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Above - At the Mall in July 2004

November 11^th:

Leaving this afternoon for a month down south - we will check e-mails every few days while the office is closed. I thought you might all enjoy a very entertaining e-mail I just got from Shelly "da Child" Kearney. I am posting it with her permission - Very much like listening to Shelly in person. (Nora, I think she is giving you a run for your money as most imaginative Longacres correspondent!):

November 10^th:

Office will be closed for the next month while Meghan and I are down south. We will be back on December 15^th.

2005 news: We will post prices and schedule as soon as we return in December. Unfortunately, there will be a slight price increase this year. We have not raised prices much for some time, and there will be about a 5% increase for 2005. HOWEVER, we will bill anyone who signs up by January 1^st at last year's rates, so if you are sure of your plans early, you can save some money.

November 7^th:

NEW QUIZ: What was the last horse (most recent) purchased by Longacres (not loan horses)?

November 6^th, morning:

You guys are too good! Jess already sent in the correct answer to last night's quiz, and I thought it was going to be a hard one. She even knew the rider! I will see who else knows before posting the correct answer to this, and the previous quiz.

- Tom

November 5 Update:

Wow! You guys are really paying attention to the quiz's! Erika, Alex, Emma, Tovah, and Jess and Mandy all answered the latest picture quiz.

Meghan and I just got back from a two day trip to Toronto, where we attended the Royal Winter Fair horse show. This is one of the great indoor shows in North America. They have all kinds of showmanship and pageantry along with the great jumping classes. I used to go every year, but have not been in eight years. We had a great time and wished some of you from Longacres could have gone with us.

New quiz: WHERE is this picture taken?

November 1^st:

hehe , i know who the horsies are too, Treek, Joey and Merlin!

Email me back! talk to you soon

From ,Jess Nash

That's right, Jess. Jess also named the riders who are Elissa, Mandy, and Jess. Tovah also wrote in with the correct names. Glad some of you are checking the website and paying attention!!!!!

New Quiz: Name the people who are standing, from left to right! For bonus points, which week of the 2004 season was the picture taken?

October 30 Update:

Here's the message Erika sent yesterday with some good gossip!:

October 29 - Quiz of the day:

For fame and fortune, be the first to send an e-mail naming the horses and riders in the picture below!

And the winner of the quiz is - - - - - ERIKA ! - and only a half hour after the picture was posted. I won't spoil it for the rest of you by giving the answers. Send in your guesses and we'll see how many get it right! We miss you, also, Erika - it's about time for an Erika fall visit!

October 28 Update:

Wow! It's been a long time since a Longacres update. But we finished most of the outdoor work of closing up the farm for the winter today and our sports management business is finished for the fall. So you can expect some more regular updates over the coming week or two. We'll post the 2005 schedule soon, along with some interesting plans for the 2005 horse show season.

A few interesting bits of news from this week. First we heard from Tovah who has our horse Quantum with her at Lake Erie College for the winter. Tovah and Q went in their first show since Erie County Fair. It was indoors, and Quantum is not very experienced showing inside. He did not like the first class and refused a jump. Tovah got him around the course, and dids better in the next class, but still didn't win. But in the final class of the day (the money class!), Tovah and Quantum got it all together and did win the class! Way to go.

Brianna sent a message and a nice picture of herself riding Clyde on the beach in Connecticut. She was very worried about how he would react to the water, but she says he was great. ( I have always wanted to ride on a beach, Brianna - never got the chance.)

And TODAY - - Meghan and I were working around one of the cottages down in the old part of the camp and a car pulled in. It was Kathleen (Swart) and her friend Marilyn. Kathleen's mom, Noelle, was camp nurse at Longacres in 1952 and 1953, and Kathleen and her sister were full season campers in those two years. We traded old memories and "Do you remember - - - -?" questions. It was a great little visit!

That's it for this update, but keep checking in. We'll have lots more information posted soon!

- Tom & Meghan

Sept. 10 Update:

No communication with the islands or word on our boat, but lots of reports of hurricane damage from the Abaco Islands. Oh, well. As it happens, the remnants of Hurricane Frances which may have battered our boat over 1000 miles from here showed up in East Aurora yesterday. Take a look at the picture below. Want to jump the Pulverman NOW???

Sept. 3 Update:

- Tom & Meghan

August 28 Update:

Hi all,

Thought you might enjoy reading a nice e-mail we got from Tovah last night about her early days at Lake Erie College with Quantum:

August 25^th, 4PM:

Meghan and Tom are now all alone at Longacres. Well, almost. Frankie is still at the barn along with Jackie's horses for a few more days.

We said "Goodbye" to Erika and her horses a few minutes ago with hugs and frantic waves goodbye. All we have to do now is nail the shutters on the barn shut and finish closing up the dining hall. We'll have fewer updates for the next week or two, though I wouldn't discount the possibility that I'll sneak in a quick message now and then to reward the very faithful who check in all the time. I know most of you are on late summer family vacations or frantically getting ready for S-C-H-O-O-L!

Bye!!!!!

August 24, later:

It suddenly occurred to Meghan and I that some of you from first session have not heard that we bought two new Longacres ponies during the second half of the summer. Look below at "Ginger" and "Frankie".

August 24, 1PM:

Mandy just left with Meghan for the airport with a little tear running down her right cheek and our huge thanks for a job well done! Only Erika remains to care for the last horses to leave for their winter homes.

Yearbook DVD Video is Done!

It came out very well, with most all of you in it on horses and at the Pegasus Cabin Party! Many of you ordered the video at the end of first session and it will be mailed out to all of you tomorrow. If you did not put in an order, you can send us a check for $22.50 including shipping and we'll send you your copy. It shows all the horses, long shots of the horses on trails, a cabin party, some of the big Jumper Derby event and awards ceremony, and some of Erie County Fair and all the ribbons we won! A great keepsake of Longacres, 2004!

August 22, 3PM:

Meghan & Mandy to Tovah, Jess, and everyone: We went on BOTH the "Drop" and the "Catapult" rides at the fair last night!!!!! Eat your hearts out!!!!!!

August 22, Noon:

Patti left this morning with Judy (the nice lady who was cheering her on at the fair and who had Patti last winter). Wizard left last night, but many of the horses are still here for another day or two. Frank will be trucking the "special" horses - Lucky to Nora in New York and Quantum to Tovah in Ohio on Monday, and many of the others will leave by Tuesday.

Erika and Mandy are working hard closing up the barn and cabins and getting ready for the huge "jump putting away party" tomorrow. Then Longacres will be pretty much done for the year.

I FINALLY got around to putting up the cabin plaques in the dining hall, including those from this year and all three that last year's riders made but which were not put up on the walls until now. I'll post a picture later as proof that I did it!

I have spent my spare time relaxing by mowing all our trails and some of the outlying meadows. I always tell people that the farm looks the very best on opening day in June for our new customers and again about a week after we close in August because I am bored and keep busy by cleaning up and mowing grass!

August 21^st - later:

We've had some fun today in between work. Mandy jumped Wizard down the big triple line set at 3'6" for the high Derby height. She was awesome! We have the Derby course all set like it was for the show last week and we took lots of pictures for a big webpage about the Derby. Expect to see some soon.

August 21 Update: LONGACRES is Closed!

