StarLight Farms

StarLight Farms We are a small, laid back boarding facility that offers, full pasture and medical board...not to ment Please contact us for available riding times.
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We offer beginner-experienced horsemanship and riding lessons...including grooming, saddling, handling as well as riding. Once you are comfortable riding, we will gladly take you out on trail. We are not a "show" barn but we do compete it NATRC (Long distance Competitive Trail). We like to make sure we have well rounded horses, so we train them a little bit in multiple disciplines. We specialize in regaining a rider's confidence and helping horses and riders overcome their anxiety.

08/05/2024

Make Them Carry Their Saddle

A father of a darling girl and I were talking last week and he said that he wanted his daughter to ride more and not have to do the work part of the catching, grooming, and saddling. I smiled as I explained.

Riding horses is a combination of strength, timing, and balance. Kids in this country are physically weak (unless they are actively involved with weight training and physical conditioning 4+ times a week.)

When you walk out to the field, you are clearing your stress from being under fluorescent lights all day; feeling the sun soak into your bones. As your body moves on uneven surfaces, it strengthens your legs and core.

When you groom your horse (especially currying), you are toning your arms and stabilizing your core.

When you carry your saddle, your arms, chest, and back are doing isolated strengthening work.

Being near horses, calms and makes you tune into the splendor of these empathetic animals.

When you ride at a posting trot, it’s equivalent to a slow jog calorie burn wise.

After a lesson, the riders are physically tired and mentally quiet and balanced.

Horses feel your heart beat and mirror your emotions back.

Riding large and somewhat unpredictable animals makes you resilient and pushes your expectations.

Working with horses is so much more than learning how to ride.

So parents, make your children carry their saddles. Don’t do the hard parts for them, as long term it actually hurts them. To advance with their riding, they must get stronger. You can help by doing the high parts.

I love having you all at the farm, and am so grateful to get to share these fascinating animals with you.

Hannah Campbell Zapletal

08/03/2024

Riding schools for children -

I used to teach children riding lessons a lot. It was really fun and rewarding to instill in young people care and respect for the horse, and good riding skills. I found chikdren far more receptive and empathetic than many adults, because they hadn’t been taught to ignore horses expressions to get something done.

The pressure from parents to accelerate the kids skills to more fun stuff, or to prevent the child’s boredom, was a steady presence in teaching- along with maintaining the school horses soundness and mental well-being from being ridden by beginners. Keeping lessons good for both horse and rider was a job of creativity and constant adjustment. I believe it can be done, but the culture at large doesn’t typically make it profitable, as many parents struggle to want to pay for lessons on sound husbandry and good riding basics. The kids want to canter, by God!

I have some firm beliefs about good riding stables, and I realize the expense and strain and adjustment is an ever pressing reality, I stand by these beliefs:

-children should learn good riding fundamentals first, and not progress to trotting, cantering, jumping until they have a good understanding of a balanced seat and can demonstrate it

-children should learn care of and respect for the horse comes before their entertainment. Grooming, tacking, warming up and cooling down, quitting an activity or adjusting if the horse is stressed, learning groundwork, etc, should be a non negotiable

-children should learn to feel a balanced horse to the extent possible. A beginner horse should not simply be a lame horse that tolerates them, but one to teach th em how to ride- children should not be set up for a future of kicking and pulling to get a horse to do something, but learn to feel how to direct a horse with their body, and to feel movement that is balanced, setting them up for a lifetime of being able to balance future horses.

- children should learn to read accurately equine expression and well-being. Children should not be taught to describe horses as lazy, stubborn, etc- these are taught by adults and children learn to adapt these views. The adults are responsible for setting the culture and views of horses and their handling.

Many riders struggle with normalizing tight, crooked, and unhappy horses because this is what they learn to ride on. The instructor is responsible for setting the culture of what their program entails, and I believe this means setting firm boundaries on what the purchasing client can expect, instead of catering to unreasonable demands to keep business. That is a whole can of worms in itself, but one worth opening.

We have definitely had a few hot days this summer.
07/31/2024

We have definitely had a few hot days this summer.

We are looking forward to cheering on the youth attending Southern Regionals this week! The heat index for almost every day for the next week is going to be over 100 degrees. Please make extra effort to keep yourselves and your equines cool. Drink lots of water and keep an eye out for heat stress in both horse and rider. Drive safe and see you soon!

