Instructors

Mystic Valley Hunt Club Inc
Mystic Valley Hunt Club Inc

Get to Know the Skilled Professionals at Our Equestrian Facility

Below you will find our current instructors. If you have a question, please don't hesitate to contact us!

Mystic Valley Hunt Club Inc

Sally Hinkle Russell

Owner & President

Instructor, Manager, Judge
Course Designer

Sally Hinkle Russell

Sally Hinkle Russell is the founder and President of Mystic Valley Hunt Club, Inc. Lucky enough to have a horse loving family and business minded parents, she always dreamed of sharing her passion with others. BA degrees in Business Administration and Horsemanship from VA Intermont College set her on the way.

Sally started Mystic Valley Hunt Club, Inc. in 1983 with the goal of providing a nurturing environment for horse and rider.

Her favorite personal achievements are being #1 amateur/owner jumper in the country and top 5 placings in Grand Prix show jumping.

Her proudest moment is helping students achieve their goals. Fun fact: she has her unrestricted class A tractor trailer license.

Sally has a solid equestrian foundation by working with Olympic show jumping medal winners as well as top dressage trainers.

She is a current USHJA certified trainer, USHJA committee zone 1 member, USEF licensed cross country course designer, NEHC judge, IEA judge/steward and yearly show manager of more than 15 rated shows in the varied disciplines of hunt seat, dressage, eventing, and IEA.

Sally loves to ride and teach. She is currently showing jumpers Inasina VDM and Halla S.

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Mystic Valley Hunt Club Inc

Richard G. Luckhardt

Instructor, IHSA Coach, Judge
Course Designer

Richard G. Luckhardt

Richard grew up riding in central CT with Barbara Johnson and Frank Cunningham He was a member of the Glastonbury Pony Club and rode with Jan Royce Conant. He rode at River Farms in Avon, CT and showed in the junior jumpers. He graduated from UCONN where he rode and played some polo. He was very involved with off the track TBs, retraining them for the show ring as hunters and jumpers.
After college, Richard went to work in corporate America in marketing and sales for American Airlines and Sabre Holdings. He worked in New York City, then Boston, and internationally in Canada, Europe, and Bermuda. He continued to ride and show in the amateur hunters and jumpers with Cliff Gustafson in southeastern CT. Along with showing, he spent a lot of time foxhunting and hunter pacing with the CT, MA, and NY hunts and was lucky enough to foxhunt in England and Scotland.
Richard met his wife, Priscilla, horse showing, and together, they continued to ride and raised two daughters who grew up riding and showing ponies and horses in the hunters, equitation and jumpers throughout New England.
Richard eventually left corporate America and became a professional horseman. Throughout his years as an amateur, he had been judging unrecognized horse shows. He received his NEHC and USEF judge’s cards. Today he is a USEF R judge in hunters, equitation, hunter breeding and jumpers. He is a USEF r Course Designer in Hunters and Jumpers and a Certified USEF Competition Manager. Richard has judged, course designed, and managed shows all over New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, and even Bermuda. He’s done everything from schooling through USEF A rated shows, IHSA, IEA, and Equitation Finals.
Richard is currently coach for IHSA Equestrian Team at Connecticut College and in the past, the United States Coast Guard Academy. He is President of IHSA Zone 1 Region 5, the Connecticut Region, and sits on the IHSA Board of Directors. He is a former member of the USHJA Zone 1 Hunter Committee where he served as treasurer. He is on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Hunter Jumper Association where he serves on the Standards Committee. He is a member of the National IEA Show Standards Committee. He is a professional member of the Fairfield Westchester Professional Horsemen’s Association where he serves on the USEF/USHJA Liaison Committee. He is a professional member of the New England Horsemen’s Council, and the Connecticut Horse Show Association.

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Mystic Valley Hunt Club Inc

Kirsten J. Eichelberg

Instructor, SRE Director

Kirsten J. Eichelberg

Kirsten Eichelberg has been part of the Mystic Valley family since she first started riding at the age of 8. Through the years, her passion grew and she graduated with her Bachelors Degree in Equine Business Management and Riding from Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. While there, she was a part of the JWU IHSA riding team. Closing her degree she took part in achieving her small and large bronze medals at the Westphalian Riding School in Muenster, Germany during her Study Abroad. After graduating Kirsten enjoyed managing a small privately owned facility before she joined MVHC as a riding instructor and IEA coach in 2014. She works to combine her background in hunters and equitation with the correct basic foundations of dressage. Her students develop the skills they need to enjoy a ride at home or pursue their dreams in the show ring. Kirsten teaches those of all ages and is happy to set her students up for success.

