JK Training

My daughter has been riding with Jen and JK Training for several years now, and has flourished under her training and care.
Although Jen has a few ponies and horses available for hourly lessons, the barn is primarily set up for riders who own their own horse or lease for an extended period. The assistant trainers and the barn staff are uniformly excellent, and in addition to lessons on your horse, you can be sure your horse will be well taken care of, exercised, ridden and trained on the days when you can’t be at the barn. Shoeing, routine vet visits, clipping and all of the regular horse «maintenance» is scheduled by the trainers as needed, and it is more cost effective as they will do several horses at once.
When we joined JK Training, we initially had a half lease on a wonderful little pony, and that worked for us for a couple of years. After my daughter grew out of the pony, we decided that we could take the plunge and buy a horse. Part of what made this possible is the peace of mind of knowing that we don’t have to worry about going away for a vacation or other trip — the horse will be well cared for. Jen was amazing at finding the right horse for my daughter. She plugged into her extensive network, evaluated quite a few candidates, and managed to find a sweet tempered highly athletic beauty of a horse which is so ideally suited to my daughter, it is like a match made in heaven.
I do also need to mention the other riders at the barn, and how much they contribute to the general good feeling. Although there are many riders at the barn who compete regularly in shows, there is no «show barn drama». This is a strong, supportive community. When my daughter started riding, she was one of the youngest, and the older girls went out of their way to help the younger riders. Now she is about middle of the pack in age, and has the opportunity to help some of the new kids. Rather than cut-​throat competition, there is a sense of camaraderie and of helping and celebrating one another’s triumphs.

I’m an older, quite timid rider who brought my horse to JK Training two years ago when Jen was just starting up the barn. Jen has been calm, patient and supportive all the way, helping me deal with my fears and greatly improving my riding and especially my jumping. She’s a superb teacher and rider, and, even as the barn has grown and prospered, continues to create distinct learning programs tailored to each individual’s needs and experience. Unlike many of her clients, I’m not interested in showing, and there’s been no pressure to do so. When I’ve had issues with my horse, I know Jen has lost sleep over figuring out the best way to deal with them. She combines professionalism with a great sense of humor. And she’s avoided the usual pitfalls of expansion by hiring two assistant trainers who share her excellent teaching skills, making the lesson experience consistent and positive.

I reached out to JK Training in April 2013 after seeing a flyer that they had a horse available for ½ lease. I talked to Jennifer on the phone and she was very pleasant. During our chat I decided the ½ lease wasn’t for me, but Jennifer mentioned she had other horses available that I could take lessons on. As I had just moved to the area from Seattle I thought a lesson program — while not ideal — would be the best way for me to find a trainer I liked.
When I showed up for my very first lesson with her, she wasn’t there. She was on vacation for the 3 day weekend. Her assistant trainer was there who was very friendly and apologetic for the mis-​communication. Then SHE introduced me to ANOTHER woman who was the substitute teacher I was going to ride with. (I still don’t understand why I rode with the sub and not the assistant). They also put me on a horse they had only had for about a week and therefore didnt have a proper bridle for him and the substitute didnt really know a lot about him. The assistant trainer had ridden him before and wasn’t doing anything else at the time of my lesson so, again, I thought i was weird I didn’t get a lesson from her.
The lesson was good. I enjoyed the substitute teacher, but the whole situation felt very unprofessional and that my time wasn’t worth it to her.
Additionally, Jennifer never called or emailed after the lesson to see if I enjoyed myself or if I was interested in coming back or scheduling lessons on a regular schedule.