Big Bear Horsemanship

16/10/2024

🇺🇸🚜🇺🇸

28/06/2024

How do we let the cat outta the bag, without letting the cat outta the bag???
🤫

This Maine soil is extremely fertile... established grass exceeding 6' in height...the farm layout and name change will soon be released!!! ❤️

23/06/2022

To all of Big Bear's horse loving friends:

It is time to announce our departure from the beautiful town of Gettysburg, PA. I had a vision the first day I saw the rolling fields, wooded riverfront trails, and peaceful pond. I thank everyone, especially Danni & Miranda, for their hard work and partnership during the farm's development and day to day operations. Thank you for the opportunity to nurture, care, train, and rehab so many wonderful mustangs, retirees, and 24k gold ponies. Thank you for the friendships, thank you for the love, and thank you for the shared support. It's time to move on, back to the woods of Maine... 🍻 Prost to the successes, and to the next, new adventure of growth in life. ♥️

I'll leave you with this -

“Go check your horses.”

My eyes popped open at 5:40am. “What Lord? Is something wrong?”

“Go check your horses.”

I got out of bed and grabbed a flashlight, some red light Ben usually keeps on his gun for varmints. As soon as my feet got outside, calves immediately began bawling; and I rolled my eyes. We didn’t want another orphan AT ALL, but last Saturday the herd we worked had a heifer calf who loved her baby dearly but had zero milk to feed her. The calf was weak and wobbly and probably wouldn’t have survived the next few days without us. The owner said he didn’t have luck with calves on the bottle, and what was I going to say? So there’s Bobbi at 5am bellowing at me to feed her; I just sigh and trudge on. When I got down to where we feed our horses, there was no one. Not a single horse, they were still all out back.

“Go check your horses. You only have thirty minutes.”

Thirty minutes?! It was almost 6am by this time and I’m thinking the worst. God is waking me up to save one of my animals from some terrible accident. As I walk out to go to the gate that leads up the road and out to the back of our land, I trip over a bucket. That bucket is sitting in the middle of the yard because it’s marking where the concrete is going to go for the new barn. New barn....new concrete....money money money. I feel stressed already.

“Go check your horses.”

I walk over the hill and can see the green grass begin to glow in the dim light. This land was about to come alive soon, and it was ours. God gave this land to us.

“Go check your horses.”

Right Lord, emergency, death, destruction, money, bad news, injuri.....my horses are all in a pound puppy pile sleeping peacefully. Lord you said to check my horses, and here they all are laid up like fattening hogs. My horses are FINE Lord. You said I only had thirty min like my horses were bleeding out!

Then, that still small voice spoke to me.

“I told you to go check your horses, I never said anything was wrong. I told you that you only had thirty minutes, because that’s about how much time you have until everyone gets up, and I needed to speak to you alone. Look around you. Remember how far you have come, how far I’ve brought you.”

💥Boom 💥

As I walked back, all six of my horses followed, grunting and stretching along with the new day. I remembered when this land was just trees, not glowing green grass. Then I arrived at my gate to exit the pasture, and I saw my buckets, marking a new chapter in our lives. A new barn that will send off some of these horses that stand here, and welcome new ones by birth or buying. Then I was greeted once again, by Bobbi, and I remembered when I took her, even though I didn’t really want to, I had all the accommodations to take her. God gave me all of this.

This morning, by telling me to go check my horses, He changed my mental attitude towards all of what I was seeing as struggles, to blessings! Some friends and I had been talking about lately with changing our mental attitude when we train our horses, not thinking “he/she is stubborn,” to maybe “he/she might not understand, and I should present the offer differently.”

God did that with me today. You may not have horses to check, but maybe today you should walk the halls of your job, home, or land, and realize what God has done and is doing for you. Remember how He has taken care of you, and brought you this far.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:23-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

~unknown

09/06/2022

Shout this a little louder..... For those who need to open their ears.

It is of importance that you teach your horse how to deal with the pressures he will encounter.

Understand that some things in our human environment can seem life-threatening to your horse.

If you haven't taught your horse there is another, better way to respond, you don't leave him any other choice than to rely on his natural instinct.

30/04/2022

Amazing trainers, amazing camp ponies....

22/04/2022

Good Friday Morning!!!

2012 Antelope Valley gelding, Evergreen

20/04/2022

Phenomenal instructor/clinician. Highly recommend attending if you're in the area....

Please click the link to complete this form.

03/04/2022

WELCOME SPRING!!!

03/04/2022

WELCOME SPRING!!!

30/03/2022

‘Tis the season.

12/03/2022

🎯
I wouldn't be in my shoes today if I'd only ridden lesson ponies....

BY SARAH MECHLIN DUHON I feel strongly that everyone should be treated fairly and with kindness. The article “There May Be No Future Trainers: A Look at a Young Professional’s Burnout” by an anonymous young trainer references “paying your dues,” but I don’t believe that should come from ...

12/03/2022

Hugs needed! 😁

30/12/2021

This conversation literally came up today.... 😊
Take the time to understand the "why"

Warwick has hundreds of full length training videos filmed with REAL horses, REAL people, REAL problems in REAL time on his online video library. Get a free...

