Sojourner Farms

01/01/2025

Merry, merry and happy trails! Wishing you all the best new year full of healthy horses and sunny day rides ⛅️

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas!

12/06/2024

Happy holidays from the farm! Thank you everyone for a successful and safe year! We appreciate all our students and families and horses who join us throughout the year ❤️

11/04/2024

Yes please! Keep this in mind! I’ve seen the horses suffer from ridiculous extremes like this challenge!!

Every year on November 1st, riders around the world drop their stirrups and commit to the challenge of No-Stirrup November. The intention behind this initiative is to improve the seat and leg. But is committing to sore inner thighs for an entire month really worth the hype?

Riding without stirrups is a valuable tool for enhancing your seat, as long as it’s done correctly. However, just as with any physical training, you can’t jump from zero to a hundred overnight and the quality of the exercise is far more important than the quantity for your own body’s sake, but also for your horse’s!

The problem is that when pushing yourself to ride without stirrups beyond your ability, you will end up gripping with your thighs in an attempt to maintain balance. This will lead to tightness in your hips and rigidity in your lower back, making it impossible to achieve a supple seat. Not only does this have a detrimental effect on your own back health, but it affects your horse too...

Remember, a pliable seat is crucial for allowing your horse's back to oscillate and if you’re stiff through your pelvis, hips, and thighs, it will interfere with your horse's movement and overall comfort.
A sudden and drastic shift in your seat like this will result in tension in your horse’s body in an effort to compensate for your instability in the saddle.

So, rather than pulling the stirrups off of your saddle for the entire month of November, consider gradually increasing your tolerance for riding without stirrups throughout the year. Focus on strengthening your body and core, and work on your proprioception out of the saddle if you're looking to develop a better seat.

You can enhance your seat without risking your horse's comfort and health.

So let's rethink No-Stirrup November - Don’t be a pain in your horse's back!

10/17/2024

Trail rides this time of year are extra pretty!

09/25/2024

🤠

09/25/2024

Welcome autumn 🍂 our favorite trail riding season! Call or message today if you want to book a ride in October!

09/25/2024

Happy national daughters day to my favorite Leadline and Walk Trot grand champions of the summer shows we’ve attended.

06/20/2024

Good morning from the farm! Stay cool in the heat today and make sure your horses have plenty of water and shade!

06/19/2024

Remember! When you rinse a horse is cool water they need shade afterward or you risk the chance of the water heating up on their coat in the sun and causing damage!

06/19/2024

Example, today is 95 degrees with humidity of 56 percent.. that adds up to 151 heat index.

In these conditions you will easily over stress your horses ability to cool themselves off by working them and risk the potential for so many issues INCLUDING DEATH from heat stroke.

It’s common sense and kindness.

04/26/2024

Fly mask precautions!

As we begin the dreaded black fly season and start to mask up our horses there's more to think about than the neighbors asking why we blindfolded poor Fluffy 🤦🏼‍♀️

🥵 Heat. One thing to remember is in extreme heat waves fly masks can cause sweating and then chafing. Bring your horse in and take the mask off and let them dry before putting it back on your horse to avoid chaffing 💦

👀 Ill fit around the eyes. This is a big problem because so many masks are generic size but no horse is a generic size. Make sure that the eyes on the fly mask is not too tight against the horses eyes or it can cause damage to the eye balls or constant blinking up against the material can cause gunky eye or infection Also, make sure you take the mask off daily to clean around the eye area both horse and mask for any debris 🧽🧴🫧

👃👂 Ill fit around the nose or ears if it is earless. This is a problem too because maybe Fluffy has two fly masks and mini Bu**er tore his up last summer 😬 and now Fluffy has to share his extra mask but it's too big for little guy. Well, this can be a cute picture for laughs but if it's too big around the nose or ears bugs can easily still crawl in and get under the mask and this is worse than no fly mask on the face because now they are happily trapped under there and you can’t see them and Fluffy can't shake them off 😔.

Happy trails 🦄 and may the wind always blow your bugs away🌬️

04/26/2024

Skye has an announcement! Lessons starting May 1st this year. Join us at the farm for another wonderful riding season! 🌾 🌤️ 🐴

We are offering western and English equitation and pleasure, focus jumping and ba****ck riding mostly this summer. Gaming, trail safety and ground work are also available for all age groups. Hour and half hour rates.

Message or call 207-249-2899 📞

03/12/2024

Farrier client announcement 📣

Good morning from the farrier.

I’ll keep this short and simple, as always I hate this part. The pricing part. The inevitable part of living in this world today. I do this job for the love of the horse but if I’m going to keep doing the job for the love of the horse the money has to match todays world. Tools and shoes and travel costs… we all know, it’s all gone up. It’s through the roof, it’s mind blowing the cost of living in the world these days.

As of June 1️⃣st 2024 this will be the price list in effect.

Barefoot trims:
Regular$50
Draft cross$60
Draft$70

Hoof treatments:
Thrush emergency treatment:$10/per foot
White line protect:$15/per foot
Thrush or white line quick treat:$3/per foot

Shoes: GLUE and POLY only, (prices include trims not in addition to)
Front set:$120
Full set:$175
Front special:$150
Draft shoeing will have additional fees.

Boot fitting: FREE!!!:)

Thank from the bottom of my heart heart to all my loyal clients over the years, believe me when I tell you I appreciate your business and look forward to continuing to work on your equines.

01/22/2024

Good morning, good news from the farm! We have one full board opportunity available for the rest of winter/spring or longer term. Monthly board includes, hay, daily turn out and checks, 12x12 stall and bedding, 120x65 outdoor sand riding arena.

Herd turn out environment, owners on site for 24/7 surveillance, large, safe pasture for lots of room to run, grass/sand/dirt footing to promote hoof health, farrier on site, 24/7 access to hay outdoors. Nice trail for riding right out back. Certified riding instructor on site. Family friendly environment, no smoking, horses must be utd on all vaccines and certificates. No stallions.

Other boarding options, pasture board and boarding for training available also, call or shoot me a message for more info!

12/30/2023

12/24/2023

Merry Christmas from our farm to yours. May you have a wonderful holiday season! 🎄☃️🐴