Thunder Cliff Shires

Thunder Cliff Shires Thunder Cliff Shires is a family of shire lovers! We have bred, raised, trained, educated with our horses for over 25 years. Thunder Cliff Shires, Inc.

is a 501(c)(3) corporation that is dedicated to enriching the lives of horses and humans. We want to share the Shire horse breed and provide a variety of programs to allow people to experience draft horses without finances limiting their opportunities. Bryan and Michelle Conner started TCS to share the horses they own. Donations cover insurance for the TCS programs and direct costs for those progr

ams (education materials, fuel for travel, etc). Currently TCS takes horses to a few therapy centers so their participants can see, pet and learn about them; and we hold an annual Pumpkin Patch Wagon Rides Day. The facility and horses are owned by and paid for solely by the Conners privately. Bryan and Michelle strive to raise, train, show and promote quality Shire Horses. They want to showcase the versatility of this exquisite breed of draft horse. Not many people realize that the Shire Horse is endangered, and was nearly extinct after WWII. We are also passionate about education on proper horse care, training techniques and conditioning horses for work. We have educational material available on fitting saddles and tack and proper dental care for horses. Bryan has gone through courses on natural balance trimming and Michelle has gone through two different equine massage programs, horse training apprenticeships, Equine Assisted Philosophy Certification courses. Our horses get regular dental, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture and the best nutrition for their needs.

Got some rain and missed the big storms with hail... 4 of our 6 shires, and Ringo the QH
08/15/2026

Got some rain and missed the big storms with hail... 4 of our 6 shires, and Ringo the QH

05/17/2026

I, Michelle, have been a long time admirer of and fortunate enough to have attended multiple clinics with Mark Rashid and Crissi McDonald over the last 20 years. Last year I attended the collaborative clinic with them, Dr Steve Peters and Jim Masterson at the Happy Dog Ranch in Sedalia with Raiden. I learned so much and had such an amazing experience.
I have all of each of their books and am very excited to be reading the newest collaboration with Mark, Crissi and Dr Peters. This is written in such an easy to read, educational way, as all of Mark's books are. I wanted to share this promotional video and hope anyone interested in learning more about horses and how they operate and can partner with us gets a copy to read!

Good morning from a few of our crew. Enjoying sunshine after snow...
02/04/2025

Good morning from a few of our crew. Enjoying sunshine after snow...

09/13/2024

Have any of you purchased a well trained horse that just made you feel like a million bucks when you handled and rode him? Were you 110% in love and trusted this horse knowing he would never put a foot wrong under saddle or on the ground? Did you maintain his training by continuing to lesson with a trainer and or have a trainer ride your new horse to keep him tuned up? No? You mean you just brought this horse home and thought with all his training he is just programmed to be good (great even) all the time and never go back to the young testy horse he once was?

Let me tell you about the story of when I got my truck detailed. I paid big bucks to send my truck to a guy who spent 6 hours on cleaning the interior polishing the the dash and conditioning the leather seats. He washed/waxed and buffed all the paint, and he shined up my wheels and tires. Pretty sure that truck wasn’t that clean and shiny when I drove it off the lot brand new. My truck was beautiful. For awhile I took my shoes off before I got in and I wouldn’t leave garbage behind, I even vacuumed it and wiped down the dash and seats. Then I started to get busier and just drive my truck because well let’s be honest I had to use it. I didn’t stop to clean it once a week quite honestly not even once a month 🤦🏼‍♀️. My beautiful shined like new truck had dog hair on the floor, trash in the door pockets, dust on the dash and mud all over the wheel wells! Had I took the time to clean it like I was in the beginning, the truck would have stayed clean and beautiful like it was when it was returned from the detailer.

You see folks our horses are the same way. If we don’t constantly keep up training our horses won’t stay the same or improve. If we don’t train a little everyday (yup, every single day) or at least one good professional ride or lesson a week, we can back track so quickly. Your amazing new boy might try and bite you and maybe even think he’s going to buck you off during his circles. We want to get mad at the horse when they behave this way but you have to think in your mind “have I done my job as his handler?”
Make sure their ground manners are good, halter them everyday even if you just have time to feed them. Work with a trainer once a week and maintain the animal someone or maybe even yourself poured endless hours of blood sweat tears and dreams into. Someone believed in your horse, you owe it to them to keep that horse going correctly.

There's a little bit of water... and two happy doodles....
04/27/2024

There's a little bit of water... and two happy doodles....

Checking out some trash the wind blew in. Gabby abs Sabre had to make sure it didn't taste good, then it was back to th...
04/27/2024

Checking out some trash the wind blew in. Gabby abs Sabre had to make sure it didn't taste good, then it was back to the grass...

Small amount of green...
04/27/2024

Small amount of green...

Address

Calhan, CO
80808

Telephone

+17196513662

Website

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