During Dressage at Devon this autumn, tribute was paid to Hilltop Farm, honoring the iconic Maryland breeding establishment as it shut down after 35 years. The property is now a real estate listing, with its future yet to be determined. As the ad states, it could remain a horse farm or be “reimagined.”
The ceremony at Devon got me reminiscing about my visit to Hilltop in 2012, when I wrote a story about it for Horse International, an article I found in my archives.
I thought readers might be interested in learning what Hilltop was like then, as well as the back story of a farm associated with so many well-known horses, and the people who crafted it into such an important facility for American breeding. The story has been edited for length, and updated in italics. Interviews done this month with two of the key players are at the end.
The dramatic view at Hilltop Farm is as beautiful as its magnificent horses, but the facility’s scenic side in a relatively rural section of Maryland is just one of many things that makes it unique, the word most often used by people describing this special property.
The raw material of what once was a rustic camp, previously a working farm, has been meticulously transformed into a 437.5-acre showplace. It runs effectively without abandoning the artistic elements contributing to an accurate overall impression of achievement.
Hilltop belongs to Jane MacElree (who is 97 in 2026).
“Wow, this is unbelievable!” she said when she got her initial look at the acreage. That exclamation still applies today, when visitors first glimpse the farm. Jane’s devotion and attention over several decades enabled Hilltop to realize a destiny as “the complete sporthorse center.”
It stands a remarkable group of stallions.
Among Hilltop’s biggest names are the Hanoverian Bugatti (Bergamon-SPS Raffinesse/Rubinstein I) and Contucci (Caprimond-Laureen/Lungau), another Hanoverian who sired Cabana Boy, winner of the 2009 U.S. Equestrian Federation Developing Horse National Championship, among other honors. (Cabana Boy sadly did not survive after a 2010 pasture accident.)
Semen collection is done on-site, and the farm ships it, as well as promoting all the stallions. Management also extends beyond the farm; Donarweiss GGF, for instance, lived at Hilltop for years, but went on to live in California.
Hilltop is about far more than breeding, however. The operation also is involved in raising spectacular foals and their training, as well as campaigning successfully at shows. In addition, Jane’s interest in helping to create “the modern sport horse” brought a variety of educational opportunities to the farm. They included the USEF’s Sporthorse Judges’ Forum and a unique “Devon Prep Program” offering in-hand training and preparation for Dressage at Devon.
As Jane modestly told me, the farm “has grown into something more special than I would have imagined when I purchased my first stallions, Cabaret and Nureyev.”
Qredit Hilltop (Quaterback-Dream Rubina/Dream of Glory) won the North American 70-day Stallion Test that ended in November 2012. (He went on to take the Grand Prix Freestyle at Dressage at Devon in 2021 with Michael Brgadell.)
It was a crowning accolade for the 2008 chestnut Oldenburg, a stunningly built specimen whose laurel wreaths already included the 2009 Dressage at Devon Grand Championship, and the champion stallion designation at the 2010 ISR/Oldenburg licensing.
Although he was not bred at Hilltop, Qredit arrived as a weanling and is a product of the farm’s training program. A member of the Hilltop family as he grew up, the relationship was formalized when the farm purchased him in 2010. He is an active breeding stallion as well as a performance horse.
“Over the last five or six years, the focus has definitely shifted more toward the competition arena again,” explained Hilltop’s general manager and breeding manager, Natalie DiBerardinis.
“One of the things Jane gets the most pleasure out of is watching her horses be developed over the years and then seeing them out showing,” she said.
The talent and goals of Director of Training Chris Hickey, who rode Brenna Kucinski’s Regent to two Pan American Games gold medals in 2007, are a good fit for what Jane wants to see her horses doing. Working alongside Chris, who arrived in 2007, is trainer Michael Bragdell, a native of Sweden employed by the farm since 1995.
The farm breeds less of its own mares each year, an average of two to four annually.
“We are really aiming for those horses to be developing horses for Chris and Michael,” said Natalie.
“If we breed a lot of babies, then the ones you most want to keep are most likely the ones that sell.”
Jane’s role involves setting the general direction of the operation and offering guidance. She keeps busy when she’s on the grounds. That means everything from picking manure out of the ring to rolling polo wraps and sweeping the aisle.
