Foundation First Horsemanship

09/08/2024

𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐂 𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐒 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 💭

As we start to look at our schedule towards the end of the year - we want to start putting feelers and EOI out there to see if anyone would be interested in hosting our clinics next year? We would love to start reaching more people in different areas.

If you are interested in hosting a Foundation First Horsemanship clinic in 2025 please reach out to us!

#2025

08/08/2024

Then we have the blonde bomb shell, Willow! She is 322 days pregnant due 27th August. For some reason I think she will go before Luna 🤔
Willow is carrying a foal by our much loved and missed deceased stallion Titan 💔

She can have a palomino, cremello or a chestnut.
Place your bets!

08/08/2024

Luna is 327 days pregnant today!! She is due (340days) on the 22nd of August. She has started bagging up and then tricking us for the past 2 weeks 😂

Let’s start our guesses now it’s getting very close!

When do you think she will foal and what colour and s*x do you think it’ll be?

She can have a black, blue roan, chestnut or chestnut roan 😉

08/08/2024

We need to get better at LISTENING

“If only horses could speak English, we could get along better!”

I often think about that statement and don’t believe it’s true.

If horses could speak in words, they might still hide or not recognize pain, being the stoic creatures they are

If horses could talk, we would still be subject to the same biases we already have, and interpret their words in ways they didn’t mean

If horses could talk, there would be a fair amount of us interrupting them and telling them what they mean

If horses could talk, many of us still wouldn’t get the message

So the problem is not horses talking, but as with everything, us really listening

07/08/2024

05/08/2024

😉

We Hope Saturday finds you horseback!

03/08/2024

YOU CAN NOT COMPETE WITH ME.
I WANT YOU TO WIN TOO!

I think it is human nature to feel we have to be in competition with anyone that is doing the same as us. I say this because I used to feel that way but once I started working on myself and trying to improve personall, and also in my job as a horse trainer I have found there is no need in trying to compete with anyone that is doing the same as you. This applies to anything you do, either it being in what you do for a living, as a way to make extra money, a hobby, riding/working horses, competing at a show/rodeo, or any type of competition discipline/sport!

What I have learned you never have to worry about competition in anything you do if you are constantly putting your energy and focus into always improving yourself, your skill, your trade, your discipline, your sport, or your hobby.

If it's your job, the people are out there that are willing to pay you if you have the skill they are after.

If it's your sport/discipline you are competing in, the only way to place higher or win is by improving yourself, not by worrying about if someone else is going to out do you. You can only produce results or place in an event as much as what you have prepared yourself for!

I AM NOT IN COMPETITION WITH ANYONE!

I want us all to win and have success in whatever we are doing! Life is hard enough and we all have our own battles we are personally fighting so let us all cheer each other on and let us focus on improving ourselves.

The one's that are having success or winning now are the one's that are putting in the effort and hard work to be the best THEY can be. I promise you, WE can have the same results if we dedicate our time and effort into doing the same!

03/08/2024

The winner of our custom yeti giveaway is…

🥁 🥁 🥁

Lisa Vermey!!! 👏🏽

Thank you to everyone who entered and shared 💛

02/08/2024

Last ride for Mr Harry before he heads home to his family tomorrow. And what a ride it was!

02/08/2024

96ish days and counting for our Hello Big Chex foal 🤩🤩

01/08/2024

⏰ Entries end tomorrow and winners drawn on Saturday afternoon!! ⏰

Gotta be in it, to win it!

These yetis are SO nice in person 🤩

Our little page recently reached 1000 followers 🥹 to say thank you we wanted to give back with some custom ‘s!! We have 2 to give away. 1 here on our page and 1 in our private community facebook group.

Thomas and I created this page originally to share snippets of our journey. With no intention of it ever growing! Social media is scary lol and putting yourself out there is incredibly daunting. All we’ve ever wanted to achieve from this was to hopefully inspire someone. We also wanted to ensure we stay authentic whilst sharing on social media, we started building a community of like minded people so we can give back to the horse. Sharing stories, supporting one another and being there to help is our way of making the world better for the horse. Thank you to everyone and anyone who follows us and continues to do so. Your support is so appreciated 🫶🏼🫶🏼

To enter our giveaway you must:
1. Follow our Facebook and instagram page
2. Share in the comments a picture and a short description of the most valuable learning curve you’ve had with your horse/s.
3. Share this post!

Entries close next Friday the 2nd of August at 6pm!!
Good luck y’all!! 🤞🏽

31/07/2024

Great to have someone like Sarah local for this type of service. With all the rain, the grass is going to be nuts this spring! 🤪

30/07/2024

This 🙌🏽

YOU WILL NEVER MAKE YOUR HATERS HAPPY.

