About
The Facilities
Stone Gate Farm is the home of the Smith family; David, Jackie, their two sons, Kyle & Kevin and various cats, dogs, and of course, horses. It was New Years Eve, 1985, when Dave & Jackie hiked around the snow covered hills of an 80 acre farm that was for sale. The house was in bad shape, the barn & other buildings were even worse, the pasture was overgrown and all the tillable acreage was in corn.
Despite all that they saw the possibilities. In 1986, Dave and Jackie became the proud owners of a “fix ‘er upper” farm, and the work began. Since there wasn’t much money left after buying the farm, the improvements were largely limited to what Dave refers to as “B & B”. Everything from old corn cribs to multi flora rose bushes were “burned & buried”. Over the next 20 plus years, the acres of corn and over grown and unusable land have been transformed to an equestrian property that boasts two standard size sand dressage arenas, a large grass show jumping area, 3 stabling barns for up to 70 competitors’ horses, cross country courses from Intro to Preliminary, miles of trails and acres of alfalfa fields. With the addition of a 13 acre and an 18 acre parcel, the farm has grown to 111 acres! Although we are, for the most part, past the “B & B” stage of farm improvements; there always seem to be a project or plans for future projects at the farm.
Meet the Family!
DAVE…
Is a graduate of OSU School of Veterinary Medicine and is a solo practitioner of large animal (primarily bovine & equine) practice based out of our farm. Although Dave grew up working on his grandfather’s dairy farm, his interest & his work with horses has developed over the years. No doubt being married to a horse crazy person had some impact on this transformation. The practice is primarily a mobile practice; however, clients do bring their animals to the farm for treatment.
Since Dave is a ‘farm boy’ at heart; he spends all his free time playing on the farm. He puts up several acres of alfalfa hay every year and is always finding projects for one of his ‘big toys’. At last count, there were 11 ponds and there have been literally miles of drain tile installed where needed. On top of all that, he also builds all the cross country jumps for the various competitions held at the farm.
JACKIE…
Is a graduate of Lake Erie College where she majored in Phys Ed and Equestrian studies. It was while she was teaching at Lake Erie College that she met Dave. An accomplished rider, competing through the CCI** level in eventing and a recipient of the bonze medal in dressage, she is also known for many of the other hats she wears.
Instructor & Trainer
USEA Certified Instructor Level II
United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) licensed official
Eventing judge
Eventing Technical Delegate
Eventing Course Designer
Dressage Judge
Positions with the USEA/USEF (former or present)Area VIII Chair
USEA Board of Governors
Chair of the USEA organizers Committee
Area VIII Young Rider Coordinator
USEF Eventing Technical Committee
USEA Young Event Horse Committee
USEA Competitions Committee
Positions with the United States Pony Club (former or present)
USPC Eventing Committee resource
Regional Instructional Coordinator
Western Reserve Pony Club Instructional Coordinator
KYLE…
Is a member of the Ohio State University class of 2010 with a major in Agricultural Business and minor in Equine Science. He is an accomplished rider having competed through the CCI** and has competed in the NAJYRC 3 times with Summer’s Gift and was a member of the winning team at the USEF Jr/Young Rider Team Championships at 2008 Hagyard CCI* on Stunt Pilot who was also named USEF Amateur Reserve Champion. More recently, he was one of the recipients of the USPC Grand Prix award as a member of the winning Preliminary level team at USPC Championships. The Grand Prix award was certainly ‘grand’ as it was an all expense paid 11 day trip to Ireland!
In addition to the trip to Ireland, Kyle had a busy year as he was a participating instructor at the two USEA/ICP workshops and successfully passed the ICP Level I assessment. He also spent the summer working with Sarah and Eric Dierks at their Overlook Farm in Va. Both of these opportunities were possible thanks to the Worth the Trust Scholarship sponsored by Joan Goswell.
KEVIN…
Is a member of the Youngstown State University class of 2012 majoring in engineering. He is an accomplished rider in both eventing and mounted games. His new partner Tintin had a very good season together, starting at novice level and finishing up the season with 4 clear cross country rides at the preliminary level qualifying them for the VA Classic Three Day Event next spring.
Kevin’s passion is Mounted Games, where he has represented the US twice at the Mounted Games World Championships in Belgium & England. He is hoping to be a member of the team that will be doing demonstrations at the World Games at the KY Horse Park in the fall of 2010.