Follow Me Farm

03/28/2026

🐴 Who Are Our Lessons For? 🐴

At Envision Equine Academy, our program is designed for beginner through intermediate riders who want to build a strong, confident foundation in horsemanship.

✨ Whether you’re brand new or looking to refine your skills, we meet you where you are and help you grow.

✔️ No horse? No problem!
We offer safe, well-trained lesson horses for you to learn on.

✔️ Have your own horse?
Bring them along and let’s develop your partnership together.

✔️ Want to learn without riding?
We also offer unmounted (groundwork) lessons, focusing on communication, handling, and understanding the horse from the ground up.

Our goal is to create knowledgeable, confident riders—both in and out of the saddle.

📅 BOOKS ARE NOW OPEN! Message us for information and to schedule your first lesson!

03/28/2026

📣 Class Is Back in Session! 🐴✨

I’m so excited to announce that Envision Equine Academy will be reopening at Follow Me Farm this June! 💫

After a thoughtful reset, I’m thrilled to welcome riders back into a program rooted in strong horsemanship, confidence, and partnership with the horse. Whether you’re brand new or ready to level up your riding, this season will focus on building skill, connection, and confidence — both in and out of the saddle.

🌟 Spots will be limited to ensure personalized attention
🌟 Structured lessons + intentional horsemanship
🌟 A positive, growth-focused environment
🌟Use your own horse or one of our amazing school horses

More details on scheduling and registration coming soon — stay tuned!

If you’ve been dreaming of getting in the saddle… this is your sign that dreams really can come true.🐎💜

— Ms. Kristen

03/19/2026

Be a lifelong learner!

I’m not into that customer stuff, Stonewall Ponies- Emily Elek writes.

You know what I mean. There are so many in this business who refer to their “customers.” And the customer is always right…right? Except the barn is not an outlet mall. Our customer support team is run by small ponies with an agenda.

And I’m not the general manager. I’m the trainer.

In my program, you stop being a customer the minute you sign your boarding agreement. That monetary exchange pays for your horse’s room and board, so to speak, and serves as a promise that your animal will have a safe, comfortable, and healthy living arrangement.

But with everything else, you are a student and an athlete. I am your teacher and your coach.

I believe this is an important distinction to make, because it sets the tone for the relationship moving forward. I see the people who board and ride with me as students first and foremost. All good equestrians, including professionals and trainers like myself, need to be lifelong learners. Every barn should have the mantra, “Be a learner not a knower” blasted above the entry. Because it’s here where you open your mind and accept your vulnerabilities in the pursuit of learning alongside the ultimate teachers—horses.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2022/01/19/you-are-a-student-not-a-customer/
📸 © Andrew Ryback Photography

03/07/2026

💜🐎

🐴 The $300 Horse Boarding Problem

If you own a horse, this post might make you uncomfortable — but it needs to be said.

As someone who has spent years feeding horses before sunrise and cleaning stalls long after dark, I’ve watched this pattern happen over and over again.

You see the ads everywhere.

“Full care board – $300/month.”
Hay 24/7. Grain included. All the amenities.

And you wonder…

How are they doing it so cheap?

Because the truth is — horses aren’t cheap to care for.

Even if someone grows their own hay there are still costs:
fuel, equipment, repairs, labor, land, and time.

So when board is that cheap, something usually gets cut.

Maybe it’s feed.
Maybe it’s stall cleaning.
Maybe turnout quietly disappears.
Maybe water buckets only get filled once a day.

It doesn’t happen overnight.

It happens slowly… until one day someone sees your horse and says:

“Wow… he looks thin.”

You go home, look at old photos, and realize they’re right.

So you move your horse to a higher-end barn.

Now board is $700… $800… sometimes $1,000+ a month.

Your horse looks great again — but now you’re working so many hours just to afford it that you barely get to see them.

And that’s when people start leaving the horse world completely.

But there’s a third option that often gets overlooked.

Small private barns.

Not the mega barns.

Not the ultra-cheap barns.

The quiet, middle-of-the-road places where the owner does the work themselves because they can’t afford employees.

The places where your horse isn’t just a stall number.

Where feed is adjusted individually.
Where someone notices if your horse doesn’t finish dinner.
Where care is personal because the barn is small enough to truly manage.

These barns often sit half empty because they’re not flashy and they’re not the cheapest.

But many of them offer the best balance of care, affordability, and peace of mind in the horse world.

Sometimes the best place for your horse isn’t the cheapest or the fanciest.

Sometimes it’s the place where you can walk out to the pasture after a long day, breathe, and simply watch your horse be a horse.

❤️

And if you’re lucky enough to find one of those small barns that truly cares, hold onto it.

Those places are usually run by people who love horses more than profit, who do the work themselves every day, and who treat every horse like part of their own herd.

Small barns are the heart of the horse world.

⸻

Now I’m curious…

Horse owners — what matters most to you in a boarding barn?

• Price
• Quality of care
• Amenities
• Quiet environment

And barn owners — what do you think is the biggest challenge in horse boarding today?

👇 Let’s talk about it.

03/06/2026

Kristie is an awesome person and horsewoman! We are excited to be collaborating with her 💜🐎

03/02/2026

We had a wonderful day of riding and learning yesterday! Thank you Kristie Lutz for coming to our farm 💜🐎 we are excited to have you back!

01/28/2026

❄️🐎

When people tell me all my horses should be shut into the barn.... thank you for the suggestion but we like to keep our horses natural, healthy and happy!🥰

"Turn. Out. Your. Horses.