All students left this morning either with family or dropped off at the airport. Only Mandy and Erika remain for a couple of days to help Meghan and I with the horses and closing up the barn. It is LONELY here! There were hugs and tears this morning as everyone packed their stuff into cars and the truck for the trip to the airport.

We'll post a few more updates in the next two days and some pictures of us closing up and storing all the jumps away in the barn (a BIG job scheduled for Monday!!!!). We'll have refunds of any left over show money or bills if you owe us mailed out in a couple of days. THEN we'll take a much needed R&R vacation and the website will be quiet for a few weeks. Keep in touch. (Are you ok at college, Tovah???)

- Tom & Meghan

August 20 - a tribute to Tovah:

Tovah left this morning a day before our season end to register for college classes. Mandy and Tovah have run the camp together this summer and Mandy is at the helm capable of anything at the barn. Erika has been here all summer proving herself capable of any job at Longacres. Lauren has been a CIT here for a couple of years and is qualified for any job as a counselor. Nora has been a CIT and taught many riding lessons here every week for two years. All that staff for only a handful of students this session.

And YET - - - - there is a hollow feeling to Longacres this morning with Tovah in her car and on her way to college. So often during each day I say to someone, "Check with Tovah." "Ask Tovah what she thinks." "Tovah knows." Today at Longacres we will be practicing what it would be like if there were no Tovah at Longacres. We'll make it work, but it will take some getting used to.

August 19^th:

A SUPER Great Day!!!!

Longacres did not just have a very good outing at the three day "A" rated Erie County Fair horse show. We had the best performances and most wins in 41 years of showing at the fair every summer. Most years we take ten or eleven horses. Since we are not quite full this week and a few people were tight on money we took only seven horses. We STILL won more ribbons than ever before!

Forty-nine ribbons over the three days as best as I can count. Nora and Lauren together won Beginner Jumper Champion on Patti. Nora got Reserve Champion on Lucky in Training Jumpers, and Tovah got Champion with Patti in Puddle Jumpers and Reserve Champion with Quantum in Hopeful Jumpers. Cooler blankets for the Champions!

Jess and Merlin got 2^nd and 3^rd in beginner hunter, 4^th in beginner hunter u.s., 4^th in Bridle Path hack,

Nora and Lucky got a 4^th, 4^th, and 5^th in beginner and puddle jumpers and 2^nd and 2^nd in training jumpers. Nora and Patti got 1^st in puddle jumpers and 1^st and 5^th in training jumpers.

Mary Kate and Star got 2^nd in bridle path hack, 1^st in pleasure hack and 1^st in road hack.

Mary Kate and Wizard got 4^th in eq. On the flat.

Lauren and Patti got TWO 1sts in beginner jumper!!!!!!!!

Brittany and Star got 4^th in long stirrup eq o.f. and 3^rd, 3rdf, and 5^th in long stirrup hunter.

Mandy and Wizard got 3^rd in bridlke path hack, 3^rd, 5^th, and 4^th in Children's hunter and 4^th in children's on the flat. AND 2^nd in bridle path hack and 5^th in pleasure horse.

Tovah and Shabang got 5^th in puddle jumpers, 2^nd in hopeful jumpers, and 6^th in the Low Jumper Classic.

Tovah and Patti got a 3^rd, 1^st, and 1^st and Champion in Puddle Jumpers.

Tovah and Quantum got 4^th in puddle jumpers, 1^st in hopeful jumpers, 4^th in low jumper classic.

Brittany and Star got 4^th, 5^th, and 3^rd in long stirrup eq. O.f. and 2^nd in long stirrup eq - flat.

Whew!!!! And WOW!!!!

Pictures Below!

August 18 Update:

Some of the winnings so far this week at ECF have been: Lauren - two 1^st place wins on Patti! Tovah - 1^st place on Patti I jumpers; Mary Kate - 1^st on Star in pleasure horse; Brittany - 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th on Star in Long Stirrup; Mandy 4^th, 5^th on Wizard in high Children's Hunter;Nora - 1^st on Patti in jumpers; 3^rd on Lucky in jumpers; 4^th on Lucky in Jumpers. There are other ribbons from yesterday I am forgetting, but will list them along with tomorrow's winnings!

August 17 later:

August 17 Update:

It was Peppermint Patti's Day!!!!

Nearly all other riders won ribbons the first day of the fair, as well, including a very nice 2^nd place for Brittany and Star. More to come later and tomorrow!!!!

August 15, later:

It's 9pm, and everyone is much more cheerful than this morning and VERY much more neater than this morning! The crew just left the barn for bed after an evening preparing for Erie County Fair - known for the rest of the week as "ECF". We'll be leaving for the fair about 2pm tomorrow afternoon, practicing at the fairgrounds tomorrow night, and we'll start showing first thing Tuesday morning.

Wandering Horsies Day!

August 15^th - a dour morning:

I was in a bit of a dour mood to begin with this morning. We are not as well organized as we should be right before going off to the "A" rated show at Erie County Fair. So when the barn was not well cleaned up this morning after horsecare, I came down on everyone harder than I might normally. I dealt with it by making the girls wait to go to "town day" while I finished cleaning up the barn myself for half an hour. By the time I left to clean up their cabins for them, the message got across, and they all went down to finish cleaning their own cabins and helped cleaning up the show field. I ended up this session easing up on them and talking about putting ourselves in the frame of mind to do a good job at the fair by getting the little things better organized around the barn. But you may still hear some grousing during today's phone calls from town. It will work out. Just letting you all at home know that we had a little disciplining this morning.

August 14, later:

August 14 Update:

We had a good ride this morning with everyone trying out the big jumper course from Thursday's show (well, maybe with the fences a little lower!). At the moment though, everyone is off at Six Flags theme park unwinding and forgetting horses for just a few hours before diving into preparation for Erie County Fair beginning tomorrow.

August 13^th:

What a Show! What a Party!

I wish you all could have been here last night! All our riders did well in a very competitive show at Longacres yesterday - we'll post results later. But the BIG show was the jumper Derby last night. Nora did a great job on Lucky in the low height Derby and won one of the top ribbons. Lauren and Mandy also tried this very difficult course and rode well, but did not finish in the ribbons. Tovah rode both Quantum and Shabang in the high Derby, placing in the ribbons for the second year in a row on Quantum. It was a very tough course, and NO RIDER in the high height finished the jump-off without faults. A good friend, Jeremy Greene from Fox Run Farms practically lived at Longacres this past week letting his horses practice here for the Derby. It paid off as his rider, Kate Mitchell, rode to the big win taking home $3375.00 between the $2000 first place check and the $1375 Calcutta pot that she and her farm also won!

More to come later! (ps - this is a day of REST!)

August 11 Update:

We have four riders entered in the Bold Jumper Derby - Tovah on both Quantum and Shabang - Lauren on Patti; Nora on Lucky, and Mandy on Wizard. Mary Kate, Jess, and Brittany are all showing in a variety of classes. Mary arrives late tonight and may hop on for a class or two! Erika still deciding what to do between her duties as Longacres Horse Show Manager! We hope to give you a thorough report on the show on Friday - we'll be too tired tomorrow night!

