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Above: 2010 Senior riding Instructor, Alexa Riddle on Quantum at Erie County Fair

 

 

New Rotating “Fun Pictures” Album at this link: New March 28^th, 2010!

Check this month’s album of Meghan’s favorite pics at the above link. Check out this album of oversize pictures every few weeks as we rotate new pics! We will change them often.

 

“New” sessions added to Schedule:

Check out our updated schedule page. We have added some new listings which give you additional options for scheduling a 2010 summer session at Longacres. Some of the changes reflect the fact that each year more moms are coming to Longacres with their daughters in sessions other than the traditional “mother – daughter week”. The updated schedule makes it clear that is OK. We are also opening that June 21 to 26^th week to all ages, so that you could come that week and the following session for a three week stay, etc. Traditional Camp weeks from June 27 to August 21 will still be for kids only.

 

Our Schedule Page has always explained that you could combine various June weeks for a longer session. The Updated page makes that more clear. NOTE: Lazy Days week will be full very soon. Also the June 7^th to 12^th week will be full very soon.

 

 

 

Tuesday, May 11^th Update

The Vexing Saga of Sha-Bang

Vexing –

vex  (vks)

tr.v. vexed, vex·ing, vex·es

1. To annoy, as with petty importunities; bother. See Synonyms at annoy.

2. To cause perplexity in; puzzle.

3. To bring distress or suffering to; plague or afflict.

4. To debate or discuss (a question, for example) at length.

5. To toss about or shake up.

 

Especially #’s 2, 3, and 4! We find Sha-Bang’s ongoing issues with soundness vexing, that’s for sure. First time Longacres students can see what Sha-Bang looked like in his good times by going to our “Meet the Horses” page, where there are many pictures of him taken up through the summer before last. And one of the most popular Longacres Youtube video’s of all time shows Jen riding Sha-Bang to 3^rd place in the high Derby at Longacres.

 

SHa-Bang returned to Longacres from his winter home last June looking very good. But during one of his first days turned out in our pasture he nicked himself somehow and had a soft tissue injury to a leg. He was never very lame, but just off enough so we didn’t feel it was right to try to use him in lessons. We tried giving him complete rest, and we tried giving him light but regular work to muscle him up and work out the unsoundness. He was always plenty willing to go and eager to jump when we tried a few small ones to test his condition. It seemed like he didn’t mind anything, but the lameness was always there just a little bit. Vexing. Turn him out to pasture, and he ran and played like there was nothing wrong. But mostly we kept him quiet with stall rest.

 

At the end of last summer, after getting no use at all from Sha-Bang that wasn’t related to testing him or conditioning him, we were lucky to find him a good winter home with Tara, who was interested in the challenge of trying to care for and condition this wonderful horse. (Pretty much everywhere he’s been, people say that Sha-Bang is the calmest best tempered thoroughbred they’ve ever handled on the ground and in the barn!) Tara did what we’ve done, giving him lots of rest over the winter, and then light work. He seemed to be a little better. Then, wouldn’t ya know it, he got a bad cut in pasture and now had a totally unrelated injury that took weeks to heal! Finally, when that was healed just about a month ago, Sha-Bang had a chance to get some work again. And for a while he seemed just fine, almost good as new. Then he seemed noticeably “off” again. Was it the old injury? Was it the more recent injury? Vexing.

 

Last night Meghan and I drove to Springville to watch Sha-Bang under saddle and being jogged. He looks very good. You can tell if you look closely and the rider can feel that he’s not 100%, but he looks pretty good. (And his condition is great – he’s been well fed and cared for this winter!) You can see some pictures we took last night at this link. And there is a Youtube video of him being lightly ridden and jogged at this link. (I don’t know which will entertain you most: watching Sha-Bang jog and trying to figure which leg is hurt and how noticeable, or watching old tom trying to run fast enough so that Sha-Bang has a free rein while he is jogging! I can just imagine the joking on “Valdemort” at my expense – chuckle, chuckle.) So what do we do now? We could bring him back to Longacres and give him the same light exercise routine he had here all last summer and see how much progress he makes. Or we could leave him with Tara for a whole additional year to see if another year’s rest and light work bring him back 100%. Or we could leave him with Tara a few more months and then re-evaluate his condition late in July and perhaps bring him back to Longacres for a visit in August. Maybe we’ll do that, maybe not. Vexing.

 

In case you were wondering, we’ve been hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, and figuring Sha-Bang would be out of commission again this summer was part of the calculus in figuring how many new horses to buy and lease this summer.

 

Monday, May 10^th Update:

Happy Birthday to “Colorado Katie”!

We’ve all had a busy day on another nice spring day for work on the farm.

 

Meghan has recovered very well from her foot surgery. She still gets sore and her foot swells if she’s standing up on it for too many hours a day, but she’s doing everything she normally does and feels confident that her timing of the surgery was good as far as being ready for the 2010 camp season goes. She’s driving around shopping, driving to see horses, and has started her summer season late night work sessions. Meghan is so busy on the phone and answering questions from people working around the farm during the day that she often works very late at night in the office when she won’t be interrupted. She was up until about 1:30 last night, but she was very cheerful this morning, since she says she got LOTS of things organized. Meghan loves to have “lists” in her planner of EVERYTHING that needs to be done and exactly who will do the job and when it will get done. All the rest of us at Longacres better be ready to quick march now that Meghan has her work lists updated!

 

I spent part of my day getting the refrigerators and freezer running in the dining hall and turning on the hot water heater. There are always little glitches to overcome, but I think everything is working properly now. The second half of my day included more mowing (what’s new?), and quite a bit of work out on the horse trails through the woods. I had a nice break for a while early this afternoon when I stopped the tractor near the horse pasture and just sat watching Whitley and Neek-o sleeping in the sun in the grass. Neek-o lay flat down on his side much of the time and you can barely see him in the grass in the pictures at this link. I also got to see snapping turtles sunning themselves in the shallow water at the edge of the frog pond.

 

Sunday, 10 PM Update:

Here’s a link to an article in the New York Times this weekend about Facebook privacy. Recommended reading! The link might not work if you haven’t signed in for a free registration with the Times. It talks about issues with privacy and the problem of future employers perhaps finding stuff you posted in the past and now wish you hadn’t.

 

And below is part of a message from Kellie H. in Texas. I LIKE it, Kellie!

Tom, I know you HATE Facebook, so

I think every time I say ...Facebook, I shouldn't say it, but something else. Like saying "he who should not be named" instead of Voldemort *gasp*. So maybe,, instead of saying Facebook, say 'that social networking site that should not be named'. Or something like that. It would be funny. :)

 

Actually, I like the idea of using the word “Voldemort” as a synonym for “that social networking site that should not be named”! It gives a nice sense of the foreboding and worry I have about the careless use of the “Voldemort” site. So I do understand that many of you enjoy and find “Voldemort” useful, but at least consider some of the risks that may come back to haunt you years from now.

 

Good Horsie!

Neek-o, who was a little full of himself this morning, was back to his normal good self after a day out in pasture with Whitley. Amanda worked with him on the longe line near the barn and again in the sand ring this evening and he was well behaved.

 

Pictures

Check this link for some recent pictures. There are a batch that Emily sent in from her birthday get together with Alexa last week. And a few from around the barn this afternoon while I was mowing (and mowing and mowing and mowing!). I had wonderful company for the hour and a half I spent in the tractor around the barn area from four or five lively little barn swallows that swooped and dove around me, sometimes almost under the tractor while it was moving! The mower stirs up all kinds of little insects as it cuts through the grass, and the barn swallows have a moving feast as they pick off the bugs kicked up by the tractor.

 

Sunday, 1:30 PM Update:

More Great Rounds on Quantum!

Our regular readers know that one of our best horses, Quantum, was a little cautious about jumping in some of his lessons last month and stopped a few times. We borrowed him back last weekend and had Bethany ride him in a show to make sure nothing bad was going on. As we posted a few days ago, he was great, winning two out of three of his jumper classes. I feel even better about Quantum this morning after getting an email from Emily L, his winter rider with the following links to a couple of video clips of “Q” in a lesson with her the other day. Check out the clean lead changes and good spots for jumping at all the fences. Just about as nice as “Rumba” in the clip posted below, huh?!? Nice job, Emily! We are going to have a great group of horses to play with at Longacres this summer!!!!!!!!

Quantum first round

Quantum & Emily second round

 

Sunday, May 9^th, 1PM Update:

“Winter” Returns!

We’ve been spoiled this spring with remarkably mild weather for a long time. There hasn’t been any measurable snow since February 28^th (until today! – though today’s was not “measurable”), which is almost unheard of in snowy western New York. We got lots of outside work done on the farm during March and April, let alone the first part of this month. So I guess we shouldn’t complain too much about winter coat weather here last night and today. Amanda has been coming to work and painting in summer shirts all week, so it was jarring to walk into the barn an hour ago to see her cleaning bridles in the tack room with a winter hat and coat.

 

The horses sure noticed the cold and windy conditions this morning also! Normally calm and cooperative “Neek-o” suddenly jumped in the cross ties breaking a rope, and he galloped around the pasture for half an hour when he was turned out this morning. Normal behavior for a six year old in suddenly much colder and windy weather after being cooped up in his stall for 24 hours during yesterday’s storm. Check this link for a picture of Neek-o and Whitley in the pasture an hour ago when they heard us pull up in the car and ran over to say “hello” at a gate, almost as if they were sorry for being so boisterous ealier today! We’ve been giving the new horses ground work all week and had planned to ride them today, but with the very fresh conditions, we may wait until tomorrow to mount up.

 

Want to See a Great Hunter Round?

Check this link for a YouTube clip sent to us by former Longacres student Nancy D. The horse in the clip is the well known hunter, Rumba, and the jumping round was put in at the Kentucky Horse park last summer where the judges gave Rumba a perfect score. Nancy really liked this round – hard not to when it is near perfection. In addition to being a former Longacres rider some years ago, Nancy is now a horse show judge herself and is coming up from the New Jersey area to judge one of the rings at one of our shows this summer.

 

 

Sunday, May 9^th Update:

Thanks, Alexa!

Meghan sends out her biggest thanks and greeting today to Alexa, who scored “HUGE” brownie points by wishing Meghan a “Happy Mothers Day” since Meghan is sort of your mom during camp time (a young mom!). Way to go, Alexa!

 

It has been lightly snowing for much of the morning here at Longacres – nothing really on the ground to show for it. Come back soon, spring!

 

Saturday, may 8^th Update:

Rare May Wind Storm – Nature’s Forest Safety Worker

Longacres and much of western New York is experiencing an unusual May high wind event today and tonight with strong gale to near tropical storm force winds. We expect to have some damage to repair when the wind finally calms down tomorrow. But there is a benefit, as is so often the case with natural events.

 

The forest is constantly aging and changing, with branches high in the trees rotting or breaking off. Sometimes those branches or weak trees get caught against one another high up and are dangerous. We constantly try to keep alert for dangerous trees or deadfalls (dead or weak branches high in the trees that can fall unexpectedly). We have a lot of chain saws and do routine cutting when we find something dangerous. But without nature’s help, we would never find all the weak trees and a summer thunderstorm would send lots of dangerous branches tumbling to the trails below. To be completely safe from this hazard, we’d have to cut thousands of trees and do all our riding and trail walking in wide, treeless fields and meadows. That’s a sacrifice we’re just not willing to make. The woods are a beautiful place to spend time when you’re here during the summer.

 

Fortunately, today’s storm will do lots of our tree work for us. If there’s a branch or treetop out in the woods that was weak and about ready to fall, it will have been blown down by tomorrow morning! There is still the risk that some tree broken or weakened by this storm will fall in the future, but on balance, nature is taking care of a problem and the trees in the forest will be stronger and healthier than before this event. Check this link later tonight for a video clip of the high winds at Longacres this afternoon!

 

7PM Update:

I’ll have another short wind storm video posted in a little while at this link showing the first bits of storm damage we’ve discovered during a limited inspection of the farm while the storm was still in full swing. One dead tree fell across our driveway and wiped out a section of split rail fence. More sad was our discovery of a 70’ tall shade tree blown down between the horse pasture and the big show field. It was one of the great old trees that gives such character to our big grass outside course and as far as we can tell, the tree was in perfect health and condition. The storm just snapped off the trunk right at the base during one of the high wind gusts. It fell right across the little path in the trees where we usually store the Butterfly Jump between shows to keep it out of the sun. If this storm had hit just a week later, the Butterfly would have been out of the barn and stored in the shade of this lane on the cross country course and we would have no more Butterfly jump1 Whew! Close one. (The tree is a big, thick one, and we should be able to salvage some great logs for new log jumps from the main trunk.)

 

Friday, May 7^th Update:

Now that most of the important infrastructure work for opening the farm for the season is well along, Meghan is ramping up her efforts to replace, refurbish, and add to our tack and horse care equipment as necessary. She’s spent most of the evening online ordering $tuff. Our pre-season staff will have fun opening packages over the next few weeks!

 

I spent much of today with a rake and shovel putting the finishing touches on the driveway work I did yesterday. (Try to remember when you check in at the office this summer to casually tell me, “Gee you guys have a smooth entrance drive.”

 

Whitley and Neek-o have quickly become great pasture buddies and are spending more hours out on the green grass every day. I pulled into the barn drive next to the pasture this evening just as Jessica went out to bring the horses in for evening feeding. In just a few days, they’ve figured out the daily routine, and cantered down to the gate when they heard Jessica coming.

 

We did get quite a few Facebook related messages today! Several of you wrote that you’ve either been the subject of negative online gossip or that you try to ration your online time for other reasons (but mostly with limited success). Alexa was especially funny about trying to “block herself from her Facebook account during finals! I also had a long and very thoughtful message from a parent commenting on the good things about having a Longacres “community” online on Facebook. Some interesting points. Don’t worry guys, we know when we’re up against something too established to defeat. Some (many?) of you barely use e-mail at all anymore, doing all your online communication on social networking sites. One of you apparently maintains an email account ONLY for communicating with us and her mother! So, at least permit us old fashioned carmudgeons at Longacres to ask you to take a few minutes now and then to think about what you post on Facebook and to review your “friends” list and your privacy settings regularly.

 

By the way, how many of your families are now iPad owners? I asked a few weeks ago, and Sophie L. was the first one to respond that her dad had one already. Alexa’s dad, Steve, was VERY interested, but like me, was struggling to come up with a good reason to buy one. Steve, let’s make this into a little contest; I know you and I are both aching to have this interesting toy, so I offer a challenge to see which of us can hold out the longest before we succumb to temptation! (Alexa, you be the judge and let me know if your dad weakens before I do.)

 

Thursday, May 6^th, 8PM Update – misc:

Anna Pictures

Check this link for some pictures Meghan took this afternoon of Anna, the Russian-Arab mare that we’re getting as a “send your horse to camp” horse from late June through the end of the summer. Meghan liked the horse’s personality when she met her this afternoon and she did fine over small jumps. We think she will fit in well at Longacres as one of 8 or 9 new horses we’re buying, leasing, or training in addition to the horses Longacres owns already. LOTS of horses this summer!

 

Yahoo!

Bravo and Yahoo to Joel who finished repairing winter leaks and turning on the water to the dining hall and the showers all in one day. Some years it takes a week, so Joel did great work today (and was lucky!). He finished repairing electric lines blown down during winter storms yesterday (after more than a day’s work!), so we now have fully functional water and electricity in all parts of the farm a week and a half before Shelly arrives as our first live in Longacres rider of the season. It’s good to have it done ahead, since sometimes we spring a leak or have other problems the first few days our seasonal utilities are on!

 

Bravo also to Tom, for finishing the grading and new gravel on the office driveway. We improved the barn driveway two years ago and we’ve been eager to get the same upgrade done to the office road. First impressions, ya know!

 

Facebook Sux, Round Two:

I have written in this space before about some of my concerns over Facebook. What I don’t like is the scattergun approach to “communication” that is one of the foundations of the Facebook (and most online social networking) experience. People get careless about what they say in public when they’re sitting at their computer or using a smartphone to post on Facebook. At Longacres we believe in direct person to person communication as much as possible. We much prefer getting an email from someone who has taken the time to tailor what they have to say especially for us. (“I say”, as I sit here typing something for the Blog that will be read by hundreds of you! Don’t ask me to be consistent!)

 

Earlier this year a promising student lost a chance for a job here because they were careless about what they posted on Facebook. Not long after that we cancelled our Facebook account and now refuse to take part in that world. We understand that it can be fun and useful for many people. It can also be destructive. Parents should discuss online social networking guidelines and rules for children responsible enough to take part. Parents should continue to monitor their children’s online communication of all kinds. As for Meghan and I, we have opted out of that world, but we do love to hear from all of you when you want to write something in an email that is meant for us.

 

What got me going again today about Facebook was getting an email (good!) from a student who I like very much. But it said in part, “So on Facebook most of the camp girls and I are discussing names for the new horses. We don't like Whitley.”

 

I have several comments on that message.

 

1) The first is that I have a bias against any gossip that originated on Facebook. I’m sorry if I offend many of our readers who are Facebook regulars, but I just don’t want to hear what “everyone on Facebook” thinks. I want to hear what YOU think. We’re always pleased to hear suggestions from any of our friends and students for horse names, or for anything else at Longacres. Sometimes we’ll agree with you and take your suggestions, and sometimes we won’t. But we will always welcome hearing from you as an individual. We will rarely welcome hearing what “everyone on Facebook” is saying.

 

2) In this particular case, Meghan spent hundreds of hours this spring finding, investigating, and negotiating to purchase new horses for Longacres. For many of those hours she was working in great discomfort recovering from surgery. I don’t like all the names she picks for new horses myself, but I sure do think that she has earned the right to name one or two of them if she wants! So deal with it. And she does have more new horses coming and I think we can arrange at least one or two of them to be named by a group of you when you are at Longacres this summer (but not on Facebook! HAHAHA)

 

3) A modest proposal: There is a solution for those of you who feel really strongly that you’d like to name a new horse at Longacres. If you’d like to make a donation to Longacres and offer to pay for one of the new horses, we will GLADLY let you name the horse!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Vacancies Going Fast

This has been a busy week, with nearly ten people about to sign up for various sessions in June and during Lazy Days. I’m not sure that we’ll fill every last spot this year, but it’s going to be pretty close! We just heard from two girls from Louisiana who are jumper riders and interested in one of the June Clinic weeks.

 

Thursday, May 6^th Update:

Newborn!

Check this link for a small cell phone video of a foal born last night at Frank’s farm. Frank does most of our horse vanning and runs a boarding and training stable, as well. The foal is only a few hours old in this video! Someone let me know if the link doesn’t work. (NOTE: I keep trying new video formats – it hasn’t worked yet today, but I’m trying again now!)

 

Meghan feels good after her “day off”, though when I asked her if she felt “all rested up”, she hesitated a long moment! She will not be fully rested now until fall. But she is doing very well in her recovery from foot surgery. She’s walking around in normal sneakers and driving more. She’s off on an expedition this afternoon to look at “Anna”, a Russian – Arab mare that we plan to take in on lease for the summer. If all goes as planned, Anna will arrive in late June for the rest of the summer.

 

Mt day includes checking out some of the dining hall plumbing for leaks, and working on spreading more new driveway gravel on some of our roads.

 

Wednesday, May 5^th Update:

Ssssssshh – Meghan Resting Today

She had to be dragged kicking and screaming away from her work-a-holic ways to take the day off today, but when I finally got her to agree to a day off, Meghan was very cheerful this morning. She started her day with a fancy breakfast at the “Roycroft” in town, then a short drive in the hills near Longacres, and now a long mid-morning nap. I’m planning to take her to an early afternoon movie (which we’ll probably sleep through!), then a light supper out and an early bedtime. I am sure she’ll then dive head long into a 14 hour work day tomorrow!

 

Amanda and Jessica are working around the barn, giving the horses some ground work training, doing some painting and landscaping, and helping the farrier do some shoeing. Joel will be working on turning on the water to the dining hall and showers this evening so that Shelly will have facilities when she gets here in a week and a half as our first live-in staff of the season.

 

The weather turns worse tonight, and will be cooling with some rain and possibly snow on Saturday, so we’re trying to really enjoy the great conditions today!

 

I lost and then found again a few pics I took yesterday and am posting them at this link.

 

Tuesday, Late Evening Update:

Meghan’s Day Off Tomorrow!

We are making lots of great progress opening the farm for the season. Meghan is also making very good progress recovering from her foot surgery now six weeks ago. Two days ago she even started driving again, although just down to the barn and back for another week or so. But she has been working too hard, the last 14 days straight without a real break. So I am closing the office door tomorrow and letting all our great staff handle everything that comes up while Meghan takes a 24 hour day off. It might be her last one until intercession break at the end of July! If anyone really needs anything, call or email and I’ll try to help you, but “the Boss” is on “stall rest” for the day tomorrow!!!!!!!

 

Check this link for one more small album of pictures from this afternoon.

 

Tuesday, May 4^th Update:

More Cool Horse Pictures!

Check this link for pictures of Whitley and Ni-co/Griffith (some argument about his new name, but Meghan will prevail!). It’s been a beautiful day at Longacres after a quick early morning shower. Bright sun, puffy clouds, a brisk breeze, perfect temperature for work around the farm and for the horses. Jessica, Meghan, and Amanda all spent much of the day at the barn. Danielle started work getting the kitchen and dining hall ready. She will probably be doing the food service for dinner, as well as helping at horse shows. Pretty much Cheryl’s job for the previous 3 years. (Cheryl has moved to England, and we miss her, but it appears that Danielle will be a worthy replacement.)

 

We got another truck load of sand for the sand ring and I spread it with our own tractor. We may need just a little more on a few thin spots, but it is shaping up to be a very nice ring. First horse on the new sand ring was Griffith, as Amanda was doing ground work with him getting him accustomed to all the different parts of the Longacres riding area. He was just being lead, but it looked like the footing will be very good.

 

We had some fun after walking the horses all around their new pasture so they would know the fence lines and not run into anything if they get excited. We turned them out together for the first time and were hoping they would put on a show. At first, they were duds, just munching on the delicious spring grass. But then Griffith challenged Whitley to a race around the pasture for a couple of laps. I was there with the video camera, and I’ll post the link to a YouTube here in an hour or so. Horses sure are lovely animals when they run free and play on a sunny day like today!

 

We also had a delivery of the first part of our new castle jump. We won’t show you any pictures for a couple of weeks, since the jumps need paint to look their best. But we are pleased with the way it’s going to look!

 

And on a Personal Note – Meghan Hates me!

Not really, but she says so. I wrote in this blog a few weeks ago that I was careless and gained a few pounds earlier this spring. Not awful, but I feel it as I try to work around the farm. So I cut out cookies and chocolate and stocked up on broccoli and other vegetables. I’m pleased to report good progress – down over 7 pounds this month from my “worst” last month. Which is why Meghan says, “I hate you – losing weight is SO EASY for you, Tom!”

 

Well, no, it’s not. There’s nothing complicated about it, but it is sure not easy, as some of you well know! Especially for someone like me who LOVES cookies, ice cream, and CHOCOLATE! (Right, Peyton?) And that’s what will eventually defeat me. I’ll lose what I have to on willpower over the next month to be in decent shape by the time camp opens, but I have no illusions that it will be permanent. By the middle of next winter, I will be enjoying my beloved ice cream drinks and more than occasional chocolate chip cookies, and “bulking up” for the winter holiday season.

 

No More Netflix or other Movies for Meghan and I until Next Fall

We do enjoy movies and often watch a DVD or TV movie together in the evening after finishing chores. But not at this time of year or during our busy season in the summer. Not that we don’t try sometimes! As we have this week. We got an old movie from Netflix last week and we’ve tried to watch it five different times, both at home and in the RV while we were at the horse show with Bethany and Quantum over the weekend. I don’t think either of us made it more than ten minutes into the movie before falling sound asleep on any of the five tries! Last night I know that I didn’t even stay awake long enough to read the opening credits! That’s what happens when you run a business that keeps you busy outside two thirds of the day and in the office for two thirds of the day.

 

“Oh”, you say, “Isn’t that four thirds?”

 

Well, yes, that’s exactly the problem! So tell us if there are any good movies out this summer, and we’ll try to catch them in the fall when we finally slow down to a human work schedule!

 

Be well! (and watch a movie or two for us!)

 

Monday, May 3^rd, 9PM Update:

Sorry, no more pictures tonight. Griffith was supposed to arrive early while it was still light out, but the horse van was delayed on the trip to Ohio, so he is not here yet. We will post another album of pictures including him tomorrow.

 

Jumper Rider Quiz:

The YouTube video of Quantum winning one of his classes yesterday is now posted, and you can watch it in HD if you click on that button. Bethany and Quantum were fast, about three seconds faster than the next best horse. Fast enough to win. (although we will be writing a Blog post about the phrase “good enough” in the coming days)

 

Here’s the quiz, and it should be fun for those of you interested in jumper riding and course design. (You take it too, Bethany!) Watch Bethany ride the jump-off course, and estimate between each fence if it is possible to save any more time than Bethany did. Some places she did about as well as was humanly and “equinely” possible; some places time was left on the table. Bethany and I have already watched it together on video and agree on some of the possibilities. Then send me an email telling me exactly how much time might be saved and exactly where and how much time would be saved in each spot. Bethany’s actual time in this jump-off round was about 28.2 seconds. In your estimates, figure that Bethany has ridden the horse a bit more and they know each other. Figure aggressive, but reasonable riding, not hanging on by the ragged edge craziness! In a couple of days, I’ll post my opinion.

 

Monday, May 3^rd, 4PM Update:

Quantum, the back story:

We would always write a big headline if one of our horses wins two out of three jumper classes at a nice show. But we felt especially proud and glad yesterday to have Quantum do so well. He’s been leased out all winter with a good teenage rider who has taken great care of him. He looked wonderful yesterday. But she has told us recently that he has refused some jumps when she was doing higher jumping lessons. That’s not like Quantum, who has always been, if anything, too bold. This has happened quite recently, and we were concerned that at 18 years old, perhaps age was catching up to him. Or perhaps he was having a minor soundness issue. We know he can’t go on forever, but since he had probably the best year in his whole career last summer, we certainly hoped that he would continue doing well for several more summers.

 

That’s why we made the arrangements to take him to a show almost a month before our season begins with Bethany this past weekend. Thanks to Bethany, who we have known for a long time, even though this will be her first year actually working at Longacres. She was the right rider for this situation, with hundreds of jumper classes and many wins in her young career.

 

Thanks also to David Kendrick and Kendrick Show Stables for putting our horses up the night before the show, letting us practice over his nice jumps, and giving us some useful suggestions. Anyone looking for clinics or a place to keep a horse in the Hornell, NY area, you could not go wrong talking with David!

 

So this is the background info on why we went horse showing this weekend. And you can see why we were so excited to have Quantum do as well as ever. We think he has just been being careful with his rider when they were jumping bigger fences. Once we got him tuned up and in his showing frame of mind, he was unstoppable. We put him in a low hunter class in the morning just to give Bethany some practice time on how he would respond in a show ring. Then he did pull a rail in the jump-off in his first lower jumper class. Not sure if Bethany needed to support more, or if he just hung a hoof over the fence. But Bethany and Quantum figured each other out during that class, and you could just see the difference in how they communicated in the next jumper class, which Quantum won convincingly. Then we moved up to the higher jumper class, where Quantum and Bethany were even better, tripping the timers at 2 seconds faster than over the same course at a lower height! Quantum was “on”, and it was tempting to enter him in another high jumper class, and the high Gambler’s choice (all part of the division from the class we won). But it is early in the season and I don’t feel “Q” is in showing condition yet, so we gritted our teeth and scratched the other classes, choosing to end the day on a great note!

 

I should have the YouTube of that last winning ride posted in an hour. I’ll put the link here when it is up. There is one jump missing in the video due to a camera glitch – we did NOT edit out a goof, HAHAHA!

 

Many Pictures to Come!

I’ll post a small album of pictures from around the farm at this link soon. They’re just shots from the trails and showing some of the work projects on our To Do list. The real interesting pictures will come later this evening after Meghan gets back from the barn. Murphy (maybe being renamed “Whitley”) arrived at noon, and the new pony is coming in about an hour. There should be plenty of pictures at this link later this evening!

 

Most of the plain white schooling jump stands are out on the barn porch now being painted. The fancy show jumps will get touched up when they’re brought out later in the month. And we got the sand ring graded today. We need just a little more sand to finish it off.

 

Sunday, May 2^nd 11PM Update:

Bethany Scarlata & “Quantum Leap” Win two out of three jumper classes at our first 2010 Show Outing!!!

 

(In one class, Bethany was 1^st & 2^nd on Quantum and her own horse, “Holly Would”)

 

We’re pretty tired after a long drive to the Alfred University spring horse show and back, but what an experience! You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for a full write up, but we’ll have lots of stories to tell then. Check sometime tomorrow at this link for a bunch of pictures, and at this link for a video.

 

Thanks to Quantum’s winter home rider, Emily, for the great care she has given to our horse keeping him in condition for this kind of performance!

 

AND, remember that two other new horses are arriving at Longacres tomorrow – pictures to come!

 

Saturday, May 1^st Update:

Happy Birthday, Emily (tomorrow)!

Busy, busy here, answering emails and phone calls, starting to open and clean the dining hall, more tree & electric line work for Joel, and doing landscaping around the new sand ring extension.

 

Speaking of the work on our sand ring, I got a little “wake up” yesterday about what it means to put in a “Real Sand Ring”! We take morning drives often past neighboring horse farms just to enjoy the scene, as well as to get ideas from how other farms do things. Well, one of the farms we drive by is Deer Ridge Farms, a VERY nice private family horse farm. They are renovating their sand ring this spring. Boy, oh boy, are they renovating it!

 

They have “Equestrian services international” there with all kinds of special equipment digging up the old ring, installing proper drainage, a sub base of fabric, another foundation layer of limestone for drainage, and then processed sand. This is the kind of farm that does things the right way, regardless of cost. We can only wish we had those resources. Our ring will be nice this year, but it takes us a couple of years of gradual improvements to accomplish even close to what Deer Ridge Farms can do in a week!

 

Sand Ring envy.

 

Packing right now and heading out to the horse show. Hope to see some of you at Alfred tomorrow afternoon after 2PM. Wish Bethany luck!

 

Friday, April 30^th Update:

WELCOME to Rachel G. who is signing up for the first two weeks of July, from June 27 to July 11^th. She is coming all the way from Hawaii to “jump that Butterfly jump!” Rachel will be having her birthday while she is at Longacres. She is 12 years old and has her own horse at home in Hawaii. With rachel’s enrollment, we are now full for July, and have only the one August space due to a change in plans – that may actually be gone by tonight, since we’re in touch with someone on the wait list. We now only have space during the pre-camp clinics in June and a few spaces left during Lazy Days in August.

 

We got hay delivered today and everything is ready for the horses to arrive on Monday! Stalls are bedded down, water buckets full, all done.

 

Our featured article today is an essay that Petra wrote about how riding is a REAL sport. Hope you enjoy it. Can’t wait to see you in August, Petra!

 

“Hi Tom and Meghan.

I finally finished the final draft. It totals up at 1,466 words.......and it contains a couple exxagerations (only by a couple hundred pounds) about diesel's size.

Here it is!!

p.s. I'm sorry to hear about Kingsley! :(

 

Petra Sobotova

Persuasive Essay

                                                “The Ultimate Test of Athleticism”

            Am I an athlete, or does my horse do all the work?

            My horse clearly has a job. He does do all the work, but he only does all of his work; in no way does he do my job. I am absolutely an athlete. My job, like that of all equestrian athletes, is to make a one thousand five hundred pound animal do his job. It is not always easy to make a ton of pure bone and muscle with a brain of its own jump over a fence taller, wider, and more imposing than his 6 foot frame. It takes a lot of leg strength to make a green horse cross over with a leg yield, making him trot sideways by “pushing” him with your leg. It is not easy to collect a high-strung thoroughbred’s canter at a split seconds notice, or to make a lazy old school horse get four strides in a five stride line.

            Horseback riding is an intense sport that deserves to be taken just as seriously as all other sports.  In fact, riding takes just as much skill as football, soccer, basket ball, or cheerleading, so why doesn’t it get as much attention?  

            Sure, pleasure riding on an old, bombproof horse following a guide on a slow leisurely trail is not work. I am talking about the competitive world of horseback riding. I am talking about those of us who ride a crazy horse. Those of us who show or ride intensively know how much work horseback riding is. You may not know it, because part of our job is to make it look easy.

            In fact, that is what a rider is judged on in dressage. Not only does the rider have to make his horse do an advanced dance comprised of movements that are unnatural for the horse, he must make it look entirely effortless.

            For instance, the posting trot, (think a squat per second on a moving animal) which is second nature to every proficient rider, is so athletic that just posting for twenty minutes burns as many calories as running four miles. Imagine that without stirrups, the metal things you put your foot in and “stand” on. It is torture. Trust me, it makes your muscles so sore, but it really helps strengthen all of your body because it works not only the usual muscles used in horseback riding such as the shoulders, back, arms, hands, abdominals, thighs, and calves, but also the hip flexors and inner thigh muscles.

            And really, what muscles are used in football when not doing extra conditioning? Calves, thighs, shoulders, and arms.

            You know, when you ask someone what sports he is doing, you are really asking him to list all of the “physical activit[ies] requiring skill and physical prowess …of a competitive nature” he does. Golf fulfills these requirements. Cheerleading fulfills these requirements. Gymnastics fulfills this requirement. Football fulfills these requirements. Horseback riding fulfills these requirements just as much.

            Equitation, which means “horseback riding” in French, is the proper way to ride; it is the utilization of the correct posture that enables the horse to move as freely as possible while still letting the rider maintain proper control. Now doesn’t that sound complicated? It is, because it does require intense skill and prowess. When you are riding in a competition, the judge not only scores your horse’s movement, and the number of strides he takes in between jumps like in a hunter class, and your overall turn out; he also judges your equitation. He sees if your leg is strong enough to not swing back and forth with every stride, if you are maintaining subtle contact with the horse’s mouth, if you have a strong enough core to keep you from collapsing over the jumps.

            In jumpers, we have to control our horses while taking them through a course as fast as we can without making mistakes. In cross country, the horse’s and rider’s endurance is judged as they gallop over along course of large, dangerous obstacles. We as riders are constantly being judged on our athleticism.

            And athleticism it takes. If you don’t ride for a while, like a week or two, and then ride your horse, your legs will be loose, your back sore, and core weak. I try to balance my riding with working out twice a week just to increase my strength so I can train my horse, Poker Face, better.

             Poker is a sensitive seven year old American Oldenburg gelding. He is upset with me when I use my leg too much, or if my leg is loose and sliding back and forth. So in order to keep him from bucking, I must be in top physical shape. Also, he also loves to run. Fast. So, I just half-halt him, because if I just pulled in the reins, he would end up going faster.  As a rider, I need to be both physically and mentally prepared for whatever my horse does.

            For instance, I needed to be physically and mentally prepared when I was riding Diesel, a 2200 pound draft horse who measured six feet and two inches to the shoulder. We were just warming up, cantering in a large circle, when he decided he wanted to have his dinner, which was waiting for him in the barn, down the steep hill. I wasn’t prepared enough, so when he decided to turn around and run down the hill, I was dumbfounded. He turned his head, and ran towards the hill top, his lion-like mane whipping in my face. I yanked on the reins in my state of awe, yet he started going faster. My yanking angered him because the harsh bit we were using hurt his sensitive mouth. He started down the hill.  I could feel his huge hoofs sliding on the wet grass. He jumped off the grass and onto the rocky dirt road which goes up the hill.

             There was no stopping him now. I was scared. Not only for myself, but for him. What if he were to stumble down the steep, slippery hill? What if he landed on me? Luckily, the hill finally ended; meandering gently ahead of us was the path to the barn. We had made it down the hill alive. The end of that hill was like waking up from a nightmare; relief flooded into me. Diesel must have sensed how worried I had been, and he finally let me turn him around and walk him slowly back up the hill and into the ring. He had taught me a lesson. He had taught me to always be prepared, that horses can be unpredictable animals that cannot be commanded by a single human’s brute strength. To control a horse, you have to use your strength intelligently, almost convincing the horse to want to do what you are asking him. That is true in all sports. Brute strength is not enough; one must have an effective strategy.

            Since, factually, riding is just as demanding as any other sport; it deserves the respect and attention all other sports get. We, as riders, take pride in our horse, our equitation, and our accomplishments. We also take pride in our sport. Though, most of the time, riding is accepted as a sport, it does not receive the interest and attention that other, more conventional, sports such as football, basketball, baseball, soccer, or even cheerleading do. But, that isn’t really fair, because horseback riding is a sport for the toughest of athletes.

            Unfortunately, our friends at Sports Illustrated don’t take horseback riding very seriously. Horse racing gets some mention, though rarely in the magazines. On the website, it is mentioned 129th out of the one-hundred and thirty top news articles. Though, there are only a few areas that are involved in racing, mostly the East Coast, whereas there is horse showing and intense riding everywhere in the United States, and in pretty much every other country. Horseback riding deserves to be taken more seriously than that.

             Now, if you don’t believe that riding is intense, go to the barn nearest you, and ask to get a lesson. You will see how intense horseback riding really is. Of course, they will go easy on you, as a beginner at the barn, but I bet that you will still have sore legs the next day. Give it a try and you will say just how hard riding is; it is not just “the art of keeping a horse between you and the ground”, it is much more that that. Besides,  you will have probably enjoyed your ride, because as Winston Churchill  once said, “No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle”.

 

Thursday, April 29^th Update:

Back When They Made GOOD Canvas!

Do you know how cheesy they make many things today? Like those handy pop-up shelters we use at horse shows. One good wind squall and the canvas top is often ripped to pieces. But they are light and handy, so we tolerate the quality. Well, check this link. It is a picture of an old army tent that we use to cover the shavings for the horse stalls. We bought that tent and a dozen others like it army surplus right after the Second World War. It’s older than I am, and that’s pretty old! There are a few rips in the canvas and some patches. But as you can see in this picture, most of the fastenings and stitching look good as new after more than 65 years of hard use. Early in the history of Longacres we had eleven of these old army tents set up in “tent city” and half the camp slept in those tents. I was thinking about this while I was mowing the lawn in front of the barn this evening, so I stopped the tractor, hopped out, and snapped the pictures.

 

We’ve found a place to stay with the horses this weekend when we go help Bethany at the Alfred University horse show on Sunday afternoon. Our friend Dave Kendrick from Kendrick Show Stables is giving us some stalls and the use of his jumps for schooling the night before the show. Thanks, Dave! If any of you from western new York plan to try to meet us at the show, give us a call so we can hook up. Otherwise, wait for pictures Sunday night! We’re psyched for the first “Longacres Show Team” outing of the 2010 season!

 

And the Longacres 2010 season is really getting under way, since horses will be arriving at the barn on Monday afternoon. We’ll definitely plan pictures!

 

Jessica was busy painting jump standards and flower boxes today. Things are looking good around the barn. Joel was working on water pipes, pumps, and electric service to the cabins. All those little things you don’t think about when you’re planning your riding camp stay.

 

 

 

Wednesday, April 28^th 8PM Update:

We made it home to Longacres around dinner time. Had a bit of an adventure in Erie, PA getting lost on a construction detour and then running out of fuel in the RV! (My bad.) Fortunately, we were going down a slight hill when the engine quit and I was able to coast into the parking lot of a gas station. UNFORTUNATELY, I did not coast all the way to the diesel pump, and you do not push a 20,000 lb motor home that won’t run! I had to buy a rip-off price 2 gallon gas can and carry six cans of fuel from the pump to the RV and then work a bit to get it started. Commercial diesels do not like to start when they’ve run completely out of fuel. But I used to be a diesel mechanic among my other adventures in my youth, and I did have some starting ether with me, so we got going again.

 

We should probably travel more. It seems that every time we go out of town for a few days, one or more new students call to sign up. Meghan is on the phone right now with a possible new student coming all the way from Hawaii!

 

More tomorrow. We’ll let you know if we’re going to the show with Bethany on Sunday – sounds like the show is sold out of stalls, and we hate to go that far on a possibly rainy day with no stalls.

 

PS: Petra jumped 4’ yesterday! You ROCK, Petra!!

 

PSS: Lydia is “The Count Down Dude” – 64 days until she gets to Longacres – How about YOU????

 

Wednesday, April 28^th Update:

Good morning everyone – We’re just south of Pittsburgh headed on home this morning. We should be back at the farm after lunch. A small lunch, that is! Tom is struggling with sticking to his appropriate ration of cookies and ice cream treats this spring. He did pretty well over the winter and thought, “Hey, I’ve got it made. Now that it’s spring time I’ll be working outside burning lots more calories, and those few winter holiday season pounds I gained will just melt off.”

 

No dice. I know better than that, but we all tend to fool ourselves when it comes to matters of diet. Yes, it helps to be active, but there is no substitute for watching what you eat. I can work outside all morning with a chain saw cutting up trees, but if I go in and have a couple of “pick me up” cookies for a late morning snack, I net more calories than I burned doing all that work. No, when you get to my age, there’s just no way around it – if I care about being in half way decent shape for the summer, it takes sacrifice, pain, and suffering. “Goodbye” to those absolutely delectable Pepperidge Farm Milano Double Chocolate cookies. L L L I am comfortable with a bit of a spare tire around my middle at my age, but I don’t want to get as really out of shape as I was three or four years ago. I hit an all time high for me that winter of 185 pounds, which is a lot on a small framed 5’8” man. I threw out all the ice cream and cookies in the house and was very careful with my diet that winter and spring. I lost 27 pounds by the time the next camp season began. Yes, I gained some of it back, but I was able to stay under control and much closer to the low weight of that summer than to that 185 all time high. I’m still not near as chunky as I was a few years ago, but I have been careless the past month, taking it for granted that I’d be losing winter pounds as I worked outside around the farm. But the older we get, the harder it is to keep those pounds from sticking! I am redoubling my effort for the next month. I hope to drop six pounds by June 1^st. I’ll let you know how I do.

 

Bad form to talk about women’s weight. But I feel I have to pay tribute to Meghan, who works very hard staying in good condition. She was very worried that she would gain weight while she was recuperating from her foot surgery. Eight weeks with very little exercise and the temptation to have treats as a reward for putting up with the discomfort. I didn’t help when I felt sorry for her and brought her a Butterfinger Twister from Kone King now and then! But she has actually dropped weight since her foot operation. Bravo, Meghan!!!!

 

Tuesday, April 27^th Update:

“On the Road” & First Longacres 2010 Show Effort

Yep. Meghan and I are “On the Road Again”, if only for a few days. We’re out on a very quick trip to bring the RV home for the summer. We ended our long fall vacation in Florida back in November and stored the RV in Orlando for the winter, as we usually do. Most years we take several short winter vacations to Florida and stay in the RV as we enjoy the breaks from western New York winter. But somehow the time was never right to get away this year. Either the snow was great in Canada and we wanted to be home to go on snowmobiling trips, or it was too cold in Florida to be able to enjoy a getaway (often the case this cold winter!). So the RV just sat in storage all alone.

 

We flew down the other day and are on our way home. We’re traveling through the Virginia and West Virginia mountains today and we expect to be back at the farm sometime tomorrow afternoon. It’s been a pleasant break from the rush of spring maintenance around the farm for a few days.

 

First Show Sunday!

If all goes as planned, we hope to meet up with counselor Bethany this Sunday afternoon at the Alfred University spring horse show. We’ll be cheering her on and helping her when she needs horse holders between jumping classes. The jumpers begin at 2PM, and if any of you Longacres people from western New York want to make a drive and meet up with us Sunday, it can be the first informal “Longacres Show Team” effort of the year. Alfred is about an hour south of Rochester, putting the show within possible driving distance for several Longacres families. We’ll be sure to take plenty of pictures and some video.

 

SPEAKING OF SHOWS, many of you are probably getting out and doing some showing now that the weather is getting nice. Be sure to let us know how you’re doing and send some pictures. We have had some horse news via email from some of you the past week and we’ll catch up on it when we get home tomorrow night. There are some nice long reports. We’ll also be posting Petra’s passionate article about riding being a demanding sport. Petra worked very hard on her article defending riding as a strenuous sports activity and it’s a good read. I don’t have access to it on this computer while we’re traveling, but I will post it in the next two days.

 

Saturday, April 24^th Update:

A family currently signed up for the August 3 ½ week session is likely to have to change their summer plans. We now have an opening for that session. Let us know if you are interested.

 

“Happy Birthday” a day early to Staci!

 

 

Friday, April 23^rd Update:

Jazz Pics & More News

We have to keep reminding ourselves that none of our new horses are “for sure” until they are delivered to Longacres and passed their final checkups. But we really like the looks of Jazz and we hope you will also after checking the pictures at this link. We’ll post another link for YouTube videos in an hour or two.

 

Check this link for Jazz jumping. She “overjumps” in a good way – very willing and careful not to hit a jump. We like her style!

 

Check this link for a YouTube of Jazz doing flat work.

 

And here at this link are a few pictures taken around the farm today. We were all busy! Meghan got some office work done, but mostly the phone kept ringing and she was busy all day doing that kind of business. Meghan did have time to put captions on the “Jazz” pictures. Tom spent much of the day in the tractor and got almost all the grass on the farm mowed for the first cutting of the season. Joel finished repairing and testing the pasture and electric fence stuff so we’ll be ready for horses in two weeks. “Jack of All Trades Jessica” was busy painting flower stands for the jumps and getting ready to paint jump stands.

 

A Longacres “Welcome”

To Heidi S., a Longacres alumni from “a few” years ago, who is likely to come to a mother daughter session with her daughter, Elena, and to Vikki who has been interested in Lazy Days for a while and is now definitely signing up!

 

Thursday, April 22^nd Update:

You Know You’re a Farmer –

If at the end of the day you look down at your hands and see cuts and bruises but have no idea how they got there. That’s one of Meghan’s favorite observations, since she bruises easily anyway. She may escape with fewer booboos this spring than usual, since she is supposed to take it very easy while her foot heals. She already over did it a little yesterday when she spent many hours on the road and checking out possible new horses with Amanda. She was in pain last night, but felt a lot better by this afternoon when she had her five week checkup with her surgeon. He was pleased with her progress. But she is not supposed to help set up the jumps next month. She should be about ready to help move jumps by the time we set the courses for our first show in June.

 

As for me, I’m outside every day now and I have plenty of mystery bruises from today! I did a lot of heavy work servicing the big mower this morning, including grinding on the cutting blades. That may explain the burned and gouged skin on my finger and what feels like metallic particles embedded in my other hand. Nothing unusual for this time of year. And then there was that briar bush I backed into while I was adjusting the mower. I didn’t notice that either, UNTIL I got back in the tractor and sat down on the seat!

 

I did get my first couple of hours of grass mowing done today. I spend about 200 hours every summer in the tractor running the big mower, almost half of that total during May when the grass is growing so fast. The turf on the big show field is emerald green at this time of year – really nice for horses.

 

And speaking of horses, Meghan is leaning towards getting the horse she looked at yesterday, and it is a beauty – a 6 year old Clydesdale – Thoroughbred mare. Very flashy. We are trying to make arrangements to have the horse here for a good part of May on trial before committing, but you guys are going to like the looks of this horse. We hope to post some pictures and video here soon. Just remember that none of these horse deals are final until the horses pass our “test drive”!

 

Wednesday, April 21^st, 10PM Update:

Thanks to Dr. Leslie and to Micayla for sending me their condolences on the loss of “Mr. Tulip”! You guys are helping me climb out of my deep depression.

 

Meghan and Amanda spent the day looking at several possible new horses, some quite interesting. They are considering what they saw today and we’ll let you know if one of them might work out.

 

Wednesday, April 21^st Update:

Longacres Declares “War”

On Bambi!

A-a-a-a-a-rgh!

Close readers of this blog will have noted over the past few weeks all the pictures I’ve fondly taken of my favorite tulip, from the time it first poked up through the frosty early spring ground until yesterday when it was just about to burst into bloom. Read yesterday’s update where I explained how much I enjoy closely watching a few favorite plants as they grow each spring.

 

Well, the downside of having just a few favorite plants instead of a massed garden is that if evil “Bambi” and his friends come raiding during the night, the result can be heart breaking. I walked out the front door of the house first thing this morning with my camera to take photos of my favorite tulip and was stunned to see nothing but a blank space next to the walk where I had expected “Favorite Mr. Tulip” to be in full bloom today. L L L L L L Sometime during the night, Bambi had come calling, maybe an army of EVIL Bambi’s.

 

Two interesting coincidences: As I walked in the front door last night, I had a little premonition of dread, and I considered putting a garbage can over “Favorite Mr. Tulip” to protect him overnight. I told myself I was being silly, and that the deer had never eaten one of my tulips before. Besides, this one was right next to my front door where the deer would be too scared to eat. (Hah – teaches me right!) The second coincidence – in yesterday’s newspaper there was a whole article about how there are no natural predators for deer and the growth in great deer habitat as small farms go out of business in the eastern U.S. has caused an explosive growth in the number of deer and the damage they cause. The article talked about the causes of the deer problem and about the obstacles to any solution.

 

One solution would be the reintroduction of wolves and cougars to eastern United States forests. One small problem is that cougars on rare occasions also eat small children sent to camp. So I guess I will not offer Longacres as an experimental habitat for the release of montain lions. But it sure is tempting!

 

Check this link in memory of “Favorite Mr. Tulip” as he was yesterday, and as he was one year ago, but will not be again until next spring, and “Bambi” better watch out next spring!!!!!!!!!

 

Tuesday, April 20^th Update:

Odds ‘n Ends

I am most pleased today to report that Meghan was able to get both feet into her regular sneakers for the first time since her foot surgery last month. She barely tightened the laces, but she got the sneakers on and then she walked a little bit looking completely normal to me. She’s back sitting down at her computer with ice packs on her foot again now, but it was very good to see Meghan looking really normal, if only for minutes at a time. It’s been about 4 ½ weeks since the surgery and now I guess it is just a question of not pushing things and taking time to strengthen her foot. We’re pleased.

 

I took part in a couple of my personal “rites of spring” this morning. I took some more pictures of my favorite tulip, which I expect will open and bloom later today or tomorrow. Check this link. I am not really a gardener in the sense of maintaining elaborate plantings with masses of flowers. I just don’t make the time for that. But I do love plants and watching them come to life every spring. I enjoy really closely watching and photographing the daily progress of some of my favorites.

 

The other “rite of spring” that passed today was Tom flying one of his radio control model airplanes for the first time this season. Well, I sent one up two days ago for a few minutes, but this morning I had a full flight until the battery ran down. No crashes yet this year! That’s a different kind of “rite of spring”!

 

Jack of all trades, Jessica, raked leaves around the dining hall and the patio where we eat lunch in preparation of opening the dining hall for the season. And now she’s painting the bottom of our big mower for the tractor – what a useful woman!!!

 

Besides exercising her foot and getting it into a sneaker, Meghan is having a VERY busy day working on new horse purchases, interviewing cooks, getting some welcome packages together for a couple of new people who just signed up, contract packets for staff, meeting with Joel to see how the pasture fence work is coming, catching up on emails, and all sorts of other office stuff.

 

That’s Tuesday at the Longacres Farm!

 

Monday, April 19^th Update:

Out of the Past:

I always enjoy hearing from Longacres riders who were here many years ago. 41 years ago meets that test:

 

“Do you remember waaay back in 1969, three girls (ages 13 and 14) from Greenwich village who came for the whole summer?  Me, Kim Kabbaj and Laurie Baird.  We stayed in the "new tents" on the hill beyond the rings and paddock.  I used to ride Mojo and Tiku and Whistle.  I took Mojo to a show and got a third jumping and got run away with in the flat class.  I swam a mile every day and lost 10 pounds and grew two inches.

 

Tom, you must be in your sixties at least because I'm 54.  I'm amazed the camp is still there.

 

Liz”

 

I do remember Liz, Laurie, and Kim by name, and I think I remember Kim. I remember those three horses VERY well! Tiku was ridden by Olympic rider, William Steinkraus, when he visited Longacres to give a clinic. Whistle was one of the first horses we ever had that jumped over four feet and who placed in a jumper event at a big show. We entered her in jumpers the first time we ever went to Erie County Fair back in the 1960’s. Mojo was also a talented jumper and he once got loose from his pasture at his winter home and disappeared for a week. He was the subject of a massive “horse hunt” all over western New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, since we thought rustlers stole him. Turns out he was just wandering around in the woods near neighboring farms eating late summer corn and tomatoes!

 

Since we’re dealing with memories from the past at Longacres in this update, I’ll tell you another little story that I remembered earlier today. Meghan is doing very well recovering from her foot surgery, but she tired herself out looking at horses the past week, and I wanted her to really rest today. So I went out to lunch by myself to let her sleep and get rested. When I eat out by myself I often think about great memories out of the past, and I did today. The story I remembered at lunch today is noteworthy partly because it is such a fun memory for me, and partly because it’s an example of the opportunity first time Longacres students have to gain exciting new experiences and rise to the top. If you’ve read the articles on #1 rider at Longacres, you might remember the name “Sarah Pistone”.

 

Sarah came to Longacres 12 or 14 years ago. She was quite short her first year – I think she’d just turned 13. She had good equitation but had never done jumpers or any especially advanced or more challenging riding. The counselors put her in an intermediate class. I watched her, as I watch everyone who comes to Longacres for the first time, and I saw something special in her riding. It was hard to put my finger on it, but she had an eye for distances, and she paid attention. The instructors were a little surprised when I told them to move Sarah to the most advanced lesson group, and asked what I saw in her. I answered, “Well, we’ll see.”

 

I watched Sarah ride during her first few days at Longacres and I continued to like what I saw. At the end of the week I told her I wanted to see her ride Peppermint Patti, who was our most forward going and talented jumper at the time. She was a little nervous when she got on, and sure enough, she got run away with in the ring. By the time she stopped Patti after a couple of laps of the ring, she was in tears and wanted to get off. I told her that was fine and apologized for putting her on a horse that scared her. She went back to riding easier horses for the rest of the week. That’s one lesson to be learned from this story. At Longacres, we do try to give you interesting new challenges (though I try not to get you run away with!), but we also very much trust your own gut feelings and if you want to back off a little or you feel uneasy, we respect that.

 

And things could have gone on that way with Sarah. She could have been content to ride less challenging horses and finish out her Longacres stay practicing her equitation. But she didn’t. About a week after her traumatic experience getting run away with, I was watching a lesson in the ring and Sarah walked up and stood next to me for a minute. Then she said, “About Patti – I want to try again.” She did, and this time she took charge. The rest is history. Sarah Pistone went on to be one of the most successful #1 riders I ever had at Longacres. As I sat at lunch today I was remembering how Sarah got her start on Patti, and then I was having some great memories of some of her showing experiences for Longacres. One of the most memorable Sarah experiences involved a special jumper show held at Bechtel Stables on the other side of the city from us. It was a bit like the Longacres Jumper Derby, with just two jumper classes for big money sponsored by a bank. Most of our girls were already committed to a regular horse show that weekend and their money was spent, so we couldn’t take many riders to this Jumper Special. But I wanted to go so I sponsored Sarah and we trucked over to the show with three of our best jumpers for Sarah to ride representing Longacres. We took Peppermint Patti, Miscellaneous, and Lacey. As I sat after lunch this afternoon I could even remember some of the turns on the jumper course and the way Sarah looked on each of the three horses she rode in her class. And it was a tough class, with about 20 jumpers in the class, some ridden by top jumper riders like Leigh Fischer.

 

When the dust settled and they announced the times for the jump-off and the placings in the class, Sarah was First, Second, and Third! And as the memory of Sarah taking her victory gallop around the ring with the three ribbons on her horse’s bridle was running through my head this afternoon, I noticed a few tears running down my cheek. (Which I quickly dried so that my waitress wouldn’t run over and ask what was wrong!)

 

I guess I told this story because it was such a good and vivid memory for me as a trainer, and as an example of how a rider who is willing to work hard and try again after an “epic failure” can go on at Longacres to do great things with horses! I bet ten years from now, I might shed a few tears sitting at the Roycroft Inn after lunch remembering the summer of 2009 when Laura, Alexa, Andrea, and Ofelia won the Erie County Fair Team Jumping Championship, and when the amazing Quantum took eight different riders around jumper courses during the 3 days of the Fair.

 

I’ve got a lot to be thankful for in a 45 year career of coaching jumper riders!

 

Sunday, April 18^th, 10PM Update:

We’ve got a few more pictures for you today. Check this link for an album Meghan put together today showing two horses she plans to lease for the summer. Then check this link for a few pictures around the farm the past two days.

 

Sunday, April 18^th Update:

Farm Work #173:

My job for Sunday morning was stopping at the hardware store and picking up five bags of grass seed. Then spreading it around the edges of the new sand ring expansion in hope that we’ll have a nice green border by the time our first students get here at the end of next month. One of the differences between a pretty well kept farm like Longacres and a “show place” farm like the ones in Kentucky and other equestrian hotspots, is that the “show places” do very careful landscaping right after they put in new arenas or other things that disturb the earth. A week after they’re done with grading, everything has been sodded or carefully planted and fertilized. I only wish we had the time and money to do things that way! We rake and grade and spread some old hay to hold moisture and then toss some fresh grass seed around. It will get green by this summer, but it will be a year before it looks good and two years before it looks like “it’s always been that way”. But we are doing quite a bit of seeding and improving driveways and trails around the farm this spring. It should show when you get here.

 

Speaking of trails, I have already been out and around all the trails. Most are in very good shape, especially the ones that we’ve been using for 70 years. But we have put in almost a mile of new trail just in the past two years. Much of those new trails are very good and well drained, but there are always sections of new trail that are wet and muddy during rainy weather. It is time consuming and expensive to properly drain and gravel a trail that passes through heavy, wet ground. For years it was gooey, sticky mud for half the summer on a section of the main horse trail that passes behind Pegasus Bunk. Just two years ago I got tired of having horses pull shoes and come back all muddy from trail rides when that section of trail wasn’t dry. I spent a good bit of time with my tractor and with a rented backhoe just improving the drainage ditches next to that part of the trail and then a couple of days in the fall carrying fresh gravel in the tractor bucket, one scoopful at a time for a quarter mile from the closest spot a dump truck could get to where I was working.

 

I’m pleased to report that this section of trail near Pegasus is always dry with good footing now. But it cost about $5 a foot to make the improvements, more if you count my time (I don’t, since it was sort of fun!). Since we maintain several miles of trails on our own property at Longacres you can figure out the cost of bringing every inch of those trails up to “show place” bridle trail standards! But we work on it – one 200’ section at a time. This spring’s trail project is going to be two sections, each about 100’ long, that are often wet and muddy on the “Maple Grove Loop” trail that we just cut into the woods near the Powerline Trails a year and a half ago.

 

Check back here later today for links to some interesting horses we may have here on training and lease for the summer.

 

Saturday, 9PM Update:

We did not get the Palomino. Meghan and Amanda agreed that this horse probably wouldn’t work out so well in the Longacres program, and sometimes it’s best to walk away from a possible purchase if it doesn’t feel right.

 

Saturday, April 17^th Update:

Want to Do Some riding?

If you’re one of our western New York students, we’d be glad to have you stop by and ride during the month of May. Some of our new horses will be arriving as early as May 3^rd, and we’ll need exercise riders to get them in shape. Contact us if you’re interested, especially after May 15^th when Shelly will be here.

 

We are also considering offering a pre-season special during the final two weeks of May for riders who’d like to come live here and hang out with Shelly helping open the barn and getting the horses in condition. You can come for half price those weeks. You’ll have to help prepare your own meals and we won’t be really teaching lessons, but you’ll ride many hours a day. To take advantage of this special you need to be a solid intermediate rider and old enough to look out for yourself. We’ve got one girl interested in this already and we could take two or three.

 

Checking out Another Horse

Meghan and Amanda are driving out in the country to look at another horse for sale this afternoon. You’ve already seen some pictures of “Pal”, and Meghan will take more today. Check back tonight.

 

Friday, April 16^th Update:

“Happy Birthday, Natasha!!!!”

 

Horses and More Horses

I may have mentioned a few days ago that Meghan was following more than 30 horses on the internet and through personal contacts as she picks and chooses which ones will join the Longacres herd for 2010. Correction – she’s now up to 44 horses that, as Meghan explains it, she has “absorbed”. That means a pretty intensive series of conversations with the owners, reviews of pictures and video, and checking with trainers or mutual friends who might know something about each of those horses. Of those 44 we’ve bought two, and Meghan has ruled out a number of others for various reasons. She has maybe eight or ten horses that she’s still seriously considering, and she still watches for new prospects. This horse buying stuff takes TIME! (As some of you well know from your own horse shopping experience!)

 

Check this link for a few more pictures of two more horses that are on Meghan’s “serious interest” list. Charlie is a 16 hand chestnut TB gelding, 11 years old, has evented, Pony Club rallied, and shown with the same family for a long time. Meghan might lease him with an option to buy – not sure exactly what yet, but he is a very good prospect. Pal, the Palomino, is a 9 year old Quarter Horse gelding, and is a solid trail and pleasure horse, with a lot of western riding, but also a bit of English dressage and jumping. We are seriously interested in buying this horse. Enjoy the pics! Nothing is for sure until the horses have come to Longacres and passed a trial period, but these are horses quite likely to be available to YOU in not so many weeks from now!

 

Thursday, Late night:

Here’s the link to the YouTube we took of Murphy this afternoon:

Murphy Video

 

(When you watch the video of Murphy, keep in mind that Lindsey is intentionally riding him on a very loose rein and sometimes with the reins dropped completely on his neck to show how forgiving and versatile he can be.)

 

Thursday, April 15^th Update:

We Bought “Murphy”!

We just got home from an all day horse shopping trip and we wanted to let you all know there is exciting good news. We’ll post pictures and lots more information later tonight, but “Murphy” is one of the best “ready to rock” horses we’ve ever bought. Maybe the most expensive horse we’ve ever bought, also! Not that he’s necessarily the best horse we’ve ever had, just expensive because he is at the prime of his life and all trained ready to go in the show ring. Usually we buy very promising horses that need more training and mileage and they only come into their prime after a couple of seasons of Longacres experience. That way we get very good deals and make our own horses. But Murphy is ready right now.

 

He’s a Quarter Horse chestnut gelding and his 13^th birthday is TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!! We thought a lot on the way home how to describe his personality and way of going. In some ways, he’s a younger version of “Rocky”; or a bigger and slightly more forward going version of “Star”; or a bigger and quieter version of “Zanee”. He has very good lead changes, always willing to jump, and not hard to control. Pretty much the perfect school horse – show horse combination that a lot of different riders will be able to handle. Meghan was beaming all the way home, even though she paid more than she had planned.

 

We’re feeling very good now that we’ve bought two very promising new horses for this summer. Griffith and Murphy both sound like very willing jumpers that will be popular with many riders! Three more to go and we’ll have met our quota for new horses this year. We’ll have some “Murphy” pictures posted at this link soon.

 

Tuesday, April 13 10PM Update:

“Race” Results!

Heather Wins & “Winky” Loses!

Here’s the order we heard from you guys tonight in response to our posting about the Castle jump:

 

Heather M.

Sharon W.

Sophie L.

Alexa R.

Dr. Leslie Ann

Katie P.

Petra S.

And bringing up the rear – WINKY!

 

Got Any Insulated Electric Fence Wire?

S.O.S. to farm owners – does anyone have about 12 feet of high tension insulated electric fence wire left over in your barn? It’s the stuff with very thick insulation for running an electric fence wire through barn walls, etc. It’s very expensive by the foot and only comes in big rolls where we live. We only need a little bit. I bet someone else bought a whole roll and has some left over!

 

 

Wednesday, April 14^th Update:

“Welcome Back”

To Anne-Catherine, who is returning for her third year in a row for Adult Week. We weren’t sure she was going to be able to arrange her schedule to fit in Longacres this year, and today we gother enrollment in the mail as a surprise – good surprise! We have only two spots left for adult week now, with several people interested. Speaking of adults, we got another surprise in today’s mail, a box full of horse magazines for the lodge from Renee, who was one of our favorites at adult week last summer. Renee is going to Rome this spring on vacation, and can’t make it to Longacres, but she’s planning on returning next year.

 

Lots of horse related communication today!

 

And I am a bit tired – it took me a little over 2000 swings with a rake to clean all the little branches and trash from the winter off the sand ring so when the new sand is spread there won’t be any foreign material caught in it. Then Joel and I spent an hour scrambling up and down a bank trying to get a tree free that hung up in other trees when we cut it down. I do feel good after getting a lot done!

 

Tuesday, April 13^th Update:

We’re Pretty Excited!

We’ve been excited for a while about this coming summer. The things that make Longacres special are all falling into place very well for this year. Most important are the people; some very interesting and talented first time Longacres riders, a big group of returning 2009 students, great counselors, and enthusiastic CIT’s. (And US, strut, preen, strut!) It’s going to be a really fun group of riders and horse lovers all working and learning and showing together. A very close second to the people at Longacres, of course, are the talented and interesting horses. This is a year of transition at Longacres, and though we’re proud to have more than a dozen of our favorite horses coming back for 2010 in top form, we’ll be retiring a few of our older 4 legged friends and Meghan is spending this whole month arranging to buy and lease more new horses than we’ve added to our herd in one season in many years! Yes, horses and people are the most important things at Longacres. But there’s one more thing about Longacres that is very special, indeed – JUMPS!

 

The Longacres Castle Jump!

And that’s what has us excited today. Meghan and I spent a lot of time yesterday planning and sketching and then I drove Meghan to meet with “Gary the Jump Guy” to make detailed plans for this year’s featured new jump. It is going to be “Freakin’ Dynamite”, as Meghan puts it – one of our special activities in every session this summer will be taking pictures of each of you jumping the new “Castle Jump”. It is going to be massive, with multiple Castles, three different jump elements as options, battlements, flags, turrets, and towers where little Fairy Princesses can live! It will be a bit like the Light House jumps, where we can use different parts of the Castle as separate jumps, or at shows like the Derby, or for special occasions when we take your pictures jumping it, it will all be put together in one jump with three options spreading out over more than forty-five feet wide if it is in a line, or sometimes set as a big “L” shape or at other angles. It will add great interest to some of our course designs! We are thinking of including a secret panel on one of the towers that can be opened and closed and where all our 2010 students can secretly sign your names!

 

Most of our 2010 jump budget will be blown on the super castle project, but we’re ordering one more new jump that will be traditional stands with yellow and black diamonds. We’re looking for a source for 16’ long Grand Prix jump poles to use with this new jump. If any of you know a source or can find one on the internet, let us know. Our regular jump rail supplier can’t easily make the over length 16’ Grand Prix poles.

 

So that’s why Meghan and I are excited today. Do we have YOU excited about jumping the Castle?!??

 

The Race is on!

Who will be the first person to read about the “Castle” and email to tell us you read today’s update?

