Firefly Equine Services LLC

10/26/2025

WTG Maddie & Nova
So proud of you both!!

Now to continue learning all the things 💜🥰

10/23/2025

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10/21/2025

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Today on realistic expectations of sport horses in the sub $100,000 facebook market :

$0-15,000: thoroughbreds still at the track and having learned a lot of life skills, but unlikely in the direction you would like. They will be green to their new job, will likely need guidance from a professional. Other types are likely older and pretty happy ambling around. Going to likely need support in the form of a good farrier and vet. A lot of great first horse options if you remember that the cost of the horse is the cheap part.

Some of these horses have started in their careers of choice, but are likely not showing at too many recognized events. Sometimes vetting findings are reflective of this price point for one that might have a bit more talent or experience but might need a good farrier or vet.

$15,000 - 25,000. Starting to get some recognized shows under their belts, have great brains, life experiences, and good citizens. Likely to be happy middle ground sort of horses. Unlikely to have a full set of xrays, or changes, or to be “fully” established unless maybe an old injury that required some time off and getting reestablished.

$25,000-40,000: quality young prospects, that may still be green but a lot of potential. Alternatively, you’ll have your more established novice packer types with maybe some training experience.

$40,000-60,000: your training packers, some of your green modified/prelim horses. What most imported horses are hitting the ground at (figure $20,000 buy in, $4,000 vetting, $12,000 flight, tariffs and shipping….) so circle back to that base price for what you can expect of these horses. Changes getting established.

$60,000-80,000: These are your solid prelim/2* types, usually the ones that are happy to step back down to novice and bring riders back up. Usually been produced by one rider with a well documented history. Some motivated 1.20m sorts that lack a mile long record, or your older established packer types ready to step down to be the professional seeing eye dog.

$80,000 + this is where your 🔝 sorts are priced. The ones with true UL potential, and have started to prove that potential.

If a horse sounds too good to be true at a certain price point, likely a) theres a vetting issue to be disclosed b) the owner is pressed for outside life motivators, and people are going to move quickly on a genuinely good deal. Be prepared to act accordingly. C) there’s a quirk of some sort. Kick kick ride, a little overly enthusiastic in their style, a random spook, that makes them perfectly fine horses, as long as you go in with your eyes open.

Hope this helps!

10/15/2025

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"Your trainer helps you and your horse learn, develop, and excel in amazing ways. They teach, demonstrate, encourage, cajole, enlighten, cheer-lead, remind, remind again, motivate, facilitate, remind yet again, and continuously provide you both with the support you need. Good trainers are very talented at doing these things, they enjoy their work, and they celebrate when they see progress in you both; it’s their job and it’s their passion.

Now, since you are an awesome team player, you may wonder from time to time, “What could I do to help them with this process?” Although saying “Thank you!” and showing your appreciation with Starbucks and beautifully wrapped Christmas presents are a great start, there are also some additional, specific things you can do to help your trainer help you. Teamwork is key, and helping everyone on your team be their best is part of your job as a teammate. Let’s explore my top seven things you can do to assist your trainer in this process:

1) Show up prepared and positive

Your job as a student is to show up to the lesson or horse show with a “can-do” attitude. How do you do this? By being mentally and physically prepared and radiating positive energy. Paying attention to details like your nutrition, fitness, speaking kindly and positively, and focusing on your goals for the day will help you and your horse, and it also helps your trainer help you. Being prepared and positive brings constructive energy to the lesson or warm-up ring that you will all thrive on. It also demonstrates respect for the process and the hard work, dedication, and effort your trainer puts in day in and day out to help you and your horse succeed.

2) Listen

Nowadays, riders often get referred to as “clients,” rather than students. However, especially at the ring and in the barn, the best trainers are excited to teach you—their student —about your horse, how to ride your best and how to be a successful competitor. They have a wealth of information to offer, but you need to be ready to hear them and everything they have to say. This means arriving at the barn with a clear, open-minded attitude. To do this, you may want to unclutter your mind as you drive to the barn by turning off your phone or do a “brain dump” when you park at the barn by making a list of all the to-do items swirling through your head so you can leave them behind while you ride. When your trainer feels you ready to listen and do your best it will help them trust you as an athlete which is an often-overlooked component of your team’s success.

