St.John riding stables

01/10/2025

One more thing then I’m going to try to get some sleep 🫠. I realize the recent horses saved from the kill pen are in alarming, some fatal condition and it’s upsetting on all levels. There are too many comments to even start to reply to as to “are you going to find out who the owner was, will they be prosecuted, etc”. We have NO way of figuring that out for 7 different horses. They all ended up a kill pen by way of auction or some are literally brought there and sold directly to the kill pen. They would never disclose that information, even if they had it which 99 percent of the time they do not. No one is more shattered, heartbroken, or angry than I am I promise, but I will tell y’all this, and I have said this a long time ago but we have new followers daily. We cannot drown ourselves in that. If we allowed that to take over, I would literally be in a psych ward heavily sedated for the rest of my days. I learned years ago that the day they arrive here, it’s a fresh start. They need our energy to be positive. As an empath I realized taking on their sadness only projected that back to them, and to the others here. So I have to let what I cannot change go and focus on the here and now. Survival tactic? Maybe. But they made it here, and I have to focus our time and attention on restoring them, and unfortunately cannot focus on trying to to find out who “did this”. Shouting at us to find and prosecute their old owner won’t change a thing for them. Meeting them where they are and providing what they need to heal will ❤️.

01/10/2025

𝔽𝕦𝕟 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕪
Did you know that D to D measurements is a totally useless way of measuring saddle width? Cos the D rings can be placed anywhere on the saddle.
Pictured are two saddles - one is XW and the other is MW. They both have the same D to D measurement.

01/10/2025

🙏🐴❤️

01/10/2025

There is a situation going around social media regarding a dog in our care. We hate to even have to make these kind of posts, but we feel it is necessary. The facts regarding this dog and our shelter will be posted below:

•Cara’s House is the open intake shelter for Ascension Parish, not a rescue.

•The dog was brought into our facility as a stray on October 4, 2024. After scanning the dog for a microchip and finding one, we contacted the microchip company. To our surprise, the person who brought the dog in as a stray was actually the owner of the dog.

•This dog received its initial vetting upon intake and was made available on 10/9/24.

•This dog went into a foster home on 11/26/24 and is being adopted by his foster.

•We followed the guidelines of our parish ordinance and the dog will not be returned to the previous owner who lied when turning his dog in.

We hope this clears up any confusion. Thank you.

01/09/2025

Well spoken,and well taught 🐴❤️🙏

Teach students where THEY are at.
I get it- instructors think they are going to save their students time and agony by teaching them “right” the first time… (and I’m not saying the alternative is to teach them wrong, but rather, I understand where the mindset comes from.) But you can’t teach beginners to use advanced aids, just like you can’t pick up a canter on a horse getting their 5th ride with the same set of aids you would use on a Grand Prix horse.
You have to teach students that there is a process, and then teach them to trust the process! 

For instance, I teach beginners not to pull back to steer, but to point both thumbs where they want to go! We steer with our eyes, and both hands, and our belly button. But someday we are going to step into the inside stirrup, and use our seat to send the horse into our outside rein, and steer our horse with inside leg to outside rein connection.

Another for instance, is that I teach green riders to set in a little bit of a chair seat, and ride with hands quite wide, thumbs practically pointing out. This prevents leaning forward, anterior pelvic tilt, tight immobile hips, constant subconscious pulling backwards, looking down, twisting the wrists, and other common issues that beginner riders often run into. It’s so easy to put them in a more elegant position later! But in the beginning, I just want them sitting deep and their hips moving with the horse, and hands soft.

When we first start talking about bend, I’m not horribly picky. Get ANY bend!! I’ll take anything: lateral poll flexion, ribcage bend, or even lateral bend at the base of the neck (which later down the road, we don’t want much of). Once the rider is starting to get something, we will talk more about where the bend is coming from.

One of the hardest things, as an instructor is knowing how far down this path you can nudge your Rider. I have some students that do best if they know the next couple steps. It helps them recognize the importance of the step they are on. But I have other students that if I tell them too much about the progression, they overthink and shut down and can’t help but feel like they should be further along

01/09/2025

🙏❤️🐕

Exciting news! 🎉 Starting January 18, 2025, Shine Veterinary Services will be hosting monthly Low-Cost Dog Vaccine Clinics in LaPlace! 🐾💉

📅 When: Every month, 9 AM - 12 PM
📍 Where: 509 Main St, LaPlace, LA 70068

Protect your pups with essential services like Rabies, DAPPL, Bordetella vaccines, and more—all at affordable prices! 🐶❤️

👉 Walk-ins welcome—no appointment needed, but pre-registration will speed up the process.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1s8ED6mhWOo5snlg3ESFtTcP1fJrYc2p4HMajXR_oWYA/edit

Mark your calendars and spread the word!

