Dunham Woods Farm moves horse riding business to Plato Township

PLATO TOWNSHIP – After 40 years of teaching young riders and training young horses, Dunham Woods Farm Inc. recently moved from its previous location in Wayne to a larger facility at 9N755 Nesler Road in Plato Township near Elgin.

“It was formerly an appaloosa breeding farm in the 1980s,” co-owner Michele Muenzenmay said. “We’ll probably have an open house at the end of August.”

Michele Muenzenmay said she and her late husband, Bill, started the business, and now her daughter, Rose, is her partner in running it.

“It will continue to provide the best instruction and horse care in the area,” Michele Muenzenmay said. “We also board and train and sell and buy horses. What I enjoy doing is developing young riders and starting young horses. They all learn to jump.”

Dunham Woods provides lessons for all levels of riders and hosts riding clinics, a horse show team and horse camps.

“Our philosophy is: Instruction based on tradition and looking to the future,” Rose Muenzenmay wrote in an email.

The new location is more spacious with 30 acres and 12 pastures for horses, Michele Muenzenmay said.

“It’s a very horse-friendly atmosphere,” Michele Muenzenmay said.

Michele Muenzenmay said she could not count how many people she taught to ride.

But one of those who began at Dunham Woods was Chris Kappler from St. Charles, who won a silver medal in individual jumping at the 2004 Olympics and a gold medal with the U.S. team in team jumping, she said.

Information is available by calling 847-628-6339 or by visiting www.dunhamwoodsfarm.com.