Cavalli Farm

10/08/2026

🐴 The Horse You Tried… Is It the Horse You're Bringing Home? 🧪

Recently, our team has seen an uptick in pre-purchase toxicology screens coming back positive for trazodone, a medication that can have a calming, sedating effect on horses.

🤔 Why does this matter?

A horse with trazodone in its system may seem quieter and more reserved during your trial. Slower, Less reactive to the leg and the external stimuli and ultimately easygoing in a new environment.

But once the medication wears off, the horse that arrives at your barn may have a lot more energy than the one you rode, and may not be the right fit for you, your goals, or your program.

🧪 What toxicology testing does
During your pre-purchase exam, we pull a small blood sample that's screened for calming agents, pain medications, and other substances that could mask a horse's true temperament or soundness. The blood sample is then prepped to be sent off to a specialized equine toxicology lab. This gives you a clearer picture of the horse you're actually committing to.

🔬 How the testing works
Your horse's blood sample is sent to a specialized equine toxicology lab, where it's analyzed using LC/MS/MS (liquid chromatography/ mass spectrometry/ mass spectrometry). This means the lab separates the sample into its individual components and identifies them with a high degree of accuracy. It's the same type of highly sensitive technology used in competition drug testing.

Our standard pre-purchase screen checks for more than 30 drugs, including common sedatives, tranquilizers, anti-inflammatories, pain relievers, corticosteroids, and local anesthetics.

💊 Common substances that can change what you see:

🔹 Bute (phenylbutazone): An anti-inflammatory pain reliever that can hide lameness or discomfort during your trial and exam.

🔹 Ace (acepromazine): A tranquilizer that can make a horse appear calmer and more laid-back than normal.

🔹 Dormosedan (detomidine): A sedative that can dull a horse's reactions and energy level.

🔹 Rompun (xylazine): A commonly used sedative that can make a horse seem quieter and less responsive.

🔹 Reserpine: A longer-acting tranquilizer that can keep a horse subdued for days.

🔹 Trazodone: A calming medication we've been seeing more often, which can take the edge off a horse's natural energy.

Any of these can change how a horse looks, moves, or behaves, which means the horse you fall in love with during your trial may not be the same horse once it's home.

💡 Our recommendation
Yes, it's an added cost. But compared to the investment of a purchase or lease, and the time, training, and safety that come with finding the right match, it's a small price for peace of mind.

✅ Buying? Add toxicology to your PPE.
✅ Leasing? Add toxicology to your PPE.
Never skip this step.

📞 Planning a pre-purchase exam? Contact PHD Veterinary Services at 352-538-9165

10/07/2026

🌧️ OCTOBER 10 HORSE SHOW CANCELED 🌧️

After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our horse show this weekend.

With the weather we’ve experienced throughout the week, along with the continued uncertainty surrounding the weekend forecast, we feel that out of an abundance of caution, canceling is the best decision for everyone.

We know many of our riders and trainers have been struggling to find breaks in the rain just to get horses ridden and prepared. On our end, the weather has also made preparing for the show, setting courses, and getting the rings ready far from ideal.

While we are so disappointed to miss everyone this weekend — especially for one of our favorite shows of the year — the safety of our horses, riders, trainers, families, and staff will always come first. 💙

We are currently working through a few options to hopefully replace this weekend’s canceled show. As soon as we have something finalized, we will share those details with everyone!

In the meantime, we’re turning our attention to November 14! 🐴

We’ll be opening the November 14 show THIS WEEK so everyone can get their entries in early and start making plans. We’re already looking forward to getting everyone back together for a great show!

Thank you, as always, for supporting MSC and for understanding. We can’t wait to see everyone back in the ring soon! 💙

10/04/2026

Group lessons teach the riders so much. They learn to navigate a ring while paying attention to the other riders. I also think it helps motivate the newer riders and makes the more experienced riders accountable for their riding as the less experienced riders watch to learn. And also since I teach mainly kids, it gives them social time with peers that have the same interest.

