Wyndover Farm

Wyndover Farm Artistry In Motion Wyndover Farm is a small, hobby farm with room to grow and room to share. I grew up on a farm in New Hampshire and am returning to my roots.

We rescue, rehab, and train horses. Dressage rider using Natural Horsemanship techniques.

01/22/2025

Brrrrr nobody wanted to leave the barn this AM

Monet, the red mare, I'm calling momma in the video, is 36 (est.) this year. She's Cezanne's momma, arriving to the farm pregnant, in 2014. She looks damn good for 36.

Notice the irregular hair growth on her checks and chin? That concerns me as that is a symptom of Cushing's. We've tested her, in the past, but she's been negative and we've never had any other symptoms, other than this weird growth. I'm not going to test, though. I'm not restricting her from the herd/pasture life she loves. If the day comes that she can't be on grass or suffers chronic laminitis, we won't restrict we'll say goodbye.

Right now, though she's moving slower, she's the Queen of the herd. She's the boss of them all. Not 1 single horse, including Cezanne, the as***le, threatens her position as Queen S**t of it All.

She lives to eat and is holding her weight. Honestly, though, I think she continues to look great because she's regularly exercised. We don't let her just sit around and waste away. A couple times a week she gets 10 minutes of jog work, with Picasso. Or worked at liberty in the arena. She still kicks up her heels and is athletic.... Just slow.

01/21/2025

Miss Fiora goes to the big arena.

She had a visit from her momma on Wednesday and that was a big day for her. She was able to lead and groom her. The following days, though, she was more challenging to catch. Even today it took about 15 minutes to get the line hooked on her. And that was why I opted not to let her loose, today.

Instead, we did some lunging. I managed her nerves about her surroundings by making her move her feet. This is something we do several times a week, in her paddock. This is not new. She is not frightened by the swinging line. I work spinning it and tossing it over her body, every day.

She is historically challenging to get going clockwise, today she turned up the difficulty level but we got it, in the end. I included all of each video that was taken. After today, I don't have it in me to edit.
The videos are not in order. Between Mariah uploading then me downloading and posting I'm really not sure what order is correct, so I commented on each one.

I'm trying to simultaneously move into a position such that a triangle forms from her face to me to her tail and apply pressure to drive her forward. As you can see, if I'm not in the proper position and add pressure, she backs away. Because this is her tough side, she's resistant to allow me access on that side.

I restarted several times. Allowed her to stop, relax, drop her head, and luck& chew. Next, I approach her right side, rubbing down her neck and body. Getting her ok with me on that side. Once there, I add pressure from the rope (typically just swinging it towards her).

We finally got it!

01/21/2025

It's been a while since I've posted a video update on Lautrec. Here's the end of his session, today.

Other than exercise, most of our horses were on vacation for November and December.

Here's where we are now.

Bitted, with no contact
Harnessed, with no closed bridle
Lunging w-t-c
Lots of in-hand activities,

(edited to add) self loading on a trailer
Ponied off the cart in the arena and on the trails

No more tail tumor!!(I didn't even put a line on her to cut it off. We were having a moment, while I was cleaning her pa...
01/15/2025

No more tail tumor!!

(I didn't even put a line on her to cut it off. We were having a moment, while I was cleaning her paddock. I had the scissors on me, with plans to catch her after chores. But while I was brushing her with my hands I moved to her tail and she was fine to let me continue. )

01/14/2025

Finally got them going! The carriage horses of Wyndover Farm !

Reyna, the grey Andalusian/Arab, is 13 and has been driving (off and on) since 2016
Cezanne, the black Quarter Horse, is 10 in April, she was started driving in 2017 and has maybe 2 dozen drives, total, since she started. She is primarily a riding horse.
Captain, the red American Shetland, is 7 and was started between the shafts by a Shetland guy who left huge holes in his training, resulting in a wreck, last year (not his fault but he didn't have the tools to cope). We restarted him, last year. We still have lots of work to do on his confidence while in harness. We're still working through his trauma but he shows great promise and he has a heart of gold.
Finally, Lautrec, the red dun (look for the stripe on his back) Welsh Mountain Pony (also known as a Section A Welsh) is in training now and will be started between the shafts, this spring.

01/14/2025

Trying to get these lazy-butts moving was like pulling teeth.... I did eventually get them moving (another post)

With some fields closed we have limited field access and the field tends to be slippery. Soon we'll close the fields entirely (usually this would've happened months ago, typically following our first major freeze, which as of 1/14/25 we still haven't seen).

