Walter Bickmann, owner and trainer

    We'd all like to be rich and famous.  But sometimes, we have to make a choice between the pot of gold and who we know we are and what we feel is important.

    I became interested in horses at age 12, and worked at a nearby barn after school and on weekends to earn one lesson a week.

    The summer I was 14, the man I'd been working for recommended me for a wonderful opportunity to groom for Lana duPont in her eventing stable in Maryland.  During the summer, a very exciting and stimulating two weeks was spent at Gladstone, while she tried out for the 3-Day Team.  When you groom, you're behind the scenes where the real nitty-gritty of the horse world unfolds - and I soaked up everything I could learn.

    During these first few years, Harry deLeyer and Snowman were becoming legends in their own time - and Harry was my hero.  When I was returned from Lana's, he accepted a working student who didn't have much more than a burning desire to learn to ride.  Every Saturday and Sunday, I rode my bike 12 miles to his barn to muck 10 stalls for the privilege of one lesson a week.  When I quit school at 16, I went to work for him full-time.  I kept on mucking stalls, but I also rode everything in the barn - nice horses for customers, green "investments" and the problems.  Sometimes, I got to show one - usually the one no one else wanted!

    When I went out looking for a teaching/training job, I didn't have "a name" or an impressive show record.  People in this situation don't get offered cream positions - but if you're committed, you take the skim milk available and make cream out of it.  I took a position teaching at a "hack barn" on Long Island.  Some of the kids who took lessons had some promise and desire, so we developed a show team.  This was back in the day when there were only AHSA shows, with Maiden, Novice, Limit and Open Equitation, Junior, A/O, Green and Working Hunters and Open Jumpers.  My customers weren't about to mortgage their homes so their kids could ride; we took a couple of the nicer horses off the hack line and went showing - and became more and more competitive.  My customer base grew; two of my students qualified for - and competed in - the Medal and Maclay finals, one is a BNT in California, at least one is an R judge, and one grew up to be an Olympic-caliber dressage rider, who died before seeing her dream become reality.

    When I decided to move south, I freelanced rather than affiliating with any particular stable in the Atlanta area.  Again, my students became a recognized force, with one of them qualifying for the Medal and Maclay finals.

    I moved to southern Florida, dropped out of the professional ranks for a few years and showed as an amateur - winning Adult Equitation and Adult Amateur Hunter Year End Championships in 1987.  Twelve years ago, I relocated to Marianna and "went pro" again.

    I have always accepted the physical, mental and financial reality of my students (2- or 4-legged) - and make the best of what trots past me.  I believe this unique attitude, fostered by my background, is the reason that many of my students (human and horse) have far surpassed their own expectations in the showring.

    I derive tremendous satisfaction from the cream I've created:

• a student who came to me two years ago with a little western pleasure horse, and told me she was tired of going to shows and never winning a ribbon - but she was never going to jump higher than 2'6" - and in 1999, was Reserve Champion in First Year Green Hunters at a big but non-rated show on that same 15.1 QH.
• the young, barely-broke horse who consistently packed his inexperienced young rider - to Junior Hunter Reserve Championship at that same show and Year End Equitation Champion.
• the brother & sister I started early in my Marianna days - who consistently place in international jumping.

    I believe strongly in developing the "thinking rider" - my students learn to analyze their rides from their first lessons.  I require reading at various stages of the learning process:  selections from books or magazines or videos from some of "the greats".  Many of my students have kept their horses at home; only by developing an analytical attitude can they take a lesson, build on that lesson riding on their own during the week, and return prepared to move forward.

    I know the influence I've had on many of my students; I hope to continue developing these success stories for years to come.  With or without the "rich and famous"!
 

        Education:    Harry deLeyer
                            Frank Madden
                            (and many, many others, including my students)

        Experience:   Instructor & Coach - Long Island, Atlanta, West Palm
                                                            Beach, Marianna
                            Judge, Clinician, Course Designer - East Coast (NY to FL)

        Service:         6 years Board of Directors, 2 years Vice President: Pensacola Hunter
                            Jumper Association

Who we are

Lessons

Boarding & Training

Sales Arena

Links