Believe The Journey Horse Services LLC

20/08/2024

By Marlo Scafe Despite his young age, it’s clear that 7-year-old Knox Lane Ellis touched many people in his life, and in the Santa Rosa County community. Fr ...

20/08/2024

Last spot has been filled! I will be contacting everyone by Friday for payment and then will do the draw this weekend for the raffle of the 2 hour ride for 1 person ♥️ thank you everyone who has participated!

Get ready for the ultimate trail experience! With less than a month to go, we're excited to announce a new adventure for those eager to hit the saddle again. Enter our raffle for a chance to win a 2-hour ride for one person! Limited spots available at $10 each. Comment below for your preferred spot number! Payment will be due once spots are completed and I will announce the winner the week spots have been fulfilled. All proceeds go towards the horses and the new intake Luna.
1. Debbie
2. Michelle
3. Becca
4. Stephanie
5. Ally
6. Lori
7. Anna
8. Wendy
9. Kristina
10. Rebecca
11. Laura
12. Brittany

15/08/2024

One more spot to go!!

Get ready for the ultimate trail experience! With less than a month to go, we're excited to announce a new adventure for those eager to hit the saddle again. Enter our raffle for a chance to win a 2-hour ride for one person! Limited spots available at $10 each. Comment below for your preferred spot number! Payment will be due once spots are completed and I will announce the winner the week spots have been fulfilled. All proceeds go towards the horses and the new intake Luna.
1. Debbie
2. Michelle
3. Becca
4. Stephanie
5. Ally
6. Lori
7. Anna
8. Wendy
9. Kristina
10. Rebecca
11. Laura
12. Brittany

13/08/2024

Get ready for the ultimate trail experience! With less than a month to go, we're excited to announce a new adventure for those eager to hit the saddle again. Enter our raffle for a chance to win a 2-hour ride for one person! Limited spots available at $10 each. Comment below for your preferred spot number! Payment will be due once spots are completed and I will announce the winner the week spots have been fulfilled. All proceeds go towards the horses and the new intake Luna.
1. Debbie
2. Michelle
3. Becca
4. Stephanie
5. Ally
6. Lori
7. Anna
8. Wendy
9. Kristina
10. Rebecca
11. Laura
12. Brittany

08/08/2024

Only true cowgirls can survive the heat of Florida in august riding horses and taking care of farm animals! Everyone meet Luna the new intake! A little flea bitten grey!

19/07/2024

FROM A PARENT:
One of my friends asked "Why do you pay so much money for your kids to ride horses?" Well I have a confession to make, I don't pay for my kids to ride horses.

So, if I am not paying for them to ride, what am I paying for?

- I pay for those moments when my kids become so tired they want to quit but don't.

- I pay for those days when my kids come home from school and are "too tired" to go to the barn but go anyway.

- I pay for my kids to learn to be disciplined.

- I pay for my kids to learn to take care of their body.

- I pay for my kids to learn to work with others and to be good team mates.

- I pay for my kids to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don't get that score they'd hoped for, but still have to work hard in the grading.

- I pay for my kids to learn to make and accomplish goals.

- I pay for my kids to learn that it takes hours and hours and hours and hours of hard work and practice to create a champion, and that success does not happen overnight.

- I pay for the opportunity my kids have and will have to make life-long friendships.

- I pay so that my kids can be in the arena instead of in front of a screen...
..I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for horse riding, I pay for the opportunities that horse riding provides my kids with to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment!

Unknown Author

03/07/2024

'"Tom Dorrance is the only person I know of with the ability to put his emotions and motives aside and focus on the horse’s emotions and motives. Tom would say; "Before the inside of the horse can be right, the inside of the person needs to be right."

Tom had a gift from God. Money couldn’t buy it. Tom couldn’t sell it. People went to great lengths to get it, Tom couldn’t give it away. In this mechanized, hi-tech age, it’s hard for people to grasp something as old as a breath, two souls striving for an inner peace.

It would be frustrating for me not being able to do something with a horse, but if I would just think of some of the things Tom repeated over and over, it helped me. Like “fix it up and wait.” I didn’t mind fixing it up until the sweat was pouring off me and I was out of air, but that waiting was real hard for me.

