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Face Up Training & Colt Starting

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United States
New Freedom, PA
Face Up Training & Colt Starting

Alyssa Dietrich is a Lyons Legacy Certified Trainer specializing in foundational horsemanship.

03/24/2026

The potato harvest is bountiful this year 🙌🥔

We spent the entire winter growing this field of potatoes... I mean geldings (and stallion)

03/23/2026

Editing to add this because I don't think I explained my point well enough:
1. My entire point is that there is no "good" reason not to wear a helmet and I will never try to pretend there is. I make the personal choice not to wear one sometimes and others are free to do the same without risk of shaming. I will NEVER intentionally discourage someone from wearing a helmet if they want to.
2. Helmets can and have prevented major injury, but they will not protect you from everything and I feel many riders need to be more conscious of this. There are more vital parts of the body than just the head (ie the spine, internal organs, etc) and we risk those parts every time we step into the stirrup, with or without a helmet.

I have been asked a few times recently why I don't always wear a helmet when I ride.

The short answer: I just don't feel like it.

There is no good reason. There is no excuse. I simply choose not to wear one with full knowledge of potential consequences. Sometimes it is cold and I don't feel like taking off my nice warm knitted beanie. Sometimes it is hot and I prefer to feel the wind in my hair. Sometimes I just don't feel like grabbing it out of my tack locker.

Lame, right?

I have seen posts in the past claiming that people only wear helmets as an excuse to ride horses beyond their level or horses they have no business riding. I read a lot of nonsense on the internet, but those posts definitely score within the top ten of the most ridiculous. I've heard a lot of outlandish reasons someone believes they are capable of riding a horse above their scope of practice, but the magical properties of a helmet has never been one.

A helmet is a tool.

It is a tool just like a crop, a spur, a saddle, a bit, so on and so forth. It is a tool someone can choose to use or not to use for whatever reason they see fit so long as they are making an informed decision (which is why I still require helmets for anyone under the age of 18 at my barn).

Like any tool, I think helmets can be abused. I still don't believe people use helmets as an excuse to ride horses they have no business on, but if you peel back the layers of that argument, you will definitely find people who rely too heavily on helmets. In other words, they think the helmet is the ultimate tool to save them from serious injury.

In my time with horses, I have had three major "wrecks" that resulted in significant injury.
1. Fractured L1 vertebrae
2. Partially torn rotator cuff
3. Fractured mandible + possible umbilical hernia

I was wearing a helmet in all three of these wrecks and a helmet did nothing to save me from these injuries.

The helmet protects a very small fraction of your body. A very important fraction, but a small fraction nonetheless. It is important to remember that no matter how many pieces of safety gear you put on, injuries can still occur because riding horses is dangerous.

I wear a helmet when riding other people's horses. I wear a helmet while jumping. I wear a helmet while riding horses I deem more likely to choose shenanigans. I wear a helmet while partaking in activities that I deem higher risk while also knowing that accidents happen during the most mundane activities, too.

Safety gear is a fantastic thing. I will never tell someone NOT to wear a piece of equipment meant to keep them safe, but reliance on those tools leads to complacency and complacency leads to injury. Horses buck, horses spook, horses bolt, horses trip, slip, and fall. It is the responsibility of the rider to stay alert and aware.

I don't always wear a helmet because I choose not to. Every other rider is free to choose what they want to wear knowing the potential consequences 🤷

03/20/2026

It's the first day of spring, y'all! 🎉🌱💐🌷

Today brought some much needed warmer weather after a particularly brutal winter. I revoked Irish's pasture-pet status and brought him back into work to celebrate the first day of spring. Irish decided to remove his own shoe back in January and take half his hoof with it (see first picture). He has since been adjusting to barefoot life and even though his feet aren't quite back to 100% the warm weather and soft ring were too good to be ignored!

Did you celebrate the first day of spring with a ride on your horse today?

03/15/2026

✨ Now accepting training contracts beginning in May ✨

I am currently booked through April so now is the time to get on the wait-list for availability beginning in May!

