Training

Renaissance Farm proudly offers the services of Darren Taplin for training, lessons, and assistance finding quality horses for sale. Darren's focus lies on clear communication between rider and horse. His philosophy combines modern training methods with proven classical techniques to accomplish individual goals. Darren Taplin has been teaching for over 20 years. He has ridden intensively with such well known riders as: Steffen Peters, Major Miguel Tavora,Christine Traurig, Lilo Fore, Charles de Kunffy, Lynn Roberts, and Bill Biggs. The collection of all of these resources has provided Darren with an exceptional pool of knowledge which he offers his students.

Darren's Training Philosophy
My program is designed to teach owners/riders how to ride/train their horses so they can continue to get the same results I do.Over the years, I realized without owner/rider involvement in the training process they are unable to get the same response from the horse as their trainer did.

Darren Taplin on Margriet Fan'e Schouw owned by Sharon Leighty

Photo by Ruth Lake www.lakewebdesign.com

Phase I

I evaluate and start all horses myself until I am satisfied they have progressed enough to transition to my training assistant.
Phinale
Photo- Ruth Lake
Phinale - One of Darren's favorites, carefully trained and happily working.
Phase II
The Transfer Stage - My training assistants continue under my guidance to train the horse to respond correctly and consistently under saddle and on the ground. When I see the horse can respond to anyone and not just me, I start to involve the owner/rider.
Phase III
This is where I start getting the owner/rider involved in the training process. At this stage, the horse has a clear concept of what aids mean and now its time to teach the rider how to give those aids. Every horse and rider is different so I adapt my training to help bring this new partnership together in a way both can be happy.
Phase IV
Congratulations! You are now in harmony with your horse. If you want to continue lessons with me great, but you have graduated from my basic training program. ENJOY YOURSELF
Testimonial
Meet Leslie Anderson & Landski

Hello everyone! My name is Leslie Anderson a 59 year old amateur dressage rider whose lifelong passion for horses began as a very small child. I met Darren in1980, through a friend who was attempting to help me train my first Hanoverian youngster. After deciding this horse was too difficult for us to train, my friend suggested that I go to Half Moon Bay and talk to a friend of his about taking this horse into training. That is when I met Darren and became his first client. Darren agreed to take my horse into training and was eventually able to gallop him cross country and take him to parades!
Since 1980, Darren has trained six horses for me showing them in breed shows and in the dressage arena. One of my horses, Niersteiner, received international recognition winning numerous awards at all of his breed shows and in the dressage arena. In March of 2003, my beloved Hanoverian Dom, suddenly died and left a huge hole in my heart. For several months after his untimely passing, I was unable to think of looking for another horse but after a few months I called Darren and told him I wanted to start looking for another nice horse. We went to see a four year old Holsteiner gelding shortly thereafter that was tall, elegant and talented. When Darren rode him, I saw tremendous potential in his movement. The big question was his age and my age- would this work into a future partnership? That night Darren called me and I decided to purchase Landski and leave him with Darren in full time training. I began to ride him after 5 months of training and I have been so excited and pleased at our progress in developing a partnership. Landski is now six years old with a good work ethic laced with a sense of humor. His face will always tell you what he is thinking. My riding skills have advanced to accommodate his generous gaits and sensitivity to my aides. I sometimes have to pinch myself to remind me that I really do own this beautiful dream horse. My equine journey continues with hope of a lifelong partnership with Darren, Landski and this middle aged woman, still horse crazy after all these years.