About Us

Halcyon Acres is all about perceptive and honest communication. Whether it involves building a rapport and an allegiance with the horses that come here to start a first career or find a new one, the owners we deal with or the potential buyers of equines we get excited about, we pride ourselves in being forthright and responsive to individualized concerns and issues. We carefully select the people and the horses we work with – opting for excellence over volume. If you are focused on finding a fastidious solution to your challenge, we may be a great resource for you. If there is someone better for what you need, we’ll let you know and offer an alternative provider.  

Halcyon Acres isn’t about breaking, training or selling in the traditional sense. We don’t break horses here, we guide equines through lessons that bolster self-confidence and trust in their rider. This individualized and tailored attention results in mounts that are eager to please, confident and responsive to various aids and requests (Helping Young Horses Become Great Performers). Training here generally involves starting horses under saddle or reprogramming bad starts in a patient, customized manner (Turning Scared Horses )(Turning Mean Horses). On the sales side, we don’t focus on sales volume, but instead, carefully screen each mount and prospective buyer to ensure it’s an ideal match – prior to putting the two together for a test ride. Our approach saves time, money and a lot of frustration for those who have learned it pays to do it right the first time. We’re also very selective about our associates, ensuring they are honest, knowledgeable and customer-focused prior to introducing you to them, their stock, or their connections.  

Our national and international network of carefully selected professionals on the Irish Draught/Sport Horse front enables us to locate the information or equines you seek with the confidence that you will be thrilled with what we help you find.  

We also work with carefully selected Thoroughbreds that are vetted for a kind nature, soundness, talent and conformation. These horses come to the farm for enhanced training in dressage, stable manners, trail readiness and, when appropriate, jumping training prior to being recommended to buyers.

We are determined to help turn your Irish and Thoroughbred challenges into exciting solutions.

What others are saying:

“Nanette is one of the best when it comes to dealing with problem horses. Over the years, she’s done a great job with starting horses under saddle for my stable, but her talent for transforming bad behaving horses really sets her apart. ”

Mike Ferraro, Sr., Leading Trainer at Fingers Lakes Race Track for 18 years

“Nanette has worked with a lot of my problem horses over the years and has transformed cheap, difficult horses into competitive, pleasant and impressive winners. I’ve had a number of troubled horses and she’s done an excellent job with straightening out their minds.  Her patience and ability to pinpoint horse personality issues as well as soundness concerns and solutions has turned nervous and cantankerous horses into eager pleasers and valuable runners.”   

Linda Foster, Thoroughbred owner and trainer

“Figuring out how to handle difficult young horses and fixing the problems is something Nanette does very well. I appreciate being able to draw on her skills and experience with the young stock in our stable and feel very fortunate to have her working with my horses.”

Donna Beretta, Trainer, Star Track Farms

“I have been very happy with all our young horses that have been started at Halcyon Acres. They are taught to do the things they are supposed to do and come to the racetrack ready to handle any the challenges and tasks required and requested. Even with horses that are irate or miserable, Nanette sticks with them where others give up – and succeeds in bringing them around.”   

Debra Breed, Trainer, Finger Lakes Race Track

“We’ve used Halcyon Acres for a variety of horse issues. Their creative approach to all  sorts of problems has provided pleasantly surprising results. From babies who have never seen tack to horses already running, but missing the mark, we’ve been consistently pleased with the quiet and cooperative attitudes of these horses when they arrive at the track. We even had a horrible stumbler that was put into dressage training and introduced to the hills at the farm for strength training, which corrected his carriage and eliminated the issue.”  

Marialice Coffey, Trainer, Belmont Race Track

“It was a lot of fun working with Nanette and Halcyon Acres. Looking back, it was pretty amazing that some of the horses we dealt with even made it through the breaking process, let alone to the races. Yet, we did a lot better than we should have because of the time, effort and patience Nanette provided. Many of my young horses, and those of my owners, were started under saddle at Halcyon Acres’ farm. We used their talent at the track too. Nanette’s ability to pinpoint soundness issues and communicate them back to me really made a huge difference in our stable’s winning performance, and this is a rare talent to find. Nanette always does whatever she can to get the most out of racing stock and help make winners out of whatever cases she’s presented with. We worked well together for many wins that were pretty surprising, at least to others.”

Herb Davenport, Finger Lakes Race Track, Retired Trainer