Team

A rider from a young age, Wendy Gerrish is the President and General Manager of October Hill, overseeing all facets of the farm’s daily activity as well as our sporthorse breeding program. A rider from a very young age, Wendy spent many years showing in the hunter ring, earning many championships and several top ten rankings at the A/O level. A graduate of Vanderbilt University with a Masters in Liberal Arts from Texas Christian University, she resides on the farm with her family.

Nico joined our October Hill Farm team in early 2021 as an assistant rider and trainer. Like the rest of our team, he is a lifelong equestrian, having been introduced to horses at an early age by his father, an equine veterinarian, and his mother, a horse show office secretary for many national events. Prior to his arrival at October Hill, Nico gained international experience at the stables of Ludger Beerbaum in Europe.

Alex arrived at October Hill in summer of 2024 as an assistant rider and trainer following her graduation from SMU’s NCEC Championship Equestrian Team, where she was awarded multiple MVP awards. Her experience in horses started as a young rider in the equitation and hunters and quickly moved to the high performance level.  Her previous position was as assistant rider for Andre Dignelli and Heritage Farm.

Brooke joined our teaching staff in the early spring of 2022, training our intermediate level riders of all ages.  She grew up on horseback in east Texas, worked for the Brunson Farm, then held an intern position at a busy show stable in Europe before joining our team.

Raeann came to us from the University of Findlay where she was involved in the Equine Studies program. She joined our teaching staff in 2020 and provides instruction for our beginners and young riders as well as assisting with the development of our young stock.

A graduate of University of Findlay, Kayce’s degree in equine studies has been put to very good use in the daily management needs of our over 50 horses. Kayce brings sizeable organizational capabilities and communication skills to her critical role on the farm, organizing the logistics of both horses and the team to and from their show locations and squeezing in the time to teach lessons on most days. She and her husband are raising two wonderful daughters in nearby Aledo.

Marisa’s brings many years of experience as an equestrian and horse show insider to the October Hill Team.  Her experience in the industry is wide-ranging, from running horse show ingates in Wellington, to providing horse show secretarial services, to hauling horses professionally, to exercising young horses, and teaching lessons. Marisa will join our team in Tryon after she finishes working the office at HITS Lake Placid.

With a sharp eye for detail, Vivian provides business activity oversight and critical support to our busy team of traveling horses and trainers.

Tina oversees billing and payment services at October Hill, and is often the voice on the end of the line where there is a question about an invoice.  She is a part of a larger support team as part of our corporate headquarters in Fort Worth.

Visitors to October Hill Farm notice the daily handiwork of Drake Camilleri, our full time assistant head of maintenance at October Hill Farm.

James’ mechanical skills keep our equipment running and our systems nominal.