December 13^th:

We were happy to hear from Erica (Ridgewood, NJ), a new student interested in joining us at Longacres this summer. Call us with any more questions, Erica, and we hope to see you at Longacres next summer!

December 11^th:

A big Longacres "welcome back" to Cara who has just signed up for her second summer at Longacres. Above is our favorite picture of Cara from last summer. We also feature a picture of returning student, Emily, as one of our rotating pictures of the month.

For a couple of weeks, last years rates and schedule have apparently been posted on the website by accident. All sessions are being offered this year. We have fixed most of the mistakes on the rate and schedule page, and will check when we get home this weekend for any other errors. Hope it is correct now! ALSO, watch for new pictures of the month coming next week.

We've had a few more adventures with pictures on the "Meet the Horses" page turning invisible over the past two days, but MAYBE they are all working now???  Check out the page with even more pictures of some of your favorites as well as Brianna's descriptions.  We're looking forward to posting some more rider horse descriptions.  How about Michelle on Joey, Emily on Horatio, Cara writing about Joker, Laura on Brownie, etc.  New students are welcome to write in their own comments or their hopes for riding a possible favorite at Longacres.

Again, some more major updates were made to the "Meet the Horses" page. Meghan stayed up until 3 AM working on this – she really has the "bit between her teeth" about making a good, up to date horses page on the website. She thanks Shelley for contributing some of the new horse descriptions (and for a few belly laughs along the way!).   ALAS: Back to the drawing board again. Our new word processing program is still renaming files when we try to upload them to the website sometimes. You will be able to see all the new pictures if you click on the error messages. We'll figure it all out eventually. L

Some more changes made today to the "Meet the Horses" page.

New Year's Reunion? We did not host a Longacres new Year's reunion last year, though it is a tradition for us. Let us know if any of you are interested in visiting Longacres to see the barn and trails in the winter and make a few visits to some of the horses at their winter homes. If we do this event, you would arrive at Longacres the morning of December 31, stay overnight on New Year's eve, and leave for home on New Year's afternoon. We would hike around the farm in the snow (if it's snowing by then!) and make some drives to visit horses. Meghan and Tom will be traveling through the southeastern states to Florida during the next few weeks. If anyone is interested in meeting us to hear more about Longacres as we travel through those states, let us know. We had a good time visiting with Abby and would be glad to stop and see YOU. We will be back at Longacres in western New York during the first week in December. We'll be busy finalizing arrangements for the 2006 season at that time. We do get our email and phone messages while we travel.

November 9^th:

Hello Everyone, Meghan and Tom are on a long RV vacation in the west. We just went to our first movie in quite a while and saw "Dreamer". We give it two "thumbs up"! Almost as good as "Sea Biscuit", our favorite horse movie of recent times.   We'd like to welcome Niki to our second session at Longacres. She plans to bring her own horse to take to the big Longacres show and to Erie County Fair. Niki and Shelley, both having their own horses at Longacres during second session, are a good nucleus of a 2006 Longacres show team at the fair.   We also heard from Issy, a new student for 2006 planning to sign up soon. We have a good number of students already, well before the pre-Christmas period when we usually start to get a volume of new enrollments.   Meghan also wants to report that she recently bought two new school saddles. Although many of our Longacres students have their own saddles, we welcome riders who do not and are looking to enroll several new beginners in the 2006 sessions, so we want to have good school equipment on hand!   We'll try to update the website again soon. It is a little hard to get to good internet connections when we are traveling. - Tom & Meghan  

October 14:

Longacres is very lovely at this time of year. In a few days we will be at peak foliage season. It is also a season where we are rushing to finish draining our outdoor water pipes and winterize the plumbing in the showers and dining hall. Busy, busy, busy!!! More new inquiries coming in about next season from new families every week!

October 6^th:

October 4^th:

More new enrollments in the mail today! The big news is that Shelly, aka "da Child", returns next year for the full season! Welcome back, Shelly, though you have certainly outgrown the "child" label from when you were the youngest Longacres student a couple years ago. Shelly will be helping as a CIT part of the time this summer and we'll be counting on her as a full season student to be our touch-stone of continuity as we move from one session to another dureing the season. Great to have you again, Shelly (and Jenna!).

Shelly will be 2006 student #3 and Laura F. will be student #4 on the roster. Laura returns for her second year. Laura did a LOT of riding at other horse resorts after she was at Longacres last season, and we can't wait to see how much she has improved her riding.

October 3rd:

Hello again, after three weeks! Meghan and Tom flew home from Seattle on an overnight "red-eye" flight on Thursday night, spent Friday getting ready for the weekend, and then ran two of our sports management events back to back on Saturday and Sunday. Yes, we are tired! Meghan already had a bit of a cold, so she is really catching up on sleep today!!!

We put out a bit of a false alarm worrying that we might fill up our enrollment on October 1^st. Many of you who have said you planned on signing up soon have called in to say you need a little more time to make your final 2006 plans and pick your sessions. But we are proud to announce our first official 2006 students.

Madeleine R. will be a first time Longacres student when she attends our first session next summer. Madeleine will be Longacres 2006 Student #1 in honor of her being the very first to sign up for next summer's session. She is also a friend of Shelly's from Maryland. Any friend of Shelly's is welcome at Longacres.

Michelle K. ("that trophy is MINE!") returns for her second season at Longacres and is officially #2 on our roster. We hope to make more welcome announcements in the coming weeks!

We should have lots more Longacres news to post in the coming days. The woman who has Patti at her farm for the winter loves her and says Patti is Queen of the pasture. Tovah has written twice to talk of how well Quantum is doing at Lake Erie College. We'll publish more news soon. Fall is arriving at Longacres with the leaves turning bright yellow and orange!!!

Some General Comments on 2006 sessions:

We have a nice mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced riders between June 25 and July 23^rd. We encourage our younger and less experienced riders to choose those sessions. (Advanced show riders welcome, also!)

From July 26 to August 19^th, beginners are very welcome, and if a beginner comes then, they will get lots of special attention. But the second half of the summer is planned more around preparing for the big shows like the Longacres Jumper Derby in early August and the "A" rated Erie County Fair during our final week. Both shows have classes for all levels of rider. During second session we try to pair each rider up with a horse they like especially and plan to show at the fair or the big Longacres show (or both). This second session program is especially attractive to our more experienced riders who like to work frequently with the same horse and test their progress in important horse shows. We hope this general description helps you in making a choice on when to attend Longacres in 2006.

- Tom & Meghan

September 2^nd:

2006 Schedule is now posted. No change in tuition. Some showing and field trip costs may rise if fuel costs continue to soar.

Greetings to all of you, especially you "lucky ones" who have already started back to school! Longacres sends a special welcome to Madeleine from Maryland who is a friend of Shelley's and planning to join us in 2006. Also to Austin and one of her friends from Miami, FL. Austin went to another riding camp for several years, but wants more riding, so she's planning on Longacres for next July. She found out about Longacres because our friend, Kelly Waples, was her counselor at that camp two summers ago. She asked if Kelly can come give her a guest lesson, and we will try to make that happen, Austin.

Many Planning to Enroll for 2006!

We have an unprecedented number of very early calls asking about signing up for Longacres in 2006. We will accept registrations for space after October 1^st. The four weeks in July (including two week options) will fill very early this year, if these calls are any indication. We have a firm limit of nine students, so don't delay too long if you want to come in the July session. (It might be two thirds filled on October 2^nd!) The three and a half weeks in August usually doesn't fill until later in the winter, so you likely have more time if you are thinking August. Schedule for 2006 is now posted. We will be open for our traditional full 8 weeks next summer.

