Lost Springs Farm

06/12/2024

Nicole Alley , your messenger won’t let me contact you.
Please call 660-287-3781

04/27/2024

This post with a ring on top is next to the street in front of the store , what am I ?

04/23/2024

Notice no saddle pads, I rode each horse for 18 miles without a pad. I cleaned my saddle after every ride.

Queen Elizabeth II began riding horses at age 3 and continued to do so until her death at 96.

04/06/2024

Welcome back

03/13/2024

Letting young riders learn how to do things independently

03/07/2024

01/14/2024

The other 23 hours
When you come and ride , you have a clean well fed , hooves are trimmed regularly , regular veterinary care and quality well cared for tack and arenas.
What you don’t see are what happens in the other 23 hours.
Neal POORT comes every two weeks to make sure the hooves have proper attention , he has spent years keeping horses healthy.
Benton County vet , they come every time we call , day night , any weather.
Samantha Richerson plans sessions tailored specifically for you. Has horses properly tacked and clean. This week has come in to take care of the stable management.
Jocyln Dove takes care of much of the daily stable management
Emily Zimmer comes in and takes care of stable management on weekends.
Harvey Mueller takes care of all things broken , as soon as they happen. If fence needs repairing , lightbulb needs replacing , a boarder wants something repaired he’s the man.
During these past cold days , keeping horses healthy is a monumental task, everyone works hard and long hours.
Please remember the other 23 hours when enjoying your time here.
I thank you for coming faithfully and supporting our passion.

01/05/2024

Wonderful Wonderly clinic. Such good horsemanship techniques were shared , everyone benefited. Jocelyn joined our group on Saturday for a hunter under saddle session.

12/04/2023

“Ben do you ever have horses who just won’t respond to signals? Who aren’t interested in learning?” 🤔

I get variations of this question on an almost daily basis. Every time I read it I can feel inside me the same sense of being lost iv found myself burdened with many times over the years.

Let’s make things clear from the start
Your horses isn’t stupid
Your horse isn’t lazy
Your horse isn’t disobedient
Your horse isn’t stubborn

Your horse is lost.

If I choose to educate you on some obscure topic and after a number of lessons you’re still baffled, confused and lost. The burden of responsibility is on me. The teacher.

There is no difference when it comes to horses.

To me every horse is a riddle. A complex weave of emotion, learned habits and instincts. By choosing to have a horse in our life and in doing so deciding to subject that horse to our interference in their life we have a responsibility to untangle the weave.

Like a parent to a child it is our responsibility to educate our horse on the world they live in, how to act and how to have confidence in doing so.

When we hit a sticking point on our journey we must not give up. For these sticking points are our opportunity for growth.

No exercise is so small it can not be broken down further. There is always a way to simplify and slow down to allow a horse to gain confidence and competence with a certain signal or cue before we recombine the different signals to ask for more difficult manoeuvres with greater ease.

We have five forms of communication when working liberty horses. Five ways to give signals to our horse.

I call them the five senses of liberty

1. Tactile cues
2. Visual cues
3. Verbal cues
4. Foot work
5. Body language

Imagine each of the above as a dial that can be turned from 0 to 10.

Whenever we are asking a horse for a movement and getting no response think “which of the five am I using? And how could I utilise the others I am not?”

The aim is always to have all five dials at 1 or 2. Opposed to having tactile cues ( touch ) at level 10 and everything else at 0.

When we allow our self to rely purely on our tactile cues we become nothing more than a floating whip.

We can combine these multiple ways to communicate with biomechanics to position the horses head, neck and other body parts in a way to make the easiest next move for the horse the movement we are looking for.

No horse is stupid, stubborn or lazy.

They just need more help to gain confidence in the meanings of the signals you offer them ❤️

Think of every signal we have to communicate with our horses as a word in a language we are creating together. The more words in the language the more complete the conversation we can have.

Your horse isn’t ignorant. They just need help understanding some of the “new words” you’re teaching them 🙏

Photography credit to E J Lazenby Photography

10/08/2023

Golden Circle Shows 2023

09/26/2023

Some of the wildlife on the farm has a sense of humor. Puffball on trails.

09/23/2023

Hope Acres Hunter Show
Haley Brennan was the most wonderful assistant trainer.

06/25/2023

Whiteman visit
Volunteers make it possible to support the lives of those serving our country.

06/25/2023

Whiteman visit to the farm. It’s the volunteers that make it possible to support those that serve our country.

06/18/2023

Hope Acres

06/18/2023

Hope acres

06/18/2023

Love to see your kids !! 🥰🐴😍

Credit: Ashley Findley's kids and nieces and their wonderful pony posse 😍😍😍

05/07/2023

Overachiever

05/06/2023

Savvy riders in large classes.

05/06/2023

Amazing support

05/06/2023

Wonderful riding

05/06/2023

First hunter show

03/04/2023

Supervisors

12/16/2022

Smoking it up.

12/16/2022

Last ride before break

12/16/2022

Getting ready for Christmas ride

11/20/2022

Fahey Clinic 2022

10/13/2022

More fall festival

10/13/2022

Fall festival pictures! Great night