- Tom & Meghan

August 8 Update:

Our final new students of the summer are arriving this week, and they're not new at all. Mary Kate returns for her third season today, and Mary Costello will arrive Wednesday for a special week. We've had an active few days here, with our big horse show on Thursday, Meghan, Erika, and I runing a truck show for a local county fair on Friday, and a field trip yesterday along with riding as usual.

The BIG event this week is our final summer Series show of the season here at Longacres featuring the $2000 Winner Take All jumper Derby. Tovah plans to win. She was 4^th last year with one little rail down! Lots more news coming soon - check back often!

August 5^th Update:

Here's a letter from Shelly (alias, "da child"):

August 4 Update:

Hi Brianna (most regular checker-inner and reader of this website)! Thanks for the e-mail and hope Clyde is doing well. It would be great if he can visit Longacres next year.

- tsk

August 2 Update:

The horse show yesterday was lots of fun. Everyone had their own little triumphs! Tovah won a jumper class (again!). But the big jumper winner of the day was Nora Whelan who won a class on Peppermint Patti and then another on Lucky and won two Jumper Championships. Great job Noooooora!

We are especially proud of Brittany, who rode Star to a blue ribbon in one of the hunter under saddle events. Sara Weber was Champion in the X-rail division, and nearly everyone had a good day. Lauren K got two 6ths in a big Special Hunter division and a 6^th in the Equitation Medal. UNCLE BILLY got a SECOND in Jumpers!!!!! Lauren Cybulska got a 6^th in special hunter u.s., and Jess got a 5^th in Baby Hunter u.s.

We had an incident of a different kind tonight. Some of you have heard that one of the neighbors living next to our show field has had a running feud with us for many years. He is annoyed by the sound of kids having fun. He likes to play loud music on his radio during the girls riding lessons, and will occasionally mutter rude comments under his breath. Never any major problem, but a constant minor irritation.

This afternoon he became more vocally insulting as several different riders rode their horses near him and this evening played his radio louder than ever, pointing it directly at the girls who were riding. He then made a rude comment as one of the girls rode past his yard. A few beers too many might have been a factor. We called the police and he was abusive to the responding police officer. He is spending the night in jail tonight, and the silver lining to this little story is that the judge has issued a blanket order of protection barring this rude man from even being out in his yard and making any kind of comment to the girls again. We hope that things on that particular side of the show field will quiet down a little and be more pleasant in the future. It will help that a seven foot high fence is being put up this week!

July 30^th, late night:

Karen (see story below) is reported by her friends to have a "whopper of a concussion" and is staying overnight in the hospital for observation. But her friends say she is her usual feisty self and telling everyone who will listen that "there's no way I'm staying here overnight - I'm getting home to ride!" We're glad she is feeling well and hope there are no complications and that she is back to show here in the Derby in two weeks.

July 30 Update:

Good News - Bad News - Good News -

First good news: All our students are fine! Bad news: an adult guest rider visiting Longacres for the morning to train her horse for our $2000 Jumping Derby on August 12^th had a bad fall this morning while we were working with her horse over the water jump and was knocked unconscious.

The second good news which I think you will all like to hear is how well our local EMS system worked in responding to the emergency and taking care of Karen. We put the 911 call in immediately after the fall when Karen was unconscious. Our local police and the first EMS medic were on the scene within two to three minutes. As a matter of routine, our ambulance drivers check with the nearest Mercy Flight helicopter ambulances while they are on the way to an accident just to see how long an airlift response would take if it was needed. As luck would have it, Erie County Mercy Flight #2 was passing overhead on a routine flight when our call came in. They radio'd down, "We're right on top of you. Would you like us to respond?"

So they literally dropped out of the sky onto our show field before the first ambulance arrived on the scene. By the time the helicopter was on the ground, Karen was waking up and saying she felt good, but because of the concussion, EMS took no chances and had her airlifted to the medical center. Karen was joking with all of us while she was on the stretcher, and we hope very much that she is well and will be back in the saddle very soon (she has no memory of the fall).

We thought that parents of our students would like to hear how very quickly your girls will get help in the (hopefully unlikely) event they are involved in a training accident. And we think hard about every accident that happens here and how it could have been avoided. This was a case of a very good rider training a horse to do something it did not want to do. Tovah had just finished doing the same thing with Quantum, with complete success, and Nora had just tried the same thing with Lucky, also with success after a small battle. It was a difficult training exercise with some risk built in. Only a few of our best students are allowed to take such risks. It is a part of an advanced riding program. Again, our best wishes to Karen for a quick and full recovery from today's accident!

- Tom Kranz

July 28 Update:

If you click the link above, you'll see pictures of our two new students riding, AND pictures of a horse that just came in for us to try out and perhaps buy to add to the Longacres stable. She is CUTE!!!!! Five years old and green broke. Tovah and Meghan love her already. What do you think? Should we try to buy her?

July 27^th Update:

We're all enjoying relaxing around the farm and being lazy during this mid session break. The horses look like they like it too! Tovah and the girls told me the horses were full of beans running, bucking and playing the first morning of break when they did not have to come in from pasture to work.

We miss everyone, and thank you to those of you who called to let us know that you got home safely - you know how Meghan worries about everyone!!!!!

We are getting rested up for second session - and - - - yes, it is raining here! Still! But good weather forecast for the end of the week when our new riders are first here.

July 24^th, 10PM:

Everyone is watching the video's from today's show up at the house on the last night of the first session. (If your rider is coming home tomorrow, expect them to be tired!) We had a great show today with some fine riding performances by Longacres people. Below are the results, as recorded by mandy:

July 23^rd, late:

But the best way to let you know what's going on at Longacres is in the words of our riders, themselves. The following write-up was typed by Emma and Erika, with input from everyone else:

July 22^nd:

Lillian Jacobs' family arrived today to pick her up at the end of this session. They drove here by car to give Lillian a ride home. So what, you say? Well, they drove from Texas - in TWO DAYS! They say they do plan to take a little more time to drive back home next week!

July 22:

Due to the oppressive humidity and scattered strong storms, today's Longacres show is postponed until this Saturday the 24^th at 11am.

July 20, 10:30 PM:

We're all up at the house watching video's tonight. We took lots of them today since we're making a DVD of Longacres memories for everyone to take home or get mailed to them this fall. We all did courses with the horses this morning and we are making a "video collage" showing one horse after another morphing into a new horse as they jump around the course. Then this afternoon we set up a grid on the big field with 13 jumps all in a row (a curving row!!) and jumped the grid both individually and in a "train" one horse after another (which was VERY cool!!).

Truth: We just carefully counted the jumps on the grid while we watched the video - - - Emma was the one that told us it was 13 jumps - - - Tovah and Erika said, "No, it's 12 " - - turns out they were right - sorry, Emma!

July 17, 10PM:

We just got home from the show today at Hasty Hills farms. The girls are proud, happy, and tired! They all did well. Tovah, as always, was schooling jumper champion. Emma did very well on Patti, as did Nora. Shelly was great again in training jumpers, just behind the great Hasty Hills pony that we are having a hard time beating this summer! Brianna won lots of ribbons on the flat, and Lillian won a class on Merlin. Full results on Monday. Tomorrow is a BIG TIME day of rest! (except for Meghan and I who are working at a sports event 200 miles away tomorrow - we leave in half an hour to drive half the night We'll be back late tomorrow night.)

