My name is Kiersten Barnes, but most of my friends and family call me Kaye. I began riding in 1980 in Florida. I began riding western pleasure, then english pleasure (stock horse style) with a local trainer named Diane Ross.
In my teen I took hunter lessons with AHSA "R" rated judge Audrey J. Brey over the course of 2 years. After that time I began dresage lessons with AHSA 'r' judge Deborah Adams.
In 1986 I began riding with Harman Haakman. His approach to horsemanship was very classical. His influce on my life went beyond the riding arena. The principles he taught me changed my personality for the better. Even though through those years I married and started a family, and often times put my own personal riding on the back burner, I considered him my tutor from 1986 until I moved to NC in 2000. His mentoring pushed me to find authors who wrote about classical riding, and to this day I have sought out seminars and clinics with heavy classical influence.
Since moving to North Carolina and starting Barnes Paddock in 2000, I have tried keep up my educational experience through various seminars, classes, and clinic (even if I was not actively riding with a trainer).
- 2001 - New England Dressage Association, yearly banquet and weekend seminar/clinic with Ralf Isselhorst (apprentic of Reiner Klimke). Boston, MA
- 2004 - audited USDF instructor certification courses at Braeburn Farm in Snowcamp, and audited USDF L judges seminar at McNairs Country Acres
- Auditing clinicians; Paul Belasik, Lynn Palm, the O'connors, Walter Zettle, Lilo Fore
In 2003 and 2004 I began a shift in my riding preferences, which I partially explain on my breeding info page. Despite the fact I truly desired to get into the upper levels of dressage, it became clear that due to lack of resources (mostly financial) that I was not going to make that desire a reality. I started to become 'depressed' with riding and actually did not ride for 6 months at one point. This is when I started to truly EMBRACE THE RESOURCES I HAD.
In 2003 I took almost a year and a half worth of yoga classes. Here I really developed an appreciation for biomechanics (basically how the body works in motion), and good equitation skills for all types of riding on all types of horses.
I began studying riders/writers such as Lynn Palm, Sally Swift and Susan Harris. I really began to dig deeper into versatility training, biomechanics, and common sense horsemanship starting with groundwork.
In 2004 I began a very modest breeding program, and after much research and personal soul searching I decided to make the base of my breeding program the half Arabian Sport Horse.
2007 was a year for change, and growth.
| In October of 2007 long time friend Brian Handlon became my partner and so we decided to make some changes; changing the farm name to Starting Point Stables and changing our teaching focus to a more social-community minded learning atmosphere. |
Also, long time friend Robyn Hennig helped develop and will assist in the Kids Pony School program. |
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So here we are, at Starting Point Stables in North Carolina, . You can read through the rest of this site to read more about our programs and services!
