Facilities
Situated on the greenbelt, Windswept Farm is situated on 100 beautiful rolling acres in Halton Hills, Ontario, just north of Georgetown. Our facility includes large grass turnout with run-in shelters for our broodmares & foals, yearlings, two year olds and three year olds. We also have individual turnout paddocks for horses in training, as well as a complete indoor and outdoor training facility. As a breeding farm for more than 20 years, Windswept has 3 main barns with extra large stalls for foaling, a dedicated breeding room for stallion collection, and a complete lab. To learn more about our facility, please feel free to browse the individual sections below.
Paddocks
Windswept Farm has 3 paddocks for individual turnout and a roundpen, 2 larger paddocks for pairs or mares with new foals, and 6 x-large grass paddocks (3 - 4 acres) for our broodmares, weanlings, yearlings and 2 year olds. These are equipped with large run-in shelters for the horses comfort and protection from the elements and another 3 large paddocks for group turnout.
Outdoor Ring
Our 30 x 70 metre outdoor sand ring, is a nice comfortable size for training and starting young horses in their first outdoor work. Typically, our horses are started in the early spring indoors, and then move to the outdoor ring by summer. The size of the ring allows us to set up either a full hunter or jumper course, or a competition size dressage ring.
Stalls
Our custom built breeding farm boasts 3 interconnected barns which accommodates up to 32 horses. Our main barn which houses our training horses and stallions features 12 large rubber matted 12' x 12' box stalls. Our broodmare barn holds up to 10 mares & foals in 14' x 16' large stalls. In our third barn, there is a combination of extra large foaling stalls (14' x 20' ) and a section for young horses (10' x 12' stalls). This barn, seperate from the other two, but still connected to our main barn by the indoor riding ring, can also be used for and ship-in's when necessary. Typically, when clinics or mare inspections are held, horses are housed in this barn. A 2 stall Quarantine barn is sepertated from all the mainbarns.
Indoor Arena
The 20 x 40 metre heated indoor arena, is one of the best rings in the area for starting young horses. With an easy to set up free-jumping chute, and access to both barns, it is comfortable and quiet to work in.
Training Board
With an experienced training staff led by Elke Mulholland, Windswept Farm II specializes in the starting of young horses from 3 years and up. As breeders of Hanoverian sport horses who are destined for the competition ring, we focus our training with a future in dressage, hunter or jumper disciplines in mind.
Windswept has over 20 years experience in successfully preparing stallions, mares and foals for licensing, inspections and performance testing. We also pride ourselves on our extensive program to carefully prepare Hanoverians for their inspections.
We believe a progressive, careful and patient approach to starting young horses better prepares them both physically and mentally for the many years of competition that lie ahead. Typically, our minimum training commitment is three months, however this will depend on the individual horse and your expectations.
Our training procedure for starting young horses includes a combination of free jumping, lunging and long-lining. Typically, they work indoors in the early stages of a horse's training and then move to our outdoor ring once their confidence has increased. We aim to produce confident, willing horses with a strong foundation in their flat-work. The horses are also introduced to jumps through our careful free-jumping program, prior to our riders taking them over fences for the first time. Free-jumping not only builds their confidence, it strengthens muscles and teaches them to balance themselves. We find this a wonderful basis for the young hunter or jumper prospect.
We are very proud of the great success former Windswept horses have had over the years, and are continuing to are have in the dressage, hunter & jumper rings. We can help you reach your goals as well!
If you are interested in our training program, please contact us.