07/19/2024
Zeus isn't very impressed with the work required to become a riding horse. Note the differences in enthusiasm between 2 year old Percheron Zeus (the moose), and 3 year old Ego, who adores training time. 😂
Garza Performance Horses is a boutique training facility in Baldwin City, KS, specializing in C**t Starting and Western Performance Horse training.
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We also offer Horsemanship Clinics throughout the United States. Garza Performance Horses is a boutique training facility located out of our home in Baldwin City, KS. Our services include C**t Starting and Western Performance Horse training. We believe in creating a well-rounded, correct horse with a solid foundation that will allow them to be successful in any discipline or career. We believe in
working closely with owners throughout the training process to ensure a smooth transition between the time they arrive in training and the time they head home. In addition to training services, we also offer Horsemanship Clinics in various topics including General Horsemanship, Performance Horsemanship 101 and 101, Riding Instructor Workshops, Obstacles, and Riding Without Fear. Private Clinics are available for booking, just ask! Currently conducting clinics throughout the United States.
Zeus isn't very impressed with the work required to become a riding horse. Note the differences in enthusiasm between 2 year old Percheron Zeus (the moose), and 3 year old Ego, who adores training time. 😂
Slots are still available in this one! Make sure to get signed up!
Let's all get matching shirts
Helping one of our trainer friends:
ISO a gelding for a first horse for a 12 year old rider starting her showing career. Something sane at the WTC on the flat to go in the hunt seat classes or whatever her heart desires. Aged is Okay but sound and sane a must, quarter types preferred but not a must. The wishlist also includes pretty color. Tough budget of mid x,### but a great forever home is the reward. Message us if you have something that fits the bill.
Colorado friends!
Our next clinic is the Advanced Performance Horsemanship at Gilchrist Arena July 28. We will be flying in Friday July 26 and free Saturday July 27 for a day of lessons or a private clinic. If you'd be interested in hosting us for a day of lessons or a private clinic with a topic tailored to your group, please message us! We'd love to spend the free day teaching.
👏👏👏
I always said I was probably a poor business woman because my goal as a trainer was always to make myself obsolete to my riders.
I pride myself on being kind as a coach but passionate about accountability in horsemanship! Hard talks are my love language!
And just like that, we have a gelding. Brain surgery went well! Including Photos of the removed no-no parts because they were impressively large 🤣
Big thank you to our friends over at Straight A Equine Athletics for caring so diligently for our new boy as he recovers and adjusts to life without n**s.
"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."
-Steve Jobs
Wrapping up another incredible clinic weekend in Colorado. Put a fork in me, I'm done!
July and August dates are in the works, be sure to like and follow us to stay up to date with where we'll be. Message us today to learn about setting up a private clinic for your group with content tailored to your specific wants and needs!
Holy cow! We are humbled by the number of offers we have gotten! Thank you so much. We have a very busy riding/clinic week this week and will be reviewing options and reaching out to owners about coming to meet their c**ts in the coming 2 weeks. We can't wait to share the c**t we choose with you and share the journey back to the competition arena with you all ❤️
5 years ago I was missing competing very much but not in a good place in life. Knowing that it was a temporary season, I made a goal that the year my daughter started Kindergarten, I'd make my return to a full clinic schedule and would find a prospect and commit to competing again. In just under 2 months, my daughter starts kindergarten. All that to say, there is power is creating goals and manifesting those goals. Learning to see "the suck" as a temporary state is powerful! 2025, here we come 🙌💪🤘
*Special Training Opportunity*
After a long hiatus from competing, we are eyeing a return to the competition arena.
We are interested in finding an owner who might be interested in committing a c**t to us for the 2025 season.
Preferably, we are looking for a 2-3 year old AQHA or APHA c**t (would consider a drama free filly), that we will train and ride free of charge for the season. We'd prefer an unstarted c**t but would consider a started one. Our goal is to take this c**t to compete in UHCA/EXCA as well as in the Ranch Horse events (MoRHA/ARHA) at our expense to dive back in to competition. At the end of the season, this c**t will return home a solid citizen with some competition time under their belt.
This is a great opportunity for an owner who has a baby on the backburner that they can't get to.
PM us to discuss this unique partnership!
Can't wait to get this guy home!
Today's weather forecast determined that this is a lie! 🤣🤣
Due to the extreme heat today, training sessions are canceled and will be made up once these ponies are a little more acclimated to the heat!
