Fine Print Farms

08/01/2025

Let's talk about diets for a second.

No, this foot isnt perfect - I suspect thin soles and occasional bouts of laminitis due to PPID or something underlying but!!!

He is out on native grass. Not heavily fertilized for a fancy lawn grass, but actual native grass pasture. He gets 0 grain. (For inticement when I come out, he is caught up with a box of cheerios...but thats literally all he gets treat wise, 8 times a year). When we had all the rain last month, he stood around in a heavily saturated pasture for weeks on end. Your shoes got soaked just walking out in it, and it wasn't muddy. Just...very moist.

Body condition wise he goes between a 4 and 6, depending on the time of year and his grass availability.

Alot of people blame thrush on wet conditions. Most horses are not in conditions as wet as he was. What does he not have? He doesn't have any thrush. He doesn't have white line disease. He looks pretty solid foot wise living in those conditions.

There is certainly something to be said about a quality, forage based diet. He could probably benefit from a ration balancer and that would help tighten things up, but I'm okay with where he is at 🥰

07/26/2025

In some ways it’s disappointing being a trainer who puts the horse first, goes at their pace, does an incredible amount of useful ground work, focuses on biomechanics and correct movement and wants the horse to feel happy and confident.

It’s hard to find clients who not only want the same thing, but realize that doing it correctly takes time.

Everyone is in a race to the show ring to try to beat the other guy.

Every horse I train gets worked with at their pace. 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there and it’s little bits at a time. They get the days off that they need. I never wear them out, drill or over do it. I want them to get it, think about and come back again fresh in the afternoon or the next morning to try the next step for a few minutes. It’s slow and steady building blocks with me.

There’s no fluff and frill. There’s no 5 and 6 year olds practicing Grand Prix movements - that takes years and how many years depends on each individual horse.

There’s no race to the show ring. No competition to see who can climb the levels the fastest.

It’s about building a happy, healthy athlete who feels confident in their body and in their work. Those are the horses who last - physically, mentally and emotionally. Those are the horses that I train and put out into the world.

I wish more people were in it for the right reasons.

The horse first. The date of the show is unimportant.

🌻 © Cara Blanchard

📸 Max & Maxwell: Equestrian Photography

07/25/2025

This image shows how even slight misalignment in your seat, hands, or legs can send your horse off balance! 🚲

On the left: the rider treats the horse like a bicycle, steering with their hands and turning their body, causing crookedness and uneven pressure. Look how the horse’s body twists out of alignment as a result.

On the right: the rider is centred, balanced, and riding with even contact. Their aids are aligned with the horse’s body, leading to straightness, relaxation, and connection through the back.

💡 Your horse mirrors your position.
Ride in harmony not control. The goal isn’t to steer like handlebars, but to guide from your core and seat.

( image found off pinterest )

07/23/2025

Straightness exists between two parallel lines, and peace lives there. Take it with you in everything you do, and you’ll find horses relax significantly.

No horse likes to be mentally and physically out of balance- it is simply good husbandry to show the horse the center.

07/22/2025

07/18/2025

07/17/2025

07/11/2025

07/10/2025

Movement should never be a punishment. Movement IS the reward- movement in balance, never away from the person but WITH them.

Quite often I encounter horses who escape the drive aid, are anxious about forward movement, or escalate when going up into the trot and canter.

If we want the horse to be both forward AND calm, we have to think logically about how we present the drive aid and movement. If the horse isn’t getting in the trailer and we run them around in circles outside the trailer, frantically out of balance, until they get in - how will they magically transfer this to balanced movement on the lunge line? If we spin them around in circles at the gate to make stopping here the “wrong” thing, how does the horse know when going back to work that movement is no longer adverse?

How is the horse supposed to parse out when we don’t care if they’re balanced and when we do? How are they supposed to know movement is a punishment one moment, but not another? How are they supposed to become calm and centered if we use the very thing we want them to do, which is move, as a way to put them off balance enough to “behave”?

A calm and balanced horse requires a calm and thoughtful handler- I try to take things one step further. After this horse in on the trailer, how will these principles apply later? After this horse is away from the gate, then what? Good training is layered in thoughtfully, one moment at a time.

07/04/2025

Sometimes the crash comes AFTER the stress

You bought a horse that seemed sound, well adjusted and well trained. You get it home and the poor thing is lame and crawling out of its skin.

Were you conned ?

Maybe

But there are two other possibilities

1- the horse was adjusted to a certain routine, manner and frequency of riding, diet, etc and is now struggling outside of that routine that has helped to keep going - now the horse might feel like a border collie in an apartment without enough opportunity for movement.
(lots of articles have been written about this and it’s well worth looking into)

2- the horse was under some form of stress that has now ended and turned into another -
The stress of decompressing.

Brains are wired to keep us alive. Bodies are made to keep going.
Horses are incredible survivors - they can keep going and being pretty athletic under incredible duress. They are wired to not stop and say ouch at every pain and tweak, even with lameness and developing dysfunctions - because they NEED to. They can look sound when they are under stress. All you need to do to understand this is imagine a lion chasing a horse and know they will run until they are caught or free - and if the lion is the training, the lifestyle, the expectation, they will hold together until they can’t anymore .

So then they are purchased and pulled from this intensive lifestyle and now living in the lap of luxury - they have no reason to be stressed, so we think -

Now they face the lengthy decompression period. Compensation mechanisms are falling away and the horse is left naked here. They don’t know what to do. What to expect. Everything is upside down. The compensations that have kept them tight kept them safe too, and now they are wobbly, insecure and naked.

This is where they need HELP, not just supplements and bodywork and kindness. They need time, sure, but they need guidance. Not knowing what to expect can drive a horse half crazy.

They need some form of structure. A stable herd. A stable guiding hand that can clearly show them the new ropes. Not too fast in expectations but don’t wait too long to show them the new ropes either.

Your language is likely very different. Maybe your goals totally upside down from the training they’ve had. You might be changing everything from head to toe, thinking you’re offering a soft landing, which you likely are - but think of the confusion in their upside down experience - help clarify, guide, explain, show, and support.

And of course, continue giving them supports- maybe the gut needs help right away, or some dietary changes. And of course it can take time, but there are some things that can be helped and should be helped right away.