Dundulk Sporthorses

05/13/2024

Can't repeat this enough times!

Send a message to learn more

04/06/2024

At the Stable View $60,000 FEI CCI-S 2/3/4* & USEF/USEA Horse Trials. The 4* course was impressive, Noah got socialized and tested his obedience skills. He was very good!

02/09/2024

Day 3 Friday, we hunted the Blackberry Hill fixture. Another huge turnout! A lovely stirrup cup was provided by the Sullivan Turner Team at Meybohm Real Estate. Hounds opened in the first 15 minutes and many in the field were rewarded with a fantastic view of the coyote as he crossed an open hayfield. The chase was on and it was another day of great sport. Tonight the hunt ball! Hunt week is not for the faint of heart😉

02/09/2024

After our welcome party, we hunted our Jackson fixture on Thursday, a field of approximately 75 turned out! Tot Goodwin (who just turned 80!) brought his hounds to join us. Scent was difficult due to warming temps but we covered a huge amount of territory and hounds worked hard.

02/09/2024

Whiskey Road Foxhounds Hunt week is in full swing! It’s been a fun, action packed time so far with not a lot of time to post. We started Wednesday with a welcome party at the historic Gaston Livery Stables in downtown Aiken. Lots of great food and drink and meeting friends new and old.

01/29/2024

Interestering. . .

Fascinating that they have banned the use of bandages in Holland for dressage, vaulting jumping and driving from April 1st 2024. The Dutch had already banned the use of bandages in eventing.

The decision is based on scientific studies, which show that bandages do not provide effective leg protection and they state the biggest problem is that the temperature of the legs rises high under bandages, which has a detrimental effect on the elasticity of tendon tissue.

But how hot is too hot? Many of the boots we have tested raise the leg temperatures dramatically. Who regulates how hot a leg is allowed to become in a boot? Afterall the governing authorities DO NOT even regulate the impact protection a boot should provide!

After testing many boots we will not use anything but a good airflow boot, such as Exoskeleton. There is only one other company that matched Exoskeleton in air flow and keeping the legs cool. IT IS NOT just bandages that are the problem.

https://www.dehoefslag.nl/nieuws/sport/101403/bandages-vanaf-1-april-verboden-op-het-wedstrijdterrein

01/24/2024

So thrilled to welcome Dundulk’s former rider Tori Miller who came down to try Boyd Martin’s fabulous mare Contessa. Got chills watching her ride her!

01/14/2024

01/14/2024

Given the weather in most of the country, particularly thankful for being able to enjoy hunting in lovely weather, over beautiful country and hear fantastic hound music! And this guy, Navarre, is turning into the most fabulous foxhunter ever. In his first season, he’s light in the bridle, stands quietly, extremely comfortable. And just wait till we start jumping him. He’ll be someone’s horse of a lifetime.

01/11/2024

A truth!

💯

01/02/2024

A handy chart to keep around.

12/25/2023

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a wonderful 2024!

12/03/2023

I feel this!

Goes for tack too 🤣

10/26/2023

Jump chute day and Navarre was a rockstar! Beautiful rhymthic trot in and canter the whole way through. Square knees and good use of shoulders and back. He can jump!

10/19/2023

So fun!☺️

10/01/2023

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood, WRFH trail ride at Martha Upchurch’s beautiful farm! The weather was perfect and the venue magical. And a good time was had by all.

09/17/2023

Spot on!

We’ve helped hundreds of horses find new best friends over the years... But more so, we’ve answered thousands of inquiries. I’ll say it again like I say every year, in case someone out there needs to hear this...

HOW TO FIND YOUR “UNICORN”

1. PARAMETERS: Sticking to your “parameters” is only hurting your search. This is like when you have a friend who says they’ll only date a guy over 6 feet tall. Would you turn down meeting your soul mate because he’s 5’11”? I’ve learned from many good Horsemen over the years and the saying is true: God never made a good horse in a bad color. The number of times that people are looking for a precise height or a precise color and I think I have the perfect match for them to fulfill all their dreams, but they won’t budge 1 inch on height in either direction. I can tell you that my current 17 hand horse feels much smaller than my current 15.3h horse. It’s much more about their barrel and their neck set and then the height of their withers. Stop looking for the horse that is “5-7 years old 16.2-17.0h bay or grey gelding.” You are only sabotaging your own search here.

2. WRONG QUESTIONS: When people call about horses, I tell them what kind of rider he needs and what the horse wants to do for a living. Why does NO ONE ever ask that?! They ask how fancy his trot is or how his dressage score was last weekend or how many ribbons he has or how tall he is. They don’t ever ask, “Will he tolerate my mistakes? Will he make up where I’m lacking? Can I handle this horse? Does he have the same goals that I do?”

