Half Moon Farm

05/25/2026

HMF doing well at Avon Valley Show Stables show today! Thanks for letting us ride Co-Pilot!

05/19/2026

Nikki was a small lovebird from Philadelphia who loved to fly and explore the sky. But one day, her life changed after a violent cat attack left her badly injured. 😢

After the attack, Nikki lost the ability to walk properly or land safely. She could no longer do the things birds love most, like flying freely and resting on branches. Seeing her struggle every day was heartbreaking for her owner, Jadson Bullock.

Jadson did not want Nikki to lose her happiness. He wanted to help her experience the joy of flying again, even if it had to be in a different way. So, he came up with a creative idea. He built a small transparent cabin and carefully attached it to a drone. This special setup allowed Nikki to safely enjoy the feeling of flying high above the ground again.

Before trying it, Jadson tested everything carefully to make sure Nikki would feel safe, comfortable, and stress-free during the flights. His main goal was to bring joy back into her life without causing fear.

Soon, Nikki was back in the air, singing happily while enjoying the beautiful views from above. 🥹

A video of Nikki’s special flights quickly spread online and touched thousands of people. Many were moved by Jadson’s love, care, and dedication to his tiny friend. ❤️

Nikki’s story is a beautiful reminder that love can inspire creative ways to help those we care about.

05/19/2026

This is what it is about!

04/20/2026

A gorgeous morning here at Half Moon Farm!

02/26/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/18RX5C9MMQ/

SOLD!

Double Stuf showing off his ~stuff~ last weekend in the Children’s Ponies — and what a jump! 🔥 You can’t beat that form over the fences.

Our beloved “Pongo” is now offered for sale or lease and ready for his next rider to shine. 🌟 Come try him at HITS Ocala and see for yourself why he’s such a standout.

Serious inquiries welcome! 🐴✨

01/21/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1NwWM7z5Qq/

Did you know? This posture is usually built off the horse. Riding just exposes it.

The image on the left is not a “riding fault”.
In most cases, it develops long before someone ever sits in a saddle.

This pattern forms through everyday life.

Long hours sitting.
Screens and driving.
Forward-focused work.
Chronic low-level stress.
Strength training that prioritises bracing over movement.
Breathing patterns that favour holding and tension.

Over time, the body adapts in a very predictable way.

The ribcage drops.
The thoracic spine stiffens.
The pelvis loses independent control.
Tone increases to create stability.

From a biotensegrity perspective, this is a system that has shifted toward compression and tension dominance, with reduced elastic force distribution. It is not broken. It is adapting successfully to modern demands.

It just happens to be a terrible strategy to sit on a horse with.

How common is this? Very.

Research on the general population consistently shows:
• reduced thoracic mobility in most adults
• altered lumbopelvic rhythm in seated workers
• widespread breathing pattern dysfunction linked to stress

Among riders specifically, biomechanical studies repeatedly find:
• asymmetry is normal, not rare
• inconsistent pelvic control even in experienced riders
• compensatory trunk strategies under load

If you ride, the odds are high that you bring some version of this pattern with you.
Not because you’re bad. Because you’re human in a modern world.

What happens when this body sits on a horse

The moment you sit down, your body becomes a boundary condition the horse must work within.

Biomechanically, this posture creates:
• increased vertical stiffness through the saddle
• reduced shock absorption from the rider
• asymmetrical force transmission if collapse or rotation is present
• noisy, inconsistent loading stride to stride

The horse responds by reorganising its own tensegrity:
• increased thoracolumbar stiffness
• altered spinal motion
• compensatory limb loading
• higher muscular co-contraction to stabilise the system

This is not resistance.
It is not behavioural.
It is physics.

The horse is stabilising against a rider who cannot distribute force efficiently.

Over time, that adaptation shows up as:
• one-sidedness
• loss of swing
• difficulty lifting the back
• uneven loading
• so-called “mystery” soundness issues

Adaptation is not the same as health.

The uncomfortable truth

There is no neutral seat.
There is no “I’m not doing anything”.

Your posture, tone, breathing, and movement quality are inputs.
Your horse organises around them every single stride.