01/08/2025

01/08/2025

This Is A Reprint Of A Very Good Post From A Very Good Horse Woman: Really Worth The Read
Jo Christensen AERC: American Endurance Ride Conference
Hey everyone,
Temperatures inside horse trailers are a concern to most endurance riders I know. We tend to haul very long distances, both in the heat and in the cold. I had to do some winter hauling today and before I left, I installed a temperature monitor inside my horse trailer. What I discovered was surprising and fascinating and changed my mind about what I thought was going on back there… so I decided to share what I learned in case of value to anyone else.
I hauled two horses about 6 hours today through the mountains here in western Montana, to a veterinary facility in another town. I was concerned about temperatures for the horses before I left. Forecast temps along some of the route were in the low single digits. My horses have very good winter coats but I was trying to decide whether to blanket or not. I recently switched to an enclosed gooseneck trailer and realized that I had no idea what hauling conditions in the winter were like back there.
I bought an inexpensive temperature monitor with a base station- the kind folks hang out on the porch so they can see what outdoor conditions are like without going outside. Before I put it into use in the trailer, I verified its accuracy by comparing its readings to some equipment I know is very accurate.
I hung the sensor in a mesh bag (good air flow) about halfway up the side of the wall in the trailer that encloses the rear tack room. I didn’t put it on the roof (heat rises) or near the floor (cold air sinks). My trailer is a 3 horse slant load, and I put it in the stall that did not have a horse in it. It was not hanging on an exterior wall. My trailer is not insulated- no living quarters, just a standard small dressing area in the front.
The trailer did have about 3 inches of hard encrusted snow insulating the roof-this snow stayed the entire journey.
The side windows could not be opened- they were encrusted with ice- however we opened all three roof vents to their maximum extent and turned the so that airflow would be maximized.
When we left our house in the Bitterroot, the temp inside and outside the trailer both read 20 degrees. BTW I was using my truck temperature monitor to determine the outside temperature (I had previously verified its accuracy and that it read the same as my newly purchased gear).
We loaded the horses and took off this morning about 0345 hrs. By the time we got to Missoula (30 minutes later), temps in the trailer had risen from 20 degrees to 32 degrees. In contrast, outside temp was still 20 degrees. By the time we had been on the road for an hour, the temperature in the trailer was (are you ready for this?): FORTY FOUR DEGREES.
Along our route, outside temps dropped as low as 14 degrees. At the same time, temps in the trailer NEVER dropped below 39 degrees. For the vast majority of the journey, the trailer was holding at 44 degrees. Temps inside the trailer were ALWAYS OVER TWENTY DEGREES WARMER than the outside.
We stopped for a half hour pitstop did not unload the horses. However I opened the back door and let cold wind flow into the trailer. Temps in the trailer quickly dropped to the high 20s. But they were back up to the low 40s in about half an hour.
We left both horses at the vet in Three Forks and returned with an empty trailer. All the way home, temps inside the trailer were identical to temps outside.
So here are my take-aways from all this. First of all, it’s very easy to monitor temps in your trailer and I would highly encourage everyone to do it! I think I spent about 20 bucks on my monitoring stuff and it was easy to use and very accurate. Secondly, I cannot believe how fast two horses could heat up a 3 horse trailer in very cold weather and keep it warm. I never dreamed that horses radiate that much heat. And to think I had been considering blanketing them.
Of course the need to blanket and other things might be different if your horses are body clipped or your trailer is different. And of course this is an enclosed gooseneck, not a stockside trailer. But rather than just guess what might be going on back there and whether it is appropriate for your clipped horse (or sick horse or…?) just go get a temperature monitor and find out!
And believe me, my eyes are going to be GLUED to this thing come summer and I’m hauling in hot temperatures…

01/08/2025

UPDATE!
Pony has been paid for - $875.50 (credit card). The shipper picks him up tomorrow! Photos to come!
Thank you!❤️
--------------------------------------
Another call came to ask if I could help a yearling c**t in limbo at an auction house. A dealer purchased the pony for someone who backed out. There won't be another auction for weeks and this is no place for any horse, let alone an unvaccinated baby. The weather is horrible.

I have no idea what he looks like. The Amish and this auction don't allow photos so I don't know what shape he's in either.

I can't possibly take him as there's no room here and Summer's twins are due any second so she won't be at the farm to lend a hand for quite awhile!

As of late, I've been able to work with several awesome rescues who have generously offered to take the horse or pony. On my end, we at least raise the purchase price and arrange transportation.

We have another rescue willing to step in on behalf of this pony.

As always, if enough doesn't come in, I'll return whatever was contributed towards him. They want $850, which I think is high, but it is what it is.

The pony in this photo is Finn (one of ours), a rescue from Essex county in in 2013. He was one of 43 and only 5 months old at the time! (That's Jane dragging hay out for the boys!)

Thank you!

PayPal;
www.littlebrookfarmsanctuary.org
Venmo;
little_brook_farm

Photos to follow!

01/07/2025

Vintage Cylinder Design - This beautiful urn necklace features a vintage-inspired cylinder pendant, delicately crafted to hold a small portion of ashes, making it a meaningful memorial keepsake to honor a loved one or pet.Personalized Gemstone - Adorned with a gemstone of your choice, this necklace....

01/07/2025

Kaitlyn Moore...looks like Stoney🙏❤️🐴

01/06/2025

Sending prayers for our horses,and all livestock, and outdoor animals🙏🐴🐕🐐🐈🐄🦆❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