I am not accepting c**t starting at this time due to pre-scheduled events that would interrupt that timeline, though I am willing to discuss starting horses that already have a solid ground work foundation. I am accepting all of the following:
💜 Tune up rides and show season prep
🩵 Track restarts/time off restarts
💜 Basic problem solving/evaluation
🩵 Baby board
💜 Consignment

First week's payment is due with contract as a non-refundable deposit to hold your spot. These training spaces fill quickly, especially as the weather becomes nicer. Do not wait! I only take a limited number of training horses at any given time.

Please message the page or Alyssa Dietrich for more information or to reserve your spot.

03/13/2026

Schedule changes and overall expansion mean I am on the hunt for an employee (or employees) to fill a couple of positions:
✨ Sat/Sun evening feeding
✨ Tues/Thurs evening feeding

I am willing to discuss reduced board or lessons with the right candidate. Otherwise these are paid positions.

Evening feeding takes roughly an hour or less and includes the following duties:
💜 Feeding
🩵 Bringing in/Turning out
💜 Filling/Dumping water buckets
🩵 Picking stalls (in summer)

Candidates MUST be 18+ and have ample horse experience. This is a large training operation with young horses and a stallion. Attention to detail and professionalism are required with safety and efficiency being of utmost importance.

Interested candidates may message the page or Alyssa Dietrich for further information and to apply.

03/09/2026

We are finally pulling out of the horse show hangover!

It was a wonderful 4 days sharing the love of mustangs and fjords at the Horse World Expo. We were able to talk to thousands of people about mustangs and the need for homes. 75,000 mustangs are currently in holding waiting to be adopted and it is our mission to help match them to their perfect families.

We enjoyed hearing stories from people who already adopted and we loved helping others who are interested in the process. Pocket, Nøkk, and Bodhi were wonderful ambassadors alongside several other mustangs and even a couple b***os from Crossroads Ranch, Hearts Stables, and Strides.

A special thank you to Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals who provided hats and bags to sell at the booth. All proceeds will go toward a special prize at the Devil's Garden Mustang Challenge hosted later this year by Gentled Hearts Stables!

Please enjoy these pictures taken throughout the weekend! More will be added later. Did you capture any pictures or videos of the mustangs and fjords? Please share them in the comments! We would love to see the weekend through your eyes!

03/07/2026

Day Two of the Horse World Expo was another success!

All of the horses are handling the busy environment very well. We are expecting a huge turn out tomorrow and we are excited to continue sharing our love for mustangs and fjords!

03/06/2026

Day One of the Horse World Expo was a success!

All of the horses were on their best behavior. It was a great day of telling everyone about mustangs. The horses are settled in for the night after enjoying a dinner of soaked alfalfa cubes.

We will be here all weekend! Stop by the booth to meet the mustangs and Oslo the fjord stallion!

03/05/2026

We are all settled in at the Horse World Expo in Harrisburg, PA!

Come see the mustangs and Oslo on Breed Row! They are all tucked in with their REM masks to help them sleep under the lights and tomorrow we kick off Day One!

03/01/2026

It's Wild Horse and B***o Week! 🎉

Here at FUT, we have a passion for America's mustangs and b***os. I began training mustangs in 2019 with the adoption of Pocket, a mustang mare from Devil's Garden HMA in California. Since then, I have trained many other mustangs both for myself and for others. I currently have four here at the farm. Curious to learn more about mustangs? Come see us March 5-8 at the Horse World Expo in Harrisburg, PA! We will be on Breed Row and partaking in the Parade of Breeds!