 

PS: I’m waiting to see who will be the first person to email us from their new iPad. It won’t be me – I really like Apple stuff and I was an early iPhone adopter, but I’m going to wait until the first update on the iPad before I make the jump. I will admit that I’ve played with one in an Apple store and they are pretty cool. But I’m trying to figure out why I need one and I can’t come up with a good answer yet, beyond “Because”.

 

Sunday, April 11^th, 8PM Update:

More Horse News:

I’ve been writing a lot this past week about Meghan’s work finding new horses to buy or lease this year for the Longacres herd. She’s also spending a lot of time on the phone with people who have our current horses for the winter, evaluating how they’re doing. We have several more announcements to make.

 

You all know from our story earlier this week that Kingsley has not been doing well. After long talks, Meghan left the decision on Kingsley’s care to his winter rider, Nancy and her vet and stable owner. Nancy has given Kingsley great care the past three winters and we wanted her to be able to decide what was best for him. They did all they could for him this past week, but he was finally put to sleep humanely yesterday and buried right there on the farm where he spent the last three years of his life. He was a good guy and we know many of you will miss him.

 

Two more horses from the Longacres herd will be retired from active lesson duty this summer, since we’re finding new horses that will be more versatile and useful for more riders. Boo is for sale now. We’ve owned Boo (see the “Meet the Horses” pages if you’re new to Longacres this year) for two summers and he showed great promise his first year here in 2008. He learned fast and was a talented jumper, especially for Amanda at Erie County Fair. But in the summer of 2009 he showed a stubborn streak that was hard to train out of him. He’s been difficult at his winter home recently. We think Boo will do much better in a quiet setting with a single experienced rider than he would in a lesson program like we have at Longacres. Boo is a flashy looking horse that does have talent, so we are sure he’ll be sold to a good home. If you know someone who might be interested in a horse like this have them give us a call.

 

Bobert is doing quite well as a lesson horse for the University at Buffalo equestrian team, but he is getting old. We do plan to bring Bobert back to Longacres this summer for the first half of the 2010 season to help teach our beginner and intermediate riders and as a trail horse. But he will be for sale to a good home and will be retired on July 25^th. We’ll continue to keep you posted on news of current Longacres horses and new horses we’re adding this season!

 

Sunday, April 11^th Update:

Hi Again,

Sorry for not posting yesterday – it was a slow day here at the farm, though Meghan again spent a lot of time on the phone talking about possible new horses. Joel nearly finished a nasty job digging up a broken post on the barn porch and pouring fresh concrete for the repair.

 

Meghan Feeling Better:

We continue to be pleased with Meghan’s recovery from her foot surgery last month. The swelling is nearly all gone, along with the bruising. Her foot looks pretty good. Meghan is cleared by her doctor to start testing putting weight on her foot, and he said she could try wearing a loose sneaker if it didn’t hurt too much. She tried yesterday – it did hurt, so Meghan was a little discouraged, but she really is recovering right on schedule – just not quite the schedule she’d secretly hoped for!

 

A benefit of Meghan being forced to stay off her feet this month is that she is not distracted by running around the farm supervising spring cleanup and maintenance. She is stuck in her office and next to the computer and phone, so she can really concentrate on shopping for new horses. Meghan carefully monitors FIVE different “horses for sale” websites, and periodically checks on four or five more. She told me last night that she is seriously considering 35 different horses this week. Two of them are essentially bought, and she has her eye very much on a third. That leaves 32 more horses in the running for two or maybe three more purchases. Meghan always begins asking some general questions by email, and then often spends two hours or more on the phone with the present owner or their trainers to really get to know each prospect’s good and bad points. She tells me that if a horse owner believes in their horse, they’re usually very pleased to spend lots of time making sure the horse will be a great fit at a new owner’s barn. So if someone doesn’t want to take a lot of time answering questions and just plain taking part in “horse talk”, that can be a tip that maybe this isn’t a horse for us. After long talks, Meghan makes arrangements to go look at a new horse herself, or to have the horse come here for a trial period, usually both. Even on crutches, Meghan has appointments to go visit three horses this week. Busy, busy, busy.

 

Enjoying Spring at the Farm!

I know that I’ve posted quite a few pictures of flowers coming up and tree buds. Please bear with me, since I’m really enjoying being here at the farm watching the first signs of spring pass by as everything really turns green and blossoms. It’s not as though I don’t get to enjoy at least a good part of spring at Longacres most years. But I’ve often missed a key week in the process in recent years. Although we usually spend most of the winter at home on the farm, we do often leave our RV stored in Florida over the winter and go down for a week or two here and there during the cold months. Then we go down to Florida at the end of March or early April and drive the RV home for the spring and summer season. That drive north is often made just as spring is coming to western New York, and we often arrive home on that final drive after the first flowers and blossoms have bloomed. Also, I used to be very active in boating down south. I wrote and publish a book, “The Boating and Cruising Guide to the St Johns River” in north Florida, and for many years I owned a small diesel trawler work boat. For seven years, Meghan and I sent 6 or 8 weeks every spring living on the boat in the Bahamas, and during that time we never got home to Longacres until nearly the end of April. (Boat is gone now.) Now you can understand why this particular season at Longacres seems so fresh and enjoyable to me!

 

Check this link for a few recent pictures from around the farm.

 

Check this link for a big album Meghan put together today with pictures of the great girls who are going to be Counselors in training this summer assisting the Riding Instructors we introduced last week as they learn and gain experience to be our riding staff of the future!

 

Friday, April 9^th Update:

“Welcome” to Vicky F!

Vicky is 17 and will be joining us for Lazy Days week at the end of the summer. We had another inquiry about Lazy Days this morning, so that end of summer week will soon be full.

 

Have You Paid Your April 1st Tuition Bill?

If not, that final tuition payment will be ten days overdue as of tomorrow, and we will begin to worry that you may have had a change in plans. We do have two families on the wait list who were not able to sign up for any of the July or August camp sessions, so if you are having a conflict with another family commitment and are having second thoughts about your 2010 Longacres reservation, please let us know. If we can resell your spot to one of the wait list families, you will get a refund of much of the tuition you’ve paid in advance. But we need to know right away. We’ve sent out email reminders to the several families we haven’t heard from, so please check your email if you’re in doubt about us getting your payment last week.

 

Brownie is Great!

But we knew that didn’t we? Below is the latest Brownie update from his winter riders – what a pony!

“Oh!  I forgot a funny story I wanted to tell you.  Tuesday night Isabel had her lesson with our trainer, Anne.  It was hot & muggy and Brownie is still pretty furry in spite of hours of work with the shedding blade.  So, he was NOT in the mood to work.  She asked him repeatedly to canter and he just wouldn't do it.  Isabel uses a crop as an absolute last resort and she finally had to use it.  Still no canter.  Anne told her to come over to her.  She held Brownie's rein, looked him in the eye and very firmly said "BEHAVE".  Isabel took him back out to the rail and he not only cantered straight away but he moved smartly for the rest of the lesson.  It was the best jumping the two of them have done together.  So, I am absolutely convinced he is the smartest pony alive.

 

ES”

 

Winter Returns!

It’s an interesting time of year, with 3 days of record high temperatures last week, and snow today! Light flakes were falling all afternoon, and suddenly it’s really coming down hard and the ground is covered with the white stuff! But it’s very temporary – we’ll have nasty weather for two days, but next week from Monday on looks sunny and nice again for outdoor work around the farm. Can’t wait!

 

Thursday, April 8^th Update:

Congrats to Olivia!

Olivia P. is coming to Longacres for the first time this year during the middle of July. She’ll be a CIT during her stay, which is unusual for a first time student. We’ve had lots of messages back and forth and we think Olivia will do well here. We’re not the only ones who think Olivia has great potential. Just this week she got her acceptance at her first choice college, Oklahoma State University, where she plans to study animal science and go to vet school. Way to go, Olivia!

 

We’ve also got a number of pictures and video for you today. Check this link for pictures of “Ana”, the Russian Arab that we plan to have here as a “send your horse to camp” horse. And check the paragraph below that Meghan put together with links to YouTube video’s of “Griffith”, the horse we are almost surely buying.

 

This is the message we received last night from Jessica P. the girl we purchased Griffith from:

 

“Alright, some video of Griff and one of my beginner-jump students. This is her second ride on him and we're working on consistency of tempo to the fence [which Griff is amazing at, which you'll see in the 3rd video], looking up, and maintaining a quiet form of equitation over fences. This is her 3rd ride of the season, and her first over fences.

Enjoy!!

 

Video One:

Cantering warmup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7yxq82s7c8

 

Video Two:

Cantering first warmup fence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzT_D3rhbqY

 

Video Three:

You'll see the cleverness of this pony here. I totally thought she was going to circle and she changed her mind at the last minute. He handled it well. I thought you'd like to see his true nature when faced with an abrupt change. : )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBGlYIWSZzU

 

Video Four:

I got so excited, I forgot to zoom out – sorry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuValzNqH5s

 

Video Five:

I’m very happy with this final ride!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwI113_kShU

 

 

 

Wednesday, April 7^th Update:

Yesterday’s update was a bit of a “downer”, with news of Kingsley and my article on the hard decisions we face for our horses at end of life time. Today is a much more up day – a day noting the new growth and new life of spring, and news of a promising new horse prospect.

 

Check this link for a few new pictures taken around the farm this morning. All the snow is finally melted from the big drift next to the barn; Joel is doing a fantastic job prepping the expanded part of the sand ring; the grass has overnight turned green and started to grow after a good rain yesterday morning; and the first round of spring flowers are in full bloom. The trees in the woods are still barren and wintry looking, but the first buds are poking out, and soon even the Maple and Oak forrest will be green. I like this time of year!

 

And we’re beginning to see the results of all the work on the phone and computer that Meghan has been doing for the two and a half weeks she’s been trapped in the house recovering from her foot surgery. Deals are beginning to be made for new horses Longacres is buying or leasing for 2010! Check this link for some pictures of a horse Meghan is seriously considering (no definite deal yet, but we’re interested). “Murphy” (show Heez Got the Touch) is described below partly from his web posting and partly Meghan’s comments after talking with his owner. The horse is well known by Lindsey Cornell, one of our favorite guest instructors:

 

“Heez Got The Touch” a.k.a. “Murphy”- 1997 Chestnut Gelding, 16.1h Registered AQHA. Solid 2.6” Children’s Hunters. Certainly can do 3’Hunters. Was in Top 10 in the Congress a few years ago. Athletic, bold, and fast enough to do jumpers. Shown English & Western. He has also done eventing and been used inter-collegiately. He is fun to ride as he is very responsive – you don’t need to keep kicking to go or worry he’ll bolt on you! He is the same day in and day out – very reliable. Murphy is also easy at the barn and in the show ring!

 

I’m really excited watching the progress on improving and enlarging our sand ring. As I said above, Joel has been really thorough in prepping the new ground and raking all the bigger stones up so they won’t work up through the sand very often. We should be able to spread the new sand late this week or early next and post a picture of the completed expansion project. We will have to still finish landscaping and planting new grass around the edges where the bulldozing work was done. Everything should look fresh and green by the time you guys get here in the summer, though it won’t be until next year that this ring looks fully established and groomed. We’re also adding a different kind of sand this year that probably won’t get as hard in very dry weather.

 

Tuesday, April 6^th Update:

Kingsley

We have some sad news today. One of our fine older school horses, “Kingsley”, is close to the end of his life. He’s an old horse and we’ve used him very lightly the past two summers. He’s had a great home during the winter year after year with Nancy Z and her little girl. He’s had the best care as a “senior citizen”. But he’s suddenly gone down hill the past few days and has had some pain when he stands up. His time may be near. Please don’t feel too sad. We bought Kingsley four years ago in a package deal with a promising jumper, Alita. Kingsley was already an old horse. He’d been retired for several years after a good showing career and had tendon problems. We were told that he could only do some light trail riding, but the people wanted to sell him along with the jumper, so we said we’d take him. Well, it turned out that Alita had soundness problems and she did not work out for us. But Kingsley turned out to be worth what we paid for both horses, and then some! After gently exercising him and building up some muscle, we found that he could tolerate lower jumping courses and he was a dream to ride. We got three great summers of horse showing and lessons from Kingsley before he started showing his age last season. We knew he might not come back again in 2010 and we pretty much planned to retire him to Nancy and her daughter. Kingsley has led a great life and we’re grateful for what he’s contributed to Longacres. Even if Kingsley survives the serious health issues he’s having now, he will be retired from Longacres and won’t be back this summer.

 

Now, if you’re interested, you can go on to read a long article I wrote this morning about end of life issues with horses and about putting horses down or retiring them. I purposely posted today’s article in a separate file because it talks about “big girls issues”. If you think you will be upset reading about the death of horses and how they are put down, don’t read it. If you’re interested follow this link.

 

“Anna” – on a more cheerful note!

Anna is a 15 hand, 12 year old Russian Arab mare (get it – Anna?) that might come to Longacres on lease this summer. She’s a fire chestnut with a big blaze and a stocking, Arab head and a big butt! She already jumps courses and perhaps with her Arab background she’ll be a little bit like a bigger version of Merlin. She’s sweet to handle and the owner thinks she has a lot of heart and fire inside and more potential than she’s being used for now. The owner wants to see what she can do in the Longacres program and to be able to come over and watch you guys riding her this summer.

 

Meghan has been talking with the winter homes for all our horses the past few days making arrangements for the horses to return to Longacres by the end of May. She’s having fun hearing how all the horses are doing over the winter. Meghan reports that Rocky, Brody, and Justin seem to be doing really well!

 

As we’ve mentioned here before, we plan to purchase or lease at least five new horses for Longacres this summer. We always buy a couple of new horses each season, but we do have several of our great school horses that are pretty old this year. Like Kingsley, we don’t know if one or two of them may be at the end of their careers this spring. It is sad to say “goodbye” to old friends, but exciting to have new horses to ride and know. This will be an exciting summer with lots of new horse flesh to get to know at Longacres.

 

Summer Series Sponsors!

Many thanks to the first two sponsors of Summer Series horse show divisions to renew their pledges for the 2010 season. Our sponsors make the huge season championship trophies and awards possible! We thank “Smokey Hill Farm; the Nuttle Family” for sponsoring the Walk- Trot division awards, and “Cool Smiles by Dr. DeLuke Orthodontics; Braces for Children & Adults from Cool Smiles by Dr. DeLuke.”, located in East Aurora, Wheatfield, and Lewiston. Thanks, Dr. Deluke!!! Cool Smiles was the very first sponsor to renew for 2010. Thanks to Amy Sullivan for helping to make the sponsor arrangements.

 

Monday, April 5^th Update:

Another nice day at Longacres!

But snow is on the way by this weekend, so we’re glad we’ve got a lot of work done early. Check this link for a few pictures from around the farm today.

 

Jessica The Versatile!

Quite a few of you who were here last summer got to know Jessica, who owns “Country” and sent the horse to Longacres for the summer of 2009. And probably this summer, too! Jessica was a visitor here fairly often to see how her horse was doing.

 

Fast forward to this spring. We’re always looking for good people to work at Longacres in the many behind the scenes jobs opening the farm in the spring, cooking, doing office work, and helping to set up courses and run horse shows. Sometimes we advertise for help wanted or try people from employment agencies, but we much prefer to give jobs to people who already know Longacres. So Meghan talks to just about anybody who’s shown themselves to be a friend of Longacres who might be a prospect for some kind of job here. Jessica was interested, and so far she’s showing herself to be a hard working and very resourceful person! We hope she continues to like it at Longacres and that you all will get to know her well this summer. She plans to help run the horse shows at Longacres, and is helping us with much more. Check this link for an album of “Versatile Jessica” pictures!!

 

Saturday, April 3^rd Update:

Greetings from Longacres, and Enjoy your Holiday Weekend!

In place of a long update today, we proudly present our 2010 Longacres Riding Staff with a big picture album and Meghan’s comments at this link. Keep in mind that not all of our riding instructors will be at Longacres all summer long. Generally there will be three of them working at a time with some overlap between teams for continuity. All of our 2010 staff are either returning Longacres staff, or are good friends of Longacres through our horse show program. It should be a great year!

 

Friday, April 2^nd, 9PM Update:

Bulliten!

We’ve bought our first new horse for 2010 – probably. The “deal” is made, and the horse is being delivered to Longacres in three and a half weeks on May 1^st. Meghan has made an arrangement under which we try the horse out for a while after May 2^nd to be sure it will work for us, but if all goes as expected, “Griffith” will be a Longacres horse (large pony). Katie and Amanda both know this pony well, and are very enthusiastic about the gelding’s prospects at Longacres. Without further ado, go to the website at this link for pictures and descriptions of “Griffith”! A number of other horse deals for bigger horses are also in motion.

 

Also, check this link for a few new pictures taken around the farm yesterday and today.

 

Friday, April 2^nd Update:

Check this link for a few new pictures taken last night and this morning down at the barn while we were working on the new sand ring. We have just a little more hand work to do picking up rocks so they won’t work up through the new sand and then we’ll have a bulldozer come in and level off all the new material. It is going to be a nice practice ring!

 

It is mid July weather here at Longacres for the next few days – we are very likely to set all time record highs today and tomorrow. Jessica wore her shorts to work today to paint. She is making great progress on the show ring fences. Good to be getting that done so early in the spring!

 

Meghan is close to making a deal on our first horse purchase of the year. It is more complicated than you might think. It’s easy to pick out a horse that likely would be good for us, but making a deal that gives us a chance to try the horse out before making a final commitment and at the same time protects the present owner is tricky. Meghan is good at coming up with options, and often talks on the phone with horse owners for two or three hours before making a purchase.

 

Meghan had her second check up from her foot surgeon yesterday and he is very pleased with her recovery progress. Meghan is being very good about taking care of her foot and keeping off it and elevating it. And it is KILLING her not to be out around the farm taking care of all our projects! But she knows that if she is patient now, she will be fully recovered by the time camp begins in June (May, actually!!)

 

Thursday, April 1^st Update:

Busy Time of Year!

Indeed. For a few days in early April every spring we have a pretty decent size bank account. A big chunk of our tuition payments all come in this week (hint, hint) and we’ve just begun the process of spending all that money preparing for a new season. But the bank account will shrink again, fast!

 

We’ve got a crew of four workers on the property today and it’s scary to think of those $$ going out every hour they work. Some are doing electrical improvements and refurbishing some of the buildings. One is prepping the show ring fences for new paint. And we’ve got more than $2000 worth of sand coming in over the next few days for the sand ring, and Joel is busy raking up small stones so they won’t work up through the new sand after it’s spread. Personally, I do a lot of errands and shopping at this time of year when I’m not running the tractor or giving Meghan advice on different ways to fix the soft spot in the floor of Esseress cabin. This morning I picked up painting supplies at Valu hardware so Jessica would have what she needed when she started work. I got a can of primer, a couple of cheap brushes and a wire brush scraper. $28 bucks. It doesn’t sound like much, but I’ll be stopping there for odds ‘n ends almost every day from now until June, sometimes two or three times a day. It adds up fast!

 

We’re excited when we have a streak of great weather, as we do this weekend, because we get a lot done in a short time. It is great to cross things off the “Great To Do List”!

 

Crazy result to one of my “Where is this?” quizzes that I posted yesterday. The first (and so far only) correct answer came in from Nancy D. who was a student here at Longacres 40 years ago!!!!! (ok, Nancy, ALMOST 40!) The picture of the weathered old boards on the ground is, just as Nancy wrote, part of one of the old tent platforms in “tent city”. “Tent City” hasn’t even existed for some 35 years. Most of the old tent platforms were torn up and disposed of many years ago, but there are a couple of pieces like in the picture that still exist way out in the woods. Good eye, Nancy! If you are walking from the barn and the cabins back towards the dining hall, and you cross the little foot bridge, then cross the wider foot bridge next to the old pond, and then walk about 150 feet, just before you start walking down the steeper hill towards the dining hall, look off to your right into the woods. That’s where tent city used to be.

 

 

Wednesday, March 31^st Update:

Hello again,

Sorry for the late update today, but I do have pictures for you and a new “Quiz”. It was a busy day for me outside around the farm and I’m not in “farm working shape” yet, so I’m pretty beat late in the afternoon and needed a little nap before doing this update. I walked many of the trails, picked up more dead falls, planned more maintenance work for the crew starting tomorrow, and even took some pictures. Then I raked up quite a few stones from the new part of the sand ring.

 

Check this link for a general picture album from today. Two of the pictures show the small bank of snow that’s still in the shadow close to the barn. And that’s part of “Quiz #1” – the question is, “Will there still be any snow there by 9AM Monday morning?” The picture was taken about 11am today, Wednesday, and it will be in the 70’s, maybe even the 80’s Friday and Saturday. Write in and make your guess on whether there will still be snow or if it will all be gone Monday am.

 

Now for “Quiz #2”; check this link for another picture I took this afternoon on the farm during my walk in the woods. Where is it?

 

And Where is Meghan Right Now?

On the phone! Where she spends a LOT of time at this point every spring. Working on buying horses! This is one thing she can do well as she goes through the process of healing her hurt hoof. Then in a few more weeks when she can hobble around, she’ll be heading out to work with the horse prospects she’s talking about now. She’ll probably be drafting some of you western New York readers to help her look at some of the new horses. As we’ve told you, we hope to add five new horses to the Longacres herd this summer, and we hope to have at least three of them here by late May when our first 2010 riders arrive at the farm.

 

Tuesday, March 30^th Update:

Reminder: Tuition due in two days (Thursday)

And on a more interesting and cheery note, I’m posting a great email we got a couple of days ago from Ofelia after she and her mom got home from a riding vacation in Ireland. Sounds really interesting. Enjoy Ofelia’s story:

 

Hi Tom & Meghan,

 

Hope your foot's feeling better, Meghan! 

       My mom and I just returned from a week in Ireland (all riding!) at Clonshire this past week. It's sad we can't come to mother/daughter week this year because my mom has to work during that time. We wanted Laura and Sharon to come--they couldn't come, but we still had a lot of fun! It barely rained, which was great, and my mom is now hooked on the cross country like I was last year. All the banks, coffins, coops, and stone walls were AWESOME! Cross country is so much fun especially since we don't get to do anything of that sort at home. We also had numerous lessons with show-jumping instruction and dressage. We've both learned a lot, and I wrote down the lesson ideas I liked for Longacres, if the CITs do some teaching this summer. If we do teach a bit, I'm looking forward to it, since I've had a good winter at our barn working on basics--although sometimes setting up exercises in a lesson can be hard because of time, having a "toolbox" of exercises will be useful, whether teaching or hacking. I liked all the pole work and many gymnastics we did. The dressage and flat work we did was good in helping loosen up our horses--by the end of a long lesson with lots of leg yielding and shoulder ins, our horses were wonderfully warmed up(talk about interesting and useful warm ups!). They are having a big show today(jumpers I believe), and yesterday evening we saw the beautiful course set up, at quite a height! Their hunter trials are also coming up next week I believe, so it was nice of them to take us out in the cross country fields, since they don't want their fields to be muddied too much before the trials. We both found a few horses we really enjoyed riding by the end of the week, and I had my fair share of crazy little Connemara ponies! I'll have to tell you about Sparkie later(can you guess from his name?). I'll try to send some photos later; I took one of a Clonshire version of the keyhole jump at the hunt course--only their version is a little scarier, size and width wise. :)

 

If only summer would come faster! I miss everyone and the horses, and no one can beat Longacres' 5 hours of riding!

 

Ofelia

 

p.s. the 1st photo you posted as part of the "quiz" is on the creek side loop(I think).

 

p.p.s. I think Fosto and I have gone through the Longacres horse "personalities" many times--I think she even has it written down some where. If only the horses could speak for themselves! Poor Brody! He's a sweet heart--and I guess everyone forgot about his big "appetite!" (he always the one looking for apple juice).

 

p.p.p.s. can you guess who sent the mysterious purple mounting block????

 

Monday, March 29^th Update:

What Would Longacres be Without a “FOSTO!” ??

Happy Birthday, Laura!

It’s been a busy day here at the farm, largely because Meghan has made big progress in her recovery from foot surgery the past two days. She’s stopped taking real pain killers except for late at night, so she’s much more her usual bubbly, energetic self during the day. She got lots of work done today, much of it organizing horse shows on the phone. Jessica G., Country’s owner, is going to be a regular part of the horse show management staff during the Summer Series, and may take other jobs at Longacres helping us get ready and during the season. Meghan also is starting to arrange horse vanning to the shows, trucking horses back from their winter homes, talked to some possible show judges, and did a lot of scheduling for maintenance workers, BECAUSE –

 

The WEATHER is going to be GORGEOUS by the end of the week, and we’re going into full speed ahead mode on getting the farm ready for the summer season. Joel’s Maintenance Service, our “do it all” guy, is starting this week getting the pasture fences all ship shape and doing some repairs to Pegasus bunk. Other workers will be painting the show ring fences (which already look very good because of the especially good paint job they got last spring), raking leaves, and cleaning drainage ditches. Our electrician will be up on ladders replacing some electrical cables, we’ll be starting to trim trees, and we’ve scheduled the first truck loads of sand for the expanded sand ring. About 200 tons of sand will be added this spring!

 

We did a lot of leaf raking two weeks ago during the last warm spell in the middle of March, but we left leaves covering many of our flower gardens, fearing another hard freeze – which we got two nights ago. It is still likely to dip below freezing again, but we’ll finish getting leaves out of all the gardens next weekend, since the worst cold weather is probably over. We’ll be spreading grass seed where needed in the next week or two to freshen up the riding areas.

 

And there’s plenty for Meghan to do indoors while her foot continues to heal. We’ve been busy on the phone this week with new student prospects interested in the early bird weeks in June now that almost all other sessions are full. Our new computer database to help keep track of all your records is up and running, but Meghan needs to enter some more name & address info. Oh, yeah, and there’s income tax to do in the next few weeks!

 

TUITION REMINDER & “How’s the Economy?”:

Please don’t forget that your final tuition payments are due in three days, on April 1^st (Thursday). Speaking of money, I know that many of you are business people and interested in economic indicators. I often read speculation that the current economy has been hard on the middle class but has had less effect on the well off. Our experience this year at Longacres would support that observation. On one hand, we’ve had more people than usual sending in tuition payments at the last minute or a little late this year. On the other hand, we have had more people pay their tuition in full way ahead of time than ever before. Another observation is that our shortest sessions were very popular last year during the hardest part of the recession. We sold out our two week sessions very early last summer but we never did fill all of our more expensive month long August sessions.

 

This year, exactly the opposite has been true. The first session to sell out was the month long August session. And almost 40% of the July period this year is taken by students staying for long terms. The only sessions still available are our one week early bird sessions and one, lonely two week spot for a 10 to 12 year old at the beginning of July. In summary, it looks like Longacres is going to have a very good year. Our enrollment should be back at nearly pre-recession levels after dropping 12% to 14% last season. And there has been a dramatic increase in the number of families in a position to sign up for the longer, more expensive sessions this year.

 

Coming soon – senior moments, the “Kay & Kellie Who?” Story

 

Sunday, March 28^th Update:

Brownie – One of the Truly Great Ponies of All Time!

And, don’t worry, this isn’t one of those memorial tributes – Brownie is fine and doing his thing. (Although when the time comes for Brownie to go to greener pastures, he will get one of our highest honors, with the website going dark and featuring only a tribute to him, like we gave Peppermint Patti when she finally left us.)

 

No, at close to 30 years old, Brownie is still teaching kids to ride & jump and strutting his stuff in horse shows. Below is a story sent in by his “winter family” describing Isabel’s first horse show on Brownie. And, yes, of course he won ribbons! Check the pictures here.

 

“Hi Meghan and Tom,

 

Yesterday Isabel rode in her first horse show.  It was the Heritage Christian

Stables Winter Classic Benefit Show at Lehman Farms.  It is a show to help fund

their therapeutic riding program.  This is a pretty big show, since people bring

in their horses from the area to support this worthy cause.  Isabel was nervous,

but as usual Brownie turned out a rock solid performance.  While the other

horses and ponies danced around the staging area, Brownie took a little nap to

rest up for the next class.  Clearly Brownie knew he was in a show, since he

turned up the Brownie charm.  As you can see, they did really well, with a 4th

in the second beginner crossrail class, a 7th in beginner hunter under saddle,

and a 4th in equitation.  The competition was pretty steep, with 12 horses in

the jumping classes and 17 in the flat! 

 

On a personal note, I find the arrival of Spring bittersweet this year. We

leased Brownie to find out if having a horse of our own was right for us, and we

have found that it is, but saying goodbye is going to be tough for both of us. 

 

Warm regards, Elaine”

 

New Rotating Pictures

Check the top of this page and the link to Meghan’s Favorite rotating pictures. Meghan may be locked up in the house recuperating from her foot surgery, but she’s back at work and spent a lot of time yesterday picking new photo’s for the rotating album.

 

Saturday, March 27^th, 12:05 Update:

Yikes!

Meghan wants it known that she IS wearing shorts in her “proof of life” picture in today’s album! She is a “proper” camp director, yes she is! 

 

Saturday, March 27^th noon Update:

I went out to lunch yesterday and then had pizza with Meghan and Uncle Billy last night – got on the scale this morning. Ouch! I will be doing penance by walking the perimeter of the farm with garbage cans bending over picking up spring cleaning trash this afternoon (no cookies for me today!)

 

Check this link for recent pictures, some taken by me around the farm today, including a “where is this quiz”, and some sent in by some of you during the past few days. I like the one of Alexa’s dog jumping!

 

A “hello” to Drew from Montana (I hope I spelled the name right), who is considering coming for a couple of weeks in June. Drew is a Pony Club rider who is also interested in hunter – jumper. She’s ridden many years and has her own horse. Just in case you guys who live and show in the east ever feel sorry for yourselves when you have to drive a couple of hours to get to a show, consider this: Montana is a BIG state! Drew and her mom often drive NINE HOURS to get to a rally or show! That’s dedication to riding! Becca also wrote again this morning and is trying to work out her schedule so she can also come in early June.

 

Except for those June weeks that we’re working on filling now, we have only one two week spot left during the traditional camp sessions in July and August. It is for the two weeks from June 27 to July 11^th, and is saved for a rider who is between 10 and 12 years old. We’ve had two teenagers request that session, but we really want the right age balance during those two weeks and we are saving the spot for age ten to twelve.

 

It was COLD here at Longacres this morning, but next week’s weather looks great for getting out around the farm cleaning up. We might even be able to do some painting by the end of the week! And perhaps have a “Diesel grooming party” Friday afternoon when it may be almost 70 out. Any of our local friends interested?

 

“Proof of Life!”

Meghan’s feeling pretty good today and is working at her temporary upstairs “office”. Here are a couple of “proof of life” pictures showing her enthusiastically back at work.

 

 

Friday, March 26 Update:

Thanks to Sydney for her message today and the pictures of Lincoln, who is now “beautiful, sleek, and buff (sorta!)”. We’ll post Sydney’s pictures next time we do an album.

 

“Welcome” to Amanda, a close friend of Katie’s, who is going to be an instructor for us for a short time in June between the end of Shelly’s stay and the arrival of Alexa, and will also fill in on other instructor’s days off now and then. We know Amanda well from her attendance at some of our shows the past two years. She’s an experienced adult horsewoman who is studying to be a vet. We’ll be posting an album of pictures showing Amanda and our other instructors very soon.

 

AND, thanks to Uncle Billy who came over with a pizza and good cheer to give Meghan support during her convalescence. We usually have dinner together on Friday nights, but with Meghan grounded we watched a video here and ate pizza. Thanks Mr. Bill!

 

AND, here is Kellie’s version of “horses as high school kids”!

 

Hello guys!!

First of all, Meghan get better!!! :)

And I wanted to say how hilarious the high school horse groups are. I laugh out loud eveytime I read it!

I thought I could make up a list too :)

 

Quantum:: The most popular guy in school. He is star of the football team and every girl dreams about just talking to him.

Sha-Bang:: The man with the hottest girlfriend and has a huge scholarship for baseball. He has lots of "fans."

Rocky: The weird oldish guy who got held up in high school. He has a few friends, but not much.

Boo:: The class clown. He is very witty and he always has to be right. He also has had a bunch of girlfriends, because he has good looks.

Merlin:: The really smart, young nerd who everyone loves. He also dresses really weirdly...

Brownie:: The wise senior who everyone looks up to. When he was younger he was a Quantum.

Kingsley:: The realllly quiet boy who is friends with everyone. He makes good grades and is chill about everything.

Bobert:: The guy who tries to be cool but fail epically at everything. He usually ends up in detention.

Ginger: Everyone things she is emo, but is secretly a ninja. She is mean to everyone besides her ninja boyfriend. She has the looks that guys like but rejects everyone.

Tux:: The new young boy who has tons of friends because of his outgoing personality. He will grow up to be a Sha-Bang.

Dennis:: A jock who loves girls. He has at least 5 girlfriends. He has the looks like a God, which girls love.

Country:: The girl who tries to fit in with the popular girls, but fails. She is secretly dating Bobert.

Abby:: The really outgoing smart girl who is friends with everyone. She has parties at her house all the time.

Cali:: The really buff cheerleader on the opposite team of Ebony. They are rivals. Everyone is scared of her, but she secretly has a few friends.

Justin:: The people person, who is still sensitive. People think he is kinda weird, because he tries too hard. He usually ends up in trouble. Best Friends with Bobert.

Horatio:: The new senior. He is having trouble fitting in because he had a troubled past. Girls think he is cute, but have to get to know him better.

Brody:: Friends with Boo. They get into trouble after school like breaking into gas stations. He also bullies younger kids.

Star:: The smart fat girl who has the best personality. Everyone loves her. She is also on the math team, which won the championship.

Zanzibar:: The vice-head cheerleader. Her and Ebony are best friends. She is rich and has all the nice clothes and the hottest boyfriend.

Ebony:: The head cheerleader of the school. Quantum is her boyfriend. She sometimes has affairs with Sha-Bang. Other girls are too afraid to approach her; they are scared she will rip off their head, which she has done before.

Chesney:: Friends with Tux. They just moved into the school. They are kinda immature. Girls think he will be the hottie. Once he hits puberty.

Lincoln:: The really smart Asian. Him and Star are math team rivals. He doesn't care about anything or anyone besides school and grades.

Diesel:: The fat-ish kid who has been trying to get on a diet for a few years now. His size has scared off some of the girls.

 

Haha, hope you enjoyed it. It took up 30 minutes of my study hall time. :)

Tux & Ebony are doing awesome.

So one time, I was grazing Ebony in a greener field to the right of the main pasture. Tux got reallly jealous. So he jumped a different fence! It was the same size as the gates on the corrals. Silly pony! I did lock him up in the corrals for a few days. I hope he learned his lesson.!

MISS YOU GUYS.<3

love,-kellie:)

 

p.s. Pssst! I was the one who sent the purple mounting block!! :)

 

Thursday, March 25^th Update:

Meghan had her one week checkup with her foot surgeon this afternoon, and he was pleased with her recovery. It was the first time she was out of the house since her procedure, so she took advantage and had me take her for a late lunch afterwards, sitting sideways in a booth to keep her leg elevated. We stopped for some new icepacks on the way home and by the time she was back in her room it had been a long day. She’s pleased with her recovery, but I can already see her eyes fluttering. She’ll sleep well tonight!

 

David Laks has been exchanging emails with me. He is looking into some new jumps for Quakerfield, and is considering running some “outreach program” Medal classes at the Quakerfield show this summer. It’s good to hear that the other stables in the Summer Series are beginning to make plans.

 

We’re starting to get tuition checks in the mail every day. Don’t forget that the final payment for the summer is due next week.

 

Tom was in the Buffalo newspaper today in an article about his political drive to downsize local government in East Aurora. Don’t worry, I will be finished with the busy phase of this project well before camp starts, so I promise not to be too distracted when you guys are here in the summer! Check out www.oneaurora.org if you’re curious.

 

Tomorrow is Friday, when we almost always meet for dinner with Uncle Billy- it’s a tradition! With Meghan sort of out of commission, we’ve planned “Movie Night” here at the house with pizza and video so Meghan will get her weekly dose of sociability.

 

Wednesday, March 23^rd Update:

We’ve got another great sunny day at Longacres and I enjoyed some more work outdoors clearing the trails from winter debris. Check this link for a few pictures from lunchtime out and around the trails.

 

Also, thanks to Natasha for sending some great pictures of herself with Zaney which I’ll post at this link.

 

Bulliten:

Staci is the third to send us a “Horses as High School Kids” writeup. It is cute and I’ll post it below. Please note that all three of the “horsies as people” sketches from the past few days have comments that might be considered mildly politically incorrect, but we think they are in good nature. Please read them that way!

 

hi,

i  had such an amzing time last weekend at the reunion! my camp friends are by farmy bebst. i loved coming to camp and seeing you guys too. it was so wierd seeing everything empty looking and very lonely. dont worry though, camp is starting soon! :D hope meghen is feeling better. anyway during my session actually we created a longacres high school. i dont rememer all of them but i elieve it was a little like this.

 

Quantum - total jock!all the girls knows and would love to date him. (dating Zanee)

Diesel - fat boy. he is very smart and nice ut so big that everyone is afraid to go near him (dating star)

Zanee - perfect cheerleader. verynice and sweet. if you dont want to be her friend, its because your jealous. (or your like me and just can not stand when she takes those long spots.) 

Ebony - mean girls. shes a sassy little cheerleader that everyone sucks up to just because they are afraid.

star - fat girl. star is the perfect, sweet, lovely friend. everyone would love her if they just gave her a chance.

brody - stoner! kinda there but kinda not all at the same time. he kinda gets into a lot of trouble.

horatio - asian that knows everything and knows it quick! he is very nice but is so smart that not many people like hanging around him.

Abby - perfect friend! sweet to everyone and anyone. although she is not popular, she still has a lot of friends.

Dennis - has been in the same grade for ten years. he is smart, the only reason he hasnt past is because he feels he is above everyone and will not complete any work.

Tux - new kid in town. doesnt quite fit in yet but he is making his way up the todom pole.

Ginger - most people think she is the biggest jerk ever. therefore she does not have many friends, but he loves the ones she has and will stick up for them no matter what. even if that means hurting someone else.

kingsley - chill guy. quiet

brownie - NERD! has glasses with tape in the center, wears suspenders, and is part of the glee club.

merlin - smart kid. works hard and has lots of friends.

Boo - too stubborn to listen to any teachers so it get him in trouble a lot. if you are looking for him, go to detention.

 

i could have some of these wrong. ask fosto. she has it written down i think

love,

staci <3

 

Tuesday, March 22^nd Update:

There was a lot of light hearted response to the posting on what high school group reminds you of different breeds of horses. Petra wrote a clever description of Longacres horses in the same way. It’s posted below.

 

Tuition Due April 1^st:

First, a reminder that your final tuition payments are due April 1^st to keep your reservations in effect. Remind the bill payer in your household!

 

Today was an old fashioned “day off” for me here at Longacres. It’s been a grey, dreary day after a couple of weeks of nice weather when I was getting useful work done out around the farm. At this time of year, there is no hurry to get chores done, so I can just relax on a rainy day. Unlike later in the spring when we’re up against deadlines and you just have to suck it up and work in the rain sometimes. Besides, Meghan is finally feeling better after being pretty sore the first couple of days after her foot surgery. I didn’t worry so much about being around to watch out for her today, so I was able to get out of the house for a few hours.

 

www.oneaurora.org

Click the above link if you’d like to learn about one of my off season interests. I have been active in a movement to downsize the local government structure in our town and village. Opinion is closely split on whether to keep things just as they are or to dissolve the Village of East Aurora and merge all local government into the Town of Aurora. If any readers out there who live in the village are interested in signing my petitions, give me a call!

 

And NOW for Petra’s article!

“HI!

First of all, I want to say hi. Second, I would like to wish Meghan to get well!!!!!!! My mom just had knee surgery on thursday for her ACL which she tore a month and a half ago....

Third, I would like to say, DIesel does not FART!!! He is cooler than that. so here goes my stereotypes of all the LA horses.

But first, fourth, I would like to say how I love my horse. So I am thinking we might be doing jumpers soon, because my trainer has been having us go faster and do jumperish

turns recently, which can only reallly mean one thing.....JUMPERS!!!!! So I am excited to hopefully do jumpers soon, if not, then at camp. Also, I was promised by my mother

that if I place in the top 10 at Mu Alpha THeta states, then she will let me bring my horse to camp...(io have been placing in top 2 at regionals, so we might have a chance!!!)

 

Ok, so here go my descriptions:

 

Diesel: He's the stoner with the dreads. The nicest guy you will ever meet, built like a football player,

but too much of a pacifists for sports unless he wants to make his friends happy; he'd do anyting for his friends.

Quantum: Now he is the player, football and otherwise, he's got game. He's a head turner, shallow as they get,

though. All of the girls want to date him, and somehow he can maintain an un-stereotypical A average, through

his smoking addicton...(the "smoking" collar didnt help him!). (get it, quantum cribs???)

Lincoln: He's the cute boy who looks like an angel but is really an ADD devil. He is really cool,

therefore accepted into the popular crowd despite his constant sugar high.

Chesney: He's the smart one who doesn't try hard yet still gets all A's. Popularity is as easy for him as grades.

Ebony: She's the cheerleader with the attitude. The one with the one close bestfriend and boyfriend, and thats all.

Zanzibar: She's one of those nononsense girls who makes no mistaakes, and knows no wrong... You know the type.

Star: The affable fat girl who is actually very pretty but never gets enough credit. Though often overlooked, she really

is everyones ideal friend.

Brody: He's the stupid jock who doesnt  even understand the games strategy, but makes up for it with his charming

good looks, and country singer charm.

Horatio: He's the random japanese kid who is good at everything and loved by everyone, though never the center of attention.

Justin: The popular one who EVERYONE loves. He's cute, and he's nice to everyone. A real people person, though hes very

sensitive. He never follows the rules, but never gets caught.

Tux: He's the short, 11 year old nerd who tries so hard to fit in that he ends up getting in trouble.

Ginger: The emo one with trust issues. Self explanatory. Secretly wants to be a ballerina.

Bobert: The kid who is always complaining about hisback problems. Or knee problems. Or hip problems...

Kingsley:The one who never ever gets noticed. Very low maintenance type, who has one girlfriend through all of high school.

Brownie: The sweet senior who is too innocent forhis own peers so he hangs out with the freshmen....who love him alot.

Merlin: The nerd who won the nobel prize last year for finding a cure for fear (he used to be afraid of his own shadow).

Because of the nobel prize, he has his own fan club.

Boo: The stubborn one....Who is alwaaaaaaays right...

Rocky: The cute one that smiles a weird half smile.

Shabang: The jock who spent all of junior year in rehab because of a drunk driving accident/addiction.

 

That is all. I think.

 

Oh wait, no. 1 more thing. I get to write an essay for english class which I am oging to try to submit to sports illustrated, asking them to take horseback

riding more seriously as a competitive sport and include it in their magazine once in a while. (Its like never in Sports illustrated except for Kentucky Derby!!!!)

 

Now thats all.....

 

Petra....The crazy talkative one... (aka a flibbertigibbet... I think thats how you spell it!)”

 

 

Monday, March 21st Update:

Hi everyone,

I rarely pass on those “chain letter” jokes and other internet stuff that shows up in your forwarded mail box. But I thought the following list of horse breed characteristics might entertain some of you. Here it is:

 

 

 

Quarter Horses: Definitely jocks. Strutting around flexing those muscles, showing off their butts. Not real bright. But get passed on since they are responsible for all the trophies in the glass cases.

 

Thoroughbreds: Preppies. They are athletes, never 'jocks'. Monogrammed blankets, leather halters, Nike eventer shoes, the latest custom trailer and tack.

 

Connemaras: Gorgeous chicks with sultry eyelashes, sexy curves, devil-may-care attitudes. NOT into studying or anything to do with geometry. Great fun to be around, delightful senses of humor, and the world's best pranksters. Can usually be found in the nearest pub, entertaining the masses. Fast and easy.

 

Appaloosas: Could only be the stoners. They like to drop acid so they can watch their spots move.

 

Arabians: RAH! RAH! SIS BOOM BAH! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TEAM!! (need I say more?)

 

Shetland Ponies: Frightening, spiky hairdos, snotty attitude and any color

of the rainbow. Gotta be PUNKS. Some even sport tattoos.

 

Friesians: Big, buff, and always in black, they are the biker clique. Cigs hanging out of the corner of their mouths, dangerous glint in the eyes, daring anyone to cross their path.

 

Morgans: They're the nerdy teacher's pets, running around doing everything

from yearbook to decorating the gym and ratting out the bikers, stoners and

jocks. They have perpetual wedgies.

 

Drafts (all breeds): No real clique, they're just the big guys who sit in

the back of the room and fart a lot (and then laugh). Who's going to STOP them?

 

Icelandics and Paso Finos: They're the little squirrelly geeks who flit around a dance trying to fit in and fail miserably. The kind who wear Toughskins jeans from Sears (or would that be ripoff WeathaBeetas??).

 

Ahkle Tekl (Akle Takl? Ackle Tackle....!! Akhal Teke!!): Foreign exchange student(s). And no one can spell their names either.

 

Hackney Ponies: A breed this manic would have to be a band geek. Marching along with their knees and heads held high.....even going to the bathroom.

 

Warmbloods: The school staff and faculty. Looking down their noses with righteous indignation and disgust. Secretly wishing they were having half as much fun.

 

Do any of you want to add your own comments? How about a similar list of the “kind of character” each of our Longacres horses might be?

 

(Do you guys really think my wonderful Diesel would be sitting in the back of the class doing what they say?????)

 

Meghan is still real lame, but slowly beginning to heal. She’s due to go to “the vet” for a checkup next week!

 

Sunday, March 21^st, 7PM Update:

Check this link for a few new pictures from around the farm today. I’m now working outside for a while just about every day. I’ve been on almost all the trails between the dining hall area and the barn and have cleared them of fallen tree limbs. I still have to go out on the horse trails. We have no major damage that we’ve found yet from the winter, but lots of small routine repairs. One big job we face is cutting some old trees around the dining hall. We’ve been keeping an eye on them for a few years as some of the upper branches have begun to die and weaken. We had some decent size limbs fall on the roof over this winter with no real damage, but it’s time to do some major trimming before we do have damage.

 

Good news is how nice most of our painted trim looks. For years, we had to repaint all the white trim around the farm every spring after it faded and was damaged by mold over the winter. But recently Meghan has been using more expensive paint and more primer so the paint is holding up much better over the winter. We’ll still repaint nearly everything before we open in June, but at least it still looks pretty good in case any of you come for pre-season visits!

 

Sunday, March 21^st Update:

Hi to Peyton, Nancy, Dave & Joy!

There’s some variety in our “greetings of the day”, but all have to do with readers of the Blog. First, thanks to Peyton for the following report of her really appropriate dream, which involves Meghan and her foot!

 

“I had the strangest dream last night that involved both of  you..

*I was in Buffalo to get some ingredients for a pie i was making (no, i couldn't get them in Texas.. they had to be from Buffalo apparently..) and all of a sudden, im at your doorstep. Tom welcomes me in and shares some of his pie making ingredients and we talk for a bit. Then he goes, "why don't you say hi to Meghan?" to which i replied "that would be lovely!". So then I had to crawl through a bathroom cabinet to get to Meghan because she has to be kept somewhere secret so she doesn't escape and try to do work around Longacres. So I crawled through the cabinet space and saw Meghan sitting on her bed with her foot propped up. We had a lovely conversation and then I said "I have to get home to my mother, she'll start to wonder where I am".*

I have weird dreams...

hahah oh goodness.

counting down the days! :)

Peyton”

 

Next, involves a message from an old timer Longacres rider:

 

Hi Tom & Meghan,

 

Old camper Nancy Donelon here- circa 1970 (OMG- 40 yrs ago?)....I recently was certified through North Carolina State Univ. as a Open Horse Show judge in the Hunt seat division ranking 5th out of 66. I'm actively looking to pick up some judging jobs this year.  I am already booked for July 10th.  I was wondering if you need someone to judge in your Summer Series.  Carly R. can vouch for me as we board at the same barn.

 

I enjoy your blog but you need to add some old memories & photos....Trying to remember all the names of the cabins is a challenge as well as the horses....

 

Looking forward to hearing from you....

 

Nancy Donelon”

 

I remember Nancy well, a strong rider who often used to ride my personal jumper, Yorke Springs. Yorke was half Clydesdale, half HToroughbred and I jumped him 5’9” several times and almost cleared six feet. Powerful horse! It would be really fun to have someone like Nancy out of Longacres’ past judge one of our shows.

 

Final “hello” of the morning goes out to Dave & Joy who say they are regular Longacres Blog readers, and who also happen to be Bethany’s grandparents. They sent a lovely “get well message” to Meghan which she thinks is really cool coming from Blog readers!

 

It does amaze me to hear how many people from so many different backgrounds read the daily (nearly daily) Longacres Blog which is only part of the time about Longacres horses and riders. So often we talk about personal stuff which you would think would be boring to the average reader. But I guess it helps people connect to us and gives them a vested little bit of interest in the Longacres “family”. Some people write and and tell me that they got hooked on our Blog because it is kind of like a soap opera and they can live along with us and keep track of all the little things happening in our lives as we prepare for Longacres horse stuff all year round and live through the show season every summer.

 

A couple of times during the past few years I’ve heard from a woman out in Minnesota who just stumbled on our Blog one day while she was surfing the internet and got hooked that way. She never came to Longacres and doesn’t know anyone who’s been to Longacres, but she reads our reports every day. (Are you still out there? Hi!)

 

Then there are people like Leslie M. who were never Longacres campers, but who used to show at our shows and have known us for years. If I write something a little out of the ordinary on the Blog, I can be SURE that I’ll hear from Leslie within a few hours. (“Hi, Leslie Ann!”)

 

PS: Meghan is sore, but is doing well. I am being helpful bringing her food, usually the normal way by carrying it in a small wicker tray. But did you know that flour tortilla’s (which Meghan really likes to munch on between meals) can be thrown like a Frisbee very accurately from the kitchenette alcove all the way down the hall and across the bedroom, landing perfectly in Meghan’s lap!??!?!? Bingo!

 

Saturday, March 20^th, 4PM Update:

Thanks so much to Katie, Alexa, Emily, Michelle, and Staci who are having a weekend long Longacres reunion at Michelle’s in the Rochester area for stopping by this afternoon to visit Meghan and give her some good cheer. They went on from here to have lunch with Griffin in East Aurora and I think they are planning on meeting up with Bethany when they stop to see Merlin at Michelle’s barn. That’s Longacres spirit for you. Check this link for a few pictures taken around the farm and some of the girls during their visit with Meghan – “a lame Meghan”, as Alexa put it!

 

We’re enjoying one more great early spring day here before winter pays us one last little visit during the coming week. I spent some time out raking leaves, picking up fallen tree branches, and clearing drainage culverts between sessions checking on Meghan’s recovery from her foot doctor work. I’ve been getting a little out of shape this winter, but now that we’re working outdoors, I’ll slowly get back in shape for the summer!

 

Saturday, March 20^th Update:

Summer Series for 2010 Now Complete:

The final dates for the 2010 Summer Show Series are now confirmed. We’re proud to announce that our season opener on Saturday, June 5th, will be at the Newstead Equestrian Center. We’ve had several conversations and a great meeting with Dave and his barn manager, Christine, and they have a great place for a horse show. The barn used to be well known equestrian, Carol Delacey’s place. Dave has owned it for three years, they ran their first show there last summer, and they are eager to help us spread the “Southtown’s Summer Series” brand into the northtowns. With two of our first four shows in the north towns area (Northfield Farms and Newstead Equestrian Center), we’re hopeful that some new riders will try out our series and follow the action to the southtowns as the season progresses.

 

The other new date we confirmed this week is a second Hasty Hills show on June 12^th. Becky and Jaime will also be running a Series show on their traditional date of July 10^th. The rest of the 2010 Summer Series show dates are listed on our “Shows” page at this link. It will be updated later this weekend with the final new dates.

 

Note: I’d like to personally thank Leigh Fischer for the many great years I’ve enjoyed having her fine shows a part of our Summer Series. Her farm has other plans for this summer.

 

Personal: Tough Chick that she is, Meghan is taking the minimum dose of pain pills so that she can “feel her progress” as she puts it, during the recovery from her foot surgery.

 

Friday, March 19^th Update:

Meghan’s doing Fine!

Meghan’s doctor was very pleased with how her foot surgery went this morning. She is already home, scooched upstairs on her butt, and resting comfortably. Some of you guys who are getting together for a Longacres reunion this weekend had mentioned stopping by. Meghan says she would love to see some of “her family” from Longacres if she feels as good tomorrow as she does today. We’ll see if she is more sore then, but as of now, definitely plan on stopping by to say, “hello”.

 

Thursday, March 18^th Update:

Meghan’s Foot

I hope to make only a brief update tomorrow afternoon telling you all that Meghan is doing fine recovering from surgery to correct a bone structure problem in her foot. Only a very few of you likely know that Meghan has endured increasing pain over the past six years anytime she even walks. She is a “suck it up” kind of person and not a complainer. She is not in favor of my writing about it now, but I am sure that her many friends would want to know and be able to wish her a speedy recovery.

 

Only I know what Meghan went through during the past couple of horse show seasons when she was sometimes on her feet for 17 or 18 hours in a day preparing for and running shows in the summer. The surgery to correct Meghan’s problem is common and highly effective. The main reason Meghan hasn’t had it done earlier is that the recovery process requires 6 to 8 weeks being off your feet. Can you guys who know her imagine MEGHAN sitting still that long? Neither can I! Neither could Meghan, so she kept putting off the operation and putting up with increasing pain.

 

She knew at the end of last summer that she couldn’t go through another Longacres camp season like she was, so she looked at the calendar for the year and found a narrow window of time when she might realistically be able to sit still for 8 weeks. With her surgery tomorrow, she should be fully recovered just as Shelly and Katie come in to open the barn for the season in mid May.

 

Meghan is a natural caregiver. It’s part of the reason that she runs such a great summer riding camp program. And that she so thoughtfully and generously cares for me, the more elderly and frail in our partnership! It has been amusing this week to watch Meghan come home every day with massive supplies of food and beverage and household supplies to last her for two months. She’s set up an extra refrigerator and the microwave in her bedroom along with a wheelchair to tool around. It’s obvious that she has little faith in my ability to do grocery shopping or household chores! (I can. I have in the past. I will!)

 

I do plan to post an update tomorrow to let you all know that Meghan is doing well. Updates the following few days may be a little sparse. But we should be back in a routine by the middle of next week. You’re welcome to phone or email us with camp questions as usual, and I’ll try to do Meghan’s job almost as well as she would until she is feeling ready for work. She thinks that will be Monday, but I will try to keep her quiet and resting for at least a couple of days longer. I expect her to prevail, though.

 

Wednesday, March 17^th, 11PM Update:

More Cool Mounting Block Stuff:

Whoever really did send that mounting block, you really scored a hit! It’s paying off in three ways. First, it is a cool mounting block and it will be very useful at the barn – thank you! Second, Meghan is really preoccupied with trying to guess who sent it. And it’s kind of nice that she is good friends with so many of you that there are quite a few different Longacres families that just might have done such a nice thing. Meghan will be talking about something totally unrelated and will suddenly say, “HEY! You know so-and-so is really nice; they might be the ones who sent it!” It’s great to have friendships where more than one or two people might be the ones. And third, some of the messages you guys are sending in claiming credit are hilarious! Keep them coming. PLUS, moreover, besides which, it is just FUN to get surprises delivered to your front door!

 

(Longacres owns a 14 year old pickup truck that has been wonderfully reliable for us. But due to old age, one of the supports for the bed of the truck rusted through tonight and it’s going to be a tricky thing to repair because it’s all rusty underneath. If the generous person who sent the mounting block wants to send a new pickup truck next, that would be fine. HAhahaha LOL!)

 

Wednesday, March 17, 4PM:

The Great Purple Mystery Mounting Block!

We just went across the street to the Knolle’s farm to measure Diesel and talk about his diet. He looks pretty good, as you can see from the pictures we posted a week ago. But after measuring him, we can tell he has lost some weight since last fall. So we talked about adding a little more to his lunch feeding. He looks happy and we’re pretty confident that he’ll be his usual chubby self by June 1^st.

 

Anyway, we came home to find a giant cardboard delivery box on our front step. I asked Meghan, “OK, what are you ordering online THIS week?” But she said she wasn’t expecting anything. So we checked the address to see if it had been delivered to the wrong place. Nope – they had our address on the box. So we opened it, very carefully in case it was some gag with spring loaded jack-in-the-boxes popping out when we opened the package. And – ta da – it is a horse mounting block – a nice one – a PURPLE one! See the pictures here of Meghan trying it out with an imaginary horse!

 

The thing of it is, there is no sender or return address on the box. Someone who thinks we need it, or maybe someone who REALLY likes the color Purple (hint, hint) sent it to us as a surprise. Well, you scored one on us – we have no idea – well, maybe a few ideas. It is driving Meghan crazy wondering who sent it. My advice is to keep the mystery going. Work out a plot with different people sending Meghan teaser hints on where it came from. Try to trick her! Use a stranger’s email address for some of the hints.

 

Oh, I have a better idea! Everyone write Meghan an email and tell her it was YOU that sent it and tell her why Longacres needs a purple mounting block. Then we’ll make Meghan try to pick the one who’s telling the truth!

 

PS – We like surprise presents!

 

Wednesday, March 17^th Update:

A Couple of Big-time “Welcome Backs”!

The secret (which some of you have already guessed) can now be told. Last year’s head riding counselor, Katie, is returning for a good part of this summer. Katie is turning the head riding counselor position over to Alexa, so Katie will be returning as Camp Manager working closely with Meghan to make sure that not just the barn, but all parts of the camp are organized and working smoothly. Katie will be spending lots of time at the barn and teaching, as well. We now have confirmed people with Longacres experience working right through the summer, with overlapping sessions so that there will always be someone in charge at the barn who has been here for a previous session.

 

One of the big challenges in running a seasonal business like Longacres is putting together a staff every year. Since we close up in the winter, the only people we can count on for sure from the previous season are Meghan and myself – we’re stuck here! LOL But we work hard to cultivate future riding instructors through our very active CIT (counselor in training) program. 75% of this year’s senior counselors were CIT’s in previous years. Nine girls are taking part in our CIT program this year, giving us many great prospects as future riding instructors.

 

We always wish for counselors and instructors who are free all summer and who can work for us from May right into September to give us continuity. But young people have so many options for their summers in this day and age, that we often have to work with young women who can only come for one session or another, with several different instructors over the course of the season. Last summer we were very fortunate, having Katie and Destiny both available for the full season!

 

For 2010, we start the season off with Shelly K. arriving in mid May to train horses, open the barn, and teach during the first two sessions in June. Shelly has many years of experience at Longacres as a student, as a CIT, as a junior counselor, and as a previous barn manager. We’re very lucky to have her with us to get things going smoothly.

 

Katie comes in just a little later in May than Shelly as camp manager. Katie will be here to help with everything and to be another senior instructor right from the start of Adult Week on May 31^st, and will be here through the middle of July until Carly arrives. In addition to everything else she’ll be doing for Longacres, Katie provides the continuity to bridge the time between Shelly’s departure in the middle of June and the time when Alexa arrives the following week.

 

Alexa R. has almost as many years of Longacres experience as Shelly, and she will be here as head riding counselor from June 20^th through the last day of the regular season in August. She can’t stay for lazy Days, but she will turn the head counselor position over to Bethany for that final week, along with a whole “herd” of outstanding CIT’s!!!!!!! ALexa was at Longacres all last summer as a riding instructor, was a junior counselor the year before, and was here as a student several years before that – she can do this in her sleep!

 

Joining Alexa as a riding instructor from the last week in June right through the end of the summer will be Bethany S. Do a search or scroll down for one of our Blog posts all about Bethany. Although this will be her first year working at Longacres, she is already almost part of the family. We’ve shown “against” Bethany for years in the jumper ring and it’s always been a great, friendly rivalry. Bethany was Owner/Rider of the Jumper Horse of the Year in last year’s Summer Series. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Bethany has visited Longacres overnight on multiple occasions, and has shown at Longaces many, many times. She already knows the ropes and knows most of our returning students. It’s almost as though she is one more returning staff, rather than a first year staff person! Bethany will take over running the barn from Alexa for Lazy Days week when Alexa has to leave a week early.

 

Carly R. returns to Longacres for the second time, arriving in the middle of July and staying through until the beginning of Lazy Days week. Carly was a student here last year, and is friends with Laura & Sharon who have been here forever. Carly returns as a junior counselor will be a great compliment to Alexa and Bethany for the second half of the summer.

 

We hope you like the above descriptions of the young women who will be teaching you and helping you at the barn for our 2010 season. We will have one more instructor for a short term in the middle of June between Shelly’s dearture and Alexa’s arrival; we think we know who it will be and will announce it soon.

 

We still have not confirmed who will be cooking dinner to replace wonderful Cheryl who went and married an Englishman and moved out of the country! Worst case, Meghan has cooked before and can again, but we’d rather have Meghan and Katie around the barn than in the dining hall. It will work out.

 

We’ll collect some pictures of all this year’s staff and post an album in the next day or two. In the meantime, there are some pictures I took today walking around the camp at this link. So far I’ve found very little damage from the winter besides the usual plugged up culvert pipe drains and hundreds of fallen tree branches on the trails. It is good to be outdoors around the farm again with the arrival of spring weather!

 

Oh – I said “A Couple” of big time welcome backs, didn’t I? Then I got sidetracked telling you all about this year’s staff.

 

Well, “Welcome Back” to PEYTON! Peyton is returning during the second week in June after not coming to Longacres at all in 2009. We missed her lots and we enjoyed seeing her when we visited Kay and Kellie in Texas last fall. It will be great to have Peyton again, and we know Shelly is really looking forward to seeing her!

 

Tuesday, march 16^th, 9PM Update:

Annie, All-Time Queen of the Novelists!

It is humbling to be made aware over and over how many loyal readers of the Longacres Blog are out there in Internet Land. Just hours after posting Sharon’s record making “Novel” about Chesney, the following email pops up on my computer:

 

 “Hello,

I just sent you an email but I wasn't finished with it! My computer decided to spaz on me and send it accidentally. So, that explains the lack of header (which would be along the lines of, hello!) and footer (such as The busy novelist, Annie Hankins) and any type of conclusion haha. I apologize if there are a million and a half grammar errors, i never got to double check it!

 

- Annie (Yes, I still read the longacres website quite frequently!)

      I'm temporarily out of retirement to say i guess its time i hand the novel reins over to someone else. College doesn't correlate well with long winded novels I suppose. I'm sure other campers can write long novels about their troublesome yet well loved ponies :] Bremmy and I, meanwhile, are enjoying college out in Ohio.

     I guess my last novel should explain life as an Equine Studies college kid (and college horse)! This quarter, Bremmy loved (well...sometimes) that I was there everyday at 8 am to muck her stall and "monitor her health" as part of my "Business Management and Health Monitoring" class. I took her TPR daily, did palpation's, stretches, wraps, conformation shots, and analyzed (what seems like ) everything under the sun about Bremmy. I made observations about her soundness, including researching the possibility that she had a condition called 'stringhalt.' It didn't end up that she had it, but her slightly irregular movement of her right hind was something worth investigating. I investigated the roots of her personality type based on her history as a PMU rescue. I learned about all kinds of alternative treatments and Bremmy (not always happily) was my test subject. We had speakers teach us about chiropractics, acupuncture, massage, laser therapy, O-zone therapy (I recommend researching this simply because its quite interesting!), dentistry, aromatherapy and homeopathy, and an abundance of other topics. Bremmy was spritzed with lavender to see if it would have a calming effect. Typical Bremmy didn't respond to the 'calming' aspect but rather chose to be offended by the fact that i sprayed her with some mysterious substance. She was taunted by treats as I convinced her to perform carrot stretches. She had to reach all the way to her hip, the ground, and her shoulder to get those darn peppermints! She was forced to get all cleaned up and stand 'pretty' while i tried to get accurate conformation shots. She stood in the cross ties for an hour while my friend and I learned to make a sugardine mix and wrap a hoof. Rather than being thrown back outside after a jumper show, now she has to wait for me to put the poultice mud on her legs and apply standing wraps. Its a tough life for a horse that gets pampered.

      Many of you longacres readers know Bremmy. Many know that while she has rather large opinions, she's incredibly kind and affectionate. While she didn't like being sprayed with lavender, she simply crinkled her nose and danced a bit. Any food is goood food in her book. Thus, she doesn't care where she has to put her head as long as she gets the treat eventually. She was perfectly happy standing in the cross ties  as long as she could groom my shoulder and lick my hand every now and then. She managed not to rip off her standing wraps, as long as she gets to go jump around she doesn't care how much i fuss with her afterward. “

 

Tuesday, March 16^th, 5PM Update:

Hi guys,

With spring just four days away (at least officially), you’re going to be getting lots more updates. Meghan and I took a long walk around the farm this afternoon starting to clear trails and make up our work list. Check this link for more pictures.

 

Meghan and Tom’s mother almost get squashed!

We had a scare during our visit to my mother in Connecticut over the weekend. We went out to a local restaurant for dinner during the big East Coast Saturday evening wind and rain storm. I dropped Meghan and my mother off at the curb near the front door while I parked the car. They walked in to the restaurant and I joined them after parking. Just as I sat down, there was a thunderous crash and a big tree fell on a car parked in front of the restaurant, exactly where Meghan and Nancy had been standing four minutes earlier. Talk about a close call!

 

Keep the recent pictures of you personally or you on a horse at home coming! We’re enjoying seeing you all “away from Longacres”!

 

Tuesday, March 16^th Update:

Be Patient!

A nice picture album and a significant update are both coming later this afternoon! The picture album is at this link and shows some more pictures some of you have sent showing yourselves either riding or in informal situations when you are not at Longacres. Keep the pictures coming! We want to see recent pictures of all of you, if you don’t mind us posting them.

 

 

The following long report is from Sharon, mom of Laura, and winter rider and trainer of “Chesney”! By tradition, we call these in depth reports from our students “novels” – Annie Hankins was the world Champ of “Longacres Novels” when she was with us, but maybe no longer. Sharon’s report is about 2198 words long – which might be an all time record for a winter horse report! And it is GOOD! There are lots of interesting little incidents and training techniques in the novel. I was impressed how often in Sharon’s story the concepts of providing your horse with variety in his training came up. At Longacres, we believe strongly that all good riding is filled with transitions of many kinds and that a good rider keeps their horse interested and listening. We also believe in “building blocks” in every riding lesson or session so that if you have problems you can step back to a previous block where you are confident of success. See how often you can find Sharon mentioning transitions, “an interested and listening horse”, and building blocks. Here’s Sharon’s Novel:

 

“Have been meaning to write to you for weeks but have been completely crazed.  So,

 

Ground manners: Ofelia was over a few weeks ago, it was below 19 degrees which is our barn's cutoff for riding  and so they went to visit the horses down at the paddock.  When I picked them up, Ofelia said she couldn't believe how good Chesney was and how much better his ground manners were!  I told her to write to you guys and tell you so i would have third party verification, but since I doubt she did, I thought I would mention it myself!  Alexa and Emily were over  a couple of Sundays ago  and Laura and I had just finished a ride and were putting the horses away when they arrived.  Emily was completely shocked at how good he was being in the cross ties and thought it was kind of funny that I make him stand straight and won't let him angle his body in the cross ties.  A little later I was walking and halting him as we walked around the barn while the girls were finishing up with Horatio and when i stopped to talk to Alexa, Chesney decided he preferred to walk away rather than stay "heeled" so I jerked his lead line and made a mean noise at him and he stood still. Emily told Alexa on the side "She makes him act perfect" - i was very proud of myself.