I regret being so thick-headed and taking so much of Tom’s time with so little to show for, but I am truly grateful that he prepared me to find the doors and open them up to find what he wanted me to find."' - Martin Black

Martin's quote and the image of Tom are from an article titled 'Remembering Tom Dorrance'
Written by Eclectic Horseman

02/07/2024

When we work with horses we must first acknowledge that what we desire in a horse for behaviour is not what nature programmed them to do

When we think of spooky, flighty, wary, reactive horses we often see this as a challenge and while in the wild this horse would probably survive longer than the one that wasn't, in domestication these horses can often get a bit of bit of a raw deal

I watched a thing about horses that were working in the police force and they put heart monitors on them while going through training, now when faced with something they didn't like the horses that spooked actually began lowering their heart rate whereas the horses that quietly walked past kept the high heart rate, if we think of the sympathetic system hits a peak for the parasympathetic to overtake then the quiet horses were actually the more stressed horses

We often think of highly reactive as bad and super quiet as good. For me these are two extremes sides of the same coin and often if we force the horse We can see these two extremes in one session

Now horses do well to fit into our world it will shape their quality of life and often sadly the longevity of their life but I think we should have some admiration for them as the majority of the things we ask them to do goes against their natural instinct,

I always want somewhere in the middle if I am asking a horse to work I do not want a horse that has zoned out (this is not relaxation), neither do I want a horse that is so wired it is oblivious to me
Both of these reactions are extremes think of one that won't be eaten and the other doesn't care anymore

If your horse refuses to do something then we first have to ask the reason why and encourage the horse to be able to find the right answer without reprimand for getting it wrong for the horse will always remember the reprimand more than the task

Don't let ourselves mimic those two extremes we neither want to come across as a lion yet we don't want to come across as a sheep, we simply need to be someone who reassures their horse they won't die if they try

Don't hold your horse in some mystical reverence as you will put to much pressure on them to be something they might not want to be because if they don't meet your emotional needs they may always meet an owner in sadness which may reflect back on their mood, and while they can be a part of making us feel better it's not fair for us to continually dump all our own issues onto them

If we are in continual awe of what they will let us do then we may just be a little more considerate and understanding when they say no

23/06/2024

19/06/2024

Hot weather lesson plans:
Two truths exist simultaneously - horse welfare is of upmost importance and we don’t want to overwork horses in the heat, AND lesson barns can’t afford to just quit teaching because of inclement weather.

I honestly don’t see this as a problem, but rather a reason to get creative!! And honestly every time I get creative, my students benefit from it.

This week I’ve really been focusing on teaching my young students all about how we TRAIN horses. I have a young walk/trot student that worked on getting one of our ponies to be more patient during the switch cup obstacle. (You just lift a cup up off of one pole that is on one side of your horse, and set it on another pole that is located on the other side of your horse.) We talked a lot about how horses don’t come out of the womb knowing what humans want them to do and how we are constantly training. I had her do a whole lot of halting and then reaching down to her right toe, and then reaching down to her left toe, petting the horse, and then walking off again.

I’ve had a lot of students working with the garrocha pole at a walk. Hot days are great for introducing obstacles like sidepass, and opening and closing a gate while mounted. I just worked a Young Horse, and did lots of yielding the hind quarters and yielding the forehand.  I had one student walk a figure 8, and had her count steps on each side of the figure 8 and try to get them to match. When it’s this hot, I still have students trot and sometimes canter but it’s short and brisk! We will do frequent quick trot stretches to wake the horse up and get them in front of the leg, but we just don’t maintain it for a long.

It’s a great time to get really picky about mounting- do your students know how to correct a Horse that wants to swing the hip? Do they mount elegantly or do they leap up there and cling like a tree frog? Sometimes little habits creep in fast and this is a great time to fix them.

I’m also not above hosing a horse off before I work them.
I wouldn’t even mind telling kids they can show up in shorts, and we can do a ba****ck ride, and even let them take off their boots and socks, and put them on the fence while riding ba****ck. (I have done this and I then hold the horse while they go put their shoes back on before handling a Horse at all.) Heck- have them ride through a sprinkler!

