Trails 2 Rails Equine

01/11/2026

Western Games Horse Camp
June 1 - 5
8AM - noon

Learn the classic western games patterns: Barrels, Texas Barrels, Pole Bending, Keyhole, and Flag Race.

Learn on lesson horses or bring your own!

Daily riding lessons and practice split by rider level. All levels welcomed - while these are speed events, it is perfectly fine to learn at any speed

Friday demo for parents at noon

This year riders have the option to sign up to compete at the Ponderosa Saturday June 6th - there are additional fees to go to the show. If riders decide to compete, they may need to stay later Friday to help prepare.

$75 deposit to hold your spot

$275 Early bird discount if paid in full by April 1st, $350 after

Camp must be paid in full by May 15th

Text 704.488.1822 to sign up

12/22/2025

Stall board available in Lake Wylie

What's included:
*Seasonal turnout daily
*Blanketing
*Holding for barn farrier
*Holding for vet
*Feed - up to limits in contract
*Alfalfa - up to limits in contract
*Use of all facilities: Sand outdoor arena with lights, small sand indoor arena with lights, indoor hot/cold wash stall, short hacking trail, and round pen coming this week!
*Training rides or lessons depending on your package

We believe in horses living with friends with 24/7 access to clean water and hay!

Join our lovely barn family and lesson program and see the difference that consistent experienced care makes

Text Katie at 704.488.1822 to come see the barn

12/03/2025

Katie Ostrom brings over two decades of professional horse management experience to Trails 2 Rails.

She grew up riding horses of all breeds and disciplines in Washington state. Her first horse was a pony, Tassy. As soon as she was tall enough to open doors, Katie was sneaking outside to ride. This led to riding horses for neighbors, friends of the family, and local trainers. Soon, she was teaching lessons and riding young horses for others in the horse community.

College brought Katie to the east coast where she studied equine management and principles of riding. She also competed on both the hunt seat and dressage intercollegiate teams.

Wanting more horsemanship focus, she transferred to the University of Montana – Western. There, she was accepted into the natural horsemanship program.

From Montana, Katie moved to Maryland where she was a working student at Bascule Farm. Here she was immersed in the day to day business of riding, training, and managing of a large scale breeding, training, and boarding three day event barn. She had the opportunity to ride many types of horses from young horses to older difficult horses under skilled instruction.

Maryland led to Katie moving to North Carolina in January 2010, she managed a beautiful farm in Gaston county until January 2015 when she struck out on her own. Based out of Lake Wylie since 2016, Katie has built a lesson program to introduce riders to horses with correct foundational knowledge that only comes from years and years of hands on experience.

Katie is excited to help riders and horses of all levels learn to work together better. Her main guiding philosophy is that riding should be fun, even if there are lofty goals to be met.

Trails 2 Rails offers consistent, effective, and horse-centric training that allows a positive partnership to form. The foundation of this successful method is riding outside of the arena. With lots of land to explore and varying terrain, horses learn to trust their rider and become confident in themselves as well.

08/05/2020

This good looking, in your pocket, sweet hunk of a gelding is looking for his next human! 16.1hh 6yo reg APHA gelding who is versatile and willing - a pleasure in the barn and under saddle. This is his first day with any sort of focused western type of riding - and he was getting the concept of slowing, lengthening, and settling. This boy is going to make a great all around partner for someone!!! $7,500 Waxhaw, NC - catch him now before he hauls and the price goes up! 704.488.1822

https://youtu.be/_mmlIUfZU9c

03/20/2020

Super teacher

Onsite care lease available! The saying is you buy the canter and develop the trot - here's your horse to teach you what a dreamy canter is!

03/26/2019

What do I feel is the best characteristic of this horse? It's not that he's sweet. It's not that he's incredibly comfortable. It's not the amazing Gypsy temperament that makes him quieter than most Quarter Horses. It's not his gorgeous conformation and markings. It's not the incredible amount of Professional Training he has.

The best thing about this horse, is that he is fun.

FUN.

Like, seriously, when was the last time you were able to have fun on your dressage horse?

When was the last time you were able to throw them on the trailer, go someplace new and play?

When was the last time you had complete confidence that everything you've done at home will translate to a completely new job?

Are you looking for a horse who is fun?

And what makes a horse fun?

First and foremost, you have to feel safe on your horse if you are going to have fun. Chip is beyond safe.

Next, your horse has to be predictable. Chip is a visual learner, he thinks through problems, when he is uncertain he stops, he breathes, he looks, and he thinks.

In order to be fun, your horse also has to be comfortable to ride. Chip is the perfect size. 15.2 hands, a medium wide tree, he is enough substance that you feel like you're supported and have a horse under you but not so much that your hips are being taken out of their sockets!

Chip has a show record where he has proven to be reliable at a new venue that is full of energy and activity. He has multiple championships behind him.

He's been in parades!

He swam in the ocean!

You can play on the ground with him sending him sideways away from you, towards you, doing cool tricks and teaching him entire routines!

This is the horse that you can create an incredible partnership with and go out and do.

And he's gorgeous to boot!

We took a break from our dressage practice to play! Always good to put into practice those skills we learn in the sandbox.

11/20/2018

Let Down, lay up, and Retirement board.

