The pleasure of seeing horses run and gaze the pastures come with an appreciation for life. It has an enigma associated with it. Horses bring a sense of peacefulness and serene feeling to the atmosphere. For years, humans have endured horses and their nostalgic presence. Horses have for years played an active role in society, past and present. There are many types of horses, but we will discuss the pristine nature of equestrian horses. Owners are always frazzled when seeking a new home for their beautiful and magnificent creatures. These sport horses have the softest and most delicate coat of fur. Their hoofs are embroiled in the finest drapery and jewels. Equine horses are catered to and are well taken care of by their owners. These are elite horses with tremendous strength, obedience, and zest. Equestrian horses must be properly trained with continuance. These are competitive horses which require a great deal of space to run free. The best training and schools money can buy is spent to house and properly train these horses. There only leaves one question, where do equestrians find homes for their stunning stallions? This seems to be a popular question, because it turns out there is a growing business for equestrian real estate. At one time, not very long ago your only option for finding the space and tranquility needed to house and train horses was to buy a ranch or farm. We are finally saying goodbye to those days and hello to active real estate communities, specially designed to house horses and families. The lifestyle of a horse in general is a massive one compared to the one of humans, they can eat ten times as much. In the past when you lived on a ranch or farm you had to do all the work yourself or hire help, but now we have these new age equinotic communities which employ staff members whose specific duties is to tend to the horses 24 hours a day. It's easy to see the benefits of equestrian real estate. Not only are these horses catered to, they also have state-of-the-art equipment, such as air-conditioned and heated stables, saunas specifically made for horses, bathing mechanisms, automated feeding schedules, etc. Horses are living like royalty and treated with the up most respect in these communities. Some facilities staff members take the horse for daily walks around the park and allow the horses to playfully intermingle with other stallions. In most places the horses are also securely guarded by electronic cameras and GPS tracking devices as well as the communities staffed security. Just because these types of communities are designed for the prestige horses doesn't mean that families are left out. These divine gated communities include luxury real estate and equestrian styled homes to suit any family. The equestrian homes are spacious and eloquent with marvelous style. These neighborhoods are equipped with Olympic size swimming pools, golf courses, country clubs, tennis courts, and more. The area has fine dining restaurants, shopping centers and malls. The luxury real estate equestrian homes are amazingly beautiful. You simply cannot go wrong as an equine owner to live in one of these extraordinary homes. These homes allow you to handle your day to day lifestyle without worries while still keeping a personal bond with your stable. The quality time you earn with family alone is enough to take advantage of equestrian homes and real estate property. Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Community. They offer over 1,200 acres of luxury real estate properties. These Florida real estate properties are located in beautiful Ocala, Fl. I highly recommend you check them out!
Life has been really busy for me lately which is why I haven't been on this site in a while. I have been riding my horses though. I guess that's a good thing.
I am working on fixing the Horse Approved home site. I hope to have the new site up soon. The community will still be the same with maybe a few color changes.
I hope all is well with you and Happy Holidays!
My kids start school this week. It's good and bad. Since I homeschool it means I will have less time for other things.
I enjoy having my kids home but it is time consuming. I am hoping I can work out a schedule that will allow me to have time for my horses.
It's time for the balancing act!! Let the entertainment begin ;o)
I love where I live because I live in a horse community. I often see my neighbors riding their horse in the morning and early morning.
Yesterday, my neighbor across the street decided to go for a quick bareback ride. This neighbor doesn't normally ride her horse so I decided to go out and say hi.
She asked if I wanted to join her. I had just gotten home from being gone all day so I wasn't ready really to go ridign. But it's hard to say no when you don't get to ride very often with other people.
I told her I would see what I could do about getting ready. Thankfully I have been working with my mare a lot lately and her mind is pretty much always ready to listen to me. So I put the rope halter on her and tied the lead to make reins like I normally do and hopped on her.
All my neighbor and I did was go down our street a bit and turn around and come back but it was still fun all the same. My neighbor didn't want to go to far riding bareback. Both horses did great. Her did very well for having not been out in a while. She got a little antsy at the end but made it all the way home with owner still on her back.
It was a lot of fun to be able to do that. I really enjoy riding with other people. I am so proud of my mare for doing so well. She has really been improving and I just love that horse.
You never know where you’re going to find words of wisdom. I have recently come across two little nuggets of thought from the oddest places. I found one on a square box of sticky notes and the other came from a rerun of a sitcom I was watching last night. I love words of wisdom and I try to remember them when I’m frustrated or discouraged. Sometimes I make posters out of them and hang them in my office or on the refrigerator.