She also takes a personal interest in the staff of 24, who work just five days a week and receive health insurance, both unusual in the American horse business.
“It is a glorious spot. I really hit the jackpot,” said Jane of her farm, “but it isn’t the place that does it, it’s all the wonderful people who work there. If you don’t have the right people, it wouldn’t work.”
Cabana Boy “was the embodiment of everything we’re trying to strive for,” commented Natalie.
“He was U.S.-bred and by our stallion; a horse we developed here since he was very young.”
Patience is the byword at Hilltop, where Jane understands it takes time to make a horse.
Before coming to Hilltop, Chris said, his experience was, “you either have a nice owner or a nice farm. To have the two things — you don’t find owners like Jane who have been in it for the long haul, through the ups and downs, who continue to support the industry and breeding and education with the U.S. Dressage Federation and is a huge supporter of the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation. (Chris left Hilltop in 2014 and now runs his own facility in Wellington, Fla.)
Chris Hickey when he was Hilltop’s trainer.
Michael (who took over as director of training after Chris’s departure) shares the love of the place that runs through the staff. Formerly a jumper rider, he came to Hilltop as a working student, has been a stallion handler and also served as barn manager. He studied at the University of Delaware, got his degree in business and appreciated the chance to move up at the farm
“I worked at other places in Europe, and when I came here, I was in denial that it was the nice place it felt like,” said Michael.
“Jane is a wonderful person; she’s so down-to-earth,” he said, commenting on “the genuine team spirit that to me was such a novelty. That’s what makes the place unique.”
Michael Bragdell and Qredit Hilltop winning the 2021 freestyle at Dressage at Devon.
Hilltop’s location at the northern corner of Maryland, near Delaware and Pennsylvania has been beneficial. The wings of the 36-stall main barn are named Philadelphia, Chesapeake and Baltimore, based on the direction toward which they point.
Horses have always been a big part of Jane’s life. Her mother, Jessie Cox, was a major stockholder of Dow Jones & Co. She became one of the early supporters of the USET, a tradition Jane continues.
Mrs. Cox, a horse breeder herself, also was a director of the old American Horse Shows Association, one of the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s predecessors; a regular exhibitor at the National Horse Show, a driver (as was Jane) and a driving judge. She was the first woman asked to officiate at London’s prestigious Olympia Horse Show (Now the London International.)
Hilltop had its genesis when Ann Hill, the youngest of Jane’s children, started riding with Jill Hassler in Pennsylvania. Ann was born with spina bifida, and riding proved to be great therapy for her. She went on to compete over fences with her horses. (She died in 2019.)
Meanwhile, Jane supported the equestrian efforts of Jill’s son, Scott Hassler. She purchased her first two stallions for him to compete, and the two families worked to start a breeding and training center on the former camp property.
The Hilltop operation began in 1991. Scott’s wife, Susanne, joined the team and finished fourth in the five-year-old division of the FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Horses with Royal Prince, who still stands at Hilltop. Scott, who became the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s young horse development coach, left with his wife in 2006 to start their own operation.
“It was a great 16 years. It was a really fun project and fun memories,” said Scott.
“It was very hard to leave it; I’m very proud of everything they’re still doing.”
“Part of what makes Hilltop unique is the breadth and the different areas that it encompasses,” Natalie observed.
“It’s not that we’ve looked to excel in one area; it’s looking to excel in multiple areas and watching each of those areas develop and cross-link. We have young horses that have grown up here; the cross-link between the breeding, the raising and training is the unique component, it encompasses all those areas.”
Looking at the type of horses Hilltop produces, it’s easy to think that U.S. breeding has the potential to ascend in the horse market in a big way, providing an alternative to European buying trips. Scott notes that buying U.S. horses has become more popular.
“I think the platform of the Markel Young Horse Program has brought recognition,” he said, commenting that in its maturity, it “brought to the fore young horse training success. It’s getting promotion, it’s getting marketing, its results are in the press. That brings out the breeders. I get a lot of requests from riders who say now they’d rather buy here than Europe,” commented Scott.
“The quality is here,” Natalie asserted about U.S.-bred horses.
