About
Hidden Creek Farm Riding Lessons & Horse Experiences offers riding lessons, virtual riding lessons, and horse experiences where participants can brush, cuddle, and lead horses. The program includes teamwork-focused horse experiences, ground exercises, and riding with a leader, as well as instruction in the basics of riding such as turning the horse, stopping and starting, and making decisions for the rider and the mount. Mommy and Me classes are available for 3–4 year old children, and the farm also offers pasture board, horse leases, and the option of buying trained horses.
• Ages: 3–18 years old
• Schedule: Open 10am–8pm on weekdays and 10am–5pm on weekends; single Horse Experience sessions are 30 minutes, and teamwork sessions are available in 30- or 60-minute blocks
• Price: Pasture board at $250 a month
Hidden Creek Farm Riding Lessons & Horse Experiences provides use of an indoor arena, an outdoor ring, and a round pen, and pasture board includes access to these spaces along with reduced lesson rates. Private virtual riding lessons are tailored to the rider’s needs, and leases are available for a range of budgets with reduced rates on lessons. The farm offers an apprentice trainer paid learning position using a European training style and trains and sells about a half dozen horses a year that are described as horses the farm would use themselves.
The program’s mission states that “Happiness begins with Horses” and focuses on facilitating a partnership between rider and horse, describing riding as a sport that teaches life lessons and promotes self-awareness. The mission also states that horses teach self confidence, patience, partnership, and leadership, and describes horses as intuitive animals that respond to a person’s inner thoughts, feelings, strengths, and weaknesses. The program states that riders can be large or small, young or old, and that horses are a lifetime sport, with a goal of bringing horse experiences to people everywhere.
Riding instructor Tammy Stirling studied education at Longwood, has many show ring wins including Championships and BHSA Year End awards, and has trained, competed, and won with horses such as 2011 Low Jumper Champion Music and Small Talk, 2018 TB Jumper Champion Heaven on Earth, and 2021 Novice Reserve Champion Skye Walker. She has trained many winning riders, including the 2021 TB Jumper Champion and Low Jumper Reserve Champion ridden by Ann Tuzson. Tammy has ridden sidesaddle, English, western, and dressage on Arabians, Tennessee Walking Horses, Thoroughbreds, warmbloods, and Quarter Horses, and is described as an accomplished rider and gentle teacher who often takes green hunters to shows for their first show ring experience. She is also a trained dancer who performed in a production company, was twice nominated to Governor’s School in dance, and taught dance for several years.
Trainer and teacher Kandi Stirling owned, showed, and trained horses in Southern California for twenty years before returning to Virginia and has been riding for seven decades. She trained under Jimmy Williams, Kenny Nordstrum, Mac McHugh, Harold Farren, and Bill Martin, and has ridden and shown Saddle Seat, Hunt Seat, Western horses, Cutting Horses, and Reined Cow Horses. Kandi has shown Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, Saddlebreds, Tennessee Walkers, and Arabians, and has shown and won in side saddle and driving classes, including competition in PCHJSHA (now the “A” circuit), three ASHA Medal Finals, and at shows such as Santa Barbara, Reno, The Cow Palace, Del Mar, and Indio. She was a member of the Professional Trainers Association on the West Coast, has trained a number of high point winners, worked as a teacher, and has done family counseling.
The program notes that Jimmy Williams, one of Kandi’s trainers, was many times named ASHA Horseman of the Year and is a member of the Jump Rider Hall of Fame, that Mac McHugh had numerous PCHJSHA high point winners and has a medal competition named after him, and that Harold Farren holds the record for training ten ASHA Stock Saddle Seat Medal National Final winners. One Yelp review from Jonathan P. in Lynchburg, VA, describes the staff as extremely knowledgeable, helpful, kind, and passionate about their students, horses, and other farm animals, and notes that the owners compete in shows and are skilled at horseback riding and dressage. A Google review from Brynnae Williams states that she began lessons with Tammy with little prior experience, found a good match among the variety of horses, became a lease rider at the farm, and recommends Hidden Creek Farm for riders interested in trail riding or show jumping.
Last updated January 20, 2026.
• Ages: 3–18 years old
• Schedule: Open 10am–8pm on weekdays and 10am–5pm on weekends; single Horse Experience sessions are 30 minutes, and teamwork sessions are available in 30- or 60-minute blocks
• Price: Pasture board at $250 a month
Hidden Creek Farm Riding Lessons & Horse Experiences provides use of an indoor arena, an outdoor ring, and a round pen, and pasture board includes access to these spaces along with reduced lesson rates. Private virtual riding lessons are tailored to the rider’s needs, and leases are available for a range of budgets with reduced rates on lessons. The farm offers an apprentice trainer paid learning position using a European training style and trains and sells about a half dozen horses a year that are described as horses the farm would use themselves.
The program’s mission states that “Happiness begins with Horses” and focuses on facilitating a partnership between rider and horse, describing riding as a sport that teaches life lessons and promotes self-awareness. The mission also states that horses teach self confidence, patience, partnership, and leadership, and describes horses as intuitive animals that respond to a person’s inner thoughts, feelings, strengths, and weaknesses. The program states that riders can be large or small, young or old, and that horses are a lifetime sport, with a goal of bringing horse experiences to people everywhere.
Riding instructor Tammy Stirling studied education at Longwood, has many show ring wins including Championships and BHSA Year End awards, and has trained, competed, and won with horses such as 2011 Low Jumper Champion Music and Small Talk, 2018 TB Jumper Champion Heaven on Earth, and 2021 Novice Reserve Champion Skye Walker. She has trained many winning riders, including the 2021 TB Jumper Champion and Low Jumper Reserve Champion ridden by Ann Tuzson. Tammy has ridden sidesaddle, English, western, and dressage on Arabians, Tennessee Walking Horses, Thoroughbreds, warmbloods, and Quarter Horses, and is described as an accomplished rider and gentle teacher who often takes green hunters to shows for their first show ring experience. She is also a trained dancer who performed in a production company, was twice nominated to Governor’s School in dance, and taught dance for several years.
Trainer and teacher Kandi Stirling owned, showed, and trained horses in Southern California for twenty years before returning to Virginia and has been riding for seven decades. She trained under Jimmy Williams, Kenny Nordstrum, Mac McHugh, Harold Farren, and Bill Martin, and has ridden and shown Saddle Seat, Hunt Seat, Western horses, Cutting Horses, and Reined Cow Horses. Kandi has shown Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, Saddlebreds, Tennessee Walkers, and Arabians, and has shown and won in side saddle and driving classes, including competition in PCHJSHA (now the “A” circuit), three ASHA Medal Finals, and at shows such as Santa Barbara, Reno, The Cow Palace, Del Mar, and Indio. She was a member of the Professional Trainers Association on the West Coast, has trained a number of high point winners, worked as a teacher, and has done family counseling.
The program notes that Jimmy Williams, one of Kandi’s trainers, was many times named ASHA Horseman of the Year and is a member of the Jump Rider Hall of Fame, that Mac McHugh had numerous PCHJSHA high point winners and has a medal competition named after him, and that Harold Farren holds the record for training ten ASHA Stock Saddle Seat Medal National Final winners. One Yelp review from Jonathan P. in Lynchburg, VA, describes the staff as extremely knowledgeable, helpful, kind, and passionate about their students, horses, and other farm animals, and notes that the owners compete in shows and are skilled at horseback riding and dressage. A Google review from Brynnae Williams states that she began lessons with Tammy with little prior experience, found a good match among the variety of horses, became a lease rider at the farm, and recommends Hidden Creek Farm for riders interested in trail riding or show jumping.
Last updated January 20, 2026.
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