Valhalla was established in 1972 by my parents, Jean and Roy Brinkman. Originally they bred Arabians until 1976 when my mother saw Pepel, in the Olympics. He was a beautiful black Trakehner stallion ridden by a Russian rider. At that time my mother felt that her height of 5'9 was not suitable for the smaller Arabian frame. Her passion for dressage and infatuation with the Trakehner breed led her to become an outstanding breeder of Trakehner horses, ranking in the USDF Top-standings for six consecutive years.
Valhalla sits on 650 acres of rolling grass fields and oak trees. The beautiful landscape along with Valhalla's many amenities * Mirrored Indoor Arena * Mirrored Outdoor Arena* Covered Round-pen * Endless Trails with great sand footing for year round training * Free Jump Pen * Stadium jump field * Permanent play area with log jumps and trot poles, allows for the well rounded development of the youngsters and horses in daily training.
in 2006 Linda and Pat Parelli visited the farm, planting a seed where natural horsemanship would become implemented into the development of all Valhalla's horses.
Valhalla fosters not only the development of international horses, but also riders. Over the past forty years Valhalla has offered a priceless education to 100+ of students, propelling them into their professional equine careers in dressage, stadium jumping and evening.
I have been the head trainer at Valhalla since 1994. During this time I spent five years in Europe as well as a few years in Santa Fe, NM. Returning, permanently in 2006 to call Valhalla my permanent home. It is here that I focus my time on the correct development of youngsters through FEI dressage. Although Valhalla has specialized predominately in the Trakehner horse, I have actively developed and competed all breeds. In fact, last November, I added the Andalusian/PRE stallion, Armas Kentio from Spain to my Valhalla line up.
To learn more about Valhalla Farm click HERE.
MEET ERIN'S CURRENT STAFF
Meet Anna Logan-Merritt
"For as long as I can remember, I’ve been completely and utterly obsessed with horses. I began riding at the age of three under the tutelage of my mother, who set a solid foundation of basics in both riding and general horsemanship. When riding in my backyard on my mom’s quarter horse “Mister” became not enough excitement for me anymore, I joined a local 4-H group where I learned about competing in both English and western disciplines. When Mister became too old to support my active riding schedule, my parents put enough money together to purchase my own pony named Sonny. Sonny was about 14.1 at the wither but 14.3 at the hindquarters, with a neck about as long as a crop; making him an unlikely candidate for dressage. However despite the forces of nature working against us, we sought out Bernadette Radke to plunge us into the world of dressage. After many challenging rides as well as shows, we began to come together as a team and I realized that it was time to seek out more educational opportunities, which led me to Dressage4Kids. In 2013 I applied for D4K’s Emerging Dressage Athlete Program and to my amazement was accepted as amember and then selected for a clinic with Lendon Gray at Hampton Green Farm. For the entire weekend I felt my already strong passion for dressage grow with immensity after hearing both Lendon Gray and Courtney King-Dye speak of the development of their self-made career, and what it took to reach the top. It was from that weekend on that I knew without a doubt that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. And so I searched for as many working student positions that I could find that seemed suitable, applying to nearly 20 different farms. I made my decision as I narrowed it down to one farm which seemed the most ideal in creating a career for myself; and that would be none other than Valhalla Farm. At Valhalla I became taken under the wing of both Iris Eppinger and Erin Brinkman, and for the last year and a half have been solely under the instruction of Erin Brinkman. During my time at Valhalla, I’ve experienced both my riding ability as well as knowledge of barn management sky rocket. My primary focus at the moment is to pursue NAJYRC at the FEI Young Rider level with the help of Erin. I cant wait to see where this pursuit takes us and furthers my career as a dressage rider."
~ Anna Logan-Merritt
This is Anna riding Fortunatus. They were high point of show in their second competition with a 78% at First Level!
Meet Micaela Love of Love Horsemanship
