Dreamcatcher Riding Academy

14/12/2025

Last year we granted a Christmas Wish from Cat Country 98.7. We are hoping to hear of another one this year.

Parents feel free to print this for your kids to color!

Looking forward to another year of Christmas Spirit 🎄

14/12/2025

Posts like these make me tear up & makes the hard days worth it.

Running a program & a farm is nonstop work.
It can be a lot. And dealing with animals it doesn’t always go as planned.

But seeing our students find their peace here- really makes it worth it ❤️🥰

We love our students & parents. Each lesson is customized for the student’s ability, learning style, & confidence level. We work on improvement, not perfection. And we want students to enjoy being here. I love being a mentor to my students and hope to make life-long friendships with them.

11/12/2025

One part of our lessons with young beginners is teaching rein hold & how to shorten reins quickly for emergencies.

We do this part on the ground.

Ty was so soft and sweet with this little boy.

He kept sniffing his back wondering why he wasn’t getting pets or attention.

I love watching the horses change their personalities for different riders. They are much softer with the younger students. And more hyper - ready to go - with the more confident students.

Not all horses change to a softness with the little riders. So if you have one hang onto that piece of gold!

11/12/2025

10/12/2025

I guess we’ve been here long enough now that our horses are on street views of google maps 😭😂🐴😍

09/12/2025

Ty -

Always a favorite with the kiddos.

Taking guesses in the comments:
1. How old is Ty?
2. What was he bred to do? Or Trained in?
3. What color is he considered?
4. Where does the name Ty come from?

09/12/2025

Manning's Feed and Seed best place to get feed in Milton/Pace FL!

TODAY ONLY — 12/9/25!

Nine ladies dancing… straight to the barn!

It’s the 9th Day of Christmas at Manning’s Feed & Seed, and we’re celebrating with a Horse Bucket Giveaway!

This bucket is packed with treats, grooming essentials, and barn-day favorites your horse will love!

HOW TO ENTER:
1. Like this post
2. Follow our page
3. Tag a friend (each tag = 1 entry!)

Not a horse person? You can still enter — and donate your bucket to Tiny Acres to spread some Christmas cheer!

Winner announced tomorrow!

Good luck, and Merry Christmas from your Manning’s crew!

08/12/2025

Dear people (especially the horse industry)

STOP hating & start educating

There will always be people who know less than you. If that’s the case- educate them. Stop hating on them, stop making fun of them, stop making them feel stupid when they ask a question! Commenting mean things on a strangers video is also apart of this!

If they are there - they are probably passionate & have fire in their heart and innocence in their mind. All you are doing is putting out their fire 🔥 and possibly ruining their passion altogether.

Now on the flip side- there will always be people who know more than you. Stop trying to find ways to prove them wrong or disagree with them- and LEARN from their experiences. Have an open mind. Hear everything. Choose what you like, dismiss (quietly) what you don’t like- and make your own version.

Imagine if you were constantly talked down to or ridiculed when you first started out?? Would you have stuck with it or quit?

We can lose an entire empire and industry because people keep quitting from bullying.
KNOCK👏 IT 👏OFF 👏
You are killing the industry.

Instead open your mind and arms to new knowledge & new people! Learn from the seasoned & teach the inexperienced.

If you see something that is completely wrong take a minute to kindly educate WHY it is wrong. Not just telling them they are wrong- cuz guess what if you can’t explain why- then YOU might be wrong too.

07/12/2025

Where do we start with Sam I am?!

Well he is definitely one of the smartest horses I ever worked with.

I called the owner 4 days after him being with me:
I said "He hasn't done anything wrong- so maybe its an environmental thing"

She laughed and replied - "Really?? Well its coming! Or maybe it's just me?"

And BOY DID HE SHOW IT! He drug me up the driveway because my husband put out a fresh round bale and he HAD to be the first one to take a bite. I was shocked!

Issue #1: Extremely pushy- He would drag you if food was around. Literally drag you on the ground to get to his friends or food. It was one of the most intense cases I have seen. And he is BIG. This is reason 157 why having my big ol country husband around comes in handy. Cory is the muscle and helps me with horses that are difficult for me to muscle. No abuse- Cory just is like a boulder that even horses cant push around. Sam would listen to me with a showmanship chain on though. Once he realized he couldn't drag my husband- he stopped trying and would follow with ease. Then we moved onto me, then his owner. We got him to where he would wait for you to be the leader and not drag the handler around. He came around really well for this.