Tovah and Mandy and Erika are in charge here tomorrow. The girls will have town day to do their laundry, and many will likely call home to brif you on their winnings at the show.

- Tom & Meghan (who will be TIRED on Monday!!!)

July 15, 2pm:

July 14 - noon:

Above is Picture of the Week, week three: Shelly & Jenna at High Time show where they were Champions

July 14^th - am:

July 13 Update:

Longacres riders did very well in yesterday's horse show at High Time stables. Tovah and Quantum were champions of Schooling Jumper and Shelley Kearney and Jenna were Champions of Puddle Jumper. Shelley and Jenna on course are the "picture of the week" in the dining hall this week. We'll post her picture and full show results later today. Beth Kearney was also very good on Baxter, and Emma won the equitation classic class!

July 9 Update:

This was "hunter pace day" at Longacres. We've been practicing all week at riding across country through the trails and over jumps out in the fields at a steady, even pace. We figured out an optimum time that it should take to complete the course at a trot for some of us and at a slow or fast canter for the more experienced riders. Then we broke up into five teams of two or three riders to try the nearly 2.5 mile course through some of the Longacres trails, including the "Stariway to Heaven" and "Tunnel of Love" jumps!!!

Teams were scored a penalty point for each second too slow or too fast on the course. Results were:

Grand Champions with only 67 penalties = Lillian & Kim

2^nd place in the trot division = Lauren & Kaelyn with 88

3^rd place in trot division with 106 were = Alex & Elissa

1^st in cantering division with 76 were Beth & Tovah

2^nd in cantering division were Nora, Emma & Shelley

We'll post some pictures later tonight.

• Tom
• PS - heading down to the barn now for a pony barrel racing event!!

July 8 Update:

Rainy today. We got one lesson in this morning before the heavy rain came in, and then showered up and went to the movies. Meghan and I went to see the Tiger cub movie with Beth and Shelley. Check the picture above closely - it looks like the one that has been at the top of this page since last year with Danielle in the front row, but it was taken this afternoon when we got to the mall, and Erika is "playing" Danielle!

July 6 Update:

Sorry for the extra day of delay - here are the results for Longacres riders at Saturday's show:

July 4^th:

July 3^rd Late:

So tonight after the show and after going out to dinner, we drove everyone into town to see the East Aurora fireworks show which is traditionally on the night of the 3^rd. We sat right down front and it was one of the best fireworks displays we've seen in many years. The girls loved it!

- Tom & Meghan

June 30^th - late:

Meghan told me I should repeat my comments on the website for those of you at home to enjoy. So I am.

- Tom

June 30 - after dinner:

A few quick pictures below from this afternoon:

Below: Attentive students watching today's video -

Below: Tired student during the video!!!

Below: A good Lauren dinner - Taco night!!!!

June 30 Update:

It's after lunch on Wednesday and we're all up at the house watching videos taken over the past two days. Things are going very well, with everyone showing good progress! Our one near beginner rider of the session, Kaelyn, is already cantering and getting ready to jump. The "youngun's", Shelley, Kim, and Elissa, are all doing well learning to feel their leads without looking. Erika and Lady have had excellent jumping rounds several times; Nora is getting on better than ever with Lucky (she had her best round EVER on him yesterday!); the "California girls", Lillian and Kaelyn, are enjoying the east. Lauren is getting her food prep schedule organized so that she gets down to the barn for more riding than in her first few days. Emma has been trying lots of different horses and has shown huge improvement since last year. Mandy is getting reacquainted with Wizard's ways and starting to really click well. Alex is getting TOUGH and bearing down on being able to feel her leads without looking (the big challenge facing many of us during these early days of the season.) Tovah and Beth are jumping the big jumps at the end of each lesson and getting ready to represent Longacres in the higher jumping classes this weekend.

- Tom & meghan

June 27 Update, late evening:

Perhaps Longacres has looked this good before on opening day - we've been doing this for 64 years and we take pride in getting the farm in good shape for the first day of the season. But never can I remember seeing Longacres put in such great shape with so little attention from me. Oh, I worked all right! I mowed grass, fixed fences, rebuilt bridges, and did my share. But most years, I'm also constantly nagging all our staff to "paint this, paint that, clean up that mess, don't forget to check the stalls", and "by the way, have you fit bridles to the new horses yet?"

Not in 2004. We are blessed with a group of young women on our staff this year who have all worked together since they were young teens here as students several years ago. They all know the ropes, and they have matured into very responsible, self energizing, and motivated women. Every time I thought of something that needed to get done and drove down to the barn to ask someone to do the job, I found it already done or under way! I take my hat off to Tovah, Mandy, Erika, and Lauren, and also to the girls who came in early as students, but spent many hours volunteering to help get the barn ready. Debbie, Beth and Shelley were here to ride and have fun, but chipped right in and painted and carried jumps all week. Alex and Nora both came early to help out. It has been a massive group effort and on a beautiful, breezy early summer opening day, Longacres looked just PERFECT today!

Below: Lauren bringing lunch to the barn in a wicker basket on her bike, and the group having lunch (minus Lillian and Kaelyn, who arrived safely and rode horses tonight).

June 25^th Update:

- Tom & Meghan

June 18 Update:

Wow - Just two more days and some of you will be here working the horses and setting up jump courses! Emma arrives on Sunday, Beth and Shelly Kearney and mom Debbie, on Monday morning, Mandy on Tuesday, Lauren later in the week, and Erika sometime in the next few days. Erika did I say? YES, a great surprise! Erika is returning after all for the full summer as our horse show coordinator and asst. manager, along with Meghan.

The horses that are here look terrific. Shabang was galloping and bucking tonight when we took Patti out for a ride. Fine job of winter horse care, Erika! And Patti! Patti looks better than ever and at least right now is as sound as a dollar. (Go to the meet the horses page and read about the Miracle of Patti.) Patti was cared for over the winter by an adult rider who used her mostly on gentle trails and took care of her like a pet. It paid off - THANK YOU THANK YOU, Judy!!!!!!

Merlin and Quantum are also in great shape, as are Lucky and Justin. Star is fat and shiny and in need of some steady riding to put her in better shape - she was sweating like a pig after a light workout the other night. Beth's horse, Baxter looks great and we'll get to see him work when she arrives on Monday. All in all, things are looking VERY good at the barn. (Thanks to many hours of work by Tovah!!!!)

- Tom & Meghan

June 17 - Almost Time!!!!

Yes, it's almost time to ride and ride and ride some more and then go to a horse show! That's what Longacres is all about and we open in just over a week. Our advance guard will be arriving over this coming weekend and we should have a pretty good crew of riders by Monday or Tuesday. Tovah has been very busy getting the barn open and checking out the horses as they return from their winter homes. - - - and helping Meghan get the rest of the facility ready for all of you. We're finishing off the kitchen and showers tomorrow so you'll have a place to eat and a place to get clean after a long day of riding. Then we'll be about ready! See you all soon!

- Tom

June 13 Update:

More early arrivals: Star, Tovah, and a surprise visit from Erika! Picture below taken today.

