Blue Star Equiculture is an all-volunteer non-profit organization. Everyone involved has committed their time and resources to help the horses have the best healthcare, food, shelter, and love possible.

Below you will find a listing of our unpaid staff, advisory board, and Board of Directors.  We are currently building our advisory board, and Board of Directors.  The Board of Directors currently includes Pamela Rickenbach (President and Executive Director), Christina Hansen (Vice President), and Shelley Olson (Treasurer).

Pamela is the co-founder and Executive Director of Blue Star Equiculture. She is the director of the farm's equine and organic operations. She lives on Burgundy Brook Farm and lives for the horses! Email Pamela at pamela@equiculture.org

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Christina is the co-founder of Blue Star Equiculture. She lives and works in Philadelphia, but tele-commutes and real-world commutes to Massachusetts. She's Blue Star Equiculture's content editor and historian. Email Christina at christina@equiculture.org.

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Steve Purdy received his DVM degree in 1981 from the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University.  He practiced large animal veterinary medicine in Virginia, Vermont, and still does in Massachusetts.  He was involved in farm animal welfare issues and operated a large animal rescue in Vermont in the past.  He has also worked with local school districts to operate a program for special education students involving working with horses, donkeys, sheep, and goats. Read more about Dr Purdy

Justin is the Barn Manager and Driving Instructor. He loves horses and teaching, and jumped at the chance when given the opportunity to work with Blue Star.

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Tom Horton is a member of the Blue Star Equiculture Board. Tom is a seasoned entrepreneur, having raised more than $100mm in early stage capital for multiple social enterprises, ranging from clean energy, organic/local food production, sustainable tourism, and durable medical devices over a 25 year period of time.

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Shelley is our accounting guru. She uses her business acumen to help us keep all of our records in order. Shelley has adopted two retired working horses from Blue Star. Mac, a retired UMass police horse and Charlie a retired carriage horse from Lake Tahoe. She provides outstanding love and care for her horses, some would say unequaled anywhere!

Read more about Shelley...

Sally is Blue Star Equiculture's driving trainer. She has been training Morgans in harness for 30 years and has been lending her vast expertise to Blue Star Equiculture to train Peggy to work in harness and train us to teach our horses, too!

Read more about Sally...

Hello!  My name is Bethany Bowman. I was born and raised in Ellsworth, Maine.  I attended undergraduate studies at UMass-Amherst.  Then I spent four years at the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic but my heart never left the Pioneer Valley.  I graduated with my Doctorate of Chiropractic in 2007. Find Out More...

I came to Blue Star in early January 2011, over Smith College’s January Break. It was a serendipitous moment for me – I needed a job or an internship, and was really missing hanging around animals. I missed animals so much that I turned down an extended stay with my grandmother on the beach in Florida to come back east to shovel ice and snow and poop every day for that month. Read More About Anna Burke...

Dental care for the horses is done by Nicole Lombardo Equine Dentistry from Warren, MA.

Veterinary care for Blue Star Equiculture's horses, cats and dogs is provided by Mill Valley Veterinary Clinic in Belchertown, MA. Our horses' primary care veterinarians, Dr. Clifford Morcom, DVM, and Dr. Timothy Galusha, DVM, are both members of the American Association of Equine Practitioners.

Regular farrier care for Blue Star Equiculture's horses is provided by Tony Diamond and Josh Noone.