Equine Pavilion Show Stables

Equine Pavilion Show Stables Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Equine Pavilion Show Stables, Horseback Riding Center, 7522 South Pinery Drive, Parker, CO.

Happy Birthday to the incomparable . There will never be a better, tougher human with more talent. There’s nothing you d...
05/03/2026

Happy Birthday to the incomparable . There will never be a better, tougher human with more talent. There’s nothing you don’t do better than everyone; including falling off and getting back on. I’ll always be your biggest supporter. ⭐️

01/23/2026

INDIVIDUAL STABLING CAN ALTER A HORSE’S IMMUNE SYSTEM

When horses are moved from group living to individual stables, their bodies don’t just behave differently — their immune systems change too.

A study from Germany followed 12 young Warmblood geldings (2–3 years old) through a series of common management changes, measuring behaviour, stress hormones, and immune cell profiles.

All horses initially lived together at pasture. The researchers first split the group into two smaller pasture groups that could not see each other. After eight days, the horses were reunited and then remained together at pasture for eight weeks.

Later, all horses were moved into individual stables. They could see and touch neighbours through bars, were given short daily turnout in the first week, and were lunged from the second week onward.

Throughout the study, blood samples were taken to assess white blood cell counts and plasma cortisol (a stress-related hormone).

WHAT CHANGED — AND WHAT DIDN’T

Dividing the pasture group into two smaller groups caused no detectable stress response. There were no behavioural changes, no cortisol increase, and no immune disruption.

Moving the horses into individual stables was a very different story.

Within days of stabling:

• Key immune cells (including eosinophils, monocytes, and T cells) decreased
• Neutrophils increased, raising the neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio — a classic sign of stress-related immune modulation
• Cortisol levels rose one day after stabling

Cortisol returned to baseline after about eight days. The immune changes did not.

Most immune alterations persisted well beyond the initial stress response, suggesting a longer-lasting impact on disease resistance. Some horses also began showing stereotypic behaviours within just one week of stabling.

The researchers concluded that social isolation is a chronic stressor with negative effects on both welfare and health, while group living supports immunocompetence.

WHY THIS MATTERS

This management shift, from group turnout to individual stabling with the introduction of training, is extremely common, particularly for young horses starting work.

Yet this study shows that even when horses can see and touch neighbours, individual stabling can trigger lasting physiological stress that goes far beyond short-term 'settling in'.

If immune function is compromised, susceptibility to infectious disease may increase – at exactly the time many horses are also facing new training demands.

So the uncomfortable question remains:
How much evidence do we need before increasing turnout and true social housing becomes the norm rather than the exception?

Study: Single housing but not changes in group composition causes stress-related immunomodulations in horses. PLOS ONE (2022).

11/03/2025

These days, everybody seems to have grooms, but “R” judge and trainer Geoff Case thinks many riders are missing the quiet time spent simply doing for their horses. “Horsemanship doesn’t just happen in the saddle,” he said. “It’s everything you do around the horse that teaches you who they are.”

Case believes that the best riders, the ones who seem effortlessly in sync with their mounts, aren’t just great athletes. They’re great caretakers.

Case came up in a generation where riders did everything—groomed, bathed, wrapped, and tacked up their own horses. He still believes those habits are the foundation of success. “When you groom your horse, you start noticing things,” he said. “You feel the muscle tone. You feel if something’s tight. You learn their reactions.”

That kind of attention builds awareness and empathy, two things that can’t be taught in a lesson. “If you only ever show up to get on, you’re missing half the education,” he said. “It’s in the details. How they stand, how they breathe, how they look at you when you walk up with the halter.”

He encourages his students to spend as much time on the ground as they do in the saddle. “The more you do yourself, the more connected you are,” he said. “You start riding differently because you understand who’s under you.”

Case recalled working with Peter Wylde, who won the World Championship and an Olympic gold medal, but still did all his own care. “Peter was the perfect example,” Case said. “He could have had ten grooms if he wanted, but he still groomed, tacked, cooled out—everything. He knew every bump on those horses.”

