Equestrian Confidence Coach

08/14/2025

Thank you to of for inviting me to judge your 2025 summer combined test series. The funnest, most rewarding thing about judging a series like this is seeing the progress riders have made throughout the summer. Given the number of times I’ve judged at Mountain Valley, I have a special place in my heart for all of the riders and horses there 🧡. I try my best to provide helpful, tangible comments that riders can use to improve their scores for next show and it’s so delightful to see the progression from one show to the next. Know that whenever I am sitting at C, I’m rooting for the pair in the ring - I want everyone to have a rewarding ride, but also remember that I didn’t get to that chair at C by things always going as planned. If something unexpected happens during your test, remember that I’ve been there too. It’s all part of the process of developing horses and that’s why there are great little schooling shows like these! So that’s my long-winded way of saying I really enjoyed what I saw not only yesterday, but throughout the whole summer. Keep up the good work everyone! 💚

08/04/2025

Thanks for catching this great photo, ! It gives such a great example of the workshop set up. It was so much fun coming to your lovely farm and sharing these tools with your riders! 💚

08/03/2025

Thank you so much to for having me out for a workshop yesterday! We had a small group with big discussion! We were able to cover lots of individualized questions such as how to handle a horse that gets buddy sour when others leave the ring and recovering after a bad fall. My favorite part of these workshops is getting to discuss unique issues and develop a plan as a group to help people find success with their horses. Thank you again, Emily Lula and everyone at Chestnut Grove!

I’ve had great feedback about the workshop but I’m continuously trying to make it better and improve it, so I rolled out a new format this time and it flowed really nicely!

Looking forward to visiting next weekend for another workshop!

07/09/2025

Back at again today for another Wednesday show! The last Mountain Valley show was two weeks ago and I saw some nice progression from last show to this one for those that had repeat rides. As always, thank you to the entire Mountain Valley crew and to for inviting me to judge. It was a great day! Looking forward to the next show at Mountain Valley on August 13th 🥇🐴

06/25/2025

Toasty combined test today at Mountain Valley but we are being very efficient with tests and trying to get everyone in and out of the ring before it gets too hot. I’ve seen some really nice rides so far - good luck to everyone who still has to ride. Thank you to Kate Hornbecker of for having me out to judge. Looking forward to being back in a few weeks for the next Wednesday show!

06/04/2025

06/03/2025

Great clinic yesterday at Frazier Farm! Thank you so much to everyone who participated and to Corinne Gagnon for organizing a fun weekend! We started with the abbreviated workshop then moved into lessons. Some riders focused more on dressage and some developed individualized plans to increase their bravery in the tack during breaks during their training. I’m really loving normalizing anxiety in the saddle and simultaneously getting to help build people up for the future. Super fun! Can’t wait for my next clinic.

Per my usual, I completely forgot to take a photo so please enjoy Louie in the trailer 🤪

04/28/2025

Great day judging at today! We had a great group of hardy riders today that braved the cold and wind to provide their horses with a super, confidence building outing! While some horses were a little reactive today due to the weather, all riders did a great job of navigating the little bit of extra spice in their horses. For many, it was a first outing this year and everyone left successfully in my book - everyone stayed on and in the ring! What more can you ask for on a chilly today that followed a couple weeks of beautiful, sunny, 70 degree days? Great job everyone and thank you so much to Frazier Farm and Corinne Gagnon for inviting me to judge!

12/09/2024

I had a fantastic time at Cavalier Farm on Saturday kicking off a new format for Equestrian Confidence Coaching! Participants engaged in a shorter unmounted workshop focusing solely on thought reconstruction, its benefits, and how to do it! Subtopics included the impact of previous falls, frustration in the saddle, making meaningful progress, and historically tricky behavior on currently quiet horses. We then moved into Cavalier’s beautiful indoor for ridden work. Here, I provided individual guidance through 45-minute riding lessons in which participants worked on personalized goal setting plans to increase their confidence, appropriately addressing spooky behavior that is consistent with research on equine neurobiology, position, using lateral work to increase attention, and visualizing a successful ride to put yourself in the correct mindset prior to putting your horse to work.

A huge thank you to Cavalier Farm for hosting and for having such engaged, inquisitive, and supportive participants! I thoroughly enjoyed my time teaching you all!

🐴 Equestrian Confidence Coaching continues to offer the 3-hour unmounted workshop, however, this format is an additional service that we can provide to help increase confidence in the saddle.

12/09/2024

12/05/2024

We are very excited to have Sarah Marshall for a workshop followed by flatwork/dressage riding lessons Saturday, December 7th🎉
Check out the flyer below! Space is limited, call or text Cheryl for any questions and to save your spot!

12/05/2024

Thank you to Serenity Farm Horse Rescue for hosting November’s Riding with Confidence Workshop! I’d like to also extend a thank you to Willow Creek Farm, LLC for providing us with their beautiful hunt room that made for an incredibly cozy environment on a cold Friday night! This was a great group of highly engaged participants and I truly enjoyed guiding them through the process of learning to reconstruct their thought process and visualize success to foster a more connected relationship with their horses. We explored common issues that can affect rider confidence like spooking, the first time cantering, being confident in your knowledge of your horse and how that guides your training, and rehabbing. I encourage self-discussion at these workshops so all of these topics were advocated for by the participants and we got to explore them through the scope of data driven strategies. Look out for another potential collaboration between Serenity Farm Horse Rescue and Equestrian Confidence Coach in the spring! In the meantime, I’m looking forward to another workshop and clinic this weekend at Cavalier Farm !

📸Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo so please enjoy this oldie but goodie of myself, Caleb, and Marie Schumacher, President and Founder of Serenity Farm Horse Rescue, from years ago!