“The problem is accessing the quality. Geography works against us in this country. It is hard for people to go on a horse-buying trip and see a lot of horses in a concentrated area.”
The last four stallions Hilltop presented for licensing in various registries all were U.S.-bred and accepted, so horses born in the USA indeed are gaining respect.
As far as cornering a big share of the market, though, “it’s taking a little time and having the trainers who are willing to develop young horses.”
As Chris pointed out, there are many experienced high-level dressage riders and trainers in Europe, while in America, young horse trainers often are not long on experience at the highest levels and may not have developed Grand Prix horses.
“I think many American breeders haven’t been able to get their top horses with top riders and get them developed,” he said, adding some horses therefore haven’t been given a chance to excel and show what they could really do.
Chris got help from Lendon Gray and Robert Dover, and also from Morten Thomsen when that Danish trainer came to the U.S.
Morten praised the farm, saying, “I think the facilities are ideal.”
He noted that most farms in Europe are much smaller in terms of acreage, and cited the spaciousness of Hilltop’s pastures.
There are three barns at Hilltop, including one with a small indoor ring used for the youngsters, a classic three-story bank barn that dates from the 1800s for foaling, and the main barn, with its unique octagonal center area.
It makes “a fantastic place to stand up stallions for visitors, no matter what the weather,” Natalie pointed out.
The main barn is built for efficiency as well as beauty. The tack cleaning room, for instance, advantageously is next to the tack room.
When she considers what has been wrought with Hilltop, Jane realizes she could not have predicted exactly how it would turn out.
“Something like Topsy, it grew. I didn’t have plans for envisioning great things in the future. You just sort of hope for the best when you start something like that,” she said.
“I think we all want to see a legacy for Jane and Hilltop,” said Natalie.
“How best to do that, there is no easy answer. There are different options and possibilities.”
After a year’s notice about the September 2026 closing, Hilltop’s principal players have gone their separate ways.
Michael Bragdell Dressage now is based at Pond View Acres in Rising Sun, Md., 10 miles from Hilltop.
His clients from Hilltop came with him, and he lives on the farm. Michael formed syndicates for two Hilltop-bred stallions with whom he worked since they were young. Half-brothers Louisville and Denmark, who are out of a Negro mare, grew up at Hilltop where Michael began riding them when they were three.
“I really love those two stallions. They’re very talented. I’m excited they’re still with me,” said Michael, who still works with Morten Thomsen. He also gets pointers from Olivia LaGoy-Weltz, the USEF dressage assistant pathway coach.
Jane and her family gave him Qredit, the stallion he showed in hand as a weanling. Q will stand at stud with the half-brothers in the next breeding season.
Michael Bragdell and Qredit Hilltop, who is still a breeding stallion.
Natalie and Hilltop’s broodmare and young horse manager, Christa Baxter, are doing business as the Sonder Hill Sporthorse Group (sonderhillsporthorses.com). They are sharing Kynynmont farm in Conestoga, Pa., with Jessie Payne Dressage.
They moved a scaled-down version of the entire Hilltop raising department to the farm about 45 minutes away.
“It has a little Hilltop-esque feel to it, so it feels very comfortable,” said Natalie, adding they have about 30 horses. She also has her own business, breeding management and marketing stallions.
“I think breeding continues to improve in this country. The quality of the horses continues to improve,” said Natalie.
However, “our big hurdles continue to be our big hurdles. The sheer size of the country is a big challenge for the market.
The rising costs are really putting a strain on the breeding community, the horse community as a whole. It’s a real challenge right now for breeders, how sustainable is this?
“Here we have a little less layers or turnover points in the market. Breeders are holding onto horses longer. There is more and more recognition for U.S.-breds. We’re making headway; it’s just slow.”
She emphasized, “I’m really grateful that Jane and her family gave us this year (notice) to make things as smooth as we could. It still was an emotional time and tough for people, but it really gave people a chance to think about what they wanted to do and what the next step would be.
“Everybody just wants to keep focused on good memories. I think what made it so special was the opportunities Jane ended up giving to so many people. It did grow and morph and change over the years, but it did all that through people growing and changing and wanting to try new things.
“Jane was always open to that. She loved the horses. We all loved the horses. Jane’s first questions were always people driven: `Are you happy?’
