Brevard Equestrian Center

10/30/2024

Worth the reshare! Keep doing all you do, you awesome BEC coaches!!!

A "Coach of Significance" will impact in a positive way...

10/28/2024

I haven't even started going through the shirts yet. I ran out of hangers. But just in time for Special Olympics Equestrian season to kick off, we received a very generous donation of clothing! Once we have our special equestrians outfitted, whatever is left over will be offered in exchange for any size donation to the program! Any donations will be made through the 501c3 which with we are affiliated, so you have a tax write off too!

10/28/2024

So much fun yesterday with 25 horses in our costume class!!! PC: Faith Welch

10/16/2024

I'm incredibly sad and honestly still shocked to have lost Sicily last night. She passed quickly and without any warning. She didn’t suffer, and by the grace of the universe, she wasn't alone.

Sicily was a friend to everyone she met, especially if they had carrots. She was in charge of her pasture. She gave her friends the best whither scratches. If spooking and running around were going to give her a heart attack, I guess all who ever sat on her should be thankful it happened in the field with her friends and not while riding.

She came into the world in the middle of the night to a mare who had no clue how to or why she should let her nurse. She was sweet as honey to all of her human friends and took great pride in tormenting her poor, exhausted momma who, with Sicily being her first foal, didn’t let her stray too far And stray Sicily did. Her poor mom never got a moments rest. I think she was thankful when we weaned her. She grew up beside her friend, Boo who was born that July, and was feisty from the get-go.

As a 4-year-old, Sicily graduated to keeping her riders on their toes. She was surprisingly level-headed to start under saddle. When she did her first canter with a rider, it was my friend, Dorothy, in the irons because she's was, and still is, a lot smaller than me. Sicily was perfect. When Dorothy stopped, she said, "Well, I didn’t die. But she's got a REALLY nice smooth canter!" Dorothy rode her while she was in town, and then I took back over her training when she left. It wasn't long after that when Cathi started riding with us.

She fell in love with Sicily, and the bond was unmistakable. Had you asked me to find a horse for Cathi, a fit adult amateur getting back into riding, I never would have said, "Hey! Let's go shopping for a 4-year-old, chestnut, Arabian mare!" But there they were, falling for each other and making it work. They were perfect for each other, taking turns who lifted who up, who was to be the stubborn one that day. If anyone could teach you how to sit a spook with a little (or sometimes really big) buck and a bolt, it was Sicily.

Cathi kept Sicily at home here with us at BEC her entire life, except for hurricanes and horseshows. When Cathi was traveling, others would have the privilege of learning how good Cathi's seat was when Sicily would hear a noise or get startled by a small child running around. Sicily is THE ONLY REASON we have plastic hay cans instead of metal hay cans. Plastic was quieter in the back of the golf cart...safer for all involved.

If you had me make a list of the order-of-go, with all of our "mature" horses and rescues and ragamuffins, Sicily wouldn't have even come to mind. Spicy redheads are supposed to outlive us all. But I guess she didn't get the memo. We're all still in shock. It doesn't feel real.

Sicily was loved by so many. Sharon, who used to come and teach at the farm, really loved teaching Cathi and Sicily and would often ask about her even when Cathi wasn't participating in a particular clinic. I hope they found each other. If anyone can, I know Sharon can handle her antics.

RIP Sicily
March 12, 2012-October 15, 2024

10/15/2024

We've recently had some inquiries from parents about used show clothes. With as much as everyone has grown this past year, I figured we all have some items we'd love to sell or donate. Post either what you've got or what you're looking for in the comments with picture, size, and price! State clearly that you're looking or that you're selling!

10/11/2024

We need to send out a huge thank you to our team of volunteers, who not only helped with regular chores and clean-up, but who helped button-up and unbutton the barns this week. While we do have some on-going work removing trees that probably won't survive the next hurricane, we were business as usual for the first half of Wednesday and back to business as usual Friday (today), with a full roster of lessons and training horses for four instructors! It was great hearing everyone's stories of fright, survival, and even suffering, listening to everyone bolster each other up, those with power offering to share refridgeration and showers and just general comradery. In the 23 years Brevard Equestrian Center has been at its current location, the friends we've made, the lives we've impacted, and the family we've grown just can't be put into words. We love you guys!!

10/10/2024

We've made it through the worst of it. The wind is helping drain the arenas from yesterday's deluge. We've juggle a couple of horses due to trees down and flooding. Fencing...flooding. Some shingles from the house. A leak in the apartment. Dish network thing on the ground. Chicken coop MIA. But everyone came in, ate breakfast with gusto, and went back outside to face the last of this mess.

10/09/2024

We all went out and checked each of the pastures. We had to make a couple of adjustments to our group of old/infirmed to help settle one of our older horses. We had 208 years of horses in the group! Everyone is eating and hanging out with friends and the track seems to taking a wobble back to the north!
Here are some pictures!

10/09/2024

So far lots and lots of rain! Difference in these two pics is like 45 minutes! It'll go down quickly as we get breaks in the rain, but holy cow. Milton is not even really here yet!

10/09/2024

So sh*t's about to get real, friends. Our farm is right under the "H," and with the Torcon rating rising, so far, the plan (which is always subject to change at the last second) is for our horses to remain outside.

