Grayson Farm

08/03/2024

2yr old Dallas is a serious napper. Usually accompanied with loud groans.
❤️

06/15/2024

Dino is officially a PSG horse! Thank you Hannah Pierucci Schmidt for giving my boy such a good ride! 🐎

04/14/2024

Thank you Loose Horse Used Tack for setting up shop at Grayson Farm for the day. Bought some stuff! Sold some stuff! De-cluttered my barn! So much fun!

04/04/2024

Charleston, my rising star. ⭐️

02/27/2024

Bluebell; Blue Brahma

02/27/2024

Who wins the fluffy chicken contest?
Mabel or Bluebell?

01/28/2024

Local Grayson Farm Honey is available. Honey is a super food! Spoonful a day! PM me to order. Also available at Baines Books in Scottsville.

01/06/2024

Yup!

true

01/02/2024

Foggy morning.

12/26/2023

Horses enjoying this unusually mild December weather. Merry Christmas 🎄

12/24/2023

In the horse world, it’s become a bit of a tradition to cut the tail hair of our best horses when we lose them.

We didn’t have Leo for long, just days. Truth be told, the plan was never to keep Leo. Our intention when we bought him at auction was simply to end the cycle of suffering for this big sweet horse. We knew that the end he would have faced without us was not a humane one. The gavel fell that day and he was ours, spared from the semi that was there loading others.

You see, we don’t know about Leo’s past, but his worn body told a story. Leo had two crude brands, clipped fresh for the auction in an attempt to squeeze every bit of money out of him. He had saddle sore scars across his back. He had deep lacerations across his body. His knee was large and painful, presumably from a very old injury. He could not stand without extreme pain. This horse paid his dues to his humans somewhere along the line, yet there he was at auction, failed.

So, we did what his owners before us should have done, the only humane thing for Leo. We brought him home and gave him a kind, dignified end here at the farm.

He deserved so much more, a fraction of the effort he gave the humans who failed him. While that saddens and angers us, we do feel better knowing that the buck stopped with us. That had to be good enough.

We stopped him from being bought and sold at another auction. We saved him from being loaded onto a semi.

If you take nothing else from Leo’s story, hear this:
If you have a horse, when the time comes, BUCK UP AND BURY THEM.
Have the courage and the respect for your horse to put them down in the comfort of their home with people they know.
It’s the only right and humane thing to do with our old horses at the end of their lives.
Full stop.

When your horses are old and infirm, unless you bury them, you are failing them.

Do not dump them on a rescue.
Do not take them to an auction.
Do not try to give them away for free online.
Do not send them with that guy that shows up with a cattle trailer and $100.

Give your horse the end they have earned. Bury them.

Leo is gone now, no longer in pain. While it is hard on our team, we are very grateful that we were able to do that for him, if nothing else. We see so many horses who need the same kindness and don’t get it.

Leo was a good horse for somebody, and we didn’t want him to be forgotten. Before he was buried we cut a piece of tail hair to keep, because everyone knows that all the good horses show up in horse heaven with chopped tails.

Leo was a good boy.
❤️

Bella Run Equine is a non-profit organization located in Athens Ohio.

12/15/2023

Ooooh I like this! He may be Western but this translates to Dressage just as well!🐎

The best Buck quote ever !

"Until you can walk, trot, canter AND gallop on a loose rein with direction and purpose collection is a JOKE. It's not collection, it's containment for an insecure rider. Containment and paranoia. It's pulling and holding and you're just calling it collection to sound noble." -Buck.

12/08/2023

Oh boy, that Dino can trot!

11/30/2023

I saw Klemke at the 1984 Olympics when he won gold on Ahlerich. He had been a police horse. Amazing!!

Sadly both Dr Reiner Klimke and Susan Hayes Woods are no longer with us, but this edited interview from 1995 is a pignant reminder that modern dressage started to go wrong over 20 years ago...

SUSAN’S INTERVIEW WITH DR. REINER KLIMKE AT THE AACHEN CHIO JULY 1995

Susan: I was watching you as you schooled Biotop in the indoor arena this morning, and it was wonderful. I noticed you were working him in a fat snaffle, and I wondered if you could talk about the importance of working in the snaffle for upper level horses.

Klimke: I ride at home only once a week on the double bridle.

Susan: Do you mean for most of your Grand Prix horses, or for this one especially?

