About Bill Payne of Penn's Woods Stable:
I started riding in 1962. My first riding was western trail riding in the neighborhood of our family farm in western New York State.My first lessons and showing experiences were in the saddleseat style of English riding on American Saddlebred horses.My first teachers were Marvin Lane of Harmony Farm in Olean,N.Y.(he broke and did the basic training of Wing Commander when he was Earl Teater's Assistant trainer at the Dodge Stables)and Dorothy Riley, a noted Saddlebred and Arabian horse competitor and author of the Me and My Pony children's coloring books.
I became interested in the hunter-jumper style as a result of exposure to it at ASHA show that I was exhibiting Saddlebreds at. I took lessons from Joel Potter at the Brentwood Riding Center in Angelica,N.Y..While at Hamilton College in Clinton N.Y. I worked for Peggy Carpenter Evans(she was taught by Gordon Wright and Vladimir Litauer)and Edward J.Huber(mentored David Raposa).I showed at local hunter-jumper shows and recognized ASHA shows on the Syracuse PHA circuit while in highschool and college.
I opened Penn's Woods Stable in Anderson,S.C. in July 1978 and have been here since.I have been twice honored as Blue Ridge Hunter Jumper Association horseperson of the year.I've trained many champion and riders at BRHJA,Progressive Show Jumping,and USEF shows.Penn's Woods horses and riders have won many year-end honors on both the BRHJA and PSJ circuits.I coached the Anderson University IHSA team from 2000 -2007.Many IHSA regional and zone champions(on the flat and over fences)have trained at Penn's Woods Stable.
I foxhunted as a staff member with the Abbeville-McCormick County Hounds and theGreenville County Hounds of South Carolina and as a field member of several southern foxhunts.I made a number of respected foxhunting horses and introduced many riders to the sport of foxhunting.