Gryphaea Farm

03/29/2025

Just a reminder that Hilda Donahue will be here next Sunday April 6th for a 1 day clinic and Libby Head will be here the following weekend for (4/12-13). Weather and footing permitting, we will XC school on Saturday morning the 12th at North Grove Equestrian. In between the clinics Jamie Lawrence will be here for dressage lessons on the afternoon of Wednesday 4/9. We are launching into spring with an equestrian boot camp of sorts!!!

03/26/2025

A huge Happy Birthday to Sephora who turns 13 today!!! She has a ton of fans and has been a huge help to riders who want to participate in our clinics but don’t own their own horses. Her mom has been very generous letting other ride her and we will miss both of them when they head back north in May.

03/26/2025

Dressage lessons with Jamie Lawrence are being rescheduled from Wednesday 4/2 to the following week on 4/9!!! Looking forward to having Jamie back.

03/20/2025

I like this thoracic sling muscles anatomy post! The information in these AAEP posts is essential for those who care for, train and ride horses.

Unlike humans, horses don’t have collarbones. Their shoulders are held to the rest of their skeleton via a sling of muscles and ligaments instead, often referred to as the “thoracic sling.”

Why is this important? We often ask our equine athletes to perform complex movements that require tremendous strength and coordination, and horses carry the majority of their weight in their front end. Therefore, it is imperative that the bulk of the muscles that support the front end are kept healthy and conditioned, and the horse is trained to use their “motor” — that is, engaging the large hind end muscles as much as possible to avoid excessive weight bearing on the front end.

If the front end of the horse is consistently overweighted or not at an appropriate level of fitness, repetitive biomechanical stresses get transferred down the leg to the smaller ligaments and tendons that were not designed to bear this weight, which can then lead to injury.

Brought to you by the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee.

03/20/2025

We are adding a Libby Head clinic to yhe line up we posted last week. It will be the weekend of 4/12-13. If the weather cooperates and North Grove Equestrian’s XC schooling area is available for use, we will spend one morning up there for those and try out some of the great looking new jumps they added recently!

03/17/2025

And what horse does not like to start the day with a little alfalfa???

03/17/2025

Happy birthday to Patty who turns 10 today on this fine sunny St Patrick’s Day morning! Such a super special red mare. A huge thanks to Cedar Grove Quarter Horses for breeding such a lovely horse!!!

03/15/2025

Very informative as always!

There are dozens of different conditions that can cause a horse to show signs of abdominal pain. Most (but not all) involve the digestive system, most often the stomach or intestines. Therefore, it stands to good reason that understanding the anatomy of your horse’s digestive system can help you become a better steward for your equine friend.

Fun fact: many people associate digestive health with stomach health. But did you know that the horse has the smallest stomach in relation to body size of all domestic animals? The stomach of the horse is also the smallest unit of the digestive tract, comprising less than 10% of the total volume of the horse’s digestive tract. By contrast, the hindgut is huge and plays a significant role in the horse’s digestive process by serving as the home of friendly bacteria that ferment fiber and turn it into energy.

Hindgut problems can produce obvious physical signs like loss of weight, poor condition, poor performance, diarrhea and colic. Some symptoms however can be less obvious, like poor temperament and training issues. The key to ensuring good digestive health is good management practices that include (but are not limited to) establishing a set daily routine; feeding a high-quality diet comprised primarily of high-quality roughage; avoid overloading the digestive tract with concentrate rations; providing clean, fresh water at all times; establishing a regular turnout and exercise routine; setting up a regular deworming and dental care program with your veterinarian; reducing stress and making any changes (to diet, housing and exercise) gradually.

Consult your veterinarian about how to maximize your horse’s digestive health. A healthy horse is a happy horse!

03/13/2025

We had a great afternoon of dressage lessons with Jamie Lawrence yesterday and have scheduled for her to come back on April 2nd.

03/13/2025

Below is a summary of the clinics we have scheduled through July so mark your calendars riders and what a great line up!
Hilda Donahue April 6
Julie Norman May 17-18
Rebecca Hoos Mazzoni June 14-15
Julie Norman June 28-29
Libby Head July 12-13
Hilda Donahue July 16

03/12/2025

Rebecca Hoos Mazzoni will be here for a 2-day weekend clinic on June 14-15. Her calendar is very full so we are fortunate that she can take the time to come spend the weekend with us. As always all levels of horses and riders are welcome and please contact us here for more information or to sign up! Both flat and jumping lessons are available, and for the latter we usually do gridwork or a technical exercise on day one and ride courses on day two.

03/12/2025

Finally a beautiful day for dressage lessons with Jamie Lawrence! We also have scheduled some more clinics for this summer! More on that soon!

03/09/2025

Just wrapped up a super clinic weekend with Libby Head!!! Great technical exercises and all the horses and riders did really well and learned a lot. The weather dished out a bit of everything with sun and rain and wind…it felt a lot like early spring to us even though it has not officially arrived! Thanks to everyone who came and rode this and Hilda Donahue will be here April 6th!!!

03/06/2025

We just booked two weekend clinics with Julie Norman!!! The first one will be held May 17-18 and the 2nd one will run June 28-29. Mark your calendars riders, and as always all levels of horses and riders are welcome for lessons on the flat and/or over fences. Please contact us here for more information!

03/06/2025

Libby Head will be here this weekend and it looks like the weather will mostly cooperate! Ride times have been sent to everyone and we are looking forward to kicking off our first clinic of the year! We are so ready to get rolling again!

03/05/2025

Cannot think of a more deserving woman for the AABP to celebrate and could not agree more with this post!!!

Since 1987, March has been declared Women’s History Month. And though history is about what has happened in the past, we also need to look to the future. To celebrate, this month AABP is tapping into some of its women members who are making their own history. We asked AABP members to recognize women members they admire, and why.

"I think a woman who should be celebrated every day, but particularly for this occasion, is Dr. Amelia Woolums,” states Dr. Lisa Gamsjäger. “I have never seen a more knowledgeable, yet so humble and kind, veterinarian, teacher, mentor and researcher. Dr. Woolums has always been an inspiration to me and whenever I bring her up, at least one woman (or man) in the room says, ‘YES, she has always been my role model’."

Gamsjäger says Woolums excels in sharing very high-level knowledge with a wide variety of audiences, and she always admired her ability to make everyone in the room listen to her excitedly. “Her kindness is incredible. She has always been an amazing mentor and supporter to young researchers like myself, and she is so positive and encouraging. If I could be just a little bit like her one day, I would be very happy. She is my all-time biggest inspiration to do better every day.”

And Gamsjäger isn’t alone! Several other people also noted that she should be recognized. Dr. Meredyth Jones adds, “She is very generous with her knowledge and I have been lucky to have a front row seat to observe her mentoring young, female veterinarians.”

03/05/2025

Due to the inclement weather today we had to reschedule Jamie Lawrence to next Wednesday March 12th. The Libby Head clinic this weekend will proceed rain or shine! There is a chance of rain on Saturday but we can move to the covered arena if needed!

03/04/2025

So excited to have Jamie Lawrence here tomorrow for an afternoon of dressage lessons and Libby Head back this weekend for a 2-day clinic. Looking forward to gearing up for spring and getting out and doing stuff with our horses!!!