07/20/2024

Good riding requires that we re wire our natural instincts. When we get afraid, we tip forward, or clutch, or pull. We stop breathing, and somewhere deep down we hope the horse will adapt and take care of us. But a good steward takes responsibility: it is our duty to practice honing our reflexes. It is our job to practice controlling our position, our breath, and learning to create a productive mindset.

It is the hardest thing in the world to do to control our natural instincts- but it is the most important. And expecting the horse to adjust to us without the necessary skills is folly. Take the time, put the hours in, get a good coach and an appropriate horse, and master your body and mind.

This....
07/04/2024

This....

07/04/2024

Absolutely! 10! You need 10!

Sometimes standing builds a stronger seat.
07/02/2024

Sometimes standing builds a stronger seat.

I will be doing this myself

SITTING TROT (Quick tip)
To practice your sitting trot: STAND UP!

Yes, that’s right!

Standing up in the stirrups while trotting is one of the first steps to real balance.

Not jumping position leaning over, but STRAIGHT UP.

Are you wobbling around up there?
When you learn to absorb through your joints - hip, knee and ankle joints, up there standing in trot, then your sitting trot stands a chance of being good too.

If you can’t stand with a tiny gap between your p***c bone and the saddle standing fully, your stirrups are too long to help your balance and your heels will be up.
If the gap is Huge when you stand, your stirrups are too short.

Good luck with this exercise!

Final day of Horse Camp (Day 5). Learning about driving...braiding manes and tails...and doing our final horse show. Tha...
06/07/2024

Final day of Horse Camp (Day 5). Learning about driving...braiding manes and tails...and doing our final horse show.
Thanks to all my helpers, campers and parents. What a successful week. See you in July!

Day 4 of Summer Camp. Tie-Dye t-shirts...horseshoe photo frames...riding...and saddle cleaning. What a great day!
06/07/2024

Day 4 of Summer Camp. Tie-Dye t-shirts...horseshoe photo frames...riding...and saddle cleaning. What a great day!

Day 3 Summer Beginner Horse Camp. After dodging the morning rain, we rode...then had a guest speaker who spoke to us abo...
06/05/2024

Day 3 Summer Beginner Horse Camp. After dodging the morning rain, we rode...then had a guest speaker who spoke to us about hooves and hoof care. Thanks Nancy Johnson Fuller ! We loved having you!

Day 2 of Summer Horse Camp! Girls (and Zayne) are learning so much and having so much fun!
06/04/2024

Day 2 of Summer Horse Camp! Girls (and Zayne) are learning so much and having so much fun!

06/04/2024
06/01/2024

✨🌵✨

05/31/2024

My happy place!

05/15/2024

You know how your great aunt can’t be around you without commenting on your weight?
You know how your mother in law can’t stop asking when you’re gonna have a baby because she’s dying for grandchildren?

You know how your mom licks that napkin and squeezes your face while she whipes dirt off your cheek?
You know how, when you were a child, your parents brushed your hair too fast, pulled on your hair, and your feelings were dismissed? “Oh you’re being such a baby!”

You know the way that family dinner is so stressful, but your aunts make amazing food- so you have the draw of the food, and the stress of the discord and passive aggressive comments? You know the pressure to have seconds, to not offend, coupled with a comment on your weight?

You know all those tiny, nitpicky, well meaning things that drive you crazy? You know how horrible the hands that fuss over you feel? You know how terrible the dissonance between what’s said and what’s felt is?

They’re made to sound like they’re for you, but they’re not- they’re for the person doing them.
Don’t be that guy with your horse.

Pinching, picking, constant cleaning, fussing
Nitpicking every little step
Fussing with buckles, forgetting about the horse and wrenching leather over soft, sensitize surfaces
Yelling, smacking, emotional corrections and making up for it with food

Those are not for the horse- they’re for you.

Every touch should be for the horse.
Touch with intention
Focus on the task AND the horse
Guide, with care
Say no when you have to, without judgement or emotion
Say yes when you can, without going off the rails
Bring the horse to center
And be someone they find peace standing next to.

05/12/2024

Speak softly, listen hard...

Happy 28th birthday Patton!
05/12/2024

Happy 28th birthday Patton!

05/05/2024

May the HORSE be with you!! Happy May the 4th!!

For all my "can they eat these?" people.
04/30/2024

For all my "can they eat these?" people.

Love this old man!
04/11/2024

Love this old man!

Oh my. I was wondering where Noah went. Silly pony!
04/09/2024

Oh my. I was wondering where Noah went. Silly pony!

Address

759 Yarbrough Road
Tuskegee, AL
36083

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+17069758414

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