Carlisle Academy

02/21/2026

Showing up is half the battle! Thanks to Anna and Grace and the rest of the amazing farm team - Sutton, Kris, and Stephanie - for showing up in snow, ice, sub zero temps and everything in between this winter. It takes a village. We appreciate you and the horses do too!! 🐎🔥🩷

02/20/2026

Congratulations to Mary Jordan, USEF Para-Dressage Coach and competitor, for receiving a Dressage Foundation grant. Mary is a knowledgeable rider and dedicated instructor and will put this award to great use.

The Dressage Foundation (TDF) is pleased to announce the recipients of four $1,000 grants from its Para-Equestrian Dressage Fund. This Fund was established in 2018 to provide financial support for Para-Equestrian Dressage riders to attend educational events that will further their training and goals...

02/20/2026

Today Carlisle instructors embarked on a 5-month Instructor Development Program through a collaboration with classical trainer and biomechanics guru Susanne Winslade. Susanne is sharing her depth of teaching experience, grounded in foundational principles, combined with learning tools which are already proving instructive to our team.

We are looking forward to the months of learning ahead (including with instructors who couldn’t be with us today), and to the enhancements for our students across all ages and abilities.

02/19/2026

Posting for our OT partner at Carlisle Academy, Play and Prosper Therapy - Heather Ajzenman, OTD, OTR/L, HPCS.

01/28/2026

Enjoy this spotlight featuring a participant in our veterans programming.

Welcome to the third edition of our Carlisle Spotlight series, where we highlight the people and partnerships that make our community thrive. Throughout the year, we’ll feature stories that reflect the heart of our mission - connection, learning, and growth.

01/24/2026

Single digits call for double blankets 🐎- and some extra wool. 🐑🐑.

Thanks Farm Team! Stay warm ya’ll.

01/23/2026

This lovely plaque came as a surprise in the mail this week. 🐴 It’s an honor to help build the pipeline and host clinics as a USEF Para-Dressage Center of Excellence. We look forward to more clinics and para-dressage programming in 2026!

01/06/2026

Many thanks to our wonderful community of riders, participants, staff, and supporters ... and always thanks to our 4-legged partners! Here's what we were up for the second half of 2025. Excited for 2026!

Highlights from Summer & Fall 2025 at Carlisle Academy

01/02/2026

This is a wonderful video from the Blind Equestrian Community, who received a grant from The Dressage Foundation to host a dressage clinic for blind and visually impaired riders this past year. It is a great reminder of the power of inclusive equestrian sports.

A community of blind equestrians from across the US finally meet in person for a groundbreaking dressage clinic where the blind truly lead the blind.

12/23/2025

Congratulations to Carlisle's 2025 award winners - featured here. 🤩

We celebrated our 2025 Carlisle Academy Awards at our Holiday Party on Saturday, December 13th. The farm was full of festive fun with games, crafts, hot coco, sweet treats, and a pony stick race, all leading up to the presentation of our annual awards. It was a joyful way to honor the riders, staff,...

12/14/2025

Hats off to these two wonderful professionals who recently completed their 12-week fieldwork placement for their Duke University occupational therapy doctoral program.

Emma Carmichael and Ahriyanna Bullard joined us this fall to work with Carlisle’s clinical educator Jamie Viola, OTR/L in both hippotherapy and nature-based OT. Carlisle’s program coordinator Katrina Vallario, OTR/L and program advisor Judy Kimball, OTR/L, FOATA also mentored them in their learning here, particularly with sensory processing and sensory integration understanding and applications.

In all cases, Emma and Ahriyanna brought energy and imagination to their sessions as they grew in new skills, and Carlisle’s students, programs, and staff benefitted from their time here.

In early 2026, Ahriyanna will dedicate her Duke OTD capstone semester to Carlisle’s nature-based programs. We are excited to see what evolves through that process. It’s a privilege to enable and participate in professional development and clinical education!

12/11/2025

An exciting day yesterday meeting up with the students at Northeastern University to see the final prototype of the device they designed for equestrians with visual impairments! This capstone project was six months in the making and a big step forward in helping para-dressage athletes find a solution to the new governing rules for the sport.

Deven Petel, Johanna Majano, Isabella Vallentino, Donald Dubuque, and Gabriela Ewing, all part of Northeastern’s College of Engineering, are bright, capable, and inspiring scientists whom Carlisle Academy had the privilege of sponsoring for this project. We look forward to seeing this assistive technology help others achieve their goals and create greater equity in equestrian sports.