 

Injury Update Am physically fully recovered from my injury and would say mentally have moved away from scared, but still have a little way to go to "brave:!"  Have had some really lovely rides on him over the past few weeks

 

Getting smarter:: Laura and I went to ride Presidents day weekend Sunday  evening and the building was making popping noises and I let myself get completed terrified, which as we all know is not a good idea on any horse but especially Chesney. So I made a decision to dismount for safety, but knew that i couldn't let Chesney think his little flinches at the noises were a way to end a ride. Hmmm - well once upon a time Tom said that in a perfect world if you had a horse who moved away from the mounting block you would mount and dismount until he got the idea of standing still.  I realized that i could keep my fear at bay long enough to sit in the saddle, walk a small circle and then dismount. So we did that - it took about 15 times until he finally stood still, but he did and I felt that I had redeemed myself as the person in charge. (Unfortunately, it didn't stick and we probably need a few more rounds of that)

 

Watching others ride: So Monday of Presidents weekend I was in Philly with my lifelong friend Mame who is a WAY better rider than me (she kept riding all those years between high school and 45).  I was telling her about my chickening out on Chesney the evening before and how i was going to lunge him before i rode.  She offered to come back up with me and ride him instead of having him lunged and then i could ride when she was done.  So we did, he played some games with her but she was completely unfazed and by the end of her ride he was on the bit in the most beautiful frame I have ever seen and she did a gorgeous dressage canter with him.  She told me the most interesting thing: "he worries" (not you will note - he's nervous) He is worried about the noises the barn makes, he is worried about why the horses in the other field are cantering, he is worried about why someone opens the door and he also is worried about whether he is doing what you want - you need to reassure him.  So a couple of light bulbs went off. So, I was always patting him and telling him he was wonderful when we finished something - she would scratch him without moving her reins in the middle of the exercise and tell him he was doing brilliantly.  I have started doing that and it is making a big difference. One thing that I did notice - is that when i tell him he is a good boy he tends to halt - I conditioned him by using those words at the end of an exercise - so I am having to come up with other endearments!  The other thing is to immediately engage his brain in the ride before the worries flood in - so instead of the traditional warm-up of staying on the rail with a few circles at the walk and trot then the same in the other direction - we now do REALLY complicated warmups. Figure eights around the two cross rails in line. Serpentines through a cavelleti, half circles in reverse, etc.  ( I am trying picture how we might do this at LA in a group lesson!)  Another big difference and it engages my mind as much as his.  She also was couching me on the combination of half halts and leg that will slow him into a sitting trot without breaking to a walk - really helpful - sometimes perfect , often not , but am recognizing the disconnect now and making real progress.

 

Sitting trot:  So this has always been my favorite gait - the one i used to calm myself and Rocky down in the warm-up when we showed. Or if I had popped him in his mouth over a jump and he was angry. So I had been quite dismayed that my sitting trot had gotten worse and just seemed to tense both me and Chesney up. One of my lessons I was having a frustrating time sitting the trot when my trainer asked Laura "is she wearing her jump vest under that jacket?"  Sure enough - i was.  It's hard to explain, but you have to relax differently in a jump vest and I seem to have mostly figured it out.  Last week, we were working on sitting trot and I was not finding "the zone" and our trainer has the idea to have the other rider and I switch horses.  The horse i got on had a lovely, lovely, lovely trot - you seriously could have been drinking tea in a china cup. My poor lesson partner got on Chesney, who got tense which made his rider tense and shorten up on his reins and they started a downward spiral. He rode it out - but we made him dismount because it was looking dangerous.  So my trainer says, Sharon you need to get on and calm Chesney down......AND I DID!  It is very funny, because this incident has changed my reputation at the barn.   My lesson partner went home and called the other guy that usually rides with us at about 10 pm to tell him that the horse i ride is like a loaded gun and how brave i must be.  So all the times in the past lessons where i have countered an  instruction ("now Sharon, canter". "No, we need to get to a relaxed, listening place in the sitting trot first" or" we are going to work at trotting into the jump from several strides away for a few minutes before we do the line") which had always seemed really wimpy to my two older male lesson partners have now been recast as effective horsemanship and brave! Also led to my trainer asking me to change over his food to Carb guard since she thinks the feed he is getting is too high in sugar and adding to his tenseness and she decided he is not putting on sufficient muscle.

 

Bend: So Laura made me buy the book "Building Confidence over Fences" because the back said 'Do you close you eyes over the jump?"  "As you approach the jump, do you see distance or disaster" and we agreed this must be the book for me.  One of the key messages is - what's the rush, solidify the building  blocks before you move forward.  If they start to fall apart, go back a step.  Then they have a bunch of exercises.  I tried one last weekend - which was to set up cones or blocks in a big circle and then walk and trot (eventually canter) around them to work on bend.  I used 12 blocks (like a clock face) and offset a couple of the blocks and put a pair of trotting poles inside that could be used either as trotting poles or as a chute.  Chesney LOVED this.  We walked, working walked and trotted and changed the distance of our circle from the blocks- when i thought he might be getting bored we would do some weaving in and out of the blocks and/or turn through the circle either through the chute or across the poles.  He was framed and lovely.  Then my trainer has been working on getting me to turn at the waist during my turns ("bicycle handlebar hands - maintain even contact, stop leading with your shoulder, etc, etc).  Huge immediate improvement and have been using circles and bend, which seem to relax him, as a prelude to cantering - which is keeping us better paced during the canter as well.

 

Contact:  So contact vs tight reins is finally making sense to me and have made leaps and bounds. One of the things we have been playing with in my lessons is that when he tenses, throws his head up and hollows and speeds up (or "normal Chesney" as Laura calls it) my trainer is having me release my hands up his neck (with reminders for me to relax and to remember to breathe)- he generally will go back into a frame, we can re-establish contact and then he will come back to a slower, happier speed.  This has been hard because with a horse that is tense and speeding up, the last thing you want do is "give him his head" but it has been remarkably effective and so it is beginning to come more naturally instead of my normal tendency to try to slow him and then work on relaxing and framing.  We can pretty consistently get 2/3-3/4 of the way around the ring in a relaxed happy place then in one corner he will tense and worry and we work on bringing him back down.

 

Jumping:  My accident set my jumping back pretty significantly since i was really having to work on fear issues.  We are now back to happily hopping cross rails.  On Wednesday I was trotting a little course.  A cross rail between V and E and then a two cross rail line, spread wide, basically at R and P.  So we have a lovely first jump,  I remind him that  we are trotting and i want him to trot into the first jump in the line and he lands in a relaxed canter.  I have my eyes on the clock on the far wall the whole time so we are in lovely form.  As I land, one of the other riders in my lesson wanders across the  path of the second jump to get his water bottle- basically he is in the spot where Chesney should land!. (It is important to understand that this rider frequently passes too close or rides up the tail of the horse in front of him and since Chesney hates his horse and always lays his ears back and snarls, this is a pretty regular sore point with me).   Our trainer yells at him to get out of the way, just as I shout out "G-damn it, &&&"  He moved out of the way quickly and I finished the line (did not steer out, yeah me!) and had the best jump in weeks!  So now our joke is that i have to swear at that lesson partner before every fence. Told Laura that March is going to be about re-establishing my "freakish bond" (her term) with Chesney and that April and May will be about (re)establishing jumping.  We did a little dressage course as part of our lesson last night that included two cross rails, two halts, a halt and back, and two half circles in reverse - really successful and my trainer said she is thrilled with how my timing over the cross rails is improving.  I was unhappy with the depths of my corners and the change in pace during the half circles in reverse, but you know me........

 

So in summary, have gone from happy and feeling brave to injured and sidelined to nervous to happy and starting to feel brave again!  Looking forward to Adult week, dreading sending him back and already feeling irritated that other people will be riding him over the summer!  

 

Hope all is well.

 

P.S. So why would I spend time taking pictures, when i could be riding?  Unlikely you will be getting photos of our guys for the blog!

 

 

 

Sunday, March 14^th Update:

Hi Everyone,

We’ve been visiting my mother in Connecticut the past two days, but we’re home at the farm now and we’ll do a long update tomorrow. (We were in Connecticut for the big storm last night – quite a show! Many trees down, coastal flooding on my mom’s waterfront, and Meghan and Tom’s mother almost squashed by a big tree falling! Details tomorrow! Several nice new pictures, as well.

 

Thursday, March 11^th Update:

LOTS of Pictures today!

I posted a big album of pictures today at this link. Many of them were sent in by you guys showing you on horses at home and some nice informals showing what you look like personally. Keep the pictures coming, and we’ll add more to the album or to another album in a few days.

 

There are also pictures we took when we trimmed Diesel’s feet yesterday. And a few out around the farm today. It is 63 degrees in the bright March sun! The ice is finally going out on the big creek and I got a couple of pictures of an ice jam.

 

Wednesday, March 10^th Update:

Here’s a Longacres “Hello” to Rebekah who is interested in the Lazy Days week. We’ve been busy the past few days answering inquiries from several people new to Longacres and hearing from some old friends who may be returning after an absence of a season or two. Peyton may be coming during the second week in June to see Longacres, her horse friends, and her good friend Shelly who will be an instructor those weeks. It’s been two years since Peyton was last at Longacres. And it was good to hear from Becca who was here three years ago and has done lots more riding since then. We’re hoping one of the remaining vacancies works out for you, Becca!

 

Speaking of remaining vacancies, don’t wait too long if you are interested in Lazy Days Week. It should fill during the next few weeks if most of the people who’ve asked about it sign up.

 

Keep up sending the recent pictures. I’ll post an album of them very soon.

 

We made big progress on an important part of our 2010 plans today, but we can’t tell you about it for a week. Sworn to secrecy! Hint: We’re having dinner with Bethany tomorrow. But, no, that’s not it – that would be too obvious! I imagine the “gossip mill” will get the information around before we’re cleared to announce it here. Maybe it’s already on FaceBook, but we wouldn’t know since Facebook is banned from our house! (Do I have your attention now?)

 

We had a good time visiting Diesel today and playing with him a little bit while we got his feet trimmed. He’s a little down on weight, but we’re working on having his diet adjusted.

 

More news tomorrow along with some of the pictures you’ve been sending in.

 

Tuesday, March 9^th Update:

A Grand Late Winter Day!

But maybe just one more day, since it’s supposed to be cloudy with some rain for much of the later part of this week. And very warm, so the pretty snow all around the farm will soon turn to torrents of brown water in the streams and gulleys and slushy melting snow. But today is gorgeous. It was below freezing again last night, so the extensive snow cover was all crispy first thin this morning. I took a little zip around the farm on my good snowmobile and Meghan met me down at the barn to take some pictures of the old guy showing off jumping the hilltop spot where you guys mount your horses. Check this link – do NOT come up the hill during the summer on your horses this fast!

 

We got our first winter informal pics last night from Petra and Emily. Everyone try to send in a coule of recent pics of you with horses and we can post an album at the end of the week.

 

Meghan worked hard until after midnight last night in the office and getting started with spring cleaning. I’m kidnapping her today for a nice lunch date as a reward. This is about to be her busiest season and she won’t have much time to herself soon!

 

If you missed yesterday’s update, be sure to read it. We are REALLY looking forward to this coming summer for the reasons mentioned yesterday. What a great bunch of people we’re going to have for the Longacres family of 201011

 

 

Monday, March 8^th, 4PM Update:

Three posts in one day – one of them long!

I guess we are getting closer to summertime with all these updates. We’ll be doing more and more now that Spring is almost here. Check this link for more pictures, some of ours and a bunch that Kellie sent from Texas.

 

Your Assignment:

During the next two days everyone try to send us a couple of pictures of YOU, one a more or less close up and one of you riding. We’ll post them when we get enough in and it can be a little introduction and “hello” to each other.

 

BULLITEN:

Staci won!!!!!!!!! Staci was in a contest where we all got to vote to help her win a “Toughbook”. Well, Longacres and Staci’s many other friends came through. Staci won the voting with more votes than all the other contestants combined!!!!! You GO girl! (Scroll down a week or so for the details on the contest!)

 

Monday, March 8^th, Noon Update:

2010 – Best Year Ever?

Well, we don’t know if we can top 2009, which was one of our most successful seasons in many years, but we are off to a very good start! Some of you who have been with us for a long time know that 2008 was not one of our best seasons. Yeah, it was OK, but we had some staff changeover and other issues and it just wasn’t one of our best years. We came roaring back in 2009 last summer with an excellent staff that worked for us all summer, great new horses, and a good show season. It was great!

 

As preparations for 2010 move along week to week, Meghan and I have found ourselves often sitting down and spontaneously saying, “You know, we’ve got some great friends of Longacres returning this season – it’s going to be a pretty darn good year!” So this morning we sat down and double checked our enrollment lists.

 

Digression:

(As a side comment, that process involved double checking each other. Look at today’s photo album at this link – Meghan has always been a traditionalist in the way she keeps her office records. She has about the most organized set of notebooks and folders I’ve ever seen in a small office. Look at the picture – there are neat little tabs for everything. Meghan is a VERY organized woman, as out regular customers all know!!!!! Trouble is, I can never find anything if I need to know when someone is arriving or how to find a phone number when Meghan isn’t around with her trusty Longacres binder. I am a very computer dependant person and I have been pushing for a good Longacres database for a couple of years now. Finally, Meghan agreed that if I set up the database, she would agree to type in the data from her “bible”.)

 

This has not been an easy project, though we are making good progress. We use Macs, so I looked over the available Mac database programs. I bought the consumer friendly “Bento” program first. It was easy to use and should have been just what we needed. But what a piece of junk technically! The minute we started programming slightly complicated calculation fields to automatically determine tuition and tuition still due, etc, the program crashed within a day or two. Trash that! So I got the more professionally oriented “Filemaker Pro” database program. There was a steep learning curve, since it is a very powerful program that can be infinitely customized. But it is rock solid and reliable. We’ve got all our basic info on you guys entered now, so Tom can find your phone number or email or the dates you are supposed to be at Longacres even if Meghan and her notebook are out of the house!

 

But database programs take time to thoroughly debug and adjust to a particular business. No wonder database programmers get well paid for setting up new companies! Not at Longacres, though. We are do it yourselfers for so many things. We could never afford professional programming, so it is “learn it yourself, Tom” here at Longacres. Here are a few little examples of unexpected glitches.

 

When I laid out the tuition section of the database, I figured that most people pay a deposit and then their January and April tuition payments, plus various horse show or expense money deposits. I figured five tuition payment fields and five canteen money fields would be more than enough. But, oops, there are a few families that send in multiple checks and have more than five tuition payments by the time the season is finished. Back to programming to add some extra fields and formulas to cover those unusual situations!

 

Another very minor glitch is that for keeping track of payments, I have a field for the bank transit # on your check. Usually that’s a four to six character number, so that’s how I set up the entry screen. BUT, some banks have unusually long transit numbers for certain accounts. BOOM, the numbers disappear when they are entered! So, another small adjustment needed.

 

And another odd glitch I just noticed today. If I open a new record when a new student signs up for the first time and if there is not a payment yet received for their account, the first payment field somehow gets filled by today’s date and then converts that date to a huge dollar amount, as though you had just sent us $1,256,400.00!!!! I figured out how to fix this easily enough, but it is one more step in the fine tuning process. Meghan laughs at every one of these little glitchs and smugly shows me how easy it is to keep track of the same information in her beloved old notebook. Ha ha ha. But I get her back if we’re doing a budget for spring maintenance expenses and she wants to know how much money is still due to come in. I can hit two keys and have an answer! HA ha ha back at you Meghan!

 

At least so long as my computer tells me there is still $53,400 outstanding and not $1,053,400 still due, as it sometimes does.

 

= = = =

 

Back to why we think we’re going to have a great season in 2010 at Longacres. After double checking both the notebook AND the computer enrollment lists, we do have lots and lots of our favorite people returning to Longacres for 2010, along with enough new students to give us exciting new blood. We have updated the schedule page today with an accurate count of available vacancies. We’re filling rapidly.

 

The early bird clinic weeks in June are now about half full, and it looks like we will have about 50% new students and 50% returning Longacres riders during June. June is usually the month with the most first timers since we offer short sessions in June.

 

We are now essentially full in July and August with just one two week spot left at the beginning of July for a 1o to 12 year old student. We’ve already had to put two teenagers on the wait list for those sessions. About two thirds of our July students are returning 2009 Longacres people and about one third are first timers at Longacres. August has even more Longacres veterans. 80% of our August riders have been to Longacres before. Lazy Days at the end of the summer will soon be full. We have five open spots right now technically, but six people are seriously considering those five spots, so they will fill soon, almost completely with returning students.

 

We have worked hard to organize the 2010 staff, since not all of last year’s excellent staff could return for the full summer. But it is shaping up well. Shelly has many years of Longacres experience and will get the farm open and running at the beginning of the summer. Alexa also returns for the main part of the summer with excellent experience as head Riding Counselor. She is joined for most of July and August by Carly, who is returning to Longacres for her second year. We have just hired Bethany, who will be working at Longacres for the first time, but who has shown at our shows for many years and who is well known to all Longacres people. Like “Winky” said, “Bethany is already an honorary part of Longacres”. And last year’s head counselor, Katie, is planning to at least be a regular visitor and Longacres, an advisor, and help with horse shows. We’re still working on details, but Katie seems to be “hooked” to Longacres in one way or another. Yea!

 

And CIT’s – WOW! – we have the most experienced crew of Counselors in Training that we’ve had in many years. Nine girls will be here as CIT’s for various sessions this summer, at least two in every session but the earliest June sessions. All but one of those has been at Longacres before and half of them were CIT’s last summer. These girls are of great value in giving Longacres a sense of continuity from one season to the next!

 

So, you can see why Meghan and I are so enthusiastic about the 2010 summer season at Longacres. It will be just like a long reunion of good friends coming and going all summer. AND, much less coming and going this year than some years. Last year we had only Petra staying for the full month of July while all other students came for just two week sessions. This year, three times as many students are staying the full month of July. And August was the first session to fill completely this year, with all but one student staying the full month. Even the June sessions have more multi-week students than last year.

 

See you all at the Longacres 2010 Reunion of old friends! (You new guys will be welcomed with open arms, too – don’t worry!!!!!)

 

Monday, March 8^th Update:

Good morning everyone!

We’re planning a bigger update later today to talk about all the great people who will be at Longacres this summer. In the meantime, check this link for a picture showing all the snow around the barn!

 

Saturday, March 6^th Update:

A Longacres “Welcome” to Alessia!

Alessia just signed up for the first two clinic weeks in June. She’s 20 years old and comes from Miami, Florida (currently in school in Pennsylvania), continuing our extremely geographically varied March enrollment. We now have students from California, Alabama, and Florida as our most recent enrollments.

 

Alessia tried riding for the first time only recently, and she says, “I got the bug BAD!” After only a year of riding, she’s already jumping and is looking to get everything she can out of Longacres.

 

We’re headed out the door on a beautiful morning to make a video of our good friend, “Uncle Billy”, skiing. Hope we don’t jinx him into a crash, but he’s pretty good. We had dinner with him last night and he told us, “Watch out, I’m planning to come out of retirement and show jumpers again this summer!”

 

Friday, March 5^th Update:

Diesel Pictures!

Check this link for a few pictures we took at the farm across the street of Diesel in his fuzzy winter coat. He looks in good shape. He scraped himself in two places on his hind leg recently, but it’s just hair and an abrasion – they say he is good at finding rough edges of the shed . He’s had his shoes pulled all winter and one of his front feet is chipped up a bit, but I’m sure he’ll be fine once we get him on a regular trimming and shoeing program back at Longacres later in the spring. He was the same friendly, big oaf as always! He is “the boss” of the pasture.

 

We had a great time snowmobiling in Canada the past few days, but spring is right around the corner and we’re almost done with that sport for this season. Time to put the snow machines away and get ready for spring farm work. We’ve got really lovely sunny days for most of the next week here at Longacres and we’re putting together a “to do” list for outdoor work.

 

More news to come soon!

 

Monday, March 1^st Update:

Welcome to Caroline from Alabama!

We hear that some of you from the first session are already emailing back and forth with our newest student, Caroline. She just wrote and called to confirm that she is coming for sure! Caroline has been riding since she was four, fox hunts, likes to show, and has her own pony. She is looking forward to being in an atmosphere of horse loving hunter – jumper riders. I think she found her place!

 

Meghan and I had a fine time riding snowmobiles almost 90 miles this afternoon in northern Ontario. We’ll be home and back at work in three days.

 

Sunday, February 28^th Update:

Hey guys, let’s help Staci Win!

Below is an email from Staci M’s parents and a link to the “toughbook champion competition”. Staci is amazing – take a few minutes to vote for her!

- Tom & Meghan

The Competition is on!!!! As we told you last week, our daughter Staci has been nominated and is a finalist in the Toughbook Champion Competition. Please click on the following link, http://www.toughbookchampion.com/ and vote for Staci. You can vote more than once but only 1x/day till March 8th. Please help Staci get over the top and win this competition. Vote for Staci and tell all your friends to vote for her as well.

Thanks

 

Aaron and Susan (proud parents of a Longacres rider AND great skier!)

 

Saturday, Feb. 27^th, 9PM Update:

Spotty Updates this week, but we will check e-mail:

We’ll be traveling in Canada until Thursday night and depending on how good the hotspots may be, we’ll try to do some updates. But no guarantees. (No, not the Olympics – we wish!) We will be checking our email regularly, so if you need to talk with us or have questions about Longacres, that’s the best way to reach us.

 

Saturday, February 27^th Update:

Meghan is on the phone with a family considering one of the final available regular camp sessions. It’s been a busy week here in the office, with a flurry of new inquiries and confirmations from families that have been making their summer plans this week. And, bummer, we had to tell someone we simply don’t have a spot for them. A 16 year old was hoping to come to one of the regular camp sessions in July, but we’ve got only two spots left and they’re both reserved for younger riders age 10 to 12. So we’ve started our “wait list” for July sessions! Besides that, our only 2010 vacancies left are the pre-season June clinics and Lazy Days at the end of August.

 

We’re also in the very final phase of working out the little details for Bethany to join our 2010 staff – she’s agreed to our offer and we just have to meet one more time to confirm all the little details. Which are complicated for Bethany, since hiring her is a “package deal” – when you hire Bethany, you are also hiring her two horses!!! We’re really glad that it looks like Bethany will be part of the Longacres team this year.

 

And we’ve been talking with 2009 instructor, Katie, about when she might be able to at least visit all her friends from last year. Katie has kept in touch with many of you and we’re going to make sure she spends some time at Longacres in 2010!

 

Meghan and Tom are headed for Canada tomorrow for a final snowmobile ride for the year. There’s been snow on the ground for a long time this winter in Western NY, but it can’t last very much longer. Spring is just around the corner.

 

Friday, February 26^th Update:

Meghan has updated her “rotating picture album” at the top of this page, so click the link and see some fun pictures of many of you from last summer.

 

Thanks to Alexa for her long letter with thoughts and suggestions for next summer. We’re glad you’re already putting together ideas for the riding program, Alexa!

 

Meghan had a good time talking with people from Alabama yesterday about Longacres. We hope you can fit in one of our sessions, Caroline! (and friend Caroline, too!) This has been quite a couple of weeks for new Longacres people from all over the country, with two different girls from California signing up recently, and now the inquiries from Alabama. Longacres sure is an “internet” kind of place.

 

Thursday, February 25^th Update:

Welcome Elsa!

We send out a Longacres “Welcome” to Elsa T. from California. Elsa is coming for the special session at the beginning of the August session which fills out Emily’s time slot when she is away on a family trip. Elsa will be 14, has done a lot of riding, has her own horse (which she will NOT be bringing all the way from California!), and according to her trainer, she is a very good student who likes a challenge. She already knows most of our horses well from the “Meet the Horses” page on the website. We look forward to meeting you at the end of July, Elsa. Tom had a chance to have a long talk with Elsa’s trainer on the phone and it sounds like her ideas on riding are a lot like Tom’s. In fact, Tom and Elsa’s trainer both used to ride in the same part of Virginia, oh, a little while ago!

 

Tuesday, February 23^rd, 2PM Update:

Happy Birthday, Kay!

Yep, it’s Kellie’s mom Kay’s birthday today. We hope everyone in Texas is pampering you today, Kay!

 

More birthday news: Uncle Billy wrote that maybe the East Aurora fire department would be willing to host my birthday party tomorrow with the pyroteknic cake. Har, har, har, Billy!

 

Even more birthday news: Remember our stories last week about Meghan’s birthday? How she used the day and a half around her birthday to go to all her favorite restaurants, treating herself to a temporary vacation from self discipline and self denial? Well, there was a slight “blip” on the scale as a consequence. Two days after her birthday, Meghan says she did notice a “pound or two” that wasn’t “there” before her birthday. She reports that she’s doing well on getting back to where she’s comfortable, and she’s really not sure that the extra “pound or two” was ever really “there” at all. Her explanation kind of reminds me of the famous saying, “It depends on what the definition of the word “is” is.” The question is whether the extra “pound or two” was only ever really “there” in the sense of feeling stuffed in a way that is very temporary, or if it was like “uh,oh, it’s really, really there”.

 

Knowing Meghan who always looks great and keeps very active, I’m sure she was just temporarily a little stuffed last week. I, on the other hand, am still dealing with that 4 or 5 pounds I put on over the Thanksgiving – Christmas holiday season, and I KNOW that those pounds are “uh, oh, really, really there”.

 

I’ll probably only post a short “hello” update on my birthday tomorrow, but we’ve got lots of horse and people news for our Thursday update. We’ve heard from Katie, Alexa, Bethany, and Staci and some of our new students the past two days. Big update coming Thursday!

 

Tuesday, February 23^rd, Update:

Small Problem

Yes, we are dealing with a small problem here at Longacres. Meghan’s birthday went off successfully last week, but there is another birthday here in East Aurora, and it is tomorrow. And it is one of those “milepost” birthdays. Here’s the problem – we are having trouble finding anyplace with enough candles to decorate the cake accurately! And since the person in question likes to eat out on his birthday, we’re also faced with the challenge of finding a restaurant willing to deal with the potential fire hazard.

 

Stay tuned – we’re working on it!

 

Sunday, February 21 Update:

Thanks to Dr. Leslie for sending us this video link. Of course you can come train Diesel some dressage, Leslie!!!!

Dear Tom and Meghan,

Will you let me come visit and try this with Diesel?

Leslie

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7u3r7vHs0

 

Saturday, February 20^th Update:

Winter Horse Care Week:

Let’s all dedicate this whole week to thinking about how best to keep our horses healthy and in good condition during the winter months when many of us don’t ride as much. After reading this paragraph, be sure to scroll down to Tuesday’s post on Winter Horse Care if you didn’t read it yet.

 

Today’s assignment is to talk with family or a friend about ways you can keep your horse in the habit of listening to you, even if you just have time for a quick visit to the barn and not enough time to ride on a given day. Send in your ideas, and I’ll post them if you like. What I’m talking about is having a plan for “micro training sessions”. For instance, even if you’re just feeding and running or stopping by the barn for five minutes to say “hi” to your horse, take a minute to attach a lead rope in the stall and lead your horse in a little circle right in the stall. Walk the horse ahead a step and make him halt on voice command and with the lead rope. Make the horse take a step back. Circle to the left and to the right.

 

If you have a couple of minutes more, take the horse out of the stall and lead him up and down the aisle doing transitions from a slow step by step walk to a faster working walk and back. Do walk – halt – walk transitions. Use voice commands.

 

These “micro training sessions” will really help keep your horse in the habit of cooperating with a human during weeks when you just don’t have time to tack up and ride. Think about this. Talk about it with horse friends and get their ideas. Do it!

 

Thursday, February 18 Update:

Happy Birthday, Deb

It’s Debbie M’s birthday today, and Meghan’s also. Meghan says, “Thanks” to Alexa, Heather, and Emily for sending her birthday greetings already first thing this morning. We were worried that she was going to be too sick to enjoy it, but Meghan’s having a pretty good day.

 

Normally, Meghan is strong as a bull, especially for one with such small stature. She’s not sick often and when she feels under the weather, she usually toughs it out. But about once a year she seems to come down with an upper respiratory infection that just slams her. That’s what was starting two days ago, just before birthday week. Meghan went right in to see her doc, and got some medication which seems to have really helped. She had a bad night Tuesday night, but rested on Wednesday and woke up feeling lots better today. Enough so she has planned THREE separate “eating expeditions”! We went to the Roycroft Inn for a french toast breakfast and with that only half digested, we’re heading to Meghan’s favorite lunch spot, Rick’s, for lunch. Dinner is not determined yet, but it will be someplace nice to finish this frenzy of indulgent, wasteful eating.

 

It seems to me as though really fit people like Meghan who have lots of self discipline always turn to food when they are celebrating special occasions. I guess that’s natural if you are always denying yourself a little in the food department! One year, maybe five or six years ago, when I asked Meghan what she’d really like for her birthday, she answered, “If I could have anything, I’d spend a whole week eating anything I wanted!” So I encouraged her to “go for it”. She did! Trouble was, at the end of that week, it took Meghan more than a month to lose the “junk in the trunk” that she’d gained in five days.

 

Alas, such are the trials of trying to stay in shape. I’m struggling myself. I was in OK shape last fall, but over the holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Years, I gradually put on about five pounds. I’ve been working on it for almost six weeks, and I’ve dropped only about two of those five pounds. It is HARD!

 

This might be a good time for all of us in the Longacres extended family to pledge to work a little on our own fitness between now and camp time. I’m not talking about losing weight, though that’s part of it for some of us. Almost all of us could benefit by working on exercising more and thinking about having a good diet. Riding all day long six days a week like we do at Longacres calls for being in really good shape. Ask yourself if you’re physically ready to get the most out of your time at Longacres next summer. Some of you are serious athletes all year round, and you will be able to answer “Yes” right now. I’m proud of you, if that’s true. But some of you will be like me. You’ll answer, “Well, I’m not so bad, but I have a little work to do before Longacres this summer.” Well, wake up call: June is only about 100 days away. Time to start your own summer fitness plan very soon.

 

After writing the above article, I guess I better pass on the wonderful Apple Crisp they have at Rick’s for desert. Or, well, do you think it would be OK if I order the Apple Crisp, but insist that Meghan eats some of it? Or, since it is Meghan’s birthday today, should I really pig out just to make sure that she doesn’t feel she has to go without desert? Yeah, I think that’s it – it is a kindness to Meghan if I have that Apple Crisp. Yep.

 

Tuesday, February 16^th Update:

Birthday Week!

I’m posting a long article about winter horse care in the next paragraph. It is important, so please be sure to read it. In the meantime, here at Longacres we’re getting ready for the annual family “Birthday Week”. Meghan’s birthday is the day after tomorrow, and mine is next Wednesday. Wouldn’t you know, but Meghan seems to be coming down with a nasty sore throat! She has an appointment with her doctor tomorrow morning to try to keep her well enough to enjoy her B-day! And I’m hoping that I don’t catch whatever she has just in time for my own celebration next week. Crummy timing!

 

It reminds me of a memorable time a number of years ago when I flew to Orlando to spend four days at Disney and suddenly came down with a harsh flu just as I got off the plane in Orlando. I spent all four days of my Florida vacation flat on my back fighting the flu in a motel room and never once got out to Disney. I started to feel pretty good just in time to enjoy the taxi ride to the airport and the flight home! True story! So here’s hoping that we don’t go through a week of Kranz family birthdays like that.

 

Winter Horse Care:

We posted the following article in November as a reminder to make sure your horses are being well taken care of during winter weather when horse care can be challenging. Now in February that most of the United States is experiencing some harsh winter weather, it is good to bring the topic up again. Anyone who owns or leases a horse should talk with your family and horse friends about winter horse care issues. It is HARD to take care of horses properly in harsh weather if you don’t have a spacious heated barn facility. Even if you do, there are challenges.

 

Another challenge to good winter horse care is that horses often need more feed in the winter just to maintain their weight. It is hard to tell if they are losing weight if they have a heavy winter coat. It is also hard to tell if you see your horse every day. Look at pictures of your horse taken last fall. Have your friends tell you if they think your horse looks fatter or thinner than in the fall. Just think about it and talk with trusted horse friends to see if they think your horse is doing well! Talk with your family about horse care issues.

 

Winter Horse Care:

It’s that time of year. In much of the country now the snow is flying, the ground muddy, and there will be ice in water buckets. Even in the south, horse care will be more difficult. It’s a good time to review winter weather horse care precautions. This short check list is especially for those of you who have your own horses or have leased a horse and are caring for it at your own barn. But if you are a boarder at a professionally run stable, you should not take responsible horse care for granted. Read through the Longacres check list and make sure that your stable is giving your horses responsible winter care. Here are some things that can be difficult to do in the winter and are sometimes not done well.

 

1) Water is life to horses. In freezing weather be sure that your horse has regular and unlimited access to water. Try to arrange full time access to full water buckets or watering units just as you would in warmer weather. If you have horses in northern climates in barns that go below freezing consider heaters that keep buckets or troughs from freezing (follow directions for electrical units carefully for safety). If you must change out frozen buckets in really cold weather, be sure to let your horse drink his fill at LEAST three times a day and leave them with a full bucket after each feeding. Give water before and after feeding. Lack of water is one of the very worst things for a horse.

 

2) CHECK FEET! If your horse spends much time outdoors in cold and muddy weather it is very easy to put off cleaning and picking out feet. Your horse is only as good as its feet. Feet should be cared for daily – thoroughly. That means cleaning off any mud as well as picking out hooves. At a bare minimum (and only if daily care is impossible for a short period at times), feet should be cared for and examined every other day. And that is NOT desireable. If you find that you’re letting good foot care go for a week at a time in muddy, cold weather, you are neglecting your horse in a dangerous way.

 

3) Keep up a good grooming schedule. You should be grooming your horses thoroughly daily to keep a healthy coat, and so that you’ll notice any skin conditions or injuries before they get worse. It’s easy to put this off in bad weather. If you are caring for horses kept outside for some period of time, at least handle the horse and give them a thorough check daily looking for injuries.

 

Clipping and the use of blankets in winter is a whole different topic which I’ll cover soon. Clipping is absolutely optional in the winter, and so are blankets for healthy horses so long as they are not clipped. There are advantages both ways, clipped or not clipped.

 

4) Watch your horse’s weight. As they grow a winter coat it can be hard to notice a gradual weight loss. Measure your horse’s weight with a tape and tape often to see if there is any trend of weight loss (or too much weight gain!). Feed adequately. Except in southern climates, your horse will not be benefiting from grazing in pasture and you need to provide all nourishment with hay and feed.

 

Remember that horses are by nature grazing animals. They have small stomachs and need frequent feeding if they aren’t out in pasture. Don’t expect them to maintain good condition if you feed a couple of times a day and they gulp down all the feed and hay you give them in a short time.

 

Good quality hay is important for horses that are not out grazing in a pasture in the winter. If your hay is not the best, you need to be feeding more horse feed or grain to make up for it.

 

As a guideline, consider how we feed at Longacres in the summer and see if you or your stable are giving a comparable feeding experience:

 

1) We feed some hay before graining in the morning, then a ration of grain.

 

2) We leave the horses with hay in front of them after the morning graining.

 

3) We hay and feed at lunchtime, and leave them with hay in front of them. (Note: Many of our horses are only grained morning and evening, but if a horse needs more weight or condition, it is helpful to give them a lunch feeding.)

 

4) We hay and feed inside in the evening. Leave lots of hay for horses that for some reason will be in a stall overnight.

 

5) We turn most of our horses out to pasture for the night and we hay a lot for them. Our guideline is that if there is no hay left in the pasture by the next morning, we give more hay the next night. This is the horse’s grazing time and we let them have unlimited hay overnight. We make sure to spread the hay out well, so a bully can’t keep a more gentle horse from eating.

 

Do you see a pattern? Lots of frequent feeding opportunities. Remember – horses have small stomachs and are grazing animals!

 

How much grain should your horse be getting in the winter? Hard to say. Each horse is different and the quality of your hay has a lot to do with how much grain they should be getting.

 

But most horses that are working or living in cold conditions should be getting 5 to 6 quarts of quality horse feed a day, preferably split up between multiple feedings. Two feedings a day is OK, but three are better.

 

There are some horses known as “easy keepers” for their low metabolism, that can get by on very little grain ration.

 

There are some large horses that will lose weight if they don’t get 10 or 12 quarts of feed a day.

 

Don’t change your horse’s feed ration suddenly. Make slow changes so their system gets used to more or less feed.

 

And, think positively – better weather and easier times for horses are coming soon. In six weeks it will be April!

 

We’ll add to these suggestions, and we welcome you guys to write in your own warnings, suggestions, and comments on winter horse care. But what I’ve just written covers the most important challenges to good winter horse care. Water, foot care, regular grooming and examination – these are the most frequent problem areas we see in winter horse care.

 

 

Monday, February 15^th Update:

Hi “Winky”!

Here’s a nice message from Michelle, aka “Winky”, with some news that all Merlin’s friends will enjoy. She also asked us to post info about some Longacres shirts and sweats that some of the girls are getting together to order. We’re posting the information as a favor to the gung-ho Longacres students who have been trying to organize this – Longacres does not officially encourage OR discourage anyone from placing a clothing order – it’s all being organized by some of last year’s Longacres people on their own.

 

“Hey Tom and Meghan! Haha I almost wrote "hay" instead of "hey" can you tell I'm thinking about horses? :) I've decided I don't email you enough, so to help make up for it I'm emailing you now. How's the weather for you guys, the major snow storm thats currently affecting other areas of the north east is completely missing us. Are you getting a lot of snow? It must be great snowmobiling weather. I personally don't like the cold, so this is not my favorite time of year :-/

 

Merlin is doing well, we are currently working on getting him to collect or extend between jumps or polls to adjust striding and getting him to flex left, right and at the poll. He can e a little stubborn about it, but he is getting better. Both of the horses you mentioned on the website are sooooo cute. I hope you guys get find some great new horses for camp. Speaking of camp, I can not wait!! That would be really cool if Bethany was a counselor. She's already an honorary member of the Longacres Family.

 

Do you think you could mention on the website about our Longacres themed sweatshirts and sweatpants that Alexa, Emily and I are selling. We still need a few more orders to reach the minimum, and the more people who buy something the better! :) If you could copy and paste the following blurb onto the website that would be really helpful:

Dear Longacres riders/campers/staff/friends, show your support for the camp by purchasing your very own Longacres hoodie, zip up or sweatpants. Emily Romano, Alexa Riddle, and myself (Michelle Kirsh) are selling these items! They are green with white text, and you can add your name on the back of the hoodies and zip ups; your real name or your nickname, whichever you prefer. :) Just imagine how great it would be if all of the Longacres Riding Camp showed up at a show with matching sweatpants over their breeches and matching sweatshirts over their show shirts; or to walk into the barn and see people wearing matching sweatshirts in the barn while mucking stalls or tacking up.

Here are the links-

hoodie: http://www.customink.com/designs/lahoodie2/14967230-3223134/share/?cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end

 

zip up: http://www.customink.com/designs/lazipup1/14967207-3223134/share/?cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end

 

sweatpants: http://www.customink.com/designs/lapants1/14967338-3223134/share/?cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end

 

The approx. prices are $30 for the hoodie, $35 for the zip-ups, and $25 for the sweat pants. Although it may seem pricey the more people who order something, the cheaper the prices; we need at least 6 orders for each item to be able to order it, we have 5 for the hoodie and pants and 6 for the zip ups if everyone whos mentioned they want one, orders them. If you are interested you can email me at mbkirsh@gmail.com, Emily at emroms7@aol.com or Alexa at jeff_gordon@comcast.net or you can contact us via facebook, either by message, a wall post or a post on the Camp Longacres facebook group in the discussion called "Sweatstuff orders" Thanks!

 

-Michelle, Emily, and Alexa

 

 

Thanks so much! I'm counting down the days until the March reunion, hopefully we will get to see you. :)

Until next time,

-Winky”

 

Friday, February 12^th Update:

Hi again!

We’ve got some fun pictures for you tonight. Click this link to see today’s album. It includes some pictures of “Maverick”, a gelding Meghan has considered this week. Some pictures from Kellie in Texas of Tux and Ebony, both before and after the big Dallas snow storm today!

 

AND – ROLL of DRUMS - - - the reopening of “KONE KING” after being completely remodeled!!!!! Meghan enjoying a Kone King Butterfinger Twister.

 

Thursday, February 11^th Update:

Tom went snowmobiling and updated the “trail conditions website”, Meghan worked on accounting in the office and entered all your names in the new computer database that is going to make us really, really organized finally, we finished plastering and sanding next to one of the doors in the new bathroom, we had dinner with Bethany & her mom and talked for TWO AND A HALF HOURS, got multiple emails and a phone message about interesting new horse possibilities from Dr. Leslie, Meghan talked on the phone to two more people who have horses for sale, went for a short mall walk, got an email and lots of pictures of snowy Dallas-Ft. Worth from Kellie, Tom read a chapter of “The Milagro Beanfield War” (G-R-E-A-T Robert Redford produced movie after it was a book!), Tom sat down to update this website while Meghan went to her office to do some real work late in the evening. Another fine day at Longacres in the winter!

 

Wednesday, Fabruary 10^th Update:

Finally, Some Horse Pictures!

You guys have been patient for the past two months with mostly minor administrative updates and personal stories from Meghan and I. But we’re starting to look at new horses and Meghan will have horse news and horse pictures more often now. Check this link for some pictures of a ten year old gelding Meghan is considering getting. She still has to see the horse ridden, but she likes his personality. Meghan is trying to find a good place to board the horse until our barn opens in May before she can make a commitment.

 

August spot filled again! We had a vacancy in August for just one day and it is now taken again.

 

Emily’s 10 day Special; pass the word!! Emily wants to come for the August session and the big shows, but she has to go on a family trip the first ten days of that session, from July 28 to August 7^th. We are offering the chance for someone to take that odd 10 day session to fill the spot while Emily is traveling. Pass the word to anyone who might not be able to do a full longer session at Longacres, but who might like to come for that special short session!

 

Tuesday, February 9^th Update:

Just a few news bites for today.

 

Meghan is off looking at a horse we might add to our string. If it looks promising, we’ll post some more info and pictures.

 

We got a nice video from Emily (Quantum’s winter home) showing him jumping 3’6” looking very at ease with himself. She has been doing a nice job keeping Quantum in shape. We’re thinking that he will be able to pick up right where he left off after his summer 2009 showing season when he was arguably the best he’s ever been!

 

Thanks to Dr. Leslie for the pics of her new horse – Leslie remains and will likely always be “the biggest kid on the show field”!

 

We’re having dinner with Bethany Thursday, and we’ll be exploring which dates might work out for her to do some teaching at Longacres this summer.

 

SECOND SESSION VACANCY: Turns out we do after all have one vacancy during the July 28 to August 21^st session. It will likely fill soon, so let us know if you are interested!

 

Besides that spot, the only vacancies we have left for the regular camp sessions in July and August are two spots for girls age 10 to 12 from June 27 to July 11^th, and one special session for ten days from July 28 to August 7^th.

 

We have a few spots left for Lazy Days of August and we have spaces in the early bird June sessions and Clinics. That’s it – almost full for 2010 now!

 

Saturday, February 6^th Update:

It’s been a good week for us at Longacres! We enjoyed our three day trip to Canada for some REAL winter, and although we don’t have much deep snow here in Western New York at the moment, we’ve had just enough fresh snow to give us a fresh “clean winter” feeling. No messy thaw for a while now. If we’re going to go through winter, we might as well have winter!

 

Today was especially rewarding. We talked with Leslie H. and her mom from southern Pennsylvania this morning. Leslie is taking the final spot at the beginning of July for teenagers. She’ll be joining Heather as a CIT for that session. Some exciting news from Leslie is that she bought a 12 year old Quarter Horse named Zeus at the end of last summer. Zeus has been a bit of a rehabilitation project since he had a soft tissue injury when Leslie got him. He’s doing well and is likely to come to Longacres with Leslie next summer.

 

Zeus came from a place that does jousting and jumping through flaming hoops and stuff! Leslie says he was trained for the jousting – sounds like quite a horse. (Yes, Leslie still has Max, also.)

 

Today was a double enrollment day. We also got Delia G’s enrollment for one of the June clinic weeks. Delia is 12 and wants to really learn something while she’s here. She’ll have a good teacher, since Shelly will be the senior instructor that week. “Welcome to Longacres, Delia!”

 

 

 

Friday, February 5^th Update:

Hi again,

We’ve been away snowmobiling in Canada for a couple of days and just got home. We’ll catch up on updates over the weekend. If you want to see some pictures of Tom & Meghan playing in the snow, check this link and this link.

 

There’s a message on our phone to call Leslie H. & “Max”, so hopefully she’s going to sign up again. She may be taking the final spot for a teenager, leaving only a couple of spots for riders 12 & under at the beginning of July (plus early bird spots in June). Talk to you soon, Leslie!

 

Also a Longacres “Hello” to Jenna Z. from Connecticut who is interested, probably for a session in 2011. Glad to have you interested, Jenna!

 

More tomorrow – we just got back from a six hour drive and are ready to crash!

 

Tuesday, February 2, Update:

February is often a nice month here in Western New York, with cold temperatures for winter activites, but frequent sunshine. It’s like that today. We’re going to get in a little relaxed snowmobiling tomorrow and Thursday, have some of the finishing touches put on Meghan’s new bathroom, and do some more work on putting together the riding staff for next season.

 

You probably saw the note and video’s from Bethany Scarlata a couple of days ago. Bethany is well known to regular Longacres students, since she shows against us in many of the jumper division classes. We barely beat her out for Jumper Horse of the Year in the 2008 show season. Last summer Bethany came out on top, finishing just a few points ahead of Alexa and another girl for Jumper Horse of the Year. It’s always a spirited rivalry with friendship and good sportsmanship on both sides. If a Longacres horse or rider can’t win a jumper class, I usually root for Bethany to be the winner!

 

Just maybe, I can have it both ways in 2010. We have tentatively offered Bethany an instructor’s job at Longacres during this coming summer – if you can’t always “beat ‘em”, “join ‘em”! We’re having dinner with Bethany and her mom sometime next week to talk about Longacres instructor jobs, Bethany’s horses, and what dates she might be able to work. We’ll let you know what we’re able to work out, but we’re happy that Bethany is at least interested. She would be a solid addition to the group of experienced Longacres riders already planning to be on the 2010 staff, including Alexa, Shelly, Carly, and a really great group of CIT’s including Laura, Ofelia, Winky, Emily, Heather, Sydney, and Olivia (a first timer at Longacres). We’re going to have lots of depth on this year’s riding staff. We do still need a couple more good counselors to cover several sessions during the season. We have some good leads. Stay tuned.

 

Sunday, January 31^st, late night:

Thanks, Bethany

Thanks to Bethany S. who went out to visit Emily and Quantum over the weekend. Bethany said that Emily looked great on Quantum and that she rode Quantum also. Here is Bethaney’s message and links to some short YouTube video’s. We’re really glad that Quantum looks so relaxed and fit. He is often kind of antsy in the middle of the winter! Good job, Emily!

 

hi tom and meghan!

it's bethany scarlata. i just thought i would email you guys and let you know i went out to visit emily and quantum! while i was out there she rode him around and then offered me a ride on him! so i hopped on him and rode around for a bit and had a blast. quantum looks so good and he seemed very happy. i also visited boo for a couple minutes and got to see brownie being ridden. he looks like a fuzzy little monster!  heres some videos!

 

emily on quantum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dt9mlx0aTg

 

me on quantum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZClu7CDmSY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aODjNIztfNA

 

Sunday, January 31, Update:

Way to go, Ginger & Staci!

Many of you know that Ginger has been a little off during the fall while Staci has had her in New Jersey. Ginger has been better lately, and here is a message from Ginger and Staci, with links to YouTube video taken recently.

tom and meghen,

ginger has been doing so well! my trainer has at least one person school her each week while i go skiing. they are working on getting her off her forhand to stop her from leaning. i work on that too but im not as good with it yet. wenow can canter twice around the ring in both directions! :) it makes me so happy to finally get to work her again. she is being so good. she is also starting to get around three hours of turn out a day. we are gradually adding more time. i never realized how spunky she can be. she is always so playful bucking and running in the fields. she makes everyone laugh. i hope soon she will go out with the herd but for now she is by herself. i posted so videos on youtube of our first canter and some clips of my lesson. jeff really likes her too. we are hoping to do beginner hunter and beginner equitation during the spring season. if all goes well we will go to garden state too! since im a little big for ginger jeff wants us to show only in cross rails, but at home we are going to jump higher. im so excited to get to jump again i have not really jumped since camp. im right in the middle of a hectic ski season so i have been really really busy sorry havent sent an update in a while. hope everything is going well with you guys. you must have a lot of snow! we're going to Big Sky, Montana for the disabled national championships and my parents are going snow mobiling in yellow stone. i thought you guys might find that interesting. hope all is well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcqXv-46dWU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcqXv-46dWU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnbxFgsSQqQ

 

love,

staci

 

 

Saturday, January 30^th Update:

Moon at Perigee

Dr. Leslie is one of our most loyal readers and definitely a fellow lover of moonlit nights! She was the first to respond to my post last night asking if any of you were out under the full moon. Here’s her message:

“The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor

And the highwayman came riding, riding, riding

The highwayman came riding up to the old inn door.

 

With Shaun White on the half-pipe and the largest and brightest full moon of the entire year! What a moon lit night!

Tonight the moon is at perigee: A remarkably beautiful moon. 

 

Best to you!

Leslie”

 

Who else was out and saw that great moon last night?

 

Friday, January 29^th Update:

Anyone Looking at the Moon Tonight?

I just took a little walk out the driveway gazing at the full moon in the clear, crisp night air. Lovely sight as I walked on the very cold squeaky snow! Anyone else out and about tonight with clear sky? Email and let us know if you had a chance to look at the same moon we did tonight. I always enjoy the idea that we were looking up at a moon at the same time as good friends spread around the country. Aoweoooooooo! Howling at the moon.

 

Thursday, July 28^th, evening Update:

x2 – Busy and Rewarding Day!

Here’s a Longacres “Welcome” to Olivia from California, who has confirmed her enrollment as a student and CIT for the two weeks from July 11^th. Olivia is 17 and started riding fairly recently, but is a real horse lover and looking forward to trying new things during her stay at Longacres. We’re glad you’re coming, Olivia! It gives us a good feeling to sign up two students in one day.

 

Olivia took the very last spot in the second half of July. We now have only one more space for a teenager (13 or older) in the first two weeks of July, and two spots for juniors (12 or under) in that session. Then the traditional 8 week summer season will be full for the year. Enrollment is coming along well for Lazy Days at the end of the summer and especially for the middle Clinic week in June. We still have space in Adult Week and in the All Ages Clinic the last week in June.

 

(Hi, Sarah H!) Sarah was a Longacres rider almost ten years ago as a young teenager. She is returning with a friend as a young adult this June. She loves ponies, especially. (Think we have some fun ponies for her??) Sarah has been writing to us often the past month. We like enthusiasm!

 

Thursday, January 28^th Update:

Meghan has had a busy and fun day. We’ve been in touch with three families inquiring about Longacres. We’re hoping that it works out for Olivia to come all the way from California. She’s working on the details. We also both enjoyed speaking with Sarah F’s grandmother. Sarah is from New Jersey and is interested in one of the final sessions available in July.

 

And “roll of Drums” – a big Longacres “Welcome” to Lauren F. from Randolph, NJ. Lauren is 12 years old and is signing up for a three week session including the last week in June and the first two weeks in July. Lauren has ridden quite a bit, loves horses, and Meghan really liked talking with her! We think you’ll fit right in, Lauren! Lauren lives in the same town as Staci and Shaina.

 

We saw “Country’s” owner, Jessica, in the parking lot of Tim Horton’s donut shop yesterday. It was blustery and cold out and Jessica stopped by our car to say “hello” wearing only a light sweater. Meghan teased her that she was showing off for the guys steering their pickup’s through the drive through! Jessica laughed (but didn’t deny it!).

 

Wednesday, January 27^th Update:

Farm Life & bad communication!

But first, some fun horse news. We are very pleased that so many of you have written and want to get really involved with training new horses. It will be interesting to see what we find this spring!

 

I’ve also been very pleased at some of the messages you guys have sent me about your lessons and training sessions. Many Longacres riders have worked hard to pay attention and absorb some of the fundamental ideas on horsemanship that we try to pass on while you are with us in the summer. Your descriptions of your lessons and training sessions at home show that you are using your heads. (Ofelia, don’t “literally” use your head! I hope you fall on something soft when you get those special bucks!!!!!)

 

Laura and Sharon had some very nice ground work sessions with their horses yesterday. I hope your rides went well tonight. During the winter when horses get extra spunky, lots of ground work is very, very useful.

 

Meghan has been busy talking with new students this week. Two may be signing up tomorrow and if they do we’ll be full for the final six weeks of the regular summer camp sessions and will only have a few spots from June 28 to July 11^th, plus space in the early-bird June weeks. And the June 14^th to 19^th week will soon be full – lots of riders already signed up or interested in that week!!

 

Now About that Farm Life!

You make some compromises when you live out in the country on a horse farm year round. Your living room becomes a warehouse and tool room for most of the year. My air compressor and booster battery live right inside the front door and the diesel jug for the big tractor lives right outside the front door on the porch. And then there are little things like putting up with heating systems that don’t always keep the house very warm. We have a good gas fireplace in the room we spend the most time in, so we can be warm when we want. But for years we’ve gotten by turning that fire on and off when we need it. And we’ve run small fans in Meghan’s office next to a heater, along with an electric heater next to her desk.

 

Our regular readers know that Meghan has had a green light to remodel a bathroom this fall at the main house, and that has turned out very well. The final part of that project was adding modern baseboard heat to the new bathroom and a bedroom. We finished that heating work this afternoon and just turned on the heating pump. Within ten minutes we were too warm! This is NOT something we’re used to in the middle of the winter!!!! OK, that’s a nice little story about “progress” on the farm.

 

Here’s “The Rest Of The Story”!

There is a big old heat exchanger – sort of like a radiator – in Meghan’s office. Years ago I installed it to keep that office warm. I know that we had some kind of problem with the big fan which would generate a “blast of hot air” when needed. Either it didn’t work or it was too noisy and I stopped using it. I began using smaller fans that didn’t quite keep the office warm enough, but I put up with the cold. That was long ago. Meghan began using that office for her winter work almost ten years ago and she would sit in front of an electric heater, sometimes wearing gloves, to keep herself from freezing while she worked. She is not the complaining type, so she made do. She had never known that office when it was warm so she just assumed that’s the way it had to be. I don’t work in that office, so I didn’t much notice or even think about Meghan’s small heater fans and electric booster heaters – or the gloves she often wore while working.

 

But we had heating on our mind today when our crew finally finished the heating system for our remodeling project and it worked so well. I was sitting in Meghan’s office visiting with her and she spoke about how nice it would be if we could put the same heating upgrade in her office. I decided to take a close look at the big heat exchanger in the corner of the room to see if we could use it in an improved heating system for Meghan. I really didn’t remember why we’d stopped using the big fan on the heater ten years ago.

 

So I picked up an old dusty cord attached to the big fan motor. I really thought the motor was burned out or had other problems, but I told Meghan, “Watch out in case I blow a fuse, but I’m going to plug this in for a second.” I did. And what do you know? The big fan started easy as pie and a huge blast of hot air shot out of the heat exchanger. In about three minutes Meghan’s office was toasty warm!!!!!

 

“TOM. Do NOT tell me that this big heater has nothing wrong with it and that I could have been warm the past ten years?!?!?”

 

Meghan asked that just once, and then lay her head down on her desk.

 

Mind now, the fan is very noisy, and now I remember that we were experimenting ten years ago with smaller quieter fans. But somehow that project got short circuited and eventually forgottan. I have a feeling it will be warmer from now on!!! (Can’t blame this on “life on the farm” – just plain sloppiness!)

 

Tuesday, January 26, Update:

Who wants to work with the new horses?

Well, that’s easy – I know that you all probably do! And you all will as part of your Longacres 2010 experience. But I’d like to know how many of you are especially interested in the training and schooling that we’ll have to put into some of the new horses we’re buying this spring and summer.

 

We may buy one or two that are ready to go in the show ring. But the way Longacres usually buys horses is to find promising unfinished training projects and bring them along. We usually buy two or three horses every summer. This year we’re hoping to find five. A few of our great old friends like Brownie, Kingsley, and Bobert are nearing the end of their long useful careers. Brownie especially, is doing well this winter and we hope he’ll have another good year at Longacres. But we will be needing some fresh blood in the Longacres herd, for sure.

 

So let us know if you want to help put in the time training and conditioning new horses. Most of the greatest show horses in Longacres history started out as green broke beginner horses that we found in someone’s back yard. We’re really looking forward to the process of finding and training part of the next generation of Longacres horses this summer. We hope you are too!

 

The three horses we bought last summer, Lincoln, Chesney, and Tux are all doing well at their winter homes during the off season. After another year of exposure to the Longacres riding system, they should be solidly useful members of our riding program. I hope our luck with horse purchases in 2010 is as good.

 

Thanks

We’ve now heard from all families and confirmed your tuition payments for this month. Many thanks, and all is well! The final tuition payment is due April 1^st. Mark your calendar, and we promise to send out bills early so you’ll have adequate time to make those payments.

 

Sunday, January 24^th, 3PM Update:

Thanks to those of you who called or wrote to Meghan this afternoon about confirming your enrollments and making tuition payments. We’ve heard from and confirmed the enrollments for all but two of you. Thanks for your understanding why we need to get final confirmation on all our enrollments right now.

 

And indeed, things are going well this month. We’ve been getting one or more brand new inquiries every day this week. We’re feeling very good about the 2010 season!

 

As a favor to the Kranz family, especially to Tom’s mother, take a quick look at the House for Sale website linked at the top of this page. The Longacres Blog has readers all over the country with the kind of friends who might be interested in this kind of property if they were moving to the eastern suburbs of New York.

 

 

 

Sunday, January 24^th, Update:

Be sure to scroll down and read the Saturday Update with important information about the January 15^th tuition due date, if you missed it yesterday.

For today we have a more cheerful update with interesting reports from Kellie and from Alexa.

Here’s Kellie’s message from two days ago:

Hey guys(:

I know i haven't emailed in a while but I've been busy!

So I saw on your website that Heather took her Christmas tree down last week. BUT we still have ours up! I don't know when we plan to take it down, but its still there...

 

I have an Ebony story!

You know the school across Northstar its called Childrens Universtity. Well CU goes until 6th grade, and Northstar starts at 7th grade. We (Northstar) want the CU 6th graders to come to NOrthstar next year, so we have an open house. Only this year have we started the equestrain program, so we thought we could show the 6th graders the "Hunn Ranch", and to take them on a led-trail ride. The horses we chose to take on the trail were Ebony, Charger, Princess (friend's horse), and a cute palomino pony named Jack thats also a friend's. So I am leading Ebony with a 6th grader on her, and the trail ride is going just fine. We decide that since the kids are doing great controlling the horses, we can let them walk by themselves (with us right next to them). Ebony decides she needs to ...go to the bathroom. So she does her business while the other horses pass her. You know how she gets when she's not in the lead. When she ...finishes, she notices her friends are ahead of her, so she gets, you know, and takes off with a 6th grader on her. She goes a full-gallop until she in the lead again, but thankfully the 6th grader has ridden before (we were in western saddles, so she hung onto the horn), and she didn't buck or anything. The kid, Reece, was fine but a little spooked. I decided from then on I will tell the others to wait behind and hold onto Ebony. After that, we had 4 more rounds of kids and Ebony was great.

She is an amazing pony but horses are unexpecting sometimes.

 

Other than that, the ponies are great. I have jumped alot  (thanks to y'all!) and the rails are still intact.

I have really worked with Tux with Travis and I am getting him to behave more and making his head soft, etc.

We were supposed to ride today, but it started to rain. :/

Hopefully it will dry up by Monday for my lesson!

Texas has been bipolar about the weather lately (what's new?). Right now its 52 degrees and raining, but yesterday it was in the 60's and 70's and a beautiful sunshine. So much for snow!

I bet tomorrow its gonna be like 10 degrees.

Hehe(:

Anyways, 184 DAYS TILL CAMP!

:D !!

I'm going to go eat something so bye(:

 

Miss y'all always!

-Kellie

XOXOXO

 

And here is today’s message from Alexa:

Meghan and Tom,

(Tom I'm not sure on you favorite color if you have one, but I guessed green??)

    I have lots of good news to tell!!

    First, I have to regain the all-time tree record.  My dad was reading the website the other day and told me that the tree that stayed up for almost a full year was actually a real tree.  And that is why we changed to the fake trees the following year.  Also, there is an old Christmas tree planted in our backyard from the Christmas the day before I was born.  So we still have a Christmas tree that's 18yrs old although its not in the house.

    Next, is I just had a show yesterday!!  I haven't shown since the fair so it was nice.  It wasn't jumpers though :(  I have to start doing the hunters sometimes because that is what all the coIlege teams do.  I got to show my pony though, who hasn't been to a show in over a year.  Leo was amazing!!  We showed in children's hunter.  Leo went around like a perfect hunter!! He was perfect on his flying changes too, besides one he got half which was totally my fault.  I was very proud of him.  We got a 4th, 2nd, 4th over fences out of 6 people.  The flat class was a super epic power fail, I picked up the wrong lead going the second direction.  But, Tom you would be proud because Leo cantered maybe two strides before I new without looking and brought him down to a trot and asked again.  Theres even better news, I was showing by where Carly and Laura live.  So Carly and her parents came to watch!! It was really nice to see them again!!  Carly says her horse, Gold is doing well and she's starting to ride more.

    The last news is that I got accepted to Gettysburg, the college of my choice!!  Thank you very much for your recommendation! :)

 

Hope you guys are doing well!!  Enjoying the winter "break".  Have you heard any more news about Shabang??  And how Quantum is doing this winter, even though all the horses can be fresh??  I know Star and Lincoln are doing well!  Also, any ideas for these five new horses!!

 

I think thats all for now.  I'm actually about to go to the barn to ride.  I'm riding the pony Shaina usually rides because Leo gets a day off.  We were at the show from 9am to 7pm it was longggg day.  Shaina also says hi!!  I was talking to her yesterday and she wishes she could come again, and ride Zany but she has to get a job this summer.  I've heard that before.

Alexa

PS Guess what starts in three weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Congratulations, Alexa, on getting into your first choice college! We’re really happy for you!

 

And here’s another Christmas tree message from Micayla:

Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying your snowmobiling trip so far. I think you might have a new record holder for the Christmas tree contest! My tree is still up even though we got it back on December 8th! We even have the lights still on! Amazingly it still looks pretty lively. Now I'm looking at it though...it seems to have quite the tilt. Haha :) I hope everyones doing well and I'm thinking about this summer like crazy!

Micayla

 

And a similar message from Heather!

Hi,

Hope you are enjoying your trip!  Just sending a quick message to say that our family took down our crisp christmas tree last night!  I think half of it fell apart in our living room in the process of taking it down - it was so old!

-Heather

 

In addition to the Christmas tree stories from Kellie, Micayla, Heather, and Alexa, Uncle Billy also wrote the other day that his tree is still up (but it is one of those little ones that sits on a table!) I think keeping Christmas trees up forever must be much more common than many people think. It’s one of those little family secrets you keep unless you’re telling stories among friends, like here on the Longacres Blog!

 

Saturday, January 23^rd Update:

Important Info on Overdue Tuition – Please Read

We hate January 15^th!

We really, really do. And especially the following ten days after the January tuition payments are due every year. We hate it because we are forced to be hard nosed business managers, and that’s not at all the way we like to define ourselves at Longacres. Every fiber in our beings prefers to be focused on trying to give you all great personal customer service and trying to create a friendly, family atmosphere for you, our valued friends and customers.

 

But hard nosed we must be in January and here’s why. Longacres is a very small farm. With only nine spots for students plus a CIT or two, most of those spots are spoken for very early every fall. And that can be difficult. It’s hard for families to plan all their summer commitments almost a year in advance. It is why we spread tuition due dates out with a portion due by January 15^th. If your family vacation plans change by January, you are only out your deposit if you must drop out. And almost every year someone must change their plans and withdraw their reservation. People often wait until the last minute just before January tuition is due, often hoping that they can work things out to attend.

 

If someone cancels their reservation January 15^th, we are in a good position to fill the spot, since January is the busiest time of the year for signing new enrollments. Just this week, for instance, we are talking with a brand new family that wants a 3 or 4 week session next summer. As of January 15^th last week, we did not have any four week vacancies and we tentatively had to tell this family we could not offer them the session of their choice. BUT, several students are overdue making their January tuition payments. By this Monday, they will be ten days past due. We have to ask ourselves if these families are canceling their 2010 reservation, because we will have exactly the session the new family wants if one or more of those overdue payments does not come through.

 

At a big camp, it’s a little less important if one spot goes unfilled in a session. But at a very small camp like Longacres, if just one spot is unfilled in a session, we lose more than 10% of our entire budget for that session. That’s why this is such a big deal to us!

 

Please, please understand how much we hate the idea of calling or writing you to ask, “Where’s our money?” Please understand that we must do so, only because we have other people ready to take the place of a cancellation - - and those potential first time Longacres students will have to make other plans if we can’t confirm a vacancy. If we turn someone away, we may not get another chance to fill the spot.

 

That said, by this Monday, it appears that several of you will be ten days overdue. We’d love to have you at Longacres this summer if we still have a space open when your payment comes in. But your reservation will no longer be confirmed if it isn’t paid.

 

Yes. We hate this week every year. And especially in this recession year when more people than normal seem to be in this position.

 

(If you are having an “oh, my gosh, I forgot all about it” moment, just give us a call – We’ll work it out!)

 

Friday, January 22Update:

Although we’re waiting until Monday for a confirmation, it looks like we may have a cancellation and will have space in two previously full sessions. Those of you who have been considering Longacres this month, contact us if you are interested in one of the sessions that has been listed as “full”.

 

Ten Day Special:

Also, we are offering one spot for the first ten days of the August camp session. One of our long time customers must come late for that session and we’re trying to find someone who wants to come just for that period from July 28^th to August 8^th to fill the unused portion of her session.

