Meet our Newest Neighbor!

The Hunt girls and Krissy are thrilled that the farm next door, East Mountain, got a new puppy! He is being trained (much to the Hunt girls' chagrin!) to stay on his farm (picture here of their beef cows) but occassionally sneaks over to our barn. Here is a picture that Krissy snapped of Maxwell recently on one of his visits. Is he adorable??

Lauren remembers his name because of the coffee (so she told me).

East Mountain Farm sells beef, wood, ham, pork, etc... It is part of the original farm that Chuck grew up on and in fact the house is an identical log home to the one that is part of our current home. It is actually the East Mountain home where Chuck and his family lived after the fire that destroyed their 1800s era farm house.

Full Access Lease

Several parents have asked if we are doing the 'full access' lease program this year. The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that we spent quite a bit of time reflecting on the strengths and challenges of the program last year and have made some modifications. Thanks to all the parents who filled out questionnaires!

We will soon have sign ups for summer programming available and the successors to the full access lease are: Barn/Pleasure Riding & Barn Leadership programs Both these programs are ONLY open to students entering 6th grade or older.

The barn/pleasure riding program will look the most like full access lease. It will start June 1st and run through September 3rd. However, we will be strictly limiting participation to 3 riders per week. Instead of requiring a full month commitment (which was pretty flexible anyway) riders can sign up for a week and the cost will be $150. The increased cost reflects our observation that many of the participants wanted to do projects -- whether to beautify the barn, or simply crafting in a quiet afternoon moment. This include the full lease rate for the week. Same riding program: one hour a day lightly supervised plus a fun, instructor led ride once a week -- hopefully on the trail.

The second program is for those who want the same riding experiences and priviliges but are willing to commit to specific responsibilities in the barn. That would include helping new and beginner riders tack up, leading horses in beginner lessons, over seeing crafts. We are planning to build in some 'leadership training' opportunities and will be giving the participants responsibility for tasks in the barn or the other summer programs. An example might be that a participant will plan a craft and run that session for a group of younger kids. We will only be taking two students per week for this program and it will run from June 21st through August 13th. There will still be a fee for the riding and materials but it will be $125. If you are interested in this program, talk to Chuck, Linda or Jacki as soon as you have an idea of which weeks you'd like to do.

It doesn't feel much like summer out there, but I know folks are starting to think about summer activities. We will also be offering three other programs this summer -- the 3 day new & beginner riding experience, the Life on a Farm package, and a new Ready, Set, Show experience that culminates in participation in a show in Shelburne Falls.

Stay tuned!

February Riding was great ... pics!

Here are some pictures from the vacation riding program. Pretty soon we'll get some information out about the April Vacation programming which will all be about the upcoming shows at Oak Hollow.

We got a TON of snow yesterday ... posted all Krissy's pictures from this past month on the facebook account.

Raining here now which is depressing. I'd rather we got the next two feet of snow that the Catskills are doing.

Also, we are going to participate in the WES camp fair this year on March 27th to let more families know about our great summer programming.

Enjoy these pics.

Spring Lessons: prices and package

In my on-going attempt to Think Spring, I wanted to give everyone a heads up on the CHF spring riding plans.

The current Winter Riding Package goes through March 13th. We will offer another package for Spring -- 12 lessons from March 15th - June 4th.

Out of necessity we are having to increase our lesson rates. With the costs of everything going up (health insurance premiums and hay being the biggest offenders) we need to get closer to our actual costs. We still believe our rates are very competitive in the market and if anyone has a specific hardship they should speak to me, Linda or Chuck privately.

Rates effective 3/15:

One Hour Group lessons: $30 per lesson
Half Hour private lesson: $40 per lesson
One Hour Semi Private (2 riders): $40 per lesson
One Hour Private: $70 per lesson

The Spring lesson season (12 lessons) for a group will be: $330; for half hour semi-private $385; for one hour semi private: $440.

At this point we probably won't offer a summer lesson pack because so many riders build leasing and different riding experiences into their summer plans. Stay tuned on the exciting plans we'll be announcing soon for summer!

Vintage Family Riding clips

I helped Chuck with the horses yesterday afternoon and boy was it COLD. Kudos to all the riders who have braved the cold. I am really convinced that it WILL get warm soon.

My brother has shared a YouTube clip he made that you might enjoy. It is my "first" pony ride. On a paint pony, of course.








Not sure why this loads twice but it is only one clip. Play the volume if you really want to get the maximum impact. And to any potential pony riders out there, we DO NOT drop the reins on your pre-schooler and have no one lead the horse at our parties!

more pictures here until I can figure out facebook

For some reasons my new computer doesn't want to upload albums, so here are a few more and I'll keep trying.

Pictures!

Krissy has been braving the cold and getting some great shots. The entire new album will be loaded on Facebook and I've gone back and added pictures to some of the recent posts, so make sure to scroll down.

Here's a few to whet your appetites!

Ready, Set, SHOW!

Every year our riders look forward to the Oak Hollow spring and fall shows. Last year several of us also participated in the Gymkhanna. We just got the dates for the Spring Show and Gymkhanna, and I wanted to make sure everyone put the dates on their calendar because despite what Pawxatuwney Phil says, we really will have Spring sooner than we know!

Gymkhanna: SUNDAY April 25th
Spring Show: SUNDAY May 2nd

Last year we began to perfect a process of preparing the riders who wanted to show and to assigning horses. We will build on that success this year by facilitating early communication. To start with:

For ANY rider who has NEVER participated in a show, you MUST get Linda's permission to compete and her sign off by event. We have had a lot of fun with these low-key shows, but even still the horses and the riders are more keyed up than usual and Linda is the BEST judge as to what will result in the best possible experience. The spring show can be particularly challenging for those who (reasonably!!!) take the winter off from riding. As a guideline, Linda would like beginner riders to have had 12 lessons directly proceeding the show. February 14th is 12 weeks from the show!!!! Please spread the word to those that are not riding this winter. Perhaps they would like to sign up for February riding during WES vacation? Also, if you don't want to start riding till later in March, you will need to get some extra sessions in with Linda and we will have to plan those now.

We are also planning to dedicate the week of April WES vacation to riding experiences that build in preparation for both events. For all our Pine Cobble riders, let us know if you'd like to do something similar in March .... Stay tuned for the April info.

Lastly, for our JUMPERS. We are going to announce the new sessions of jumping with Karrie soon. If you want to JUMP in the show, you should also discuss with Linda and Karrie their recommendations for a preparation schedule that will have you ready to compete! (And we will make sure that we get a CLEAR understanding from the judge and organizers whether you can compete at different levels or not!!!)

The Gymkhanna events aren't generally stuff we do in lessons. Again, we'll do some special stuff right before the event in April during school vacation, but if you think you want to do barrels or poles or some such activity, remember to have a conversation soon with Linda!

Finally, Oak Hollow may not do a Fall show. We will consider doing one at Cobble Hill if that is the case. We will wait to hear from them. And, I know several riders would like to do additional shows/events this year. We will begin to post here some good opportunities. Just remember, if you pick an 0ff-site show, we need to insure you have transportation for your horse and if you are using a CHF horse, that it is available. Chuck, Jeannie and Karrie all have trailering capacity so if we plan ahead we should be golden. As I mentioned to one of my daughters, a legendary Drury basketball coach (Frank Zoltek) used to preach the four Ps. Poise & Planning Prevent Panic!