August 31^st:

Meghan just came up from the barn with tears in her eyes from saying "good bye" to Shabang. She has really bonded with this fine horse in the weeks since the camp season ended. Meghan has been feeding and playing with her "Banger" every morning and every night. He is such a kind, gentle horse to handle. It is surprising since he is so full of energy when he gets to jumping 3'9" courses! Shabang has gone to spend the winter with a family that has a gelding of their own who needs a companion in his pasture and barn. It will be a relaxed winter for Shabang with only a few trail rides for work.

While Meghan was at the barn with Shabang last night, Crystal and her mom came over to pick up a forgotten sleeping bag. Crystal brought carrots and apples for Shabang which he loved! She also reported that she won ribbons showing Llamas at both Erie County Fair and NYS Fair! Good job, Crystal.

August 30^th:

Hi everyone,

In a way, the 2006 Longacres season gets under way in just over a month. We'll be accepting deposits and reservations for next summer beginning on October 1^st. We know of at least two of you who are counting the days. It will be interesting to see who becomes the official "Longacres 2006 student #1" for sending in the first reservation after October 1^st. No fair mailing before September 30^th!

We have just one horse remaining at Longacres now. Shabang still has no winter home. Surprising since he is such a good jumper and has such a great barn personality. Meghan and I have really enjoyed having him here as a pet since camp ended, so it has been no chore, but soon we must find a spot for him for the winter. If you know anyone who wants a lovable 16+ hand bay thoroughbred who jumps like the wind, have them call us.

We got a nice email from Michelle today about the high score award trophy she got in the mail. Several of you won high score awards from the Summer Show Series even though you weren't here to accept them. Michelle, Shelley, Emma, and Brianna all won various high score awards.

August 26^th:

Well, Patti is gone to her winter home and now that there is no mare to compete over, Shabang and Joker have become friends in the pasture. Joker has a home with a former Longacres camper from MANY years ago! He will be a western trail horse all winter. Marge actually took Longacres horses for the winter months many years ago when I was a very young manager at Longacres!

FINALLY we are finishing adding up the canteen accounts and show expenses and will be sending you bills or refunds on your spending money deposits this weekend. We are putting all the digital pictures we took this summer on a CD, and you can order one for $22 including postage if you want. There are a couple of hundred pictures. You can download low resolution copies right off our website of many pictures for free, but if you want the original hi resolution big files suitable for printing 8 by 10's, you can order the CD. You can email us if you want the CD, or when you get your spending money statement just add the $22 to your check if you owe us.

We will be doing a "Yearbook Video" showing all of you and your friends later in the fall and it should be done in time for you to get it for the Christmas Holidays if you like.

August 24:

Here's a quick word picture so you at home can share some of what's happening at Longacres. We've been keeping Joker separated from the other geldings for a while, since he is very competitive for the attention of the mares. Most of the horses have now gone to their winter homes and only Shabang, Patti, and Joker are left. So yesterday we turned Joker out to pasture with Shabang and Patti, who are VERY close friends!

Joker moved right in to try to chase Shabang away and claim Patti for his own girl friend. Usually Shabang is very docile and gives way to other more aggressive horses, but he has bonded so tightly with Patti that he would have none of this intruder and stood his ground. There was a lot of arching of necks, wheeling around and kicking, and then Joker would charge at Shabang trying to get between him and Patti. Shabang looked gorgeous when he arched his neck, pranced, and spun around to block Joker's kicks. Patti joined in kicking off at Joker to show that she preferred Shabang!

Finally, on one of Joker's charges, Shabang met him head on baring his teeth and rearing in Joker's face. Joker finally backed off the direct confrontation, but then he turned to "showing off" and displaying his strength and power. First he galloped twice around the pasture, then reared straight up on his hind legs as high as any horse could, then put on a display of bucking that would do any saddle bronc at a rodeo proud. Meghan and I could not believe how high in the air Joker could get with all four feet high off the ground and his back arched, then he would twist sideways while six or eight feet in the air, come down and do it again! It was very impressive! They have settled into a wary truce today, with Patti and Shabang grazing about 30 yards from Joker as they all keep an eye on each other. We wish we had gotten it all on video yesterday!

Ps - hi Ashley

August 21st:

Guess who's here at Longacres tonight? TOVAH stopped by on her way back to college! We all went to the final night of the fair together and it seemed just as though Tovah had been here all summer. After all, she was here for five weeks in May and June helping get camp opened up for the 2005 season, and now she is the very last one here before everyone goes back to school. Meghan and Tovah did horse care together tonight after we got back from the fair. Just like old times.

August 19^th:

In a normal year, today would be one of the final two days of the season. As you all know, this was an unusual year at Longacres and we closed earlier than normal. We thank Leigh Fisher and High Time stables for "loaning us a student" to be an honorary Longacres camper for the Erie County Fair week, just so Meghan and I would not have withdrawal symptoms that were too harsh! Below is a picture of Christa Botticello taken at the Fair two days ago with Patti and their ribbons. AND in a normal year, today would have been "big jumping day" just before you all go home. So Christa came over to Longacres today and jumped Quantum 3'9", her personal best. It made us feel almost like it was a normal year at Longacres.

August 18^th:

Christa won a 4^th, 6^th, and 3^rd in jumpers riding Patti at the fair to uphold Longacres honor in this special year when our season ended early. Thanks, Christa, for your participation! Leigh Fisher rode Quantum, and he was great but had one rail down in each class and did not win a ribbon all week. A first for Quantum!

On the last night of the fair tonight, Uncle Billy, Meghan, Barbie Glica, Leigh Fisher and Dan, and Christa and Pam Botticello and Tom all got together at the fair after the show to "solve all the problems in the horse world". A good tention releasing party!

We miss all of you Longacres riders who would normally be sharing this with us. In most years Longacres would have two more days to go until the end of our session. We look forward to next year when we expect to have a good group of Longacres riders at the fair!

August 15^th Update:

Hi all,

We're ready for Erie County Fair, but it doesn't seem the same without YOU! We sent Quantum and Patti over to represent Longacres. Leigh Fisher will be riding Quantum in schooling jumpers and Krista Botticello will be riding Patti in low jumpers. Many of you know Krista from last year when she rode Star in a couple of events at the fair. This will be Krista's first time in jumpers at the fair! Picture below is of Krista and Patti taken about two hours ago.

August 11^th:

Quantum was AWESOME!

The Longacres championship horse show and Jumper Derby were held last night. Quantum was shown in the high Derby by Leigh Fisher from High Time stables, one of my good friends. He was one of only three horses to go clean in the first round, and was blistering fast in the jump-off over 3'9" fences. He barely touched a rail in the jump-off which unfortunately rolled off the cup - if only that rail had stayed up he would likely have won. Leigh thinks so and she was riding the horse that did win! We don't have any still photo's, but will post a still from the video soon.

• Tom
• PS - Some of you will have trophies coming in the mail soon!

August 4^th update:

Hello again all,

This has been an unusual season in many ways, from the record setting (and rare, thankfully) very hot weather, to the cancellation of our final session. One more little bit of trivia from 2005: As many of you know, we ran a horse show on Memorial Day weekend in May before any of you were here. Tovah and Alex very generously volunteered their time painting and cleaning jumps and getting everything ready for the May show. It was great to have all our jumps painted beautifully well before you all arrived for the regular season! But that was now almost two and a half month's ago. We are running our big annual Jumper Derby next Wednesday and the jumps were beginning to look a little used. So for the next three days we are painting them all over again so everything will look first rate for the show. It is the first time in my memory that we have painted our jumps TWICE in the same season. End of trivia!

