Highfields LLC

06/30/2024

Super Vision and Ivy lay down an impressive round to finish 4th in the Large Jr 3’6 15 and under Handy!🤍Combined with their fifth from the Classic and eighth undersaddle, they ended up 4th overall!🏆🤍🏅

06/29/2024

After holding on to the lead for 46 trips in the Large 3’3 Jr 16-17 Handy, Maddie and Cadoretto finish in 7th place out of 76 horses!🏆💜🏅

06/28/2024

The chilly weather didn’t stop Ivy and Super Vision from having a great trip that earned them 5th in the Large Younger 3’6 Classic round!🏆🥶

06/26/2024

ISO: Recommend a vet near Howell, MI to do a PP.

06/23/2024

Anika and Celtic finish 🥈 in the Medal sec A and 5th in the Maclay sec A!

06/21/2024

Liza scores an 88 and executes a very slick test to win the Ariat adult medal on Liverno!🥇🏆

06/20/2024

For the third week in a row, Ivy leads the first round and stays on top with a beautiful test to win the 15-17 THIS on Super Vision, this time with an 85 out of 29!🥇🏆 Very proud of this pair!

06/19/2024

To replace a good horse!
The best horses are built over years of hauling, hard work, tough times, good times, bad times, big spooks, little spooks, their mistakes, our mistakes and continual love and care.

No, your breaker can not turn your young prospect into your old faithful in 30, 60, 90, or even 365 days. It takes years.

I’m plagued with the problem of trying to impress on people how long it truly takes to build that dream partner. There’s not a smooth paved path. Your green horse will embarrass you, frustrate you, and maybe even hurt you. For some of you, buying a $20,000-$30,000 horse is going to be worth it and SAVE you money. Even that more finished horse will take a year or more to sync up with.

Cheap rate for horse training is $1,000 a month.
1 year of training: $12,000
2 years of training: $24,000

Many of you won’t believe this but your dream horse is on the other side of two years of training. In reality, it’s likely around two years of training and two years of seasoning (hauling them to town). Will that horse still make mistakes? Yes, they all make mistakes until the day they die. But that horses mistakes probably won’t put you in serious danger and that horse will probably pack your grandkids around.

If you’re trying to decide between a $3,500 prospect or a $15,000 proven horse. My advice is to do an internal inventory and figure out what you want. Buying that prospect is like the first roll on the Jumanji board. You’re entered up, get ready for a journey of ups and downs (possibly quite literally!) If you’re buying that finished horse decide what you really want, get ready for a lot of shopping and painfully overpriced sh💩tters. Take a friend or a trainer on this journey with you and try to double your budget (that’s right, 30k). Be smart and buy something OVER 8 years old. Don’t buy that pretty 5 year old they only want 20k for. He isn’t old enough to be proven for you. Lots of horse traders are trying to flip horses, anything under 8 is likely twice as green as he looks in the video. Maturity, both mental and physical will be key when looking for a safe horse.

If you want a project and a challenge I’m not hating, that’s what I want in a horse too, so I buy young ones. If you need a safe one, bring lots of money and quit thinking you need a 6 year old. You probably don’t have what it takes to mentally support that 6 year old through new situations.

The biggest reason I bring this up is because as folks retire their old faithful they are so far removed from when that horse was green and did dumb stuff. They forgot how tough those two years were back when he was 4-6. They only remember the amazing horse he was when he matured. The 3 year old they just bought is YEARS from filling that horses shoes when it comes to training level and safety level. I see people hate on trainers because the trainer couldn’t make their young horse, “finished” in 90 days. It’s honestly the biggest reason I like taking colts for 30 or 60 days. The expectation is shockingly lower than when I take one for 90 days. It’s weird what people expect from a 90 day start. Most people should commit to sending their young horse out for a full year. Two years would be even better.

Green horses do green horse things, don’t blame others for the challenge you bought yourself. Accept the challenge or pay the price for one further along. No matter which path you choose with horses, it’s going to cost you.

(I didn’t write this one I’m not sure who did, however every word of it rings true)

Edit, author Craig Moore

06/16/2024

Anika and Tic Tac de la Pomme Z move up to the 1.20m and win the Jr/Am speed as well as sixth in the Classic out of 34!🥇🏆

06/15/2024

Maddie and Cadoretto finish their late day with 🥈 in the 3’3 Junior Classic out of 30!

06/15/2024

Liza scores an 84 for 🥈 in the Ariat adult medal on Liverno!

06/14/2024

Ivy and Super Vision win the 15-17 THIS out of 24 with a score of 88!🥇 Taylor rides our own Liverno to eighth place!🏆

06/13/2024

Always a good rule to follow.

06/11/2024

Congratulations to the new owners of these two ponies!🦄✨

1. Milly Large with trainer Amy Bender on the purchase of Sandra Patrick’s Roosevelt!
2. Rowan Matlack and trainer Kit Menis on the lease of Kyla Lucas’ Joly’s Gela!

06/09/2024

Anika and Tic Tac de la Pomme Z race to 🥈 in the 1.15m Junior Classic and the division Championship!🏆

06/09/2024

Liza and Liverno continue their success winning all three classes in the Adult Eq for Champion!🏆🥇✨

06/08/2024

Taylor rode Debbie Snyder’s China Cove to Champion in the Childrens Hunters and the Classic win!🏆🥇 Perfect first childrens/junior hunter for SALE!

06/08/2024

Liza wins both the Ariat and the THIS Adult medal on Liverno!🏆🥇

06/08/2024

Both jumpers win their classes this morning!🏆🥇
and HF Jett - 1.20m Low jr/am Speed by six seconds
a.spaeth.eq and Tic Tac de la Pomme Z - 1.10m Jr by five seconds

06/08/2024

Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity. This week....

06/07/2024

Ivy scores a 90 to win the THIS medal wk 1 on Super Vision!🏆🥇

06/04/2024

05/21/2024

Clara and Bastille had a great two weeks in Tryon winning a class both weeks in the 1.10m Junior Jumpers!🥇🏆✨

05/19/2024

Taylor and Doreen MH win the WIHS Overall with 🥇 in the Jumper phase and 🥉 in the Hunter phase! She was also 🥈 in the Maclay!

05/18/2024

Liza and Liverno are 🥇 in the Ariat and 🥉 in the THIS Adult medals!

05/18/2024

Congrats to Ivy and Super Vision on their fourth place finish in the $15k International Derby out of 20!🏆🦄✨

05/04/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/QpNcQNN5eaJa1HPB/?mibextid=WC7FNe

04/28/2024

Capitol C wins the 2 y/o class and Reserve Best Ypung Horse WCHR week 1!🏆 Week 2 she won the 2 y/o class again and is Champion Best Young Horse! 🏆🥇

04/28/2024

Clara had a great weekend with her two mounts!🏆

Bastille
🥇 Open 1m
🥈🥉 Low jr/am 1m
7th Low jr/am 1m Classic

Econtador
🥇 Gov Cup
🥈 NHS
4th Medal
5th Maclay