Hunter Quest Farm

12/06/2025

Often times we mistake ground poles as basic and boring, and chose other more exciting exercises. That being said however, ground poles and cavaletti’s come with major benefits, to include helping horse and rider when first jumping to learn distances. They assist trail horse and riders with being aware of where their feet are and the ability to control them in a safer setting. They are also good for horses that may be a little weak in areas such as stifles. So the next time you thing “ok I’ll do the boring poles.” Think outside the box and see what fun patterns you can create to make that pole work more fun. A simple square such as I have here, comes with a few options to make it more exciting for Aria and I!

11/22/2025

11/21/2025

Sometimes it’s the little things… like a little pampering! It may not seem like much, but acupuncture definitely comes with benefits. Aria had lots of thoughts. Leah thought it was nap time while she enjoyed her estim! It’s hard to see the needles on a white horse and I sadly did not get a picture of Leah enjoying her special treatments!

11/19/2025

When trainer Geoff Case watches riders flatting their horses, he sees a lot of the same thing: people lapping the ring, zoning out, and missing a huge opportunity. “It’s one of my biggest pet peeves,” Case said. “People just go around the outside, staring off into space. That’s not riding. That’s exercise.”

In Case’s eyes, flatwork isn’t just something to do when you’re not jumping—it’s where you actually become a better rider.

To Case, a good flat session should feel like a jumping round. “You should be riding lines, bending, adjusting your rhythm,” he said. “Every step is a chance to make something better.”

He encourages riders to ride patterns and turns with purpose. “Don’t just stay on the rail,” he said. “Use the whole ring. Make a circle, ride across the diagonal, do transitions in different places. Ride like you’re setting up for a jump.”

That kind of thinking builds skills that directly transfer to the show ring. “When you ride with that much attention, the horse gets sharper, you get straighter, and suddenly your distances show up easier,” he said.

The flat, he added, is where you learn timing, balance, and control without the distraction of fences. “If you can’t organize yourself between the jumps, you won’t do it over them either.”

For Case, good riding starts with details: straightness, rhythm, transitions, and connection. The riders who stand out to him in the warm-up ring are the ones who treat flatwork like an art form, not an afterthought.

“You can tell the difference between someone who’s just getting around and someone who’s actually training,” he said. “It’s in the way they ride their corners, how they prepare for a transition, how the horse looks in the bridle.”

That difference shows up in competition. “When you’re in the ring, it’s too late to be figuring those things out,” he said. “If you’ve already practiced being precise on the flat, it’s automatic when you’re showing.”

Case also pointed out that judges can spot the riders who do their homework. “Even in a jumping round, you can tell who spends time on the flat,” he said. “Their horses are balanced and adjustable. It’s obvious.”

Many riders, especially less experienced ones, rely on the rail for security or spacing. Case urges them to break that habit. “The rail becomes a crutch,” he said. “You stop steering, you stop thinking. You let the wall do the work for you.”

Instead, he suggests riding off the track, staying a few feet inside the rail to keep both you and your horse accountable. “When you come off the wall, suddenly you have to ride,” he said. “You’ve got to keep your line straight, keep the horse between your leg and hand, and make the turns yourself.”

At first, this can feel uncomfortable, but that’s exactly the point. “It’s supposed to feel different,” Case explained. “That’s how you know you’re actually doing something.”

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/11/15/get-off-the-rail-creativity-and-focus-in-flatwork/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

11/07/2025

"We’ve all heard the phrase “barn time” before, and probably used it jokingly with friends or spouses. They know that asking when you’ll be home from the barn is usually a fruitless endeavor. Could be an hour. Could be three.

You say, “All I have to do is brush my horse off, and then I’m heading out.” But brushing turns into bathing. Maybe some tack needs cleaning. Before you know it, you’re reorganizing your show trunk with absolutely no idea what time it is—you’ve completely lost track.

That’s because the rules of regular time don’t apply at the barn. It feels different there—outside the laws of clocks and calendars. Sometimes it whizzes by, and a 45-minute hack feels like just a few minutes. Other times, it slows to a near stop: standing in your horse’s stall with a handful of carrots, or sitting in the grass gossiping with barn friends until the sun sets.

We’ve all been late to girls’ night, showing up covered in dust and horse hair. Your friends expect it by now, laughing as you waltz into the restaurant in muddy boots. Every equestrian shares the quiet understanding that time moves differently once you walk through the barn doors. There’s something uniquely special—and a little bit magical—about it.

But after more than twenty-two years as a professional horsewoman, I’ve learned that the world outside doesn’t pause for barn time. Time is finite everywhere else, and it will pass you by if you’re not careful. You promise you’ll be home in time for dinner, only to realize everyone got tired of waiting and ate without you. I’ve had my share of cold pizza alone at the kitchen table.

