Four Seasons Farm

01/12/2025

REMINDER: Wednesday, 1/15 is Doc Rachael day. Please sign up if you need to. A couple spots left.

01/12/2025

2025 calendars are ready to be ordered @ $10 each. Please post below with your name and how many you want so Julie can order. Ty!

01/10/2025

Turning a Beginner horse into a dangerous animal; the story of too many “first, second and third” horses: What you need to know about the difficulty and expense of horse ownership before you take the next step.

Did you know one of the most common reasons horses end up discarded, neglected or with behavioral problems traces back to a buyer / owner who had far too little experience (but probably believed their 3 trail rides during vacations meant they were excellent riders) and / or too little ability to cover the enormous costs of owning and caring for a horse?

If you are truly a newbie, please, for the love of a horse, do not buy or adopt or pick up a free horse without investment in lessons and a trainer first.

Taking a few lessons at 12 years old doesn’t mean you’re not a total beginner. Riding horses on trail rides at stables while on vacation for 1 to 10 years also doesn’t mean you have any real experience. Feeding 1,000 carrots to horses next to your grandfather’s house as a child doesn’t count. Cleaning stalls as a job as a teenager. . .nope. Not super helpful.

Sometimes the stars align allowing total new owners make it work. It is rare, and it is too rare and typically too harmful for us to recommend it.

We’ve saved too many who bear the scars of “newbie” owners.

They have been mishandled, their bodies and minds misused, usually through sheer ignorance.

If you cannot afford lessons, you cannot afford a horse.

Unless you’ve ridden and cared for a horse under a trained eye and hand, you will not likely do the horse any positive service.

Did you know even a beginner safe horse can end up damaged and dangerous in the hands of an inexperienced person or family?

Beginner safe really doesn’t “usually” mean any untrained person can do anything with the horse long term. It means, at best, a beginner can ride the horse under supervision and be safe.

No giant animal with a prey instinct is truly safe for just any new rider / handler without a trained eye looking on and offering instruction forever.

You have lucked out with a rare creature if you’ve found an exception, but it is luck only you’re working with in these cases. Regardless, if you’re a real novice and have found a tolerant and kind horse, you owe the horse something better.

I once heard a trainer talk about how horrible it is when a novice turns a perfectly well-trained, safe horse into a dangerous animal with their mistakes, and the fact is, this happens far too often.

Horses are very expensive and complicated.

They are extremely complex and sensitive.

They aren’t gold fish (Heck, even fish are awfully hard to keep alive).

Horses require a disposable income of several thousand dollars a year each, even if you live in a very inexpensive area and keep the horse on your own property and do not need to keep the horse shod or treat any ailments beyond trims, de-worming, vaccines and teeth (all of those things ARE a must).

Horses require knowledge. A lot of it. You also have to continue to learn. . .

Forever and ever.

First. . .Lessons.

Then. . .a horse of your own.

Later. . . More lessons.

Any other order generally puts a horse at great risk of ending up with lasting training problems, injuries or worse. Never mind that it isn’t safe for people to do it another way.

(The horse in the original image is from a craigslist ad of a horse I rescued on my own before Heart of Phoenix many years ago. He was also fairly emaciated.)

01/04/2025

01/04/2025

Morning Mantra: “Somewhere in the middle of our happy moments, we all sigh a little in the memory of someone we miss.”

Holiday time can be really difficult when you are missing someone. Missing someone isn’t about how long it’s been since you’ve seen them or the amount of time since you’ve talked to them. It’s about that very moment when you’re doing something and wishing they were right there with you.

I get it. Whether they live far from you, gone from the earth, or you two are estranged, when you miss someone it hurts. It helps to focus on the happy memories, the feelings of joy. Honor them by living in their memory, happy, grateful and with peace in your heart.

01/02/2025

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.
~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

12/27/2024

12/27/2024

The next Doc Rachael day will be Wednesday, 1-15-25. ETA sometime after 2 p.m. See comments below

12/23/2024

The clothing orders will be at the barn today on top of my low tack box in the lower barn. Please pick up at your convenience 🎁

12/20/2024

Since no one has signed up for Monday's Doc Rachael day, we are canceling for this month. Will post when we have a January date.

12/18/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all (a little early 😘)

Santa’s First Christmas Ride
Long before reindeer graced the skies,
And elves built toys where the snowflakes lie,
Santa rode forth with a heart so wide,
On his trusty horse, his only guide.

The night was crisp, the moon aglow,
Stars scattered o’er the world below.
No jingling bells, no sleigh in sight,
Just a man and his steed in the still of night.

The sack he carried was heavy with care,
Each gift a token of love to share.
The horse neighed softly, its breath a plume,
As they trod through forests wrapped in gloom.

From chimney to chimney, house to house,
Santa moved quiet as a drowsy mouse.
His horse stood patient, steady and true,
While Santa slid down to leave a clue—

A doll, a train, a sweet candy cane,
A gift for the girl in the windowpane.
Through frost-bitten winds, they pressed on still,
Climbing each hill with unwavering will.

The journey was lonely, the night was long,
Yet Santa hummed a hopeful song.
His horse’s hooves beat a gentle tune,
As stars surrendered to dawn’s pale moon.

When the final gift was placed with care,
Santa looked up at the morning air.
His heart swelled full, his work complete,
His horse nickered softly, its mission sweet.

And so it began, the legend we know,
Of Santa and magic, where love must go.
But on that first night, under starlight’s dome,
It was Santa and his horse, delivering home.

12/18/2024

A Thought-Provoking Read

Most horses pass from one human to another - some horsemen and women are patient and forgiving, others are rigorous and demanding, others are cruel, others are ignorant.

Horses have to learn how to, at the minimum, walk, trot, canter, gallop, go on trails and maybe jump, to be treated by the vet, all with sense and good manners.

Talented Thoroughbreds must learn how to win races, and if they can't do that, they must learn how to negotiate courses and jump over strange obstacles without touching them, or do complicated dance like movements or control cattle or accommodate severely handicapped children and adults in therapy work.

Many horses learn all of these things in the course of a single lifetime. Besides this, they learn to understand and fit into the successive social systems of other horses they meet along the way.

A horse's life is rather like twenty years in foster care, or in and out of prison, while at the same time changing schools over and over and discovering that not only do the other students already have their own social groups, but that what you learned at the old school hasn't much application at the new one.

We do not require as much of any other species, including humans.

That horses frequently excel, that they exceed the expectations of their owners and trainers in such circumstances, is as much a testament to their intelligence and adaptability as to their relationship skills or their natural generosity or their inborn nature. That they sometimes manifest the same symptoms as abandoned orphans - distress, strange behaviors, anger, fear - is less surprising than that they usually don't.

No one expects a child, or even a dog to develop its intellectual capacities living in a box 23 hours a day and then doing controlled exercises the remaining one.

Mammal minds develop through social interaction and stimulation.

A horse that seems "stupid", "slow", "stubborn", etc. might just have not gotten the chance to learn!

Take care of your horses and treasure them.

By Jane Smiley

Photo of Pretty Boy, a QH discarded at 15 years old, rescued, and lived with other equine friends until 30 years of age.

11/27/2024

Now is a great time to do safety checks on your tack! If your billets are cracked or very stretched out they more than likely need replaced!

11/23/2024

The next Doc Rachael day is Monday, 12/23. There will be a signup sheet at the barn tomorrow. All of the usuals apply.

11/18/2024

Please note that the order deadline date for the farm clothing has been extended to 11/25.

09/23/2024

The next Doc Rachael day is Monday, October 21. Sign up sheet will appear some day this week. All the usuals apply. Ty