WB Performance Horses

23/07/2024

Hmmmm, if I'm going to be teaching again, I'm going to need to dig these babies out 🤔😁😂😂

18/07/2024

I have sent folks to this shop countless times and they were never disappointed.
I am sad to see another loved business closing to head out of state but I completely understand and wish her the very best 👍😎

17/07/2024

Oh. My. GOODNESS 😳

08/07/2024

105 today with 8% humidity = 113 = no working horses 👍😎

08/07/2024

If there is a better way to start your day than with horses, I have NO idea what it is - and I don't care 😎
Yesterday my day started with heading out to pick up a mare and her beautiful filly (not mine) to bring them to their new home. This filly looks like she is going to be an exceptional prospect - nice and thick with a correct build, gorgeous, typey head and the kind of movement you could watch all day - and, she's DEFINITELY shedding out to be a frosty colored bay roan - what a total show stopper 😍😍

06/07/2024

The awesome people who own the 'retirement' field sent me this the other day with a note reading that the ponies were all waiting for the sprinkler to be turned on ❤️🤗❤️
*happyponies* ❤️

03/07/2024

This is a beautiful bit that a gal has for sale - and 99.99% of riders should only HANG IT ON THEIR WALL. Including myself 🤷🏼‍♀️ this bit takes a precision hand to use on a horse - you BARELY touch these reins. I know 3 people whose hands would be soft enough and have enough feel to use this bit - and 2 of those still wouldn't likely 😎

03/07/2024

Still have the scars from that glass 😏😁😂😂

02/07/2024

Had some friends go to a show over the weekend and they had a great time AND did well. I love showing. It is a great place to hang with like minded horse people, learn and improve your horsemanship in many ways.
*pic is from the Jamestown shows a few years back - they were well run and a blast* 😎😁

02/07/2024

This is a video of the horse whose x-ray pics I posted earlier - he was completely cleared by a vet for full work - I wounder how many watch this and immediately conclude that he must have ulcers - and I wonder how many horses have spinal issues that are now on an ulcer treatment ?
Not for a SECOND am I not guilty of plenty of misdiagnoses - we learn as we go - but the comfort and ease for the horse to perform as we hope should always be paramount -

01/07/2024

Sooo, Barista and Motor are settled into their new quarters for a bit 😁
Some potentially cool news, looks like I'll be giving lessons at a facility again which is great because I have definitely missed it 👍😎
It is a private facility in a beautiful spot with awesome horse working amenities. It's also easy to get into with a trailer -
Am super excited ❤️🤗❤️

01/07/2024

Ohhh my, this is just sad 😔

27/06/2024

I sure like the experience and information that Mr. Emerson posts 👍😎

25/06/2024

I try really (really REALLY) hard to stay OUT of 'info horse posts' that are determined to prove (or just repeat enough till you stop trying to say anything that might go against) their rhetoric - sometimes it may very well be a dang good point and I absolutely learn from them. The ones that frustrate me are the ones that throw out anything that they have decided doesn't go with their point - aka, they are right, if you disagree, you are wrong, ZERO variables considered 😒
The latest one that I was drawn into was one of the, 'barefoot is best for all horses, PERIOD,' post. That one frustrates me 😑
In horses there are SO MANY variables that that is difficult to read those posts without thinking, 'wait, what about (example)?' Which, if you question the post, will get a TREMENDOUS amount of possible comments - from agreeing to disagree to patronizing (THOSE are incredibly irritating) to someone flipping out screaming that you are going to KILL YOUR HORSE. 🙄
I have worked so many different horses from ponies to heavy drafters (ponies are far more dangerous 💥😳🤦🏼‍♀️😂), and I have also worked with a large number of really good horse people so I can say with confidence that there is no final answer with all horses.
Many horses do extremely well being barefoot even in tough country which is awesome. Some, do not and to ask them to repeatedly bruise their soles carrying rider because, 'barefoot is BETTER!' Is just wrong. Sadly I have also seen riders not have a CLUE that their horse is 'giving' when they hit a harder object with their foot - they just didn't feel it - but their horse did.
Yes, pounding nails into the side of the hoof damages the wall - obviously, but horses shod repeatedly without their walls falling off shows me that many (horses) do fine with that - some do not and have to have something else figured for them to stay sound. I have seen the damage done to a hoof wall that has had a glued on shoe torn off - it's not pretty 🫤
I have learned an incredible amount over the decades (yeouch! 👵😂) and one of THE BEST things is to listen to the horse 👍😊

