Mikaela Kuiper
Owner and Head Trainer
NK Photography
Mikaela began her career as soon as her legs were long enough to reach a pair of stirrups, and she has spent most of her life in the saddle ever since. Throughout her life, being a horse trainer and a riding instructor is all she has ever wanted to do.
Building on the solid base that Pony Club provides, Mikaela subsequently served as a working student for several of our region’s most successful trainers, including the national eventing competitor Anna Collier, and the national dressage competitor Jessica Wisdom. She is currently training with Suzan Davis Atkinson at FarmHill, with the goal of making Suzan’s methods the foundation of her own approach to dressage.
Mikaela grew up competing in three-day eventing through Preliminary, and has shown in Jumpers through 1.20 meters. She is currently competing though I1 and has received her Bronze and Silver medal with scores working towards her Gold medal in the dressage ring. Mikaela is now coaching kids and adult amateurs, and showing around the PNW.
She is a patient, dedicated instructor that takes the time to hear your goals and formulate a customized plan for you and your horse. She believes having a training plan catered to you and your horses specific needs is key for success. She specializes in teaching solid basics and teaching you the "why" behind what you are doing. She has been sucessfully teaching a variety of clients from young riders to adult amateurs for several years. Along with being focused on her clients education she is also dedicated to her own continued education and is working towards earning her gold medal.
In addition, Mikaela has found that she has an affinity for off-the-track thoroughbreds, a passion she discovered when she worked at the track galloping young racehorses. She has also competed in the Retired Racehorse Project, and looks forward to training another horse for RRP down the road.
Mikaela says she is happiest when she helps people achieve their goals for partnership and harmony with their horses, whether it is through buying the horse that is right for them, finding a new home for a horse that is not their best match, or working in lessons to achieve their goals.
Contact Mikaela to talk about lessons or training for you and your horse.
Alexis Young
Assistant Trainer
Alexis has always had a love and affinity for all animals, ever since she was very small. Her passion for horses was no different and by age eight she was unstoppable. Almost every spare moment of everyday was spent at the barn, riding and bonding with the horses. She spent her early years with her Quarter Horse doing 4H and competing in Western Pleasure and Equitation. She then got into the world of Dressage around the time she was thirteen.
Alexis has always been the type to bond deeply with her horses and holds a lot of empathy and understanding for both horse and rider. She has trained her eyes and her touch as well as her ability to communicate through the rider to the horse. She believes in compassion and insight for her training and has had a lot of experience with many people and horses that has shaped her into who she is today.
Alexis has spent time as a working student both under Pippa Sowers and Suzan Atkinson learning how to navigate each individual horse during training. She has managed a barn with her grandmother for a couple years and started her own foal from the ground up. Some notable clinicians she has trained with include Bettina Drummond, Carol McArdle, Clay Wright, Jeremy Steinberg and Michael Etherly. Alexis is competing at Prix St. George and has received her Rider Performance Awards in all the lower levels as well as received her Bronze Medal; her silver is just around the corner.
Alexis is passionate in her training of horse and rider and looks forward to continuing her career at FarmHill as Assistant Trainer. She trains all experience levels at any age for both horse and rider.