Walk into one of our group lessons and you might see a 6-year-old cantering for the first time, a teenager working on jumping courses, and an adult rider getting back in the saddle after 20 years, all in the same arena. And the ponies are just as varied: a wise old schoolmaster who's seen it all, a steady middle-aged favorite, and a young pony still learning the ropes. While it can seem chaotic and random to the untrained eye, group lessons are one of the most valuable ways your child can spend their time.

- Riders learn from each other. Newer riders get to watch good habits in action. Experienced riders sharpen their skills by explaining, encouraging, and leading by example. Sometimes the best "aha!" moment comes from watching someone else's ride.

- Ponies learn too. Our young ponies gain confidence by working alongside calm, experienced herd-mates. Our senior ponies stay happy, sound, and engaged with work suited to them.

- Real-world riding skills. Sharing the arena teaches spacing, communication, awareness, and adaptability, the same skills you'll use at shows, clinics, and trail rides.

- Community! Friendships form across ages and levels. Kids cheer on adults, adults cheer on kids, and everyone celebrates each other's wins, big or small.

- Every rider gets what they need. While we tailor exercises to each horse-and-rider pair, so everyone is challenged at the right level, together, everyone also sees the aspiration of the more difficult level of the exercise they are going to be doing in the future and know where their skill will take them once they master where they are.

Horses have always been herd animals. Turns out, riders do pretty well in a herd too.

09/17/2026

I am very stingy with the treats. Minion, for example, only gets treats at horse shows because it keeps him happy when he has to work harder. The young horses and ponies sometimes get a treat for standing quietly in the grooming stall, standing nicely for the farrier, or when we are doing something new and hard. But otherwise, I try to use pets and scratches for the day to day rewarding.

There is a version of horse ownership that looks, from the outside, like devotion, Parker Worthington writes. Pockets stuffed with peppermints. The ritual of the treat before the bridle, the treat after the ride, the treat for standing still, the treat for walking into the trailer, the treat for existing in the vicinity of a human hand. The horse’s lips search constantly, expectantly, impatiently along your jacket, your sleeve, your fingers. And the owner, smiling, interpreting all of it as affection.

It is not affection. It is conditioning. And there is an important difference between a horse who is glad to see you and a horse who is glad to see your pockets.

This is not an argument against treats in their entirety. A well-timed, thoughtfully given treat used as a training marker is a legitimate and effective tool in the right hands, in the right context, with the right horse. But that is a precise and intentional use of food reward that looks almost nothing like what happens in most barns, where treats have become the primary currency of what owners believe is their relationship with their horse. Where the horse has learned, very efficiently, that the human approaching is primarily a delivery mechanism for sugar.

You cannot buy love. Not from your child, not from your dog, and not from your horse. This is a truth that sounds obvious when stated plainly and is apparently very difficult to live by, because the alternative, which is earning love through consistency, fair partnership, and genuine attentiveness to the animal’s wellbeing, is slower and less immediately gratifying than reaching into your pocket and watching the ears come forward.

Children raised on constant treats and rewards without expectation become adults who struggle with the connection between effort and fulfillment. Dogs who are bribed rather than led become anxious, confused animals who cannot settle without a constant stream of reinforcement. And horses who are managed primarily through food, who are never asked for anything without the promise of a reward, who associate the human hand with carrots rather than with a clear and trustworthy energy, often become the horses that are described as difficult, pushy, nippy, or disrespectful. Not because they are bad horses, but the relationship was built on sugar instead of on something real.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/09/16/treats-dont-mean-you-love-your-horse/
📸 © Heather N. Photography

09/09/2026

Dr. Lacher came to talk about fitness today. We now have the balance pads on order from Amazon! And we will be taking more trips to the dry pond for hill work!

08/10/2026

The best Jax!!! ❤️🤍💙!!!

08/07/2026

Great day for Lilly and Ellie (Arwen Releve’) in the Children’s Pony Eq. 💙❤️💙

06/17/2026

This kid! The first picture is 2 years ago and the second picture is today! Layla is a 2 time winner of RIDE A BUCK at Summer Camp!