Sheltering Oak Farms

Happy to see Equus published the article highlighting our collaboration with Chico State School of Education and Fair View High School.

Education students build confidence with help from horses At California's Chico State, future educators are developing their communication skills through equine-assisted learning.

We are thrilled to share this article highlighting our work with Chico State. Sharing the value horses bring to many areas of life and education is an important part of our mission at Sheltering Oak Farms Equine Connection. We have enjoyed working with Chico State's School of Education and look forward to continued collaboration.

Learning Experience Helps Students Build Confidence by Connecting with Horses - Chico State Today The School of Education's new equine-assisted learning opportunity helps aspiring educators practice and hone their communication skills.

It has been a busy summer with a lot of construction, and exciting changes to Sheltering Oak Farms.
Our new covered riding arena is complete!!!
We still have landscaping and planting to install, but we are using the new arena daily and love the cooler riding area.

We are so excited to be offering lessons to youth ages 7-12🤠
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Horses quickly pick up on the feelings or tone being communicated from a person and provide a mirror of their partner's communication style. The clearer the communication structure and boundaries, the happier and calmer the horse will be.
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Youth lessons are not new to us, the ability to accommodate young beginner and intermediate youth to ride is the new part✨
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Dm or click the link in bio to schedule a horse experience for your youth🎠
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Equine Connection is a program that supports leadership skills, confidence, a sense of presence, setting boundaries, and finding your way of communicating effectively. The horses become a vessel to the emotional state of the participant working directly with them. This allows a very clear visual understanding of the way one’s tension, body language, and sense of boundaries affect their ability to clearly communicate.

Coming along! This is Day 4 of the build. 🛠️

Footers are being dug out and framed for cement. They actually hit our water table in certain spots at only 3 ft down! Horses are adjusting well and do show signs of stress which was to be expected. Hansel snuck a nap in while the machinery wasn’t in use. The kitties have been a little wigged about the whole thing. Now that they’ve had a chance to explore the site with us, they’re a lot more comfortable.

Safety⚠️
The crew used pipe panels to enclose the entire build site. If a horse got loose they’d be restricted from serious danger.
All client horses are stalled in the opposite side of the barn from the construction so no one has to look directly at it and so everyone is enclosed in solid paneling.
Our herd is out at Camp (our pasture with a shelter where they all go together) which is removed enough from the build for them to manage their stress.
Since they border the main arena and are only contained by hot wire/ribbon fencing; we have to restrict turn out in the main arena.
This is a measure to ensure our horses don’t get overly wound up and to prevent another horse from coming in and challenging the pecking order. With 6 horses all together, it can get a little ‘exciting’ out there. For the most part they do great and take turns napping in a very ‘natural’ way.

These are the gist of the measures we’ve taken to keep our business and horses safe while this build continues. By the time the heat comes we will have shade and everything will go back to the usual🤠

Getting Pearl back on track💪🏻

Just before Thanksgiving, she developed Pigeon Fever. Then that was laminitis, then lymphangitis, then more Pigeon Fever abscesses. The first week of March she was, finally, clear of infection and brought back into the barn. She had been in a solo shelter paddock area so we could minimize the area that would be exposed to the bacteria.
With 4 months of stiffness, soreness, and minimal movement; we are just now getting back to things. Bodywork to help all the stiffness and tension she developed from standing in pain and moving in pain. Lots of walking and Pillar One work with the Balance Through Movement Method just to help her body get back to a balanced baseline. Just 20 minutes of a strong walk has her breathing elevated.
It’s been so hard to watch so much pain and discomfort, as well as, so much muscle and balance melt away with this infection.
My bright-side perspective is this gives an opportunity to take the time to start over more balanced than before. You’d rarely give your horse four months stall rest on purpose. She had areas where she felt physically limited to the point of being habitual. My hope is with patience and time, we will build back better than before. I miss the path we’d been on and the clinics we’d hoped to attend this year.
In a way this has been good for me to connect to riding a different way. I’ve been trail riding Mae, one of our younger horses, and am having so much fun just riding. I’ve been so competitive and on such a path with riding my whole life, that this casual shift is completely new. Pearl is building back balance and I am building back my love for riding as a whole, not just competition.

While working on Pearl I noticed that she had a bit of tension going on in her poll area. After working through it she showed signs of muscle tension being released by doing lots of yawns! Feedback like this is very rewarding for the both of us🤍 #equinebodywork #equinebodyworker #boyntonequinebodywork #horses #massage #bodywork #equinemassage #horsemassage #northerncalifornia #centralcalifornia

Hansel🍬
He has now been with us for two months and it’s so great to see him filling out more. Of course he’s got this amazingly festive winter coat, but you can still see the change in stance and the more filled out hips and flank. First two photos are most recent and the third is from our first time meeting him.

He has always been well cared for. We have added to his diet to help with his overall health as he debuted in our program. We knew it would be a much higher work load and have seen such a difference with Stable Mix added to his diet. It’s the best complete feed to give horses the vital nutrients they need for all levels of work and lifestyle 🙌🏻
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These rosettes that hang in our tack room are one of my proudest achievements in my time with horses. They represent countless hours of drilling techniques, performing at qualifying competitions, building a resiliency to losing, and an appreciation of dedication and focus.

I won the title of National Champion three different years and each one felt just as cathartic as the last. The first nationals win was a dream come true that lit a fire to chase that feeling. The second had more pressure since it was in the same division as the previous year. Defending the title back to back years was the most perfect way to graduate from that division. The third win was possibly the most significant due to the journey there.

I was riding a horse I'd only know that year and in a style of riding that was less familiar. That year I trained every weekend drilling the rhythm, balance, and techniques this horse required. I only had 3 opportunities to qualify for nationals. Two local shows, and one regional show where my only chances. This horse was also the most challenging horse I'd ever ridden up to this point. Incredibly sensitive, insanely athletic, and hyper focused personality.

The year of working with him leading up to Nationals expanded my knowledge and technical skills in riding to a whole new level. It was from that year on that I had a thorough enough understanding of pressure cues to train my own horses.

Turn out🐎
Why you need to prioritize turn out->

Horses are grazing animals and meant to be in motion as much as possible. Even with spacious stalls and attached runs, your horses still need free time to roam, mingle, and nibble.

What turnout can improve:
Muscle tension leading to soreness, calmer mindset, regulate awareness of surroundings confidently, stretching back when grazing, activating thoracic sling use if grazing and walking

The muscles at the base of the neck that activate when the horse is alert and tense have a chance to relax. The muscles that activate when a horse is grazing promote a feeling of calm and security when active for extended periods of time.

If you struggle with a tight and brace-y neck, adding turn out to your horses lifestyle could help release the tension held in those muscles.