24/06/2024

What?? I might be able to help him 🤷🏼‍♀️😁😂

24/06/2024

Whew!! Super hot this weekend, PLENTY of fresh water and ample access to salt (I like the mineral salt blocks) is even more important 👍😎

17/06/2024

I am having SUCH a good time with this beautiful stud. He is DEFINITELY a stallion but super kind with a ton of 'try' in him - have been using some moves that Kie Magney showed me and I hope I am seeing (and not imagining) some improvements🧐 🤗
I am also hoping his mind will settle enough to be able to be around mares at shows without losing it 😍😳🤦🏼‍♀️😂
*FrostedKisses* ❤️
*hopefulranchstallion* 🤞🤞
*Pleasebegood* 😂

10/06/2024

That's at the good parts 😳🤦🏼‍♀️😂😂

06/06/2024

How stunning!! And only 6?? What on earth happened for a bone chip so deep? 😳😥

05/06/2024

Holy SMOKES!! 😳😳

Just a superficial scar?

Below shows a partially torn hind extensor tendon that had adhered to the skin in its healing process. This mare had a previous fence injury that seemed to be very superficial and wouldn’t cause any issues but she developed gait abnormalities and a locking stifle afterwards.
She also had hock arthritis at just 5 from in my opinion compensation as she’d done relatively little,
Her findings will be available on patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/Becks_nairn

05/06/2024

Gotta heat wave in the foothills 🥵
I know I harp on clean, fresh water on these days but knowing the consequences of even the SLIGHTEST reason for a horse not to drink enough water has me dumping, cleaning and refilling water tanks 💧💧💧👍😎

27/05/2024

Love this ❤️❤️

Finding and developing the horses that are available, a discussion.

In 2024, for those with the means, the entire planet is a horse shopping mart. The internet allows someone in Fryeburg, Maine to get to see a horse in Australia perform, and with air transportation, that horse can be moved from one far reach of the globe to another far reach in a matter of days.

Before the internet, before what we now think of as modern air transportation, before warmbloods, riders in the USA, riders in Great Britain, riders in Australia were still ABLE to “earth-shop,” but were far far more likely to sift through the horses that were fairly local, find horses with talent, and take the time to develop that talent,

The photo here from Showjumping Hub is of a Thoroughbred named Fleet Apple with Diann Langer in 1969. He was a foal of 1959, by Sweet Apple x Fleetlee, by Easton, and he was a nation’s cup grand prix jumper and a member of the silver medal USET squad in the 1972 Olympics.

He’d been unsuccessful in racing, earned only $600 in 19 starts, but was hugely athletic in other ways.

Fleet Apple is an example. No matter the type of riding you might do or the breed you prefer, the chances are high that somewhere, within a 100 mile radius or so from where you live, there is a Fleet Apple waiting to be found and developed. But not if few people are looking. Not if most people are relying on someone else. Not if the grass is considered greener in some place far away from where you are right now. Not if fewer and fewer riders have the skills to develop a green horse. Because Fleet Apple was once a green apple, but someone took the time and had the skills to transform him.