I try to give the young, active horses regular time to romp and stretch and roll with no worries of slipping in the mud.

In the past, I would have Monet and Picasso with them but they are both having challenges. Monet is 36 and while still very healthy, at a great weight with a healthy appetite, she's really slowing down. She had a look in her eye, this AM, I can't describe it but it's bothering me. Picasso is more symptomatic with his wobblers with many more rough days, so not always steady on his feet. So they do not need to be in with the galloping and bucking children.

Lena Voronovich is a genius! She made Brownie carry his and Fiora's dinner to the Pony Palace. I am so doing this going...
01/14/2025

Lena Voronovich is a genius! She made Brownie carry his and Fiora's dinner to the Pony Palace.

I am so doing this going forward!

Fiora's tail "tumor"...... Her tail is so matted with snarled hair and mud it's solid. And disgusting 🤢🤢🤢🤮I'm cutting it...
01/14/2025

Fiora's tail "tumor"...... Her tail is so matted with snarled hair and mud it's solid. And disgusting 🤢🤢🤢🤮

I'm cutting it off tomorrow!

01/14/2025

Fiora learned how to turn on the forehand (though I incorrectly called it turn on the haunches in the video), today. To do this, I'm standing at her head and bending to stare at her rear legs. They move away from my gaze. I do this slowly because I don't want her to pick up that near front foot. She should pivot on it. We did this both directions. This is a great first introduction.

We also review our follow and back. It's still taking me 10 minutes to get her caught, using the same process I posted, last week. I had that 1 time where I was able to approach once and get the rope on but typically it takes me a few approaches.

We increased real estate on brushing. I was able to brush much of her face with a soft brush. I was able to brush past her point of hip to the base of her tail. I was able to get my hands on it, OMG ewwww. I will cut it off, tomorrow. I didn't have scissors on me today.

01/13/2025

January 13, 2016 at Curran Ranch

My first time working multiple horses at 1 time.

I love doing this. I started teaching this to senior interns, last year, and we all had some fun.

(That's pregnant Monet and 2 yo Reyna. Look how dark she is)

01/13/2025

Cezanne, you're hysterical!!

Anyone who's ever lunged Cezanne will tell you that she starts out lazy and quiet, but just under the surface is a whole bunch of personality, just waiting to explode out! The line got caught between my pinky and ring finger so I dropped the line, rather than chance another broken finger (I cannot even tell you how many fingers I've broken over the years with horses and dogs).

The hysterical part is that ridiculous little baby bronc! She looks ridiculous! She would NEVER make it as a rodeo bucking horse. LOL

When I first start lunging or roundpenning and horse, I allow several minutes of silliness, including bucking (as long as they do not kick towards me). I encourage it because if they get their bucks out on the line, they're less likely to do it under saddle. I call it getting the giggles out.

Also, she was in no way in trouble for this. This is a demonstration of Cezanne's devilish personality but when I told her to pack it in she stopped and stood for me to retrieve the line. We went on to have a very energetic lunging session followed by some ground driving. We finished by doing a 360, both directions. (sorta like turn on the haunches but I'm the 'haunches'. This will be an important skill, down the road. We introduce it now.

Poor Mariah was trying to ride Reyna before Cezanne decided to take the entire arena for her shenanigans. Sorry Mariah!

01/13/2025

Another grooming session with Fiora. I'm able to cover more real estate. You can see on her eye she's still worried but relaxes more and more as time goes on.

01/10/2025

Amber Curran ...

OMG. Northwood Farms challenge for 2016!!

Everyone! Look! Cezanne before she turned totally evil! Though already annoying Kate, Amber's mare.

01/09/2025

Captain's vacation is OVER!

With the unexpected loss of 2 interns right after bringing in 2 client horses, I've been spread too thin so many of my horses enjoyed a vacation. Other than regular lunging or liberty sessions to maintain fitness, they haven't had to do any real work.

As you know, Cap and I are doing the 2025 Northwood Farms Twelve Week Horsemanship Challenge . We are currently at 4 hours out of 40 horsemanship hours and 0 out of 30 drives. Honestly, he's not ready to hitch.

With all of our horses we do extensive whip desensitization. It is an aid that is critical to driving and so I need my horses to respond with understanding and not fear.

