B.N. Spired Horsemanship

07/11/2024

Winter is coming! How are your horses handling the lower temps and rainy weather so far?

28/10/2024

Busy barn weekend! Hay delivery, chores, working horses, and taking Addax/Forrest to their 1st cattle working clinic today! Work is not work when you love what you do!

23/10/2024

Thought provoking post!

Get off the horse.

When they’re struggling, when you’re having a bad ride. When their antics are scaring you.

Don’t be afraid to get off.

You aren’t “letting them win” because the horse is not your adversary.

It is not you versus your horse.

It’s you and your horse versus the problem.

And many times, getting off and going back to groundwork can be incredibly beneficial for helping your horse through their struggles.

If they’re scared, having you there beside them on the ground instead of on top of them can bring them confidence.

If you’re scared whilst riding them, getting off the ground lowers your anxiety and likely, also your horses.

The “ride through it” mentality is primarily for human ego and negates the benefit of groundwork.

You don’t need to ride through it.

Sometimes doing so is stupid and dangerous.

Sometimes doing so is traumatic for the horse.

So, don’t be afraid to get off.

Don’t be afraid to take a break.

Don’t be afraid to work through the issues on the ground.

You don’t need to be “tough” and ride through it.

Softness and patience have value and merit.

Oftentimes, the last thing a stressed flight animal needs is toughness and force.

Giving them patience and remaining by their side as a supportive companion is more beneficial than you might imagine.

The mentality of always riding through antics and always getting back on after a fall is a harmful one.

There’s a quote “you’re either going to the hospital or getting back on, hospital or on” that I’ve seen many proudly share.

You can be injured without needing a hospital visit.

Your horse can be fried and not in a place to learn following a fall.

Honouring your horse and yourself by having the humility to know when to stop is a strength, not a weakness.

So, don’t be afraid to get off your horse.

“Riding through it” is not the flex people think it is.

10/10/2024

The Tennessee spirit is alive and well at the RRP this week! After a rough last 2 weeks for my hometown, I cried a little as TN was represented here this week! Also, so amazing to see trainers working together to gather donations to send down to our people in TN and WNC. We may be here working, but those still recovering are not far from our minds!

02/10/2024

What am I doing the night before leaving for RRP week..... gluing together OTTB feet of course.....😄 🤣

01/10/2024

Seeing Zeus take care of young riders is such an amazing gift. He has turned into such a kind and patient teacher!

30/09/2024

Nothing to say but what an amazing weekend with the wonderful Barb Gerbitz at our Horsemanship clinic! Amazing progress from all the riders and horses. So proud of what we offer here and all the wonderful partnerships we help build and shape. So nice to have such a willing mentor who takes time to help educate the up and coming junior riders as well.

27/09/2024

Sometimes my husband is the best husband..... super cute helping me at barn tonight, tacking up my horse so I could get a quick ride on Zeus and helping put things away while I taught....
Nice to get to ride at least once this month 🙂
We have been super busy and sometimes I need to re-prioritize these 2! ❤️

21/09/2024

Wally says what is better on a Friday night than it being new bedding day and getting at the dinner yummies! Such a sweet guy and we are always happy when he is happy!

16/09/2024

Busy weekend at the barn..... helping clients and helping horses! What we love best!

14/09/2024

So proud of Addy and Ronan for how far they have come this summer! Jumped their 1st solid 21"- 2 ft jumps this week!

31/08/2024

Congrats to Morgan on her purchase of Elfie! We are excited that her show lease turned into a great partnership and lifelong home!

At B.N. Spired Horsemanship we are intent of finding the right home and partnership for each horse that we transition out of our care, and take the time and situtation it takes to find that fit.
Excited to see them both out and about on the show circuit! and wishing them much success in all they do!

26/08/2024

Talking about whisker clipping is a really great litmus test to get an idea of how much of competition is human centred.

It’s a far more controversial topic than it should be.

In FEI classes, whisker clipping was banned recently and this caused a major uproar.

But in lower level classes and many other show organizations, it’s perfectly legal.

Regardless of anyone’s personal preferences, a simple fact remains — whiskers are a sensory organ for horses.

Each individual whisker even has its own blood supply.

The debate of how much they help with sensation is still ongoing but what is fact is that we know they’re used for sensory input by the horse.

It really isn’t up to us to argue to what extent they are used when that argument is only being used to justify us clipping them off for totally shallow reasons.

The only “benefit” humans get from whisker clipping is a “cleaner look” that they’ve been conditioned to like better.

There’s no other incentive, it’s all aesthetic based.

So, the fact that this is still as controversial of a debate as it is when it’s rooted in shallow human preferences really speaks for how much competition centres around human desires.

Because WHY are we enabling ourselves in promoting mindsets that flippantly take away protection and sensory output from the horse, with no care of the impact, just because we like they look better?

Whiskers are cute, for one.

For two, you can’t even see them in the show ring, only close up.

And then third, and most obviously, THEY ARE A SENSORY ORGAN.

Competiton can be done ethically, in my opinion.

But we will struggle to get to the destination of ethical competition so long as human desires are centred to the extent they currently are.

23/08/2024

💯

22/08/2024

Great thoughts on what it take to run a lesson barn.