Be sure that your horses have access to fresh water these upcoming days and be cautious if you choose to work your horses as they need time to acclimate the same as we do! Electrolyte paste is a must have this time of year at our farm. What are your hot weather tricks to help keep your horses cool? Post them here!
I don't know yall I think I was destined to own these boots!!!!
*Special Training Opportunity*
After a long hiatus from competing, we are eyeing a return to the competition arena.
We are interested in finding an owner who might be interested in committing a c**t to us for the 2025 season.
Preferably, we are looking for a 2-3 year old AQHA or APHA c**t (would consider a drama free filly), that we will train and ride free of charge for the season. We'd prefer an unstarted c**t but would consider a started one. Our goal is to take this c**t to compete in UHCA/EXCA as well as in the Ranch Horse events (MoRHA/ARHA) at our expense to dive back in to competition. At the end of the season, this c**t will return home a solid citizen with some competition time under their belt.
This is a great opportunity for an owner who has a baby on the backburner that they can't get to.
PM us to discuss this unique partnership!
We still have a few openings for this clinic, Colorado friends, here is the flyer to share!!
I just love learning every c**ts personality as they go through my c**t program. 3 year old Jade has a funny obsession with sniffing my boots every time we settle and stand. She is such a funny girl!
Is there anything prettier than a solid black filly?
Got some nice work done on the c**ties today before the gnarly storms!
Miss Claire is the definition of gentle! The first thing my kids want to do every morning is give her some love, and she's the first one at the fence. Can't wait to find her the perfect family!
Hump day wisdom!
There's nothing cooler than a baby draftie that's soft and reliable enough to ride out solo in a bosal. She's for sale! And she's going to make the BEST riding partner. Gentle and kind and the we guarantee you'll have the coolest and most glorious ride everywhere you go! Message us about Claire!
She's back! Claire bear came back today to prep to sell. We sure missed this big girl and can't wait to find her an AWESOME home! She's broke to ride and was started by us, having gone through our c**t program last year. We will be working on getting her back trail riding and hauling out, and she will be helping work the other babies. She is available immediately for interested parties! Message us about Claire today!
Spring is going to be so much fun! We will be offering these two great young draft babies for sale!
I know many of you fell in love with Claire the Clydesdale last year and missed out when she sold. Well she's going to be coming for sale soon! Her little girl decided she wants to do barrels, and Miss Claire isn't interested in going anywhere in a hurry 🤣🤣🤣. We will start documenting their progress soon!
We had another incredible clinic weekend in Colorado benefitting our sister from another mister Joan! Another great group of riders joined us for a day filled with skill-focused horsemanship, which ended by testing them with a skill course that showed their progress. Every rider made tremendous strides and I think this clinic was especially helpful in building confidence for both horse and rider because we rode in 15+mph winds all day!
We will be back for another General Horsemanship Clinic on June 29. We also have a Performance Horse Clinic in the works which will be geared toward more advanced riders. Be sure to like and follow our page for future clinic dates.
Almost 20 years in the horse business and I've met some pretty incredible people, and I've been blessed to teach in some incredible places. In all those years so many of the people I've met have become great friends. What I will say though, is that the friendships I made while living and working in Colorado have been some of the most formative ones of my life. My first clinic in two years after coming very close to throwing in the towel was soul filling because of the friends I got to spend time with doing what I love most. A big thank you to our new friend Brittany Razee-Erosky for sneaking beautiful photos all day that really captured the energy of the day. She also surprised me by adding some of my music to the video which I had sent her. Enjoy!
I made this post almost 4 years ago and wanted to share it with you all again. I had a former client call me today struggling with the decision whether or not to euthanize one of her horses. This is always the conversation I have surrounding this topic. Thought it was a good read!
It's a topic we never want to talk about, but it's one that's always in the back of our minds.....the day we lose our beloved horses.
Today I got an email from a friend asking for my advice about her gelding who had recently declined in health due to a long battle with severe laminitis and some other health issues. She was struggling to understand what her next step would be, she was questioning whether she was making ethical decisions in continuing to put her gelding through testing and treatment in the fight to reclaim his health. He was 20 years old and just wasn't responding to her vet's intervention and she was feeling defeated and run down.
I think so many of us have been in her shoes. I thought back to the instances in my own life with horses where I have had to make tough decisions that I struggled with. I remembered something a good friend of mine said to me, and I shared it with her.
