February Vacation Riding Program

Sign up sheets are in the barn for February Vacation programming. We'll be doing 10 am - 2 pm Tuesday and Thursday. Games, Relay Races, A "Show How Much you LOVE Your Horse" contest, a Horsemanship Workshop with Jeannie and a group one-hour lesson!

We are hoping to have beginners and advanced beginners on Tuesday and Intermediate to Advanced Riders on Thursday. But sign up for the day you can make it (or both!) and we will make sure the program works for all.

Remember, we have heat in the tack rooms now and if it is bitterly cold, we will do activities in the house.

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It is COLD out there. Every stall was full last night. Thank Goodness Debbie has started working on Fridays and Saturdays -- she doesn't seem to mind the cold as much as us!

February Vacation Student Riding Programs

We are going to offer two days of programs for February vacation -- a day for beginners and advanced beginners and a day for intermediate riders.

Jacki has a lot of great non-riding activities planned and you will get to see the new activity/viewing room set up if you haven't been to the barn in a while! Hint: the riding days come shortly after Valentine's Day and we think most of our riders favorite Valentine is of the four-legged variety!

As always, Linda will do a fun, hour long lesson. And new to the programming will be an age and ability horsemanship project with Jeannie! How many of you know how to take apart and put back together a bridle?

Look for sign up sheets next week in the barn. If you aren't riding this winter, this is a great opportunity to get back in the saddle -- spring will be here soon!

Life off a farm

As some of you know, the farmers wife accepted an exciting new professional challenge that started January 4th. While the work is rewarding and interesting, it has obviously taken me off the farm a lot more than last year.

I will try to be better keeping up with the blog! The farm continues to grow and thrive. The MCLA riders will be starting back up soon and we have another new boarder. Crisale arrived a week or so ago and replaced Faith as the newest horse on the block!

We are definitely using all the paddocks now day and night. Dublin and Bam seem to do well together in the front paddock (PINK for those who know the color scheme!) and Crisale (I hope I am spelling that right ....) is in the back, side paddock (I still think of that as Fritz' paddock!). Fritz, Zeus and Patty are a happy threesome in the far paddock bordering blue -- near where my feeble attempts at the outdoor skating rink reside (they are looking askance at my efforts in the picture above).

I will post more later, but we are going to kick off our vacation programming with a one-day riding experience on the Thursday of February vacation. Even though we will be a few days late, we will be making Valentines and treats for our favorite horses. Also, Jeannie is going to do a session on equipment -- how to take apart and put together a bridle, etc....

My PT is going well on my foot, so at least some progress toward my New Year's resolution is being made ....

Krissy is using email and promises to send me some new pictures soon and I will definitely post those from wherever my travels might bring me (this week is Boston and Baltimore).

A perfect winter weather day to launch 2010

We woke to comparatively mild temperatures and a light, fluffy snow to welcome the New Year. Even the horses seemed to buy in to the beauty and serenity of the day -- when we opened the gate from BLUE paddock in order for the horses to file down to the last gate there was none of the traditional pushing and kicking.

Chuck and Krissy have now transitioned all the stalls to the new bedding system and it certainly makes stall mucking a lot quicker and easier. Remains to be seen, but it is looking like it will be cheaper too. Nothing to complain about there!

We took most of the day off from farm work and used the tractor to contour a few 'jumps' on the sledding hill. We made a small snow man and a fort for him/her to protect and had a nice fire on the track.

Chuck and David finished the last fencing line in the YELLOW paddock yesterday. They are putting up a little fencing around the waterer and we are going to switch the daytime paddock assignments -- Patty, Zeus and Fritz will go to YELLOW and Dublin and Bam will go to pink. This will allow Patty to get used to more of the heard because of the shared fence line with BLUE but it also seems like Dublin is pretty territorial over his water source and some of the BLUE paddock horses seemed like they weren't getting enough water from that shared waterer.

The better news (from my perspective) is that the fence work gave Chuck a chance to check the depth of the frost in the ground. It is close to 12 inches so we also are hoping to get the skating area set up in the round pen this weekend! The stancion is not frozen and we have enough hose to reach. Those hoses are thawing in the garage over night.

So, sharpen your skates and get ready for tons of winter fun!

Faith arrives

Lending the perfect name to a wonderful season, last night Faith, a rescue mare, arrived from the Equine Angels Rescue Sanctuary (EARS). Her new owner and their family along with ours were here to greet her.

She has the most beautiful eyes and face and truly lives up to her name. The picture above is from the rescue website.

Chuck read to Elizabeth from the book that Frank Weller from EARS left last night about the plight of PMU mares and we were all disturbed and quite moved to learn more about the very difficult life these animals live in order to provide Hormone Replacement Therapy. As a woman of a 'certain' age, I must say I am relieved that I have avoided taking an HRT although it was more for the side effects it might have on me than from any knowledge of how they are manufactured.

