Chastain Horse Park has a number of outstanding instructors that offer Hunter-Equitation rider development. Each instructor has his or her own fee structure, lesson schedule and billing policy. When enrolling students that do not have disabilities or special needs, instructors will either select students from a wait list, or accept inquiries directly, as indicated below.
You may send an e-mail to lessons@chastainhorsepark.org to be placed on the wait list. Include name, age, experience, availability for lessons, address, and contact information (home phone, cell phone, e-mail address.) Most lessons range from $65-$130. The park’s instructors teach beginner through advanced level lessons for children and adults, starting as young as 3-years-old.
An annual on-grounds horse show for lesson students is held each fall; some of the park’s lesson horses may be taken off-site to horse shows when leased for that purpose to a student. Occasionally, a lesson horse may be offered for partial lease to an intermediate level student in the program, or a boarder may offer a horse for partial lease based on the recommendation of an instructor.
Head Trainer, Chastain Horse Park
Limited space available.
Interviewing intermediate and advanced hunter equitation riders interested in achieving technical excellence in an enjoyable setting.
Leasing, owning, and showing available.
Leasing, owning, and showing available.
Brief messages only at 404-949-9049.
Donna is the Head Trainer at Chastain Horse Park. Originally from Atlanta, Donna has been riding and competing for 40 years. She was trained in this country and abroad by several Olympic Team members. In the 70s she kept horses at Chastain Horse Park. At a young age, she began showing and teaching for Kay Norment, a long listed member of the US Olympic Dressage Team. She was a long term student of Charles DeKunffy, a renowned trainer and author of the DeKunffy system. She showed horses for Red Frazier, well known for his conformation hunters, and a judge at Madison Square Gardens for many years. She was a manager of training and sales for at Vermont’s Huntingdon Farm, owned by three Olympic team members in the Perkins family. She trained with Sally Swift and Carol Lavell, as well as training for two years in Germany under Thelma Brundle, coach of the Austrian Olympic team. In the 80’s she developed a large local business producing many successful horses and riders, among them Dru Anne Paulk and Krissy Wilson Thompson. In the late 80’s, she showed successfully throughout the country and developed a stable of show horses in Philadelphia, and owned, developed and sold horses that were placed in the top stables of Andre Dignella, Judy Richter, and George Morris. She trained the top Small Green Pony in the country, “Rainbow Connection.” She currently develops horses and riders showing with the GHJA, and is married to Blake Cooper, owner of Cooper Music. She is also a NARHA certified instructor.
Therapeutic lessons; beginner hunter equitation lessons; ‘Little Bits’ lessons for riders 4 and up.
Potential Openings: limited slots Tues-Thurs before 2:00 PM for young children and adults.
Will check wait list to fill openings.
Potential Openings: limited slots Tues-Thurs before 2:00 PM for young children and adults.
Will check wait list to fill openings.
Amy Austin is a NARHA Advanced Instructor and NARHA faculty/evaluator, and serves as the Therapeutic Program’s Head Instructor. In addition, she teaches beginner lessons for children and adults in the traditional school program. She has limited room beginner riders in the traditional program.
Amy grew up in the Atlanta area and has a lifetime of experience with horses. Her riding career began at age 7, and by age 8, she had her first horse and was competing in Western pleasure and equitation at the local level. At 12, she was introduced to gaited horses and spent her junior riding years riding and competing at the national level across the Southeast in Saddleseat equitation and three gaited show pleasure classes on Saddlebreds, Morgans, and Arabians. Amy qualified numerous times to compete at Madison Square Garden in NHS Good Hands, Saddleseat Equitation, and The UPHA Challenge Cup, and was also frequently the winner of the high point end of the year awards for the local breed chapters for the horses she rode. She was president of the local 4-H club her last 2 years, as well as riding under the tutelage of one of the top Saddleseat instructors, Alison Walsh. Her amateur riding years were spent riding and training her own horses for competition at the national level, where she was very successful.
With a demanding college schedule, she stopped showing and began teaching part time for herself, often taking on riders with slight handicaps, successfully educating many children and helping them find horses of their own. After graduating from college with a degree in Biology and a career in Chemistry, she decided to return to her first love of horses and teaching. She attended a NARHA instructor certification course in Texas and gained her NARHA Advanced Instructor certification. She has been teaching at Chastain since 2000.
Hunter Equitation Lessons; Therapeutic Lessons; 8 years and up
Potential Openings Fridays- Sundays.
Potential Openings Fridays- Sundays.
E-mail tallaglen@yahoo.com
Marilyn Austin began her education as a riding instructor by completing her B.H.S.A.I. certification at the Moat House Riding School in England. Her 30 years of experience include operating her own boarding, lesson, and camp programs, as well as volunteering for 4H and Pony Clubs, Special Olympics, and the 1996 Olympics. Marilyn is a NARHA certified instructor and teaches students with and without special needs.
Intermediate and Advanced students only, interested in leasing/purchasing horse to show.
Must have prior experience and be able to tack horse independently.
Adults who can ride before 2pm; children after 3pm.
