Bates Performance Horses

10/08/2025

Parents! Watch this and then watch it with your kids. There are some very important points in this.

10/08/2025

𝙍𝙪𝙗𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙨

As we are coming into this rainy season, I highly suggest investing in a quality pair of rubber bell boots. Or for those horses that come up with sprung shoes often, your farrier will thank you.

Sherlock wears these rubber bell boots 24/7. Every once in a while he will spring a shoe, and it is always at the most inconvenient time. By wearing these rubber bell boots, he’s kept his shoes on and fully in tact.

When they aren’t in use, I flip them up. When I’m running, I put his regular bell boots on underneath so that he is double booted and has the most protection. I also feel better about hauling, as they provide protection if he were to step on himself.

They are pain to get on, but can save you from thrown shoes as these horse’s feet get softer with the incoming rain. Link to the pair that Sherlock wears below -

https://www.weaverequine.com/products/horse-craft-pull-on-bell-boots?variant=44112444784936 ok

10/07/2025

𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝘽𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜

I’ve seen a lot of different types of horses win in pole bending over the years. The one thing in common is always straight lines. Straight line down, straight as you can weaving through and a straight line running home. The fastest way to get from point A to point B is in a straight line! I’d rather see a horse make a perfect run at 3/4 speed over running full speed making mistakes everywhere and blowing off of each end pole.

Here is a little throwback to 2013 of Marana and I running a 21.7 at the District 3 rodeo in Lincoln. I preach straight lines, and this is proof that it works!

10/06/2025

𝙏𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝘽𝙖𝙜𝙨!

I will have these tail bags available on Wednesday. I already have a couple spoken for, so here’s what I have available -

1 Red
1 Black
1 Turquoise
4 Pink

10/05/2025

This week!

10/03/2025

I don’t know how many ways to say horse trainers don’t make any money… but horse trainers don’t make any money. 🤣

I think sometimes the clients do not understand this. Yes, you may write your horse trainer a check for $1200 or $1500 a month, but I assure you, once you figure out the costs, there is no money….

You have to:
➡️Feed the horse. (Hay/Grain)
➡️House the horse. (Whether you rent or you have a mortgage, there is cost here.)
➡️You have to physically feed the horse.
➡️Clean stalls
➡️Fill waters
➡️Turn out the horse and bring them in.
➡️Groom/bathe the horse.
➡️Maybe you have labor costs.
➡️You have to ride said horse.
➡️Likely you aren’t billing for all you should.

Let’s say you charge $1250 a month.
Let’s say you feed a bag a week at $20 bucks ($80)

8 bales of hay a month at $15 ($120) I feed way more than this; and to keep weight you need to. Clients don’t pay for you to buy in bulk to save money.

Clean stalls 2x day and clean or fill water everyday 15 min at $15 hr. ($225)

Shavings??? 🙃

That leaves you with $825 left over. Whether you own or rent; you need to factor that in, and if you ride every day, you have to pay yourself your time.

If you train horses you need:
➡️A facility (an average facility is usually around $2500+ a month to rent, but if you have a mortgage and run a business, you need to factor that in.)
➡️A truck ($50,000 truck is around $750 on average, most of us are driving $100,000 trucks.)
➡️A trailer. (Cheap would be $25,000)
➡️Saddles ($2,000 each)
➡️Bits ($100-$250 each)
➡️ Splint boots, girths, bridles, breastcollars, saddle pads, reins, training tack, etc.
➡️Tires, oil changes, fuel, wear and tear
All of these things wear out and need to be replaced.

I say all of this to tell you that as a trainer, we are greatly invested, sometimes YEARS, hoping that we either make money in the arena, or make money on the sale of the horse (commission.)

When your horse does poorly, I assure you, NONE OF US WANTED THAT. We are trying our best because we have endless hours invested in fluffy.

That being said, fluffy doesn’t always (let’s get real… RARELY) have/has the same plans we do.

Fluffy doesn’t know you invested $15k in training and he isn’t in the 1D.

Fluffy doesn’t know he won’t be good enough for your kid.

Fluffy likely doesn’t know he is a major pain in the a**.

Fluffy doesn’t know he is going to take 9 million man hours to make a Futurity horse.

So have some grace for your trainers. They are not paid enough to deal with your bulls*** too.

Training horses is a horrible business model. It’s based solely on what you can produce in a day and your client doesn’t want an intern training their horse. The more horses, the higher the overhead. There aren’t many trainers that are *making* money.

If you get hurt, who pays your bills?

This is not directed at anyone. Rather an industry wide thing I see ALL THE TIME!

10/01/2025

Very thankful for my students that show up ready and willing to learn 🙌🏼 Bates Performance Horses is not the program for you if you are going to show up with excuses.

I Built My Program Around Students Who Want to TRY And It Changed Everything

Controversial opinion: Not every student deserves your best efforts.

I used to exhaust myself trying to motivate the unmotivated:
- The kid who complained about every horse assignment
- Students who argued with every instruction
- Those who showed up expecting to be entertained, not taught

Then I realized something life-changing: My energy is finite and precious.

I shifted my focus to students who:
✅ Ask "Can I try that again?" instead of "Do I have to?"
✅ Say "That's hard but I want to learn" instead of "This is stupid"
✅ Show up on time and ready to work, not to be worked on
✅ Appreciate the opportunity instead of taking it for granted

The result?
My program transformed. The willing students thrived because they got my full attention and energy. The unwilling ones either stepped up or found other instructors.

I stopped being a cheerleader for people who didn't want to cheer.

Here's what I learned: You can't want success for someone more than they want it for themselves. And trying to will drain your passion for teaching.

My lesson program became full of riders who:
- Push themselves to improve
- Support each other's growth
- Appreciate quality instruction
- Make teaching a joy, not a job

Your time, energy, and expertise are valuable. Give them to people who value them back.

Fellow instructors: Have you made this shift? How did it change your program?

Life's too short to waste on people who don't want to be there... 🐴

09/27/2025

I feel like this is something that gets missed often, if you need a good performance vet I have a list of them in several states that I can recommend you to 🤠

𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙?

The joints of a horses neck can often times be the root of stiffness, mild neurological deficits, poor performance, or undiagnosed/unresolved forelimb lameness.

A major difference of these joints is that inflammation, arthritis or enlargement of the joint can cause impingement on closely related nerves and cause more issues than what arthritis or inflammation in other joints would cause.

Ultrasound guided injection is aimed to not only improve range of motion and comfort of the joint, but also reduce periarticular inflammation and therefore reduce the secondary issues of neck arthritis.

Dr. Sharp injects necks frequently, and is very skilled at the ultrasound guided technique.

📲208-565-0344 for appointments