Stoney Gate Farm

09/24/2024

Our PT/training banks are getting a little face-lift this week... all credit goes to Norm, as usual. Thanks Norm!

05/12/2024

Our deepest sympathies to Alex and Kaitlynn, who treasured their Astro every day. Astro left us suddenly, on his own terms, and safe at home under the spectacular northern light sky. He was a clever horse - he tried his hardest in everything he did and was always keen to learn. Being part of his training was a privilege, as it was really more like guiding him in the right direction and letting him fly. I thank Kaitlynn and Alex for allowing me to be part of their journey.
They both always did right by him. Alex relentlessly worked her tail off, legging him up, educating him, sticking with him through ups and downs, and climbing back on when she got unstuck. Her loyalty didn't waiver and Astro worked hard for her every single ride without question. He always answered her with, "yes, I will give it my best shot!"
He was a War Horse, having raced into his 8 yo year with a total of 67 starts, and looked no worse for the wear - a true testament to the dedicated and tedious horsemanship Kaitlynn provided him over the last 9 years. I secretly fell in love with him the night he arrived at SGF. It was not long after my beloved Spar had died and I recognized the same look in his eye that Spar had: a genuine kindness, steadiness and heart of gold. He generously let me hug him that night and he felt familiar, like I'd known him a long time. He proved himself again and again to be exactly as he presented that very first night.
Sincere thanks to Katie Crossan and Barn Angels, who did their best for Astro, too, and were so sensitive to those who loved him.

05/09/2024

03/15/2024

LOVE these supplements! Just went through a nutrition analysis and my horses are low in some vitamins/minerals from a poor summer for hay last year. Turns out the Essential Hoof & Coat is EXACTLY what they need to balance them out, so they can stay strong doing what we all love!

DENVER! Come visit us Booth 1116! We’ll be here until Sunday the 17th to chat about all your equine nutrition needs ❤️🐎

01/19/2024

“Farm work doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t make you anything. It reveals you.

There’s gym strong and then there’s farm strong. They’re mutually exclusive.

The toughest women you’ll ever meet spend their days on a farm.

There are more uses for twine than you can possibly imagine. You can tie up a hole in a slow feeder, fashion a tail strap for a horse’s blanket, mend a broken fence and use it as a belt.

“Well that certainly didn’t go as planned,” is one thing you’ll say quite a bit.

Control is a mere illusion. The thought that you have any, at any given time, is utterly false.

Sometimes sleep is a luxury. So are lunch and dinner. And brushing your hair.

If you’ve never felt your obliques contract, then you’ve never tried stopping an overly full wheelbarrow of horse manure from tipping over sideways. Trust me, you’ll find muscles that you never knew existed on the human skeleton to prevent this from happening.

When one of the animals is ill, you’ll go to heroic lengths to minimize their discomfort.
When you lose one of them, even though you know that day is inevitable, you still feel sadness, angst and emotional pain from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. And it’s a heaviness that lingers even though you must regroup and press on.

You’ll cry a lot. But you’ll never live more fully. You’ll remain present no matter what because you must. There is no other option.

You’ll ask for so many miracles and hold out hope until the very last.

You will, at least once, face-plant in the manure pile.

You’ll find yourself saying things like, “we have maybe twenty minutes of daylight left to git ‘er done” whilst gazing up at a nonspecific place in the sky.

You’ll become weirdly obsessive about the weather.

You’ll go out in public wearing filthy clothes and smelling of dirt, sweat and p**p. People will look at you sideways and krinkle their noses but you won’t care.

Your entire day can derail within ten seconds of the rising sun.

You can wash your coveralls. They won’t look any cleaner, but they will smell much nicer.

Farm work is difficult in its simplicity.

You’ll always notice just how beautiful sunrises and sunsets really are.

Should you ever have the opportunity to work on a farm, take the chance! You will never do anything more satisfying in your entire life.

Well, that about sums it up, folks!” - unknown author

Rene Tiffin Barb Joy

01/01/2024

Happy birthday to all those wonderful TBs! ❤️