August 3^rd later:

We're getting lots of early interest in Longacres 2006 season already. In addition to Mickey and Rachel from Houston earlier this week, we just sent out an information packet to Abby from Breckenridge, Colorado. If we get some of the "California Girls Club" back next summer, we will have a very geographically varied group of riders in 2006! We will be accepting 2006 enrollments beginning on October 1^st. Don't wait too long to register - we will be running our full eight week season again in 2006 and it looks like we will be full again as we usually are except for this special year when so many old friends "graduated".

August 3^rd update:

Meghan and I thought that some of you at home might enjoy seeing our "special" trick for bringing the horses in from pasture when it is just the two of us doing horsecare! Instead of leading them into the barn one after another, we just open the gate and the stall doors and "in they come". We could not get away with this with small campers standing by or with our full herd of horses, but with five of them only, it works fine. Sometimes Patti and Shabang end up in the same stall, but they don't seem to mind.

We are still working with horses getting ready for the jumper Derby and Erie County Fair. Uncle Billy has wanted to ride Patti for a long time and he did yesterday. He did well jumping and we got a great picture. We'll publish it soon. Kelly Waples has been schooling Quantum (and Patti some). Check the picture of her below jumping Quantum 4'3"!!!

July 31:

Here's a special little "Longacres Hello" to Mickey Hall and her friend, Rachel, from Houston, Texas. These girls are hunter AND jumper riders about 14and they are looking at Longacres for 2006. They sound as though they have similar experience to Linnea and Danielle who came to Longacres from California this summer. Mickey asked how soon Longacres starts signups for next year. We'll be taking our first applications on October 1^st.

July 27^th Update:

Lillian will leave for the airport this afternoon and we are getting a long needed soaking rain this morning. So it is beginning to really feel like the Longacres 2005 season is coming to an end. (If you are in the area, try to attend our Longacres reunion at the Jumper Derby on Wednesday evening, August 10^th - many old Longacres alumni planning to come!)

Meghan and I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Lillian Jacobs for her very outstanding work heading our riding program and counseling our students this summer. Lillian was an enthusiastic and popular student at Longacres for three years before returning as an instructor and counselor this year. We knew she would be a cooperative and pleasant person to work with. But we were not fully prepared for the excellence with which she performed all aspects of her job. Cheerful, fun loving, generous, responsible, reliable, a tireless worker sometimes far into the night before a horse show - - you name it, and Lillian performed above and beyond any expectation we had before the season began. Lillian will have many options open to her in future summers and it is too early for her to know what she is doing next summer. But it is not too early for Meghan and Tom to say that "Longacres would be proud to have Lillian on our staff again next year or any other year."

Lillian joins girls like Tovah and Mandy on our list of the best counselors we've had over the years.

July 25^th:

Got some rest today - we hope you did too! We're playing musical horse homes. Ho-Ho is already back since he did not get along with the mare where he was supposed to spend the winter. He should have a new home soon. We are still considering buying "Hot Shot Bob". Lillian rode him today and he was great. Shabang still needs a home, but we have a lead on someone at Providence Farm who might want him. We're also still looking for a good home for Ebony. Brownie is still here waiting to go to Alex for the winter at her college, and Quantum is waiting for the Jumper Derby on August 10^th.

July 24^th, 3PM:

Goodbye everyone!

Longacres 2005 season, our 65^th in a row, has come to a close. (Well, not quite - we're still running another horse show on August 10^th)

But all campers have gone home except for Bri who is staying an extra day to relax and go home RESTED this year! And keep Lillian company tonight. Lillian will be here until Wednesday morning so all of you at home can email her one more time during the next two days so she will not be too lonesome here at Longacres. She will be busy organizing the barn for next year and caring for the last few horses waiting to go to their winter homes.

Meghan, Bri, Lillian and myself will be having a final Friday's dinner together tonight before we take Bri to the airport in the morning.

Thanks from all of us at Longacres to those of you checking in on the website from home. We're so pleased to have had the chance to know you this summer and to show with you, work with the horses with you and see all your progress and the new things you've had a chance to try at Longacres. Special thanks to our veteran campers, Bri and Shelley, to Shelley's mom, Debbie, and to Lillian and Emma for passing on Longacres traditions to all our new for 2005 students. And we have already heard that many of you new 2005 students are planning on returning to Longacres next season. Registration will open in October and we fully expect to be offering the full eight week season again next year after running only a half season in 2005.

More news coming soon.

Pictures to be posted SOON!

July 23^rd 9 PM:

What a final day! We started riding at 10am and except for a very short lunch and Kone King break and a quick dinner, we rode all day long until a few minutes ago. This morning we did a fancy choreographed jumping routine with everyone jumping on the outside course for the yearbook video. Then we did "Big Jumping" day. Brianna jumped Quantum 4' and several others came close! Then it was out to the trails to jump the "stairway to heaven" and the jumps on the outside old hunt course which Tom cleaned up just for the occasion.

Down to a quick lunch and off the Kone King to cool off. Then it was back in the saddle for more video's taken out in the woods on the trails and finally time for "pond swimming with the horses" before dinner. Everyone got wet. Michelle and Crystal got VERY WET!!!!!!!! And Tom!

We were an hour late for dinner by this time, but everyone was in high spirits and no one cared. After dinner Tom, Lillian, and Brianna set up the grid for "grid jumping" . Everyone jumped the grid with NOT ONE RUN OUT!!! Which I think is a first for Longacres grid jumping. Even our three beginners jumped the entire grid. Michelle, Maria, and Crystal had never jumped before they came to Longacres two weeks ago. I am SOOOOOO very proud of their progress. I don't think anyone will ever believe that we taught three beginners to jump well enough to jump eight three stride combination jumps in a row in just two weeks of lessons!!!

More news and lots of pictures to come soon.

July 22:

Just one more day. It's hard to believe that the Longacres season for 2005 is almost over! We plan an exciting day tomorrow with some bigger jumps, swimming the horses in the pond, and lots of video for a video yearbook.

Tonight's special event was a moonlight trail ride on the field under a full moon just for our ten year olds. Lillian led the trail with Michelle and Crystal. Tom took his telescope down to the barn so Michelle and Crystal could get off their horses for a moment and look at the craters on the moon. It was fun doing something special just for our youngest students.

Thanks to Danielle and Linnea for the very nice email they sent to all our campers after they went home to California. We miss you!

July 20^th, late:

We had a successful show at Longacres today! A good turnout of horses from other stables and excellent performances from our own riders. Check out the picture below of Michelle "two blue ribbons and a trophy winner"; all afternoon she kept saying, "It's mine!" That's the official photo caption of the day.

The big ribbon winner of the day was Cara Murray! Cara rode two horses including her beloved "Joker" and you will see her name often in the list of winners at the end of this article.

We're perhaps most proud of Brianna Altieri who has joined the ranks of bold jumper riders for real. If you read yesterday's story you know that Brianna jumped Quantum in practice. Today she showed him and did well in the middle jumper division, Schooling Jumpers. So well, in fact, that Tom said, "Bri, would you like to try the highest class in Special Jumpers?"

Brianna took Quantum in the Specials and was great. She didn't win, but was solid and secure on the big jumping course. Some of Brianna's spontaneous "comments" as she took her first big jumps in a show on Quantum were quite entertaining for the crowd!

