Schafer Farms Equine Rehab and Therapy Center

11/15/2023

Have you been wanting to get your horses acuscoped but been slackin?? Well Jacque is coming to our facility to work on some horses while she is in town! Shoot us a message or text the number in the ad if you’d like to get your horses worked on by the hottest form of therapy out there right now😎 your horses will thank you😉

09/24/2023

Bidding ends October 1st!!!

Lot 18 One week of swimming for one horse. Located in San Tan Valley, AZ

Donated by Hailey Schafer

For more info Visit: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057081294552&mibextid=LQQJ4d

Minimum bid: $100

DID YOU KNOW!!???

What effect does swimming have on a horse’s condition?

***The most beneficial aspect of swimming for horses is to the ability to increase condition is their muscle strength and joint/tendon flexibility... AND without the significant concussive forces they would incur if ridden or treadmilled. Many have seen a dramatic improvement in how these horses return to riding/training after swimming.***

Can swimming attain a level of condition in a previously unfit horse, or maintain condition in an already fit horse?

***YES! Studies and results indicate that horses already in good condition-swim mostly because of the season of the year, due to rehabilitation from injury or simply as a change of pace form other training regimes, maintaining the same or better level of condition in the pool very well. Horses unfit, will greatly accelerate and achieve many desired results. Many horses with "Tying-up syndrome" also strive with swimming as it helps much with the gut.***

08/15/2023

Anyone missing their pup?? This little guy keeps showing up on our property. He is timid but very very sweet so I feel like someone’s definitely missing their little guy. We have all females so we do NOT want a intact male around here. Please share!

08/06/2023

We’ve got a fresh clean pool to start the week👏🏼🤩 we currently have 2 open spots for some swimmers! Message us so we can get your horses booked and get them started to gettin back in shape before fall jackpots start up!!

07/24/2023

DID YOU KNOW!!???

What effect does swimming have on a horse’s condition?

***The most beneficial aspect of swimming for horses is to the ability to increase condition is their muscle strength and joint/tendon flexibility... AND without the significant concussive forces they would incur if ridden or treadmilled. Many have seen a dramatic improvement in how these horses return to riding/training after swimming.***

Can swimming attain a level of condition in a previously unfit horse, or maintain condition in an already fit horse?

***YES! Studies and results indicate that horses already in good condition-swim mostly because of the season of the year, due to rehabilitation from injury or simply as a change of pace form other training regimes, maintaining the same or better level of condition in the pool very well. Horses unfit, will greatly accelerate and achieve many desired results. Many horses with "Tying-up syndrome" also strive with swimming as it helps much with the gut.***

Can you relate to any of this with your horse??

06/08/2023

04/29/2023

CONDITIONING THE RODEO HORSE:

I’d like to contribute a different perspective to the conversation floating around about how to condition western performance horses.

While I will never discourage horse owners from riding their horses MORE (because poor conditioning is definitely an issue in the arena), there are a few things to consider.

Sprinters don’t train like marathon runners.

Why is this? There are actually two different kinds of muscle that can be conditioned in humans and in horses. “Slow-twitch” muscles are those involved in long distance running and found more predominantly in breeds like Andalusians and Arabians.

“Fast-twitch” muscles, from the human perspective, are needed by those involved in explosive disciplines, like weight lifting, jumping, or sprinting. In the horse world this type of muscle is most needed by breeds like thoroughbreds or Quarter Horses in short races or rodeo events.

While some horses are more genetically inclined to possess one muscle fiber type over the other, either can be conditioned more with focused training. Loping a horse for a long period of time every day may get them into marvelous shape, but it is likely that only the slow-twitch muscle fibers are being strengthened.

Track athletes in explosive events train differently than their long-distance counterparts for good reason. They hit the weight room, do sprints, and use resistance training to maximize the strength of their fast-twitch muscle, on which they rely in a competition setting.

In conditioning horses, we are obviously limited to mainly cardiovascular activities. (Wouldn’t it be awesome to send our rope horses to the weight room?) But that doesn’t mean we can’t get creative!

Riding through snow is one of Jessica Routier’s favorite ways to get her barrel horses in shape. It works! Swimming is another resistance activity. Riding hills (up and down) is another great way to strengthen those muscles needed for quick turns and stops. Finally, sprints (utilized often by our racetrack brethren) are a great training tool, used sparingly and with discretion, along with “full contact” rodeo runs.

Again, I am NOT discouraging anyone from spending more time conditioning their horses. Most of us ought to spend a few more weeks getting horses ready for that first outing. A good long trot through the pasture is one of my favorite recommendations for clients. My main point is that if we constantly train a horse to only be able to go long distances, we may not see the desired explosive effect in the arena.