09/12/2021

Certified Horsemanship Association Volunteer of the Year is Kristine Mika from Connecticut and APHA Earns the Partner in Safety Award



(December 2021) Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) gives many great awards out to its members each year. The CHA Volunteer of the Year is an award that recognizes the countless hours and dedication CHA volunteers spend changing lives through safe experiences with horses. A big thank you and congratulations to the CHA 2021 Volunteer of the Year – Kristine Mika from Colchester, Connecticut.



Kristine is so responsive to emails and calls and really cares about CHA and wanting to see it grow. She created a newsletter that she sent out to all the CHA members in her state when she was a state representative and now that she is a Regional Director is doing a newsletter for her entire region. She loves taking photos and recently visited a CHA host site near her to take photos and see this host site in action. She asks questions and figures out solutions to help CHA members navigate CHA as a newly certified instructor or a host site.



She has been a CHA certified member as an English/Western Instructor since 2015. She has been involved in the CHA Booth at the Equine Affaire in Springfield, Massachusetts for a while now and left straight from our CHA International Conference in Fort Worth to go volunteer there. That is dedication!



Another important awards given each year is the CHA Partner in Safety Award that is given to a person or entity that embodies horsemanship safety at the core. The 2021 CHA Partner in Safety is the American Paint Horse Association.



This association has been an education alliance partner with CHA for many years. They work with us to have our members learn about how to become APHA Professional Horsemen and are great about supporting our magazine, The Instructor, and our International Conference program with ads for this program. Many of our past School Horse winners were APHA horses and we have done numerous safety videos with registered Paint horses in them. We are developing a plan to possibly utilize their Horse IQ program for our Certifiers and Site Visitors to be able to do their recertification tests online. This group cares about the welfare of the horse and the safety of riders and handlers. We have a showmanship video that one of their staff did for us at a past CHA conference and it was a pleasure to have their CEO, Billy Smith, speak at our annual meeting this year. They were a CHA Conference Partner helping shuttle our members to and from the hotel to the Cowtown Coliseum and offering a free conference room at their office on Mule Alley for our board meeting and a discount in their store for our conference attendees.



To see this press release online visit https://cha.horse/cha-press-releases/ and for a complete list of past CHA award winners, visit https://cha.horse/international-conference/ -winners



CHA Equine Professionals Change Lives Through Safe Experiences with Horses. The purpose of CHA is to promote excellence in safety and education for the benefit of the horse industry. CHA certifies equine professionals, accredits equestrian facilities, publishes educational manuals, produces educational horsemanship videos and webinars, and hosts regional and international conferences. For more information on the largest certifying body of equine professionals in North America, Certified Horsemanship Association, or to find a certified equine professional or accredited equine facility near you, please visit www.CHA.horse.

CHA Press Releases Search for: 859-259-3399 Certified Horsemanship Association 1795 Alysheba Way, Suite 7102 Lexington, KY 40509 [email protected] Subscribe!

08/12/2021

❤️❤️❤️

24/11/2021

16/11/2021

Spot on. Nice that someone put this in writing... 💯% correct.

Something crossed my mind today as I saw yet another post asking advice on how to train a hard to catch horse to be easier to catch? The comment section was loaded with lots of useful tricks and tips on what to do and how to approach the horse when you go to catch them. What not a single person mentioned was how to properly turn a horse out.

Most people when they are done with their horses and turn them back out to pasture lead them through the gate and turn the horse loose. The horse walks or trots away going to do their thing. Can you spot the issue here? The horse walked away from you. Besides when you are asking a horse to give to pressure and telling them to move away from you when is it acceptable for a horse to blatantly walk away from you without you asking? Never. It’s never acceptable for your horse to disregard you and walk away because it just felt like it. So why is it acceptable for a horse to leave you when you turn them out? It’s not!

So how does this small action effect how a horse reacts to being caught? When you allow your horse to just walk or run away when you let them go you are actually training your horse to be hard to catch. You’re training them that they can run away from you and relieve all pressure and be left alone. Essentially you’re rewarding them for leaving you. This right here plays a huge factor in when it comes to catching your horse. You’ve already taught them they can run away so when you go to catch them why wouldn’t it be ok for them then as well?

When I turn my horses loose after the day we walk through the gate, turn and face the gate and stand still to take the halter off. Now if I have a horse that likes to try and walk away while Taking the halter off I’ll put the lead around their neck and make them stand. The I walk away from the horse. The horse NEVER walks away from me. When I turn my back and walk away this is the cue to the horse they can now leave and do as they pleas. But my horses know they will stand right where I took the halter off until I turn my back and walk away. If a horse walks away before this I catch them again, bring them back to where I took off the halter and do this again.

Doing this simple action with your horses WILL reflect on how they react when you go to catch them. Now like most training tips and tricks this won’t solve the issue over night. Maybe not even in a week or a month. All depends on how long this habit has been in place for this horse. But it will help with catching your horse. Everything you do with your horse reflects back on how your horse behaves. Even if it’s something you would think wouldn’t tie in with that behavior.

09/11/2021

Said goodbye to another gentle soul this morning. I'm happy that Mousse was able to spend his last few years just being the coolest little donkey with his 4-legged friends.