Give your adults silly leadline Lessons!!! as long as you have quiet lesson horses, have them sit backwards while you lead them around- do all the silly exercises you would do with a four-year-old child. (honestly, the adults need it more!)

You don’t have to cancel lessons- but you sure shouldn’t be having horses and riders jump 3 foot courses on repeat when it’s 95°F.

Find some shade and work on simple flexions and yields. Teach your horses a trick… better yet, teach your students how to teach tricks to the ponies! There is plenty that you can still do!!

14/06/2024

What a great lesson day! First training horse in for the summer! If you have not signed up for summer camp next week there is only 2 slots remaining! suitable for children between the ages 6-12!

11/06/2024

Reminder guided trail rides are closed for the summer. However, this is the time for training horses and hauling needs! I will be available for hauling during the weekends up to 6-8 hours away. I also will be taking in a selected amount of training horses for July and August! Please pm or text me if interested or have any questions!

21/05/2024

ALL SPOTS HAVE BEEN FILLED!
Thank you everyone! Guided rides will be back open in September! Hope everyone has a good summer ♥️
This weekend is the last weekend available for trail rides for the season until the Fall. I still have a few spots available! Please pm me if you are interested! Thursday am for 3 riders 2 hours only. Friday I have availability for up to 4 riders for 1 or 2 hours. Saturday available for 2 riders in the pm 2 hours only. Sunday morning or afternoon available 1 or 2 hour slots. Monday pm 1 spot remaining for a 2 hour ride (experienced riders only for this time).
If booked today will apply a discount! 🤠

20/03/2024

Candice Christie De Luna

It’s that time for our first public event! March 21st at 730pm. SPACE is limited so be sure to pm me asap!

Who would benefit from this event:
Anyone who loves animals and wants to connect to them on a deeper level
Anyone who has been going through a hard time, and maybe has a hard time letting people “in”
Anyone who is trying to find a deeper connection to nature and natural/alternative healing
Anyone who has stuck emotions they need help processing
Anyone who is feral by nature and just wants to have a chill time hanging out with some horses (and cool hippy cowgirls)

*minors with an understanding of quiet time are welcome to join - parents will need to be on site at all times*

What is included:
Horse safety and general tips
A guided meditation to help you tune in with your body and your assigned horse-buddy
Individual time with a horse- up close and personal interaction
Guidance and energetic feedback from Energy healing practitioners Wendy & Hali, Cowgirl Candice the Horse Whisperer, and our resident Matchmaker & Numerologist Karine

What to bring:
Shoes that are ok to get dirty
A blanket or yoga mat that is ok to go on the ground
Pillow or chair if needed for support
Water

*Disclaimers*
Possible small Airplane noises
Horse farts
You will be asked to sign a safety waiver
Cow farts

Come to the barn and get totally blissed out with us! ”

Once again spacing is limited so please feel free to pm or text me at 8502939261 (Candice)

The cost is 33$ per person and this event will last approximately 2 hours. We plan to hold this ceremony once a month so if you miss out this go around be sure to watch our page for the next event 💕♥️🤠 🐴

01/03/2024

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear."
Ambrose Redmoon

I love this quote and it is so true…
Sometimes we let fear hold us back from what truly sets our soul on fire 🔥
Sometimes we just need to find our courage and be brave… take that first step in the right direction ❤️
It’s amazing what 20 seconds of bravery can accomplish ❤️

This was a super long ride through some crazy trails but soooo worth the view at the top❤️
Love my June❤️
ShinersGot Swagger sure makes some nice minded foals❤️
Can’t wait to meet her 2024 and it’s her first time being a momma❤️

29/02/2024

WHEN PASSION MEETS INSPIRATION, AN OBSESSION IS BORN.

"Be more than motivated.
Be more than driven.
Become literally obsessed to the point
where people think you're f**king nuts."
~David Goggins~

Passion is a positive word that leads to growth, self-improvement, and will help lead you to your purpose in life.

Obsession keeps you going when others are partying, socializing, having fun, sleeping, too lazy to grow or better themselves, or simply fitting in.

