Get well soon Lucy!!!

We'll be heading out to Shelburne Falls early tomorrow.  Biscuit Hill horse show:

http://www.biscuithillfarm.com/show_schedule.html

Chuck alerted me that Lucy fell off Dixie yesterday and is recovering at home ... hope she is okay and feeling 100 percent soon.  We have lots of committed riders who like to come and help at the barn, but Lucy is the most committed of them all. 

Here is Lucy helping with Mr. Tee this winter.  Get well soon Lucy!!!!

Next week will be busy with landscaping and sprucing up in anticipation of Linda & David's wedding on the weekend.

Fun picture from one of the early summer programs.

A quieter week

We only have the full access lease program running this week so the barn should be a quieter place.  We do have several summer residents/tourists booked which is always welcome.

Just got the new fliers in and must say I am really satisfied with the quality.  Will have Jenna and the girls bring a few down to the Chamber office.

Hopefully, the rain will hold off so Chuck can finish the fence in the blue paddock.  If you haven't walked over there, go take a look.  The fencing is going up about 8 feet off the stone wall -- making a nice 'trail' that will be perfect for riders to cool down their horses or for beginner trail lessons. 

We are also getting the siding stained on the barn ... it matches the original building quite well.  And maybe the fences will even get stained in August .... never a shortage of stuff to do around here.

Here is a nice picture of Dixie.  You can also see the area I am referring to for the trail/fence in the background where the stone wall is.  Dixie continues to be a great beginner horse.  I wonder how many riders have cantered for the first time on her?

Dixie and Patty have been hanging out a lot in the black paddock.  It is hard to tell here, but Patty is almost as big as Dixie these days.  She is going to be a very BIG girl.  And hopefully a good one.

Yes, we have horses

I have been posting lots of pictures of the activities at the barn but thought I'd put up a few of actual horseback riding!

We have had quite a few summer visitors this year which is great.  There are many people who relocate weekends or weeks at a time to our beautiful region and this year quite a few of them have found us and are enjoying our lesson program as well as our wonderful views.

This week will be Linda's last week doing lessons at the barn.  We are happy for her and David and wish them lots of happiness in their new life together.  I think Chuck and I will be spending all our 'free' time landscaping and weeding in the next two weeks till the wedding!

As many of you know, the barn bought Bradley from Linda and he will be a significant part of our lesson program -- especially for the more advanced riders and those who want to jump.  We are also going to be keeping Blue on a free lease until Linda gets settled -- at least through the summer. 

Karrie has agreed to take over some of the administrative responsibilities for scheduling lessons, etc... but we both agree that will be a collaborative process over the month of August. 

Yahoo, more pictures

Weather has definitely moderated but my travel hasn't.  Jenna finally got to ride this week!  She looks a lot less confidence on a horse than on skates!  However, she claims to have enjoyed it. 

Love these pictures because it gives a great view of the arena (and the NEW footing -- if you are counting, yes this is the 3rd try at something that is good to keep the dust down and appropriate on the horses hooves -- no more overdone pedicures).

And lastly, doesn't this make you want to be a kid again  (or a dog).... outdoor lunches in the summer!

For my frequent followers, I attempted to add some features so these posts can be more easily 'followed' and shared on facebook, etc....  Another experiment.  I still harbor a dream of making the website both a valuable source of information and a source of some income to offset the costs of our riding programs!

Far from Farm

Spoke via phone and email a lot today but am stuck out on the West Coast.  Flight delays have me on a redeye (overnight flight) to Philadelphia tomorrow.  I have several meetings, 3 hours of driving to and from the capital of Pennsylvania (quick, who can name it?) and then a late flight home.  Ugh.

Figure I might as well post a few more of Krissy's pictures as I enter my 9th hour in the San Diego airport.

Buddy once he's worn himself out tugging on baling twine.  He is such a funny dog -- will run and play and jump forever then just snuggle in and cuddle.  I suspect he is under Sarah's covers sleeping soundly right about now!!

I hear there was more water balloon activity today at the barn.  Here, Z is filling the bucket last week!

Great picture of Buck and the two point.  If you don't ride, you would not believe the core strength and balance this requires.  No wise comments about Buck's short tail, please .....