Cherryville, NC 28021

I have a small private training barn with mainly young horses. This is not really a boarding barn (not set up for the comfort of people, LOL) but a working training barn. I'm set up for designated gelding and mare herds where the horses live out 24/7 unless there's inclement weather (rainstorm = they'll be out; last week's 3 days of rain in the 30°'s they were in). When the horses are in, the stalls are like covered runs, I need to measure to be sure, 14' x 30', so they can move about.

Horses are on grass and round bales. I feed (beet pulp and loose minerals) twice a day and pull in hard keepers to eat individually (Legends Performance and fat supplement).

I deworm the herd twice a year, but every horse is dewormed prior to arriving.

Your horse must be groomed at least once per week. You do it or I do it for $20.

My farrier is awesome and can transition your horse to barefoot if it's possible or do corrective shoeing. He is quite reasonably priced.

Pasture board is $175/month for the easy keeper (can eat out with the herd)

Hard keeper is simply the cost of grain per month in addition to the $175 (may fluctuate depending on time of year).

Lay up board is available with a private turnout and exercise program. Depending on needs, prices start at $350/month

Restarting and starting aka full training $725/month - 60 or 90 day commitment will be required in most cases.

Nothing fancy but everything works.

Check out Trails2Rails Equine or KOSportHorses to learn more about me see pics on IG at

704.488.1822

06/26/2018

Farm kids - a dying breed.

06/08/2018

Jaxxon B is a special cool cat kind of horse. If you are looking for a partner to go out and explore the trails, this is your guy! He is a perfect stout 14.3hh which means you'll not be bonking your head on limbs on the trail and will still feel a solid horse under you. He had beautiful eyes that may come from some sorry if Spanish horse influence. A DNA test says he is Andulusion and Rocky Mountain horse. He does seem to maybe have a little something gaited in him, but it has never been developed into an actual gait, he walks, trots, and canters. Because of this possible gaited mix, he does have a much larger step than most geldings of his size and he does stride out energetically. He does not have a western jog, while sit-able, he trots. His canter is still a work in progress, but is getting rateable and easy.

He is that rare find of perfectly safe, level headed, kind to handle horse that can carry a visitor down the trail who also can have some power behind him and get up and go. He really wants to be a trail horse but will work in the arena as well. He would be best with a rider who has soft hands and is able to balance from their seat.

He has lateral work, understanding how to move each end of his body independently. He may make a great trail obstacle challenge horse for a specific type of educated rider who is willing to do their homework.

Safe, fun, easy, and a total lovebug!

$1,500

Located in Cherryville, NC 704.488.1822

https://youtu.be/R2uEQsqNSxk
https://youtu.be/odyYiuCV4IU

05/07/2018

Yes!!!! A concept I struggle to relay - but the core of "correct."

Heading for Collection Posted by Jenni Grimmett


"I've shown horses for a long time. There were two things that my Mom was really good at spotting for me from the sidelines, head set and leads. After I would come out of the ring she would always have a comment for me about Cory's head set in that particular class. It's a big deal when you are showing. For the non-initiated, head set is referring to where that horse is carrying it's head. In most styles of riding you want that horse to break at the poll (the top of the head) and carry his head vertical. Depending on the horse, and the breed and the discipline the head will need to be set either at the withers of above the withers. And we spend an awful lot of time worrying about that in the show ring.

That's been a very hard thing for me to let go of as I've explored this style of riding. There is no "head set" in true Vaquero style riding. Instead of focusing on trends in the styles displayed in the show ring we focus on creating a soft and balanced horse by concentrating on their entire body. You definitely want them soft in the poll and giving to your hands, but where they carry the head when they are working is much less important.

Collection is not a head set. Head set can actually be detrimental to true collection when it is done incorrectly. True collection goes from the tip of the nose to the hind feet, and when you are talking about building collection it actually starts in the hind feet and not in the head at all. Because we as humans are terrible at messing up a good thing, we have actually bred horses to look more naturally like what we want them to look like in the show ring. So horses that have a natural level head and neck and a sloping hip that looks like they are already rounded and tucked up under themselves.
When a horse is collected properly it shifts his center of gravity back closer to his hind feet. A horse's center of gravity when he is just standing around is about at his withers. This causes him to carry the majority of his weight on his front end. No problems, that's how the horse is designed due to spending the majority of his time with his head on the ground eating. However when a horse has to stop and turn and move to avoid getting eaten by a tiger he picks his head up, elevates his shoulders and shifts that weight to his hocks to improve his athletic stance and get the heck down the road to leave the tiger in the dust. This is all something that a horse does naturally.
The great thing about the vaquero tradition is that no two horses are going to look alike because no two horses are built quite alike. You aren't trying to force your horse into a false frame of collection in order to fit the current trends you are trying to create the most balanced and correct posture that your particular horse is able to carry.
A true spade bit horse will not experience much tension in the reins. It's a lifting of the bridle reins, not a pulling. This horse is also mimicking the body position of his rider. His feet are pushed forward under his body and his head and shoulders are up and back in an open position making him ready and able to move his body for the next move of that cow.

That's the kind of collection that we are working for. Head set has no meaning to us anymore. The horse should be soft to your hands (we call that soft feel) and should give at the poll but we aren't going to be picky about where that head ends up as long as the collection goes from the back feet, through the croup all the way to the head and shoulders and into our hands".

04/28/2018