Breezewood Equestrian

04/08/2022

Breezewood Equestrian is excited to announce that we are relocating to Idaho Falls, ID! Stay tuned for updates!

17/01/2022

Snowy morning!

01/01/2022

Happy New Year!

05/12/2021

It’s that time of year again for the Christmas Tree pole exercise! 🎄

25/11/2021

Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃 🍁

24/11/2021

Hay delivery!!

16/10/2021

Schedule your appointment today!

Contact at [email protected], 703-475-3864 or send a PM.

02/10/2021

Nicky Vogel will be at Breezewood Equestrian for private dressage lessons on November 6th.
Email [email protected] for more information.

22/08/2021

06/08/2021

The clinic has been cancelled. Keep a look out for a new date at another time!

Breezewood Equestrian is excited to have Nicky Vogel coming August 28 & 29 for a Dressage Clinic.
Please let us know as soon as you can if you would like to attend and what day/days you are interested in riding.
Please PM or email [email protected] for an entry form and have it returned by August 23 to hold your spot.
We look forward to seeing you!

05/08/2021

Breezewood Equestrian is excited to have Nicky Vogel coming August 28 & 29 for a Dressage Clinic.
Please let us know as soon as you can if you would like to attend and what day/days you are interested in riding.
Please PM or email [email protected] for an entry form and have it returned by August 23 to hold your spot.
We look forward to seeing you!

03/07/2021

Somebody ever tell you that the horse does all the work? Here are all the reasons why equestrian sports is an actual sport.

11/05/2021

Breezewood Equestrian is looking for an individual to do barn chores two days a week. Duties would include cleaning 17 stalls, filling hay nets, dumping and refilling water buckets and blowing the aisle. Pay is $11 an hour. Call/text 703-475-3861.

22/03/2021

Stalls available

15/03/2021

Suzy Deeds has been a member of the Breezewood family/community for almost a year. She ca… Carly Sullivan needs your support for Help Clark with His Recovery

08/03/2021

Stalls available for geldings only.

25/12/2020

Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁

09/12/2020

Does a horse exist that is 100% sound?

Answer: Horses can move 100% sound but no horse is perfect. Every horse will fail a vetting at some point in time. Example: Valegro
Why it's easier to sell a young horse....the dreaded vetting!!!
Every horse, like every human, has its weaknesses. A good trainer and management practices can strengthen a horse, hiding weak areas, but sometimes a conformational flaw or innate behavioral issue shows its ugly head and causes a lameness or worse, a systematic problem.
In good time and even good training there is normal wear and tear on a body. This may show up in flexions or radiographs, please do not discredit these horses!
There is no such thing as a sound horse. There is only a horse that as a baby goes correctly due to proper conformation, and over time wants to move correctly due to good training, and thus prevents major injury. But every horse has breakdown somewhere, at some point, if they have ever had any regular training!
I consider myself an athlete...I keep myself active, healthy, and fit so I ride well and feel good on my horse. I broke my femur at 4, couldn't walk. I am significantly shorter on my left side and had to take ballet for years to learn how to move remotely straight. To make things worse I have a chronic clavicle fracture on my left side that is very arthritic from a bad fall. I will never be able to do push ups again but I have trained myself to sit straight on a horse still. I used to run 6+ miles a day until my shin splints became hairline fractures. My left knee has arthritis due to years of getting on a horse on the left side and being made to mount 17 hand baby horses from the ground in Europe (I had to become ninja like). In a vetting I would fail miserably! But I still do my job, feed, muckout, ride 5 + horses a day because
First, I have the will
Second, It's what I have trained my body to know
Third, I do not stop, I stay consistent

Every athlete, from gymnasts to football players to Tennis players train and train and get injured or have weaknesses. But the best ones come back sometimes better than before. Why? They want to, their body knows the job, and they dont stop/give up.

Stop thinking you are buying a machine to fulfill all of Your riding aspirations! Start thinking you are buying a living athlete that will perform for you IF:
You instill or keep his/her will,
Train the body to know, and
Stay consistent
Regardless of minor idiosyncrasies or flaws found in a ppe.

26/11/2020

Happy Thanksgiving!!

11/11/2020

The holiday season is upon us!
For a limited time $20 off your massage.

10/11/2020

A fun barn outing to a corn maze!!

