Connecticut Valley Equine,LLC

06/08/2024

You can’t find good help these days! Barn help is sleeping on the job…😴🤣

05/26/2024

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Be safe and kind. ❤️

05/19/2024

“Mom! What is this on your head”?!

05/04/2024

Our whole world right here in one spot! ❤️

04/25/2024

Miss Bonnie made it to her soft landing today at Connecticut Valley Equine,LLC.

It was the most fulfilling experience to help her safely make it to Piermont, NH after her mom passed last month and she needed a new place to call home. After meeting Whitney and her barn family today, I couldn't recommend a better place for this sweet mare.

04/05/2024

Just a routine snow day in April ❄️⛄️

04/03/2024

Our resident mother and daughter corgis know how to supervise all farm activities!

03/27/2024

Check out our interactive digital publication, delivered by Dirxion, the ultimate flip book platform. The user interface makes reading and searching easy.

03/24/2024

Spring has sprung? 🤣🤷‍♀️

03/22/2024

The calm before the storm! A walk down by the river in the sunshine is always good for the soul. 🌞

03/17/2024

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

03/12/2024

The sun is shining and the horses are thankful! How are you and your horses enjoying the sunshine? Feel free to share photos in comments!!

02/29/2024

Good day, fellow horse enthusiasts!

We would like to make an informal announcement!

We are becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit equine rescue and sanctuary. We will continue to offer full board along with current services in addition to this new adventure.

Over a number of years, especially since COVID, we have witnessed an increasing number of displaced equines. While we have wonderful rescues all over New England, they can’t possibly help the growing demand for all the horses being displaced. We’re being approached regularly to foster or take in aged horses or horses whose owners can no longer care for them. So we’re galloping full speed ahead into the nonprofit world!

While we are working hard behind the scenes toward an incorporation date, there are many ways you can help and get involved with our charitable organization!

How you can help:

1. Become a volunteer worker! You don’t need to be an experienced horse person to lend a hand. We have tasks for everyone!

2. Become an active board member! Do you have experience working for nonprofits? Do you enjoy advocating for animal welfare? Are you excited about our mission to provide another safe haven for equines? This volunteer position is for you!

3. Donate to our cause! Although we are not a nonprofit yet (although we are closing in very quickly) we still need to raise funds for the cost of filing the necessary incorporation and tax exception forms, creating a fund for supplies and feed, etc.!

Fun fact! Did you know we are already a permanent home to nine horses who were displaced for a variety of reasons? It all started with a little bay c**t named Spike, now known as Major, and a blind miniature horse called Thunder. Ask me about their journey!

Please reach out to Whitney (Owner/Trainer) with interest in getting involved. Any level of commitment will help us reach our goals! I can be reached by email at:

[email protected]

Or by phone: (207) 992-7445

And feel free to message us too!

02/18/2024

SAVE THE DATE! Our 9th annual Barnyard Ball fundraiser will take place on Thursday July 11th at the Old Gray Barn in Rupert, VT! We hope you’ll mark your calendars and join us for this fun evening and to help support our important work. More information will be posted in the coming months. 🐴 🐴🐴🐴

02/18/2024

A blast from the past!!! A couple of blue ribbons with my young Morgan gelding in the early 1990s on the “A” circuit.

02/16/2024

02/16/2024

My heart read this and broke just a little for the owner of the practice and the animals and humans of the Upper Valley. It is not good news.

If you have been following our page, you know that there is an incredible large animal veterinarian shortage in our area. It is like nothing I have ever seen and unfortunately, it just continues to get worse. This is not our vet (and we still have coverage) but they are local and this is a huge loss for them and the community.

I share this very sad letter because I think it is important that folks see the direction things are headed.

The large animal veterinarians who are in our area are overburdened. In their love of animals they are stretching themselves thin. They are only human and we cannot help but worry about them.

Simultaneously, those without vet care are rightfully scared. It is hard to keep your commitment to them without vet care.

Animals will suffer. They are already suffering. We are already seeing folks throw in the towel, vow the animal lives they have will be the last and go without vet care. It is not good.

A lack of vets will forever change things from the day-to-day care of animals, to the landscape of the community which will lose farms and beauty, right down to impacting the hay dealers and grain store. It really is a very big deal.

