Dark Horse Acres

04/04/2024

Please, please, please, share this link, and if you can please donate. The more people who can share this post, the better his chances will be to get this life saving surgery.

Even the vet working on his case has said she would do her part in working on him for less, as he is such a special horse! But even with that the quote for the surgery was 6-10k!!!!!!

Dear friends and supporters, I come to you with a heartfelt plea… Katrina Gawronski needs your support for Medical expense for Chief, the soul of a healer

02/13/2024

So our fabulous beautiful Chief is struggling right now… from having no teeth issues to now needing to go in for dental surgery…keep him in your thoughts for a good outcome! And time to find a fourth job to pay for it…lol

09/10/2023

06/04/2023

The carrot mobile looks like it’s at it again!

05/05/2023

01/14/2023

Hahaha TRUE 😄
credits: Twitter

01/07/2023

Weaning days….screaming days…time for some Celine Dion to ease their minds…

11/27/2022

When you begin working your horse, he's probably going to be in a long and low frame. There is nothing wrong with this, and if you want to keep working your horse in this stretched frame, which you may want to do during a warm-up, or if your horse is still quite young, then this is absolutely fine.

However, if you want to shorten your horse’s frame and ask him to lift his shoulders and head carriage, you need to ride exercises that encourage his hind legs to step more underneath his center of gravity. These include transitions, circles, and lateral movements, combined with the half-halt.

As your horse begins to engage, more of his weight will shift to his hindlegs, creating a taller and shorter frame (suitable for his current level of training) and you will need to then gradually shorten your rein contact to accommodate this adjustment.

NOTE: You must ride the hind legs under first. Do not try to shorten the frame or lift your horse’s head artificially by first shortening the reins or taking a tighter contact. Always ride from the back to the front.

10/12/2022

No filter needed…some gorgeous vistas here at dark horse acres

10/07/2022

So glad to have Artex back home…she settled nicely into her stall and is happily munching on her hay…now to start the much needed medicine to get her on the road to as full a recovery as we can…Cushings is such a hard disease, especially when a mare is bred with the disease and then sold without even any information given to the purchaser. Due to this disease her career as a broodmare is over, it’s so scary when they drop so much weight seemingly overnight. Feeling like you were in the dark with no answer for a supposedly healthy mare because we didn’t know she had Cushings. After a hard delivery with a very sad outcome, she has now been weaned from her orphan foal and is finally ready to work on getting herself better. 😊 The 🐉 is back!!

09/30/2022

Early mornings at the farm…foggy day

08/04/2022

LOL it is sad but true!

It always looks like that 😂
credits: Pinterest

07/02/2022

It's impossible 🤨
credits: Inside Track Eventing

06/11/2022

UPDATE: unfortunately it was decided that the most humane thing would be to put the filly to rest…thank you everyone for your well wishes and prayers…at least she had today and was not in pain…if anyone knows of a foal in need of a brood mare please let me know

At 4:00 am this little filly came into the world…backwards and twisted…by some miracle she came out alive (with a little help) we are now on our way to Guelf…finding transport was difficult…being Saturday show day…

05/08/2022

A new black baby to add to Dark Horse Acres…what a trooper… he needs a name that starts with K… 🤔 **t

02/20/2022

Exciting things are afoot here at Dark Horse Acres...

01/21/2022

A good read about the development of a horse

After seeing multiple videos posted by various breeders bragging about their 2 ½ year olds/recently turned 3 year olds and sharing videos of them cantering around in the arena, I have decided to once again circulate the below article.

First of all, breeders *should* have the knowledge to understand a horse’s fragile and slow maturing musculoskeletal system. Breeders should not condone their own horses let along anyone’s horses being cantered around under saddle at an incredibly young age. Period. This sets a terrible example and is quite honestly animal abuse. Just because a horse does not object does not mean it is right. And quite frankly, most of the videos posted show animals that are already in pain or developing pain…

As breeders, we should strive to produce healthy and sound animals. We should promote horsemanship that produces long term soundness. No, starting a horse later does not guarantee soundness. But it certainly helps.

