about us
Located on a beautifully landscaped 6 acres outside of Chicago, Double J Riding Club provides a safe learning environment for all animal and nature lovers. Whether you are coming for a riding lesson, a farm class, scout badge or celebrating a milestone, we are committed to providing quality education while stimulating and nurturing a love of and curiosity for nature and animals.
- Early Childhood Classes
- Homeschool Courses
- Camps
- Community Group Field Trips
- Birthday Parties
- Craft Workshops
- Scout Badge Opportunities
If you have any questions about our facility or programs, or just want to meet our animals, feel free to contact us. We look forward to meeting you soon.
Meet Our Owners & Instructors
Cindy Johnson
Always having a love for animals, Cindy Johnson founded Double J Riding Club to establish a place where horse lovers of all ages could ride in a safe and beautiful environment, year-round. Cindy handles the day to day operations of the facility along with scheduling and accounting. If you wish to schedule a lesson or have any questions feel free to contact Cindy at doublejridingclub@comcast.com.
Haley Johnson
Graduate from Purdue University in their highly ranked, Hospitality and Tourism Management Field, Haley has been riding for over 20 years and has been apart of Double J from the beginning. Haley runs all the events and camps at Double J Riding Club. She is also one of Double J's riding instructors as well as their IEA coach. If you wish to schedule an event or have any questions about camps or events please contact her at doublejevents@gmail.com.
Kathy Jachymczyk
Kathy has been riding for most of her life and has been teaching for over 10 years. She is an avid Eventer and has been a USEA member since 1999. Kathy has taken part in clinics with Jim Graham, Kim Severson and other top trainers. Kathy is always taking part in clinics, shows, seminars and specialized lessons in order to better her skills as a rider, instructor and trainer. At Double J Kathy teaches Western Pleasure, English Pleasure, Dressage and Jumping to beginner through advanced riders. She also instructs the Summer Camp Program and trains Double J's Show Team.
Cece Grisolia
Cece began teaching at Double J in 2016. Her focus in riding is in dressage. She has shown all over Illinois and Wisconsin in IDCTA and USDF shows as well as in various clinics throughout the midwest. Teaching riders from beginners to advance have become a passion of hers as well as coaching the Interscholastic Equestrian Team.
Hannah Szuch
Hannah has been teaching arts & science since 2015, proudly working for Girl Scouts and as a curriculum writer and lead homeschool teacher at the Toledo Zoo before moving to Illinois. They love exploring the natural world, especially hiking and other outdoor adventures, and are ready to share that passion with students. When they're not outside, you can find them working with their hands and making art such as painting, sewing, sculpture and weaving.
Ryan Cunningham
Ryan has been a camp counselor, educator and park interpreter at locations such as YMCA Camp MacLean in Wisconsin, the Brookfield Zoo, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. Ryan graduated from Lewis University with a degree in Environmental Science and Ecology and has a field research background in prairie and marine settings. Ryan will be teaching entomology, zoology and ecology here on the farm. We welcome his wealth of enthusiasm for animals and the environment.
Rebecca Irwin
Rebecca Irwin started teaching the STEM science courses at Double J in Fall 2018. She has a PhD in Biological Sciences and is a former biology professor and homeschooling mom. She has been developing and teaching science classes for homeschooled kids for over five years, and is thrilled to be sharing her love of science at Double J through activity based classes that focus on understanding and modeling the natural world and using the scientific method.
Jennifer Michalski
Hi there, my name is Jennifer Michalski. Art in some medium or another has always been a part of my life and photography is my passion. It is my goal, with photography to help people reconnect with themselves, each other, and the world around them. Photography enables me to reveal parts of the world to others, to see beauty that may have been missed, and, in some cases, remind people of how beautiful they are. I look forward to creating great art pieces and photographs with you!
Amanda Thomsen
Double J Riding Club is proud to welcome Amanda Thomsen to the team! We met Amanda after watching her dazzle WGN with her Around Town segment this summer and are incredibly excited to partner with her! She will be teaching some of our Early Childhood classes and NEW seasonal clinics for adults! Topics will range from gardening, cooking, and a variety of DIY projects!
Amanda is an author, urban farmer, brownie troop leader and overall crafty person. She lives with her husband, daughter, Husky, dachshund/pug mix and cat in Palos Park.
You can read more about Amanda on her website!
https://www.kissmyaster.com/about-me
Nicole McAlister
Nicole has been at Double J since 2013 and has been riding for 20 years. Nicole attended Northern Illinois University and qualified for regionals for their hunt seat team. Nicole prefers mares to gelding, once rode a mustang and has trained and sold over 20 Connemara ponies. Nicole is obsessed with cats.
Sara Parks
Sara began her riding career at Double J over 10 years ago. Her passion for horses continued to grow over the years, riding and working with our horses. She is also a member of our show team, participating in various different shows and clinics. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in chemistry at UIC alongside teaching lessons and working at Double J.
Kaylee Spain
Kaylee Spain began riding at the age of six. She took basic, weekly lessons until the age of
twelve when she started studying classical dressage more seriously under Tracy Gabriel.
Kaylee moved to Kansas City, Missouri for college and continued her dressage studies under
Nancy Kraus Womack and Nancy Gorton. Kaylee was named assistant trainer at Northridge
Farm under Nancy Kraus Womack where she had horses in training and students of her own.
Kaylee has studied under renown clinicians such as George Williams, Bonny Bonello, Betsy
Steiner, and David Wrightman. She is currently working on achieving her USDF Bronze Medal.
Kaylee now rides and trains with Melanie Sus at PM Farms. Kaylee owns a twelve year old off
the track Thoroughbred named Roo. She is so excited to be teaching at Double J Riding Club!
Grace Seter
Elise Waite
Passionate about nature and sustainability she studied the environment and Southeast Asia at NIU. She has spent the past few years developing and leading nature programs as a naturalist, camp director, and professional tree hugger. She spends her free time hiking in the Chicagoland forest preserves, painting, and hanging out with her dogs and cat. She is excited to share her love for animals and nature though the farmhouse and nature programs at Double J.