Cessna Stables, LLC

08/11/2024

07/28/2024

07/17/2024

06/04/2024

http://elcr.org/no-hay-for-the-horses/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0XLVVFXz_ifyZCYCYpu8_I8i-nc8RBZkP0AnQqcSlQWIf3hx46SMyjEdg_aem_AdO70Vwy3O33Jjb93EOjBL7NkaUROmNBYxvshB32nUUjk05tRruX8DmiXhYSWaSab6HOQVEBM7sA-fzHLgB8I7m8

by Jennifer M. Keeler for ELCR September 2012 Horse owners savor the sweet smell of freshly-baled alfalfa stacked neatly in barn lofts, and take great comfort that their charges will be well-fed throughout cold winters or dry seasons. We expect roughage to be easy to come by and relatively...

05/07/2024

Older article and the numbers are pretty outdated but still very relevant. $10 an hour labor? Farms paying 20-30$ are struggling to find employees!

Boarding barns make it possible for people to become horse owners. What do boarders really want? What does your horse cost the boarding barn?

05/04/2024

“And another one bites the dust.”

The very first preliminary horse trial that I won with my unraced Thoroughbred Lighting Magic was at the Potomac Horse Center, and I can remember sitting in Denny Crawford’s car listening to the Kentucky Derby as Northern Dancer won. Nobody had any clue at the time what a gigantic influence that little horse would have on the entire breed in following years.

It was, from looking it up, on May 2nd, 1964, exactly 60 years ago this week.

Places like the Potomac Horse Center have supported horse sports for decades, but the forces of growth are crowding in from every side, and that terrible saying applies, “The developer almost always wins.” The developer wins because that’s where the money is, and horses are getting shoved farther out from population centers.

We all know places that we drive by and say, “See that subdivision, that shopping mall, that highway? I remember when that was a farm, a riding stable.”

05/02/2024

Work continues- tack room and grooming, wash area.

03/23/2024

https://horseandrider.com/how-to/improve-your-trail-horses-behavior/

Is your trail horse’s behavior problematic? Try Warwick Schiller’s “50-foot trail ride” exercise to improve a variety of difficulties.

02/27/2024

A 28-year-old Thoroughbred mare in Lorain County, Ohio, was confirmed positive for EHV and euthanized.

02/27/2024

If you played the “Guess which ones were lame on anything but sand,” game, here are the answers.

I’ve circled the ones who were sound even on rock.

Now, it’s important to note, sound as in short term, AND long term.

Short term soundness is often about mass.

Long-term soundness is generally about alignment, and we can see both at play here…

Not only can overtrimming of the heels, or caudal failure, result in present lameness, it can be insidious, and not get noticed, until it finally causes enough structural damage down the road.

I had someone ask, “If it's so obvious which is the sound horse then why are there so many lame horses out there? Then why are these trimming styles still popular if they're destroying horses?”

I don’t have an answer for that, but I will say, after originally posting this last year, I notice more people got the answers right this year, so I do think our collective ‘eye for balance’ is improving!

What makes a hoofcare professional worth their weight in gold is not only knowing what to trim, but what NOT to trim.

It’s also important to understanding the limitations of trimming, where we can only take away. Sometimes we have to add.

02/24/2024

All true.

01/30/2024

Researchers found a strong association between hind hoof balance and posture that could affect overall musculoskeletal health.

01/15/2024

Enjoying the winter sun and a game of bitey face!

01/15/2024

12/25/2023

This 👏🏼

12/19/2023

Leading trainers with no horse fatalities in the 2020-2022 seasons share their methods, emphasizing early diagnostics and time off when needed.

11/28/2023

10/07/2023

Pretty interesting

Olivia Schlichting, DVM, is a small animal veterinarian who breeds sport horses and rides with the Warrenton Hunt (Virginia). In 2019, 5-year-old Kat was Schlichting’s mount for hunting throughout the fall and winter. While many mares’ cycles cease during the colder months, Kat’s didn’t. And...

09/21/2023

Barney is so happy with his gift.

07/14/2023

07/11/2023

Food for thought. I belong to several barn owner groups on fb and nearly daily there are questions along the lines of “how do you make a profit boarding horses”, “how do you afford help/health insurance/“, and the answers run along the lines of “you don’t, you make money off lessons/training”, “you don’t, you get a part time job/rely on husband’s job”. Not surprisingly the other question asked nearly every day is “how do I know when it’s time to throw in the towel”. The realty is this job is tough. It’s tough for a lot of reasons but the main one is that most barns find it difficult to charge what they need to to be able to afford to pay for the help they need. No employee is willing to work as long or as hard for the amount of pay most owners are doing it for. And eventually the owner burns out. This has been true for a long time but it seems like it’s reaching a fever pitch as many barns are closing their doors, at least as evidenced on the groups I’m on and the number of people on my waitlist. Just an fyi as unless you’ve owned a boarding barn it’s really hard to understand the level personal investment required. We all do it out of love or maybe even obsession. But eventually even that wears thin. Hay prices have gone from $2.50/ 35/40lbs to $6-8 since I began. One of the reasons I have been able to keep my prices lower is that at this moment my husband is baling and will likely stack 1200 bales of hay today. Should he get paid for that - most definitely. Is he getting paid $6/ bale? No. Will there come a day when he can’t and we have to buy hay at $6/ bale - probably. Fortunately I can get bulk sawdust not bagged which keeps costs closer to $50/ horse if there’s not excessive waste. However we spend probably 60-100 hours a year moving it, spreading it - and associated fuel costs - that we would have to pay someone else $15/ hour for. Long story short, almost every barn owner out there is seriously under cutting themselves on labor, unless they’re charging prices that make you gasp. And no one else is willing to work for well under minimum wage. I could go on, I won’t, no one really wants to hear it but it does seem there continues to be a big disconnect between what barn owners face and boarders are aware of and perhaps a little sharing of information is a good thing.

https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https://coloradohorseforum.com/the-truth-about-boarding-facilities/?fbclid%3DIwAR1A1BqbEQF7gIgz-hE5t2PaeixmDa_xGn05LbhF8d6_iqBiPvGAAdwInKI_aem_AQN2VTsLXvrOU7nBKzl1V2ugQB7FEdSrpKaXBXgu9ADnlZA385iOue_Lf-EVZHi3YUk&h=AT0ofJ-ZVK0rRe2VH7D-VbP04R9cRCUN4Ha6twotoB83Z2Qo5qVTmN0Ag6tAbjS6WZ6ph_QHeZ9eBtO9zlIWxaiAqXPe4MDxaGEt6zisxw8r0L-42OCWTPI8qFOMX_jAtMpgDnzhB8Lv&s=1&mibextid=ncKXMA

Let's face it, as a horse owner, we have all relied on a boarding facility at some point to be able to enjoy our equine friends. Here are some facts and figures with what goes into boarding your horse.