Hill Creek Ranch

06/14/2026

It’s hard to be in the horse industry your work takes years to pay off the days feel long and nights even longer you wonder why you do this… why do you breed why? Why do you even try to fight the status quo? There are days where I want to give up throw my sucker in the dirt and quit. Breeding is hard it’s often times more work than it’s worth of so if feels like! Especially this year after many attempts to get a foal on the ground I’ve been wanting for years! Fingers crossed 🤞 it takes this year!
Mare choices and choosing to breed older mares makes it that much more difficult!! And then there is Mother Nature!? Honestly you can’t beat her but it’s def hard to play in her field to get the weather right to make for a perfect breeding and ovulation timing….. anyway why do I say this?! Because this right here ! I have bred and raised this filly and couldn’t be more proud! I hate selling horses outright ppl suck, so I opted to send her to an auction with the idea of I’ll bring her home if I don’t get what I was looking for!! I have always done well at auction. Well this filly showed up and out! She took her 1st ride in a sale barn ba****ck like she had done it before! This filly has a performance mindset but is so willing! She has tested me, tried me, and made me better. After well over 10+years of breeding more consistently now than before college, she was one that has STOOD OUT! I sent her with a good friend of mine that we also sponsor for rodeo and told him exactly what I needed from him! He also took one of our 7yr old geldings! Not only did we get top seller of the night but we got it TWICE! Clinton Kerr a huge THANK You We are proud to know you and have you ride for us and represent us like your own! True friendship in a most raw way is seeing someone support you and see you want to succeed. Those types of people only come on very small numbers! I’m blessed to have several in my life! Circle JTS Ranch is also one ! Find your ppl who will cheer for you in the back when no one else will! This may seem small in your eyes but the moments you get to be proud are big wins! “LilDasiey Got A Itch” “Reina” makes us proud sister ! Your were bred to do big things!Itchin For A Hug is this filly’s Sire!! I hope to meet him one day in person !!

06/14/2026

Heck of a mess! This this right here is why you train your animals and spend the time with them! You teach them to not panic and trust you and work together had this horse panicked it would have ended differently. Why my babies at 2 yrs old can have a first ride put on them in a sale ring! 🤪Clinton Kerr!!

06/10/2026

Summer camps !!

06/06/2026

Starting in 2 days!! Shoutout to Devin Welch

05/15/2026

05/11/2026

As riding instructors we spend a lot of time managing the gap between what new students expect riding to be and what it actually is. Most of that gap could be narrowed significantly with one honest conversation before the first lesson ever happens. So here is everything I wish every new student and every new riding family walked in already knowing...

1. Riding is harder than it looks
This is the one that surprises people most. Watching a good rider looks effortless but it is not effortless. It is years of muscle memory, feel, balance, and body awareness built through consistent work over a long time. Your first lessons will feel awkward and uncoordinated and that is completely normal. Every rider you have ever admired felt exactly the way you feel right now when they were starting out.

2. The horse is not a bicycle
It is a living animal with its own personality, its own opinions, and its own good days and bad days. It does not always do what you ask the first time and that is not always your fault but it is always your responsibility to figure out the communication. Learning to work with a horse rather than on top of one is one of the most valuable things riding teaches and it starts from the very first lesson.

3. Progress is not linear
Some weeks you will feel like you have jumped forward three levels. Other weeks you will feel like you have forgotten everything you learned last month. Both are completely normal parts of learning to ride. The students who improve consistently are not the ones who never have bad lessons but they are the ones who show up anyway and keep working through the frustrating ones.

4. One lesson a week is a start but not a program
A single lesson per week gives you exposure to riding. Two lessons per week builds skill significantly faster. The riders who progress quickest are the ones who ride consistently and frequently enough that their muscles and nervous system have time to develop real memory around what correct feels like. If budget allows for more than one lesson per week it is worth it.

5. Your position will feel wrong before it feels right
Correct position in the saddle feels deeply unnatural to most people at first. Heels down feels like you are pushing your foot through the floor. Sitting tall feels like you are leaning back. An independent hand feels like you are doing nothing. Trust the process and trust your instructor. The things that feel strange now become automatic eventually but only if you commit to doing them correctly rather than defaulting back to what feels comfortable.

6. The time around the lesson matters as much as the lesson itself
Grooming your horse before you ride. Learning to tack up correctly. Understanding how to read your horse's body language in the cross ties. This is not the boring part before the real lesson begins. This is horsemanship and it makes you a better rider than an hour in the saddle alone ever will.

7. Bad rides happen to every rider at every level
Including the ones you look up to most. A bad lesson does not mean you are not cut out for this, it just means you are learning something hard and doing it on the back of a living animal that is also having a day. Come back next week and it will be different.
Your instructor is on your side.

8. Every correction we give is in service of your progress and your safety
We are not pointing out what is wrong to make you feel bad but we are pointing out what needs to change so you can get where you want to go faster and more safely. The students who improve fastest are the ones who hear a correction as information rather than criticism and apply it without taking it personally.

9. Riding changes you in ways you will not expect
The patience it builds, the confidence that comes from communicating with an animal ten times your size and being understood. The resilience that develops from falling short of a goal and coming back for it anyway. The community you find at the barn. None of that shows up in the first lesson or even the tenth but it will show up at one point. For most riders it becomes one of the most significant things in their life and not just what they do on Tuesday afternoons but part of who they are.

If you are a riding instructor share this with every new family who walks through your gate. If you are a new student or a parent of one - welcome. You picked something genuinely worth doing!

What do you wish someone had told you before your very first riding lesson?

05/07/2026

Previous summer camps a little glimpse into what our summer camp looked like! We have new games and more obstacles to do this year!!

04/30/2026

Summer camp dates are HERE!! Please reach out if you would like to sign up! Everything is provided including the horses!

04/27/2026

A nope rope in the chicken coop last night! It’s at least 4’-5’ long! I was not a happy camper to find him !!

03/20/2026

It’s baby season! Ginger and Wall-E have done it again ! 3 boys 3 girls ! Duchess delivered a carbon copy filly, looks identical to her brother Maverick!