NEW PALESTINE — Inside the old family barn on her mom and dad’s property, Beth Greene readied horse Tardy for a ride with her daughter Augustina, a kindergartner at Sugar Creek Elementary.
They cleaned the mud and old grass from his shoes, brushed his coat, sprayed him down with cool water and saddled him up for an evening ride.
Greene, 30, New Palestine, is the mother of four young children. She spends most of her spare time at the family farm just off of Gem Road, working with horses and local residents, offering riding and training lessons to children as young as 4 and seniors as old as 60.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryAn avid horse rider herself since youth, Greene began riding and training on horses at Brookwood Farms under the tutelage of Roselyn “Rosie” Faut.
When Greene, a 2005 New Palestine High School graduate, decided to start her own horse training venture, she named the business Foxwood Horse Farm, after her mother’s maiden name Fox and Faut’s old horse riding stables.
After attending Purdue University, where Greene earned a degree in animal agriculture business, she took some time off to start a family, but she knew she’d one day get back into training riders, something she did as a teen at Faut’s place.
When she and husband Chad Greene, a U.S. Marine, moved back to the area near her parents’ farm, she knew it was time to start sharing her love of horses on her family’s property and opened the business at 1760 S. County Road 500W, New Palestine.
“It was always my grandmother’s dream to see this property kind of take off and be used for something like this,” Greene said. “There’s just not many places like this around town.”
All kids love horses, is her thought process, and Greene wants to make sure everyone who wants to learn about horses gets the chance to do so and ride.
She credits her mom and dad for helping her make the dream of starting a horse riding and training business a reality with use of the stables and land at the family farm.
Lynn Lodwick, Greene’s mother, felt running a horse farm was always something in her daughter’s future.
“How many kids know what they want to do when they are 4 years old?” Lodwick said. “She’s always known what she has wanted to do.”
Horses and learning how to ride properly have been a major part of Greene’s development, and her love for the animal is something she wants to share with the community.
She feels it’s important to get children outside and teach them about riding as well as horse management, including grooming and cleaning the barn, she said. Students learn how to properly care for the animals as well as how to ride them.
“It’s a great way for kids to learn about independence and get some confidence,” Greene said. “Riding isn’t just about riding; it’s also about the horse care.”
Those are things she learned from Faut, and she wants dearly to pass her knowledge of horses on. Faut taught Greene from the ground up, she said, what it means to ride and take care of a horse.
Horseback riding is an all-year event, something once learned can be enjoyed throughout a lifetime, Greene said, and it’s a sport anyone can take up at any age.
Greene has many horses for the students to learn the ropes on, even ones for beginners, including Tardy, who she calls a big, sweet baby.
Greene has 16 students who not only learn how to ride but also like to stick around to clean and care for the animal. She’s ready to take on more. Lessons are $30 a session, and anyone interested in learning more about the horse farm or horse training can visit the Foxwood Horse Farm page on Facebook.
Greene and her daughter also are part of the Big Walnut Creek Pony Club, a chapter of the United States Pony Club, a non-profit group dedicated to teaching youth about riding, horse management and horse safety.