 

Check the new “Picture of the Month” at the top of the page featuring Laura on Horatio.

 

Thursday, January 21, Update:

Bulliten:

Remember our story a few weeks ago asking who might be the last one to take down their holiday Christmas Tree? Alexa immediately claimed the “All-Time” record, since one year she and her family NEVER took their artificial tree down until they redecorated it for the following Christmas. But this year, we just heard from Heather M. that they just put theirs away this week. Does anyone else have Heather beat?

 

Wednesday, January 20^th Update:

Meghan and I are off to the Adirondack mountains for a couple of days of snowmobiling. We’ll be getting our email, so if any of the group of possible new students that inquired during the past week have questions or want to talk with us, just email. We’ll call you back shortly. We still are amazed sometimes that in this day and age you can be in the middle of a big state park and keep right on running a business and communicating with your customers!

 

Monday, January 18^th, 8PM Update:

Just to finish the story of the day - - -

Meghan is still on cloud nine after conquering her fear of needles! We’ve gotten nothing useful done today – just out celebrating. I know it sounds silly. But here’s how Meghan explains it. She says, “It’s kind of like a fear of falling off a horse. Until your first fall, it’s a big deal. Then once you’ve successfully survived an unexpected dismount, it’s not that big a deal anymore.”

 

Now Meghan’s eager to go in and give blood. She’s always felt horrible that she wasn’t at least an occasional blood donor, but this phobia of needles was too much for her. Whatever. I’m sure glad she’s been in such a good mood all day!

 

Monday, January 18^th Update:

“Prick me, Baby!”

Not much Longacres news to report today, so I’ll entertain you with a personal story from the Kranz household. Meghan has conquered one of her deepest phobias and is bouncing off the walls today with good cheer. Many of us have phobias of one kind or another. Fear of snakes, fear of spiders, fear of flying, you name it and it really, really bothers some people. For me, it’s fear of great heights. You may remember my story from November of driving through the mountains in Utah and almost fainting as we drove past some seemingly bottomless canyons right next to the road.

 

OK, one of Meghan’s biggest fears ever since her childhood has been getting shots or having blood drawn at the doctor’s office. She would do almost anything to avoid needles. The past week has been tense around our house ever since Meghan got an appointment for a blood test as part of a routine physical. As the day for her blood test got closer and closer, you could sense the tension in the house. I understood how she felt, but it was hard for me to appreciate how the vision of that needle “plunging into her arm” was hanging over Meghan and occupying her thoughts.

 

This morning I dropped a gloomy Meghan off at the clinic and promised to pick her up right after her test was done. She didn’t want me waiting with her. So I went to breakfast and was reading my paper while I waited for the phone call that Meghan was ready to be picked up down the block. Suddenly I looked up, and there was Meghan, smiling from ear to ear and breathless after running around the corner from the clinic. “I’m not afraid anymore! It was fun!” Meghan says she really can’t explain it, except that she had a nice nurse drawing her blood and she suddenly just wasn’t afraid anymore. That’s when she added, “Prick me, baby!”

 

Warmer weather, but Dirty Snow!

We can’t deny that it’s pleasant to be able to walk to the car without getting frostbit cheeks or nose! But we do like our fresh white snow in the winter, and the past two days has turned the snowbanks gray/brown from the melting snow and slush. We’ll be happier when cold weather returns.

 

We had a fun dinner with Uncle Billy at the mall last night, talking about horse plans and the coming season at Longacres. Meghan will soon be getting serious about shopping for new horses. As we’ve told you, we hope to buy five new horses this season. We’ll be busy training horses in May and early June!

 

Thanks to the folks who sent their tuition check by FedEx this morning! It’s appreciated, but not necessary. Just send us an email if you have a payment coming a day or two late and we’re glad to give you the extra time. But we do want to know, so we won’t think you’ve changed your plans about coming to Longacres. We still haven’t heard from several people at all

 

New Students:

We’ve had lots of emails and calls from possible new students this week. The middle of January is usually our busiest time. We will be home all weekend, and we’re glad to have you call anytime this weekend to ask us about Longacres. Call anytime up to 11PM in the evening.

 

Friday afternoon Update:

A little history:

Several of you have recently asked me to publish more about the early history of Longacres. Which I will do soon. Here’s a little tidbit, in answer to someone who wrote in yesterday with a “history” question:

 

Subject: history

To: camplongacres@yahoo.com

Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 10:48 PM

 

Was this camp once called spruce lodge? i was a counselor there many years ago and i see it is not listed anymore, Any info would be of interest. thank you

meryl nash

 

 

Tom’s Response:

Longacres has been "Longacres" since it was founded by my grandmother and her sister in 1939.  The name "Longacres" was derived from my grandmother's maiden name, "Longaker".

 

There is a "Sprucelands" connection.  There is another camp in Java Center, NY by that name.  Sprucelands was founded by Shelley Black, who was previously director of Gohadago Camp in the Alleghany Mts. back in the 1930's.  My great Aunt, Laura Longaker Adams, was Mrs. Black's Assistant camp director back at Gohadago in the 30's.  When Mrs. Black left Gohadago to found Sprucelands, my great Aunt had expected to be named director.  But she was passed over, which is why she chose to found Longacres in 1939 with help from my grandmother, Jacqueline Kranz.  The rest is history, as they say.

 

- Tom Kranz

 

Friday, January 15^th Update:

Happy Birthday Debra!

A day late that is; Meghan reminded me on time yesterday but I didn’t get an update done. Hope you had a great day!

 

Tuition Day:

Everyone else please remember that your January tuition payment is due today. If it is on its way but not going to get here today, please email us and we’ll be glad to give you a few extra days. If your plans have changed, please let us know that, as we have good interest from new students who might want your spot. Thank you.

 

(Hi Deb M. – you really read this every morning?)

 

Wednesday, January 13^th Update:

Reminder: Tuition is Due Friday

Don’t forget that your first regular tuition payment is due this Friday to keep your reservation in effect. More than half are not here yet. If yours will be late, just give us a call or drop an email, and we’ll hold your spot for a few days.

 

Farm Life – A “Clean Snow Winter”

Here at Longacres, we embrace winter as an interesting change in the seasons. Yes, it causes problems with frozen pipes, winter storm damage, and wear and tear on our buildings and grounds. But it can be very beautiful here in winter with all the snow. We say, “If we’re going to go through a winter season, then BRING IT ON!” We hate a half hearted winter with dirty slushy snow and mud showing through on the roads and trails.

 

But this winter that’s not been a problem so far. It’s been continuously cold and snowy since Christmas, the driveway has a solid base of frozen packed snow, and everything is white. Check these pictures taken today out in front of the house along the drive. We’re about to get a partial warmup here in Western New York for the next week with cold nights but warm afternoons. It will be a pleasant break when we’re outside, but it won’t be as pretty.

 

Tuesday, January 12^th Update:

We’ve been lazy about changing the Rotating “Fun Pictures” recently, but we did it today. Click here or go up to the paragraph above to see some new Meghan favorites.

 

Also, here’s a Longacres “Hello” to Lily & Ali from Florida who are very interested in coming for one of the June Clinic weeks. Lily sounds like she’d fit right in at Longacres – she’d stay in her horse’s stall all the time if she could. Does that sound familiar to any of you guys?

 

Monday, January 11^th Update:

Happy Birthday, Katie “Senior”!

And – check this link! The renovation of Main Street in East Aurora was finished this fall ahead of schedule. I know that it will be hard for you to believe if you were one of our customers the past two summers driving your kids to Longacres and bouncing around during the major construction work! But the work is done and they’ve even put in new landscaping, including the circle of park benches right across the street from our Longacres “Town Day” laundramat. Meghan and I can just imagine the Longacres crew sprawled on these new benches after doing your laundry and shopping on Sunday afternoons.

 

It was good to hear from Katie & Jessica from Colorado today! We look forward to seeing you two again in June! We’ve had an extremely International month of January so far, with enrollments or serious inquiries from California, Colorado, Toronto, Canada, and half way around the world in Bahrain!

 

Thursday, January 7^th Update:

Lots of News:

It’s always quiet for us over the Holidays with all our friends and customers busy with family get togethers and vacations. And then busier after new Years. No exception the past week, as we’ve been getting new inquiries about Longacres every day. We send out a Longacres “Welcome” to Taylor from Arkansas who is taking the last student spot in the July 11 to 25^th session. Taylor’s family has several horses and she almost came to Longacres last summer. Glad it is finally working out for her to be with us! That leaves only a CIT spot for that session, and we had a conversation with someone this morning that might possibly fill that spot.

 

And another BIG “Longacres Welcome Back” to Shelly K. who has accepted our offer to be senior riding staff from the middle of May through June 13^th. Shelly will be helping Meghan open the barn, buy and train some new horses, and teach riding during the early June weeks. I have lost track of how many years Shelly spent at Longacres beginning as a young camper and returning year after year as a rider and then as a junior counselor. Shelly’s showing exploits on her beloved horse, “Janna aka Devil Horns”, are legendary in western New York.

 

One or two of you have asked if we have snow. Check this link on my snowmobiling trails website for pictures of Meghan and I riding snowmobiles and playing in the snow yesterday.

 

Tuesday, January 5^th Update:

Happy Birthdays to:

Drisana, Jessica, and Gertrude!

Hope all three of you enjoy a fine birthday –

 

Monday, January 4^th, 9PM:

It is winter here! Check this link for a few snow pictures near and around Longacres.

 

Monday, January 4^th Update:

Following is a nice message from Ofelia describing one of her training sessions. I’ve been getting a few of these descriptions from some of you recently, and I really like reading them. It’s interesting to see how some of the same themes we emphasize at Longacres are put to use in your riding at home. Perhaps we should start an archive of descriptions of good lessons. Or maybe Petra will do that in her photo clinic Blog. Anyway, here’s Ofelia’s description:

 

“Hi Tom & Meghan,

 

       Hope everything's well at Longacres, and you enjoyed your 24 hours without emails (not for long, though--you have silly people like me emailing you updates)!

      

       I wanted to tell you about a fun and interesting lesson my mom and I had the other day. Although there were quite a few people in the lesson, we did a very helpful exercise. Our trainer that day was telling that even though the horses often get a bit antsy and unpredictable in the the cold winter weather, keeping a good working walk, trot, and canter (whether you are doing any of those gaits) will keep them from getting bored and snappy, and also won't give them the opportunity to misbehave. Even though there are plenty of times horses spook and you couldn't have anticipated it, our trainer's advice reminded me of the things I have learned at Longacres. That working walk certainly comes in handy! We continued on for some of the lesson warming up our horses, getting ready to go through an exercise with a cross rail, to a bounce, to another bounce, and then two strides to a small vertical. This was very helpful, especially for the school horses we were riding, since we had to practice collecting the horses' strides before the gymnastic, but then keeping enough leg to go through the whole combination. It was hard though at first, since I am used to coming back into the saddle after the landing side of a jump (as with most jumps) -- only with these jumps, there was no time to come back of course, since it was a gymnastic. After going through this a few times each, and getting better and better at keeping our horses in control and attentive, our trainer moved things around a bit -- now there was a cross rail, which like before, we trotted into -- then a bounce, another bounce, then a one stride to a small vertical, and finally another one stride to the last vertical. After this, she added some other jumps into our little course, so that pretty soon, we had built up everything to be a gymnastic exercise, and then a few outside, diagonal, and quarter line jumps. My mom and enjoyed the exercise a lot, and it was great for all types of horses -- the quick pony I was riding had to wait and back off to wait for the jumps, and the more downhill horse my mom was riding learned to pick up her feet more efficiently. I thought I would tell you about this exercise since it reminded me so much of some of the combinations we did in preparation for the Derby, and during the Derby.

 

       We also got to see Laura, Sharon, Ho-Ho, Chesney, and Gold (Carly's horse; but we didn't get to see Carly) today, which was nice. Chesney and Ho-Ho looked warm in their winter coats and blankets, and both were happy I'm sure to get some attention! "Fosto" and I played some games of "velociraptor (to our moms' horror)," the game that originated at Longacres.

 

Ofelia”

 

We hope Sharon feels better soon – she took a tumble from a very feisty feeling “Chesney” on a cold winter day and is a bit banged up. Fortunately nothing serious, but she has what she describes as an impressive bruise! (Martha and Ofelia suggested posting a picture – you sicko’s!) I hope all of you out there doing winter riding are careful. Horses don’t get ridden as often this time of year and when they are ridden in cold weather, they often do feel very energetic and can let loose with unexpected bucking fits. Consider lunging your horses before riding, even if it is a normally calm horse.

 

AND - - -“Happy Birthday” to Rhiannon today and a belated New Year’s birthday to Leslie H.

 

Sunday, January 3^rd, 3PM Update:

Alexa Wins!

Don’t even bother writing in hoping that you might have the record for leaving your tree up longer than anyone else. Alexa writes that one time her family ended up leaving the tree up until the following Christmas! LOL HAR HAR HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! But it was an artificial tree, Alexa claims, and they DID take the ornaments down. Just never got around to putting the tree away. We’ll have to open another category for real trees!

 

Cute Story from Sydney:

“Hello! 

Today I went sledding with my friends at the barn. First we went sledding on the trails, then in Casino and Dancer's paddock.(Casino and Dancer are two of the senior citizens of the barn, They know a lot about sleds and how to avoid them.)Any ways two of our four sleds we left at the bottom of the hill and carried the other 2 sleds all the way up the hill. Once we left the 2 sled at the bottom Casino and Dancer immediately went to investigate. They where licking, pawing, and sniffing our sleds, they where so interested!!The whole time we where sledding ( about an hour) they where investigating our sled. Who knew that sleds where really that interesting!

Talk to you later!!

~Sydney

 

--

~___/>

 (    )   Horses!!!!!”

 

Sunday, January 3, 9AM Update:

We did it!

Not one single email from a friend of Longacres for 24 hours. That is a rare thing in our world! It made for a relaxing New Year’s weekend, but careful out there – don’t let this go on for too long, or we’ll start whining about being ignored. Enjoy your weekends – school starts again soon!

 

When is Your tree Coming Down?

Let’s have a little survey. When did you put up your Holiday decorations and tree? And when did/or will you take them down? Here at Longacres Meghan usually likes to get her tree and all her decorations up a week before Christmas. She was late this year and only had everything done by December 22^nd. As far as taking things down, Meghan is one of those who likes to keep the decorations as long as she can. The tree is never down by New Year’s day, which is when many people undecorate. She aims for January 8^th this year. (I don’t dare report the very latest date we’ve ever taken down our tree!)

 

Saturday night, January 2^nd Update:

Happy New Year!

In addition to the “New Year’s” greetings, we send out a Longacres “Hello” to Leslie G. who wrote late last night asking some questions about attending Longacres. What’s significant about that email beyond Leslie being the first new inquiry of 2010, is that it was also the last email we received. If we get none in the next hour and a half, it will be the first time in maybe a year or more that we’ve had no emails in a 24 hour period! With all the correspondents who read our Blog and keep in touch, it is a rare day, indeed, with no messages. (If you read this tonight, don’t jinx it – wait until after midnight to email us.)

 

Very cold here in western New York, but at least the first part of the day had a little sun and some lovely winter scenes. Once again, Happy New Year!

 

Thursday, New Year’s Eve Update:

I was busy this morning doing website updates. More are coming in the next few weeks. If any of you have time, check my work for mistakes in case we have any caption names wrong or if any of the pictures don’t load. Updated last night and today were our Rate & Schedule page, and the Longacres Facilities page, with about 35 new pictures added to the old ones.

 

Meghan and I are having an early dinner with Uncle Billy tonight, then staying home off the highways and watching a video or two. Have a happy & safe new Year’s Eve, everyone!

 

A Quick “Thanks” to NYSEG:

I am often at war with the local utility companies. Since Longacres owns a good sized parcel of land with electric and gas lines crossing the property, we have to be vigilant that the utility companies don’t come through and do unsightly or dangerous clear cutting through our woods and trail systems. We just won a major battle with NYSEG, the electric company, over a long term trespass where one of their big power lines was wrongly put on our property. So I am humbled to have to issue a BIG “thank you” to one of NYSEG’s maintenace crews.

 

They responded to a call from us about a tree down on one of their lines supplying the camp. They cleared the tree which was clearly their responsibility. But we still had uneven power in the camp. So we called them to come out again. But it turned out that there was an unrelated problem with the wiring on our side of the meter pole. The NYSEG crew would have been completely within their rights to shut off our power and leave until we had a private contractor come in and fix the problem. But not this crew. They offered to wait until one of my people could get to the job site, and then they showed us exactly where the problem was, helped us hook up a temporary supply wire, gave us the wire and special clamps, and stayed until the electric was tested and working properly. All above and beyond the call of duty. I called the crew chief back after they left and told him I hoped Santa treated his family well this season. Thanks, NYSEG!

 

Wednesday, December 30^th, 1PM Update:

Several things today;

Here’s a message from Petra who was at Longacres the first month last summer and returns for our second month in August this summer:

“Hi!

I just wanted to say Hi! I'm in Colorado right now, and I miss my horse. I can't wait to get back to Florida! It is cold here....brrrr.....

I was just wondering if you guys have any suggestions for topics for my blog? I have some ready, but I will be writing alot today in the afternoon, because I have no plans, and I will probably need some topics to write about. I try to write everyday, but I don't always have time.

I hope you guys get all of your electric work fixed, and have a happy new year!!!!

-Petra

horse-aholics.blogspot.com”

 

Check that link – Petra has started her very own Equestrian photo clinic & Blog. She’s doing a very good job at it, featuring mostly Longacres pictures of Longacres riders. Keep it up, Petra!

 

And here’s another message from Emily, who is also coming to Longacres during August this year:

“Dear Tom and Meghan,

 

     So here I am- thinking about camp, and before I know it, im reading the website from the earliest to most recent posts of this summer, and re-reading the summer basically. It was fun :) But then I realized I had stuff to email you about, so here I am.

     

For Tom- I have a working walk story! I know it's kind of late, but better late than never right? Alright, well here it is. The horse I lease, Ellie, has been trained and does know how to get her head into a frame when given the right commands. But during my lesson on Saturday, she was being particularly stubborn about it when I asked her in the trot. So I thought of camp, and all of a sudden, a little solution popped into my head! I remembered you (Tom) talking about the importance of the working walk and how the key to horse and rider is establishing and maintaining the "who's boss" relationship is by starting with a good working walk. So what I did was I brought her down to a walk, let her stretch her head for a lap around the ring, and then picked her back up and brought her to a steady working walk. She was confused at first, and then she got it and was overstepping and really picking herself up. Once we could maintain that without me nagging at her, I asked her to go into a frame, and she did it in a matter of seconds, and kept it throughout the walk, trot (forward, collected, and sitting), and even in the canter (which shocked me the most). "Uncle Tom's" words were in my head my entire lesson! :)

    

For Meghan- I may have found someone to fill those 10 days in the August session!! She may not want to show, but she is definitely interested. She just needs to talk to her mom, and I shall have more information for you on Sunday. Nothing is guaranteed, but there is a chance!

 

I hope you guys are having a good winter! I miss you soooooooooooo much :( I want to come back home already! Too bad I have at least 24 weeks of school yet :( But I hope I can see you guys in march and I'll get back to you Meghan when I have more information.

 

Take care! <3 Em”

 

As many of you know, I am a sucker for a good “working walk” story. Good job, Emily. I am glad you think of us when you do some good riding like this at home!

 

(A note from Longacres: We usually only accept students for the full 3 ½ week August session. Emily signed up for the full August session, but has a family trip that conflicts with this, and has to come ten days late for that session. We have agreed to try to help her find someone else to come just for those first ten days of the August session, beginning July 28^th. Let us know if that works for YOU. Someone signed up for the July 11 to 25^th two weeks might want to stay over and include the first part of August. We’re willing to be flexible to help out a good customer like Emily!)

 

Here at Longacres today we’re finishing up odds and ends from our Christmas. I helped Meghan put together a “some assembly required” make up stool for her new bathroom. And together we drilled holes in the wall and hung a couple of pictures. Meghan is smiling constantly!

 

If you are curious about how I spend quite a bit of my time in the winter, check this link for today’s “Update” to my snowmobile trail conditions website. Almost every morning after breakfast in town I take a drive (often with Meghan’s company) and take pictures and check trail conditions for a popular snowmobile trail system just east of us (near all the wind turbines).

 

Tuesday, December 29^th, noon Update:

Very cold here at Longacres today, but pretty with fresh white snow everyplace. More “fun on the farm” – electric power problem at the old carriage house cottage. Thankfully the heat is still working OK! But I spent a couple of hours tracing old wiring. We think/hope that it is a problem with the electric company’s wires. We’ll know by tonight!

 

We got a few responses to our posting about Meghan quitting FaceBook. For those of you who love your FaceBook, we certainly understand. It can be very useful and fun.

 

But we also had a great email (OUR kind of communication!!!) from a fellow Facebook “hater”! Some interesting comments and thoughts that we generally share.

 

Monday, December 28^th, 2PM Update:

First Tuition Payment Due January 15^th:

Thanks to a few of you who recently sent in your January payments early. 40% of your total tuition is due by January 15^th. The deposit you have already paid counts towards that. Meghan is sending out bills this week, but this is a heads up so you have a little extra time to plan.

 

Meghan & FaceBook: She’s “Out a’ there!”

Most of you know that we have expressed concerns about FaceBook privacy in the past. We signed up for a FaceBook account in the fall using Meghan’s name, since she is the most active manager of the Longacres business. But it is Meghan who most disapproves of the gossipy nature of many Facebook postings and it is Meghan who least often reads anything posted there. So today we deactivated Meghan’s FaceBook account. She’s “out a’ there”. Meghan MUCH prefers one on one communication and is always eager to hear from any of you via personal email!! Keep those messages coming. But she will not be reading FaceBook. (PS – We absolutely see how useful and fun FaceBook can be. It’s just not Meghan’s style.)

 

We might open another account in Tom’s name. Tom spends a lot more time on the computer and is a more public kind of person by nature. He (I) is the one who writes almost all of these Blog posts, anyway. We have also been concerned that some people might have “friended” Meghan thinking that it was just Meghan, and not an unofficial Longacres account used by both Tom & Meghan.

 

Sunday, December 27^th, 8PM Update:

Today was the day we exchanged gifts in our house, postponing the fun to give us time to relax and enjoy it all after a very busy week. Santa gave Meghan an almost finished brand new bathroom. He brought me some nice DVD’s, an Apple Magic Mouse, and a really great high quality leather tool bag. I don’t do as much of the farm maintenance as I once did, but Meghan wanted me to have the really nice tool kit for the times I do get pulled away from my computer and roped into that kind of work. Thanks, Meghan!

 

Many thanks to all of you who sent us cards and email messages over the holiday weekend! We love hearing from you all.

 

Oh, and Santa also brought about a zillion different kinds of cookies, chocolates, and GREAT home cooked and restaurant meals over the past few days. Evil stuff! Tom is going to be on a starvation diet for a long time after the holidays to compensate, I’m afraid.

 

Saturday, December 26^th Update:

Happy Birthday, Alexa!

Hope you have a great B-day, you highly valued, appreciated, and loved and now adult Longacres counselor, you!!!!!!!!

 

Christmas Day Update:

Did you really think I wouldn’t Post here on Christmas?

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

OK, as we’ve told you, it’s not really Christmas in our house until Sunday, but we know it is for most of you. (Not Heather – she wrote that her family is delaying until Monday, since they’re away on vacation where it is WARM this week!) We’re having a very relaxing day putting a few more momentos on the tree, cleaning up around the house, and having some GOOD food home cooked by Meghan the chef!

 

And even though we’re waiting for our personal gift exchanges on Sunday, we did get a very nice Christmas present this morning. We spent almost an hour on the phone talking to brand new Longacres student Alexandra and her dad, who are half way around the world in Bahrain. We hit it off great with them and Alexandra is definitely coming to Longacres in August. She’s taking the final available spot, so Longacres will be completely full now in that session. That’s a nice Christmas morning for us! Alexandra will probably be emailing some of you who are attending that session. We hope you share your feelings for Longacres with her!

 

Check this link for a few pictures of the special memories we put on our tree along with the usual lights and decorations. Meghan has more than fifty of these little trinkets that bring back special memories. They are an important part of our family Christmas tradition.

 

Thursday, Christmas Eve Day:

How About a Two Day Delay?

Christmas in our house has been declared to be December 27th! Ah, we understand that this would be impossible in most households with kids chomping at the bit for the arrival of Santa. But we’ve made a special arrangement for Santa to do all his magic around the world, take a long nap, and then come by Longacres on his way back to the North Pole on Sunday! We hope he is good to all of you tomorrow if you celebrate Christmas.

 

For us, this week has been just too hectic to prepare for the big day in time. One of Meghan’s favorite things about this holiday, besides seeing friends and family, is getting her tree up and gifts wrapped in time to just sit and enjoy the beauty of the season for a few days. With the turmoil of the rental house furnace repairs and the delay caused by our unexpected snowmobiling trip Monday and Tuesday, we’ll barely have everything ready by tonight. And as we were rushing to finish preparations last night, we stopped and said, “Ya’ know, there’s no reason we can’t finish everything up Christmas Eve and then just enjoy the beauty and the good feelings of the season for a couple of days and declare Sunday to be our personal day to exchange gifts and stuff.” So that’s what we’re doing. We’ll have a very relaxed real Christmas Day tomorrow and just look at our tree and wrapped gifts. We’ll spend some time calling friends & family and we’ll think of all of you!

 

“Boxing Day” we’ll go out to lunch with friends and maybe venture out among the hoards of shoppers and gift certificate spenders. And then have our own gift exchange on Sunday.

 

= = =

 

“Some Assembly Required”

That was the dreaded phrase stenciled on the outside of a package Meghan had delivered yesterday, as one of the final touches for her new bathroom. Guess who gets to help with “some assembly”? Check this link for a few pictures, including the nearly mortal wound I suffered in the process!

 

= = =

 

A Longacres “Hello” to Alexandra. She and her dad are considering signing her up for one of the final spots in the second session. She is going to a British School in the Kingdom of Bahrain where her dad is working. She’s had some interesting experiences riding in several places around the world. We hope the dates work out for your summer holiday plans, Alexandra!

 

= = =

 

Swapping Jobs:

Meghan and I were both frustrated yesterday with the furnace problems in our tennant’s house and all the last minute shopping we had to do. So after venting to one another, we made a deal. We swapped jobs for the day! Meghan took over dealing with the plumbers and making decisions on getting Katie’s furnace fixed or replaced. And I volunteered to spend time driving and in long lines at the butcher shop picking up all the holiday food and goodies. Meghan supervises much of the maintenance work around the farm in the summer, anyway, and she is good at it. I normally hate standing in lines and shopping, but this was a fair trade. The change in normal roles was good for both of us. Try it sometime!

 

= = =

 

Anyone Out There?

The couple of days right before and after Christmas we usually hear very little from our internet friends. That’s a good thing! You should all be enjoying the holiday time with your friends and families. But if anyone’s reading this, shoot me a quick email. Just curious how many of you die hard Longacres Blog readers checked in today.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you if you don’t check back later1

 

 

Wednesday, Dec. 23^rd, 2PM Update:

Still a mixed day. We’re continuing to deal with the yucky furnace problem, with Meghan now working on a second estimate for furnace replacement. (She always does her homework!)

 

But we got more really nice news out of the Longacres past. Many years ago, about the time Beth Kramer was here (see below), we had a foreign student from Austria named Barbara. “Bobsie” to all the other girls at the time. Every year since then, and that is a lot of years now, I get an overseas envelope and Christmas Card from Barbara and her family. I wish I always took the same effort to send her a card in return. But today I did send her the following email. I post it here even though it is quite personal because the same thoughts apply to many of you out of the distant Longacres past who still think of us from time to time:

 

“Dear Barbara,

(Bobsie, I think they called you when you were at Longacres?!)  I just want to tell you that you bring a special moment of joy to my holiday every year when you take the time to send your annual card.  You have been doing it for a long time now.  Thank you from deep in my heart!

 

Many other girls who enjoyed their summer riding horses at Longacres over the years do send us occasional cards or email messages.  But few for so many years and from so far away as you.

 

Please accept my best holiday wishes to you and your family from all of us at Longacres.  If I am ever in your part of the world, I hope to stop and buy you and your husband a drink.  Or if you are in the states, please know that you are always welcome at Longacres.

 

- Tom Kranz”

 

Wednesday, Noon Update:

It’s been a day of contrasts. We (mostly Meghan) have been dealing with that unpleasant plumbing and heating problem in one of our houses and it is not completely solved yet. Yucccck!

 

On the other hand, I had a chance to spend time doing one of my favorite things; getting to know a possible new Longacres student during a long phone call. I spoke with Laura, from Indiana. Laura and her husband are both considering coming to Adult Week. They have their own horses and are interested in eventing. They enjoy the training and schooling even more than competing, and they both really like horse care – they keep their horses at their own place. Our kind of people, so far! It also turns out that Laura’s best friend is Beth K. who was a Longacres rider for several years quite some time ago. I immediately remembered Beth, who was a good rider and a popular girl when she was at Longacres. One of those people we really enjoyed having here and who you always remember! Beth does not ride anymore, but still keeps her foru legged “lawn ornaments” to this day! So we’re hoping that Laura and Dave both like the sound of Longacres and come spend a week with us so they can report on the changes to Beth when they go home.

 

We also enjoyed talking with Sarah and Jenny, two other young adults who are coming to one of our clinic weeks. They had a change in schedule and are switching weeks, but still very much looking forward to their Longacres session. It has been a busy morning of Longacres fun horse business by phone while we deal with the yucky business of furnace problems!

 

Wednesday, December 23^rd Update – morning:

The “We hate Plumbing” Day:

Yep, we do! When we have problems with horses, it can be frustrating or even heart rending. But when you’re done, you have either accomplished something or managed a problem that affects your most important and cherished assets. Not so with plumbing problems. The very best possible outcome is that things will be exactly the way they were before the problem came up, but your pocket book will be lighter.

 

We are landlords, renting out several small houses we own on the outskirts of the Longacres farm. Few things are more aggravating than getting that call, often on a freezing night, telling us “there is a problem with the heat in my house”. We’ve had good luck in recent years, and have not had many rental house problems. So I guess we should count our good fortune. None the less, an unpleasant responsibility is consuming our time during this happy holiday season. After spending two days diagnosing the problem with some of our regular part time maintenance help and working with a VERY patient tenant (thank you, Katie!), we bit the bullet this morning and called in the expensive plumbers. Hopefully the problem will be taken care of today. (cutting back on plans for expensive restaurant dinners over the holidays!)

 

Tuesday, December 22 Update:

Ebony, the Parade Horse! (Picture here)

Our large black pony, Ebony, has always marched to the beat of her own drum. Although she can be a little temperamental, like most ponies, she is a trustworthy ride. To find out just how good she can be when she wants, you’ve got to read the following report from Kellie!

 

“I actually wrote this like last week, but I forgot to press send. So yep:)

 

HEY.

Guess what the temperature is?!

50 degrees. In the morning. Haha yeah your jealous:)

And guess what I didn't wear yesterday?!

A JACKET!

Yep its true a warm-ish front came through this weekend, like you said. It was about 60 yesterday afternoon!

Its sad, but the only nice time to ride was yesterday, but I couldn't.

I had a mother-daughter girl scout thingy from 3-4, and I woke up at like 12 ish...

 

But I did ride Saturday!!! In the parade!

Ebony was AMAZING.

Her friend Charger was in it also with his owner, Tim.

Well Charger wasn't the best...Tim stopped him in the beginning of the parade because he was just sooo flipped out.

He was not doing anything Tim told him to do. He was a mess.

But Ebony was awesome. Even when the other horses with us were all strung out, Ebony was just like "Jeez, whats so scary about this?"

Haha. When Charger turned back, she was still great. Despite the major amounts of flashing lights, screaming children running up to the horses, and the police car stationed behind us in the parade had its siren on almost the hole time. It was annnnoying!

But Ebony's head was really low the whole time acting like she had done this a million times.

Oh I forgot! There were train tracks literally rightt next to the trailer. Like 5 feet away from us. When the train went by, All the other horses were flipping out!

Ebony's ears didn't even move. Her lower lip still stayed like hanging there. Shes amazing :)

Like you said, she would either be perfect or a spaz.

She was perfect. We had a great time.

 

The parade overall was great. there were lots of interesting floats, and the Northstar float turned out a great sucess.

We dressed up the horses really cool. We put green tinsel around the breast collar and white shiny tinsel in their tail. I was going to put some in Ebony's forelock, but it kept falling in her face. We also put light around the saddle and I made her hooves all glittery. I attached a heat shot of Ebony with the green tinsel and the shiny tinsel in her forelcock. (AND her hott pink halter!) I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but the train tracks were close.

Enjoy!

 

I hope you stay warm in New York. You have to come back down and enjoy the 50 degree weather!

I hope you had fun at the NYC reunion. I wish I was there /:

This week is the last school week for school! Yeah!

My family (and maybe a few friends) are officially going to our beach house for New Years. We plan to leave the morning after Christmas. We are gonna party!!

 

Its time for school soo buh byee!

Stay warm!!

 

XOXOXO,

Kellie<3”

 

Here at Longacres, Meghan and I just walked in the door from a day and a half of snowmobiling in the Adirondacks. Check this link for a few pictures. I’ll try to remember to write tomorrow about the drag race, won by Meghan with some clever strategy!

 

Monday Morning, 8AM:

Thanks to Laura for sending a nice write-up on her recent lesson and conditioning exercise with Horatio. As background, most of you know that Laura has Horatio at home with her for the winter. Ho-ho has been having some very odd symptoms of unsoundness for the past two months. He seems completely sound at the trot, and gallops around like crazy in pasture. But he has done some odd bucking and lead swapping at the canter. Hard to figure out. Laura has been doing conditioning work with him and other stuff. I really liked what she and her trainer did in the exercise she describes below.

 

“Hey!

 

Happy holidays!!!! I love Meghan's new bathroom. It looks great.

 

So first things first. Petra has a great blog that she updates a few times a week talking about horses and riding. Her last few updates have been George-Morris-esque Jumping Reviews (though much nicer!). Her first few victims have been Michelle, Emily and me. And we've all been on Longacres horses. http://horse-aholics.blogspot.com/ --there's the link. You should definitely check it out. It's worth a read.

 

On another happy note, I have Horatio news. I would like to say before you read this that he is on Bute this week and that probably has something to do with his great performance, but it is still great progress.

We had a lesson Thursday night, and he was great. We started out with a solid ten or fifteen minute warm up at the working walk, doing circles, walk to halt/halt to walk transitions, and other suppling exercises. He even stretched out his top line and got into a frame a few times! We then moved on to trotting, doing the same sort of circles (now bigger) and up and down transitions. There was a chute set up, just two poles set up to go through. They were close enough to few ground poles to make a nice very-mini course going through the chute, over the cavalettis ("Horatio, these are TROT poles, we're not jumping, TROT poles, good boy...!") and in a small circle around the mounting block, working on leg yielding and proper rein and body usage to supple him. We did the course a few times until Horatio was trotting the poles instead of trying to canter or jump them and our circle was round. We changed direction and did it in the opposite order until he was calm (-er. He's not really ever not calm). My trainer then took down the jumps used in the previous lesson and just put one pole between the standards so that there were two "jumps" in a line about three canter strides apart, I did the poles a few times in each direction ("Horatio, I know there are standards now, but this is still to be TROTTED over, not jumped...TROT...good boy!...now coming to the next one...still trotting, Horatio...good boy Ho-ho!") Then Horatio rested for a few times around the outside. Following this came the dreaded command: "Okay, Laura, now I want you to drop your stirrups..." Oh, dear... "...and do the whole thing. Circle the mounting block twice, go over the cavalettis, through the chute, and over the 'jump' line." Ugh. But Horatio was a complete saint. He seemed to understand my mangled cues and performed like a champ, me bumping on his back harder than I would like to admit the whole time. We did it once more. This time I was a little more secure, and he decided that a little canter stride and a small hop over the pole followed by another canter stride was just what my new security called for. Over each "fence." It was really quite fine, as he went right back to a trot when I asked him to and was not excited in the least. We changed direction (still no stirrups!) and did in the the opposite direction. Then, the newest form of torture was introduced. I was given one stirrup. I would go around twice with my right stirrup only, then I would make a large cirlce (half the ring) and during that cirlce I was to switch stirrups. Not take back my left and leave my right--that would be simply too easy. I took my foot out of my right stirrup then and did the course with only my left foot in the stirrup. I am pleased to say that while my two-point was a little shaky over the two poles leading into the chute and he again jumped and did a short canter stride after each of the ground poles in the line, we did quite a solid job. My sitting trot was much more acceptable, and he didn't seem to mind my free stirrup banging against his side the whole time. It was very nice. We changed direction (are you seeing a pattern?) and did it twice more in the opposite direction. We then did it again in both directions with both stirrups. As Horatio and I cooled out, my trainer and I discussed theory. It was a very nice lesson and a promising lookout on Horatio's recovery.

 

Laura”

 

Saturday, 1PM Update:

OK, the tree procuring adventure was a success, with only two minor wounds from the jungle as I cut the tree and dragged it to the driveway so I could bring it to the house in the tractor bucket. Pictures at this link. There’s also a picture of Meghan’s new bathroom project, almost finished now. Just a few trim pieces around the toilet room door and she’ll be done. Very exciting Christmas for Meghan. First shower in the new bath later today!

 

Bulliten:

Hasty Hills just wrote and confirmed their show date for Saturday, July 10^th. Glad to have them back in the Summer Series for 2010!

 

Saturday, December 19^th, noon Update:

Hi everyone,

Brody:

We’ll be updating again later on this holiday weekend. In the meantime, check this link for some pictures we took of Brody this morning over at Quakerfield. David took time out to show him to us and he looks great. Merry Christmas, Ofelia! These pictures are your “present” from us.

 

X-mas tree hunting:

We’ll post more pictures later this morning at this link of Meghan and I climbing through thickets of prickers and thorns as we try to choose the perfect Christmas tree. We think we found a nice one, and if we don’t die of our prickerbush attack wounds, we’ll go back out with the chain saw soon so we can do tree decorating this evening!

 

New From Annie!

And now a posting of one of Annie’s novels. Great to hear from you, Annie, and that your horsie is doing well. I understand that the owner of the barn at school is a former Longacres rider, Rita?? (9PM correction: it’s Regan that is at Rita’s barn, not Annie.) Here’s Annie’s message:

 

“Happy Holidays from the Hankins and Bremmy!

I Hope you dont have more snow than you desire!

 

Heres a Holiday update!

Bremmy and I are currently at our home barn on winter vacation. She's loving being able to frolic in the fields with her friends and giant round bales, unlike her private turnout paddock at school. However, she is not allowed to be let loose in the 42 acre pasture here... I don't think i would ever see her again! We're both getting our butts kicked and confidence boosted, we apparently got pretty out of shape at school! Runkey also enjoys going to horse shows now that we're home. At school she loooved being my lab partner and getting pampered for 2 hours during basic horse handling lab. That is....until final turnout when she had to be braided, groomed, wrapped, and tacked to perfection. Resulting in a cross tie time of 6 hours...she was not a happpy camper that day! She also loves her stall with a very open gate, her personality made her one of the favorites among the barn workers, surprise surprise! School didn't neccesarily embrace all the peculiar things that make Bremmy such a good jumper horse ( I cant blame them, its a very specific style to figure out) So at our first show home she was showed under the name "Runkeys got her mojo back," I tried to remember to trust her at let her go a little looser. Now its just a matter of getting Annies mojo back! We have high hopes that her new bit will last. She gets sick of most bits after a year, fights it, and we have to change it up on her. But her new one is a combination bit. It has a slightly ported sweet iron leverage bit, with a rope over her nose, and a curb strap. When you pull on reins it tightens the rope and curb strap while applying poll pressure, then it applies pressure to her mouth. She likes it MUCH better, as it distributes pressure over a variety of areas rather than placing it all in her mouth.  Shes very loose and supple and has great reactions to it. Just in case, we only use it for jumping and we've been given a simple snaffle to hack in. I made it very successfully through the first semester at college, and we'll see what happens in the more challenging second semester!

 

Annie Hankins

popping in to say hello!”

 

 

Friday, December 18^th, 4PM:

More horse show news – check this link – Linda from Northfield Farms called in and confirmed their Summer Series date for Saturday, June 26th. We should be hearing from the other traditional Summer Series show stables soon to fill out the 2010 schedule.

 

Friday, December 18^th, 1PM:

Horse Show Dates Coming Together:

Check this link for our 2010 Summer Series Horse Show information and schedule. Longacres, Skibbereen, and Quakerfield are the first stables to confirm their 2010 dates, which accounts for 7 of the 10 possible Series dates for next season. We hope to hear from the other members soon. Keep checking the above link!

 

Longacres shows, as well as the other dates confirmed so far are on the same weekends as last year, but one day earlier with the calendar changes.

 

Most shows will have nearly the same class lists as in 2009. We’ll post any changes as we hear of them.

 

Longacres will probably add a second “Beginner Derby” or “Puddle Jumper Derby”on Derby Weekend so that more riders can have a chance to ride multiple horses in one of those exciting events. (YES, there will be a Championship Cooler in the extra class!!!!)

 

Friday, December 18^th Update:

Just a Week ‘til Christmas!

Have you all been good? We’re hard at work here at the farm, both office work and maintenance projects. Most years we’re our maintenance guys are off for the season by now, but not this year. We also expect to start working outside very early next spring finishing the enlarged sand ring and lots of other projects around the riding area.

 

We’re looking forward to dinner with Uncle Billy at the mall tonight. Thanks also to all of you who have sent us Holiday Greetings by email or cards. (We think the cutest card so far is from Andrea’s family!) Thanks to Shiela from Dunham’s for the very funny “New Year’s” email!

 

I didn’t quite get to updating the Fun Pictures file yesterday, but it is done now.

 

Thursday, December 17^th, Noon Update:

A Nice Winter Day!

Indeed, we’ve had some lovely big snow flakes floating down off and on this morning, punctuated by sunny breaks. It’s cold, but not windy. Really quite nice winter weather.

 

Check the link at the top of the page for Rotating “Fun Pictures”. I’ll be updating them this afternoon.

 

Meghan is out Christmas shopping and I’m planning to try to pick a tree to cut. We’ll be putting up and decorating the tree Friday evening after the glass panel is installed in Meghan’s new shower. (How many of you put up your tree in your bathroom?!?) We’ve done it that way for years since the bathroom space was unfinished and a perfect place for the tree. Even with the bathroom finished (almost!), there is a nice open dressing space where we usually put the tree, so we’re going to continue that tradition.

 

PS: Meghan left the following “post it” note next to my computer when she went out to go shopping:

“There is NO possible way my bathroom could be construed as “orange”. I forbid that from the LA Update!!!! J LOLOL”

 

Wednesday, December 16^th Update:

Busy Time of Year!

We always get less mail from all our Longacres friends at this time of year, and we’re pretty busy ourselves with Holiday arrangements. Things get busy here right after New Years!

 

I am also busy taking care of two other “blog like” websites right now. If you’re bored and want to browse and see what else is keeping me busy, you can check out www.oneaurora.org and this link for my Snowmobiling trails website. Oneaurora.org is a local political effort to consolidate our East Aurora Village and Town governments into one more efficient body. It’s been a pet project of mine for several years and finally has a good chance to pass this year.

 

We had dinner with Uncle Billy and counselor Katie the other night. Katie sends her greetings to all of you and says Abby is coming along very well. She’s been taking some lessons from Peter Anderson.

 

We saw a lot of Shannon Hiczewski this fall. (She rides with Farley Bridgeman at the shows in the summer.) Shannon is working at our favorite restaurant, the Roycroft, so we see her there about once a week. And we ran into her at breakfast today. We accused her of “stalking” us! With working and plans for school she’s not getting so much riding time this season.

 

Dr. Leslie Ann has asked us to publish more in the “History of Longacres” page about Tom’s riding “back in the old days”. It is nice to know that many people browse all the obscure pages on the website, so I will try to add to that history page over the holidays. Be patient, Leslie!

 

Meghan’s new purple and orange bathroom is almost done! It is her big Christmas present this year, and we are going to finish it just in time. The glass wall for the shower is being installed the day after tomorrow. There is some good natured joking between Meghan and I about the color scheme; some of you have written in and aligned yourselves with Meghan’s color choices. Alexa and Heather, especially, I will not forget who’s side you guys declared for – paybacks are sweet!

 

Sunday evening, December 13^th:

Alexa’s on Board!

We’re very pleased to announce that Alexa will be returning for most of the 2010 season as our senior riding counselor. Alexa attended Longacres for several years as a student, returned again as a CIT and junior counselor, was at Longacres last summer as a senior counselor, and now will be running the barn in 2010. Carly will be her right hand along with a whole BUNCH of great CIT’s during the August session. We still have to fill a second senior counselor spot for at least the month of July and parts of June. WELCOME BACK, Alexa!

 

Check this link for some fun pictures taken at the New York reunion this weekend. Many thanks to Ofelia, Martha, and family for hosting the event. Thanks to Sebastion for putting up with all of us!

 

More details tomorrow; we just got in from the train very late back here at the farm.

 

Thursday night, 9PM Update:

“Hi!”, to Katie and Sydney who both wrote us this afternoon. Good to hear from you guys, and we’ll probably see you Monday night, Katie. (Counselor Katie)

 

Now we have snow! We may yet get the two to three feet of snow they are talking about by Saturday, especially if it keeps coming down like it is now. We got ten inches in the past two hours, which is VERY impressive. A good steady snow is 1” per hour. 2” per hour is a heavy snow. Five inches an hour like we’ve been getting since dinner is extremely unusual. We’re expecting another hour or two of that before the band of heavy snow moves further south. I just got done clearing the driveway and managed to get the big four wheel drive tractor stuck for a few minutes. We should be able to get to the train station tomorrow morning and still plan on seeing you guys in New York Saturday.

 

Thursday, December 10^th, Noon Update:

We’re really looking forward to seeing some of you in New York on Saturday. If we aren’t snowed in, that is! Western New York forecasts call for two to three FEET of snow in some places, but so far we have nowhere near that at Longacres. But check the website lunchtime tomorrow. If Amtrak is not running or the roads are closed between us and the train station, we’ll post that info by late morning. If you hear nothing new, it means we’re on our way to New York.

 

Horse News:

I’ll post a nice letter from Natasha below. She is having a great time with Zanee, as you will read, and she’s getting to ride lots of other horses for her trainer. She should be in great riding shape when she gets back to Longacres at the end of June. Here’s her message:

 

“hi tom and Meghan! I'm typing this on my itouch, so sorry if there are

alot of spelling errors! I wanted to update you guys on everything.

well Zanzibar is doing great. she's being so well behaved and my new

trainer wants me to jumpers on her! however, I told them I wasn't sure

if I was ready yet as much as I want to do them, but I know that by the

time camp comes zannee and I are gonna be ready!!! well, as I've told u

bfore, Jason was let go of. but he's found me quite a few more horses

to ride. I've been riding a little green pony that needs some training

and she is sooooo cute! I'm also helping another pony get back into

shape after being out of work for about a year. then, I've been riding

jasons horses for him, his "fancy" jumper mare and one of his older

horses that just needs excercise evry now and then. I've been

overloaded with homework everyday, and I've been practically living at

3 barns. my grades haven't dropped below a B though even though we

don't get home until about 9pm everyday. I've been so tired to, riding

aboutthree horses a day! there hasn't been any snow here unfortunatly,

but it's been very cold and rainy. well I have to go do myhomework, but

I just wanted to update you on everythign and tell you how perfect

zanee is :) I can't wait til camp!!!!!!

 

Natasha”

 

Wednesday, December 9^th Update:

Stormy!

I’ll make a quick update this morning while I can in between blasts of rough weather! The wind really kicked up overnight and we had no power in the morning. Branches were down all over Longacres, but the power problem was out on the public roads, so we just had to wait. Sometimes power is out for a couple of days here in really bad wind storms, but ours came back in a few hours. The wind has died down now for a short time. Even higher winds are supposed to return later this afternoon! We have a generator ready and extension cords to run to our furnace if we lose power during the really cold weather coming soon.

 

Everyone likes to complain about weather forecasts when they are not perfect. I hear people all the time saying, “They have no idea what the weather is going to be like tomorrow.” But they do. It is really pretty amazing with modern technology how well we can forecast big weather patterns, and even quite detailed forecasts in the short term. Some patterns are very easy to predict and others much harder. But today’s weather has been predicted very accurately for several days in advance, right down to the brief period of dry, sunny weather we had right after breakfast. If you are ever interested in reading about how the guys at the weather service are more confident of some forecasts than others, go to the NOAA weather page for your area and scroll down to the bottom right corner of the page. There you will find about 8 or 10 links to other weather pages. Click on the one that says, “Forecast Discussion”. Someone in each weather office around the country writes this discussion of the local area forecast and updates it several times a day. They explain the big picture and their reasoning behind the forecast issued to the public. What is most interesting is that they are very open about the level of confidence they have in their public forecast. They will tell you if the various different computer models they use are in close agreement, indicating a high confidence in the forecast. Or they will often explain that the models for their four and five day forecasts are quite different and that they have “low confidence” in that forecast. Pretty cool stuff for us weather fans!

 

Tuesday, December 8^th Update:

Snow! Yahoo!

Well, at least I got my first snowmobile ride of the season in this morning. But there may soon be too much of a good thing here in East Aurora, as we have a winter storm warning up for tomorrow night and Thursday. We may get over two feet of snow right on top of Longacres. Most of you know that I am a bit of an amateur meteorologist, and big storm systems provide me with lots of entertainment. This one will affect much of the country, as you all must know by now. We’ll post some “snow at Longacres” pictures later in the week. There are a few from this morning at this link.

 

Weather will also be cold and stormy here at the beginning of the weekend, but I see that Saturday may be a decent sunny day in New York city for our Longacres reunion, so unless we get snowbound in Buffalo, we look forward to seeing you all as planned at Ofelia’s.

 

Sunday night, late:

So far, Carly, Alexa, Emily, Morven, Laura, and Ofelia and some family members! And us!

 

Sunday, Dec. 6^th, 4PM Update:

Cool Diesel News!

I went across the street this morning to visit Diesel, and had a chance to talk with Kurt, Connie, and Ciera who all really like him. Check this link for a few pictures! The ones showing Ciera and her friends on Diesel bareback are very cute. In fact one of the pictures was chosen for an area 4-H calendar. Diesel seemed to be enjoying all the attention.

 

But there’s more news as you will see from the pictures. Kurt and Connie took Diesel down to Amish country in their trailer to have his feet trimmed and while they were there, they let the Amish farriers hook Diesel up to a farm rig teamed with one of their Belgian-Percheron cross mares. They drove the team all around and Diesel acted like he’d been doing it all his life. We know from our own work with him, that Diesel knows how to drive, and we were told by his former owners that he’d spent a full season being driven by Amish farmers. But he hasn’t done it for about four years. It is a tribute to this really cool and cooperative horse that he stepped right into harness like he’d been doing it all the time!

 

Kurt and Connie were so pleased that they bought the mare and brought her home to keep Diesel company. Maybe we’ll get together with Kurt and Connie and go in on harness stuff and a buggy partners so you guys can try driving during the summer. Enjoy the pictures.

 

Sunday, December 6^th Update:

The New York Reunion II – It’s ON for December 12^th!

Ofelia and Martha have very generously offered to host our “LA in New York Round II” reunion at their apartment on the upper west side near the Museum of Natural History next Saturday afternoon from 4PM until?? We prefer not to post a private address here online, but if you’re coming, check soon on Ofelia’s Facebook page for directions, or email us and we’ll send you the address.

 

This will be a just for fun get together to talk about Longacres plans and ideas for the 2010 season and share pictures from everyone’s fall riding experiences. Plan to chip in a few dollars for pizza & snacks – it will feel just like camp with Meghan figuring out everyone’s share! Do bring any horse pictures from your own riding at home, as well as favorites from Longacres. If the weather is good, and some of you come up with a good idea to do something after the late afternoon apartment get together, it is a possibility, but we have no definite plans beyond meeting at Ofelia’s for holiday good cheer.

 

We’ve been thinking all along that this will be just a small meet up since many of you had your own Longacres reunion just a month ago. But it sounds like we will have an apartment full of people! There are four in Ofelia’s family, Laura & Sharon are likely to come, Meghan & I, Alexa & her dad, Emily, and maybe Carly (it’s been a few weeks since I heard from you, Carly – can you make it?). That’s a dozen or more depending on any family who come along.

 

Contact Ofelia or us at Longacres if you can come.

 

Check this link for a few pictures I’ll try to post later this afternoon.

 

Saturday, December 5^th Update:

Reunion Stuff - - - & “Purple?”

First the New York reunion; we just made our train reservations so Meghan and I will definitely be in the New York area over next weekend. It’s a chance to visit my mother in Connecticut and we are tentatively planning to get together with some of you on Saturday afternoon in the City. We’re still open to “doing something”, but we’re also glad to just meet up and talk. Check in with us tomorrow (Sunday) if you’re planning to come. We think Ofelia, Martha, Laura, and Sharon are coming almost for sure and probably Emily and several others. Email or call tomorrow so we can plan.

 

Purple?!?

Meghan is hard at work remodeling a bathroom here at the main house at the farm. She is calling all the shots and I am a curious bystander. She’s starting to paint today. One of the main colors is “purple”; well, a dark purple-plum color. I rolled my eyes, but Meghan says that many of you guys will understand. Especially Peyton and Alexa, a couple of our original Longacres Purple Lovers!

 

Friday, December 4^th Update:

A Tribute to “Wendy & Dillon”

Today’s posting will be a special tribute to a horse and rider from a stable that often competes with Longacres in the jumper ring. A horse that I hadn’t thought about in a while; a horse with a very special place in the long history of the Annual Longacres Bold Jumper Derby.

 

That horse would be “Dillon”, and his rider was Wendy Serena who has ridden for years with Leigh Fischer. Before I go back to a remarkable day on the Longacres Derby Field many years ago, I’ll tell you about a chance meeting this morning in the local Valu hardware store.

 

I was waiting for Meghan to pick out some paint samples for a repair project, and Wendy’s parents introduced themselves. We began reminiscing about horse show experiences and horse show personalities in western New York many years ago. And I mean MANY years! We traded memories of John Shaffner, Al Klaus, and other trainers and stable owners from the old days. And we spoke of some of the jumpers I showed while I was still actively riding. And then they reminded me of their daughter’s horse, “Dillon”.

 

“Dillon was YOUR horse?”, I asked in amazement. They were a little surprised and pleased that I remembered him so well.

 

“How could I not remember Dillon”, I replied, “his was one of the great stories in the history of the Longacres Derby!”

 

So here is the story of Dillon at Longacres. Remember, readers, that hundreds of great jumpers have showed at the Longacres Derby over the years, including at least two that went on to win Olympic Medals. (Nazarius and Abdullah) And remember that the Derby has always been held over a long, challenging course and that many times no horse completes the course without a fault. The Derby has often been won by a horse with 4 or even 8 faults in the first round. Very early in the history of the Derby, back in the early 1970’s and 1980’s, we did some tricky things on the course. The year Dillon showed, we actually had two thirds of the course out on the big show field where it usually is held, and then you had to ride across the driveway on a sawdust path, jump over a lowered section of the small show ring fence into the small show ring, jump a course of fences in that ring, then jump back out and finish the course on the outside field. Not just a few horses stopped and wouldn’t jump into the small show ring!

 

There were lots of great jumpers in the Derby that year. Many with more jumper experience and wins than Dillon. In fact, Dillon was a small paint horse, and not particularly fast. (His trainer, Leigh, says “Slow as molasses sometimes!”) But here’s the deal – Dillon and Wendy had a bond – they trusted one another. And the horse was HONEST!

 

There was no time allowed in the Derby back in those days. If your horse jumped clean and completed the course with few faults, you would be in the ribbons. That particular day, many experienced and well known jumpers tried the course, but all that went before Dillon had faults. Lots with one or more refusals and others with knock downs on tricky parts of the course. Then it was the turn of Wendy and Dillon. It was clear from the start that Dillon would not have the fastest time. If the little paint horse tied with the same number of faults from refusals or knock downs, he would lose because of a slower time. And the crowd had a lot of time to consider that fact as Dillon took the course cantering carefully from one jump to the next, eyeballing the jump, and hopping over one after another without a fault. By the time Dillon got halfway around the course everyone in the crowd was on their feet, and a little cheer began to erupt every time “the little horse that could” cleared another jump! When Dillon got close to the end of the course without a fault, we began to count the fences down – “four fences to go; three to go and still no faults; just two to go! One more fence now – Ladies and gentlemen, CLEAN PERFORMANCE – NO FAULTS AT ALL! Dillon is the LEADING HORSE!”

 

I hope all of you reading this story are just a little emotional now, because most of us there that day surely were! It didn’t matter that Wendy and Dillon were from a stable that’s often one of our toughest competitors, this was an amazing achievement. And, yes, Dillon was the winner of the Derby that year, the only clean horse on the course.

 

It gives me great pleasure to remember this winning effort by “the little horse that could”. And to honor the horse and rider combination. Dillon died just two months ago this fall at nearly 30 years old. Long may he be remembered.

 

Thursday night, later:

Hello to Diane & Arianna,

I hope you guys check in and read this. I accidentally deleted your phone message before copying your email address, so I can’t get back to you. I did get your mailing address and I’ll send a few print outs of pages from the website. But we don’t have a real printed brochure for Longacres. Our brochure is the “Tour of Longacres” set of links on the website. If you read this, please call again so we can answer your Longacres questions! And take the “Tour of Longacres” on the website.

 

Thursday, Dec. 3^rd, 2PM:

We’re home!

Farm problems to take care of, snow storm coming tomorrow, mail to answer and more! But tractors to play with, and plenty TO DO! We won’t be bored for some time to come! Yeah!

 

Thursday, December 3^rd, 8AM Update:

Happy Birthday, Mandy!

It’s Mandy Bartlett’s birthday, and we wish her a great day. We’ve corresponded with her recently, and we know that her life is GOOD these days! She is recently engaged to be married (a nice time of life right there!), and part of their plans include building Mandy’s own training stable in Massachusetts on family land. Mandy’s maintained her interest in horses all through college and plans to keep horses the important part of her life that they’ve always been.

 

Mandy first came to Longacres as a horse loving kid herself, kept coming back as a junior counselor, counselor, and program director, and finally as Director of Riding and camp manager along with Meghan. She is the role model we describe when we hire someone new for the job. She will make a great training stable owner! If you’re in her part of the country, stay tuned. It may even be “Longacres East”, since Mandy is interested in taking Longacres horses as school horses when she is set up and running. (That could be a good balance to “Longacres South”, where the Hunn Ranch in Texas already has two Longacres horses and might have more in the future.

 

(A quick aside here: Finding good winter homes for all our horses is a challenge in these times of a tight economy. We are very interested in hooking up with quality stables that might take a group of our horses every winter. It would be an especially good fit for college riding programs or boarding schools that have great need of horses exactly the time of year when we don’t need ours. If you know anyone who takes part in college or boarding school riding programs, have them tell their riding directors about the Longacres winter horse loan program and the quality of our school horses.)

 

ALMOST HOME!

We are sitting in the passenger lounge at Orlando airport waiting for the flight home to Longacres. We’ve been away a long time this fall and we’re really looking forward to getting home and going to work improving the website, building new show jumps, and making plans for the show series for the summer of 2010. Next time you hear from us will be tonight, with the update posted right from our office in East Aurora!!!!!!

 

Wednesday, December 2^nd Update:

We’ll be Home at Longacres Tomorrow!

 

December 12^th New York Reunion?

The next important Longacres project is planning our get together in New York. Get in touch with us, or with Ofelia, , Laura, Emily, Carly, or Alexa if you’re interested in meeting sometime Saturday, December 12^th in New York City. The time is getting close, and we have to see if there are enough people interested, and decide what we might do. We’ll probably phone the New York City area crew when we are back at Longacres on Friday and see what everyone thinks.

 

Ofelia and Martha have offered that we could at least meet at their place on the upper west side. They are not far from the Museum of Natural History. Meghan and I don’t care if we do anything “exciting”. We’d be glad to just sit down with you all, talk about Longacres plans for next summer, and maybe have pizzas delivered. We should decide this weekend who’s coming and what we’re going to do. Just remember that the city will be crowded on a Saturday two weeks before Christmas so we should keep the plans simple.

 

Tuesday, December 1^st Update:

One More Day Until Home!

It’s been a great fall vacation time for us and we feel well rested. But we’re very eager to be home on the farm in East Aurora after our final day here in Florida tomorrow. We made our annual stop to see Disney yesterday under perfect weather. Check this link for a few pictures we took yesterday. We are real fans of the Disney World experience. But, boy oh boy, is it getting expensive! Nearly three hundred bucks just to get two of us through the gates for one day. Phew. That does include the extra to have “Park Hopper” passes allowing us to visit all four parks in one day. Disney seems even more expensive if you do it “the right way”, which to us means taking it easy and not really seeing very much of any one park. In a way, you aren’t getting as much for your money as you would if you rushed around trying to see everything. But the great mistake made by many visitors to Disney parks is racing along trying to see everything and getting exhausted in the process.

 

Most of our friends who visit Disney often will start early before the crowds get too big, then go back to their hotels for a long midday rest, and return for a second round at the parks in the afternoon and evening. Personally, we think visiting in an RV like we do is the ultimate way to go to Disney. This way we can be “home” in fifteen minutes for a rest before trying a different theme park. We never get overtired. You could never see everything at even one of the four theme parks at Disney World in one day anyway, let alone all of them. So we opt for just enjoying ourselves, knowing we’ll be back again.

 

We had a great message from CIT Heather yesterday and with her permission we print it here. We’re really looking forward to having Heather’s help at Longacres during the first part of July.

“Hi Tom and Meghan!

Wow I'm so sorry I never got back to you a few weeks ago about the CIT position, I have been swamped in homework and riding and then this week with the holiday.  I really hope you both had a great thanksgiving! I have been trying to catch up on reading the blog and it seemed like you had a nice warm holiday?  It was rainy and gloomy here so that must have been nice!  Like I said, I am behind on the blog but I did see that the sessions are seeming to fill up pretty quickly.  I really hope I am not too late and there is still a spot for a CIT in the first 2 week session at the end of june-july?  If there is what do I need to do to sign up for now?  I would love to get my registration in!  So I meant to e-mail you a while ago, in fact I think I promised you an e-mail about some of the horsey stuff I have been doing, but I never got around too it with my crazy school life.  Chemistry and Math are not my strong points and so I have really started buckling down on them cause at the moment my grades aren't too high... :(  ((*warning this may be a novel*)) Well anyway, I have actually ben showing quite a bit this fall compared to the usual!  Since my friend got a 2 horse trailer and is willing to take us, we have started going to this nearby farm which is known for hosting A and B rated shows but has recently started more schooling/fun  shows and "friday night live" jumper shows.  They have an indoor which is a luxery for us and so even if it is rainy or dark (on the friday night jumper shows) we can still show!! yay!!  So far we have gone to a schooling show and showed in the schooling hunter division at just 2' since I was riding Nikki, the dark bay horse who I don't usually ride in lessons because, well, its complicated.  Lets see, he is a good/well behaved lesson horse, and I get put on the bad ponies and green horses to train them haha I show nikki though because the greenies are not quite ready.  We did pretty well, two 3rds, one  2nd and a 4th!  We had planned on waiting for the jumper division to try it out but the show was taking forever because they then went on to do the same 5 classes at 2 more heights.  Luckily they had one of their jumper shows a few weeks later though so we went to that! It was rainy, cold, windy and dark but we still had a blast! I missed jumpers sooo much!!! I love it now!! Nikki is probably one of the longest and least flexible horses I have ever met but he was still a star at jumpers! He is so kind and will do anything to please you, as long as you try your hardest :)  We did 2'-2'3" again since it was our 1st time at jumpers and in an indoor the turns could get tight.  I memorized my course, planned my attack plan  and we ended up getting two seconds and a 3rd giving us reserve champion!! It was a very fun night, even though we froze and I didn't get home till about 10 pm!  There is another schooling show this saturday and I will probably go although the one green pony I have been riding for a year is finally becoming calm enough so that we might be able to take her!  She (Babe) is a 14.1 hh chubby haflinger pony who is so sweet but can be so frisky too! She has come a long way since I started training her last year when she was pretty much completely green so I'm excited!  Rembrandt, the belgian TB cross I was telling you about before is also coming along well! I rode him today and he was really good!  He doesn't get quite so fast or lunge at the jumps quite as much. Also doesn't trip on his own feet quite as much either which is a relief since thats what Babe did to me last april and it landed me in an ambulance on the way to the hospital because I had been knocked out for a few minuets and had a bad concussion!  (she tripped, went down on her knees, then her side, rolled off of me, but I hit my head really hard and scraped my knee badly) I just hope this winter  isn't too harsh so I can continue getting them both exercised and they can continue to improve!  So far it hasn't been though, today it got up to 60° and it was so sunny! I was riding in short sleeves!  I'm not sure if it is warm or cold in buffalo but I hope you guys get good weather for snow mobiling!  I briefly saw some pictures and updates on your trip and it looked amazing by the way! I will try to catch up on the rest of the updates and look at all of the pictures!  Well sorry for the long e-mail and for not getting back to you for a while, but I hope the CIT position works out!

-<3 Heather  :) :)”

 

(Ed: Yes, Heather will be a CIT!)

 

And, here’s a lovely note from Drisana who is coming the same session in July for her second year at Longacres:

 

“Hi Tom and Meghan!

 

I know i've already said this before but THANK YOU! My riding has been getting better and better ever since I left camp. I definitely still have things to work on, but much less than before! I'm so excited to come back next year so that I can get even better!!

 

I've attached a picture that my dad took  of me yesterday. his was about 3" shorter than we got to by the end of the lesson, and it wasn't my best jump (I didn't get enough impulsion... just one thing I need to work on, just like at camp), but it is at least a hundred times better than what I was before!

 

Drisana

 

--

I have spread my dreams beneath your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W.B. Yeats”

= = = = =

Here’s a “Longacres Hello” to Cassie and her friend Carly, from near Toronto in Canada, who are both very interested in attending Longacres for the first two weeks in July. If their enrollments come through this week, we’ll have no more spots for teenagers in the first half of July. The only spots left will be for younger girls age ten through twelve. The younger girls’ bunk has been slower to fill during that first session this year. We need more bunk mates for Lydia and Ruby!

 

I am sorry that Emily wasn’t with us on Thanksgiving afternoon, when I ate too much dessert. She wrote a funny letter pointing out that if she HAD been with us, there is “no way” I would have gotten to the dessert first, and then I would not have eaten too much! Good one, Emily.

 

Nice letters also came in this week from Alexa and from Shelley talking about jobs next summer. We’re making progress in getting the staff plans organized for the 2010 season, but it takes time to put it all together.

