Barreling along at Cold Spring Farm
By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor
Certain moments determine the rest of your life. When she was 18, Haylee Fisher remembers that she “lived in Traverse City in a super-crappy apartment with a dog while looking for a place to board my horse that I could afford.” A lady told her there was a job in Maple City at a horse farm, so she called farm manager Tom Pierson. He said, “You’re too young to watch over all of the brood mares and horses,” Haylee remembers.
It was 2001, and the Cold Spring Farm needed help throughout the year, including every winter when the owners went to Patagonia, Arizona. The next day she got a call from owner Peter Phinny’s secretary, Carol Hilton, that she should stop by to meet. Peter was impressed. “You’re awfully young,” he said, “but we’ll give you a shot.” The rest, as they say, is her-story. “Peter was so important to me — he gave me this chance — and it shaped the rest of my life. Ever since that day, I’m like the barn cat.”
Later, Molly Phinny’s son Chris Fisher was home on vacation from his bike racing pursuits in Colorado. “Why don’t you go down to the barn and meet Haylee,” Peter said. His words worked their magic again. “I was a weekend chore-girl then,” Haylee remembers. “There were 40 horses, all reining horses, so I did chores and saddled colts for Tom Pierson. It was a private facility then. For a while I was at NMC (Northwestern Michigan College) in the mornings, and out here in the afternoons.”
Haylee and Chris got married in Onekama, Haylee’s home town, on July 5, 2003. “We lived in Colorado for a while when he was racing bikes, but then he got a job teaching English at The Salisbury School, an all-boys boarding school in Connecticut. Chris won the senior class medal of honor two years in a row.” During that time the Phinnys divorced and “pieced up the farm.” The horse farm sold to Alton and Kathy Smith.
“When we moved back about 10 years ago, they were leasing out stalls a la carte,” Haylee continues. “I leased stalls and we lived on Shimek Road. I met my farm partner Rachel Rice in 2014. We later leased the barn from Alton and Kathy with about 30 horses. That’s when we really started to teach a lot and to put kids’ programs in place. Now we’re up to 34 horses. We are a three-women crew: me, Rachel, and Arielle Pasquier, who is Swiss.” Haylee and Chris took over ownership of the farm on October 31, 2019.
As you may imagine, it takes a ton of work to care for 34 horses. “You have to be a little bit stupid to do this, there is so much work!” Haylee laughs. “And I struggle with how expensive everything’s gotten. When we started, our full-service board per horse was $600/month. Now we’re up to $750, and honestly it should be more, but we love the people and don’t want to cut anybody out.”
Though it started out as a ranch for reining horses, Cold Spring Farm now focuses on barrel racing. “Chris and I love to compete,” Haylee declares. “We’ve got a house full of competitive people here.” (Their sons are Bryhn, 18, a freshman at Ferris State, and Boden, 15, a 10th grader at Glen Lake.)
Haylee is the district director of the National Barrel Horse Association (NBHA-MI02 district). An online silent auction to benefit the association and youth barrel racing begins on Feb. 23. (Click here to view the silent auction.) It’s a grassroots campaign targeting youth and beginning riders. Whether you are a top open rider or new to the sport you can be competitive in NBHA. In divisional barrel racing you can run two seconds off the fastest time and still be a divisional winner qualifying for NBHA World Finals in Perry, Georgia.
Cold Spring Farm is also a school with year-round teaching. “Rachel and I teach 40 lessons per week, and 25 of them are kids,” Haylee continues. They host 12 summer kids’ day programs to accommodate the overflow of people who want to learn to ride, with 20-25 kids/session. “Some come to all of them, and some are only here for one week every summer, but they come back every single year!” Haylee smiles. “Chris and I are so happy that we get to share this place.”
