Hope Horsemanship

12/11/2024

Love what she’s doing over there!

We are so honored to have been selected as one of The Plaid Horse's Equine Impact Small Businesses!

The Plaid Horse supports innovation, entrepreneurship, and growth of collaborative and pro-equestrian ventures. The first equine small business competition was designed to support and grow small businesses who are making a big impact on the equine industry.

😱🥰 FUNCTIONAL NUTRITION FOR THE WIN!

Stayed tuned for our story to be shared on ThePlaidHorse.com

12/11/2024

So many horse people are also dog people! Tom included. I can’t wait to get some cozy winter reading time to see if he can help me with my crazy dog pack!!

Breakthroughs with troubled rescue dogs, training challenges, and conversations with celebrated horseman Harry Whitney and distinguished dogman Jack Knox and others—"Dogmanship, A Horseman’s Ponderings" is the comprehensive chronicle on the ins and outs of building a truly willing relationship between dogs and humans.
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11/11/2024

Truth. And it’s not only dressage… it’s everywhere in equine sports…

11/11/2024

My hero Matt has solved yet another problem I was facing this winter… Wyoming needs dust free hay- and though I don’t mind rinsing and straining it I know that will be a nightmare come sub freezing temps.

Enter the DIY hay steamer. He made it in minutes after we had all the parts and you can do it for around $200 - I chose a more expensive trash can but it’s really way simpler than I thought.

Now the question to be answered…

Will it work?

Wyoming has dust sensitivity and needs soaked hay to avoid heavy coughing fits. As winter approaches Jaime seeks to avoid frozen hoses, water tubs and ice pa...

10/11/2024

Wet straining the hay has been the exact key. As soon as I started doing it seriously she hasn’t coughed. At all.

So looking forward to winter and trying to wet down hay and strain in sub freezing temps was 🙈😩.

Enter Matt… some research and an Amazon order. Today he made me
a hay steamer in about 4 1/2 minutes.

The steamer works great, the jury is out if this will finally solve the coughing with less water everywhere and fear of freezing- but so far she seems fine.

05/11/2024

En route to getting a ride in we stopped to vote. Don’t worry! They didn’t accept a ballot from my horse. We are way too honest for that out here in the mountains!!

28/10/2024

Matt has asked me recently: can anyone simply grab a horse throw on a saddle and just ride it?

I thought about it… that’s the dream most of us have I think.

Some kind of fall into it with an easy horse(s)… some have it for a while and then find things over time go wrong and they end up with a horse problem… some I’ve seen do just throw on a saddle and ride- but accept a lot of things from the horse from annoying to dangerous as ‘normal’.

My own answer today at least, is if anyone “just throws a saddle on a horse” and has a good, safe, enjoyable ride… someone put a lot of time and effort, consistency and clarity into the horse at some point. Sometimes it’s the person riding today, sometimes it’s a person who put in that time in the horse’s history.

During this clinic I had a great amount of joy remembering that I actually have a horse like that.

Khaleesi has been my horsemanship journey partner for 10 years now through thick and thin. And the patience and time I’ve put into working with her to the best I could meant that this weekend she walk, trot, cantered, steered properly in an arena, stopped on command, backed up softly when needed, and for fun we did the pole bending line no hands.

She also carried around Matt safely and quietly as a totally green rider who is learning to sit a horse and direct it well.

This post is to celebrate my number one equine partner through thick and thin… the horse who has carried me through more than one fire over many miles. The horse I can just saddle up and ride because of the many hours we spent together doing all the things that lead to excellence.

27/10/2024

Another highlight of this October clinic with Tom was our first mule!! Thanks to Tabitha who had a few equine type creatures to choose from, she brought Clarence, who came 6 weeks ago from a kill pen was a joy to get to know here at Hope Horsemanship HQ!

It is always fun to make new friends in this family community and seeing light bulb moments and watching change come through in horses and people is what we love most! Welcome Tabitha and thanks for bringing Clarence to visit with us, I only found out later was actually mule appreciation day! How fitting!!

27/10/2024

One of my favorites parts of this clinic was watching the dramatic progress of Griffin and Breeze! Breeze is a solid athlete with a lot to offer but his mind has been blown in his past life at the race track and he’s borderline dangerous when in a group ride if his brain goes into true race mode.

He also brought a ton of anxiety with him when Griffin brought him home and worry about riding- especially with the reins and probably had a lot of unclear (to him) riding at some point and a decent amount of pressure and force to get things done.

This meant Griffin really had her hands full when they started and over the past couple years I’ve seen her go from having very little to work with connecting to him and getting him back to ‘present’ to seeing her manage his ‘moments’ and getting him to let go of what was pulling him away and come back to her!

With all that progress so clear we spent the second day in Marsha Lundsford’s massive arena doing all we could to bring up that race mind and help her get him back! Khaleesi and I loved riding with them and then cantering off leaving her with a head tossing twisting fit!

Loved it because Griffin got some opportunities to practice bringing him back and she was now a pro!! After a few times we had a hard time getting him to lose it - and she got so quick and stopping the pattern… it’ll be different on the trail- but they are really finding a sweet spot together and when his mind gets clear they are going to do great things!!!

27/10/2024

Thanks Tom Moates! This morning Matt was doing this strange but very subtle thing and I asked him what are you doing? And he said I wanted you to move over so I can get by you- you gave me at least a try in the right direction so I was giving you a chance to come through…

🤦🏻‍♀️

What have we created!

26/10/2024

And a special favorite part of the day for me! Matt took a session with Tom and we did both time with Wyoming and also some time with Khaleesi. She has a lot more patience with a beginner rider. When we switched around I jumped in and rode Wyoming while Matt rode khaleesi!

26/10/2024

I always love coming to visit Marsha at Dare to Dream! Thanks for being part of the roving clinics!

26/10/2024

Tom Moates is at it again with another roving Virginian clinic! We had our first mule join the fun and who wouldn’t love Clarence! The fall colors are spectacular as they near their end and the scenery from Dare to Dream (where Griffin worked today) is stunning no matter what time of year.

25/10/2024

Just us. I’ve been ponying the wild one on most rides lately but today I was looking for some quality time. What a treat. It took some time to really get dialed in together but in the last third of the ride we were exploring how much subtlety we could get in slowing down more and more until we rocked into a back up without a true ‘stop’ in between. It took some playing with but when we began to get that it was like a ball rolling either direction and with change of speed. When it really came through I stopped and rubbed her for a moment and she spent a moment yawning and stretching her neck… it’s amazing when I can be fully present and aware of the precision- what I want and how I’m asking- how adjustable and ready she is to meet me there. The balance through her body feels so different when she is this free of brace and willing to be directed.

Getting a taste of this makes me wonder why I end up on autopilot… ever…

This is probably why I ride alone most of the time 🙃😅

Next up… Tom visits the ‘neigh’borhood for a couple days… it’s going to be a Wyoming weekend!

23/10/2024

Some of my favorite professions work in this team!

What makes Osteopathy different than Chiropractic? I hear this all the time from clients - why would you want to have an osteopath examine and treat instead of a chiropractor?? Over the next couple weeks we will try to give you some reasons.... Please message us with questions!!