Ivy Quarter Horses

07/05/2024

04/22/2024

Haven't posted in a bit but all of our babies are doing excellent. Our first foal STERLING out of ZINGER X SLEW is getting her first trim today and she leaves next month I am so excited for HALI And I know they are going to kill it in a few years. LOGAN x ZENA foal EASY is such a beautiful filly and I'm pretty sure she already knows it just by the way she always poses for a picture. Then MAJESTIC FRENCHMAN x LILLY little guy is the friendliest of all of them he may be little but he makes up for that with his big personality. Plus we love little and he sure can scoot and turn to be so young.

08/05/2023

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3236843239795750&id=100004103161487&mibextid=Nif5oz

“The cowgirl faces life head-on, lives by her own lights, and makes no excuses.”
– Dale Evans

07/03/2023

Interesting

The shape of the horse’s barrel and length of the rider’s leg dramatically effects the rider’s position.
A really wide horse will push a short legged rider’s knee out, no matter how much they try to rotate the thigh in. A really rounded barrel barrel (not pictured) often disappears under a longer legged rider’s lower calf and heel. If this is the case, they should just get used to the idea of not being able to feel the horse down by their foot, otherwise they rotate the back of the hill towards the horse, which pulls their knee and thigh away from the horse. Even a tear drop shaped horses (middle) might have this effect, but instead of turning the knee out, longer riders will often times lift the heel up to try to make contact. Narrow horses are often a dream for short limbed riders, but feel like a fence board to a longer legged rider.

The important part is to recognize that there is no cookie cutter perfect angle that applies to everyone.

If you see a rider with absolutely perfect equitation, guesses are that both horse and rider are shaped very well, and also well-suited to each other.

I’m not saying to use this knowledge to justify a Poorer position, but you do need to understand how each horse influences your position. If I ride a horse that is extraordinarily wide, I know I am better off putting on a hunt seat saddle and riding with a short stirrup, because if I try to ride with a long dressage leg it torques, my knee joints. We have one particular lesson horse that is both wide and round, and whenever students sit on him, I know I’m going to have to remind them to keep their lower leg off of the horse and keep their thigh and knee firmly attached.

Some horses are narrow around the girth area, but wide further back into the rib cage, and this pushes the riders leg forward. It is what it is, and just like a quarter horse or Tennessee walker is never going to compete at the Olympics in Dressage, a horse, with a difficult barrel shape, is not going to be as easy for accomplish quite as much as a horse with near perfect conformation. For 90% of riders it’s no big deal- your leg position will just be a little less than perfect. But if you have pre-existing problems with a certain joint, or are looking for your next Grand Prix horse that can score 75%, then barrel shape is something you should take into consideration when horse shopping.

06/08/2023

Things your riding instructor wants you to know:
1. This sport is hard. You don't get to bypass the hard…..every good rider has gone through it. You make progress, then you don't, and then you make progress again. Your riding instructor can coach you through it, but they cannot make it easy.

2. You're going to ride horses you don't want to ride. If you're teachable, you will learn from every horse you ride. Each horse in the barn can teach you if you let them. IF YOU LET THEM. Which leads me to…

3. You MUST be teachable to succeed in this sport. You must be teachable to succeed at anything, but that is another conversation. Being teachable often means going back to basics time and time and time again. If you find basics boring, then your not looking at them as an opportunity to learn. Which brings me to…..

4. This sport is a COMMITMENT. Read that, then read it again. Every sport is a commitment, but in this sport your teammate weighs 1200 lbs and speaks a different language. Good riders don't get good by riding every once in awhile….they improve because they make riding a priority and give themsevles opportunity to practice.

5. EVERY RIDE IS AN OPPORTUNITY. Even the walk ones. Even the hard ones. Every. Single. Ride. Remember when you just wished someone would lead you around on a horse? Find the happiness in just being able to RIDE. If you make every ride about what your AREN'T doing, you take the fun out of the experience for yourself, your horse, and your instructor. Just enjoy the process. Which brings me to...

6. Riding should be fun. It is work. and work isn't always fun.....but if you (or your rider) are consistently choosing other activities or find yourself not looking forward to lessons, it's time to take a break. The horses already know you don't want to be here, and you set yourself up for failure if you are already dreading the lesson before you get here.

7. You'll learn more about horses from the ground than you ever will while riding. That's why ground lessons are important, too. If you're skipping ground lessons (or the part of your lesson that takes place on the ground), you're missing out on the most important parts of the lesson. You spend far more time on the ground with horses than you do in the saddle.

8. Ask questions and communicate. If you're wondering why your coach is having you ride a particular horse or do an exercise, ask them. Then listen to their answer and refer to #3 above.

9. We are human beings. We make decisions (some of them life and death ones) every day. We balance learning for students with workloads for horses and carry the bulk of this business on our shoulders. A little courtesy goes a long way.

Of all the sports your child will try through their school years, riding is one of 3 that they may continue regularly as adults (golf and skiing are the others). People who coach riding spend the better part of their free time and much of their disposable income trying to improve their own riding and caring for the horses who help teach your child. They love this sport and teaching others…..but they all have their limits. Not all good riders are good coaches, but all good coaches will tell you that the process to get good is not an easy one.

*thank you to whoever wrote this! Not my words, but certainly a shared sentiment!

