Promises Kept Farm

11/24/2023

Unfortunately on thanksgiving night we lost a very valuable and special part of our barn. Not only was Jimbo a very special part of his owners life but ours too. With it being Thanksgiving and counting our blessing, our horses are at the top. Like most animals, humans are their whole world. They rely on us everyday to feed, love and play. We are so grateful to have loved and taken care of him in his last years.
He let many little girls groom and love all over him. Jimbo was the best companion for his blind “wife” Gracie and kept her from harms way when he could.
We are deeply saddened by this lost and the barn will never be the same. His humans took the absolute best care of him that a horse could ask for. He had a very full and loving life with them.

Condolences to his family for this hard time. 💔❤️‍🩹

11/06/2023

All my Bucks county friends! Urgent ‼️

09/25/2023

Hey everyone! New lesson program will start October 1st.
For more information and to get on the schedule, contact Charley or leave us a message. More info to follow!

03/25/2023

Things your riding instructor wants you to know:
1. This sport is hard. You don't get to bypass the hard…..every good rider has gone through it. You make progress, then you don't, and then you make progress again. Your riding instructor can coach you through it, but they cannot make it easy.

2. You're going to ride horses you don't want to ride. If you're teachable, you will learn from every horse you ride. Each horse in the barn can teach you if you let them. IF YOU LET THEM. Which leads me to…

3. You MUST be teachable to succeed in this sport. You must be teachable to succeed at anything, but that is another conversation. Being teachable often means going back to basics time and time and time again. If you find basics boring, then your not looking at them as an opportunity to learn. Which brings me to…..

4. This sport is a COMMITMENT. Read that, then read it again. Every sport is a commitment, but in this sport your teammate weighs 1200 lbs and speaks a different language. Good riders don't get good by riding every once in awhile….they improve because they make riding a priority and give themsevles opportunity to practice.

5. EVERY RIDE IS AN OPPORTUNITY. Even the walk ones. Even the hard ones. Every. Single. Ride. Remember when you just wished someone would lead you around on a horse? Find the happiness in just being able to RIDE. If you make every ride about what your AREN'T doing, you take the fun out of the experience for yourself, your horse, and your instructor. Just enjoy the process. Which brings me to...

6. Riding should be fun. It is work. and work isn't always fun.....but if you (or your rider) are consistently choosing other activities or find yourself not looking forward to lessons, it's time to take a break. The horses already know you don't want to be here, and you set yourself up for failure if you are already dreading the lesson before you get here.

7. You'll learn more about horses from the ground than you ever will while riding. That's why ground lessons are important, too. If you're skipping ground lessons (or the part of your lesson that takes place on the ground), you're missing out on the most important parts of the lesson. You spend far more time on the ground with horses than you do in the saddle.

8. Ask questions and communicate. If you're wondering why your coach is having you ride a particular horse or do an exercise, ask them. Then listen to their answer and refer to #3 above.

9. We are human beings. We make decisions (some of them life and death ones) every day. We balance learning for students with workloads for horses and carry the bulk of this business on our shoulders. A little courtesy goes a long way.

Of all the sports your child will try through their school years, riding is one of 3 that they may continue regularly as adults (golf and skiing are the others). People who coach riding spend the better part of their free time and much of their disposable income trying to improve their own riding and caring for the horses who help teach your child. They love this sport and teaching others…..but they all have their limits. Not all good riders are good coaches, but all good coaches will tell you that the process to get good is not an easy one.

*thank you to whoever wrote this! Not my words, but certainly a shared sentiment!

03/25/2023

I judged a show today, I had one exhibitor that gave me a reminder of where I started and why I still have horses.
Sometimes all the chores and running from work to the barn, driving to and from shows to do chores so the crew can show, makes me grumpy and clouds my perspective.
A young girl shows a Haflinger pony, clearly with some age on her.
She wasn't fancy, she was safe and not necessarily show horse broke. But she sure tried to do everything that kid asked.
The young girl, wore skinny jeans tucked into boots, a felt hat that had seen better days, and a zip up show shirt from a few years back.
That kid tried so hard and genuinely smiled every step of the way. Not a single person coached her, she was all DIY.
I found myself trying to Will her to do a pattern, that could score high enough to be in the placings.
I found myself being disappointed for her, until I realized.
She wasn't there for that.
In egg and spoon, she didn't place but I had a second to ask her if she had a good day.She smiled , while patting that mares neck she said.
All of the days with the mare were good.
As I drove home , just down the road from the show grounds.That young lady was riding her pony home.In that hat , shirt and pants tucked in her boots.Carrying her water bucket and empty hay net.She was completely content, without ribbons, fancy clothes or horse trailer.That kid is living her dream.
😍😍😍

post credit: Melissa Gordon
photo credit: Julie Baish

12/16/2022

Huge thank you to Dublin Agway for this gift bag. They have everything we need and deliver when needed. We truly appreciate everything you guys do! 💕
Happy holidays! 🎄

12/13/2022

My barn help for feeding on this chilly morning.

12/06/2022

(Horses)😜

09/24/2022

Some of the Promises Kept crew entered into Edgewood Valley Farms, Lehigh Valley Rodeo.
We had clean runs, good friends, and a fun night!
We even had one of our kids do the mutton bustin!
Thank you everyone for your support and help to make the night possible!

