Old Mill Equine

04/03/2025

Events for the year are listed below:

03/28/2025

Join us for a Paint and Sip on Friday, April 25th from 5:30-7 PM!

Bring a headshot of your favorite horse, and former art teacher Kathy Odato will teach you to paint him.

Kathy is also a former caterer, so we’ll also be providing snacks both sweet and savory, and nonalcoholic Limoncello for you to sip on.

I’ll also be making Triple Crown themed mocktails. We’ll be having a fun, relaxing night on the porch.

Spots are limited, so text Ashley at (717) 262-8698 to reserve your space!

$45 for a fun night - all supplies and snacks included!

03/24/2025

On Saturday April 12th Christopher A. Francese and Ashley Francese are going to be hosting a Duck Hunt on their farm! 🦆

We will be hiding rubber duckies all over the farm. You keep whatever ducks you find! Some of the ducks will even come with prizes attached.

We will have a couple crock pots of soup going.

11: Ducklings (Very small children)

11:30: Daffy Ducks (Elementary age kids)

12: Lucky Ducks (Middle and High School aged kids)

12:30: Mallards (Adults - why should the kids have all the fun?)

It’ll be a fun time for the whole family. Running from 10:30-1 pm on Saturday, April 12th.

So bring a basket, a chair, an appetite, and come hang out at the farm!!!

To register text Ashley at (717) 262-8698. Cost is just $5 a person! So come on over for a silly and fun afternoon!

03/24/2025

On April 13th The Carlisle Theatre is showing Secretariat on the big screen at 2 PM.

Christopher A. Francese and Ashley Francese will be there with bells on!

Who will we see there???

03/09/2025

Since March is Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness Month, here’s the story of my concussion.

"I could not comprehend that I had been awake, had had previous conversations about this with my mother and husband and had lost several days worth of time and memories." In honor of Brain Injury Awareness Month, Ashley shares her account of how a major concussion affected her life. March is Brain I...

03/09/2025

Content creator: Sylvie Claire 🐴

03/08/2025

My beloved Mister Bling A came from the great Sabine Spring.

And I helped her match the wonderful Rubber Ducky with Ashley Parsells.

Sabine has created a new page for her 501c3 Beyond the Finish Line Standardbreds. She has so many lovely horses available! Click on the link and give her a like or a follow!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BozoEDS2w/?mibextid=wwXIfr

03/07/2025

Beyond the Finish Line Standardbreds is 501c3 nonprofit adoption facility located in Drums, PA run by Sabine Spring

03/04/2025

Gene Odato’s wife Kathy brought the sunshine with a yellow vest and daisies on her shirt today! What gorgeous weather for a lesson!

03/04/2025

I think we could file this study under OF COURSE! The fact that ground work bridges the gap between a horse’s daily life and our expectations under saddle should be obvious. It should be a way of communicating clearly with our horses.

“Horses regularly trained with ground work are more relaxed when ridden”

A recent study of dressage horses in Germany that looked at rein length and tension revealed a surprising finding: horses who were regularly trained in ground work/in-hand work had lower heart rates during ridden work than all of the other participating horses. This wasn’t what the researchers were investigating, but it was clear in the results. From this, the researchers concluded that, “Perhaps horses trained in ground work had more trust in their rider.”

So why would it be true that horses who regularly learn via ground work/in-hand work are more relaxed? There are a few possibilities.

1) Horses trained regularly with ground work are more relaxed because their trainers are more relaxed. It’s possible that humans who take the time to teach their horses from the ground are less goal oriented and more concerned with the process. They may be more relaxed in general and foster this same relaxation in their horses. As you are, so is your horse.

2) Horses trained regularly with ground work have trainers who are more educated about a horse’s balance.

Their horses learn to move in correct balance which allows them to be healthy and sound in their bodies and, therefore, more relaxed. Physical balance is emotional balance.

3) Horses trained regularly with ground work understand the trainer’s criteria better. They have mastered the response to an aid before the rider mounts and know the “right answer” already once under saddle. They don’t experience any conflict when the rider asks for a behavior because the neural pathway has already been installed. They are more relaxed about being ridden because it rarely has caused confusion for them.

For us highly visual humans I think that ground work is often a better way to begin exercises because we are much better at seeing our horse doing the right thing than feeling it from the saddle. Often, my feel in the saddle is enhanced by the fact that I have watched my horse perform an exercise over and over in our in-hand work. It feels how it looks. In-hand work is also a good way to teach our horses because our own bodies are often more in balance when we are walking beside our horses. With the ground under our feet we are able to be more relaxed if something goes wrong and less likely to be so busy wrapped up in our own balance that we give our horses conflicting or confusing aids. It’s a good place to figure things out. I am a huge fan of in-hand work.

I’m glad to learn research revealed ground work is good for horses. Horses with a low heart rate are relaxed and relaxed horses perform better and live longer. In this day and age of people starting horses under saddle in under an hour and increasing monetary rewards for the “young horse dressage program“, everything seems to be done in a hurry. The entire horse culture seems to privilege “getting up there and riding your horse”. But as one of my favorite writers and accomplished horsewoman, Teresa Tsimmu Martino writes, “In today’s horse culture there are clinics that brag about starting a c**t in a day, as if the quickness of it was the miracle. But old horse people know it takes years to create art. Horses as great masterpieces are not created in a day. An artist does not need to rush.” We need more scientific studies like this one to encourage us to slow down and take our time with our horses.

So why were the horses in the study more relaxed? Likely it was a combination of all three factors – a relaxed trainer, better overall balance and clear understanding of criteria.

These are things that matter to your horse, and yes, will allow him to trust you when you ride. Take some time to slow down and work from the ground, learn a bit more about equine balance and teach new things in-hand before asking for them under saddle. You can take your riding to a whole new level and help your horse become more healthy and relaxed in the process.” - from the article by Jen of Spellbound Horses https://spellboundhorses.com/2013/03/07/horses-regularly-trained-with-ground-work-are-more-relaxed-when-ridden/

02/02/2025

Taylor, Watch My Tail, is too cute!