The Eddy Farm School For Horse and Rider
is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to teach traditional horsemanship skills and promote amateur athletic competition for everyone in our community, regardless of age or physical ability. Riding instructor and life-long Middlebury resident, Doris Eddy, began the Eddy Farm School in 1956, and taught hundreds of students, of all ages, not only fine horsemanship, but invaluable life skills. Since Doris' death in 1998, the Farm continues her mission under the direction of three former students and through the invaluable support of dedicated volunteers.

Doris Eddy believed in the whole tradition of horse and rider - from breeding to bridling, from mucking out to riding dressage. When asked what riding discipline she taught, her answer was simply, "communication and control". From her early years as a student learning from the great teachers of her day and through her years as an accomplished instructor, it became her mission to produce riders - to teach her students that horses offer more than entertainment, that there is more to riding than being passengers. To become a rider is to know the horse and to experience the care and bonding with horses that marks the history of great horsemanship.

The Eddy Farm School is dedicated to teaching the techniques and the tradition that links human and horse. Students learn the power of balance and the vital role it plays in communicating and working with humans and horses.

The Eddy Farm School has as its resources, the inspiration, memory, and innovative teaching techniques of a special teacher within the rich Vermont tradition of horse breeding and utilization. Ours is one of a number of farms whose work preserves the story of the horse and its place in our society. Students at the Eddy Farm School are encouraged to explore the history of the horse and its various forms of horsemanship in Vermont.