Frosted Moon Farm

01/14/2024

So proud of our very first lesson girl Ryleigh. She ribboned at year end triangle show series.

12/24/2023

Merry Christmas from Ivy

09/30/2023

Come visit Pickles at Avon Grove Middle school (high school homecoming today) today for the FFA petting zoo.

04/30/2023

‘Am I a good rider?’ She asked, pensively,
sat upon her 14.2 cob, covered in poo stains that she couldn’t quite get out before her lesson, that she had persuaded her mum to buy a year ago for just £400. (It wasn’t wanted anymore)
‘Why do you ask that?’ Her instructor replied,
for she knew how this young girl felt,
her eyes often lingered somewhere inbetween her horses ears or the other side of the school when teaching.
‘Because I want to be one’
Her instructor pondered on this for a good few minutes, whilst reassuring the nervous cob in front, and then said,
‘A good rider is not someone who buys flashy horses and competes every Saturday and makes it to the top within a year.
A good rider is not who jumps the highest jumps or owns the fastest horse.
A good rider isn’t made just because they’ve been riding since they were 3.
A good rider is not someone who can move their forward horse forward...
no
A good rider is that pony clubber you see fall off every time she gets on something new, yet still gets back on with a smile on her face,
A good rider is that girl who cries in the tack room because of how her horse behaved and how hard it’s been to cope watching everyone else be successful, but to her it seems like she is the only one failing, yet still rewards her horse with a treat and a smile because at least he was better than last time,
A good rider is the boy with the angel horse, yet doesn’t claim any of its successes for himself
“‘It was all him’”, he would say, “‘I just sat to it’”
A good rider listens
A good rider is soft
A good rider makes sure the horse is always happy,
As a matter of fact, a good rider often has nothing to do with the riding,
If you love it, and you try, and you try again, even when you fall off and it was your fault, even when people point because your seat isn’t quite as deep as they’d prefer,
if you never give up,
That’s what makes a good rider’

04/16/2023

If you enter the ring on a horse you love, you’ve already won.

04/16/2023

Jim Wofford explains why incorporating dressage in an event horse’s training is effective … up to a point.

04/16/2023

New Qualification Requirements and Dressage Tests for the Beginner Novice and Novice Classic Series Levels Effective May 1, 2023

04/16/2023

Happy Birthday Secretariat

04/16/2023

Here they come down the final furlong in the homestretch! It’s all Secretariat with a huge lead as he’s absolutely cruising away!! Here they come to the wire and Secretariat wins by a clear 51 lengths (a total of 151 fan votes, with AP Indy 2nd (100 fan votes), Alydar 3rd (80 fan votes), Count Fleet 4th, Point Given 5th and Galileo 6th!

That means Secretariat is the big time Fan Favorite this week and the Fan Favorite Fantasy Champion!

04/16/2023

It’s been 50 years since Secretariat won the American Triple Crown in 1973. “There are more people alive now who did not see these races than who did see them,” comments Colleen Yarger, Ph.D., curator of the “Endurance” exhibition detailing Secretariat’s success and fame. The exhibit is on display at the National Sporting Library & Museum until May 14. To hear more from Yarger, look for our interview in our April issue or follow the link in our bio to read it now online.

📷: "Secretariat," Richard Stone Reeves. Photo courtesy of NSLM.

04/16/2023

On March 30, 1970, a legend was born at the Meadow Farm in Doswell, Virginia from the pairing of the nation’s leading sire at the time, Bold Ruler, and the blue-blooded dam Somethingroyal. (In this vintage photo of the three-month-old Secretariat, it is a fun coincidence to note that "c**t #9" in The Meadow’s foal crop of 1970 would grow up to become Thoroughbred racing's 9th Triple Crown winner.)

We are pleased to offer this limited-edition leather foal halter identical to the halters provided to new foals born at The Meadow during that era. Already almost sold out, this exclusive collectible is limited to only 73 pieces in the total edition. Learn more and order: https://secretariatcom.stores.yahoo.net/secretariat-foal-halter.html

Also, for residents of and travelers to Secretariat’s birth state of Virginia, the newly unveiled Secretariat statue by Jocelyn Russell will remain in Ashland for a couple more weeks. Details to come regarding where and when this spectacular new monument will travel next!

04/16/2023

Four-star rider Colleen Rutledge explains her key to success—riding in balance.

04/16/2023

Top lessons riders took home from their Win-A-Day clinic with Buck Davidson.

