DIANE BUTLER
Diane Butler has more than 30 years experience in the care and management of horses and farm animals.Diane has been riding since her early childhood. She spent years managing show barns, both hunter-jumper and dressage, before founding SquirrelWood Farms LLC. SquirrelWood provided exceptional rehabilitation care to sport horses following injury or surgery. This operation was the stepping stone for the Sanctuary as it exists today. Diane manages the operations and care of all of our residents. She carefully designs diets and daily care schedules for each resident.

BETH HYMAN
Beth Hyman brings a lifetime of horse experience to her role here at SquirrelWood Equine Sanctuary. As both a rider and a trainer, she provides the residents with educations in ground work and under saddle training. She is an avid polo player and an artist when not hard at work here at the Sanctuary. The daughter of a Cornell veterinarian, her education about animal health and wellbeing started early on. She works carefully with the sanctuary's veterinarians to provide care in cases of emergency or illness. and is skilled in providing on the farm management of medical cases.

LENDON GRAY
We are exceptionally blessed to have Lendon on our board. She is a well know and respected dressage trainer and competitor. She represented the US in the Olympics (1980,1988), and coached Courtney Dye-King to the Olympics. A well know and liked figure in the world of dressage, Lendon travels extensively to teach around the country. Her support of young riders and kids led to the creation of Dressage 4 Kids (D4K). She holds an annual show in NY, Lendon's Youth Dressage Festival and hosts kids from around the world to compete. Lendon has been recognized for her performance and service, receiving awards ranging from the 1989 Governor's Award from the Maine Sports Hall of Fame to the title of USPC Legend, 2004 and induction into the Sweet Briar College Sports Hall of Fame 2006.
Lendon has contributed to many publications, including Chronicle of the Horse, Dressage Today, Practical Horseman, Horse People, Equine Journal. She has written a very popular book, Lessons with Lendon, that makes dressage more accessible and understandable to all riders.

COURTNEY BUDD
Courtney is a lifelong rider and horsewoman.  She has know founders Beth Hyman and Diane Butler for more than 15 years.  She spent a number of years training with Lendon Gray at Gleneden Dressage, as well as Betsy Steiner, Courtney King Dye, and other notables. Courtney earned her undergraduate degree in English from Trinity College and her MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business and currently works in marketing for BMW of North America.
She competes in dresage through the FEI levels and manages a small training business in northern New Jersey.

JACLYN BUTERA
A hunter rider and lifelong horse enthusiast, Jacquie was an intercollegiate competitor both during her undergraduate years and as an alum.  She has served as head coach for the Manhattanville College Equestrian Team and assistant coach with the Sarah Lawrence team.  She taught beginner lessons at Fox Hill Farm in Pleasantvile and volunteers with Pegasus when time allows.  She now works and plays at Valley Pond Farm in Patterson, NY.
Jacquie earned her undergraduate degree in clinical social work at Marymount College and holds two master's degrees.  Jacquie is a certified clinical social worker and school administrator.  She has worked in independent school education for twenty years, and in her present position at Rye Country Day School, she is the Dean of Student Life and Upper School Counselor. She also has experience in family social work for Westchester County and served as the Youth Advocate in Rye for two years.

MELISSA FEIMER
Melissa has enjoyed riding and spending her time with horses since a young age and has an extensive background in animal rescue. Melissa received her B.A. in English from Fairleigh Dickinson University and currently works for Pearson Education as a manager of content production for Business Publishing. Melissa earned her PMP in 2016 and puts that to use project managing our Equine Therapy program. Melissa can often be found in the our barn handing out cookies and kisses to our sanctuary horses.