 

December 12^th New York Reunion?

Do get in touch with us, or with Ofelia, Emily, Carly, or Alexa if you’re interested in getting together sometime Saturday, December 12^th in new York City. The time is getting close, and we have to see if there are enough people interested, and decide what we might do. We’ll probably phone the New York City area crew when we are back at Longacres on Friday and see what everyone thinks.

 

Sunday, November 29^th Update:

Be Careful What You Post on Facebook:

Stop and think before you hit “enter”, or that “send” or “post” button!

And be careful with other online social networking sites. And with what you send via email or any other online communication, for that matter!

 

If you follow the news very much, you have surely seen headlines and stories about people who were turned down for jobs or for college applications because of something they once posted online or emailed, and which they might have long forgotten. The trouble is, the internet does not forget. Did you know that there are internet incremental backups and archives that store almost EVERYTHING ever posted online, even if you go to your account and delete something you posted? And that people often download and copy Facebook or MySpace posts to their own computers so that they can’t be deleted?

 

Meghan and I (and we are writing this article together in total agreement) have always been uneasy about a business like Longacres having a presence on Facebook. We’ve said so publicly in this space. We are uneasy about anybody who broadcasts very personal comments for the world to see. And especially uneasy about young people who might not stop to think before posting something online that could be hurtful or embarrassing to others. Others you might not at first expect would see what you post, but who certainly can.

 

Remember the comment below from us?

 

“But we’re there, and it is fun to see what you guys are doing from time to time. If you don’t want us to be able to “stalk” you on Facebook, don’t “friend” us. You are warned!”

 

Search back through this Blog a month or two. You’ll find the above warning.

 

When Meghan created a Facebook page earlier this fall we had no idea how many people would want to “friend” her. Lots. And we said to ourselves, “OK, this will be an interesting learning experience.” And we went ahead and clicked “OK” to the friend requests from anyone associated with Longacres or who we knew even casually.

 

And there’s the rub. If in a moment of curiosity about Longacres, you asked to be on Meghan’s Facebook “friends” list, you are probably still there. Which means that if you write something very personal on someone’s Facebook “Wall” and you meant for that comment to be just for that person on their wall, well, “DUH!”, the comment is there to read by everyone and anyone who is a “friend” of you or the person who’s wall you wrote on – including Meghan and Tom.

 

Is this starting to sink in?

 

PARENTS:

PLEASE discuss this article with your children! We at Longacres believe that the internet world is a fascinating and useful place. But we believe that good parents should carefully monitor their children’s internet use, and especially Facebook and other social networking sites. That doesn’t mean that all parents should look over their teenage children’s shoulders and read everything they write online everyday. But it certainly means that you should have mutually agreed guidelines and that some oversight is in order.

 

And be responsible for yourself! This is true for all ages, but especially for teenagers. Think before you post. Do you REALLY want what you are about to say online available to everyone you ever “friended”?

 

Our greatest hope is that all “friends” of Longacres will post responsibly online. But if you are not sure you’ll always be willing to follow that guideline, our second choice suggestion is that you periodically review your “friends” list. If you don’t want someone to be able to read everything you ever wrote, take them off your friends list. Believe me, we at Longacres will NOT be offended if you “unfriend” us. It is simply not appropriate for your camp directors to be reading your wall posts if you plan to be very casual or a little naughty with what you write.

 

Believe me, we are not naïve or prudes! We are not particularly shocked or upset if we see the occasional expletive in a post, or a naughty joke. That’s part of social networking and part of growing up. What does bother us are comments that can be hurtful or embarrassing – to anyone. Facebook is not the place for that kind of posting. Those thoughts and communications, if you must have them, should be kept private and personal (a concept rapidly disappearing from the internet!). Keep personal or potentially harmful remarks between you and your intended audience. Phone calls are good. Snail mail is good. Personal emails are next best, but remember that even they are not really guaranteed private and secure in the modern online world.

 

In summary, have a chat with your parents, and another with your good friends about online privacy and appropriate use of Social Networking sites like Facebook. Go back and review your personal posts. If you feel a little embarrassed by a post you’ve made, delete it. And remember that your “wall” is not written in stone. YOU are still responsible for what is on your Facebook “wall”. If you are uncomfortable about something someone else wrote on your wall, you can and should delete it. It reflects on YOU as much as on the person who wrote it in the first place. And there is nothing at all wrong with taking people off your “friends” list. Here’s a good excuse: “My parents are now going to be reading EVERYTHING posted in my Facebook account! I am taking you off my friends list just to be careful for both us! Email me instead!” Who would be offended by that? Certainly not Meghan.

 

If you are wondering why we wrote this long article now, yes, there is a reason.

 

Saturday night, November 28, 10PM Update:

One of the reasons we spend Thanksgiving in Jacksonville every fall is because the city puts on one of the best fireworks displays in the whole country on Saturday night right after Thanksgiving. A picture or video is worth a thousand words, and I will post a YouTube of part of the fireworks when I get home next week and have a fast connection.

 

Jacksonville is a city that was built to host a great fireworks display! I am a bit biased since I publish the “Boating and Cruising Guide to the St Johns River”. The river runs right through the middle of downtown Jacksonville, with high rise buildings on both banks and riverwalks and a lot of nightlife on both sides between two bridges. On fireworks nights, they position three barges filled with fireworks about a thousand feet apart up and down the river in the middle of downtown. When the fireworks go off, the flashes and the sound both reflect off all the buildings and amplify everything. At the climax, they set off more fireworks including “waterfalls of fire” from two of the bridges. I’ve seen some fireworks displays that might have had more rockets and explosions, but I’ve never seen one that has such a perfect setting!

 

Meghan ansd I will travel a bit to see a really good fireworks. Write and tell us where your very best experiences have been for this kind of thing. We’ll share your reports.

 

Saturday, November 28^th Update:

Home in Five Days!

I’m getting pretty eager to be home. Meghan and I have really enjoyed our long fall vacation, which we take every other year. It has really accomplished its purpose this fall, giving us a great mental break from our routine at Longacres. Meghan is already back in “work mode”, spending every spare minute on the computer organizing new updates for the website to be posted when we get home. I have my own list of projects, both on the website and around the farm, that I’m looking forward to next week.

 

One of our new projects is computerizing more Longacres record keeping. Meghan has long preferred doing most of her business out of her notebooks and planner that are always with her in her traveling leather work folder. She likes it since she can “go to work” in an instant wherever we might find a few spare minutes. Breakfast at a restaurant, traveling by car, a few minutes waiting someplace – these are all work opportunities to someone like Meghan. (Like Meghan? Naah, she’s a one of a kind for sure!) But we both recognize the advantages of being able to safely store and retrieve business information by computer. Our accounting has been computerized for years. Beginning this year, your enrollment records and all the little bits of information like who has their own saddle, and a dozen other details will be in a database. Knowing Meghan, she’ll probably keep all her notebooks up to date along with the computer records, and it will just make more work for her, at least at first. It will help Tom a lot, since he lives more by computer than Meghan, and he will be able to access information without asking Meghan. (As I write this, we were talking, and Meghan told me, “One of my greatest satisfactions is getting something on my todo list done and CROSSING IT OFF with my pen! Don’t expect me to give that up easily!”)

 

Ultimately, we are confident that more stuff on computer will make us more efficient. But we’re not naïve – we fully expect to have glitches. Don’t be surprised if you get a bill for the first four weeks of camp instead of the month of August you really signed up for! We will try hard to double check everything before it’s sent out, but bear with us during this year of record keeping transition.

 

Winter Horse Care:

It’s that time of year. In northern climates the snow will soon be flying, the ground muddy, and there will be ice in water buckets. Even in the south, horse care will be more difficult. It’s a good time to review winter weather horse care precautions. This short check list is especially for those of you who have your own horses or have leased a horse and are caring for it at your own barn. But if you are a boarder at a professionally run stable, you should not take responsible horse care for granted. Read through the Longacres check list and make sure that your stable is giving your horses responsible winter care. Here are some things that can be difficult to do in the winter and are sometimes not done well.

 

1) Water is life to horses. In freezing weather be sure that your horse has regular and unlimited access to water. Try to arrange full time access to full water buckets or watering units just as you would in warmer weather. If you have horses in northern climates in barns that go below freezing consider heaters that keep buckets or troughs from freezing (follow directions for electrical units carefully for safety). If you must change out frozen buckets in really cold weather, be sure to let your horse drink his fill at LEAST three times a day and leave them with a full bucket after each feeding. Give water before and after feeding. Lack of water is one of the very worst things for a horse.

 

2) CHECK FEET! If your horse spends much time outdoors in cold and muddy weather it is very easy to put off cleaning and picking out feet. Your horse is only as good as its feet. Feet should be cared for daily – thoroughly. That means cleaning off any mud as well as picking out hooves. At a bare minimum (and only if daily care is impossible for a short period at times), feet should be cared for and examined every other day. And that is NOT desireable. If you find that you’re letting good foot care go for a week at a time in muddy, cold weather, you are neglecting your horse in a dangerous way.

 

3) Keep up a good grooming schedule. You should be grooming your horses thoroughly daily to keep a healthy coat, and so that you’ll notice any skin conditions or injuries before they get worse. Easy to put this off in bad weather. If you are caring for horses kept outside for some period of time, at least handle the horse and give them a thorough check daily looking for injuries.

 

Clipping and the use of blankets in winter is a whole different topic which I’ll cover soon. Clipping is absolutely optional in the winter, and so are blankets for healthy horses so long as they are not clipped. There are advantages both ways, clipped or not clipped.

 

4) Watch your horse’s weight. As they grow a winter coat it can be hard to notice a gradual weight loss. Measure your horse’s weight with a tape and tape often to see if there is any trend of weight loss (or too much weight gain!). Feed adequately. Except in southern climates, your horse will not be benefiting from grazing in pasture and you need to provide all nourishment with hay and feed.

 

We’ll add to these suggestions, and we welcome you guys to write in your own warnings, suggestions, and comments on winter horse care. But what I’ve just written covers the most important challenges to good winter horse care. Water, foot care, regular grooming and examination – these are the most frequent problem areas we see in winter horse care.

 

Black Friday, Nov. 27^th, 6PM Update:

The Revenge of “the parking lot crowd”!

A case of Poetic Justice, I guess. I wrote this morning that we parked about 9:30 AM in a far corner of the normally empty outlying parking lots at the St Johns Town Center. Nobody around. I thought we were being very considerate of all the Black Friday shoppers. We always enjoy people watching opportunities, but today was more than that. Today was an opportunity for research on the state of the consumer economy, a topic of much interest to us.

 

Well, we have a strong indicator that the economy is improving from this time last year. The parking lots here never did get very crowded last Thanksgiving week in the area where we are parked. But by noon when we finished breakfast and returned to the RV, the lots were jammed and we were getting dirty looks from people driving around looking for a spot. And by two PM people had started to park illegally blocking lanes, and we were stuck here for the afternoon.

 

Which we didn’t mind. It is a very upscale outdoor “Town Center” shopping center. It was fun to window shop and people watch all afternoon, including a stop at Panera’s bakery for stuff that I didn’t need the day after Thanksgiving dinner! The Town Center is patronized by the kind of people who can send their kids to a horse camp like Longacres, so it was reassuring to see so many people out and about – and many of them carrying packages after buying stuff. It is a good confirmation of our own early observations on the prospects for the 2010 season at Longacres. The total number of students signed up at Longacres right now is similar to this time last year, but the majority of them are signing up for longer sessions than last summer.

 

So the Town Center parkers got us back a little for taking up four spots with our RV by blocking us in until late afternoon. But we did have fun with the extra time people watching. In fact, Meghan tells me that the percentage of very fit and attractive people (men and women) is probably higher here than at any other shopping center we’ve visited in the country, and as serious people watchers, we’ve visited many. I tend to agree with Meghan based on our walks today (though my senior citizen eyes are no longer as reliable in this regard as they once were!). I’ve read essays on this phenomena, and I am sure there is dispute on whether it is an accurate generalization to say that economically well off people are statistically any more fit and/or attractive as a group than a similar sample of people who are less prosperous. But it seems reasonable that people of means often eat better and can afford more leisure time to exercise. Whatever reason, Meghan saw lots of hot guys today; and I - - - well, you know. If my mind is wandering in this Blog Post, please excuse me. It’s been that kind of day. Do remember to look at the informal, fun pics Meghan has chosen for our new “Rotating Fun Pictures” album.

 

Black Friday Update:

Ok. We’re still killing a few days in Florida before we fly home to Longacres to really go to work organizing the 2010 season. After a more than filling feast yesterday at the same place we’ve celebrated this holiday meal for the past three years, we thought we’d spend this morning at a favorite upscale shopping center “people watching”. Looks like we’re getting more than we bargained for!

 

We arrived early so that we could enjoy crepes and Belgian waffles at a favorite pancake place. Good enough. We parked the RV way out at a far corner of the parking lots that is never used. But we came out of breakfast a little over an hour later to find the lots absolutely jammed full to the farthest corners. Indeed, I’m sitting here in the RV typing this update watching people drive by and slow down as they give us an angry look for taking up four parking spotsL. Sorry folks. But at least we will have a crowd of about a zillion for our people watching walk coming up in a few minutes. (We are really wasting space in this parking lot – we DO NOT buy stuff on Black Friday – we just watch all the other people spending their money!)

 

Writing Projects:

I’ve been collecting ideas for many new Blog articles to post when I get home and have my regular fast internet connection. I told you recently that I’m eager to begin writing a series of articles on the Longacres philosophy of riding as a series of basic building blocks. Don’t know how I’m going to organize it, but we might even publish a short book on the basics of our Longacres ideas on horsemanship. Could be titled something like, “The Wonderful Working Walk and other Fun Ways to Prepare Your Horse”.

 

I have been pleased to hear from some of you who are doing just those things. Thanks to Staci and others who wrote down some of their good ideas for getting their horses listening to them!

  

“Welcome back” to Natasha, who has now formally enrolled for the first two weeks of July! She has Zanee with her in North Carolina all winter and is doing very well furthering Zanee’s training. They should be quite some combination next July in Summer Series shows! ( We will try not to spoil her during the weeks she is here before you arrive, Natasha!)

 

Big “Thanks” to Sophie L. , a first time Longacres student from New Canaan, CT, who will be at Longacres the full month of July along with Ruby and Lydia. Sophie wrote me a really good description of her riding interests and experience that will be very useful. I love getting these detailed descriptions of experience from new Longacres students. Not only was Sophie’s write-up very informative, it was VERY well written. Complete sentences, good grammar & spelling, all that stuff that teachers and old fogey camp owners love! Sometimes I worry that the new young computer & Facebook & texting generation has forgotten how to really communicate with adults. It restores my faith in young people to get something via email as well written as Sophie’s message. (Don’t go thinking that she must be a nerd because she can write well – she just was careful and thorough – GREAT qualities in a Longacres riding student!)

 

Speaking of thorough descriptions of new student riding experience, Meghan had a great long talk with Jenny S from Arizona and more recently Washington, DC areas. Jenny will be a first time Longacres adult riding student during one of the Pro Clinic weeks, which she is attending with her friend, Sarah, who WAS a Longacres camper when she was younger. Jenny is looking forward to jumping more often than she can at home, and wants to be pushed to her limits while she is here. She told Meghan, “We want to get our butts kicked while we are at Longacres!” (We’ll try!) Meghan was telling Jenny all about Longacres and how we are not like a Five Star resort. Jenny answered by telling Meghan about her stint in Bolivia while she was in the Peace Corp, and about some of the “facilities” there. Let’s just say that jenny should have no trouble fitting in at Longacres!

 

Wednesday, November 25^th Update:

Gold Star of the Day Goes to:

Micayla!

“Hi Guys! I thought I would just send you a short email that I think Tom will appreciate....So today was one of the days I hack the horse I'm leasing. He has had a lot of trouble developing muscle in his back and hindquarters so I decided to make the main part of his work out the wonderful working walk ;) It was quite difficult at first since he is probably the laziest horse I know, but after a few minutes he started moving off my leg more and was really picking up his feet! Only a few minutes in my legs were burning! He was doing really well though and his head was bobbing quite a bit and he was paying really nice attention to what I wanted. He was definitely sweaty after! The working walk will most likely be showing up in a lot more of our hacks :)”

 

Also, good news and bad news from Staci. The good news: Ginger is better and they are starting to work her! The bad news: Staci only goes out of town about four times a year, and two of those have been when we plan Longacres reunions for the New York Area! We’ll miss you, Staci (AGAIN!).

 

We almost never get bored traveling in the RV, but now that our journey is nearly complete and we’re already at our final destination, we are getting a little bored. If we could get a cheap flight, we might even bale out on the final few days of our trip here in Florida, but likely, we’ll be here until December 4^th, as planned. We’re just not very good at doing absolutely NOTHING.

 

We’ll have a few more posts perhaps even later today, but just in case we don’t, “Happy Thanksgiving!” Thanksgiving is a very important holiday to us and we spend a lot of time each year on this day evaluating all the good fortune in our lives. You do the same.

 

PS: Check this link for some cute pictures sent to us by Sydney H; Star and Lincoln are both spending the winter with Sydney, Sam, and youngest sister, Sophie. Thanks for the pics, Sydney!

 

Check the new “Picture of the Month” at the top of the page. Katie will be here for the full August session. (Drisana’s picture which was up for the past month was very popular – thanks for being a “cover girl”, Drisana!)

 

Monday, November 23^rd Update:

December 12^th Get Together?

We are working on a plan for a Longacres get together in New York City on Saturday afternoon, December 12th. It’s kind of a “do over”, since Alexa, Michelle, and a bunch of you already had a great reunion there a few weeks ago. But Meghan and I will be passing through the city about that time and we’d love to set aside time to see a few of you and come up with some stories and pictures for the website. Emily, Ofelia, and Carly are all interested, so get in touch with them or with us if you think you’d like to try to join us. We don’t even know what we’ll do, besides soaking up some mid-town New York Holiday spirit.

 

We’re just west of Tallahassee, FL today and are headed towards Jacksonville. We spend a lot of time in the Jacksonville area since I wrote a boating book about the St Johns River in north Florida. We are almost sold out of the book and have to begin working on an updated edition. We’ll be busy with that over the next week before we head home to the cold, wet, snowy Longacres Farm in East Aurora next week.

 

Congrats to Uncle Billy for joining the modern computer World

And how! Uncle Billy works with computers every day and is quite an expert on Excel, especially. But he has not bought a new home computer for a long time, and has resorted to getting all his email and website updates during break time at work. Not no MORE! He just got himself an early X-mas present of a new MacBook Pro. Great choice – EXCEPT that he now has a newer and more powerful version of my MacBook Pro, and I am VERY jealous!

 

The “Other New Movie”

No, not the one you all went to this weekend! Meghan and I saw “Blind Side”, a true story sports movie. Just wonderful. We both really like well done sports movies anyway, and this one joins some of the all time favorites on our list of good films. That would include classics like “Chariots of Fire”, “Hoosiers”, “Breaking Away”, “Rudy”, and perhaps “Seabiscuit”. “Blind Side” is right up there. See it, and try some of the others on DVD if you haven’t seen them all.

 

Sunday, November 22, Update:

We’re getting more and more busy with Longacres communications as we near the end of our vacation. It’s OK – keep the messages coming! We’re getting bored with taking it easy, anyway.

 

Staci was doing much better with Ginger for a while, but she wrote that Ginger has had a setback and is not completely sound again . Along with Horatio’s odd problem, that’s two of our horses out at winter homes with Longacres students that are having troubles. When we heard from both of them and from the lady who has Bobert and needs to try to find another home for him all within a short time this week, it was a little discouraging.

 

But then we had a flurry of good news. And although we are certainly sorry that two of our valued friends are having problems with Longacres horses, we are trying to keep in mind that more Longacres customers than ever before have taken horses home with them this season. Horses are fragile creatures, and unsoundness and injuries are a part of the gamble of having a horse. We have nine horses out this winter with campers and seven of them are doing very well. The glass is well over half full!

 

And we heard this week from the girl who has ShaBang for the winter. She LOVES him and he is doing well. We are hopeful that he will be back to his old self by next summer. As you all know, ShaBang is one of our best jumpers but got a small soft tissue injury in pasture during the first week of the 2009 season and he was out of commission all summer long. It’s the first time in many years that we have lost the use of one of our best horses for a full season. Good news that he is doing better.

 

 

And Ofelia wrote that she and her mom had a great week and took a lesson together. Ofelia’s message came in at the perfect time, right after we had bad news from a couple of the horse leasing people. THANKS, Ofelia! (Here’s her messageJ

 

“Hi Tom and Meghan,

 

       Hope you are enjoying your "working-vacations"! I am hoping that I can come to the reunion you are planning on having in December; after all, you will be right near where we live! My mom and I just had a lesson today together, and we were talking about feeling leads :) (it is coming in handy) and using them to ride courses. AND....last week, I was riding Fancy(who gets  distracted very easily) and crop switching proved to be VERY useful when Fancy didn't want to walk and trot on the rail! Yah!

 

Hope to see you for the grand Longacres reunion!

(I am jealous you got to go see the Hunns, Kellie, and Tux & Ebony....who looked really good!)

 

Ofelia”

 

And the “glass is half full”, as much as “half empty” with the Sharon and Laura duo. Although Horatio is having soundness problems, Chesney continues to shine! Sharon loves him asnd is thinking of spending adult week at Longacres again this year just so she can ride Chesney on the big outside course after working with him for a year at home! THAT’S progress!

 

We are hoping it works out to see some of you in New York City on Saturday, December 12^th. We are not regular New Yorkers, so we will need help and advice from those of you who are. Do you want to do something very “visual”, like skating? Tom would love to take embarrassing pictures of you guys falling on your butts on New York City ice and putting together an album! (I am still waiting for the trampoline pictures from your last reunion!) So Ofelia, Emily, and the other girls from the city and surrounding area, put your heads together and make a plan. Meghan and I will show up, take pictures, and help tell the story of the reunion.

 

A few pictures will be posted at this link next time I get to a good Wifi connection.

 

Friday, November 20^th Update:

When it Rains, it Pours:

We’ve had a fun vacation trip mixed with enjoyable visits to current friends of Longacres and phone calls with new Longacres families. This RV trip is doing just what it is supposed to do – give us a break from the tensions of managing a complicated business and dealing with unexpected problems. But we’re not fooling ourselves! We know that for us, at least, the “real world” means dealing with problems. Last night we were presented with two completely unrelated horse problems in 4 hours.

 

First we had a message from Laura with discouraging news about Horatio’s current situation. It is an odd problem and, as Laura said, very frustrating. He seems sound out in pasture, at a walk and trot, and even on one lead. But then does weird stuff when you ask for the other lead. We will be trying to help evaluate that situation when we get home soon, and perhaps trying to find a home for Horatio where all he needs to do is walk – trot pleasure horse stuff and rest. Anyone interested?

 

Then not four hours later an email comes in from the woman who has Bobert. She has a personal situation that has changed her plans and may need to find Bobert a new winter home. Anyone interested in Bobert for the rest of the winter?

 

I am trying to let Meghan have the final ten days of her vacation relatively stress free, so I have been communicating about these two horse problems. Soon enough, Meghan will be home and doing what Meghan does – worry about and solve problems. We hope you all can handle your horse problems for another two weeks until Meghan is back at Longacres and back at work! Horses – always the unexpected, never boring.

 

PS – Meghan did have a lot of fun last night. She dragged me to a naughty, nasty movie. I know that none of our proper, innocent, nice students ever go to “R” rated movies, so most of you will have to wait until you are at least 17 to see “Zombieland”, but Meghan is recommending it to our staff and adult friends. You wouldn’t know it from watching her work at Longacres, but nice, sweet, responsible, good role model Meghan has a cynical streak and sicko sense of humor a mile wide buried under that camp director exterior! She was rolling in the aisle laughing watching Woody and the others in Zombieland! Me, I was shocked – one of us has to be the grown up. (And if you swallowed that, I have other stuff to sell you!)

 

Thursday, November 19^th, 2PM:

Happy Birthday, Katie V!

(Meghan knew it was your birthday yesterday, but it was too late for me to find a Wifi spot. Hope a day late is OK! – Tom)

 

Well, since I wrote this morning’s update below, which you are just able to read now, we did find a whimsical and, yes dopey, place to stop. Our route took us just a couple of miles from Graceland, the Elvis mansion and memorial in Memphis. We were all set to stop and put our hip waders on to stroll through all the sentimental and hokey mush until we found out they get 28 bucks a person for the tour. Our “frugal folks” genes kicked in and we drove on by with a friendly wave to the ghosts of Elvis at Graceland. (Besides, wasn’t that maybe Elvis, himself, that we spotted behind sunglasses at the wheel of a classic Cadillac at the last Flying J fuel stop?)

 

Thursday, November 19^th Update:

We’re on our way east between Little Rock and Memphis. And the SUN IS OUT! We haven’t seen sunshine in four days, and it is good to have it back. We plan a relaxed day on the road with a few stops if the whim strikes us. We’re setting a goal of stopping and seeing something really trivial or even dopey before the end of the day. We’ll report tomorrow on any success.

 

We’ve had a nice success in tweaking our website. As you know, the Longacres advertising slogan is “Where else can you ride five hours a day?” For many months, that slogan popped up when you found our listing on Google searches, especially when you searched for “Riding Camp” or “Riding Camps”. (Oddly, Google is very fussy about plurals, and often you will get quite a different search ranking depending on whether you add an “s” or not.) But in recent months, that slogan did not appear with our search results. We carefully examined the coding of our home page and made changes to several invisible HTML codes as well as adding the slogan to a spot near the top of our homepage. The “Where else can you ride five hours a day?” once again appears with the Longacres listing if you find us on a Google search.

 

The Google search business is still very tricky to figure out. Longacres “owns” the terms “riding camp” and “riding camps” on Google. Depending on what month you search, you will find either us or IRC at the top and the other right behind. But other important search terms like “horse camps” or “equestrian camps” find us farther down the listings. That’s why businesses like ours pay for “sponsored search” listings that appear to the right of the regular search listings. At least that way you can be sure people will see your ad if they put in certain search terms. (Please don’t click on those sponsored links if you already know about Longacres – it costs us money each time you do!) Tricky stuff, this internet business.

 

Wednesday afternoon, November 18^th Update:

 

For those of you following Longacres enrollment as an indicator on the economy, we have seen a big increase in enrollments for longer sessions this year over the 2009 season. Last summer almost everyone (except Petra!) who came to Longacres early in the summer came for two week sessions, and we did not fill four of the longer sessions in August. This year we will be full in August, and it looks like half of the July spots are going to riders who will be here at least for the four weeks, or longer. Now part of this is because we have many returning students who started out at Longacres a couple of years ago as young two week students and they are naturally growing up and are now logically ready for longer sessions at camp. But part must also be because of the slightly improving economy. For whatever reason, we’ll take it!

 

Wednesday, November 18^th Update:

Coincidence!

Below are messages from Katie last night and from Sydney & Lincoln yesterday and the day before.

 

Plus, click this link for a picture of Sarah H. and “Dylan”. Sarah we mentioned the other day, is coming to Pro-Clinic week one with her friend, Jenny. Sarah liked ponies (Brownie and others) at Longacres and she still does as an adult. Dylan is a pony she rides and shows at home – very cute!

 

We had a good time at an “Oakridge Boys” concert in Branson last night. We try to see them anytime we’re traveling near a place they’re going to be performing. We get to see them a couple of times a year. I know, I know, most of you have probably never heard of the Oakridge Boys. In fact, I remember telling a great story about when I actually met Joe Bonsall, the lead singer, almost 20 years ago. Almost no one at Longacres had heard of them even back then. (Though Uncle Billy’s niece, jenny, not only did know them, but was a big fan of Joe Bonsall. (The story was that we stopped at a restaurant after the concert that time 18 years ago and ran into Joe, the lead singer, at the bar. We ended up spending the evening with him sharing stories about show business and boating. He actually remembered us and phoned us the next time they were in the Buffalo area and invited us to the show, but we were traveling out of state and missed the chance. I’ve never met him personally again, but we remain fans. - - - If you’re scratching your head and wondering about the time line, no, Meghan was not there at that meeting!)

 

 

Hello Tom and Meghan-

 

So I'm chatting on the phone with Alexa tonight, (yes currently typing and talking this very moment), and we were filling each other in on our lives;  work and school and horses.  As I began to tell her about Abby's workout this morning she laughed and told me I get the gold star.  Then she told me why.... apparently I had followed along with Tom's post on the Blog for today without having any idea I was doing so (I have not read in a few days- guilty as charged).  I know how you feel about a good working walk, so you'll enjoy this:  Abby had a 20 minute work-out today, doesn't sound like a lot, but all we did was POWER WALK.  For a straight 20 minutes, we walked our butt off.  At the beginning I could tell she just thought it was a normal warm-up, for the first 10 minutes or so she was content.  Once we hit about minute 15 she got confused... she looked at me, Why aren't we trotting yet?!?  I laughed and pushed her on.  She finished great!  She was over-stepping a good 6-7 inches...her butt and head were swinging, spine moving, tail lifted :)  We finished with a walk up and down the big hill off to the side of the property and then a long grazing.  

 

Hope you are all doing well, and having a great night.

 

Much love,

Katie

 

AND a message from Sydney & Lincoln:

“Cool. I will try to convince my mom into going to at least one of those reunions.

Yup a flying change. I can also get Star to do them for me.

we are making a list of Lincolin's accomplishments this year. I will mail it to you one we get a decent sized list.

Talk to you later!!!

~Sydney

 

Tom wrote:

Flying change?  Way to go SYDNEY!  Reunion thingy is in New York city, but maybe another one at Michelle's in Rochester later.

 

Tom Kranz, Longacres

716-652-9495

 

 

 

Hi,

 Where in N.Y is the "mini reunion thing".

If it is near by I bet I could convince my mom to let us go.

~Sydney

 

P.S Lincolin has an achievement list and his latest addition is flying lead changes.

(He did these for me VERY reluctantly, especially tracking right.)

 

--

~___/>

 (    )   Horses!!!!!

 

 

 

--

~___/>

 (    )   Horses!!!!!

 

Tuesday:

Special: A Longacres “Welcome” to Sarah H. and her friend, Jenny S. who just signed up for the first Pro-Clinic week in June. Sarah is an adult who was also a former Longacres student as a teenager. We’re looking forward to having Sarah and her friend, Jenny, at Longacres!

 

Tuesday, November 17^th Update:

The Wonderful Working Walk

(and other building blocks to a fine ride)

Most of you who have been to Longacres have been taught the importance of the least appreciated gait used in serious riding – the working walk. Those of you coming here for the first time in 2010 will at least be exposed to the concept, and I hope some of you come to appreciate this most under rated of riding disciplines.

 

I’m going to write an article about the working walk and the building blocks to good communication with your horse and a good ride that come before. If you have time, jot down a few of your memories of one of Tom’s favorite lectures (As you know, we think that the foundation building blocks that you lay when you get ready for a lesson or a riding exercise are crucial to the success of a serious rider). Put some of those “building blocks” in your own words and send them in. I’d love to include your comments in my article. And thinking about the building blocks of getting your horse really ready for a ride will be good for you as a horseman.

 

Besides the most fundamental building blocks of how you handle your horse when you first take him out of his stall, tack up, and mount, I’d love to hear detailed descriptions of some of the things you are doing at home when you prepare your horse for a ride with the wonderful working walk! If you’re feeling really honest, tell me both the exercises you know would be good to do and the ones you REALLY do! You get double points for the ones you’ve really been doing, and half points for ones you think of that you haven’t taken the time to do. Bonus: How many of you have been asked by your instructor at home to do a better working walk or a “Wonderful Working Walk” exercise as part of your lesson? Your instructor at home gets bonus points if they have.

 

Poor Us!

Not such a great day for us on the road with the RV. I wouldn’t be feeling great anyway, since it is cold, grey, and drizzly dreary outside. I’m very much a “S.A.D” (seasonal affective disorder) kind of person. Sunlight does a LOT for my daily moods! But we’re having a run of minor troubles to go along with the overcast weather. The cruise control on the RV quit last night while we were driving through the Ozarks (very beautiful from what we could see on a cloudy day). The cruise control on our RV is a bad design and fails at least once a year. And it is hard for a mechanic that is not familiar with it to diagnose the problem, since the RV wiring is difficult to get at and to trace. Our guy at home could do it quickly, but it is always a problem while we’re traveling. It was just fixed in Denver three weeks ago, but it’s too far to go back to them and have them fix the problem. So we’ll pay all over again for someone else to start from scratch – aaargh!

 

Then there is the bathroom scale. Not kind to either Meghan or myself after our wonderful visit in Texas! Kay took us out to a great Texas dinner, and didn’t stop there. She served a scrumptious breakfast and other snacks. (Kellie said at one point, “Mom can go overboard supplying food.” – and we all know that Kellie REALLY likes to eat, so if Kellie says there’s lots of food, you get the idea!) Anyway, we loved the Texas chow, but we paid for those good times when we weighed ourselves today. Meghan just got back from stocking up on fruit and vegetables so we can eat sparingly the next few daysL

 

Time to get on the road for the day. We’re headed to Branson, Missouri, where we have tickets tonight for an Oakridge Boys concert. That should cheer us up!

 

 

 

Monday, November 16^th Update:

Wow, was it windy overnight!

And still very cold now in Oklahoma as we travel east. We’re still enjoying the good feelings from our weekend Texas reunion with the ponies, Peyton, and Kellie’s family. It was VERY nice to see everyone and to see a brand new horse facility coming to life. Kay & Kellie & family have their work cut out for them but are off to a great start. They may take even more Longacres horses to Texas next winter.

 

Secret Santa:

Alexa and Staci are organizing a “Secret Santa” gift exchange open to Longacres people who want to take part. Go to their Facebook pages for details. It sounds like fun! Meghan and I just want to caution that these things can get complicated when people are expected to exchange gifts by mail and when some people hear about it and some don’t. If you want to take part, do it for the fun and don’t be upset if something gets confused.

 

December Reunion in New York?

Meghan and I are available to meet with some of you in New York for another mini-Longacres Reunion in the city on Saturday, December 12^th. Emily, Carly, and others are going to help make plans, we think. Let us or them know if you’re interested in coming. Meghan and I would be available from about noon through mid afternoon to do something interesting, have a lunch together, and we’d then turn you loose to either go home, get together at someone’s house/apartment, or whatever. We’d love to see some of you if it works out. We were very jealous that you got together in November and we were out west!

 

Kellie officially signed up for second session and maybe Lazy Days this weekend, so we are down to only one spot left for the August session.

 

Hope you’re all having some fun with horses now that the weather is getting colder!

 

 

Sunday morning, November 15^th Update:

Happy Birthday, Peyton!

“The Hunn Ranch” Visit!

There’s lots of news today about our fun visit to Kellie Hunn’s new horse ranch just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. People are the best part of any story, and we sure enjoyed seeing Kay and Kellie (who come to mother-daughter weeks together and are great friends of Longacres), and Peyton M. who was at Longacres for years until 2009. It was great to see Peyton again after more than a year, and good to be able to introduce her to Kellie who lives so nearby. After people, horses come next, and we have tons of pictures of Tux, Ebony, and the other horses at the Hunn Ranch at this link.

 

But there was more to the visit! Kellie’s dad and her brother Dayton like toys – they restore old cars for fun. One of the favorites is a classic Lamborghini sports car; very fancy stuff which I carefully admired in the garage Friday night. Saturday morning as we were getting ready to drive over to where the horses are kept, Kay and Dayton came up to me and said, “Come on out back, Tom. We’re taking the Lamborghini over to the farm, and YOU’RE driving.” Well, my heart started beating pretty fast, but driving a car like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and how can you say, “No” to that? (It was grand, and I only ground the gears a wee bit as I figured out the transmission!)

 

After the happy “hello’s” were exchanged when we first got to Kellie & Kay’s, we fooled around with Tux and Ebony just before dark. Tom & Meghan had painted some 2 by 4’s to look like Longacres jump rails as a gift for Kellie so she could do some jumping at her ranch and remember what it was like at Longacres. We set them up with some logs as stands (see pictures), and Kellie led the horses over the jumps to get them used to the idea. Then we just stood around talking. We looked over at the jumps and saw Tux walk up to one of them and stand there looking it over. Mind you, this was right in the middle of a huge pasture with nothing else near him and we were standing 30 or 40 feet away. The next thing we knew, Tux trotted two steps and jumped the new jump ALL BY HIMSELF!!!! I have rarely seen that happen, though I’ve heard lots of stories about horses jumping “just for the fun of it”. But usually that happens when jumps are set up along a rail or something and they are in the way of horses going someplace like around the outside of a ring. This time Tux was in a wide open pasture, clearly looked the situation over, and then decided, “hey, this looks like fun and I’ve done it before”! We have a picture Meghan took at the last second from a distance showing Tux right before the jump and a blurry picture of “the jump”.

 

Thanks the Kay and family for taking Meghan and I out to dinner in down town Fort Worth at a nice “Texas style” restaurant where I had a Buffalo steak. It was very festive on a Friday night in the city with all the lights and nightlife.

 

Early Saturday Peyton arrived and we had an emotional reunion. Peyton as many of you know, had a long history at Longacres and was one of our great success stories since she came for a full eight week season her first year when she was 12 and had NEVER ridden a horse before. After 7 weeks at Longacres, Peyton won the Beginner Jumper Derby event on Brownie. An amazing achievement! We had not seen Peyton for a year, and as you can see in the pictures, she looks great on the ground and on a horse! It was also great to introduce Peyton to Kellie and her family. They had “talked” on facebook, but never met before in person even though they do not live far apart. Peyton plans to start visiting the Hunn Ranch and riding and helping as the new ranch is developed. We really like it when Longacres people get together when they’re not at camp in the summer.

 

It was also good getting to know Kellie’s brother, Dayton, who took time from his other interests to spend two days hanging out with us and getting acquainted. Really nice guy. He was very patient with Tom showing him how to drive the Lamborghini, and Meghan enjoyed his fiddle recital. (Dayton is a good musician, and played for us for a while cheerfully. - - - Kellie isn’t bad either, albeit a slightly less eager recital participant!)

 

All in all, a great reunion visit and one we will repeat as often as we can as we watch the Hunn Ranch grow. Kellie’s family is really involved in youth activities, as part of the group that founded and is developing the new North Star day school. The school’s new equestrian program is being held at the Hunn Ranch, and they are one of the few (if any) Dallas-Fort Worth schools with a horse program as part of their program.

 

Today we are off to the northeast, heading towards out traditional Thanksgiving in Florida before going home to Longacres in three more weeks for most of the winter. We’ll be at a country music concert in Branson, MO on Tuesday night. After watching Football this afternoon!

 

 

 

Friday, November 13^th Update:

Culture Shock! Trees & Grass!

What a difference a few hundred miles makes. East central Texas is much like western New York, with plenty of trees, grass, and even water, ponds, and streams in low spots. Yeah, we know – just like much of the country. But for the past two and a half weeks we’ve been almost always in the desert as we traveled through Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas. I am a desert lover. I like the vistas and the dramatic emptiness, along with the unusual life forms. But it is nice to be back where the color green is more common!

 

A Longacres “Hello” to Sarah H.!

Sarah was a Longacres student ten years ago and one of her favorite horses was Brownie. Brownie was in his prime back then, one of our good jumpers. Sarah was thrilled to hear that Brownie is still going strong, teaching little kids and beginners to ride as he nears 30 years old. Sarah is considering bringing one of her horsey friends with her to Adult Week at the beginning of June or one of the Pro-Clinic weeks.

 

We traded emails yesterday with Carly who is going to be one of our counselors for part of next summer. She is recommending another New York area Longacres reunion for December when Meghan and I could come, since she also missed the last one which was held while she was sick. How about the weekend of December 12^th? We could meet in New York and do something traditional like watching the skaters at Rockefeller Center (or even skating – how many of you skate?). We would get good Christmas atmosphere in New York then, but it is far enough before Christmas so that the city wouldn’t be crazy-crowded. Let us know if anyone is interested. Meghan and I will be in the New York area anyway about that time visiting my mother in Connecticut.

 

Later today we get to visit with Kay & Kellie & Tux & Ebony. Tomorrow we hope to see Peyton as we pass on through Dallas. We’re looking forward to our “Longacres South” visit here. We should have lots of pictures of Tux and Ebony to post tomorrow!

 

Thursday, November 12^th, 3PM Update:

Quiz:

Take a look at the pictures at this link. What is Tom doing in the RV? We’re having a relaxing afternoon near Abilene, Texas. Meghan is at a Laundromat catching up on doing dirty clothes and Tom is enjoying a very good Wifi hotspot to catch up on website stuff AND doing what he’s doing in the pictures. Put your thinking caps on and put 2 and 2 and 2 together!

 

Thursday, November 12^th:

We had a great time in the Guadaloupe Mountains of west Texas and New Mexico the past two days. Really beautiful! Then it was out onto the desert plains more commonly associated with West Texas. Just like the scenery in one of our favorite movies, “No Country for Old Men”, which took place there.

 

And if you are in West Texas in the fall, you surely will hear about high school football! It is a religion for many out here, and the culture has been studied and portrayed in the book, movie, and television series all named “Friday Night Lights”. We are big fans of the TV series, which is a high quality drama about family issues and coming of age much along the lines of previous TV shows (now canceled), “My So Called Life”, and “Once and Again”, which were also favorites of ours.

 

Anyway, back to Friday Night Lights. It is on DirecTV on Wednesday nights. How appropriate that we were driving into Odessa, Texas Wednesday evening just in time to park and watch our show! The show is based on the book which was written after the author spent a year living in Odessa and following “Permian Panthers” football. Just to give you an idea of how fanatical many out here are about their football, the author received death threats after the book was published, since he accurately portrayed many troubling and controversial aspects of the culture. He had to cancel scheduled book signing appearances in Odessa after the book came out.

 

Like the good little tourists/fanboys that we can be sometimes, we drove around Odessa last night, visited the 19,000 seat Ratliff Stadium (for high school football!), and actually watched a Permian Panthers afternoon football practice. We’ll post some pictures later this afternoon or this evening at this link. We were nervous taking the pictures as we wondered whether the coaches would think we were spies from their next play-off opponent and run us out of town on a rail! (They ignored us.) If you are wondering, yes, the regular high school season is over, but it goes without saying that “Mojo Football” will continue for a few weeks with Odessa in the play-offs.

 

After seeing the Panthers practice we parked and watched our favorite TV show with a heightened sense of reality. We do recommend it. Although the show has adult themes, it’s good family viewing and deals with themes worthy of family conversation. (We also recommend the now canceled series “My So Called Life” and “Once and Again” on DVD.)

 

Horse News:

Just got the following email from the people who have Brownie for the winter. Not surprising that a whole new barn would fall in love with one of the greatest ponies that ever lived! (pictures here)

 

“Hi Meghann and Tom,

 

Just wanted to send a quick update with some pictures of Brownie.  As you can

see, he is getting pretty fuzzy even though we have been putting a blanket on

him!  He has quickly become a favorite of everyone in the barn because of his

winning personality. It would be difficult to find a more agreeable horse.

Isabel & I have both been taking lessons on him, and he's doing great. As Gail

says, "When is Brownie not great?"  He loves the trails & is a calming influence

on Boo when we go out together (Boo is not a fan of joggers).  No one can

believe how old he is, I love to see the look on people's faces when I tell

them.  Every once in a while he gives a funny little buck when you ask him to

move a little faster, so there's still a lot of spunk in the old guy.

 

Regards, Elaine Sia

 

And from Peyton:

 

hey guys,

if you could give me a time and place to meet yall, we can hang out on friday. can't wait to see you!!

<3 Peyton       

 

See you TOMORROW, Peyton!!!”    

 

And we got the following message from Micayla describing her riding experience and what kind of horses and riding she likes. This kind of description from first time Longacres students is very helpful – thanks, Micayla!

 

“Hi guys! It's Micayla. I hope your Vacation: Part 2 is going well and I just wanted to send you an email to give you some more info about me as a rider. Like I told you before, I had shown for quite awhile before starting the lease, and did fairly well. I am really competitive when I get in the ring but I also love to have fun when riding, even if my face is frozen in a look of determination :) When it comes to jumping, I am pretty comfortable with really anything. If I'm on the right horse, 3 foot isn't that much a push for me as a rider. For 4 of the 5 years of riding for me I was with a very hunter style trainer. When hacking around I am often stuck in my favorite hunt seat, but my current trainer is helping me sit down more in the saddle and to stay directly above my horse's back and not over his neck. When it comes to working around the horses I am very comfortable and am not afraid to do any kind of work. I also am not very intimidated by many horses unless they become very aggressive whether in the barn or in the ring. I enjoy a large range of horses, but my favorites are the ones who know they're jobs, love to do it, and are just fun horses in general. I am very excited for next July and will hopefully talk to you guys before! 

Micayla”

 

Just in case you missed it at the top of the page, we’ve changed the picture of the month from Ofelia to Drisana. We may rotate them more often at this time of year now!

 

Tuesday, November 10^th:

Hello again,

We’re in Texas now and will be exploring the west Texas mountains in Guadaloupe National Park today. We’ve never been there before. A lot of west Texas is flat and very desolate, but we’re told that the mountains along the New Mexico border are very beautiful. We’re looking forward to this part of our trip! Here’s a link to a few fresh pictures.

 

(Happy birthday to Shelley! Are you still reading these updates?)

 

And now for another report on the recent reunion from “Winky!”:

 

Hey Tom and Meghan! I know you guys heard about our reunion in NYC already, but I thought I would add my own little account of it.

Friday Katie and I flew out of Rochester to Laguardia where Emily and Alexa met us. Katie and I got really confused when we saw the sliding doors to the exit were blocked off. But then we realized that they had removed the glass panels on the side of the door and we could walk right through. We felt smart. So then we went to Emily's house and played Guitar Hero and cards, and just hung out for a while. Saturday we went to Emily's barn and watched her lesson on Ellie, the horse she leases. That mare is FIESTY!! She's cute and really sweet, but she had an attitude. Haha. Her barn is huge and has a grand prix field, which Katie, Alexa and I checked out enthusiastically. And the stalls are like 4 times the size of the stalls at Longacres. It was awesome. Later we went into the city where we had pizza with Laura, Sharon, Ofelia and Martha, we walked around and went to the most amazing candy shop ever. Sunday we went to Emily's soccer game and made signs to cheer her on; I think the other players thought we were weird. We got really good bagels for Katie to bring home (it made her bag smell like bagels later) and we went on the trampoline. Alexa left and me and Emily started crying really bad. Katie shed a tear after she left. Then we had to go to the airport and we all started crying again. Our plane was delayed by 2 hours!! So Katie and I got dinner and played games on my ipod while we waited. Once our plane got there we realized it was even smaller than the first one, with only 9 rows and we were in the very back. Although it was annoying how late it was, the lights from the streets and buildings were really cool to fly over and we took pictures. Then we went back to my house so Katie could get her car and drive home. And I started crying again! After Katie left it was even worse; it was just like leaving camp.

Katie and Alexa took lots of pictures, unfortunately I couldn't find my camera so I didn't get to take any :( But the reunion was soo much fun. We missed Carly, who was sick, and Staci, who was out of town, though.

Another note about the sweatshirt orders. We were wondering if you were interested to buy a few extras to sell to newcomers who don't know about it, that way no one would feel left out and more people would have the opportunity to get them.

I was also wondering if a possibility would be to have the order come to me, then when Frank picks up Merlin, he could bring the boxes to camp, so that way everyone can get them no matter when the are going this year.

 

Sorry for the novel, see you soon!!!!!

-not-so-little Michelle (Winky!)

 

And another message from Sydney:

I just now realized why Lincoiln has a heart shaped marking on his forehead! He is such a lover-boy, He is everybody's friend at the barn now.My mom saw him yesterday standing by his friend Red and "hugging" him.

 

I feel enlightened now!

 

~Sydney

 

--

~___/>

 (    )   Horses!!!!!

 

 

Monday, November 9^th:

Hi everyone,

Apparently the Longacres reunion in New York City was a big success. We really wish we could have been there, but we’ll rely on Emily’s report as follows: (today’s picture album here)

 

Hi Tom and Meghan-

 

So, as you know, we had a reunion this weekend. We wished you had been able to be here this week, but your travels had you far away from here this weekend :( i'm sure you'll be getting tons of emails from alexa, michelle, and katie (plus fosto and ofelia probably) about it, but here's my randition of it (because i know you want lots of details!)

Friday: Alexa drove it at 4, and we made muffins in essence of the chocolate chip muffins that everyone loves for breakfast :) Then we took a walk, and for dinner we had STIR FRY! In honor of our favorite dinner at camp. We picked up Katie and Michelle from LaGuardia airport at 8:30, and the night was full of crazy laughs and fun jokes. We had a ball.

Saturday: The morning was full of more craziness, and then we went to my barn to see the horse i lease. I had a lesson, and the three girls helped me with my eyes by making funny faces so I would look up. It helps to have people who know your riding strength and weaknesses very well help you out! After my lesson, we went to dinner in the city with Sharon, Laura, Ofelia, Martha, and the four of us girls plus my mom and brother. We had fun walking around and getting candy at Dylan's candy bar. We were goofing off, but in the city, anything is considered normal!

Sunday: The saddest day :( We spent most of the morning together, and the highlight was jumping on my trampoline (longacres girls gone WILD!) Alexa left at 2:30 (yes, michelle and i turned into niagara falls while katie tried very hard not to cry). Then we drove Michelle and Katie to the airport where michelle and i started crying yet again, and Katie fought hard not to cry.

The whole weekend was full of fun laughter, jokes, and lots of memories being remembered from this summer!! Now I dont have many pictures (Katie and Alexa have them all), but here is one to get an idea.... (attached in the email). The pictures (one is missing fosto and the other has her hand :] )

Also, about business (on a more serious matter), here is a note about sweatshirts that we were hoping you would be able to post on the website, if that is ok: Hey everyone! We made some sweatshirts this year open to anyone who would like to buy one. We have a hoodie:http://www.customink.com/designs/lahoodie2/14967230-3223134/share/?cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end

and a zip up:http://www.customink.com/designs/lazipup1/14967207-3223134/share/?cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end

and sweatpants:

http://www.customink.com/designs/lapants1/14967338-3223134/share/?cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end

We don't have the exact price. But if you would like to purchase one, please message Emily Romano, Michelle Kirsh, or Alexa Riddle to tell us what you would like. The more people order, the less the price is! So just let us know by February 28th, 2010.

We will have an approximate in about of week (the approximate of each will be the max price they will be).

Thanks!!! Bucket, Winky, and Alexa Kalexa.

 

Thanks!!! Miss you guys!! Emily :)

 

AND, here’s a message from Laura:

ey!

 

Hope you guys are having fun on your road trip! I'm supposed to be doing homework, but decided to email you instead. Horatio's doing pretty well since we took his back shoes off and re-fitted my saddle (got a new riser pad). He's still a bit off on the right lead, but should be fine by the time rowing ends in a week (!). So I have a funny story to tell you about him. I was in the barn after my lesson Thursday night (I rode one of my trainer's horses, not Horatio) doing something for Fran. I was trying to find one of her other students, so naturally I "yelled" out, "Hello!" No one answered me, except Horatio, who I hear from the other side of the barn nicker quite loudly. It was very cute. My mom has been doing very well with Chesney and my trainer described him as "point and shoot." She likes him a lot. Oh and the dinner in New York was awesome and really fun. We were kind of confused at how to split up the bill without you, Meghan!

 

Laura

 

AND, here’s a message from Natasha:

Hi Tom and Meghan!

I wanted to write one of the "Meet the Horses" things for Zanee!

 

Zanzibar!

Zanee is the most willing and sweet horse ever.

She will do anything you ask for, and she will NEVER

refuse a jump unless the rider does something wrong.

She is so much fun to ride, and shes very athletic.

Zanzibar is extremely calm when your grooming her

and tacking her up, but when you bring her in the ring,

its like she suddenly wakes up. Its not at all what you expect.

She has A LOT of energy, and a big stride for her size.

Zanee is a fantastic horse and amazing to ride!(:

 

 

-Natasha

 

Even though we couldn’t be part of the NYC bash, we are planning a smaller reunion of Longacres horse and people in the “Lone Star State” this weekend. We’ve been in touch with Peyton and Kellie and hope to meet up with them and with tux and Ebony on Friday afternoon. We should have pictures and a story on the weekend.

 

And now for a little report direct from the RV written at midnight Sunday night. We had a relaxed day on the road, only putting in about 75 miles of driving.

 

I just came in from a little walk under the stars. The night sky in the desert is really something! The milky way was spread all across the sky above me and I picked out Orion, a few other constellations, and saw a couple of meteorites streak across as I looked up. The lights of the small city of Benson, Arizona twinkled some miles off to the northwest, reminding me that we weren’t really so far from civilization. It’s very peaceful tonight where we are parked just off a rarely traveled country road, but we had lots of fun earlier today.

 

Meghan is quite the football fan, and we watched a couple of games today while we parked in desolate spots way out in the wild. Well, not so wild. We were far from other people, but while Meghan watched football, I watched trains go by – lots of them. We parked in several spots along the Union Pacific Railroad line during the day.

 

At breakfast I pulled out my iPhone and looked at Google maps of the area, which show all the railroad lines in the US in great detail. I found a part of the train track that doubled back on itself in a way that looked very promising for photography. We headed in that direction and turned off the interstate on a small country road. A VERY small country road! See my picture album from today. What had appeared to be a regular country highway on the maps turned out to be a single lane gravel road heading out into ranch land. And that was only for the first ¾ of a mile. We turned down what we thought was the road on the map towards the photo spot I had picked out for train watching, but we were soon on a barely passable rocky trail with no place that looked good for turning a 34’ RV around! And when we got to the end of the trail, it didn’t even have that good a view of the big curve in the train tracks. I was able to find a wide spot next to the jeep trail and get the RV turned around, though, and we escaped without getting stuck.

 

I checked my maps again and we drove a few miles further east to another promising spot for train pictures. Once again, the paved country road off the interstate quickly gave way to sand and single lane jeep trails along the railroad right of way. But this time the view of the trains was excellent and traffic on the rail line was heavy. I got lots of video and every time a train came Meghan would jump up from watching her football games and take picture of the train going by while I did video. Thanks, Meghan!

 

I think I told you the other day that I’ve been hiking around the desert the past couple of days looking under bushes and between rocks for desert creatures without seeing anything. This afternoon while I was carrying my camera back to the RV not even thinking about creatures, I almost stepped on a tarantula spider crossing the path. He wasn’t very big, but he was sure enough a tarantula spider and I can now say I’ve seen an exotic creature of the desert up close. We interrupted his travels for lots of pictures and then let him go on his way. We considered boxing him up and mailing him to Uncle Billy in Buffalo - - -JUST KIDDING, Billy! (Uncle Billy does NOT like spiders!)

 

Today, Monday, we are making tracks east and expect to drive a little over 400 miles to get to our next destination, which will be visits to Guadaloupe National Park and Carlsbad Caverns. Then we’ll soak up some west Texas emptiness mid week and on to Dallas for our “Longacres South” visit!

 

Sunday, November 8^th Update:

Griffin & Laura liked the math equation – thanks!

 

Rhiannon wrote that she lives right near the California coast highway that I wrote about the other day.

 

We zipped through half of Arizona yesterday, passing through the HUGE city of Phoenix on our way to the Tucson area where we spent the night. We have read a lot about growth in the southwest over the past ten or fifteen years, and we kind of knew that Phoenix was a good sized city. But we had not quite known that it has a populations of one and a half million and covers MANY miles. And has gruesome traffic jams even on a Saturday! Parts of the city show vast and unattractive urban sprawl. But their freeway system is vcery well set up and landscaped beautifully. We give the city a mixed review and will be careful never to pass through during a rush hour period! We liked Tucson more, partly because it is only 1/3 the size of it’s bigger neighbor to the north. There are a zillion RV’s in both cities! Snow birds flock to Arizona almost as much as to Florida. Meghan likes this state better than Florida, and we may spend more of our fall and early winter travels here in the future. (We’ll always spend the heart of the winter in New York State, since we do like the snow.)

 

PS – We think many of you are getting together as I write this for a little Longacres reunion in the New York area. When we listed some of the people who live in that area the other day we forgot to mention CARLY! We were thinking about who we had listed as campers from the New York metro area, and Carly is going to be a counselor, but we should have remembered to mention her anyway. “Hi, Carly! We hope your leg is almost completely healed.”

 

All our horses have winter homes, and we have had two recent calls from families that want to adopt one of our horses for the winter. We are beginning to look for horses to buy for next year. There are good deals to be had on horses at this time of year, and if we find one, we can buy it and immediately loan it out to one of these new families until May. We are hoping to buy three more new horses between now and the 2010 camp season. We’re especially looking for Brownie / Star types that can be safely ridden by almost anyone. Keep your eyes open and let us know if you find a for sale listing for that type of horse.

 

Saturday, November 7^th:

Heading Home the Long Way

After meandering west for the past month, we’ve finally turned the corner and are heading back east. We got as far west as Goff, Calfornia, a small nearly ghost town on old US Rte #66 near Needles, California. We were there chasing trains and taking pictures. We’ve had quite some variety in our choice of scenery the past week!

 

Just a week ago we were in the wilds of wilderness Utah taking pictures of the Hoodoo’s near Bryce Canyon under the full moonlight. And yesterday we had a wild change of pace, stopping for a day of people watching under the neon lights of Las Vegas. Meghan and I are not people who are really into the night life usually, but Las Vegas is a trip of sights and sounds. We do make a brief stop there when we are in this part of the country. And yesterday we actually splurged and went to a traditional Las Vegas strip show with all the costumed dancers and staging. I’ll probably never blow the money to see this kind of show again, but it was an interesting experience. I kind of trapped myself into it. For weeks I had told Meghan, “Well, when we’re in Las Vegas later this fall, let’s actually go to one of the big shows instead of just walking around people watching the way we usually do.” When we got there, she hadn’t forgotten my promise!

 

We had figured we wouldn’t mind spending $50 a ticket to see a glamorous show. Silly us! We walked up to the box office and found out that a few seats in the very back row of the theater were available for $54 each. And they went up from there. We walked away for a conference. “How much do we really want to see this?”, we asked each other. And both of us said the same thing: “No song and dance show is worth the kind of money they get here.” But still - - - I could tell that Meghan really had been looking forward to it, even though she was saying she didn’t think we should spend the money. Part of the trouble is that although I am pretty frugal by nature, if I am going to splurge on something, I don’t like to settle for third best. So I told Meghan, “OK, let’s go – but if we go, we’re going top shelf.” We walked back to the box office and plunked down for the best seats in the house. You know, just like in the movies, one of those booths right up under the stage. And it was fun. But only just this one time!

 

And now we’re back in the wild, crossing the desert south west heading slowly back 2500 miles to the east coast so we can be home at Longacres by the beginning of December. Last night we camped many miles out in nowhere, right in the desert along California #95. We stopped just before dark and drocve off the road on a jeep trail heading out into the mountains. We walked around trying to see some desert creatures, but they were all hiding. Many holes in the ground around cactus and sage brush, so we knew there were all kinds of little creatures and Tarantula’s, etc. But all we saw was one coyote next to the road in the morning. A good part of the way we’ll be following railroad tracks and taking pictures and video of trains. And enjoying some great scenery on the way. We should be on schedule to stop in and see Tux and Ebony near Dallas next Friday or Saturday. If we remember right, Peyton’s birthday is next Sunday. We hope we get to see her for a “Happy Birthday” greeting, also!

 

Last little story for this update will be about “Tom, the mechanic”. For much of my life, I did lots of mechanical work. I was involved with race cars, and I always worked on all the farm vehicles and tractors at Longacres. In recent years as I have become a little less flexible and adept at crawling around in and under machinery, I’ve had shops do more of our mechanical work. I still know how, but one of the benefits of age is being able to duck out of the unpleasant jobs of maintenance and repair. But I did a repair yesterday. We’ve spent quite a bit of money on RV repairs already this fall, even though we haven’t actually broken down ever. But the RV was due for several bigger routine maintenance procedures, and some of them cost more than we had budgeted for. So when a little oil began dripping from the engine compartment, I didn’t relish having another $300 repair bill. And I was pretty sure I knew exactly what needed to be done, since I am very familiar with the mechanical stuff in our RV. So we stopped and bought a few parts and then Meghan was wonderful helping take off the engine cover, handing me tools as I crawled inside the motor compartment under the bed, and giving me a helping hand as I contorted myself crawling in and out. We fixed the oil leak ourselves for $5.07 instead of the $300 or so a repair shop would have charged. And we were pretty proud of ourselves afterwards! Meghan called it the “Tomeghan Repair Treatment”, and the RV (“Meteezeeer” to those of you in the know!) feels just fine again and is not losing any more oil.

 

PS: “Meteezeeer” = Mountain Time Zone – it’s a Meghan thing.

 

November 5^th Update:

PS – Go to Facebook and check Kellie’s “wall”, where I posted a nice little Algebra example just for those of you who may not be enjoying math this year in school! - Tom

 

New York / New Jersey Reunion this weekend:

It’s not an official Longacres event, but Alexa, Emily, Michelle, and some of the other girls in the area are all getting together this weekend, we hear. If you are in touch with any of these girls or the other Longacres people in the area like Ofelia, Laura, Staci, Christina and the others, email them and see what’s going on. We wish we could be there, but we’re half way across the country on our fall vacation. We hope you all have a great time. Someone please write us with a good article about the get together and we’ll post it here.

 

PS – Alexa, I will have your reference done by next week!

 

Staci wrote a nice update on Ginger, who is now being ridden again. Here’s Staci’s article, and check this link for some pictures Staci sent in!

 

From Staci:

hey guys!! :)

ginger is doing very well. i can walk her for twenty minutes now and trot the long sides. so far she is holding up :D. i rode her in the halloween costume class last weekend in our fun show at my barn. she was a devil and i was an angel. i will attach pictures. this week i am in florida but y friend nicole is riding her. she is a great rider! she rode in the maclay finals last season! ginger is in good hands. nicole likes ginger and im sure she will have fun with her. she rode her once for me already. the first day ginger was aloud work nicole got on her for me to amke sure she wasnt too excited. nicole will school her for me while im away and whenever jeff thinks the pony needs someone more experienced on her to either fix a problem or teach her something new. we are mostly working on keeping steady consistant contact and framing up. she has a sensitive mouth and does not really need to much contact. nicole framed her really well last time she rode her. hopefully we can jump her in about a month. she is much happier now because she is getting half an hour of turn out. she is much much better now and not nearly as evil as i thought she was. was highway #1 the  Pcific Coast Highway? we went on that rode! it is ridiculous!!!!!! i was scared. have fun on your trip.

love

staci <3 <3 <3 <3

 

We’re at the very south-west corner of Utah today (St George) having a small repair done to the RV. It’s a stupid little $25 electrical part, but it is in a very awkward place to get to and is going to take half a day to replace. We’re spending the morning at a Barnes & Noble with free Wifi catching up on some work and posting this update.

 

November 4^th, 9AM Update:

Defying Death on the Highways!

OK, we’ll get to that in a minute, but first the news from Longacres: It’s been a quiet week at the farm, with just a little news from friends of Longacres. Kellie sent a few pictures of Tux and Ebony at their winter home in Texas. We’re looking forward to stopping by to see them in person in just over a week from now. Emily and Michelle are working on a new design for “official” Longacres sweatshirts and other cool stuff. We do have a crew working around the farm on fall repairs and maintenance, but it is mostly stuff that would be boring to many of you. Upgrading our electric supply, plumbing repairs, road work, and that kind of stuff.

 

Back to that headline about “defying death on the highways”. Meghan and I do spend a lot of time driving around the US when we take RV trips every other year in the fall, and if you ever want advice on where to find great scenic roads, give us a call. Or write us and tell us of your favorite drives. In this update I’m going to mention four roads that are without doubt some of the most dramatic anywhere in the US. Almost too dramatic for me! There are some highways that are scary enough in an automobile if you aren’t driving very carefully, but that are downright dangerous in an RV. Breathtaking, but decidedly dangerous. Here are four of the roads that have the most vivid memories for us, including the one that scared the hell out of ME yesterday!

 

1) Highway #1 on the California coast just north of San Francisco has hairpin switchback turns with no guard rails many hundreds of feet above the Pacific Ocean. I don’t have words to describe the view, but it was white knuckle driving for me two years ago.

 

2) The Bear Tooth Pass highway heading out of the Northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park rises to just under 11,000 feet and has all kinds of mountain views as the road rises way above the timber line. Oddly, I didn’t find this road as scary as some of the others, but it is one of the great mountain drives in North America.

 

3) Third on my scary road list is also in Yellowstone Park. Several years ago I took our large RV over Dunraven Pass in the northern part of the park. This road rises to 8800 feet as it winds back and forth high on a mountain side with no guard rails at all. One slip with the steering wheel and they would be taking an RV and it’s passengers out in garbage bags. It wasn’t my idea of fun , though Meghan sure enjoyed the views!

 

4) But the scariest of all for me came just yesterday on a road that I’ve been on before. I should mention here that I have never really liked heights. And as I get older, I think my acrophobia (fear of heights) is getting worse. Maybe because my balance is not as great as it once was, my body is reacting to heights with a vertigo like sensation. Certain kinds of heights give me a real physical reaction. One of those came on Utah highway #12 just east of Escalante the other day.

 

This is a great scenic road, with one stunning vista after another for over 100 miles near Bryce Canyon National Park. But this one place in particular is just too much for me. The road through the mountains and canyons suddenly goes out onto a winding ridge about 1500 feet long. The highway is built right on the very top of a narrow ridge line. The road is two lanes with almost no shoulder and (as is so common on dramatic western roads), no guardrails at all. And for the 1500 feet or so, the land on each side of the road drops away more than a thousand feet nearly straight down! I had done this road once before, but my fear of heights is greater now and I nearly froze in the driver’s seat. I’ll never drive it again, though perhaps we’ll do it with Meghan driving. If you ever have a chance to drive this road, and you REALLY trust your driver, don’t miss it!

 

Write in and let me know if you’ve driven any of my four “Death Defying” roads, or if you know of others like this.

 

By the way, check this link for some pictures I took at Bryce Canyon the past two days.

 

October 31^st Update:

The Quiz Answer is “E”!

Woot! Woot! We’re having good luck with our travel arrangements! Flights had been cancelled or delayed for hours all day in Denver on Thursday because of the major winter storm in Colorado. But the winds began to die down in the early evening and our flight from Buffalo through Atlanta arrived ten minutes early shortly before midnight, allowing us to easily get to the rental car counter on time. The roads were in good shape to the northwest of the airport where we had to go to get to the RV. (Glad we didn’t have to travel east – blizzard conditions were still taking place just thirty miles east towards Nebraska with all major highways closed!)

 

We got to the motor home by 1AM with temperature a “brisk” 16 degrees. We piled every guest blanket and sleeping bag in the RV onto the beds and burrowed in for the night. You know that it’s cold when you feel bone chilling cold if you move even an inch in bed!