E-mail jilljones@bellsouth.net
Jill began riding at the age of 4 and started showing shortly there after. She grew up in South Florida and showed on the SFHJA circuit until she left for college. She began with a small pony and sold her junior horse when she was 18 years old. She excelled in equitation and was frequently end of the year champion in her age division. During this time, she trained under Margie Goldstein, Jan Francis, and Karen and Rita Flynn. She also took part in clinics given by George Morris, Rodney Jenkins, and Trudy Maxwell.
Post college she worked in the corporate world both in New York City and Miami. Shortly after moving to Atlanta, she began her equestrian career again. She is now teaching Hunter Jumper lessons and training clients’ horses full time. She brings her students to both rated and local shows between the months of March and November. She enjoys teaching intermediate to advanced level students. She is also a NARHA certified instructor.
Toni is a NARHA certified instructor. Born and raised in Daytona Beach Florida, Toni's love of horses goes back to grade school. She owned her own horse at age 14 and gentle broke and trained him herself. 18 months old when she purchased him, after 6 months she rode him for the first time. She rode bareback and barefoot on the beach and with friends on trails. In 2001 she began as a volunteer and was named “Volunteer of the Year” two years in a row. Toni worked in the retail industry while her children were growing, and also assisted her husband in his chiropractic office for 15 years. Toni's 3 children are grown and out on their own. She has a daughter that has given her 2 grandchildren, and 2 boys in college...the youngest going away to law school this year...and the oldest graduating with a Mechanical Engineer degree.
Leslie is a NARHA Certified Instructor. She is a native of Atlanta and received her Bachelors degree in nursing from Marymount University in northern Virginia. Leslie has been a pediatric registered nurse for 20 years and was instrumental in creating the nurse advice line at Children's Health Care at Scottish Rite. She has ridden Dressage under Grand Prix instructor Laura Wharton of Lancaster Oaks Farm. Leslie has also been involved with breeding Trakehner horses
Executive Director; Supervises Lesson Programs
Email: mbranton@chastainhorsepark.org
Email: mbranton@chastainhorsepark.org
Mandy Branton joined the park in February of 2000 and serves as its Executive Director, overseeing Chastain Horse Park’s equestrian services. A Registered Nurse, she attained her NARHA Advanced Level instructor certification in 1997, and has presented at regional and national conferences, including the NARHA annual conference and the annual “Horses and Healing” conference. She is a contributor to the NARHA Instructor Educational Guide and Equine Facilitated Mental Health: A Field Guide for Practice, as well as other publications. She is NARHA faculty for certification workshops, an accreditation visitor, and has served on NARHA’s Instructor Certification and Accreditation committees.
Before owning horses as an adult, Mandy spent much of her youth as a hunter/jumper lesson student, and leasing or borrowing horses. Five of her teen years were spent wearing a back brace to treat scoliosis, an experience that showed her first-hand the "positive power" of horses and drives her work at Chastain Horse Park. Since 2000 she has enlarged Chastain Horse Park’s Therapeutic Program enrollment ten-fold, attained Chastain Horse Park’s designation as a “Premier Accredited Center” with certification of all the park’s instructors, and initiated specialty programming such as Hippotherapy and Equine-facilitated Psychotherapy.
Hunter Equitation Lessons, Mon-Thursday, beginner through advanced students interested in leasing or purchasing horse to show, 10 years and up.
E-mail elizabethhorses@comcast.net.
E-mail elizabethhorses@comcast.net.
Elizabeth has had a lifetime of experience with horses. She grew up in Atlanta and began riding at 7 years old. As a young amateur, she showed hunters throughout the southeast on the A-circuit with Flintridge Farms for most of her childhood.
Elizabeth has continued to have horses as a major part of her life. After college and a career in sales, she now teaches full time. She has attended numerous clinics with top clinicians; fox-hunted, competed in horse trials, owned a boarding facility and continued to show hunters. he owns three horses, a 5-year-old Thoroughbred, a miniature and a 39-year old retired Polo Pony.
Elizabeth trains full time at Chastain Horse Park and shows students at the local level. She teaches the hunter seat riding fundamentals. Her program is based on providing a safe and enjoyable learning environment with horses for children and adults. She believes work with horses will develop and strengthen life skills such as leadership, focus, team playing, confidence, physical activity, friendships and fun. She trains beginners through experienced riders, from 3 years old to 59 years old. She is also a NARHA certified instructor.
Hunter Equitation Lessons; leasing or showing.
Potential openings Monday evening, Tues/Thurs afternoons, and Tues-Thurs mornings
Potential openings Monday evening, Tues/Thurs afternoons, and Tues-Thurs mornings
E-mail: missy@stoo.org
Missy Stewart started riding at six years of age, receiving most of her training as a junior rider under Janet Salem. She was a member of the successful Virginia Intermont intercollegiate equestrian team, and furthered her equestrian skills as an equine studies/psychology major.
Missy teaches young riders, taking them from the beginner level to the advanced level. Her students compete both locally and at the “A” level. She is also a NARHA certified instructor.
