Flying Change Farms, LLC

What a wonderful week at the beautiful Woodside Horse Park for the West Palms Summer Classic Show! Taryn Joyce, Myla Goldman, Bella Lam, Lilly Martynse and Grace Kamphefner represented Team FCF under the expert coaching of Kristie LaFreniere! Lots of beautiful views, laughs, ribbons, and lessons learned with our equine partners! Congratulations to the riders and thank you to all our supportive parents for always being so helpful! 😄

Basic horsemanship.

Four images of lost horsemanship basics - the first picture is about lost safety standards. Because horses today are trained for a discipline, they are safe enough for a cowboy to do a 40 foot slide or a Hunter Jumper to win a ribbon but they are not trained to be safe for a small child or an elderly person to be around.

The second image reflects the old saying, "control the head to control the feet". This is a very basic concept that should be trained into a horse from their earliest days. However, the new "born free" Disney idea of horse training produces a lot of horses that have few boundaries and can be difficult to lead, halter and many other basic aspects of control.

The third picture is about verbal commands and words. The woman is teaching a horse to back up and associating it with the word "back " with the movement. Teaching horses words to elicit specific movements is invaluable. Along with "walk", "trot", "canter" and "whoa" horses should minimally know the words "stand" and "back". A German study years ago determined that horses can learn up to eight words. I have listed six basics.

The last picture represents biomechanics. The woman is stretching the horse's hind leg past 90 degrees at the hock. Horses are very strong pushing with their legs but weak pulling their legs forward. Once you get a horse's hind leg back past 90 degrees it is quite difficult for them to pull it away from you to kick you.

Similarly, horses' necks are very strong up and down but weaker side to side. Therefore, it is easier to get a horse to lower their head for haltering and bridling if you rock the head and neck side to side to get their head down, or to bend their head and neck to put them in a position where they cannot buck.

So much has been lost as horse centered horsemanship has been replaced by human centered horsemanship to accommodate people's wishes and expectations. We are turning out more and more horses that are unsafe and a challenge to control.

We haven’t hosted a Working Equitation clinic in a while, but it’s back due to popular demand! No prior experience required! Just an open mind and a desire to bond with your horse in new and challenging ways! Contact clinician, Jessica Panighetti for questions and to sign up: 510-755-3639.

😋☕️🥞

Hello Woodside! 😄

Congratulations to Junior rider, Quinn McAllister on the arrival of her new horse, Olaf, just off the plane from Europe! ✈️

What could be better than a pink bow pony surprise for a young rider?! 🎀 Congratulations to Ainsley on her first pony! She has worked hard in her lessons with trainer, Jessica McKendree and is so ready for this new adventure with Galaxy Girl! 🥰

Spot on and pretty dang funny!

I have been immersed in the horse world for over a decade now with the enthusiasm of a reluctant participant dosed with an innate, heavy level of natural skepticism, horse show dad Gordon Ballantyne writes. My wife is a hunter and equitation rider, which only heightens my confusion due to the subjectivity of the events. I enjoy seeing my family doing something they love and are extremely passionate about; there is nothing they would rather be doing than riding and competing on the back of a horse.

But, I have some questions.

Why does it cost so much?
A local two-day schooling show costs less than $1,000, whereas a four day rated “A” circuit show costs around $5,000. It can be the same horse stall, trainer, preparation and judging process. It follows the exact same format (although neither venue has a toilet that flushes). Are the blue ribbons at rated shows gold plated?

Does anybody own a watch?
How can something scheduled at 10:00AM consistently happen after noon? I could see it happening if there was an injury or an unforeseen happenstance but it is every…single…time. Can they not just put a buffer in the schedule because “stuff” seems to happen every…single…time?

Why is the judging so subjective?
Sitting ringside, I have zero inkling whether a given round was good or bad… and I’ve been watching for over a decade. I know what a “chip” is, what a missed lead change looks like and can count strides. But I also know that the price of little blue ribbons has gone up significantly based on the price of horses in the hunter ring. I can compete as an amateur in almost any sport because in things like golf, bowling or shooting, you have a handicap. You compete against your average. But in the hunters, it seems like little blue ribbons are for sale.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2021/05/05/questions-and-conundrums-from-a-horse-show-dad/