Nestled in the Saratoga Hills along Mt. Eden Road, four well-established horseback riding operations provide an impressive range of recreational and instructional riding programs.

Garrod Farms

Garrod Farms has become an equestrian institution in Saratoga. Originally established as a 65-acre orchard property in 1892 by British immigrant David Garrod and his wife, Sofia, Garrod Farms remains a family-owned and managed estate now in its fourth generation. Over the years, the Garrod family business has evolved from apricot and prune orchards to horses and vineyards.

Great-grandson Jan Garrod oversees ranch operations and serves as vineyard master for the Cooper-Garrod Winery. Jan's sister, Vicky Garrod Boswell, manages the Garrod Farms Riding School, while sister Emma Garrod Drinker trains the Mt. Eden Vaulting Club, which is based at Garrod Farms.

"There's really no excuse not to try riding if you live in the Bay Area," said Garrod. "Our guided trail rides are open to the public, and the views here are spectacular. Along the ridge trail at Maisie's Peak [named after Jan's great-aunt Maisie, who purportedly used to rendezvous at that very spot with a boy she later married], you can see seven Bay Area counties."

Garrod Farms borders the Fremont Older Mid-Peninsula Open Space Preserve, which is open to Garrod customers and other members of the community for horseback riding, hiking and biking.

Boswell runs Garrod Farms Riding School, which began in 1962 with 10 horses. The school offers year-round lesson and summer camp programs serving riders at all skill levels from beginner through advanced. Currently, 250 youth and adult students are enrolled in group lessons and 100 in private lessons each week.

"We offer English- and Western-style riding instruction, and we emphasize pleasure riding and safety in our programs," said Boswell. Riding school instructors must be certified by the California Horseman's Association, which offers a rigorous training program with a major emphasis on safety. The summer day camp program begins taking reservations as early as January, and by the spring is often fully booked. Every June, the riding school hosts a horse show.

Garrod Farms has approximately 25 people enrolled in a special horse management trainee program through which people can learn about horse handling and care. Boswell says there is a waiting list for this program, which is a prerequisite for those who wish to join the horse management staff at Garrod.

"We have students who have been taking lessons for 10 years or more," said Boswell. "Some buy their own horse, some lease a horse on a monthly basis, and others are content to ride our horses."

Garrod offers boarding options from barn stalls to pasture areas. Five arenas support a variety of classes seven days a week. While boarded horses are fed twice a day by Garrod staff workers, horse owners are responsible for their horses in terms of exercising, grooming, bathing and stall cleaning. In addition, owners must ensure their horses are regularly vaccinated, and their hooves trimmed and refitted with new horseshoes.

It is a testament to the gentle nature of horses that children with special needs clearly enjoy riding, and the success of therapeutic riding is no secret at Garrod. Boswell has created a riding program in conjunction with Via Rehabilitation Services, a Santa Clara Valley organization serving people with developmental, physical, communicative and learning disabilities.

"We can offer a great experience for those with disabilities to ride, in close contact, and feel the warmth and calmness of the horse."

Scherf's Pony Farm

For 45 years, the Scherf family has owned an equestrian property just a stone's throw from Garrod Ranch on Mt. Eden Road in Saratoga. Three generations of the family are involved in the operation, and they are longtime friends of the Garrod family.

Hope Scherf began Scherf's Pony Farm in 1962 "to support my love of horses and ponies."

"My first horse was a Shetland pony purchased from a newspaper ad. Thirty years ago, after seeing a vaulting demonstration in Soquel, I found another horse and began to offer vaulting lessons."

Like Vicky Boswell, Scherf has also trained several of her own horses for use in riding programs for special needs children.

Scherf's daughter, Sue Scherf Smith, has been running the show at Scherf's for more than a decade. Sue is an educator by training and teaches physical education at Hyde Middle School in Cupertino.

"As a youth, Sue competed in endurance riding, jumping, and Western events and was a gold medal vaulter," said Scherf. "Sue has a keen eye for horses and their suitability to do a job, and she has a sense of what's going on with a horse and rider that an untrained eye just can't see."

