Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Farm, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Bicyclists, BraveHearts, Commercial Horse Boarding, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Equestrian Commission, Financial Statements, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Massbach Hounds, Open Meetings Act, Organizations, Overhead, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Taxes, Transparency, Unions, Village Government on October 8, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board/Riding Club of Barrington Hills will hold their monthly meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 6:00 PM. Some topics on their agenda include:
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Aunt Blabby, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Big Brother, Big Red, BraveHearts, Clown Car, Countryside Elementary School, Equestrian Commission, Estate Sale, Fox River Valley Hunt, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Massbach Hounds, Open Meetings Act, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, The Other Half, Topics Of Interest, Transparency, Uncategorized, Unions, VBHPD, Well Water Quality on September 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board/Riding Club of Barrington Hills will hold their monthly meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 6:00 PM. Some topics on their agenda include:
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
Posted in Agendas, Animal Welfare, Aunt Blabby, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, BraveHearts, Conflict of interest, Countryside Elementary School, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Equestrian Commission, Ethics, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Taxes, Transparency, Unions on August 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board/Riding Club of Barrington Hills will hold their monthly meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 6:00 PM.
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
Posted in Barrington Hills Park District, Fox River Valley Hunt, FRVPC, Resident Spotlights, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Topics Of Interest on July 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Photo credit: ©Erin Gilmore Photography
Brought to you by Pony Club Week at Three Mares! From July 28–Aug 2 ,10% of all sales at Dreamers & Schemers Socks, The TackHack, and ManeJane Spur Straps go to National Youth Congress Academy of Achievement.
I just feel very lucky.
I was lucky I grew up without cell phones. I was lucky to be raised in Barrington, Illinois. I was lucky to kind of stumble into horses.
My parents grew up pretty poor—dad was from the south side of Chicago, mom from upstate New York. They were both animal lovers. My dad had a dream to one day have a little land and a tractor. My mom dreamed of being a veterinarian. Vet school wasn’t a reality for her so became a biology teacher instead, but they did get the land. They bought five raw acres in Barrington Hills just outside Chicago before it became anything huge and built the farm.
Horses weren’t really part of the plan. We got into them because I used to suck my thumb. True story.
I was in kindergarten and my dad said “You can have one thing, whatever you want, as long as you quit, but you have to completely quit today.” I think he thought I was going to ask for a Barbie doll. But I had ridden a pony that day for the first time, so that’s what I asked for.
My parents bought the neighbour’s pony for $15.
Her name was Marshmallow. We really didn’t know much about taking care of horses. Some of my early rides, it was my brother at one end of the pasture, my mom at the other end with a grain bucket or carrots, and the pony would run back and forth. So, when I say we didn’t know much, we really didn’t know much.
The introduction to Fox River Valley Pony Club came pretty quickly, though.
I can say with certainty that it was the Pony Club that saved the pony and us. Pony Club pretty much taught us everything. I mean, I learned how to clean a stall there.
But riding I took to really naturally. I was only five or six when we got Marshmallow. I’d already been skiing and water skiing at that point and I always feel like skiers can ride, riders can ski.
And it was just a lot of fun.
Barrington, Illinois is a very unique and special place. Obviously, the forest preserve there is extraordinary with the trail system maintained by The Riding Club of Barrington Hills. Then there was the Barrington Riding Center, which is owned by the Park District—that was the base of our Pony Club. The Fox River Valley Horse Trials and the Fox River Valley Hunt Kennels were there, so we had exposure to kind of everything.
Grassy Lakes Forest Preserve. ©Gregory C Sanders / Shutterstock
It was an awesome community to grow up in.
Read more of the Horse Network article here.
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Aunt Blabby, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, BraveHearts, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Massbach Hounds, Open Meetings Act, Organizations, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Transparency, Unions on July 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board/Riding Club of Barrington Hills will hold their monthly meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 6:00 PM.
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
Posted in Animal Welfare, Aunt Blabby, Barrington Hills Park District, BraveHearts, Commercial Horse Boarding, Cook, County, Crabtree Nature Center, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, Friends of Forest Preserves, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Spring Creek Stewards, Taxes, Unions on June 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle has nominated Adam Bianchi (pictured) to lead the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. |Courtesy of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County
By Erica Demarest | WTTW
Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle has nominated a former district ranger with the U.S. Forest Service to serve as the general superintendent of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.
Adam Bianchi has more than 17 years of experience in public land and natural resource management with the U.S. Forest Service, according to a news release.
Bianchi previously served as district ranger for the White River National Forest’s Dillon Ranger District in Colorado. The 312,000-acre site near Denver includes two congressionally designated wilderness areas, two major reservoirs, 14 campgrounds, four ski resorts and nearly 500 miles of hiking, biking and winter sports trails.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as the next General Superintendent at the Forest Preserves of Cook County,” Bianchi said in a statement. “This marks an exciting opportunity in my career dedicated to conserving forests, wildlife habitats and wetlands, while expanding access and welcoming more people to connect with their incredible public lands.”