There are a lot of things to consider during storms like this such as the animals physical and mental state prior to the storm, the stability and strength of the shelters, the height of the property above sea level and how well/fast it drains, the amount of debris surrounding your property (not just yours but your neighbors as well), the health and root base of the trees on your property, the risk of lightning, and the risk of tornadoes just to name a few.

We have good, strong buildings with solid roofing, BUT tornadoes don't care. If we could have a hurricane with no chance of tornadoes, we'd keep everyone in. But with the tornado risk associated with this storm, we will leave everyone out in large enough pastures that they can avoid threats. Leaving horses inside during a tornado threat as high as it is for this storm is unsafe. Imagine a roof panel comes off and gets stuck blowing around in a stall...picture a horse in a blender. It's horrifying to think about. If that same roof panel comes blowing through a field, they move away from it.

Again, for us, so not speaking for everyone, we typically evacuate to Ocala if we are looking at a direct hit at Cat 2 or above. For this storm in particular, Ocala put us in a potentially worse position with no chance of having horses in a pasture vs. a stall.

There are a lot of nervous owners, all of us thinking we're doing what's best based on our own individual experience and knowledge. For me, I've seen pictures of a post tornado barn when one of my clients down in LaBelle went through Irma. Had she not made the last-minute decision to put her horses outside, they'd all be dead.

We're all worried, no matter how cavalier the answers on Facebook are. Most of us won't sleep tonight or tomorrow but for power naps as we can. But we're all doing the best we can in a less than ideal situation. So show your fellow horsemen and women some grace. Everyone is literally just trying to survive.

10/07/2024

Currently rescheduling Wednesday and Thursday lessons! If you teach or ride on Wednesday or Thursday, get in touch with your instructor/students!

10/06/2024

Regarding what is to soon be Hurricane Milton: Fresh off the heels of Hurricane Helene, with so many of our barn family feeling the strain, we want to be as clear as possible in our communication regarding this storm. As of right this moment, we do not have plans to evacuate. But that can and may change. Our typical course of evacuation moves us further into the path of the storm. We will investigate other options and will spend the next couple of days shoring up things at the farm.

If you have a horse boarded with us, do not plan to come to the barn on Wednesday. You will not be allowed on property. If you are scheduled to work on Wednesday, you can come in Tuesday night and stay in the house if you want to work. If it is safe to drive/travel, you may come to work. If you *do not* plan to be at work Wednesday, please let Lisa know ASAP!

Instructors, if you have lessons scheduled for Wednesday, please take the next couple of days to move them to either Tuesday or Thursday and update your Google calendars accordingly.

Everyone on sight will be scheduled to work.

Volunteers accepted and appreciated on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Coordinate with Adam by texting and introducing yourself at 321-474-4318.

Stay tuned for more info!!

10/01/2024

Before we look outside, are any of our current students, with morning availability Tuesday through Saturday, looking to earn some extra lessons and a little bit of pay?We have some opportunities open! Three of the days are strictly in exchange for lessons and two are for lessons or pay. You don't have to be able to do all five days. Contact Lisa directly for more info. If you don't have her cell, it's on the board in main barn!

09/19/2024

Aren't these the best pictures?!? She's so cute!!!

08/30/2024

Our own Kim Melcher will be in the pavilion practicing taking vitals saturday, August 31st starting at 9am! She needs 25 volunteers for her nursing school homework, so if you're at the barn, please stop and see her! Don't worry, she won't let Boo help!

08/24/2024

I've missed this view! He lost a shoe right after I went out of town and then lost another shoe a few days later. By the time I got back, he was too sore to get shoes back on. Here we are about a month and 2 days later with two front shoes and the ability to walk with weight on his back!

08/14/2024

Shared by our own Hannah Cyrus who will ride any horse anytime she is home visiting the barn!

A small stab in the heart is what you feel when you put up the day's riding list and you see riders sinking heavily in their shoulders when reading which horse they are assigned for the lesson. A small stab in the heart for that horse that for an hour will carry around a rider who has already decided that he does not like his horse. A small stab in the heart for the horse that did not choose the rider himself but still does his best, lesson after lesson.

Riding is a privilege and something you have chosen to do. If you chose to ride at a riding school, your instructor assumes that you actually want to learn how to ride. The instructor's highest wish is that you get good at it.

Often there is a plan and a thought as to why you are assigned to that exact horse. Before you mount up next time, ask yourself "what can this horse teach me today?" All horses have something to give, a feeling or a new tool in the box.

The art is actually in being able to get a lazy horse to move forward, to get an uncertain horse to gain confidence, a naughty horse to focus or a tense horse to be released. It takes work. If you think a horse is boring, it's more likely that you don't ride the horse as well as you think! It's not easy to be confronted with your own shortcomings, but it is in that very situation that you get the chance to truly grow as a rider.

The excuse that "it's not my kind of horse" is actually a really bad excuse. A good rider can ride any kind of horse. A good rider has trained many hours on different types of horses to become a good rider. A good rider can find and manage the gold nuggets in every horse.

If we absolutely want to ride, it is our duty to strive to do it as best as possible, even if it's only for fun. We owe it to every horse that carries us upon it's back.

Copied and shared with love for all of our horses, ponies and riders 🐎❤🐎

08/03/2024

is here working to raise money for their special Olympic riders! Come join the fun!