3. WRONG PRIORITIES: I always teach my students this lesson. My “keeper” horse as a 4yo was the worst mover in the barn. Choppy trot, canter like a tractor trailer on ice, pads on his feet, and some seriously unimpressive knees. If I pulled him out of the stall for you at a sales appointment at 4 years old, you would tell me to put him away! Then he won 3 events at 5yo. At 6 he’s a dream to ride because we’ve put in serious sweat equity for three years. I’m going to burst your bubble here. Unless you’re trying to literally win the Olympics, you don’t need the best mover in the barn. Find the horse that makes you SMILE, that you want to ride every day, the one you can train. Beyond that, you can teach it to win the dressage if you work hard enough. Heck, the worst mover I’ve ever owned won a dozen upper level events and got our Bronze Medal in dressage, and if you saw him today you’d swear that was the best canter you’ve ever ridden. When you’re shopping, don’t buy for the fancy trot. Find the horse that makes you smile.

4. MAINTENANCE: The number of people who put in search ads, “absolutely no maintenance“ or ask me if he has to wear shoes. So you’re telling me if I can find you your perfect unicorn that will make you happy for the rest of his life and you have to give him hock injections once a year, you wouldn’t do it? Because that’s about what you’re spending on your Starbucks this month. If you find a horse that will take care of you, you need to take care of it. Period.

5. VETTINGS: It’s been said by a million people so I’ll keep it brief. Vettings are a fact finding mission, not an attempt to rule out every horse you meet. No one can predict the future—-I’ve had upper level horses that would have failed as 4yos who never missed an event in their lives. I’ve seen vets give two thumbs up to horses who dropped dead a week later from a heart problem. Vets are our greatest resource, but they aren’t fortune tellers. Any good vetting WILL find something. Have your trainer help you understand what is realistic when the vet jargon sounds scary.

Here’s hoping that this list helps someone searching somewhere. Because I know over the years in my career, if I had stuck to my parameters and broken my rules, I would not have bought any of my eventual upper level horses. I would have missed out on so many special horses in my life, because I didn’t want a 3yo or I didn’t want him to be 15.3h or his ankles aren’t pretty.

When you find a horse that you like to ride and it makes you happy, that’s really all that matters. ❤️

—Megan Moore

Photo by Canter Clix

08/25/2023

It’s worked for me for years 😉

Yes . . .

07/18/2023

THE REAL RULES OF DRESSAGE
1. If you really want to get better at dressage, take it up at an earlier age - and grow an extra 3 inches of leg.
2. A dressage test is a test of your skill against another competitor's luck.
3. Dressage is about achieving a harmonious working relationship with your horse, whose only idea of harmony is eating grass in a field with his buddies.
4. If you want to end a drought or dry spell, wear a new jacket and hat to an outdoor arena.
5. Untalented, difficult, aggressive horses have robust health, good hocks and long lives.
6. Talented tractable horses are accident prone and have OCD lesions.
7. You will ride the best test of your entire life just prior to being disqualified for not wearing your gloves.
8. Never keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your head before a test.
9. Never keep less than another 300 separate thoughts in your head during a test.
10. Horses do not improve their paces because you are wearing expensive German breeches.
11. If you chose a disco theme for your dressage to music test then the judge will be more than 90 years of age and Swiss.
12. The less skilled the rider, the more likely they are to share their critique of your test.
13. If you are considering the services of a horse clairvoyant to help you with training then you have reached the point of total desperation - try the German breeches.
14.Your horse has never heard of Podhajsky, let alone read the book.
15. No matter how badly you ride a test, it is always possible to ride a worse one.
16. If it ain't broke, try shifting your position and it will be.
17. Judges only suffer from temporary blindness (or kindness) when they are judging someone else's test.
18. If you fall off your horse in the arena you will have paid to have the test videoed.
19. If you are feeling confident before a show then three of the USET dressage team will turn up to give their young horses some "experience."
20. Your horse will perform its best piaffe ever when you ask for extended canter.
22. Since runs of bad competitions come in groups of three, the fourth competition is actually the beginning of the next group of three.
23. No one cheats at dressage because no one has worked out how to do it.
24. It is surprisingly easy to end a test with a perfect square halt once you have scored a four for every other movement.
25. The result of an expensive lesson from a top pro is that you will stop believing in that tiny piece of innate ability that was holding your riding together.
26. Remember when buying a dressage horse advertised as "needs experienced competitive rider" this really means "needs the skills of Isabelle Werth just to stay on board."
27. If you think your test was better than someone else's, it probably wasn't.
28. If you pay 60,000 for an imported WB, you will be beaten in First Level 4 by a Quarter Horse.
29. Clinics given by someone with an interesting accent are not necessarily superior to those given by the homegirl.
30. If you go to the expense of raising an expensive WB foal, he will have a talent for jumping and no walk worth talking about.
**Author unknown

07/14/2023

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2214482845404445

06/29/2023

Henry worked beautifully today! 3 yo Percheron x gelding, super prospect for fox hunting.