Magnum Ponies

08/22/2024

08/15/2024

Well.. the latest scam was this text I received today. If you get one? It’s a ploy to get money and your information. These people are seriously good at this stuff .

06/05/2024

Summer is here! Let’s figure out our schedules so we can use this time to maximize your child’s progress! We are offering a summer special. There are two options;

1.) A half lease. This would secure three lessons per week, on your child’s horse for $480 a month. This covers the horse and the instruction. You’re getting 3 times the learning for only 2 times the cost!

2.) A special summer discount for our frequent riders. Enjoy the group rate of $50 per lesson when you commit to two lessons per week or more!

For summer we are also encouraging our students to continue with their volunteer hours to earn extra rides. For every 5 hours of volunteer work at the barn (example: cleaning waters, mucking stalls, grooming horses) we will add an extra ride!

We love having your family in our riding community, and we are so excited for the summer! We look forward to having your kids working and learning with us as often as we can have them! Thank you for allowing us the pleasure of teaching your kids how to care for, and ride, these amazing horses!

05/18/2024

We have several nice horses and ponies. Both for sale and lease. Show ready !! 10k and up . Different levels but all amateur friendly with talents to go all the way.

03/07/2024

Love !

02/15/2024

Surprised Kirk with Captains Seafood tonight. Picked up the Valentine Special. They were crazy busy.. duh.. no surprise there , so a half hour wait. Well worth it and we will be going back for more! We loved everything we got ! Hope everyone had a wonderful day .❤️💕

08/24/2023

✨Testers needed✨

If you could enjoy 4 yummy gummies, 2 natural tablets, & 1 appetite suppressant a day and lose up to 30 lbs in the next 90 days, specifically targeting your tummy, WOULD YOU TRY IT????

My friend need 6 more people in 24 hours!! 🤩❤️

06/04/2023

Hey everyone if you haven't paid for June lessons can you please do so? Venmo & Paypal available. 🙂

Summer has begun for many of the students. Any extra lessons in this time off are crucial in the further development of our riders.
Love you all and lets have an awesome Summer ! 🐎

06/02/2023

Me too !

I picked this book up over thirty years ago at a flea market.

The story of a kid with an untamed Arabian Stallion on an Island after a shipwreck had no parallel to my life, but I, like so many girls, somehow felt that was my life goal back then.

The book sets to my left on a shelf these days by my bed, while I work to save horses in a very real life now.
I used to read a lot, and I owned around thousand books. I don't read, anymore. I have kept about 8 books that matters to me for different reasons over the last 10 years

I will never forget this one, in particular. It inspired dreams of a life with horses that seemed impossible.

The life with horses I imagined as a little girl is nothing like The Black Stallion; that's ok.

I wonder if Walter Farley could have, in his fanatic imagination, fathom what this book would do for generation after generation of horse crazy children?

Could I have guessed what finding that book, my personal copy printed in 1941, would help do in my own life?

Heavens, no.

But when I think back, the dots and connections blow my mind.

Just words put out for the entertainment of young kids, I'm sure that was the intention, but they were pages that inspired decades of girls to dream of horses in a way we never had before. . .

To believe the impossible, I guess.

Who knows how many horses are safe because of a girl and story read many years before. . .who knows how many old horses, Lost horses, forgotten horses have found a safe place because of the "Black" and Alec?

I can tell you this, more than 1,000 horses are safe today in Appalachia because, once upon a time, an unpopular child who hated school and read books constantly in West Virginia with a lot to say and a love for animals found this story and imagined a life with horses, even though, at the time, she had never known even one.

Thank you, Mr. Farley, because of your story, in part, this horse rescue exists today.

06/02/2023

Jax is doing so well with her jumping !! She is still available. Who needs a really nice medium pony ???

05/21/2023

Wow!

Gorgeous sculpture in Milan, Italy

04/25/2023

Borrowed from another page:

On the issue of what horses are
selling for;

Recently, in our neck of the woods there was a horse sale that has had various reviews on how it went. I've seen everything from strong disgust at what people are buying and for how much, to people rejoicing that broke horses may finally be bringing what they're worth. Nearly as old as time itself, the re-hashing of what was a "good deal" or a "bad deal" depends largely, I daresay, on if your perspective is from a buying or a selling position.