Considering his history with being twitchy, we are regularly 'looking' for the tuck. Rarely would he respond by tucking his hind end under him, until I put his harness back on him. Once his harness was on, any touch to his legs, side, haunches he reacted to. These reactions are not there without the harness. So this stems from the past trauma.

We worked through this, last summer. We did not hitch him until he was no longer reactive to touches. The months off caused this backslide. We've been here before we know how to work through it. Lena Voronovich and Mariah, you know what this means...... So much more ground driving... Time to get our steps in!

We will continue to do lots of desensitization and ground driving with him so we can continue to work through his trauma and get him back in track and back between the shafts. He's my competition pony, this year!

Ground driving and pulling a tire around.... When you backslide you go back to the basics and work forward.

01/09/2025

Fiora and the dance we do to attach a lead to her halter.

This is the dance we do every time I attach a lead. Sometimes it goes quicker, especially in the comfort of her barn, but this is a good demonstration of what I do.

You'll notice I reach towards her nose, a lot, I'm asking her to touch. I'm building the connection so she'll stop trying to evade and settle down to work. I won't chase her. If she steps away, I step away. I want her to connect with me not try to escape me.

I take an extended pause, after she's settled down to work and has tolerated my approaches and pats with my hand. I want her to relax and welcome continued attention. I'm waiting for her eye to soften, her head to drop, and for her to lick and chew. Notice how long it took?? Yeah, we wait for it.

Once she relaxed I moved on to introduce the rope. I started using it as a brush. Next, I lay the rope over her back and move it up her neck. Usually, I reach under to catch the far side rope, but she moved around for me, and saved me the trouble.

I had the rope around her neck and I attach the lead before I put my hand on her halter. In the past, she's responded dramatically to my hand on the halter, when first catching her, so I wanted to have the line on, in case I needed to manage more kite-like behavior.

Walking back to the Pony Palace went well. Fiora and I led the way, while Thomas and Brownie brought up the rear. She walked on a loose lead and willingly walked into her barn, from the lawn side. This is the first time she's seen this side of her barn.

All in all, a successful day. I'm proud of her for being so brave. What a good girl, Fiora.

01/09/2025

Fiora went on an In-hand adventure, today....to the arena.

So far, we've only been able to do leading work in the small paddock of the Pony Palace. This doesn't give us much opportunity to do much other than small circles and changing directions. We've had several days of successful leading and I've been able to lead her in and out of her barn. That was my target to hit before I would take her outside of the barn.

I think when she first came out of the barn she wanted to bolt because she was scared of the large environment. I think she forgot that she had a halter and a line on her and when she hit the end of that she panicked. You'll see I have a little bit of a wrestling match with her.

While she is totally, emotionally overloaded. I am trying to be the exact opposite and stay very calm and relaxed. I'm trying to get her to walk with me because this is something she knows how to do and she's been practicing. To get her head back in the game, I made her move her feet. So that's why, instead of stopping and standing and trying to calm her down, I'm trying to get her to move forward because; 1. her friend is going away from her and that will give her incentive to move in the proper direction. 2. If she's moving her feet, she's less likely to be focusing on all the scary things in the world that could get her.

A note about safety. Note that anytime I do work with a horse that I'm not sure how they're going to respond on a line, I use a longer line, not a lead line. I wear gloves. I always make sure that the extra rope is coiled in my left hand. Both hands on the rope at all times. The extra rope is not looped. I never wrap it around my hand or around my arm. I never allow the rope to go between any of my fingers. And I don't let go.

Someone asked me if I would drop the rope if she panicked and the answer to that is no. I would not. I am going to hold on to that rope and wrestle with her until she calms down. If I let go of that rope that teaches her that if she fights me she can have her freedom. So unless my safety or her safety are in question, I am going to hold on to that rope and try to calm her down. Which I did.

It took her a bit to settle in and join Brownie eating hay in the manger. While I did chores, I left the stall door open, and fed Brownie is feed inside. I knew Fiora wouldn't come in, but was curious to see how close she'd get. It took her a bit to get as close as she did.

All in all, they spent about 4 hours in the arena and barn area with me, today.

Brownie, my little helper. Often I'll have a random horse join me while I do chores. I think it's important for them to ...
01/08/2025

Brownie, my little helper.

Often I'll have a random horse join me while I do chores. I think it's important for them to stand tied, with manners. But I also think it's important to just hang out with them. I also think it's important that horses have a chance to explore their barn so if they do get out of their stall, they don't destroy things in a panic (if that's their personality type).

