the Heller family, owners
The owners of Flintrock Corporation, Daniel and Jennifer Heller, are both Lancaster County natives. Dan grew up in the historic circa 1816 stone farmhouse that still stands on the center of the property. Growing up on a Lancaster County farm, he was instilled with a passion for agriculture and business at a young age, leading to what has become the Flintrock Family of Companies, including Flintrock Stables. The Heller Family owns and operates multiple businesses, including award winning organic poultry operations.
Dan and Jen are blessed to enjoy farm life with their four sons and two bernese mountain dogs. Outside of Flintrock, they enjoy spending time outdoors as a family. They are also grateful for the fantastic team of employees that works across three states at their different facilities. The Flintrock family is important to the Heller family, and that extends to Flintrock Stables. The Heller family strongly believes in fostering a respectful, friendly and welcoming community at Flintrock Stables, which the entire staff embodies as a truly essential part of Flintrock.
Vicki rowe, lesson program director, riding instructor
Vicki grew up in Massachusetts where she began riding at the age of 7. She trained with Lisa Pappalardo in Methuen, MA where she also helped to teach lessons from 2001-2004 as she worked towards and earned her MA teaching license.
Her undergraduate and graduate degrees are in music therapy from Elizabethtown College (2006) and Shenandoah University (2012) respectfully. Vicki officially moved to PA after undergrad and has worked for 14 years as a board certified music therapist. She has extensive experience working with children and adults with a range of diagnoses including Autism Spectrum, mental health disorders, and more.
Since 2019 Vicki has quite happily found her way back into horses and teaching lessons, using all of her training and experiences to best meet the individual needs of her students. She comes alive when students grasp how connection, active listening and responding to our horses allows us to more fully engage with them. She firmly believes an important part of the horsemanship process is developing solid fundamentals and building confidence at whatever pace the student needs. Training and lesson focus involves a strong bio-mechanical approach where each rider learns to listen and respond effectively.
When she isn’t at the barn, Vicki is homeschooling her two kiddos, sometimes gardening or baking or reading or crafting, or fostering a Boston terrier or…..! She currently lives in Etown with her husband Nick, their two children, Felicity and Phineas, and their rescue Boston Terrier, Banjo.
Emily White, riding instructor
Emily’s horsemanship journey began in 2019 when she found her way to Flintrock and began riding lessons. When COVID hit in 2020 and the lesson program temporarily shut down with the rest of the world, Emily spent 5+ days a week at a local Icelandic horse farm and for three years continued to grow her knowledge, learning about everyday horse care, riding, and teaching lessons with her trainer JoAnn Martin-Trostle. She showed in a variety of flat horse shows, Icelandic shows, and paperchases. She has also ridden on the Spring Rock IEA Team and rode 2 ft hunt seat.
In 2020 she returned to lessoning at Flintrock, and in 2021 her grandpa bought Emily her first horse named Honey. In 2022 her parents bought her Eldur, an Icelandic horse, and now Eldur has made his appearance in the lesson program and is Bam Bam’s pasture mate and best friend.
Emily spent three months in the summer of 2024 at Taktur Icelandic Horses with Carrie and Terral Hill and Anna Draeger. She learned so much more about riding and working with Icelandic horses, including collecting and framing high level competition horses. With some encouragement from Carrie, she bought a 6-year-old very green horse named Tónn and is now training him to hopefully compete for years to come with the goal of making the US National team! Emily also learned about liberty and bridleless work and even rode with Patrick and Avery Sullivan (aka Modern Day Horsemanship) in a clinic. She competed at Liberty with Tónn in a YELO (youth equine liberty organization) show and won high point in the youth division!
Now Emily has found a new love in teaching. She beams when students and their horses learn how to work as a team and communicate effectively. She firmly believes a huge foundation in the horsemanship process is communicating and connecting with our horses.
Emily is planning to get an associate degree in psychology at HACC then move on to a bachelor’s degree at Millersville University and hopes to move on to law school.
When she isn’t at the barn, Emily is doing schoolwork or cooking or baking something new! She currently lives in Ephrata, Pennsylvania with her mom, dad, brother, a golden retriever Sam, a black lab Daisy, 2 cats Snickers and Stormy, and a sun conure bird Becky.
Carrie Darlington, horse care manager
Carrie grew up in Downingtown, PA and has always loved animals. As a kid she took lessons at Thorncroft Equestrian Center in Malvern, PA, but even then her fascination with horses went beyond simply riding. She still remembers the kind barn manager at Thorncroft who let her follow him around as he cleaned stalls and dumped manure via wheelbarrow. Her first horse was an Appaloosa pony named Raisin who dutifully carried her on many fun trail rides.
As she got older she drifted from horses but always longed to return to them. She started volunteering at Greystone Therapeutic Riding Center as a side walker and leader, but her real love came in the horse training and barn chore opportunities. This gave her the confidence to own her own horse as an adult, and the rest is history.
Carrie has been a part of Flintrock in some capacity for over ten years. In her spare time she also is a freelance writer and designer and has written and published nine novels for kids, teens, and adults.
