Lynndee Kemmet

Lynndee Kemmet is the head trainer at Boschee Farm. She is also a writer and equestrian journalist and you can learn more about her at www.lynndeekemmet.com. Lynndee grew up riding through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in southern Colorado where she was active in 4-H and competed in Western riding and a wide array of gymkhana events. After graduating from the University of Colorado in Boulder, she headed East for a year of graduate school and found work as an exercise rider at a racehorse breeding and training farm in southern New Hampshire. That experience introduced her to the Thoroughbreds and speed. Later, when she moved back West and settled in Southern California working as a journalist, she took up eventing. It was through eventing that she was introduced to dressage.

After years training in Southern California, Lynndee headed East again with the goal of being closer to more trainers from whom she could learn. Once in New York, she also expanded her work as an equestrian journalist, writing for a number of publications, including Chronicle of the Horse, Dressage Today, DressageDaily.com and The Horseman’s Yankee Pedlar. Her work as a journalist gave her the opportunity to meet and learn from many of the world’s top riders and trainers and it was also through her work as a journalist that she met Bettina Drummond, who quickly became her teacher and mentor in dressage. Bettina’s support became invaluable, not only in providing Lynndee with an enhanced education in riding and training but also in providing Lynndee with high-quality horses on which to learn. That experience made Lynndee realize the value of being able to learn on well-trained horses, which has led her to now offer lessons on her own well-trained horses.

Lynndee is a strong believer in cross training and trains all her horses not only in dressage, but also basic jumping. But dressage is her foundation in training and good horsemanship is the central focus of training around which everything is revolves. The word “classical” is highly overused in the dressage world and for that reason,  we hesitate to say that we provide training in classical dressage. We like to think of classical as being a more academic approach to riding and training in which the focus is on riding as an art form. Many riders are aware that there are two main schools of equitation in the world — the French and the German systems. The German school of dressage is much more geared toward competitive dressage. The French school is often viewed as more artistic and more focused on training lightness rather than the exactness of competitive riding.

Lynndee generally follows the French school of equitation, which focuses much more on suppleness and balance with lightness as the goal. There is a saying that when a horse is in balance at that moment anything is possible. Developing horses to the point that they have the strength and ability to achieve that point of balance is our goal. Every horse is different and each has different capabilities. Her objective is to help each horse achieve its potential, whatever that potential might be.

One thing that Lynndee finds most rewarding is developing young horses and hence, Boschee Farm also offers boarding and care for weanlings and young horses. This involves not only care of the youngsters but also the basic handling that will be required when the time comes for them to begin their riding career. In a partnership with Bon Accord Lusitanos, Boschee Farm sponsors breed show classes at the New England Dressage Association’s Fall Festival of Dressage and young horses from Boschee Farm compete each year in the breed portion of the NEDA show.

Kelly van Wagner

Kelly van Wagner is a key part of the Boschee Farm team. She grew up riding horses and earned her degree in Equine Business from the State University of New York at Cobleskill. She brings to Boschee Farm her many years of experience not only in horse care, but farm management. Kelly is a true horsewoman in every sense of the word. The welfare of the horses is always foremost in her mind and no task is too small or too hard if it is in the interest of the horses.

Kelly has amazing patience in her work with horses and it’s one reason why she spends much of her time working with the young horses in the barn. She keeps a sense of humor despite their best efforts to test her patience, as foals and weanlings often will in their initial relationship with humans. But Kelly’s love for and connection with horses is evident in the eyes of the horses. When she is around, they all feel safe and secure. It’s a trust that has been justified as Kelly is quick to notice small problems and solve them before they become big problems.

Working with challenging or fearful horses is one of Kelly’s strengths. She brings to her work with horses a background in natural horsemanship that she has successful applied to rescue horses at other farms and even to her own best friend Pai. Boschee Farm is lucky to have her on the team.