Road to Serenity Farm

04/24/2025

You may have heard this news. For years, I've been saving to a fund to get into Friesian sport horses one day. So we now have a mare, a Friesian sport horse, who I am calling Serendipity. She arrived from Ontario.

A registered B-book purebred Friesian stud c**t is also coming at some point in the future. We intend to breed mares to the stud, starting next year, and diversify our business.

In 7-10 years, we hope to have Friesian sport horses in our lesson program as their temperaments are second to none, and they are just such a unique experience to ride. We will train and sell some quality sport horses. It's our long term business plan to set ourselves apart, with this amazing breed. (Friesian sport horses are 25-99% Friesian.)

04/21/2025

2 Double Header Obstacle Challenge events (actually 4 challenges) very close to us this year, if riders are interested. We tend to go to finals every year and you need minimum 3 events to be considered for Finals. I see there is a fundraiser supper May 3rd in Asquith. It would be fun to attend minimum these 2 weekend events as a group.

May 31 & June 1, Borden, SK

August 16 & 17, Borden, SK

The Canadian Cowboy Challenge - Horsemanship, Fun and Camaraderie

04/20/2025

Our schooling show is postponed from April 26th since I only had 6 entries sent to me by Friday. I may try again in June for a one-day schooling show here with ribbons and some prizes. Happy Easter 🐰

04/18/2025

If there are entries for a schooling show here April 26th, please let me know by the end of today or I will have to cancel for now. I need a good week to prepare and I need enough entries to afford insurance and ribbons. I will update if there will be an event by tomorrow morning. I had tried to host the event at the end of April for a student going off to university, but may have to try again another time. For sure, the trail ride next Sunday will go ahead.

04/18/2025

If you ever get to the point of refining your relationship with your horse, this is a good explanation that I find true in my experience, from a clinician I met and studied for many years while growing up in Alberta. Horses need a leader, an alpha, but barely over and above where they are in the herd's pecking order. An alpha (high ranked) horse often needs assertive, fair, and consistent to trust, because they're not used to someone having their back and they don't give up that responsibility for the herd easily to someone else.

If we're too alpha with a non-alpha, trust suffers. We must adjust to every horse, with just the right amount of assertiveness. Non-assertive is often NOT trustworthy to many horses. I find horses force people to find their assertiveness, but you also want to find the right level of fair assertiveness for each horse. Some horses seem to just want you to be their friend, but will also expect you to step up to be the leader, to keep them safe when push comes to shove.They are very wired a certain way, as a prey animal that survived for millions of years based off instincts.

Horses don't perceive respect the way we do, but they do test for leadership flaws in people. Horses want and NEED a leader - someone they both trust and respect. Horses pick up on more than we can imagine; they unfortunately know where we lack assertiveness and direction in our lives. They expect us to level up before they'll give us that partnership we all dream of having. We have to prove our leadership abilities to them by being the right amount of assertive but also reading them almost as well as they read us. Otherwise, they're just babysitting us until something kicks in their self-preservation mode.

I've learned to be more assertive through horses, not in a mean way but in a reassuring to the horse way. I've also learned where to completely back off of that assertiveness. Though trial and error, I've been both not assertive enough and too assertive, eventually finding the right amount of alpha to earn a horse's trust, dependant on the horse I'm working with. This has been a big lesson, as I grew up a very non-assertive person and had to find a healthy level of assertiveness to earn a horse's trust and respect.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AHTQMo8Ua/

04/16/2025

Competitive riders:
Looking into horse shows to attend this show season! Please let me know what you're interested in doing this year. Grasswood is not doing a buckle series this year but a single day event August 26. I see there is a Canadian Cowboy Challenge near us in Borden, end of last weekend of May/June 1st if interested in that association again. We usually plan to attend some local hunter/jumper shows but that requires a lot more preparation. Please let me know what you want to do so we can start to prepare. If interested in showing off property, I have a couple horses available to part-lease in order to develop enough skills, balance and confidence for these events, but these horses may go quick (I am looking to lease or sell a couple horses this May; Horado becomes available May 1st for part-lease as his rider goes off to school and I am making a sales ad for Hiero at the end of the month if he's not being leased out). We also need to figure out a weekend for an Eagle Creek camping trip. I hope to have a schedule figured out by the end of April 2025, for our off property events.

Tallie-Ho Hunter/Jumper Shows are (unlikely to attend them all, but may choose some of them)
May 23-25
June 27-29
July 11-13
Aug 8-10
Sept 12-14

04/16/2025

I have a couple kids really hoping for an Easter Camp next week so I said I would put the feelers out there. We haven't had Easter Camp in many years, but we're looking for at least a couple more kids to host one, upcoming Mon and Tues, if there is more interest. Camp is for learning brushing, picking feet, tacking up, groundwork, safety and basic riding skills, like position and positing trot. We will also decorate real horse shoes and play some educational games. We are off hwy 16, NW of Saskatoon, 25 minutes from the city limits. Bring a lunch. If it's chilly, we will run some heat in the indoor arena! 306-202-6737

04/15/2025

April 26th Schooling Show & April 27th Birthday Trail Ride

April 26th:
As promised, we will host a very fun, low key schooling show on April 26th for any level of rider (as long as they enter suitable divisions). Please let me know by Friday if attending. Ask us if a schooling horse is available - this is open to weekly riders as it's on property and there are Novice level classes as well as classes for more seasoned riders.

