MisFit Farm

Congratulations Vanessa and Wes! Thank you for letting us be on your care team!

Vanessa and Wes have come a long way since joining Cavallis three years ago. Wes is a high caliber athlete and runs pretty high octane. Vanessa is learning how to harness that power and use it for good instead of mid-test combustion. 😇 They had a very successful season showing 3rd level freestyle and finished the season as AA Champions with scores in the mid to high 60s. Congratulations!!! and we can't wait what this team will do next season. FEI is sooooooo.... close 🤩

We are honored to have been his care team for a number of years. Happy retirement Frenchi!!

Congratulations to Team Hudson and Cavallis. We are honored to be his care team!

Gypsy+Clydesdale=Bromance

Congratulations to these ladies, Vanessa and Siggi on excellent rides. Congratulations from your MFF care team.

MisFit Farm bred Sensational Synergy aka Chance taking third at his first jumping show. WTG!!

Congratulations to Sandra on her new purchase of Simon. Just arriving from SoCal. We look forward to being his care team!

Congratulations to team Cavallis!!

FYI

Please be advised of the following.

Careful at the shows ladies....no more patting necks!😂

IS PATTING REWARDING TO THE HORSE?

We often see riders slapping their horse on the neck enthusiastically at the end of a showjumping round or dressage test. Patting is considered by many to be a way of telling the horse that they have performed well – but is this the reward we think it is, or could it cause them discomfort?

Horses are extremely sensitive to touch and many riders use different pressures ranging from a light pat to a slap. To find out more about how horses feel about this, a team of equine scientists at Nottingham Trent University set out to investigate the effects of patting and wither scratching horses when ridden or being handled.

For the first part of the study, footage of 16 competitors in the dressage Grand Prix at the 2012 London Olympics was analysed to see how and when the riders patted their horses, and how they reacted.

Fifteen riders patted their horses, with 12 continuing to do so for over a minute. A significant percentage of these pats resulted in the horse reacting. Most commonly, the horses accelerated – sometimes they changed gait from walk to trot. This could indicate that the horses found the patting unpleasant, or that they took the opportunity to accelerate because the rider dropped the rein contact and/or leant forward.

In a second part to the study, a group of five well-handled riding school ponies and five relatively un-touched rescue horses were patted or scratched four times, for 30 seconds at a time. The study was filmed and the horses’ behavioural responses were noted.

Patting resulted in little behavioural reaction. However, wither scratching seemed to be much more effective as a reward to the horse. Some lowered their heads, moved their upper lips and tried to mutually groom the handler – all responses similar to those seen in positive horse-to-horse interaction.

The researchers concluded that riders and handlers should be encouraged to scratch rather than pat their horse as a reward.

Previous research has shown that scratching the withers consistently lowers the horse's heart rate and can therefore be a useful aid to calm them in anxious situations. Wither scratching may also improve the horse/human relationship as mutual grooming does between horses.

Research team: Emily Hancock, Sarah Redgate and Carol Hall of Nottingham Trent University. 2014.

Image by lhourahane 2012 Olympics - Team Dressage Final, CC by 2.0.

Had to double check 🤣 buttons just sunbathing .

They say spring is coming early....by the look of the girls production I would have to agree🤣cartons of rainbow 🌈 eggs available for sale. # happyhens
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