Flashback Friday -Featuring Ginger!

Ginger is a 15.2 h chestnut Quarter horse at around 7 years of age that comes to us from team member Cheyenne Brandt.  She also has an interesting history...

Ginger and her mother were abandoned by their original owner at the barn where they were boarded.  A significant time had passed and the barn management decided that they were going to send the two mares to auction.  Management had said that both mares were difficult and Ginger was green.  The day before the mares were going to be sent to auction, there was a terrible snow storm. But Cheyenne was determined to save these mares!  So Cheyenne and her mother got in their truck and went to pick up the two mares.  Cheyenne took the mother to a friends house and she took Ginger home with her.   

The name Ginger is the name that Cheyenne picked out for her, her previous name being unknown.   Cheyenne worked with Ginger under saddle until she felt she was ready to move on to a different home. It was at that time she reached out to the Hoofer Riding Club.  When we went to meet Ginger, we knew that she was green and would require extra work. But we also knew that we would have time to delegate that during Winter break.  

When we tried Ginger out, Marie Jolly had her do her first jump.  Marie did such a good job with that jump, that Ginger became confident enough to jump out of rough board shortly after she was accepted into the program!  Apparently the hay was gone and she was looking for greener pastures.  Of course with the fresh snow, there were no greener pastures on the other side.  But the snow certainly helped us know that she had definitely jumped the fence and not escaped in another manner. 

Ginger has been a wonderful addition to our program and has her sights set on being the best jumper pony in the barn!

We love you, Ginger!

Flashback Friday -featuring Maya

Way back in December, we welcomed four new horses to our barn: Karl, Finnegan, Maya, and Ginger. Since then, the new ponies have fit right into our program and are glad to call Hoofers home. Although the club has come to love the new additions, we realize that many members don't know a lot about them before they became Hoofer horses. So every Friday, we will dedicate a post to one of our lovely horses in order to learn a bit about their past so as to appreciate them in the present.

This Flashback Friday's Feature is..... MAYA!

Maya started her career as a race horse named "Frost Me Blonde" and after her race days, her original owner called her Blondie.  Maya comes to us from Nicole Foss, who purchased Maya in 2009.  Nicole had sold her childhood horse when she went off to college and had always dreamed of having another horse in her life.  When they found Blondie/Maya, Nicole's husband brought her for Nicole.  At that time, they agreed that the name Riviera Maya was a more suitable name for her (named after their honeymoon destination).  

When Nicole and Maya first started to work together,  they showed in Hunter Jumper classes on the Northern Illinois Hunter and Jumper Association (NIHJA) Circuit where they were very successful in the Modified and Limited Adult Hunter classes.  They won many year end awards in this division.  After a barn switch to Bull Run so that they could move up in their training, Nicole and Maya trained with Lynda Zema.   They trained with Lynda for the past four years and were Reserve Champion in Hunters on the A Circuit.  

After the birth of their son, Carson, Nicole realized that her riding time was limited and Maya had so much more potential.  Although she loves Maya deeply, she knew donating her to Hoofer Riding Club was the right thing to do.  Maya comes to us from the same barn as Grace, Jake and Devlin did. Maya is coming up on 12 years old and stands 16.1 hands.

Below are some pictures of Maya at her old home.

What a pretty face!

A graceful mover.

Look at that jump!

Thank you so much Nicole for your generous donation! Maya is well loved here at Hoofers. <3 

Wisconsin Winter Finally Here

We hope you're staying warm during this cold spurt we've had this week! Apparently Wisconsin finally remembered that it's supposed to be winter and dumped some snow and frigid temperatures on us.

As a club, we just wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful donations and blankets we've received! You all keep our Hoofer horses warm during weeks like these and they are so grateful for that! 

Our Hoofer ponies had their Coggins drawn last week, so thank you to the volunteers and the vets that helped with that. Aside from this event, things have been pretty normal out at the Hoofer Equestrian Center as the staff continues to dig the barn out of the snow and make sure the ponies are staying warm enough! Lessons are continuing aside from a few extra cold days, and we are looking forward to seeing all of you at the barn as the weather warms up a bit more next week.

Boarder Colleen Beier's mare Grace protesting being turned out in the snowy weather.

Update on Paris

The last six months has been a long and difficult journey for Paris and those who cared for her; however, we have an exciting update!


 Paris had a check up with the vet yesterday and was cleared to go back to work!  She will begin conditioning work on Thursday and will be reintroduced into the lesson program over the next two weeks.  We are confident that she will return to being a favorite of the lesson program.


We want to thank everyone for the impressive group effort put into saving Paris' eye.  Without everyone's contributions, the outcome would have been very different.

The pretty girl, turned out, without her mask on. (She was so happy that she decided to destroy her blanket to celebrate.)

Welcome to the new blog!

Welcome to our new blog, Hoofer riders! This new blog site will be replacing our old newsletter as a more timely and convenient way to share information with all of our Hoofer members and horse enthusiasts.

Keep checking back for updates on our Hoofer herd, happenings around the barn, lesson updates and more! In the meantime, continue dreaming of green grassy pastures and non-blanketed horses...It'll get here eventually.