Grateful Pine Farm

I really can’t say good enough things about Grateful Pine Farm. I have been boarding for about 3 years now with the old owners to the new. I love what the new owners are doing and where they’re trying to take this place. Horses are fed 3 times a day which is great since not all the paddocks have grass to munch on and they are less antsy about dinner time.
I would say the only drawback besides price is the small covered arena. It does get busy especially when the weather is bad outside but ⁹⁄₁₀ times the fellow boarders are extremely friendly and it all works out in the end. There is a smaller covered arena, round pen, big outdoor arena, trails around the property and now a newly built ‘terrain park aka extreme trail course’ designed by Mark Bolender.
On top of it all the owners are extremely friendly and available to answer questions and have been more than accommodating to me and my horse. The borders are great and also very friendly. The drama is low to 0 here which I also love!

I’m a fan. We joined when it was Lord Hill, loved it then and are still super happy. We have had our horse here for a few months and really love the facility.
Riding space to die for. Outdoor arena is awesome, nice and large and super well lit for summer nights. The indoor arena is smaller than some, but compared to some other barns we have been at, when we ride it is rarely crowded and generally we are the only ones in the space. The also have a separate round pen for longing when the weather is nice so the arena doesn’t get too busy.
All of the horses go out every single day, included in the board fees, and rotate large and small paddocks. Lots of room to move around.
While they are out, the stalls are cleaned DAILY with fresh shavings every single day when the horses return. It’s like having fresh sheets every day!!! They come in from the day to this and a portion of their evening feed to start their evening. The water is also on automatic refill, so the ponies all have fresh water at all times at their disposal and never have to worry about low water supply.
Tack rooms are big and heated and the Boarders do a great job of respecting each other’s tack and belongings and caring for the barn. Beyond that, Carmelo and Alma do a great job of keeping the arenas well cared for and making sure the barn is clean and tidy. Food storage is well maintained to minimize critter activity.
I also love, love, love our trainer. There are great trainers here, from a variety of disciplines. We work with Sue Muir, and I’ve seen my son and his horse completely transforming over the last few months that we have been working with her. She is really one of a kind and we love working with her.
All in all, great place for happy horses. The facility came a long way over the last few years under the Lord Hill ownership making it a really special place. The plans Kelly and Dan have for it now under Grateful Pine Farm will be the added polish that will continue to make the farm a great place to call horsey home.

I’ve waited almost a month since the ownership changed to post a review and I’m liking the new direction things are going. I’m only giving it 4 stars because of the current state of the facilities but I think the new owners deserve ⁵⁄₅. The new owners Kelly and Dan are very friendly and easy to talk to.
The current facilities as of my review:
— smallish indoor arena which has been great during the winter months but because of it’s size can get crowded at prime times. The footing is dirt which gets harrowed at least once a day but with heavy use can get a little lumpy. You can request that for them to come harrow the arena if it gets bad but I’ve never had to.
— huge outdoor arena with bright lights and sand footing is nicer than the indoor but because it’s uncovered and takes a day to dry it’s not very usable for much of the winter. The lights are incredibly bright though and prefer to ride out there when I can.
— paddocks vary in size. Some are very large, some are small and the horses rotate paddocks every few days. Turnout starts at 9:30 and goes until a bit before dark. They bring the horses in early if it’s raining hard. The smaller paddocks were muddy during the winter but they had dry areas to stand in part of the paddocks. The new owners are redoing the paddocks for better mud management at some point but I don’t know when. The mud wasn’t really that bad though. I could walk through it in my boots and it was just a bit squishy on top, not deep. During the summer the larger paddocks had a lot of grass to graze. There are some pasture only paddocks that get used during summer too.
— trailer parking is available but I don’t park mine there so I don’t know much else.
— property perimeter trail with creek crossing is usable all year round except when it’s really wet or below freezing. It’s great for training a trail horse before taking it out to public trails.
— the barn community is very friendly and there are a lot of regulars
I think this is the best training barn for western/​competitive trail in the eastside. Why aren’t there more barns like this? The demand seems high because there are rarely ever empty stalls here.