Below is an extensive list of the days winnings by Longacres riders.

July 19^th, noon:

The big news of the day is 5^th year student, Brianna Altieri, finally getting to ride Quantum. And not just getting to ride him, but doing a pretty darn good job of it! And not just doing a darn good job of it but jumping pretty darn big! See the "proof" below:

July 19:

Hi Linnea and Danielle,

We hope you had a good trip home and are getting some rest! Here's the "California Girls Club" picture. (Linnea, Danielle, Lillian from left to right)

July 18^th:

The show began very well for Longacres with Linnea winning the first jumper class on Patti and Brianna taking second on Ebony. Great job girls winning 1^st and 2^nd for the Longacres show team. Emma had a 3^rd out of 12 in the higher Special Jumpers on Quantum and Maria won 1^st out of six riders in one of her classes. Cara did well again on Joker and spirits were good. We all watched video of the shows at the house last night after a festive dinner in town. We are sadly saying "goodbye" to Linnea and Danielle (our California girls) this afternoon. They made a mark at Longacres after only a one week stay and we hope to see them again next year.

More to come later!

July 16^th:

We had some good riding at today's horse show. More to come tomorrow at the second show of the weekend. The day began with Sarah showing our new young hunter mare, "Ginger" in the baby hunter division. Sarah did well with this young horse over fences and got a 4^th in the under saddle class. Cara took another of our new horses, "Joker", and showed him in a number of flat classes. These were big competitive classes, and Cara made "Joker" look like he belonged at the show. Cara got two 2^nd place ribbons in the classes for green horses.

Michelle, one of our 10 year old riders, did a fine job on Stoney, winning two 2^nd place red ribbons! Michelle is looking forward to more difficult classes at the Longacres show next Wednesday.

The jumpers were about to begin on the outside course when the clouds parted and a near flood ingulfed the show ring! The jumper classes were moved to the indoor ring at Hasty Hills Farms on short notice. Our girls did well quickly learning new courses. Shelley got a 2^nd and 3^rd; Danielle two 2^nd's and a 4^th, and Emma got a 1^st and a 4^th &3^rd (we think).

Just about everyone else will be showing tomorrow at High Time.

There were VERY high spirits at our traditional after show Pizza Hut dinner tonight!

July 14^th late evening:

There comes a point in every new camp session (almost always!) when bonding between old and new students finally really takes place and often it comes quite suddenly. It happened this session just after dinner during our first rain shower in ten days. The girls were heading back to the barn from dinner when the rains came. Instead of heading for shelter, they frolicked in the rain together and then headed for the creek and apparently had a rousing good time getting soaking wet after enduring our recent heat wave all week!

I caught up with them when I drove up to the barn from a quick shopping trip. The girls were all still soaked from their creek walk in the rain but in boisterous good spirits. I had hoped to get in a good riding lesson after the rain stopped, but they were all in such good spirits and so enjoying playing together informally that I ok'd skipping the evening ride. I asked who had stayed dry the longest on the creek walk and they all laughed and said that it was young Michelle. The older girls had taken turns carrying Michelle across the deep spots in the creek at first, but by the time they got to the barn she looked just as soaked as everyone else.

Cara told me she had stayed "somewhat dry" but she looked soaking wet to me.

What I liked best was that all ages were in this together, with our sophisticated 15 to 17 year olds playing in the mud just like the ten year olds. That often happens at Longacres, and I was very happy to see the bonding taking place that way tonight.

July 14^th:

We also had a small mounted games event in our lesson this morning to work on control and have some fun. The top two scores in a bit of a surprise were Brianna and Cara! Nice rides!

July 12:

Third day of our new session and our beginners are already doing their first jumps. They are liking the little jumps and clamoring to begin cantering - which should be tomorrow or Thursday. Michelle, Crystal, and Maria are all making great progress.

The weather is terrible for riding - good and sunny, but 90 degrees plus and humid. We are on our special hot weather schedule with a voluntary 6:15 Am riding lesson for those tough enough to climb out of bed when it is cool. Then another ride at 8:30am and two more in the evening when it is a little cooler again. Tomorrow we're going to do an afternoon trail ride to get back to five hours a day. Not the best riding weather, but we're finding ways to make it work hope for rain later in the week to cool things off.

July 10^th:

We have some GOOD riders this session! Lillian, Emma, Brianna, and Shelley staying over from the first session all ride well, and our new "California Girls", Linnea and Danielle are both very good riders with their own horses at home. Sarah and Cara both did well on several horses today, and we have a promising beginner group with Maria, Crystal and Michelle. We're looking forward to success at the shows next weekend!

July 9^th:

We say "goodbye" to some fine girls tomorrow, but a big "hello" to 6 new riders as we change sessions! We're excited to be beginning our biggest session of the summer. We're actually full to our limit this coming week and are opening up Esseress bunk to accommodate the big group.

Congrats to our riders who all did well in a very big open show at Longacres today. Emma rode Quantum to a 2^nd in the highest jumper class and Emily won 3^rd out of 12 horses in schooling jumpers riding Peppermint Patti. Brianna was Champion in Puddle Jumpers on Ebony. Kaylin and Penny both got ribbons in jumping classes in the inside ring after only jumping for two weeks at Longacres.

(Speaking of beginners, Emma and Shelly say "thank you" to Laura for sending the care package!)

You'll be hearing some new names this coming two weeks as we get to know six newcomers to Longacres! We're looking forward to it!

- Tom & Meghan

July 8^th:

Welcome second session riders!

We have a new group coming in Sunday for our next two weeks which will be bigger than our first session. We're full right up for next week and still have one spot for the final week. Brianna, Shelley, Lil, and Emma are staying over from this session to give us continuity through the end of the month.

July 7^th:

July 6^th:

We also had a nice jumping lesson in the outside field yesterday with everyone, including our two riders who had not jumped at all before last week joining us doing courses on the big show field. Emily is working with Peppermint Patti and planning to show in jumpers this weekend, and Emma did a great job with Quantum down his favorite "road line" for the first time this summer. All our riders are starting to look like they have a plan when they ride. It feels good for me, since we have many new riders this year and much less experienced riders than we've had the past couple of season's at Longacres. There's something about being able to ride good horses over good jumps for five hours a day that just makes you improve quickly!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 4^th Update:

Good morning lesson with everyone jumping well; "canta-loping" added to the vocabulary! Camp fire with Meghan's smores tonight; went to the East Aurora town carnival and great fireworks show last night; ALMOST everyone danced their hearts out in front of the band at the carnival!! Good karma at Longacres this weekend! See "smores" picture below!

July 2^nd Update:

Everyone rode well in the open horse show at Longacres this morning. Riders from other stables took a lot of ribbons, but so did our new Longacres riders. We'll post a detailed list of our winners later. Check the picture below of Emily and "Shabang" with just two of her blue ribbons. Emily won multiple championships on Shabang today (looks happy, doesn't she??).

Quantum the "Dud - NOT!" - Quantum has had bad luck this spring. He got kicked just after he returned from Ohio and was sore for over a week, Then he got a bad nail from the farrier and was off for another few days. We began to ride him gently a few days ago during the heat wave. When he was flabby and out of shape and it was over 90 degrees, he just plodded along like an old plow horse. I began calling him "Quantum the Dud". But not yesterday! It was windy and fresh out and Quantum was ready to get back to serious work. Shelley rode him for about a half hour at a trot doing basic dressage to get him in shape. She did a great job. Then it was time to canter on the big show field. Quantum picked up a canter and let loose with five straight Quantum Leaps in a row! Shelley stayed on, but it was exciting enough that she said, "Emma, it's your turn now."

