Ponder's Western Riding Lessons

10/12/2026

Back home, back to the horses, and ready to get back into our usual routine! As important as it is to keep learning, growing, and building our knowledge, it’s just as important to take a step back, recharge, and allow ourselves and our animals the time to rest. 💚

Growth doesn’t always happen when we’re actively working. Sometimes, the time spent resting and simply enjoying life is just as valuable as the time spent learning. Coming back refreshed allows us to show up better for ourselves, our horses, and the people we share our knowledge with. I’m feeling revived and excited to get back to learning, teaching, and continuing to spread knowledge about horsemanship and the wonderful animals who make it all possible! 🐴

Whether you’re brand new to horses or looking to continue building your knowledge and confidence, there’s always something new to learn and room to grow. Message the page today for more information!

10/03/2026

Tomorrow is the last open day of the season! Come join us 🤠

TOMORROW!!!!
Join us at Happy Trails Farm tomorrow from noon until 5pm for the farm’s last open day of the season!
Enjoy the peace of farm life and the joy of interacting with our animals.
Admission is free, but donations are greatly appreciated, and some activities cost (cash only).
So grab the family and we’ll see you on the farm!

10/03/2026

Stuff can go wrong. Oh boy can it go wrong

If you’re around horses, it’s not a matter of if, but when.

But whether or not you learn from them, or become a victim of circumstance and chance is totally up to you.

The moments after a wreck or accident matter. Once you’ve all regrouped, attended to what needs attending to - injuries, repairs, some deep breathing - it’s time to take stock in what happened.

There are SOME freak accidents, but most could have prevented. Could’ve would’ve should’ve is actually helpful when trying to learn from a situation. At this point you have several options: let your pride and embarrassment swallow up any chances of learning and pretend it isn’t in any way your fault, or, become so engrossed in self blame that you are wallowing in pity to the point you can’t move on.

Being that neither one is super helpful, another option is:

Try to remember what happened.
What went wrong? Can you pinpoint an actual moment? Was there a judgement call made that turned out to not be right?

Were there skill sets missing on your part or the horses or those around you?
Were emotions involved? Time constraints? Social pressures?

What regrets do you now have that can help move you forward in a positive direction?

I find guilt to not be super productive because of its close association with shame - but some amount allows us to look accurately at what needs to change.

To err is human, to forgive divine -
But forgiving ourselves, I believe, means learning from the mistake so we can prevent it from happening again.

And if possible, make amends with those we failed. Ignorance harms many horses - we can’t avoid making mistakes from ignorance. But we can help those we have from our learning or pay it forward.

My path to education is littered with mistakes. Many very, very preventable that I now can help guide people to avoid. I owe a lot of horses many apologies for my ignorance and sometimes emotional interferences - and I try my best to now pay that forward. I’m sure there will be more, but each time I learn better how to accept my mistake without deflecting blame and trying to make up for it.

It can be pretty hard to be human sometimes. Horses are masters at teaching us how to be the best humans we can be.

Here’s me getting very lucky and learning from one such mistake

09/30/2026

09/28/2026

We know this hoof 👀❤️
Pictured is a before and after of Miss Heidi’s hoof that Ms. Ponder diligently put work into after bringing her home. Hoof care is one of our top priorities, along with nutrition and all of the other pieces that go into keeping our lesson horses healthy. That’s something we also carry into our lessons by teaching students to be involved and aware of their lesson horses’ ongoing care, and even participating in that process at times.

R E M E D Y 🍀 S E V E N

Last week a customer shared her hoof rehab story with me. The changes you can see between these pictures took about 9 months and a lot of consistency from the owner.
But holy cow, look at that beautiful new frog!

It is important to note that this owner worked HARD for these results. Remedy Seven is not a magical hoof product that created this outcome on its own.
This owner stuck to a regular trim cycle, did diluted apple c***r vinegar soaks, and used a packing product specific for thrush, along with Remedy Seven.

I am so proud of the changes my little product have made!

If anyone has a Remedy Seven assisted hoof rehab story to share, please email them to me at [email protected]
I would love to hear about your experience with Remedy Seven💚