Welcome EMU Riding Club!

We are happy to announce that we will be hosting the EMU riding club for the 2008-2009 school year. The team will be take lessons, attend local shows, and hold special events. We are excited

Lessons will run Monday afternoon and evening and Sat. mornings beginning September 6th.

Director/ Instructor: Barbara Robbins

As Director Barbara will be co-coordinating the overall riding program and handling all scheduling for lessons and events with the EMU riding club. She will teach the round pen and ground work class and any western lessons. She has studied horsemanship and horse training extensively under National clinician, Louis Wood. She has owned her own horses since childhood and has in the last 5 years enjoyed studying the art of training horses. Her experiences with horses include trail riding, breeding, training, instructing and coaching for the show ring. Barbara owns and operates Rocky Hill Stables, LLC along with her husband Alan.

Team Co-Coach/ Instructor: Caitlin MacRae

Caitlin will be teaching both beginning and intermediate riding lessons. Caitlin MacRae is a 2004 graduate of James Madison University. She has been riding horses for 16 years and has formal training in dressage, hunters, and eventing. She also has extensive experience trail riding in the Shenandoah Valley. She rode with the JMU equestrian club under trainer Sarah Irvine. She has been a resident of the Shenandoah Valley for 8 years. Caitlin is a therapeutic horseback riding instructor at Camp Still Meadows and helped to found the program. She is currently in the process of receiving certification by the National Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA). Caitlin is employed at Rosetta Stone.

Team Co-Coach/Instructor/trainer: Laura Pattie

Laura will be teaching both beginning and intermediate riding lessons. Laura has owned, ridden and shown horses since childhood. She grew up in Northern Virginia where she began teaching hunter lessons in high school at summer camps. Her students included people of all ages. Laura is a 2005 JMU graduate of Fine Arts. While a student at JMU, she was a part of the equestrian team all four years of college. She studied and competed in the hunter show ring under the instruction of Sarah Irvine. Laura has also worked under the direction of hunter trainer, Tony Workman, from the Leesburg, VA area. Most recently, she has studied horsemanship under national clinician/trainer, Louis Wood of Waynesboro. She is currently the store Manager of VTO Saddlery located in Broadway, VA. On the side she works in training green horses, starting horses over fences, and working on problem issues with horses. She owns a 4 yr old paint that she started and is training for the hunter show ring.