Big Bear Horsemanship

19/05/2025

29/04/2025

Our very own Jessica Hersey is a Level II Centered Riding Instructor! If you're interested in more information about Centered Riding ®️, the worldwide clinic and workshop opportunities, or instructors near you....please go to:

www.centeredriding.org

Please stay tuned for events right here in Auburn in 2026!

15/04/2025

I've had a lot of young ladies reach out to met lately with questions or problems they're having with c**ts they're starting and I enjoy talking with them and helping them so much, that the idea for an All Girls C**t Starting Clinic came to mind. Designed specifically for the up and coming women of the industry to have a good time while bettering themselves and getting to start c**ts as a group.
If you're a young gal that wants to pursue a career as a c**t starter or maybe you just want to learn as much as you can to start your own c**ts, come on out and spend the weekend with us! It's going to a very laid back, fun environment!
✨June 21-22
✨💲2️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ ($100 deposit due by June 10th)
✨Bring your own c**t to work or I will have a select few available for us to work.
✨Learn how to use tools like a flag, hobbles, lariat, saddle horse etc. As well as learn to be a good pen wrangler for your fellow c**t starters!
✨Gals ages 15 & up
Please message me for more info!

01/04/2025

Jim Wofford said, "Good riders sit." The two left photos, a HJer and an eventer, are riding in the same position that some call a 2-point. The two right photos are MacLain Ward top and Bruce Davidson below. The obvious difference is that the riders on the left ride up out of the saddle with straighter knees and they depend on the horse's neck for their balance. This makes these riders "top heavy" and their movements are more apt to interfere with their horse's balance.

Ward and Davidson ride closer to the saddle, lowering the center of gravity of the horse and rider pair, thus creating greater stability. Yes, I know Davidson is in a jump, but I picked this image to make the point that he demonstrates a light or half seat over a jump, which requires great strength in the lower body that the two left riders seem to lack. Davidson rode in a light or half seat, not perched like the riders on the left, except when he needed to sit deeply for increased engagement.

The bottom image by Susan Harris shows the difference between the current "2-point position" and the original 2-point. The left 2-point is actually a 3-point position because it has the two points of balance in the rider's feet, plus a 3rd point of balance with the hands on the neck. The original 2-point is shown on the right with only the two points of balance in the feet.

The authentic 2-point is a dynamic or moving balance independent of the horse's balance and motion. An independent balanced seat is safer because if the horse stumbles, the rider can maintain their balance and not automatically be affected by a horse's sudden imbalance.

The new "2-point", that is actually a 3-point, is a static balance tied to the horse's balance. This position makes the rider a passenger dependent on the horse's balance. In this static dependent balance, if the horse stumbles the rider, riders lacking their own independent balance can more easily be pitched forward even to the point of being launched forward onto the ground.

The 3-point is rewarded by judges even though it is a static unbalanced position forward of the horse's center of balance and thus dangerous if the horse loses their balance. This is one of the primary examples of how several disciplines have invented their own isolated discipline "horsemanships" with elements that are impractical, ineffective and sometimes dangerous. The worst part is that these discipline idiosyncrasies make the horses' job more difficult.

I have a video on my YouTube channel that discusses this in greater detail www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IEpQmApva0&t=28s

28/02/2025

Motivation. The continual desire to better oneself.

Copied from Centered Riding February 2025 Newsletter. ”2025 is not just another year here in the Centered Riding community. It marks the 40th anniversary of the publication of Sally Swift’s landmark first book, “Centered Riding!”
In 1985, Trafalgar Square Books (TSB) in North Pomfret, Vermont, was a small-town business, just getting started in publishing. “Centered Riding” by Sally Swift was the first horse book they produced.1 It quickly captured the attention and imagination of
equestrians far and wide. Countless book stores and libraries began stocking it, and before long, riders, trainers, horse owners, and many others far and wide began reading it. More importantly, people began implementing Centered Riding techniques and
principles in their work with horses and riders, and in their own day-to-day lives.
1 The source of much of the information in this article can be found on the Trafalgar Square Books website,
at: https://trafalgarbooks.com/pages/our-story (accessed January 29, 2025). ’

17/02/2025

Right here in Maine!

PLEASE HELP US SHARE

We'd like to thank everyone for their patience, and appreciate our member's hard work in creating this year's schedule of events. We overcame a few challenges in dates and locations, but we're proud to announce this year's line-up of a beginner's clinic series, and two power-packed weekends of shoots featuring a couple of fantastic clinicians that can help all of our rider's meet their goals this year!

Now its time to share, and get the word out that we're looking for sponsors for our 2025 events. Through sponsorships and donations, we're able to offer some great awards and payouts for our competitors. Let's make this an awesome season!