Klimke: All. I want to have them very light in my hand. It is easier when they are really “through”, and they take the bit and take your hands. Then they are not afraid to come out to the double bridle.

Susan: Biotop seems to be very “out” to the bridle–there is not a lot of overflexing.

Klimke: And when he goes in extensions, the neck and frame extend too. And yet there are horses who make their extensions with overflexed necks and they score just as well…

Susan: Can you explain that?

Klimke: Well, when I tell you this, I don’t want to sound jealous, but I live for classical riding. Classical riding means that the horse must go: that is, the energy must come through and the horse reaches forward. But the judges don’t always mark accordingly. I don’t mind; I know what is right. I have been in this sport for nearly 40 years.

Susan: I also saw today that you were doing a lot of work on the basic paces, and simple transitions.

Klimke: Yes. The horse must go forward and he must be happy. If the horse is happy and he trusts you, then you can teach him. If you punish him, that is wrong.

Susan: They never forget. Is there any place for punishment in riding?

Klimke: I hate to punish a horse. It must not be. It can happen to anybody. Sometimes you lose your patience, you try to make the horse a slave. But it is not right. Sometimes you see riders blowing up, even here, with top riders. I say to myself, “Poor horse, I wouldn’t like to be in your stable.”

Susan: Why does it happen? A lot of these riders will teach and talk about riding classically, and mean to do it, but then it is different here. Is it the pressure?

Klimke: I think everybody wants to win. Perhaps they think if they make a horse tired it will be submissive. Sometimes it may work, but if you really look you can see what is wrong. Some judges don’t have a really good eye, and they judge by punishing mistakes, like too many or too few strides in a pirouette, for example.

Susan: Too much counting and not enough…

Klimke: Yes. The principle is: how is the walk, how is the trot, how is the canter, how is the acceptance of the bridle, how does the back work–all of these things. And in addition, the figures. But they deduct too much if a figure is not 100% okay. You see? If you make a pirouette and the horse really uses his hindquarters, and maybe the pirouette is a little big, you should not be given a 5.

Susan: That’s a little extreme.

Klimke: Yes. It can be at least a 6, can also be a 7, when the horse really canters classically. Even if the circle was too large, remember that you must deduct from 10. The judge must be able to see the main achievement of a horse and rider, in a movement.

Susan: This brings up another question, and that is–there are some amazing equine athletes here, and some of them get a lot of points because of that. Where are the places in the Grand Prix test where the talent can’t cover up the problems with the training?

Klimke: I look only at the way that the horse moves, in all three gaits. He must come from behind, with a swinging back. The head and neck must seek the bit. I hate it if the horse comes behind the vertical and stays there. When the horse is really “through”, you must be able to open and close the frame, and keep him reaching into the bit. And right now, in the judging, in my opinion, this doesn’t count for enough. But sooner or later, good riding will be rewarded. You must not lose your patience, you see. And don’t give up.

https://woodsdressage.com/ for the full interview and about Susan Hayes Woods

Concordia Equestrians.
Register as a Friend or Professional and help us make the world a better place to be a horse www.concordiaequestrians.org

11/20/2023

Adorable! Charles and Dallas.
Brothers meeting for the first time!❤️

11/18/2023

Happy horses! Dinner time!

11/17/2023

11/12/2023

Ginger and Gus …Bedtime buddies!
Dobes love their cats!😻

11/11/2023

Love my Lydia!!
Grand Prix here we come!

11/11/2023

Love my Lydia!

09/19/2023

It finally happened. It was inevitable. A bear found the bee hives last night. Time for an electric fence! Taylor maintains 25 hives on the farm. There will be less Grayson Farm Honey this year.

09/19/2023

My 3 perfect ponies! Charleston, Lydia, Dino

09/19/2023

Dallas. Hard to believe he’s only 16 mos old. Still hanging out with Uncle Lobel!Gonna be special! And big!
Grayson Farm Warmblood Palominos rock! Wesfalen
Dallas is #3.

08/25/2023

Charles at his first recognized show with his buddy Dino.
Thank you Hannah P. Schmidt!

08/13/2023

Mr fancy pants. 4 year old Charleston at his first show!❤️❤️

08/13/2023

Charleston at his first horse show.. Grayson Farm Schooling Show.
A star in the making!
Thank you Hannah Pierucci Schmidt!

07/23/2023

Young bear crossing 708.
Definitely seeing them more and more.