I am a firm believer in scientifically backed approaches to horsemanship. You can’t argue with science that has been proven time and time again. Let’s dispel some stupid rumors:

1. There is no such thing as a (skeletally) slow maturing horse or one that is fast maturing. No horse is skeletally mature before the age of 6. And that is on the low estimate for age.

2. Growth plates are not just in the knee. Every bone behind the skull has a growth plate. Not every single one needs to be converted to bone before starting. There is a schedule of when bone fuses…this is the information needed to know when to start a horse. Not their outward appearance. It is a known fact that during growth, proprioceptive awareness can regress, greatly increasing the risk of injury.

3. Starting a horse is not the same thing as riding a horse. Starting a horse does not mean cantering it 3-4 days a week in an arena.

4. Injecting a horse that is in pain does not mean you fixed a problem. You masked it.

5. You can build correct muscle and teach a horse how to move their body from the ground. This creates a solid foundation to work from once your horse is ready to actually be backed. Teach a horse to use its body correctly before backing and you’ll save yourself a lot of vet bills down the line.

Hocks are “late” for maturity. The growth plates on the tibial and fibular tarsals do not fuse until a horse is 3-3 ½. Ever wonder why so many horses seem to have hocks issues?? Horses need to learn to carry themselves and their own weight well before adding a rider.

The growth plates that are LAST to close are at the base of the neck. This area is where we ask a horse to raise the base of their neck and come round. If under too much stress, the growth plates can fracture or be permanently damaged.

There are DOZENS of activities you can do with a young horse to build healthy muscular development. None of them involve a saddle or your weight on their back. Teaching a horse to carry themselves correctly BEFORE adding a rider is essential and cannot be done in a week. A 2 ½ year old horse is a baby. Mentally and physically. We see far too many injured performance horses at VERY young ages - broken down and/or sour from work. It’s wrong. Period. They need slow and steady work and need time to recover from even the slightest of injuries.

PLEASE, if you are considering when you should start your horse and what that work load should look like, please read the below. There are some wonderful things you can do with your young developing horse. Please don’t rush a year out of greed.

http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf

12/17/2021

Quite literally!

Hang on!

11/10/2021

New baby lamb on the farm...she needs a brave name...

11/08/2021

Recent studies conducted by the Institute of Heart-Math provide a clue to explain the two-way ′′ healing ′′ that occurs when we're close to horses. According to researchers, the heart has an electromagnetic field larger than the brain: a magnetometer can measure the energy field of the heart that radiates from 2.4 meters to 3 meters around the human body. While this is certainly significant, perhaps more impressive than the electromagnetic field projected by the heart of a horse is five times larger than that of a human being (imagine an electromagnetic sphere around the horse) and it can influence straight into our own heart rate.

Horses are also likely to have what science has identified as a ′′ coherent ′′ heart rate (heart rate pattern) that explains why we can ′′ feel better ′′ when we're close to them. Studies have found a coherent heart pattern or HRV to be a solid measure of well-being and consistent with emotional states of calm and joy-that is, we exhibit such patterns when we feel positive emotions.

A coherent heart pattern is indicative of a system that can recover and adapt to stressful situations very efficiently. Many times, we just need to be in the presence of horses to feel a sense of well-being and peace. In fact, research shows that people experience many physiological benefits by interacting with horses, including lower blood pressure and heart rate, higher beta-endorphins (neurotransmitters acting as pain suppressors), decreased stress levels, decreased feelings of anger, hostility, tension and anxiety, better social working; and greater feelings of empowerment, confidence, patience and self-efficacy ".

Pintura author: Svatava Hueberová

10/13/2021

When they make it easy to do evening check...💕 even the girls came up for a once over(and a carrot) thanks

10/11/2021

The boys and their chicken...

09/07/2021

“Hey is anyone else thirsty???” “Ya I could go for a drink...”. The collective woman washroom/water trough trip...lol