Sintaluta Stables is a family-owned and operated boutique breeding and training operation
Spent this morning at the beautiful Old Gates Farm which they so generously share with Canadian Warmblood for catalog photos and video day. Jeffery S was a star on his first big adventure and made loads of new friends š . He particularly liked the jump chute and kept jumping himself in there and then going back and forth over the little cross rail š¦.
Stay tuned for the Fall Classic Breeders sale catalog and check out the final product of Jefferyās big day!
Good visual!
Thought weād try something a little different this week and we took Charlotte and Mr. Sock Monkey to a week-long āhorse campā featuring a bunch of different disciplines we normally donāt get to participate in. The beat part of the weekend though was seeing all these kids supporting each other and just enjoying being youth with horses š. Big thank you to YEEHA shows and all the organizers for putting on this great event!
I just love this little pair š„°š„°. Charlotte has done an excellent job with our young Mr. Sock Monkey developing him into an exceptional solid citizen
Sheldonā¦ šš
The young horses and broodmares are so happy to be on pasture for the summer š
This German Riding Pony c**t has *IT* and knows it! Bonjour S āBillā is a Bonofacio FLF son out of our lovely silver bay mare Godiva HV and is everything we could have hoped for with this cross šš
Itās a tough life being a baby horse
Did someone order chrome? š¤©š¤©
Jethro Tull/Checkmate/Oxford
Pretty sure there is nothing cuter than a pony foal šš. Bonofacio FLFās newest c**t just keeps impressing us every day with his character and charisma.
Nothing quite like a mare that foals at super respectable daylight hours. Godiva had her foal at 8:30 this morning, a handsome and strong c**t by our own Bonofacio FLF. I am so excited to watch this one grow up!
Nothing quite as sweet as baby horse faces š
If your canter length is not 12 feet (3.6 m), you're making it difficult for your horse to find a good takeoff spot. Show jumping courses are designed to accommodate a standard canter stride length and are not adjusted to each horse's stride. This means courses with related lines (ie all of them!) and distances in combinations will be significant challenges if you can't maintain a 12-foot (3.6 m) canter.
Yes, it's possible to jump clear without a standard stride, but you'll need a great "eye". You've probably seen the "old school" riders who hold and hold and hold until they "see a spot," then they chase it down. This approach requires a reactive horse, bigger bits, nosebands, martingales, and the often yelled instruction of "MORE LEG".
There are better ways to achieve consistency.
Inconsistent stride lengths increase wear and tear on your horse, which we want to avoid at all costs. I'm not saying you don't need an adjustable canter or a sharp eyeābecause you doābut it should be subtle.
We've all heard people say, "riders just sit there; the horse does all the work." You CAN learn to ride like that, but it requires careful preparation. If you don't have one yet, get a long tape measure and use it for the free exercises on my website (link in comment). You'll be on your way to improvement!
Most jumping riders practice straight-line distances, but it's just as important to master the 3.6 m (12-foot) stride on curved lines. At home, you can test this by placing two poles on opposite sides of a 20-meter circle. Canter around the circle and count how many strides you take between the poles.
You should be able to canter eight non-jumping strides for each half of the 20-meter circle. If this is new to you, you might end up with around ten strides, or even more. Here's the maths: The circumference of a 20-meter circle (C = Ļd) is about 63 meters, which is 17.5 standard canter strides. For simplicity, we'll call it 18. Subtract two strides for the poles, leaving 16. Half of that is eight.
Don't say that's too hard! Your phone has a calculator, and if you rotate it, you'll find a scientific calculator with a Ļ symbol. If you want to be a jumping rider there are no excuses for being lazy about distances and canter length. You cannot improve what you do not measure.
One day, you'll face a combination off a half-circle approach. If you're counting ten strides between the poles on a 20-meter circle, how will you safely jump though a combination approached from a turn? If you can't maintain a 12-foot (3.6 m) canter by riding eight strides over poles on the ground in both directions, please hold off on jumping courses for now. Nail down the right canter so you can handle bigger tracks harmoniously without pulling and chasing. Your horse will thank you.
