The Biggest Year Yet at Willow Creek Farm
Willow Creek Farm’s student horse shows began in 2023, and 2025 marks their biggest to date! All photos are from the 2025 show, courtesy of Willow Creek Farm.
“Love what you do and do what you love. Passion is the key that opens the door to joy and abundance.” — David Cuschieri.
By Delores Kuhlwein
“It’s difficult to bring newcomers into the horse industry” is the statement we often hear that niggles our ears and our minds.
But time after time, we have been gifted with gems of success stories about those who are making headway toward opening doors for others by immersing them in the industry. And along the way, they’ve found they are living their own dreams.
Take Chayna DeNicolo-Petrocci and Lucas Petrocci of Willow Creek Farm in Sycamore, Illinois, for instance.
Chayna, an AQHA Amateur for the past 20-plus years, and her husband, Lucas, bought their family’s boarding barn, deemed Willow Creek Farm, about seven years ago.
“At the time I was teaching elementary school,” explains Chayna. “I hired instructors, and the barn began offering lessons to the public three years ago during Covid.”
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- The lesson program is so strong at Willow Creek Farm, they have a waiting list.
Fast forward to today, they’ve found they have grown to 60 lessons strong a week, Chayna says, with three instructors and a waiting list, and “nearly 95% of our program is or were beginner riders that we started.”
She owns and manages the farm, as well as the lesson business, and she handles everything from customer tours, to scheduling, and advertising. Chayna utilized her teaching degree to write a leveled riding curriculum, “so that riders and families can better understand the depth of knowledge and skill it takes to become a true horseman/woman!” she exclaims.
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- Walk Trot exhibitors at the most recent show.
Program Rewards Reaped
So Chayna decided to host their first-ever student horse show on June 25, 2023, to let the students show their stuff. To help make it happen, they sold 50/50 raffle tickets at $25 a ticket, or 5 for $100, in which the winner takes half the pot and did not have to be present to win.
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- Riders of all ages join the fun at the student horse show each year.
The idea was to raise money for t-shirts, awards, ribbons, trophies, and to replace worn out lesson tack. They also were fundraising for their scholarship fund, which sponsors families and riders who have fallen on hard times.
“My only hope was to raise as many funds as we could for our riders, their first show experience, and everything in between! I hate to turn families away that have been loyal riders in our program due to financial reasons.”
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- Willow Creek never forgets to include fun into their show lineup!
How did the fundraising and the show go, one might ask?
It was a wild success – 30 of their 60 riders participated, from ages five to 40 years old, and it was the first show experience for many, with flat classes, pattern classes, and a fun class.
Here’s the coverage of that first show in 2023 on The Equine Chronicle website:
Making a Splash at Willow Creek Farm | Equine Chronicle
In 2025 – Bigger and Better Than Ever
As one might guess, the program has continued to grow, as has the horse show! “Each year I host a student horse show, and this was our biggest year yet!” Chayna reports as of August 2025. Below you’ll find more photos of that wildly successful show!
For more information on the Willow Creek Farm program, visit https://www.facebook.com/WillowCreekFarmEquines
