A special thanks to a dear friend, John Dobrowoski for getting the website started!

About Us

We are a full service riding stable located on Nova Scotia's beautiful south shore. We offer semi private and private lessons on well-schooled horses in our full size indoor arena or outdoor arena when weather permits. Our main instructor Sharon Oakley has decades of experience showing with the AQHA, APHA, MBRA and 4-H. She successfully coached riders to participate and ride at a National level - Canadian Interprovincial Championships / Quebec and Ottawa. In the winter of 2015, Sharon took her horse Crystal Paganini to successfully compete at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington Florida. We can take people ages 7 and up. Stop in some time and say hello; there's always someone to chat with!



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Oakley Stables

Our Horses

Take some time to visit the ones that make it all possible! Our gorgeous horses.

Class List

For a complete updated class list for all riders please visit the link below. We also made room for some timed fun events.

Our Facilities

Take some time to look at what we have to offer!


​Upcoming Events

Annual Open Horse Show - Details TBA.

Forms and Rules

For release form and show rules please click below.

Oakley Stables arena collapses under weight of snow

An article by Kelsey Power
Two horses and their riders make a narrow escape
Dwight Neaves and Kerri Rafuse were just finishing up riding their horses at Oakley Stables in Chester Grant at 11 a.m. on February 22 when they heard a crack.

“Five minutes after that first crack, when it came down, it just blew out the sides. It was just unreal,” said Ms Rafuse a few hours after the entire arena collapsed, apparently due to strain on the roof due to snow and ice.

“You see it on the news. There have been so many stables that have collapsed and you feel for those people, and then all of the sudden it’s you and here you are. It’s incredible.”

The arena was 13 years old, and Jean Robar said nothing like that had ever happened before.

“It’s the weather that’s done all this.”

She and her niece, Crystal Oakley, have been looking after the stables while the owners of the property, James and Sharon Oakley, are in Florida showing a special horse being trained for the Olympics.

“Any time there was snow on it before, it always fell off, but we had such a large amount of snow, and then the rain made it that much heavier.”

She called 911 immediately.

The Chester Basin fire department, along with other volunteers, responded to the incident.

“They had three trucks here and they were wonderful,” said Ms Robar, adding the volunteers worked hard to clear snow from the nearby stable roof.

“They couldn’t do anything to the arena roof because it was in, but they took all the snow off the roof where the horses are because there’s hay up above too, and they didn’t want that to collapse. The main thing is to save the horses.”

There were no injuries as a result of the incident, although the horses were spooked.

“I’m just happy nobody got hurt. Everything else can be replaced,” said Shawn Hardy, an instructor at the stables.

“We’ve had a month from hell. I spent all day yesterday getting my roof cleaned off just so this wouldn’t happen to me.”

The barn currently has 13 horses, some of which are owned by boarders. The arena is used for lessons and holds horse shows in the summer. It is the owners’ main source of income.

“She works very hard at everything, and her husband works harder than any man I know,” said Ms Robar of her sister and brother-in-law.

“They will build this back, because her whole life is horses, and she takes such good care of them. She will rebuild; I know she will.”

Ms Robar will continue to keep boarders until the owners of the property return.

Mr. Neaves, along with Craig Rafuse and Cody Stevens of the Chester Basin fire department, set up makeshift supports for the arena’s remaining roof in hopes of keeping it from collapsing further towards the stables and to salvage some of the hay.

Aside from the arena, several hundred dollars’ worth of hay will be lost.

“This is just like a nightmare. I just thank God those people got out. I can’t even imagine,” said Ms Robar.

As originally published in LighthouseNOW Progress BulletinDwight Neaves and Kerri Rafuse were just finishing up riding their horses at Oakley Stables in Chester Grant at 11 a.m. on February 22 when they heard a crack.

“Five minutes after that first crack, when it came down, it just blew out the sides. It was just unreal,” said Ms Rafuse a few hours after the entire arena collapsed, apparently due to strain on the roof due to snow and ice.

“You see it on the news. There have been so many stables that have collapsed and you feel for those people, and then all of the sudden it’s you and here you are. It’s incredible.”

The arena was 13 years old, and Jean Robar said nothing like that had ever happened before.

“It’s the weather that’s done all this.”

She and her niece, Crystal Oakley, have been looking after the stables while the owners of the property, James and Sharon Oakley, are in Florida showing a special horse being trained for the Olympics.

“Any time there was snow on it before, it always fell off, but we had such a large amount of snow, and then the rain made it that much heavier.”

She called 911 immediately.

The Chester Basin fire department, along with other volunteers, responded to the incident.

