From left to right: Salsa, Parker, Wesley, Dave, Hermoso

If you’d like to schedule lessons over the holidays, please call as soon as possible so we can coordinate around travel schedules. You can reach me at (530) 559-1602 between 8am and 5pm.

All three were interested in the pigs, so we paused outside the pen for a while to get used to them. The female pig, Smuckers, actually came charging up to her gate when she heard me coming, which made for an excellent opportunity to practice the friendly game and thresholds.

All three of the fillies relaxed as they realized that pigs are actually boring. Here we are looking to our left.

Persia posing for a close-up.

The back view, as we moved on. You can see how relaxed they are: tails loose, heads low, no anxiety tension in their muscles.

We walked by the pigs in the other direction going home. It is always important to let horses experience things from both eyes.  In this direction, the girls weren’t interested in the pigs at all and barely glanced at Smuckers as we walked by. The mini donkeys fell in behind us and Persia greeted our dog Whidbey as he headed up toward the barn with us.

The EPI Working Student program has an opening for the Fall/Winter season. If you like to be outside and around horses, this program offers an opportunity to trade ranch work for horsemanship lessons or horse development.

Click here for more information.

This load of crusher dust is going into the Silo Pen:

Stu getting ready to play king of the hill before I spread it out:

Rociada, Stu, and Rio in the arena while I work in their pens. You can see the arena work in progress as well.

Whidbey helping:

Our working students learn horse-keeping from a natural perspective that respects equine psychology and priorities and results in happy, confident, contented horses. The standard to-do list includes feeding, watering, and cleaning pens. Other duties vary to give students a chance to be involved in all aspects of professional ranch management. The working student program includes a morning shift and an evening shift, two days per week. Each shift takes about three hours.

Preference is given to Parelli students of any level. A “job share” with a morning shift person and an evening person is possible. Please email me at equinepartnersinc@gmail.com or call (530) 559-1602 for more information.

If you’re wondering how a natural horsemanship ranch differs from other ranches, here’s an example of the kinds of things we do at EPI:

Trail Practice: Lakota, Tammy, Parker, Maddie, Rociada, and Barbara

Horses benefit from trails in a number of ways. Trail riding gives horses a sense of purpose: there’s a job to do and a destination to reach. Trails provide variety that even the most interesting arena in the world cannot. Trails often have long straight stretches where horses can stride out and go forward without hitting up against a corner.

I start horses on trails by ponying them from an experienced horse. When they’re ready, I’ll have them carry a passenger so they can get used to having a rider but still have the connection to the experienced horse and me. When they’ve got that down, the training wheels are off and I’ll ride them on the trails.

Barbara and Maddie practice ponying

If you are interested in trail lessons or training, or in learning in how to pony a horse safely, call me at 530-599-1602 for more information and to get on the schedule.

To ensure that the right breakfast gets to the right horse, our ranch manager Leslie prepares the supplement rations a week at a time.

In the mornings, the horses are tied to the various tie rings around the ranch and given their breakfasts in individual buckets. This prevents the horses from attempting to eat each other’s meals while also helping them practice relaxation while tied.

It also helps us keep an eye on each horse’s health as well as their manners while haltering and leading.