Timberline Equine

01/10/2025

Limited open riding times available 🔥 If interested, please message for details.

12/31/2024

Running a small business...

What they don’t tell you is that it can cause severe anxiety, and drains you mentally to the point of depression in even the most laid back people.

People will talk about you, compare you to others, use you, they sometimes view you as a service, and not a person anymore.

Friends will expect discounts on everything, and value you, and your hard work, less than a big chain store.

You have to worry about if you forget to email/message someone back, are they going to think it was on purpose? Did you disappoint them? Will they hold that against you? When, in reality, you just can’t get to everyone’s messages and emails.

Starting up and running a successful business puts incredible strain on personal lives and relationships, many of which fail because there is just often no work/life balance. You need to be the director, the worker, the administrator, the marketing team, the accountant, the cleaner, All while still being a parent, a husband or a wife, family support, friend...

There’s a reason you don’t see many people succeed in small businesses after 5-10 years. It takes a toll. It’s freaking exhausting.
Most times, you have to really enjoy what you are doing, to continue in your business.

This is a small reminder that we are just normal people with hectic lives. Be kind, be patient, and hopefully more of us will stick around 🙌🏻

12/25/2024

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas Eve 🎄

12/21/2024

Indoor boarding available. Long list of amenities including heated building, daily turnout, on site owner. Laid back environment and lessons available. Come enjoy winter in a heated arena 🔥

12/20/2024

If you are looking for a last minute Christmas gift, horse riding lessons are a fabulous choice 🎄 Learn to ride on safe & solid horses with impeccable resumes 🦄

12/20/2024

In order for youth sports to do its job, parents need to stay out of it. Park the helicopter and stop hovering.

Character > Athletic Ability

I’ll never forget it.

I was a high school freshman and we were in the middle of a heated basketball game with one of our rivals.

I was on the floor when I heard my coach yelling for me, “Mandy! Mandy!”

I heard him. But I was blatantly ignoring him.

On the third, “Mandy!” I turned away from the court to the bench and yelled “WHAT?!!?” My hands were in the air to signal I was annoyed.

This coach was not one to mess with. He knew basketball like the back of his hand and he DID NOT DEAL with disrespect. His face immediately got beet red and his eyes were bulging out of the sockets.

I heard the buzzer blaring for a sub and I knew I was coming out of the game.

I went to sit in an open seat at the top of the bench and he said, “no. You go take a seat at the end of the bench. And get comfortable.”

It was the first quarter and I didn’t play another second of that game.

During halftime he said to me, “if you ever talk to me like that again - if I ever hear you talking to a referee or another coach like that - you will be so far down on this bench you won’t even see the court.”

Noted.

After the game, he walked up to my Dad who was a long-time boys’ basketball coach. He wanted to explain why I was benched but my Dad cut him off. “You’re the coach. You don’t owe me any explanation when it comes to your team.”

I think about that moment a lot because I think we’ve drifted so far past that when it comes to teaching our kids about accountability.

In our house, if you’re not playing, that’s on you. Work harder so you leave no doubt (even if politics are involved).

You look cross-eyed at your coach, I hope you are benched.

You’re not focused in school? Benched.

You tear down a teammate? Benched.

Youth sports have changed so much…some days the stories I hear or see firsthand it’s like inmates running the asylum.

Coaches are too afraid to hold kids accountable because parents lobby to have them fired 🙄

And it’s sad because a lot of the parents are my generation…and come on, we know we learned and benefited the most from the teachers and coaches who pushed us the hardest and held us ACCOUNTABLE.

I love youth sports because it’s so much more than scores and records.

It teaches us teamwork, builds and reveals character, we learn to work through adversity…the list goes on and on.

There’s nothing wrong with coaches holding our children to higher standards by saying “that’s not how we behave here.”

I don’t know about you, but my kids need that because I’m trying like hell to make sure I’m not raising narcissistic, entitled and self-absorbed humans.

They’re going to make mistakes…
They’re going to have low-character days…
They’re still learning and growing…

I just hope every coach and teacher knows that I have their backs when they tell my kids: “nope. Take a seat.”

Forever grateful for Coach H for telling me to get comfortable on the bench. Nothing I could have done on that court that night could have overridden my disrespect.

In order for youth sports to do its job, parents need to stay out of it. Park the helicopter and stop hovering.

It’s the fighting through the adversity that will lead our kids to endless success. Truly.

Character > athletic ability

📸: that’s me in a good ole mid 90s polyester uniform. And yes, I’m chewing on it 🤷🏼‍♀️

12/06/2024

Trail Week 🪵

12/01/2024

Santa Claus came early with new stall fronts 🎅🏻

11/30/2024

Thank you to all my past customers, present customers and customers yet to come 🩵

11/29/2024

11/23/2024

Tomorrow is the big day! Stop by the NDSU Equine Center to experience 'MOOS, EWES & MORE!' This event takes place from 10 am to 1 pm and will be an exciting time for all ages!

10/29/2024

The lesson horses are looking for new humans to teach! Safe, solid horses with impeccable resumes. Flexible scheduling available.

Send a message to learn more

10/26/2024

I am a lesson horse.

I am a horse that isn’t as recognized as the top hunter jumpers, the best western pleasure horse, or the 1D barrel horse; I am the backbone of the foundation to do all of those things. I am a lesson horse.

I am not loved by one person. I am loved by several people. I don’t have my person; I have my people. I am a lesson horse.

I will teach your child and yourself more than just to ride. I will bring your child out of their shell. I will teach your child about life. I will be yours and their shoulder to cry on. I am a lesson horse.

I will bring my family the joy of teaching kids. I will bring my families business growth. I am so loved by my family, even if they don’t express it every day. My family allows others to show me love and enjoy me. I am a lesson horse.

At the end of your child’s journey on a lesson horse, they will outgrow me. They will find one that jumps higher, a horse that is show quality, a horse much faster than me. But, I will never outgrow being a lesson horse. I will be the one that loved your child and helped your child grow into the rider and person they are. I am a lesson horse.

At the end of my time as a lesson horse; I will be covered in grey hair. Each grey hair came from each hour I spent as a lesson horse. I will be in a field of green grass; I will be taken care of as I was when I was a lesson horse. I will watch your child from across the pasture love her new horse. But, I will love your child more than any horse can. I will be the backbone of the business, the family, and your child. Don’t forget about me, I am a lesson horse.

I am a lesson horse ❤️