 

We woke up to bright sunny skies Friday morning and it looks as though our very good luck with weather on our whole trip west this fall is going to continue for the near future. (When we drove west from East Aurora all through Canada and the northern US states in September we had wonderful fall weather all but our last two days before returning home.) Now, as we head west over the Rocky Mountains today towards the Utah National Parks the weather is warming and generally sunny for at least the next five days. It looks like it will be a fine time to be traveling in the west.

 

We had some brief bummers yesterday getting the RV ready for the trip. We’d had a lot of routine maintenance, including some major brake work, done while we were back in East Aurora during October working at Longacres. Some of this was not quite ready when we got here yesterday, and some work had to be done over to make things right. But the mechanics worked all day making corrections, and we left them last night with good will for their great efforts fixing their mistakes. While they fixed things that we found wrong, Meghan and I had a great sight seeing drive.

 

If you’re ever in the Denver area and want a fine scenic drive, take state route #119 west from Boulder into the mountains. Wow! We’ve made this drive before during early fall and it is impressive then. But with as much as three and a half feet of fresh snow in the canyons, and with bright morning sun, we had a great experience yesterday. We’ll post a few pictures next time we update. We should have some more good picture opportunities later today as we take I-70 west through the high country.

 

Thanks to Kevin and Joel for taking care of things back at Longacres while we “vacation”. We plan to enjoy some of the great scenery in Utah this week, stop for a quick “people watching” experience in Las Vegas, and then explore the desert southwest the following week. We expect to be in Dallas the weekend of November 14^th and 15^th, and we’d enjoy seeing some of our Longacres friends in that area. We’ll be stopping by Kellie’s new farm to see Tux and Ebony, and we hope Peyton, Kim, perhaps Destiny, and some of our other recent Dallas or nearby Texas Longacres students will be able to stop by. Perhaps we can schedule a pizza dinner at a convenient location.

 

More coming in a day or two. We’re off into the mountains now!

 

 

Bulliten:

Natasha wrote that they are filling out her enrollment form and sending it in. GREAT to have you returning Natasha! Natasha has Zanee with her for the winter in North Carolina. Zanee is doing very well with lots of patient flat work to make her already great jumping skills even better.

 

Double Bulliten!

Anderson, age 10, from Florida officially signed up today. She has her own pony and should fit right in at Longacres. Welcome, Anderson! Meghan has been trying to reach your mom to chat and answer any questions you might have.

 

Meghan also spoke with Cassie’s dad in Toronto. If Cassie signs up for the same session as Natasha, we’ll have only a few spots left in all of July and August. There is still plenty of space in the June sessions and in Lazy Days at the end of August.

 

Today’s Quiz:

We’re flying from Buffalo to Atlanta later this afternoon, and then from Atlanta on to Denver. Crazy how modern airline “hub” scheduling bounces you around the country. There is a major winter storm just winding down this evening in Colorado. Our flight is scheduled to arrive in Denver just 43 minutes before the rental car place closes, even if everything is on schedule. It is a 40 minute drive in good conditions from the airport to where our rV is waiting for us. The quiz choices are:

A) Tom & Meghan will be sleeping on the floor at the airport tonight because they missed their rental car closing and all motels are full because of the storm.

 

B) We don’t make it in time to get a rental car, but we end up in an expensive motel paying a premium price for the night.

 

C) The evening flights are cancelled and we spend the night in Atlanta!

 

D) All goes well until we start driving through the winter storm and end up stuck on the highway in the rental car.

 

E) We make all connections with minutes to spare and make it safely to the RV tonight as planned! Woot! Woot! Woot!, as Texans would say!

 

In the meantime we’re doing some final chores around the farm. Check this link for pictures of Tom washing all the mud off his tractor so it will be clean and ready to plow snow when we return to Longacres in December.

 

Wednesday, October 28^th, 10PM:

There is photo evidence here that Andrea did VERY well at the BTRC show in Buffalo last weekend. We’re hoping for all the details soon! Good job, Andrea!

 

Wednesday, October 28th, 3PM Update:

Hi everyone,

We’re getting some abuse from people like Uncle Billy, who are writing in to call us “wimps” for not traveling to Colorado last night, “just because there’s a little snow on the roads”! After all, we’re Buffalo people, and snow should be nothing to us according to Billy. Hummppphh! But RV’s and snow do not mix very well. The last time I had the big RV in snow was out west, in fact. I drove up over the mountains on Utah rte #12, a beautiful highway going east from the Bryce Canyon area. There was light mountain snow the night before and just a coating of frozen snow on the roads. I traveled quite a few miles that morning at 10 to 15 miles an hour with the front of the RV skidding sideways every time I touched the brakes on a steep hill. Sometimes I would only stop sliding when a front tire hit the gravel on the shoulder of the road. Finally by mid morning the sun melted the snow on the roads and we were safe. But I am very careful about snow in a big RV now! I have no interest in driving from Denver over the mountains to Salt Lake City during heavy winter weather like they are having today and tomorrow in Colorado. The place that did the repairs for us while we were back east told me today that we made a very good decision, with the snow coming down hard just north of Denver today. So, THERE, Billy!

 

Last Spot in August?

We talked to a new family from Florida that is sending the deposit for the second to last spot in the August session by overnight FedEx so that we’ll get it before we leave for out west tomorrow night. That leaves just one spot left in August for several people who have been considering it. If you think that you are coming to Longacres in August, check with your parents and make sure that they’ve sent in your paper work. We are no kidding, almost full then!

 

I am taking some time these two extra days in East Aurora to nearly finish adding new gravel to the office driveway. I thought this was going to have to be a next spring job, but with the break in the weather this week, I have been able to get three dump truck loads of gravel and spread it. This wasy it will settle over the winter and I can do a final grading job and finishing crushed stone in the spring.

 

Tuesday, October 27^th, 9PM:

Congrats, Sydney!

Check this link for the picture Sydney sent in of Lincoln at their stable’s Halloween show this past weekend. Bet you can’t guess what their costume was – He was “Mr. Abe Lincoln”!

 

To Fly or Not to Fly:

We should be in the air right now on the way to Denver to resume our RV trip. But, I checked the Denver weather this morning and “HELLO!!”, there is a winter storm warning, with 8 to 12 inches of general snow expected and two feet in the mountains. Not my idea of fun for an RV, with temperature in the low 20’s at night. So we checked our options this afternoon. It’s costing us over 350 bucks to change our plane reservations to Thursday. But if we went to Colorado tonight we would have had to hole up in a motel for a couple of nights probably during the storm to stay warm. We finally decided to postpone the trip two days, taking the hit of a little more money for the flight change. But we’ll be here in much warmer western New York for now, and when we do get to Denver Friday morning, a big warm up will be under way. Sunny and much warmer weather is coming for Colorado and Utah where we’ll be over the weekend and early next week. And all the snow on the mountains should be very pretty when we drive through them Friday and Saturday.

 

PS – We got a registration in the mail today for the almost full August session from a “mystery student”. We’ll keep it a secret who signed up for a little while at the request of the “Mystery Girl”. A little mystery is always good for Longacres.

 

Monday, October 26^th, 9PM Update:

More Sand Ring stuff & Cool Diesel News!

First, check this link for a few more pictures we took today around the farm showing our progress on the enlarged sand ring. The dozer put in a few more minutes today making sure the drain around the bottom edge of the ring would take all the water away and over the bank. Joel and Kevin were both working on remodeling projects around the farm on this nice fall day. Joel is our concrete expert and put a new cement cap on one of the fireplace chimneys. Kevin is busy with plumbing and indoor fix up work.

 

I had some good fun flying my model airplanes both early in the morning and again when the wind died down this evening. This is not a good winter hobby, so my flying sessions may be almost over for the yearL

 

But my real joy today was a visit with Diesel! I went across the road to the neighbors place where he is staying. Nobody was home and it was very quiet. Their German Shepard usually barks loudly when anyone stops by, but he has gottan to know me from all the “stick throwing” I’ve done for him this fall, and he barely woofed.

 

But Diesel knew someone was visiting! I’d like to think he recognized his good buddy Tom getting out of the Longacres pickup truck, but more likely he just associated someone walking to the pasture with getting FOOD. FOOD is Diesel’s main interest in life! For whatever reason, he picked up his head out in the middle of the pasture and walked briskly to meet me as I climbed under the fence and into the pasture.

 

Yes, he did check first to see if I had any treats. But he stayed with me after I showed him my empty pockets and seemed pleased just to be getting ear and chin scratches and hugs. And best of all, he quickly remembered a new trick I taught him two weeks ago. Not sure if I told you guys about it.

 

Diesel’s friends from Longacres all know how much he likes to please. It is so cool that this 2100 pound Belgian Draft horse so desperately wants to obey and to cooperate. He is well known for putting his head down when you hold out his halter. The new trick was an expansion on that behavior. I was giving Diesel a hug with his head under my arm like I often do, and he was a little restless – he twice pulled his head away and lifted it up high to look around. So I told him, “bad horse – whoa”, as I held his head down and put it back under my arm for a good hug. And like he nearly always does when he can tell you aren’t pleased with him, he immediately acquiesced and held still.

 

So I decided to push that behavior to the next step. (Remember, at Longacres we believe that most horse training is a series of building blocks – one behavior leading to the next.) So, instead of putting Diesel’s big head under my arm and having him hold still for a hug, I stood in front of him, reached up to the top of his head between his ears, and pulled his head down so that his ears were about at my waist level, along with the command, “head down”. At first he didn’t understand and he pulled his head away. But the third time I pulled his head down along with the same command, and then said, “Whoa, hold still”, he seemed to suddenly understand. And over and over again I could put a hand up between his ears, say, “head down”, and he would do it and hold his head still way down by my waist. Very impressive. And today, two weeks later, I reached up, gave him the “head down” command, and he immediately remembered!!!!!!!

 

I know that I’m supposed to be a jumper trainer, and don’t worry, I still get a kick out of success in the jumper ring! But 2009 has really been the year of the Diesel for me. This great big horse has been such a joy to work with. He’s given me many happy hours, both when I work with him myself, or sometimes even better, when I watch some of you enjoying him. Petra was so great with him the first session, and Laura and many others taught him even more in the August session. I’ll never forget Petra riding Diesel through most of the cross country event on the outside course!

 

Bulliten:

Meghan just got off the phone with Lydia’s mom, and they confirmed that Lydia will be back at Longacres for the full four week session in July. We are now full for the July 11 to 25^th session, except for two counselor in training spots for girls 14 or older. Wait list only for that session, unless you want one of the CIT spots. The August session has two spots, depending on our receipt of the actual registrations of two girls who asked us to save spots for them. The June 27^th to July 11^th session is now half full. The June sessions all have plenty of space still.

 

There – a long update! I might do another tomorrow, but then we will be traveling, and we may only update every three or four days during much of November.

 

Sunday evening, PS:

Answers to the “Twilight” quiz the other day – “B” is the leading response!

 

Oh, and I forgot something else fun I did today besides nature photography. The wind was pretty calm first thing in the morning and again early this evening, so I got in four successful flights with my RC model airplanes. No crashes, and I was getting pretty sporting by the final flight this evening. Trouble is right around the corner every time I start to think I’m flying pretty well!

 

Sunday, October 25^th, 4PM:

We’ve worked a bit today, but not too hard. We did some more closing up down at the barn, taking down loudspeakers used at the shows, fastening stall doors shut for the winter, and then putting locks on some of the cabins. Meghan also put in some time doing final organizing in the tack room and counselor office.

 

But we had fun enjoying a nice fall day. Check this link for an album of pictures and this link for an oversized copy of my favorite picture of the day. I spent about half an hour with my camera taking pictures in quite a variety of lighting as clouds and sun alternated up around the corner on Mill Road hill.

 

I’ve been thinking about the incredible variety in climate and geography that we enjoy in the United States as we prepare to head west again in a few days to continue our fall RV adventures. Here in western New York at this time of year we have all the moisture anyone could want. Plenty of ground water, streams and drainage ditches full of rushing water, and mud where we don’t want it, but a landscape that is very much alive. Yet by this time next week we’ll be in the arid southwest. Meghan and I enjoy desert. There’s something that gets to us about the vast spaces and the emptiness. We’ll be spending some time in New Mexico and Arizona, and then a few days getting to know West Texas a little better. We’ve driven through west Texas, but this trip we plan to spend a few days there – BIG open spaces! We’ll then be slowly driving east. We usually spend Thanksgiving in North Florida before coming home to spend most of the winter here at Longacres, working on plans for the 2010 season and occasionally playing in the snow.

 

Thanks to Stephanie from Chicago for updating us on her life, and to all of you who’ve sent in your horse descriptions for the new Meet the Horses pages. Thanks to this fall’s biggest Merlin fan, Michelle, for the pictures and stories about him. Michelle is part of a great group of long time Longacres students who will be senior CIT’s next summer and then joining the staff as counselors hopefully in 2011. Meghan is posting some really nice horse descriptions sent by Michelle, including the beloved Merlin, in the next hour or so. Michelle also described Lincoln, Star, Brownie, and Diesel.

 

Friday, 1PM Update:

A Bigger Sand Ring!

Indeed, we have made a big mess down at the riding complex. But it will be wonderful when it’s all done. Check this link for pictures of the bulldozing work underway here at Longacres today. We were worried that the job would have to be put off until next spring as winter weather came closer. But it’s very good to get the first part of the job done this fall so that the ground will settle and provide a good base for the sand we’ll add in the spring.

 

The new sand ring will be almost twice the area of the one we had in place this year. Forty feet longer and twenty feet wider. We’ll now even be able to use it as one of our show rings if we must run a show right after a rainy night. And we are considering putting up some lights and in very hot weather doing some night lessons. How much fun would that be?!

 

We posted a bunch more descriptions of the horses that were sent in by Laura. Speaking of “Fosto”, check out the page of Brownie pictures on the Meet the Horses pages. Right near the beginning of his album, note the picture of “little Laura” with Brownie and some first ever show ribbons. The picture was taken a few years ago. How time flies by!

 

Friday, October 23^rd, 8AM:

Thanks to Ofelia and Emily for sending new “Meet the Horses” descriptions. We’ve updated Brody, Tux, and Justin’s listings this morning. Keep them coming, everyone!

 

We’re just past peak foliage here in Western New York, and with rain and wind yesterday and today, the leaves are falling like the raindrops. We’ll have bare branches in no time at all. There have been some nice fall colors here and there, but it’s been a rather muted fall season on the whole. Partly because we’ve had a lot of overcast days when we didn’t have sun to appreciate the colors. But the pattern of a very dry September followed by the wet, cool October may have had an influence as well. Ok – on to winter!

 

BULLITEN:

As I was writing this update this morning, the phone rang and it was our excavating guy, Jeff Eaton. The light overnight rain had made the job he was on too muddy, so he is available this morning with his dozer for sand ring work! I drove down to the barn to check the condition of the ground. I dug a couple of little holes in the ground with a shovel and determined that the ground was only wet for the first inch or so and the subsoil is still dry. So Jeff is on his way and if the heavier rains hold off until mid day as forecast, we should have the foundation of our sand ring expansion done. We really wanted to get it done this fall so the ground could settle all winter and have a firm foundation for the sand when we spread it next spring. Good deal.

 

 

 

Thursday, October 22^nd, 1PM Update:

Sorry,

I never posted the promised YouTube last night. The video turned out a little too corny. When did that ever stop me? Well, the subject was the first ever “Royal Flush” of our new upstairs toilet. All our regular customers are familiar with the really grungy downstairs bathroom at the main house here at Longacres. (Finally remodeled this fall.) What you may not all know is that Meghan and I have used that as our only bathroom for many years. The bathrooms for our customers down in the camp are far nicer than the one we used ourselves. I think we often don’t really understand all the reasons we procrastinate on cleaning up or making needed repairs. One of the reasons I think we tolerated the crummy downstairs guest bathroom here for so many years is that we always planned to add an upstairs bathroom “soon” for our living quarters. But year after year went by and we just put up with the downstairs one; why fix it when “maybe next year” we’d have a nice new bath upstairs?

 

But this fall we’re finally doing the upstairs work. Yesterday we got the water lines hooked up for the new upstairs toilet and we held a little “Royal First Flush” celebration with Meghan, myself, and Kevin the plumber/all purpose handyman. He brought in a small bottle of champagne, we toasted the completion of this part of the job, and Meghan pulled the lever. You know me and photography – I had to video the event from start to finish with all the giggles, whoops, and cheers along with the gurgling flush! Yesterday posting that video online seemed like a clever, cute idea. Today, a little less so! You have been spared.

 

PS – Meghan updated many of the “Meet the Horses” pages with new or updated descriptions yesterday. Check them out.

 

PPS – The new “Twilight” movie is coming out soon. Here is today’s quiz, for those of you who were real Edward fans.

 

A) You are really worried that they will spoil your great memories and secret fantasies by doing an inferior job on the new movie.

 

B) You are going CRAZY waiting for the new movie and the chance to see Edward again!

 

C) What’s Twilight? Edward who?

 

Wednesday, October 21^st, 3PM Update:

We’re enjoying having Diesel spend the winter right across the road with our neighbors. I’d probably be up there every morning giving him a pat and maybe a carrot, but I don’t want to wear out the neighbor’s hospitality! We’ve been giving them some advice on the different kinds of gravel to put in as a base for their new horse shed. They have the poles for the shed all in the ground and it is right on schedule to be done in time to provide shelter from the early winter storms that are not so far away.

 

Meghan worked long hours collecting everyone’s descriptions of our horses and typing them into a working file. We’re beginning to upload them to the “Meet the Horses” pages today. I did the first couple, and Meghan interrupted me with an, “Oops! I need to add something!” So I’m waiting an hour while she adds some final touches and then we’ll update all the individual horse album pages with the multiple descriptions. It will be easy to add more stories and descriptions, so keep them coming! “Fosto” promises a whole set for all the horses. If you go to the Meet the Horses page and then click on the “more info” link for each horse, you’ll find the updated information at the bottom of that horse’s page.

 

Later tonight there will be a short video posted at this link. Don’t laugh at us too hard! This “new addition” to life at Longacres has been a long time coming and today’s event deserved the little celebration captured, like so much at Longacres, on high def video.

 

Joel did a great job with the cleanup down in the main part of camp where the new roof was put on Pixie-Oakwood cabin. Everything is neat and ready for next spring. And Tom moved about four tractor bucket loads of logs from the big tree that fell down on the lower old archery field. (AND, I had a great flight with my model airplane! No crashes now for almost a week. Knock wood!)

 

Tuesday, October 21, 3PM Update:

Worked laying out the sand ring expansion and moving log jumps this morning. Check this link for photos.

 

Monday, October 19^th, 6PM:

Check this link for some pictures taken around the farm today showing fall foliage and Tom working on the office driveway. It was a fun day, including a relaxing lunch with Meghan at the Roycroft.

 

Welcome back Drisana! Drisana’s enrollment for the first two weeks in July came in today and we’re glad to have her back at Longacres for 2010. The first session in July usually fills first, but not this year. But we are now getting lots of interest for those early summer sessions and we hope to hear from more of the great girls who came to that early July session last summer. We have two first time Longacres students coming already, along with Drisana. And we just traded emails with Cassi from Toronto, Ontario who is also interested in that session.

 

Meghan was busy this afternoon editing descriptions of our horses which I hope to post later this evening or tomorrow morning.

 

Monday, October 19^th, noon Update:

Another great sunny day at Longacres today, and then back to grey, drizzily weather for much of the rest of the week. But we are enjoying today! We flew home from our RV trip to spend three weeks at Longacres during what is often wonderful Indian Summer October weather with the great fall foliage as a bonus. But it looks like we may only experience three or four nice days during the whole time we’ve been home. Oh, well.

 

Check this link for a couple of pictures of Tom across the street at Connie’s farm saying “hello” to Diesel. They moved him out of their big pasture which has been muddy with all the rain this fall, and into a smaller but drier pasture on the side of the house. They had just spent the day yesterday grooming all their horses, and as you can see, Diesel looks great. Good job, Connie! Last week she took Diesel to a Parelli horse handling clinic. He was the star of the day, not just because he attracts so much attention because of his size. He behaved wonderfully, which does not surprise us. A lot of the training Tom gives Diesel from the ground is much like the Parelli and other “horse whisperer” methods. It’s good training for any horse. So Diesel took to it very quickly.

 

(I have sometimes thought about putting together a “Longacres Method” clinic series of ground work exercises, or even a short book. You guys know my philosophy of horsemanship – “Building Blocks” – do the simple horse handling things carefully and properly and the harder things will come naturally. To me it’s all just common sense, but since people seem to be so eager to be “taught” some trick, maybe we should write a book. It would be a good addition to our boating books and truck racing book. Kind of odd that I have written three books and none of them have been about horses. ) On the other hand, my aunt Neale Haley beat me to it by 30 years. She did write five or six horse books during the early history of Longacres. If you’re interested, go on Amazon or even Google and search for Neale Haley Horse Books.

 

Sand Ring Progress (NOT):

As our regulars know, we have always liked riding on grass and turf at Longacres. But we did put in a small sand ring this spring as an experiment. Even though I will always like watching horses work on grass, I can’t deny that the sand ring was very useful this year, especially since we had frequent wet weather. We are committed to nearly doubling the size of the sand ring before the 2010 season. We’ve had a call in for the bulldozer for more than a month, but the wet October has put our guy way behind schedule. We are hoping to get the machine in for the basic dozer work this week and then finish packing and picking stones and laying the sand next spring after letting the ring settle all winter. If the weather doesn’t cooperate later this week, we may have to push all the work back to next spring, but we sure hope to finish this week!

 

We have a load of gravel coming this afternoon to begin improving the driveway to the office to make it as nice as the barn drive which we fixed in 2008. It will be nice to get some outside work done this month. Most of our budget this month has gone to inside remodeling and repairs and plumbing improvements.

 

Sunday, late evening:

We’re going to start posting some of the descriptions our students have sent in on the updated “Meet the Horses” pages. Take a few minutes to write short comments about your favorite Longacres horses and ponies. Here are a few that Staci sent in last week:

 

my pony ginger

ginger is the bggest brat you will ever meet in the barn so at camp she is tacked up outside to prevent any accidents, but her attitude almost is invisable when you are riding her. beside the fact that her ears are pinned back sometimes ginger is a great show pony! she has shown in both hunters and jumpers and does very well in both. she has great knees and just an over all awesome pony. ginger is ten (2009) and is 14.1 hands. she is very fun to ride and is loved by many campers.

 

star

star is a very cute paint large pony. she has very very comfy gates and is an amzing bareback horse. she can be a little lazy but with a strong leg she is perfect. she shows very well in hunter and jumpers and she is a great trail horse. star is a fantastic pony who is very loved at camp.

 

merlin!

merlin is a huge favorite at camp. inless you are stuck cleaning him for the first ride. he is so much fun to ride and really takes very good care of his riders. merlin is so popular he even has his own fan club. merlin is probably the most popular large pony at camp.

 

staci  

 

Meghan is typing in several more descriptions that the counselors wrote at the end of August tomorrow morning.

 

Sunday, October 18^th, 2PM:

Happy Birthday, Junior!!!! - - AND Griffin!

Today is Katie “Junior’s” birthday and fittingly, it is a grand fall day in western New York after a long rainy week. We hope you’re doing something really fun today, Katie. And Griffin’s birthday is coming up Tuesday, so another birthday greeting goes out to YOU!

 

Meghan and I visited the local “Great Pumpkin Farm” this morning to see a “pumpkin hurling” contest. Check this link for a few pictures. Meghan got to shoot the big air cannon and hurl a couple of pumpkins more than half a mile! Local high schools sent teams with trebuchet’s, a fancy kind of medieval catapult. We had a grand time! I don’t know what it tells you about us at Longacres, but as far as we’re concerned, there’s always something exciting about busting up some pumpkins! Here’s a link to a video we made last year of us throwing pumpkins of the high deck on the side of the main hosue here at Longacres. Griffin liked it last year, so this “repeat” is a little birthday gift to you, Griffin.

 

After the rainy week or ten days we’ve just been through, it’s hard to choose what I most want to do outside. I had a great flight with my radio control airplane on the way into town for breakfast this morning. Then the pumpkin hurling, and later this afternoon I want to get out around the farm and trim some trees. Just a great day here at Longacres!

 

Saturday, October 17^th, 9PM:

We did some more work on the “Meet the Horses” page this afternoon, posting links to several YouTube videos of Longacres horses. We’ll try to keep adding stuff to that page all week. It may take longer than that to get video of all the horses posted, but we’re working on it.

 

We’ve still got a very wintry feeling in the air at Longacres tonight, but it’s finally supposed to warm up a bit in a day or two. We’ve had a pretty crummy month of October so far!

 

Saturday, October 17^th, 1PM:

Hi everyone,

FINALLY we’re making progress on updating the “Meet the Horses” page and other website improvements! It is slow, frustrating work sometimes. We use WORD to put our web pages together which is very quick and easy to use. What you see is what you get. But the HTML Web page files that are generated by WORD are very cumbersome and use some wacko conventions for naming and storing picture files that are on each page. So going back later and making changes, especially changing pictures, can produce some very unexpected results. For a while today, some of you may have looked at the spot on the Meet the Horses page where we describe Ginger and you would see a picture of Tux. We think we have most of those mistakes corrected right now, but more odd things are likely to pop up during the next week as we make more updates. Please let us know if you find mistakes in the Meet the Horses pages.

 

Today we posted new pictures and photo albums for the three horses we bought this season, Chesney, Lincoln, and Tux. And we made a few other changes to bring the page more up to date.

 

We still have to post pictures of some of the most recent private horses that came to Longacres. We’ve got great pictures of Max, Caliente, and Abby and we plan to put them up soon.

 

So please enjoy the new pictures and check back regularly to watch our progress on updating the Meet the Horses pages for 2010!

 

More 2010 Sessions to Fill Soon:

We had to turn down a request for a 2010 session for the first time last night. The second two weeks in July is now closed to girls 13 and up unless you qualify for one of two CIT spots open to girls age 14 or older. We do have one more spot in that session for a rider age 10 to 12. The August session is likely to be full very soon. There are two more spots and several different 2009 students have said they are interested.

 

We do have space in the two week session at the beginning of July and we have lots of space in all the June sessions still. An interesting thing is that the group of mothers & daughters who have been coming to the June Mother – Daughter week for several years all together is splitting up with many of them choosing other Longacres sessions. Some of the moms are coming to Lazy Days week in August, and others might come for one of the June Pro-Clinic weeks. We will probably open up the last week in June that has been only for Mothers and Daughters the past few years to all ages, since the pattern of emrollment that week is changed.

 

It’s interesting how each year has a little bit different enrollment pattern. We never did completely fill the 3 ½ week August session last summer, what with the recession and different family plans. But with many of our long term girls growing up and becoming more experienced riders, there is a big demand for the August session and the big August shows this year. The August session will be full for sure this year, probably in the next few weeks.

 

Excitement at the 2010 Jumper Derby!

We liked the format we used for this year’s Derby Show with one class at the higher height with everyone showing at 2’9” in the first round and then choosing one of three different jump off heights with more prize money if you returned for the jump off at a greater height.

 

For 2010, we plan to try hard to add to the excitement by recruiting at least a few horses interested in an even higher jump off. We may offer as much as $3000 total prize money to horses attempting the highest jump off height, and that height may be increased from 4’ to 4’6”. We may include the big water jump in the high jump off. Stay tuned!

 

Friday, October 16^th, 1PM:

Snow at Longacres after all!

Indeed, it snowed a couple of inches after we went to bed late last night, and galloping field was covered in white when we left the house this morning. Check the pictures at this link. Most of it melted in a few hours. Also check the picture of Quantum jumping which Emily sent us. It’s a little blurry because of low light in the arena but she looks great and so does Quantum!

 

I hope you like the picture I took of the valley from just up the road this morning. It’s from about the same place as one I posted last week on a normal sunny fall day. All the fall foliage is out in the picture I took this morning, but there is snow everywhere, which makes for quite an interesting contrast. In fact, right after taking the picture I turned to Meghan and said, “This is one of those great moments to be alive!” We do love the fact that after a grueling season of long days and endless responsibility, we have some time in our off season to sit back and appreciate the beauty around us outdoors. This morning was one of those moments when life seemed very worth while.

 

And the French Toast Champion is:

Remember how we have been occasionally searching all during our fall travels for the “Best French Toast in North America”? Well, we’ve given our coveted French Toast Award to the Buffalo Zach’s Cafe in Roscoe, NY. Who would have thought? We had very, very good servings at the fancy Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario early in our trip. And almost as good at a local restaurant in Kenora, Ontario. And again, very good at the “Griddle” Diner in Shelby, Montana. The most expensive French Toast we’ve ever had in our life was at the gorgeous Lake Louise Lodge near Banff, Alberta. But it had a very bland, disappointing taste. Incredible view from the dining room, but not great French Toast. Then yesterday, on our way home along NY Rte #17 from visiting my mother in Connecticut, we stopped at a small café in Roscoe, just down the street from the better known “Roscoe Diner”. We’d only planned for a light snack and cup of tea for Meghan. But we saw French Toast with Maple Syrup on their menu and said, “Why not?” Good thing we tried it. Outstanding – we give them the nod for “Best French Toast in North America, based on our slightly limited sampling efforts!

 

Check in on the “Meet the Horses” page over the next couple of days. We are working on adding pictures and descriptions of the three new horses we bought this year. It takes more time than you’d think. Meghan sat down to collect pictures of Chesney, Lincoln, and Tux this morning. It took her a couple of hours just to go through the 12,000 or so pictures we saved from the summer!

 

Thursday, October 15^th, 11PM Update:

Winter is coming!

We’re back at Longacres after a quick three day trip to visit my mother in Connecticut. She’s going to put her house on the market pretty soon, so we are not only enjoying visiting her, but starting to clear a life time of memories out of the house. Amazing how much a family accumulates when they bring up two kids and live in the same house more than fifty years! Almost everything in the house holds memories, but if you already have WAY too much “STUFF” in your own house, what one or two things do you take from the family homestead just because of sentimental value? Our car came home heavily laden with way more stuff than I had planned! Where to put it all?

 

Horse News:

Some good news – Ginger has been a little lame since camp, but is getting better and Staci is hopeful that she can start riding her in lessons soon. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the good progress will continue, Staci – keep us informed; you’re doing a great job caring for Ginger.

 

Horatio has been a little off after his last shoeing, and Laura is trying to figure that out. Chesney is being WONDERFUL, according to Sharon. She is bonding really well with this horse. We can’t wait to see what he’s like after a whole winter of good training from Sharon and Laura!

 

We just got an email from Emily who has Quantum for the winter. She says he is really getting along well at Lehman Stables and that he really perks up when they have their jumping lesson. Don’t we all know that?!? Good job, Emily.

 

Camp Enrollments:

We came home pleased to find the official enrollments for Claudia and Sophie in the mail and we welcome them to the Longacres family. Kellie also sent word that she is definitely coming for the August session which she enjoyed so much last summer. That brings us to within two of being full for August

 

There was also a phone message from two new girls interested in coming to Longacres for the first time. They are interested in coming together for one of the July two week sessions. We need to confirm the dates with a couple of last year’s riders who sent in deposits for July to see if we have space for both of the new girls. We might have only one spot in the second July session and we’re not sure if they can come the first two weeks of July or not – that’s when we know we still have space. Depending on how this works out, we might have only two spots left for CIT’s 14 or older in the second July session. Longacres is filling up fast now that we are listed on the Google sponsored ads.

 

Quiz Answer:

Nobody got the correct answer to the most recent “quiz” that I posted two weeks ago while we were out west. The truck in the picture is a Mercedes “Unimog” – it is a heavy duty off road truck quite common in Europe but used only here and there by industry and municipalities in the U.S. I’ve always wanted one for Longacres!

 

Meghan’s Revenge:

I promised to tell you this story a few days ago. Here’s the deal – whenever two people like Meghan and I who have a significant age difference live and work together, there is going to be some kidding around. It is not uncommon if I happen to lag behind a few steps in the mall or if I breathe just a little heavily climbing a stairway for Meghan to call back affectionately, “Come on, old man!”

 

Sometimes I just grin and take it. Other times I get her back by exaggerating an old man’s shuffling walk as we go into a restaurant or something. But last week I tried just the opposite. We were walking into a darkened movie theater and I was a step or two ahead. I thought to myself, “Instead of teasing Meghan with the old man shuffle, I’ll reach down into my reserve stock of emergency energy and jog across the theater aisle and up the far side steps to our seats as the previews play on screen just as though I were a young teenager.” Which I proceeded to do – I can still be quite light on my feet if it’s not very far!

 

All was going well as I jogged past the bottom row of seats in the dark theater while rather smugly imagining how Meghan would be impressed and how in a moment when she caught up she would have to ask where I got the energy all of a sudden. What I did not notice in that dark theater was the black steel railing that came out about two feet beyond the bottom step on the far side of the auditorium. Imagine Tom jogging in the dark trying especially hard to show off a little and look young and energetic. Imagine him taking an especially vigorous final step as he jumps up onto the stairway at the end of the aisle. Imagine the heavy “THUD” as he crashes into the nearly invisible steel railing between the aisle and that first step!!

 

Fortunately, the theater had just turned down the lights, and not too many people saw what happened to me. But as I was wincing in pain holding my temporarily crushed arm to my bruised chest, I did hear one lady sitting a row up go to her companion, “Eeeeeewwww, did you see that?”

 

I limped to my seat determined not to try to show off how young I could act for some time to come! (Meghan acted very concerned for me, but it was not hard to imagine a secret part of her silently thinking, “serves him right! Maybe he’ll just walk like a normal person for a while now.”)

 

On the way out of the theater I didn’t have to fake the “old man shuffle”!

 

 

Monday, October 12^th, 10PM:

Social Networking:

We are still amazed (and just a tiny bit uneasy) at how much information flows through Facebook links. But, hey, it’s the 21^st century and I guess we have to go along with technology or get out of the way! We will continue to use our own website for most of our communication with you all, but Meghan does have a Facebook page and we do see the posts her “friends” put up.

 

And it is very nice to see how much our summer students keep in touch with one another all year round. Laura just wrote today that a big group in the new York – New Jersey area are making plans to get together the weekend of November 8^th. Get in touch with Laura if you’re interested. Sorry we won’t be able to make it, Laura. We will be out west at that time on the second phase of our fall RV adventures. But let us know if we can do anything to help you organize something fun.

 

I don’t know if we’ll have any updates the next few days while we travel to visit my mother in Connecticut. We’ll be back at Longacres on Friday.

 

We do have a link to a nice YouTube video that was sent to us by Dr. Leslie Anne. It’s especially for our adult riders this time! So, girls, this is for you, Meri, Laura, Anne Catherine, Renee, Christien, Kay, Diana, Sharon, Martha, Debra, and anyone all adult readers of our blog!

 

Sunday, October 11^th, 9PM:

It was a nice day at Longacres, though a bit chilly. More so tonight with possible record cold for this date in East Aurora. That’s why Meghan and I spent the morning winterizing the various water pipes that serve Longacres. We did part of the job before we left on our trip a few weeks ago, but today was the careful work making sure there is very little water left in any pipes. We had to carry an air compressor around and blow compressed air through some of the pipes that don’t drain well on their own. The more careful we are with this work in the fall, the fewer split pipes need to be repaired next spring.

 

We’re headed to Connecticut Tuesday and Wednesday to visit my mother and hopefully to meet Sophie and her mom and watch her ride.

 

Ruby is returning to Longacres for what I think is her fourth year next summer – she started very young! She’s been thinking about which session to come for and it looks like it will be mother – daughter week and then returning for the August session. With Ruby choosing the August session, we only have a couple of spots left for that session and at least four people we know have been thinking about signing up then. Don’t wait too long!

 

There are plenty of spots left in all the June sessions and in the first two weeks of July. Often those fill early, but this year the longer session in August and the second half of July have filled first.

 

Poor Ginger is still not fully sound after being vanned to New Jersey after camp ended. Staci has been wonderful about caring for her, but we are all worried about Ginger’s lack of progress. We’ll update the Ginger report soon after we talk more with Staci and her mom this week.

 

More news tomorrow – don’t miss the little story on “Meghan’s Revenge!”

 

Sunday, October 11^th, 10AM:

Peak foliage time is getting closer! Check this link for a big picture I took this morning on top of Mill Road hill. Peak is only a few days away. More Longacres news later – we are about to go down to the bathrooms and scrub out the toilets, empty all the water with sponges, and put in anti-freeze. Oh, the fun of owning a farm and resort! Temperatures will be below freezing tonight and snow is expected several nights later this week. Not great early October weather! Hopefully we will get a nice Indian summer soon.

 

Saturday, October 10^th Update:

Just in time - - -

for the fall foliage, that is! We planned our three week break in fall vacation travels to coincide with the best autumn foliage at Longacres. We were afraid that we might have missed some of the peak colors, but when we got home and drove into town for breakfast Wednesday morning there was still a lot of green on the trees. It’s running a little late this year. Lucky for us! And in just one day, a lot changed. By Thursday morning many of the maples were showing more color, and now on the weekend, we’re getting close to peak foliage. Just a few more days probably.

 

Check this link for a few pictures from around Longacres this week. There are also a few pictures I took from the plane on the way home showing cool clouds! And some of Diesel in his muddy pasture next door, pleased to be getting brushed a bit with a curry comb. And some of a grand old Maple tree next to the ridgeline trails where a huge branch broke off in the most recent windstorm the other day. It’s sad when a great old growth tree comes down. I was almost going to title this update “death in the forest”, but that’s a bit dramatic for a fall day. And it is till a very impressive tree even after losing one of the main branches. The central tree is still up and probably well over 100’ tall. Much of Longacres forest is second growth after being logged perhaps 90 to 100 years ago. But the row of trees along ridgeline trail near the old junior barn is well over 100 years old and there are some great cherry, maple, and oak trees there. We lost another huge old tree this fall, the big Willow tree down on the old archery field near the big creek. There’s a picture of that in today’s photo album as well. We may need to hold a “tree cutting & moving party” to get rid of that!

 

Longacres Fall Reunions?

We are going to be doing some more traveling at the end of this month and during November before returning to Longacres after Thanksgiving to settle in for the winter. We plan to be in the Dallas, Texas area sometime near the 14^th and 15^th of November and hope to see some of you while we are there. Kellie has Ebony and Tux with her there, and Peyton, Maggie, Destiny, Kim, and others live in the area. Let us know if you’re interested in getting together for a Pizza or something.

 

We are also visiting my mother in Darien, Connecticut next week and if some of you New York – Connecticut – New Jersey folks would like to stop by for a get together, let us know. Ofelia lives In New York, and many more are close by. It’s short notice, but I thought I’d mention the possibility.

 

We were hoping that this month would include mostly small maintenance jobs around the farm tidying up and finishing the remodeling of bathrooms for the office and other similar projects. But as we looked around, we are now considering a complete rebuild of the foundations and flooring for Esseress bunk. We’ll let you know if we move ahead with that, but it is one of the oldest buildings on the farm and has been getting a little creaky recently. We don’t want to tear it down completely because it has so much Longacres “history” to it!

 

PS: Here’s a Longacres “Welcome” to Sophie from new Canaan, CT, who is our newest Longacres student. Sophie is coming for the 4 week session in July so she’ll get to know Longacres horses well during her stay. We look forward to getting to know Sophie, too! We may get to see her ride when we visit my mother in Connecticut this coming week.

 

Thursday, October 8^th, 11PM:

This should be a long update since it’s been a busy day, but we’re pretty tired, so maybe some of today’s news will have to wait. We had LOTS of people interaction! We went in to town for a Pasquale’s dinner, and as we came through the door, there were Griffin and her family. We all laughed and traded gossip. Then Meghan and I sat down for dinner by ourselves. Not five minutes later, in walks Uncle Billy, fresh from riding his horse at his barn. So he joined us. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised – Pasquale’s is almost like an extension of Longacres.

 

Now that the Google advertising is running, we’re getting calls or emails from new people almost every day. Meghan spoke with Claudia’s dad who is sending in her application for one of the July sessions. Claudia is a friend of Stephanie from New Jersey, and found out about Longacres from her. We also send out a Longacres “Hello” to Sophie from Connecticut, who has been to a good general camp for the past few years, but she wants to spend all her time riding. Think Longacres is the right place for her? We hope so!

 

With Claudia’s enrollment, the July 11 to 25 two week session is now nearly full. We have a couple of spots for younger girls 10 to 12, and two spots for CIT’s age 14 or older. The August 3 ½ week session is also almost full, with three spots left, but four or more girls from last year interested in those three spots. First come, first served.

 

We have plenty of space in the first two weeks of July and in the June sessions.

 

We also went across the street this afternoon and visited Diesel. He is pretty muddy! It has been a rainy week and the people who are taking care of Diesel are just finishing another pasture and walk in shed, so their horses should get a chance to get out of the mud soon. Diesel has never been much of a “Romeo”, since he was not high on the totem pole of power in the Longacres pasture. That was true at first when he got to his winter home across the street. The two horses already there were Tequila (a mare), and Apache, he gelding “boyfriend”. At first, Tequila chased Diesel away every time he tried to join their group. Diesel was the new boy and the outcast. But slowly he began to grow on Tequila. Sometime over the past few weeks, Tequila dumped Apache and took on Diesel as her new “boyfriend”. And when she came in season, she flirted with Diesel BIGTIME!! They are now inseparable!

 

Meghan spent the day in the office and talking with the guys on our crew about various jobs around the farm. Tom spent the day in the tractor mowing all the grass, which really needed it since we’ve been gone for much of the past month. But I got everything down by the barn mowed and looking good. I mowed most of the trails and will do galloping field and the Old Junior Barn trails tomorrow if it doesn’t rain.

 

At dinner I told Griffin how during the summer I always look forward to watching all you guys ride after I finish mowing, since the horses look so good on the fresh green grass. And how today when I finally finished just before dinner, I felt like some of you should be down at the barn tacking up for evening ride and how nice you’d look coming up the hill on the neatly mowed field. I missed you all when I realized that I’ll have to wait eight more months for that!

 

More Esseress Remodeling:

We put a new roof on Esseress bunk last year. And this week we may start a new Esseress remodeling project. The floor has been getting old (it IS old – over 60 years old!), and it has a few soft spots with patches. So Joel is looking at it with us tomorrow and we may tear out the old floor and put in new foundation posts and a brand new floor over the winter. We’ll keep you posted.

 

Wednesday, October 7^th, 8PM Update:

We’ve been back at Longacres from our three week vacation for less than 24 hours, but we’ve gotten a lot done. Check this link for the pictures Michelle sent us of Merlin being her buddy.

 

We got a message from Petra that she wants to come for the August session and that she can if she gets good grades at the end of her quarter in school next week. Good luck, Petra – study hard! If Petra gets those grades, we’ll have only two spots left for the August session. We also heard from Stephanie who is coming in July and bringing a friend who will be at Longacres for the first time. “Hi, Stephanie’s friend!”

 

We have tons of maintenance stuff to finish around the farm and much has been done. The front door to the office shuts properly now, the guest bathroom for the office is FINALLY civilized after being really crummy for years, the roof is repaired at Pixie – Oakwood guest cabin, and much more. We’re getting some sun tomorrow and I plan to finish the final mowing of the show fields with my tractor. (I’ve missed my tractor the past three weeks!)

 

Some big news is that counselor Katie is giving serious thought to working in the horse world some more, even though she sort of thought she should get a “big girl’s job”. Let me see, be responsible and start a career in an office job, or work doing what you love? Hmmmn.

 

More tomorrow. We’re glad to be back at Longacres1

 

Tuesday, October 6^th, 10PM:

We’re Back!

Here we are back at Longacres again, and it’s good to be home! We had an entertaining dinner with Uncle Billy at the mall after he picked us up from the airport. And we just spent two hours opening mail - lots of bills and business stuff, but lots of interesting stuff from all of YOU! Thanks!

 

Here’s a Longacres “Welcome” to “Pij”, the first adult to sign up for the 2010 adult week. We hope most of the adults from this year return again – we had a fun group who all worked well together. We should have plenty of adults this year for that June week and for Mother – Daughter week. I just had a series of interviews the past two days with a writer for “Equine Journal”, who is writing an article about summer camp riding opportunities that are also open to adults. The article should give good publicity to the Longacres opportunities for “mature” riders! – haha

 

We also send out a “Hello” to Kat, a teenager from Bancroft, Ontario who is very interested in the two week sessions in July next summer. We waited to start our advertising for new students until the first of October, giving all our 2009 students the month of September to make their plans. This week we began our regular Google advertising campaign to attract new students, and the calls and inquiries are coming in.

 

And we’re getting formal enrollments from more of last year’s students – Katie V. enrolled again, and we got the official word that Carly R. will be a Junior Counselor on the staff for most of next summer!! We also heard from Ruby & Diana – lots of people making plans for 2010.

 

Thanks to Kellie and Michelle who both wrote us tonight and made us feel like we had a special “welcome home” from some of our favorite Longacres people. Tomorrow we’ll post some pictures including two that Michelle sent us showing informals of Merlin, who is spending the winter with Michelle!!!!!

 

Monday, October 5^th, 9AM:

Wild West Justice!

We did enjoy the return trip through the mountains on Amtrak yesterday, and we just missed some excitement and a funny (?) story. It all happened about an hour before we got on and the whole train was gossiping about it.

 

You meet many interesting people on a train ride, and some not so interesting, but very few who are actually obnoxious. Sunday near the Colorado – Utah line there was an incident with a couple of jerks.

 

(Skip this story, younger campers!)

A couple of people apparently got on the train already pretty drunk and they proceeded to get more so, were smoking and wouldn’t stop, were loud and obnoxious, and dared anyone to do anything about it. They told some of the people sitting nearby, “What are they going to do? There’s not another stop on this train for hours.”

 

Well, the train crew walked through the nearby cars and told the other passengers, “Stay calm, and keep your cameras out – there’s going to be some entertainment soon!” Sure enough, 20 minutes later the train began to slow down way out in the middle of nowhere. The train came to a stop at a highway crossing where four sheriff’s cars with flashing lights were waiting. The train crew had radio’d ahead for backup. The sheriff’s deputies came on the train and removed the naughty passengers.

 

The next part of the story comes second hand from people we met who had heard it from a conductor, so I can’t promise there is no exaggeration. But we were told that the Sheriff’s told the two people they removed from the train, “The nearest jail is over an hour’s drive from here. Would you like us to let you go with a warning?” So they released the two people right there on the spot, and told them, “The nearest town is about two miles walk that way.” And left them.

 

The train crew then pointed out the “town” to the other passengers as the train passed through a minute later. It was a cross road with three houses – 70 miles from the nearest real town! It was going to be a very long day for those naughty train passengers with plenty of time to sober up!

 

Fall is arriving:

All across the country it looks like the fine warm early fall weather is coming to an end. We had great weather for most of our trip west the past three weeks, but it’s going to be very cold in the west next week and rather wet and dreary for the first few days that we’re back at Longacres this week. We’re hoping to enjoy some great fall foliage weather while we are home working the next few weeks! But we may have to wait a few days. We’ll post some pictures of Longacres in the fall Wednesday. Also, please send us pictures of Longacres horses at their winter homes with some of you. We’d like to post a little album of Longacres horses at their “winter homes”!

 

We’ll be home tomorrow night having dinner with our friend, “Uncle Billy”. We look forward to being back in Western New York from our travels.

 

 

 

Saturday, October 3, 9PM Update:

As Good as I had Hoped?

Better! And so often that’s not the case when you finally get to do something you’ve wanted to do all your life. It’s only human to hope for too much if you wait a long time to do something you’re really looking forward to.

 

That’s me and my train ride through the Rocky Mountains. Regular readers know that I like trains to begin with, and for years I’ve wanted to take a train ride through the Rocky’s, but never had the chance. Today we did it, leaving Denver’s Union Station on the “California Zephyr” and riding west through the mountains for seven hours to Grand Junction. We’re staying overnight here and taking the train back to Denver tomorrow morning. I took pictures, of course (you know me!). But pictures don’t do an experience like this justice. You just can’t appreciate the depth of the canyons or the height of the mountains from a two dimensional picture. But there are a few at this link.

 

All I can say is that if you ever have a chance to take this train trip, don’t pass it up. You don’t have to like trains, although that sure helps. It’s an incredible way to see the mountains from a new perspective.

 

We’ll be home at Longacres in a couple of days and going to work on many fall projects. Thanks to Staci for sending in the first “horse descriptions” from a 2009 student. We’ll definitely include them, Staci!

 

Friday, October 2^nd noon Update:

Only three more days!

Until we’re home and back at work for a while at Longacres. We’re relaxing in the Denver area today and taking a train ride through the mountains on Amtrak just for fun tomorrow and Sunday. Then flying home.

 

I’m recharged and eager to get home and do things around the farm and on the website. Meghan says she could easily keep traveling and out of touch with the world for a while longer. But then, she works more hours than I do during the summer, so it’s not surprising that it would take her longer to relax her brain at the end of the season. She’ll get another chance soon ; on these once every two years trips out west, we always fly home from Denver or Salt Lake City to catch up on work and finish closing Longacres for the season and then return later in October to do some more traveling for both business and pleasure.

 

Check this link for a few pictures of me with trains – trains ate cool – remember that!!!!!

 

Don’t worry, you will get to see lots more horse pictures and horse news very soon! As soon as we’re back at Longacres next week, I’m going to work updating the “Meet the Horses” page with profiles and pictures of Chesney, Lincoln, and Tux along with new descriptions written by Katie, Destiny, and hopefully many of you. Start thinking about writing little paragraphs about your favorite Longacres horses! We’re also going to add video files to many of the meet the horses pages this year.

 

Thursday, October 1^st, 9PM Update:

Two updates in one day!

Well, we are experiencing “culture shock” after spending the day in the greater Denver metro area after traveling more than 4500 miles through very sparsely populated country over the previous two and a half weeks! Feels sort of the way we did when we used to spend 6 to 8 weeks on a small island in the Bahamas in the spring before camp season and then fly back to Florida and suddenly see CARS again!

 

In fact, we’re parked next to one of the biggest malls in the country where we are about to have dinner. (Flat Iron Crossing)

 

As I reported this morning, we like getting messages from all of you about your winter life and your riding experiences. We especially like video, and thanks to Micayla for sending us her Facebook link and links to her latest riding video’s. Micayla visited Longacres with her family last summer, then sent us all treats, and has now signed up for a July session next summer. Try the link and see if it works – you might have to get “friended” by Micayla first.

 

Thursday, October 1^st, 9AM Update:

Hello everyone,

There’s a neat little story today that connects our western motorhome travels this fall back to Longacres in a kind of “Circle of life” way! If you’ve been keeping up with our updates, you know that we traveled last week in Banff and Jasper Rocky Mountain parks in western Canada. Well, yesterday we got the following email from Sharon and Laura. It was interesting to note that Laura’s first exposure to horses and riding turns out to have been right where we were in Banff National Park some years ago! Look where it has taken Laura. All the way from being a little kid (little?) on a trail ride for the first time to being one of our star riders at the Fair winning the Gambler’s Choice on Quantum and then anchoring the Team Jumping event with clear rounds on Horatio! A nice way to connect Meghan and I’s travels this fall back to Longacres. Following is Sharon’s wonderfully complete update on how the horses (especially Chesney) are doing!

 

From Sharon (and Laura)

All is well with both horses and riders! (summary)

 

Enjoying the update on your travels and Laura really enjoyed the mention of Jerry.  Not sure if we ever talked about the trip we took a few years back (during the big fires in Glacier National Park) that

would be right up your alley.  We took Amtrak to Glacier , hiked (Laura's first ever backpacking trip) and then wandered up Banff and Jasper by car.  We had been in the wilderness so long that we were

horrified by Banff being so touristy (Note from Tom – We don’t like the town of Banff either) and went on a 3-day horseback riding trip with a guide.  Laura first real exposure and the beginning of this expensive hobby we all enjoy!

 

Seeing a bear is very cool - and speaking from experience it is WAY better to see one from a car than when you are hiking!

Horse update:

 

We have been laughing like crazy at how different their personalities are - we decided that Hoho is a puppy ("Dad said he never wanted a dog more than 40 pounds and now we have one over a thousand!") while Chesney is a cat - perfectly happy and affectionate when he is ready to be, then he is done and it is time to eat hay or go look

over the fence. Laura says that he and I are a good match because I don't actually like horses that much and he doesn't actually people that much..... (in my defense - i like horse plenty - just not

compared to teenaged girls!)

 

Ho-ho transitioned beautifully - Fran says that Laura looks better on him consistently than she ever looked on Rocky and that she looked pretty good on Rocky.  The thinking is that when Carly is back and back in shape they will be together in a

semi-private.

 

Chesney did great while he was in the isolation pasture and I rode him in there several times.  When he moved into the barn he was spastic for about a week - charged me out of his stall, awful in the cross ties, almost impossible to mount, feeling like he was ready to explode out from under me in the ring.  We are through all that now and he is being lovely.  The biggest difference was when we changed the gullet in my saddle so that it really fits him now.  The got rid of almost all the mounted and mounting issues.  Was actually able to leave him on the cross ties last weekend when i walked to the end of the aisle to get a pitch fork (he has an annoying habit of pooping in the crossties - every time!).

 

I have been doing an exercise with him that Katy taught me to work on flexibility and bend. I take a piece of carrot and trace it along his side so he has to reach back to eat it.  We alternate sides and then hold the piece between his front legs.  He has gotten quite cooperative and is not trying to break the rules of the game by turning himself toward me or grabbing.  I made a big sign for his stall (treats in bucket only) so that no one is training him to beg.  He is doing well with contact, is dropping his head a lot and basically we continue to work well together.  I think he is really thinking about our exercises too.  

 

The other day we had been doing a series of figure eights, serpentines and trotting poles and were done for the day.  I was letting him wander around on a loose rein and not once, but twice he turned away from the gate and walked over the center of the trotting poles! I have NEVER seen that.  Also discovered that he lunges himself.  We have a round pen that we use to free lunge.  I brought him in it one day not knowing what he would do - i had literally barely closed the gate behind him when he started cantering the ring.  He then calmed down some and i was able to lunge him with basically just my voice (this worked well tracking left, not as well right) I was literally holding the lunge whip behind my back for a large portion of the exercise.  Guess he had been lunged before!  Fran wants to move him to a softer bit -so that will be the experiment for this week.

 

Both Ofelia and Alexa have been down to visit and ride Chesney.  We were hoping for Katy this past weekend but didn't quite work.  Take care and safe travels

 

Sharon

 

PS – Thursday:

OMG - we tried a hunting snaffle on him yesterday and he was FABULOUS!  Kept saying "should I put my head down like this? -okay!" - we actually did a cross rail course (6 fences) at a relaxed happy trot.  So we are trying a French link tonight.....

 

Sharon

 

Tom’s Note:

GREAT horse update, Sharon! Keep them coming now and then. And to everyone else who has Longacres horses for the winter, wee really like getting through reports andstories like Sharon’s telling us what you’re doing with the horsies!

- Tom & Meghan

 

We were glad to hear that Drisana is interested in coming back to Longacres for the first two weeks in July. We hope more of the great crew that were here together for that session in 2009 return for 2010!

 

We heard from Griffin’s mom, Amy, that the leaves back at Longacres are really turning now – perfect timing for Meghan and I who are flying back to East Aurora from Denver Tuesday just so we can enjoy the wonderful October foliage of western New York while we get some work done at Longacres. (Unfortunately, western New York is experiencing a very rainy period right now after a wonderful month of September. We haven’t had real rain anytime on our trip out west. Guess that will change for at least a few days.) I had a dream that you and Mike were in, Amy. I’ll tell you about it over dinner when we get back!

 

Hey, Peyton; thanks for the link to the train video. I know how great trains look going through snow. But you are teasing me, since I could not watch the video on my iPhone while we were traveling. I should be able to see it when I get to post this update someplace with Wifi later today. Thanks for thinking of me.

 

Speaking of pictures & video’s, Dr. Leslie McCulloch is the only one to take a stab at the “quiz” from a few days ago asking you to identify the “toy” truck Tom’s sitting in. Close, but not the answer. It is a tough one – show the picture to your dads or other friends with truck knowledge. The guy who owned it was amazed when Tom walked up and knew what it was!

 

Thanks also to Diana & Ruby and Rhiannon for their emails. Hope you enjoyed your late birthday party, Ruby!

 

Did you scroll to the top of the page and see yourself in the new “Picture of the Month”, Ofelia?

 

 

 

Tuesday, September 29^th, 10AM Update:

Yellowstone on fire & Wolves! & a “quiz”

But first, a quick explanation of what’s going on in case you just Googled “horse camps” or “riding camps”, and you came to the Longacres website to find out about a riding camp for next summer. You’ve come to the right place! It may seem as you read the past few updates as though you’ve accidentally found a family vacation blog. But it’s just Meghan and I keeping in touch with the “Longacres family” as we take a little needed rest and recuperation time after a great 2009 summer riding camp season. We need to rest our bodies and minds after working 18 hour days from mid April until early September.

 

But we are keeping in touch with Longacres business and plans for the 2010 season as we travel this month. Helpers back at the office in East Aurora are opening and tabulating enrollment applications as they come in and we answer your emails almost every day. (Phone messages are a little harder. Thanks to “Pij” for all her patience as she and Meghan played phone tag back and forth about eight times before finally having a great conversation about the 2010 Adult Week! Pij is a lady vet who recently got back into horses and very recently into hunt seat. She has her own horse and wants to really learn and ride different horses. She told Meghan that if she comes to Longacres next June, there are no “if’s, and’s, or but’s – she is doing pond riding, which she saw our girls do on YoiuTube, and she wants to do that for sure!!!! Sounds very much like a Longacres kind of person. The long conversation with Meghan took place while we were driving the RV into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Montana, and the cell service kept cutting them off. But Meghan enjoyed the talk!)

 

We send out birthday greetings two days late to Stephanie R., and today is a birthday for both “Not-so-little Michelle”, and Lydia. Happy birthday to all three of you guys!

 

Now about that headline! There is a big fire in Yellowstone Park this week, and several important roads were closed. We could only tour the very southwestern section of the park without making a 250 mile detour to see Meghan’s favorite section of the park, Lamar Valley. We were sad, because Meghan really loves wolves, and the best place to see them is along the Lamar River valley. We’ve seen wolves there before through our telescope and binoculars, so we were sorry not to be going there today. But we told ourselves we’d have a relaxed drive through the small portion of the park open to us today and head south towards Colorado.

 

Imagine our surprise when not five minutes inside the park we saw a group of cars stopped next to the Madison River looking across at two grey shapes trotting along the opposite bank. Sure looked like you-know-whats! I drove several hundred feet past the group of gawkers and pulled over hoping that the you-know-whats would keep trotting up the river bank. As I parked, I grabbed for my camera while Meghan jumped out and ran down to the edge of the river just in time to see two grey wolves trotting briskly up the opposite bank away from the big group of people, but right towards Meghan. Sure enough, they passed right by Meghan just across the stream not 200 feet from her! They seemed not to have a care in the world. We’ve been to Yellowstone six times in the past dozen years and only seen wolves at great distances after waiting for hours. Here we were with our best wolf sighting ever, completely by accident. Life works out well sometimes! Meghan’s day, week, and month were made in those few moments!

 

Note on enrollments: More have come in for the August session, and it will be full soon. There is still plenty of space in all our June sessions and in the July two week sessions. This is just the opposite of what happens most years, when those two week sessions in July fill first. Keeping you all informed!

 

Check this link for a few more pictures.

 

We are in Rock Springs, Wyoming tonight, with great weather that is going to turn very cold by Wednesday. We’re heading southeast to keep from freezing at night! We have some business to take care of in Denver late this week before we fly home to Longacres for a few weeks in October to finish closing up the farm and making more plans for 2010.

 

PS – The Quiz:

We were driving south in Yellowstone today, came around a bend, and there it was! A toy that Tom has wanted for almost 40 years. We pulled over immediately and made friends with Bob and Kitty, owners of this “toy” and several more like it. Tom & Bob have a lot in common! They are also horse people who like draft horses. YOU are the Longacres Blog Trivia King or Queen of the month if you can identify the “toy” in the pictures at this link!

 

Sunday, September 27^th, 2PM Update:

We saw a bear, we saw a bear!!!

OK, not right up close while we were hiking or anything like that, but crossing the road right in front of us as we drove through a national forest in Montana. We’d like to think it was a young grizzly because of the color and the way he was walking, but we know the odds are he was a brown phase black bear. Exciting, still! We’re driving through southern Montana today heading for Yellowstone Park tomorrow. Meghan hopes to camp in Galatin National Forest tonight.

 

Good news on the horse front. After four weeks of Staci giving her great special care, Ginger has a clean bill of health and Staci has finally begun to ride her after letting her swollen leg get better the past month. Thanks for the great work, Staci – we hope Ginger is fine for the rest of the year.

 

Next time I’m near Wifi, I’ll upload a couple of pictures we took at Spruce Meadows of two of their Pulverman jumps. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a Pulverman anyplace but at Longacres. We got some good ideas for new ways to decorate and maintain our Pulverman at Longacres.

 

Saturday, September 26^th, 9AM Update:

WOW!

That’s the first word that comes to mind after our stop at Spruce Meadow Farm in Calgary, Alberta yesterday!!! This was one of the most important business stops on our trip. We knew we would learn useful things about jump design at Canada’s premier horse show facility, but we weren’t prepared for the magnificence of this place. Google it and check their website or check a few of our pictures at this link. We took hundreds and will post more later on our trip.

 

We had a great talk with Brittany Reed, Spruce Meadow’s Senior Decorating Foreman of Silk Flower Decoration. Just the fact that someone with that title would be on full time staff tells you a bit about the attention to detail required at this facility. Meghan and Brittany shared some laughs about the challenges they face setting up and decorating elaborate jump courses. (Longacres on a bit smaller scale!) Meghan was talking about our annual budget of about $600 for new silk flowers every year and how she rotates the previous year’s flowers that have faded just a little to the back part of the field or to the middle of flower arrangements around jumps, while putting the brand new flowers in the most visible positions. Brittany laughed and said, “Yes, we have the same issues here!” Only difference is that Brittany’s last silk flower order was for $11,000! Just one order. She then showed us around several of the semi trailers filled with artificial flower displays that are used for decorating the jumper courses in the International Ring. Simply amazing. We learned good new ideas for flower display techniques, as well as lots of new ideas for jumps.

 

This one stop on our Canadian tour paid for our whole trip and then some in educational value, which was our goal. If you ever have the chance to go, jump at it!

 

If you’re following the personal parts of our adventure, we spent a couple of days in Banff and Jasper parks in the Canadian Rockies, one of the most beautiful places on earth. And, you can call me “Mr. Mountaneer” now, if you please! I am not a big hiker or camper, even though I do love the outdoors and wild scenery. I just prefer it from roadside most of the time. But I do admire serious hikers ands outdoors people, as many of our customers are. Laura’s dad, Jerry, is a big time hiker and back packer, the whole nine yards, as are some of our other customers.

 

Back to me; I have often considered walking part way up some of the mountains we pass through during our many road trips. But I always say, “Nah – maybe next time.”

 

But the weather was just perfect Thursday and I saw a lovely mountain waterfall way up the side of one of the Rocky Mountains in Jasper Park. I stopped the car and said to Meghan, “Lets go for a walk.” She couldn’t believe her ears when I told her that I planned to hike “up”!

 

And, you know what? I made it to my goal, up to the timber line and the base of the vertical cliffs where we could look DOWN at the scenery instead of just up the way I usually do! You’ve got to look at a couple of the pictures of Meghan showing her glee at our accomplishment! Many of you would have skipped up this little foothill and back down in 45 minutes rather than the two hours or more it took me, but as far as I’m concerned, I now own the title of “Mr. Rocky Mountaineer”!!!!! You go, Tom!!!! Whooooo-hooooooo!!!!! A few pictures here.

 

We’ll post more Longacres info soon, and we’re actually looking forward to getting home and working on new things at the farm after our stop at Spruce Meadows! We’ll be back at Longacres in ten days when we fly home for a few weeks from Denver.

 

Thanks to Molly & Katie Vates for their update on Longacres riders. Stephanie is now riding at the same barn as Katie and they have a friend who is considering coming to Longacres next summer.

 

In the meantime, we have just a few more great Indian Summer days to enjoy in the Rocky’s and in Western Montana. The weather is bringing a big change next Tuesday, with snow and temperatures in the teens in the mountains around Yellowstone Park. We had planned a couple of days in Yellowstone next week, since we enjoy visiting that park every two years. We’re changing our schedule a bit to move through western Montana and Meghan’s favorite town of Missoula over this weekend so we can pass through Yellowstone in one day on Monday and just beat the snow and icy roads!

 

Monday, September 21^st, noon Update:

Making the “journey” is the whole point

People always ask Meghan and I where we’re going when we take our every other year trips west in the RV. When we answer, “West – no particular destination.”, they usually say, “Oh, that’s nice”, with a bit of a blank look. It’s hard for many people to fathom why we would want to spend weeks in an RV just driving with no particular place to go.

 

Most RV folks drive to a destination and spend a vacation there. Or perhaps they make a big loop with three or four extended stops along the way. We certainly understand that. Our style of road trip is not for everyone.

 

We do like seeing the sites along the way as the miles roll by, and we love finding little small town historical museums in out of the way spots. We enjoy seeing how people live in different parts of our country and Canada. We’re in Shelby, Montana today and just in the past two days we’ve seen notable differences between Montana Cattle country and wheat farming counties. And then there are the trains, which some of you know are a special interest to us. The BNSF (Burlington, Northern, & Santa Fe) is the main East – West railroad in the northern tier of states, and the mainline runs right next to our favorite northern highway, US #2. We take lots of train pictures as we travel.

 

But the things we see and do are only part of the story. The real point of our journeys is the very act of successfully making the journey. Dealing with broken windshields, finding places that can check our brakes, handling all the daily maintenance, pacing ourselves so we don’t get too tired, planning good spots to stop and watch the Sunday Night Football game on satellite TV – these are all part of the adventure.

 

One of the things Meghan enjoys most after a long summer, even after a great season like we’ve just finished in 2009, is the privacy of being out of phone contact and not having any daily deadlines. We do get email pretty often and we check the answering machine every few days. But we have no cell phone service at all for hours on end in places like the northern Great Plain of Montana. Pretty cool!

 

Only today did we decide to stop for a day or two this week and explore Calgary, Alberta. We had a good time getting to know something about Winnipeg last week, so we’ll spend a day exploring another Canadian City. And we’ll drive through part of the Canadian Rocky’s, which are more rugged than many of the mountains in the US.

 

But mostly, we’ll just drive, look out the window, and marvel at the vast spaces of the American West. I told someone just the other day that one of the things I like most about northern Montana is that vastness. It’s a bit like looking up on a starry night and realizing our tiny presence in the universe. Puts everything in persective!