I hope wherever you are that this post prompts thought and awareness. Those of us in rural areas may be seeing the shortage first but it is growing throughout the country. It is very, very scary and as we head out to care for the lives we love, we give a little prayer for the veterinarians, the animals and the owners who love them. May there be easier and kinder days on the way.

02/04/2024

01/29/2024

There’s no greater feeling than to provide positive updates about horses who have transitioned from homes they’ve known for so long to a new environment. Bonnie, a foster sanctuary, arrived Friday afternoon. She is an aged (well over 20 years) Standardbred mare who was in a loving home for 15+ years. She suddenly, through no fault of her own, became in need of a new home.

Bonnie has come through the weekend making new friends and enjoying her new life! We look forward to more happy posts like this!

01/27/2024

Please help us welcome Bonnie! Bonnie is an aged horse who had the same home for 15+ years when her owner suddenly and tragically became no longer able to keep her. Bonnie was well cared for and it shows! She’s incredibly sweet and friendly! We look forward to spoiling her with attention and making her foster experience everything she deserves!

01/27/2024

Being a barn dog is incredibly tiring!

01/22/2024

Looking for a quiet, scenic location to hold a ceremony or event? We have what you’re looking for! Now taking deposits for summer/fall 2024 events! We have outdoor electricity and running water. We can even arrange for portable toilets, tents, catering, etc. contact us today for more details!

01/22/2024

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY!

Love horses but don’t want to ride? Looking to ride but don’t have a horse of your own? We are actively seeking volunteers to help lend a hand with chores, grooming and potentially riding for the right candidates. We are a full board facility with a few older sanctuary horses and horses we’ve adopted to provide a safe, loving home. Come join our barn family, there’s something for everyone! Please contact Whitney @ (207) 992-7445. Candidates will need to be available weekends, be required to fill out a volunteer application and have references.

01/20/2024

NCT- we cannot thank you enough for making it possible to get Silk and Hope (now Spitzy) to their new home. The support you offered through the whole experience was incredible! It’s so difficult to believe Silk had such a tough go, because she’s about the sweetest thing! She loves her family and has everything she’ll ever need or want! We have endless love for her!

It only seems appropriate to post about Silk tonight since we're posting a ton of updates. She's a major success story from 2023❤️ First 5 pics below are from the night she first arrived to NCT, she was in poor condition to sum it up. We agreed to take her in to help her when asked because she was on the verge of being euthanized. She was 18yrs old, many people didnt see her value, and what she had to offer. There wasn't anyone lining up for her. Silk was a gem 💎with us she completely blossomed during the following 5-months. We brought her back into saddle work, (pic 6) first ride w/us she rode off smooth with no issues after being a broodmare for 12+years. Never missed a beat!🦄 A true gem, a real people pleaser!

Silk wanted to work, she wanted a job, and a real family of her own! Little did she know we wanted just that for her too! After talking to countless people we turned down due to them wanting her for her stats and/or to turn her out and use her as a broodmare finally in October a message from Connecticut Valley Equine popped up in our inbox and the rest was history! Silk now in the last pic is shown at her forever home. She is being used for educational purposes and lessons. She has a forever family of her own now and Hope a rescue filly from NCT also calls CVE home ❤️ Love is good!

12/29/2023

“Trussed up like a Christmas turkey---”

Look at ads. Watch at your training center. Observe the warm up area at horse shows.

If you see horses wrapped up in all sorts of rigs, this will tell you a great deal about the person who is riding the horse. The best trainers and riders can train and ride without resorting to leverage devices, long shanked or otherwise controlling bits, sharp spurs, all the apparatus designed to coerce a horse into submission.

There is a whole lot of adversarial training and riding out there, but YOU don’t have to be part of it, not unless you choose to be---.

Watch the good ones, see how softly and quietly they ride and train. It can be an eye opener to those who choose to see.

As for those who use force, there can be all sorts of reasons. Some don’t know any other ways. Some may have been taught to do things “to show the horse who’s boss.” Some are angry, domineering people. Some will grow out of this method of interacting with horses, others will never change, nor want to change.

If you feel stuck in a place where horses are treated in ways that you don’t want to watch, try to go somewhere else.

(Photo---76 year old Walt Gervais patting Timmy after a clear preliminary cross country round at Groton House)