Mo Holmes Show Horses

14/08/2024

Morning projects!

07/08/2024

Yesterday was a turning point for our home bred foals. The saddest day of the year (weaning day) didn’t go too badly. The mares love their giant, green pasture and the babies are doing fine!

06/08/2024

Gotta brag on this girl for a minute! Huge congratulations to Taylyn Herd and Malakai for smashing her 4-H fair goals. This was her first year doing 4-H and we started working together late spring. Her drive, talent and work ethic proved powerful as she would practice hard everything she learned. They look like a different team from where they started. So deserving of these accomplishments and I am a super proud trainer. I see great things in her future horse career!

24/07/2024

We have so many exciting developments happening I almost forgot to welcome Goodride DeVille to the MHSH team. He will be loved and shown by Olivia Halphen and family. Thank you to Jenn Wheeler and Justin for such a fun and easy transaction. We cannot wait to get this one in the show pen!

22/07/2024

How do we still have this guy? He was sold, passed the vet and on the day of pick up, buyer had a personal issue and had to decline. So her loss is your gain! Come try him!

Mac is a 10 year old pretty, soft moving, all around gelding by RL Best of Sudden. He has been shown in halter, showmanship, western pleasure, horsemanship and equitation. Almost ready to show in trail and good start on lead changes. Lots of show life left, he is an easy hauler and trail rides as well. Great for someone who doesn’t want a lot of bounce when riding. Would make a great local breed show partner or open show star! He is the same horse every time out. 💰✌️🎱, 🥕🥕🥕. Located in Fort Lupton, Colorado.

12/07/2024

These are great shows to practice at, compete at or just have some fun. Professionally run like the breed shows without the budget sting! Great prizes too!

12/07/2024

I just want to brag on this girl and this horse one more time. Timbre Kott has done such an incredible job with this filly that I started a few years ago, even when people told her she couldn’t. This girl and this horse never game up and now they smoked their dreams at the Appaloosa Nationals! So proud to be a small part of making people’s dreams come true!

04/07/2024

So super proud of Timbre Kott and Fawn for their big win. Love seeing horses I started and trained as babies go on to be stars! Such a great team and I’m so happy for the Kott family!

28/06/2024

Mac is a triple registered (AQHA, APHA, Pinto) but 10 year old pretty, soft moving, all around gelding by RL Best of Sudden. He has been shown in halter, showmanship, western pleasure, horsemanship and equitation. Almost ready to show in trail and started on lead changes. Lots of show life left, he is an easy hauler and trail rides as well. Would make a great local breed show partner or open show star!
💰:✌️🎱, 🥕🥕🥕. Located in Fort Lupton, Colorado.

21/06/2024

16/06/2024

We are ecstatic to announce that Mo Holmes Show Horses will be relocating to our own property in Kersey. This is a dream come true!

08/06/2024

Cannot wait to get this fancy guy home! Congratulations to Lee Williams Hatch on her purchase of Test Driven! Watch for this new duo in Rookie/Level 1 and Select Amateur events.

Huge thank you to Cameron Van Sickle and Tyler Stevens for such a fun and easy transaction!

07/06/2024

I love fun summer time days playing with our horses!

03/06/2024

Congratulations to Bonnie Wichterman, and family on their purchase of Lookin For A Win. Stu is going to have the perfect home in Minnesota! It was a heartfelt goodbye from Lee Hatch and me but we know he is already loved dearly. 💜💙

14/05/2024

I can help you shop for your dream horse!

🐴🛒 by Laura Speiser!

“When horse shopping, you may find yourself interacting with agents, rather than directly with owners. While there are certainly trainers and agents out there who are less scrupulous, remember that many sellers hire agents instead of just representing the horses themselves for banal reasons - the seller has a job outside of horses and doesn’t have the time, the seller doesn’t have the emotional bandwidth to endure all that annoyance of selling horses, the seller would rather pay an experienced professional with a substantial network than try and do it alone, etc etc. Agents are paid commissions, and those commissions aren’t just about the number of minutes they’ve put into selling THAT horse - it’s about the years of experience and network building they’ve logged to become an agent the seller trusts.

