Dog Tired Farm

05/06/2025

I have openings for 1-2 beginner child lessons. PM me for details .

04/21/2025

Nicole and Buttons yesterday in their lesson.

03/29/2025

12/30/2024

Dog Tired Farm X-Mas Camp! 😂. 🤶 🎄

12/23/2024

Due to a last minute cancellation, I have room for 2 kids December 30 for Dog Tired Farm holiday camp. 10-3. Message me for details.

12/06/2024

Dog Tired Farm is doing a one day holiday camp December 30th. I have room for 1 to 2 more kiddos. PM for more information

11/18/2024

Dog Tired Farm fun show yesterday! Everyone rocked it and a good time was had by all! Thanks to my old barn rat friends, Melissa, Nicole and Gwyn, for being my 3 judge panel! I neglected to take many action shots unfortunately!

10/09/2024

Say hello to the new Dog Tired Farm lesson horse, Buttons and new lesson pony Penelope!
Buttons is a 15 year old TB who loves to jump and is as sweet as pie! Penelope is a 19 year old Welsh pony who is great for teaching beginners but can also be fancy for more advanced smaller riders! 😍

09/29/2024

So proud of Marley, Maci and Sophia yesterday. Everyone rode so well and had a great day with happy confident ponies as well!

09/26/2024

All I Want To Do Is Jump

I ran a fairly large lesson program for almost 20 years. This is a statement I have heard over and over, both in my lesson barn days and from colleagues today.

All I want to do is jump.

There are a few problems with this. Let's start with the horse. I love the old horseman's saying " horses only have so many jumps in them ". Is that 100, 1000 before it becomes lame.... No one knows....but horses certainly weigh a lot and the concussion landing on those small little legs is significant. Horses also get bored, burned out....and let's face it...sour.
Respect for the horse . The riders job is to do the best thing for the horse. Most horses only need jumped a few days a week. That means if a lesson horse works 5 days a week, only 2 of those are jumping days. 3 of those are purely flatwork or hacking.

Riders : most of jumping well has NOTHING to do with jumping. Riders need to work on pace, transitions, straightness, their position, effectiveness of aids, balance, ability to change positions smoothly ( from 2 point to sitting etc ) and so much more.

So if you are one of those students who Just Wants To Jump , please replace that with "I want to be an effective rider and horseman or woman . I want to do what is best for the horse "

And instructors who cave to this plea from students
Only YOU can set the CULTURE of your barn. Talk frequently about horsemanship and doing right by the animals.