Teamwork makes the dream work
Meet Our Team
Marla Brent - Owner
Marla began riding and showing at a very young age. After highschool she began a career, grooming Standardbreds in Windsor for Robert Macintosh. Marla’s love for the sport took her to Hagersville to groom for a larger stable under William Robinson. These experiences fueled her love and curiosity for horses, and gave her the skills and knowledge to be able to start her own business. Marla then transitioned to owning and training horses, with a stable of ~20 horses of her own. Ownership taught her more about horse care, nutrition, lameness and injuries, but also showed her the joy horses brought to people. After a few-year hiatus (training dogs for the Explosives Detection Unit in Toronto), Marla returned to the horse-world when she had the opportunity to groom racehorses again. Marla handled everything from yearlings to world class stallions until she found her way to a Barn Management position in Grimsby for 18 months before being offered the opportunity to run the farm in July of 2018. In taking on this new adventure, she partnered with Paisley Statten to run the farm efficiently, and to offer an enhanced lesson program. Marla & Paisley’s skill-set and experience compliment each other perfectly and the two are like-minded when it comes to their goals for the barn and its students.
Paisley Statten - Head Coach
Paisley is the Head Coach at Ridgedale Equestrian and has been an active equestrian for over 30 years. She began competing at a very young age and has over 20 years of equine ownership experience and over 15 years of farm, training, coaching, and show-management experience.Although she began in eventing and dressage, Paisley is currently developing successful riders and leading them though the competitive world of hunter/jumper. Thanks to her experience working with national competitive barns, she has developed a keen eye to detail, and enjoys working on the technical aspect of developing a educated seat, proper balance, and rider safety, while improving the horse's fitness and form.Paisley’s position as Head Coach allows her to teach a regular clientele of over 50+ students per week, and created the opportunity to develop her own individualized freelance teaching program. Whether you are a new, aspiring rider, or trying to reach specific competition goals, Paisley can develop a program that will help you reach for success! The Ridgedale family is very lucky to have her.
Hailey Mitford -
Weekend Manager
& JR Coach
Hailey has been a member of the Ridgedale team since the beginning! She started volunteering in 2017 around the farm which turned into a career she loved.For her 17th birthday, Hailey was gifted Calla, the phenomenal horse that taught her everything she knows about riding and horsemanship. Calla, who now continues to be an amazing teacher to young riders in the lesson program, is a barn-favourite!For the last 2 years, Hailey has been learning how to develop green horses and ponies, taking them all the way from beginner to a full season of showing. Hailey is looking forward to developing future youngsters as well as further developing the horses she has started training. Hailey is attending Guelph University for Animal Biology. She hopes to apply to the Ontario Veterinary College upon completion of her undergraduate degree and achieve her dream of becoming an equine reproduction specialist (and eventually opening her own reproduction and rehabilitation facility!)
Lessons
Please Contact our Head Coach - Paisley with your Lesson Inquiries
Boarding
Please Contact out Farm Manager - Marla with your Boarding Inquiry
Breeding & Development
Please Contact our Breeding Farm Manager - Marla with your Inquiry