A Century in the Saddle: English Riding Lessons Return to Greystone

If you ever learned “heels down, eyes up” on a bright Greystone morning, you know: Riding isn’t just a class, it’s a language of courage, care, and joy that stays with you long after the dust settles. This beloved tradition has carried generations of girls from tentative first trots to polished equitation rounds, helping campers build confidence along the way. With this long-standing tradition, we are thrilled to announce its return: English Riding lessons are returning for June and Main campers. Girls will enjoy new rings and fresh horsemanship ribbons but with the same Greystone magic from the past 100 years.

From our earliest years, horses and Greystone girls have been inseparable. By the 1920s, Riding was already a star activity option at camp, with Greystone holding its very first Riding Meet in 1923. Dr. Sevier’s son John oversaw camp’s Riding program in these early years, with Greystone’s catalog boasting that girls taking Riding would “master a steed and build self-reliance” like nothing else could.

Through the decades, the English lesson program deepened its roots. In the 1930s camp enlarged and graded its one riding ring, and “just about everyone” turned out for the Horse Show (including families and guests from town). The 1940s brought a dedicated stable; this wartime-era improvement signaled how central Riding was to camp life. And for a quarter-century from the 1950s through the mid-’70s, the barn thrived under the calm, confident leadership of Mrs. Alice Andrews, a beloved teacher, trip leader, and a picture of gracious strength to the campers.

In the 1980s, Jeanne Ashmore and her family poured new life into the barn, reviving, rebuilding, and reminding everyone why the walk down to the stables feels like returning to your 2nd home in the mountains. In the 2010s, her daughter Lisa Ashmore Maybin continued the riding excellence, fine-tuning the program with the hunt seat equitation so many alumnae remember, while keeping the adventure of Thunderhead rides alive.

Through these many decades of riding at Greystone, these constants remained: a barn that taught girls to sit tall, refine skills, and celebrate confidence in the saddle.

This year we turn the page to a new chapter, one that honors the old while building for the next century. After a brief pause in our lesson program following 2020, girls continued riding through our Western trail program at Thunderhead (and yes, it’s still there!). Beginning this summer in 2026, English Riding lessons will return for June and Main campers, with two beautiful new rings being built near the Farm Barn to welcome riders of every level.

Campers can expect a hunter-jumper foundation, a mix of mounted lessons, barn days, ring work, and trails (all the best parts you remember!) offered in a way that invites both brand-new riders and lifelong horse-girls to flourish.

We’re excited for our girls to jump back in the saddles at the English Barn, but we are most excited for what this means in the memories department: Horse Show mornings with braids and bows, quiet barn chores that become not-so-quiet giggles, and that shared breath before a fence when you and your horse think as one. For over a hundred years, Riding has taught Greystone girls to be brave and gentle at the same time, and we can’t wait to welcome this next generation of Greystone riders.

See you at the rail.