Our Instructor
Our instructor is Marisa Daum
Marisa brings a lot to the table here at Hiddenview Farm. Besides having a lifelong passion for horses, she also has a love of teaching. She is a Bethel (College) University grad with a BA in Spanish Secondary Education. Although she decided, upon graduating, not to go into the school classroom setting, she has spent over 20 years working in call centers putting both her Spanish and her patient, cheerful demeanor to work. She has used her teaching skills to train new employees and put together documents and training sessions for them as well. She also created and taught a Spanish class for adults through Woodland Hills for which she wrote a syllabus and built an entire lesson plan.
And over the years, she has taught many friends and family members beginner riding lessons and general horse safety. With the farm, her two passions of horses and teaching finally come together.
Without further ado, we will let her introduce herself below in her own words:
“Hi All!!
This is me at age 19 months with my dad looking on. Santa might have made a mistake bringing me a horse for Christmas. You see, from that point, I think I was hooked. From the furthest back I can remember, growing up in Wisconsin, I have loved horses. I had my first rides on the pony rides at Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay, and for my 4th birthday, my mom took me on a trail ride. I still remember that. I sat in front of her in the saddle, and the horse seemed soooooo tall. I remember his name was Clyde.
That was it. From there on, it was all about horses for me. I read books about horses, I wrote stories about horses, I drew pictures of horses. For my birthdays and Christmases, I asked for a horse and got models and horse books. I even wrote a letter to Santa and told him he could bring me a pony that could help him pull his sleigh so it wouldn’t be as much work for him. He could leave the pony at the fairgrounds, which was only a few blocks away from our house, since I knew we didn’t have a place to keep her. I had it all worked out. Foolproof. Somehow, he still turned me down.
“One day, when I was 7 . . .
Mom took me to visit this stable. It was in the winter time. I remember thinking it was a really fancy place because they had an indoor arena, and there were “big” girls (probably about 14, haha!) riding their horses around. Mom went to talk to the lady and while they were in the office, one of the big girls asked me if I wanted a ride. She boosted me up on her horse and led me around, and I was in heaven. Mom came out from the office, and I found out I was going to get to take riding lessons!!
This photo to the left is Sonny, an Arabian gelding that was one of the lesson horses. We got to lease him so I could have more time to ride and practice. My lesson teacher was Joanne Pembroke. What I didn’t realize then was that she was a huge youth mentor in the Saddlebred community. She taught me basically everything I used going forward, all the very basics of grooming, tacking, and riding saddleseat. She taught using Saddlebreds. So teeny tiny 7-and-8-year-old me learned to ride on big 16+ hand former show horses like Walt and Red, as well as the little 14 hand Arabians Sonny and Buddy. It was awesome! I hope to be to my beginner students what Joanne was for me. Someone to create that solid foundation and spur a lifelong love of these amazing animals. I was able to take lessons until I learned how to canter and how to hold a double bridle, and then I had to stop taking lessons.
“But the horse bug doesn’t die that easily . . .
At least not for kids like me that have it in their blood. So I found horses where I could and when I was able to. And my parents helped as much as they could. By then, they had gotten divorced and money was tight. Mom and Dad both tried to make connections as much as possible. Mom got horse literature from a customer with a horse farm in Florida and one in Tennessee. Dad got me a gig volunteering at a therapeutic riding facility when I was 10 where in payment for my help with catching, feeding, and grooming the horses for the lessons, I got to ride for an hour. Mom would find horses for sale and we would go test them out (sorry sellers!!). Dad met a lady who raised Welsh ponies with a daughter my age and introduced us (only to realize that they were one of the families whose pony for sale Mom had taken me out to ride—coincidence??). I spent many hours riding with Amanda, including spending weekends at her house and getting the chance to show her ponies as well. I got to be in 4H the summer I was 10 also, and thanks to the Horseless Horse program, I was able to show a classmate’s pony. I even rode my bike to the fairgrounds for every horse show I could and offered to help people with their horses and ponies. This photo is me at age 11 with the pony Raindrop whose owners graciously let me hang out with them and watch them show.
I kept riding whenever I could and sometimes was the “crash test dummy” riding basically whatever sort of horse I was presented with. I made friends with anyone I could who had horses or was interested in horses. When I spent time at my grandparents’ house in the summer, I talked my uncle Joe into taking me out to the local trail riding place so I could hang out there all day. They were just getting started at first and put me on different horses to test them out and put some kid miles on them. I rode many trail rides with the owner. It was heavenly.
“Then it happened . . .
I got horses of my own. My stepdad had a farm and eventually decided it would be ok if we got a couple of horses. Through high school, they were there, my confidantes and my friends. I rode and I hung out with them. I tried to train them and ride through the rough spots (a couple of them weren’t broke to ride). I wasn’t very good at the training part, but I loved them. They got me through some hard times growing up.
Then in college, having moved away, I no longer had those horses. I missed my horse time, but didn’t have a car. One day, I happened to find some horses right in the city, close to Bethel. WHAT?? So I went by the pasture until I saw the owner out one day and found out more about the horses. They were SADDLEBREDS! My first horse love, the breed I learned to ride on. I was in shock! I told Linda, the lady who owned them, that I didn’t need to ride, I would do whatever she needed me to do, just for a chance to be around the horses.
And for payment, she gave me Sammy. He was my first horse that was just mine. He is in several of the pictures shown below and in the one to the left. I have learned a lot from him. I did a lot of his early training and then sent him off for about 45 days with a professional. It’s been a lot of ups and downs. He was not an easy horse to ride or work with. In fact, he went through a bad bucking phase and gave me my first dumpings and a deep seated fear of cantering. In trying to overcome that fear, I sought out riding lessons again.
I took lessons for about 4 years . . .
In basic dressage from a gal named Christina Carl and re-learned how to canter. The first time I was able to canter Sammy again, I cried for joy. I had been pretty sure I was never going to experience his awesome canter again. Several years later, I learned about a different style of dressage through my lessons and friendship with Chris Vint. I also rode in a clinic with her mentor, Eloise King.
From a foundation in saddleseat, to basic Western and English with some small shows, to German-style dressage, to Classical dressage in the style of Nuno Oliveira, I have tried a lot of different things. I have attended the Midwest Horse Fair annually, going to all three days taking in clinicians and seminars.
I love learning about horses, spending time with horses, hanging out with horses, smelling like horses. I have had my confidence shaken, and I understand having a fear of riding. I understand not even wanting or needing to ride. I understand how horses are good listeners and how they can make a bad day better or how they can make you totally forget your problems for awhile.
If you are looking for a big fancy show barn with a chance to go win ribbons, that’s not us. But if you are looking for a barn that is welcoming and encouraging and loves introducing people to horses, Hiddenview Farm is right for you! Come and check us out and thanks for reading my novel :)”