Ditto shopping with an agent or with your coach. Yes, you need to pay them a commission for the time they’ve put in for you. But what you’re really paying for is the experience that person has in matching horses to riders with success, the experience working with veterinarians to determine what is a valid concern on a PPE and what is ephemera, and the networking to know which sellers’ agents are trustworthy and which ones are to be treated with skepticism.

Yes, an experienced horseman CAN safely fly solo through the world of horse sales. But even those of us with experience still use agents to simplify the process, and the inexperienced should absolutely use qualified help. The cost of a commission to match you with your dream horse is VASTLY less expensive than going it alone and ending up with a bad match.”

09/05/2024

Beautiful Sleeping Horse Flower Bed

05/05/2024

Super congratulations to Eli Hatch for winning the High Point APHA Novice Amateur at the Heart of the Rockies show! We set a goal and we crushed it!

Thank you to Doug Hammack and EZ Horseshows for such a smooth and fun show.

03/05/2024

Caption This! Or make thought bubbles!

01/05/2024

All set up at the Heart of the Rockies AQHA/APHA show in Loveland! Come visit!

23/04/2024

So busy lately I have missed posting so much exciting news that has been happening at MHSH!

Congratulations to Ronda Macleod on the purchase of Required Goods! This super special mare found her perfect home and will be under the guidance of Alison Palmer. We will miss SweetPea but we know she has found the perfect person.

23/04/2024

I can help with that!

07/04/2024

Gorgeous, big and kind 16 year old gelding looking for his next show partner! This cool guy has 3 sets of papers, AQHA, APHA, and Pinto. A true all arounder, he will trot out big enough for the English classes and jog soft enough for the western stuff. Stu is a showmanship master. He would be a perfect kids horse for local breed shows, open shows and even 4-H. He can do it all, gymkhana too and still have the brains to come back and go slow for the pleasure events. He would make an outstanding eventing or endurance project as he can go all day long. He has been jumped and likes it. He is broke to do almost any event you want: showmanship, western pleasure, horsemanship, hunter under saddle, equitation, trail, and has a lead change. Sound and sane. Located in Fort Lupton, Colorado. 💲✌️🛞,💙💙💙. Call or text: 843-655-7676

02/04/2024

And the best part of the show! Bo and Marley Cotner were absolute stars in the leadline. Now ready for Walk/Jog classes

02/04/2024

We had a fantastic, fun time at the Mile High Quarter horse show here in Loveland, Colorado last week! Placings in every class we entered and more laughs at the stalls!

Thanks to EZ Horseshows and Doug Hammick for such a great event!

14/03/2024

Got to love on my favorite stud muffin today (and I don’t mean just Stephen Holmes)! Love me some Original Cowboy! ❤️❤️

09/03/2024

Fun day of FFA judging practice for St Vrain Valley!

07/03/2024

HORSES ARE NOT LIKE DOGS! I say it all the time!

Borrowed from The Ultimate Horse.

“Why your horse is NOT like your dog:

I’ll never forget my first horse. I was seven years old. I spent the first month brushing him, turning him out, and feeding him treats. Often, when I turned him out, he kicked out at me as he ran off. I smiled and thought he was just enjoying his turnout. He frequently nibbled my shirt looking for treats. I considered this a sign of his affection.

When I went to ride him for the first time, we trotted around the ring a few times nicely. Then he proceeded to buck me off, circle back, and try to stomp on me as a I was laying on the ground.

I was so confused! Why was he so mean?!

I learned the problem was me, not the horse. You see, I was treating my horse like I treat my dog. The problem with this is that horses and dogs are complete opposites.

Dogs are confident, small PREDATORS that generally can’t kill you with the stomp of their foot. Horses are large PREY animals that constantly fear for their lives and can kill you in an instant.

Because horses are prey animals, they seek a leader first, not a friend. They are constantly evaluating your fitness as a leader, just as they test the pecking order amongst other horses.

To understand how a horse thinks, watch a herd of horses in a field. You’ll notice that there is a pecking order.

Horses test the leadership abilities of their pasture mates by encroaching upon their personal space bubbles, uninvited. A submissive horse allows this and gets picked on. A dominant horse does’nt allow this and disciplines the offender. The dominant horse makes the other horse move his feet to assert his position.

