Courser Hill Farms, LLC

03/20/2025

CHF extends our warmest congratulations to Tara and her daughter on the acquisition of Haymar’s I’m All That aka Elsa. We are so excited to see the future accomplishments of this exceptional duo in both the dressage ring and hunter ring!

02/10/2025

A mule won a dressage competition for the first time ever in the UK – on the debut occasion he was allowed to take part.
Wallace The Great had been turned down from official events and was told he could not be a member of British Dressage, as he is half horse, half donkey.
But owner decided to fight for the mule’s right to be treated equally to a genuine horse or pony – which are a different species, with different chromosomes.
British Dressage conceded that mules would now be allowed to compete as a testament to ‘to inclusion and diversity in dressage, making the sport more accessible to all.’
For the first time ever in the UK, Wallace the Great competed in a British Dressage Quest Club competition, held at Summerhouse Equestrian, Gloucestershire – and beat eight full-horse competitors.
‘He was competing against cobs, ponies and horses. There was a bit of everything and he blew them all out of the water.
Wallace, aged 11, lives in Dursley, Gloucestershire, with two donkeys and another mule who was so badly abused it could not be ridden.
He was found wandering around a village in Ireland and rescued by the Donkey Sanctuary
Wallace measures 14 hands high, it is ‘exactly the same’ as riding a horse.
And Wallace proved he was more than equal in ability and intelligence when he scored 67.4 per cent in the competition.
‘I think this shows that mules are equal in ability, I believe Wallace wants to do this stuff. He makes friends with the other horses.
‘It is a double achievement – he’s made history for mules, and British Dressage. It is a historic day which will never be repeated, it’s a landmark.’

12/25/2024

Wishing all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas!

12/03/2024

The struggle was so real. 😂

“I’m not saying the breeches of my younger days, say 1980-2000, were perfect, but they were designed for a generation of thick-skinned riders. Namby-pamby riders need not apply. Our riding pants were a zero-way-stretch affair with pant legs that ended mid-calf and fastened with newly popular Velcro that never quite closed. Imagine, if you will, enduring the 20-minute struggle of getting your leather boots on, only to find the pokey part of the Velcro closure rubbing against your skin whilst snagging on your nylons. We didn’t have time to take our boots off and put them back on, so we toughed it out. ‘Do your worst, Velcro,’ we’d say. And the Velcro did, rasping off little bits of skin until suitable divets were etched from our legs for it to rest for the day. Not only were things happening within our boots, but also just above the top of them. Due to the zero-way-stretch technology, our riding pants, aided by their leather knee patches, had the ability to press our precious kneecaps into unpredictable and unfavorable positions. Our coaches then, as they do now, yelled, ‘Quit gripping with your knees!’ and we, the hapless students, wondered, Then why are there leather knee patches on these stupid pants? Tradition, that’s why. The neat thing, other than the apparent uselessness of the aforementioned patches, was their constant ability to shrink in the wash due to a hot water oversight. This shrinkage meant that the material that sat beneath them would get bunched up and take to burrowing into the side of your knees. We also loved a side-zip breech because it meant we could also wear our belt sideways. Getting these pants done up was a tremendous way to isolate the exact location of your back pain. That quarter waist contort testing our desire for oxygen over fashion as we tucked things in, zipped things up, and got the belt perfectly off-center. I’m not saying that all these New Age breeches are for the birds, I’m just saying they appeal to the masses, whereas in my day, they appealed to the tall and slim. The rest of us just had to get on with it.”

Read Rebecca Berry’s historical account of breeches on Horse Network.

11/14/2024

It is vitally important NOT to be suckered by those magazines that feature “Life Styles Of Your Typical Billionaire Equestrian” into thinking that anything short of over-the-top opulence is somehow deficient.

Sure, if you go on a tour of some of the Lexington, Kentucky stud farms you will see palatial stone barns, groomed landscapes, splashing fountains and chandeliers, but those are designed to woo investors into the racing industry.

Or if some private farm looks like the Taj Mahal, goody for them. It’s possible, often even probable, that extremely lavish trappings disguise average or even mediocre riding abilities. Neatness, though, is different from opulence. As is having a clean or clean-ish barn and tack room. Attention to detail in one area of horse management can often reflect an overall attitude that spills over into the way someone rides and trains.

Neatness begins by picking up a broom. Or a rake. Try not, perhaps, to become one of those people who thinks that manual labor is for “other” people. The word for that attitude is “pretentious.”

10/18/2024

We ❤️ OTTBs!

Jennie Brannigan went viral when she talked about the heart shown by her 5-star mount, Thoroughbred Twilightslastgleam, after he completed cross country at the Kentucky Five Star this spring. Brannigan said then: "Vettings don't matter. Heart does."

What did she mean?

It turns out, Twilightslastgleam, or Comic, suffered an injury during his 7-year-old season that kept him on stall rest and out of competition for a year—“he had a little bit of a hot leg and we took a bone spur out of his ankle and he got Lyme disease,” Brannigan said. After lay-up for those issues, Comic came out of stall rest with a case of significant kissing spines which resulted in spinal fusion that Brannigan said "wouldn't pass a vet" -- this, in addition to an OCD stifle lesion and chronically challenging feet.

And yet, with thoughtful, careful management, Comic is successfully competing at the five-star level once again. He'll run the Maryland five-star this weekend as one of four Thoroughbreds in the top-level three-day eventing compeition.

That's the heart of a Thoroughbred.

📷 EquiSport Photos

10/03/2024

CHF had a great day at The Ridge at Riverview’s Breast Cancer Research Foundation Benefit Hunter Derby Day!

Isabel and Zamperini (Pilot) had great rounds and came home with 3rd in a super competitive (20 riders) Low and Slow Derby. Awesome riding on both of their parts.

Hadley and Cupid’s Mark also rode amazing rounds and came home with 6th in the Low and Slow Derby. And for the first time, our little pony gave two beautiful lead changes which was extra special because he did it when he and Hadley needed it the most!

As always, The Ridge put on a beautiful, well run show all the while, raising money for a cause near and dear to us at CHF!

Congratulations girls! Well done.