Not sometimes.
Not when it’s convenient.
Not only when the weather is nice.

Daily turnout is not a luxury or enrichment add on. It is a biological requirement.

Horses evolved to move for most of the day. To walk, graze, socialize, rest, and regulate their nervous systems through motion and choice. When we confine them for long periods, we are not creating calm. We are suppressing natural behaviour.

Lack of turnout is strongly associated with increased stereotypies, gastric ulcers, musculoskeletal strain, heightened reactivity, and what is often mislabeled as “bad behaviour.” These are not training issues. They are welfare issues.

Exercise under saddle does NOT replace free movement. A one hour ride does not undo twenty three hours of restriction. Training does not compensate for unmet needs.

If a horse is “better” when kept in, that is not proof the system works. It is a red flag that the horse is struggling to cope.

Turnout supports physical health, emotional regulation, soundness, and learning. It is one of the most basic forms of harm reduction we can offer.

Photo of Titan by Erica Jacobson

12/30/2025

It’s all going to be okay ❄️☃️🐎

Right. A gentle reality check for January brains.

Your horse has had two weeks off over Christmas.
You feel guilty.
You’re convinced they’ve lost all their muscle.
Your brain is telling you that you’re basically back to square one.

Pause.

They are horses. Not fitness influencers.

They do not care if they have missed schooling.
They are not spiralling about topline.
They are not lying in the field thinking, “Well that’s my season ruined.”

What they care about is this: Are they fed.
Are they warm enough.
Are they safe.
Are they allowed to be horses.

Two weeks off does not undo years of care.
Muscle memory exists. Bodies adapt. Horses are designed to cope with far more than a quiet December.

The pressure you feel right now is human pressure, not equine need.

You do not need to rush.
You do not need to punish yourself with a “restart from zero” mindset.
You do not need to prove anything in January.

Start where you are.
Do what you realistically have the time and energy for.
Let winter be winter.

Your horse is fine.
You’re allowed to be too.

12/22/2025

Horse Sleep Facts 🐴💤
• Horses can sleep standing up thanks to a special stay apparatus in their legs
• They still need to lie down for deep REM sleep
• Most horses only sleep 2–4 hours total per day
• REM sleep usually happens in short bursts
• A horse that never lies down may be overtired or stressed

Horses are light sleepers by nature—always ready to move if needed. 💭✨
📸 of our geldings napping this weekend at the farm

12/13/2025

"The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. So I give you some of my favorite pearls of wisdom, in no particular order. Some of these are from trainers of mine, both past and present, some are widely recognized from BNT, some have nothing to do with horses by origin but still apply, and some are from my own head.

- If a horse says no, you either asked the wrong question or asked the question wrong.

-An average hunter course has 100 strides. Only 8 of them are jumps. Don’t sacrifice the 92 for the 8.

- On approaching a fence: good riders wait until it’s time to go. Great riders go until it’s time to wait.

- Don’t squat with your spurs on.

- It is NEVER the horse’s fault. Yes, sometimes a horse may take advantage of a situation, but there is ALWAYS something the rider could do differently to change the situation.

- Pass left hand to left hand.

- You can only lie to your horse so many times before they call your bluff.

- Horses do not know what they are worth. They do not know, or care, what they are capable of. They only care about the way you treat them.

- Injuries and colic happen almost exclusively at 10:00 pm on a Saturday.

- Shoes get lost almost exclusively when preparing to leave for a show.

- If you work hard, try your best, and never give up, your efforts will not go unnoticed.

- And you will be rewarded with opportunities when you least expect it.

- If you work hard, try your best, and never give up, you will still fail sometimes.

- Video doesn’t lie – after being told repeatedly that I was lifting my right hand before every fence, and swearing up and down that I was certainly NOT lifting my right hand before every fence… I was—in fact—lifting my right hand before every fence. Sometimes your brain lies to you. Video does not.

- On being nervous going into the show ring: you’re just not that big of a deal. No one at the show is watching you close enough to know every mistake you might make, except for the judge and your trainer, and you are paying them to watch.

- Be patient – there are no shortcuts. Any shortcut you may try, will actually be the long way.

- Check your personal issues and emotions at the door. Your horse will know. It usually does not go well.

- If your horse is in front of your leg, you have options.

- We never lose. We either win or we learn.

- Ride like a winner. You cannot act like flip flops and expect to be treated like Louboutins.

- If you have to pick only two things to think about during a course, pace and track are the two you should choose. The rest cannot happen without pace and track.

- Give yourself and your horse brain breaks. Go have fun, go hack out in the woods, go swimming ba****ck, read a book in the paddock, whatever. Just allow yourself time to have fun.

- At home there’s no reason to jump as big as you show every time. The basics are the basics regardless of the jump height. Save your horses legs.

- The horse world is very small. Remember this and don’t burn your bridges and be mindful of your words.

- Clean your tack. Groom your horse. Properly. Every day. If you can control nothing else, you can control your turn out. There is no excuse to not do the minimum effort.

- No matter what the problem is, the solution is almost always add more leg.

- Ride the horse you have today. Not the one you had yesterday. Not the one you want to have. The horse under you at this moment is the only one that matters.

- You go where you look. The human head weighs 10 pounds. Unless you would like to end up on the ground, do not look down.

- Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

📎 Save & share this article by PonyMomAmmy at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2020/09/15/equestrian-advice-to-ride-and-live-by/

12/03/2025

❤️❤️❤️