I have couple of frank observations to share.

The first is this; the actual value of anything that's put in the marketplace for sale is what someone is willing to pay for it.

Full stop.

Horses or any other thing that's offered for sale can have an asking value put on them by the seller, but the real value is determined by the marketplace. Actual value is determined by what the highest bidder is willing to pay. This is true and has been true since the beginning of the use of currency.

Next, and more important as far as I'm concerned is this; like this trend or not, we are seeing half-draft horses selling high, and often out selling registered stock horses. So here it is - the marketplace isn't wrong, it is the literal truth of the saying 'It is what it is'. It is indicating a trend and a truth in what's happening in the industry. We (that's the collective industry as a whole) must objectively re-evaluate what it is we are creating and turning out to the marketplace. If the marketplace is indicating to us what they want, then we are (generally) in need of a change.

I will submit to you my take on this, and as I tell anyone who rides with me, you can take it or leave it.

The equine industry, by & large, is dominated by amateur recreational riders who will never see the inside of a competition pen of any kind. By the law of averages, this means that the lions share of horses out there do not need to be competitive, they need to be amateur friendly, and this means disposition is paramount. One tail hair behind disposition is conformation, because non-competitive riders want horses that last for a lifetime of use. I can see why horses that are half draft achieve all of these things in the creation of a quiet, easy going nature in a horse with some height, bone circumference, hoof size, strong joints, etc. I realize that though this type of horse may not be the ideal for many in the stock horse industry, to me this inconvenient truth points to a bigger problem.

We're not creating what the marketplace wants.

We're so focused as breeders on making performance horses for the less than 10% of people that want to compete on them, we have a stingy, sensitive horse that isn't amateur friendly. (Yes I am generalizing, I realize this isn't an absolute truth in all cases at all times, but this is how I see it.) By and large, breeders focus on the empirical evidence of earnings to make breeding decisions, and nearly the entire industry is full of people who are attentive only to their chosen discipline and wear blinders to any family of horses outside of those known to perform in their particular discipline.

Don't take me the wrong way - I am not saying that discipline specific breeding focused first and foremost on earnings has created poor horses, but I think what we're seeing now is that it has created horses who are not filling the demands of the giant recreational users market. If you consider the old time QH, the horses that propelled the AQHA to become the largest breed registry in the world, they did it with characteristics that can be summed up in one word: Versatility.

Today's stock horses (primarily AQHA) are not typically bred or trained with versatility in mind, they are typically bred and trained with one discipline in mind. Certainly on the western side of the industry, it has led us to a place where we've (generally) lost height, body, bone, foot, and a quiet mind.

Breeding and the development of a breed is a science, without a doubt. It should be undertaken by people who can be objective when judging their own animals, who can see weaknesses and necessary points to improve on when making mating decisions, who know the consistent characteristics of the families of the animals listed on the registration papers, and who understand the necessity of culling. Other things like genetic test results and earnings should come into play too, though they should not be paramount in the decision making process of mating matches.

Just my take.

As always, I remain committed to what's best for our breed.

Ryan A. Fleetwood
Fleetwood Farms Quarter Horses

02/28/2023

We have a few very nice ponies for sale! Finished and ready to get to work for show season.

09/28/2022

For sale : 4 yr old Large Sport Pony deluxe !

09/27/2022

Some of my most favorite people on Earth! Thank you Julie and Evynn for your help today and always. Look at our Grandpa Champ ! Looking amazing at 32 !

07/26/2022

This is fundamental advice regardless of the discipline in which you ride, I have built my method and career around all of this, if you
Study the greatest horsemen in the world you will see all of the points in action. This was said by one of the best modern horsemen bill steinkrause.

“No. 1. Get your tack and equipment just right, and then forget about it and concentrate on the horse.

No. 2. The horse is bigger than you are, and it should carry you. The quieter you sit, the easier this will be for the horse.

No. 3. The horse's engine is in the rear. Thus, you must ride your horse from behind, and not focus on the forehand simply because you can see it.

No. 4. It takes two to pull. Don't pull. Push.

No. 5. For your horse to be keen but submissive, it must be calm, straight and forward.

No. 6. When the horse isn`t straight, the hollow side is the difficult side.