It seems I can always relate something to horses, which drives my youngest daughter crazy. It’s funny how the lessons God has been trying to teach me seamlessly interrelate. Life lessons relate to horsemanship; horse lessons relate to life lessons. Of course, it’s usually the other way around. God teaches me a spiritual truth while I’m interacting with a horse that I can apply to my life. It is at those moments that I have no doubt that this is the very reason he brought them into my life. What a beautiful way to get more of my attention.
Anyway, the first thought I found several months ago on the square box of sticky notes. I keep it where I can always see it. It reads, “Some people dream of success…while others wake up and work hard at it” . I have been a dreamer all my life. I even have a theme song. This is going to date me a bit, but the lyrics were, “ I guess I’ll always be a dreamer, dreaming my life away; dreaming my life away. And nothing comes but sleep to dreamers and when you wake up the dream is gone away” . These are the only words I remember to the song. Whenever I feel tired and lazy and like I’m not accomplishing anything I hear this song in my head. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming (at any age), but we must wake up and get moving if we expect them to become reality (constant reminder to self).
The second thought was spoken by the neighbor on the sitcom Home Improvement. He said, “ A thousand mile journey starts with a single step” . I contemplated that for a moment and again I thought of my relationship with the horses. With them I have learned the importance of taking a step at a time. Before horses came into my life I was impatient and wanted things to happen now. Taking small steps was not my cup of tea.
As a youth I thought I would have a successful singing career and be financially set by the age of 21. Haha. What a joke. The problem was I had two major issues to overcome; fear of failure and impatience. They were vicious sources of frustration in my life. I wanted success now, but I was too afraid to even take a step. The fear stemmed from a desire to be perfect. I didn’t want to mess up and I especially didn’t want to do it in front of anyone. I was afraid of looking stupid or ignorant in front of them. So for many years I did little or nothing at all toward reaching my dream. I have since learned that I can’t expect perfection out of an imperfect being (only God is perfect). I am only expected to do my best in all that I do.
God had been working on me for years on these two issues through different scenarios (what can I say-I’m a slow learner). He eventually led me down a path that would take this city girl into a life with horses. Coincidence? I think not. What perfect teachers. After all, what are two of the most important things in dealing with horses? Are they not, overcoming fear (ours and/or theirs) and patience?
God’s word speaks of hard work, fear, patience and perseverance. Isn’t it interesting how many things He will use to help us get the message? What is He trying to whisper to you today? Keep your ears and your heart open and you will hear Him. May you and your horses have an awesome day together.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10
God has used many things in my life to teach me His truths. I have had a glimpse of His unconditional love through my relationships with my husband, my children, and my animals. He has used one particular animal the most to teach me about trusting Him, about overcoming fear, about taking one step at a time to reach goals, and about patience. That animal is my Arab mare.
She is incredibly intelligent (I have no doubt that she could be doing so much more than what I ask of her), she prefers the company of humans to horses, she's is very sweet, and she's a joy to ride. Unfortunately, she has another side; a stubborn side, and she can put a lot of energy into saying no.
There is a lot of background history that I won't bore anyone with (besides this blog post would be way too long if I did). So to make a long story short, trailer loading was one of our challenges. The last time I loaded her in a trailer was about two years ago when I was picking her up to bring her home. She had been with friends for about 3 to 4 years (that's another story). Trying to use resistence free training methods I had learned, it took over two hours to get her loaded, which ended in loading her with one person at her head and a person on each side of the trailer holding the end of a long lunge line that was wrapped once around the polls on each door, to give them leverage and the lunge on her rear and me yelling, "Don't let her back up". This is how it had always ended.
Since she's been home I have been working on a few other things, but not the trailer loading until now. And this is where, once again, God showed me His faithfulness and that His promises are true. As I was working with her yesterday I could see that she was trying to do what I wanted, but there also came a point where I felt that I had almost messed up the timing (timing is everything in horse training), so I stopped and began to pray. I asked God for wisdom, I prayed that He would help me with my timing, that He would help her to see me as her leader and not a fearful person, and that He would let me know when it was a good time to stop. I was prepared to except one foot in and end the session if that is what was needed to end on a good note, or to continue until all four feet were in. And of course, I was in no rush. I knew He knew this horse and what she needed so I had to depend on Him to guide me, so that I wouldn't mess things up.
