Lake Meadow Farm and Stables

06/23/2026

Bourbon is one of those thin soled horses who's a PITA to find boots that won't spin! She's Clubby and Steep, wider than long.

For 6 months Cavallos DID work for both turnout and riding - but recently they started spinning even at a walk on flat trail. Tried Gloves - with enough Gorilla Tape wrapped around hoof they stay straight - but for just a short 1 hour ride THAT sucks! Fine when it's a full day...

Decided to whip out some of my old Epics. Most of these are over 20 YEARS old and heavily used as they were my frontrunner ENDURANCE mare's boots.. They WORKED GREAT!!! Though one of the ancient cables did snap as I took them off..

I thought to myself 'NO problem! I've got like 20 in this size in my bin!' So I marched over to that bin and started going through them..

Here's where it gets truly insane! Those I've purchased since 2010 - whether used or never used - had crumbling Gators. The Grips I had gleefully bought when on closeout in 2011 - even had the shells themselves disintegrating! Most had never been used!

The only consistently useable Epics were those from around 1995-2002. Yeah - the truly ANCIENT ONES!!!

While I've ordered new Gators, Cable sets and Comfort Straps to get 4 post-2005 Epics useable - looks like I'll be depending on 25-30year OLD Epics for this working trail Guide horse..

It truly shows how the quality isn't like it used to be! Wowsers!!

06/22/2026

Here is where the 'farm' in Lake Meadow Farm and Stables comes from. We DO produce small batches of organic crops. Though we don't sell them to the public. Depending on the crop - they either go to a local nonprofit food bank OR to Granville TN Volunteer Fire Department to sell at festivals as a fundraiser.

This time of the year, it is our 'self renewing' potato bed that starts to get harvested. We spend 1 hour each week or so, harvesting 1/4 of the potatoes and replanting the bed with a summer crop of watermelon. The watermelons are started in quart pots in preparation for planting.

Why do we call this potato bed 'self renewing'? Because any spud smaller than a golf ball is tossed back. These regrow in the fall and spring and produce the next crop.

This 15'x60' bed is NEVER tilled, just turned over via shovel during the harvesting and planting of the melons. That preserves the seed spuds and soil ecology. Every other fall, we top it off with composted horse manure - in the off years we top it with ash from our patio fire pit. This keeps the N-P-K, micronutrients and carbon levels at a good level for growth.

06/21/2026

Time to start desensitize for the 4th of July! We have new neighbors that set off fireworks without warning on New Year's Eve and one mare ALMOST lost her eye because of that - so I expect them to go NUTS on the 4th of July. Can't stop them - so must train the entire herd to mostly ignore it. Every late afternoon for the next 8-10 days I'll be setting off a ten minute display. Each night starting a little later and setting off more and more impressive fireworks....

It takes time and constant exposure to get a herd ready to ignore a BIG display! So all horse owners with these type of neighbors - need to START NOW!!!

06/18/2026

One of our best clients and friend - has gifted our herd protection against the New World Screw worm! Thanks Laura Brewer!

When this new threat is reported in a state bordering TN, we will switch out all their current fly masks - which just protect eyes & ears - with these full nose fly masks. The Screw worm flies not only target wounds for their eggs, but also eyes/nose/mouth. These masks will keep the horses/ponies protected from that.

Since the last USA outbreak in 1972 took over a decade to fully eradicate - we are looking at this as a longterm prevention strategy. Even our two goats now have fly masks!

Get everything ready to protect your livestock now! It may become a bumpy ride for the next few years

06/17/2026

1st load of our year's worth of hay rolls is now on site! Hope to have all of it delivered by end of June from our two main suppliers. Perhaps our 180 bales will also be delivered and stacked by then as well.

Hay costs are now up 20% over last year. We also ordered 30% more since we ran through our normal summer supply during March-May due to the extreme drought. So in total - it's up 50%!!!!!!!

This supplier said his 1st cutting harvest was only 50% of normal. This was due to cutting way back on fertilizer as it skyrocketed in price in '25 - and then the severe drought through mid-May. So we are fortunate to be able to afford it - while they still have some!

Everyone needs to stock up now!!! Going to be a rough year all around!

06/17/2026

This is one reason all of our trail horses are fitted with munch-n-done masks. There are lots of toxic plants on the trails - and horses WILL taste test them.

Our hearts go out to the driver and owners of this carriage horse. They actually were called 'abusers' and received vast amounts of hate mail when he suddenly collapsed and died. The necropsie did show they were not at fault. He was in good condition and not overworked.

6/16/2026: "Officials give an update on the investigation into the death of a carriage horse in Central Park. The death of a carriage horse earlier this month in Central Park was caused by a nonnative toxic plant, according to a necropsy publicized by the union representing carriage drivers.

According to the Transport Workers Union of America, the horse, Deniz, was giving a ride near East 90th Street on June 10 [June 9th] when it paused to eat a shrub along the curb. A short time later, the horse collapsed and died.

The plant is a Japanese yew, an ornamental that is toxic and deadly to horses, according to the necropsy performed by Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine. Yew contains a toxic that can send a horse and other animals into cardiac arrest.

The union is using the necropsy to counter calls by activists and the Central Park Conservancy to ban carriage horses due to how they're treated.
"Deniz's tragic death was not caused by neglect or abuse or the fact he was a carriage horse - as some animal rights activists and elected officials claimed," TWU's Alexander Kemp said. "Poor Deniz died because the people running the Park Conservancy never warned anyone that there were deadly yew plants in the park. This is negligence at the highest level of the Conservancy."

The union will be holding a news conference this morning."

Article: https://abc7ny.com/post/carriage-horse-died-eating-poisonous-plant-report-finds/19308996/

06/14/2026

Warning for users of the 'Get Your Guide' App - these are all posted by a very shady 3rd party company called 'The Little Escape' based oversees with a +43 phone number. This is NOT local - though they did sucker us into fulfilling a 2 hour today by pretending to be a legit travel agency. Time will tell if that credit card payment stays good - or if it was a cloned card and we lose that payment.

We've canceled all other reservations made by this shady company after learning how much the poor couple shelled out for our standard 2 hour Weekend Ride. They are charging 2x-3x what the actual cost is - and NEVER asked our permission.

While we were out on that trail, they apparently thought they'd found a golden goose business, went to our website, found all the different ride options we offer - and added 4-5 MORE new horse experiences to 'Get Your Guide' app..

Since they didn't actually clone our website nor our name - and just suckered us into fulfilling a booking which they appeared to have paid us for (at this time) - they are operating in a legal grey zone. They are basically ticket scalpers - and we do NOT support those types!

Go directly to our website and call us direct to book!

www.lakemeadowfarm.com

06/13/2026

With the New World Screw Worm heading our way - we knew we'd have to figure out how to protect Beau & Luke's eyes/nose/mouth as well. Turns out that Little Daisy's working lycra fly masks WILL fit giant goats - if you cut the ears out of them. So now her masks are on them

Put the masks on them in the Petting Zoo stall so they could get used to them. Both goats gave me a disgusted glare... I'm sure I'll be hunting the pastures for them several times in the next week until they are used to them! 😄🤣😂😆

I've ordered replacements for Little Daisy. She can just wear her normal turnout mask while pack ponying until they are delivered!

06/08/2026

Finally found a 'riding mask' to fit Little Daisy! Now she matches the big mares as she gets in her 12-18 miles of ponying exercise in each week.. so cute!!!

Of course, she HAS to have her 'sand bath' in at the end of each trail ride!