Horses!

Haven't done pictures and a post lately only about the horses! Now that I am riding a bit, I can actually talk about my impressions of the horses. Looking forward to my lesson tomorrow.

The three horses that beginner adult riders use (for the most part) are: Sweet Pea, Buck and Dixie.

Dixie is a really interesting paint horse. She is older and very well trained. She is a complete witch when it comes to getting her out of the pasture when it isn't feed time. In fact, many months ago when I was out in the big pasture trying to catch her, she stomped on my foot. It was a good reminder of why you wear sturdy shoes around horses, but it still hurt. Dixie can also be a bit hard to bridle. Yet. the minute you ride her, she is the most gentle, predictable and well behaved horse we have. A real steady-eddie. The biggest challenge when you ride Dixie is to keep her moving, especially at the trot.

Sweet Pea is another contradiction. He would be just as happy being in his stall all day. You have to be really careful not to bother him when he is eating as he gets a little aggressive. Yet, put a saddle on him and again -- he is well-trained, and a really fun ride. He consistently performs well at the little shows the riders do. He will keep moving better than Dixie.

Buck is really 'forward' and responds best to short reins. Buck was a barrel racer and I have aspirations to do a barrel race some day. When Buck is trotting I think he has the nicest, smooth trot. I haven't been cleared to canter him yet as he is really fast, but he really is a comfortable and fun horse. I think/hope I am riding him tomorrow.

In between the travel I do some of the farm work

Today, I am running the two hour extended beginner rider session (the non-riding portions, of course). A few weeks ago I put in hay which gave me terrible blisters on my hands. All my colleagues that I work with in a non-farm capacity couldn't understand why I didn't simply wear gloves and were very amused that I got the blisters even wearing gloves! As you can see from this picture, I did load 5 wagons onto the conveyor.

Obviously my kids and niece were enjoying the hay process and having a lot more fun than me.

We have about 1,000 bales in and need over 4,000 for the winter!

Today, though, I am thinking we will give Patty a bath.

If you are afraid of the dentist, don't read or look at this post!

One of the things we are trying to do with our young riders is to give them a full picture of what "Life on a Farm" is all about. As I've said previously, we are really lucky to have great professionals working with us and each of them has responded enthusiastically to letting our riders learn about their work.

Our veterinerian, Dr. Greg Dowd, was here last week doing a regularly scheduled teeth cleaning and work on some of the horses. Aren't these pictures WILD? Can you imagine if your dentist came at you with that drill???? However, vets practice sedation dentistry so that is a help.

You can see that our youngest riders were really fascinated with the process! Thanks to Dr. Dowd, Chuck and Jackie for giving them a really informative day.

Barn Project: pole decorating

One of the things I've been trying to do for the full access lease girls is give them one project each week that is fun for them, helpful to the barn and also makes them feel ownership in the facilities.

This week the six girls were split into three groups and each of them had a pole to decorate.

Chuck (first picture) helped them put down drop cloths, had them wear masks because the it was an oil-based paint and then they got to paint!

I don't have pictures, but each of the 'teams' then painted decorations onto the poles which you will have to come and see. They look great.

See if you can find the "Horses Rool"!

Welcome Norman and Junior .... and other assorted animals!

Two new boarders arrived this week. Norman arrived today (with an unwelcome flat tire on the horse trailer ...) and looks an awful lot like Blaze! He is a beauty and we are excited to have Jinny and her mom join our barn riding program. Junior is a paint -- and we do love paints. Another white nosed horse to keep out of the harsh day light sun (of course, we haven't had to worry about that too much this summer so far!) ... we may have a nocturnal paddock for Vixen, Patty, Dixie and Junior -- what a lucky guy!

Full house for the Tuesday riding program this morning. Half the group got to go check on the pigs and cattle next door (we are farm-sitting this week -- the picture is the beef cows we count each day to make sure everyone is accounted for!). My one (and only) trip to see the pigs convinced me that we don't need pigs AND solved the mystery of why we have had such limited insects so far this wet summer -- they are all up with the pigs! Jackie came up with another great horse-themed craft.