Emma got on and had an adventurous time working him down so that he would behave and jump in a controlled manner. "Quantum Leap" is definitely back and looking like the powerful firebreathing show jumper that we know and love. Now the only question is who is brace enough to try him in the next show??

June 30:

June 28:

The heat wave continues for two more days. On Friday the temperature will mercifully drop back to a more seasonable mid 70's, ideal for horses and riding. We got up early and had a cool early lesson again today. Right after lunch we piled in the motor home (WITH the air conditioners running!!) and drove into the "Kone King" for ice cream. It was a welcome break with lots of excited chatter. This group of girls is hitting it off well together. We have a nearly equal blend of Longacres old-timers and new girls.

Last night around the dinner table we had an informal poll. Who likes to sleep the most? (tie: Lillian and Shelley!) Who has been to Longacres the most years? (Brianna, FOREVER, it seems!) Then came my question, "Who talks the most?"

Simultaneously, everyone turned and pointed to Emily, who with a big grin on her face made no attempt to deny the obvious!!!!!!

(Everyone else is doing well, too!)

Below: Drill Team June 27

June 27 Update:

Everyone Jumped, and I mean EVERYONE! - Penny and Kaylin, our beginner students both jumped small verticals tonight, only their second day at Longacres. Both girls are teens who rode a little when they were little, but have not ridden for several years and are just getting back into riding. Both are doing very well, earning cheers from all the rest of us when they do something new for the first time (about once an hour).

Emma worked hard with our new gelding, Joker, tonight. He was worried about many of the special jumps on our field, but by the end of the night, Emma had him doing all the jumps. Lillian calmed down a skittish Justin during the evening ride and he was looking good at the end. Brianna rode our new mare, Zaney, doing full courses on this promising new horse. Brianna has improved her riding a lot since last year.

Tonight was Shelley's first ride on Quantum. "Q" has been sore the past few days from a small abscess in his foot, but did a few low jumps this evening and looked pretty good. He'll be back to his old self in a few more days. I was anticipating quite an exciting ride for Shelley her first time ever on our best jumper. But "Q" was a bit of a dud on this 95 degree day. He didn't want to waste one bit of unnecessary energy and was about as exciting at our oldest and slowest ponies!

The most exciting ride of the night came from Emily. She has a good seat and is a nice rider. We've spent the first two days jumping quite low fences while everyone gets used to the new horses and to riding at Longacres for the summer. Emily was on Shabang, and they were clicking together very well. So at the end of my part of the lesson I put one fence up a little higher - - - and then higher still. Emily looked great and she and Shabang went over a pretty decent sized jump!

We are getting up early again tomorrow to beat the heat on one more very hot day. By the end of the week temperatures are expected to drop to more comfortable riding levels.

June 26:

We're Open!

Everyone has arrived safely for the first session. Most have ridden several horses already. I think Emily has the record with five different horses in her first day. Even our two beginners have "jumped" over cavaletti poles on the ground. We'll post many more details and some pictures tomorrow.

- Tom & meghan

June 25 Update:

Longacres Opens Tomorrow!!!

Great Show Today!

Lillian and Emma are hitting it off very well as our riding instructor team for 2005, and we really like the new students we've had a chance to meet or speak with on the phone. Even though we have a slightly smaller group than usual this summer, we've got many wonderful new horses and with the good group of people spending the next month riding, showing, and living together, 2005 is shaping up as a very good season indeed!

June 21 Update:

Sorry about no update the past few days. We've been REALLY busy putting the finishing touches on cleaning up around the camp from the flood and teaching lessons and working with the new horses at the barn. Debbie and daughter, Shelley, and Sharon and daughter, Laura, are here for mother/daughter week. They're all doing a great job with the horses and helping open the barn. Laura is only 10 and had never really jumped before coming to Longacres. She has now!! Laura did lines of verticles today for her second day of jumping. She told me, "I want to go higher!" A gutsy 10 year old!

Emma is here as counselor and doing a great job getting the barn ready for head instructor, Lillian, who is coming just before the regular camp opens this Sunday.

Meghan is running and running, and RUNNING all around getting everything organized the way she always does. She keeps adding NEW things to make the farm look inviting for those of you coming to Longacres for the first time this weekend. Good job, Meghan - but then you always do a good job!

- tsk

June 18 Update:

Hard to believe, but the 2005 season begins tomorrow! Well, partly - Emma arrives a few hours ahead of our first paying customers for mother-daughter week. Debbie N and daughter Shelley will be here late tomorrow afternoon when they all plan to go into town to Pizza Hut for dinner, perhaps with Uncle Billy. Meghan and I will be out of town until late Sunday night, but back in time to have things all ready for our second mother-daughter pair, Sharon Waters and Laura.

Longacres always looks its very best on opening day, on the day of a horse show, and at the beginning of October when everything is cleaned up and put away from the summer and the fall foliage is out. Although next Sunday is officially opening day, Meghan and her crew have done a fantastic job and things look wonderful this weekend for our arriving mom-daughter week people. I am on my way down to the barn after I post this to finish off just a little bit of mowing and weed wacking so things look just SO for Monday's riding!

June 16 Update:

The most important story today is one not-quite-final tribute to Tovah Abrams. Be sure to read it. It begins below.

Other news of the day is that Meghan and Tovah are out right now picking up the latest new horse! A very willing 15.2 mare that has done some jumping, spent time as a brood mare, and is VERY cute, I am told! Forward moving and quick to learn.

The flood damage from last week is being taken care of. Most of the farm is looking very good and the barn itself is drying out well. About all that most of you will see of the flood when you get here during the next week is some damage to the road on the main trail from the barn to the dining hall. You will have to take about a 200 foot detour around the old swimming pond because the bridge there is damaged and not safe. During mother daughter week we are fixing the old creek crossing closer to the dining hall that was washed away. Mother daughter students will have to go across stepping stones in the creek, but it should be repaired by the time regular camp opens on the 26^th.

Now for -

A Tribute to Tovah Abrams

June 12^th Update:

It's still very wet here after a weekend of more heavy rain, but we're getting a handle on the big storm damage. The barn is beginning to dry out and we've made plans for repairing the road to the dining hall this week. All should be well by the time you all get here (some of you in just one week!!).

We're shopping for some new tack for the horses, "finding" jumps, and lots of other progress getting made. "Finding jumps"? Well, yes.

Tovah and Alex did a wonderful job of setting up for the horse show two weeks ago, as you have read. They had a little trouble setting up the courses in both rings with enough rails, which they thought was a little odd, since Longacres owns so many great jumps and we had no trouble setting up two courses last summer.

But they swapped rails and jump parts between the two rings and made it all work with great compliments from all show exhibitors. Well - - there's good news and bad news about that.

The good news is that Tovah and Alex are so resourceful to be able to set two courses very well with only just enough jump rails. The bad news is this: A few days ago Tovah was doing more cleaning around the barn and checked one of the fully enclosed stalls that had not yet been prepared for the summer. Turns out she had never bothered to look carefully in this stall since it has a full door and is hard to see into unless you actually open up the door. There was some junk in the stall - - oooops! The junk turned out to be 17 more jump rails that could have been used in the show! I guess the really good news is that Longacres can set two great jump courses for a horse show without even touching 17 "forgotten" jump poles! Tovah has been very red in the face this week - Alex, we cannot vough for since she is back in Ohio for her summer job - "hi, Alex!"