That level of attention was about pride and partnership. “Peter didn’t separate the care from the riding,” Case said. “He knew they were part of the same thing.”

For Case, that mindset is what defines real horsemanship. “When you spend time doing the basics yourself, you stop thinking of the horse as a piece of equipment,” he said. “You start thinking of them as your teammate.”

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/11/03/why-doing-the-basics-yourself-builds-better-riders/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

10/24/2025

Ask Dr. Holly Helbig what she worries most about for the future of the sport, and her answer isn’t about judging systems, prize money, or even veterinary shortages. It’s about kids.

“We’ve done this to them,” she said during a recent Plaidcast In Person event. “We’ve tacked up for them, been their grooms, enabled them. They aren’t getting the hours it takes to build intuition around horses.”

That loss of hands-on time—the small, daily habits that teach empathy and awareness—has become one of Helbig’s biggest concerns. And as both a veterinarian and professional trainer, she’s seen how taking those opportunities away doesn’t just change young riders; it changes the horses too.

Helbig describes herself as a “horse-crazy girl, not from a horse family.” She didn’t grow up surrounded by resources, but she found a way to make it work. “My parents went through bankruptcy,” she said. “Being a kid, not coming from a ton of money, I had to be scrappy.”

That scrappiness, she believes, is part of what shaped her success. “I didn’t have the money to pay a braider or a bunch of grooms,” she said. “You just jump in and do what you have to do. At the end of the day, I wouldn’t trade it. My relationship with that horse was stronger because of all the time I spent with him.”

Today, she worries that many young riders aren’t getting those same opportunities. “I think we’ve created a generation that can ride beautifully,” she said, “but hasn’t had the chance to really know horses.”

In her own training program, Helbig made sure her students stayed involved in every aspect of horse care. “My kids tacked for themselves at the horse show,” she said. “We had grooms, but they tacked for themselves.”

When something medical came up, she used it as a teaching moment. “Whenever anything happened in the barn, I’d scoop all the kids up and say, ‘Come look at this. What is it? Look at this ultrasound. Let’s look at this x-ray together.’”

Those experiences, she said, taught her students to see horses as living, breathing partners—not just show animals. “They learned to pay attention, to notice things, and to ask questions. That’s what builds confidence.”

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/10/22/let-the-kids-tack-up-why-the-next-generation-needs-more-time-in-the-barn/
📸 Lauren Mauldin / The Plaid Horse

09/28/2025

Trainers. Grooms. Farriers. Veterinarians. Riders. Writers. Barn managers. Therapists. Many of us live in the space where passion meets pressure, and the result is often burnout that looks like devotion from the outside. The very people who are keeping this industry going are often barely surviving....

05/15/2024

People often say that their horses in stables ‘live like kings’, but in fact, none of them do, unless we are referring to a king in exile, and a locked room!

When people use this analogy they are usually referring to the supply of copious clean bedding, an aesthetically pleasing stable and performance enhancing nutrition.

It is important to re-think this statement from the horse’s perspective and recognise that to live like a horse in a stable would be to: live with friends they can see and touch, be able to forage for 13 hours a day, and to have the freedom to move and interact with at least some facets of their environment.

This is a teaser of our soon to be released Modern Horse Training Volume 2 ✨

10/12/2023

Longeing horses in a controlled way and avoiding overlongeing could be the most effective ways to protect their joints.

05/06/2023

Some time ago we were guests of the Philippaerts family in Oudsbergen. We had a chat with the pater...

05/06/2023

Could not load dynamic part 'OGDescription'

Address

7522 South Pinery Drive
Parker, CO
80134

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 7pm
Wednesday 9am - 7pm
Thursday 9am - 7pm
Friday 9am - 7pm
Saturday 9am - 7pm
Sunday 9am - 7pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Equine Pavilion Show Stables posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category