The riders still exist who can do that, and so do the horses, now, in 2024. Maybe within an hour’s drive. Look closer to home, perhaps, before you start looking hundreds or thousands of miles away on your computer for a horse like the one in this photo. Someone did that once upon a time, and it can still be done, but not if you don’t get out there and look.

https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/fleet+apple

27/05/2024

22/05/2024

*edit*
She has a cough and I am pulling her off the market, sorry for any inconvenience 🫤

Barista is back but I have zero time for her and am going to let her go - she is well bred but grade, just turned 12, sticks about14.1 and is fit and sound. I have had her her for her entire life except a year or so that she spent with a great friend who takes AWESOME care of her critters and Barista came back in better shape than she left 👍❤️
This mare is broke but she can and does move quick - she has been shown a couple times in the 2 handed class at CCCC and won a (small, but it counts!) check in the open division - it DEFINITELY would not take much to finish her in cutting - which was my intention but it doesn't seem to be the time for me to do so and no need for her to wait on me 🤷🏼‍♀️
She has been shown in some Ranch Classes and has done A BIT of queen horse duties - definitely needs to be an advanced rider to continue that direction.
She is a smart mare that likes people and attention. Does well in pen or in a herd, DOES tend to be boss mare quickly.
Angels Camp.
🖐🖐🍩🍩 😁

20/05/2024

Love his writing - it's from pure experience and love of the horse ❤️

19/05/2024

I was taught to let them stretch, 'long and low' for back muscle benefit, I honestly didn't think about the benefits to the spine 🤷🏼‍♀️

19/05/2024

Good HEAVENS what a jump!! I am a HUGE stickler for BOTH knees up and tight over a fence but this is phenomenal 😍😍

20/12/2023

Yesterday, I did something very 'un FB like' 😎
There was a page I followed that was (supposed to be) strictly project horses in CA - and it was for awhile, then I started seeing 'dead broke' and 'kid broke' horses listed more and more - then some trailers listed - folks not following the page rules at all (shouldn't have been too difficult, it was the title of the page 🧐🤦🏼‍♀️). So, I questioned the admin and asked about it - she replied, 'ok' 🤔 🤨...... so - I 'unfollowed' the page - easy peasy, no posting or complaining about 'rule breakers!' Blah, blah, blah- I. Unfollowed. The. Page - and had a good rest of my day 🤷🏼‍♀️👍🏆😁

20/12/2023

My farrier taught me 'energy' - good and bad, too much or too little depending on the horse - with my grey horse, 'Nukes' my energy level has to be right along the lines of 'comatose' - doesn't matter what is in my head, I have to leave it at the gate when I go on to catch her or she is much more on alert and ready to dash away - and she dashes HARD 😳🤦🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

“No Big Deal”

There are all kinds of horse training traps that create tension and argument, and one of the most common is for the human to make too big a deal out of some perceived resistance or lack of responsiveness or, worse, some “disobedience” on the part of the horse.

This can take many forms. The horse seems a bit stuck about moving off the leg. Or he moves a step or two at the halt. Or the upward or downward transition isn’t smooth. Or he misses picking up the correct lead a couple of times. Or or or or, whatever.

The calm trainers, those who tend not to get triggered, will maybe make a couple of attempts at correction, but they won’t get obsessed to the point that they amp up the heat. They know, consciously or unconsciously, that changes happen over long periods of time, and that taking a horse to, and then beyond, its anxiety threshold is counter productive.

The good trainers have a sort of “no big deal” attitude about the litany of daily situations that are less than ideal. They are OK about it because they know that there are ALWAYS situations that are less than ideal, and that if they pick up on some of them and drill to fix them, instead of making it better, it will make the horse tight, nervous, and more resistant.

Having a “no big deal” reaction can be a learned response. And, sure, even the good trainers will sometimes step briefly across the line, but not often, not for long, and they will be quick to apologize to the horse by dialing the pressure down.

This doesn't mean that they will not readdress the problem at some later time, but they will sort of sneak up on it, get maybe a glimmer of improvement, then go on to something else.

18/12/2023

Not written by me but I literally just had this conversation with a gal who was a firm 'can't ride the papers!' believer - not wrong but to me, not completely right either - I pay a lot of attention to pedigrees, especially with certain lines that may or may not show the kind of tractablity and temperament that seems to take to training more so than other lines 🤷🏼‍♀️

(Didn't copy who wrote this so, apologies)
A harmless comment I see frequently on topics about a horse's pedigree. Almost as common as "Secretariat!" "Northern Dancer!" or "Mine has Mr Prospector, too!" And like all of those comments, it is well-intended but usually not meaningful.

