Shooting Star Ranch - Brianna King

08/27/2024

Open obstacle riding this Thursday (8/29/24). $15 per horse. Show up any time after 5:30 pm.

08/20/2024

08/20/2024

The obstacles are all set up for open obstacle riding tonight. Show up any time after 6pm. $15/horse

08/19/2024

We will have open obstacle riding on Tuesday, August 20th. Show up any time after 6pm. $15/horse.

08/16/2024

The obstacles are all set up and it looks like the rain is going to hold off! Who's coming out to play? Show up anytime after 3pm. $15/horse

08/15/2024

Everyone should take lessons! There is always something new you can learn!

Recently, a trainer shared some words that echoed something I think about daily.

Then, days later, another trainer I've known since she was a child shared with one of us that she hoped to not train horses after she graduates because it is too painful to see what happens to horses after they leave her care.

This continual issue wears on good horse trainers, clinicans and rescues, and I don't know how we can really fix it. But we are burning out the good horse people by refusing to change.

We live in a world where unlimited educational opportunities are available to us in a plethora of ways: in person and virtual or a combination of the two. We can take lessons for ourselves and have a trainer to advance both ourselves and our horses. We can hire a trainer from afar and take lessons via video calls with ear buds in, we can haul to clinics with revolutionary experts, we can subscribe to monthly learning centers, we can watch free youtube videos, we can call in or tune into seminars via Zoom, we can listen to podcasts, and we are able to schedule professional saddle fitters, body workers, farriers, chiropractors and more. There is so much knowledge on equine pains, brains and nutrition compared to even twenty years ago.

KNOWLEDGE is so accessible. WE DO NOT need to Wing It.

But too many people with horses will NOT even try any of these learning opportunites. They think those things are for someone else. Personally, they think, "I don't need the help." Too many of us never accept WE are the problem. We may say, it is never the horse, but we think we are the exception.

And so what happens as a really good trainer or rescue is this:

You receive a horse with problems, and usually it is a combination of physical and mental mismanagement. You correct the anxiety over pain from poor saddle fit, you get the horse comfortable in his mouth from teeth left unattended, you correct nutrional gaps and overloads, you get his body feeling great through some chiro and massage visits, you get the angles of his feet lined out properly, you get x rays and find out if he has injuries, you understand he needs to be a horse and enjoy natural behaviors, you get the horse condititioned through unrushed, consistent work, you see the little changes and reward them, you handle him in a way he understands, and he realizes, "You KNOW."

The horse flourishes with you in your organization or training program. YOU have helped the horse become a happy, adjusted equine ready to go into a new home and succeed. And he is ready.

But then he leaves, and the new home changes his diet without any research, to whatever is easier to pick up at the store, forgets a loose mineral, uses whatever dewormer is on sale, doesn't follow through with lessons, a saddle fitter, a quality farrier, skips yearly dentals, and the horse unravels. They may complain to you, but they don't hear your advice and make real changes.

Before you know it, you see updates on the horse and barely recognize him. He isn't neglected, really. He weighs enough, but you can see the light is out of the horse you cultivated and loved.

If you're a rescue, eventually the adopter wants to return this horse because he isn't what they thought he would be, and if you're a trainer, perhaps you see a post trying to sell that training horse you loved, and our hearts all sink.

Another horse let down by a well meaning owner who refused to be told anything, who would not grow into a better horse person.

Horses are complex, they are costly, they are worth US becoming better.

And so many of the people guilty of these things read posts like this and think, "That's not me."

Sigh. It probably is, though.

But for the sake of horses, I hope if it is you, you make the change today. Not one horse should be a casualty of your ego.

08/12/2024

**UPDATE** with the possible rain in the forecast later tonight we are going to adjust the start time to 3pm and go until it rains or it gets dark.

Open obstacle riding this Friday, August 16th. Show up any time after 5pm. $15/horse.

08/07/2024

I want to wish good luck all of my lesson kids showing at the Butler Farm Show this week with their animals! Please comment any pictures of you and your pets at the farm show and let us know how you do!

08/07/2024

This! 👇

08/06/2024

It looks like the rain is going to keep us from doing the open obstacle riding again today (8/6/24). We can try again on Friday next week (8/16/24).

07/30/2024

Open obstacle riding is cancelled for tonight (7/30/24) due to all the rain in the forecast today. We will try again next Tuesday (8/6/24)

Stay dry everyone!

07/24/2024

**cancelled 8/6/24 due to rain**

Rescheduled for 8/16/24

There was a lot of interest in last nights obstacle open riding so we will do it again on Tuesday, July 30th, show up any time after 5pm. $15/horse.

If the obstacle open riding isn't for you but would like to haul in and use the arena we can do regular open riding for $10/horse. Please message for availability.

07/23/2024

Obstacle open riding this evening. $10/horse. Come play on some obstacles. Show up any time after 6:00pm

07/21/2024

At the Spring Into Summer Ranch Show Series - produced by Hohmann Cattle & Equine with Smart Nitro Cat (aka Nitro). He's competing in his first ever show. He will be doing the in hand trail classes (without and with cattle).

07/15/2024

We like to work smarter, not harder.

With this new investment, the work around here should be a lot easier now.

07/03/2024

Please pay attention to your horses, they can't tell you when something's wrong. You have to know your horse and what's off and what's not.

Ella hadn't been sick, didn't have a fever, didn't go off her feed but wasn't her normal self. She had been a little spookier than normal and had some issues with mounted shooting. Most people would have considered her just being stubborn we're having a bad day.

We ended up testing her for limes disease and figured out that's what was causing the issues.

Our horses don't have a voice so you have to be their voice and advocate for them because no one else will.

07/02/2024

Lizzy has been riding with me for about 6 years now and she made me this video today. This is the kind of appreciation that every trainer loves to receive and it makes even the hard days worth what we do.

06/25/2024

We're always trying to make improvements around the ranch. Currently dividing one large pasture into a couple smaller pastures.

05/22/2024

So excited to get Nitro going even if it means leading him in trail rides.

05/20/2024

We have an opportunity to expand our facility in Butler, PA and would like to see if there is interest in full care horse boarding at our facility. We would have a small (roughly 40'x60') indoor riding area, an 80'x150' outdoor arena, a 50' roundpen and lots of stalls and turnout. We are also within a 20 minute haul of horse trails at Moraine State Park. We feed Purina feeds and provide excellent hay. Board would be $500/month

05/17/2024

Barn cat working hard

05/15/2024

Picked up another 14" lesson saddle from Park Side Trailers Sales & Service, Inc.

Pretty much all of my lesson kids are smaller than me so I decided to buy another smaller saddle.

Put it on Lhindor today and found out that I actually fit in a 14" saddle 😲

05/14/2024

Our arena got an upgrade! 😁

05/10/2024

I had someone ask me why I prefer to train high energy horses rather than the "more whoa than go" horses.

Short answer:

It's easier to focus energy than it is to create energy.

05/07/2024

Thank you to everyone that came out to the Saddle fitting Clinic. It was very educational and I hope everyone got some good info out of it. Thank you Bob for coming out to teach us.

05/05/2024

I had the opportunity to teach the obstacle clinic for the Butler County Mounted Sheriff Posse. It was a good day with some awesome people and horses.

05/03/2024

Abigail said Mommy's workspace makes for a great sandbox

04/15/2024

Thankful for a barn big enough to fit the truck when the weatherman calls for hail.

04/10/2024

I'm thinking of having a saddle fitting clinic here at the ranch. It would be a week night clinic. Who would be interested in coming to one if we get it scheduled? You could haul in with your horse or just come and watch.