Kiwi
So proud of this young mare! Kiwi has been in our young horse training program and though it was a bit of a slow start, being patient and taking that time has been more than worth it! This is her second time trotting under saddle and she was absolutely perfect!
I can’t say it enough… do right by your young horse and take the time to build them up both physically and mentally!
Thank you to my friend Flo for helping out with her ❤️. Kiwi was doing well solo at the walk with me but needed some extra ground support with picking up her trot transitions. Instead of trying to push her through it I just broke it down to make it easier for her to get and it only took two sessions.
If you are curious about our young horse program, send us a pm for more information!
Quiet and undemanding time is important in any relationship, and so is equally as important with our horses! What is something you like to do with your horse that allows you to connect with them on another level?
Working through reactivity with positive reinforcement
Horses will always be horses. Macho lived the first two years of his life out in the open, with a herd and sculpted by nature. He has always been more reactive or alert to things that may put him in a compromised position. In the beginning there was a lot of bolting away and I was not surprised in the slightest.
It took a lot of consistent building to get him to this point here. Yes he was unsure and yes he was worried, but through our work together he learned to work through it enough to not bolt. When I say it took a lot of small wins and attention to detail on my part I’m not exaggerating. But it was more than worth it to have this be the end result. It may not look like much or anything spectacular, but it is. And it’s this type of foundational work that is so important in building confident horses that will look to you instead of trying to gtfo of the situation.
Walking towards the new year with a new home, beautiful farm, amazing fiancé, and happy horses like 💪🏽. Feeling strong again, powerful, centered and clear! There are still moments where I feel like I am being sucked back, like my brain and heart can’t trust all of these amazing things… but then I look around at where I am and who I’m with and my strength comes back ❤️ after not feeling like myself for so long I gotta say, it feels damn good to be back 😎#equestrian #classicaldressage #horsetrainer #ridinginstructor #pocequestrian
We need to give ourselves just as much grace as we allow others when going through big transitions ❤️. Slowly but surely
Working in hand sets you up in so many ways for riding! Being able to be soft and in sync with your horse on the ground is one of them! What do you love about in hand work?
After teaching lessons, we took a bunch of students to Oktoberfest! It was a long day, but couldn’t have been more perfect 🥰
Rosie is now officially graduated to the next level in her training and had Tameka oh her back for the first time!
I’ve been a bit quiet on here regarding training lately, though a lot had been going on personally, training has continued.
I am more than proud of this little mustang, and though I haven’t been as consistent as I would have liked in these last two months, he has still been able to progress in each session! The best thing about a strong and solid foundation built on education and trust is that you get a horse who will continue to trust you in what you ask of them regardless of what the new situation or task may be.
When it comes to starting/restarting horses, I am very methodical in my approach and painfully patient. It may take longer for some horses than it does others (each horse is their own individual with their own timeline), but the results are always the same. Starting horses should be uneventful, boring even. If they are set up the way they need to be from the beginning, theatrics and stress don’t even enter the picture. Riding just becomes a new interesting task.
It’s been a hectic week! But Manny is finally back home and came back on Wednesday evening. He ended up having an abcess in his jaw and since discovering it and getting antibiotics, he’s been doing so much better! I didn’t want to post a picture and gross you guys out but it has ruptured and is currently draining. It’s disgusting but all part of the healing process! I’m so happy to have my guy back home and I’m sure he is too!
I couldn’t be more proud of how wonderful he was for the vets for his 8.5 day stay at the clinic. Everyone was singing his praises. For his first time being trailered since I brought him home, first time off property, not feeling well and having to go through lots of poking and prodding with the vet, and him being a 2 year old colt, how could I not be proud of him?!
And I cannot thank the wonderful team at Southern Equine enough for taking such good care of Manny and working around the clock to try and figure out what was going on and to help get him better. It was a stressful time for sure, but these amazing people made the whole thing so much easier.
Unfortunately after bringing Manny back home, the next morning he started showing symptoms again and we had to go back to the clinic. His temp spiked and though he was going to the bathroom, the vet was concerned about it being colitis and so I left him in the capable hands of the vets at Southern Equine.
We are going on day 3, and while all of his vitals look good aside from the fluctuation in his temperature, he is presenting with some odd symptoms that just seem strange and make me wonder if his colic was set off by something else. Possibly epm or a head injury. He keeps extending his neck and twisting his head sideways to alleviate some sort of discomfort.
I went to visit him yesterday and spoke with the vets about further testing. They were on it and had already collected a blood sample to test for epm, and are doing a head and neck x ray this morning.
I’m trying not to stress too much about what is going on with my guy, but it’s hard when there are no definitive answers or solutions for treatment to help him. It kills me seeing him in this much discomfort and I honestly feel a bit powerless. But he has been a trooper through all of this and a wonderful patient for the vets, even with all of the poking and prodding they have been doing. I’m so proud of him for handling his first ever off site “adventure” like an absolute rock star.
Contact should be light, consistent and feel magnetic. Horses should never feel heavy in your hands, like you have to hold them up and you are using every muscle in your arms and shoulders to keep whatever frame that you have.
