Forbes Farm LMF

Barrel racing continues to be nationally recognized by other industries, and recently saw stardom when Matthew McConaughey partnered with stallion Adios Pantalones and his owner, Tricia Aldridge.

Read more here: https://bhnmag.co/PantalonesTequila

Remembering Dolly..

Good advice

🔥3 THINGS Every Horse Owper Should Check..

🔥CHECK YOUR HORSE FOR SORENESS OR ABNORMAL SENSITIVITY
Before saddling, run your hands over the back, loin, withers and areas where the tack will sit.

🔥WATCH YOUR HORSE MOVE BEFORE YOU SADDLE UP!
Walk and trot your horse and look for changes from their normal movement

🔥CHECK YOUR SADDLE AND CINCH
BEFORE YOU GET ON!
Make sure your saddle is positioned correctly, the cinch is sitting appropriately and nothing is creating obvious pressure or restriction.

🔥WENDY WINN EMPHASIZES:

Feel the Horse
Watch the Horse Move
Check the Tack
If something fels different from normal. Don’t just ride through it !

Find out why.
https://www.winnhorses.org/membership-offers

Have a photo of you and your horse you'd like to share in the magazine? Or know someone who would? Share this with them.

Wow-

Dick Sparrow of Zearing is shown with his 40-horse hitch at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in 1975. Sparrow and his horses were touring throughout the U.S. for the three years prior but this was his first Iowa State Fair appearance. Published in the Ames Tribune August 21, 1975.

W**ds-

~ W**d prevention Part 2 ~

Resources for plants (moisture, space, soil, nutrients, sunlight) are limited in pastures. If the grasses present are well-established and flourishing, they will actively use those resources, making them unavailable for intruders. Our jobs as equine and pasture stewards are to ensure that forage grasses have the tools they need in order to keep out infestations of other plants we don't want.

How do we accomplish this?

1) Doing soils testing and using the information we get to manage the soils for optimal health. That may include adding organic matter, compost, amendments for fertility or correcting the pH, and over-seeding if necessary.

2) Managing manure by either removing and composting it or at the very least, dragging/harrowing it to break it up and scatter it. Either way, we need to ensure that we utilize its fertility rather than allowing it to play host to weeds and toxic plants.

3) Altering waterflow so that it isn't allowed to erode pastures, damage grass roots, carry away nutrients, and expose bare soil for opportunistic plants. This may include diverting flow or creating a drainage system. Precipitation can be our best or worst friend...it's our choice.

4) Limiting the number of grazing animals and/or grazing days so that grass root systems are not damaged and are allowed appropriate rest and recovery. Pasture/paddock rotation is an important part of this system, as is keeping animals excluded during times of high moisture so that hooves don't damage vital root systems or compact soils around forage grasses.

There is no one single secret weapon against weeds, no matter how we wish there was. Rather, it is an active combination of the above steps that allows forage grasses to do their jobs, which are growing, reproducing, and outcompeting weeds and toxic plants.

The best part is that when this system is working properly, it's self-sustaining and only takes minimal effort and expense to keep it working effectively for years and even decades.

Show me where it hurts-

Few quotes have influenced modern bodywork more than this one.

At first glance, it almost sounds dismissive. But Ida Rolf wasn’t suggesting that pain isn’t real. She was reminding us that the place that hurts is often not the place that started the problem.

A horse with sore shoulders may actually be struggling because of restricted ribs, an uneven pelvis, poor hoof balance, or long-standing compensation elsewhere in the body. Likewise, a painful back may simply be the region absorbing forces that another part of the body can no longer manage efficiently.

More than fifty years ago, Ida Rolf encouraged practitioners to stop chasing symptoms and start looking at the body as a connected system. Instead of asking, “Where does it hurt?” she asked, “Why is this area doing more work than it was designed to do?”

That way of thinking was revolutionary.

Rolf was a biochemist who developed a system of bodywork called Structural Integration, later known as Rolfing®. She believed the body functions as one interconnected structure rather than a collection of independent muscles and joints. While some of her explanations have evolved with modern science, her central idea has stood the test of time: change one part of the body, and the rest responds.

Today, advances in biomechanics, fascia research, neuroscience, and motor learning continue to reinforce that principle. We now understand that muscles, fascia, joints, and the nervous system constantly work together to distribute force, maintain balance, and adapt to injury or restriction.

Although Ida Rolf never worked with horses, her philosophy has profoundly influenced equine bodywork. Structural Integration has been adapted for horses, and many contemporary approaches—including myofascial work, movement education, postural recovery, and somatics—share the same underlying belief: improving movement begins with understanding the whole horse, not just the sore part.

Perhaps that is why her famous quote remains so relevant.

https://koperequine.com/fascia-remembers-what-muscles-forget/