If confirmed, Bianchi will oversee more than 70,000 acres of Cook County land that includes campgrounds, trails, boating centers, picnic groves, golf courses and aquatic centers. The Forest Preserve District of Cook County hosts hundreds of events and programs annually throughout the county and at its six nature centers.
Read more here.
Posted in Aunt Blabby, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, BraveHearts, Community Alerts, Countryside Elementary School, Daily Herald, Fox River Valley Hunt, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Look For The Union Label, Open Meetings Act, Press Release, Property Taxes, Riding Club Commission, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Unions on June 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Barrington Hills Park District, Located in Cook, Lake and McHenry Counties, Barrington Hills, IL
Please take notice that the Board of Park Commissioners of the Barrington Hills Park District has changed the time of its regular meetings. Effective July 9, the regular meetings of the Board of Park Commissioners will be held on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:00 PM.
The meetings will be held at the Riding Center, 361 Bateman Road, Barrington Hills, IL. The schedule of regular meetings for the remainder of 2025 is as follows:
July 9
August 13
September 10
October 8
November 12
December 10
This notice is provided in accordance with the requirements of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Date of Notice, July 16, 2025
Jessica Underwood,
President
Barrington Hills Park District
Contact Kim Keper, 847-783-6772, kim@bhillsparkd.org for further inquiries
Posted in Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Aunt Blabby, Barrington Hills Park District, BCFPD, Conflict of interest, Contests, Entertainment, FPDCC, FRVPC, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Resident Spotlights, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Topics Of Interest, Traffic, Unions, VBHPD, Village Government on June 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“FRVPC Horse Trials, hosted by the Fox River Valley Pony Club, are held annually at the Barrington Hills Park District Riding Center and over the adjacent Spring Creek Forest Preserve. The Fox River Valley Pony Club and the running of this event, along with the FRVPC Mini Event held annually in May, play a vital role in protecting the Spring Creek Forest Preserve and uniting the community to preserve a legacy and lifestyle unique to our area!”
Click HERE for information.
Posted in Barrington Hills Park District, BraveHearts, Capitol News Illinois, Riding Club of Barrington Hills on June 12, 2025| 1 Comment »
A measure awaiting Gov. JB Pritzker would mandate that certain insurance plans cover hippotherapy and other therapeutic horseback riding treatments. | Photo by Philippe Oursel via Unsplash
By Jade Aubrey and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) | Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD – Under a bill awaiting the governor’s signature, certain insurance plans would have to cover hippotherapy and other forms of therapeutic horseback riding in Illinois.
Hippotherapy is a type of physical, occupational and speech therapy where the movement of a horse is used to treat a patient’s specific disability or disorder. The practice is used to treat conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, strokes, head and spinal cord injuries, as well as behavioral disorders and psychiatric disorders, including PTSD.
Marita Wassman is the founder of Ride On St. Louis, a nonprofit organization that provides equine-assisted services to both children and adults in the St. Louis area. As one of five licensed certified therapeutic riding instructors at the advanced level in Missouri, Wassman’s stable has provided services to patients for over 27 years – the majority of whom she says are children needing physical or intellectual services.
A previous patient of hers was an 8-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who struggled to hold her head upright on her own for extended periods of time. After four months of treatment, Wassman said the girl’s parents reported that she was able to both sit and hold her head up for over an hour when they went out to dinner – when previously, she would rest her head on her arms for a majority of the dinner.
“If you were to go ride a horse for an hour, it could benefit you exactly the same way as if you did a powerwalk for an hour,” Wassman said. “And for people specifically who can’t get that on their own, who are in wheelchairs or even if they are ambulatory but don’t have a symmetrical movement, sitting on a horse that is nice and even is really going to help their muscles.”
Read more here.
Editorial note: “Senate Bill 69 passed the Senate unanimously in April as well as the House in late May on a vote of 78-33. It will become law if signed by Gov. JB Pritzker.”
Posted in Agendas, Algonquin Rd, Animal Welfare, Aunt Blabby, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, BH Polo Club, Big Brother, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, Equestrian Commission, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Goat Rodeo, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Lighting Ordinance, Mad Cows, Massbach Hounds, Open Meetings Act, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Transparency, Unions on June 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Hills Park District Board/Riding Club of Barrington Hills will hold their monthly meeting this evening in person and via Zoom at 6:00 PM. Some topics on their agenda include:
A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.
 | joefargo3767 on Waukegan joins school district… |
 | Partisan politics on… on 5 things to know about Illinoi… |
| joefargo3767 on 5 things to know about Illinoi… |
 | Thomas Paine on Despite widespread local oppos… |
| joefargo3767 on IRS: Illinois led nation in ra… |
 | Tomato, tomahto on Despite widespread local oppos… |
 | mXc on Despite widespread local oppos… |