As a final tidbit, study after study has shown that human athletes who compete in more than one sport have far less chance of injury. I suggest we apply the same logic to our horses. My advice? Shake things up. Try a different discipline, drag some calves to the fire, take your arena horse for a trail ride. Every now and then, subject them to a good long cardio session, as any good athlete needs. Many activities can contribute to a horse in peak fitness, but being armed with knowledge of our horse’s physiology, we can optimize their performance ☺️

10/24/2022

Meet “Chase” he is the sweetest best boy you’ll ever meet! Chase has come to us many times of the years but this last week was for a different reason. Chase has cushings and about a year ago was diagnosed with laminitis where he was 10 degrees rotated. Poor Chase wasn’t dealt a very good hand but he wasn’t ready to give up the fight tho and neither were Olivia and JoEllen! So they all fought all year and now his rotation is down and he is SOUND SOUND! So they decided to send him to swim for a week to start building some muscle back up before he gets back under the saddle. And we couldn’t believe the results and how good he felt afterwards🤯 the first pic was before swimming then the next 2 are after a week of swimming and the last photo was when he got home and just wanted to run and play🤍 we love the comeback kids! And being able to be apart of the process is just icing on the cake😊

Message us if there’s anything we can do to help your 4 legged friends out🤍

10/18/2022

We may be biased but we have the absolute best clients👏🏼👏🏼

We have been staying busy busy over here! We are filling up for next week already so send us a message so we can get your horse on the schedule and get them in tip top shape for the upcoming jackpot/rodeo season!!!

Swimming is not just good for the muscles and tendons but so good for the respiratory and cardiovascular systems in our equine partners! Our pool does allow them to be 100% buoyant so it takes all that stress and weight off those joints and tendons while still being able to move them and build them back up.

5-10 minutes in the pool is equivalent to about 5 miles of loping.

Don’t forget we also offer Magna Wave and laser treatment sessions🤩

Let us know how we can help get your equine partner back to peak fitness!

09/30/2022

✨Happy Friday✨

We have gotten a lot of interest in ”haul-ins” or “day swims”. We could reconsider opening these back up one day a week but we will require that the horse spends atleast a week with us beforehand so they can get more comfortable and familiarized with the pool. If we can get enough people behind this then Wednesday’s would be the day we would do haul-ins and as long as your horse has swam or spent a week with us your horse would be eligible! Let me know what ya think😊

~Hailey
(480) 993-5515 (please text as I can’t always answer calls)

09/27/2022

Here’s a little transformation for ya on this fine Monday🤩

This is ”Tink” one of our personal horses. Back in April she under went a pretty invasive surgery and had a 10 lb calcified stone removed from her large intestine. A few weeks after we started to notice the toll the surgery had done to her body and she had completely lost all her muscle and majority of her top line. Fast forward to 90 days post op which was around July 23 she was finally cleared to get back to work. We talked with her vets and came to the conclusion swimming would be the best way to bring her and her body back to where it was before surgery. The first two photos are 2 weeks into swimming, the next two are a month into swimming and the last 2 are today 2 months into swimming. To physically get to watch her body transform and build all her muscle back in the pool has been so fun. And I am pleased to say that she is in even better shape now than she was before she went in for surgery. We were able to build all her muscle back, plus some. And now she’s got one more recheck before she gets to make her debut back in the roping pen(fingers crossed😬🤞🏼)

So if you have any doubts on ‘if swimming really works’ or ‘what’s the best way to add muscle back to one’ I’m here to testify swimming is 110% worth it! There’s so many benefits to it besides just build muscle! Message or texts us if we can answer any further questions😊

~Hailey

09/12/2022

✨Hey Friends✨

Just wanted to remind you all we are open and will have openings starting next week! Jackpot season is right around the corner here in Arizona, so let’s get your 4 legged partners ready and in shape so you can have some fun!

We also offer PEMF Magna Wave and laser treatments as well!

Pricing is as followed:
$250 for a week of swimming (hay and board included)
$60 for a Magna Wave session
$45 for Laser treatment

Benefits of Swimming:
- improves the cardiovascular and respiratory systems
- low impact(gets them off those joints and tendons) *best for following injuries
-enhances their metabolism
-builds insane muscles and so much more

Benefits of Magna Wave:
- reduces pain and inflammation
- heals on a cellular level
- aids in getting more oxygen to the blood
- helps with abscesses, laminitis, ulcers, tying-up, colic, open wounds, navicular, EPM, stone bruises, sore muscles/joints, etc….

Benefits of Laser treatments:
-faster recovery
-reduces pain and inflammation
-improves circulation
-improves agility and range of motion
-and so much more

*we no longer do haul-ins for swimming, I apologize for the inconvenience*

Let us know if there are any questions we can answer for you. Let’s get your horses scheduled💪🏼 (they will thank you)

~ Hailey (480) 993-5515 (text is preferred)

*pictured below is “Tattoo” owned by Porter Bryant enjoying his daily swim session*