DG Pocketful of Sunshine
Pocket was my first mustang. I adopted her as a yearling and trained her all the way up to where she is now. Pocket rides both English and western. She has competed in the hunters, she performs ranch and reining maneuvers, she jumps cross country, and she will trail ride anywhere. She has traveled across the country with me and helped me achieve my trainers certification in Colorado in 2021. She is well known in the local show circuit and I'm pretty sure people get more excited to see her than they do to see me 🤷

DG Nøkkturne
Nøkk is a 14 year old gelding from Devil's Garden HMA. He spent approximately 10 years in the wild as a stallion. He also completed the trainer's certification with me in Colorado. I adopted him in February of 2021. Two weeks after he arrived from California, before I could even touch him, he loaded up and headed to Colorado with me. In the 6 weeks we were there, he went from completely feral to riding walk, trot, and canter. He is the gentlest soul you will ever meet. He babysits weanlings and yearlings and is also my fiance's trail mount.

DG Bodacious
Bodhi is an 18 year old gelding from Devil's Garden HMA. He spent approximately 15 years in the wild as a stallion. I adopted him because I wanted a cremello and he was the first male cremello that had been rounded up since I started following the Devil's Garden horses. Due to his age, I never pushed to saddle break him. He lives his best life in retirement babysitting weanlings and yearlings. He will humor me and let me climb on his back just for fun. Though not as friendly as Nøkk, he is still a gentle soul and he loves scratches on his withers!

AV Draco
Draco is my up and coming pony hunter project. He is 10 years old from the Antelope Valley HMA in Nevada. I have not had Draco long, but I am very impressed by his level-headed personality and pictures do not do justice to just how stunning he is in person. He is already trained to ride, though his training has purely been western. I plan to switch him over to English and compete him in the green pony division this spring and summer. He will be available for sale... As long as I don't fall in love with him 🫣

Do you have a mustang or b***o? Show them off in the comments and tell us what you do with them! Let's see all those wild to mild beauties!

🔴 Anti-round up comments will be deleted. This is a pro BLM/USFS page that supports the appropriate and humane management of mustangs 🔴

02/22/2026

Last night, we lost a founding member of the Face Up family.

Cirrus was one of my original barn cats who joined the team in 2023 when I first moved up to New Freedom. We actually just celebrated her "Gotcha Day" last week. Cirrus was deemed unadoptable at the humane society due to aggressive tendencies and was placed on the euthanasia list. She came to the barn along with Citrus for a chance at a different and better life. Don't get me wrong, Cirrus could still be a b!+©h when she wanted to be, but I was blessed to also see the soft side emerge when she found her true calling as a barn cat. She learned to take (most of) her aggression out on the rodent population rather than humans.

It was a freak, unavoidable accident that was unfortunately too severe to fix. The decision was made to humanely euthanize her. Thank you to Mason Dixon Emergency Vet for their wonderful care of Cirrus. Please enjoy these many pictures of Cirrus through the years at the farm she loved so much 💜🩵🌈

02/15/2026

This is one of my favorite exercises to work on, especially because it can be done no matter the weather (ie, it doesn't take much room and can even be done inside a barn). It can also be done both on the ground and under saddle!

A well-trained horse should be able to move all portions of their body independently. In my training, I divide the body into three main portions: head/neck, shoulders, and haunches. An argument can be made that the ribs/midsection make up a fourth portion, but for the sake of simplicity we will say three right now.

This exercise requires only two poles placed at a 90° angle. If you are doing this exercise on the ground, a dressage whip, lunge whip, or training stick is helpful. My preference is a dressage whip. Your horse should also have a general idea of how to side pass, yield the shoulders, and yield the haunches. These three maneuvers can typically be taught in 30 minutes or less.

Depending on the placement of your horse, you can work on all three of these maneuvers with the poles as visual guidelines. The exercise helps horses with softness, responsiveness, and timeliness. The third is what Pocket (video below) struggles with. She is soft and responsive, but she has trouble transitioning from one maneuver to the next because she continues a maneuver even after I take pressure away to tell her to stop. You see a little of this while she side passes right and nearly steps right over the pole. I move her back left to place her where I want her.

This exercise slows Pocket down so that she learns to listen to my cues rather than anticipating and overachieving. If you practice this exercise correctly at home, I guarantee you will see a noticeable difference in your horse within a short amount of time!

Address

3244 W Sieling Road
New Freedom, PA
17349

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+14434178075

Website

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