TRF Dragonfly Equestrian Center

TRF Dragonfly Equestrian Center Horse Boarding and Training near Thief River Falls, MN

Does your horse's face look like this? Not sure if it's your tack?Last minute saddle fitting slots available if anyone ...
10/21/2025

Does your horse's face look like this? Not sure if it's your tack?
Last minute saddle fitting slots available if anyone nearby needs one!! Fittings are $125 + mileage split - and will be happening THIS SUNDAY (Sept 26th) at DEC! (This means you can get fitted in 2 hours or less if you're close to us, instead of taking a whole day to drive down there!)
Brassy Bit Saddles can fit English or Western tack, and has a LOT of other stuff. If you are coming to be fitted, provide a list of what you need, and they can throw it on the truck! In addition, Brassy does do trades with money either direction depending on what is needed!
You can also bring by NAME BRAND HIGH QUALITY saddles to consign if you have one you're trying to get rid of and don't want to mess with FB Marketplace and all the crazy people! If you aren't sure if your saddle qualifies - message us the maker and we'll let you know!
ONLY 4 SLOTS AVAILABLE for haul ins!

When the vet says, "Get him off the round bales NOW." you make a Herculean effort to create a new pen for the resident h...
09/07/2025

When the vet says, "Get him off the round bales NOW." you make a Herculean effort to create a new pen for the resident heaves horse that has just about had enough of this smoke and crappy air quality.
Last year he was relatively well-controlled, even on round bales. This year has been a nightmare, and when even the steroids stop working, something has to change and fast.
This guy would have been a bit easier to re-house if he didn't like to challenge fences....but because we have met him, a couple boarders pitched in to help re-work one of the pastures, and now he has a high-security permanent pen to hang in until we can get him out on a big pasture next spring.
He'll get a buddy shortly - but for semi-permanent housing, we do not keep horses in any space they can't run in. This pen is about 140' on each side, so he has enough room to canter and move. It's also been set up so when his permanent digs get constructed, this can become an additional quarantine space!

09/07/2025

We use temporary shelters for a lot of reasons, but this is a big one! When I need it in a new pasture - I just bring it over there!
We keep them chained down to massive concrete blocks, and I haven't flipped one since I switched to chains from cable....even in 80mph+ gusts!

09/05/2025

How calm are your horses? This is a hydraulic pounder, hooked to a skid steer, driving a 6x6 timber, 20’ away from the horse. We started with the other side of the pasture so he could get used to it. This is post 6…he’s clearly over it!

“I’ll just let my horses mow the pasture!”It’s a great thought…I wished it worked like that!If you could speak to your h...
07/27/2025

“I’ll just let my horses mow the pasture!”
It’s a great thought…I wished it worked like that!
If you could speak to your horses, your pampered pasture princesses would inform you that they will only willingly eat the “good” grass! Now, don’t be too hard on your four legged highnesses….bitter weeds are often toxic to creatures as delicate as horses. So there is some point to the pickiness.
Having said that…since your horses won’t voluntarily eat the weeds…if you don’t mow them down, they will eventually seed out and take over your pasture.
So….despite our tendency towards wishful thinking, we do mow pastures down 3-4 times a year to help make sure that the bad green doesn’t take over the “good” green.
On a side note, I strongly suggest using a mower slightly tougher than the one that does your lawn.
We use a tow-behind 57” Kunz. Shout out to a good company! Short of a hydraulic mower for the skid steer, that has proven to be the most dependable option…and trust me, I can break a mower! That monster is a hefty chunk of change, but powers over gopher mounds, piles of old hay, and the occasional rock without immediately phoning it in.
You only need to mow down to 2-4”. Pretty is not required!

When you have big thick heavy drafty horse feet, sometimes power tools make it easier on everybody!!Willow was fine with...
06/18/2025

When you have big thick heavy drafty horse feet, sometimes power tools make it easier on everybody!!
Willow was fine with the noise and vibration as long as it was accompanied by intermittent cookies!!!