“Just one more phone call” to the farrier or a client turns into missing bedtime stories with my toddler. The barn has been my whole world for my whole life. Sometimes, the minutes that turned into hours became borrowed time I couldn’t return.

This year, my marriage of almost a decade ended. Was it because of the barn? No. But do I wish I could turn back the clock and prioritize things differently? Absolutely. The countless early mornings at horse shows and the late nights with colicky horses didn’t feel like sacrifices at the time, because I was deep in the vortex of barn time. I had no idea how much of myself I’d given to the place I loved—and how that sometimes meant less of me for the people I loved.

I was inconsolable. Broken. Devastated. And still, my soul knew where to go for comfort. I found myself in my twenty-year-old gelding’s stall—my heart horse, my companion of eighteen years—sobbing into his shoulder. There, everything slowed down again. His warm breath on my neck. The sound of him chewing hay. The soft brush of his nose against my face as I cried until there were no tears left.

It might have been twenty minutes. Or hours. I had no idea. It didn’t matter.

Time at the barn has given and taken a million things from me. I’ve made lifelong friends, and I’ve lost some too. I’ve trained horses I felt deeply connected to, horses I owe so much to. I’ve had to watch some of them take their last breaths. I’ve seen riders fall in love with horses for the first time, and I’ve seen their passions fade.

The barn has given me joy, success, heartbreak, and healing. I’ve witnessed beauty that convinces me it exists nowhere else on earth. People tell me I should write a book, and I always say the same thing: it would be a hundred books for all the lifetimes I’ve lived inside the barn."

📎 Save & share Ariel Zara Univer's article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/11/05/barn-time/
📸 courtesy of Ariel Zara Univer

11/07/2025

These days, everybody seems to have grooms, but “R” judge and trainer Geoff Case thinks many riders are missing the quiet time spent simply doing for their horses. “Horsemanship doesn’t just happen in the saddle,” he said. “It’s everything you do around the horse that teaches you who they are.”

Case believes that the best riders, the ones who seem effortlessly in sync with their mounts, aren’t just great athletes. They’re great caretakers.

Case came up in a generation where riders did everything—groomed, bathed, wrapped, and tacked up their own horses. He still believes those habits are the foundation of success. “When you groom your horse, you start noticing things,” he said. “You feel the muscle tone. You feel if something’s tight. You learn their reactions.”

That kind of attention builds awareness and empathy, two things that can’t be taught in a lesson. “If you only ever show up to get on, you’re missing half the education,” he said. “It’s in the details. How they stand, how they breathe, how they look at you when you walk up with the halter.”

He encourages his students to spend as much time on the ground as they do in the saddle. “The more you do yourself, the more connected you are,” he said. “You start riding differently because you understand who’s under you.”

Case recalled working with Peter Wylde, who won the World Championship and an Olympic gold medal, but still did all his own care. “Peter was the perfect example,” Case said. “He could have had ten grooms if he wanted, but he still groomed, tacked, cooled out—everything. He knew every bump on those horses.”

That level of attention was about pride and partnership. “Peter didn’t separate the care from the riding,” Case said. “He knew they were part of the same thing.”

For Case, that mindset is what defines real horsemanship. “When you spend time doing the basics yourself, you stop thinking of the horse as a piece of equipment,” he said. “You start thinking of them as your teammate.”

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2025/11/03/why-doing-the-basics-yourself-builds-better-riders/
📸 © The Plaid Horse

10/26/2025

I have always believed that as a true horse person you can never know everything there is to learn when it comes to horses. Over the last year I have traveled the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware as a vet tech with an equine Mobil vet clinic. With this new experience I have discovered so much more of what there is to learn about horses! The biggest thing that has been reiterated to me in this experience is that there are very few truly bad horses. 90% of the time those so called bad horses are generally in some sort of discomfort or simply uneducated. As a horseman/woman it is important to recognize this. Horses use body language and actions to express themselves and we need to learn how to understand what they are telling us.

So if you find yourself struggling with your own equine friend; take a pause and ask what your horse is trying to tell you. Am I asking something new?- perhaps they don’t understand or perhaps we are asking them something that is physically beyond their capabilities. Are they acting affraid?- We need to remain patient and calm and allow for a more positive experience. Are they refusing to do a task that they at one time had no issues with? Chances are they are experiencing pain or discomfort.
We as horsemen and women, need to follow up and learn to identify these issues. Once we do and can address and heal our equine friends and create a better relationship and have more success in our partnerships!

I am guilty for not listening to my equine friends in the past, but with time and experience comes knowledge. It is my goal to also become a better listener and partner to my equine friends, so that we can both live better lives together!

10/11/2025

A few years, and several miles… but the girls are still happy and mostly healthy!