June 8 Update:

Beth Kearney's horse, Baxter, arrived for the summer today. I was expecting to see some galloping and snorting when I turned him out with Lucky and Justin until they all got to know each other and found out who was boss. Big disappointment! Baxter walked into the pasture, and Lucky and Justin came running up like I expected. But rather than go through the commotion of setting a pecking order, they each sniffed noses once, and put their heads down in the grass and all began calmly grazing together as if they were old friends.

June 7^th Update:

Horses are Here! Almost summer time!

Yep, Lucky and Justin have christened the Longacres pasture as the pictures below will show. They arrived this morning and have been exploring the very tall spring grass. They were both galloping around the mowed lane along the fence when I pulled up with the car to take these pictures. Beth's horse, Baxter, may be arriving as early as this evening to join Lucky and Justin, and Star will be here in the middle of the week. A new horse being sent to us for training by Barb Glica (same stable that sent us Virgil last summer) will arrive at the beginning of next week right after Tovah gets here, and then the rest of the horses will start coming in. Enjoy today's pictures below!

PS - We have just ordered a set of Professional Electronic timers for our jumper classes at our bigger horse show events. They will be fun to play with! We are giving $2000 in our Bold Jumper Derby on August 12, so it will be nice to have all the "big time horse show" stuff!

June 2 Update:

Tovah arrives next week as the advanced guard to begin riding and training horses and opening the barn. Lucky, Justin, and Star will be the first three horses returning to their summer home at Longacres, followed soon by Quantum and Merlin.

It continues to rain here nearly every day. There will be plenty of green grass - if we can ever get it all cut short! We are making progress on other things. We painted the ceiling in the kitchen today, and got the water working in the dining hall. The electricity is being turned on at the barn tomorrow and we'll be getting the electric fence ready for the horses arrival this weekend.

More to come soon!

May 22 Update:

Rain, rain, go away! I don't know how it is where you are, but it has rained every day for a long time and will rain most of next week here. At least the grass will be plenty green if we can ever get it all cut. We did do one mowing of most of the grass on a good day at the beginning of this week.

There is a meeting with Meghan and I, Becky Bates, and Leigh Fischer on Monday night to plan which divisions at the summer Series horse shows will have season champions. It will be similar to last year, but we're going to make sure each show uses the same names for divisions that count for the same championship.

Toys! - You know how middle aged men about the age of many of your fathers sometimes go through a mid-life crisis and need to go out and get "big boys toys" in their mid forties? I went through that. I still have a 20 year old Corvette sitting in one of our sheds that hasn't run for 8 or 10 years. Now I've gone on to driving six year old Escorts and ten year old pickup trucks. BUT - BUT, he says: When you get to near 60, you don't want or need to go back to your macho 20's anymore. You want a second childhood! SO-o-o-o-o, I've been looking around for some childhood hobby to take up and keep me pepped up. Radio control model airplanes! I brought home a little electric powered airplane that can fly all around the horse show field, skimming the grass or climbing high in the sky. And sometimes (ok, often) during the first two days ending up high in the top branches of one of the trees surrounding the horse show field! Meghan tried it and had a ball (she ALSO put it in a tree!). You should see the neighbors horses watching me fly and crash with their ears pricked up. I can't wait to see what Merlin thinks of a buzzing little toy plane when he returns to Longacres next month. (Don't worry - I won't be flying while any of you are on horses!)

• Tom
• Ps - Jess, we got home too late the other night to return your phone call. Call again anytime if you want. - Meghan

May 17 Update:

Below - Jess at home:

Thanks to Jess for sending us a picture. She's been riding lots this year and we look forward to seeing her for the last five weeks of the season!

Melanie Antonik e-mailed today. She is on a tiny island in the Amazon River in Brazil doing biology and conservation research for grad school. She bought a horse there for $100 and is riding on the grasslands three times a week. Once a month she gets to a town that has e-mail access. What an adventure!

Former students welcome for

one week stays in August:

Since it looks like we will not be full for our second half sessions, we're offering an opportunity for any of our former students who would like to visit Longacres for a short stay while they do other things for most of the summer. You may sign up for just one week anytime between July 28 and August 21^st when the season ends. We'd love to see you and will have plenty of horses for you to show in any of the weekly shows during second session, including Erie Co. Fair.

A Great May Day!

It is beautiful outside today. We're busy with lots of preparations. Some are dull, like charging batteries on tractors and lawnmowers. But just after I post this message, I'm going out to mow and clear some of the horse trails. That will put us in the mood for the summer and horses!

- Tom

We're talking with lots of folks who plan to show at our Longacres sponsored "Summer Series" of horse shows, but the most interesting show team this summer is likely to come from High Time Stables and trainer Leigh Fischer. Leigh traveled to the middle east this winter and taught riding in Kuwait. (Yes, Leigh is very adventurous!)

Leigh was quite a hit with the well to do horse show riders in the Kingdom, and a group of five to eight of them are coming to ride and show with the High Time team here in western New York for the summer. Most of these people are well traveled arabs who have spent time in the United States before or even who have gone to school here. But it will still be a colorful addition to the mix of show riders on our series! Don't be surprised if there is royalty at ring side at some of the shows!

(PS - The group from Kuwait will even be taking a jumping clinic from your own lovable trainer, Tom. Can't you just imagine me giving my best stern look and telling one of them to "sit up straight and pay attention??!!??)

May 13 Update:

How time flies! It hardly seems like two weeks since the last update, but time goes by fast when you're busy. And busy we are! We run several businesses in the spring months before we turn all our energy to Longacres Riding Camp at the end of June. We are making good progress getting ready to open the farm.

Some of it is making arrangements and renewing all our contacts in the horse world. We're holding a judging clinic for riders and show judges here at Longacres next Wednesday night. Lots of professionals from western NY will be here. We're making plans for our big season ending horse show on August 12 to be bigger and more glamorous than ever. We'll be paying $2000 to the winner of the big jumper event and we're letting show families and stables set up tents all around the edge of the show field to hold championship horse show parties during the big jumper event. It should be very exciting. We invite all former students and friends of Longacres to return for this exciting day and evening!

Lots of work is getting done cleaning up and making Longacres "pretty". Opening the farm for the show season every year is something like painting a picture. We start with a farm all put away in storage and ravished by the winter weather, clean up, paint up, fix up, and organize until it looks like a real show stable on opening day at the end of June. And we don't stop making things better and planning special improvements and new jumps until the day before our big "Jumper Classic" horse show on August 12^th!

We thank our new maintenance and painting lady, Cheryl, who is doing a good job clearing all the trails, painting fences, and cleaning up the barn and the dining hall in preparation for your arrival. And Meghan and I are busy making arrangements to have lots of horses here for you. We're checking on all our old returning friends. Most of the horses we own have wintered well and we look forward to seeing them again. We just heard today that Wizard is almost surely returning. Sierra is for sale, but if not sold by June 27, she will be here for at least part of the summer. And we already have requests from half a dozen families to "send their horses to camp" for training and show experience. You guys will have lots of horses to ride.

