Murder Hollow

01/08/2025

This c**t is just too fancy! Excited to see how his full sibling turns out this year 😻😻😻

01/02/2025

Happy New Year, friends! 😜

12/27/2024

Love getting updates on Murder Hollow kiddos!

This is Mr Spots who is by Pax Asgard af Pegasus and out of our mare, Laiken ROF. Laiken is part Friesian. 😍😍😍

12/22/2024

Christmastime at the Hollow 🎅 🎄

11/30/2024

First day of polo lessons and I’m obsessed 🤩🤩

Thanks to Hesham Elezaby from Tinicum Park Polo! I can’t wait for my next lesson!

11/29/2024

Wishing all our friends near and far a very Happy Thanksgiving!!! It’s easy to see the glass half empty during the holidays…so much stress and chaos. But today was filled with love and laughter and the reminder of how lucky we are ❤️.

This wonderful community brings me so much joy and getting to share our joy with you all is a blessing that I cannot put into words. This week we got to “adopt” Big Vine Ranch as part of the Murder Hollow family. The 2024 foal crop introduced us to new (and old 🤪) family and the joy of sharing our beautiful foals with their new owners is a constant reminder to keep our chin up in the tough days. The love and family just keeps on growing!

I hope everyone had a moment to sit down and enjoy today 🦄!

🍁🍽🦃

11/25/2024

🎉 AVAILABLE 🎉

Due to absolutely NO fault of his own, this beautiful gelded c**t is available as the prior buyer was unable to fulfill their sales agreement.

Cyprus is by Pallido Blu and out of the PREMIUM mare, Winter Willow (Sambertino/De Niro).

Winter Willow is a Premium Oldenburg mare standing at 17h. She was bred in the UK and imported for dressage and eventing. Willow’s sire, Sambertino, had a successful performance career in Holland, Germany, and the UK. Sambertino is also one of only two tobiano Warmbloods to have gone through the 100-day stallion licensing in the UK, where he received a 10 for temperament and a 10 for attitude to work. Willow’s maternal grandsire, De Niro, is a legendary sire, known as one of the World’s Best Dressage Stallions, having ranked #1 on the WBFSH Dressage Sire Ranking for five years. De Niro was a Grand Prix champion who sired numerous talented offspring, including the German Olympic stallion Desperados, who earned Germany’s team Gold and individual Bronze in Rio.

The sire, Pallido Blu, is a 70-day tested stallion known for producing athletic and well-tempered offspring. Pallido scored a perfect 10 for character, 9.5 for constitution, and 9’s for temperament and willingness to work. We have loved our Pallido Blu offspring as they have all shown solid, well-balanced gaits and temperaments suited for a variety of disciplines.

Learn more about our breeding and raising philosophy at: https://www.murderhollow.com/ourbreedingraisingphilosophy
Contact us for more details and to secure your place in this boy's journey. Extended payment options and weanling board are available.

💖🐴💖🐴

11/25/2024

I want to share an incredibly exciting bit of news with all of our dear friends!

Pax Asgard af Pegasus will officially be joining the Big Vine Ranch family!

We love our friends at Big Vine Ranch and can’t imagine a more wonderful and capable group of horsewomen (and men) to bring Pax along in this next chapter of his ownership.

Pax is a life changing horse. I owe so much to him and the beautiful people I’ve met in our journey together. I am thankful for this horse each and every day and I know his new owners are 10000% the perfect home for him. I would like to thank all of the mare owners, foal owners and trainers that have helped make this incredible creature who he is today. KMH you are #1 on that list!

Please feel free to reach out to Heidi at Big Vine Ranch to connect - especially if you’d like a breeding contract for next season! He’s in incredibly capable hands and will continue to breed to outside mares.

BVR will be offering a discounted breeding fee of $1100 until January 1st. To book or for information contact us at [email protected]

For all the amazing foal owners of Pax babies: PLEASE connect with Heidi and share your gorgeous photos and updates!!!!

11/21/2024

Nothing more exciting than seeing Murder Hollow babies out there doing their thing 🙌🙌🙌

Superstition MHF & Phoenix Fantasy MHF. Both boys are by Pax Asgard af Pegasus 🦄.

11/19/2024

How is it possible that foaling season starts in 3 months 😳😳😳

11/17/2024

Some new Murder Hollow babes are on loan at Kentucky Horse Park Breeds Barn for the public to enjoy! We LOVE our friends over at KHP - we are fortunate to have the opportunity to share our rare breeds with the public through their amazing program. If you’re in the Lexington area, please stop by!

