Cactus Belle Horsemanship

08/01/2025

When I took this photo over a year ago, I had no idea that this horse was missing three lumbar vertebrae. All I knew is that something was very wrong and she was trying to communicate with me to tell me that the best that she could. We had been taking a break from riding and I was trying to find something she enjoyed doing and would connect with me while doing. How can she even jump like this missing three vertebrae? I have no clue.
What I do know is that every day this horse woke up and tried for me, and if that isn’t a testament to what building a relationship with your horse can do, I don’t know what is.
I want to help you reach your goals with your horse for 2025. Please reach out if I can help you in any way!

08/01/2025

Going to keep this as simple as you should...Want to help your horse stay warm during cold nights??

Feed more hay!

Horses are better equipped to deal with cold than we are. Aside from their thick, insulated coat, the digestion of forage acts like an internal furnace to help warm them from the inside out.

You can use a slow feeder to slow down the fast eaters or “fluffy” ones (🙋🏼‍♀️ I have one of those!), but having access at all times is important.

A few other things to consider are adding extra salt or an electrolyte (like Bluebonnet Hydrate and Recover) or wetting down existing feed to help with water consumption. For older horses with bad teeth, increase their chopped forage or hay pellets at their evening meal. Avoid adding things they don’t eat on a daily basis like a mash of something other than their normal feed or a type of hay they don’t already eat daily. This can only add to digestive distress.

At the end of a cold day, feed more hay 😘

08/01/2025

31/12/2024

As 2024 comes to a close, I want to thank all of my friends and clients for the continued support. Building a reputation and business from the ground up is no joke, especially in the horse industry, and I take every person who chooses to so much as share one of my posts even if they don’t have a horse to send to me very seriously, and I appreciate every single one of you.
2024 was a year of growth for me. I learned very quickly how to go with the flow and trust the process, which as a Type A personality is something that I have always struggled with. I’m learning to trust that there is a plan in place for me, even if it wasn’t my plan. Everything really does happen for a reason and when one door closes another one opens.
For those of you who are new to following me, after 2 1/2 years of battling medical and behavioral issues with my personal horse Dolly, who was supposed to be the horse I thought would put me on the map in the show pen, we found that she was in fact born missing three lumbar vertebrae. She was retired this year at five years old. This was all after in 2023 battling Clover tearing her suspensory in two places and me being told that my heart horse would be lucky to be comfortable enough existing in the pasture not to be euthanized.
I truly didn’t understand why I felt like the universe was completely against me. I was just trying to do my very best with the best of intentions and felt like I kept having the rug pulled out from underneath me.
I realize that I need to change my attitude to a glass half full view and have instead became an advocate for what the horse in front of us is trying to say and helped several other horses since Dolly’s diagnosis with extreme medical issues that have otherwise been overlooked as naughty horses.
I was also given the amazing opportunity by to take on and show Shooter, which has improved my finesse horsemanship skills tenfold and opened a lot of doors for me in the show pen. I am incredibly grateful for the La Florida family for trusting me with such an incredible horse.
Here’s to 2025. Bring it on 🥂
📸

31/12/2024

3 year old Cooper’s first try on obstacles during his first week of training and saddling! I’d say they picked a good one! 🤯 what do you guys think of Cooper? 🥰 Florida Beach Horses

31/12/2024

Who’s ending the year with time with their favorite horse?! 🙋🏼‍♀️
Drop a photo in the comments!

30/12/2024

‼️Training opening available ASAP‼️

🌵Colt starting
🌵Baby Kindergarten
🌵Tune-Ups
🌵Versatility Ranch Horse Fundamentals
🌵Confidence Building
🌵Liberty Work

27/12/2024

When things ramp up, and the horse becomes emotionally elevated, that’s when they need you the most.

It’s normal and natural to become concerned with your own safety- and it makes sense why people become emotionally disrupted as well. Frustration at the horse’s behavior, fear, impatience, anger, whatever it is that strikes you in these moments is only human

But the important thing in the moment of a horse becoming upset, anxious, even dangerous in behavior- is for us to provide help, stability, direction.

What many horses get in these moments is correction without direction, abandonment, more disregulation, and an amplification of emotion. They learn not to look for human support but to try to get away-

It takes navy seal level training to condition ourselves to regulate, to stay calm, to provide support and not panic and freeze; or to react without thinking. The lead rope is in your hands, after all- and the horse has only you to rely on in this moment. What do you hope they learn in these moments? You either can help, or you’re in the way-

A good match of horse and human is crucial, and of course, ongoing dedication to being able to be that someone who can really help. Not just curb behavior, not shut it down, and surely not to panic or escalate- but to really support, and provide stability and calm i these moments. That is what a horse really needs.

Will you be that person?

27/12/2024

27/12/2024

Where is your dream spot to ride? Beach? Mountains? Foreign country?