04/16/2023

04/16/2023

'ARE YOU FARM STRONG"?
“Farm work doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t make you anything. It reveals you.
There’s gym strong and then there’s farm strong. They’re mutually exclusive. The toughest women you’ll ever meet spend their days on a farm.
There are more uses for twine than you can possibly imagine. You can tie up a hole in a slow feeder, fashion a tail strap for a horse’s blanket, mend a broken fence and use it as a belt.
“Well that certainly didn’t go as planned,” is one thing you’ll say quite a bit.
Control is a mere illusion. The thought that you have any, at any given time, is utterly false.
Sometimes sleep is a luxury. So are lunch and dinner. And brushing your hair.
If you’ve never felt your obliques contract, then you’ve never tried stopping an overly full wheelbarrow of horse manure from tipping over sideways. Trust me, you’ll find muscles that you never knew existed on the human skeleton to prevent this from happening.
When one of the animals is ill, you’ll go to heroic lengths to minimize their discomfort.
Their needs come first. In summer heat and coldest winter days. Clean water, clean bed, and plenty of feed. Before you have your first meal, they all eat.
When you lose one of them, even though you know that day is inevitable, you still feel sadness, angst and emotional pain from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. And it’s a heaviness that lingers even though you must regroup and press on.
You’ll cry a lot. But you’ll never live more fully. You’ll remain present no matter what because you must. There is no other option.
You’ll ask for so many miracles and hold out hope until the very last.
You will, at least once, face-plant in the manure pile. You’ll find yourself saying things like, “we have maybe twenty minutes of daylight left to git ‘er done” whilst gazing up at a nonspecific place in the sky.
You’ll become weirdly obsessive about the weather.
You’ll go out in public wearing filthy clothes and smelling of dirt, sweat and p**p. People will look at you sideways and krinkle their noses but you won’t care.
Your entire day can derail within ten seconds of the rising sun.
You can wash your coveralls. They won’t look any cleaner, but they will smell much nicer.
Farm work is difficult in its simplicity.
You’ll always notice just how beautiful sunrises and sunsets really are.
Should you ever have the opportunity to work on a farm, take the chance! You will never do anything more satisfying in your entire life.”
💗💗💗💗💗

03/26/2023

The grandkids got to groom and ride “Kissie” this evening. They love learning about horses.

03/23/2023

Pickles loves to follow “mom” around the farm while she does her chores.

03/22/2023

Here are 15 interesting facts about a horse's brain:

1. A horse's brain is relatively small compared to its body size, making up only about 0.1% of its total weight.
2. Despite their small size, horses have very complex brains, with a highly developed cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for conscious thought, decision-making, and memory.
3. Horses are able to learn and remember complex tasks, such as navigating a jumping course or performing a dressage routine, through a process called associative learning.
4. Like humans, horses have a left and a right hemisphere in their brain, each with specialized functions. The left hemisphere is responsible for processing logical and analytical information, while the right hemisphere is more involved in emotional processing and creative thinking.
5. Horses have a strong memory and are able to remember specific people, places, and experiences for many years.
6. Horses are able to learn by observation and are often able to pick up new behaviors and skills simply by watching other horses or humans.
7. Horses have a very sensitive sense of touch and can detect even the slightest pressure or movement on their skin. This helps them to respond to subtle cues from their rider or handler.
8. Horses are able to process visual information very quickly and accurately, allowing them to avoid potential dangers and navigate their environment with ease.
9. Horses are social animals and rely on non-verbal communication to interact with other horses in their herd. This communication is facilitated by the horse's brain, which is able to interpret subtle changes in body language, facial expressions, and vocalizations.
10. Finally, like all animals, horses have a unique personality and individual characteristics that are shaped by their experiences, genetics, and environment, all of which are reflected in their brain function and behavior.
11. Horses have a very strong sense of smell, and their olfactory bulb, which processes smells, is relatively large compared to other parts of their brain.
12. The cerebellum, which is responsible for coordinating movement and balance, is also relatively large in horses. This is because horses need to be able to move quickly and efficiently to escape predators or navigate difficult terrain.
13. Horses have a very high pain threshold, which is thought to be related to the way their brains process pain signals. While this can be beneficial in some situations, it can also mean that horses may not show obvious signs of pain, making it difficult for their caretakers to detect and treat underlying health problems.
14. The hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning and memory, is particularly well-developed in horses. This allows them to remember not just specific experiences, but also general concepts and patterns that they can apply to new situations.
15. Finally, studies have shown that horses, like other animals, are capable of experiencing emotions such as fear, happiness, and anger. These emotions are thought to be mediated by the limbic system, a group of interconnected brain structures that play a key role in regulating mood and behavior.

03/22/2023

Progress isn’t linear.
Steps “backwards” are not 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 backwards... filling in holes is real progress.

We often have to try harder movements to see what’s not working… you think your horse bends around your leg well in circles and shoulder in, but you try haunches in and realize you lose the bend through the ribcage, and the horse over bends in the base of the neck. Then you go back to the circle and pay more attention to getting ribcage bend, and keeping the base of the neck stable. You try it in a shoulder in and realize the same thing is happening.
You used to do an okay circle (with a little too much bend at the base of the neck that you were unaware of), a ”neck in” that you thought was a shoulder in, and a poor attempt at haunches in. Now you are working on better circles, and recognize your issues in shoulder in, which you are about to fix, and soon will have the missing ingredient for haunches in…. That’s absolutely progress!! It may feel like you went from working on haunches in to going back to 20m circles, but that’s what progress looks like.