When you are a little passionate, everybody cheers you on, “Oh! you found your passion. Great! Be passionate! Follow your passion! Reach your goals! Live your dream!” People encourage you because they think you are on to something.

But when you are obsessed with you passion, they will say, “Why you gotta be so crazy? Why do you spend so much time on that?” Why can’t you be reasonable about it?” “You don’t have to be so preoccupied with it, it’s just a hobby.”

When you are obsessed, people think you are nuts.
Most people will not understand you. Not even your close friends or family. They do not understand because unfortunately they are average. Average people are stuck in the day to day routine of accepting life and not leading life.

In life, you have a choice. You can either be average, fit in and just go through life with no real sense of purpose or you can be obsessed with your passion and create a journey for yourself that will help mold you into someone you never dreamed possible.

Being passionate about something is being in love with life, and becoming obsessed with that something is living that life to the fullest!

I choose to be obsessed. I choose to own my own life. I choose a life that is fulfilled and a life I will not look back on with regret!

LIFE IS SHORT!
OWN YOUR OWN DECISIONS!
OWN YOUR OWN LIFE!

📸: Jared H Searcy

27/02/2024

A friend said recently that horses really like a ’Long Hello’. That many horses feel immediately rushed by us, and this can really set us onto a path of misunderstandings and conflicts with the horse. 



Out on a trail ride the other day, my horse carrying me calmly, carefully, steadily, he waded into the river, and splashed his nose in the water, lifted into a Flehman’s Response, then pawed at the water. It made me laugh. The sun was shining. It was perfect weather, cool enough for a jacket, sunny enough to not get cold. I reached down and rubbed his shoulder. My body flooded with all the feel good things I almost always feel around horses.
"Thanks buddy”, I said.

Gratitude. 

I wake up. I go to my horses. I am grateful. Already won. Why?



There are plenty of voices out there telling us, and our horses, that they are not good enough. Not correct enough, fit enough, collected enough, shiny enough, natural enough, healthy enough, calm enough, cooperative enough.



It is enough.



I am grateful before the horse because that is my long goodbye to the horse. We never know when we will have our last moment with our horses. And under normal set of circumstances, we will all outlive our horses, and if we are REALLY lucky, we will be there with them, in gratitude and dignity, at the very end. 



So I stay grateful, so that I do not have to GET grateful. Because that is my long goodbye to my horses. No matter if it was to be today, or in 30 years from now.

There is a training principal that permeates equestrian culture at almost every level and wears many disguises. It is the principal of trying to win. It sets the human against the horse and see's the working relationship with them as something competitive. Who wins, who loses, who gets their way. Who gets what they want.

The reason why I try to steer away from that, and you should to, is that it sets you up on a pathway of diminishing gratitude. That diminishing gratitude will eventually leave you utterly burnt out with horses.

So what to do about it? How to express your gratitude to a horse in a way they understand?



1. When the horse doesn’t give you what you want, try smiling about it. Breathe-in. Wait. You can always repeat the question in a moment. And maybe they didn’t understand you, or can’t do that thing today. Or maybe their lesson for you today is not about you getting what you want, but something else



2. When the horse does give you what you want in two seconds or less, permit yourself to feel joy about that. Smile like a maniac. Don’t be entitled or demanding (Unless in an emergency of safety). Tell that horse, in your language, that it was wonderful what they did. And feel what you say, so that the horse feels you too. 



3. The 1-Minute Ride. Once in a blue moon (For established, hard working saddle horses). Catch, groom, tack, warm up, mount. Sit for one minute quietly. Get off. Finish. Say THANK YOU to the horse and give them some extra hay that day. 



4. When correcting a horse whom has problematic posture, movement issues, or behavioural issues. Remember that it is their body not yours. Maladaptive responses exist for a really good reason and taking those away from a horse too quickly and absolutely could deprive the horse from an important coping strategy that is holding them together. Go slower in your reformation of what you deem incorrect, so that the horse has a chance to contribute to it too. They may not adhere to the rules of the system you are using, so give them a chance to SHOW you, what they need. 



