Slateview Farm

11/02/2022

Quote of the day

10/27/2022

Yes!! 😄😄😄

10/27/2022

True
————-

You're never allowed to complain about the cost of boarding your horse.

Again, you're never allowed to complain about the cost of boarding your horse. Unless, that is, you've owned your own farm for at least a year. You can't complain if you've never cleaned stalls every day, even when you're sick. You can't complain if you've never scrubbed a water bucket or a water trough outside, or broken ice in sub zero temperatures. You can't complain if you've never fixed a fence or repaired a stall wall that your horse took out. You can't complain if you haven't swept the barn more than 365 times in a year, haven't spent hours decobbwebbing with an aching neck, throwing down dust control, watering or washing down the arena. You can't complain if you've never paid for a barn full of hay, or at minimum, helped unload it. If you've never rearranged your family, personal or work commitments to take care of horses, you can't complain. If you've never gone to the barn late at night, before bed time, to make sure all the horses are OK, you can't complain.

If you find the cost of boarding to be reasonably affordable, I hope you thank the ones that are taking care of your horse every single day. Thank them for making it possible for you to have a horse. Thank them for making it possible for you to stay warm and dry while they make sure your horse is the same, at the expense of their own warmth, convenience, or comfort.

You know what might be better than your verbal thanks? Your help! Offer to scrub or fill buckets. Offer to help turn out or bring horses in some time, so the people your paying can have a night off.... because they don't really get nights off. Offer to water the arena that you ride in before you complain about the dust. You see something that needs fixing or cleaning, volunteer to help.

You think you're paying for these services and that's simply enough? I dare you to calculate what these people are making. Just don't tell them the answers to your math because it's likely pretty depressing. They aren't doing this to be rich. At the end of the month, if there happens to be a little surplus, I promise you, it's most assuredly going back into the farm to benefit you and your horse. If they were doing this to make money, you couldn't afford to have a horse.

I posted a meme the other day that said "Horses are for people that love work and hate money" and I can't think of anything more accurate. The work NEVER ends. The money NEVER stops going out. Caring for horses isn't for the faint of heart or the lazy or the "too busy." If you are one of those things and that's why you are paying board, you aren't allowed to complain. In fact, you should be the absolute most grateful. You're never allowed to complain about the cost of boarding a horse, unless you've owned your own farm for at least a year, and in that case, I know very well, that you will never complain.

09/14/2022

Even after all these years, this commercial still evokes powerful emotions.

09/14/2022

❤️

08/23/2022

Absolutely ❤

08/14/2022

Things every man should realize before marrying a horsewoman.

1. The horse(s) will always come first, understand this going in.

2. A clean house is a sign of an ignored horse, this is unacceptable.

3. You can be King of the castle.That makes it your responsibility.

4. I'm Queen of the barn, Invasion of your things will be considered an act of war.

5. Grass is sacred. However, the horse is allowed to tear up the sod with his hoofs. If you do the same with your 4-wheeler, you're dead.

6. I fed the horses, you're allowed in the kitchen so feed yourself.

7. Horses can't use pitchforks, but you CAN use the vacuum.

8. If you must write in the dust, please don't date it.

9. Manure is a wonderful aroma and useful by-product. Make the best of it, plant me some roses.

10. If I helped you 'mess' the bed, don't expect me to 'make' it too.

11. Kitchen closed on all beautiful days.

12. A little horse hair in the washer won't kill you, it's clean.

13. Whenever you think you are a 'real stud' go take a closer look at the fellows in the barn.

14. Ring bell for maid service. If no one answers, do it yourself.

15. The house was clean once this season. What more do you want?

16. If you don't like my standards of cooking and cleaning. Then lower your standards

17. A clean barn makes a happy horse, A happy horse makes me happy, A happy me is much easier to live with.

18. PMS is nothing compared to a woman kept from her horse.

19. A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and my kitchen is delirious.

20. YOU can help keep the kitchen clean. Take me out to dinner.

21. If you want dinner on the table when you get home. Bring the pizza with you.

22. A dozen leafy green bales in the barn mean more and smell sweeter to me than a dozen roses in a bouquet.

23. The hell with a real fur coat, (my horse already has one) give me real fence instead.

24. If you want to know where you rate with m e. Just count the horses and add one.

25. So this isn't home sweet home... Adjust!

and that's the way it is Guys, so you'll just have to deal with it.