Just wait until you are trying to do multiple flying changes in a straight line… you’ll learn you don’t have a quality canter, at all, and spend months doing walk to canter transitions trying to fix 10 things you never even knew were things before!! Forget single flying changes, lateral work, or even circles… you’ll be picking apart your ability to just walk to canter on a straight line, and recognizing all sorts of atrocities you’ve been doing your whole life abd never noticed before!!!!
That’s progress (huge progress actually!)

03/14/2023

03/13/2023

There are five types of lesson horses in this world... 😂

While some are more challenging than others, they can all help improve your riding. Meet the different type of lesson pony personalities we’ve identified 👉️ https://tinyurl.com/mr4a4ydb

What other personalities have you encountered in lesson horses?

03/13/2023

A great article to read!!!!!

What is Full Board Service?
Full Board Isn't Full Service

A friend asked me to write this a while ago..and I have been thinking on it for several months. So here is a go.

Full board Isn't full board. The average boarding farm with anywhere from 5 to 40 boarders is so much work. Just the daily grind of getting up, feeding, haying, checking water takes up a significant amount of time. Stalls, another massive chunk, then repeat pm feed.

Then you want the boarding farm to do blankets ( something I refuse to do. I worked for a QH trainer in the 90s and spent hrs every morning and night reblanketing all the horses under lights ...cured me ) , meds, you want night check. You want their weight and physical appearance monitored through their blankets.

Now all the extras : tackroom swept, aisle perfect, walls hosed down, no rodents, cobwebs , working washrack with drain that never clogs...

Then perfectly manacured fields , mowed, fertilized, weedwacking. Fences repairs etc....

Board or bored...when your horse is in the stall more for inclement weather , you need to get there to exercise it and prevent colic ( motion is lotion for guts and joints ! ). Full board doesnt cover checking every single inch of the horse ( though most of us do take a quick look, i have trained myself to look at all 4 legs both side every day ) for bumps, bruises, shoes with sprung heels , mysterious fungus that appears on its flank. Owners need to be present, take responsibility for their own horse, make coming out to groom that retired horse on a schedule....and always always be accessible for emergencies.

When you see something needs done, just do it instead of complaining about it. We have all seen the posts about the costs of boarding and basically, if you are paying less than $1000/ month, someone is subsidizing your board. So pick up a rake, a broom, be present. Run a hose, scrub the tub. Triple check your horse. Check on the horse whose owner is ill ( with their permission ) . Leave things better than they were.
Many barns have a person or 2 that randomly helps with some stalls....I guarantee you the barn owner appreciates that person. I used to have a students father who would clean many stalls while his daughter rode. I know I'll never forget him.

Holidays....most barns have 1 of 2 ways of thinking. 1. Don't come out at all. 2. If you do come out, plan to help with feeding, haying, watering turnout and stalls. I can speak from personal experience...I havent had a holiday off since pre 2001 except for 1 Christmas, an exceptional student did all the work as my gift. I'll never forget that act of kindness. Nurses get double time for major holidays ( and still get to take off a day for Christmas , heck even the local convenience store pays double or time and half on major holidays) , barn owners get nothing, most of the time not even a thank you... I recall a colleague who boarded horses ( and of course taught lessons, trained horses, sold horses and ran shows because boarding doesnt pay the bills ) saying one day she realized her life was like the movie Ground Hog Day....and that she has done the same thing every morning every night for decades. Her farm went up for sale and she now boards her own horses.

Education. Do you know what horses diseases are, understand deworming, know what ailments to watch out for. When should the vet be called ? Can you wrap legs properly, handle an abscess, recognize fungus, spot a colic ? If not, pick up a book, watch some videos. Horse ownership means you love horses and you want to know everything about them.

Anyway...full care isn't day care you drop your "kid " off too and never pick them up from again. Be present. Your horse will appreciate the attention and the barn owner will feel relief that you are watching out for your horse.

03/05/2023

Setting up the new jumps🐎

01/13/2023

The outdoor riding arena at Frosted Moon Farm is now available for rent to the public. Rentals by reservation only.

Located in Franklin Township, Chester County, Frosted Moon Farm offers riders the opportunity school your horse in a private, low stress outdoor arena.

01/11/2023

A little chilly, but still a nice day to ride. Nicole Crusemire

12/18/2022

Santa was at the farm today 🧑‍🎄❤️

12/18/2022

Santa was at the farm today❤️🧑‍🎄

12/05/2022

Join us for pet pictures with Santa. Bring your dog, cat, horse, goat, chicken or any other animal for a private photo session with Santa. Contact [email protected] for more info.