Beginner to Intermediate Students with Special Needs of Disabilities; Mon-Thursday
Will check wait list to fill openings.
Will check wait list to fill openings.
Pam is a NARHA Registered Instructor and Special Olympics Equestrian Coach. She teaches a limited number of students that do not have special needs.
Pam began as a volunteer at Chastain Horse Park in 2000, then became the director for the Volunteer Program before she transitioned to teaching therapeutic riders. Pam Smith is a native Atlantan who grew up riding on the acreage at Country Squire Farm, on which Perimeter Mall now sits. Pam had several ponies and horses from the age of seven until eighteen, and says she raced up and down what is now the 400 toll road! After that time, she exercised polo ponies for a player on the Atlanta Polo team. Pam has a degree in Psychology from Mercer University, and loves sports activities; she runs, mountain bikes, snow skis, water skis, and hikes regularly. Pam is a favorite with parents and volunteers, who have repeatedly recognized her through donations in her honor, including sponsoring her attendance at the 2002 NARHA Annual Conference.
Beginner or Intermediate Students, 8 years and up; Friday-Sunday
E-mail: lessonswithfred@yahoo.com
“I became involved with horses at the age of 7 when my mother started riding. I soon started taking lessons also. Then we bought our first horse and that was that. I’ve been a horse nut ever since.
Our first horse was Junebug, a 14.2h “hot” and quite flashy mare. I started out doing Hunter/Jumper. We never did very well against the Thoroughbreds in Hunter classes but when I came to the Jumper classes we rocked. Our highest achievement was jumping 4 foot obstacles in Gamblers Choice.
In my early teens I transitioned into riding Dressage. When I got too tall for Junebug and it became apparent that Junebug did not like Dressage my family bought our second horse, Raja, a 16.1h Thoroughbred gelding. I started Raja off with Dressage eventually showing him at USDF First Level. I never showed Raja at Second Level but we were schooling in it quite well. Eventually we branched into 3-day eventing. My highest placing in eventing was third place in Training Level at the Live Oak Horse Trials in Tallahassee FL thus qualifying me for the Junior Championships for Area 3 (USEA). I also showed Raja in Hunter classes as a means to prepare him for the cross-country and stadium phases of 3-day eventing. We have even shown in a Western Pleasure class. Raja, who is now 32 years old, is now retired and living with my family in Florida. I have ridden and trained under USEF dressage judges Anne Ticehurst and Margot Huelke and have ridden in clinics conducted by George Morris and Tad Coffin.
I have schooled and competed on other horses at USDF 2nd Level Dressage. I have also had the opportunity to work with imported Andalusians. They are a wonderful breed and are highly people-centric. For 2 years I was able to work with a magnificent stallion, Mensajero XXVI. He showed me that not all stallions are hard to handle and dangerous.
I am was the Chastain Horse Park “Volunteer of the Year” in 2005, and in 2006 became certified as a NARHA Registered Instructor, teaching students with and without special needs. I am also an accomplished Country-Western dancer and instructor with over 17 years of dance experience and 10 years of teaching experience.”
“Little Bits” Lessons for Children 7 and Under, E-Institute Educational Programs
Sundays
E-mail bequine@hotmail.com; 971-227-6720
I began my relationships with horses at 4 years old, while living at a residential summer camp and retreat center in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, and have enjoyed working with horses ever since. My formal horse back riding instruction began when I was 9 years old under the talented trainer and instructor Debbie Stahl. While under her instruction I completed her riding Academy and went on to create and run a summer camp that is still running now. While in training with Debbie, I owned horses and was active in showing. I have worked for barns in California and Oregon and trained a number of different breeds. I have set up and run several large horse programs and riding academies. I specialize in teaching beginning riders English or Western riding.
I attained my Bachelors Degree in Animal Science in 2001 and my Masters Degree in Science/Outdoor or Environmental Education in 2004. I teach not only lessons but educational programs as well. I am a certified riding instructor with The Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA), The Christian Certified Horsemanship International (CCHI), and I am currently working on becoming a NARHA certified riding instructor.
I teach beginning riding lessons for children ages 4-7 years of age, and also have E (Equine)- Institute Educational Programs, available for school groups grades 1-5.
Students with Special Needs or Disabilities, Fri-Sun
770-367-1313 or nichols.marylee@gmail.com
Mary Lee began riding at the age of eight and bought her first horse at sixteen. During summers she would show her horse in English classes and friends’ horses in Western classes. After twenty years in the finance and insurance business, she decided to pursue a B.A. in Therapeutic Riding at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC, graduating in 2002. Mary Lee also earned a Master of Public Administration at the University of North Carolina Pembroke in 2005. During her studies, she took Hunt Seat Equitation, Hunter/Jumper, and Dressage lessons, and rode Tennessee Walking horses on the beaches of North Carolina, and Friesians in the mountains of Virginia. In 2006, she came home to Atlanta, Georgia, where she opened up her insurance business in Buckhead, and started volunteering at Chastain Horse Park.