Freedom Acres Farms

11/11/2024

10/08/2024

Sale Ends 10/13/24. Get your chickens a nice coop before winter! $100 off of Small Coops and $500 off of Big Coops. Coops are built when ordered on a 1st come 1st serve basis. 

10/07/2024

For Ben Logan, school was often a struggle. Dyslexia made traditional learning challenging, and he spent much of his time watching cartoons in a special education classroom or sneaking into other classes. “I took Pottery 12 times,” he jokes. But these experiences encouraged Logan to approach pro...

09/29/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/gubJttnjV81KUALG/?mibextid=WC7FNe

DOC BAR revolutionized the cutting industry in a way never seen before or since.
The 1956 chestnut stallion was foaled on Tom Finley’s Arizona ranch. He was by Lightning Bar by Three Bars (TB) and out of Dandy Doll by Texas Dandy. He was bred to run, but failed miserably, earning a total of $95 in four starts.
He was given to Charley Araujo of California to show at halter. This endeavor seemed doomed to fail because Doc Bar did not fit what the judge’s eye had been groomed to see. He stood a scant 15 hands and did not have the punched-together look of his contemporaries.
The halter industry was ripe for change. With Araujo at the lead and the stallion’s unique conformation, the guidelines for halter horse champions were altered almost overnight. Out of 15 shows, he won nine grand champions, and one reserve champion.
Doc Bar attracted the attention of Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Jensen of Double J Ranch in Paicines, California. The couple had pieced together a broodmare band of Poco Tivio, Hollywood Gold, King and Leo mares, and was in the market for a stallion. Doc Bar fit their needs and the couple bought him in 1963 for $30,000.
Over the following years, Doc Bar sired National Cutting Horse Association Futurity winners, world champions and top-10 horses. A few progenies include Doc O’Lena, Dry Doc, Fizzabar and Doc’s Kitty. He was the grandsire of Smart Little Lena, Tenino San, Docs Sangria and Don N W***y.
In AQHA competitions, Doc Bar’s get amassed nearly 9,000 points and won multiple world championships.
The key to Doc Bar’s success was summed up by Charlie Ward, manager of the Jensens’ ranch, “is that he’s so consistent in his type. His colts are all uniform and possess a lot of sense. They’re easy to train, they have a lot of natural ability – every one of them is cowy.”
Doc Bar was euthanized in 1992 at 36. He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 1993.
Biography updated as of march 1993, credit to AQHA.

09/28/2024

This is a good read

Why do biomechanics matter?

No one uttered this term to me, in all my years of riding and lesson-taking, until I was well into my 20's. I heard lots of other words: contact, responsiveness, connection, rhythm, impulsion, suppleness. All of them felt like these ethereal concepts that had multiple meanings depending on who you talked to. They also had varying degrees of importance or ranking in terms of what you need first before the horse can offer the next thing, depending on who you talked to. I still see this all the time, and hear about how frustrating it is from other horsepeople trying to do the best they can.

Biomechanics are the physical relationships and structural laws that govern how living things move. Biomechanics are the HOW in all of those aforementioned ethereal terms. They are vital in understanding how to correctly develop a horse for riding. This is the first reason why biomechanics matter.

The second reason is because horses weren't designed to be ridden. I cannot overstate how important this is to understand if you want to ride horses and ride them well: horses were NEVER designed to be sat on. The horse is born with a specific set of biomechanical tools available to him, and they serve him very well...when they are needed.

The thing is, those tools were designed for maximum efficiency if the horse's life is in danger: used for brief moments, blips in between long stretches of calm. Those exact tools can cause injury, unsoundness, and degeneration if used every day, day in and day out, for years.
. . . . . . . .

I want you to look at these two photos.

The top horse is using what nature gave him (and what work with humans helped him turn into long-standing patterns in movement). The bottom horse has been given new tools and taught how to use them to move in ways that preserve soundness, not encourage degeneration.

The top horse is moving in a way that directly ties into the same sympathetic nervous system responses that kick in when a horse is in danger. The bottom horse is demonstrating all of the power potential the nervous system makes available when the horse is in danger, but accessing it through relaxation and completely different biomechanics.

The top horse is using the ground to support his weight in movement, putting a lot of pressure on his joints. The bottom horse is doing a lot of that supporting himself by virtue of his posture, putting significantly less strain on his joints.

You may have already figured out this is the same horse. These photos were taken approximately two years apart.

I guess what I'm getting at is this: the way to develop the bottom horse isn't to simply take the top horse and add contact, impulsion, responsiveness, ride circle after circle, do pole and hill work, etc. Whatever you apply to the ridden horse will only reinforce what is already in him.

You must teach him, literally from the ground up, a new way of moving, a different biomechanical perspective. Some horses will come by this easier than others, but not a one is born knowing how to put all of these things together on their own when the human asks it. Not a one.

We have to show them how.

PC: Mandy Helwege. Thank you for permitting me to share your lovely boy.

09/20/2024

A few months ago, equestrian “share the road” signs, went up in Metamora Township about 17 of them. This week 13 signs went up in Dryden Township. Love seeing them and hope they get folks to just slow down a little bit more on our dirt roads! Thank you MECA (metamora equestrian conservation alliance) for working with the townships and Lapeer County Road Commission

09/12/2024

We have many different riding options available! Beginner friendly horses to more advanced for those with more experience.

Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced riding lessons
Drop in riding
Leasing
Day Clinics

If you want to ride at a drama free, family friendly, professional facility, we would love to have you!

PM for more info!

09/09/2024

We have a lot to say about our equine friends, but our chickens don’t often get the credit they deserve! Check out this awesome infographic on some of their more interesting characteristics. I didn’t know a lot of these! Also, stay tuned!! Meat birds are coming to Freedom Acres Farms

09/07/2024

Another amazing pony coming home thanks to the lovely ladies at Stoney Hollow Stables. We cannot say enough good things about their wonderful horses and customer service. Always a great experience buying from them. So excited to see Lady shine to her full potential once her rehab is completed.