Issue #2: Cookie Monster
Constantly "in your pocket" but not the polite sweet way. Like I will eat your jacket way. We removed treats from his vocabulary completely. He was so interested in treats he could NOT focus on anything. If you were holding him, his nose was in your business. This was not his owners fault as he was previously used for lessons so kids/people were constantly giving him treats & usually its not an issue. But some horses do create a terrible habit if given treats too much. He was only allowed to have them sometimes AFTER being put away. By the time he left, he was able to walk by food buckets without dragging the handler.

Funny story: We tried lemon juice in a food bucket so when he would drag us to it he would have a bad experience. This guy LOVED the lemons! We laughed so hard as we were expecting a sour face. Nope he licked up all the lemon.

Issue #3: Sticky Feet
His brain would literally stop functioning like just shut down. He would just stand there spinning on his front end like Mario Kart getting hit with a turtle shell. It was a way of him trying to get out of work but also he would just shut down mentally. So we made riding more fun for him and worked on a lot of back end building and haunches work. We mixed up his arena routine. This was to strengthen his haunches and get him off his front end. I worked a lot of showmanship pivots on the ground to get him confident with planting his back end instead of his front end. This helped a lot and the owner had a lot of fun with this. Overall he was a great ride & safe. Just would have moments when he would "malfunction". We got him more confident in himself and his gait to where he would no longer shut down. We also discussed how to be completely clear about what we want to not confuse him causing a breakdown. And when you build his hind end he is less likely to go to the forehand.

Issue #4: Owner and horse relationship
This owner is the sweetest thing! At first she was worried he didn't like her or they just weren't a good match. But it was not that at all. He just realized he could be pushy to get what he wanted. He loves her- and most horses do love their owners- they are just giant toddlers throwing temper tantrums. She took weekly lessons with him and I taught her all the steps I had been doing so she could continue these at home. Their whole relationship changed for the better. And he no longer was pushy with her. It was such a beautiful moment to see him wait for her with curiosity versus pushiness.

We always include the owners in the training process. Otherwise they will revert right back to their old ways. So it is important the owner knows how to recognize things & handle them accordingly to keep this horse a good horse.

07/12/2025

Gift your Special horse enthusiast with Riding Lessons. Adults & kids. New or current students.

Sale ends Dec 20th.

Details in comments of orginal post or contact us🙂🐴
Message or call/text welcomed.
I may not see your comments on groups.

Homeschoolers get reimbursed for lessons!

470-315-3030
Milton, FL

06/12/2025

We needed this rain….but hopefully will end soon and we can go back to normal.
Miss you all! 🐴❤️

05/12/2025

What temperature do you blanket or bring in??

Answer: It’s not about the temperature.

50 degrees & ☀️ feels amazing!

50 degrees & 🌩️☔️ is miserable!

Region matters:
Minnesota cold & Florida cold are very different. Minnesota would laugh at us Floridians- but if they were here they would be holding their jacket.

I used to go based on temperatures but Went out the other day to check on the horses (1st day of our 4 day rain streak). They were spinning trying to find a way to block the rain. Shivering. And it was 53 degrees!!! They were miserable

I brought them in for the next 4 nights. I allowed them to go out during the day if light rain and brought them in with enough time to dry before night time.

Other facts about rainy weather:
🐴 old/young horses cannot function like horses in their prime.

🐴 horses will not eat or drink during rain as they are just trying to block it. Messing with their metabolism.

🐴 Shivering causes loss of calories and energy that could harm older horses or horses that are hard to keep weight on.

🐴 horses in the wild have thick brush to hide in or large herds they can huddle together. Domesticated horses do not have the instincts that wild horses do.

🐴 Sun matters so much! My horses will be sweating in their winter blankets in 35 & ☀️ . So plan on removing blankets as well based on sun & dryness.

🐴 owning a horse is a privilege to provide the animal with the best care. If you choose to own horses it is your responsibility to provide them with shelter or blankets in bad weather.