I think it's funny that, though he had a wagon with a full bale of hay at his nose, he preferred to steal Captain's hay, from his net, on the other side of the wall 🤷🤷 Captain doesn't mind. Captain gets along with everyone.

Address

3440 Mountain View Road
Ferndale, WA
98248

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+13603192348

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Videos

Pampered ponies didn't want to leave the barn
Pampered ponies didn't want to leave the barn

Brrrrr nobody wanted to leave the barn this AM Monet, the red mare, I'm calling momma in the video, is 36 (est.) this year. She's Cezanne's momma, arriving to the farm pregnant, in 2014. She looks damn good for 36. Notice the irregular hair growth on her checks and chin? That concerns me as that is a symptom of Cushing's. We've tested her, in the past, but she's been negative and we've never had any other symptoms, other than this weird growth. I'm not going to test, though. I'm not restricting her from the herd/pasture life she loves. If the day comes that she can't be on grass or suffers chronic laminitis, we won't restrict we'll say goodbye. Right now, though she's moving slower, she's the Queen of the herd. She's the boss of them all. Not 1 single horse, including Cezanne, the asshole, threatens her position as Queen Sh*t of it All. She lives to eat and is holding her weight. Honestly, though, I think she continues to look great because she's regularly exercised. We don't let her just sit around and waste away. A couple times a week she gets 10 minutes of jog work, with Picasso. Or worked at liberty in the arena. She still kicks up her heels and is athletic.... Just slow.

Direction change.... Almost there.

Clockwise success!!

Resetting. Refocusing. Restarting.

Continued efforts to get her going to the right.

The walk from the Pony Palace to the arena.

Introducing lunging in the big arena. She lunges, both directions, in her small paddock. None of this is new other than it's in the big arena. She is challenging to get her going clockwise, with her right side to me. I make several attempts to send her clockwise.

It's been a while since I've posted a video update on Lautrec. Here's the end of his session, today. Other than exercise, most of our horses were on vacation for November and December. Here's where we are now. Bitted, with no contact Harnessed, with no closed bridle Lunging w-t-c Lots of in-hand activities, (edited to add) self loading on a trailer Ponied off the cart in the arena and on the trails

Finally got them going! The carriage horses of Wyndover Farm ! Reyna, the grey Andalusian/Arab, is 13 and has been driving (off and on) since 2016 Cezanne, the black Quarter Horse, is 10 in April, she was started driving in 2017 and has maybe 2 dozen drives, total, since she started. She is primarily a riding horse. Captain, the red American Shetland, is 7 and was started between the shafts by a Shetland guy who left huge holes in his training, resulting in a wreck, last year (not his fault but he didn't have the tools to cope). We restarted him, last year. We still have lots of work to do on his confidence while in harness. We're still working through his trauma but he shows great promise and he has a heart of gold. Finally, Lautrec, the red dun (look for the stripe on his back) Welsh Mountain Pony (also known as a Section A Welsh) is in training now and will be started between the shafts, this spring.

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Our Story

Wyndover Farm is a small, private training and boarding facility in Ferndale, WA.

OUR FACILITY: The farm is located on 8 acres of fenced and cross-fenced pastures. Our main barn was renovated in 2016 and has 7 large (10X16) stalls with paddocks. Stalls are furnished with stall cams accessible from phone app (with logon info) allowing for 24/7 viewing. During winter/cold months, water buckets are heated. The main barn has a large ‘Tack Sanctuary’ with plenty of room for your tack. It is also furnished with a fireplace, sofa, utility table and entertainment center -- a great place to cool off, warm up, chill out, hide out, and relax before/after your ride. Our foaling barn also stores our hay for the farm. It is outfitted with a single, large foaling stall that can be divided into two stalls. The foaling barn is attached to it’s own grassy paddock. There are 8 hot-fenced pastures, our horses are kept together as a herd. Boarders have the option of pasturing with our herd or pasturing in a individual pasture.

WORK/PLAY AREA: We enjoy a 20m X 50m fenced arena, a 60 ft roundpen, and a 60X60 lighted ring. The property is set up to allow for property-wide riding/driving/jumping circuit during the dry months. From our property, we have access to 30+ acres of open fields, great for hacking. From these fields we also have access to Lake Terrell Wild life Area -- 1,500-acre area including a 500-acre man-made, shallow lake and features lots of trail riding/exploring options.