Doghill Quarter Horses

07/06/2026

He tells me he doesn’t like horses…

07/06/2026

We take every opportunity we can to desensitise our horses to scary stuff…

03/06/2026

Trader (Wilden Free Trade) growing into the stallion he’s going to be.

Got to love a ginger. 🧡

31/05/2026

Massively excited about the pairing of Tilly (aka Donk) and Cash for next year . Even more excited to see what the future holds for Charlotte, Cash and Working equitation.

30/05/2026

Hobbit arrived 7 years ago today. Insane to believe it was that long ago, how much he’s influenced the decisions we’ve made as breeders and the impact and influence he’s had at Doghill.

He went back to Penny Brommersma on Thursday to start a well earned retirement. We can never be grateful enough to Penny for trusting us with her precious boy in the first place and having the faith in us that she did.

We’re moving forward with 4 fantastic Hobbit daughters, and 2 young and very exciting stallions, Wilden Free Trade and Kernow Ghost Buster.

Hobbit is going to be spending his days grazing and being pampered by Penny and being very missed by us.

26/05/2026

Lovely update from Marley’s mum today (HW Gotta Goldn Sting) - they’ve been doing liberty work and he’s a star at it! I csnnot believe he is 2 already!!

Photo credit: Jill Marwick

26/05/2026

Absolutely what is said below. Please do not ride in this heat.

STOP RIDING HORSES IN THIS HEAT!

I’m genuinely baffled scrolling Facebook tonight seeing people out riding in the middle of this heat today. Horses here are not acclimatised to these temperatures in Ireland or Uk. We are not in Spain. We are not in the middle of a dry summer season where horses have gradually adapted over weeks and months.

For the love of God, give them a couple of days. Missing a ride will not ruin your progress.
If you absolutely must ride, do it very early in the morning or late in the evening when the temperature drops. Not half one in the afternoon with the sun beating down and the air not moving.

And please, water. Endless access to clean water. Shade if possible. Hose them down properly after work and stop obsessively scraping every drop off. The water sitting on the skin helps cool the body. Standing there scraping them bone dry in this weather can actually work against what you are trying to achieve. Watch for the small signs too. Horses standing flat, dull, not interested in food, increased breathing rate, sweating heavily or sometimes not sweating properly at all. Heat stress does not always look dramatic straight away.

I know some people will say, ah sure they’re grand. But horses are unbelievably honest animals. Many will keep going long after they are uncomfortable because that is what we have trained them to do. That does not mean they should have to.

The weather will break. Your horse does not need to prove anything this week.

21/05/2026

The foals all met Sam our farrier today. They were very interested in what he did! Velvet was determined not to let him get in the way of the milk bar! 😂