- tsk

June 10^th Update:

"Be Careful What you Wish for - "

We have been wishing fervently for rain after the driest May and early June in over 70 years in western New York. The ground was getting hard for the horses and the grass turning yellow/brown. We needed a soaking rain. We got it. Last night between 9 and 10:30 PM we had more than five inches of rain, perhaps even more right over Longacres. It began as a delightful display of nature's fireworks in the form of a brilliant lightning storm. Then the rain came - torrentially and it didn't stop.

We had the most intense local flooding in 30 years at Longacres with severe damage to our roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. Thousands of dollars in damage to the concrete bridges on the trail between the dining hall and the barn, alone! We're still in shock and pondering the best way to make repairs.

All I can tell you is that somehow we will. Damage to the barn, cabins, and riding facilities was minimal. Unless you really look for it while walking the trails when you get here in a couple of weeks you probably won't even notice any damage.

Those of you who have already been to Longacres know the "cement bridge" across the little creek down where it empties into the big creek not far from the dining hall. That heavy cement structure simply vanished in the flood waters after being there for nearly 60 years. Eventually we'll rebuild it. This summer we'll probably make due with a culvert pipe and gravel fill.

We have a similar problem near the old swimming pond.

The water was 8 inches deep in the barn last night, but just 20 hours later, things are drying nicely in the barn area.

Thanks for listening while I vent. I repeat that most of you won't even notice the damage when you get here in a couple of weeks. And life goes on - Meghan and Tovah looked at another new horse prospect this morning while Tom ran the tractor draggin gravel into the ruts and holes in the roads.

- tsk

June 9^th Update:

June 6^th:

June 5^th Update:

Tovah answered, "I think you could take her in a jumper class right now, and you might win!" This is a big bold bay mare with the possibility of becoming another Patti or Quantum. VERY exciting horse news! You guys are going to have fun horses to play with and show at Longacres this summer. More to come tomorrow along with some pictures!!

June 4^th:

Watch this space during the next couple of days! Tovah and Meghan have been putting hundreds of miles on the car driving all over NY looking at horses to buy. And they are down to cutting the final deals. They will have some very exciting news and pictures over the next couple of days.

The bottom line is that Meghan is a good manager with a good feel for the long range good of Longacres. I (Tom) tend to be more conservative. We are a little down on our enrollment this year since so many of our veteran riders grew up this year and had to get jobs for college. We'll have about half returning Longacres riders and half new girls this summer. That's a good thing for the future. But our budget is a little squeezed. And conservative Tom might have decided that this was not the year to be buying new horses. But Meghan quite rightly said, "This is exactly the year to be investing in exciting new horses, We have more new girls than usual coming to Longacres and they are the future of Longacres. Whatever the cost, we've GOT to have the best and most interesting string of horses this summer so everyone will be sure to want to return again next summer."

Well, I think after you read the news coming tomorrow and Monday you will be satisfied that Meghan and Tovah have added some exciting new blood to the Longacres herd!!!!! Stay tuned!

June 3 Update:

Second: A story about new horses and horse shopping from Tovah and Meghan. That's right, Tovah. Tovah is NOT coming to Longacres this year even though she has been a very big part of Longacres for four straight years. She has family obligations and an opportunity to go back to her own childhood this summer. But you'd never know that she's not coming to Longacres for the season. She is here living in her old cabin Pegasus and running horse shows, training horses, shopping for new horses, and helping Meghan get the camp open for business. THANK you Tovah! (Don't worry, Erika - we are saving new horses for you to train when you get here.)

Here's Meghan and Tovah's story for tonight:

May 31 Update:

We feel almost like we have betrayed our regular summer camp students by running a horse show at Longacres without you! But we did and it went off beautifully. Thanks to Alex Millar and Tovah who did all the work getting the show ready and helping us run it. Tovah was one of the judges, and she did a great job! The big benefit of running the show is that it got all the jumps painted and repaired early so that when the mother-daughter week people begin to arrive, the Longacres show field will already be in great shape. We also made enough money on the show to buy another new horse, and Meghan and Tovah drove around all day today trying to spend that money wisely!!!! More on that soon! Write and tell us about your riding everyone. You will all be here at Longacres soon.

Hello to Kim Wetterau Zern, former Longacres barn manager from the late '80's and now a mom herself. Kim phoned me today and we had a great talk about old times. Kim used to live in Buffalo, moved to Rochester, then Chicago, and now is moving to - - - - -EAST AURORA! Welcome HOME to Longacres turf, Kim!

May 26^th:

Great Job, Alex (and Tovah)!

Some of you know that Alex Millar is here at Longacres for two weeks doing her senior project. The project? Organizing and managing a horse show! Fun! But LOTS of work. Tovah came up to help Alex, and they have been killing themselves with work in between riding their favorite Longacres horses and training Horatio. (Don't worry, Erika, there will be lots of training left when you get here.)

The course for the show was set today and it looks great. If any of you are able to visit Longacres on Saturday, you are very welcome. The show rings look wonderful!

May 24^th:

Beth made Tom cry!

Not only did I enjoy Beth's message, but after 26 years I still remembered her very well so I phoned her back in Connecticut. We had a great call remembering good old times at Longacres and some of the other girls (and boy) that Beth knew at Longacres. It is quite heart warming to hear from girls who had such good experiences at Longacres long ago and who remember us still. After I hung up the phone, I noticed a tear of happiness rolling down my cheek!

Tom "feeling warm and happy" Kranz

May 23:

Hi Everyone!

We had a busy weekend managing a couple of sports events but we are back at Longacres working hard getting ready for our first horse show of the 2005 season. Tovah and Alex did a great job cleaning up all the jumps. We'll try to post a picture tomorrow. The jumps are all lined up together outside the barn where we cleaned and painted them and they like kind of like a forrest of white stands, brick panels, and colored rails!

But the best news is about how nicely our new thoroughbred, Horatio, is coming in his conditioning and training. I'm not sure how much I have told you before. Horatio is a 6 year old gelding that was raced briefly - he was SLOW! He won a total of $92.50 in his short racing career. But that slow and steady temperament makes him a great hunter prospect. He has spent the past two years as a backyard pet with little training or riding of any kind. And he is very thin. He spent the winter on a farm with a poor pasture and lost quite a bit of weight. But when Meghan went to look at him for the first time, she saw through his matted winter coat and hips and ribs showing. She saw the kind, affectionate Horatio personality. And she guessed that he would be very trainable once we cleaned him up and fed him well.

Tovah has been riding Horatio for training only a few days and she totally agrees that he has great promise! He has never been jumped. Tovah did not know that and trotted him up to a cross rail the other day. He stopped once to look at it. Then he went right over it and the third try he actually picked up his knees and jumped it nicely. Today, about his third day of training, he is jumping little verticals. And on nice pasture grass and lots of feed he is gaining weight before our very eyes. He may still be a bit thin when you all get here, but he won't be skinny anymore. Pictures of Horatio coming soon!

- Tom

May 19:

Hello everyone!

It seems like riding camp is really in session today. Tom taught Tovah and Alex a video lesson at 11:00 this morning, just like it was the middle of the summer. Tovah, Alex, and Meghan then drove to a neighboring town to try out several new horses and they all LIKED one of them! (More soon!)

This evening we went to Pasquale's restaurant for pizza and ran into Jeremy Green and one of the horse show judges from last summer. Then we came home and watched video's of today's lesson with Tovah, Alex, Meghan, Uncle Billy, and me. Slow motion of Quantum Leaps and all the usual stuff we do during the summer!