"Is he sound?" I asked.
"No." she said.
"Is he HAPPY?" I asked.
"No." she replied.
"Is he himself?" I asked.
"No. He's exhausted. He's not eating. He's not coming to the stall when I call him." she replied.
"Then I think you know what the right answer is."
4 or 5 years ago I rescued a c**t named Baron from a kill pen in Oklahoma and brought him home. He was 200 lbs underweight and hadn't known much kindness in his life. I had him for about a year and a half when I noticed that he was severely lame on a front foot. I took my normal steps to mitigate possible injuries, and gave it a little time. And then he started to change. He didn't play, he wasn't eating, and he didn't come when I called him to the gate for cookies. I knew something was wrong. I took him to the vet and we found out that he had somehow broken his foot. The vet was stunned, and so was I. He gave me some options and told me that the prognosis wasn't great, and that my c**t was probably in a lot of pain, but was tough enough not to show it. He told me that his quality of life wouldn't be great. In my mind, I asked myself:
Is he happy? Is he himself? Will he be able to be a c**t and run and play like he should?
The answer was no, and I knew in that moment what I had to do.
This is the last photo of us together. I put my arm around him and let him graze and we enjoyed the winter day together until the vet was ready to euthanize him. It was one of the hardest days of my life watching a c**t I had rescued be euthanized because of a freak accident which cut his life short before he even got to live it.
Love makes us fight. Love makes us fight with all we've got to keep the people and things we love from harm. But sometimes love is the very thing that can cloud our judgment when it comes to euthanasia decisions. So my challenge to you is this: When you reach that season of life when you're faced with saying goodbye, ask yourself these questions:
Is he happy?
Is he himself?
If the answer is yes, FIGHT.
If the answer is no, LOVE him enough to let him go and stand by his side and put a brave face on until he takes his last breath.
Your horse has earned that from you.
Sign ups are OPEN for the June 1 clinic in Lone Jack, Mo, and the June 15 clinic in Baldwin City, KS!
Deadline for sign up for the June 1 clinic will be MAY 15!
Deadline for sign up for the June 15 clinic will be JUNE 1!
No exceptions! Very crucial for you to get signed up and get payments in early so we are not turning away riders and are able to secure the venues we are working with. Thank you!
Life really bucked us off lately.
But thanks to a lot of really great friends and loved ones, we are dusted off and moved in to our new home. There is lots of work to do to get the place how we want it, but we are just so thankful to have a home and the ability to now walk out the back door to work training horses.
We are so thankful to be full in our opening month! Anyone looking for some super nice riding horses stay tuned as we will have a SUPER nice reining/ranch bred 5 year old filly coming up as well as 2 super nice quality geldings coming in for sale in September.
We have some fence to build and an outdoor arena to put in, but we are hoping to be ready to host some haul in lessons and maybe a clinic or two in the fall.
Feeling thankful today to be alive and well, still able to do what we love, and being able to walk out the back door to do it. Thankful for loved ones and friends and family who got us through tough times so we could make this possible. Fall 2023, bring it on!
1 last minute training opening has come up for August. Move in date would be weekend of August 4-5-6. Message to claim. We are not going to have many openings the remainder of the year, so sn**ch this spot up while you can!
We are overwhelmed by all the messages and calls from our horse friends far and wide after the fire at our house. Thank you all! Everyone has been asking how they can help...unfortunately we lost many of the horse/farm items we were needing to get our new house going. If anyone has any of the following they are looking to sell it might consider loaning out until we can settle up with insurance we'd sure appreciate it:
Water trough
Hoses
Horse quality square bales
Small riding mower
W**d Eater
That's the short list for now.
Please be patient if you don't hear back from us for a day or two as we recover and clean up from a fire at our home overnight. All people and animals are okay, but much of our irreplaceable, sentimental value stuff was lost. Send some good vibes ❤️
Garza Performance Horses
Baldwin City, KS
66021
Monday | 9am - 5pm |
Tuesday | 9am - 5pm |
Wednesday | 9am - 5pm |
Thursday | 9am - 5pm |
Friday | 9am - 5pm |
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There's nothing cooler than a baby draftie that's soft and reliable enough to ride out solo in a bosal. She's for sale! And she's going to make the BEST riding partner. Gentle and kind and the we guarantee you'll have the coolest and most glorious ride everywhere you go! Message us about Claire!
