Heart and soul--that can only mean owner/instructor Jill Walter-Robinson, a woman who has been teaching riding and managing stables (and only that!) since 1972.  In the Peace Corps in West Africa in 1969, Jill discovered a horse that had walked out of the jungle behind her hut.  The tribal chief who lost the horse allowed Jill to care-for and ride him.  When she returned to her home in New York, Jill took the hint and enrolled in an instructor certification course taught by Frank Chapeu.  Soon after, Jill was Olympic rider Debbie Dolan's early instructor, and has taught and managed at Sweet Briar College, VA, The Farmington Polo Club, CT where she taught hunter rider Shashine Bell, and The Maryland Horse Center, where she directed a state-certified equestrian career course.  Her staff of instructors Tracey Soboleski and Sarah May are both state certified public school teachers: we are happy to have Ellie and Augusta Gillespie in the ring. Patti McKenzie, our stable manager, has a BA in Equestrian Science/Business. is an expert dressage rider and has been a part of the GRS family since 1993! Jill is a one-woman phenomenon, also eventing her thoroughbred J.C. Chips at Preliminary Level.

Tomboys Are Us!  Our staff is a group of young people who all ride here and volunteer to get the lessons ready.  Each teenage worker has two apprentices who assist them.  All workers and apprentices are required to take and pass our Apprentice Program, giving them the skills they need to be safe and efficient working with our twelve SCHOOL HORSES.  We pride ourselves on our family atmosphere, and insist that our clients and staff behave according to the old values our society seems to be moving away from.  The sign above our door reads "Love, Laughter and Friends Welcome Here".

Dale Walter-Robinson manages the business side of GRS; he does the bookkeeping, insurance, promotion and public relations, and maintains the physical plant.  Jill and Dale met at Sweet Briar College in 1979 and have been married for 25 years.  Dale is also a freelance writer and avid antique truck, automobile and bicycle restorer.  His writing has appeared in Writers Digest, Northeast Magazine, Autoweek, Kit Car and others.  He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for his freelance music reviews for The New Haven Register.  No. 1, the riding school's 1931 Gramm-Howe fire engine restored by Dale, keeps the dust down on the arena and is a landmark at the old fire house at the entrance to the business.