“I felt so violated. All our saddles were gone as well as our hats that were pure beaver. They chucked the rest across the tack stall like it was garbage,” recalls horse trainer Carly Veldman-Parks of Colbert, Georgia. She vividly remembers the awful experience she and husband Wade Parks experienced two years ago at a major horse show when they lost all of their show saddles as well as some show clothing.
Continue reading …This past year, AQHA Executive Vice President Don Treadway announced his intention to retire in 2015 after forty years with the American Quarter Horse Association. Mr. Treadway has seen AQHA grow from a few thousand horses in America to the largest equine breed registry and membership organization in the world. The growth and popularity of America’s horse has been phenomenal until recently.
Continue reading …Last month, we gained some insight into what veteran horse professionals find to be the most important aspects of being a successful horse trainer. Dedicated to passing this knowledge forward, they make it a daily practice to help, share, coach, critique, and comfort the younger trainers following in their path.
Continue reading …What is it about taking our horses to a show that can turn even the coolest, most laid back horseman into a bundle of nerves in a cowboy hat? To many competitors, the announcer’s cry, “All entries to the in-gate,” can ignite a flight response worthy of a skittish horse meeting an airborne plastic bag.
Continue reading …Click here to read the complete article 204 – November/December, 2014 By Mackenzie Patterson Danny Desmond was raised and still resides in Georgetown, Ontario, Canada, where he grew up as the middle child along with two other brothers. Danny recently graduated from Bishop’s University in Quebec where he received a biology degree in Health Science. […]
Continue reading …Being a doctor is a full-time job. It involves devoting your life to preserving the health and well-being of those around you. In the same respect, being a mother is a full-time job, as you devote your life to raising a child and helping him or her discover their own path.
Continue reading …They are legends in their own time; you may have only caught a glimpse of them or heard their names in passing. Some are elusive, like fleeting deer. Others are an ever-present force that can easily be found sleeping in a chair in a barn aisle, glued to their smart phones in the stands at a horse show, or standing in the shadows with a trusty manure fork or bottle of fly spray.
Continue reading …All horse show competitors have been there. We’ve thought, “Why did I place fifth instead of first? Why did their pattern beat mine?” Perhaps, you were pleasantly surprised to be a class winner, yet you still realized there was room for improvement and wanted to know where to start.
Continue reading …The IRS will often argue that a taxpayer is not eligible to deduct losses for a horse business because it’s a “passive activity.” The Material Participation Test (sec. 469 IRS Code) defines a passive activity as a business in which the taxpayer does not “materially participate.”
Continue reading …Despite his large size and laidback attitude, Next Ones On Me, aka “Shooter,” is still very much a baby. At three years old, the dark gelding is just beginning his career in the show ring by competing in Hunter Under Saddle classes. He wasn’t shown much this year, being that it was his first season.
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