12/10/2020

Day 2!

10/10/2020

Exciting things are happening!

19/09/2020

Fall is here!
For a limited time $20 off your massage.

17/09/2020

We are looking for someone to clean stalls, emptying and refilling water buckets, filling hay nets, and blowing the aisle ways for a max of 17 horses. There are 3 days that are needing to be filled. The pay is $11 an hour. As a team member you have use of the indoor and outdoor arena. We are located in Mars, PA.
Thanks!

15/09/2020

We’ve helped hundreds of horses find new best friends over the years... But more so, we’ve answered thousands of inquiries. I’ll say it again like I say every year, in case someone out there needs to hear this...

HOW TO FIND YOUR “UNICORN”

1. PARAMETERS: Sticking to your “parameters” is only hurting your search. This is like when you have a friend who says they’ll only date a guy over 6 feet tall. Would you turn down meeting your soul mate because he’s 5’11”? I’ve learned from many good Horsemen over the years and the saying is true: God never made a good horse in a bad color. The number of times that people are looking for a precise height or a precise color and I think I have the perfect match for them to fulfill all their dreams, but they won’t budge 1 inch on height in either direction. I can tell you that my current 17 hand horse feels much smaller than my current 15.3h horse. It’s much more about their barrel and their neck set and then the height of their withers. Stop looking for the horse that is “5-7 years old 16.2-17.0h bay or grey gelding.” You are only sabotaging your own search here.

2. WRONG QUESTIONS: When people call about horses, I tell them what kind of rider he needs and what the horse wants to do for a living. Why does NO ONE ever ask that?! They ask how fancy his trot is or how his dressage score was last weekend or how many ribbons he has or how tall he is. They don’t ever ask, “Will he tolerate my mistakes? Will he make up where I’m lacking? Can I handle this horse? Does he have the same goals that I do?”

3. WRONG PRIORITIES: I always teach my students this lesson. My “keeper” horse as a 4yo was the worst mover in the barn. Choppy trot, canter like a tractor trailer on ice, pads on his feet, and some seriously unimpressive knees. If I pulled him out of the stall for you at a sales appointment at 4 years old, you would tell me to put him away! Then he won 3 events at 5yo. At 6 he’s a dream to ride because we’ve put in serious sweat equity for three years. I’m going to burst your bubble here. Unless you’re trying to literally win the Olympics, you don’t need the best mover in the barn. Find the horse that makes you SMILE, that you want to ride every day, the one you can train. Beyond that, you can teach it to win the dressage if you work hard enough. Heck, the worst mover I’ve ever owned won a dozen upper level events and got our Bronze Medal in dressage, and if you saw him today you’d swear that was the best canter you’ve ever ridden. When you’re shopping, don’t buy for the fancy trot. Find the horse that makes you smile.

4. MAINTENANCE: The number of people who put in search ads, “absolutely no maintenance“ or ask me if he has to wear shoes. So you’re telling me if I can find you your perfect unicorn that will make you happy for the rest of his life and you have to give him hock injections once a year, you wouldn’t do it? Because that’s about what you’re spending on your Starbucks this month. If you find a horse that will take care of you, you need to take care of it. Period.

5. VETTINGS: It’s been said by a million people so I’ll keep it brief. Vettings are a fact finding mission, not an attempt to rule out every horse you meet. No one can predict the future—-I’ve had upper level horses that would have failed as 4yos who never missed an event in their lives. I’ve seen vets give two thumbs up to horses who dropped dead a week later from a heart problem. Vets are our greatest resource, but they aren’t fortune tellers. Any good vetting WILL find something. Have your trainer help you understand what is realistic when the vet jargon sounds scary.

Here’s hoping that this list helps someone searching somewhere. Because I know over the years in my career, if I had stuck to my parameters and broken my rules, I would not have bought any of my eventual upper level horses. I would have missed out on so many special horses in my life, because I didn’t want a 3yo or I didn’t want him to be 15.3h or his ankles aren’t pretty.

When you find a horse that you like to ride and it makes you happy, that’s really all that matters. ❤️

Photo by Canter Clix

20/08/2020

Beautiful morning!

20/08/2020

08/07/2020

Stall opening for a gelding only.

05/07/2020

Do you know when is it too hot and/or humid to ride? All horse people should be aware and understand this information.