Vacancies now in all sessions:

The economy must be tougher this year than the government is letting on. We have not had nearly as many new riders inquire about or sign up for Longacres. More than 2/3 of you who were here last year are returning, so you are our real supporters this year. But even some of our best friends have recently had to shorten their planned stays at Longacres due to changing plans. The result is that although we are nearly full in the first half of the summer, we do now have openings for every session. And more openings than we would like for the last half of the summer. Great for those of you who will be here since you'll have tons of horses to share and will all have great choice of horses for Erie County Fair. But tough on our budget, so pass the word about Longacres. Tell a friend today about our website.

That's about it for now. We're headed out shopping for maintenance supplies.

You can just about see the grass growing on our big show jumping field. It means a lot of time on the tractor mowing for myself and neighboring farmer, Clint. But it's an unmistakable sign that horses and jumping are just around the corner!

Getting Fit for Longacres:

Those of you who have been following those little numbers after the "Update" headlines will note that I touched my goal of a 12 pound weight loss today. Yippee! Don't expect to see me looking like some fitness model for the young senior citizen when you get here next month though. I went on my current fitness effort because I was starting to puff a little after climbing even a good set of stairs. I'm back only to a "reasonable" degree of fitness that will help me move jumps around the fields and stuff.

I also urge all of you planning on riding five hours a day at Longacres this summer to take stock of your own personal level of fitness. If warranted, do just a little more exercise and watch what you eat for the eight or ten weeks left before you get to Longacres. This is not about weight or looking like a model (I sure don't!). It's about being healthy and ready to get the most out of your riding at Longacres. It is quite striking every year to watch the students, especially those who spend eight weeks with us, get noticeably more fit as the weeks of riding five hours and walking up and down all the hills between the dining hall and the barn go by. Not surprising - all that work and exercise at Longacres is a good way to get fit. But if you're serious about getting the most out of your riding training, start now and get a head start on your summer fitness so you can take advantage of all our riding opportunities right from the start of your stay.

April 27:

We're also busy making arrangements for new horses to join our veteran old timers in the Longacres herd. The family that used to take Stoney for the winter has an Andalusion mare with great gaits that needs more training. She's coming to Longacres under the "send your horse to camp" program. Another friend of Longacres has an older mare that we're told is a made show horse and a true easy to ride gentle packer. She sounds a lot like Ali, a great mare we had two years ago. This mare will also join our show string. Meghan is busy watching the papers and planning to visit horses for sale in hopes of finding a couple to buy and add permanently to our string of horses here at Longacres. We've also heard that Beth is definitely bringing her new horse for the five weeks she will be at Longacres, and Lauren is seriously considering bringing a pony she has been riding. There will be lots of new 4-legged friends for you all to get to know this year.

Thanks to Jess for being the very first one to e-mail us when we returned this past weekend!

Tovah is attending Lake Erie College next fall which is not far from Longacres, so she will be almost a neighbor during the coming school year.

We look forward to hearing from all of you soon.

Best wishes,

Tom & Meghan

April 24:

March 16 Update:

Meghan has just mailed out several hundred short newsletters announcing the vacancies and special programs still open. Do make copies and give them to any horse loving friends or post them at your barn. Thanks in advance! We will be back on April 24 and look forward to getting ready for the summer then.

- Tom & Meghan

March 12 Update:

We have set the tentative horse show dates for our 2004 Summer Series of shows.

March 6 Update:

Tovah is giving serious consideration to attending college not too far from Longacres where she MIGHT be able to take a horse with her from Longacres. Gee, I wonder what horse she might choose?

We're back at Longacres after our annual winter trip to work on our boating book in Florida. We returned just in time for the first real warm-up and thaw in two months of western New York winter! It was nearly 50 today and will be warmer Monday.

I had an email from a possible new Longacres student tonight. Meagan is 15 and has two friends who might want to come to Longacres with her. They have horses which they might bring. It's always exciting when we hear from a group of new people all at once. At a small place like Longacres, a new student and two friends make up one third of the whole camp for the time they are here!

Tuition Reminder:

Remember that 40% of your tuition is due on Monday. E-mail or call and let me know if it is going to be late.

- Tom

February 16 Update:

- Tom & Meghan

February 13 Update:

February 12 Update:

The book is the story of Samantha's recovery from a horrific leg injury she got while leading her horse across a creek. The horse spooked and knocked her down stepping on her leg in the process. The injury turned out to be about as bad as it could have been with all kinds of unpleasant complications and a very long road to recovery. There's other stuff about the author's life which I could have skipped over.

But the book is compelling reading for a horse person precisely because this was not a "riding" accident - it was a horse handling accident. Every page I read, I kept thinking about how testy I get towards you students and staff when I think you're not paying close attention while leading horses out to pasture or standing with a group of horses mounting up. You can expect me to be even more demanding of good horse handling next summer after reading this book.

It is not possible to completely eliminate the possibility of falling and getting hurt while you ride and jump. We can use good judgement in what we ask of each rider and each horse when jumping, but you are still going to lose your balance from time to time or the horses is going to take an unexpected step and there will be a risk of getting injured. But MOST horse handling injuries on the ground are the result of being a little careless. We have always preached that at Longacres and we will bear down even harder this year. Although "Not by Accident" is a book for mature people and contains some very unpleasant descriptions of the author's injury, I recommend it - I cannot imagine someone putting a horse out to pasture carelessly if they have Samantha Dunn's story in the back of their mind.

- Tom & Meghan

February 11 Update:

Another "blast from the past" - Thank you, Freddie, for sending me the 10 bucks from the Super Bowl bet!! I will keep it until we meet next and can spend it usefully together!

- Tom Kranz

February 10^th:

Here are a couple of temporary pictures. The first is one of my favorite Quantum jumping pictures taken on our hunt course in 2002. The second is of several of our cheerful 2003 - 2004 students/staff, Lauren, Jess, Meghan, Emma, and part of Alex!

February 8 Update:

Sorry it's been a few days since the last update - Longacres has been clobbered by the "flu"! Meghan and I got the one-two punch, her first and a couple of days later me - she's much better and I'm just past the "I wish I were dead" stage.

Beth is looking at the cost and effort involved in bringing Baxter to Longacres. We hope it works out so you can, Beth.

There is an interesting variation between last year's enrollment and this season. We now have exactly as many different students signed up for Longacres as we had for all of last season. But we have no eight week full season students yet this year (besides our staff people). So while we are within one of being full for the first half of the summer we still have spots open in the second session after July 28^th. Keep spreading the word!

February 4 Update:

Welcome back to Mary Kate, who will be Longacres 2004 student #17. Mary Kate will be here for the final two weeks including our big horse show at Longacres and the Erie County Fair (see big Fair news below!). We're glad to have you back, Mary Kate!

February 3 Update:

The Erie County Fair "A" rated horse show (Aug. 17, 18, and 19^th this year) has always been a great "A" rated three day show that was a fitting grand finale to our summers at Longacres. It was a fine show for those in the recognized hunter divisions and always included many good jumper divisions. It is now also one of the best "A" rated shows in the United States for beginner and intermediate riders. With the addition of Long Stirrup hunter and equitation divisions for beginners over fences, beginner eq. over fences, Beginner jumpers and Puddle Jumpers, and more, there will be multiple classes and divisions for every level of rider and for horses of all levels. We've also taken care of the problem of some of you like the Hack division riders having to do all of your classes one after another on the same day. I've always wanted to give you a chance to take part on each of the three days to spread out your fun. Now that will be much easier to arrange.

