What’s in a name?

All of our horses have names you may recognize. They are named after wine. Each breed registry has a different naming convention. The most common is that the horse’s name starts with the same letter as the father’s name. We have names of horses after French, Italian, US, and German wines. Since the farm's owner & trainer Joe is a big fan of French wines, most of the horses are named after French wines.  

About Clarion Farm:

Clarion Farm is a horse breeding operation in central Virginia. We are located on 64 acres, in two locations. The home farm is in Keswick, where we have our horses in training. The other location is in Gordonsville, where our broodmares and young stock are located. We also have some retirees in Gordonsville.

Our objective is to breed 160 cm jumpers. Along the way, we realized that the horses have the best knowledge of what they are capable of doing and what they enjoy doing. While was have not produced a 160 cm horse yet, we have produced and sold some nice jumpers, hunters, and dressage horses.

The publication, Breeding News, had an interesting quote in this year’s January issue, “You do not need to be the best breeder, you have to be better than you were last year” We embrace this approach and improve our game each year.

TEAM CLARION:

Joseph Melnik, Owner & trainer

Danny Mahon, Rider & trainer

Rebecca Merchanc, Groom & caretaker