Agape Hill Stable

02/05/2020

The origins of our new name. Agape!

Agape is a Greco-Christian term referring to love, "the highest form of love, charity" and "the love of God for man and of man for God".

02/03/2020

We will have stall openings in March. PM for details.

02/03/2020

Check out our awesome new logo!

02/03/2020

We are now called:
Agape Hill Stable
Same great care, fresh new name!

01/30/2020

Pony washing party! Forever grateful to Thea Wilcox for letting us share in the beautiful Yankovich.

01/28/2020

BIG NEWS!
We are rebranding.
Stay tuned for details...

10/24/2019

Indoor spots still available. PM for details

10/12/2019

IF YOU FEED ROUND BALES, THIS POST IS FOR YOU!

As you're making plans for the colder weather ahead and your winter hay needs, you may be considering purchasing round bales due to their lower cost and greater convenience for feeding pastured horses.

While well-managed/stored round bales can still be a safe option for your horses, here a few important things for you to know:

• Round bales provide an optimum environment for the development of the botulism neurotoxins, which equines are particularly sensitive to. This toxin is produced when the clostridium botulinum bacterium is exposed to the right environmental conditions -- such as when forage materials are baled and stored while still damp, or when they include the carcasses of dead animals, like birds and mice. Botulism causes weakness, paralysis, and is usually fatal if left untreated. Because of the high death rate and the difficulty in diagnosing this disease, prevention through vaccination is critical, especially in areas where botulism is prevalent (such as Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, and Tennessee).

• Horses prone to respiratory conditions usually have increased problems with round bales due to their higher dust content.

• A University of Minnesota study showed that horses eating round bales NOT placed in a feeder may have trouble meeting their energy requirements even when hay is present, because of contamination and waste from horses dragging and trampling forage.

• Not all hay is created equal: have your hay tested for nutrient content to ensure it meets the horse’s nutritional needs; check for mold, dust, and poisonous weeds before feeding. Establishing a good relationship with a reputable supplier will take you a long way.

As in all horse health issues, your local veterinarian is your best source of information. Consult your horse doctor today on best practices when feeding hay this winter, and on botulism prevention and treatment.

**Related resource**
Read more about Equine Botulism on our website at:
https://aaep.org/horsehealth/equine-botulism
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09/29/2019

To keep, train and show a horse takes a great amount of time, commitment and sacrifice, but we do it because of the tremendous love we have for the horse...

09/17/2019

Birds eye view of our turn out pastures. We have indoor and outdoor boarding spots available.

Facility has: heated large indoor, huge outdoor, 25 miles of private trails, wash rack and more!
PM or call for details 612-419-4157

08/12/2019

Indoor boarding spot available in September.
PM for details

07/29/2019

St. Paul, Minn. - A six-week-old quarter horse was euthanized in Clay County on July 15, and post-mortem tests confirmed it was infected with the highly contagious disease Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM). The Minnesota Board of Animal Health is responding to the case by activating its E...

06/13/2019

One of Majoor's foals making us proud!

06/12/2019

This. All this.
If we do better, our horses do better.

I don’t need my horse to be desensitized. I need him to have understanding. I need him to be able to discern when he IS supposed to respond to a thing, and when he is not. Yes, you read that right.…

06/10/2019

Great article!

If we could only make this truth fully understood in the horse world, how much time and trouble would horses, buyers, owners and trainers save? Fewer horses would be mishandled, misunderstood and e…

04/05/2019

This is a picture of an enterolith discovered during colic surgery in the colon of a horse. These masses are usually composed of ammonium magnesium phosphate (struvite). They almost always form around a foreign body a horse ingests, such as a nail, piece of wood or a piece of rope. We occasionally find these during colic surgeries in Kentucky, although they more commonly found in horses in California. Arabians, Morgans, American Saddlebreds and donkeys are the breeds we most commonly find these in. Surgery is usually required to remove large enteroliths that occlude the colon causing the horse abdominal pain. You can see in the picture that this enterolith is round. If you find an enterolith with a flat side (not round) you must be suspicious during surgery that there is more than one enterolith. The prognosis for horses with enteroliths is considered good and our patient is doing well in the immediate post-operative period.

03/27/2019

ALTOONA, Iowa -- The Iowa Department of Agriculture has confirmed a highly contagious virus in a horse barn in Altoona. Equine Herpes Virus or EHV-1 can be fatal to horses and can easily spread from one horse to another through humans and even inanimate objects. It’s not a threat to humans or othe...

02/11/2019

01/10/2019

Amen!

01/06/2019

12/27/2018

11/04/2018

Thank you to Tri-State Horsemen's Association for a wonderful awards dinner and this lovely recognition for our work in the industry!!

10/17/2018

So much goes into pairing a horse and rider. Here is an interesting perspective on meshing personalities .

This week I’d like to give some tips about personality match between horse and rider.

Through my professional career I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with studying people’s behavior patterns as well as my own at a deep level for the purpose of being a better coach. This has fascinated me and it can be used in so many ways to help my students and my own riding.

When purchasing a horse, riders usually have a lot of valid criteria they look for in their future partner, such as gaits, age, size, training level, but rarely ask themselves the question: will it be a good match with my own personality, or my character?

We as human beings have different personality types. Some of us avoid conflict at all cost, whereas some individuals constantly try to push everyone else boundaries. Some are shy, some are confident, the list is long. And this in fact will have a great impact on your riding.

For example, if you are a type of person who won’t yield until you get what you want on a personal or professional level, without going into any compromise...please make yourself a favor and don’t buy a mare 😆

Or if you have a personality who doesn’t like conflict, has a hard time to assert your authority, as a rider you may run into problems with horses who need clear boundaries when they take bad decisions.

Being aware of your personality type is very important before you consider buying a horse. I’ve interestingly witnessed inexperienced amateur riders do a beautiful job riding some of the sensitive horses I had for sale, while the experienced trainer couldn’t get anything out of them besides resistance and tension. It really shows that there is more to it than just knowing the technique.

Being able to get the best out of a horse has to do with very balanced emotions as a rider. When frustration, anger or fear creeps in while riding a horse, it is a reflection of your own issues as a person, and has little to do with the horse. You are projecting on him emotions triggered by the fact that whatever he is doing calls out the aspects of your personality you have put in shadow. And the horse will mirror these emotions back at you.
If you are able to detach yourself from the reason of your frustration while riding the horse, and look logically at how this horse needs to be approached, then it makes you capable of riding pretty much any type of horse. But it is a process, and a process involving an introspection of you to start with.

Every time you get frustrated about your horse while riding, ask yourself the question: what is the exact source of my frustration? Do I face similar frustrations / patterns at work and in my personal life? What is the real reason why I get frustrated: because I feel powerless on a naughty horse? Because I don’t feel like I’m good enough? Because I am scared to do something wrong or that bad things will happen if I intervene? Because I’m worried the horse won’t love me anymore if I correct him?