We are breeders, yes but we are, perhaps most importantly, foal raisers.
All our foals are handled, hugged, scratched, groomed, and loved from day one. They learn to wear a halter in the first week of their lives and they learn to trust us over the next few months as they pick up the basics of good horse behavior.
They come in from the fields every evening for some handling or simply for some attention. We pick up their feet regularly, trim them as needed, and if not we still make them feel the rasp so their first trim is not such a ticklish experience!
We make them walk up onto boxes, over tarps, and through man doors. They learn to walk away from their mother and their peers and although never tied hard they are expected to stand still when we groom them, they also learn how to move away from pressure. We load them onto trailers, first with their mothers and eventually on their own.
Now we don’t claim to be unique in doing so, frankly, we think all good breeders should be doing this. I am not a great rider, I don’t have that much experience starting, showing, or prepping horses for performance. I think we all need to play to our strengths and our expertise. So we concentrate our effort on what we are good at; handling young foals in order to give them the best start possible.
When you get a foal from us you can be assured that it has been handled with calm, consideration, and firmness. It is well on its way to being a solid equine citizen, the rest is up to you!
