Emma Winkelmann

Review of Brigadoon Farm

Never have I written a review for a place before. ...

Never have I written a review for a place before. Been training horses all my life for multiple people. Went to school for Equine Science at SHSU.

Went in for an interview for the colt breaking/assistant trainer position....10 minutes into the interview, I was asked to get down on my hands and knees in the middle of the arena in my nice clothes and act like a horse and demonstrate how they should look during training...1. Extremely awkward and uncomfortable. 2. Highly unprofessional. 3. I had to demonstrate bc none of her top-saddle-money-winning horses could do simple reining maneuvers. The first horse she put me on that was an FEI World Champion couldn t even back up when asked and only knew how to trot in circles.

EVERY. SINGLE. HORSE. THERE. IS. LAME. Every single one. Before I rode I examined each one physically (back soreness, teeth, feet....). She ADMITTED that her on-site farrier has crippled multiple horses and is not good...but shot down my offers to try and help hire her a new one. Also, when firmly asking her when the last time any of their teeth had been done, she got upset and refused to answer me when I continuously kept asking. Same when I asked when the last time any of them had seen a chiropractor. Every single horse had overgrown sharp points all over in their mouth. Every single horse I rode (8 total. The others are lame or crazy or crippled broodmares) would pin their ears back and either had sticky feet and some bucked with me out of control when asked for a simple trot or lope. When I was able to stop the horses from bucking, and pointed out they are hurting terribly, she was verbally abusive and said I didn t know how to ride because I stopped them from bucking and should ve just rode them through it .

Her horses also bit me. Hard. Every single one. Because she trains them with a clicker and treats. Multiple treats. Everyday. For every single movement. So they re spoiled beyond belief. Her interns carry remote control clickers and cookies with them at all times.
Every horse is already dead-headed trained to ride in circles in this pre-made pattern made by cones and buckets. That s all she makes her interns do is ride them in the same pattern. Every day. So that s all they know how to do. Horse and rider. When I got on and attempted to do something different, the horse got rattled and Martha would challenge my knowledge.

Martha is pessimistic and does not like to be told when she is in the wrong. She doesn t give credit to other s knowledge and attempts to help. She said she wants to start a therapy riding program at the facility....y all....do NOT put your kids on these horses. They won t learn anything but how to go in circles and every single horse there is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode with all the pain they are in.



The trainer camper I would have been staying in if I got the job was fullllllll of dust, dead bugs, a rusty kitchen that didn t work, and reeked of dog poop.

During my interview that day, she never asked about me and my past training history. Didn t care. Only based it off of me riding her lame, crippled horses saying I basically was the problem when I tried refusing to ride them longer than 5 minutes. And kept me there from 7:30 am to 7:00 pm while having me ride nearly all of her horses and then stay to clean the barn at the end....
Brigadoon farm has potential. The horses there are all greatly papered and have so much potential. The person in charge however, has this place running like a nightmare with unhappy, unsound horses who has no other legit horse knowledge than how to get them to respond with a clicker remote and cookies. That is the last time I will go there.