Cherry Lane Equine

09/12/2025

Danielle, we are incredibly grateful for the work you have done with our equine partners to keep them healthy and happy, the support, guidance and wisdom you share with us humans, and now the very kind words and affirmation of our program and philosophy…. It’s humbling and so very much appreciated.

04/29/2025

Another stunning shot of our Syd Welsh and Mia …. ❤️

Cavaliere Couture isn’t your everyday equestrian brand. These pieces are made by a rider, for riders—with love, grit, and probably a little horse hair if I am being honest 😂

Every purchase goes towards supporting a one woman owned and operated small business - and percentages of your purchases go to various non profits (details in product captions!).

Your horse needs confidence in every stride - and you need comfort in every stitch. 🖤

04/24/2025

So proud to share….. Cherry Lane Equine’s very own Syd Welsh and my “Wild Child” Mia as models for this amazing line of clothing….

“At its finest, rider and horse are joined not by tack, but by trust. Each is totally reliant upon the other. Each is the selfless guardian of the other’s very well-being.”

In frame: Syd Frank Welsh wearing our Grand Prix Riding Tight in Black and Quarter Zip Sunshirt. This pair looks straight out of a fairy tale 🌳✨🧚

04/15/2025

Because if you give a kid a horse…. You give them wings….

❤️ If You Give a Kid a Horse....

If you give a kid a horse,
they’ll ask for a saddle.
Once they have a saddle,
they’ll need a good pair of boots.

When they get those boots,
they’ll want to climb in the saddle.
Once they’re in the stirrups,
they’ll ask you how to hold the reins.

When they learn to hold the reins,
they’ll beg to trot.
Once they learn to trot,
they’ll dream of galloping across open fields.

Galloping will make them feel free,
and feeling free will make them brave.
Once they’re brave,
they’ll fall off...but don't worry, they’ll get back on.

And when they get back on,
they’ll ride with grit in their teeth and stars in their eyes.
They’ll muck stalls without complaint,
and wake up before the sun just to feed.

They’ll brush that horse’s coat,
And let the rhythm calm their soul.
They’ll learn patience, responsibility,
and how to speak without words.

They’ll whisper to that horse all their hopes,
and that horse will listen like no one else can.
They’ll build friendships in dusty arenas,
and learn trust on winding trails.
They’ll know the thrill of a blue ribbon,
and the heartbreak of a goodbye.

If you give a kid a horse,
you’ll give them more than just a ride...
you’ll give them confidence,
courage,
and a quiet kind of strength
that’ll stay with them for life.

Because if you give a kid a horse...
you’ll change them forever.

❤️ ©Michelle Knutson | Born In The Barn

04/15/2025

This is a good (but long 🙃 ) explanation of why I have always focused on teaching the “basics” first here at Cherry Lane Equine…. Good equitation and good horsemanship is the foundation of good riding….

Most riding students today start their lessons at a discipline centered barn. Few of these barns begin with the fundamentals of general riding such as balance. Instead, these discipline focused programs teach the forms and positions of their specific discipline. This leaves voids in their training that they discover many years later when they try to switch to some other discipline or type of riding.

The best way to teach riding begins with teaching the fundamentals of horsemanship. In addition to riding, driving or other activities, authentic horsemanship includes teaching basic elements of horse care and horse training. For example, the first thing I teach new students about horse training is that we are always training or untraining a horse when we ride. Regarding horsemanship horse care, I teach basics like getting a horse out of a pasture, how to safely approach a horse, hoof cleaning, careful saddling and bridling, as well as how to do a simple assessment of a horse's condition and state of mind that they are about to ride.

Effective riding instruction begins with having the student add new skills or tools to the student's equestrian toolbox. Balance comes first. Much later, when a student develops an effective balanced seat, we stop adding tools and refine their use of their acquired tools so as to help them achieve unity of balance and movement with their horse.

Once they achieve a degree of unity, we stop adding new tools unless new tools are required for specific discipline. Much later, when the student learns to ride consistently in unity, we optimize the use of their acquired tools to allow them to do more with less. Optimization of their acquired tools eventually expands the range of some tools' applications such that the applications overlap with other of their tools' uses. This is when we begin to remove tools from their toolbox because they can do more with fewer tools.

I believe that the elevated fear and the many injuries riders experience today are the result of having never learned the fundamentals of balance and shared movement with a horse. Instead, they learned to be a Hunter Jumper, or a Reiner, or some other specialty without ever establishing a solid, effective, balanced seat. They are rightfully fearful and get hurt because balance is essential, and it should be established before learning specialized methods.

basic related post on safely approaching a horse -

www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid02sP2HpSPwofCPTcoa6J9ziob4Y1dhbvUWpfBiA9bJUZmADwQBqRKn6VjMUjqxtpcYl

related post beginning riders stirrups length -

www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid02973AXNj7tcRCTrr6s9WQASUtLA3rJSGmSnXc6gwyFasQTtMyQWdivRsd63htxJidl

related post for advanced riders -

www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid02tfc9K6eQSzFgRzigsGUnvypafbnsFhf4PBNqjrEnFR9eo2daoaMnkbFY1Af9zQBdl

03/23/2025

I was reminded of a lesson the vast majority of the horse world - myself included, as it turns out - needs to hear again and again and again.

A couple days ago, for the first time, my husband attempted to bake a cake. Not just any cake, but a cake that I have made probably 100 times during the time we've been together, and a cake that while fairly simple can be finicky if not done right. I know the recipe for this cake by heart: I could make it in my sleep. To me, it's as comfortable as the back of my hand.

My husband came to me after he pulled it out of the oven. Pan in hand, he approached my workstation, held out his creation and asked tentatively "does it look okay?"

It didn't. It hadn't risen enough and was a bit overdone. I knew immediately he'd either not whipped his egg whites enough or overworked the batter. I felt myself mentally prepare to inform him of his errors.

And then I stopped.

What good would telling him what he did wrong do? He'd made an effort - a huge one, given he'd never done something like this before - and despite being apprehensive, he'd done it anyway. The cake wasn't the prettiest thing ever, but it would be perfectly edible.

This tendency to jump to point out mistakes is a fault of mine. I've been working on it for years. I need to keep working, it seems. It's still too close to the surface for my comfort, too quick to rear its head and attempt to assert false confidence. It's a cover, most often, for insecurity, an emotion that many of us quickly want to hide with bravado, critique and condemnation. It seems to me to be as human a thing as having hair on our heads and noses on our face.

The equine community is notorious for its railbirds. They can be found on social media, in the barn aisles, lurking on chat forums and sitting in grandstands. Everyone has something to say about what you're doing and how you're doing it. We are more inclined to notice the things someone did "wrong" than what they did well. We hardly ever notice when they tried. We carry this into how we approach the horse, too: quick to condemn mistakes before the horse even knows he made one. Slow to praise for a job well done, and even slower to praise for an attempt in the right direction.

The irony is neither horse nor human learn well and get better by focusing on mistakes. Confidence comes from a willingness to try and faith that you might succeed, but you can't develop the latter unless you do a lot of the former...and doing a lot of the former opens one up to criticism.

And criticizing one who is trying says a lot more about you than it does about them. If you can do nothing else, be kind. Walking away is an option, too. Your thoughts won't get you into trouble if they stay within the confines of your mind, but they may be sharper and harsher than you realize to someone who is trying their best to do better.