Students can take group or private lessons to learn English, including dressage and jumping disciplines, as well as vaulting. Scherf's Pony Farm has approximately 20 horses in its equestrian programs, two riding arenas, and access to trails through the Fremont Older Open Space Preserve.

Sue's daughter Samantha Smith, now 18 years old, was vaulting at the age of 3. By her sixth birthday, Samantha was competing with Mt. Eden's "A" team. This year, Samantha competed in her second World Vaulting Championship, placing in the top ranks for individual vaulting and in events with her Mt. Eden teammates also representing the U.S. team.

"Samantha likes to compete," said Scherf. "She's very focused and calm under pressure. These teen riders have to give up much of their social life to compete at the national and international levels. It's a huge commitment."

Mt. Eden Vaulting Club

Vaulting is often described as gymnastics and ballet choreographed to instrumental music and performed on horseback. To the spectator, a skilled vaulting team is poetry in motion.

At Mt. Eden Vaulting Club, new students begin their training on a stationary barrel. Then the same moves are performed on horseback, while the horse is guided on a long rope to circle at the walk, trot, and eventually, at the canter. Vaulters perform in teams of three people, who are either flyers or bases. In competitive events, one of the team's three riders must be on the horse's back at all times.

Some vaulters have previous experience in gymnastics, dance and other riding disciplines, and many of these riders cross-train for vaulting in these other sports, particularly as they evolve from the tiny tots team to the trot team, and on to the C, B and A level canter teams at the club.

Mt. Eden Vaulting Club coach Emma Garrod Drinker began riding when she was 10 years old and started coaching at summer camp when she was 18. During that summer, the full-time coach left, so she stepped in, and she's been part of the vaulting scene ever since.

"Vaulting is a sport of passion for the Mt. Eden Vaulting Club," said Drinker. "Our team has evolved in terms of quality and quantity. Today we have beginners and world-class riders as well."

In 2004, Mt. Eden Vaulting Club had four competitive teams and 30 riders, with team members ranging in age from 8 to 17. Drinker coached team members to new heights in state, regional, national and world vaulting championships during the past year.

"Three of our girls were selected last November to compete on behalf of the American team," said Drinker, "and they all finished in the ranks of the world's top vaulters in their events."

The club's new season begins in October, and the club plans to host a Halloween Fest vaulting show on Oct. 24 at Garrod Farms.

"What makes my job so interesting is to find out how each student learns and then incorporate various training techniques into a team situation so everyone benefits," explained Drinker.

Typically, club members practice four to six hours a week together and two to four hours a week in individual training. At the higher levels, serious riders often devote up to 16 hours a week in mounted training, plus additional hours spent cross-training in gymnastics, dance or weight training.

On the other end of the spectrum, casual riders can take drop-in classes once a week to try their hand at vaulting.

"Try it, you'll like it," is the advice Drinker gives to the curious but uninitiated. "Vaulting is a great confidence-builder."

According to Jan Garrod's daughter Alexis, a Saratoga High School senior and a member of the Mt. Eden Vaulting Club, "Emma treats everyone on an equal basis. She is very experienced and well-grounded, and full of new ideas."

"I love vaulting," added Alexis. "It's an adrenaline rush." Alexis is currently helping to train a new horse for vaulting, an 8-year-old Warmblood named Flash.

Barbara Dutra, of Saratoga, is president of the Mt. Eden Vaulting Club. Her daughter Brittany, 15, is a member of the vaulting club's "A' team, and a sophomore at Saratoga High School.

"Brittany began her equestrian career as a little girl riding on a pony at Scherf's Pony Farm," said Dutra. "She learned to ride Western and English, and took to it right away."

Dutra rode all the time as a child on her father's pony ranch. Today she enjoys riding the trails at Garrod Ranch on a horse she boards at Garrod Farms.

Along with vaulting, Brittany rides her mother's horse in hunter/jumper events, in which riders and their mounts must jump in a pre-specified pattern over a course of fences. Riders and their horses are judged by a variety of criteria, including overall form, controlled pace (hunters) or speed (jumpers), correctness of riding position, "aids" or cues given to the horse, fluidity of movement and overall appearance.

"Competitions are exciting," said Brittany. "It's fun to turn your butterflies into adrenaline and really ride."

