Maia Barnes, the owner of Dressage Sporthorses LLC, didn’t grow up in a traditional horse environment. Growing up in the city, Maia dabbled in many different sports, but her love for horses began by chance in the fifth grade. After tagging along to a friend’s riding lesson, she became fascinated by horses. At first, her family encouraged her to focus on well, less expensive sports, but by sixth grade, Maia had begun riding lessons. Soon enough, she started spending hours working in the barn in exchange for lessons and opportunities to ride other people’s horses.
During college at Temple University, where she studied psychology, she continued to work/ride casually over the summers. At one of those barns, Maia was introduced to classical dressage flatwork. However, she didn’t find a passion and love for dressage until she graduated college and thanks to a friend found herself doing barn work for Stephan Cheret. After sitting on a dressage schoolmaster for the first time, she was in awe. Soon after, Maia got her first horse, Benvica, to train up the levels with help from Stephan. Now as business partners, Maia and Stephan have just recently finished the construction and opening of their very own facility in Frenchtown, NJ.
A Facility of Their Own:
In August 2020, Maia and her family purchased 23 acres of land to become the home of Dressage Sporthorses LLC. Maia mentioned that there was a reason behind every design choice. “Being the person who does the barn work, we know how to make things run smoothly for the person doing the work. It needs to be practical and functional.”
The build was a team effort, with Maia, Stephan, and her father taking on DIY projects, from fencing, paving pathways, taking down garage doors, to putting up siding. Their hands-on involvement made the project even more rewarding and satisfying to see complete. When their own tractor wouldn’t suffice and they hired a team of contractors to complete a project, Maia was always there ensuring everything was done correctly. “Nobody will care about your project as much as you do”. Growing up in a hands-on family, Maia has always worked extremely hard to see her dreams come true. And when that dream was seeing her indoor arena footing go in, she offered to rake in the sides so the machine operator didn’t have to keep getting on and off the machine. While some may sit back and complain about the timeliness of projects, you will find Maia doing everything in her power to pitch in.
For Maia, owning her own facility has brought almost entirely positives. No longer does she have to worry about sharing space with other trainers or managing limited turnout for the horses. Having her own space and barn right outside her doorstep allows her to prioritize the horses’ needs without compromises. Now, the facility offers peace of mind allowing them to focus on their clients and goals without the stress of managing multiple schedules or spaces.
Lessons Learned from Building:
- Never underestimate how long a project will take. Even if you hire a professional, there is almost always one thing that doesn’t quite align perfectly.
- Do your research. Do your due diligence on every single person you hire no matter the task.
- Whenever you can do the project yourself, do it. At the end of the day it’s going to feel good and you will know that it was done the way you wanted.
Dressage Sporthorses LLC:
Prior to building their own facility, Dressage Sporthorses was heavily sales-focused, but the nature of the horse market has since shifted their business outlook. As she explains, it became harder to find quality sales horses, with many being sold quickly through video previews alone. Today, the focus is on training, client lessons, and competing. Maia’s commitment to pushing her clients to be the best they can be sets her apart. Her philosophy centers on showing both horses and riders the clearest path forward and helping them succeed in that journey. “If you show the horse the right way, they will just try it. Us humans have the mental capacity to ask what if questions… If you make it very clear the path they need to go they try without question”.
Her vision for the future also includes focusing more on young horses. Now that she has her own facility with ample turnout space, she’s able to take her time developing young horses, a process that wasn’t as feasible when she was renting space.
