(734) 604-9500
About Us
Experience and Professionalism
Gerry started out as a cowgirl in 1958...
...and has spent a lifetime involved with horses: young, old, newborn, and aged. She began riding at the age of 4 (a vile tempered Shetland Pony named "Blackie" she atributes her tenacious ability to stay in the saddle to,) with only a four year interim in her life without horses. She has owned, bred, trained, ridden, driven, and shown ten different breeds of horses over six decades, and boarded 32 different breeds since 1980. She rides hunt seat, dressage, western, trail, gymkhana (barrel racing, pole bending, etc., ...specifically wicked good in flags!) bareback, jumped, and drives.
Jennifer Rankin joined our teaching staff in March of 2016. Jennifer enjoys teaching beginning riding lessons with the "little ones" and has also owned and shown horses all her life, including training and showing her QH mare, Tess in open shows and on a high school Equestrian Team 2000-03. Miss Jennifer teaches English, western, trail, fitting and showing, and gymkhana.
Bottom line: We at CornerStone Acres simply love and respect horses as horses and love being around them. We meet horses’ needs based on the nature of horses: what horses need and thrive on as foraging herd animals. Our hay, grain, grouping, and bedding are based on 58 years of owning, training, riding, breeding, raising and showing a multitude of personal horses, and four decades of boarding horses. We continue to remain current with continuing education and research via the Internet, satellite television horse channels, agricultural media and extension offices, veterinarians, and independent published horse nutrition studies (not self serving, brand pushed processed feeds.) We don't claim to know everything there is to know about horses, but given that we've owned and boarded horses for as long as we have, we know a lot! The proof of our dedication and knowledge is obvious in the healthy, contented horses that are in our care. We are always willing to attend to any questions about your horse or our methods.
Something to consider:
Owning a Horse
A horse owner’s money is invested in:
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Purchasing a horse
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Boarding fees
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Riding lessons and training
The money horse owners spend on those investments contain both present and future value as rider and horse become more experienced and better educated.
Purchasing a Horse
Board, health care, and farrier expenses are about the same for all horses; thus, if horse ownership is for your fun, recreation and personal growth, make it the right investment that puts joy into the experience! Beginning riders should purchase a well trained, experienced horse. "Green," young, or untrained horses are recommended for experienced riders and owners because whether it's the horse or the rider...one of them needs to know what they are doing!!
Investing in Boarding
For any business to survive, it is impossible to charge less and offer more. Therefore, with the limited amount of time you have to spend with your horse, consider whether you want to accept inferior kept facilities, questionable fencing or cluttered turnouts risking your ability to ride a healthy horse, just to save a few dollars each month. Our fences are inspected daily. Our pastures and barns are clean. The arenas are treated, dragged, and watered frequently.
Riding Lessons
The price of a riding lesson once a week may sound like a self-indulgent luxury, but even professional athletes’ performances deteriorate without coaching on a regular basis. At an amateur level an investment in riding lessons creates personal satisfaction and yields measurable progress! (And riding is such great therapy because no one can stay unhappy while you are on the back of a horse!)
Training
Training is to horses what school is to children. Training is your horse’s education, and proper training provides a horse with the understanding they need to do the job you are asking them to do. Thus, a horse’s initial training is the cornerstone for their present and future performance under saddle.
Establishing a solid, positive foundation for quality future performance requires patience, time, repetition, reinforcement, and reward. Training with patience produces a horse willing and wanting to perform and perform well for their rider. Leadership through patience instills trust, respect, and affection towards riders and handlers. Horses, like people, cannot do an excellent job at something they are made miserable at or despise doing! Impatience and pushing for quick results generates progressive layers of frustration for the horse and the rider. Frustration establishes negative behaviors and an unwillingness to perform. The best performance horses are those that perform because they enjoy what they are doing and who they are doing it for. So set your investment on a path to success, whether it is in the show ring or casual riding for pleasure!
~~~What you pay for utilities, phones, and gas are costs. What you pay for learning, recreation and happiness are investments. Therefore, let the guide to your spending be on value instead of price.~~~
In house horse trainer:
Gerry Eaton - start and finish untrained horses (weanling through adult)
I cannot believe the purpose of life is to be "happy." I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter, to count, to stand for something; to have made some difference that you lived at all.
~~Leo C. Rosten