❤️🤗❤️

🐴 💙❓ We've got a couple new friends over in the Breeds Barn! These girls are the same breed... drop your guesses in the comments below! ⬇️

11/16/2024

We had the pleasure of touring Saddlehill in Voorhees, NJ yesterday 😍😍😍.

When our friend Bill told us he and his lovely wife, Amy, bought a 70 acre farm in Voorhees and were going to make it into a world class vineyard, I sorta thought he was crazy 🤣.

But, in traditional Bill & Amy fashion, it’s EXCEPTIONAL!!! The wine is out of this world and *literally* award winning. I need to make a longer post on all the wonderful aspects of this farm as I can’t say enough good things about it. But, in the mean time, check them out!! There is a fantastic restaurant with lots of activities going on from live music to guided winery tours and wine tastings. Plus some heckin’ adorable sheep, horses, alpacas and goats (AND BABY GOATS)!

We are grateful to people like Bill & Amy who are helping preserve open space and allowing the public to enjoy their passions 🥰. Who doesn’t like wine 🍷😆?!

https://saddlehill.com

10/31/2024

My favorite Halloween shoot 😍👻🎃

Happy Halloween!!!!

10/27/2024

Congratulations to Phoenix Fantasy MHF aka Phil who scored 3rd at the ESDCTA Championships 🏆🏆!

Phil is by Pax Asgard af Pegasus and out of a Feiner Stern mare. Well done to owner Maryalice Belluscio and rider/trainer Wendy Garfinkel!

Phil is Pax’s very first son and a wonderful example of a horse that has been started slow and thoughtfully 🥰🥰🥰.

10/25/2024

Resharing this. Apparently it’s making the rounds again. Happy to see people embracing a slower and more thoughtful approach to horses 💓.

After seeing multiple videos posted by various breeders bragging about their 2 ½ year olds/recently turned 3 year olds and sharing videos of them cantering around in the arena, I have decided to once again circulate the below article.

First of all, breeders *should* have the knowledge to understand a horse’s fragile and slow maturing musculoskeletal system. Breeders should not condone their own horses let along anyone’s horses being cantered around under saddle at an incredibly young age. Period. This sets a terrible example and is quite honestly animal abuse. Just because a horse does not object does not mean it is right. And quite frankly, most of the videos posted show animals that are already in pain or developing pain…

As breeders, we should strive to produce healthy and sound animals. We should promote horsemanship that produces long term soundness. No, starting a horse later does not guarantee soundness. But it certainly helps.

I am a firm believer in scientifically backed approaches to horsemanship. You can’t argue with science that has been proven time and time again. Let’s dispel some stupid rumors:

1. There is no such thing as a (skeletally) slow maturing horse or one that is fast maturing. No horse is skeletally mature before the age of 6. And that is on the low estimate for age.

2. Growth plates are not just in the knee. Every bone behind the skull has a growth plate. Not every single one needs to be converted to bone before starting. There is a schedule of when bone fuses…this is the information needed to know when to start a horse. Not their outward appearance. It is a known fact that during growth, proprioceptive awareness can regress, greatly increasing the risk of injury.

3. Starting a horse is not the same thing as riding a horse. Starting a horse does not mean cantering it 3-4 days a week in an arena.

4. Injecting a horse that is in pain does not mean you fixed a problem. You masked it.

5. You can build correct muscle and teach a horse how to move their body from the ground. This creates a solid foundation to work from once your horse is ready to actually be backed. Teach a horse to use its body correctly before backing and you’ll save yourself a lot of vet bills down the line.

Hocks are “late” for maturity. The growth plates on the tibial and fibular tarsals do not fuse until a horse is 3-3 ½. Ever wonder why so many horses seem to have hocks issues?? Horses need to learn to carry themselves and their own weight well before adding a rider.

The growth plates that are LAST to close are at the base of the neck. This area is where we ask a horse to raise the base of their neck and come round. If under too much stress, the growth plates can fracture or be permanently damaged.

There are DOZENS of activities you can do with a young horse to build healthy muscular development. None of them involve a saddle or your weight on their back. Teaching a horse to carry themselves correctly BEFORE adding a rider is essential and cannot be done in a week. A 2 ½ year old horse is a baby. Mentally and physically. We see far too many injured performance horses at VERY young ages - broken down and/or sour from work. It’s wrong. Period. They need slow and steady work and need time to recover from even the slightest of injuries.

PLEASE, if you are considering when you should start your horse and what that work load should look like, please read the below. There are some wonderful things you can do with your young developing horse. Please don’t rush a year out of greed.

http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf