Tag Archives: Adventure Ride

Lacey Jane Taylor at Sun City Stables.

Lacey Jane Taylor is a therapy dog. She visits people in hospitals and nursing homes. She has a special I.D. tag with her picture on it that tells people what she does. She is composed, well mannered and attractive: a very together dog. For appropriate occasions, she will even wear a hat. Here she is with Clyde […]

Manatee County Equestrian Trails: Go Bit-less!

July is National Park and Recreation Month. We took another road trip  to one of the Bay Area’s many beautiful parks. As we were tacking up the horses, we decided to leave the bridles in the trailer…and go bit-less.    We clipped their reins to their halters, and away we went!     ‘Pache, our Clydesdale Paint, […]

Horses at the Beach – Beach Buddies

‘Pache and Montana have a great relationship. The big Clydesdale Paint has a soft spot for the young teenage girl, and she can do practically anything she wants with him.   Monday was ‘Pache‘s first time at the beach.    He discovered that salt water is not good to drink…..      ….but he enjoyed splashing around […]

A Beautiful Day For A Beach Ride

When you’re too busy to do the things you love, you’re too busy…..so…after we finished pressure washing our horse trailer, we decided it was so nice and clean we’d take it for a drive to the beach. The beach is only about 15 minutes away from the stables, and you’d think we’d go there ALL […]

Barns? No way! We like the modular system:”Tent City!”

Our horses roam around free on our property much of the time, but during business hours, when we could have customers coming for trail rides, they stay in tents!  We’re pretty proud of our modular housing for horses. It fits the Florida climate perfectly. The horses’ pens are made of horse fencing panels. They are expensive, […]

Paso Fino Valentino don’t rear no mo’…..

When we first got Valentino, he was still a stallion, and one of the fun things about him was ability to stand on his hind legs in an beautiful controlled fashion. …Perfectly balanced, like a pro…..….Paso Fino horses are just the coolest…! ……..it was a really fun thing to do with him……… But now that […]

Goin’ on an Adventure Ride….

Even though our trails are lovely, sometimes we just take a few horses and go check out other parts of Florida. We have a number of horses that think loading up and heading out is…well…. fun! For us and our horses, the grass IS definitely greener on the other side of the fence…we have very little grass, so our […]

Dillenger, our Missouri Foxtrotter, and Mark….

Dillenger, our Missouri Foxtrotter, really took to off-site trail riding. He loaded easily and was relaxed and happy to be in a new environment. He even went saddle free. Bringing him along was a lot of fun. Here he is with Mark, taking  a break…. On the way back, Mark just rode him with a halter and a […]

Resurrection fern….

Resurrection Fern, or Pleopeltis polypodioides, is one of the pretty sights you might see on a trail ride now at Sun City Stables. You only get to see it when it has rained and there is moisture in the air. It is an epiphyte, which means it lives on top of other plants (think trees!) […]

Mani Pedi Day at Sun City Stables

Friday was farrier day at Sun City Stables. All the horses, including the miniature horses, get their feet trimmed…. …this is Drummer….    …and Casanova….     The hooves are clipped with a nipper….  …and then filed with a file….  ….a rather big file…  Our horses generally are good about getting their feet done. They will often just stand quietly by […]

What’s better than riding bareback….?

Riding bareback is great. It’s nice not to have to bother with a saddle and just hop on a horse….. What’s better than riding bareback?     Riding double bareback…. ….on a goofy Tennessee Walker. Riding with REALLY dirty feet and a soda in your hand…. ….like Montana and Mark…. (and, yes, Delight, our Walker, […]

Buddy Stirrups – a great invention !

Horseback riding can be a bouncy business…especially when the horse breaks into a trot and you are so little that your feet can’t reach the stirrups… Hence the invention of buddy stirrups: a set of small, kid-size stirrups that hooks right over the saddle horn….and voila…a small person’s ride on a big horse is suddenly […]

Sun City Stables – see the beauty of central Florida

Sun City, Florida gets very warm and humid in the summer at times. Thunderstorms rapidly move through the area during some summers. Keep in mind that the summer is still a great time to ride. The horses don’t mind the rain, and Sun City Stables operate rain or shine. We have a saying ” we’re […]