Twin Mania

As I started organizing for the upcoming programs this week it occurred to me that we have had an extraordinary number of twins riding at the barn.  Most of you know that our family has a set of fraternal nine-year-old twins:  Lauren and Sarah.  This past week, we had both an identical set of twins in the 3 day learn to ride program and a younger set of fraternal twins who returned for a second year of pony rides while visiting their grandma.  Earlier this year an older set of fraternal twin girls began taking lessons at the farm and this week we will have another set of identical twins in the Life on a Farm program!  That is 5 sets of twins!!!  Amazing.

These two -- Buddy and Robin -- are NOT twins.  Robin belongs to one of the farriers and has been visiting since we started our riding program.  Most of Buddy's neighborhood dog friends are also black and white dogs so Robin is a nice change of pace!  Here is Buddy's newest friend:  Gurl.  She is Karrie's new puppy.

And this is Buddy's best friend, Maxwell, who comes over every day from East Mountain Farm (next door).  Maxwell is on vacation this week.   Gurl, Buddy and Max could almost be triplets!

New Pictures!

Well, the heat didn't diminish too much but we did get a little more much needed rain.  We have pulled the horses off the lower pasture for the past two weeks to let it grown back up.  It also is a nice break for the adults and riders who put horses in and out not to have the long, uphill walk to the barn in this oppressive heat!

Here is a beginner trail lesson!  New riders love it!

Making horse treats downstairs!!!

Jacki in a rare moment of relaxation.

Keeping the horses clean and the riders cool.

Treats

The horses all got horse treats made by summer riders today.  We actually had to cook them but it was pretty cool in the downstairs apartment at the house.

Jacki and Jenna also came up with the idea of rather than making horse magnets, we are making electrical outlet covers with a horse on them.  They look great!

And once again, we have very good horses.  Pretty clear why we call her VIXEN.

Monday! More new riders

Welcoming four new riders to our programs this morning.  Here is more of a look at the fun stuff that have happened in the summer programs so far this summer.

Hopefully, the weather will be nice and not quite as humid!

Pony Club information

The barn is exploring and likely to initiate the process for becoming a Pony Club Center.  Several of our parents and adult riders have participated in this program and are very enthusiastic about having it offered in our area.

You might begin hearing about this opportunity around the barn.  Karrie and Janette Dudley are leading our exploratory efforts and of course you can always speak with Chuck or Jane about this or other thoughts and ideas on programming.

Here is a link to some information about the program:

http://ponyclub.org/ridingcenter.htm

As always, let us know what you think!

Summer Jumping Program

Kudos to the riders who participated in riding programs this week.  The focus for most of the riders was jumping and despite the heat, as you can see in these terrific pictures, it was a successful program!

 Several days the riders came early to get their rides in before the oppressive heat.  And, as you can also see, there are cooling strategies for horses (and riders and instructors)!

Riders and visitors should also take a peek in the barn for the progress being made on several fronts.  The wash stall is about half done and the television is finally in the boarder's tack room and we have a VCR attached.  Karrie was able to show the riders some great video of her jumping in events and we are hoping to start using some video instruction in the more experienced rider lessons. 

We are hoping our introductory three day riding program will have a little less heat this coming week but just as much fun!

Guest Blog by Lauren Hunt, age 9

Hello i am jane's daughter Lauren and i was gonna make my own blog abvout Cobble Hill but my mom said it is to late so i am going to post something about whatever pops into my mind about the farm! I was riding Buck today in my lesson we trotted we cantered and we walked. I was riding with E*&%  j*$^%&! i think that is how she spells her last name so i am kind of nervous about that. I was also helping out with the barn a bit this week E*$#, Z#@*, and J*&$%: were the riders! Mrs. petrino and Jenna do the crafts and Linda teaches the lessons and Karrie teaches the jumping lessons. i am hoping to go on a trail ride soon i was supposed to go tomorrow but skating is interfearing with that!  thats all i can think of and this is getting to long so goodnight and have a nice week hope you enjoyed your 4th of july!


Love,
Lauren!

Jump!

Even with this really brutally hot weather our dedicated jumping students are having a great week.  Today, Karrie had them on the track for the first time and they did the entire course!  Way to go!!!  Krissy took some pictures of Karrie jumping last week -- here is one.  I am going to get in trouble because Karrie wants to pick the right ones and of course I don't know the difference between great and awful jumping form .... they all look pretty impressive to me!