I need a minimum 12 entered by this Friday to make it a go! Please try to enter at least 2 divisions. They are super affordable classes. This is not a series like we do in the fall.

Get scores and you can ask for feedback if you wish. We will do our jumper courses first, then obstacle courses second. I will have ribbons and a prize for highest horsemanship.

If I don't have enough entries for this, you will know by the end of this week. If you like these events, please try to support them.

April 27th:
Group trail ride at 2pm, followed by a short half-hour on property trail ride at 4pm. Then, campfire and food/snacks. This is for boarders and part-lease riders only, or you can inquire (I don't typically take weekly riders off property but make exceptions for skilled riders that have lots of experience). You must have a yearly SHF membership updated as all part lease and boarders must have. If the weather is poor, we will do fun mounted games in the arena. This is Jordan's great birthday idea, but since it's Amy's birthday the following day, we want to wish both a happy birthday!! Amy will attend for the on-property ride, after the ride out.

Schooling Show
At Road to Serenity April 26, 2025
Start: 9:30am-approx 2pm
1) Ground Pole Jumpers
2) X rail Jumpers
3) 18'-2' Jumpers
*Additional heights upon request if there are 2 or more competitors for a height
*Up to 1 hour of obstacle practice (optional) before the next divisions:
Approx. 11am:
4) In-Hand Obstacles (order read out to you)
5) Novice Obstacle course (order read out to you)
6) Open Obstacle (higher difficulty, order read out to you)
7) Freestyle Obstacles (make up your own course)
8) Jackpot - get as many obstacles done in 4 minutes as you can; you get a score on each obstacle (payout includes all entry fees for the class to 1st - 65%, 2nd - 20%, 3rd - 15%)
Text divisions by Friday so I know if there are enough to make this a go: 306-202-6737
Cost: $30 flat rate (office/insurance) + $10 per class
No horse rental fee or haul in fee for this event. Super affordable and just for fun.

04/15/2025

I have my phone from last year fixed, the one that the puppy chewed on and broke the screen. I don't have any messages or contacts from the last few months, but I can be reached again at 306-202-6737.

I may have missed text messages while my phone was down last week or screen partly working the last while. I won't fix that phone as it's quite old, but I can definitely be reached again! Farm life!

04/14/2025

one of our winter goals😀

04/11/2025

My phone is down again. I was trying to arrange a lesson tomorrow and Sun with a couple families, but since last night, my phone is not charging or turning on. Please contact Vince 306-221-1178 to get a hold of me. Sorry I can't currently get back to anyone.

04/06/2025

I see there is a lot of worry circulating about contagious things going around in the horse community. We are pretty closed-herd here but we get occasional haul ins. If using the facility to ride, please only tie and tack at your trailer and keep any horses at a distance from ours. We do not want to share tie stalls with outside horses, just in case. Also, if coming from another horse facility, please use different or cleaned shoes/boots/clothes (coming from another place to here). Strangles, for instance, is extremely contagious and can spread through clothing, bacteria can live up to 4 weeks. Strangles is a huge hassle.

For all shows amd events, we just want to avoid any close or muzzle to muzzle contact, sharing of tie places, and shared tack and water buckets, basically. It doesn't look like anyone is going anywhere in the near future so not too worried. Just simple things.

04/03/2025

We were going to host a fun schooling show April 13th. However, especially for the jumping portion, the snow storms and cold/flus have prevented some of our student from being out consistently and some horses/riders just aren't prepared for a full course. Please let me know if April 26th would work for a small, fun schooling show at our barn (likely indoors) for any level. With insurance and expenses (even custom ribbons cost a small fotune these days), I do need to know if I will have enough runs/interest to cover the costs of schooling show similar to our series! Small jumper heights (groundpoles to 2' or higher) + some obstacle classes, maybe a jackpot obstacle class. Award ribbons. Get some feedback and ideas on where to improve. Either let me know in person or on here if you plan to attend so I know if I have enough to go ahead with planning. Outside riders would be welcome.

04/02/2025

Didn't think I'd bounce back so fast, but I'm ok to teach any lessons tonight. Took my vitamin C every hour on the hour and an arsenal of remedies. It worked, so lessons are good to run if you haven't made other plans.

04/01/2025

Lessons cancelled tonight and tomorrow, likely. I managed to ward off my son's nasty bug for the clinics but with all the go-go-go, it caught up. I'm running a high temperature at the moment. There is an extra (5th) Tues and Wed this month but I'm also happy to make up this one on a weekend or day coming up in April. Weekends are pretty free this month. As usual, you just have to ask for makeups or extra lessons.

I don't think I can pull myself together for tonight/tomorrow. I don't have all my contacts together in this phone (temporary one) but will try to contact each of you

03/31/2025

I had a great time teaching liberty clinics the last 2 weekends (P.A. and here)! Liberty training is not something you learn or get a feel for overnight, but some truly have the desire to start down the path of learning this approach to connection and movement. Even in witnessing the subtle but profound changes in the horses and their willingness to connect and search for new answers after just a couple days, was amazing to see! The feedback has been inspiring to hear.

Liberty has transformed my own world, making working with horses more fulfilling than I ever thought possible and giving me new levels of appreciation and insight into the horse and everything it has to teach a human. It is also just so healing to be with my horses in this way, working towards and eventually feeling a genuine connection.

I've recieved messages to put on more liberty clinics. I am just awaiting show dates for our show schedule before I know what future weekend(s) are available. If interested, send me a message. As well, I will post any future clinics to my page here.