For those of you who have asked, ALL of the "A" rated hunter classes remain, so this will continue to be an important "A" rated 3 day show!

I'm also updating our "penpals and references" page. If you are not listed and would be willing to answer questions from new familiesd about Longacres, please let me know so I can add your name. If your name is listed there and you don't have time to answer emails, let me know that also.

February 1 Update:

- Tom

January 30^th Update:

Lauren will also be a counselor that you can turn too with any questions, and a valued backup for Mandy and Tovah. Like all Longacres counselors, Lauren will ride and show right along side the rest of our students. Welcome back, Lauren!!!

- Tom & Meghan

January 28 - a tough time for us:

Many things are looking very good for us this year at Longacres. One of the good things is that we have great faith in our two senior instructors for this summer, Tovah and Mandy. Each will be here for her fourth year this summer and has proven her abilities to make a good horse woman and good personal counselor and role model for the rest of our students this year. Our staff will be excellent!

But staff issues also have been a hard and painful part of our planning for the 2004 season. We had more than the usual number of assistant counselors, CIT's, and older students who volunteered as teachers at Longacres last summer. ALL OF THEM were qualified to be on this year's staff, and all of them had put in several years at Longacres as students and valued volunteer helpers. Many of them had a perfectly reasonable expectation that they would continue to move "up the ladder" into paying staff positions at Longacres. The sad fact for us is that we have an embarassment of riches in staff talent to choose from for 2004 and our small program cannot afford to offer paying jobs for more than our two primary instructors.

It's not just the modest summer salaries at stake; there are high costs of keeping extra horses and of housing and feeding extra people on the staff. We sincerely hope that the girls who did not get the staff offers they hoped for will remain friends of Longacres and will visit this coming summer often.

- Tom & Meghan

January 27 Update:

Thanks for the message, Brianna; I'll post the Mighty Treek picture later this week! Nice to know someone checks in for the updates regularly. Also, welcome back Mary from the 2002 season. Mary is returning for the final two weeks of the summer and the Erie County Fair.

- Tom

The fair is implementing essentially ALL of our suggestions! There will be more low fence hunter divisions so more of you who like hunters will have a wide choice of classes. All hunter divisions will go to five classes including an under saddle. This will give you opportunities to share a horse and each be able to go over fences twice in a division. But it may not be necessary to do that since there are so many divisions now. There will now be a "Long Stirrup" division with jumps less than 2' with five classes. There is a new "Beginner Hunter" division with five classes, jumps set at either of two heights, beginning at 2' to 2'3". There will also be both Special Hunter and Special Junior Hunter, each division with two heights of fences, beginning at 2' to 2'3" and going to 2'6" or 2'9". There will also be an added eq. Over fences class at 2'3" for ages 12 to 15. No longer will we have to struggle to find enough suitable classes for riders who want to jump but "not too high"!!!! Ya-hoooooooo!

There is a strong likelyhood that the show will also include the idea we came up with along with Hasty Hills of running a "Hunter Classic" in the big jumper ring on the last day of the show with fences at 2'6" for the less experienced riders. This will be an exciting climax to the summer for our intermediate hunter riders in the prestigious main jumper ring!!!

Jumper divisions added are Beginner Jumper at 2’3"and Puddle Jumper at 2’6"; Hopeful Jumpers will be a little lower than last year at 2’9"; Training Jumpers will be 3’ (Level I), just as they were last year. The show will continue to offer Child/Adult and Schooling Jumpers at higher heights.

Can't you just hear "Star" and "Merlin" and "Ebony" whinnying, "I wanna be a jumper, I wanna be a jumper!" with these new lower jumper classes??!!!!

Promote Longacres Week - January 24 to 31^st:

Most of you tell your friends about Longacres every chance you get, and we are grateful! But we would like to ask you specially for your help spreading the word about Longacres and our riding program this coming week from this Saturday, January 24 through the following weekend on January 31^st.

Our first session is just about full, but the second half of the summer is lagging, with five spaces still available. We'd like to work hard to find a few more students during the next two weeks. Meghan and I will be here all the time during the next two weeks to answer emails or phone calls about Longacres.

Tell your riding friends just to check out our website for the horse pictures on "Meet the horses", or for the description of jump courses, even if they are not sure if they'd want to go to a riding camp. Make a little poster for your barn bulliten board if they'll let you with our website address. We'll be grateful for any help you can give us!

- Tom & Meghan

Jan. 16 Update:

Welcome to 2004 Longacres student #15, Elissa Buchman, returning for her second season at Longacres. Elissa "smiles" Buchman will be at Longacres during the first session. She is a huge fan of "Stoney", and I will be posting her description of him later today - check the "meet the horses" page! We now have only one space left in the first half of the summer for the first two weeks of our season. We do still have plenty of space in the second half of the summer, including our exciting Bold Jumper Classic at Longacres, the season championship summer series horse show, and the big "A" rated Erie County Fair horse show.

January 11 Update:

No real news this week. There's plenty of snow now - sorry you guys who came for the New Years reunion missed it all! We're relaxing today and doing some house cleaning on the website. Fixing some minor inaccuracies and changing some links to other pages. There's always a lull in what we hear from students right after the busy holiday season, so we're feeling kind of lonesome here at Longacres. Write if you have a chance!

- Tom & Meghan

Jan. 6^th Update:

Welcome back Tovah!

Tovah wrote tonight giving us her formal acceptance of our job offer. Tovah will be returning to Longacres this summer as head riding instructor and trainer. She will be sharing the primary responsibility for running the Longacres program with Mandy Bartlett (see below). Tovah brings 3 years of experience at Longacres, including her first year here when she was "Camper of the Year", and two years as an assistant instructor and horse trainer.

We now only need to confirm a few details for Lauren to return in a special position helping Meghan to get you all fed, and the details of a position we have already told Erika would be offered to her. Then our 2004 staff will be complete.

- Tom & Meghan

It is with great pleasure that Meghan and I announce that Mandy Bartlett has agreed to return to Longacres for the 2004 season as one of our key senior staff members. Mandy did an outstanding job last season as one of our assistant instructors, time and again showing her maturity, good humor, and good judgement. She was one of the first we contacted this past fall when we began planning the 2004 season. Mandy called tonight to tell us she had made up her mind to accept our offer. Welcome back, Mandy!

We are waiting until the end of this week for Tovah to make her final decision. Tovah also has an offer to return to a senior position, and is still considering our offer along with a couple of other opportunities open to her. Once Tovah makes her decision this week, we'll be able to finalize the rest of our staff positions for 2004. It appears that most of the 2004 staff will be returnees from last season. That's good for Longacres! A couple of other girls from our 2003 staff have been assured that we will have a job for them, but the details of their jobs have had to wait until we knew if we had Mandy and Tovah.

We also welcome Longacres 2004 student #14, Jessica Sloan, who will be at Longacres from July 7 to 21^st. This will be Jessica's first time at Longacres, but she will not exactly be coming without any knowledge of what we're all about. Jessica is a good friend of Mandy Bartlett's from home, and has been told all about Longacres.

Jan. 1, 2004:

Thanks to everyone who came for the reunion this week - read the posts below! We just got the following e-mail from Mandy just moments after everyone went to bed after watching "the ball" drop:

We wish you could have been here with us , Mandy!

