North Star Riding Academy

04/14/2023

Great information on a skill our riders are working to learn.

"No matter how fast your fingers are at opening and closing -- holding and releasing tension -- your elbows are nearly always faster and more fluid." Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers i...

04/06/2023

CAMPED WITH US BEFORE AND MISSING OUR PROGRAM? You can find our instructors and horses at Middleburg Riding's Summer camp!

02/11/2023

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled Ovation Protégé helmets and return them to the retailer they were purchased from or to any Ovation authorized dealer for a free replacement Ovation Deluxe Schooler helmet or contact English Riding Supply for a $60 refund. The replacement helmet ...

02/06/2023

01/24/2023

CHECK US OUT AT Middleburg Riding!

While our active riders know, it is time for us to announce that North Star will no longer offer riding lesson services, in order to focus on the financial aid side of our mission. We are thrilled to say that our mission of inclusion within the equine community has taken a huge leap forward with the formation of Middleburg Riding.

This new program, at Jennifer Lee Jumpers, will offer riding and horse management lessons for people of all abilities, ages, and experience in a kind, encouraging environment. Middleburg Riding follows international safety standards, employs qualified instructors, and maintains well-schooled lesson horses. We aim to set horse and rider up for success from the ground to the saddle!

For those who ride with us, not much has/will change! I will continue to teach lessons and develop our programs and clinics. BUT, this merger opens more opportunities for development as horse people and we are SO excited! Jennifer has been such a proponent of the inclusive community of North Star and we are so grateful to her for championing a place for people of all abilities to know and love horses.

This FB page will now focus on our fundraising to support riders of differing abilities in their equine endeavors. As a financial aid apparatus, we will be able to offer aid to rider at barns with certified therapeutic riding instructors that meet PATH Intl. safety criteria. We will announce our next round of fundraising and financial aid this Spring.

To keep up with camps, clinics, lessons, and more please like and follow Middleburg Riding! We are so excited to see our mission at work in this new program! What a success!!

01/11/2023

OUR SUMMER CAMPS ARE LIVE!!! WINTER SALE!!!

Note that "Middleburg Riding" is the name for the combined Jennifer Lee Jumpers and North Star programs, it is still the same Summer camp!

We are SO excited for our Summer camps that we are running a SALE through January 31st.

$100 off through January 31st.
10% multi-week discount (no expiration).
Discounts NOT applicable on aftercare.

BUYING ONE WEEK? Use discount code WINTER2023
BUYING MORE THAN ONE WEEK? Use discount code WINTERMULTI2023

https://cp.mystudio.io/e/?=JLJ/7895/427179//1673449685

01/07/2023

Working on those awesome, soft halts. Much easier to get those front hooves square when the horse is relaxed in the downward transition!

12/24/2022

We made it through the worst of the cold weather (single digits), but we won't see above freezing until Tuesday. Horses all got a little extra with their breakfast - warm soaked timothy and teff pellets and some extra salt to encourage more water intake. Decreased water consumption can lead to impaction colic so it's important we monitor how much the horses are drinking and keep their water unfrozen.

The ground is so hard we had to move some horses to different paddocks, their poor feet were struggling with the deeply frozen mud. We have to keep an eye out for signs of cold weather laminitis and removing horses from rough paddocks helps us better monitor whether the tender feet are from bruising or laminitis.

We'll keep checking water troughs and free feeding salt to keep horses healthy!

Stay warm!!

12/24/2022

It has been a long day making sure every horse is warm and healthy through this crazy weather. The stalled horses (Picasa and Olive) are cozily tucked into their spots. All of our horses, whether they will spend the night inside or out, have as many layers as their body needs, lots of hay to keep then warm from inside, and unfrozen water available to them (super important to prevent devestating stomach/intestinal upset). We will check on everyone bright and early, replenishing hay and water and checking body heat.

12/22/2022

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE LAST DAY OF CHRISTMAS CAMP!!

REGISTER FOR OUR NEW YEAR CAMP!

We had such a holly, jolly day with mounted games and Christmas baking! Thank you to the wonderful Mary from Spoonfuls Of Sugar for teaching the kids how to bake DELICIOUS chocolate chip cookies. It is important to us to be inclusive in every possible way and Mary created one batch of cookies so kids with food allergies could enjoy a treat, too!! The cookies were incredible and Mary put together such nice Christmas treat bags for the kids (and slipped the adults a couple cookies, too 😉).

In the afternoon we played mounted Christmas Musical Ponies and had TEN ponies and riders in the ring, a North Star record! We don't normally have groups that high, but every rider takes regular lessons with either myself or Jennifer Lee Jumpers so we were very confident in their skills. The kids MIGHT have been rolling their eyes by the end of the day about my enthusiasm for the Dominic the Christmas Donkey song. But they rocked it and I was so happy to watch the amazing lesson herd and the riders that love them.

Be sure to check out Jennifer's page for a video of the morning ride - a relay race that was a mix of mounted and unmounted skills! So fun!!

Thank you so much for entrusting your children to us. It is a pleasure to spend time with them and support them in our mutual love of horses. 💞

Want to join us for camp?! Join us January 3rd and 4th for our next camp! Your kids will be bouncing off the walls from Christmas break, so send them to our New Year, Healthy You Camp for lots of good, clean fun that is sure to wear them out! Register for one or both days (use ONEDAY at check out to register for just one day). NO PRIOR HORSE EXPERIENCE NEEDED! MAKES A GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT!

Cost: $225 ($125 for one day)
Time: 9 - 3 PM
*We do have a lovely heated space to get out of the cold.
Safe Sport Compliant

REGISTER HERE: https://cp.mystudio.io/e/?=northstar/7991/421393//1671498883

12/22/2022

Hard to choose just one video to share of our Christmas Musical Ponies from camp, but this one was just the cutest!

We had a blast with TEN ponies in the ring playing an equine version of musical chairs. When the Christmas music stopped, horse and rider had to get to one of the cones, poles, or barrels to claim their spot. If they were left spotless, they had to halt in the "stew pot" and hold their jump position until the next round.

This little rider and her pony have been working so hard on a nice, slow, rythmic trot - this game was quite a change of pace! They rocked it!!