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Mystic Valley Hunt Club Inc

Deborah L. Bakoledis

Instructor, Head Show Coach

Deborah L. Bakoledis

Deb Bakoledis began riding at age 10 as a horse crazy little girl. She quickly advanced to owning and competing on the A hunter/jumper show circuit at 11 years of age. At 12, she began training a 2 year old off the race track with the help of trainer Janie Weber from Stepping Stone Farm. She competed with him in the Medal/Maclay and USET classes while he was just 4 years old. As a 6 year old they qualified for and competed at the ASPCA Maclay Finals in Madison Square Garden and at the AHSA Medal Finals in Harrisburg, PA. This was with the help of trainer, Carl Dena from M.S. Farms, Inc in Patterson, NY. Again in 1988, they qualified for the ASPCA Maclay Finals at MSG, the AHSA Medal Finals in Harrisburg and the USET finals in Gladstone, NJ. In the highly competitive decade of the 1980’s she managed to be among one of the top 30 juniors in the country. After graduating from the junior ranks, she earned an A.S. in Travel/Tourism Management from Johnson & Wales University and a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Connecticut. Upon graduation, she began working again with Carl Dena. She initially had success as an amateur owner hunter with an investment horse that was purchased as a green, off the track thoroughbred and earned the USEF zone champion award two years in a row prior to selling him as a children’s hunter. Upon turning professional, she instructed several junior and adult riders at various levels, and from green horses to more finished horses. Deb then had the opportunity to train and show Carl’s young, European hunter and jumper prospects. These horses were shown up and down the east coast from Saratoga, NY to Cape Cod, MA to Ocala, FL to Saugerties, NY. She competed with them in everything from the baby green hunters up to the Level 7 Jumpers and mini-prix with much success. All horses were later sold to top show homes. Since 2004, she has worked with young, green horses, and previously mishandled horses and has successfully finished them for the show ring. Deb has always enjoyed the process of training horses and seeing the huge progress they can make when you work with them as partners to help them succeed. She has trained students in cross rails to Medal finals, as well as pleasure riders and seeks to help her students reach attainable goals. Her focus is on proper riding skills from a strong equitation foundation, as well as a treating your four - legged partner with respect and kindness to foster a winning combination. She is married and has two children.

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Mystic Valley Hunt Club Inc

Heather D. Navarrete

Instructor, Course Designer
Head Eventing Coach

Heather D. Navarrete

Heather received her B.S. in Animal Science and Management, Equine from UC Davis in 2006 and her M.S. in Forensic Science at the Henry Lee Institute in 2008. She has successfully ridden through the Intermediate level in Eventing and was the top amateur rider at the Preliminary Level in 2009. Heather has been teaching and training for twenty years and believes in facilitating a safe and positive atmosphere where students can reach their goals. She runs her business, Invictus Eventing, out of Mystic Valley which specializes in high performance students and horses and regularly has qualified herself and her students for Area as well as National Championships. While Heather trains all types of horses, her specialty is connecting with difficult and problem horses. She is also a Certified Course Designer and trains with several Olympic caliber instructors and is committed to teaching and training horses and riders of all ages and disciplines. Heather’s own goal is to compete on the U.S.
Olympic Team.

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Mystic Valley Hunt Club Inc

Zoe N. Freese

Instructor, Assistant SRE
Dressage Coach

Zoe N. Freese

Zoe Freese has been riding and competing since the age of 5, starting on her first pony Dixie. As she grew older she started to focus her riding on dressage. By the age of 15 she started working with a dressage trainer and was officially hooked. After completing her degree in Equine Business Management Zoe continued on to managing a horse farm in Connecticut. At this farm she started driving horses competitively, giving her a new insight to the equine world.
Now as an instructor at Mystic Valley Hunt Club, Zoe focuses her time on teaching students of all ages the ins and outs of riding. She strives to help her riders gain confidence, knowledge, and strength. Zoe has a long term goal of building a competitive youth and adult dressage team.
As a competitive rider, Zoe rides and trains many different types of horses. She has been successful with retraining many horses for dressage. She also enjoys working with young green horses. Zoe is currently working towards getting her USDF bronze medal, and then will work towards her USDF silver medal.

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