 

Personal Digression:

Meghan is uneasy about some of the personal revelations I make in this blog. She knows that all our Longacres customers are regular readers, and she likes to keep our personal lives a bit private. She’s all for writing about horse news and commenting on the wilderness sites we see. I’m more of an extrovert and I like to think that the personal nature of this blog is part of what keeps people reading year round. With that preamble, I’d like to thank the staff at Northern Montana Hospital in Havre, Montana.

 

Now and then I experience a pinched nerve and some of the effects mimic stroke symptoms. I had one of those spells two days ago and the symptoms were nasty enough that I went to the emergency room. The care was outstanding! They got me in immediately, had wonderful nurses and a great doctor on duty in the ER. I was thoroughly tested, pronounced as “not having a stroke”, and released a very happy man. Happy ending.

 

The real point of this story, is that the possibility of medical emergencies is something that makes many people uneasy about traveling or vacationing in sparsely populated areas. Northern Montana is certainly one of those areas, with one of the lowest population densities in the USA. Many people live four or five hours drive from a major trauma hospital, and air ambulances are a vital part of the medical care system in this part of the country.

 

I was lucky. I felt ill in a town with a good hospital serving a wide part of north central Montana.

 

But Meghan and I try not to worry about medical emergencies, even though we’ve heard some scary stories from friends we’ve met on the road. (Or while boating.) Actually, driving an RV on unpopulated roads in the American west is not much of a challenge, compared to the seven years we spent not so long ago living on a boat in the Bahamas for two months of every spring. Our home every March & April for those years was the outer Cays of the Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas. We spent most of our time anchored near Great Guana Cay, permanent population of about 150. Many people living there in the winter are older than me (really!), and medical emergencies came up now and then. We were an hour boat ride from any doctor at all, at a small government clinic in Marsh Harbor. And people with real problems had to get air ambulances to fly to Palm Beach or Lauderdale in Florida.

 

Meghan had a scary allergic reaction to something her hands were exposed to out in the Bahamas, and she had to take the ferry boat to the Marsh Harbor clinic. She was very pleased with the care she got there, so I guess that’s evidence that people do find ways to take care of each other even in exotic locations.

 

Back at Longacres,

Kevin and Joel are making great progress on fall repairs around the farm. The weather has been wonderful in western New York, which has been a big help. All the left over hay from the show field has been taken away and we’ll be ready to work on the expansion of the sand ring when we get home in a couple of weeks. Keep the horse news coming – we do get our emails, even if a day late sometimes, and we love hearing from you all.

 

Yesterday was a big day for hearing from Alumni, some from MANY years ago! We heard from Tovah, Lizzie Bronson, and from Darbi. Darbi was a rider at Longacres 48 years ago (sorry, Darbi!), when her mom was also camp nurse. We were good friends and I still remember all the kids in her bunk. One of her friends, Susie, was one of my first girl friends! And both Darbi and I can still recite from memory Darbi’s Longacres “nickname”. Here goes – “Darbinsky January Toiletwater DobiDarbi Gillis O’Gill”. How’s that for a feat of memory from half a century ago at Longacres!

 

Check this link for a few Montana trip pictures. We had another great French toast breakfast at “The Griddle” in Shelby, Montana this morning!

 

 

Wednesday, September 16^th, 3PM Update:

SMASH! Adventure in the North Woods!

Tom and Meghan were enjoying a fine afternoon last Friday driving the RV north in Ontario after a great breakfast (see pictures). Life couldn’t have been better as we enjoyed the peaceful scenery while the miles passed by on this beautiful highway. Traffic was light, with a few late season campers and the occasional semi truck passing. Then it happened. As one of those semi’s passed us in the opposite direction there was a tremendous SMASH and Tom’s driver side windshield exploded into a crazy quilt of cracked glass.

 

To this day, we don’t know exactly what happened. We were both in shock for a couple of miles, Meghan trying to make sure that Tom was OK, and Tom trying to steer while looking through the smashed windshield. Don’t ask me why we didn’t pull right over to the side of the road, but we didn’t for a couple of miles. Shock does things like that to you. Either something fell off the tractor-trailer truck, or perhaps a large bird got confused by the two big vehicles passing and hit us. By the time we did pull over the truck was long gone and we will never know exactly what happened. See the pictures at this link. There was some white gristle like organic matter and a yellow goo around the impact point on the windshield. Thank goodness for safety glass which broke but didn’t shatter or let whatever it was come through and be the end of nice old Tom!

 

So there we were in the far north of Canada (near New Liskeard) with a broken RV windshield, far from home and familiar auto repair. We called our insurance company (kudo’s to State Farm who’s people handled this very well), and were assured the cost would be covered, but that they didn’t have a service network in Canada. And we found that RV windshields all come from one warehouse in Indiana, and it would be five to seven days to get one even if we were in the States. So we compared alternatives, most of them not attractive. We like Canada, but not for seven or eight days in one small town!

 

So we pushed and prodded the windshield and decided it might not fall out right away after all. And that just maybe after it was cleaned, Tom could see through it well enough to drive, at least a bit. So as a test, we drove on to New Liskeard. And the windshield held together. So we called the insurance company back after calculating where we might want to be in five days. To close a long story, we are meeting the windshield in Shelby, Montana in another couple of days and getting it repaired there. So long as no nit picky state trooper decides it’s unsafe for us to drive during the next two days. The Ontario Provincial Police have been good sports about it the past 1400 miles!

 

We are now almost 1800 miles into our trip and parked waiting for a train to come (what else?) in Rugby, North Dakota. We’ll be in Minot this evening and hopefully will find Wifi so we can post this update.

 

Other Stuff

Besides the windshield adventure, all is well. We’re enjoying great scenery. We had another attempt to find the best French toast two days ago, but it was not as good as Deerhurst last week! We explored Winnipeg, Manitoba yesterday. It was our first time there and it’s a nice city. The best scenery so far was in the small granite mountains of the Canadian Shield near Thunder Bay, Ontario. The North Woods in far northern Ontario were interesting in their own way, but not as dramatic scenery. We saw a cluster of blue buildings along highway #11 in the far north and a sign saying, “General Motors Very Cold Weather Research Facility” – a good place for that kind of work!

 

Check this link for picture Kellie sent us of Tux and Ebony getting used to their new home in Texas. Hope it is finally dry enough to ride this week, Kellie! (It poured last week in Texas.) Lunge those ponies a lot if they are too frisky. Natasha says her trainer is really beginning to like Zanee and she gets to show next week. Good luck in the show, Natasha!! And we’re hoping that Ginger’s sore foot is getting better so that Staci can ride soon – we’ll try to call you soon, Staci! Star and Lincoln are settling into their new home with Deb, Sam, and Sydney very well and we got Sydney’s camp enrollment for 2010! Brownie and Boo are doing very well at their home at Lehman stables, same place Quantum is happily spending the winter with Emily. And Laura and Sharon report that Horatio and Chesney are now out of the isolation barn so it is easier to get them worked.

 

Kevin and Joel are working days and evenings at Longacres doing fall maintenance and repairs while Tom & Meghan relax for these few weeks. Meghan is FINALLY feeling well rested after a few days of sleeping 8 and 9 hours at night plus some afternoon naps. She’s acting pretty peppy and says that when she looks in the mirror she feels ten years younger than she did just two weeks ago. It’s nice to see her feeling so relaxed after a long summer!

 

We’ll be in the American West for almost another eight weeks, excluding three weeks back at Longacres to enjoy the fall foliage and get some work done in October. So don’t be surprised if we pop up in YOUR neighborhood! We will likely announce a Longacres Reunion in Texas sometime in early November.

 

Friday, Sept. 11^th, 11AM Update:

Very Good French Toast!

We’re just finished with the first French Toast breakfast in our search for the best French Toast in North America. We cheated a little and stopped at a place we know from our snowmobiling trips in the winter. The Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville has a great restaurant and does a fine job with their French toast. They even serve it with real Maple syrup (the only way to go with French toast!) that is made right here on the grounds from their own Maple trees. Check the pictures here which show us saying “bye” to Diesel and then having breakfast this morning.

 

I give this morning’s French toast a 9 out of 10. Meghan liked it also, but she likes it on very thick homemade bread, so her rating is 8.8 – she would prefer thicker bread and a touch more vanilla in the recipe – picky, picky, picky. But that’s the kind of judgement we’re going to be trying to make as we criss cross North America in the coming weeks getting fat in the morning and starving ourselves the rest of the day to try to make up for it.

 

The rest of today is going to be very relaxing with several short driving stints and a hope of ending up tonight near New Liskard on our way to Kapuskasing before heading west towards Winnepeg.

 

Kellie sent lots of pictures and we’ll post some in a few days.

 

Thursday, September 10^th, 2PM Update:

Longacres is closed up for the season, though we’re busy remodeling and making repairs and improvements for next year. At least Kevin and Joel are busy. Meghan and I are finally taking a vacation! The RV is packed and we’re due to pull out the drive in fifteen or twenty minutes. We’ll be in Ontario passing through Toronto on our way north and west later this afternoon and sampling Ontario French Toast tomorrow morning at the Deerhurst restaurant in Huntsville. The next day we visit Kapuskasing (look it up!). And the next we’ll be in the middle of nowhere. And we don’t know where we’re going after that, except that we do plan to visit Winnipeg, a place we’ve never been.

 

Happy birthday today to Ruby!

 

And Happy birthday tomorrow to Kellie, you teenager!

 

We will get your emails as we travel and we can be reached by phone in any horse emergency.

 

Enrollment requests for 2010 will be honored in the order that they are postmarked if they come in while we’re traveling. The only session likely to fill completely in the near future is the August 3 ½ week session. The second two weeks in July will be full for teenagers soon, but we have space for girls 10 to 13 in the younger bunk. There is still plenty of space in the first two weeks of July and in all the June sessions.

 

We’ll update this page when we have access to Wifi while we travel, probably every two or three days.

 

Hope you’re all enjoying school – how about you, Alexa!??!?!

 

Wednesday, 11PM Update:

Hey, check this link for a few more pictures. A few of Tom doing tractor work at the barn and moving machinery for the winter. And – TaDa – Meghan finally gets some remodeling done on the really, really gross downstairs bathroom at the main house! Longacres regulars may have noticed that if a visitor asks to use our bathroom at the office in our house, we hem and haw and try to think of polite ways of saying, “Are you SURE you need to go right now?” Longacres regulars know that we take better care of the bathrooms you guys use down in the main camp than we do our own here at our house. Heck, the Port-o-potties are nicer than the bathroom in our own house. That’s what happens when you eat, sleep, and breath a small resort business like Longacres. You take care of business first and yourself second.

 

Well, no more! An old friend, Kevin, is between jobs and a very talented guy. He’s doing a number of little projects for us now that the camp season is over and his first was remodeling poor Meghan’s bathroom. It’s still very simple by most people’s standards, but at least we can answer that “Can I use your bathroom?” request with a casual, “Sure, it’s just down that hall!”

 

PS – We head north and west in the RV around lunch time tomorrow. We’ll probably post another update in the morning, and then the updates may be every two or three days for a while.

 

Wednesday, Sept. 9^th, 8PM Update:

Happy Birthday, Martha!

 

Check this link for an album of pictures of Ginger at her winter home with Staci in New Jersey. Ginger got off the truck when she arrived from Longacres with a swollen ankle and we hope she is better soon. Staci wants to be a vet someday and is doing a GREAT job pampering and caring for Ginger!

 

(We are learning more about some of you guys than we ever dreamed we’d know from the Facebook posts that appear on Meghan’s new page!)

 

Anyone want a great deal on a “fixer upper” two horse trailer? Our neighbor has a two horse with a dressing room for sale cheap that was fancy in its day. It looks pretty good, but needs both sheet metal and steel frame work where the body meets the frame in front. For a handyman with these skills, this could be a great deal. I mean a GREAT deal! Call us if you’re interested.

 

Free Hay! Remember we have left over hay good for mulch or gardening for free. Call us.

 

Wednesday:

Free Hay Bales!

We use about 75 bales of hay every year decorating for the Derby horse show event. They get wet during the week so we can’t feed them to the horses. We give them away at this time of year to people who can use them for mulch or landscaping. Give us a call at 716-652-9495 if you’d like to stop by and pick up a few or a lot of them. We have about 50 left.

 

Wednesday, Sept. 9^th, 2PM Update:

There are Longacres Ponies in Texas!

Tux and Ebony arrived safely in Texas at Kellie’s farm after a three day trip around the country. We hope to have pictures to post soon.

 

Check this link for a few pictures from “Lonely Longacres” taken today as we close up for the winter. It’s a busy day here as we get ready to leave on a much needed R & R vacation. We are traveling far and wide, so don’t be surprised if we stop in to say, “hello”, to YOU during the next two months!

 

We’ll be keeping this blog updated regularly as we travel and we will be checking our email all the time, so if you need us it will be easy to get in touch.

 

The Great French Toast Search!

Meghan and I like to have little projects to give us things to do when we take road trips. One of this fall’s goals is to find the best French Toast breakfast in North America! We’re going to be in Canada for about ten days of this trip and we should have some good places to try as we travel there. Then we’ll try various chain restaurants as well as locally recommended places during the rest of our travels. Our first stop is someplace we’ve been before and their French Toast is hard to beat, both for taste and for presentation. It is the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario. You can check their website to see where we’ll be eating Friday morning.

 

Facebook Stalking:

We are pretty ignorant about Facebook and other modern networking places online. But we did sign Meghan up for a Facebook page (Meghan Kranz), just to see what it’s all about and so we could acknowledge Facebook messages. Wow, it is a very busy place for many of you! We have a lot of “friends” already, whatever that means. We do not plan to do much with our Facebook page, since it is enough work to maintain the Longacres website. But we’re there, and it is fun to see what you guys are doing from time to time. If you don’t want us to be able to “stalk” you on Facebook, don’t “friend” us. You are warned!

 

Monday, 10 PM Update:

Horse news!

Check this link for pictures of Zanee happily in North Carolina with a happy Natasha! The first of our 2009 long haul horses to arrive and get adjusted to her winter home. Hope Kellie’s arrive soon!

 

And all the horses may now have winter homes. An old friend of Longacres who took horses home about 12 years ago is planning to take Bobert. If this works out, then we are all set for the 2009 off season!

 

Monday, Sept. 7^th, 3PM Update:

. . . . as good once . . .

OK, as I write this afternoon’s post, I’m settling into bed for a late afternoon nap. I’m supposed to get up in two hours to go out to dinner with Meghan and uncle Billy, but there is serious doubt as to whether I’ll make it up out of bed anytime in the next 24 hours. And there will be no “lonely Longacres” picture album this afternoon, and I’ll explain why at the end of the update!

 

There’s a country song that includes the chorus line,

“I’m not as good as I once was

But I’m as good once as I ever was.”

 

The song is about bar fightin’, good lovin’, and other macho good ole boy stuff. My own concerns this afternoon with being “as good once as I ever was” are far less romantic. They’re all about doing farm work that I’ve been doing all my life. I began driving tractors and farm trucks and running power saws and chain saws when I was the same age as many of our riding students. And during considerable years of experience I got to be a pretty good tree man and chain saw operator. To this day I can use a notch and a couple of wedges and drop a big tree pretty much right where I want it. I enjoy using my smaller Stihl chain saw almost as much as my tractor. And I can still start and run the big .041 Farm Boss saw - - - at least if I only have to do it once!

 

And there’s the problem. It is really hard for me to hire someone to do chain saw work since I know I’m good at it. Usually it works out OK. Most of our chain saw jobs around the farm involve dropping one tree or cutting one up for brush. But this week I took on a project of clearing a 400 foot long path through heavy brush out on the trail system so I could bring in an excavator tomorrow and dig new drainage ditches to dry up a couple of wet spots on the new Maple Grove loop trails. I had planned to do a lot of the work with my tractor and get out only now and then to cut up trees or fallen logs in the way. I had planned to do most of that cutting with the small light chain saw. But once I got out in the woods this morning it was clear that there was going to be more chain saw work than expected. A LOT more!

 

And it soon became clear that the light duty chain saw was not up to the task. Out came the big Farm Boss saw. And it was fun using it to cut through the first big log like butter. And the second log. Remember, I feel like I’m “as good once (maybe even twice?) as I ever was” at many things.

 

Trouble is, there were maybe 250 logs and small trees that needed clearing today with the heavy duty chain saw. As I settle in for my therapeutic nap, there are still probably 200 left standing!

 

Oh, you wonder why we don’t have pictures to post this afternoon? As I reached out for a glass of Diet Coke Meghan poured for me when I came in from working, I found that I couldn’t pick it up with my throbbing right arm without using my left hand also. Don’t think I could lift the good camera today! Maybe tomorrow if I have recovered from my foolish efforts to be “as good as often as I ever was”.

 

Be well at home and write us when you have a chance!

 

Martha & Ofelia, how about that Quiz?

 

Sunday, Sept. 6^th, 9PM Update:

Quiz:

Can you tell me where this picture was taken? It shows Meghan REALLY enjoying a glass of wine as she winds down from the 2009 Longacres season! (She does really miss you all, but she is enjoying having no worries!)

 

Sunday, September 6^th, 6PM Update:

Wow, Longacres is Lonely!

We just got back to the farm from a quick trip to see my mother in Connecticut and a stop at the New York State Fair in Syracuse. Everyone is gone. EVERYONE! No people, no horses, no jumps, nothing. After we get a little rest tonight, we’ll post an album of “lonely Longacres” pictures tomorrow.

 

Zanzibar arrived safely in North Carolina and Natasha’s trainer likes her. They have great plans for more flat work for Zanee over the winter along with jumping.

 

Ebony and Tux left late last night on a truck bound for Kellie’s farm in Texas. It will take several days for them to get there. This is for sure the year of long distance horse transport for Longacres horses. Eight of our horses went home with students this year, more than ever before. And farther than ever – MUCH farther! Natasha taking a horse to North Carolina was a new record that only lasted three days before Kellie’s two horses left for Dallas, Texas. It has been interesting for us to talk with some of these long distance horse hauling people. Some of them pretty much live on the road and make a living criss crossing the United States and Canada with horses. You can move horses much cheaper this way than by hiring a van to take just your horse directly to your destination. The way it works is that these haulers have websites and collect requests from people who want to move a horse or horses long distances but who don’t necessarily care if it is done right this minute or that. Then they put together trips with lots of pick ups and drop offs.

 

The truck with Ebony and Tux already had horses on from southern Pennsylvania and after picking up Ebony and Tux here, they were headed for two more stops in new York State and then back south to Delaware to pick up one more before turning west and heading to Texas.

 

The truck that picked up Zanee to take to N. Carolina had a horse in the front stall that had been on the trailer for a week because the owner could not arrange a stall at the new destination barn until that time. It’s not as bad as that sounds. These are nice big trailers with air ride suspension like a bus and many of them can be set up with box stalls and bedded down just like a stall in a barn. But the stall keeps moving! Most horses deal quite well with this form of travel, but there are risks. We hope everyone gets to their destination in good shape. (In fact, we already had one problem, with Ginger arriving in New Jersey at Staci’s with swelling in one leg, possibly from too tight a bandage.)

 

So, there is never ending excitement in making the arrangements for a summer horse camp, even when the summer is over. We’ll post more news tomorrow.

 

 

Wednesday, September 2^nd, 11PM Update:

This will be my last update until Sunday, since Longacres is pretty well closed up and Meghan and I are leaving for a couple of days at our State Fair in Syracuse and a quick visit to my mother in Connecticut. Kevin and Joel will be watching the farm and loading horses for the trip to Texas!

 

Diesel News!

Diesel returned to Longacres for a visit tonight. No, he did not get homesick and run back to Longacres from his new home across the street. In fact he seems very happy there. Laura, Petra, and other good friends of Diesel may enjoy this story. The teenage daughter of the family taking Diesel for the winter went out to the pasture the second day he was at their farm to say “hi” to him. He trotted up when they came out to his pasture, and quickly made friends with the daughter. She said that while she petted him he soon rested his huge head on her shoulder and pretty much went to sleep with his head on her shoulder! How nice is that?

 

We have offered as a fringe benefit of taking Diesel that this family is welcome to use our Longacres trails anytime, and tonight they took us up on it. I met them at the end of our driveway with my ATV (Alexa’s ATV next year!!!!), and they followed me around the farm as I showed them how to get to galloping field, cantering lane, to the old Junior Barn trails, and to the main Powerline trails. Every time they came to the intersection of two trails, Diesel would try to take the branch heading towards the Longacres barn – he did kind of want to come home and visit his pasture buddies from Longacres. But he obediently turned and went back to his new home at the end of the trail exploring ride.

 

“Goodbye” to Katie and Destiny

Many thanks to these very hard working young women who were the senior counselors, along with Alexa, for our great 2009 season. Most of our long term customers consider 2009 to be the best year ever at Longacres, and much of the credit goes to these great counselor / instructors. Thank you! A job well done! We will miss you and hope you are a part of Longacres in the future even if it is only for a short time or for visits.

 

Longacres 2010 staff is beginning to take shape, with early indication that Alexa wants to return along with Carly for much of the summer. We have very strong CIT’s planning to return, including Laura, Ofelia, Michelle, Emily, and Heather. That’s a darn good start almost a year ahead of time!

 

Wednesday, September 2^nd, 10 AM Update:

Check this link later this morning for some pictures of the show field nearly cleared of jumps. Destiny and Katie were magnificent with all their hard work helping Joel and Meghan carry jumps to the barn and pack them away last night. They have just the specialty show jumps left to put away. VERY hard work!

 

Some 2010 Sessions Nearly Full:

Calls and emails about 2010 sessions are coming in fast, along with the deposit checks. As we have told you, the August session is filling fastest this year. We do have several more spots right now, but if everyone who has said they “plan to sign up” actually sends a deposit, it will be nearly full. And suddenly the second two weeks in July is filling, at least for girls age 13 and up. We now have only one spot left for girls 13 or older for those two weeks. We have several spots for age 10 to 12, so not as much rush if you’re one of our younger students!

 

The first two weeks in July, mother – daughter week, and the early June weeks are no problem yet, with plenty of spots left.

 

Meghan is very busy this morning with office work and helping Katie and Destiny finish up down at the barn. We are swamped with end of season paperwork getting out your refunds for spending money and statements of account for show expenses, etc. I think almost everyone’s “check is in the mail”. Let us know if you don’t get something by the end of this week. Oh, yeah – then there’s federal income tax to get in by next week. We’re one of those businesses that automatically applies for the 6 month extention every March and then frantically deals with the accounting in the fall!

 

My day will involve a little maintenance work and supervision and then a lot of work cleaning, unloading horse show stuff, and otherwise preparing the RV for VACATION TIME!!!!!!! We plan to be all closed up, organized, and tax filed by the 12^th when we will head “west” – no destination planned at all! But far west and north probably. We will be back at Longacres for two or three weeks in October when we love it here with all the fall foliage. We’ll leave the RV in Denver while we fly back east and then continue our vacation from Denver into late October and November when we will finish up our trip in Florida and then fly home for the rest of the fall and get ready for SNOWMOBILING! (AND lots of work planning Longacres for 2010!) Kevin and Joel will be looking after the farm while we are away and we’ll be in touch with all of you via iPhone and computer updates in coffee shops while we travel.

 

Tuesday, September 1^st, 9PM update:

All registrations for 2010 sessions at Longacres that we have received over the summer are now confirmed. Two of you sent deposits but were not sure which session you wanted, and we’ll be contacting you tonight or tomorrow to make sure of what your preference may be. Two more deposits came in today’s mail, including Michelle for the whole month of August next summer. That’s a great choice Michelle, and it will be fun to have you here with Ofelia, Laura, Emily, and all the others who are signed up or who have said they will be signed up soon.

 

The other reservation that came in today was our first 2010 enrollment from a first time Longacres student. Welcome to Micayla, who is coming in July from nearby Rochester, NY. Some of you met Micayla when she and her family visited this summer for a Longacres tour and who was kind enough to send us all a care package even though she didn’t really know anyone at Longacres yet! You’re our kind of person, Micayla!

 

Check this link for a few pictures from today. Katie, Destiny, Joel, and Meghan killed themselves carrying jumps into the barn and carefully putting them away for the winter. Really good work by a hard working Longacres staff that has worked hard all summer!

 

We checked on Diesel at his winter home this morning. He looks like he is happily fitting in at the farm across the street and he seems to like the grass and plants growing in their pasture just fine!

 

Zanzibar is “somewhere in the eastern United States”! She is on her way to Natasha in North Carolina on a horse transport service truck. We met the people who own and drive the truck. They spend all their time on the road moving horses around the country. They provide a good price by criss-crossing the country from state to state always keeping a few horses on their big trailer as they move around. The horses spend a couple of days on the road this way, since it is not a direct route. But the price is much better than a direct one horse vanning charge. Kellie’s horses going to Texas will be traveling much the same way this weekend.

 

Monday, August 31^st, 6PM Update:

A couple of bullitens from Meghan:

First, a huge thank you to “Griffy” for baking the yummy cookies that helped us celebrate the very end of the 2009 season. Thanks, Griffy!

 

Also, there is a missing iPod. Katie’s went missing right at the end of the August session on August 23^rd. Please check and see if any of you accidentally picked hers up thinking it was yours. Hint: If you have two that look almost alike all of a sudden, maybe one is Katie’s.

 

The Naked Derby Course!

Wow, it already looks pretty well down with all the rails on the ground, all the jump cups put away, all the flags put away, all the flowers put away. We’ll take a picture tomorrow.

 

Monday, August 31^st, 1PM Update:

We just rode Diesel through our trails and across the road to his winter home with our next door neighbors. He seemed to take to their pasture immediately, touched noses with their horses a few times, and then went back to the most serious interest in his life – eating! Quantum, Brownie, and Boo left for Rochester this morning. The only horses left in our pasture now are Abby who is staying until Katie leaves at the end of the week; Bobert who does not yet have a winter home; Zanee who is leaving for North Carolina tomorrow morning; and Ebony & Tux who are scheduled to leave for Texas next weekend, if all goes according to plan.

 

This afternoon we’re going to work big time taking the outside jump course apart and putting the jumps away in the barn for the winter. It is a big job, and “Junior” and her mom have kindly offered to come give us a hand!

 

We’ll try to get some pictures of the work with the jumps and post them here later today.

 

Early 2010 enrollments will be confirmed beginning tomorrow. We have spaces for the first choice session of everyone who has sent in their deposits so far. The August session is the only one that is very close to full already.

 

Sunday, August 30^th, 6PM Update:

The Garbage Run to end all Garbage Runs!

Meghan and a helper (usually Meghan by herself), drive around the camp in a pickup truck and collect all the garage and trash from the dining hall, the barn, and the cabins every Sunday evening for Monday morning trash pickup out by the street. Tonight will be the garbage run of the summer, with barrels and barrels collected from all the stuff you guys left behind. We’ll be mailing back anything of value that can be identified, but there are lots of left over care packages, junk food containers, and cardboard shipping boxes. We’re going to have to give the trash collecting guys a tip for this week!

 

Otherwise, all is quiet here – very quiet. And we miss the commotion and excitement of camp more by the hour. But it is nice to be able to relax. Meghan and I did go to a movie this afternoon, but we did NOT stay awake all through it, either one of us! We need a lot more rest before we’ll be able to stay awake all through a movie.

 

Besides clean up and inventory, our biggest job is keeping track of all the horses going long distances by van this week. Plans fell through for the van hired by Natasha to take Zanee to North Carolina, but they are in touch with a new trucker and hopefully Zanee will be on her way soon. The three horses headed to new Jersey (Horatio, Chesney, and Ginger) will be leaving in about two hours from Longacres, will stay at Frank’s tonight, and be on their way tomorrow. The longest and most complicated trip is taking Ebony and tux all the way to Dallas, texas for Kellie. We’re waiting for final plans and schedules for that trip next weekend.

 

In the meantime, Meghan and I are trying to talk about things having nothing to do with Longacres when we see each other to try to wind down and relax. But it doesn’t work for more than a minute or two. We immediately revert to Longacres talk, both about the many things that went very well this summer, and about the things we should try to improve for next season.

 

Thanks to Emily for the most recent message, which we printed for Katie and Destiny. Here it is:

Dear Tom, Meghan, Katie, and Destiny-

 

Greetings from home :( as sad as I am to be home, im happy because now I can email you again!! Fosto and I were very chill in the car ride home (me? chill? i know it's surprising, but thats what sadness does to me.... i was super mellow. it's a whole new bucket you've never seen before). 

But I didn't cry AS MUCH in the car..... well.... maybe that's a lie. I cried for a little bit, and then on my ride home from New Jersey to my house, I was my own Niagara Falls....... oh dear me :( 

This was by far the best summer ever, because I love you all so much! I had the best time ever the three weeks I was at camp, and I never ever ever wanted to leave (gosh, as if you couldn't tell from my flowing tears.....). 

I will try to send you guys (Katie and Destiny) letters if I can this week (no care packages because I'm broke and can't get anything.... and it will be too late by the time it gets there), and I will keep emailing you Tom and Meghan!!!!

I love you all soooooooo much (infinity and whatever you say + 1 :] ) and miss you all sooooooooo much. Destiny- please don't die without your coke. I hope you can keep Erkle and Fonzy company because they wont have anything to steal now :[ AND if you ever come visit, DONT FORGET TO TELL ME!!!! Daddy- i hope you can come to NJ like you said you would very soon because if you dont i will die :( i still have "the drawing" and its now on my wall, laminated and everything :)

 

LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

From a very sad and longacres deprived child.... <3 bucket kalexa.... aka em :)

 

Sunday, August 30^th, 10AM Update:

Kingsley has now left for the same winter home that takes him every year. Horatio, Chesney, and Ginger leave this evening around dinner time and Diesel tomorrow morning on his “long walk” through the woods and across the road!

 

Katie and Destiny are working hard cleaning tack & stalls and inventorying the banr supplies to close up for the season. Meghan is busy with calls to horse trucking people and I am – well, reading my paper, updating the website, and trying to decide what movie we might go to this afternoon. Meghan and I might go to an “art movie” at an independent theater in Buffalo, and we might actually watch all the way through without falling asleep! (Yes, Buffalo does have art movie theaters!)

 

Here’s a message from Ofelia this morning, who did look at the photo album I posted late last night:

 

Hi Tom and Meghan,

 

       It sounds like you are enjoying your break! AND Meghan was right when she made sure you took that photo! VELOCIRAPTOR is the best game ever--Fosto and I sang it(the opera and rap versions) all the way from the lodge to the barn one day after dinner(of course, at the top of our lungs...we were a little hoarse after that!) just for Destiny, since after all, she started the whole velociraptor thing. : ) I think she will get a good laugh if you show that photo to her. It will remind her of mother/daughter week, and when she taught us how to play the game. Now Fosto and I can't look at each other with straight faces every time someone mentions a velociraptor.

 

Ofelia

aka Little Niblet

 

News from all of you Longacres people will be more sparse during the next few weeks as you get busy preparing for back to school and adjusting to life at home. We miss you all and we will eagerly read anything you take time to write and send us, but we understand that you are all busy.

 

Saturday, August 29^th, 10PM Update:

Meghan and I stayed out late and didn’t even think about whether we would get back to the farm on time – and nobody cared!

 

The weather is going to be perfect for riding from Monday through next Saturday with no rain after tomorrow morning, and temps in the mid 70’s – and none of you care!

 

Cheryl our cook is very busy arranging her upcoming wedding, and won’t be able to make it in to work – and it just doesn’t matter!

 

Meghan and I are content with a great summer, but exhausted and are afraid we just won’t be able to get anything done tomorrow or maybe even the next day – and that doesn’t matter either.

 

AND – ta da – if you have ever asked to use our bathroom at the main house this summer and were shocked that we do a far better job taking care of YOUR bathrooms down in the camp than we do the one here at our house (and Meghan feels the same way you do!) – ta da – then you can imagine our joy knowing that a great maintenance guy who worked for us a few years ago is available to start Monday morning remodeling Meghan’s bathroom!!!!!!!!!!

 

Those are a few thoughts that give you an idea of what it’s like here at Longacres a few hours after the end of the season!

 

AND:

 

“I’m NOT going to clean that up!”

 

And this link to just a few more small pictures.

 

 

 

Saturday, 4PM Update:

Destiny is in town doing her laundry, relaxing a bit, and cleaning the saddle pads. I’m about to take a nap. Meghan and Katie are loading horses on vans to go to their winter homes. Quiet is descending on Longacres! Check the alumni page for a few new messages!

 

Saturday, August 29^th, 3PM Update:

Done –

Almost, anyway. We’ve said “goodbye” to all our Lazy Days students, with Laura, Sharon, and Emily the last to leave with tears rolling down Emily’s cheeks! Alexa was just before them, and Michelle and Carly, Deb and Jill leaving in the late morning. The boys joined us for a hilarious video watching session last night before they said “bye” to Longacres.

 

Horses are pulling out every hour. Star and Lincoln just left for their home with the Hollasch family. Justin and Dennis left an hour ago. Merlin is on his way to Rochester here he will winter with Michelle. (sorry still me!) Many more horses will be leaving Longacres for their winter homes over the net two days. By Monday night it should be only Abbey, Ebony, Tux, Bobert, and Zanee left in pasture. And most of them are just waiting for their truck and trailer trip to their winter home.

 

Tuesday is September 1^st when we begin confirming 2010 enrollment requests. Thanks to those of you who have sent in deposits for next year or have them on the way. We expect to be able to confirm all requests sent in so far. The session closest to being full will be the August 3 ½ week session. Some people who have come to mother – daughter week for years are doing other sessions next year, so we expect to have space for a while in that week which is usually sold out a year in advance. The next most likely sessions to fill after the August session are the July two week sessions, especially for girls 13 and older, since we have only four spots for that age group available.

 

We’ll keep you informed as things fill up.

 

Check the alumni page for frequent postings of messages from you guys to each other and to us.

 

Saturday, August 29^th, 8AM Update:

We have grey skies and scattered showers this morning, but not a complete washout. Anyone who wants will be able to get in a final ride or two this morning before we really start closing up the farm for the season this afternoon. Quite a few horses will be leaving for their winter homes today and more tomorrow.

 

We always get quite a few emails from you guys the first few weeks after we close in the fall, and so you can easily send messages for all your friends to read, we’re going to update and maintain the alumni page every few days with copies of your messages. We just posted a bunch from the past week. Check there often to see what your friends are writing. Slowly though, you will all get involved with school and your stables at home and you will write us less and less (boo hoo). But for the next few weeks the alumni page will be pretty active. As will this web page.

 

Friday, August 28^th, 11PM Update:

13 Hours to Go:

And that will be “it” for the 2009 Longacres season. We had a cheery final after horse show dinner in town at Pasquale’s and then everyone watched the video of all of us jumping the Derby course. There were some hilarious moments! But nothing matched the video of Brendan doing “around the world” on Diesel in the fun show!!! HaHaHaHaHa – LOL LOL LOL!!!!!!!!! We may make a YouTube of it so everyone at home can enjoy the fun!

 

We had some serious moments too. Tom gave a talk on what he hopes everyone took home from Longacres this summer. We talked about the idea that horsemanship is a series of building blocks. Each block is building more trust and communication between you and your horse. It all starts when you bring a horse in from pasture or get him out of his stall. It continues when you tack up properly. And goes on to the next step when you mount gently but make sure the horse respects you and doesn’t take three steps forward while you’re trying to get on. And then goes on to include a careful warm up with good turns, a good working walk and working trot. And then on to more advanced riding. But with each building block done carefully and properly. And that if you have a problem with advanced rising, you need to take a step or two back and make sure that all the preliminary building blocks are in place. And we talked about getting the right lead at a canter, one of the foundations of all advanced riding and jumping and riding courses.

 

I’ll be writing some articles about the Longacres philosophy of horsemanship in the coming months to add to what is already on our website.

 

We talked also about what excellent Counselors in Training we’ve had in 2009 and how that bodes well for our staff two and three years from now when many of this year’s CIT’s will be old enough to be senior counselors at Longacres. A good season like this 2009 season helps Longacres in many ways!

 

There is rain in the forecast for tomorrow morning, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we can get in our final morning of riding. We had good luck today with almost no rain at all. Perhaps the luck will hold for 13 more hours!

 

(PS – Hope “still me” is feeling better.)

 

Friday, August 28^th, 4PM Update:

Almost done!

We all had a great time at the fun show with ribbons for everyone in every class. Check this link for lots of pictures from the show. Everyone is out taking what might be their last ride of the year at Longacres right now. Rain is on the way, but so far it is passing us by – lake shadow! Some girls are out on trail and some are having a jumping lesson after the fun show. We will ride tomorrow morning if possible, but there is a good chance of rain on the last morning.

 

The judge called on the way to the show this morning and had a last minute horse emergency. So we improvised. Katie judged some classes, and some of our students took part in judging. Griffin was visiting and not riding in the show, so she was guest judge in some classes. It went well and we thank everyone for their understanding of the emergency.

 

Check this link for some pictures of the repairs we’re making this week to the Pixie – Oakwood guest cabin roof. We couldn’t let it go through another winter or we would have had a lot of interior damage. This album also shows a few pictures of a jump we built today that is an exact replica of the one Tom jumped 5’9” over in a high jump class here at Longacres on China Heart and Yorke Springs in 1973. The jump is using the same stands we used back then and we built it in the exact spot where those great jumps took place. Tom jumped 5’9” in that event on both his horse , but did NOT win the high jump. A guy named Al Hughes jumped 6’!

 

Friday, August 28^th, 9:30 AM Update:

The Fun Show begins in 20 minutes with everyone taking part in several events. Barrel racing is the first, exciting for an otherwise English riding camp! You should have some fun pictures posted at this link by early afternoon. Then it’s out to a final Pasquale’s dinner of the season, watching video taken the past few days, and a little final day riding tomorrow morning between rain showers. Too bad rain is forecast for our last morning before everyone gors home tomorrow afternoon. This morning the rain is holding off so far and it looks like we’ll get most of our show in before we get wet.

 

26 more hours until the end of the Longacres 2009 Season. Very mixed feelings!

 

Thursday afternoon Derby Course ride:

Everyone is riding the Derby course this afternoon at lower fence heights. Check this link for lots of pictures of the first group posted just now and this link for pictures of the next group to be posted later this afternoon.

 

Thursday, August 27^th, 11AM Update:

I didn’t feel sorry for myself for long about my crashed toy plane, since we are in our second to last day of the 2009 season, and there’s lots to get done. I have been to the barn and helped Carly jump Quantum pretty big as a fun thing for her special ride on him. I’m about to go back down and work with people practicing the special Pulverman jump so they’ll feel confident doing it in the Derby course this afternoon. Lots of fun things today.

 

There should be some good pictures of jumping on the outside course after lunch at this link.

 

PS: Guess what? Meghan and I are TIRED!

 

We’ve paced ourselves all summer, giving the best we have to give while budgeting our strength so we will run out of gas just after the last riding student of the summer leaves on this coming Saturday. We’ve cut it pretty close, but I think we’ll both hold out until the end 46 ½ hours from now! I find it harder to get up again every time I sit down for a few minutes. But we have enjoyed this season more than any in recent memory, thanks to good people as students and good people working for us. We look forward to rest very soon, but we’re already taking joy from the daily arrival of 2010 enrollments from some of our favorite people!!!!!

 

Thursday, August 27^th, 9AM Update:

Boo Hoo!

To see what almost made tom cry this morning, check this link.

 

Many of you know that one of my hobbies and a way that I relax on quiet mornings at Longacres is flyng lodel airplanes. I had a flight planned for this morning when the wind was forecast to be very calm. And I woke up thinking, “I’ve put about 50 flights on my new plane with no problems. I’m feeling good with loops, inverted flight, even inside out loops and barrel rolls. No crashes. And it is getting a little routine. What can I do to make it more interesting without risking a crash on my brand new airplane?” Ah, what a prophetic thought process! The cardinal rule with radio control planes is that whenever you start thinking you’re pretty good at it, the gods of aeronautics will “bring you down to earth” – usually hard!

 

I stopped at my favorite field early this morning for my first flight. Early may have played a roll in what happened. My brain wasn’t wide awake yet. Usually when I fly I do a few simple maneuvers to warm up and get a feeling for the controls. This morning for whatever reason, I made one lap and went right into an inverted (upside down) pass across the field. Now the trouble with inverted flight is that although it looks very cool, everything you do to control the place has to be done “backwards” from normal flight. You MUST not rely on basic instincts. And if your brain is not fully awake, it is easy to revert to instinct and not clearly think to use the controls opposite to normal when you are upside down. I wavered a little, got a little close to the ground, and instinctively “pulled up” on the stick.. And WHAM, right into the ground at full speed. The pictures show what happened. I was a sad boy for half an hour, but I am recovered. If you are in this hobby, the question is not “if you will crash”, it is “When will I crash?” Now I know.

 

Bulliten:

Quantum has a winter home with Emily from Rochester1

 

Wednesday, August 26^th, 8:50 PM Update:

We’re leaving in a few minutes in the RV for the final Kone King trip of the summer! Good times! We signed the contract for Diesel’s winter home tonight after visiting the people who are taking him. He’ll enjoy this place. Looks like Quantum and ShaBang also have homes, but we need the final confirmations tomorrow. Check this link for a few more pictures to be posted soon from Meghan’s camera today.

 

Wednesday, August 26^th, 7PM Update:

Thanks to Emily from Rochester for coming and doing such a nice job of jumping Quantum. She is very likely to take him home for the winter. Emily has taken Zanee the past two years and sent her back in great shape both years. A good home for Quantum!

 

Wednesday, August 26^th, 2PM Update:

Thank You, Kellie!

Kellie’s care package for everyone arrived before lunch today and it was ripped open and set upon by the hungry crowd at lunch time! They showed great restraint by not robbing the three giant chocolate bars Kellie had labeled for me. You are EVIL, Kellie! They are very fattening and I would gain ten pounds if I let myself eat them all this week. I gave two to Alexa to share with everyone, but I kept one for myself and I will save a small piece for each night this week when the “Kellie Updates” come in about midnight our time and 10PM your time in Texas with the tiny “still me” ending. Thank you for being thoughtful of our hunger & sweet teeth here, and for taking the time when you are busy back at school to send us the nightly updates. Keep them coming!

 

Here at Longacres, the rain has stopped right on schedule in time for the 3PM guest Clinics with Kathy and to show Quantum to Emily who is thinking of taking him for the winter.

 

Wednesday, 10AM Update:

It’s a grey cloudy day here at Longacres with a couple of hours of rain on the way. But the rain is expected to pass through quickly, and we should get in our allotment of riding this afternoon and tonight. We have a guest instructor coming in this afternoon. Tomorrow will be a beautiful late summer day with lots of sun and cool temperatures. We’re setting all the Derby jumps down to a lower height and everyone should be able to jump the full Derby course tomorrow. That will be the feature event of the day, along with lots of other riding.

 

Then the fun horse show will be held on Friday, currently scheduled for 11AM, but we might move it up little earlier if the forecast for afternoon rain continues by tomorrow night. Check back here if you’re planning to come to the show. More later!

 

2010 Enrollments

Remember that we begin to confirm 2010 enrollments next week, beginning September 1^st. At this point it looks like there will be space in most sessions available. Usually the first sessions to fill are the two week sessions in July. But this year the August session is most popular with early enrollments. If everyone who has told us they plan to sign up for next year’s August session actually enrolls, then we have only two spots left for that session. You should be in touch with us if you’re hoping for that session.

 

As is usually the case, there are limited spots for girls 13 and up in the July two week sessions since we hold five spots in each session in July for girls 12 and under. If you fit in that younger age group, you will have more time to decide on the July two week sessions.

 

The early June weeks and the Lazy Days week are often the last to fill and there is no problem waiting a while to sign up for those weeks.

 

The mother daughter week is usually full very quickly, but we have only a couple of confirmed enrollments for that week so far this year.

 

That’s how things stand right now. It could change quickly.

 

Tuesday, 9PM Update:

Since Lazy Days Week has only been offered for about the past four years, this is about the latest calendar date that we’ve ever run the camp. We usually are closed by this date in August. It is strange to be finishing lessons when it is nearly dark every night!

 

We are expanding the sand ring by about 50% bigger next year and we’ve been joking all week that we should put up lights in the new larger sand ring. Maybe that’s not such a bad idea! We could have a special rotating evening lesson when it is cool under the lights.

 

Diesel Has a Home!

Yes, the confirming call came in this evening and Meghan did one of her little dances of joy. He will be staying for the winter right across the street with the family that has come and tried him out a couple of times. They are fixing up their pasture and improving their winter horse shed. We’re very pleased that he will be so close by and that we’ll be able to visit him.

 

A girl interested in Quantum for the winter is coming to ride him tomorrow night. Bobert might have a home, and so might ShaBang. Life will be GOOD when we confirm the final winter horse home!

 

Check this link in a little while for a few more pictures from Meghan’s camera.

 

More Dessert Wars!

For most of the summer one of our little traditional activities was watching every night to see whether Tom or Kellie was the first one to get lined up at the dessert table for the first serving of the good dessert dishes. Kellie was quicker than me and a little sneaky. She would very quietly watch the cook to see when the dessert was about to be put out and she would usually be halfway there before I could run to try to intercept her. I beat her out a few times, but usually she got first choice on dessert, which was not dandy!

 

Alexa and Emily have carried on the tradition when Kellie was not at Longacres for parts of the summer, including this week. Tonight they were down right tricky. They told me the dessert was something they didn’t even like, so they weren’t going to even try to race me for first helping. So I let my guard down. Then when I looked up, it was too late and they were already standing in line for ice cream sundaes, a dessert definitely worth racing for. I had lost, it appeared. But I walked strongly up to the dessert table – and CLIMBED ON TOP OF THE KITCHEN TABLE, marching over the dishes and ice cream containers directly towards where Alexa and Emily were lined up. And then I growled at them and leapt down at them, which backed them off big time! Sixty four year old Tom leaping off a table at you is not a pretty sight – at least it is enough to startle even the stout of heart!

 

So I thought I had won after all, as I took the first spot in line for ice cream. But they were not done. Alexa and Emily crowded around Cheryl the cook telling her how much they “LOVED” her and how girls should stick together and PLEASE don’t give Tom ice cream first. So, they won after all. Just when I thought I would have first choice on dessert most nights now that Kellie has gone home to Texas!

 

Tuesday, August 25^th, 4PM Update:

Check this link for a few trail ride and hunt course pictures with Laura on Diesel, Emily on Boo, Gannon on Ebony, and Carly on Star.

 

Tueday, August 25^th, 1PM Update:

Nice day. A little warmer than we expected but the big cool down is tomorrow. Check this link for pictures from this morning and this link for a few more. We took pictures of everyone jumping the famous Butterfly Jump today. Some came out very well. Check this link for a blow up of one of the best, Alexa jumping Quantum.

 

This afternoon we’re doing trails and visiting the old hunt course to jump a little. I worked all day yesterday trimming trails and they are very nice. They had been getting a little overgrown with brush! We’ll begin doing buddy trails and mother – daughter trails tomorrow and Thursday.

 

Monday, 11PM Update:

Promising news on the winter horse home front!

We have good prospects now for homes for all the horses. Just tonight we had talks with a big farm in Rochester that has taken one or two of our horses every year, and they have a possible rider for Quantum for the winter. She will try him out in a couple of days. ShaBang is being ridden by a woman who is interested in him. A family stopped in today and talked with Meghan for more than an hour and tried out Bobert. And Diesel still might stay right across the street from us! Things are looking good!

 

Monday, August 24^th, 9PM Update:

Holy Smokes, it’s Fall!

The temperature is dropping fast and should bottom out in the low 50’s or even high 40’s later tonight. It’s dark out early and it sure feels like fall! Thursday we expect a high of only 69. Some year’s this week at the end of August is one of the hottest of the summer, so we will greatfully take this fine horse back riding weather.

 

Everyone arrived safely after Deb and Jill completed a long day’s journey from the east coast on various flights. But they both rode tonight and will start tomorrow off with the rest of us.

 

We may have a few late pictures at this link later tonight.

 

Thanks to Destiny, Katie, and Alexa for their great work cleaning up the barn, taking care of injured horses (all are getting better!), and teaching the beginning of this new session just as enthusiastically as they have every other session all summer.

 

Meghan and I are now counting down the days until everyone leaves next weekend. Just four and a half more days. And what mixed feelings we have, especially this year. It has been one of the greatest seasons in Longacres recent history, and we will feel positively empty when the last student, the last counselor, and the last horse leave Longacres empty for the winter. On the other hand - - - the idea of unlimited sleep and no worries for 8 months sounds pretty sweet, too! But don’t worry, we will miss you all, and we’re already planning to visit a few of you during our fall travels!

 

Monday, August 24th, 10AM Update:

Fun Show at Longacres this Friday, 11AM

You’re Invited!

The final open horse event of the year is at Longacres this coming Firday morning at 11AM. There will be a walk – trot class, and some X-rails jumping and one or two other real horse show classes. But mostly, this one is just for fun! There will be barrel racing, pole bending, mounted obstacle race, team bareback mounting race, tandem hunter, and some other fun stuff. It will feature the mighty geriatric old horse Cross Rails Jumper Derby in the small ring!

 

Entry fees will be less, and there will be no grounds or Series fee, so it will be a cheaper fun day. Usually we have two or three trailers of outside riders and the Longacres crew. Just a few of us. Please call ahead if you want to come so we know how many to plan for.

 

Here at Longacres, Lazy Days is under way. One family missed a place connection and will be late, but we’ll make an extra effort to catch them up to speed when they get here. All will be well. Everyone else is mounting up right now for their first ride. There will soon be pictures posted at this link of the folks who are here now.

 

 

11PM Update:

“still me” is VERY good!

 

Sunday, August 23^rd, 4PM Update:

Emily and Michelle have both arrived early for Lazy Days and Laura’s mom, Sharon, is due soon. She plans to take the group that is here tonight out to dinner. It’s good to have a few extra pairs of hands to help with horse care between sessions like this!

 

Meghan and I had planned to take it easy today, but after breakfast we looked around and decided we weren’t satisfied with the way the farm looked in a lot of little ways, so it has been a work day with lots more mowing, weed trimming, picking up, and straightening out. NOW we like the way things look! Can’t wait for tomorrow and the beginning of our final week of the season.

 

Sunday, August 23^rd 11AM Update:

Our rate & schedule page is now updated for 2010 sessions

More or less. We are still proof reading and correcting some bad links. But the information is posted so you can enroll knowing the exact dates of our sessions for 2010. Let us know if you find anything you think is wrong.

 

Most dates for 2010 are one day earlier than in 2009. Tuition increases from $1350 per week to $1415 per week.

 

Sunday, 8AM Update:

Today will be a totally laid back day of rest for the few of us here at Longacres and the early arrivals for Lazy Days. Riding begins tomorrow morning. I’m headed out in a few minutes to fly my radio control model airplane. Sayer will be coming in late morning to do a lot of weed trimming so things will look spiffy for our new arrivals in the morning. I did a lot of mowing yesterday and the counselors did a fine job of cleaning up the barn. We’re ready for the new session. (We’ll be more ready after a restful day today!!!!)

 

Saturday, 8:30 PM:

Thanks for the kind words from several of you as you travel home from Longacres. It is good to hear that you enjoyed this just completed Longacres session as much as Meghan and I! If everyone who told us today that they want to sign up for the same session next year actually sends in the deposit and confirms their plans by September 1^st, we’ll have only two spots left for the August 2010 session. Thank you for your trust and belief in Longacres!

 

Saturday, August 22^nd, 7PM Update:

Greetings from “Fosto and her Gang” to “Little Niblet”!

Not much going on here at Longacres except for carrying some hay bales over to the Orchard Pasture and resting up for the next session. Tom & Meghan are taking it easy also. It is weird not having all you guys from the last session here tonight. Very quiet. That will change Monday morning, though! We have a full house all next week.

 

Saturday, August 22^nd, 2PM Update: Goodbye pictures at this link

The Long “Kellie Goodbye”:

The regular season 2009 at Longacres is now officially over, and we send out our thanks to all of you from adult week back in June right on through the folks coming in Monday for the final Lazy Days week for making this one of the best years ever at Longacres! It has been a fine year and after a one day break tomorrow, we’ll be doing our best to have a great week for one more group. Most of the Lazy Days crew are returning loyal Longacres riders, so it should go well.

 

We did have lots of tearful goodbyes this morning. And they’re still going on. Meghan just phoned me that she had a call a few minutes ago from Martha (Ofelia’s mom) as they were heading east from Aurora on their way back to new York City. Ofelia is still crying as they drive down the highway.

 

Now on to the feature story of the day – the story of Kellie’s three part “goodbye” and big time tears. Kellie has been here most of the summer and her always enthusiastic personality has meant joy to all of the Longacres family. So it was no surprise that everyone met at the barn to say “See y’all soon!” when Kellie left early this morning for the airport. And there was not a dry eye. Even Andrea was shedding tears! Kellie soon put on her sun glasses to hide her very red and swollen eyes as she got into the truck with Meghan for the drive to the airport. It was a very emotional scene that set the stage for the rest of the parting words and hugs and tears when everyone else left later in the morning.

 

Did I say, “Everyone met at the barn to say bye to Kellie?” Well, not quite everyone. Tom wasn’t there to say goodbye to one of his favorite students and dessert thieves. Some may have wondered where I was, but with all the emotion, I wasn’t really missed. Supposedly I was hard at work around the farm.

 

But in fact, Meghan and I had hatched a little trick to play on Kellie. I left early and drove to a restaurant parking lot on the way to the airport where I hid and waited. Meghan had been talking to Kellie after they left Longacres and gradually the tears dried and they were talking horse stuff. And Meghan casually said, “ I have to turn in here for a minute.”, when they came by the parking lot. And I jumped out as Meghan and Kellie stopped, and said to Kellie, “You didn’t really think I would let you leave without saying “goodbye” myself, did you?” And the tears came pouring out again.

 

So I drove Kellie the rest of the way to the airport so I could talk to her and say my goodbye’s. Then I turned Kellie over to Meghan who is the airport and unaccompanied minor expert. And I said, “This is really so long until next year, I guess”, and there were some more tears (all around, me included).

 

And Meghan took Kellie in to airport check in and stayed with her two hours until the plane left. Kellie cheered up quite a bit when FOOD was procured! Sounds like Kellie, right! LOL There was one bad moment for Kellie when she and Meghan were going through the security check and Kellie had to take her sunglasses off for the ID match to her passport picture. Her eyes were not a pretty sight from all the crying! But she and Meghan had lots of time to remember the great things from the summer and were laughing and joking. Until the plane was ready to board. Then when the flight attendant came over to take Kellie on the plane, the tears gushed for a fourth time! We miss you already, Kellie!!!

 

And we miss everyone who is on their way home after a great August 2009 session!!!!!

 

Goodbye pictures at this link

NOTE on 2010:

MANY who left today say they are sending in their 2010 enrollments for the same session. We already have two in from first session girls planning to come for the August session next year. This session may fill VERY soon. Do not wait if you think you want to come for August next year. Two week sessions in July next year for girls 13 and up will also be in short supply. July sessions for 12 and under have a few more spots and may not fill as soon. June spots are generally available and likely to be for some time, except for mother – daughter week. Lazy Days week always fills late in the year. Just so you guys at home know what’s going on and aren’t surprised if you have to take a second choice on sessions if you wait too long to sign up. We do not make calls trying to pressure you to sign up. When the spots are filled, they are filled.

 

Dates of 2010 sessions are one day different than this year with the calendar change. Tuition will go from $1350 per week to $1415 per week.

 

Saturday, August 22^nd, 8AM Update:

“Goodbye”

There will be tears shed at Longacres today as we say goodbye to many great friends of Longacres. The regular season for 2009 ends today. But we have one more week with many good friends who are returning for Lazy Days Week beginning tomorrow night and Monday morning. One of them I haven’t seen in decades!!!!! More later.

 

Friday evening, late:

There are a few pictures from the very fun pool party at Andrea’s house at this link. We just finished watching video up at the house very late. Many of the girls went down to bed or to pack earlier this evening. It’s been a good last day. Kellie is the first to leave early tomorrow morning – boo-hoo!

 

Friday, August 21^st, 2PM Update:

Uh - - - -,

Well, the album of pictures at this link was taken this morning with the gleeful cooperation of all the girls to show you at home how much progress they have made in their riding form during their stay with us this summer. Or something like that. Enjoy.

 

PS – The sun is shining brightly. Thank you Mr. Lake Shadow!

 

Friday, 10AM Update:

Lake Shadow!

Ah, that magnificent western New York phenomena of lake shadow which so often protects Longacres from rain when the wind is out of the southwest. If you’re interested in weather, look at the western New York radar returns right now. Rain and thunderstorms are sliding by to our north and to our south but the lake shadow is keeping Longacres dry at least for the time being. We may get good riding in today after all!

 

Friday, August 21^st, 7AM Update:

Great Riding weather expected for next week!

After some frequent rain and more humid weather today and a few scattered showers over the weekend, it looks like we’re returning to the pattern of wonderfully cool riding weather we had for much of this summer. Except for a round of showers late Wednesday, most of next week will feature temperatures in the 70’s with low humidity. A great way to finish out the Longacres 2009 season. You Lazy Days Week riders should have fine conditions. Western New York enjoyed one of the coolest Jul months in recorded weather history which was very good for our horses. Only in the past ten days have we had real hot and humid weather, and even that has been high 80’s. Most summers we endure at least one two or three day stretch of 90 degree days.

 

Here at Longacres today, we’re sorry to have quite a rainy day forecast for the final day of the session, but we are well prepared for it. We did pond riding for half the girls yesterday after the fair, and if the others want to do it today, the rain won’t stop us – it’s all about getting wet, after all!

 

We did Big Jumping last night and it went extremely well. Everyone rode well, the horses were peppy, and no one had refusals or really yucky jumps. No one seemed disappointed with what I let them do and we had a few surprises with especially impressive jumping performances!

 

And today we have hours of video to watch and cabin plaques to finish for the dining hall. We’re going to try to ride three times today between watching video from the Derby and the Fair, but I won’t mind if the rain precludes one or two of those rides. There’s just not enough time today to do everything we’d like to get in. Then late this evening we’ve been invited to Andrea’s house which is ten minutes away, for a pool party, rain or shine.

 

If there are any pictures today, they will be posted at this link. But you guys at home have quite enough pictures to go through from the fair!!!! (Remember that each photo album we post usually has multiple pages and you have to use the little arrows in the upper right of the thumbnails page to go to the next page of pictures in the album.)

 

August 20^th, 9PM Update:

Big Jumping this evening!

I wasn’t sure how much I would do tonight, since the horses and the girls have had a long week. But they were in great spirits after dinner, and when the horses warmed up, they were all moving well and alert. So we set up our traditional “big jumping” exercise and I began moving jumps to different distances for different horses, and raising the jumps appropriately. Everyone got to jump pretty high, higher than in our usual lessons. All the usual suspects were being jumped, except Quantum, who has jumped his heart out all week. Every girl on the farm got to show Quantum in at least one jumper class and he took care of them all.

 

And guess what? Just as Meghan and I have suspected from the time we first looked at him as a possible purchase in the spring, Chesney is showing signs of being Longacres’ next great jumper. Nothing bothers him and he will jump anything you point him at. Including a pretty big oxer tonight! He still needs a lot of flat work to make him accept your hands better. The bit or the idea of it being used bothers him unless you keep very quiet hands. But he is getting better. Power is no problem at all – just controlling all that power.

 

We had a bonus after the ride as a strong thunderstorm moved past us about 12 to 15 miles from us. We could barely hear the thunder but we had quite a lightning show up in between the clouds. We all stood out on the show field amoung the Derby jumps for 20 minutes enjoying nature’s fireworks. A nice way to end a great day at Longacres.

 

August 20^th, 5PM Update:

Diesel in the Pond?

Why sure! Diesel has been off work for a couple of weeks because of a hoof abscess. But it is nearly all healed and he is now moving well. We try to put his foot in the water for a while every day to help the abscess stay soft and drain. So why not ride him into the pond? Well, partly because he has never done it before! So we tacked him up along with Merlin and Bobert and Brownie and off we went to the pond.

 

Christina was the first one to try Diesel. He walked up to the edge of the water and seemed to say, “You want me to go in THAT?” He stopped and just looked at the pond. Then we had Brownie and Merlin go in with Kellie and Morven. Diesel watched and seemed to say, “Well, ok, that doesn’t look so hard.”

 

And in he went, with much playful splashing and pawing of this weird water stuff. When the other horses raced out, Diesel trotted in the water with a giant SPLOOOSH, instead of the little splish – splashes of the smaller horses. Check out the pictures at this link. We will try to post video later tonight.

 

August 20^th, Thursday, 1PM Update:

We’re back!

Well, the horses are. The kids are loose on the midway doing rides and fair excitement for a couple of hours. We’re picking them up in about 45 minutes and bringing them to the farm to do chores, rest a little, and maybe do pond riding day. Many last day pictures at this link.

 

Longacres won 1^st and 2^nd in one of the early jumper classes today with Laura on Horatio winning, and Destiny on Quantum 2^nd. Many more ribbons and some Champion and Reserve ribbons were won! Deatails later.

August 20^th, Thursday, 7AM Update:

Meghan has left for the fair with the first trip of riders to finish show prep, and I’ve done a few chores around the farm, like moving the dining room tables that were used for the Derby party back inside. We almost feel we should cancel our entries at the fair today and just quit after such a grand day yesterday! It was that good.

 

But Longacres girls are riders, so we’re having a final series of events this morning. We’ll be back by early afternoon, which is good, since it’s supposed to begin raining just before noon. If it rains much, we’ll watch a lot of the video we took the past two days at the show. Then tomorrow we have some special jumping events and pond riding. Also, if the weather cooperates, a pool party at Andrea’s house.

 

Kellie has been working very, very hard taking video of everyone all day at the show for two days. She had planned to ride only one class the first day of the show, but she’s worked so hard that we’re putting her in one more class on Merlin this morning. The video job is very important at Longacres. Kellie has had to wait all day long sitting right by the video camera to be ready the second one of our horses comes in the ring. It can be boring at times, since there are some long waits, but you can’t leave the camera in case one of the riders moves up in the order. For some of the time the camera person is very busy. But at times it can seem like sitting in detention hall at school or being stuck in a corner if you’re “bad”. Kellie says she likes it since she learns a lot by watching and videoing all the riders.

 

August 19^th, 11:00 PM Update:

Many good pictures at this link of today’s showing including our Championship Team jumping squad!

 

And this link.

 

August 19^th, 9PM Update:

Longacres Rocks On!!!!

The Longacres girls won the Featured Erie County Fair Team Jumping Championship tonight! Yahooo!! Andrea, Laura, Ofelia, and Alexa on Caliente, Horatio, Brody, and Quantum defeated four other teams for the Championship cooler and ribbons. Our toughest competition was High Time Stables and Leigh Fischer. The final standings went right down to the very last horse, which was Alexa on Quantum. Alexa HAD to ride clean and with few time faults for us to win, after the High Time team had very good scores. Alexa was careful and precise and jumped with no jumping faults and one time fault to seal the deal for us. Lots of pictures late tonight along with more news. Ofelia was the real hero of the team since she had to complete the course on Brody for us to have a chance to win and Brody had been bad all day. Ofelia rode her heart out and saved the day for us.

 

Everyone else rode very well today also. Longacres now has over 40 ribbons up on our tack room drapes at the show including a whole line of blues! All the jitters from the first day of the show yesterday were gone and everyone rode well, and worked hard to keep the barn neat and take care of the horses well.

 

Meghan and I are very proud!! VERY proud!

Did I say that, “Longacres rocks ON!”???

 

August 19^th, 11:30 AM Update:

More Show Excitement!

Longacres riders were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in one of the morning jumper classes, and ribbons were being won in the other hunter ring at the same time. Meghan was watching that ring while I was overseeing the jumper ring. Meghan said the girls in her ring were doing really well today. Quantum pulled a couple of rails when he was too slow in an early jumper class, so I entered him in the highest schooling jumper class. Alexa was uneasy about the height, so Andrea rode him and got second with a strong ride.

 

There will be tons of pictures again tonight. In the meantime, you’ve got lots of them from yesterday to enjoy at the links below.

 

We’re in the middle of an exhausting two weeks of the summer with the Derby last week and all the Fair things this week. I am worried about rest. I just kidnapped Laura and Katie from the fair and brought them back to Longacres for a four hour nap. We may bring everyone back this evening earlier than usual to get sleep and then let them go out around the fair tomorrow after riding in the morning. We’re working on “good people care” to go along with better “Horse care”!

 

August 19^th, Wednesday, 2AM:

A disappointing example of horse care:

Yes, I’m writing at 2AM, during a night when we had hoped to get everyone to bed early including ourselves. Last night’s post mentioned that Ginger was still lame. Now, after a late night vet visit, we know why.

 

Meghan and I wish we had time to carefully examine each of our horses every day, morning and night ourselves. But we usually rely on our staff and on the girls themselves. I am writing this update as a teachable moment to give you an example of why it is so important to thoroughly groom your horse and clean his hoofs every single time you ride and every day even if you don’t ride.

 

It turns out that Ginger has been lame since she got to the fair Monday afternoon because she has a significant cut on her ankle that no one noticed for 30 hours. She presumably cut herself in the horse trailer on the way over to the fair Monday. She will be all right in a few weeks, but it is going to take longer than it would have if the cut had been noticed earlier, as it should have been. And she has suffered during that time without treatment.

 

We groom horses daily not just to see them shine. We groom them so that we will notice any injury, skin condition, cut, or other sign of injury or illness that might need treatment. We pick out and clean their feet not just to make sure there is not a giant rock stuck in their foot. We check their feet so that we will thoroughly examine the most vulnerable and important part of their body at least daily. Ginger’s injury should have been noticed when she was groomed for the first practice ride at the fair Monday evening. The instructors who checked Ginger out when she turned out to be lame Monday night should have noticed, and when she was “jogged for soundness” Tuesday morning, it should have been noticed. That it was not noticed until late Tuesday evening and that we were able to get vet treatment only late tonight is a sad failure of our system.

 

We do not look to cast blame or make anyone feel badly. It has been a long summer and everyone is tired and it is easy to be a little careless. Easy, but not desirable. We want to remind ourselves and everyone in the extended Longacres family how very important it is to give your horse a THOROUGH examination every day, especially if there is some indication of lameness or other unusual behavior. We will be getting everyone together tomorrow morning at the fair and discussing how important careful grooming is to your horse’s health. All horse families who are regular readers of our blog should use this article as a reminder of how important that daily examination is for your horses at home.

 

We are not proud of our performance at Longacres in this situation. We will redouble our efforts at better supervision of horse care beginning with Meghan and I and on down the chain of responsibility. It will start with a better organized stable area at the fair tomorrow morning. You can still have lots of fun with horses after taking the time to care for them responsibly. Enough said.

 

August 18^th, 8PM Update:

Laura Wins Big Gambler’s Choice Class on Quantum!!!!