She's back! Claire bear came back today to prep to sell. We sure missed this big girl and can't wait to find her an AWESOME home! She's broke to ride and was started by us, having gone through our colt program last year. We will be working on getting her back trail riding and hauling out, and she will be helping work the other babies. She is available immediately for interested parties! Message us about Claire today!
Almost 20 years in the horse business and I've met some pretty incredible people, and I've been blessed to teach in some incredible places. In all those years so many of the people I've met have become great friends. What I will say though, is that the friendships I made while living and working in Colorado have been some of the most formative ones of my life. My first clinic in two years after coming very close to throwing in the towel was soul filling because of the friends I got to spend time with doing what I love most. A big thank you to our new friend Brittany Razee-Erosky for sneaking beautiful photos all day that really captured the energy of the day. She also surprised me by adding some of my music to the video which I had sent her. Enjoy!
You've seen a reining horse, but I bet you've never seen a three legged bull terrier who aspires to be a reiner 🤣 Needless to say that one rear leg makes for a solid and dedicated pivot foot.
You've heard that saying that energy cannot be created or destroyed, right? The same applies to horses. SO much of the time I see people ride and when their horse gives them a behavior they didn't want, they escalate the energy of the situation by grabbing hold of them and yelling, panicking, and carrying on, and then wonder why that behavior continues. Don't hold a grudge. Be in tune enough to allow it to begin, make a quick redirection, and move on with your ride like it never happened. If you're being caught by surprise, you probably weren't listening closely enough in the first place. Here is Skippy John, an aged gelding we have in for training, getting a little sassy this morning. A quick redirection when he gave me this behavior let him know it wasn't the right answer, and then I went back to riding quietly and asking again. It works a lot faster than you think! Horses will excel in whatever area you put the most energy, negative or positive. Get out and ride, it's nice out!
Man, it feels good to WORK! Today was Oakley's first day back riding as we prepare her to sell. Oakley is a 5 year old AQHA mare that will make a fantastic ranch rider if you want to show, or a great trail rider/using horse if you don't. We will be listing her for sale in the next couple weeks, but as always shoot us a message if you'd like to learn more about her now. Hear us talk about using morning rides down the road to start teaching the concepts of self-carriage and impulsion. Stay cool, y'all. ✌️
Some of you might remember a while ago we posted asking if anyone wanted to trade trailer remodeling for training services. We sent our trailer off to our friend Kaylee Wood, and look at the incredible transformation! So thankful for the connections we make through our business.
Another great gelding being offered to a great home! Meet Buddy. 3 year old grade QH gelding. Approx 14hh. Buddy has about 20 rides with us and look at how great he is coming along. Imagine where he will be next year! A fantastic little gelding at the beginning of his riding career and ready to be finished your way. Buddy is a super laid back dude and loves a leisurely pace. He has been down the road and seems unphased by much. He will make a nice trail or family horse with more miles. Priced in the low mid x,### range, message for details.
Stop what you're doing, because I've got a big ol' hunky Gypsy gelding hitting the market formally today! Moon 9 year old Gypsy cross gelding Approx 16hh Pretty pretty pretty ✅️ Safe safe safe ✅️ Youth, novice suitable ✅️ Rides in the arena ✅️ Trail rides ✅️ Drags naughty colts around ✅️ Loads, ties, bathes ✅️ Gentleman ✅️ Guys, if you know me, you know I don't label very many horses as BROKE. They have to earn it. This gelding is B.R.O.K.E. Quiet and uncomplicated to ride, the same dude for me every time I pull him up. Good body control, rides on a loose rein and in a snaffle. Rides out alone and with others. Has been ridden by my novice kiddos and was a total gentleman. During a PPE Moon was found to have an old suspensory ligament tear that was healed over but disqualified him from a jumping home. He is sound for work on the flat and I'm happy to arrange to get those PPE results shared with serious prospective buyers. ☝️✊️,✊️✊️✊️ Available to view in person in Edgerton, KS Additional video and photos will not be taken. Come see him!
Training rides for the remainder of the week are postponed as we deal with some catastrophic flooding which happened overnight in our home.Unfortunately water got in to the electrical panel and created unsafe conditions which forces us out of our home temporarily. Bummer! Thank you to all of our clients for your patience and understanding.