07/29/2022

Great picture of Wyatt and Annie 2014

07/28/2022

So true!!

07/17/2022

TOMMY!!! My ❤️horse!!!

07/09/2022

How much weight can a horse carry.

in my experience, a horse can carry an infinite amount.

They can carry the weight of broken hearts, broken homes, and broken bodies. Countless tears sometimes comb their tangled manes. Moments when parents and friends cannot be there to help and hold a person, horses embrace and empower. They carry physical, mental, and emotional handicaps. They carry hopes and dreams; and they will carry the stress from your day when you can't carry it anymore.

They carry graduations, they carry new careers, they carry moves away from everything familiar, they carry marriages, they carry divorces, they carry funerals, they carry babys before they are born, and sometimes they carry the mothers who cannot carry their own baby. They carry mistakes, they carry joy, they carry the good and they carry the bad. They carry drugs and addictions, but they also carry the celebrations.

They will carry you to success when all you have felt is failure. They will carry you, never knowing the weight of your burdens and triumphs.

If you let them, they will carry you through life, and life is hard, life is heavy. But a horse will make you feel weightless under it all.

❤️❤️🐎🐎❤️❤️

06/30/2022

06/13/2022

05/27/2022

5 Things Your Horse Will Always Remember!

Horses have an exceptional level of awareness meaning that they can understand situations much more deeply than other animals. They are so attentive that they can pick on other people's emotions through body language, voice, or just the general vibe you give off. This type of awareness can lead to much more intense experiences for horses. Here are some experiences your horse will remember forever!

1. Places

Horses have quasi photographic memory, meaning that they can remember places very clearly. It can be positive or negative, depending on the experience they had in a particular place. Imagine your horse witnessed a very traumatic event. Most likely he will never forget the place or event and move away from that area. If your horse seems hesitating to go somewhere, listen to him, comfort him and trust him, he knows what he's doing!

2. People

As horses have an almost photographic memory, it’s no surprise that they remember people by their faces. Show them the picture of someone they know and they will probably react. Horses can even recognize people after years of being apart! But their memory goes far beyond our general appearance. Horses can read our facial expressions and remember them for later, too.

As part of the study, horses were shown pictures of people with happy or sad expressions. After meeting these people in person (with neutral expressions), the horses reacted based on the original expression they had memorized in the photos. If you meet a horse for the first time, then you have to make a very good impression on him!

3. Emotions

Besides places and people, horses have an innate ability to recognize human emotions. Horses have a tendency to perceive body language, even the most subtle, which helps them determine a person's feelings. If we are feeling stressed, sad or angry, our physical appearance tends to reflect this. Same goes when we feel happy or excited! Horses don't just read emotions, they also remember a person based on the last emotion they felt from their last interaction. This is a useful strategy for horses to avoid any possible aggressive encounters.

4. The other horses

Humans aren't the only ones who can leave an indelible imprint on a horse! Horses can remember and recognise other horses from their social network. Whether it takes a few years or decades, one horse will never forget its relationship with another. This doesn't mean as much they will pair up with each other if they ever get together. One horse will only react to another if the bond they had was particularly strong. If he knows a horse from a previous encounter, he may treat it differently than others.

Other important bonds between horses, like the one that unites a mare and her foal, are known to last a lifetime. As horses also remember smells, this can help a mare recognize her baby, even years after separation.

5. The words

Horses are able to understand words much deeper than we thought, but not in the traditional sense we give words. They understand the words by tone, height and length of the voice. Words with fewer syllables tend to stick better to horses. They can tell when someone is insulting them and when someone is complimenting them. Don't underestimate their intelligence, because there's a good chance they're listening very attentively to every word you utter.

Horses are incredibly gifted animals, and should be treated as such! Having an idea of the memories horses hold with them forever will allow you to understand and communicate with them even more deeply. Whatever the experience, good or bad, you can be sure your horse has felt it fully. Do your best to give them a good memory, and they will surely do the same.

05/16/2022

Image courtesy of Norfleet Marketing & Photography.