Greenhaven Farm

Melissa

Bradley

    Greenhaven owner, Melissa Bradley, has been seriously involved with horses for more than 30 years. She began taking riding lessons at the age of seven, and began formal training in Lake Forest, IL with the Dennehy Family at the age of 12.  During high school, she rode 3-6 horses a day and competed with her horse, The Producer (aka Arthur) , on the A Circuit. In her final year as a junior rider, she and Arthur won the Wisconsin Large Junior Hunter Championship and were the Reserve Champion of Illinois. That same year, they placed 5^that the USEF Zone 5 Finals and were ranked among the top 50 junior horse and rider combinations in the country. Arthur also won an American Horse Shows Association Horse of the Year award.

   Melissa attended Sweet Briar College in Virginia and completed her education at Auburn University earning her degree in Zoology. While at Sweet Briar, Melissa took courses in teaching, training, judging, and stable management. She also worked as a teaching assistant at the school’s riding center, and judged 2 of the college’s annual schooling shows. She and Arthur were members of Sweet Briar’s varsity riding team under Paul Cronin and competed at ANRC Nationals. 

   After Graduation, Melissa worked as the Children’s Wrangler for The Laramie River Ranch in Wyoming. She and Arthur moved to Fond du Lac in 1998, and began teaching students in the local community.  She also became certified as a therapeutic riding instructor and worked for Free S.P.I.R.T. Riders.  In October of 2000, Melissa established Greenhaven Farm.  For the past 17 years, Melissa has enjoyed sharing her love of horses with Greenhaven students.  The quality of character, sportsmanship, and horsemanship displayed by the many students of Greenhaven continues to make Melissa proud.  They  do very well on local show circuits and have won countless year end titles.

Greenhaven is also the home of Ripon College's Equestrian Team.  Since Melissa became their coach in 2015, members of the team have qualified for IHSA Regionals, Zones, and Nationals.  In 2017, Ripon College Equestrian Team won Best Small Team of IHSA Region 4.

Melissa continues to enrich her education by riding in clinics. She has recently ridden under Mark Rashid, Boyd Martin, Frank Madden,  Heidi White, Dominique Barbier, Nick Novak, and Micheal Bea.  Melissa's most influencial role model is Mark Rashid and she has worked with him every year for the past 10 years.  An Aikido master and horseman, Mark Rashid's unique methodology emphasizes the relationship between horse and rider as a partnership, in which the horse willingly takes direction from the rider rather than a relationship in which a dominant rider directs a submissive horse.