Lastly, in our theme of visiting and new animal arrivals, it was so fun to have the new puppy, Boomerang, visit. An adorable brown labradoodle. It is well known that I am really partial to our Boston Terrier, Buddy, but boy that labradoodle was charming!

Clean horses

Came home to some really pretty, clean horses. Annie was here helping Chuck today and had this great purple soap to make the white on the horses really look white. Dixie looks fabulous!

Visitor horses leaving tomorrow but two new boarders coming in this week. One permanent the other for a few months.

Hopefully Krissy will have pictures tomorrow!

Back on the Farm (for a day at least)

Quiet day on the farm today but boy is the weather gorgeous. On Friday Krissy is off and so all the riders pitch in (some happily, some less so!) around the barn. Here are pictures from last week.

And more jumping ....

A few more pics of other girls jumping last week .... and a pic of the Hunt girls watching a jumping lesson in the indoor arena.

Up, Up and Away!

The more advanced riders in the barn LOVE to jump. While they like jumping traditional equestrian jumps and poles, they also look for other things (safe things!) to jump, as well.

We've put a tree stump down on the track, for example.

The more advanced riders spent a good deal of their lesson last week jumping. Annie and Junie are both on Bradley. Snoopy is on her favorite horse, Hercules.

Trail lesson

One of the great parts of the full access lease program for the summer for the older girls/intermediate riders is the Monday Trail Riding Lesson. This past week Krissy took pictures. You can tell everyone had a fabulous time!

I am travelling to DC tomorrow for a board meeting and then home for one day and off to Boston for meetings. I will keep posting some of these pictures while I am gone though. Some great jumping photos to come!

New Pictures!

Krissy arrived with another wonderful batch of pictures. I've added some here and some to existing posts from last week. I will add more later today but we still have 3 wagons of hay to get into the barn and it is very nice this morning so guess where I am headed?

Yesterday, we picked up Jake from camp. Lexi won a blue ribbon with him for ground work -- way to go!!!!

Also, there was a gymnaticize your horse clinic all day with Jeannie which kept the place hopping all day!

Juliana visits the farm

Lots of cousins visiting this weekend. Sam and Natalie are here and Natalie is going to stay for the week and do summer riding programs. Also, my cousin, Jennifer, and her family were visiting from Delaware. Her daughter, Juliana, has been looking at the Patty video and pictures on Facebook and was excited to come for a visit. As usual, Elizabeth was MORE than happy to show her around and give her a lesson!

Krissy's pictures go NATIONAL

I have gotten to know Greta Van Susteren from Fox News a bit -- she is my email buddy. Today she asked for some pics of the animals and now they are a featured slide show on her blog. Check out www.gretawire.com. Of course, Patty gets top billing (and I think the Patty picture was actually taken by my mom not Krissy, but all the rest are definitely Krissy's work).

Put one of Krissy's pictures here ... not one that is on Gretawire, but a good example of why I was proud to post her pictures in such a public forum! She is really talented. Then here is a pic I took of the elusive Krissy and Chuck ... of course, with the star, Patty!

The Fun AND the Work ....

Big farm day for me today. I actually rode a horse! Jacki and I had a lesson from Linda and it was great. My first time on Buck and I loved him. I could 'keep my seat' in the sitting trot and once I got the rhythm it was really enjoyable. We must have done well because Linda let us walk them out down around the track. It was one of those truly glorious afternoons and the horses were great and the company was fun ... couldn't have been a better summer afternoon.

No sooner were the horses put away then the hay wagons were filling up from the hay Kim cut in our field this week. It has been a harrowing hay season so far. So much rain that the fields are high and ready to be cut, but you can't get two or three days in a row to cut, dry, bale and put it in the barn. If hay gets wet it is ruined. The economics of hay and their intersection with weather are really interesting. Because the weather pattern is basically the same over an entire region, everyone has the same hay challenge which restricts supply and starts to drive up the price. Also, if you don't cut your field the first time (it is actually called 'first cutting hay' and you don't mix first and second cuts when you are feeding horses because they are different) early enough, you won't get a very significant second cut. That is what folks were starting to worry about. Optimally, you'd get your first cutting in the barn before the 4th of July.