Many of the jumps are washed off and some have fresh paint. The show ring fence is getting painted today and tomorrow. Horatio had his second jumping lesson and his first lesson crossing the little creek near the barn today. You are all going to like this horse's attitude.

PS - thanks to Shelley for her list of things Tom should be grateful for not happening when he hurt his little finger last week!

We're all going out of town for the weekend, but check back Monday night. We'll try to have lots more news and some new pictures posted.

May 18:

Tovah and Alex and Meghan got a lot done at the farm today! (me too!) The show ring fence got scraped and partially painted. All the jumps were taken out of the barn, cleaned, and set up for painting, A few jumps were moved to the show field for training. Wow! I'm tired even writing about it. AND, Alex and Tovah still found time to ride. (Wouldn't any red blooded Longacres rider?)

Best of all, Tovah rode Horatio for the second time, and he seemes to be a VERY fast learner about jumping. He is a green thoroughbred off the track and has never had any jumping. He is still thin from the winter, but has a great attitude and not a mean bone in his body. You guys are all going to like working with him!

May 17:

2PM: While Meghan, Tovah, and Alex are down at th barn getting things organized I am up at the office catching up on odds and ends. Right now I am making a copy of a video tape from last summer that Lauren ordered. I have watched Brianna having several good rides on Justin and just two seconds ago I had the PRIVILEGE of watching "Da Child" do one of the most graceful fall-offs on record. Remember the time at Hasty Hills, Shelley?? I can't wait to see Bri and Shelley riding at Longacres again this summer along with many returning riders from last year and the new girls we're looking forward to meeting for the first time.

- Tom

We're so grateful to long-time Longacres students and staff members, Tovah Abrams and Alex Millar, who are here as volunteers getting the barn open and setting up for our pre-season horse show! They want you all to know that when they turned Brownie, Quantum, Horatio, and Bobert out in pasture together this morning for the first time, the horses put on quite a show, galloping, jumping, twisting and playing together!!

Below: Alex, Meghan, and Tovah addressing horse show info packets

May 16:

And the contest is a tie! Bri and Emma each sent me "Pity Party" messages. They took different approaches, and both are great. Printed below. As you will see, Longacres riders do not hesitate to "lay it on" their fearless leader!

Check the May 12^th story to refresh yourself on what they are talking about.

Here is Emma's:

May 12^th:

New Contest! Win Tom's Pity-Party Award!

OK, here's the deal. Your sometimes fearless leader, Tom Kranz, got a boo-boo on his finger working at the barn yesterday. Meghan is away on a business trip for two days so there is no one around to feel sorry for me.

I was picking up branches that had been cut up with a chain saw and throwing them on the pickup truck. Most were small pine branches so I was casually reaching down and grabbing them. Mixed in was this one sneaky thorn apple tree branch. Now, I have been pricked before picking up small pricker bush branches where I have gone, "Ouch! Darn it." And gone right back to work.

In this incident we are talking serious, half inch long hard thorns sticking out of the branch camoflaged in color so they were nearly invisible. We are talking Tom reaching down carelessly and REALLY grabbing hold of this evil branch. With his bare hand. We are talking Tom's eyes suddenly opening as wide as saucers as he looked down at the thorn apple branch oddly stuck to his left hand.

I dropped the branch with an "A-a-a-a-a-RRRRGH!" We are talking a hole in a finger dripping bright red blood with an exquisite kind of pain that brought tears to a grown man's eyes! Well, enough of the gory details. The puncture wound - (some might say scarcely visible pin prick - even if I feel like it is a great gash) is closed up today, but it still hurts as I type this message.

SO - the CONTEST: First time we go into town or the mall this summer I will give the winner of the contest the "Tom's Pity Party Award" and $20 spending money. All you have to do is email me the best, most sympathetic, or clever "Poor Tom" message. Contest closes midnight Sunday and I will announce the winner in this space on Monday. If it is especially origional, we will post the winning message here. Use your imagination!!!!!!!!!!!

- Tom (suffering alone) Kranz

May 11^th:

More Good News!

For a while it looked as though only a few of last year's Longacres girls would be returning for 2005. We have some great new students coming and we're looking forward to getting to know them and introducing them to our nice Longacres horses. But it was going to be a very new group.

But as camp time gets closer more and more of last year's students and staff are having second thoughts and returning for at least part of the summer. The latest announcement is that Emma is coming from July 10 to 24^th as an assistant instructor. We are very interested in having Emma as one of our senior instructors in 2006 and this is going to give her some valuable on the job experience a year ahead of time! And just tonight, Jess Nash's dad called and said that we should save a space for Jess for the first two weeks, from June 26 to July 10^th. Along with Erika and Lillian working as instructors and Meghan and Julie running the dining room and the rest of the program, and Shelley and Brianna here for the full session, we are going to have lots of veteran Longacres riders here for the summer!

We still will especially dedicate ourselves to giving a great first year at Longacres to all our first time students. But that will be a lot easier and a lot more fun with so many fine girls from last year returning.

And New Horses!! Meghan has been out making long drives to look at new horses every other day or so. She is bringing Horatio in next Monday and hopes to have two other new horses to try out next week. One is a small bay mare that is very quiet and the other is a fascinating looking paint gelding that is a great mover. We hope they work out and join the Longacres herd!!

- More to come soon!

May 8^th:

Meghan spent part of her Sunday off driving around taking a second look at some of the new horses she is planning on bringing in to Longacres. Also, Barbie Glica who found Jenna for us (and for Shelley, "Da Child!"), is planning on sending a nice show horse to us to try out and offer for sale this summer.

BULLITEN!! The "Bush Monsters" have fewer dens to hide in. We have totally cut down the huge bush next to the show ring. It was kind of pretty there, but always managed to spook a few horses and make it a little harder to put in a smooth performance in the show ring. The bush is GONE! (And so is the pricker bush next to the pasture. I have been just going NUTS with my chain saw!) By the way, Shelley, Meghan tells me you have your very own chain saw? And that you did WHAT on Christmas day? Anyway, you know how much fun I'm having.

May 6^th:

Pony Frankie and good old Bobert are the early birds in the pasture and they are LOVING the fresh green grass! We put hay out for them last night - they didn't even look at it. Then we put some grain out - they couldn't be bothered to stop eating grass long enough to check out the grain. They did finally eat the grain sometime overnight.

By this afternoon, Frankie was lying down in the sun with his head and neck upright. At first he was grazing on grass this way, but slowly the warm sun got to him and he lowered his head so that his jaw was resting on the ground while he just moved his lips to nibble on a few luscious pieces of grass! He was very comical. Frankie looks wonderful. He has gained some weight since last summer. We are still planning to trade him for the new thoroughbred, Horatio, but it is now tempting to keep him the way he is looking.

Bobert looks very good and will look fat as a pig by the time any of you see him with all this spring grass!

May 3^rd:

More Great News!

Erika Attoma has been considering our offer to return this summer as a riding instructor for months. Finally, with much begging from Meghan and because her good friend Lillian is also returning, Erika has said "Yes!"

Between Meghan, Lillian, and Erika they have 17 years of experience at Longacres. This year's students will be well led and supported. And I chose those words carefully. At Longacres our staff don't so much supervise or take charge of our students. We like to think our staff offer good friendship, good leadership, and constructive support. Erika, Lillian, and Meghan are perfect for that.

For you new students, below is a picture of Erika on one of our most recently acquired horses, "Ginger".

