7. You'll learn more about horses from the ground than you ever will while riding. That's why ground lessons are important, too. If you're skipping ground lessons (or the part of your lesson that takes place on the ground), you're missing out on the most important parts of the lesson. You spend far more time on the ground with horses than you do in the saddle.

8. Ask questions and communicate. If you're wondering why your coach is having you ride a particular horse or do an exercise, ask them. Then listen to their answer and refer to #3 above.

9. We are human beings. We make decisions (some of them life and death ones) every day. We balance learning for students with workloads for horses and carry the bulk of this business on our shoulders. A little courtesy goes a long way.

Of all the sports your child will try through their school years, riding is one of 3 that they may continue regularly as adults (golf and skiing are the others). People who coach riding spend the better part of their free time and much of their disposable income trying to improve their own riding and caring for the horses who help teach your child. They love this sport and teaching others…..but they all have their limits. Not all good riders are good coaches, but all good coaches will tell you that the process to get good is not an easy one.

📝 Kimberley Reynolds

📸 Max & Maxwell: Equestrian Photography

06/23/2025

Temperatures are HIGH this week. Please be kind to your horse and be extra cautious. If the work you need to accomplish in your mid day lesson is strenuous, rescheduling may be a better call. Lessons in extreme heat will have lots of walk breaks and focus on position and technique more than long hard work. Let's keep the horse's welfare first and foremost in mind this summer

06/21/2025

Nothing better than a summer afternoon on the xc course with friends

06/03/2025

Having a great time at summer camp this week! After campers left today all of our helpers got to do ba****ck pony swap in the field

05/08/2025

Here It Is!!!! If you gave reached out about camp, we sincerely apologize for the delay In getting this out! We are going to start with our june dates and will add a july week If there Is demand after these fill. Lots of people are waiting for this so sign up asap!

Summer camps are open to all kids ages 5-13, no previous riding experience required. Camp is Mon-Thurs 9-3 and Fri 9-12. $150 deposit is due at time of registration to reserve spot and the balance ($250) is due at dropoff on Monday morning of your camp week. Deposits can be sent via Venmo to Stephan...

04/03/2025

Remember, today is herd health day (vaccines) and the horses will have the day off to rest and they'll be back in business tomorrow. 🙂 No lessons todayv(thursday 4/3) enjoy your day!

03/23/2025

Overdue Pine Top HT post!

Last weekend we took a very full load (or two) of horses to Pine Top for their Spring HT. Always a favorite show of mine!
We had a wonderful weekend with amazing weather, beautiful courses, and perfect company.
Big shout out to Shannon Riley at Infinity Sporthorse and full credit to her for her excellent results at this show (which we always list bc she runs some great SLEC horses!)

🤍Ella and marco finished 4th in the Training
🥉Shannon and Steph's Kuba finished 3rd in the Prelim
🏆Shannon and Emily Kuras Clifford won the Modified
🥈💙Ashley and Bo finished 2nd in the Training and 1st for the TIP award (WS w Shannon this semester and slec forever!)
⭐️Sophie and Twist did their 2nd Training together
💜Ava and Peter moved up to Novice to finish 7th
⭐️Reese and Poppy competed in the Training/Novice
💅🏻Emmaly and Nikki were amazing at their first recognized BN together
💫Andrea and Lily rocked around the BN for another great finish
🤩Alex and Zeppelin competed In the BN
🎉Samantha and Ben did their first run together at Starter
☺️Josie and Ronin competed in the Starter

03/22/2025

Ella Dreaden appreciation post!
I have had some really amazing "right hands" in my 18 years at SLEC and Ella is no exception. She graduated from Auburn in December, having been at SLEC for several years as a boarder and collegiate competitor and then adding instructor to her resume last summer. Ella is now here full time and has stepped up to the plate in a way that makes the whole program thrive! She teaches a great lesson, does all of the training rides with Steph still out of the saddle for her knee, drives the big truck and trailer to shows and coaches everyone to be their best. She has also picked up a lot of horse care responsibilities. Having Ella on our team has been such a wonderful asset to our program and we are so thankful for her! We love you Ella!!!

03/18/2025

Josie McVicar is the next rider that we have highlighted as the SLEC rider of the week! Josie is one of our freshmen, and she is majoring in Animal Sciences: Pre-Vet! While she has historically ridden and competed on a warm blood gelding named Tyler Road, she has recently made the switch over to a lease with Rockin N’ Ronin, who is definitely a familiar face around the barn. Between both horses, she has certainly had an eventing-filled year, where she has made some of her favorite 1st year memories! Keep working hard, Josie, and we are so happy to have you on the SLEC team! 💙🤍💙🧡