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The Work We Do: Maryanne D’Auria, Foxrun Farm

Hi, I’m Maryanne D’Auria. I’m a riding instructor and the barn manager here at Foxrun Farm in Cutchogue.

We give riding lessons to children and adults, and we also give riding lessons to people with disabilities as well. We run a camp here, too.

As anyone who owns horses knows, there are plenty of chores to do. So we take care of the horses, we feed the horses and throughout the day we book riding lessons by appointment.

I’ve been teaching since I was in high school. So, we’re talking a long time. About 25 years now. I first started riding in third grade with a Girl Scout program. Next thing, I was showing horses and had a horse of my own.

I just decided in high school that I wanted to be a riding instructor.

I started doing some teaching with the supervisor of my trainer at the time, and then I started full time when I started high school. I used to compete often for many years. At this point, I’m just enjoying the horses and riding for pleasure. I have experience taking students to various Special Olympic World Games as well. I also used to work in Florida, where I was a trainer for hunters, jumpers, dressage and cross country.

Maryanne D’Auria. (Credit: Rachel Siford)

I’ve been boarding here for five and a half years and we started our lesson program in 2015.

We have students of all different levels. Basically, we work one-on-one with them. We use nice horses that are really calm and they’re great with the students.

We pick a horse that works for each student and we give them lessons based on their level of riding.

Basically, walk, trot, canter. And if they’re advanced enough, we’ll do some jumping. It depends on the student.

My favorite part is working with the horses and the people. I like introducing horses to people, too.

“The Work We Do” is a Suffolk Times multimedia project profiling workers on the North Fork. It is made possible by Peconic Landing in Greenport. See photos on Instagram @thesuffolktimes.