For those who are boarders and have arena memberships with us, DEC is now going to be running weekly (mostly!) in-hand a...
06/07/2025

For those who are boarders and have arena memberships with us, DEC is now going to be running weekly (mostly!) in-hand and riding challenges in our arena!
I know how hard it as when you are just starting out to know what you can be doing or practicing with your horse....so for those who have an arena membership or board here - there will be weekly exercises to practice with!
Arena memberships are $250 for the year, and you can haul in whenever you want.
If you just want to get the exercises - there will be an e-mail set up to go out once a week, and $100/year ($2/week) will get you access to receive those so you can practice on your own. Note: You will need some ground poles (cheap rounded landscape poles work great, and at least some sort of obstacle you can use like a barrel or cone!
Let me know if you're interested in a membership, and I can get you signed up. This will include winter exercises and work that can be done without riding for those of us who aren't comfortable in the saddle in ice and cold.

06/06/2025

I often hear people say that they need to put bigger bits on horses. It's not true.
Control is mostly a function of the rider's communication with the horse....not the equipment used. Equipment refines communication. A nicely balanced bit or bosal can really cue a horse with precision in the right hands, but most experienced riders can ride in nothing more than a halter and lead. Some don't even need that.
Most riders don't need big bits....they need a better understanding of how to communicate.
This is a 12yr old lesson student on a 13yr old horse riding in a halter and lead rope in a 150'x250' arena! They are a great pair, and the student has learned to cue primarily with his seat and feet - less with his hands.
Notice how loose the reins stay, and the horse doesn't have a single thing stopping him from taking off. This horse is a very good boy, but he was sold as an intermediate level horse.
We don't begin here, obviously this is several lessons in, but they are coming along beautifully!!

It’s the season of algae. If your tanks are in the sun, you will combat this all summer.The algae won’t hurt the horses...
05/25/2025

It’s the season of algae. If your tanks are in the sun, you will combat this all summer.
The algae won’t hurt the horses as long as it doesn’t get too out of hand, but just like us, they prefer cleaner water.
We use bleach cleaner to scrub tanks ever 1-2 weeks in the summer. The chemical in bleach that cleans is not sun stable, so within an hour or so, any trace left in the tank breaks down completely.
Bleach kills bacteria and helps limit the algae regrowth.
When our tanks get really bad, about 1-2 times a summer, we use Zep Grout Cleaner to strip the hard water scale and completely kill everything in the tank. We rinse for at least 1 full minute after the tank is clear to make sure every last bit of the cleaner gets washed away….but this stuff works about 5 times better than standard Lime-Away or CLR type cleaners that can’t touch the minerals coming out of MN aquifers.
Ultimately, tank maintenance requires cleaning. There are things that can reduce the frequency….but nothing beats the regular application of “elbow grease”, and we’ve tried a LOT of gimmicks!
Things that don’t work here: goldfish, barley straw blocks, copper pipe, mouthwash.
Things that “vaguely help” but not tremendously well: stock tank tabs, capfuls of bleach.

Baby it’s COLD outside!!Mid and southern MN are bracing for severe weather, braiding tags into manes, and writing phone ...
04/29/2025

Baby it’s COLD outside!!
Mid and southern MN are bracing for severe weather, braiding tags into manes, and writing phone numbers on hooves in case they lose fencing or buildings….
Northern MN and parts of ND should be bringing horses in, feeding inside shelters or on the sheltered side of windbreaks, and making sure that extra hay isn’t in nets. We’re getting down to 25 degrees here…and all the horses were shivering in the cold rain! This is colic weather folks. They need shelter with tons of good hay (break out that alfalfa mix) and space out of the wind.
They just lost most of their winter coats, so it’s time to let em hide from the elements if you have a way to do that.

Address

15291 180th Street NW
Thief River Falls, MN
56701

Telephone

+16122401269

Website

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