I get ghosted a lot when people receive lesson prices after asking for them. “That much?!? For an 8 year old!? That’s absurd!!!” I think the shock comes mainly from misunderstanding the nature of the business. There are many, many factors to consider when signing you or your child up for any type of lesson. In *most* instances, a participant in an activity is learning how to handle inanimate objects, preform a task solo, or work with a group of other individuals who are mainly self sustaining. However, riding lessons require two athletes and a coach that can simultaneously watch and critique both athletes, of two different species, while keeping the biomechanical and mental health of both in good working order.

When you pay a facility for lessons you are paying for (at minimum) the following:

1) Years and years of lesson expenses, where a trainer dedicated their time to becoming an expert in their field.
2) Continuing education or peer review. A trainer who is doing the BEST for their students and equines will either have accolades, be in consistent lessons, or will be showing in a discipline (and often all of the above). All of which cost time, money, and labor.
3) The facility. A mortgage or lease. The electric bill that covers fans/lights run in the barn, arena lights, structural insurance, etc.
4) Professional liability insurance. Don’t ask how much that costs in the equine world. It’ll hurt your feelings. 🥴
5) Bare minimum nutrition for the horses. Quality feed and hay—and y’all, that stuff ain’t cheap. Plus fresh water at all times.
6) Labor. Whether that be from the instructor tuning up horses, paying a trainer to ride lesson horses, or farm hands who muck stalls, mow the grass, feed the horses, etc.
7) Taxes—cause, well…Uncle Sam.
8.) An accountant to make sure you don’t genuinely screw your whole business up.
9) Fuel—yes…fuel is a BIG one. Fuel to drag pastures, to drag arena, to put hay out, to travel to the facility to teach or take lessons, fuel to run the water truck, fuel to go to PL Woodard Hardware to pick up parts for things that fall apart on a daily basis.
10) Maintenance. That fence, ain’t gunna fix itself. Let’s factor in the cost of insulators, wire, posts, etc. Did I mention you need labor to put those things up? And good labor to make sure the fencing is safe for the equines. Anyone can rig a fence, but horses can be bubble wrapped and still injure themselves.
11) Routine care. Twice a year the vet comes for vaccines. Every SIX WEEKS a farrier has to do a horse’s feet. Dental work should be done every 6 months to a year, depending on the horse. PEMF, Chiro, and body work are needed for some horses also. Oh! And don’t forget injections that cost several hundred dollars every 6 months to 2 years.
12) Ever had to go to the ER or Urgent care? Yeah, horses need those emergency bills paid too when they decide to impale themselves on something it shouldn’t even be possible to impale anything on.
13) Barn supplies and equipment: fly spray, grooming supplies, water buckets, water troughs, feed bins, hoses, zip ties, duct tape, light bulbs, brooms, mowers, tractors, weedeaters, bush hogs, tractor drags, golf cart/side by side to do chores on, a dependable truck and trailer for emergency vet visits, tires, oil changes, etc.
14) Helmets. Those need to be replaced every couple years.
15) The time someone spent marketing to even let you know there are lessons available.
16) TACK! GOOOOOOD Tack. Tack that won’t sore you up and teach you bad habits. Tack that won’t sore up your horse. Tack that won’t break in the middle of your ride. And the upkeep of that tack requires supplies like leather conditioner, brushes, rags, etc.
17) Oh! And let’s see….horses! Have y’all checked out the horse market recently? “Pick two: sound, cheap, broke.” If you can find a GOOD, SAFE, SOUND lesson horse, you’re paying a pretty penny to purchase it. You’re also paying a good penny to keep it broke and/or keep it maintained.
18) There’s so much more, but this is the general info that I can come up with off the top of my head without getting into the nitty gritty.

So if you see somewhere that’s charging the same price as ballet lessons for riding lessons, you probably need to walk away….And yes, your 8 year old should pay more for lessons than an 18 year old, because you need someone special, patient, and super detail oriented to work with the 8 year old. “They just want to ride. They don’t want to learn anything else. We don’t need to learn how to tack up or clean a saddle.” Well, put a quarter in the horse at the mall. These equines have a special job—to teach people how to safely interact with and communicate with their species. They are living, being creatures and riding facilities owe these horses welfare.

A lot of people have no idea what goes into it, but I hope this short list gives insight as to why it can be costly to go to a good facility for lessons.

And that’s all I got to say about that. 🤠

- Grace Torres

10/08/2024

This. 💯

Tonight, we watched the Olympics and heard Gabby Thomas’s comments about winning the gold medal and she said, “so many many hours behind the scenes that no one sees…” (my paraphrase)

Isn’t that the truth about life? We see the big deals, we see the amazing moments and we forget all of that work and all of those decisions behind the scenes.

The hours no one sees.
The decisions to try no one sees.
The courage to step out of our comfort zone no one sees.
The faith in the future no one sees.

Success isn’t just the giant moment.

It is, as Gabby so eloquently reminded us all, the hours no one sees.

Yeah, success might not be the Olympics, but success can be in healing a relationship, starting the job, finishing school, running the 5k, working on your mental health, buying your first home, fixing your credit, meeting new people, writing the book, taking care of your health, putting in the hours - the places no one sees that really matter. and make a life difference.

So keep going. Keep trying. Keep having faith. Keep believing. Keep putting in the hours. Keep fighting for your dreams.

Those hours add up.

Even if no one sees.

It adds up.

Thanks, Gabby, for reminding us of that truth. Congrats on your Gold Medal and inspiring and reminding us that success is often found in the micro decisions that so often no one sees.

-Rachel