Quit worrying about what others think about you, about the goals you are working on, or about any part of your journey.

STAY FOCUSED on you, your goals, your dreams, your journey, and your passion.

No matter how good you get, no matter what obstacles and failures you face and overcome, you will never do good enough or be good enough for your haters.

NEVER let someone who does not care about you make you question yourself or any part of your journey.

NEVER let someone who does not care about you make you question your true self value.

STAY STRONG in your relentless pursuit of becoming a better YOU!

YOU WILL NEVER MAKE YOUR HATERS HAPPY.

SO QUIT TRYING!!!

📸: Jared H Searcy

29/07/2024

‼️Don’t forget about our giveaway‼️

See the original post for details on how to be in the draw to win one of these custom yetis!

Ends this Friday.

Our little page recently reached 1000 followers 🥹 to say thank you we wanted to give back with some custom ‘s!! We have 2 to give away. 1 here on our page and 1 in our private community facebook group.

Thomas and I created this page originally to share snippets of our journey. With no intention of it ever growing! Social media is scary lol and putting yourself out there is incredibly daunting. All we’ve ever wanted to achieve from this was to hopefully inspire someone. We also wanted to ensure we stay authentic whilst sharing on social media, we started building a community of like minded people so we can give back to the horse. Sharing stories, supporting one another and being there to help is our way of making the world better for the horse. Thank you to everyone and anyone who follows us and continues to do so. Your support is so appreciated 🫶🏼🫶🏼

To enter our giveaway you must:
1. Follow our Facebook and instagram page
2. Share in the comments a picture and a short description of the most valuable learning curve you’ve had with your horse/s.
3. Share this post!

Entries close next Friday the 2nd of August at 6pm!!
Good luck y’all!! 🤞🏽

28/07/2024

Exactly what we are trying to build around us 🙌🏽

🌟 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 🌟

Growing up, my world of horses was quite solitary. I didn't have any horse-crazy friends or classmates. I rode with my cousins occasionally and participated in several playdays during the summer, but I didn't have many who shared my passion. When I went off to college, I expected to meet like-minded people—sophisticated, ambitious, and ready to learn. Instead, I found myself out of sync with the typical college social life, which felt more like navigating a playground than a place of higher learning. 🫣 It's safe to say that I very rarely partook in the typical college social scene.

After college and an enlightening equine internship, I realized my true calling wasn't in agronomy but in working with horses and their owners. Soon after, I moved to Johnstown during the next two summers before moving out here full-time. Here, I've enjoyed my time under my own little rock and cherished my solitude. However, as Chris McCandless famously said, "Happiness is only real when shared." This quote has resonated with me more & more as the years have passed.

Early on, I found my love for hosting clinics (thanks to one of my first & very special clients), though I haven't restarted them since 2020.

Giving lessons in the early days felt unfulfilling due to their sporadic nature and the riders' lack of dedication. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that a group of dedicated women transformed the way I viewed teaching when they began taking monthly lessons with LNH. Last year, they attended the 2023 Ranch Retreat, and one even joined the LNH "Unlock Your Horse's Potential" Academy.

In 2023, I began showing alongside one of these ladies. In 2024, two more joined us.

Now, I can honestly say I love giving lessons to those who are as invested in their horsemanship journey as I am in teaching.

The scorching 102° heat and 3.5 hours of travel during our last show weekend could have easily deterred us. Yet, it was the camaraderie and community built that spurred these gals (and me) to show up. In the past, I would have been content to do my showing and retreat to my trailer, choosing to avoid the social aspect.

I'm here to tell you that the people you surround yourself with will truly shape your life. Having a community like these gals, who encourage, challenge, and support each other, is absolutely crucial. They’ve turned what was once a solitary pursuit into a shared journey of growth and enjoyment. I hope they agree!

If you're looking for a community of horsewomen like this, come join us!

27/07/2024

Couldn’t have put this into words better if I tried.

We see this with horses and people daily. And it’s not just horses.. children, employees, dogs etc etc.

Ruinous empathy can lead us down a path of self destruction and can become quite paralysing. I’ve been there as a manager and people leader and as a horse owner. The fear of being unliked, our horses not loving us and avoiding challenging situations is some examples of ruinous empathy.
It’s an incredibly fine line to dance upon. We can love our horses, show empathy and still step them and ourselves outside comfort zones to grow and build confidence. That’s where our leadership comes in.

I’ve worked with lots of troubled horses - horses who are unconfident, fearful, aggressive, inflexible in their ability to adjust, and who struggled with daily events like turnout and herd life, and so on -

Some of these horses were handled poorly, over exposed and under educated, maybe roughed up or handled without patience or care. Some treated like machines who’s only purpose is to perform

A good number, however, were over protected, treated more like someone’s prize poodle carried around in a purse. And the most interesting thing here is - both types of horses struggle with taking in new information, can be very rigid in their routine needs, and have very low confidence.

