Pooka Farms & Rabbitry

11/03/2024

Winter rides are wonderful ❤️

11/01/2024

First Charlie is amazing!!!

Second I think she is pretty snowblower proof!

10/22/2024

Winter is here....

With this, lessons may be canceled due to weather. Right now everything is a sheet of ice at the farm. With the rain and the drop in temp I am not expecting the arena to be ridable this weekend, but I will keep everyone posted.

Once the snow flies the footing will be useable once again. (stupid rain)

Stay tuned

10/20/2024

All sizes welcome in lessons with us, can’t wait to see this girl and her matching sister in harness and cart.

My timing on this pic could not have been better!

10/16/2024

Tonight was fun sharing the fun of driving with some of my long time students ❤️

10/10/2024

How fun!

10/05/2024

❤️

https://www.southernliving.com/nurses-deliver-aid-on-horseback-hurricane-helene-8723500?

With roads destroyed or still impassable due to storm damage from Hurricane Helene, nurses on horseback deliver aid to a community in hard-hit Avery County.

10/03/2024

Yep, I have not been a good FB posting person... sorry

For those that have messaged:
1. Yes, I am alive and not broken
2. Yes, I am still teaching. Limited schedule availability
3. Homer peeps! Rejoice I will be down weekly going forward. My other company Phoenix Consulting has signed a contact and I have a position in Homer that brings me down weekly. (reach out for more details)
4. I do not have training spots available.

I promise to be a bit better posting information and fun updates. Baby Bunny pics should be coming soon, lots of hair being pulled by momma's and nest are being made.

10/01/2024

This is what true horsemanship is ❤️

Well, I certainly did not want to post this. But since so many are following along with his story, I figured I should.

Cinco came to me from a hellacious auction. He bucked off the rider on the way in to the auction ring. A fact that I didn’t know until the gavel had already fallen. That was my first clue why he was there.

After some internet research, we found that he has been run through many auctions in the last year. His life was holy hell. He understandably hated people and everything they reprisented.

In the last two weeks he transformed from an aggressive fearful horse, to a sweet, much less fearful horse.

Today was the day I felt like he was gentled enough to get back X-rays of.

The vet came out and did the radiographs, and my suspicions and fears were validated. He has kissing spine in 6 vertebra. 4 are overriding. It is bad. He is in a tremendous amount of pain. He is not a surgical candidate.

So the decision was made to let Cinco finally be free of his pain and fear. He will spend the next few weeks eating all of the yummy treats and food, be turned out in 20 acres with a gentle herd of geldings, and see that not all humans are bad.

Then when the time comes, we will kick him out in to the universe and let him come back and try again.

I am so sad at the outcome, but can feel relief knowing that he will not live in the cycle of abuse he has been in. Easier said than done of course.

Poor Cinco. Hope he at least has now been able to feel love.

It’s amazing how quickly and easily it is to fall in love with a horse.

09/29/2024

Magnum has a bit of a fear of people… I think I found the trick to being friends…

09/16/2024

Gizmo is needing more time in the saddle than I can give him right now and most of his riders have found their own horses and no longer need him for lessons.

If you have ever considered leasing now is your chance. We can provide the horse, the tack, lessons included and you get the extra horse time. He is located in Wasilla and is not available for off site lease. Please message with questions.

09/08/2024

Reminder from Ms. Kona:

It’s getting cooler out and it’s sweat breaking work during lessons. Please be sure to bring a cooler for hauling home after lessons ♥️

09/05/2024

Phoenix has an announcement/reminder for students/clients:

The weather is changing quickly (too quickly if you ask her) and with the weather changes come our Valley winds and wet weather. Lessons may be canceled due to high winds and nasty rains. This is for the health and safety of all involved.

Tonight Phoenix is choosing to hide in her stall as the leaves blow of the trees snuggled in her light blanket (after all she is a princess). Please make sure you are checking your horses as this weather changes to make sure they are eating, drinking and not shivering.

Cheers!

09/02/2024

Attn: Homer Friends

We are coming back to Homer on September 14th and 15th. Emails are circulating with the sign up form but here it is: https://forms.gle/8sDN9NbxUXZmXXjv8

Looking forward to seeing you all again.

08/31/2024

Love this!

08/30/2024

Please share

UPDATED

You have likely heard of the tragic death of over 70 horses at the Buetler Ranch in Elk City, Oklahoma. Horses that are descendants of over five generations of legendary rodeo horses perished when accidentally fed horse feed that was contaminated with Monensin, an ionophoric antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections in cattle and sometimes mixed with cattle and livestock feeds. In cattle, it can improve feed efficiency and average daily gain.

However, in horses, tiny amounts of monensin causees damage to the mitochondria in horses, and disrupts the sodium potassium ion fluxes in the heart, leading to cardiovascular failure.

Attached is a list of horse feed mills that are ionophore free - no ionophores are on the mill property and risk of contamination is eliminated. Ionophone "safe" mills have separate facilities and equipment for livestock and horse feed production, however, ionophores are present and the risk of contamination is not eliminated.

This list is not exhaustive. In California, Stable Mix made by Elk Grove Milling and Integrity Feeds made by Star Milling are both ionophore free facilities.

If in doubt about a feed manufacturers ionophore status, call or e mail them. Unfortunately, some small local mills may not be able to guarantee ionophore free status.

UPDATE! Dr Rachel Mottet of Legacy Equine Nutrition has updated their list of ionophore free equine feed mills. Her team contacted all the mills listed to verify their ionophore status, a huge task!
Here is the link to that document.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17IVu88GVlLU04C3uitCTPHQ5Q2cB-khka_-eMJaMSCY/edit?fbclid=IwY2xjawE-069leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZsDAwMxkfCeS5Oq4osuGzIi2GXrhepntpC1ObUyxrlHRqjBQTAgPdrLug_aem_-mb63idLfO55NZmTqeKnVw&gid=0 =0

And,Bluebonnet was spelled incorrectly, in the photo - Bluebonnet is named after the flower, not a hat!