Trainers

Gitza Peterson

Gitza Peterson has been riding horses all her life. She started western but quickly converted her sister’s quarter horse to an English riding horse. Her riding experiences range from showing saddle seat, playing in polo tournaments, hunter/jumpers and dressage.

Gitza was fortunate to begin her riding under the distinguished dressager, judge, and trainer, Ms. Elizabeth Searle. The basic dressage skills she learned from Ms. Searle would overlap into Gitza’s successful Hunter/Jumper operation, One More Time, in Los Altos Hills, California. This blend of combined training practices has fostered Gitza’s philosophies and riding style. Furthermore, Gitza believes in empowering every student by teaching them not only riding skills but also giving them insight into horses’ behavior, biomechanics and problem solving.

Gitza’s horse teaching skills were sharpened when she was a lesson instructor at Fremont Hill Country Club Stables in Los Altos Hills, California. Gitza starting teaching English and Western lessons to 38 students per week and built that number to 249 students per week within 18 months. Because of the success of her lesson program she was hired as the Hunter/Jumper trainer at Fremont Hill Country Club Stables. Her students ranged from Walk/Trot to Junior Jumpers.

Realizing she wanted to further her skills as a rider and trainer, she attended Yorkshire Riding Centre in England for a year and a half. It was here that she worked with Dressage Olympians Jane Bartle-Wilson and Christopher Bartle. She studied, worked and trained toward competing and passing the British Horse Intermediate Instructors examination (1991). She then went to Shropshire, England to ride with Charlie and Carl Edwards (2000 Olympics), riding and showing show jumpers for 3 months.

When she married she moved to the Midwest where she and her husband, Edwin Peterson, built Gray Horse Farm (formally known as Mad Cow Farm). It is here that she pursues her passion of horse training and teaching Hunter/Jumpers and Dressage to individuals sharing the same passion for standards, hard work and dedication. In 2007, Gitza graduated from the USDF L program with distinction. She continues her education hosting clinics with Jane Bartle-Wilson, J.Ashton Moore, and Julie Koerner.