5. Give your horse the absolute best quality of life you can. Try to relocate if your barn doesn’t have good living conditions for your horse. Stop giving money to people who know better, but can’t/won’t do better. It doesn’t have to be perfect. But never give up trying to give your horse a life that they enjoy living, outside of their time with you. Even in the most compromised of conditions, you would be amazed what some creative thinking can do to totally change the environment, improving your horses life outside of training.

https://www.emotionalhorsemanship.com

24/02/2024

Emotion is connected to movement. But it’s NOT connected primarily to mechanical training as a focus.

Mechanical training, in simple terms, is horse training implemented with the intention, focus and goal to create a physical change, a mechanical result in the horse. That is the first priority of mechanical training. Mechanical focus for mechanical results.
There is a secondary focus within mechanical training. A mental and emotional improvement.
If we were to put it on a pie chart, a mechanical technique would perhaps occupy 70-90% of the focus, intention, goal and results. And the secondary focus of a mental and emotional shift occupies 30-10% of the focus, intention, goal and results.

Flip that.

Emotional training is a thing too.

Huh?

Yeah! That’s kinda sorta really what I’m doing here. It’s what drives my 50 hour work week, every week, for several years now.

Non-mechanical training as the FIRST STEP. Not the last.

So, emotional horsemanship. That’s not marketing babble or slick branding because I’m trying to manipulate people. In fact, I’m so poor at business strategy I require WEEKLY coaching at it from experts!

I am a tradesman.

Meaning, emotional horsemanship is my trade, my skill, my tools and my service.

So, emotional horsemanship is training where an emotional (and mental- they are not the same) improvement is the first priority. We implement a specific set of techniques, informed by science, empathy and feel, which has the primary focus, intention, goal and result to be an emotional shift. That is the 70-90% focus of Emotional Horsemanship.
There is a secondary focus in all of those techniques of a mechanical change. That’s the 30-10% within the same emotional techniques.

So, emotions and movement are always connected. But emotional and mechanical training have a ven diagram overlap, with clear differentiations too.

Why?

Ask any horse person who loves their horses what’s the most important thing to them?

Go on. Ask them.

One day, as their horse takes their last breath, what will their human thank the horse for?

“Thank you for all those years of impressive fitness and suspension in your trot”
“Thank you for always looking good”
“Thank you for those perfect half passes, and the piaffe we worked years for”

In the end, we may thank horses for those things but it may only occupy 30-10% of our purpose, ultimately, with a horse.

In the end we thank them for their friendship. Their forgiveness. Their grace.

Their love.

Love is unconditional.

We can love a horse who is physically not performing.

We can love a horse who has not much mechanically to offer.

We can love a horse BEFORE their body is doing it correctly.

In fact- we should.

So if at the end of a horses journey with us, we find emotional connection the most important thing, why in the middle of our horses life do we abandon this, so easily, to make them a mechanical past time- telling stories about friendship while we do?

Special shout out to body workers, lameness specialists and rehabbers. I train horses physically too. In fact- it constitutes my primary focus with my own horses. And it’s my primary skill set with my advanced students. Because I’ve laid the foundation emotionally first. And maintain that. I gatekeep mechanical training through emotional consent. So that the horse WILLINGLY CONTRIBUTES towards the mechanical goal. I can trust that physical work as real with a horse who is in deep care and nurturance with me. I can trust the play, and curiosity because we have built that safely and precisely together.

Emotional Biomechanics is my tongue in cheek description of it lately.

Currently, I deliver such teachings to about 50-60 people per week. Plus over 1000 students on different self study options.

Someone, somewhere in the world, right now, is exploring this with their horses.

If you’re too shy to come directly to me, I have private self study options.

I’m also training some co-instructors at present.

This. Is. Happening.

I won’t call it the future of horse training.

Because this has always been with us. We just got a little side tracked for a few centuries on a mechanical side quest. And in this late stage capitalism hellscape, it’s time to come back home.

But I never place the mechanics before the mind and heart of the horse. Because- to me- that’s placing a condition on connection.

And I don’t teach connection as the new age performance trick.

Connection for connection. First priority, regardless what it looks like.

Because the mechanics that come after that, are a mere formality.