Well, something remarkable happened. Within moments of that prayer she was in the trailer with all four feet. Don't get me wrong she didn't just magically go in. I had to use the techniques I have learned with firmness and confidence to get the job done. Without God's guidance and wisdom, though, I would not have been able to accomplish this obstacle in my life nor would I have had the confidence to do so.
So my lesson for yesterday evening is found in Philipians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". God used a little Arab mare to help solidify this truth in my heart. Thank you Lord.
By the way, she loaded 4 to 5 times and again this morning.
Dear Bloggers and others viewing this blog:
My name is Ashley Sosnicki. I’m of 14 years of age and happen to know a lot about choosing the write horse. Funny that a 14 year old knows anything about choosing the right horse but I’ve had many experiences that have taught me things about choosing the perfect horse for you. When I was 12 my father (since he had a farm of his own) let me buy a horse. We had the space and grew our own hay and oats. We found 2 horse off of the heavencanwaitequinerescuse.org The one horse Bailey was a 7 year old 15.2hh bay quarter horse and the other was an older horse (cannot confirm age) named High-Five how sadly was partly blind. This is what you would call a buddy horses. We made contact with the owner and agreed to arrange a meeting to meet the owner and horses. LOL only being 12 I was so excited and brought a bad full of apples and carrots! I fell in love with these to amazing horses. BUT bringing a blind horse somewhere around kids wasn’t such a safe idea. We had to make sure that these horses were right for us. So some good tips for choosing the perfect horse for you is that: 1) Feel the horses chest to see if they are hot or not. This will let you know whether or not the owner has been working the horse or not. Lots of owners do this so if you do go to see or even ride the horse that they are tried and won’t bother to buck or does anything else crazy like so. 2) If you are scheduled to ride make sure you come an hour to a half-an hour early this tip ties in with number 1. 3) Try to find some history on the horse and owner. Where the horse came from before the owner purchased the horse. Even some history on the horse’s blood lines is good to know! 4) Don’t just look at one horse...look around at other horses in our area. 5) When buying a horse ENVER BUY GREEN HORSES!! MAKE SURE THEY ARE BROOKE WELL! 6) If you are coming to pick up the horse make sure that the horse isn’t all ready loaded and ready to go. This tip leads to another part in my story. Things didn’t turn out so good when we came to pick-up Bailey and High-Five. They wouldn’t load the trailer. Kick and squealing the hole time trying to get them on the trailer. So after trying for almost hour and half we decided to call it quits and get our money back. If I was going to show I would need a horse that trailer fine. So my heart was crushed until a family friend who owns her own horse farm and breeds beautiful paint horse, offered us two paint/quarter horses. Sugar Babe 1 years old and Jack 5 years old. BIG MISTAKE! These horses were GREEN and we where GREEN in the horse buying world. After many months of trying to train and break these horses we decided to sell the 2 beautiful horses. I was sad but we could not ride them. I was through off by Jacks... was scared of him Sugar Babe you couldn’t even put the saddle on her back! We told the family friend what had been going on for almost a year and that we couldn’t deal with to horse any more. She gladly took Sugar Babe and Jacks back. With sadness and broken hearts we decided to give it one more shot at finding the right horse. Through all the things we’ve been through we weren’t going to be sucked into anything! We watched for everything and called all the faults. We looked at 2 horses Maggie was the first. She was a paint crossed with a quarter horses. She seemed to be awesome but was too flighty so we said NO. The second horse we looked at and said it was going to be the last, we got lucky! Beautiful 15.3hh paint quarter horse broken to the bone! Sound healthy as a horse LOL. Not scared of anything, you could ride her along-side a highway! You could walk all round the horse front back touch under stomach and pick and clean her hoofs. Riding her was a joy really. So with great caution be bought Ladybug. On my birthday Nov 8 th we went to the owner’s farm (I not knowing that she was coming home with us. I didn’t even know we bought her) she was tailored and already to go with her tack! I was so happy hoping and praying that she would work out! AND SHE DID!! 2 years now I’ve had my lazy but absolute most amazing horse that has ever roamed the planet! I have decided to start to show this summer. Looking forward to that. I hoped that this blog has helped you choose the right horse for you and has taught you some valuable things about the horse buyer’s world. I know it has to me. I will NEVER sell my Ladybug and I NEVER want to go through any of that EVER again!