The average person is not going to whip their horse or tie it for hours with its head to a stirrup. Most horse folks love their animals- and so if the average person has an abused horse, it is usually from a past incident or person.

The average person, however, is capable of creating discontent, anxiety and general inability to be confident quite easily - by not providing the framework to learn and grow through a healthy degree of discomfort.

This is a hard reality to face: we can certainly love our horses to death. It’s easy and understandable to want to prevent discomfort - to work tirelessly to eliminate it from our horses lives.

In some ways this is an honorable quality. It shows empathy and care. But we need to learn to balance our desire to protect with our desire to be true stewards- which means not just creating immediate comfort, but setting up the framework for a lifetime of confidence-

Temporary discomfort can sometimes be extremely productive, so long as it’s provided with tools and education to manage it, and the mentality of care for the horses wellbeing above all. What this means is most of us already have the right attitude: we just need a little development with the love for horses we already naturally carry.

26/07/2024

Our little page recently reached 1000 followers 🥹 to say thank you we wanted to give back with some custom ‘s!! We have 2 to give away. 1 here on our page and 1 in our private community facebook group.

Thomas and I created this page originally to share snippets of our journey. With no intention of it ever growing! Social media is scary lol and putting yourself out there is incredibly daunting. All we’ve ever wanted to achieve from this was to hopefully inspire someone. We also wanted to ensure we stay authentic whilst sharing on social media, we started building a community of like minded people so we can give back to the horse. Sharing stories, supporting one another and being there to help is our way of making the world better for the horse. Thank you to everyone and anyone who follows us and continues to do so. Your support is so appreciated 🫶🏼🫶🏼

To enter our giveaway you must:
1. Follow our Facebook and instagram page
2. Share in the comments a picture and a short description of the most valuable learning curve you’ve had with your horse/s.
3. Share this post!

Entries close next Friday the 2nd of August at 6pm!!
Good luck y’all!! 🤞🏽

24/07/2024

Taking ownership of the inner self work that is required.

Good riding requires that we re wire our natural instincts. When we get afraid, we tip forward, or clutch, or pull. We stop breathing, and somewhere deep down we hope the horse will adapt and take care of us. But a good steward takes responsibility: it is our duty to practice honing our reflexes. It is our job to practice controlling our position, our breath, and learning to create a productive mindset.

It is the hardest thing in the world to do to control our natural instincts- but it is the most important. And expecting the horse to adjust to us without the necessary skills is folly. Take the time, put the hours in, get a good coach and an appropriate horse, and master your body and mind.

22/07/2024

Ash and I have been talking a lot since day one about how passionate we both feel about creating a community. A community where anyone can approach us and one another for support, questions, bounce ideas, advice, share stories and everything in between.
We want to make a space where we can connect with as many people as we can.

I speak for myself when I honestly thrive off of being surrounded by like minded people. I thrive off of seeing others succeeding, achieving goals and being vulnerable enough to share their experiences. It motivates me to want to be better for myself and my horse. I hope to achieve this with creating a community.

We want to create a community where we can organise group events like social rides, horsemanship clinics, accountability check ins, share goals, success and roadblocks.
We want to bring the fun back, the comradery, the accountability on ourselves and one another to get out there and enjoy the one addictive thing we all have in common, horses!

We want to offer coaching not just for our horses and horsemanship but for us as individuals. Struggling with being motivated? Struggling with a closed mindset? Struggling with confidence? We want to help.

This Facebook group is just the start, to bring people together. We have some big ideas and we can’t wait to share them with you.

Thomas & Ash
Foundation First Horsemanship

Here is the Group
https://www.facebook.com/share/fZYg9E6L3eDPUZYb/?mibextid=A7sQZp

22/07/2024

22/07/2024

Thank you Sarah!! It was such a pleasure to meet you and your horse Jack. We can’t wait to continue working with you :)

Just wanted to share with all my horsey clients the amazing clinic I just attended over the weekend with Foundation First Horsemanship. A fabulous local business run by Thomas & Ash on the Slopes Rd, The Slopes. I spent two wonderful days with my horse learning groundwork then putting those skills under saddle. I highly recommended you check out their page for upcoming clinic dates.

21/07/2024

Day 2 done and dusted 👏🏽 the weather was much kinder to us today 😂 we saw some huge changes for everyone today. So great to see.

Thank you to all the participants and fence sitters who were apart of our first clinic. We appreciate you all 🫶🏼

Bring on our August clinic!! And look out for our upcoming clinic dates for the remainder of the year.