Honey Tree Stables
making dreams come true.
Training
History of Honey Tree
A family farm, a working landscape, and
a horse-first philosophy carried forward.
Honey Tree did not begin as a logo or a marketing concept. It began as a family farm in Oxford, Ohio, and its history still matters because Honey Tree’s identity has always been built on land, animals, stewardship, and work.
The first chapter: 1964
In August 1964, Harry W. Oelerich founded Honey Tree on the family farm in Oxford. In its earlier years, the property operated as Honey Tree Farms. Harry bred and raced thoroughbreds in partnership with farms and trainers in Lexington, Kentucky, then later shifted the farm toward the breeding and sale of award-winning Charolais cattle. Even before Honey Tree became a hunter/jumper program, the pattern was already established: serious animal care, long-term management, and a working relationship to the land.
The transition to Honey Tree Stables: 2001
In 2001, Harry officially passed the farm and the torch to Sarah. That handoff marked the beginning of Honey Tree Stables as the business known today, but it was more than a business transition. It carried forward a way of seeing: horses as partners to be developed carefully, a farm as an operating environment rather than a backdrop, and horsemanship as something that should connect care, riding, and judgment.
A farm that teaches beyond the ring
Today, Honey Tree sits on over 156 acres and includes a 100 x 200 indoor arena, a professional-grade hunt field, three well-maintained barns, abundant turnout, large tack rooms, heated wash stalls, and miles of scenic trails. Those details matter because the physical environment is part of the product. Horses are not developed only inside one arena. Riders are not educated only in one format. Honey Tree’s layout makes it possible to build horses and riders across the ring, the field, and the trails.
The History of Hunter / Jumpers