LOL Ashley Sosnicki
How do you work riding into your busy schedule, especially when the days are short and cold? Between, school, church, keeping my home from falling apart, very cold weather and just plain tiredness from all the before mentioned, I find it a challenge to get out and ride as much as I should. I know-I know, real cowgirls just cowgirl up, but I, especially, am not found of the cold. It zappsthe motivation right out of me. Besides, as much as I wish I was as tough as a cowgirl, in reality I am a city girl who was blessed enough to escape to the country some 20 years ago. I've only owned horses for 10 years come this summer. So-well-cowgirl upping doesn't work for me.
Anyway, I would love to hear from everyone.I would really, really like to hear from my fellow equestrians in the cold states. Call me a wimp, but I am really tired of 30 degree weather. No amount of reminding myself that "its winter-get over it", is helping.
I guess I should have made this one of my goals for this year, cause I would really like to get over this hurdle.
| The Los Angeles Equestrian's Secret (Single Family Home with Two Lovely Attached Guest Cottages and Horse Facilities!) | |||||||||||||||||||
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I am going on a ride today with my friend. Since I don't have a trailer my horse and I don't get out much. I usally either ride on my property or around my neighborhood. My friend and I are planning on going to a near by community that has an equestrian center. I am excited about possibly getting ride in a very nice arena they have.
I am a little worried about my gelding. I have never left home with my mare and left him. He is very attached to her and when I ride my neighborhood with my mare he gets very worked up. So I am hoping that after we leave for a while he will have calmed down.
Anyway, I am excited about finally getting to go somewhere else besides my neighborhood. Even though I live in a very nice area, it is still nice to be able to leave every once in a while.
Due to my failure to renew my domain name billing information HorseApproved.com expired. I have updated the information but it may take a few days to start working again. I am really upset with myself that I let this happen but what can you do?
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Thanks!
Mona
You don't know how excited I am to hear that grannycowgirl was interested in taking the 30 minute a day challenge. My friend and I have been challenging eachother to work with our horses everyday (weekends optional) and record our progress in a horse journal since August of 2007. We haven't always been able to work with our horses but it's much easier to get back on track when we have someone doing it with you.
Every time we work with our horses we send eachother an email journal. I have been having a great time reading her emails and knowing that she is reading mine keeps me writing them.
So today will be the first time I am record my horse journal on the Horse Approved community. Sometimes my posts will be very boring and short but the point is to keep up with the challenge and hopefully encourage others to do the same.
Today will be one of the boring posts but I will try and make it as interesting as possible.
First a little background:
My horse is a 13 year old Standardbred that I got about 5 years ago from a friend. She was given to me and I is one of the best gifts I have ever received (besides my husband and children). She was a little bit a spoiled horse when I first got her but had a lot of potential for become a great partner.
One of the things I have had to work a lot on with her is not being so P-ed off all the time. She didn't like to be touched, cinched and hated other horses. After going to a Pat Parelli conference my entire training technique changed and we have both really benefited from it. She no longer pins her ears back when I touch her but actually enjoys it. She still doesn't like to be cinched but seems to be taking it better now and I found her and my gelding playfully bitting eachother on the withers not long ago.
Ok for the Horse Journal:
Today I had very little time and didn't think I was going to get my 30 minutes in. I had to got to the grocery store kind of late and thought I might not get home before dark but I did. I didn't have much light left so I had to work fast.
I gave her a quick groom down since she was muddy from the rain the night before. I then lunged her in the little circle I made during the summer. I use a rope halter for all training and sometimes riding. She responds very well to a rope halter.
There is a paved road that is parallel to my property and it has a decent hill. I sometime run up the hill with her. Well, we usually stop "trotting" about half way and walk the rest. It's a decent hill so we are both huffing and puffing at the top. Today when we got to the top of the hill we spotted a deer. That was a nice treat because I don't see many deer at the bottom of the hill where my house is.
We we got back down the hill I decided to ride her bareback. I often do this when I have a limited amount of time or to lazy to put on the saddle. Riding bareback has improved my seat a balance much more than I thought it would. I also have been able to use the rope halter as a bridle. She responds very well to a rope halter.
At this point I am not that conifent trotting or cantering bareback so I have been slowly working up to that. Each time I work on it I am a little better. The fact that I don't have an area good for riding as much to do with my lack of confidence. There are squirel holes and uneven ground I have to deal with when riding on my property. But I try anyway.
So that was about it and I think I just got my 30 minutes in. It was a good day!