About Us
Welcome to Old Orchard Farm
Located between Milton and Guelph on the First Line of Nassagaweya, Old Orchard Farm is a hunter-jumper and equitation teaching and boarding facility operated by the family of Linda Hale and George Daunt since 1987. Come visit us—we’d love to show you around!
We are an active, family-oriented barn that prides itself on developing riders as competent horsemen and horsewomen, both in the saddle and in the stable.
Our goal is to help each of our students achieve their equestrian dreams and aspirations, guiding them to be the best they can be while emphasizing fun, friendship, and sportsmanship.
Old Orchard Farm provides opportunities for riders of all ages. Some enjoy lessons with friends and a quiet hack around the surrounding farm fields or along the nearby forest trails. Others focus on serious competition on the Silver Hunter-Jumper Circuit.
For those seeking hands-on horsemanship experience, OOF offers a working student program for eligible riders. This program provides the opportunity to learn stable management and horse care in a supervised setting.
Old Orchard Farm is proud to be an OE Approved Facility Member.
Linda Hale
Linda Hale, owner of Old Orchard Farm alongside her husband George Daunt, has been a full-time trainer for over 35 years. She has guided countless students and horses to success, earning championships at every level, including top honours at the prestigious Royal Winter Fair.
Linda’s equestrian journey began in childhood, where she immersed herself in every opportunity to learn and ride. She advanced through the Canadian Pony Club system and competed in both the hunter-jumper and eventing rings. Early in her career, she gained valuable experience working with thoroughbred trainers at Woodbine Racetrack and serving as Head Instructor and Executive Director at the Central Ontario Developmental Riding Program.
After earning a degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Guelph and a brief time in that field, Linda and George purchased Old Orchard Farm in 1987. By 1989, Linda had returned full-time to training, steadily growing the farm into a cornerstone of the equestrian community in the Halton and Wellington regions. Over the decades, she has supported numerous organizations, including the Ontario University Equestrian Association through coaching, hosting, and serving as home barn for the University of Guelph team, as well as the Canadian Pony Club and Pentathlon Canada through coaching, event coordination, and hosting. She also launched and continues to run the Old Orchard Farm Schooling Show Series, which has provided opportunities for young riders for more than 30 years.
Her greatest passion lies in developing young and green horses and riders, with a special focus on retraining thoroughbreds for the hunter and jumper rings.
Linda is a Licensed Coach with Equestrian Canada. Among her career highlights is receiving the Yvonne Collard Award for outstanding contribution to the sport.
Our Facilities
Upper Barn
9 Stall Barn attached to arena with heated tack room with boarder lockers and 2 grooming/wash stalls and access to the 6 schooling barn grooming stalls.
Indoor Arena
170×80 indoor arena with smaller 80×80 warm-up/ lunging arena attached. Heated viewing lounge.
Jumps
We build our own show jumps on site so you can be sure we will always have a great selection of jumps for training!
Outdoor Rings
3 large sand rings, 1 large grass ring. Impressive selection of jumps for schooling
Lower Bank Barn
24 stall century bank barn with heated tackroom with boarder lockers and wash stall.
Hacking
116 Acres of pasture, farm fields, forest, trails and protected wetland great for hacking!
Turnout
Turnout ranges from small grass free individual paddocks to large group turnouts with lots of pasture.
Schooling Barn
For efficiency and ease of use we have dedicated tack up facilities for our riding school, though there will always be overlap!
We would like to remind everyone that while we have automated much of our registration and payment process for ease of use, we are still a small family farm business and do not have office staff. The people who are taking your registrations, scheduling the sessions and teaching the lessons are typically the same people who are mucking out stalls, feeding the horses and maintaining the property everyday or in some cases are volunteers with other full time employment. We will do our best to answer any questions you have and address any concerns, but please have patience. – OOF