06/08/2023

HOW BARREL RACING WORKS

1. If you really want to get better at barrel racing, take it up at an earlier age and ride more than one barrel horse trained by a professional

2. A barrel race is a run of your skill against another runner's luck.

3. Barrel racing is about winning runs with your horse, whose only idea of winning is pulling back from the trailer to eat the grass 10' away from where you're parked.

4. If you want to end dry weather, perfectly disc your outdoor and measure your pattern.

5. Crazy, untalented, aggressive horses have excellent health, clean hocks and live forever.

6. Fast, quick and winning horses are accident prone and have a long list of maintenance.

7. You will have the best run of your entire life just prior to realizing you are on the wrong horse.

8. Never keep more than 100 separate thoughts in your head before a run.

9. Never keep less than another 100 separate thoughts in your head during a run.

10. Horses do not improve their runs because you bought the handmade bit.

11. If you chose a crystal and fringe custom leather tack set your horse will more than likely break it.

12. The less skilled the barrel racer, the more likely they are to share their thoughts on your run.

13. If you are considering the services of a horse physic to help you with your barrel horse then you have reached the point of total barrel racer crazy- try the handmade bit.

14. Your horse has never heard of that famous working cow horse guy let alone listened to the podcast.

15. No matter how badly your run was, it is always possible for a worse run.

16. If it ain't broke, try changing your tack and it will be.

17. Coaches only suffer from temporary blindness (or kindness) when they are trying to help you.

18. If you fall off your horse in the arena you will have asked your friends hot husband to video you.

19. If you are feeling confident before a barrel race then three NFR qualifiers will show up to give their young horses some "experience."

20. Your horse will perform its best run ever when you barely tip a barrel.

22. Since runs of bad competitions come in groups of three, the fourth run is actually the beginning of the next group of three.

23. No one cheats at barrel racing because no one has figured out how to do it.

24. It is surprisingly easy to clock once you stay out of your horse's way.

25. The result of an expensive lesson from a top barrel racer is that you will stop believing in your ability that was barely holding your run together.

26. Remember when buying a barrel horse advertised as "needs experienced competitive rider" this really means "needs the skills of an NFR cowgirl just to stay on."

27. If you think your run was better than someone else's, it probably wasn't.

28. If you pay 200,000 for a 1D horse, you will be beaten by the neighbor's home raised performance horse.

29. Clinics given by someone with a large following and no credentials are not necessarily superior to those given by the local.

30. If you go to the expense of raising an expensive embryo multiple futurity eligible, Pink Buckle foal, he/she will have a talent for roping and no quickness of the turn worth talking about.

06/08/2023

We definitely appreciate our farrier Dave Williams and believe he is the best around! If you need anything done he will be out on the 13th this month in the evening just pm me.

05/08/2023

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05/04/2023

When the judge sees a 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 nose band down on the horse’s nostrils or the crown might be unevenly buckled, those kinds of mistakes might lower the overall form and presentation score in showmanship. Learn correct halter fit here➡️ https://hubs.li/Q01Nf8pf0?

04/11/2023

The basics of well-fitting stirrups to give you and your horse a more effective, more comfortable ride.

04/07/2023

These are the bits that world champions have used on their barrel horses from the years 1984-2002 and at the NFR.

04/01/2023

03/30/2023

Anyone interested in a farrowing pen? $30, message me.

03/28/2023

TRUE OR FALSE: On a 5-hour trip, your horse could lose over 30 pounds.

✅TRUE! ✅

Research from the University of California, Davis has shown that horses can lose 0.45 to 0.55% of total body weight per hour of transport.

Why? Stress.

Read our 7 tips for decreasing the risks of travel stress and promoting overall well-being and performance: https://strideanimalhealth.com/blog/7-tips-to-decrease-health-risks-of-summer-travel/

03/09/2023

The American Quarter Horse Association announces new qualifying options at alliance events to allow barrel racing competitors additional ways to qualify for the Farnam AQHA World Championship Show. ➡️ www.aqha.com/-/new-barrel-racing-qualifying-options-added-to-the-2023-farnam-aqha-world-championship-show

📸 Shane Rux Photography

03/06/2023

03/06/2023

“How much weight can a horse carry?

In my experience, a horse can carry an infinite amount.

They can carry the weight of broken hearts, broken homes, and broken bodies. Countless tears sometimes comb their tangled manes. Moments when parents and friends cannot be there to help and hold a person, horses embrace and empower. They carry physical, mental, and emotional handicaps. They carry hopes and dreams; and they will carry the stress from your day when you can't carry it anymore.

They carry graduations, they carry new careers, they carry moves away from everything familiar, they carry marriages, they carry divorces, they carry funerals, they carry babys before they are born, and sometimes they carry the mothers who cannot carry their own baby. They carry mistakes, they carry joy, they carry the good and they carry the bad. They carry drugs and addictions, but they also carry the celebrations.

They will carry you to success when all you have felt is failure. They will carry you, never knowing the weight of your burdens and triumphs.

If you let them, they will carry you through life, and life is hard, life is heavy. But a horse will make you feel weightless under it all.”

-Written by Sara Huffman

Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/DorotaKudybaArt/photos

Good night, God Bless. 🙏🏻💖