May 2^nd:

I'll be heading over to Reboy's Farm Supply first thing in the morning to pick up fence repair supplies. The horse pasture is in pretty good shape but needs a few posts replaced and some of the electric fence wire patched. I have to do that tomorrow since Frankie is returning to the barn Wednesday or Thursday. That's what's keeping us busy this week at Longacres!

April 30^th:

Meghan and I keep trading "hats" in our work preparing for the summer. First one of us will work on fun things having to do with the horses, while the other does grundy things like picking up fallen tree branches and cleaning up the old junk pile near the dining hall. Then we switch. The past few days Meghan has been the one playing with horses. In addition to arranging to get "Horatio", she has looked at two more possible new horses, and bought a saddle and three new bridles at a used tack sale.

This morning I got the tractor out and finished the first mowing job on the show fields at the barn. I'll have to do this once a week for the next month while the grass is growing super fast. Some years I get to the mowing too late and the grass has clumps of hay spread around until July. But I got to it just in time this year and the show field and ring look like a golf green! Good thing, since Longacres will be hosting a series horse show on Memorial Day weekend long before most of you get here. We'll check in again with you on Monday!

April 26 very late:

I made the mistake of writing "horse vacation" yesterday. Here's Brianna's response:

April 26, late:

Meghan just got back at 9PM; looks like we own a "Horatio", 6 year old dark bay thoroughbred gelding just about 15.2 hands. Very pleasant horse to handle and very friendly and patient on cross ties. Loves mints!!!!!

He was NOT a fast race horse! Apparently his total earnings as a race horse on the track were $92.50! In two years! He is definitely green, but likes people and likes to please. He should learn fast about this hunter - jumper business! And YOU will be the ones to teach him this summer.

• Tom & Meghan
• PS: Horatio jumps after all! I just watched the video Meghan took of him trotting around his pasture with a quite inexperienced rider. Suddenly there was a little branch on the ground in the mud in front of him and just as sweet as can be he jumped it like he was in the X-rails show ring. Maybe he's a natural!

April 26 Update:

So Meghan is on her way back to the next town right now (7PM) to watch the new gelding being ridden and then to take that horse's owner over to look at Frankie. We love our Frankie pony, but he gets very feisty in the winter and it is hard to find him a suitable home during the non camp months. Besides, Longacres is short on bigger horses, especially after losing Lucky this winter.

Stay tuned - - - maybe we'll have a new horse by later this evening!

April 25 Update:

GREAT NEWS!

We're VERY VERY pleased to announce that Lillian Jacobs will be returning as our riding counselor and barn manager after three years of experience as a Longacres student! Lillian will be attending Clark University in Massachusetts this fall (majoring in International Affairs - Meghan! ) Here's a picture of Lillian with Meghan taken last summer - two of the most important people who will be working together to give ALL OF YOU a great 2005 horse vacation!

More good news! Brianna has been planning to return for her fifth season at Longacres for just the first two weeks, but she finds that she can now come for the full four week session. Brianna and Shelley will both be experienced Longacres students returning for the full four week session. We have quite a few new students joining us for the first time in 2005, and it will be much easier for us knowing that we have two girls who know all the Longacres horses as Bri and Shelley do!

And while speaking of staff, I can now also announce that Julie Bennett will be returning as chef for the third year in a row. Julie has been wonderful with our girls for the past two seasons and we're glad she can return.

2005 - the "Clean Up Year":

As our regulars know, we have been taking down some of the very old cabins no longer in use over the past few years. And some of the old lumber has lingered in junk piles! Meghan has put her foot down, and we are working hard to clean up many of these junky piles of spare lumber by the middle of June. Hope we finish before you get here. I will miss knowing that if I need an odd length 2 by 4 I can just head down to the junk pile, but Meghan is right - they have been an eyesore!

April 19 Update:

We're Baaaack!

Tom and Meghan returned to the farm in East Aurora this week after our annual late winter travels and work in Florida. There is much to tell you and I will be updating this column every day for the coming week with news.

We returned to the farm to find many, many trees down across the trails and in the woods because of a late season snow storm two weeks ago. I have already spent an afternoon out with the chain saw just so we could get in the barn driveway!

Already we are calling winter horse homes and arranging for the return dates for horses coming back and talking to families who want to send new horses to Longacres for training this summer.

Great Video to Get Better!

Check this picture:

February 24 Update:

Last minute instruction from Meghan; if you send in an enrollment check during the next four weeks while we are away from the office, please also call and leave a message on the answering machine or send us an email. We won't have a chance to open the mail until we get home next month, but we will be regularly checking the answer machine and email.

- Meghan

February 23 Update:

NOTE: Meghan and I will be working in Florida for the next month on promoting our popular boating book about the St Johns River. We will check our phone answering machine every couple of days and our email as often as possible. We will quickly get in touch with anyone who has questions about signing up for Longacres this year!

Hello to all our old friends AND new 2005 students. I want to share with you a nice message we got from Jess Nash today:

We are certainly going to miss some of our former students from the past few years like Jess who have other plans for 2005, but we're so glad that many of you are keeping in touch with Longacres and planning on coming back to visit or to be guest teachers for our new students!!!!! It adds great continuity to the 65 years of horse history that is Longacres!

February 13 Update:

We're spending part of this afternoon watching video of last summer as we get caught up making a video Lauren ordered and finding the tapes Nora wants. By coincidence, as I put the tape in, it was cued to Shelley jumping Jenna at Hasty Hills last summer. Going FAST! As she usually does! Shelley just sent me an email yesterday, where she typed about as fast as she rides.

Shelley says things are going well at home with Jenna. When the tape I'm watching was taken, Jenna was a horse here at Longacres for the summer for training. Shelley was one of our riders who got along the best with this great mare, and at the end of the summer, Shelley and her family bought Jenna and took her home to Maryland. Shelley and Jenna will both be returning to Longacres during the first session as the foundation of our "jumping team" for the first half of the summer!

Daily Rate for Old Timers!

Some of last year's assistant instructors will be visiting again this year for official short stays to act as "guest instructors". We'll welcome them as guests of Longacres. Other former students not able to return to Longacres for full sessions are also welcome to return for two to four day weekend visits and actually show with us at one of the shows. You can come and pay a pro-rated daily rate for these short visits. This program is only open to former Longacres students who already know the horses and how we do things.

February 10 Update:

February 7^th Update:

Hi guys! Sorry that we've been out of communication on the website for two weeks. It's been a busy time in the office at Longacres. Early in the year things were slow here - only a few students signed up early at the end of last year and in early January. But we did a lot of work updating the website and web pages and there is now quite a bit of new interest in Longacres just the past two weeks.

Longacres welcomes Kaylin L. from New Rochelle, NY. She's coming in at the beginning of the season for a couple of weeks. Kaylin, you'll be here when Brianna and Michelle come - I am sure that all of you will communicate before the season. I just got off the phone from talking with Penelope's mom (Suzanne). Penelope is 15 and is coming for most of the second session, including all of the exciting big shows in August. Penelope, you'll be here at the same time as Emily P. who is already signed up for that time. Penelope also has a friend who may come for part of that time.

We may have a bit of an international flavor to Longacres this summer. We've had inquiries and communications from Philippe and Laura, two french riders who live in Martinique in the Carribean. Also from "Horsey Gurl #1" and her friend in Canada! I hope these newcomers decide on a session at Longacres and help make us "LA International" for 2005.

Below: Various Links to other Longacres information

Above - On the Show Field with ECF show ribbons!

General information about the 2006 schedule and rates is now posted.