Elizabeth is now determined to spend a week volunteering in Connecticut this summer and she and her cousin stayed up late last night designing their own Save the Horses blog to raise money for EARS. Check out wwwhelpthehorses.blogspot.com (no 'dot' after www ...)

Faith is in what our regulars will think of as Caesar's stall. As hard as it was to say goodbye to him, it feels great to have Faith take that spot in our barn.

The second picture above is Patty (who we are calling Peppermint Patty during the holiday season) chosen because it is a great shot AND the EARS organization actually has a medicine hat on their website and cards!

If you want to learn more about how Faith came to be rescued and got to our farm, check out http://www.foalrescue.com/.

Merry Christmas!

We have our work cut out for us tonight to insure no creatures are stirring but we are hopeful that Santa will forgive a few grazing horses, a hyper dog and affectionate cat.

As Chuck said at the barn party, we are extremely grateful to everyone who made our first full year in business such a pleasure and success.

We look forward to a great 2010.

For this post, you get Buddy and Sammie pictures. Both as photogenic as the girls and the horses!

New blankets

Three new horse blankets this week. Patty has a great purple one that will keep her warm and dry. She didn't seem to be bothered by this cold and her warm, winter coat is thick and soft. But the wind really does whip up here. Vixen has an equally attractive blue very warm new jacket. She has been getting cold -- she is one of the few horses in the barn who doesn't grow a warm, fuzzy coat. Her new blanket even has a 'hood' that is on in this warm weather tonight. And last, but certainly not least, Lizzy spent her birthday gift certificates at Country Tack for a very fashionable new blanket for Zeus. Chuck claims the dots are reflective! I just hope the other horses don't make fun of him for being dressed so fancy. :)

I have taken to mimicking the Chuck Uniform. With Krissy off for the week, I am spending a LOT more time in the barn cleaning stalls, turning horses out, etc.... I must admit those flannel lined overalls do keep you warm.

Despite the holidays and the cold, the barn still has quite a few riders coming for their weekly lesson.

Here is a pic that looks almost as cold as it feels outside. Now, back outside for Bradley's 8 pm feeding, cleaning the stalls of the horses spending the night inside so there is less work tomorrow morning.

Holiday Party 2009

We had a wonderful and festive event on Friday night ... thanks so much for everyone who came and brought food. What a feast!!!! Here are some pics ... the entire album plus some new horse pics are on Facebook.

Well, the cold has surely set in. None of our riders cancelled yesterday and all were dressed appropriately. "Andy" and Elizabeth officially launched the "its time to try riding bareback" season in their lesson with Karrie on Tuesday night. Elizabeth is an old hand, but it was Andy's first try and of course he loved it. Although Elizabeth says riding Magic at Oak Hollow bareback with all his fuzz and fur is the BEST winter bareback ride ever. I am going to take her word for it.

In the midst of all this cold, Jacki, Linda, Chuck and I are beginning to plan for the summer programming. We are going to try some new stuff out this winter and spring. Will probably do a pretty traditional riding day between Christmas and the New Year so if you are looking for something for your kids to do outside the house, keep an eye on the blog and posted in the barn!!!

I have WON the skating rink argument (did anyone doubt it?) but with some good input have recognized the best spot is up in the round pen. Hope to start this week ... will definitely let folks know when they might want to bring their skates.

Also, by the 1st of the year the 'boarder' tack room should be quite a good hang out for freezing, bored parents and siblings. If you haven't peeked in lately (or to the 'craft' room) check out Krissy's amazing work so far. The television, hopefully with cable access (FOR NON RIDERS ONLY) should be functioning in time for Bowl Season! :)

Lastly, in this cold weather we are going to use the 'real' door that enters through the tack room as our preferred entrance (hence, we will unlock it each morning). Keeping the garage doors down except when bringing horses in and out prevents the wind from whipping through but also will diminish the chance of spooking a horse in cross ties being brushed or tacked up by a rider.

Cheers!

Happy Holidays! Potluck celebration tonight

Festivities start at 6 pm.  Bring a dish, or just yourself and a friend.

Grab bag will be divided between adult or youth.

And riders, boarders, employees will get a special gift from the farm.  (If you don't make it tonight, make sure to grab your present the next time you are are the barn!).  Thanks in advance to Breann who spent tons of time and effort to help us pull off the Santa thing.

Here is a sneak preview of our holiday card photo (photo credit to the wonderful Krissy, of course).  Amusing that the level of enthusiasm in each girl's smile matches their enjoyment of riding!

Snow we can handle, wind can be a problem

First big storm of the year did some damage.  The newest run in shed -- as you can see -- got blown over by a gust of wind.

However, we are grateful no one was hurt.  Krissy and Chuck had been right next to the shed grabbing horses for the morning feeding 15 minutes before this happened.

We are counting our blessings -- and looking forward to a festive open house/potluck tomorrow night.  If only we could all be as happy as Lauren helping her dad to spread hay!!!!