This is across the board for all breeds, and has a lot more to do with the rider than the horse. It’s almost something innate in us, to pull something into where we want it to be, and if it doesn’t work then apply more force and pressure. I say that this is something innate because this concept of applying more force is something that we humans do beyond riding. We have evolved to use and work with our hands and we rely pretty heavily on them for many things. How often do we find ourselves, pushing, pulling, yanking inanimate objects when they don’t work? How many times have we broken things because our mind tells us to just apply more force? In some cases, applying more force pays off. That one damn jar of marinara sauce that’s sealed a little too tight and we put some muscle into it and hear that nice little pop of the lid coming loose. It worked! These moments subconsciously justify the use of force in our brains. But how many other times do we apply force and end up worse off than when we started?
Horses are not inanimate objects, they are mammals, living breathing creatures with their own thoughts, feelings and experience. So in applying more force in this situation, especially when seeking contact, will do damage. Just like objects that cannot withstand force, horses cannot either. We see it all too often in the broken bodies and spirits of horses when riders apply more and more force to just make something happen how they would like. We see it in their painful, stressed and anxious facial expressions when they know that there is nothing that they can do to avoid the pain. We see it in the bodies of horses who were pushed and manipulated that continue to break. Tendon injuries, back injuries, arthritis, inflammation, scars etc
We believe in species specific care when it comes to taking care of our personal horses as well as client horses at the farm. Horses evolved to be nomadic animals, travelling miles every day in pursuit of water and food. Though our modern horses are quite different in many ways from their primitive ancestors, their bodies still function in the same way. And The biggest commonality is that their bodies thrive with movement.
To stall or not to stall is a big topic of discussion in the horse world for many reasons. Whether it is access to sufficient acreage, whether or not your horse is used in sport, or convenience, we still need to meet our horse’s needs as best as we can with what we have and what they require as a species. I will say right now that the 24/7 stalling of show horses is unacceptable. It is physically, mentally and emotionally damaging to our horses. It is considered abusive practice for dogs to remain kenneled for that long, but it is a much more justified practice in the horse world that leads to countless behavioral and physical issues.
And I get it, not all of us have access to open land which makes turn out difficult. But this is why I believe that education and looking towards different equine management practices is so important. I am a big advocate for track systems when land is limited. They are designed to keep horses moving throughout the day and are able to work on a multitude of different sized lots. It takes some time and planning to set up, but there is lots of information out there to be able to look into what would be best for you and your horse.
Movement is vital to our horses in almost every way, hell, movement is vital for our physical and mental wellbeing too. Let’s not let species specific care and maintenance be something that is taboo. Our horses deserve to have a healthy and stimulating life outside of what we do when we work with them.
❤️ Happy Valentines Day ❤️
Our horses are deserving of unconditional love too
The forecast is looking grim! Though the boys always seem to make the best of it 😆
Riding is dynamic!
There is no one size fits all for proper and correct rider biomechanics and forcing a rider into a position is just as detrimental to their efficiency in movement as it is for our horses!
Like horses, people come in many different shapes and sizes with each person developing their own physical compensations over the years.
Focusing on perfection often leads to rigidity and our body’s resistance to the horse’s movement underneath us. Balanced riders are soft, effective, and allow for their bodies to move WITH the horse.
Balance and fluidity take precedent over perfection!
Speaking of progress, the farm’s facelift is just 🤩! The fencing is almost complete at this point and just looks so amazing I can’t contain myself half the time! Stay tuned for what’s going to be happening next!!
This post will be tailing off of my previous post regarding “catching” our horses and I ended briefly mentioning that we need to be active partners in helping our horses feel that they want to spend time with us… so what exactly does that look like? How do we build relationships with our horses that aren’t just centered around riding and what they can do for us? How does it evolve? Hopefully these tips will be helpful in having a more engaged partner who will want to catch you the next time you go into the pasture!
I’m going to start with the BIGGEST bit of advice. At least for me I find it to be one of the most important practices we can add into our time spent with our horses that is often lacking. LET YOUR HORSE INITIATE PHYSICAL TOUCH. That means, don’t touch them until they touch you first. This exercise will tell you A LOT about how they are feeling, where their boundaries are and how we as people can respect them. I often recommend that people just go out and sit with their horse, no halters, ropes or anything, this isn’t about catching and haltering them, but rather teaching them that they can be the ones that initiate interaction. More often than not we humans are the ones initiating, touching and doing to the horse and it is frowned upon for it to be reciprocated bc the horse has to respect our boundaries. But I personally don’t think it’s fair to hold them at a higher standard than we hold ourselves. So bring some snacks, talk to your mom on the phone or read a book and just sit out in the pasture with your horse. Are they curious about your presence? Do they come over to investigate? Or could they care less? If they do come over, allow them to touch you, nuzzle you, sniff you. Then hold out your hand, ask if they would like to be scratched in their favorite spots! And pay attention to what your horse tells you in those moments. Do they want to be touched? If they say no by leaning away, looking away, turning, swishing their tail at you
