Welcome To Hampton Horse Farm!
Inspired Learning
Welcome to Hampton Horse Farm, the best small equestrian center in the Southcentral Michigan area! Take a look through our site to learn about our wide selection of services, our dedicated team, important news and updates and much more!
About Hampton Horse Farm
Our Humble Story
Since our initial founding in 2011, Hampton Horse Farm has had the opportunity to help countless students of all ages and skill levels acquire foundational etiquette, develop new techniques in and out of the saddle, and confidently move forward in their learning journey towards personal goals. Known as a place where all walks of life are welcome and encouraged, we take pride in providing a wide range of classes to support students from all backgrounds and levels. Whether you show, ride for pleasure and personal gain, trail ride, or just want to get started and see where horses take you, Hampton Horse Farm is the place to be!
Our Team
Where the Passion Begins
Our incredible team is truly the heart of Hampton Horse Farm. It’s their dedication, passion and talent that keeps students invested in the learning process. Take a look below to learn more about the current team.
Katie Boyer
Beginner - Advanced Riding Instructor | Owner/Operator & Barn Manager
Katie opened Hampton Horse Farm with building a better partnership in mind for advanced riders, while introducing that initial "spark" for the beginner horse lovers around Southwest Michigan. Katie has spent most of her life showing, owning, riding, and taking care of horses through countless years of 4-H, equestrian team, being member of multiple show organizations as an adult, working for barns, volunteering at therapeutic centers, coaching teams, hosting clinics, giving lessons and show support, and becoming board member of show organizations and a 4-H leader. Her passion for both people and horses comes together to provide excellent learning and growth for everyone involved. We are grateful to have her as part of our team!
Rob Boyer
Farm Maintenance & Excavation
When you visit Hampton Horse Farm in the warmer months, it's likely you'll see Rob out on a tractor working hard to maintain the upkeep that a small equestrian center requires. He takes pride in helping Katie reach her dreams of having a beautiful and well-run facility. We are very thankful to have Rob as part of team Hampton Horse Farm!
Services Offered
Hampton Horse Farm provides an integrated course schedule of learning through exploration, scrutiny, and self-reflection. Our classes combine hands-on experience with knowledge-based teaching - take a look at our offerings and contact Hampton Horse Farm to learn more.
Lessons
As our most popular offering, we recommend signing up for a free first time visit to meet the horses, see the facility, get a chance to know us, and fill us in on your goals and dreams so we can better assist you in reaching them! We are able to provide an "eye on the ground" for our more advanced and competitive riders, and that exciting first time experience for beginners. Disciplines include; eventing, dressage, hunter/jumpers, hunt seat, western, showmanship, gymkhana, trail/obstacle, and groundwork. At this time, we offer trailer-in lessons with your horse OR will travel to your barn within 30 miles for a lesson on your horse. If you're unsure what exactly we can help with or have questions, simply reach out!
Saddle Fitting
Hampton Horse Farm is always encouraging self development and growth. That being said, we are pleased to offer discounted and knowledgeable saddle fittings while Katie is in the lengthy process of gaining saddlery certification. Get in touch with questions or to learn more!
4-H And Equestrian Team
With experience coaching and previously competing of our own, we offer assistance with coaching for local schools and are in the process of creating our own 4-H club for our current students. We strongly believe in encouraging youth to stay involved with the horse industry and are proud supporters of organizations such as FFA and 4-H. Reach out if you or someone you know would like some help prepping for fair or E-team meets!
Show Coaching/Assistance
Similar to our 4-H and Equestrian Team service, we are always happy to help support clients at competitions as well. Even if not a current student, we would love to work with you the day of a show to help you and your horse reach your full potential while cheering you on for the day! Contact us today to learn more about coaching at shows.
Facility Use
One of our services is on a small scale private basis - facility rental. We aren't a super fancy barn, but we are proud of what we've worked hard to build and are happy to share what we have, being one of only a handful of primarily english barns in the Bellevue area. While we are still working towards our dream of an indoor arena, in the meantime, we do have a 174ft by 123ft and 87ft by 126ft outdoor grass arena that houses a standard or small size dressage arena with plenty of room to spare for jumping in the other section. While we don't have accessible trails, we do have a few tall grass "trails" that we cut into a miniature cross country course with optional jumps all about the property to school for eventing up to Novice/Training Level. Because of our size, we offer trailer-in facility rentals cheaper than most barns around. Reach out to set up a time to school or ask any questions about our amenities.
Clinic Hosting
Annually in the Fall, we host our own very affordable "Intro to Dressage/Jumping Event Clinic" that has been well received. This clinic in the past has been geared towards those newer to English disciplines or showing, and/or green horses, but is open to any rider that wants to connect and benefit the health of their horse by riding more effectively. We would love to expand this service to other disciplines more often throughout the year, so keep an eye open for future dates! If you're interested in auditing, participating, or have suggestions, contact us today!