18/01/2025

Dog Tag Giveaway 🤠
My name is Hank. I love helping out on my mom's horse farm picking the paddocks and filling the water troughs. Although I'm only a 6-year-old Weimaraner, my favorite job is driving the farm truck! Mom loves sporting her Molly's custom silver buckle and I'd love to wear one to match! ❤️

18/01/2025

𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭!
We are at over 18k signatures; thank you to every one of you. Lets get this to as many people as we can and make a powerful statement to D.C.

We 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 and 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 have over 200k signatures.

Please sign and SHARE!

PETITION: https://www.ruralamericainaction.com/petition/stop-the-horse-protection-act

WESTERN JUSTICE MEMBERSHIP: https://www.westernjustice.info/memberships

10/01/2025

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=995090692650707&set=a.448461523980296

Molly's Custom Silver is giving away dog tags to some lucky pups, actually 100 very loved pups!

Will you follow the link below ⏬ and give us a LIKE ? Hank would love some bling to proudly show off 🤠. The top 100 dogs with the most "likes" will win.

You've still got time to enroll your doggie too!!!!

Dog Tag Giveaway 🤠
My name is Hank. I love helping out on my mom's horse farm picking the paddocks and filling the water troughs. Although I'm only a 6-year-old Weimaraner, my favorite job is driving the farm truck! Mom loves sporting her Molly's custom silver buckle and I'd love to wear one to match! ❤️

16/10/2024

🇺🇸🚜🇺🇸

28/06/2024

How do we let the cat outta the bag, without letting the cat outta the bag???
🤫

This Maine soil is extremely fertile... established grass exceeding 6' in height...the farm layout and name change will soon be released!!! ❤️

23/06/2022

To all of Big Bear's horse loving friends:

It is time to announce our departure from the beautiful town of Gettysburg, PA. I had a vision the first day I saw the rolling fields, wooded riverfront trails, and peaceful pond. I thank everyone, especially Danni & Miranda, for their hard work and partnership during the farm's development and day to day operations. Thank you for the opportunity to nurture, care, train, and rehab so many wonderful mustangs, retirees, and 24k gold ponies. Thank you for the friendships, thank you for the love, and thank you for the shared support. It's time to move on, back to the woods of Maine... 🍻 Prost to the successes, and to the next, new adventure of growth in life. ♥️

I'll leave you with this -

“Go check your horses.”

My eyes popped open at 5:40am. “What Lord? Is something wrong?”

“Go check your horses.”

I got out of bed and grabbed a flashlight, some red light Ben usually keeps on his gun for varmints. As soon as my feet got outside, calves immediately began bawling; and I rolled my eyes. We didn’t want another orphan AT ALL, but last Saturday the herd we worked had a heifer calf who loved her baby dearly but had zero milk to feed her. The calf was weak and wobbly and probably wouldn’t have survived the next few days without us. The owner said he didn’t have luck with calves on the bottle, and what was I going to say? So there’s Bobbi at 5am bellowing at me to feed her; I just sigh and trudge on. When I got down to where we feed our horses, there was no one. Not a single horse, they were still all out back.

“Go check your horses. You only have thirty minutes.”

Thirty minutes?! It was almost 6am by this time and I’m thinking the worst. God is waking me up to save one of my animals from some terrible accident. As I walk out to go to the gate that leads up the road and out to the back of our land, I trip over a bucket. That bucket is sitting in the middle of the yard because it’s marking where the concrete is going to go for the new barn. New barn....new concrete....money money money. I feel stressed already.

“Go check your horses.”

I walk over the hill and can see the green grass begin to glow in the dim light. This land was about to come alive soon, and it was ours. God gave this land to us.

“Go check your horses.”

Right Lord, emergency, death, destruction, money, bad news, injuri.....my horses are all in a pound puppy pile sleeping peacefully. Lord you said to check my horses, and here they all are laid up like fattening hogs. My horses are FINE Lord. You said I only had thirty min like my horses were bleeding out!

Then, that still small voice spoke to me.

“I told you to go check your horses, I never said anything was wrong. I told you that you only had thirty minutes, because that’s about how much time you have until everyone gets up, and I needed to speak to you alone. Look around you. Remember how far you have come, how far I’ve brought you.”

💥Boom 💥

As I walked back, all six of my horses followed, grunting and stretching along with the new day. I remembered when this land was just trees, not glowing green grass. Then I arrived at my gate to exit the pasture, and I saw my buckets, marking a new chapter in our lives. A new barn that will send off some of these horses that stand here, and welcome new ones by birth or buying. Then I was greeted once again, by Bobbi, and I remembered when I took her, even though I didn’t really want to, I had all the accommodations to take her. God gave me all of this.

This morning, by telling me to go check my horses, He changed my mental attitude towards all of what I was seeing as struggles, to blessings! Some friends and I had been talking about lately with changing our mental attitude when we train our horses, not thinking “he/she is stubborn,” to maybe “he/she might not understand, and I should present the offer differently.”

God did that with me today. You may not have horses to check, but maybe today you should walk the halls of your job, home, or land, and realize what God has done and is doing for you. Remember how He has taken care of you, and brought you this far.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:23-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

~unknown