Riding doesn’t usually cause this pattern.
Riding reveals it.

This is exactly what we break down in our upcoming webinar:
• how these postures develop off the horse
• how they alter force transmission on the horse
• what riders actually need to restore (and what they don’t)

Because loving your horse also means being honest about your own body.

Join myself and Gus from The Rider Movement the other guy in the pic 😉😂

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/riderbiomechanics

01/12/2026

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"As an adult rider a few kids ago, I spent 10 years with a trainer who cared far more about how I rode between the jumps than over them. At the time, I didn’t realize how rare that was. How lucky I was.

This trainer believed deeply in fundamentals that now feel almost old fashioned. Flat work you could feel in your shaky legs the next day. Straightness you could sense with your eyes closed. The correct use of aids instead of shortcuts. It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t fast. It wasn’t easy. But it worked. And only now, watching my own daughters come up in this sport, do I realize he was teaching me something the horse world may be losing.

What I remember most is his relentless focus on the basics. And it wasn’t just because I rode green horses. He believed every horse deserved an educated ride. Nothing was about checking boxes on the way to jumping bigger. Because of him, I grew to appreciate the flat work and looked forward to my flat-only lessons.

I also loved watching him ride, mesmerized by the way he made it all look so soft and effortless. Shoulder-in. Haunches-in. Lengthening. Shortening. Of course, it wasn’t effortless at all. It was thoughtful, demanding work. And he let me into that process. He talked while he rode, explaining what he was feeling and why he was asking for something. I could ask questions in real time. It was an education I didn’t fully appreciate until years later when he had transitioned to becoming a successful judge.

Eventually, I reached out to thank him. At the time, I didn’t understand how sacred that education was. And now, as a parent of young riders, that realization worries me. Because if that education mattered so much to me as an adult, it matters even more for children who are still learning who they are in the saddle. I want my girls to learn the kind of riding that lasts. The kind that builds a foundation instead of rushing past it."

Read the rest of Jamie Sindell's blog: https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/01/09/why-flatwork-still-matters-in-a-hurry-up-society/

📸Jamie Sindell

01/11/2026

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In a sport that rewards ambition, speed, and visible progress, “going slow” can feel counterintuitive. But for Jimmy and Danielle Torano, patience isn’t hesitation. It’s a strategy.

Across decades at the top of the sport, the Toranos have learned that whether you’re developing a young horse or a promising rider, there is one mistake you almost never make: taking your time. “You will never make a mistake going too slow,” Jimmy said. “You’ll never make a mistake going too slow with a rider. And you’ll never make a mistake going too slow with a horse.”

When new horses enter the Toranos’ program, they don’t debut at the highest level they’re capable of jumping. Even when a horse is age-appropriate for young horse classes or technically ready for a bigger division, they start lower.

“We probably start them a division or two below where they should be,” Jimmy explained. That decision is about building confidence, both for the horse and the rider. Letting a horse settle, understand their job, and feel successful creates a foundation that holds when the questions get harder.

Especially when young riders are developing horses, the Toranos see patience as protection. “We want to make sure everything goes right—or as right as it can go,” Jimmy said.

One audience member at the live podcast summed it up simply: success breeds success. Jimmy agreed.

“The minute you overface a horse is when you get into trouble,” he said.

The same principle applies to riders. Moving someone forward before they’re truly ready—physically or mentally—can undermine confidence far faster than it builds experience. Going slower allows skills, confidence, and decision-making to develop together.

For the Toranos, patience is intentional. It’s paying attention to how a horse responds. It’s listening to what a rider needs on a given day. And it’s resisting the urge to rush simply because the calendar suggests it’s time.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/01/10/you-will-never-make-a-mistake-going-too-slow-a-training-philosophy-for-horses-and-riders/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

01/10/2026

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01/10/2026

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Christoph Hess talks about the basics that we all need to remember: “Give the horse the feeling of freedom when you sit on it, always the feeling that it can move forward. Most riders all over the world use their hands to try and control their horse, the neck starts to shorten and then it all starts to go wrong.”
Carl Hester shows us how to give the right feeling:
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2020/07/christoph-hess-talks-about-the-basics/