Thanks to the involvement of our Knollwood community, we held a heck of a horse show last weekend.

To give you an idea about the size of the affair, we had 85 riders competing over the course of three days.

Friday night’s pattern performance welcomed 67 riders. In qualifying classes, we also qualified 4 riders for the Knollwood Challenge Finals in October.

Olivia and Stella will compete in the walk and trot finals while Kali and Madison S will compete in the walk trot and canter division.

 We're still looking forward to riders qualifying at the summer and fall shows.

Photo by Hanna Agathen Photography

Saturday welcomed 44 riders to the big outdoor arena for a day of competition. With many riders moving up to the walk, trot, and canter division this year, we offered 5 splits for riders aged 11-17.

Perhaps best of all, we only had one horse who decided to canter in the 11-17 walk trot classes later in the day.

Sunday is the showpiece of the weekend. We were happy to see 41 riders who competed in the 10 and under and maiden divisions as well as our leadline stars.

The little arena was the perfect venue for these newest stars, and they sure did shine.

We have many, many people to thank.

Amy, Olga, and Michelle were the co-chairs of the event. They ran the Knockout village, answered questions on all sorts of topics, and ran a great event.

Anne grilled for the duration of the show.

Melissa created gift basket themes and put the vision to work with her assistants.

Wendy and Karina handled announcing duties and taught the audience all about horse showing.

Jane was our Sunday concierge who made sure attire was just right, numbers were straight, and answered some very creative questions from the young competitors.

Concession stand volunteers were the best.

Our ringmasters made sure riders were safe, and that victory passes went just right.

Bella and Taylor worked with the announcers and created ribbon bags for riders to pick up when they returned their numbers after the show.

Photographer Hanna captured special moments for the riders.

Knollwood Kid for Life Shelby was an inspiration. She offered feedback, encouragement, and a lot of humor.  Our recently married judge is one in a million.

Our Sunday personal assistants are amazing people.

Each is responsible for a hard-working walk and trot horse on Sunday, and for the riders showing them. They change tack, adjust stirrups, ensure that reins are just right, and give riders pep talks and congratulations throughout the show.  A special shout out to Thea, Jilly, and Kylie for acting as the ‘seniors on’ throughout the Sunday show.

We say it a lot, but it’s really true. We have the best lesson horses in the world. From pattern classes to leadline, these horses behaved like unicorns.

We rewarded them with a day off on Monday, when the slept the afternoon away in a nice dark barn with the lights off.

Apologies if we forgot anyone.

We’re grateful to our community for pitching in to make these shows wonderful events for all the Knollwood Kids.

Oh, and if you're counting, these numbers made for 433 trips through the ingate.

Rest up, our summer show is coming up August 22-24, and we can hardly wait.

Madison Classic is almost here!

Scott made several trips to Madison on Tuesday to deliver show horses to the exciting Madison Classic show. With almost 600 stalls sold, it’s surely worth a trip to Madison this weekend.

Some debuts to look forward to?

Averie will be showing Prince in 10 and under Walk Trot, her first show in a suit.

Maddie will be showing Zach in first show out of academy.

Sophie will show in a suit for the first time on Gamora.

Brooklyn will make her debut in the 14-17 age group on beautiful Gigi.

Leighton will enter the 11-13 equitation division with Teddy.

Shaye will debut on her new equitation partner, Lady.

 And these are just in the equitation divisions!

Our academy riders will show at 10:00 AM on Saturday.

Please join us!

What’s Coming Up?

Memorial Day

We are closed Monday, May 26 in honor of Memorial Day.

All lessons have been rescheduled.

Food Drive to Benefit the Food Pantry of Waukesha County 

June 1-14

We’ve been partnering with the food pantry for 15 years as we help them at a time of year when stocks run low.

Anyone who donates a minimum of 5 food kits can compete in the Knollwood Olympics on June 21. Olympic teams compete in ‘games of skill,’ and it’s a great night at the farm.

Knollwood Summer Starts!

June 9

We open with a pattern camp and a Tiny Tot camp

Dad’s Day Ride

June 14 at 6:00

We have a few openings left for riders who want to help their Dad in an intro lesson.

It’s only $50 to tell your Dad what to do for half an hour.

Please sign up and pay in the school barn lounge.

Riders must be 10 or over or be an academy rider.

Knollwood Olympics 

June 21

6:00

All Knollwood Kids who have collected a minimum of 5 food kits will compete in ridiculous games.

July 4 Closure

No lessons as we celebrate Independence Day

Lessons will be rescheduled.

 Summer Show Entries

July 1-13

Entries for our summer Knollwood Show to be held August 22-24.

See you soon at the barn, or at the in-gate