John to do an Exhibition Ride and Meet and Greet at Hoofers!

John Flint, from John and Tammy in the Morning on 96.3 Star Country in Madison, will demonstrate the riding and jumping skills he has learned in training with Andi Bill  in preparation for ARIAT Jumping with the Stars! at the Midwest Horse Fair.

John, Bailey and Andi.

John will meet and greet friends and fans at the Hoofer Equestrian Center on Sunday, the 11th at 1:00 PM. There will be a silent auction to benefit the American Family Children’s Hospital. We hope to see you there!!!  Click here for all the details.

John Becomes a Real Horseman- He Falls Off!

John and Tammy on 96.3 Star Country discuss John’s fall on the air. John is in training with Andi Bill at Hoofer Equestrian Center preparing for ARIAT Jumping with the Stars! at the Midwest Horse Fair at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison on Sunday, April 18th at 12:30!

John and Andi Jumping into Spring!

What could be better than a ride outdoors on a gorgeous day? JUMPING outdoors on a gorgeous day! John Flint of 96.3 Star Country in Madison  is having the time of his life lessoning with Andi Bill at Hoofer Riding Club preparing for ARIAT Jumping with the Stars! at the Midwest Horse Fair. You go John!

Trainer Spotlight: Andrea Bill

Andrea Bill

Andrea Bill’s first “outing” as a two-week old baby was to a horse show. Later, Andrea did a lot of leadline, both in and out of the show ring. Her first real teacher was an elderly and very small pony named “Tiny”. Andrea competed at Pony Finals every year from 1986 through 1995. At Mount Holyoke College, she successfully competed in Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association and rode as an alternate on the United States Intercollegiate team in Luxembourg and Malmo, Sweden. Andrea was chef d’equipe for the winning American team in 1999 and was captain of the Mount Holyoke team in her junior and senior years. After graduating from Mount Holyoke in 2001 with a double major in Latin and Physics, she pressed on to earn her civil engineering degree from University of Massachusetts while serving as assistant coach of the Mount Holyoke team.

Andi Bill wearing her other hat.

Andrea moved to Madison in 2004, entered the graduate program in the Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin and immediately searched for a way to ride and teach. She started teaching at Hoofer Equestrian Center in 2005, was Hoofer Riding Club President for two years and currently holds the position of Head of Instruction.

Hoofers is a unique organization. It is completely student run and adheres to all the regulations of the University of Wisconsin. It is open to students and the general public for lessons and boarding and serves as home to the University of Wisconsin Intercollegiate Equestrian Team. There are around sixty horses at the facility and nearly a hundred students in the lesson program.

Andi is the Traffic Safety Engineering Program Manager at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Wisconsin and Head of Instruction at Hoofers and somehow finds time to work on her Ph.D. She is teamed with John Flint from John and Tammy on Star Country 96.3 for Ariat Jumping with the Stars!

John Ride On!

John, Bailey and Andi.

John Flint, from John and Tammy on 96.3 Star Country , was nervous for his first lesson. He did not know what to expect. John has never been on a horse. He is answering a challenge posed by Olympic Gold Medalist speed skater, Casey FitzRandolph,on the air to compete at the Midwest Horse Fair in Ariat Jumping with the Stars! on April 18th.

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John on the lunge line.

Andi Bill, Head Instructor at Hoofer Equestrian Center is the perfect coach to take him from a complete non-rider to a confident competitor. Bailey is John’s ideal equine partner to support the effort. Bailey is an aged Holsteiner gelding that belongs to Andi. She competed him  to great success in his younger days. Now he focuses on teaching. He is kind, quiet and intelligent, an excellent match for John.

Everyone starts on the lunge so they can learn about body position, balance and rhythm before moving on to control. John has a natural relaxed way of moving with the horse. He was amazingly quick to get the posting trot. There was quite a bit of activity at Hoofers during John’s lesson.

Off the lunge line!

Everyone watching the lesson remarked on John’s natural abilities. John not only looks great in his Ariat outfit and Troxel helmet, he is definitely a contender! This is no sausage boy! Look out Ariat Jumping with the Stars competitors! John could be really good at this sport. Andi took John and Bailey off the lunge and they worked on steering and control. Well done!

A successful first lesson!

After the lesson, John gave Bailey some well-deserved candy canes and remarked, “I had no idea it would be this much fun!”