How We Started

Becoming a B&B with horseback riding…

Family in 1870s barnFirst Farm Inn bed and breakfast opened in 1998, a few months after hosts Jen Warner & Dana Kisor moved to the rolling green hills of northern Kentucky with their toddler. Moving near Cincinnati put the little family closer to both sets of grandparents than Decatur, IL where Dana & Jen met. Raised on a farm in northern Indiana, Jen wanted Ty to grow up on a farm with horses. Dana’s family is from upriver, West Portsmouth, Ohio.

Give-Aways

Bringing home a sweet Appaloosa gelding she’d raised 12 years before in Kentucky was a major goal.  To find a friend for him, Jen began taking in give-away horses.  The first was a Thoroughbred placed by the newly formed rescue called ReRun, now a nation-wide organization devoted to finding lifetime homes for off-the-track Thoroughbreds who had often been sent to slaughter.

Soon a teen-aged Thoroughbred who had a county-wide reputation for being dangerous (unknown to Jen until years later), an aging Arab show horse who was never top in the winnings, and a crabby little pony mare joined the tiny herd of cast offs.

Care and Compassion

Horseback riders start in the First Farm Inn riding arena to develop confidence. With healthy diets, care, kindness and consistency, the horses became calm, friendly, and willing. Like horsewomen the world over, as her knowledge increased, her passion grew focused on helping others learn to ride in balance and care appropriately for horses.

When bed and breakfast guests saw the horses, they asked to ride, assuring Jen they knew how.  She saw how well-meaning, animal-loving, thoughtful people rode — throwing their horse out of balance and not thinking about how they were communicating with him. So, Jen began learning how to help riders connect safely and comfortably with horses.

A Professional Horsewoman is Made

Never intending to teach riding, but having ridden — primarily bareback on untrained horses since the age of seven — Jen began attending seminars, taking lessons in various disciplines, reading, and researching horses and riding.  Since then, observing thousands of riders and caring for dozens of horses has given Jen a truly in-depth foundation on horse care, horse behavior, horsemanship and horseback riding.

Teaching a more enlightened centered riding style and good, basic, balanced horsemanship is designed to educate First Farm Inn riders about safety and make their interactions with every equine they encounter henceforth a more pleasant experience for horse and human alike!

2022 Carolyn Frias: Horse Trainer and Manager

Rider on ThoroughbredCarolyn Frias joined First Farm Inn as horse manager and trainer in 2022. A Certified Professional Dog Trainer, she began riding at the age of five, attending Vermont camps and working with ponies and horses before becoming a counselor and teaching. Committed to safety, kindness and natural horse care, Carolyn’s calm and encouraging teaching style is very similar to Jen’s.

A lover of animals of all species, Carolyn’s menagerie now includes fourBay horse getting a bath dogs (primarily rescues), a young Thoroughbred mare in training, two dwarf/pygmy goats, a white belted Nubian and a Nigerian Dwarf goat.