The Bluegrass Festival Horse Show at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, is a show that the True North team looks forward to every year, largely because the show is the host of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) International Hunter Derby Championship!
Read MoreOur True North Stables team spent three weeks competing at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) with fantastic results! Cassius, owned by Durpetti Equestrian LLC, kicked things off during GLEF III in winning style. With Caitlyn Shiels in the irons, he earned the High Performance Hunter championship.
Read MoreWeek two of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) marked True North's first week in Traverse City, MI, and it was a great one! Here are just a few of the week's highlights:
Caitlyn Shiels rode Subject to Change, owned by Corporate Way LLC, to a second place finish in the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby on Sunday, July 14.
Read MoreIncorporated, owned by Corporate Way LLC, joined the team at True North earlier this year, and his personality and talent have quickly made him a jumper ring favorite!
Watch what the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding is like inside the ring here, and get to know what “Teddy” is like back at the barn with input from Caitlyn Shiels here!
Read MoreAfter a great winter season in Ocala, FL, our True North Stables team has spent the last month back at home in Zion, IL.
While it’s so easy to get caught up in point-chasing and going from horse show to horse show, our team believes incorporating good stretches of time at home into our schedule is valuable for a large number of reasons! Here are just five of those benefits:
Read MoreIf you happened to see a handsome gray gelding turning in clear round after clear round in the low amateur-owner jumpers with the True North team this winter at HITS Ocala, you’ve seen KT Forest!
Marisa Malevitis purchased the nine-year-gelding in the summer of 2018, and since then, the pair has been pretty unstoppable – thanks largely to all the time and effort Marisa has devoted to him!
Read MoreThe horses and humans on are team were both great this week! A few of the week’s top four finishes included:
Caitlyn Shiels and Incorporated - double clear and 4th out of 23 entries in the $1,500 1.40m HorseFlight Jumpers
Marisa Malevitis and KT Forest - quick, clear and 3rd out of 36 entries in the $750 Low Amateur-Owner Jumpers
Michelle Durpetti and Serafina - quick and clear to take 4th out of 16 entries in the Medium Adult Amateur Jumpers
It’s hard to believe that, as we write this, there are only two more weeks left in the 2019 HITS Ocala circuit! Here’s a look back at our last two weeks of horse showing, with the horses getting to enjoy a week off during Week VII!
Read More“You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way!”
One year ago, I shared that excerpt from Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” on Facebook because I, full of exhilaration and a healthy dose of nerves, was about to set off to a new “great place” and to take on a new mountain: the launch of my own, Illinois-based riding and training business, True North Stables.
Read MoreWhile there are only 12 days left until Christmas (where did the time go!?), if you’re anything like us, you still have gifts left to buy! (Somehow spending time with the horses always seem to take priority over shopping …) That’s why we’ve decided to round up 12 of our favorite gifts that could be just the right fit for the equestrian in your life!
Whether you’re looking for something that fits under the tree or something that neighs, would be better suited living in a stall, and could probably count as 10 Christmas’ worth of Christmas gifts, we’ve included gifts of all sizes and price ranges!
Here are our 12 gift recommendations (that we think could make for a far better 12 Days of Christmas than those lords a’ leaping and a partridge in a pear tree)!
Read MoreHannah Hoch’s 11-year-old dark bay Warmblood mare, Clear Sailing, is unquestionably something special – which is made apparent by both her nickname (which is in fact “Special”) and her success in the show ring with Hannah, including two second place finishes in the competitive Large Junior 15 and Under Hunters this past month at the National Horse Show.
Read MoreWith Hannah Hoch in the irons, E.V. Comander is an equitation star! Hannah and her family purchased the 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding in the winter of 2018, and since then Hannah and “Salty” have had great success in the equitation ring – which most recently included winning the 13- and 14-Year-Old Equitation Championship at the Capital Challenge Horse Show.
Read MoreWhat an incredible month it's been! We're so proud of all that the True North team has accomplished these last four weeks at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival! To the horses, to the supportive families, to Alonso and Edgar for their hard work, to Caitlyn for her tireless dedication, to Fine Art Horses for the great photos, to each and every one of our riders who make it all so much fun - THANK YOU!
Read MoreThis week was a lighter week for our True North team, as we gave a lot of the horses a few days off, but that didn't make it any less of a great week! Thanks to Fine Art Horses for always being there to beautifully capture the moment!
Read MoreOur second week at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) was possibly even better than the first week! :D (If you missed our week one recap, check it out here.) It was World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) week, and everyone on the True North team claimed great results (including numerous wins!), learned a lot, and had a lot of fun in the process.
Read MoreThe Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) got off to a great start this week! This show is one of our favorites all year, and the horses seem to be enjoying it too! Here are some of our week one highlights with all photos by Fine Art Horses!
Read MoreAt True North, we can pretty easily say with confidence that our horses get more acupuncture and massages than we do!
Why? Because we place extremely high importance on each of our horses feeling and performing their best, and in the last year, we’ve found that to be even better achieved with the incorporation of a regular acupuncture and massage program.
Read MoreAt True North, we place an emphasis on customizing each horse and rider’s program to fit their needs, and for our horses, that starts well before they enter the ring. In order for our horses to perform their best, we start the tailoring of their programs in the feed room!
Read MoreYou may know Caitlyn Shiels for her riding resume – the junior career section of which includes both team and individual gold medals at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) and top-10 finishes in each of the major American equitation finals. Then there’s the lengthy professional portion of that resume, which includes working alongside Jonathan and Christine McCrea, Ken and Emily Smith, McLain Ward, and others, working as the assistant trainer at Canterbury Farm in Illinois, and now as the trainer and rider for her own True North Stables. But did you know that she got her show ring start in local 4-H shows? Or that she has a Jack Russell named Luna?
Read MoreAccomplished professional rider and trainer Caitlyn Shiels launched True North Stables in January 2018, and now, following a successful winter circuit in Wellington and Ocala, FL, True North Stables will head north to a new location at Buena Vista Farm in Zion, IL, and will begin accepting new clients.
“I am looking forward to returning to Illinois and getting settled, and I am really excited to be accepting clients of all levels and with a wide range of goals within the hunters, jumpers and equitation,” said Shiels. “Having competed both as a junior and a professional in each, I can’t wait to begin helping people set and reach their riding and competitive goals”
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