Kelley began her life with horses while attending summer camp at Camp Olympic in Rockville, MD.  After attending a couple of camp riding shows, Pat decided mother-daughter weekly riding lessons might be fun, and the rest, so they say, is history.

After graduating from St. Mary’s College with a degree in math, Kelley married high school sweetheart, Danny Williams, and began working for Ridgeview Veterinary Practice (large animal veterinarians). Working with Dr. Will Engel at the practice has helped fine-tune her horsemanship skills through the years. In addition, she continued with her riding and competing and eventually found a love of retraining young horses off the track.  That, coupled with her passion for eventing, led to her current career.

Kelley, an intermediate level event rider, is known for her absolute dedication to her horses, her students, her wonderfully supportive family and A Bit Better Farm.  Kelley and Danny are the proud parents of two boys, four year old Jona and Tate who was born in October 2006.

Kelley is a naturally gifted trainer who always seems to know what the young horses need and possesses an infinite amount of patience with them.  Over the past few years, Kelley has found incredible gratification in her teaching and coaching, and feels very strongly that she learns as much from her students as they learn from her.  She gives credit to her success as a rider and a horseman to the years of quality training she has received from some of the best in the sport of eventing, namely Boni Caldeira , Jimmy Wofford and friend and trainer, Sharon White.  In addition to the eventers who have helped her along the way, she attributes her success in the dressage to FEI dressage rider Todd Bryan who along with his wife Becky have been wonderfully supportive and have had a tremendous impact on her riding.

Kelley's Horses

Elegantly Yours (Gulliver) 1990/16.3H thoroughbred gelding by Weshaam out of  Exclusively Yours, owned by Pat Mansfield

After competing at the intermediate level, Gully is currently retired from upper level eventing and being ridden by one of Kelley's students. He is totally happy in his new role of schoolmaster.

Copper Castle (Cuffy) 1993/16.1H thoroughbred gelding by Coppabarb out of Princess Castle, bred by Susan Wantz of Copperville Farm and owned by Kelley Williams.

Cuffy is definitely the character of the barn, has a definite opinion about everything and how it should be done.  After starting his career with Kelley as a somewhat difficult partner, he really blossomed and got better with age.  His heart and his jump have made him a true competitor.

After following Gulliver and competing at the intermediate level, Cuffy is currently enjoying life with one of  Kelley’s students…..still the most opinionated horse on the farm, he thinks his new job is just perfect.  After all, he is quite sure he has a lot to teach everyone.

Brazen Bomber (Bomber) 2000/16.3H thoroughbred gelding by Bombardier out of Something Brazen.  Owned by Kelley Williams.

Bomber is currently competing at the preliminary level with intermediate in the planning stages.  In 2006 Todd Bryan did some serious tuning of his flatwork while Kelley had time off with the new baby and Bomber has come around beautifully. He is truly a lovely horse, physically and mentally.  His strength has continued to develop throughout 2007 and Kelley is very excited about this horse’s prospects for 2008…..stay tuned.

A Bit Better Farm is a dream come true for Pat. After being “horse crazy” as a child but never having the opportunity to pursue riding, she got a rather late start with horses at 40 years old.  Her developing passion has driven the creation of an enterprise based on the love of the thoroughbred. Pat feels there can be no better reward than taking these beautiful creatures, teaching them what it is to be a “horse” and giving them a new start in life in a job they enjoy. She loves every minute of it and feels blessed to be given the opportunity to be a part of these wonderful creatures.

Pat's Horses

Shall We Dance (Darby) 1988/15.1H Connemara/TB gelding, owned by Pat Mansfield

Darby is the horse every adult amateur should own. He has taught Pat from the beginning and has taken extremely good care of her right up through competing and completing a CCI* in Kentucky.

At 20 years young, Darby is currently being ridden by one of Kelley’s students and certainly loves his new job, since it really does not involve the dreaded dressage. 

From Pat:  “Moving on from “D” is incredibly difficult, although the right thing to do, but it has really made me appreciate how wonderful he is.  Having started my riding career at the ripe old age of 40, I could not have accomplished what I have without my little “wonder” pony! Darby will always be my heart!”

Play the Twist (Twist) 2001/16H Thoroughbred Gelding by Oliver’s Twist out of Marshmallow Riches, owned by Pat Mansfield

Twist was bought as a resale project at 4 years old.  He quickly became “Pat’s horse” and is learning to step into some pretty big shoes. He is a sweet, quiet, lovely horse who’s whole goal in life is to do what is asked of him. Pat and Twist are working to make the move up to training level in 2008 and we will see where life takes them from there. Thanks to tons of hours working with Todd Bryan, Twist actually enjoys dressage, is quite good at it, and has shown Pat that it can actually be incredibly rewarding. Who would have thought...?