A "well-bred" horse implies its pedigree is above average; it came from quality stock, it has a lot going for it on paper. "Well-bred" at the Keeneland sales is the difference between 1M and 1K. And there is a VAST difference in family, with a sizeable gray area in between.

A horse can be well-bred to do different things-- well-bred as a racehorse, well-bred as a sport horse, well-bred as an individual to stand in the yard and eat grass. When I see a gelding by Jump Start out of an unraced Not For Love mare, I call that a really well-bred TB for eventing. But your average TB breeder is not going to call that a "Well-bred" horse for racing. "But Jump Start was by AP Indy! Not For Love was by Mr. Prospector!" ...Yeah, so? These things might impress an uneducated OTTB owner, but a TB breeder will roll their eyes at you.

What does "well-bred" really mean? Let's forget the sire for a moment, because realistically almost all TB stallions have proven themselves on the track to earn a chance at stud; and those sires will typically go on to have hundreds (if not thousands) of offspring. What separates the quality of breeding is THE FEMALE FAMILY. A well-bred horse ALWAYS comes from a strong damline; by that, I mean black type under the first and second dams, and usually enough print to fill the catalog page. This horse comes from a multiple stakes winner or producer, and the sires used down the female family will be ones you know.

Why do big name sires matter? Big name sires will get my attention when they are DIRECTLY on the page... meaning the mare herself was bred to Giant's Causeway, not a son of Giant's Causeway. What's the difference? Well, GC stood for $300k in his heyday; his son Brody's Cause stands for $3500. Quality mares went to Giant's Causeway; cheap (unsuccessful, weak-familied) mares go to Brody's Cause. A horse by Brody's Cause isn't well bred, because it likely has no female family to back it up. Contrast that to Not This Time-- another son of GC, who stands for $150k in 2024-- chances are if you get a gelding by Not This Time from his recent crops, you'll have a horse with some female family power behind it. But timing matters-- what was the price of the stud fee the year your horse was conceived? THAT likely determines how "well-bred" your horse is... Bernardini was $100k in his early years, and covered excellent mares; at the end of his career he fell to $35k, and his book was much weaker, as the best mares went to the higher priced stallions.

How do you go about determining the quality of a horse's breeding? Step 1: how much did the sire stand for when the horse was conceived; anything under $40k is less likely to be a well-bred horse. Step 2: How nice is the dam? How much did she earn? Has she produced high level race winners? What did her offspring sell for? Does she have any siblings* who were stakes winners? Step 3: continue down the damline, looking at second and third dam's records. It's easy to do this through commercial (not free) mare produce reports on Equineline; but you can look up much of this information for free on pedigreequery with a few extra clicks...and understanding pedigreequery isn't always 100% accurate, but it will show you the big names with reliability. You can also do this the "long way" through Equibase, by searching an unnamed horse via dam and birth year.

Why does "well-bred" matter? For sport, you could argue that it doesn't matter. I mean, just because your horse's parents made millions racing in a circle, that has nothing to do with your individual gelding's jumping ability or dressage movement. And this is true. But personally, I believe that the very BEST racehorses are typically "true athletes" and could have been just as successful as 5* eventers (for example) if they went that direction instead of racing. Michael Jordan was the greatest NBA player of all time; but had he chosen baseball as a first career, he would have been successful at that, too. Great athletes are gifted in many ways; racing glorifies speed, but speed does not live in a vaccuum: it requires coordination, stamina, fitness, elite physical abilities, and the metal capacity to be trainable. Many of these same qualities will translate to a successful sport horse. Well-bred horses also tend to possess that certain "je-ne-sais-quoi" we call Class...something hard to define, but you know it when you see it.

Just because your horse isn't "well-bred" by racing standards doesn't mean he isn't special. Lots of average-bred horses go on to do amazing things. If I'm evaluating an unknown prospect, though, it's always a plus to me if I can find a little extra class in there.