Allison Acres

06/03/2023

One thing I had to do when I was training horses was make a decision on whether or not my thoughts should be what mattered to the horse. I noticed that I would plan out what I wanted to do next in my head, and once I got to a certain level with my horses, they would often start doing what I was thinking about.

In the beginning I was like hey, knock that off, I didn't ask you for that. But then I started thinking about all the times I do ask them for things in my brain first and then with my body language and whatever else they can sense. And not just when I was riding or working the horse - when I could sense a student getting scared, I could silently signal to the horse to slow down or come to me. And sometimes even kind of the opposite, I would signal to the horse to ignore what he was feeling from the rider and focus on me because I knew the rider could push through whatever was happening. And it worked in reverse too, the horses would signal to me and draw my attention to something.

So once I realized what was happening, I just made a decision that I was going to visualize everything I wanted first and that would be my first cue. Then I would get on that ladder of ramping up the cues until I got what I wanted. I could have made the opposite decision - I could have decided that I'm going to think about all kinds of random things that we might do next but I don't want them to actually do anything until I give the next level cue, body language or voice or whatever I decided it should be. The important point is to just make a decision and stick with it.

I would see a lot of times during lessons, horses responding to the scenario in a way that I thought was appropriate but their riders weren't expecting. For example the rider might be saying to me that they thought the canter was too big and they were getting scared, and their horse would drop to a trot, and then the horse would get punished. But that needs to be thought about in a different way. If you get to where your horse can read your mind, that's amazing, and it helps you control your thoughts and emotions, since at that point, each thought matters.

05/31/2023

05/17/2023

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/d/galt-five-march-wethers-percentage-boer/7612257412.html

Located in Galt, CA. Early March born wethers, five total. Their dad was 25% fainter, 75% Boer. Moms of frosted ears and cream moonspot are Boer/Nubian. Mom of solid color is full Boer. Three are...

04/19/2023

Located in Galt, CA. Early March born wethers, five total, 3/4 boer 1/4 fainter. Three are polled, 2 have horns, check the captions. Ready to go in mid May. Born to vaccinated moms. They've had their feet trimmed and one deworming. Will have cd/t at 10 weeks old if still here.

04/14/2023

Random tip: Don't expect your horse to move due to you pulling on the reins. I see a lot of people hauling their horse's head to the side and expecting their horse to step that direction and get moving. We don't want the horses basically falling and catching themselves. That's not an athletic way to move and it will never allow them to move with balance.

When we're in the saddle, our reins should indicate information to the horse about what position we want his body to be in, such as asking for a slight inside bend, and which parts of his body we want to be blocked or held still, such as anchoring a shoulder in order to do a turn on the forehand. We should ask for movement in a different way, because it's not fair to the horse that the same cue is supposed to mean two different things.

I prefer to visualize what I want first and then give a verbal cue such as clucking to get them moving. I practice this a lot without even using reins - I hold them on the buckle anchored to the saddle horn so I don't make a mistake and forget. Clucking means horse, please start moving. Feeling input from the reins when being asked to move is pretty confusing for a young horse just getting started. The more advanced your horse is, the more he can understand that you are asking for movement in a certain shape.

When you start doing body work for your horse, you will also appreciate them not thinking that any kind of heavy pulling or pushing means that they should move. It's hard to do the body work maneuvers if the horse keeps stepping away from them. I like mine to know that unless I have indicated movement by clucking, whatever they are feeling, I want them to just hold still.

04/06/2023

Wethers for fair! Are you having last minute issues with your commercial fair goats? I've got 3 fullblood boer wethers, disbudded, born in the fall. $325 each.

10/28/2022

Self care boarding for people with multiple horses! Available November 1! The person renting almost the whole facility here moved to her own new place, so we've got lots of space open. Located four miles east of Tractor Supply in Galt. I have an ad running for renting out the whole facility, but if nobody wants the full thing all for themselves, I can break it up.

The facilities include:
-covered lighted arena, 80x120, sand footing, watered and worked with the harrow a few times a week
-outdoor arena, natural footing, about 200x200, has many obstacles and room for loping, harrowed weekly
-outdoor arena, natural footing, about 200x80, harrowed weekly
-60 ft round pen
-100 ft round pen
-shared tack rooms
-shared hay storage, room for about 200 bales
-trailer parking
-gravel roads and paths for driving, walking and riding on
-indoor and outdoor covered seating areas, tacking up areas, cross ties and straight ties
-various areas for horse washing

This is a self care arrangement, but there are people here all the time and we can usually accommodate a feeding or watering if needed, for a fee.

My intent is that each space is for one owner with 2 to 5 horses. I'll revisit that as necessary but part of why the pricing can be low is because I'm limiting the amount of traffic and people that will be here. You can hire someone to clean for you. You'll just need to be sure to give us their info so they can check in with us when they arrive and depart

The spaces available are as follows:

-"stalls with turnouts"
12x12 box stalls in the breezeway barn, 2 stalls and nearby turnout space for 2 to 3 horses. You can rotate your horses in and out or only use your stalls on rainy days or however you want to do it. The turnout areas have shelters. We have 2 of these sets available, $175 per horse with a 3 horse minimum each. Stalls need to be cleaned 4 days a week. Turnouts need to be cleaned weekly under the shelters, near the gates and the waters, and any big pile that's developing.

-outdoor space with one shelter
Two horses minimum, can hold 3, about 75x200, $160 each horse. Outdoor spaces need to be cleaned weekly under the shelters, near the gates and the waters, and any big pile that's developing.

-outdoor space with two shelters
Can hold 5 horses, 3 horse minimum, $160 each horse. Outdoor spaces need to be cleaned weekly under the shelters, near the gates and the waters, and any big pile that's developing.

-"stalls with paddocks"
One 12x24 stall and one 12x12 stall in the breezeway barn, both have attached 24x50 paddocks that you can use when they aren't flooded. $175 each, two horses.

Each owner can park one horse trailer here, in gravel.

No alcohol consumption allowed on site, and of course no smoking.

If you're interested, get in touch with me and we can talk and go from there!

Message here or text 916-508-2044.

10/19/2022

We're available! Our longterm tenant is moving to her own new place. Details here:

Equestrian facility for rent! Available soon! Located four miles east of Tractor Supply in Galt. If you'll be doing lessons or sales or training for clients, the price is $3000/month with $2000...

10/12/2022

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/d/galt-equestrian-facility-for-rent/7544774186.html

Equestrian facility for rent! Available soon! Located four miles east of Tractor Supply in Galt. If you'll be doing lessons or sales or training for clients, the price is $3000/month with $2000...

07/10/2022

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/grd/d/galt-three-doelings-fainter-boer-goat/7505694231.html