Welcome to the world little one! Caissa had her foal at the respectable hour of 11pm on Saturday. She foaled like a champ and needed no intervention. The foal is a STUNNING, chromed out, c**t with the sweetest personality. Now to come up with a great name š¤
It would be great if this pretty girl could hold onto her foal for another couple of days until the weather is nice again š¤š»š¤š»š¬ļøāļø
Most accurate drawing Iāve seen all day
This could not be more accurate
We can not wait to meet this little one in the next couple of weeks! Jethro Tull (I'm Special De Muze/Voltaire/Heartbreaker) x My Caissa (Checkmate/Oxford). With both parents successful in the hunter AND jumper rings there are really no limits to what this little one could become.
So proud of this kid last night. She worked hard all year and was the District overall English Junior Champion š„°š„°. Way to go kiddo! š
Recipe for raising a āhorse girlāā¦ā¦.
You bring them home from the hospital and instead of keeping them home you let them breathe in the smell of horses every chance you getā¦.
Then at a few months old you prop them up in the saddle and hold them there to just sit in the saddleā¦.
When they are 3 they say they canāt pick up the horseās hoof ā¦you help them but then tell them they need to finish themselvesā¦..
You let them lead the 23 yr old faithful gelding because leading the big horse makes them feel so proudā¦.
At 4 yrs old you teach them that the horse depends on them for water, hay, grainā¦.Dinner might be almost ready in the house, but ponies eat first ā¦..
At 5 years old, when she falls off for the first time, you check to make sure nothings broken, wipe her tears, then you give her a leg up and tell her to get it done, because you KNOW sheās a great riderā¦..
At 10 years old when she doesnāt place in her class at the horse show and sheās falling apart, you ask her if her horse worked hard for her, and then you tell her that to her horse she is #1, and to keep riding, because her horse depends on herā¦ā¦
At 12 years old she comes home from school and tells you another kid said something mean at school to someone she knows. She then tells you she told that kid to shut their mouth and keep it to themselvesā¦. Then she walked off with the kid that was being made fun ofā¦ā¦
At 13 years old her friends at the barn are as close as siblingsā¦ā¦they support her in her wins and her fallsā¦..the barn has created relationships that are thicker than bloodā¦.
At 15 years old her first āboyfriendā breaks up with her ā¦.. you can tell she is upset so you both head to the barn. She wraps her arms around her horseās neck, breathes him in, and the tears flow. But you can see that resolve emerge when sheās cantering around the ringā¦. She tells you her horse is better than that boy any day.
You heard others say over the yearsā¦..
āHorses are too expensive!ā
āSheās going to get sick from all the germs.ā
āSheās going to fall off and get hurt.ā
āShe spends too much time at the barn.ā
When she is a young woman and leaves your home, off on her next adventure, you head out to the barn. You thank her horses, you breathe them in, you wrap your arms around them because ā¦.
Horses helped you to create a confident, self-assured, responsible, kind, nurturing, outdoors-loving, tough as nails, throws her shoulders back and stands tall, strong woman.
To all the parents raising āhorse girlsā keep going, you are giving them more than just riding lessonsā¦..
Then and Now. Heās grown up pretty special š¤©š¤©
āIt takes a villageā¦ā
Not only to raise a child, but to wholly embrace this thing we call horsemanship.
Few of us truly āgo it aloneā, if weāre honest. There is usually someone waiting in the wings, to cheer us on, to hold our horses when life gets lifey, to rein us in a bit, when we feel like running away.
Iām no different. Iāve a spouse who, letās face it, would love to talk about something other than whether or not Pamela needs her blanket, or me wondering aloud if I should buy another young pony to start? (Hmmm. Maybe and most definitely not!)
Mike raises only an eyebrow as together, we wade resolutely through the farmās books in preparation for tax time. We both are watching, with horrified fascination, the growing columns called FUEL and VETERINARY and FEED...
We can take for granted our partners who blanch at the expense of our horsemanship but gamely say nothing, all the while they might want a real vacation, or a motorcycle... or at the least, a healthier chequing account.
We have the vet clinic that cheerfully takes our desperate call five minutes before closing, on holiday Friday, with a fully-staffed consult room to take our bleeding horse when we arrive, breathless and in tears.
