Christine began her love of horses at age 10, where she attended weekly riding lessons and summer riding camps in Fairfax County.  At age 16, she acquired her first horse, which she cared for daily and showed locally.  In college at the University of Maryland, she taught weekly riding lessons to children and college students, and competed on the University of Maryland’s Equestrian Team in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association.  By her senior year, she was captain of the team. She also rode and groomed racehorses for Laurel and Pimlico racetracks.  After graduating, she married and worked a corporate job for 10 years, but also continued to instruct individuals in pleasure riding, specializing in young children.  She also rode and trained horses.  After the birth of her first child, Christine ran a busy home daycare business for 4 years in Great Falls, Virginia.  In 2003, she purchased Red Gate Farm and has managed all aspects of the farm business, including planning, construction, boarding, sales, summer camps and teaching.  She now fox hunts and competes her horse, Bourbon, in dressage, jumpers and eventing at the training (3’3″) level.

Riding since age 7, Rebecca showed equitation as a child.  Attending the Southern Seminary College, she competed for her college team in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association and in Hunters.  She was a national champion in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association in 1991 and 1993 (and was 4th in Nation in 1992). Rebecca graduated with a degree in Equine Management and also earned her Riding Instructor Certification.  She has taught hunt seat equitation and trained horses for the last 14 years in various barns in and around Northern Virginia.  Red Gate Farm has been her home for the past 9 years.  Specializing in private and semi-private lessons, Rebecca passes on her love for horses and the finer points of correct equitation.

A rider and competitor since childhood and an instructor / trainer for 3 decades, Judi Novak has worked with students and horses in Loudoun County for 23 years.  After graduating with a BA in Equestrian Studies from Lake Erie College in Ohio, Judi traveled to Ireland, where she studied under Iris Kellett in the British Horse Society AI program.  Later in Michigan, Judi partnered with a friend to own and operate a boarding / lesson facility with 30 horses and 120 students.  An opportunity to train with Olympic Gold Medalist Torrance Watkins prompted the move to Virginia, and after three years with Torrance, Judi went to work with Trip Hoffman in Chantilly, training and selling horses.  The years subsequent to that of free-lance work with competitive event horses and riders led to a 7-year position teaching in the riding department at Foxcroft – a private girls high school in Middleburg.  After the birth of their first child, Judi and her husband Mark moved the family to Purcellville from where she has worked part-time to coach both pleasure and competitive individuals for the last 15 years, 7 of which have been at Red Gate Farm.