Making a Splash at Willow Creek Farm

July 6, 2023 | Filed under: Current Articles,Featured,The Buzz | Posted by: Delores Kuhlwein

By Delores Kuhlwein

“It’s too hard to bring newcomers into the horse industry” is the statement we often hear that niggles our ears and our minds.

But time after time, we have been gifted with gems of success stories about those who are making headway toward opening doors for others by immersing them in the industry. And along the way, they’ve found they are living their own dreams.

Take Chayna DeNicolo-Petrocci and Lucas Petrocci of Willow Creek Farm in Sycamore, Illinois, for example.

Chayna, an amateur and member of AQHA for the past 20-plus years, and her husband, Lucas, bought their family’s boarding barn, deemed Willow Creek Farm, about five years ago.

“At the time I was teaching elementary school,” explains Chayna. “I hired instructors and the barn began offering lessons to the public three years ago during Covid.”

Fast forward to today, they’ve found they have grown to 60 lessons strong a week, Chayna says, with three instructors and a waiting list, and “nearly 95% of our program is or were beginner riders that we started.”

Chayna, Lucas & their son, Rocco

She owns and manages the farm, as well as the lesson business, and she handles everything from customer tours, to scheduling, and advertising. “I’m also in the process of using my teaching degree to write a leveled riding curriculum, so that riders and families can better understand the depth of knowledge and skill it takes to become a true horseman/woman!” she exclaims.

Program Rewards Reaped

So Chayna decided to host their first-ever horse show on June 25^th, to let the students show their stuff. To help make it happen, they sold 50/50 raffle tickets at $25 a ticket, or 5 for $100, in which the winner takes half the pot and did not have to be present to win.

The idea was to raise money for t-shirts, awards, ribbons, trophies, and to replace worn out lesson tack. They also were fundraising for their scholarship fund, which sponsors families and riders who have fallen on hard times.

“My only hope was to raise as many funds as we could for our riders, their first show experience, and everything in between! I hate to turn families away that have been loyal riders in our program due to financial reasons.”

How did the fundraising and the show go, one might ask?

“It was a WILD success!” says Chayna. “We had 30 of our 60 weekly riders participate, and for most of them, it was their first horse show experience! We held five divisions that we grouped by ability level. We had riders ages 5-40’s compete. Riders earned ribbons and trophies for individual placings in their divisions, and we gave away division highpoints as well!”

They held flat classes, a pattern class, and a fun class, she explains. “We had well over 150 spectators, and I’m still in awe of the help and support we received in order to pull this event off! It was a huge hit with non-horse owning families who had never experienced a horse show. I can’t wait to host it again next year.”

The show was a dream come true for so many, and for Chayna, it was the pinnacle of her satisfaction with this path she forged not so long ago. “I am so lucky that I get to share my passion with my community! Living on the property, most of all I love looking out my kitchen window and seeing the lessons happening! It’s my dream job!”