3) Let them know what’s working

Your trainer wants to know when their work or teaching methods are having a positive impact. It’s motivating, it builds understanding, boosts the sense of teamwork between you, and helps them become even more skilled at their job. Did you appreciate it when your trainer provided detailed reasons of why you were finally able to nail the toughest part of your lesson today? For example, they told you that lifting your eye earlier through the turn and adding more outside leg helped you get straight and nail the distance into the last line. Or maybe it was helpful when the two of you watched your video together at the end of the show day? Let your trainer know how much you learned and how much you appreciated it! Even things that may seem unplanned or insignificant can be valuable to share with them. For example, you might have recognized how much it relaxes you when they tell you a joke or act silly at the back gate to help you stay calm. Be a good teammate—let your trainer know what is working!

4) Do your homework

Your trainer may give you homework between lessons or (because you are motivated and inspired), you may make up your own. For example, when your trainer asks you to work on counting and keeping a rhythm by jumping over small household “jumps” in your back-yard, do it! Or if they want you to build a new habit of keeping your hands above the martingale strap, you can visualize yourself riding a course with this arm position to build muscle memory. This is fantastic homework for the days you can’t get to the barn. Of course, actual riding time between lessons is always a terrific time to work on the physical homework they may give you. Therefore, try to create a system of how to remind yourself of your homework before you get on your horse, such as making a small list on the whiteboard in the lid of your tack trunk, for example.

5) Be an athlete on and off your horse

Your muscle strength, cardio fitness, nutrition/hydration, suppleness, and balance are just some of the things that will help you tremendously when you are riding. Having stamina and physical ability are musts in a sport that requires such subtle, clear, nonverbal communication with your horse. Your trainer works so hard to manage your horse’s readiness; you will help them immensely by taking care of your own.

6) Keep it simple

When you are highly motivated you can accidentally over-do it (yes, it happens to the best of us). You may do too much analysis, questioning, researching, processing and/or review. This is very well-intentioned, but nevertheless it can slow down even the most spectacularly talented trainer.

Instead, help the process by looking for ways to summarize and simplify whenever possible. Whether it is asking for help clarifying two goals for the course instead of listing the 17 you think are essential or saving a question until the end of a lesson, you can be sure that your efforts to simplify are appreciated by your trainer (and your horse). Your focus will be intensified and improved when it is directed towards a few clear, prioritized ideas.

7) Focus on solutions

When you have a rocky moment in the tack, keep your focus on the solution. Though you may be tempted to dissolve into an overly negative, emotional reaction, be strong! Trainers are all about helping you find solutions to your challenges, but when they must wade through large amounts of frustration, exasperation, anger, etc. it is difficult for them to help you. Was that the last time you will ever jump a one-stride or trot a serpentine, or ask your horse for the counter-canter? Of course not! Help them out by using some quality breathing to let go of any negative reactions, and refocus on what it will take to do it right next time. Then, use your mental and physical skills to make the solution feel like second nature."

📎 Save & share this article by Johnston, Mental Skills Coach at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2024/10/03/top-7-ways-to-help-your-trainer-help-you/

10/06/2025

Our newest member of the family, Vegas, enjoying some poultice after a great ride! 💜

10/05/2025

Great practice today, girls! Yall all killed it.
Looking forward to the Halloween show here at Callegari Equestrian

Nicole on Freckles
Claire on Stryker
Nayna on Rusty
Sherlyn on Rowdy
Maddie on Nova
Adamari on Vegas

09/24/2025

Good evening lovelies!

This is your daily reminder that your horse doesn’t speak English. It communicates with you through body language and actions (or lack there of)

Your horse “acting up” is a form of communication!

That communication could be:

Happiness- playfulness can sometimes come through as being cheeky or naughty, but sometimes your horse just feels good!

Anxiousness- horses that are showing signs of anxiety may be uncomfortable, insecure or have underlying medical issues such as ulcers.

Acting out- biting is most often caused by a lack of leadership. Horses bite to show control and create boundaries. Those boundaries could be indicative of pain or discomfort, but don’t rule out genuine lack of leadership- a horse without good leadership will look to become the leader themselves! BITING IS NOT CUTE. IF YOUR HORSE BITES YOU AND THEN YOU GIVE THEM THAT TREAT YOU WERE HOLDING, YOU ARE TEACHING THEM TO BITE YOU.

Acting out (part 2)- bucking, refusing contact, not engaging the hind end, cross firing or selecting only one lead. Stop thinking your horse is out to get you. Horses don’t decide to be bad because “why not?”. Check for pain, discomfort, or inability due to injury, weakness, or lack of knowledge BEFORE you discipline your horse for acting out!