“They had three trucks here and they were wonderful,” said Ms Robar, adding the volunteers worked hard to clear snow from the nearby stable roof.

“They couldn’t do anything to the arena roof because it was in, but they took all the snow off the roof where the horses are because there’s hay up above too, and they didn’t want that to collapse. The main thing is to save the horses.”

There were no injuries as a result of the incident, although the horses were spooked.

“I’m just happy nobody got hurt. Everything else can be replaced,” said Shawn Hardy, an instructor at the stables.

“We’ve had a month from hell. I spent all day yesterday getting my roof cleaned off just so this wouldn’t happen to me.”

The barn currently has 13 horses, some of which are owned by boarders. The arena is used for lessons and holds horse shows in the summer. It is the owners’ main source of income.

“She works very hard at everything, and her husband works harder than any man I know,” said Ms Robar of her sister and brother-in-law.

“They will build this back, because her whole life is horses, and she takes such good care of them. She will rebuild; I know she will.”

Ms Robar will continue to keep boarders until the owners of the property return.

Mr. Neaves, along with Craig Rafuse and Cody Stevens of the Chester Basin fire department, set up makeshift supports for the arena’s remaining roof in hopes of keeping it from collapsing further towards the stables and to salvage some of the hay.

Aside from the arena, several hundred dollars’ worth of hay will be lost.

“This is just like a nightmare. I just thank God those people got out. I can’t even imagine,” said Ms Robar.

As originally published in LighthouseNOW Progress Bulletin

No horsing around; Oakley Stables thanks the community

The memory of the winter of 2015 is still fresh in the minds of many, but perhaps no more so than to Sharon Oakley.
The roof of the arena at Oakley Stables collapsed in February 2015 after snow and ice piled up to the point of breaking. The roof has only just been replaced this spring.
And when the roof collapsed, it was the community that came to the Oakley family's aid and now they say it's time for them to give back to the volunteers that answered a call for help that dreadful winter.
"I just want people to know that we cared about them coming in," said Sharon Oakley, co-owner of the stables in Chester Grant.
That's why she's giving away free horseback riding sessions one weekend a month until September.
Like a bomb went off
Oakley was in Florida showing a horse with her husband James when her daughter called to say the roof of the arena had collapsed. Oakley's daughter and another relative were watching the stables while they were away.
The snowfall and freezing rain had finally weighed down the arena roof and after a loud crack, the roof started to give way. Two riders had just been training in the arena at the time the roof started to cave in.
"[One of the riders] is a contractor, him and [another rider] were in riding on the horses and he heard a cracking noise and him being a contractor, he knew exactly what it was and he hollered to [the other rider] 'get the horses out now,'" said Oakley. "They just got the horses out and it came down."
"It looked like a bomb went off in there, it was terrible."
After 911 was called, volunteer first responders mobilized and got up on the roofs of the nearby stables to shovel snow off of them, ensuring the stables' many horses would have a safe place to stay.
When she and James returned, Oakley says there we around 50 people at the stables to help clear out the arena from all of the debris as well.

It took some time for Oakley Stables to recover from the collapse. The roof wasn't covered by insurance and so it was only finished this past April.
The repaired arena now has a heated viewing space for the families of riders and an extra reinforced roof.
Oakley's boarders stuck by her side, even as Oakley spoke to the LighthouseNOW, a rider was inside the arena breaking in a young, curious horse, who came up to nibble at the camera as she finished her run.
As the stables were intact, the family was able to keep all of their horses as well. Oakley says if it wasn't for the people who kept the other buildings clear, that might not have been the case.
It was that kindness, as well as the help Oakley and her family received later in replacing their roof and cleaning the debris, that inspired her to give back to the community in one of the best ways she knows how - horseback rides.
"It has to be one of the best things we've ever done because to see the look on those children's faces out there, it's so wonderful," she said. "We get them up there and they've got a grin from ear to ear, it's so sweet."
She says it doesn't matter if those participating in the rides were a part of the clean up efforts or not, it's still her way to say thank you to the community as a whole.
Some have asked Oakley if she's trying to gain more business, but she says that she's full up and unable to take anymore students at this time.
Oakley says they have had around 200 people take part in the free rides since April. Her goal is to continue having them once a month until September.
Her next one is set for July 29 and 30. The dates after that are pending as she has to work around show schedules and lessons.
Everyone is welcome to come to the days of free rides. Oakley says it's not just about getting on the horse, but rather having people meet the horse and even have their photos taken.
Oakley says entire families have gone for a ride together, something she says is a "great experience."

No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle. 
~Winston Churchill