Horse farm trots out improvement list

February 12, 2026

By John Flowers

MIDDLEBURY — The recent, unexpected death of Margaret Bojanowski — the longtime manager of Middlebury’s Eddy Farm School for Horse and Rider — threw the county’s equestrian community into a tailspin.

When she passed away from natural causes on Dec. 14, it left many Eddy Farm riders, board members and alumni in mourning while wondering whether the nonprofit riding school at 1815 South St. Ext. could continue its 70-year gallop without its leader in the saddle.

“The Eddy Farm has had different phases of life; the first was when Doris (Eddy) was here. Then when Doris died, there was a big period of change,” said Eddy Farm Treasurer and board member Kathleen Gill. “We found Margaret and reached the second ‘golden age’ of the Eddy Farm, where lessons, boarding and training were thriving. Then when Margaret died, it felt like everything went topsy-turvy.”

But there’s no quit among the farm’s small staff and brain trust. The Eddy Farm is now galloping into what its leaders hope is a third “golden age,” with a new manager and a commitment to some big capital improvements that include a “Margaret Bojanowski classroom building” and a new outdoor riding ring.

The upgrades would be a fitting tribute to Bojanowski, who, along with Doris Eddy, shaped many young lives while teaching the finer points of horse riding.

Gill is among those who felt a childhood pull to the Eddy Farm that hasn’t lost its grip.

“I grew up riding here,” Gill said during a Feb. 5 interview in the farm’s modest indoor ring — the epicenter of a series of popular classes through which novices learn general horse care, grooming/tacking, herd dynamics and how to effectively communicate with the horse on the ground as well as under saddle through centered riding techniques.

It’s a teaching method first introduced by Doris Eddy, who established her eventual namesake farm school in 1955. For Eddy, it was never just about a person simply climbing onto a saddle and saying, “Giddyap.” It was — and still is — about cultivating harmony between horse and rider, building an equine-human relationship based on understanding, respect and communication.

Gill, 36, remains fascinated with the Eddy Farm, its horses and is ethos. For her, it became more than recreation; the farm became a wayfinding compass that would guide her into adult life.

“I was a ‘barn rat’ here for years. It inspired me to become a veterinarian,” said Gill, who specializes in equine field medicine — including at the Eddy Farm. “It’s shaped a huge part of who I am and what I do. And I’m just one of many who’s had their life shaped by the farm. It has inspired and molded a lot of people — especially young girls and women. There are many of us who’ve had the trajectory of our lives changed by the Eddy Farm.”

And now the 115-acre, conserved Eddy Farm needs to make some hay to fuel its trajectory so that future generations of riders can enjoy the same transformational experiences as Gill and others. To that end, the Eddy Farm board has launched an effort to raise around $130,000 to fund the new “Margaret’s classroom” and gathering space, a new outdoor riding ring, and the purchase of around four new, younger horses — which would allow some of the facility’s older working horses to retire.

These projects and purchases are key in the Eddy Farm board’s strategy to make the school more financially sustainable. Both the Bojanowski classroom and the proposed 120-foot-by-60-foot outdoor riding ring projects would better position the farm to earn income from on-site events and by delivering more lessons. The farm hosts up to 15 per week right now.

“We have a waiting list for lessons,” Gill said. “We don’t have the horses right now to add more lessons and (staff) don’t have the time to teach more lessons.”

“Staff” at the farm is essentially limited to Alicia Odell, who was able to quickly take on Bojanowski’s role after having served as her assistant for 15 years. Odell, like Gill, found fun, solace and a purpose at the Eddy Farm while in her mid-teens.

“There was no one better suited for the job,” Gill said of Odell. “Margaret had taken her under her wing and saw potential. (Margaret) and Alicia were like two peas in a pod.”

Odell continues to mourn her mentor as she dutifully keeps the Eddy Farm classes and boarding operations on pace. The farm is now searching for a new assistant manager. In the meantime, Eddy Farm leaders and volunteers, as well as folks whose horses are boarding at the farm, are lending a hand with chores. And there are no shortage of chores; the farm is home to 35 lesson horses and boarder horses.

“We have a really big community and people have been keen to come and help (Odell),” Gill said. “It feels like there’s been no interruption in the horse care or how the farm is run.”

A SECOND RING

Having a second riding ring would justify the expense of hiring another trainer so that lessons could be offered (during good weather) on both rings simultaneously, Gill explained.

“We have always wanted to build a second ring,” Gill said. “We have the space, but it can’t be just grass.”

She explained a lot goes into the creation of an outdoor ring. The ground needs to be leveled, properly drained, equipped with a base of stone, then topped with a special kind of sand that can absorb the horse’s hooves without impeding them. The ring would be encircled by a fence.

Estimated cost of the outdoor ring: $30,000 to $40,000, according to Gill, who’d love to see the amenity installed later this year.

“We could host a lot more events, have two lessons going at once, have a place for borders to ride when the indoor ring is full,” she said. “We could have a much more robust riding program.”

Meanwhile, the classroom space — estimated at around $70,000 — would give the farm something it’s been sorely lacking during the buggy and colder months: a heated indoor spot for gatherings, office work, seminars and more storage. Eddy Farm directors saw the classroom building as so pivotal that they’ve dipped into the farm’s limited savings to get the structure built by this Easter. They hope to replenish those savings with donated funds, according to Gill.

The farm currently operates on a very thin margin, with approximately $200,000 in expenses per year. Revenues don’t allow room for the Eddy Farm to easily absorb financial gut punches, such as a recent summer flood that decimated the farm’s hayfield. That forced the farm to buy $40,000 in hay feed from out of state.

“There are always updates (to the property),” Gill said. “This is an old farm. We’ve been chipping away at all the projects,” which have included necessary repairs to multiple stables.

Anyone able to contribute to the Eddy Farm fund drive, or who might be interested in the assistant manager position, should check out eddyfarmschool.org.

John Flowers is at johnf@addisonindependent.com.