We have the farrier who somehow, somehow, keeps our iffy gelding going soundly, despite its having been born with ridiculously small feet. Oh, pray that he never retires!
What about the truck dealership and the tire shop, who welcome us in off the highway, when we hear the funny noise? They take the truck in, without an appointment, despite the fact that itās still hooked to a trailer with stomping horses on boardā¦ and they give us hot coffee while we wait.
What about the teacher, or trainer, who patiently (even though they must want to rip out their hair) reminds us, āEyes up!ā or āDonāt lose your bend!ā every single time they see us ride? Or the person who quietly brings out all the jump rails and standards for us, before taking them away again, when itās time to work the arena?
Or the shop owner who will, last minute, fix the stitching on a pair of reins, or resole our favourite boots?
There's the young man at the feed store, who cheerfully manhandles salt blocks and bags of beet pulp into the tiny trunk of the car. We donāt realize how demanding is his job, until we are unloading the blasted things back home. How long we are able to ride mightnāt be as much about ageing gracefully in the saddle, as being able to heft those bags of feedā¦
The dentist who really, really cares if our horse is grinding properly and has no issues with its TMJ. The equine body worker who labours long into the night, when her own shoulder is so sore, she can hardly pull on her coat to go home.
God bless the excellent saddle fitter. And what of the boss at work, who actually schedules us, according to our horse show weekends?
Let's give thanks to the courier delivery guy who texts and says that the saddle for which weāve been waiting is left hiding behind the tree next to our front porchā¦ and that if we canāt be home in half an hour, heāll go back and pick it up, so itās safe.
The lady at the grocery store checkout who asks about our horses, every time we buy an oversized bag of carrots. Or the neighbourhood children who visit our horses and pet them over the fence, while waiting for the school bus. They, too, play a part in the village that surrounds our horsemanship.
Give thanks to the man who loads, hauls and unloads the cattle liner for that practice day we euphemistically call Cow Work Weekend. Then, he does the same thing later that evening, alone in the dark, to get them safely back home.
Let's not forget the seamstress who made a place in the busy-ness of altering grad dresses, when we desperately needed fitting done on our new show jacket. Or when we weirdly wanted a shirt sewn to a pair of bike shorts, so that it wouldnāt look rumpled or untucked, when we rode in the show ring.
She only raised an eyebrow, then made it happen. She didnāt call us crazy.
The company of gals at the barn who bring coffee, laughter and shoulders to cry on, when life gets truly hard.
The cheerful fellow who cleans the stalls and waters the arena, that same minimum-wage worker who happens to be a licenced equine vet, back home. He never complains, he never mentions the fact that he and his family could be living their dream, if only our country would acknowledge his training and experienceā¦
The owner-manager at the boarding barn, who hasnāt had a Sunday morning sleep-in, in living memory.
Let's give thanks to the children, friends and ageing parents who, though theyāre not at all horsey and maybe even a little bit afraid, gamely step up to take the lead rope and walk the colicky horse.
All these people who make up the village that surrounds us... just because we happen to love horses.
To all of you, to all these people in the village, we owe a huge debt of thanks.
Zehner Road, Sherwood No 159
Regina, SK
S4P
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šBonofacio is killing it in California with his lovely lessee. Champion of the 2ā6 division last weekend securing an invite to the Las Vegas National Horse Show in November šš
I can not believe that this was Mr. Sock Monkeyās very first hunter show! He was an absolute gem for his tiny pilot and even handled the chaotic warmup ring in stride. The future is bright for these two š
Charlotte and Monkey getting in a good canter before the weekend is over š
These two are certainly putting in some nice rounds at provincial finals this weekend š
This young mare is coming along in leaps and bounds. We had a great time tunning up our foundation with FEI dressage rider Janine Little this weekend. So happy with her progress š„°
Charlotte and Boone had a great day at the show this weekend. They are really starting to become a team and Boone is loving his new job š
Phoenix is feeling like a rather frisky pest this morning and Sheldon is the only one who will play with him
Itās so much fun to have the privilege of developing such nice young horses. This one is going to be super special but for now she has some growing up to do.
