Firefly Equine Services LLC

Some cute, some funny, and one very relaxed photos of Bubbles who is oh so perfect

A little update on her
Today was her 5th ride under saddle and 8th ride (first 3 ba****ck) since her surgery on January 15th of this year

She had 5 vertebrae shaved down due to calcification and breakdown caused my close proximity, or in other words, kissing spine.

Her rehab was a long journey. She was cleared for hand walking after the first week, but unfortunately, she was extremely uncomfortable with her staples and became very explosive during the attempted walks so she ended up spending the first two full weeks stuck in her stall. I can’t imagine what a nightmare that would’ve been, with absolutely nothing to do, but eat hay and turn in circles.

The next few weeks had a bunch of up and downs, some days I saw excellent progress and other days she was a little bit of a nutcase. She struggled to process what she was feeling both physically and mentally and often times that led to her being a bit explosive.

I knew when I originally made the decision to spend the thousands of dollars on a surgery for a horse who had given me nothing, a horse who had far from proven she was “worth it”, would come with ridicule and judgement and let me just tell you- IT DID.
Even I questioned my decision during really hard days of rehab.

But something felt ✨right✨ with Bubbles and so I continued on and pushed through.

We stuck with our rehab and, over time, she started to come back to her gentle and easy-going nature. Relaxing through her movements, beginning to trust in my ability to guide her without force.

As she continued to develop on the ground, we worked on entertaining her mind and not only her body through simple trick training and just really bonding and getting to know each other. 

120 days later, she had her first ba****ck ride in the round pen. We have done so much and worked on so many different things to get to where we are, but I can proudly say that on today’s 5th ride under saddle, she required zero prep and went straight into work, willing and beautifully, quiet and gentle. I couldn’t ask for better results, I’m truly blown away by her ability to not only adapt, but continue to try for me.

Really beautiful experience for me - following my morals and values and experiencing first hand what remarkable things are possible when we TRULY listen to our horses and do for them what needs to be done.

*in the comments are before and after photos of the kissing spine section

Having fun and learning all the things at our first UDJC show today!

Fall series, we are coming for you!

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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?

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Which one is the hoop tree? Which one is Medium Wide? Which one is an A frame tree? Which one is for Baroque breeds? Spoiler: No one will get all of these right because THERE IS NO CONSISTENCY ACROSS BRANDS when it comes to tree shapes. You cannot JUST look at a gullet width or headplate shape and know what kind of horse it will fit- which is why “dot to dot” measurements are irrelevant and tree point width is just ONE part of fitting a saddle. Also, what one brand calls a “Thoroughbred” tree might be the same shape as another brand’s “Wide” tree. We know not all Thoroughbreds are shaped the same and we certainly know they aren’t all wide. There are no black and white answers in saddle fitting or buying. Saying things in terms of “always” or “never” when it comes to saddle trees (and most things in life) won’t increase your credibility, but will certainly increase your chances of being wrong. So choose a fitter that YOU trust to know what is inside the saddle and what will fit your horse’s anatomy and WHY- across brands. I always say that there is not one single brand or tree that fits every horse- and the photo below is a great example of WHY I say that. Put another way, you go to an Optician to pick out glasses that you like and that look good on your face, and you go to an Optometrist/Ophthalmologist to find out your prescription and vision correction needs in order to shop for those glasses. Your trained and experienced saddlefitter is the Optometrist/Ophthalmologist because they know what the inside of your eyeballs NEED and why. The used tack seller/single brand rep is the Optician- perfectly fine to buy from when you already have your prescription but you don’t start there! Get what fits and learn WHY- ignore labels! Even if your Morgan cross is in a Baroque tree and your Thoroughbred in a Hoop- don’t crash out! Just because your horse may not match the name- doesn’t mean it won’t do them any good.

BIIIIGGGG stretch!

Winter is unavailable at the moment- can I take a message?

🤣🤣🤣🤣😴