Patty let the kids give her a bath today and she actually cooperated for most of the time.  And she looks really pretty.  Here is a picture from before the much needed bath.  She is still a beautiful pony!

Chuck tells me that Jay has become very protective of Patty when she is in the larger pasture with the small herd.  It is really very interesting to see the social dynamics among the horses.

We had an almost-five year-old visitor take a few lessons this week.  All the way from South Carolina!  Her grandma found our website on line.  The riding lessons while in town were her reward for patiently watching her older brother skate at hockey camp in the Boston area last week.  When I get feedback that people actually find the website and blog of value, it keeps me motivated to keep posting.  That and the fact that my home office is air conditioned.  Stay cool everyone!!!

A rare (but very, very hot) day in the barn

With today's official holiday and no RFPs due this week, I got to spend the day helping out in the barn.  While I am loving my new job, it is really hard to miss all the great summer activities so I soaked up as much as possible.

Watching new riders learn to control their horse and to master all the different aspects of horsemanship is a treat.  Today, Jack (again, pseudonyms) confided that he really likes grooming the horses more than riding.  He picked Jay and Dixie's feet, put fly spray all over Jay and helped to bathe Blue!  When I mentioned his comment to Linda, she made a really good observation -- at his riding ability there is a lot more he can do working with the horses grooming versus riding.  I hadn't thought of it that way, but it makes perfect sense. 

Jack also shared my enthusiasm for the project I dreamed up earlier this year while helping Chuck with some clean up around the barn.  Very soon, our barn will have its very own mascot.  We have named him (her?) COBBLE.  He/She will have a jingle necklace just like the ones we are making for all the school horses for forays into the woods.  They are designed to alert wildlife to a horse and riders approach but they have been a very fun barn activity, too.

During the water balloon 'fight' today, I think Chuck moved faster than he has in a while.  So funny how kids love to pelt adults in battle, but the biggest kid got more than his fair share of direct strikes!

Two of our riders in the program this week are beginning jumpers and seeing the smiles on their faces after they clear the cross rails is another special joy to being in the barn.  Using the viewing room as our primary gathering place really does allow you to stay connected to the riding all day long.

However, for the first time in two years we also used the A/C in the tack rooms and office.  Brutally hot is an understatement.  However, with the A/C running (yes, I am more than a little embarrassed to admit that we have air conditioning in a New England horse barn) the riders really went at the tack cleaning this afternoon even though it was oppressively hot outside.  And Chuck is adamant that the heating/cooling unit was no more expensive than a straight heating unit would have been.  Today, I pretended to believe him.

So funny that riders who would otherwise complain violently about cleaning, happily muck stalls!!!

I have no idea what we would do without Jacki.  And we now have a larger "J" team with Jenna's help in the mornings.  Chuck and I (okay, mostly Chuck) finished painting the viewing room floor late on Sunday night and as he was scrambling to get everything put back together early on Monday, who shows up and pitches in with a smile?  This is our craft closet.  It will never again look this neat.  :)

It was really cool for the new riders to watch Karrie jump Hunter (wow!) and this week all our aspiring-Karrie's will be attempting to replicate her form.  And keep an eye out for that smart looking Cal Poly Pomona jump.  :)

Pictures pre-parade!

Krissy took some pictures at the barn .... if anyone else has some, please send them along.

The horses were really good and everything went smoothly.  Even the heat wasn't too oppressive.  It is going to get HOT this week.

If you are riding this week, remember to bring WATER.  Also, we will probably even turn on the A/C in the office and tack rooms so everyone has a cool place to retreat.

Happy Fourth of July!

Heading out to wash the mini truck and trailer, will let the riders wash the horses.  Going to be a hot day so packing plenty of drinks.  Our first parade!

Patty doesn't like her fly mask!

.... and happy horses

Just pictures!

Beautiful weather, busy place

This was a very busy place this week!  Here are some terrific Krissy pictures.  Riders made some great tye dye t-shirts that should draw the eye in the 4th of July parade tomorrow.  I also LOVED the horse magnets that were painted and mounted.

Looks like everyone had a great time.  If you are still wanting to do the parade, we will meet at the farm at 10 am (to wash horses!) and at the elementary school at 11 am.  The wagon will be at the elementary school earlier than that so Chuck and Karrie can then hall the horses. 

We have plenty of candy to throw!