We have a decently healthy herd here at Infinity Farm. We are eight species strong- mostly horses, but our fair share of ruminants as well.  Sometimes you can pick up a sick vibe in the herd before you can figure out which animal it is. It’s almost like sensing it out of the corner of your eye. This week it was a llama.

Her real name is Belle Starr, but she is a big boned girl and it’s hard to not refer to her as the Belly Llama. She had a bit of a digestive upset that I was able to…

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Henk writes:

The stall next to me wasn’t empty for long. A day or two after the Spanish horses left for their new home in Nova Scotia (see November 9th post), Louis, our Canadian horse, appeared next door. He likes to live outside in the big pasture, so I hadn’t seen him for a while. He was looking exceptionally grumpy.

 

“Merde,” I heard him curse under his breath. He was avoiding me, trying to get to the far  side of his stall, but every time he put his…

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It is a cleansing feeling to let go of anything we are carrying in our lives that no longer serve us, that were put upon us by others, or that are harmful to us on any level - self limiting beliefs, relationships, behaviors, thoughts..things that are life effacing. White Horse Coaching offers an activity (or ceremony, if that word is meaningful), with the presence and support of a horse, to release these things and then to reclaim what affirms a person's life, desires, visions and passions.…

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Henk the Friesian horse writes:

OnTRA (the Ontario Therapeutic Riding Association) is asking its member centres to nominate outstanding riders, volunteers, and of course HORSES for special recognition. So naturally I expected Lil to nominate me. You don't get much more outstanding, after all. With my tall, dark and handsome looks, my charming personality, my aristocratic breeding... It should be a no-brainer.

 

But for some reason she thinks that working only a handful…

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Everyone has a journey. You grow up, your parents do absolutely everything they can do to relish your talents and help you find something you love with all of your heart. Everyone has a passion. One thing that you think of when you wake up in the morning. One thing that makes you want to keep moving forward, even when the end of the tunnel is pitch black. That one thing will be on your mind for your entire life. No matter what life throws at you, you will always have that one special thing…

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Henk writes:

It's show season! For us, that means getting our manes french-braided and doing everything from dressage tests to trail classes to leading patterns, all the while being filmed on video. The videos are then uploaded to Para-Equestrian Canada where our riders compete on video against riders from across the country, all of them with some kind of disability.

 

What a cool idea. We horses get to show off to people we've never even met, and the riders love it,…

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Henk writes:

 

It's impossible to overstate the importance of a well-trained human to the happiness of a horse's life. As with anything, you can cut corners and start with an untrained human -- or even try to reform a spoiled one -- but unless you're an expert, it's a risky thing to do.

 

Cry if you want, but you'll learn to sit that…

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http://www.stonegatefarm.ca

 

Henk writes:

 

I've been working in therapeutic riding lessons for the past couple of weeks because Sunny, the tiny Standardbred with the delicate physique has hurt himself again. His owner (who lends him to my human, Lil, for lessons), calls it Recurring Sunny Summer Lameness (RSSL), because he likes to maim himself each summer and spend at…

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If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you’re there?   When working with coaching clients, I always ask them to set a goal…

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Kick Start a Healthy Life – 10 Tips you can Start Today

By Lindsey Forkun BScN, PHN

 

1)      Eat more…

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The other day on a blog, http://theridinginstructor.net, I wrote a post about boarding contracts. It was triggered by a recent situation where my daughter took over care at a small boarding stable here, when the owners went out of town. A horse went head to tail down (seizure) and remained that way for at least 8 1/2 to 9 hours. The horse owners refused to get a vet for the horse. The stable owner had no board contract, and the vets will not touch a… Continue

Well, when we go back to the big cities we hear so much nonsense about operating a horse farms. We don't want to blame anyone but maybe we can set the record straight. Yes, it's hard work but with some good management skils it can also be a lot of fun and pretty rewarding, also financially and even in todays' time when our economy in general isn't soaring.



But there are some very basic but nevertheless important rules to obey before starting a horse farm. And in the beginning some of… Continue