Ember Ridge

08/13/2024

04/06/2024

03/19/2024

Share your input with us for planning at Rancho Corral de Tierra!

03/08/2024

Reverse the Closure of Pebble Beach Equestrian Center

11/02/2023

Love this!

I can’t stress enough the importance of NOT feeding a fancy mash when it gets cold, rather add warm water and 1-2 Tbs of salt to your horse’s existing feed.

It’s the fundamental rule of feeding horses- transition over the course of 1-2 weeks. Cold and hot weather are already stressors! There’s no reason to add to it by throwing in a new feed (or hay for that matter.)

10/13/2023

To give him the life saving care he deserves to get through this, I am asking for your help to ease the burden of the vet bills with no ...

10/09/2023

Good morning!

10/07/2023

On Friday, October 6, 2023, Chuck got his wings, and heaven gained another cowboy. Chuck passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by loved ones. Chuck and his wife Nancy came to Ember Ridge in the early 2000s, and they quickly became family. Chuck was a man of little words, but if you were smart when he talked, you would listen because there was always a lesson. What he said was good, true and from the heart. He was tough and caring to those that he loved. He loved helping and watching people with their horses and was filled with pride when they would succeed. He always had the right tool or gadget, always found the solution to any problem. Chuck was a cowboy, a horseman, a friend, an uncle, a grandpa and a main pillar in the Ember Ridge family. He said many times his house was where he slept but the ranch was his home. He was tuff and full of grit no matter the pain he was a caretaker and a man of pride and humor till the end he didn’t stop or dwell in the hard times he always kept going and looked forward to the next ride. At the end of his life he looked forward to seeing his wife, best dogs, horses and riding in heaven. He was a legend in his time.
“I had good horses good dogs good wives and good family, I had a good life” -Chuck

He will be forever missed but never forgotten.

Gathering Sunday October 8th
Ember Ridge Big barn at high noon

10/06/2023

“I was scared today.

I was scared to get on, scared to walk out the yard because I had a bad ride the day before. One bad ride, and it made me scared.

I didn’t know why. I’ve had 1000 bad rides. I’ve had 1000 falls. I’ve broken bones and bruised my pride on countless occasions, but today I was scared.

Why? Because confidence is fragile. It takes months and years to build and seconds to lose and yet we are so careless with it.

When we get on a horse, we wear a hat to protect our head. We wear body protectors, gloves, boots...

We pay so much attention to protecting ourselves physically, we forget that our minds are not invincible, and our confidence certainly is not.

Your bank of confidence needs regular deposits, not just from others... but from you. Self confidence is the most valuable currency in life.

When you go to get on, and you hesitate, you falter and you start to ask yourself “can I do this?”, chances are, your account is almost empty.

Every time you laugh and say “oh no, I’m no good” or “so and so is 10x better than me”, you make a withdrawal from that account, and before you know it, your account is empty and you’re scared to get on.

But every time you say “I’m really pleased with how that went” or “I think I rode that really well”, your balance increases.

We need to learn to give ourselves a break, pat ourselves on the back and allow ourselves to feel proud of where we are - after all, most of the time we’ve worked bloody hard to get there!

Recognising your strengths is just as important as recognising your weaknesses. Never allow yourself or anyone else to empty that account.

Confidence is valuable, don’t bankrupt yourself.”

Author- cromwellandlucy

10/01/2023

09/23/2023

Not a joke...

Have you ever wondered why you can have a 15 acre field and part of it is chewed down to nubs and the other part has grass a hand high, But your horse is constantly grazing in the chewed down part?

Grass 6 inches and taller has less sugars than grass under 6 inches.

For every inch drop below 6 inches, the fructan (sugar) content rises.

Grass under 6 inches is stressed like it's a Monday morning with a project deadline. It uses sugar to repair itself.

Stop mowing your fields short.

Stop grazing your chubbys on chewed down grass. (this is why grazing muzzles are so touted...they keep the horse from being able to get much short grass)

(We aren't saying let your fields be 3 feet tall, by the way. The optimal thing to do is keep them 6-8 inches tall and graze them in small areas there)

09/22/2023

08/22/2023

07/19/2023

So true ❤️🥹

07/17/2023

Hello Sea Turtle! Love this capture by Philip Waller Photography.

07/12/2023

🎤 Poll time! We want to want to hear from those who have regularly attended the Grand National Rodeo through the years.

What is the thing that you most look forward to seeing each year? Share with us in the comments below ⬇️

06/21/2023

Rope halters, hay or neigh?

Depending on the crowd one's in, the acceptance or dismissal of rope halters is usually heartfelt and loudly sung. First off, they are neither “newfangled” nor the brainchild of any modern clinician. Old rope halters were hanging in barns back in my childhood, so they have evolved, as many items of cowboy gear have done, through materials close at hand. I do not like the soft rope ones as they’re like pushing wet noodles when it comes to tying off; the stiffer rope works better and lasts indefinitely unless you run over it with the lawn mower. Don’t ask.

A good rope halter will instantly improve any horse with pushy ground manners. No, not because I am yarding on him but because it takes into account pressure points on a horses’ head; if he tows me around, it will be at his discomfort and not at my own. Now, can this be harsh in the wrong hands? Of course! But tell me what here on earth isn’t? I also use them exclusively to tie my horses in – and to remake horses that pull back – because when paired with tied-in shanks, they will not break. The onus is on me to tie only to something solid and to carry a knife but in the quest for rebuilding a well mannered, safe horse, I will do that.

How these things are tied matters a great deal. Tied wrongly, with the knot above the nearside eye loop: they can either stretch loose under duress or else tighten impossibly; what’s more, they will advertise that you have not done your homework. Tied correctly, as shown here, flatly knotted below the eye loop: they will not unfasten at a bad moment; they can be loosened by pushing down from the top; they tell all who know that you are not above learning how to tie good and useful knots, age old wisdom passed down by real horsemen.

For long distance hauls, we prefer using well cared for leather halters over either rope or nylon web. For day to day use, we feel that rope halters rule. That said, you can tell horse people but you can’t tell them much! Whenever we haul in to certain barns for buying trials and other appraisals, you can bet we’re using a lovely leather halter with brass hardware. We’d sure hate to be thought of as boors… Not to mention, people WILL judge the gear when they're meant to be judging the horse.

06/13/2023

National Farmers Union (NFU) opposes the fiscal year 2024 agriculture funding bill recently passed by the House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee. The bill prevents USDA from completing important Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) rules that would protect family farmers and ranchers from anticom...

04/30/2023

Amen