Horses test us daily. How we react determines whether our horse will treat us with respect.

When your horse acts pushy and comes into your personal space bubble, he is testing you. A few examples include: kicking out, nibbling, using you as a scratching post, dragging you around, and ignoring your requests.

Many owners shrug these behaviors off as “cute”. They are later shocked when their horse bucks them off because they fail to realize their horse has been communicating his disrespect for them all along.

Speak your horse’s language! Dangerous behaviors can be averted through responding akin to a dominant horse. You can do this through moving your horse’s feet as a dominant horse would.

Groundwork is perhaps the most overlooked, yet important way to establish respect. If your horse is pushy and disrespectful, I challenge you to do ground work for one month. You’ll be shocked at how willing, kind, and respectful of a partner your horse becomes!”

06/03/2024

In a wonderful conversation with my clients this morning via our group text. This is a poem I used to have on my classroom walls. My favorite English teacher also had it on her classroom walls when I was in school thought I would share.

06/03/2024

For anyone looking to buy a horse!

‘𝑻𝑶 𝑹𝑬𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬 𝑨 𝑮𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑺𝑬’
This was sent to us, not by the author, but by someone who believes ‘Every word of it rings true”.

‘The best horses are built over years of hauling, hard work, tough times, good times, bad times, big spooks, little spooks, their mistakes, our mistakes and continual love and care.

‘No, your breaker can not turn your young prospect into your old faithful in 30, 60, 90, or even 365 days. It takes years.

‘I’m plagued with the problem of trying to impress on people how long it truly takes to build that dream partner. There’s not a smooth paved path. Your green horse will embarrass you, frustrate you, and maybe even hurt you. For some of you, buying a $20,000-$30,000 horse is going to be worth it and SAVE you money. Even that more finished horse will take a year or more to sync up with.

‘Cheap rate for horse training is $1,000 a month.
1 year of training: $12,000
2 years of training: $24,000

‘Many of you won’t believe this but your dream horse is on the other side of two years of training. In reality, it’s likely around two years of training and two years of seasoning (hauling them to town). Will that horse still make mistakes? Yes, they all make mistakes until the day they die. But that horses mistakes probably won’t put you in serious danger and that horse will probably pack your grandkids around.

‘If you’re trying to decide between a $3,500 prospect or a $15,000 proven horse. My advice is to do an internal inventory and figure out what you want. Buying that prospect is like the first roll on the Jumanji board. You’re entered up, get ready for a journey of ups and downs (possibly quite literally!) If you’re buying that finished horse decide what you really want, get ready for a lot of shopping and painfully overpriced sh💩tters. Take a friend or a trainer on this journey with you and try to double your budget (that’s right, 30k). Be smart and buy something OVER 8 years old. Don’t buy that pretty 5 year old they only want 20k for. He isn’t old enough to be proven for you. Lots of horse traders are trying to flip horses, anything under 8 is likely twice as green as he looks in the video. Maturity, both mental and physical will be key when looking for a safe horse.

‘If you want a project and a challenge I’m not hating, that’s what I want in a horse too, so I buy young ones. If you need a safe one, bring lots of money and quit thinking you need a 6 year old. You probably don’t have what it takes to mentally support that 6 year old through new situations.

‘The biggest reason I bring this up is because as folks retire their old faithful they are so far removed from when that horse was green and did dumb stuff. They forgot how tough those two years were back when he was 4-6. They only remember the amazing horse he was when he matured. The 3 year old they just bought is YEARS from filling that horses shoes when it comes to training level and safety level. I see people hate on trainers because the trainer couldn’t make their young horse, “finished” in 90 days. It’s honestly the biggest reason I like taking colts for 30 or 60 days. The expectation is shockingly lower than when I take one for 90 days. It’s weird what people expect from a 90 day start. Most people should commit to sending their young horse out for a full year. Two years would be even better.

‘Green horses do green horse things, don’t blame others for the challenge you bought yourself. Accept the challenge or pay the price for one further along. No matter which path you choose with horses, it’s going to cost you.

* We've since found out this great article was written by Craig Moore, Moore Horsemanship.