Black Rock Farm

11/27/2025

“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Feeling incredible gratitude for all that life has given us this year - none of which would be possible without our many friends. Thank you all!

11/22/2025

Ending the fall finals season in Las Vegas at the Marshall & Sterling USHJA National Championship with team Charlotte and Sensation!🎰🎲🎆
Having the opportunity to show on the West Coast for all of us New Englanders was an incredible experience. We are so proud of this team for qualifying to be here, and handling the travel so well while bringing home some fantastic ribbons in the Children’s Hunters with some fierce competitors.
Way to go, Charlotte! We can’t wait to see how Ammy life looks on you✨
Special thank you to for getting Sensation to the show safely, and Big Horse Express for getting him back home🚚✈️

10/27/2025

“My mantra throughout the years has been: if you have trained a bird to sit on your arm, you must let go of its wings. If it flies away, it is not trained to do that, it is held. Holding is not training. Training horses is exactly the same. When your horse is truly trained, you can place both reins forward for two strides and the horse will not accelerate or change his head or neck outline.”​ - Andrew McLean on self carriage.

This is an excerpt from Modern Horse Training: Equitation Science Principles & Practice, Volume 2 - available for purchase in time for Xmas at our webshop. https://esi-education.com/product/modern-horse-training-equitation-science-principles-practice-volume-2/

10/14/2025

We’re very excited that the culture is shifting towards horse-friendly practices; something that we take immense pride in at BRF.

Im such a fan of .farm and their mission to keep the horse first, and sport second ❤️



🫟StarlitImages.com
🌎MA based, willing to travel
❤️Accepting new clients
✏️DM me for more information

09/30/2025

Proudly offered for your consideration!

BRF Rockwell • 16.3, 7 year old KWPN gelding • Medal/Maclay Prospect • Junior/Adult Equitation mount
•AVAILABLE TO TRY AT NEW ENGLAND FINALS AND NHS•
“Norman” has 3 lovely gaits and has shown extensively in the Adult eq and hunters this season. Has the scope and step for the 3’6. Auto changes, never needs to see the jumps or the ring. Super brained, safe and easy but can be strong in the bridle, as he is still slightly green. Extremely forgiving of mistakes, will take jokes all day long. Sweetest boy in the barn!

Prefer L, low-Mid fives for the year.
S available for the perfect situation.

Located in CT

09/28/2025

Massive congratulations are in order to the Furmanick family on the Purchase of BRF Brando! 🎉🎉 Beau was the horse that started us off here at Black Rock Farm, and it was going to take the perfect home for us to sell him. We found just that. So excited to “keep Beau in the family” with our friends 💚 We can’t wait to watch Beau take Shea through the levels!

09/13/2025

Charlotte Hess and Sensation have had quite the year, ending their regular show season as Champion of the Children’s Hunter 15-17 at The Big E AND USHJA Zone 1 Horse of the Year! We are so proud of you, Charlotte! As always thank you to the dream team that makes this all work 🎉 MHC up next!

08/23/2025

Emily and Invest in Awesome getting us started into finals season with some great ribbons!
This pair has worked incredibly hard all season, making so many improvements at home and shipping into shows almost every weekend to get more ring time. It paid off in spades as they finished 6th in the Color Breed Pleasure and 8th in the Cynthia Jensen Pleasure at CHSA Finals💚🤎
Congratulations Emily and Walter!🎉

08/11/2025

🌻Team BRF had a banner week at Saratoga Summer Special! We are sad to be leaving our favorite venue for the last time, but we made lots of great memories this season and can’t wait to be back next year!

🌻BRF Rockwell and
🥇Won both over fences trips in the Adult Equitation, finishing out Champion.

🥇1st in 3/5 classes, including the flat, and 2nd in their last over fences in the USHJA 3’ Equitation, ending Champion!

🥉Third in the 2’9 section of the Non-Pro Hunter Derby on Friday, and 5th in the 3’ Derby on Sunday.

This duo is on a roll and ready to take on finals season!

🌻BRF Calena E and

🥈2nd place in the 2’6 section of the Pro Derby - her first derby ever!

🥇Stunning and consistent trips in the Baby Greens! She was unfortunately the only entry, so we can’t claim the wins there 🤭

This lovely mare is ready to move up!

🌻Brando and

Laid down some of their best trips together to date!
🥇1st in 2 classes, including the hack, to finish Reserve Champion of the USHJA 2’9 hunters.

Put in a beautiful trip in the 2’9 section of the Non-Pro Hunter Derby for ninth place🤩

We are so proud of all the success this pair has had this year during their lease!

🌻We can’t forget to thank .h.eq for all her hard work helping us out behind the scenes!

🌻Thank you to everyone at Southbound Show Management for another wonderful year of showing! Saratoga, we will miss you🐎

Stay tuned for professional pics!

07/27/2025

In some ways it’s disappointing being a trainer who puts the horse first, goes at their pace, does an incredible amount of useful ground work, focuses on biomechanics and correct movement and wants the horse to feel happy and confident.

It’s hard to find clients who not only want the same thing, but realize that doing it correctly takes time.

Everyone is in a race to the show ring to try to beat the other guy.

Every horse I train gets worked with at their pace. 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there and it’s little bits at a time. They get the days off that they need. I never wear them out, drill or over do it. I want them to get it, think about and come back again fresh in the afternoon or the next morning to try the next step for a few minutes. It’s slow and steady building blocks with me.

There’s no fluff and frill. There’s no 5 and 6 year olds practicing Grand Prix movements - that takes years and how many years depends on each individual horse.

There’s no race to the show ring. No competition to see who can climb the levels the fastest.

It’s about building a happy, healthy athlete who feels confident in their body and in their work. Those are the horses who last - physically, mentally and emotionally. Those are the horses that I train and put out into the world.

I wish more people were in it for the right reasons.

The horse first. The date of the show is unimportant.

🌻 © Cara Blanchard

📸 Max & Maxwell: Equestrian Photography

05/21/2025

BRF Calena E jumping in top form around her first true show ring trips at Saratoga Spring III. It was no surprise that this mare took to show life so quickly, winning 2 o/f, landing herself her first tri colors in the baby greens🥈. Very excited for the future of this special mare. 🫣

05/20/2025

🌷We had a blast last week for Saratoga Spring III! 🌷

🌷Annie Childs took BRF’s Brando around the low children’s hunters, placing well in all their classes! We are so excited to see how this pair continues to conquer the show ring!

🌷Charlotte Hess and Sensation ended the week with RESERVE CHAMPION of the Children’s hunters against some tough competition- winning 2 o/f classes! They also had great trips in the Medals.

Thanks to our friends at Clover Hill for sharing Charlotte and Annie with us!