Kim decided to cut Wednesday night -- taking the chance that the scattered showers would miss us. I sweated it out (especially yesterday with all the black clouds and light rain in Pittsfield) ... but it never did get wet and we now have about 750 bales of really nice hay. My hands are blistered from putting it in (even though I wore gloves!) and I am EXHAUSTED. And the daunting reality is we probably need a total of 4 or 5 THOUSAND bales of hay this year.

But right now I am a good tired ....

Patty is the star of camp

I am so glad I got to spend the last two days on the farm and especially that I participated in the activity with Patty and Vixen in the indoor arena today! Now I know why Jacki loved it so much. I took some pictures with Krissy's camera and will post them soon.

Not just horses

In addition to the wonderful horses -- our school horses and our boarders -- we also have our Boston Terrier, Buddy, who keeps everyone in the barn amused. His most favorite activity is to chase after the bailing twine that has been discarded from the hay bales! Although barking at and chasing away the birds would probably qualify as a close second as a favorite past time. Then, last week while I was in San Diego, the girls convinced Chuck to get a kitten!!!! Sammee is named after their cousin Sam (although spelled in a very 8 year old kind of way) and is living in the 'quiet' tack room. The theory is he will rid the barn of mice ..... at the moment though he is simply another toy. A cute one though. And here is a NEW picture of Sammee and a great one of Buddy (the most photogenic guy in our family!) -- both done by Krissy.

Emma and Maradith were going to do a video today for me to post with some text tomorrow so we shall see!

Running the Farm on a busy week

Jacki, Chuck and Linda were more than busy with all the activity this week. It takes a lot of effort to plan and execute having 14 different youth riders in a summer program. And on top of that, we continued all our regular lessons and welcomed twin four year olds for rides three days in a row too! Here are Chuck and Linda trying to work out the schedule. One of the best parts of living and working here is that when it all gets too hectic, you can find a quiet spot and take in the views -- that is obviously what Krissy was doing when she took this shot.

Ally was a huge help with the new riders!

Here Ally shows the first time riders the various responsibilities of riding: picking the hoofs of the horse, using the right equipment -- each horse responds differently to a different bridle. Ally was great as a side walker and I'm sure all the first-timers were grateful for her caring attention! And don't worry, Mom, she did ride, too!

"Emma, Maradith and Lulu" cantering

It was amazing to see the increased confidence and ability of the girls who did the first week of the full access lease. The full access lease allows the girls to ride for an hour every day and to be in the barn helping with farm and barn chores, assisting with the summer programs for newer riders and grooming horses. But the real attraction is the riding. Here are three great shots of the first week riders.

Project GARDEN

Annie, Ally and a few of the other girls took on the project of beautifying the front of the barn while they were here on their full lease this week. Here is Annie working on it and with the final results, of which she is rightfully proud!

Rider Blogs!!!

Seems like all the riders doing summer programs are having a blast. Here, in their own words, is what they've been doing:

"I jumped for my first time that was not in a show!" Lulu

"I did my first flying changes on sir, Buck a lot." Maradith

"Emma and I, Mary, are planning a show that takes place tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9:00 in the morning. We are very excited to get up early and get our horses ready. We planned it all on our own, and are very proud of it. We will keep you posted on how it goes." Mary & Emma

"Bam and I did a lot of jumping; he did really well, (note: I ALWAYS USE Bittles Bridle.)" Maradith (Mary)

"Prime Package and I were in a horse show and we kicked dariyair, so dis, dis and disidydis DIS!" Emma

Lots of riders

While I've been working in California, lots of riders have been enjoying Cobble Hill! We've had a really nice mix of our mainstays and a healthy batch of new riders. On top of that, we are starting to attract folks who are visiting the area. Today, the full-time leasers were able to hold the 'show' that they'd been planning. I wish I'd been there to see it. It is really nice to have some of the older girls helping to manage independent activities with the other riders. And we are finally getting interest from some boys to come and ride! Poor Chuck has been feeling like it is his fate to forever be surrounded by girls, girls and more girls.

Can't wait to be home -- I'll be doing a campfire snack with many of the riders tomorrow -- I am thinking banana boats. The Brownie troop loved that!