About Us
We are the Gray family, Leeland, Kirsten, Jannike (15), Jarrett (13) and Jettke (8).
My name is Kirsten Lehmann Gray. I was born and raised near Hamburg/Germany and came to the States in 1992. My experience with horses reaches back to my cousin Bernd breeding Hanoverians and putting me on a horse as a 5 year old - as with many girls, I was hooked and rode ever since.
I saw my first Friesian horse about 25 years ago and knew that, when the time was right, this would be my next horse, and it was: when we bought our first farm in Easton, Connecticut, in 1998, we imported our first Friesian mare "Sidonie" as a two-year old and were impressed by her beauty, honesty and willingness to work with me. By now five Friesians and Archie, my 23-year-old Haflinger are living with us. We bought Texas, a 14 year old Quarter Horse, and Fantom, a beautiful 5 year old Paint in 2005 for lessons and leases. In 2006 Curioso, a Spanish Norman, Bullseye and Angel (QH/Arab) joined the farm. When Bullseye prefered to jump we traded him for Hailey, a 8 year old TB mare in 2007. Tonka, 8 year old Standardbred joined us that same day. Hidde, a then 5 year old Friesian gelding, joined us also in May 2007.
Since 2004 I have been organizing and hosting very successful clinics with German trainers like Johannes Beck-Broichsitter (Crosstraining) and Simone Wiemken (Academic Equitation). In summer 2006 Sabine Schut-Kery, famous Friesian trainer and show rider, taught a clinic at our farm.
For more information on the clinics, please go to NEWS/CLINICSDue to my German
heritage, I have established knowledgeable contacts in Europe.
During my stays in Europe I atte
nd seminars and improved my skills by
working with European trainers. We also work with successful
German breeders when
importing horses from Europe.
2007 - ongoing: Training with Lendon Gray
2007 - ongoing: Training with Katja Bluhm, 199 European Team Dressage Pony Championship Winner. (Read more about Katja Bluhm)
January 2007: One week of training with Sabine Schut-Kery at her beautiful barn in California.
2006: Rode in the Sabine Schut-Kery clinic.
2004-2006: Rode in Simone Wiemken clinics.
2004 and 2005: Rode in clinics with Jean-Luc Cornille.
2003: Participated in a clinic with Col. Christian Carde, Head Trainer at the Cadre Noir in France.
2001 to 2004: Trained with local dressage rider and trainer Martha Gantsoudes (Student of Jean Luc Cornille / Cadre Noir)
2000: Successfully completed the German Bronze Carriage Driving Certification (Achenbach),
Our focus is to provide our horses with a natural environment, age adequate, consistent exercise as well as fair and caring treatment.