ABOUT
Horses. They have always been a part of Christina’s life. Growing up on a small ranch in South Dakota, Christina learned to listen to and communicate with horses early on. Their beauty, compassion, and sheer power fascinated her. A meaningful life quickly became a life with horses at its core. Christina embraced and flourished in the horse world. She has produced horses up through the FEI 4* level of eventing, competed in pure show jumping up to 1.30m and has earned her USDF Bronze medal in dressage.
Christina brings a breadth of experience to her riding, training, and coaching. She has ridden and trained under some of the World’s best, both in the US and abroad, including Bobby Costello, Sharon White, Blyth Tait, Bettina Hoy, Jay Halim, Grant Wilson, just to name a few. She incorporates lessons from her own journey into her training regimen to provide clients with a wide scope of thought on how to best achieve their goals.
Christina is a lifelong student of the sport. She focuses on learning as much as she can from the best in the industry, and she shares this knowledge—and her own learning journey—with her students.
Christina’s philosophy has been shaped by many talented coaches and mentors. Her journey began not far from her childhood home. At age 14 Christina began spending her summers as a working student for several different out of state riders, from Sally Queal’s Riding Center in Omaha, Nebraska to Freedom Stables in Minnesota where she worked under Peggy Gomez and Becky Holder. Like many young adults, the road had many twists and turns and she ended up in Colorado.
While in Colorado she worked under German Grand Prix dressage rider Petra Warlimont, where they imported, trained, campaigned and sold young FEI dressage prospects. During her years in Colorado, she produced several event horses up through the Preliminary and CCI2* Level, and competed all over the West, Southwest, Midwest and in Florida. During her time in Colorado, she also graduated with her bachelor’s in science in Nursing, all while continuing to pursue her education as a rider, and trainer.
In 2015 Christina and her husband, Jeff, moved to England. While Jeff completed his MBA from Oxford University, Christina literally dove, headfirst, into eventing’s epicenter; she gained knowledge and experience both directly, and through pure osmosis.
While in England she sourced several young horses to produce up the grades under the guidance of Blyth Tait, Jay Halim, Annabel Scrimgeour and Grant Wilson. She gained invaluable experience learning from and competing against the best in the world.
The depth of horsemanship in the yards she was based at was unparalleled. The professionals she trained with illuminated an attention to detail and commitment to the horse’s well-being that became core to Christina’s program. Christina views her horses as her partners, with their health and happiness always put first. She believes that horses must be happy to perform at their best.
When they moved back to the USA in the fall of 2018, Christina harnessed her experience to develop a world class training facility in Charlottesville, Virginia. Seven Springs Farm became a tangible realization of Christina’s entire journey. No detail was spared, with the horses’ health and happiness at the forefront of every decision. Christina is based there April through December. She runs her training, sales, and coaching business with a simple philosophy front of mind: Each horse and rider in the program is treated as an individual. No two horses are the same, no two people are the same—they all learn and develop differently. Christina’s program combines all the best elements from her own path to help others who share her dream.