RHS HighPointe Ranch

01/20/2024

It has been a long week with the extreme cold. We had plans to celebrate with family Nana’s 90th Birthday in Boston and with this weather and barn responsibilities we made the decision to stay at the farm.
Sometimes farm life = hard responsibilities.

06/19/2023

Unique trainer opportunity in Pulaski, PA 16143 5stalls in private hallway at our Barn. Barn amenities include an indoor/outdoor, hot water wash stall and individual paddock. We will be very selective and will require background check and references. Serious trainer inquires only.
We will not self-care board!
Kim @ 724-681-4864 or Keith @ 412-874-2900

01/23/2023

So true and we are very blessed for our boarder’s help and support as it makes a huge difference ❤️

You're never allowed to complain about the cost of boarding your horse.

Again, you're never allowed to complain about the cost of boarding your horse. Unless, that is, you've owned your own farm for at least a year. You can't complain if you've never cleaned stalls every day, even when you're sick. You can't complain if you've never scrubbed a water bucket or a water trough outside, or broken ice in sub zero temperatures. You can't complain if you've never fixed a fence or repaired a stall wall that your horse took out. You can't complain if you haven't swept the barn more than 365 times in a year, haven't spent hours decobbwebbing with an aching neck, throwing down dust control, watering or washing down the arena. You can't complain if you've never paid for a barn full of hay, or at minimum, helped unload it. If you've never rearranged your family, personal or work commitments to take care of horses, you can't complain. If you've never gone to the barn late at night, before bed time, to make sure all the horses are OK, you can't complain.

If you find the cost of boarding to be reasonably affordable, I hope you thank the ones that are taking care of your horse every single day. Thank them for making it possible for you to have a horse. Thank them for making it possible for you to stay warm and dry while they make sure your horse is the same, at the expense of their own warmth, convenience, or comfort.

You know what might be better than your verbal thanks? Your help! Offer to scrub or fill buckets. Offer to help turn out or bring horses in some time, so the people your paying can have a night off.... because they don't really get nights off. Offer to water the arena that you ride in before you complain about the dust. You see something that needs fixing or cleaning, volunteer to help.

You think you're paying for these services and that's simply enough? I dare you to calculate what these people are making. Just don't tell them the answers to your math because it's likely pretty depressing. They aren't doing this to be rich. At the end of the month, if there happens to be a little surplus, I promise you, it's most assuredly going back into the farm to benefit you and your horse. If they were doing this to make money, you couldn't afford to have a horse.

I posted a meme the other day that said "Horses are for people that love work and hate money" and I can't think of anything more accurate. The work NEVER ends. The money NEVER stops going out. Caring for horses isn't for the faint of heart or the lazy or the "too busy." If you are one of those things and that's why you are paying board, you aren't allowed to complain. In fact, you should be the absolute most grateful. You're never allowed to complain about the cost of boarding a horse, unless you've owned your own farm for at least a year, and in that case, I know very well, that you will never complain.

11/02/2022

Halloween Lesson Fun. Yes, we have some awesome Ponies. Halloween costumes, Fun Games and trick or treating on horseback.

05/09/2022

We now have a few riding lesson time slots available. Riding lessons are scheduled weekly for 1hour @ $40 per lesson.

RHS lessons program is a full horsemanship program. Our goal is to provide the education that is needed for students to learn and grow in their love of horses. This includes mounted and unmounted lessons. Mounted lessons, students begin with grooming & tacking their horse. Followed by a lesson filled with rail work, obstacles and patterns to help fine tune their riding skills. At the end of the lessons, students un-tack their horse.
Unmounted lessons may include in hand work, ground driving or obstacles to learn safety with horses on the ground.

03/01/2022

“The horse market will never be the same. Welcome to the new normal. It has become a luxury again to be a horse owner. The great ones are going above $40k. This one brought $100k. A Gypsy Vanner brought $500k online a couple weeks ago. The average cost of a decent and safe family horse that is well broke, nice looking, not lame and not old is over $10k now. If you want a cheap horse you have to be ok with green or old or some lameness. If you are waiting for the market to come down I personally do not think it will. We are in new territory. The audience that can be reached now for horse sales has no limit due to the world wide web. Horse auctions that use to only have buyers sitting in the seats in front of them now go live online and have bidders from all over the US and beyond. When you view one of these sales you will hear the auctioneer say "sold online!" Over and over and over. You may think that an auction in Montana or Texas has nothing to do with local private sale prices but it absolutely does. The internet has also made it possible for Private sellers to have a wider audience. We went from hanging up a "horse for sale" sign on telephone poles to online horse groups with thousands of members in such a short time. Now shoppers are willing to travel and some willing to buy and have the horse shipped just from viewing videos. Buying the horse is only the start. Everything else about horse ownership has gone up. Gas prices effect every bale of hay, bag of grain, dewormer and suppliment. Now we cannot even get our own penicillin. Equine Vet prices are triple what is charged for dogs or cats. I don't sell very many horses anymore bcuz people are still expecting to get a great one for $3500. I cannot even get one for that price right now but IF I DID then I would need to tune up, vet up, feed up, haul around and experience up, farrier up, dental up, pay teen riders to test and test and test up to make sure it's safe for anyone AND then be able to price it so that I am covering all those expenses and still have good profit. Most people who enjoy improving a horse even if it's just to resale have invested their heart too. How can you not love them after all that time spent but you still have to come out ahead financially. The horse is only part of it. Sellers have to deal with hundreds of people. The just curious, just looking, just want a thousand questions answered on text and then ghost you without even a thank you, the not in my price range even though I knew the price before coming, the rode your horse for two hours then say I don't have all the money, the bring my trainer and my 3 friends and all of them ride your horse for 3 hours and then say we have 10 more to look at before deciding, the people who say they can ride then do not know how to get on, the know it all with attitude, the rude, the lonely who just like to test ride all over the state and talk for hours,, the loose kids running all around your property, the ones you coach and give free lessons to for hours and then say they do not plan to buy until next month, the can I make payments?, and the ones who just do not show up after you have bathed, groomed and braided the horse. And in my case I do it ALL with a smile and kind words because I like people. If you encounter a less patient seller keep all this in mind. They go through a lot 😅😅 The moral of this story is save up and increase your budget before shopping but still ...you only live once! Buy the horse!” 😂🙌🏼♥️

Ps: I didn’t write this. This was Copied and pasted. Share away!

01/30/2022

Reminder - keep your hooves picked and clean. If needed, treat your ponies for Thrush.

SmartPak's Hoof Health Consultant, Danvers Child, CJF, walks you through thrush in the horse's hoof, from signs to remedies.

01/25/2022

Life lessons and Experiences incorporated into her remote learning lesson plan. Rubster is better operating the tractor than me! Driveway and barn access is clear! It takes a “family” to run and maintain the Barn ❤️

01/21/2022

Great feeling when the outdoor temp is frigid but your ponies are comfy cozy.
Barn temperature is maintaining above freezing 😊