Glenshee Equestrian Centre

   Have you ever been in a schooling ring at a show, preparing for your jumping round, when you realized those plain white poles just weren't preparing horse and rider for those bright, scary fences in the ring?  Most trainers bring a cooler to drape over a schooling fence to give it a more solid or even 'spooky' look.  But as a trainer, what do you do if your rider is on deck and you don't have a cooler?  Go without?  Borrow one?  Nah...  you improvise!  And if the closest thing you have to a cooler is the shirt on your very back, you simply strip to the waist and hang your own t-shirt over the jump!  If the shirt doesn't spook the horse, the sight of a glaringly white, flabby, forty-something, farmer-tanned physique should do the trick! That was precisely what one of my early trainers did to me in the schooling ring at none other than the Hampton Classic (for those who don't know, one of the snobbiest hunter/jumper shows in the co...

    i just had to share these amazing photos . Icelandic horses against backdrop of erupting volcano... need i say more? http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html?camp=localsearch:on:twit:bigpic

So, a while back I posted about a new horse we took into our barn, Grady , a 12-14 yr old Irish Sport Horse gelding. With most of my own horses either retired or not up to any kind of regular riding, I though having a nice big, well-schooled horse to play with might be fun. His previous owner was frustrated with him and had basically given up on him – he was bought as a jumper and wouldn’t jump anymore, and his feet were costing a fortune in bar shoes and pads, and time with abscesses and soaking, so she wanted to be rid of him. I knew he came with some issues, namely his horrific feet, but my vet and I thought we could improve them with some proper care. And anyone who knows me knows that horsey-makeovers/rehabs are one of the things I like best about what I do, and I’m a sucker for a horse with a sad story that needs help. So he seemed like a fun project. He’s been with us now through the winter and his feet are a million times better than when we started. In fact, he’s ...

I recently heard a rumor that this girth might be discontinued, so I called Mikmar, the company that puts it out, and they informed me they have no plans to discontinue it. If you're interested in more information of this amazing piece of tack, or if you'd like to purchase one direct from the company, you can follow this link: http://www.mikmar.com/products-tixerant.html I do question having the likes of Amy Tryon (not known for her humane treatment of horses) as a spokesperson, but I suppose they were going for any familiar faces they could get. It certainly doesn't diminish the effectiveness of this design - I highly recommend it, not just for girthy horses, but for difficult-to-fit horses, especially those with broad backs who usually have their girths cranked up in a attempt to keep the saddle in place. But I think it could benefit just about any horse. From what I've seen from experimenting with our own horses, they all seem freer and looser in their backs ...