About Us
The October Hill Farm Mission
October Hill Farm’s mission is to provide a superior full-service experience for the jumper rider. Whether you are looking to invest in a young prospect with superb bloodlines, need a new equine partner that has potential to go to the highest levels of sport, or require outstanding training, management and care of your treasured and valuable sporthorse athlete, you will find it all at October Hill Farm.
Who We Are
October Hill Farm is the realized dream of sisters Wendy Gerrish and Erin Davis Heineking, who started riding as children and committed themselves to the development of a top-quality horse breeding and training facility as adults. Established in 1998, our facility now houses over sixty horses and provides boarding, training and showing services along with sales of top quality warmbloods for the jumping sports. With the addition of our new head trainer Christian Heineking, October Hill Farm has become the premier training center in North Texas.
The October Hill Farm Difference
October Hill Farm stands out as offering the best options when you are shopping for a new horse. Our focus is on pedigrees that produce results, and we spare little when it comes to achieving our goals. We breed and import for high level performance, thus considerable resources have been put into both our facilities and our horses, including a spacious indoor with state-of-the-art footing, top-notch veterinary and farrier services, improvement and upgrade programs which add value to your experience, and quality training from a vastly experienced and well-organized staff.
From Ponies to Grand Prix and Beyond
The story of October Hill Farm goes back many years, when sisters Wendy Davis Gerrish and Erin Davis Heineking, both riders from childhood, opened the farm together to breed, raise and train exceptional sporthorses for the jumper ring. Wendy retired from the A/O hunter ring after achieving a personal goal to ride in the National Horse Show in 1998, and is the president and general manager of October Hill Farm. Erin graduated from ponies and hunters to junior jumpers, gaining experience in the Young Riders classes and moving on to Grand Prix level events by the time she was 21. After stepping back from teaching more recently, she has reclaimed her amateur status and, along with her new husband Christian Heineking, is focused on the successful development of our farm’s young prospects. Christian Heineking has become not only our new head trainer but a new family member, upon his marriage to Erin in 2013. Raised on horses in his native Mecklenburg, Christian now brings his considerable success and experience as Head Trainer at our fabulous facility.
Top Stallions, Mares, and the Breeding Program
The October Hill Farm breeding program started with the purchase of the Holsteiner stallion Lordship in 1999 and grew over time to stand some of the greatest sporthorse stallions in North America, including Mezcalero, Cascani, and the Thoroughbred jumping sensation Coconut Grove. Our breeding program has produced some top competitors, including Grand Prix level jumpers, a Young Event Horse champion, several YJC finals participants, numerous successful amateur horses, approved stallions, and others that you can read about on the Superstars section of our website. We are now welcoming our third and fourth generation foals through mare lines that we have developed based on our extensive knowledge of the demands of equine sports and which have grown out of pedigrees which include some of the most admired stallions in sporthorse breeding: Corrado, Contender, Cornet Obolensky, Stakkato, Casall, Argentinus, Lavall I, and many others. In addition, over the past decade we have developed a breeding program in Germany which allows us to take advantage of the vast stallion options that are not available within the United States.
Where We Live
Our facility sits on over 200 acres of rolling fields overlooking the Clear Fork of the Trinity River and includes stabling in custom-built stalls for fifty horses, a 27,000 square foot arena with ESI international competition-grade footing over an in-floor watering system designed by Bacher Products of Germany, safe and ample daily turnout, well-planned and thoughtful barn designs, and around the clock on-site staff. Our services include full board and training for horse and rider, mare management, young prospect evaluation and development, and most importantly, sale of top-quality sporthorses.