Above: Alex, Merlin, Jess, Tom, Emilie, Quantum, Tovah, Erika, and Emma visiting the horses at Oxford Hill. (Meghan was taking the pictures!)

PS - Lauren's bag finally made it here before bedtime last night!

AND - - - all the horses we visited today looked GREAT! The girls took turns riding Quantum, Merlin, Ebony, and Joey. We got to Star's home too late to be able to ride her, but she "cuddled" with all the girls and got fed good treats. We stopped with Uncle Billy at Fridays for supper on the way home. Everyone's looking at pictures, trading stories, and waiting for the "Ball" to drop later tonight.

- Tom & Meghan

Dec. 30, later:

The Longacres reunion crew has all arrived safely, if not all with their luggage! Good gracious, we went all summer long last season without anyone losing their luggage, and two of our seven reunion girls are without their stuff! Alex took the bus from Ohio to Rochester where she stayed with Erika and Tovah last night before coming to Longacres. There was a bus transfer and Alex's luggage had a mind of its own and is off someplace in space!

Lauren's luggage never got on her plane in New York, but it has now turned up at the Buffalo airport - but has not made it to Longacres yet.

We did all get to Pizza Hut for dinner a little while ago and it seemed exactly like summer at camp with all the joking and gags flying back and forth from one end of the long table to the other. There were ten of us including Megan and I, Uncle Billy, Tovah, Erika, Alex, Emilie, Emma, Jess, and Lauren.

We'll have many more reunion stories to post over the next two days!

Well, it's almost New Year's Eve, and many of us make New Year's resolutions at this time of year. I'm generally not a big believer in this kind of thing - I think we should do the best we can with our lives all the time and not wait until January first to turn over a new leaf! But my evil bathroom scale gave me some bad news this morning. Nearing the end of the Holiday eating season I have crept up to my all-time high weight. How much? Take a look at those small numbers after Dec. 30^th above! So I'm going to make a resolution to lose 12 pounds by the time camp starts on June 27^th. I should lose 20, but one of the keys to success with "resolutions" is not to set an impossible goal. 12 will be hard enough for a chocolate chip cookie lover like myself!

- Tom

Welcome back to Lillian Jacobs, returning her home in California to Longacres for her third season. Lillian will be here for the first session, and is our 13^th student to sign up for 2004. We now have only two spots left for our first session in July. We have six spots for the second session and are now beginning to get more inquiries for that period. Since we have many recent "alumni" who are now holding summer jobs or traveling, we are going to offer an "alumni special" for the final two weeks of our season including the Erie County Fair. A chance for older teens no longer able to make a longer session at Longacres a part of their summer plans to return and ride the trails they loved when they were younger and perhaps show in a few classes at Erie County Fair! Call if you're interested.

December 29 Update:

We'll take some pictures and post them later in the week. Looking forward to the next few days,

- Tom & Meghan

Dec. 22 Update:

Reunion plans are going smoothly. Weather permitting, we will be visiting horses all day on New Year's Eve day. You will have chances to ride Quantum, Merlin, Star (and perhaps a stable mate of Star), so bring riding clothes for that day - warm riding clothes!

There will likely be enough of us so that we'll be driving in the old Winnie, which could be chilly in the winter, so dress warmly. Meghan also cautions all of you that the house here is cold for sleeping at night, and she does not have any extra blankets or sleeping bags, so be sure to bring warm enough sleeping bag or bag and extra heavy blanket. That's about it - have a happy Holiday week!!!!

- Tom & Meghan

Dec. 21 Update:

December 17 Update:

Dec. 15 Update:

I did quite a bit more work on the new "Meet the Horses" page tonight. I hope you like the way it is turning out. Don't worry, I will soon begin posting all the descriptions of the horses you have sent me along with the pictures. First I want to get the new pictures posted since that is the most time consuming part of the job!

Also glad to announce two new students sign-ups are apparently on their way - it will be a race to see whether returning student, Lillian Jacobs, or new student, Sarah Weber, will be 2004 student #12. Both are supposed to be in the mail, and if they register, we will only have two spots open for the first session, and the second session will be down to six spots.

Dec. 14 Update:

Dec. 13^th - Oops!

Because her enrollment came in while I was still traveling, I FORGOT to welcome Brianna back for 2004. Shame on me!!! Brianna is 2004 student #9 , which makes Alex and Brittany officially # 10 and #11. You are one of my favorites, Brianna, so please excuse me for forgetting about you for a couple of days.

Dec. 13 Update:

Hello all. The strong young women on my staff do most of the manual work carrying hay and moving jumps during the summer. Still, I am probably the most physically fit each year during the summer season from the work I do with the jumps and with my tractor around the farm. I KNOW that I am not at my best at this time of year!

I just got inside from spending three hours out around Longacres with the ATV and a chain saw cutting up numerous down trees that were blocking the trails. There was a strong wind storm a month ago and this is the first time I've had a chance to go out and clear the trails. My muscles will probably stop aching right about the time some of you get here for the reunion at the end of the month!

- Tom

December 12 Update:

Hello again! It's been a few days, but we're back at work. Welcome to Alex Millar and Brittany Ioele, 2004 students #9 and #10. Alex will be back at Longacres for the first half of the summer and Brittany for the last half.

We've also heard that Emilie plans on joining the crew here for the New Years reunion. Everyone coming should plan to arrive AFTER 5PM on the 30^th (Tuesday). We'll go out for dinner when everyone is here, and if there is snow, we'll have some snowmobile rides around the farm when we get back, then watch videos and catch up on gossip. We'll take a hike around Longacres in the snow on Wednesday morning, then go on a visit-the-horses expedition. We plan on seeing Merlin, Quantum, Majic, Wizard, Sierra, and Star. Perhaps one or two more.

We'll return to Longacres before people get "wild" out on New Year's eve and spend more time in the snow around the farm. If we are taking you to the airport on January 1^st, you should plan on flights home after 11am.

December 4 update:

Early rumors are that Tovah, Erika, Lauren, and Alex plan to join us for the New Year's reunion here at the farm. Call if you are interested in coming.

Dec. 1^st:

Another very well qualified person has thrown their hat into the pool of possible 2004 instructors. Alex Millar has spent several years riding at Longacres and taking Brownie home for the winter. She is interested in joining the staff, and would be very well qualified, making our decision for 2004 staff even more difficult. Do let us know soon if any of the rest of you are interested in staff positions, and we will begin making the hard choices right after New Years!

- Tom & Meghan

Bulliten:

Only 4 spots left for the first half of the summer! I just added up the numbers, so if you are planning on coming during July, contact us SOON! Plenty of space for the second session beginning late in July, but that is starting to fill also.

Our BIG show, Thursday, August 12^th:

Those of you who were here for our big $1000 to win jumper show and season championships for the Summer Series know how exciting it was to watch all the great riders competing on nice horses (and our own Tovah and Quantum earning 4^th place in this tough field!) at this big Longacres horse show. We are already working on plans to make it bigger and better than ever before this year. We plan on having sponsor tents and displays around the outside of the jumper field, a bagpipe band, and even bigger prize money to draw in the best jumpers in New York State! It will be an exciting time to be at Longacres!