Welcome to
Sage Knoll Farm
Sage Knoll Farm is the home of Equine Connection Freelance Training, located in Salvisa, Kentucky.
We are a unique full care boarding and educational facility designed to meet the customized needs of each horse and human.
Our mission:
Affordable boarding for horses with unique needs, and relationship-based horsemanship and biomechanics education.
A model of horse management that is centered on horse-welfare and ecologically-conscious land stewardship
A diverse and inclusive community of people who want to learn from horses.
The farm features a paddock-paradise track system, 10 acres of pasture, a 20x40m sand dressage arena, and 4 stall barn. The dividers between the stalls can be opened up to make 2 oversized stalls, in case of horses needing to stay in beyond feeding times. The barn also has a climate controlled tack and feed room.
A weekly lesson or training session is included in board as a means for Annemieke to best monitor and improve the health and happiness of each horse and their human.
Amenities
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Paddock Paradise Track System
An innovative system of horse and pasture management featuring narrow alleyways to keep the horses moving, just like the tracks wild horses make on their home range. Well-draining, abrasive footing promotes hoof health by keeping hooves cleaner, drier, and naturally worn down through movement in the rugged terrain like they were evolved for. Enrichment such as changes in footing and wooded sections encourages novel movement, which is essential for a healthy nervous system. On the track, horses have 24/7 access to free choice, high quality teff hay that is low in sugar and starch— perfect for your easy keeper. Metabolic horses who cannot maintain optimal health on Kentucky’s rich pastures live happily on the track without ever being confined to a stall or dry lot, isolated or standing in mud. Horses that benefit from pasture grazing are turned out at night when the sugar is lower.
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Individualized Nutrition
Boarded horses are fed twice per day in stalls to ensure that any concentrates, supplements, and medications are consumed only by the horse they’re prescribed for. Individualized feeding of concentrates also reduces stress from resource guarding and competition at mealtimes. We work with independent equine nutritionist Caitlin Chase, M.S. with Equinex Nutrition to balance each horse’s diet according to their unique needs. Hay and pastures are tested twice per year so we know exactly what the horses are eating.
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Full Care
Full care means that we will strive to meet all of your horse’s unique needs. Board includes twice daily feeding in the stalls, blanket and fly gear changing, a weekly lesson or training session, and holding for trims, dental exams, and vaccinations (unless you use your own farrier and vet). Special care for any other needs your horse may have can be negotiated and billed accordingly.
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On-Site Lessons and Training
One lesson or training session is required at Sage Knoll Farm, and included in board. This way, horses and their humans never stop learning and developing towards greater balance and relaxation together. It also enables Annemieke to best monitor each horse’s welfare through her usual physical, mental, and emotional postural assessments and teachings. She is committed to ensuring each horse receives the best possible care for their unique needs.
What’s in the name?
Sage Knoll Farm is named after Annemieke’s greatest teacher, both about horses and life at large, Sage. Her 18 hand heart horse was truly a Sage in every sense of the word. His wisdom has made Annemieke who she is, and made Equine Connection Freelance Training possible. He taught her about healing from trauma, the importance of self-care, how trust is built through care for one another’s safety, radical acceptance of what cannot be changed, and the patience and perseverance to improve what can be changed. All of Annemieke’s signature postural in-hand work was learned through experimenting with how to best help Sage to inhabit a healthy, happy body. Sage crossed the rainbow bridge just a few weeks before Annemieke and her partner Judson purchased the farm. They named it Sage Knoll Farm in honor of Sage, and to represent a space where horses are our sages and we are the students.