Megan Benjamin, 16, was among several Mt. Eden Vaulting Club "A" team members to go all the way to the 2004 World Championships. The Saratoga High School junior heads for Garrod Farms every day after school and on the weekends, but to her it's not a chore. If she's not vaulting, Megan can be found exercising or grooming Ronin, her large and powerful Warmblood used by the "A" team.

"Ronin is big and massive, but so gentle," said Megan. "He's like a big puppy dog.

"Conditioning is important at the higher levels of competition. I do gymnastics, weights, practice on the barrel, and I ride a lot. Balance is everything. You have to know where the horse is."

U.S. Pony Club, Saratoga

Liz Stapleton is district commissioner of the Saratoga Pony Club, a local chapter of the nonprofit U.S. Pony Club. She and her 14-year-old daughter, Kristy, got hooked on horses four years ago.

"We wanted to go beyond trail riding," explained Stapleton, "so we got involved with the Pony Club and I became a commissioner. We were new to horses then, and now we have three horses. I think riding is one of the most enriching activities a young person can be involved in. There's such a bond that develops between the horse and rider. It's very rewarding ... you truly get back as much as you give and more."

"Kristy's first horse was a Morgan pony named Travis," said Stapleton. "At first she was a little intimidated. The Pony Club educational program taught her about horses and horsemanship. As her confidence grew, her fear disappeared. We still have her first pony, although he's retired now.

"She found her second horse, a mid-sized Thoroughbred geared for an intermediate rider, through another Pony Club member. Today, Kristy rides a large Thoroughbred named Rasta Mon. Her relationship with Rasta Mon took more time because he is a strong, very experienced horse. She's competing on the 'A' circuit all over California now."

Pony Club teaches kids to ride in several disciplines: eventing, dressage and stadium jumping. Riders' proficiency at riding and with horse management and care is tested at each level before they can progress to the next.

Students are responsible for everything to do with their horses, including grooming and tacking up (saddling and bridling) their horses and cleaning their stalls when they come out to ride.

Currently, the Saratoga chapter has 36 members and a waiting list of prospective new members. The club maintains a balanced ratio of instructors and students. Most of the club members board their horses at Garrod Farms.

Diane Azevdeo got involved with riding about four years ago when her daughters Natasha and Alisha were 6 and 8 years old.

Azevedo chose Pony Club so that she and her daughters could have a more social experience getting to know other families involved with horses. The experience was so positive that Azevedo became a district commissioner for a local area chapter of the national U.S. Pony Club organization.

"The Pony Club goes way beyond teaching people how to ride," said Azevedo. "In fact, 50 percent of a rider's Pony Club rating is based on demonstrated knowledge and skill in horse management. Our young members have to be self-sufficient. They can't lean on their parents to do things for them. As kids progress, they're also expected to give back, by helping younger, less-experienced riders."

Fall lessons, held each Sunday at Garrod Farms, begin in September and run through November. New members are assessed as to their knowledge and skill with horses, and then placed at the appropriate rating level, beginning at "D-1" for novices and moving up gradually to "A" level, which is advanced. Members must lease or own their own mount in order to participate in riding lessons.

Early lessons also include work "on the ground," ranging from how to walk a horse to emergency first aid and how to spot signs of injury or health problems in a horse.

According to Azevedo, "Riding is a real partnership. It's not like a bike that you throw in the garage when you're done."

Diane herself enjoys dressage and pleasure riding. She has found that having children in a riding program involves lots of schedule juggling, and a constant effort to balance academics and riding. On the weekends, Azevedo's two daughters, like other Pony Club members, seem to spend the majority of their time at the barn.

"They love it," said Azevedo, "so the time commitment is worth it."

If you are considering equestrian activities, the good news is, as Diane Azevedo so aptly puts it, "Horseback riding is a lot better than TV and malls. Horse lovers want to be at the barn and riding all the time, whether they're 7 or 27."

For more information on horseback riding, contact: the Garrod Farms Riding School at 408.867.9527 or www.garrodfarms.com; Scherf's Pony Farm at 408.741.5294; the Mt. Eden Vaulting Club at 408.868.9476 or www.mtedenvaulting.com; the U.S. Pony Club Saratoga Chapter at saratogaponyclub.org.