Hoof Beats Wrapping Up a Winning Season--an Appreciation

by Mary Gallagher

Chris Greimes provides instant replay.

For us at Freedom Farm, October brings striking colors, crisp air, fuzzier horses, and the end of show season for the Hoof Beats Competition Team. This season was a big deal, as the students had set their sights on moving up a division, into the meter jumpers. They all had horses capable of the move, and, I knew that this was going to be a significant change for them. Jumping higher would require horse and rider to travel faster than they’ve been used to at the lower levels. This meant they needed to upgrade their ability to gallop to the jumps faster, with the conditioning, confidence, and balance to jump the bigger jumps. (I should mention I was often riding, too—on my jumpers in training Oliver and Marcus.)

Remembering Snickers

Snickers earned a special place in our hearts at Freedom Farm as a veritable “Swiss-army knife” among horses—we could call on her for lessons, cow work, kiddy rides, ponying, you name it. And she’d already been a terrific first horse for her owner, Kathy Schmidt, who recently reminded us of just how versatile and indispensable Snickers was, from the get-go.

Kathy bought Snickers, a 13-year old, experienced pack horse mare, in 2004. Kathy had recently been given Hazelnut, a troubled but promising 4-year old filly, and needed a nice, steady horse to ride while Hazel came along through years of

Remembering Wendy Comstock

by Mary Gallagher

Wendy Comstock and Nina

As many of you know, over the past 8 years, Freedom Farm has had a great friend in Wendy Comstock, owner of Wensleydale Farms in Yamhill, Oregon, where she bred beautiful, talented, well-minded horses. With her recent passing, I find myself reviewing a remarkable friendship and working partnership, as over those years she sent many colts and a few other special horses to me for training. So I thought I’d share an appreciation of this special friendship journey, and more than a few photos from along the way.

Observe, Observe, Observe! (2026) A working session with a 4-year old mare

by Mary Gallagher

I recently had an opportunity to video for students how I observe a horse in my ground work before I start a teaching session. A promising young mare had arrived at Freedom Farm in need of attention to her behavioral habits. I’ve been taking time here and there to get to know her better. The video captures 9 minutes or so of an early session with her, in which she revealed quite a bit about herself. 

Gratitude for the Little Things That Add Up

by Mary Gallagher

Trainee Lorenzo loves our training walks.

Once again I find that it is little, even unseen things that gift me with the most joy in life. Looking back on 2025, I am once again almost overwhelmed with Gratitude…

First, I give thanks to God for the grand and the meek and all the little wonders tucked in between. So much of what we enjoy about our life on the Farm is unseen—fresh air, well-fed soil that nourishes life, kindness between friends and strangers alike, the connected energy of horses for each other and their people. To me, it’s all an expression of Divine care, and I am profoundly grateful to be here with all of it, and all of you.

Saddling Prep With Jerry Schmidt

 by Mary Gallagher

Jerry Schmidt made a surprise appearance at our Friday ground work class last week, and gave us some really excellent bits of information regarding emotional fitness in saddling your horse. It’s tempting to think, aww, just tie them up and there’s no problem! But what we miss out on when we tie our horses for saddling, is a chance to see where our connection, communication, and cooperation is on that particular day before we ride. On the ground is the place to do that—not when we’re riding! This is particularly crucial with young horses, but any horse can be in a less than ideal state for saddling. If you care about fostering your connection to your horse in your every day activities, you’ll get something out of this short video.

I had one of my current young horses in training, Je te’, with me, and she was a perfect demo horse for Jerry. He showed us how to check the horse’s readiness to stand quietly for saddling. In fact, he made a very interesting point about standing still (that you’ll just have to watch the video to see!). Without that readiness, just a little bumbling on our part, or skittishness on their part, can throw off the process and send us back to square one.

Enjoy.

Reflections on Socialization and Variety in Colt Training (…especially when you’ve got great beginnings!)

by Mary Gallagher

4-year old Je te', ponied from Harriet.

Since 2018, we have been privileged to host a number of colts for training from Wensleydale Farms in Oregon. Owner/breeder Wendy Comstock has a herd of beautiful warmblood broodmares, and has put a lot of time into researching bloodlines that would complement their gifts, producing foals that can be developed into top performance horses. Our training philosophies are compatible, and it shows in every nicely socialized colt from Wensleydale that spends time with us, returning home more grown up and ready for life out in the world.

Great beginnings. Like me, Wendy believes in natural beginnings. She spends time with the mare herd, and when the babies arrive, handles them from the beginning. Mothers and babies continue living as a herd. Colts are regularly brought into stalls for grooming and supplements, before returning to pasture for healthy socialization. In my view, this practice is key in developing solid performance horses. When Wendy’s colts arrive at Freedom Farm, they are confident, curious, and ready to learn. Thank you, Wendy for your great work. Starting these fabulous colts is such a pleasure! 

Life and training at Freedom Farm. Newly arrived 2 and 3-year olds have already had a lot of experiences: they’ve been handled, haltered, in and out of stalls and horse trailers, single tied, groomed, hooves trimmed, and spent increasing amounts of time away from the herd. I build on these great beginnings, giving the colts exposure to many experiences, while going about their regular training on the ground and in the saddle. Wendy and I stay in touch often, going over new things to expose the babies to.