DIFD Horses

10/19/2026

Hook got a rain coat!!

10/15/2026

So I’ve been keeping a, not so well hidden, secret! Last week we took a road trip to Utah and this little cutie came back with us.

Everyone I’d like you to meet Hook, full name pending, she is a 3 year old quarter horse mare that I fell in love with last year on a trip to Utah. I will give a better story for her in a different post, but I couldn’t sit on this opportunity for the future of DIFD Horses any longer.

I want to leave it with this, sometimes a future starts with a dream, a road trip, and people who have unconditional faith in your ability. Those people know who they are for me and I am forever grateful for them.

09/11/2026

Negativity is a habit—and so is positivity.

When you constantly focus on what went wrong, what you don’t have, who disappointed you, or what might go badly, you’re training your brain to search for more evidence that life is bad. And eventually, you’ll find it everywhere.

The same thing can happen in competition. If you finish every run replaying every mistake, pretty soon mistakes are all you see. You stop noticing the progress, the wins, and the things you actually did right.

Your brain gets better at what you repeatedly ask it to do.

So train it differently.

After a run, a hard day, or a setback, acknowledge what needs improvement—but then intentionally look for what went right. Find the lesson. Find the progress. Find something you're grateful for. Find the next opportunity.

This isn’t pretending bad things don’t happen. It’s refusing to let the bad become the only thing your brain knows how to see.

What you focus on grows. Train your brain to look for the good. Eventually, it will start finding it automatically.

08/31/2026

Just a bit of a throwback comparison.

The bay was my mare Fire, she was amazing and the reason why mares will always hold a special place in my heart.

The sorrel is my mare Shotzee, she is spicy and opinionated and gives her all to what I ask of her. In all regards she is Fire, just younger and lighter colored.

The similarities between these two rocking little mares is astounding.

These two pictures were taken years apart. Same event, same arena, same rider, different horses and different set of knowledge.

When I saw this picture of Shotzee I was thrown into the past to the picture of Fire, to the memory held within, to the feeling of swinging my leg over a mare that had more heart and try then most horses. And what a blessing it is I get to do it again with Shotzee.

I always used to say I wish I had Fire when she was younger and so I was sent a fiery little red horse that looked at me like that little bay used to and I knew then that Fire chose her even before she passed away. Because she wasn’t passing up the opportunity to inspect her “Replacement”.

I miss Fire every day, but thank her fore giving me the knowledge and confidence to deal with my little red headed dragon.

07/30/2026

07/30/2026

I’ve been so bad about posting updates, or even getting videos in general lately, but this is a huge step for our training horse Badger from a week ago. He let us put fly boots on him, a couple days before that he wouldn’t even let me touch his back leg. His progress in trusting is slow but it’s there.

07/23/2026

This story is 20 years in the making.

I am 37. I have been through it all. Divorced. Sued. Robbed. Rented rooms. Put myself through college. Bad relationships. Bad friendships. You name it. Learned a lot of *hard* lessons, but absolutely refused to quit.

There were times when Hottie paid my rent, my car payment, for food. I had NOTHING.

Times I sold horses I never wanted to. To survive. To eat. To pay my bills, and I cried every time they loaded them up.

I worked for *years* and never made a dime. I focused on building myself, learning, watching successful people and figuring out how to reinvent the wheel.

I remember thinking I can’t compete with professionals. I wasn’t fast enough, but I kept pushing myself, a kept moving my horses, trying to find what I needed, and slowly but surely, the tides started to turn.

When Josh and I met (10 years ago) I rented a place by the college and he lived in a camper in a field with no electricity while he hand built his place. I did every side hustle you can think of, because I wanted better horses. I remember sitting in the bleachers at Diamond T in the winter to get internet for classes, and Dirk being so kind to leave a corner office unlocked for me so I wouldn’t freeze. I did whatever it took.

I had the car I lovingly called the “G-Wagon,” a $2,000 dodge nitro that was orange 🤮😆 with no heat, and I remember saying all winter while driving it, “I want to buy land, I want to buy land.” 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I finally was able to buy my dream piece of dirt about 6 years ago, thanks to the help of Three Times the Fury, and many of my good mares I sold to build the barn, build the apartment and the shop. All of which we built ourselves, because we couldnt afford to hire anything out.

This year, I built an arena. 🤯 Before owning this dirt, I hauled to ride. 15 YEARS OF HAULING TO RIDE, never having my own arena.

I refused to quit. I 120% BET ON ME. I refused to go with social norms, I refused to listen to outside noise. I refused to think I couldn’t do it. I kept pushing….

The things I have today are from immense sacrifice. I share this, because if I can do it, so can you. I want you to be inspired, and if you’re a hater… well I just want you to know if you put that energy towards yourself, you can accomplish things you want in life too.

No one is coming to save you, but no one is coming to stop you either. 💪🏻

07/16/2026

🔥 Wildfire Smoke & Horse Health 🐴💨

Poor air quality can be harmful not only to us but our horses too. Smoke from wildfires can irritate a horse's respiratory system and cause fatigue, coughing, difficulty breathing, etc.

You can monitor local air quality at www.airnow.gov. During periods of poor air quality, you can protect your horse's health by:

🐎 Limiting or avoiding exercise.
💧 Providing free access to fresh water.
💦 Controlling dust such as watering dry lots and soaking or feeding dust-free hay.
🕰 Allowing time for recovery: airway damage from wildfire smoke takes 4 to 6 weeks to heal after air quality returns to normal.
☎️ Consult your vet if you notice signs of smoke irritation.

For more information visit: ceh.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/health-topics/wildfire-smoke-and-horses

07/05/2026

One of my greatest honors as a rider is to carry our nation’s symbol of freedom. Happy 4th of July!!!!

06/26/2026

Here it is, the real thing, raw and uncut. After about two months of not really being touched we did a “what do you remember” session with Mac. He did a lot better than I expected.