05/17/2022

The Horse Park of New Jersey at Stone Tavern, Inc. needs your support!! Together with Assemblyman Dancer, we are asking for support of Assembly Bill A3982 to help towards funding for updating the footing and stabling at the Park. We can not do this without you! We are asking for you support by sending a letter to your local Legislator and asking them to support the bill.

Below are some helpful links:
👉Link to details of the bill : https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bill-search/2022/A3982

👉How to find your local Legislator: https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislative-roster

👉Here is a drafted letter that can be personalized:https://www.horseparkofnewjersey.com/resources/Documents/Budget%20Support%20Letter%202022.pdf

Thank you in advance for your support!! The Horse Park is a 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to equine activites. We depend on funds by membership, sponsorships and income from events hosted at the Park.

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 […]

04/20/2022

Get ready for this weekend, start of the season!

💯 🤣

03/19/2022

Today we lost a very special grumpy old man, just a few days shy of his 30th. Chip and his humans were the first boarders here, and would have been 4 years in May. He will be missed by everyone here and all the kids that spoiled him everyday. Thank you so much to Kaity Elizabeth and Zach for letting me take care of him, it truly was an honor to love on him everyday.
The door will be left open tonight and last supper served with extra treats. ❤️💔

01/14/2022

This month we have been going over riding safety. Emergency dismounts, emergency stops, how to control a fall off (yes you can do that if you have a plan!) etc.
Everyone is loving the emergency dismount, but I hope we’ll never have to use it!

12/09/2021

Good Morning from Vegas 🌞

12/06/2021

Thank you to everyone who came out this past weekend for our Christmas party! The kids had lots of fun doing a non-horse horse show, making stockings for their horse friends and wrapping stalls. We are very grateful for each and everyone of you!

11/19/2021

No stirrup November my friends !

The obsession with a deep heel in flat work….

Have a look at the photo below. Would you squash my fingers when you ride? If the answer is yes, you have too much weight in your stirrups.

Next time you are in your saddle at halt, consciously push your weight into the stirrup and feel how your glutes and hamstrings contract, popping you up. You may have been doing this for so long it’s difficult at first to feel the contraction. Go back and forth between pushing down into the stirrup and just resting your foot. Really sense into what changes in your underneath when you push down into the stirrup.

Additionally, notice how this pushing into the stirrup jams up the joints of the ankle, knee and hip. All of which are required to stay soft and mobile if we are to sit the trot effectively. If too much weight in feet is not diagnosed by yourself or your coach you will bounce unnecessarily when using your stirrups. This is one of the primary reasons for no stirrup work and why you’ll feel like your sitting better and more connected without them.

I see many riders attempting to put their weight into the stirrup in hopes of following all gaits: rising and sitting trot and canter. It will only disconnect you from the saddle and your horses back. However, if we can learn to keep our ‘foot light’ in the stirrup we will have the same success with them as we do without. Not using your stirrups, sadly, will not help you learn to ride with them and ‘foot light’ is often the fix.

‘Heels down’ is something that is shouted by many coaches universally. Unfortunately, it results in many riders pushing their leg forward to appease the coach as often their hamstrings are tight and it’s the only way the heel will go down. Now the foot is jammed forward, removing the ability to follow the movement with a soft ankle and the body alignment of the ear, shoulder, hip, boney knobble of the ankle bone is lost. In this position, the rider is no longer responsible for their own body weight in any gait. The foot jammed forward and lack of proper alignment also makes the rider fall back into the saddle in rising trot with a thump because their feet are no longer under the hip.

Think of the ball of your foot across the pad of your stirrup iron and imagine you are about to dive backwards off of a diving board. It should feel springy and light. You are in a kneeling feeling and the energy comes from the hip socket, down the top of the thigh, out the kneecap and to the ground (not to your foot). Putting a sponge in each stirrup can also help you feel how the foot can stay light and spring-like through the joints of the ankle, knee and hips in sitting trot (and canter). If you don’t have some available, just imagining a sponge under the ball of your foot can have good effect.

If this is new to you, your new conundrum will be losing your stirrups until you can sense your way into feeling just the right amount of weight that will keep your stirrup but not squash my fingers! It is a conundrum worth working through, I assure you. Once this skill is solidified, you won’t panic if you lose a stirrup because you won’t be relying on your stirrups to stand in and balance.

***Thank you to Shannyn Clarke for being my photo model

11/02/2021

The ladies and Charles are all bundled for the cold weather tonight 😊

08/08/2021

Congratulations to our girls and horses for qualifying for colonial classic! All of your hard work all summer has paid off and for our first serious show season I couldn’t be more happy! Can’t wait for a long weekend of showing!

07/14/2021

Blue 😅🙃

04/27/2021

Yay! 👏🏻👏🏻
https://amp.poconorecord.com/amp/7336524002?fbclid=IwAR3hVVkpeJq6fPHLoS2u9kUJu2Z2V4lFlE09QFC1sxIy9MBzlQwbx24D1M0

Holly Corcoran, a Stroudsburg native, will represent the US Equestrian national team at the Endurance World Championship in Italy on May 21 and 22.