Spookiness- ah, yes. The sideways “AHH”. Bolting, kicking out, spooking sideways- most of the time these behaviors stem from a lack of leadership in the fact that your horse flat out does not believe you are capable of defending them and protecting them! Show them consistent patterns of leadership and your own quietness- you’d be surprised what spookiness you can magically get rid of! Also, always check for ulcers or skeletal pain. Pinching skeletal systems (cervical, thoracic, or otherwise) can cause sudden outbursts which can be confused with spooking. Ulcers cause acid splash and can cause constant anxiety and “flight or freeze” responses in your horses.

And on that note, ULCERS. JUST BECAUSE YOUR HORSE ISNT STRESSED DOESNT MEAN THEY DONT HAVE ULCERS. A VAST MAJORITY OF HORSES HAVE ULCERS THAT GO UNTREATED EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Calcium and magnesium are vital in the prevention of ulcers when paired with a high forage diet. Treat your horses for ulcers. If foals turned out to pasture can get ulcers, so can your horse. 

Thanks for coming to my ted talk 🙂

Featuring Maddie and her pony Nova, who are such an amazing team and bring me so much pride as their trainer ❤️❤️❤️

09/18/2025

Congratulations Adamari on the purchase of her new horse, Vegas! 🎉🥳🎈🎊🎁🍾

So excited to see what you guys accomplish together!

09/11/2025

Grid work day!

Bounce to 1 stride to 2 stride

Then we rode it backwards (;
Speed up, big effort
Then
Slow down, pull back and relax

Great workout!

08/10/2025

Besties

06/30/2025

COPIED AND PASTED**!

You want your kid to move up in horses ?
BUY OR LEASE and here is why !

Our lesson horses are here for you to learn the basics and get confidence.

The skills your kid learns when they only ride two days a week is similar to just being a passenger on a super well trained horse.

If a child is learning to jump on lesson horses there is a small window only for this .
They get the confidence and need to move onto their own horses as we cant have our lesson (older) horses jumping hard and a lot- they are the stepping stone to riding - they can’t be jumped and ridden harder .

When you first learn to ride you are just learning to hold onto the saintly lesson horses we provide.
Once you know the basics well it’s time to purchase or lease your own.

They need hours in the saddle -
Hours to practice
Hours to make mistakes and learn to ride on their own in between lessons.

When kids don’t have their own horse, they are competing with the other lesson students over their favourite lesson horse. They have a hard time sharing the love they feel for that animal as they don’t get personal time with it.
Let them be proud and let them have one of their own horses that they call their own, and they learn to be confident in themselves with their own horse that no one else rides

My daughter is six years old and she has her own pony that no one else can ride. Why because it makes her feel confident and proud that she takes care of her horse and he neighs for her every single time she comes to see him. He knows who she is and he Pines for her only every single day.

The horse to buy -

They NEED a horse picked specifically picked out by the trainer to match their personality and ability.
Your trainer knows your child or yourself as a new rider .Yes, there are many cheap horses out there. But it takes YEARS of everyday riding to create a safe horse, and not every horse has the personality or will to want to do the job you want them to do … so pay the commission and ask a trainer to match you .

Why do we have to buy so many different horses ?

If you are learning to ride, you need a horse that basically sleeps and they are a kick ride, which means something that you have to push to go. Once you become more confident,stable and athletic, you learn the cues and the stability to become a confident rider that could ride different abilities.
I say to my clients it’s like buying shoes that fit.
This sport will have to continue to buy or lease different horses as the children or clients move up the Levels just as if you were buying shoes that fit….
If you choose to be the parent the tries to buy the pair of shoes that are three sizes too big the child can’t compete in those shoes at that time and they will begin to get frustrated,hurt, and likely quit .

Why do we have to pay commission to buy a horse ?

The trainer that you hire has spent countless hours, training, horses and clients their entire life . For example myself I can walk into a field of horses, watch them run around and just in moments, I could tell you who is hurt who has the best movement who has the kindest eye who is the most curious and who wants to have a job.
The trainer that you hire will help you with the vet checks and will be the middle person with the other trainer. They will know if your horse, the horse that you were looking at is lame, hurt, or athletic, or kind enough to do the job that you were looking for.
Pay a commission to Horse Trainer

It may be an expensive sport, but boy am I so grateful that this is what I love to do. I am outside and physical. I am with animals❤️

06/26/2025

Saddle fitting!

Let’s talk about it

What do you see here?
This photo is taken from a level shot (held with the level on and accurate)