Sleepy Oaks Farm

Back so 🔜 !! Team Sleepy Oaks can’t wait to return to our favorite place for WEC Summer Opener week!! Best place to show this summer in the FL heat☀️🕶️
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Congratulations to Kallen & the Glenn family on the lease of Cedric103!🦄🤍We are already so impressed with these two & can’t wait to see what they will accomplish together as a very deserving pair!

Avery Kranitz and Right on Target stepped up to the Pony Eq at WEC Spring I with ease to bring home Reserve Champion!❤️💛🤍
The pair also remained consistent through the weekend to take home reserve in the children’s pony hunters, and third place🥉in the $750 2’6” Hunt and Go Derby: small but mighty!✨
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To kick off a few WEC highlights, we have to congratulate Sidney and the Smith Family on the purchase of “Better Than Revenge” aka Revi🤍🩶🖤

This pair started their partnership off by securing grand champion🥇in the children’s hunters: winning the flat class and an over fences round scoring an 82.

Thank you to Daniel for such a quality horse who is the best partner & to JF for facilitating another incredible match.

Nothing more rewarding than watching these kids grow up while fostering their love for horses 🤍🩶🖤

Good information

Let’s Talk About Trainer Rides.

There’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and it feels like an important conversation: Trainer rides.

Somewhere along the way, I feel like trainer rides have started to feel optional, like a luxury, or something only needed when things go really wrong. But I believe they are one of the most important parts of keeping horses happy, confident, and reliable in their jobs.

Especially the good ones! The steady school horses. The saintly kids horses. The show horses packing their riders around week after week. Those horses don’t stay that way by accident. They stay that way because someone with experience is checking in with them from the saddle.

Horses are athletes, but they’re also thinkers and feelers. Over time they develop habits, compensations, and questions, just like riders do. A horse gets a little crooked or starts dulling to the leg. They lose confidence in a certain question or quietly start carrying more than their fair share. These things can show up as the ride feeling harder, less smooth, less fun… until suddenly both horse and rider are frustrated. Or they start to voice their frustration and they get labelled as having “bad behavior”.

That’s where a trainer ride isn’t a luxury, it’s part of the care. A professional ride helps to clarify the aids, rebuild confidence on the flat and over fences, and supports them physically and mentally in the job we ask them to do. Then that carries over into the owner’s ride. And the rider gets to build their relationship on a solid, supported foundation instead of constantly trying to fix things themselves.

It’s also about fairness.

Our horses work hard. They try, they tolerate mistakes, they take care of their riders. It’s only fair that we give them rides where the aids are clear, the balance is correct, and they get help doing the job well. Those rides keep them happier in their work and help prevent the slow mental burnout we sometimes see in over-generous horses.
That’s not taking something away from the rider, it’s supporting the partnership.

When horse, rider, and trainer all play their roles, the whole system works better. Horses stay more reliable. Riders progress with less frustration. And the relationship between them gets stronger, not more strained.

At the end of the day, trainer rides aren’t about control. They’re about responsibility.



Photo Credit: Wild Griffin Photography

Team SOF can’t wait to return to our favorite show for weeks I and IV! We always have the best time at this incredible venue🌴🤍🩶🖤

The first horseshow of 2026 was a success! We couldn’t have done it without our entire team: Thank you Mrs. Julie, our amazing Moms&Dads, Ella&Olivia, and each amazing rider for the fun times!⭐️

Mason & Hero had an amazing first show together! They had consistent trips in the .65m jumpers, bringing home a red ribbon: only a third of a second off the optimum time!

Jules & Tempy braved the walk poles classes, earning three blue ribbons!

Paige & Garnet laid down all clear and smooth rounds in the .65m jumpers, just barely off the optimum time for third place in a competitive class!

Ava & Lola rode all clear rounds, bringing home 2nd place in the .95m $500 PCHA Mini Prix!

Marlee & Daisy moved up to the .90m, earning 2nd place in the Low Child/Adult Mini Prix!

Milly & Dunkin moved up to the children’s pony hunters/eq smoothly, even bringing home reserve champion in the equitation!

Ellie & Wren made the big jump from crossrails to short stirrups, laying down smooth rounds to earn Grand Champion in the equitation!

Sophia & Fadalka moved up to the 2’9” hunters/eq smoothly, with consistent rounds and top placings!

Katie & Tempy had lovely rides in the Children’s pony hunters/eq, consistently in the ribbons all weekend long!

Robert & Major mastered the optimum classes, winning 1st & 2nd place in the .75m OT jumpers!

Avery & Rowan kept their successful momentum going into the new year, earning Grand Champion in the children’s pony hunters: bringing home a blue ribbon in the Non-Pro Hunter Classic out of 23 riders!

Phoenyx & Taco had a consistent weekend in the pre-children’s hunters/eq,
winning a blue ribbon in the hunter hack and a red ribbon in the Pre-Child/Adult Medal!

We are so thankful for a strong start to 2026🤍🩶🖤