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!