Hitching Post Stable and Trail Obstacle Course

06/20/2024

05/04/2024

Pumpkin pies footstep in the shape of a heart❤️ he is one incredible stallion.

03/07/2024

I can not wait for our new indoor with extra stalls for these poor horses with all this mud 😢. 2 more weeks

03/06/2024

Oh yeah, my next new tractor :-) I do not think my husband would like to drive this around. Haha 😂

03/03/2024

😂 yes 🙌

02/16/2024

Horse Boarding…let’s talk about it.

I see a lot of people looking for “cheap board” these days. They want matted stalls, indoor, outdoor, ample turnout and private tack..for around $500-$600 a month. Let me break that down for you.

Whether you rent or own, each dry stall is going to cost your farm owner/operator $150-$250 a month. ON AVERAGE. Quality hay, grain and bedding will run ON AVERAGE $300-$400 (or more) per horse. So right there your dollars are spent. This does not include maintenance, footing, staff, utilities, insurance or incidentals. At $500-$600 a month, your barn owner is breaking even or operating at a loss.

Now let’s talk about staff. Working students are becoming unicorns. GOOD ones are almost impossible to find and stall cleaners are demanding $20 an hour and then not showing up. Most trainers I know can’t find reliable help and are either burning themselves out or operating at an even bigger financial loss.

Inflation? That’s been a blast. ALL of our costs are rising…which means our small margins are smaller…or gone.

Client expectations? High. Everyone wants perfect footing, a lounge, top quality everything AND access to their barn owner at all hours. Want to know what time I hear from clients? 24/7. FB and texts…11pm….6am…and everything in between. Think there is a stipend to be on call for non-emergencies 24/7? Of course not.

Want to know what your barn owner is making? Likely less than $5 an hour. I worked 231 hours in August…I personally drew less than $800 in take home. That’s with an education, decades of experience and great show results. Many farm managers are making even less.

What does this mean for the future? I don’t know. My gut tells me that in the next 10-20 years the middle class barn owner will vanish and barns will be owned and managed by those who don’t need your money…and who will price their services accordingly. I fear that by the time my kids are grown, only the wealthy will have horses.

So…that’s my thoughts on that…Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

*my photo, my barn*
**shared , not my post. Cannot agree more. Hence, no longer a boarding business. **

01/25/2024

Yes 🙌 🙌 yes

When we know better, we do better… except in the case of feeding grain to horses - or so it seems. Eliminating starchy grains & sweet feeds from the equine diet is rule number one&

01/22/2024

A good read about worming.

It is critical that horse and yard owners and vets work together to delay further resistance to wormers, as research finds “vital clues” to aid the fight. Two surveys were organised by Project WORMS (Working to Overcome Resistance and Make for a Sustainable future). The aim was to investigate pa...

01/20/2024

FUN FACT FRIDAY! Are you familiar with the many adaptations that help your horse stay warm during the cold winter months?

🌾 Hindgut digestion of hay produces the most heat, acting as a small furnace inside of the horse. This is why free choice, good quality hay is so important in the winter.

💪 Horses have a huge muscle mass and muscle activity produces heat. This includes running and playing and even shivering if their body temperature starts to drop. It is important to remember that these activities also will result in a bigger caloric demand so free choice hay and in some cases, grain, is often needed.

🧥 To blanket or not to blanket is a constant debate but either way, as it starts to get cold your horse will grow a thicker coat. If you decide to leave your horse unblanketed you may notice that they look “fluffy”. This is due to a phenomenon called piloerection where the hair stands up to better trap air within. Two layers of the coat also help with warmth. The inner layer is softer and has air pockets to create an insulating layer. The outer layer is coarse and has oils that keep moisture from penetrating the insulating layer and keep the horse warm.

⚖️ Wild horses go into the winter heavier than ideal and the fat serves as an extra layer of insulation. However, if a horse is going to be kept heavily blanketed and in a barn during the cold weather months this is unnecessary and can lead to obesity related issues.

🦵Their distal limbs (below the knees and hocks) are made of mostly bones and tendons, tissues that are resistant to the cold temperatures.

🦶The hooves have an alternative route of blood circulation through larger vessels that can be used in low temperatures. This is why horses can stand in snow without detrimental effects.

👃A horse’s nose has a robust blood supply and is rounded so that it is less susceptible to frostbite than a human’s nose.
•
Courtesy of the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee

01/03/2024

Little Lakota is worth his weight in gold. Raven is turning into a lovely horse girl. I am so proud of her.❤️

12/25/2023

Merry Christmas!! It’s been a great year. Looking forward to the new year. Happy holidays to all my friends, family clients, and fur babies. 🎄

12/09/2023

Elodie under English with Grace.

10/07/2023

My Beautiful heard ❤️

07/29/2023

Lol 😂

07/17/2023

Yep isn’t that the truth. I go threw at least 10 pitch fork, heads a year.

07/02/2023

Fun day yesterday ❤️ thanks girls.

05/30/2023

A girl and her pony, the next natural horsemanship trainer :-)❤️

05/20/2023

Play time!!

04/16/2023

03/13/2023

Haha 😂 True fact.

02/27/2023

02/18/2023

BY TPH STAFF In the supply and demand cycle, many trainers currently have more business than they can handle and more horses than their barn can fit. They’re busier than ever trying to make hay while the sun shines. Clients whose difficulties were worth putting up with in a lesser economy may be s...

01/24/2023

https://thehorse.com/18818/pros-and-cons-of-feeding-horses-beet-pulp/?fbclid=IwAR3GGlALpsrLJ7gyfdWGH_IbEWoeXJKMmpDFKlftaNfqTyu-kGnlk9RZR10&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

An equine nutritionist answers common questions about feeding beet pulp to horses.

12/11/2022

Christmas barn party!! Fun time and great food!! 🎄