"Katie is just awesome and we just love her. She is an excellent teacher and is great at explaining things and very patient. Also very knowledgeable!!"
"Katie has been great with our 6 year old. She teaches Mady every essential part of taking care of a horse to riding the horse. She is patient and kind. I highly recommend Katie for horse lessons! I’m so thankful our friends referred us to her!"
"I love Katie at Hampton Horse Farm and highly recommend her as an instructor in all things equine!! She is very patient and knowledgeable!!! I have taken lessons from her and attended shows where she has led her pupils to winning ribbons! So lucky to have Hampton Horse Farm in the Bellevue, Nashville, Olivet, Battle Creek area!!"
"I cannot say enough good things about Katie!! Chloe has learned so much! If you're on the fence, please just go meet her and her boys."
"Emma adores you (Katie) and your sweet horses. Looks forward to her lessons each time!! She is definitely in her happy place at your farm! You've done amazing things with her, cant wait for her to pursue more of her dreams!! ❤"
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Lesson Of The Month
5 Essential Tips for Beginners
Starting out in the horse world can be a challenge itself, but learning all the balance, strength, and grace it takes to move with your horse is a big first step! Here are some tips that might be useful for working on, in and out of the saddle that can benefit your riding at any age and provides a great refresher for experienced riders as well:
1. Do What?! Ride with your eyes closed and arms out to your sides like a airplane as often as you can on a patient horse while a trainer lunges you. Sounds crazy, I know, but this gives the ultimate feeling of trusting your horse and learning to move with them. When your sight is gone, it forces you to use other senses a bit stronger - like FEEL, as in feeling your horse move so that you can better move with him/her. Are they picking up a hind leg at the moment, or a front? Left or right? Are they halting square? Can you tell if you're on the correct diagonal or lead without peaking?
2. "No Stirrup November" Ain't Got Nothing On You! Also on a patient horse and with a trainer if you can, practice riding without stirrups as much as possible while beginning to learn riding. This helps immensely in finding that sweet spot of balance for riders having difficulty posting especially. Eventually move this to riding without a saddle (going bareback) and try your hand at walk, trot, canter without losing your position!
3. "Squats, Squats, Squats! (Everybody!") Best way to perfect a strong lower leg out of the saddle that is super quick and easy, is squatting...on a step! Wherever you can, go to the bottom step of a staircase. Facing the stairs going up, place the ball of your feet on the very edge of that first step so that your heels are hanging off and squat while dropping your ankles and weight into your heels as much as you can stretch. It may take a while to find the balance to "pretend" you have reins in front of you, so for a start you can keep your hands on a rail or walls on the sides of the steps to keep from falling. Try to let your ankles drop in this squat position for at least ten seconds, and repeat three to five times. You can do this as often as you like, but to see some really good improvement, twice a day is a good goal! This exercise simulates a two-point jump position outside of the saddle, giving you better balance.
4. Back To Kindergarten. Yet again with trainer lunging you, tie your reins up on your horse's neck and practice rubbing your belly with left hand while patting the top of your hand with your right hand. Can you do this both directions with the horse? Can you do this while posting trot? Cantering? Over ground poles? Can you do vice versa and switch which hand does what? This exercise seems super simple but can be challenging and usually makes many giggles! The goal is that doing two very opposite things at once with your hands while keeping balance on a moving horse sets up the building block of having independent hands from seat. This is a crucial skill when learning jumping.
5. Egg And Spoon! (Or Glass And Wine). Once you've kind of figured out riding on your own at a walk and trot, another really good way to keep things interesting and fun is by doing group or partner challenges! A great example is the age-old egg and spoon race (or glass of wine if you're over twenty-one 😉). In a small group or even by yourself, get an egg and balance it in a spoon with you holding onto the handle once mounted. This applies to a 3/4 glass of wine. You can challenge yourself or another rider just riding around the ring to see who drops their egg first (spills adult beverage), or even add cones, poles, or patterns to make it more challenging. Try it out at walk and trot (posting and sitting), and canter if you dare! This is a sure way to add laughter and work on focus/steering and coordination while mounted!
Hope these tips help get you started in feeling more confident of how to improve your riding! We all start somewhere, how many times we push past failures defines us. Strength comes from trying again!
Happy Riding!❤ Katie
Hampton Horse Farm Renovations
December 16, 2019
As many of our clients know, we have been working on adding to our small barn by creating three more horse stalls on the south end of our barn. It's been a longer process than intended, but we are still diligently chipping away towards getting these finished. They will be identical to our west side stalls each with saddle racks and cross ties for easy grooming/tacking. This will hopefully set us up for future boarding opportunities, as we will then be a six stall barn, still small enough for that "home-like" feel. We are super excited to see these complete by spring 2020!
Get in Touch
We’d love to hear from you! Feel free to contact us with questions, to set up a visit, or special requests. Happy Riding!
4632 Hill Rd
Bellevue, Eaton County 49021
USA
2692713604
