Her teaching style brings the best out of every horse and every rider…
Mary has greatly improved my dressage riding. As an event rider, I’ve always been more comfortable jumping, and felt like dressage was a stressful thing I had to just get through. Through riding with Mary, I’ve come to love dressage and feel much more confident. She has a very methodical teaching style and breaks down skills and dressage tests into simpler steps and pieces that make it much more manageable and less overwhelming.
Mary continually seeks out her own education and brings back new exercises for us to try, such as groundwork and work with the bamboo pole, which keep me and my horse learning and thinking in new ways.
Her teaching style brings the best out of every horse and every rider and finds a way to keep them motivated, happy and growing. I am so grateful to have gotten to work with Mary!
I brought my horse to Burkeridge Farm my freshman year of college at CWU and have loved every minute. Mary is an amazing and understanding trainer that works well with all types of riders and horses. My horse and I have grown leaps and bounds both separately and as a pair under Mary’s supervision and guidance.
Mary has an extensive wealth of knowledge about riding which allows her to make spot on educational plans for every lesson. Mary heavily values safety and her riders comfort level in every situation and takes this into account when she develops lesson and clinic plans. She also cares about her riders , as individuals, helping to work with riders for scheduling , transport to clinics and shows, as well as any personal things that may arise.
I have been riding for a decade now and can say with all honesty I have been looking for a relaxing educational barn to ride at for about half that time and I have finally found it! Burkeridge Farm is a warm and welcoming place where I’ve grown as a rider and made some pretty awesome friends along the way.
I have been training with Mary for nearly a year and have found her to be a knowledgeable, thoughtful, and well-rounded equestrian and coach. As an upper-level rider, I value her ability to create a clear, progressive program tailored to both me and my small-tour horse.
Mary brings a sympathetic, horse-first approach with a sharp eye and a strong understanding of biomechanics for both horse and rider. Her training is purposeful, adaptable, and progressive, with an open dialogue that makes each ride effective and educational.
As a working professional and coach myself, I find her insights invaluable. Mary’s ability to combine warmth, clear communication, and high standards makes her an outstanding trainer, particularly for riders focused on long-term development and high performance.
Her training is purposeful, adaptable, and progressive…
Mary and Richard plan and work on their goals of having a top notch training facility and it shows. Each season brings new changes…better footing, another arena, more jumps, great shelters for the paddocks, parking area improvements, drainage, to more storage for the boarders. The barn couldn’t be cleaner or more organized yet Mary is always working on making it better!
The barn couldn’t be cleaner or more organized…
Mary’s Experience as a physical therapist and her solid understanding of the biomechanics of horse and rider has had a profound impact on my riding. It has even given me a new reality where I can achieve a much higher level of riding than I ever thought possible.
I started my lesson program with Mary after a recommendation from a friend, and I can say that after just 7 months of consistent lessons with Mary I have improved as a rider more than I could have imagined. I have some physical limitations from a genetic defect with my spine that have impacted my ability to ride as well as I would have liked. In my first few lessons, Mary was able to help me correct my body position and gave me some physical therapy stretches to do at home that helped me strengthen and stretch my hips.
I have always been so frustrated with my legs not functioning like normal, but Mary’s patient and gentle teaching and her eye for subtlety helped me work through that and I have gained strength and mobility in my legs that I didn’t even know was possible.
In every lesson Mary’s professionalism and passion for teaching has made me feel so empowered and excited to continue learning. I would encourage anyone wanting to improve their riding to spend time in a lesson program with Mary.