No. 7. The inside rein controls the bending, the outside rein controls the speed.

No. 8. Never rest your hands on the horse's mouth. You make a contract with it: "You carry your head and I'll carry my hands."

No. 10. Once you've used an aid, put it back.

No. 11. You can exaggerate every virtue into a defect.

No. 12. Always carry a stick, then you will seldom need it.

No. 13. If you`ve given something a fair trial, and it still doesn't work, try something else—even the opposite.

No. 14. Know when to start and when to stop. Know when to resist and when to reward.

No. 15. If you're going to have a fight, you pick the time and place.

No. 16. What you can't accomplish in an hour should usually be put off until tomorrow.

No. 17. You can think your way out of many problems faster than you can ride your way out of them.

No. 18. When the horse jumps, you go with it, not the other way around.

No. 19. Don`t let over-jumping or dull routine erode the horse's desire to jump cleanly. It's hard to jump clear rounds if the horse isn't trying.

No. 20. Never give up until the rail hits the ground.

No. 21. Young horses are like children—give them a lot of love, but don't let them get away with anything.

No. 22. In practice, do things as perfectly as you can; in competition, do what you have to do.

No. 23. Never fight the oats.

No. 24. The harder you work, the luckier you get."

~Bill Steinkraus

06/23/2022

So true !

BY TAYLOR SANTOSUOSSO  “Try horseback riding lessons,” they said. “Horses keep you out of trouble,” they said. Well, what they don’t tell you about horseback riding is that being a “horse girl” can be hard. Anyone who claims the title of “horse girl” does so before the age of 14. ...

06/08/2022

So true !!!

When your trainer wants to help you grow and to actually succeed - rather than just blow smoke your way…
When your trainer rides every step of the way with you…
When your trainer wants to be a part of your journey…
When your trainer tells you the truth and helps you find the answers…

05/22/2022

Yep !

🐴The changing Stages of Balance🧲

When we talk about balancing horses, it is important to recognize that as core strength develops CORRECTLY, the horse is better able to shift their balance and carry more weight behind.

Acquiring the knowledge and resources to progress on a journey that preserves the physical and mental well being of both horse and rider takes TIME, patience and a commitment to continual learning as your experience grows.

The attached graphic, while not perfect, is a visual we put together, from our perspective, to illustrate some of the things we look for as training progresses and the horse is better able to carry weight on the hind end and lighten the front.

Our mission at Equitopia is to provide as many of the resources as possible to help you on that journey.

We invite you to evaluate our membership program and online courses at www.equitopiacenter.com

(Note: not perfect - in photo 2, while you can see that the more advanced core development in this horse, he is a few steps into a stretch. Ideally this photo would have been take a few steps earlier to show a head/neck position somewhere in between photo 1&3)

05/22/2022

Piper had a lovely solid black c**t.

05/21/2022

So true

BY PONYMOMAMMY Being a mom, and an amateur, and a pony mom comes with a unique set of challenges, but it also comes with an amazing perspective. My pony-kid has recently turned a corner in her riding, and without my own riding experiences, I don’t believe I could fully appreciate the amount of wor...

05/14/2022

05/13/2022

Our new addition to the MSP family ! Sashay had a gorgeous filly today. She is under the care of co-owner Shari Penn and we couldn't be more excited ! This will be a big one not a Pony so think Theo or bigger !

05/11/2022

BY MELISSA IOZZO It’s 4:45 AM. Any other day of the week, this hour would be absolute torture (trust me, I get up for work at 4:30 every day!) – but not today. Because it doesn’t matter when the alarm rings on horse show day. Somehow the stars have aligned. You’ve managed to escape to […]

04/17/2022

Great read!

BY DANIEL STEWART There are four certainties in riding. You’re going to fall down and you’re going to get up; you’re going to succeed and you’re going to mess up. As long as you’re okay with this you’ll be okay. But if you’re afraid of failing, falling, getting up, or messing up… wel...

04/15/2022

Good information

BY LAUREN MAULDIN I, like many horse and horse showing obsessed people, spend a lot of time watching videos of riders I admire. There’s something unspeakably beautiful about a flawless round. Hunters that ride off of what looks like a natural feel seem to float over the fences, catching everything...