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JENNEKE HOOGENDOORN IS a lifelong equestrian.
Moving to Canada from Holland with her family at the
age of 9, she was raised on her dad’s dairy farm in central
Alberta. And while she grew up around cattle, her own
passion is for horses. Her equestrian experience spans
disciplines: jumping (which, she admits, is not her forte)
An old dairy barn enters
to playing polo in Kenya to coaching dressage through
her business, High Thorn Equestrian.
its second act
High Thorn is located on the farm where
Hoogendoorn grew up. In 2007, Hoogendoorn’s father
retired from his dairy farm, and in 2016, she bought it for
By Joanna Patten
Photography Aspen Zettel
her equestrian business.
Converting the barn took nearly two years — dairy
barns and horse barns are quite distinct, and dairy barns
house a lot of infrastructure.
“We turned the milk parlour into a wash rack,”
Hoogendoorn explains. “Where the tank was, now is a
common area with a kitchen.”
Over the course of the renovation, Hoogendoorn jack-
hammered away the concrete floors, added stalls and cross
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Alberta Bits Summer 2025