Many other Longacres wins along with a few disappointments!!

The first day at the fair was good for most of us. It would be hard for anyone to argue that Quantum Leap is not the hottest jumper in western New York right now. He just won the High Derby class at Longacres on Saturday, won a beginner jumper rider class with Andrea on him this morning, would have won another jumper class this afternoon with Alexa if she hadn’t lost her stirrup before the last jump in the jump off and pulled up to fix it, and then the amazing $500 class win with Laura in the featured evening class. He is jumping as well as ever in his career, at an advanced middle age of 17. And every single rider at Longacres is being given a chance to show Quantum in a class this week if they want!

 

We have had disappointments today. Ginger is still a little lame and has not been shown. Brody was wonderful for a few classes and then blew a fuse – he won’t jump anything and doesn’t want to go in the ring, and I gave him a “time out” day off to get his head together. Ofelia moved to Merlin as a backup jumper and did well. Several riders went off course or had other “moments”, but on the whole they rode well and they sure won a lot of ribbons. We’ll try to post some winnings lists later. In the meantime, check this link and this link for lots of pictures to be posted soon.

 

August 17^th, 11PM Update:

The girls got up early today to beat the heat and we had a hard training session on getting lead changes at 8:15 AM. It was difficult and was hard on some of our riders. No one got it really well. But they understood what we were trying to achieve. And I am mindful that we trained relatively poorly the day before the Derby and then the girls were at their very best on Derby Day!

 

There was a relaxing trail ride after breakfast and Laura rode Chesney, getting him to relax over modest jumps before I had the jumps raised and Laura jumped Chesney quite big. Effortlessly, by the way! This horse after a summer at Longacres working on his basics is ready to begin doing some more serious stuff. Laura and her mom are taking both Horatio and Chesney home for the winter. Challenging horses, but very interesting to work with.

 

Then by mid afternoon it was off to the fair to set up for the three day show beginning tomorrow at 8AM. Check this link for some pictures of the girls getting ready for the show and of some practice jumps. We’ll have lots more pictures tomorrow.

 

The weather is not going to be great tomorrow. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that we don’t drown. This show goes on rain or shine, except during lightning storms. Wednesday looks like it is going to be a gorgeous day and the first half of Thursday also. Not too bad.

 

Practice tonight at the fair was very good for most of us. Christina’s favorite jumping horse for the fair is Ginger, and Ginger was lame when she came off the van from Longacres. She may have banged her leg in the trailer – she is almost never lame. We’re hoping she’ll be OK tomorrow. If not, Christina will jump on Rocky who we brought along as a backup horse for just this kind of situation. Kellie was wonderful on Merlin, and so was Alex. Alex was even better on Star. Ofelia rode Bordy and Laura Horatio practicing for the jumper classes. Alexa was on Quantum for a very quiet relaxed ride with just a couple of trot jumps. He knows what he’s doing!

 

Morven was really excellent on Zanee Andrea got Caliente to do some nice flying lead changes, which is challenging on that horse. She should be ready for her practice hunter class and the jumper classes she really wants tomorrow. Am I forgetting someone? Check the pictures. More tomorrow!

 

August 17^th, 2:58 AM Update:

One of us woke up after half a good night’sleep to discover that the other was still up finishing the horse show class assignments for Tuesday, scolded them for not getting enough sleep, and is now going back to sleep like any sensible person would be at 3AM! (But at least we know how much show money everyone has left and which classes are the most appropriate for each rider, and all that good stuff.) We are organized for tomorrow. At a cost. Oh well, we can always sleep beginning August 30^th!

 

August 16^th, 7PM Update:

We’re feeling a little more rested this afternoon! Ready to begin packing for the fair this evening. Check this link for some nice pictures Meghan and I took this morning of the Derby jumps all set for the evening 2’9” to 3’ class.

 

Derby Day + 1, or Fair Day – 1, Take Your Pick!

We are exhausted, but in a very good “we did it!” kind of way. Everyone is sleeping in most of the morning and doing a quiet horse care later. Then a town day and laundry. We’ll try to get you a little more Derby news later, but in the meantime enjoy the hundreds of pictures I did manage to post last night! You will hear from the girls again later today when they go to town.

 

Then - - - we jump right into another huge effort as we get to work later this afternoon when we would like to be still resting. We have to make many of our plans and preparations this evening for the Erie County Fair, since we leave for the fair with ten horses tomorrow afternoon for three days of intense showing.

 

I said it yesterday – I’ll say it again. “The girls rode magnificently in the Derby!”

 

Derby Day, 11PM Update:

Quantum and Alexa Riddle Win High Derby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, sir! With fine riding by Alexa, this fine horse won the Longacres 2009 High Derby. Quantum is almost always amoung the top four finishers in the Derby, but even though it is his home field, this is the first time he’s ever won. Tovah Abrahms came close; Leigh Fischer came close. Others have too. But Alexa won fair and square against very good horses including Windullah, three from Darrin Chiacchia’s Independence Farm, Galloway Bay, and others. Five horses made the jump off. Alexa was blistering fast but pulled a rail for four faults. Everyone else either had more faults or a slower time. The closest to Alexa was Jeremy Green from Independence Farm.

 

All our girls in the High Derby rode well. Alex on Star, Andrea on Cali, and Laura on Horatio all put in very respectable rounds. But it is Alexa’s night!

 

Much more news and many, many more pictures tomorrow at this link for a start.

 

Derby Day, 4PM Update:

WINNERS! Magnificent!

The main event, the high Derby, is still to be run at 5:30 this evening, and four of our riders are entered. But what a great start to the day in the Beginner Derby and the Puddle Jumper Derby. All our girls rode better than they have all week in practice. No one panicked or “choked”! They rose to the occasion and rode their hearts out.

 

Kellie Hunn & Merlin Win Beginner Derby!

Kellie will be bringing one of the Championship coolers home to Texas with her after a double clear round and a great jump off ride. She finished ahead of Bethany Scarlata, who pulled a rail with her new green jumper, Holly Would.

 

Christina was third on Lasting Impression, Morven was fourth on In Retrospect, and Kellie was fifth on Tux. Yes, you read that right, Tux finished a Derby course! Oh, and by the way, Longacres now owns Tux and Kellie is taking him home to Texas for the winter along with Ebony!

 

Ofelia Erskine del Principe Wins Mid Height Derby on Lasting Impression!!

Yup, Ofelia and Ginger were awesome, and against some very tough outside competition. Nice ride! Ashley Glica was second. Andrea and Cali were third, Ofelia and Brody were 4^th, Alex and Merlin were 5^th, and Laura and Rocky were 7^th. Christina won an 8^th place ribbon on Zanee. But the Cooler went to Ofelia. There were some very good Jeremy Green coached horses in this class – it was not just Longacres riders!

 

We have lots of pictures and I will try to post some at this link before tonight if I have time. Might not happen. Lots to do before the main event tonight!

 

Derby Day, 7AM Update:

Yes, after weeks of preparation and planning, Derby Day is here!

It will be sunny and warm all day – maybe a little too warm. It’s expected to peak in the upper 80’s this afternoon and will be very warm for the two mid afternoon classes. Wear sunblock – drink lots of liquids – wear hats – try to stay in the shade – bring pop up shelters for shade!

 

By the big event this evening it should cool down to more pleasant riding temperatures.

 

We should have good pictures of all our girls, but might not have time to post them until tomorrow morning – sorry, Martha!

 

Possible change in Calcutta time:

Depending on how many of you arrive by 5:30, we might choose to begin the evening show right at 5:30 without a Calcutta Auction. Then Auction only the horses that make the jump off at about 7:00 before we begin the jump offs. That would add excitement since you would get to see how the horses do in the first round. Only problem would be if only a very few go clean, which is possible!

 

See you all in a few hours!

We’ll have perhaps a mid day update.

Although it looks to me like everything is ready, when I asked Meghan a few minutes ago if she was having breakfast with me, she just laughed! She’s out on the grounds now putting about $450 worth of new flowers around the course and the trophy tables.

 

Friday evening, 10PM Update:

Longacres is ready for the show!

The course is gorgeous, but difficult. Many very good horses and riders who have visited to practice have had problems. So have some of our girls. It will be a fun challenge tomorrow afternoon and evening!

 

The low classes begin at 1PM, and the big show starts at 5PM. Invite your friends! All western New York horse people and friends of Longacres are welcome for the party, the show, the bagpipe music, and the awards! The Awards for the Summer Series will be given out about 8:45 PM.

 

Check this link for pictures taken tonight of the course and of some of the girls practicing.

 

Friday, 10AM Update:

We are well organized for the show tomorrow and everything is coming together on Schedule. But it is going to be a very busy day with many last minute arrangements. If your call or email is not answered, call or email again. We check the messages every two hours today.

 

Friday morning, 7AM:

Friday, August 14^th, 7AM:

Things are looking good for the Derby, with a bigger turnout of horses than we’ve seen in a few years. Best as we can tell, we expect 18 to 22 horses in the higher Derby at 5:30 PM Saturday. The cut-off will be 25 horses, so phone us if you plan to come and want us to save you a space. Order of go will be drawn at 4:00 PM Saturday and if you are not here, you will go first. Very excited here!

 

Weather looks delightful for the evening Derby, a bit warm for the afternoon lower Derbies.

 

Here at Longacres excitement rules. We have many riders at Longacres this summer with relatively little experience experience in this kind of jumping. They are looking forward to the opportunity to try their skills and luck against some very good horses and riders. We will have riders competing at all three levels of the Derby, with four girls showing in the evening event, maybe five. One or two of the girls may even try the middle height of the jump off. Only Quantum of our horses is qualified to jump the 3’9” to 4’ jump off height and we don’t have a rider this year with the experience to do that safely, so we will be watching that one from the side lines!

 

Today will be another relaxed training day, and I plan a sleep in for the girls tomorrow morning. We’re doing all we can to have them well rested for both the Derby and all the excitement of the 3 day show at the Fair, since we leave for the fair on Monday afternoon.

 

Some pictures at this link later this morning.

 

Since it is a lovely calm morning, I am headed out in a few minutes to my favorite field to fly my model airplane to relax my mind. Meghan, of course, is already up and working!

 

 

Thursday Night, 11PM Update:

Derby News:

Check this link for a full description of the special rules and conditions for this year’s Longacres Jumper Derby. If you are here in western New York, invite your friends for the party! It is quite a show. Bring some discretionary funds – there is a Calcutta Auction or bidding/betting opportunity – just for fun! If you have been a Summer Series exhibitor, check the final points standings – you may be getting a trophy Saturday night!

 

 

Thursday, August 13^th, 9PM Update:

Leaving for Kone King in 20 minutes! Wow!

 

Tomorrow is a “Junior Day”! Double Wow!!

 

Everyone did big parts of the Derby course tonight and did very, very well. Triple wow!!!!!!

 

Carly’s parents came up to take her to a hotel this evening and the three of them all joined us for dinner at Pasquale’s. Carly is feeling good, considering her broken leg is just two days old. She is planning to be the official time keeper for the Derby on Saturday and she assures me that she feels strong enough to do it. Tough chick!

 

I spent a lot of time myself coaching the girls on the Derby course and talking strategy with them for all the tough turns in the jump off. I like that so many of them are thinking positively and planning to be clean the first round and go on to the jump off! Long after we finished the evening practice, I let the girls hang out on the field in the twilight talking horses and planning how they would ride on Saturday. It was a good spirit.

 

We had lots more outside riders come to school their horses for the Derby this afternoon. It sounds like we’ll have 20 or 21 horses in the high Derby in the evening. Plan to be there by 5PM when the bar opens for adults. Find out what horses are in the class and bring some money to bid in the Calcutta Auction where you try to pick the winning horse and bid on his chance to win. It adds to the fun all night. The Awards will be presented about 8:30 PM.

 

Team Jumping:

Remember that you can ride on a three or four person team, with team medals of Gold, Silver, or Bronze for the best teams. You may ride for more than one team, and we’ll try to put together some extra teams out of individual riders for the evening class to add to the fun. No extra charge to be part of a team.

 

Thursday, 5PM Update:

Check this link for some more pictures of the girls jumping in practice out on the Derby course this afternoon. More horses are arriving every hour from other stables to practice the course. It’s going to be an exciting event on Saturday.

 

NOTE: There will be no schooling the course on Saturday. You must come tonight or Friday if you need to practice on the course.

 

Thursday, August 13^th, 3PM Update:

An Olympic Connection:

Well, Andrea was the hottest rider of the day at Longacres until Olympic rider Darrin Chiacchia showed up with four horses this afternoon! He came to have his horses school for the Derby. Darrin did not ride himself, as he just broke his shoulder three weeks ago when one of his horses reared up on him and landed on him. Sound familiar? Very similar accident to Carly’s the other day. When Darrin heard about it he offered to drive up to the hosue with me and sign Carly’s cast and talk to her. Carly has a valuable cast now!

 

Jeremy Green will be showing four horses from Darrin’s farm at the Derby Saturday. It will really add to the quality of the show! Check the pictures at this link of some of the girls this afternoon and of the visit to Longacres by an Olympic rider’s horses!

 

Thursday, August 13^th, 11AM Update:

Andrea & “Caliente” the Stars of the Day!

We were just checking the length of the course and the time allowed this morning and jumping a few relaxed jumps to keep the horses and riders feeling good about the Derby course. Nothing special. Until I offered Andrea the chance to try her fine young mare, Caliente (Cali) over the Liverpool water jump. Most horses don’t like this, but Cali is pretty bold and forward. Check this link for this morning’s pictures showing some casual training and Cali’s efforts over the water. Then check this link for a gorgeous enlarged picture of Caliente and Andrea jumping over a higher fence over the water flawlessly!!!!!

 

I think Cali was born to do this kind of cross country specialized jumping. Her natural boldness lets her fearlessly try these jumps, while it slows her down just enough to be more controllable after jumps, which is sometimes a problem. Enjoy the awesome picture! I would not rule out the possibility of Andrea and Cali jumping the big water jump with some careful preparation. She would then share with Quantum the distinction of being one of the only horses to jump the big water in the past ten years! It is for sure “Caliente Day” at Longacres today!

 

Thursday, August 13^th, 10AM Update:

Derby Riders:

For a $20 schooling fee, you are welcome to come over to Longacres and school parts of the Derby course today (Thursday) or tomorrow (Friday). Call us to let us know when you want to come. You must sign a waiver before you ride here. “You break it, you own it” rule applies to damage to jumps! There will be no schooling over Derby jumps on Saturday, though you may enter the Puddle Jumper Derby as a practice if you’re showing later in the higher Derby. (Note: The Pulverman jump was flooded last week and will be dry by Derby time but is not quite ready to jump today. Come Friday if you want to be able to school through it.

 

Summer Series Award Winners:

If you have shown in the Series all summer, you can find out if you are getting awards on Saturday night by checking the Show News page on the Shows website here. Season Champion Trophies to the top four riders in each division. If you are tied for 3^rd, you all get trophies, but none to 4^th in that case.

 

Congrats to Sox Appeal and Joc-A-Bee for “Horse of the Year” and “Jumper Horse of the Year”!!!!

 

Read below – only first 25 horses signed up are eligible to show in the higher Derby at 5:30 PM. We might have that many or more this year. CALL if you are definitely coming!

 

Here at Longacres, this will be a relaxing day of casual rides until a serious training ride in the cool of the evening at 7PM. Creekside relaxation during rest hour, calm trail rides mid afternoon, real training ride at 3:30 PM, then out to dinner, then training ride, then KONE KING!!!!!!

 

Wednesday, August 12^th, 5PM Updates:

Only first 25 horses can do the big Derby Class:

We may have as many as 22 already planning to come and we don’t have time for more than 25. Call us at 716-652-9495 to save a spot in the highest (2’9” with multiple jump off heights) Derby. You do not have to call ahead for the lower Derbies at 1 and 2 PM – we can take all comers then.

 

Check this link for some pics of the course preparation. We’ll have a few more student horse pictures at this link later on.

 

I Wept Last Night:

Yesterday was an exhausting and emotional day what with all the show prep and Carly’s accident. But I’m used to working hard and in a long life I’ve been through a lot of emergencies. I’m trained for them and I deal pretty well under pressure. That’s not why I cried.

 

No, what opens up the water works and brings the tears for me is when I see people going way out of their way to help each other, expecting absolutely nothing in return. I admit to being a bit of a cynic about human nature. I do not always expect the best behavior from people and I am often accurate in my expectations. Which I guess is why it means so much to me when people behave very, very well.

 

I lay on my pillow reviewing the day in my mind last night, thinking first of Carly’s bravery in controlling herself while she was in great pain. And of Carly’s mom, who’s first words to me after hearing about the accident and that Carly was handling it well were, “is the horse OK?”

 

But what really brought the tears to my eyes was the response to Carly’s situation from the greater Longacres family spread near and far, but all reading the daily Longacres Blog. Most of all, perhaps, the message from Katie “Junior” and her mom, Cindy (the Brownie maker!) offering to take Carly into their home in East Aurora and give her a comfortable place to recover for a few days. What a great thing to offer someone you barely know! Whether we need you or not, Cindy & Katie, what a fine and generous offer! But that wasn’t the end of the response from the Longacres family. There have been many short get well messages from friends of Longacres, but there have been some very long ones that took a lot of time and thought. Thank you to Dr. Leslie Ann, who took time out of her busy personal and professional life to send Carly a picture of Dr. Leslie’s horse Fini and a long story about one of Leslie’s great falls! Thanks to Tovah Abrams, Number One rider at Longacres for three years and former Longacres head instructor. Tovah had a very similar injury to Carly’s at the beginning of this summer and wrote a long letter about it and wishing Carly well. And to “Annie the Novelist” who never writes short, when long and detailed will do!!! A hilarious story of Annie falling off before she quite got on all the way!

 

So there I lay last night, absorbing the unselfish good from so many people towards Carly and Longacres. And the tears came. And again this morning after I dropped Carly off with a fine Doctor who took so much time with her and was so patient and gentle. When some doctors are gruff and impatient. I am thinking better of human nature today than I sometimes do.

 

Wednesday, August 12^th, 8AM Update:

It’s a big day of setting up jumps today for the Derby. Meghan and Sayer got them all put in place last night, but they need to be set and adjusted today so we have exactly the right number of jump cups and rails at each jump. The girls will be practicing jumping spread jumps like the hogsback and triple bar this morning and the bank jump this afternoon. The Pulverman is still partly flooded from the weekend storms so we won’t likely do that until tomorrow afternoon.

 

Last night’s thunder storm missed us be five miles. We saw plenty of lightning nearby and got just a few sprinkles of rain, but we stayed dry and our fields are drying very nicely. But this year’s Derby will have the greenest turf in recent years!

 

Tuesday, August 11^th, 9PM Update:

Check this link for a few pictures from this evening, including a nice shot of Laura visiting Carly “the patient” in her temporary room up here at the main house. Most of the girls have now visited Carly and some of them are jealous. Carly has air conditioning, her cell phone, her iPod, access to the internet, and “room service” at her disposal! If you’re going to be hurt, you might as well be pampered.

 

Meghan worked all afternoon with Sayer setting up the Derby course. Joel is back tomorrow afternoon to help, and we should have the basic course in place by late tomorrow night. Then Thursday will be course decoration and fine tuning day and we hope to have it all done a day ahead of time by Friday morning.

 

I’ll be taking Carly in to have the cast put on her leg first thing in the morning and Meghan or Katie will pick her up when she’s ready.

 

We dried out well today, but I hear thunder outside right now – radar shows the rain just south of us – but I think maybe we’re going to get hit again for a short bit of rain.

 

Tuesday, August 11^th, 2PM Update:

Good luck lasts just so long Department:

We had an accident this morning, and one of our students was taken to the clinic, X-rayed, and has a break in her lower leg. She is on her way back to Longacres now in a splint, and will go back to the hospital tomorrow after some of the swelling has gone down to have the break set and a cast put on. It is very good news to us that she is being sent “home” so quickly. Carly told her mom on the phone, “See, I even break my leg well!”, referring to the clean break that is not likely to require surgery.

 

It has been almost 14 years since we had our last notable riding accident at Longacres, back when Lisa Kaminski fell off on a trail ride and broke her collar bone. Lisa stayed at Longacres the rest of the summer when she had her break, and we hope Carly feels well enough to at least stay the rest of this week and see the Derby as one of the timers and scorers while she is mending.

 

It is ironic that accidents often come in unexpected ways. Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising, since you do foresee most ways that accidents happen and you prepare for them and try to avoid them. Carly got hurt on a horse that was just standing still. Xavier is a strong, spirited horse and he gets impatient waiting his turn to do something, but in the two weeks we’ve had him here, he has done nothing more than prance around a little to show his impatience. We’ve had six or eight different girls ride him successfully. This morning Carly jumped him and he did beautifully. Before the accident, Carly had been doing exactly the right thing, letting Xavier walk around in circles and relax when he seemed upset just standing. I was in the ring during this lesson. Suddenly, Xavier reared up on his hind legs for no apparent reason. This would not have been a serious issue by itself, since Carly is a strong rider with good balance and sat well when he had his front feet off the ground. But Xavier lost his balance and sat down on his butt almost like a human would. When his butt hit the ground, Carly fell back out of the saddle and rolled away from the horse. But as bad luck would have it, Xavier rolled the same way and landed on Carly’s right leg.

 

Carly is one tough chick. She never screamed or cried out. I was the first one to her and when I asked if she was OK as I pulled her a bit away from the horse which was still down on it’s side, she simply said, “No, I think my leg is hurt.” And she talked with me all the way to the hospital about perhaps being a riding counselor here next year in a position like Alexa’s.

 

So keep your fingers crossed for Carly that her leg heals well and quickly. And for Longacres that it is another 13 years before someone is hurt significantly on a horse here. You can send emails to us with “Carly” in the subject line wishing her a speedy recovery or telling her about your own falls off horses so she’ll know she’s not alone, but a part of the widespread Longacres family1

 

Tuesday, August 11^th, 10AM Update:

Memo to Parents:

A few of you are expecting stuff to be sent home to you that was left here or otherwise need some special attention from us. We will be slow getting around to that kind of chore this week, with all the special events we are arranging for the weekend and for the big show next week. We’ll get to that sort of thing as soon as we can!

 

We still check the answering machine and email every two hours so we are getting your messages. It is just a question of putting out the biggest fires first during the “hell week” of show preparations! (Can’t wait for the relaxed atmosphere of Lazy Days week!!! – coming soon!)

 

Taking Initiative For Chores:

The girls are getting along well and are back into a regular riding and training schedule after the show on the weekend and the two half days of horse rest. We do have an issue that Meghan and the counselors asked me to address with the kids. It has to do with initiative in taking care of some of the horsecare responsibilities that each girl has daily and that each girl is expected to do on her own initiative without being specifically asked each time. Most importantly, that would be checking to make sure the horses assigned to you have hay and water before we leave the barn for meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 

Three of the 8 girls are doing an OUTSTANDING job of this and doing more than their share. Four girls have needed more than their share of reminders in the past few days. One girl is prone to going one way or the other depending on who she is hanging around with at the moment. I was asked by Meghan to address the group as a whole about this issue, and I did this morning. We will see if there is improvement. It is hard work taking part in a riding program like we have at Longacres. Our fall back solution if there is not enough improvement in personal initiative today is to slightly change the horsecare routine and put a crew of girls who need more supervision under the direct supervision of a staff member during certain parts of horsecare. We prefer treating everyone the same and assuming they will take responsibility for their chores. But there is another way. Stay tuned. Most of you at home can likely guess which group your daughter is likely to be; if you are wondering, you are probably right. No need to call us – we can handle this just fine. We have been for a lifetime.

 

Tuesday, August 11^th, 1AM Update:

Longacres horses win Ten Trophies in Season Championship Awards!

We have finished the final tabulations for 2009 Summer Series Championship Awards, and are pleased to announce that Longacres horses and riders will be getting ten trophies at the Awards Party this coming Saturday! We did not win any Championships this year, but came close, with several giant Reserve Champion trophies coming to Longacres girls!! Many of the awards going to Longacres horses have been earned by multiple riders throughout the summer. The trophies will go to the rider earning the most points on the horse during the summer.

 

Monday, Midnight Update:

Yup. We’re burning the midnight oil this week, for sure! All the usual responsibilities of running the camp and riding program here at Longacres plus setting up for a major horse show event Saturday. Any parents or friends of Longacres, along with all western New York horse people are invited to attend the party at the Derby this Saturday beginning at 5PM. Try to be there by 5:30 with a fat wallet for the annual “Calcutta Auction”, when we auction off each Derby horse’s chance to win! Very exciting and festive. Bring friends and form a “bidding syndicate!”

 

The lower height Derbies begin at 1PM.

 

Fun, wow department:

Meghan’s right hand man for maintenance and horse show set-up, Joel, was planning to help Meghan all week setting up for the Derby. His other job happens to be working for New York State highways. With the major flooding around western New York yesterday, he is working double overtime most of the week fixing washed out roads and will not be able to help Meghan much until the end of the week. He has a pretty good excuse for not being able to come in, but it threw a big monkey wrench into Meghan’s carefully laid out schedule. You know Meghan – she had every part of Derby prep scheduled to the hour this week! But thanks to Sayer who has worked for Meghan often in the past, and who happens to be off his other job for much of the week. He was a life saver tonight as they set many of the Derby jumps in place.

 

Monday, August 10^th, 11PM:

Final Standings for Horse or Rider of the Year:

 

Congratulations to the 2009 Summer Series “Horse of the Year”, Sox Appeal, shown by Kelly Waples!

 

Kelly Waples and Sox Appeal with 99 points

Emma Walters and Chunky Monkey with 86 points

Andrea Bennet and Caliente with 66 points (Longacres rider on her own horse)

Katie Wischerath and Mr Beezly with 65 points (Longacres rider on her home stable’s horse)

Various Riders and In Retrospect with 65 points (Longacres riders)

Shannon Hiczewski and Napolean with 59 points

Francesca Olivo/Gabriela Olivo and Made You Look with 53 points

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to the 2009 Summer Series “Jumper Horse of the Year”, Joc-A-Bee, shown by Bethany Scarlata!

 

Bethany Scarlata and Joc-A-Bee with 89 points

Alexa Riddle and Quantum Leap with 77 points (Longacres horse and rider)

Erin Cox and Awkward Dilemma with 69 points

Laura Foster and Against All Odds with 53 points (Longacres horse and rider)

Gibson Donnan and Spicy with 41 points

Daniele Moyer and Ocala’s Dancer with 36 points

 

Monday, August 10^th, 6PM Update:

A few pics from this afternoon at this link. The girls rested for a godopart of the day and rode this afternoon. It looks like a little rain will pass through during dinner and then we may have another clear spot for riding after dinner. ShaBang has jumped again!

 

Monday, August 10^th, 10:30 AM Update:

The girls have not stirred yet and seem to be really enjoying their late sleep-in this morning. They are just getting up now and heading to breakfast, then an 11 AM horsecare session. After lunch we’ll watch video’s from the show yesterday, ride in the afternoon and again in the evening and back on a training schedule for the rest of the week, along with planning for the Jumper Derby and for the Erie County Fair immediately after the Derby next week! A busy ten days coming up!

 

Diesel’s Boo-boo:

Diesel slipped in some mud and fell last week and has been sore on his near hind leg since. At first we thought his hip was bruised, since he did fall hard on it. We rested him and gave him a few bute pills for the inflammation. But it did not improve like a normal bruise or sprain would and he seemed more foot tender than like an upper leg problem, so I began to suspect and abscess in his hoof and we had the vet in this morning, who confirmed my suspicion. This is a good news – bad news situation, since we now know that he will be out of commission for a couple of weeks. But an abscess is not a serious problem and with treatment he will quickly be more comfortable and should be back to his normal self in a couple of weeks.

 

Storm Damage:

The river next to the farm is raging and the girls have been warned to stay away from it. And more rain may be coming later today and tonight. We have hilly ground at Longacres and pretty good drainage, so we have no serious flood damage. But some of our roads and trails have minor gullies and washouts. It will take a day of tractor and shovel work to clean up, a day that we do not have this week. Normally we like to put our roads and trails into ship-shape condition right after a big storm, but we need every possible minute this week to prepare the show grounds and jump course for the Derby, and then we are at the Fair the first half of next week. Our cleanup will have to wait until late next week. We’ll probably have it done just before this group goes home and the Lazy Days group arrives the following weekend. I hate to look at a mess, but priorities are all with Derby prep.

 

The Derby:

This is something like the 40^th year for the Longacres Jumper Derby. We’re trying a new format this year. Here are the details:

 

The Beginner Derby at 2’ to 2’3” will be held at 1PM next Saturday (weather permitting – see below). Entry fee will be $50. Special rules will allow multiple refusals, each incurring 4 faults, but not elimination, so beginner riders can keep going and enjoy the long course even if they have problems at one or more jumps. Cooler to the winner, plus eight big Derby ribbons.

 

Puddle Jumper Derby will go at 2PM showing at 2’6” approximately. Entry fee is $50. Normal jumper rules apply, with elimination after two disobediences. But an eliminated rider will be allowed to complete the course for the fun of it. Cooler to the winner, plus eight big Derby ribbons.

 

“High” Derby will go at 5:30 PM after the Calcutta Auction. Read carefully, as this is a new format.

 

The High Derby will be run at 2’9” with perhaps one or two 3’ jumps. Entry fee is $70 for all in this class.

 

Here is the interesting part: You can choose your jump-off height. You MUST declare your jump off height when you enter and cannot change your mind. You may jump off at 2’9” to 3’; or at 3’3” to 3’6”; or at 3’9” to 4’.

 

To equalize the disadvantage of jumping higher, the higher you jump off, the shorter your jump off course, by a little bit. One jump will be set off a little from the rest, and the 2’9” jump off horses will run a little farther to that jump. The 3’6” horse a little shorter, and the 4’ horses shortest of all. The variation between the 2’9” jump off and the 4’ jump off will be a total of about 50 yards, which is about seven seconds for the average horse on a jump-off course. Horses jumping lower can cut corners tighter to a jump. It will be interesting.

 

Prize money:

 

If you jump off at 2’9” to 3’, your prize money will be as follows:

$300, $200, $150, $130, $100, $70, $50

 

If you jump off at 3’3” to 3’6”, your prize money will be as follows:

$400, $300, $200, $150, $100, $70, $50

 

If you jump off at 3’9” to 4’ your prize money will be as follows:

$600, $400, $300, $260, $200, $140, $100 for a total of $2000!

 

Please understand that this is one class all scored together. A 2’9” jump off horse might win and earn $300, a 4’ jump off horse might come in second and earn $400, and a 3’6” jump off horse might come in third and earn $200. Call and ask if you have any questions.

 

Horses and riders may cross enter between the three different Derby’s, except that riders showing in the “High Derby” may not show in the Beginner Derby. Only one Championship Cooler per rider, even if you win two Derby’s. If you do, the cooler in your second event will go to the second place horse.

Let us know if you have any questions. Looks like a good weather forecast for the end of the week and a good number of horses have declared. Let the fun begin!

 

Show Pictures:

We did get the show pictures posted last night at the links in the next paragraph.

 

Sunday, August 9^th, 11PM Update:

When it rains, it pours!

Literally! We have been so lucky about not getting heavy rain this summer at Longacres even though it has been stormy all around us. When your luck changes, sometimes it really changes. Just as the water levels were going down from the most powerful storms of the season to hit us early this afternoon while we were at the show, a whole new squall line an cluster of storms loomed on the northern horizon while we were at dinner. Just as we got the girls home and headed to their cabins, it hit. Torrential downpours.

 

The girls are all safe and tucked in at their bunks. We will not be posting pictures until very late tonight, because Meghan and I are touring all parts of the camp for storm related damage that can be dangerous. We have already restricted the girls to their bunks until the “all clear” when the flood waters go down tomorrow morning. Our babbling brooks are raging torrents of water. The big “creek” is like the Niagara River. But we have found no real lasting kind of damage. There will be a lot of road and trail work, though!

 

We’ll give a full report tomorrow. There is a late sleep-in since the horses are getting a half day off after the show. Then a relaxed, half day of fun riding events in the afternoon. Then serious practice for the Derby and the Erie County Fair the rest of the week!

 

Sunday, August 9^th, 7PM Update:

A great show in SPITE OF the monsoon!

The morning started off nicely enough, with early cloud cover and then bright sunshine. But then the severe weather warnings began coming over the radio and our various cell phone systems. We watched the weather warnings and the radar on my iPhone as a powerful squall line developed and headed our way. Sure enough, about noon it hit – a 70 mile long squall line with severe thunderstorms the entire length went right over us! Everyone crowded into the barns and a few less hardy souls left early. But the small ring classes continued in the arena during the storm and then when it was all over an hour and twenty minutes later, the sun came back out and the footing in the Skibbereen sand ring outside was terrific. Hats off to the Skibbereeen folks for putting together a great show and dealing so well and cheerfully with the storm of the summer!

 

Our girls did well, with ribbons for pretty much everyone as far as I know. We’ll post some results later.

 

Pictures? We took over 700 pictures today1 We won’t be posting all of them online, but many will be up at this link and this link later tonight.

 

We’re headed out to dinner now, so I’ll file a longer report later.

 

Sunday, August 9^th, 5:30 AM Update:

It rained hard late last night, but most of the rain overnight since then has and is continuing to pass to our south and the forecast for our immediate area is now more promising than it was last night. I am optimistic and expect only widely scattered rain showers near the show this morning, then clearing by mid day. Late afternoon when we might see an afternoon thunderstorm. We should be done by then.

 

August 8^th, 8PM Update:

We called Skibbereen about any possible change of plans for tomorrow, but we have not heard back from them. We assume that the show is on rain or shine. We’ll post something here or change the message on the Longacres answering machine (716-652-9495) if we hear anything new.

 

Weather forecast is for significant rain overnight and early in the morning. Clearing is expected by mid day, so if we are patient, we should be able to get the show in, since they have both an indoor and a sand ring. The only problem I can see is if the ground for parking gets too saturated overnight. Stay tuned, but as far as we know, there is a show beginning at 9AM.

 

Points:

Points for the Summer Series have been tabulated and will be posted on the horse shows website within the hour. We have not finished checking to see if any horses have points from more than 7 shows. We do not think so, but if you have points from all 8 shows that have been run, let us know. Only your best 7 of 9 shows count.

 

There are also a few walk-trot combinations where points have been awarded from two riders to the same horse, and in that division, only the rider earns points. We will soon have that corrected. We will do points quickly after Skibbereeen, so you will know if you are getting awards next week at the Awards Party!

 

A few new pictures at this link. Mostly of the Longacres girls getting ready to do their laundry on Town Day.

 

August 8^th, 8AM Update:

With a Sunday horse show this week at Skibbereen Farm, we can’t have the horses’ day off Sunday, so we’re riding the first half of today, giving the horses a break this afternoon, and then sleeping in Monday morning after the show to give the horses their other half day break. Then we’ll be back on a fairly normal schedule for next week. There will be changes in schedule during the week as we concentrate on getting ready for the big Longacres Jumper Derby next Saturday. It’s always an exciting week as we watch the Derby jump course come together with all the brush, flags, and other special decorations. And the special training for all the cross country jumps and the double and triple combinations.

 

Thanks to Laura, Carly, Destiny, and Kellie for going to the truck show last night and helping us so much. They got to enjoy the fair during the afternoon while Meghan and I set up for the show, but during the show, they were up on stage with us and timing all the trucks with stop watches and doing very important jobs. They even got paid by the fair! Next mall trip is “covered”, parents! Thanks to Carly for backing me up on my stop watch at the show. Her special responsibility was making sure I didn’t get confused about which truck I was timing, which I do sometimes with everything that is going on. Thanks to Kellie for using her video taping skills to run our hi-def camera in a very loud, dusty and COLD location all evening while wearing shorts. She was cold! But never complained and took some great video.

 

Because of the show tomorrow, this afternoon will be “town day” to do laundry and relax. The girls will have their phones from around 1PM on, so you can expect calls or try to reach them then.

 

Check this link for a few pictures of the girls riding later this morning.

 

August 7^th, 8AM Update:

Good morning everyone,

I have a busy day, watching the girls ride after breakfast and then heading out to the Cattaraugus County Fair for my annual job of managing a Monster Truck show. I used to do this 25 weekends a year, but now just this one show every August. I keep doing this one just for old times sake. We’ll be home late, so there won’t be another update until tomorrow morning. Katie is in charge here at the farm and in touch with us by phone all day if necessary.

 

August 6^th, 10PM Update:

OK, we met the girls at the exit from the mall at the end of the evening out and they were bouncing up and down with excitement. Almost in unison, they greeted us with the announcement, “This was the best mall trip EVER! You wouldn’t BELIEVE how many stores we got kicked out of!” Um-m-m-m-mnn.

 

So we listened as they talked and tried to put two and two together. It does not sound as though any of them were in imminent danger of being arrested! More like some sales ladies saw a bunch of happy, boisterous teenagers approaching and made pre-emptive judgements about the need for parent supervision in the mattress store, for instance. Maybe a good choice on the part of the sales people!

 

Bottom line – the girls did have a grand time at the mall. Meghan, Uncle Billy, and I had our traditional long dinner at a mall restaurant while the girls strolled and played, and we saw them three or four times as they passed our window booth and made fun of us. A good time and they are all in great spirits.

 

Meghan and I will be out of camp for tomorrow afternoon and evening running the county fair Monster Truck show that we manage every August. Katie will be in charge here at Longacres and in close touch with us by phone.

 

August 6^th, 3PM Update:

We should, by later this afternoon, have a preliminary version of “Jumping the Great Jumpers” on YouTube at this link. We’ll be updating this rough draft of the film in the coming weeks with still pictures of some of those great horses and some more shots of the Longacres girls riding. But we wanted to post a quick edit of what we did this morning to share with you at home.

 

August 6^th, 1PM Update:

Jumping the Great Jumpers:

We had a moving ceremony this morning honoring four of the greatest horses in the history of Longacres. When some of our greatest horses reach the end of their career and die or must be put down, we try to bury them here at Longacres on “Jumper Hill”. For many years Jumper Hill has been there, and it was built to be used as a table top or bank jump. But we’ve never used it. The time wasn’t right for many years after China Heart and Yorke Springs were buried there. It was too soon.

 

But since 2009 is turning out to be one of the greatest seasons in Longacres history, Meghan and I decided it might be time to hold the “Jumping of the Great Jumpers” ceremony that we’ve often considered over the years. This morning we took the girls in two groups to Jumper Hill after decorating the hill with small jumps and many flowers for the occasion. Everyone got to “Jump the Jumpers” up and over the hill where these great horses are buried. Everyone did good jumps, with China heart, yorke Springs, Tip-Off, and Peppermint Patti below them, and I hope the spirits of these great horses from the past rode and filled the hearts of this year’s riders with the spirit of horsemanship at it’s very best.

 

See some pictures at this link. A YouTube video is coming soon.

 

August 6^th, 8AM Update:

Here are a few more pictures from Meghan’s camera last night at this link. Mostly informals during a relaxed evening ride, including some nice shots of ShaBang who continues to seem much better. Carly thought he felt very sound in light work. Plus other shots of smiling Longacres people.

 

We enjoyed showing Michaela and her family around Longacres last night. She found us online and is thinking about attending Longacres next summer if there is still space in our popular July sessions after September 1^st. She has ridden and shown for several years and half leases a horse. Sounds like a good Longacres camper, right?

 

August 5^th, 11PM Update:

A Great Moon light ride!

It was a perfect night, cool, not a breath of wind, bright moon one day shy of full, and just a few scattered clouds to give occasional pretty shadows. Half the girls rode tonight and the other half are scheduled tomorrow night. Tonight it was Katie as counselor, Junior, Kellie, Christina, Morven, and Alex. They got the “full ShaBang”; walk, trot, canter, jumping a small white jump that was clear as day in the moonlight, and riding all over the big show field and other riding areas. Then we had our full minute of silence in the very back of the field as we all made wishes as is a Longacres tradition. Legend is that your wish comes true if there is no sound but the horses during the minute of silence, and it worked perfectly, so the wishes should come true. A fun night at Longacres. Pictures at this link!

 

August 5^th, 4PM Update:

Longacres – trainer conferences:

Some of you may have noticed the picture in this morning’s album of Tom with Andrea, her mom, and her trainer from home. We welcome our student’s trainers to stop by and talk with us about a personal training plan for their student while they are here at Longacres. It’s easiest for people like Andrea who live close by, but we have spent time talking with other trainers of Longacres students on the phone. Often there is little meaningful dialog, since it is obvious what a student needs to work on. But if you are a serious rider, and especially if you’re coming to Longacres for more than two weeks, we’re glad to talk with your home trainer and with each student here individually to tailor your Longacres training to best suit your needs.

 

Check this link for some pictures taken around the barn this afternoon, including a few goofy poses!

 

August 5^th, 11AM Update:

Sha-Bang is looking better!

Carly has volunteered to be the primary person working with ShaBang as he is slowly conditioned and brought back to work after two months off with a minor but nagging leg injury. Check some pictures of Carly, ShaBang, and Tom working together this morning at this link. We are longing him very lightly, mostly at a walk and jog trot to loosen him up. Yes, he bucked a few times when he stumbled or was otherwise excited. But mostly he was dead quiet, remarkable for a thoroughbred off work as long as he has been! Then Carly finally got on after three days of light longing and Tom clipped the longe line on and walked with her just to be sure. ShaBang was an angel. Carly is now working ShaBang twice a day very, very lightly at a walk and slow trot to see how his injury responds. He is vastly better than last month. Almost 100%. If he holds up and does not get worse with very light work, we will canter him a little and let him hop over a X-rail in a few days. I rather doubt that we’ll show him this summer, but I could be wrong. If he can take the conditioning all next week, it is possible he could do a lower height Derby by the 15^th, and even more likely that he could be used by the fair the following week. If he shows signs of getting more sore and bobbing his head at all, he’ll go back on complete rest. But today was very promising for this fine horse’s recovery schedule.

 

We had “Tasty Tidbit” conferences with everyone this morning to let all our riders and our counselors know that we want to offer to “push” the more serious riders who really want rigorous instruction the next few weeks. But we want the girls to have an input in just how serious each girl wants her training to be. I am talking about small, but important things, like doing a three jump broken line jumping exercise as well as possible between and over the three jumps, which everyone would try hard to do right. But, after those three jumps, do you then just let your horse drift back to where the other horses are waiting, or do you ride him off the last jump, keep him in hand, do a lovely bending turn and then ride your horse back to the group at the pace and direction of YOUR choice? This is the kind of thing we will be pushing only to those who want to be pushed to perfection. It’s hard for the instructors because they don’t like to sound like nags to everyone if some of the riders really are not ready for this level of attention to detail.

 

So I interjected myself into the dialog this morning and I have asked each girl to have their own discussion with the counselors. Then I will insist that the instructors follow through more intensely with the girls who want it and are ready for it. That’s the essence of the Longacres “Are you a serious rider?” question.

 

August 4^th, 5PM Update:

How wet?

Check the pictures at this link for afternoon fun in the rain and between rain showers. Kellie and Katie Junior were our official water rats, getting absolutely soaked and having lots of fun at it. Lots of other informal fun this afternoon after the trail rides and lesson got rained on!

 

August 4^th, 4PM Update:

Wet Trail Riders!

At least I think so. As usual, we have been closely monitoring the weather and 25 minutes ago the radar was clear for fifty miles in all directions. But our air was getting thick with moisture and rising afternoon instability. Sure enough, there were a couple of claps of thunder a few minutes ago and a brief downpour. There should be a trail ride out right now! They will be wet. And as I write this, the rain has stopped and the sun has poked out again. We expect a few more scattered rain showers or thunder storms as the day progresses, then several great sunny cool days for the rest of the week. If it is dry tonight, we’ll have the smores party and camp fire tonight.

 

4:15 update: The lake breeze boundary that often saves us from rain has set up right over Longacres this afternoon. We may get hit by rain showers or storms several times in the next couple of hours, as this boundary stays over us.

 

August 4^th, 11AM Update:

Although we’re supposed to get some rain later today, so far we have a sunny, breezy day perfect for riding. I had a good time monitoring the two lessons this past hour, giving a few suggestions but mostly bantering with the girls about their riding and the horses. Everyone was in a good mood and smiling. There will likely be a few pictures later this afternoon at this link, but not as many as the past few days, or as dramatic as a few from last night!

 

Looks like tomorrow night is moonlight ride night if the clear weather forecast holds up. That means maybe smores tonight? Last night Esseress Cabin got a cookie dough party. Then Thursday night is this sessions first evening out at the mall for dinner and a movie and lots of phone calls home! Save up your questions for your student for those Thursday afternoon and evening calls. They should have their phones from about 4:30 on.

 

August 3^rd, 8PM Update:

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I won’t waste much of your time with written descriptions tonight. Go right to the pictures at this link! Some very cool things happened at Longacres tonight! Laura and Ofelia are taking on a Diesel project and it is going to work out terrific! Just look at the pictures. We’re going to do it every day and get some accessories for him. Andrea and Destiny are trick riders (don’t worry, parents, we were careful!)

 

And “JUNIOR” – wow!

 

We’re planning moon light rides Wednesday night and/or Thursday night, a camp fire and smores soon, and so much more in this longest of the 2009 sessions!

 

August 3^rd, 1PM Update:

Thanks to David Laks for stopping by and giving the girls some pointers today. He is a good friend of Longacres and always welcome as a visitor! Forgive me if my details are wrong, David, but I believe that he recently showed in a big Eq. class at Elmira with something like 40 riders and got 2^nd. He’s doing some amazing riding.

 

There will be a good bunch of pictures from today at this link a little later this afternoon. We had a nice meeting at lunch going over some plans for various horse projects the rest of the week. Laura and Ofelia are going to start driving Diesel with long lines tonight. (He Jumped again this morning on the big show field and did not knock anything – are you proud, Petra!??) It also looks like Diesel has a good winter home with people who live right across the road from Longacres and will use him for trail rides.

 

The next horse show is at Skibbereen Farm in Orchard park this coming Sunday at 9AM and 11AM in Ring II. There will be ticketed schooling at Skibbereen on Saturday from 4 to 6:30 PM.

 

August 2^nd, 10PM Update:

Another day, another Thoroughbred:

With Horatio showing tender feet and in need of a little rest, we’ve brought in another big bay horse for a few weeks. Meet Xavier at this link along with a few other pics from today. Xavier is a Thoroughbred – Percheron cross and very handsome. He is being loaned to Longacres for a few weeks to give him some additional experience and conditioning. He’s a nice horse!

 

Welcome to Alex who just arrived tonight for the second Longacres session. She has been at a big show near New York where she did well this week. She is staying with her family at the Hampton Inn tonight and will join right in with horse care and riding tomorrow morning.

 

We’re looking forward to a number of interesting special events this week including guest instructors, mounted games, camp fire with Smores, getting to know the new horse, and much more. Then off to the final show of the Summer Series at Skibbereen Farms next Sunday and then the Derby here at Longacres the following week and the Erie County Fair. Busy weeks with lots of fun and excitement!

 

August 2^nd, 10 AM Update:

A quick weather report for the coming week – after a quick overnight shower that softened our ground nicely, today and tomorrow look to be grand summer days! A little rain Tuesday, perhaps much of it at night, then a great weather period with lots of sun and cool good riding temperature for Wednesday through Saturday. Too far out to be sure about the show on Sunday, but perhaps the good weather will continue into the following week.

 

Here at Longacres, we mentioned a few stand-out performances in Tom’s ring at the show yesterday. Everyone had a good show! Here are some of the high lights from the show:

Shaina was X-rails Champion and won a trophy! Morven was cross rails hunter champion and won at least 4 blue ribbons! Andrea was first and two seconds schooling a green horse (Lincoln) in lower jumping classes. Ofelia had 2nds and 3rds on Chesney, also schooling a green horse. Christina was Pony division Champion on Merlin – good job Christina! Christina was also hack reserve champion on Star and won a trophy. Morven was reserve Champion in Pony Hunter on Star. Kellie was Special Baby Hunter Champion and a trophy winner. Carly was “Low ‘n Slow” Reserve Champion on Zanee and won the eq. over fences on Rocky. Katie “Junior” was Low ‘n Slow Champ in a big division on Beasley, her Quakerfield horse. Kellie and Merlin were Special Hunter Reserve Champion on the big field. Carly on Dennis was very good – won 2^nd in the Medal. Andrea on Cali was Reserve Champion in Low Child Adult Hunter. Ofelia won a trophy and the Low Cross Country Class on Brody. In Shaina’s first ever jumper class she was 2^nd in Puddle Jumpers on Zanee. Carly was Champion of Puddle Jumpers on Zanee against some very good riders from High Time Stables! Laura and Horatio won a Puddle Jumper and were tied for Champion. Laura won a puddle jumper class on Quantum – WHAT A RIDE! WOW! Alexa and Quantum were Reserve Champ in Schooling jumpers, behind Bethany Scarlata and Joc-A-Bee.

 

You have a zillion pictures from yesterday to enjoy – don’t expect many more today! The girls will have their phones from lunchtime on, so expect to hear from them with more horse show news. They watched much of the show on video last night, and will finish after dinner tonight.

 

Winter Horse Home Progress:

We are doing very well finding homes for all the horses for the winter, thanks to help from many of you putting new people in touch with us. We still need homes for great show horses Quantum, ShaBang, and possibly one more beginner – intermediate horse depending on which on a family chooses later today.

 

August 1^st, 6PM Update:

We had a fine show today with many extraordinary achievements by Longacres riders of all levels! Shaina found her Grrrrrrrr in a big way! Ofelia really got Brody going. Laura on Quantum – WOW!!!!! Carly was amazing and really proved herself to me in a show setting – what a fine rider! Andrea on her own horse and schooling Lincoln, and everyone else rising to the occasion. Check this link for over 200 pictures from today. We’ll post more news later.

 

The show day was marred very slightly by the unsportsmanlike conduct of a visiting trainer towards the judges. That matter will be dealt with firmly and will not happen again at a Longacres show. SO often it is an adult who behaves badly at a sporting event for youth. Sad.

 

July 31^st, 9PM Update:

The show grounds look gorgeous – as good as they have ever been, especially at this time of year. The frequent rain this summer has been wonderful for our turf! All the new sand in the small show ring will give us great footing there. We’ve had quite a few calls and we expect a good turnout for this show. It’s the final show of the season here at Longacres.

 

The girls were very cheerful tonight doing show prep and turning out the horses. Everyone is entered in good classes for tomorrow and Meghan is delivering the traditional before-the-show cookie cake to the barn! Lots of joking around tonight, and some useful discussion of jumper rules and procedures for the girls who have only a little experience with jumpers. Half our girls are showing in at least one jumper class tomorrow.

 

Check this link for a few more pictures Meghan took at the barn this evening. There will be a ton of pictures after the show tomorrow night!

 

July 31^st, 4PM Update:

Only a few drops of rain during the morning and the sun is shining brightly now. Couldn’t ask for better weather for a horse show weekend! The girls are getting plenty of practice and the jump courses are looking great. This weekend is the final Longacres show of the season before the Derby. We’ll be using some of the Derby jumps in the Jumper division so you folks can practice a little.

 

The day’s pictures are now posted at this link.

 

We will have a hand-out for the Derby at the show tomorrow and will post it online tomorrow night. The “high Derby” will be at 2’9” for everyone this year. BUT – you will choose your jump-off height. Prize money will be total of $1000 if everyone jumps off at 2’9” to 3’.

 

But IF you choose to jump off at the high height of 3’6” to 4’, you will be paid double for any placing you win. It is one class, regardless of the height you jump off. Just like a two height hunter class.

 

We may have a 3’3” to 3’6” intermediate height for the jump off paying 150% of the low height jump off. The jump off course will be about 5% to10% longer for the low height to equalize times on the turns.

 

July 31^st 8AM Update:

Yahoo!!!!

More very good luck with the Longacres weather! The heavy soaking rain that was expected for most of the week to fall today has missed us by just a few miles. The radar shows green and orange for all of western New York and Pennsylvania to the southeast of us beginning just 8 or 10 miles away from East Aurora. It appears that the rain has reached its farthest north point, so we’re not likely to get more than a sprinkle this morning before a general clearing this afternoon. We’ve had not a drop so far. The normally reserved weather discussion page guys are calling tomorrow a “gorgeous midsummer day”.

 

Meghan has been very concerned that our new riders would miss a whole day of practice out of their short week, but the footing today will now be excellent. Thank you, mother nature – we are grateful.

 

Keep your fingers crossed for us at home that Horatio recovers from his sore foot quickly – we’re giving him today completely off. And that ShaBang stays as sound as he looked yesterday when we begin to give him very light work today.

 

Some pictures coming at this link later this morning. Not too many, because we’ll be setting up for the horse show and will be pretty busy.

 

And keep your fingers crossed in the next 20 minutes for my airplane and I. I have not had a chance to fly my radio control model plane for almost a week because it has been too windy. It’s a nice still morning and I plan to fly on my way to breakfast. Still using my old plane for practice in case I crash. I plan to get out my shiny new one soon!

 

 

 

July 30^th, 9PM Update:

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it - -

- - Did the tree really fall? Or something like that. If a riding camp went through a normal busy day and no one recorded it on a blog and posted pictures, was there really a riding camp? Well, yes, we would be here with the horses and kids doing our jobs, but it wouldn’t be nearly as fun for all of you at home.

 

We have been busy today. We know many of this session’s riders well, but we have several who are here for the first time. We’re evaluating all sorts of possible horse and rider combinations for the show coming Saturday. Wow, we do this every year somehow, and I know it will work out, but picking horses for each rider, letting them practice just a bit, and then putting them in a horse show on their fourth day here is quite an undertaking!

 

Oh, and by the way, we have to organize, set the jump courses for, and manage the horse show this week, since it is at Longacres. So we are burning the candle at both ends today and tomorrow. Meghan and the counselors are still down on the show field setting the jumps. Joel just finished fixing some bad fence boards and moving the heavier jumps and I’ve been mowing grass and spreading 17 more tons of sand in the small ring. The footing in both rings should be excellent on Saturday!

 

Actually, I woke up this morning with various aches and pains after doing some work on the trails the day before. I told myself that today would be a “take it easy day” for Tom to preserve my old body and my energy for the horse show on the weekend. But that was not to be. I went to the barn “just for a few minutes to take some pictures” I told Meghan, and then one thing led to another. I sat in on several lessons today and gave a few bits of advice, gave a short talk on flying lead changes to all the girls after the first morning lesson, moved jumps in the small ring while Meghan was busy with other stuff (I got in trouble for that – I’m not supposed to drag jumps around anymore.) Then I did the website update, and began mowing grass. And I mowed, and mowed, and mowed. I did take time out for a short nap after lunch, but then I got up to work some more and to watch Kellie take her first real Quantum ride. (See the pictures from today’s album.)

 

Lessons went well today and most of the girls are finding horses they will enjoy working with for the next three weeks. We had some bad news and some good news about horses (what’s new?); Laura’s favorite horse, Horatio, went a little lame this afternoon so we immediately put him away to rest in hopes that he’ll be OK by show time on Saturday. The good news is that ShaBang seems to be much better.

 

“ShaBang?”, you ask. There’s been not a word written about this fine horse since May.

 

The Summer of “ShaBang-less-ness”:

ShaBang is one of our most successful jumpers, as you will see if you visit the Longacres “Meet the Horses” page. He came back from his winter home with Sara looking fantastic. And promptly did something to a leg in pasture, whether he got kicked by another horse or bruised himself just running and playing, we don’t know. But he was just a little too “off” to ride. And as a couple of weeks passed and he didn’t get better, we began to worry. Both our farrier and our regular vet agreed that there was mild soft tissue damage on the affected leg, and that it looked like something that would heal itself given enough time off and rest. We waited a month and it did not improve much, so we got another vet in for a second opinion. Which was exactly the same opinion as we had from the farrier and our regular vet. The injury was mild and should fully heal, but would take time. So we kept him in his stall most of the time and wrapped and applied stuff to the legs.

 

This afternoon was the first time I let ShaBang move much in a couple of weeks, and I was very pleased at his healing progress. Jogging the horse on a lead, he seemed fully sound! We will begin very light work with someone just walking the horse around under tack tomorrow and give him several days to see if the leg really seems fully healed. It would be very nice to have this horse healthy again – it has been an incomplete summer with no “ShaBang” in the shows!

 

Thanks for the Winter Horse Home Help!

A BIG “Thank You” to all of our friends of Longacres who have responded over the past ten days to our requests for help in spreading the word about free winter leases of Longacres horses. We’ve had a terrific response, both from our own students and from stables and other individuals that some of you have put in touch with us. If every deal that has been at least unofficially confirmed on the phone or through emails comes through, we now have homes for every horse but Quantum, ShaBang, and Bobert and Rocky, and some leads still for one or more of them! Thank you all for your help! And keep asking around for good riders who might be interested in Quantum.

 

Lazy Days:

We’re pleased to confirm that Emily is returning for Lazy Days after just leaving us last weekend after spending two weeks in July at Longacres. Emily is always a good addition to a Longacres session and we’re eager to see her again in August. She will be joining Michelle, Laura, and Sharon also returning for a second time in the same summer, and several others coming just for Lazy Days. We’re down to our final spot or two – call if you are interested!

 

July 30^th, 4PM Update:

More pictures at this link including, “Kellie gets to jump Quantum”! (More Quantum riders coming later this week and next week.)

 

July 30^th, 11:30 AM Update:

Check this link for some pictures of the girls riding this morning. We think everyone is in a good mood. We’re still very much in the “getting to know the new horses” mode for our new students, so it’s hard to tell if someone is just concentrating very hard or if they might be discouraged about what they’re doing on a horse that’s new to them. They all did good things while I watched and took pictures this morning.

 

Weather is looking better than expected just yesterday. The forecast for tomorrow still includes some rain, but some of the computer models now expect mainly rain free conditions in our area. We’ll hope that the precipitation line stays just to our south tomorrow. Still looks like a great day for the show on Saturday1

 

July 29^th, 8PM Update:

We’ve been lucky again. The rain held off all afternoon and we got in every riding lesson. The girls actually got in nearly three hours this morning when we were trying to beat the rain, then two hours this afternoon, and they are riding in an off and on drizzle after dinner, for a total of nearly six hours today. Check this link for many more pictures taken this afternoon.

 

The rain is expected to stop overnight and we’re supposed to have a nice day for riding tomorrow. Then more rain Friday and another fine day for our horse show on Saturday. The footing for the show on Saturday will be excellent out in our big show field. It may be a little wet in the small show ring if it rains heavily on Friday, since that ring dries more slowly. But I had another 17 tons of sand delivered this afternoon for the small ring so it should be in very decent shape for the show.

 

We’re proud of the instructors who were running an excellent program of lessons on this first day of the session. I sat watching the girls ride while Meghan took a lot of pictures this afternoon. We had three lessons going most of the time, with just three students per lesson. The final two lessons we split in just two groups and let one of the counselors ride each of the final two hours in reward for their good work.

 

July 29^th, 1:30 PM Update:

Lake Shadow, again!

Check the weather radar at this link if you’re online now. We are supposed to get lots of rain this afternoon and we still may. But so far it is nothing but light sprinkles as most of the rain slides by just to our southeast. We’re benefiting from “lake shadow” where the lake water temperature stabilizes the atmosphere and it rains to both sides of the lake, but not over it or right next to it.

 

Wow, this group is “bonding” fast!

Sometimes it takes almost a week for the riders in a new session at Longacres to get to know one another and come together as a group. It is happening fast with this group. Check the pictures at this link taken 20 minutes ago at lunch. They are laughing and joking and coming together quickly. I don’t know why I am surprised. They are horse lovers and they all chose Longacres to be with other horse lovers!

 

Here are a few messages from the girls who just went home last weekend and still are thinking of their time with us here at Longacres:

 

tom and meghan,

i still miss camp a lot!!!!!!!!!! my trainer rally likes ginger did you get his email? my mom is for it. i hope i get to take her home!!!!!!!!! is my helmet in the trailer? i think it is. can you please send it to me. that would be amazing!!!! i am so stupid. the was a SUPER EPIC POWER FAIL. oh yeah i went there. say hi to everyone and tell them i miss them. email me bback so i know if you guys can send it. thanks.

Staci

 

ps. only around 362 days left until camp!!!!!!!!!! that is if i am in the same session.

 

Hi everyone

I hope you are all having fun relaxing during break! I will try to send you guys a care package soon...haha with plenty  of blow pops, crashed airplanes (cough cough Laura), pokemon cards (well MY pickachu - woah how do you spell that- evolved!), lots of noise-makers for Michelle (maybe some really loud musical instruments would help? ha I think you know what I mean, Michelle, so I do not need to elaborate too much) and of course some toothpaste so everyone (DESTINY) can have clean teeth (without brushing their teeth!?), and a friend for Bob (maybe it could be Jimmy hmmm...:) ok enough inside jokes... :) anyway I miss all of you and the horses so much, I seriously can't stop thinking about camp. I can't beleive how fast the 2 weeks went by. As some one said, the days go by slowly but the weeks go by really fast. Even if my parents let me come back next year (crosses fingers) that's still a whole year until i see everyone again. :( It is so cold and foggy here, and it reminds me when I first got to camp, Katie used my hands as an icce pack they were so cold LOL. Thanks to everyone for making camp so fun, I love you all and hope to see you next year. And give Chesney a hug for me (not when he's eating or someone is touching his back or he will bite you, though.)

Rhiannon aka Rhino (cough cough ALEXA)

 

everyone at camp,

 

i miss you guys so much. i dont know what i am going to do for he next year while i wait to come back. on the way home my eyes kept tearing up thinking about how much i miss you all. especially Abby and Star. thank you so much for helping me improve my riding and confidence in myself. i have met soooooooooo many great friends at camp and i hope i get to see everyone next year. ( hint; especially abby) i love all the counselors and it was the best two weeks of camp ever. i hope i see you all soon. send me an email or text me what you want me to send in a package

love

staci :) :)

 

Hi everyone! It's Petra!! My plane just landed and I already miss all of you!! I hope u all have a fun rest of the summer. Try not to order anchovies on your pizza!!! How's diesel? Are there any more pictures of the show?? :)

 

~Petra sobotova (aka Enrique from pizza hut)

 

To all my friends at longacres-

 

Howdy y'all. I miss you guys soooooo much. I was sobbing by the time i reached the show field on the way out, and didn't stop crying until i was 2 hours away from home. My car ride was sleep, sob, cry, tear, sleep.... eat, then repeat the cycle minus the eating for another time. I miss you all SOOOO much. We had so many good times together, and the 2 weeks went by just too darn quick. In the words of Kellie- "not dandy. just not dandy."

Tom and Meghan- I WILL be back. I'll find a way. I'm sorry for forgetting my saddle, but i can drive up there personally(by myself, i can drive my own car), or just ride my horse up to get it. I miss you both already! And good luck with the desserts tom :P

Destiny- I came home and brushed my teeth TWICE. just for you. I also kept my pillow case on, because it smelled like bug spray and that makes me happy :) Also, when I shook out my sheets, I found a snickers wrapper. Any ideas where it came from?

Katie (DADDY)- the picture made me cry. and I'm sorry I made you cry, but every time i open my phone now, my heart skips a little (and for the first 5 hours, it made me cry). My tummy feels the major need to be poked and hugged. Where are you for that?

Alexa- I have a bruise from where your feet kicked me from videos last night. Thanks :( Anyway, I miss your laugh because it was so cute that it always made me laugh. Thanks for giving Dennis a gummy worm for me- it was really sweet of you to think of me :)

Laura, Ofelia, Michelle, and all my campies that are still there- take good care of Erkle and Fonzi for me (we need to situate the spelling on that). Make sure to always leave offerings, and one of you make sure you know how to set Bob. He really likes to be correct. I still have the directions. Sorry about that :(

 

I MISS YOU GUYS SO MUCH! I'm still hoping to come for lazy days- so i will let you know as soon as i know. 

i. love. you!!!!!

emily <3

p.s. a care package is coming your way VERY soon

 

heyy heyy longacres peps

guess what??? i went to vidlers today almost bought those suspenders but i didnt they were 5.99. but that was for a 2 pack hahahaha.

im probably goning to come to the show so iilllll seee yaaaa there

i gtg to a bday party

love you guys

griff

 

 

July 29^th, 1PM Update:

Everyone has arrived safely for the session – well, almost everyone – we are not forgetting you, Alex, and we wish you good luck at your horse show this week before you arrive on the weekend. Check this link for some pictures of most of the girls around the barn and on horses this morning. If one is missing, we’ll get pictures of them this afternoon and post them later.

 

We also took a lot of video of everyone jumping this morning, and we may get a chance to study it in slow motion very soon. We started riding extra early today knowing that rain was coming this afternoon. We got in a good three hours of riding during the morning and sure enough, the rain is beginning to come down as I write. We should be able to ride a little more later this afternoon. Stay tuned.

 

We have some nice riders this session.

 

July 28^th, 10 PM Update:

The girls who have been here over break seem well rested and VERY cheerful. They’ll need both to get up very early tomorrow to have the horses fed and ready to ride by 9AM. We’re starting early so that our new students will be able to get in some riding as soon as they arrive and because rain is expected by mid-day and we hope to get in two hours of riding before the first rain. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

We have much to look forward to this session. The August session is nearly twice as long as most other Longacres sessions, so we have a big picture outlook. We do all the riding and more that we do in the shorter sessions, but our emphasis is on the big events of August – the Jumper Derby – the Erie County Fair – a pond riding day – a big jumping day – more in depth training on things like “feeling leads without looking” which takes more time than we have in our two week sessions. We’ll also have time to do some horse related field trips to nearby breeding and training stables. We’re beginning to train Diesel to drive by long lining him. And more and more. It all starts tomorrow!

 

 

July 28^th, 11AM Update:

Welcome Second Session Riders!

Most of you will be arriving tomorrow morning and staying for the rest of the summer, or at least until the final “Lazy Days” week. We’re eager to meet a couple of girls and their families coming to Longacres for the very first time, as well as six girls who have been here before and are old friends. And we’re saving another “Welcome to Longacres” for Alex G. who will be arriving three days late. She has a good excuse for a horse lover – she has a commitment to ride in the big show at Saugerties this week and is coming to Longacres for second session right after she shows on the weekend!

 

Laura is “in” for Lazy Days! She has been negotiating with her parents and has agreed to do a light horse show schedule in the fall to free up money for Lazy Days. Her mom says she “can’t fault the logic behind the offer”. That leaves us two or three more spots for the special “Lazy Days Week” at the end of August. Let us know if you’re interested. We know of several of you lobbying your parents strongly!!!!

 

Here at Longacres we had a very relaxed day yesterday. I had a really relaxed day, and I did get Meghan to sleep in during the morning and to go out to lunch with me and to dinner with Uncle Billy. But she knocked herself our organizing things for second session during the afternoon. She is also hard at work today.

 

The girls took it very easy yesterday and had Pizza delivered and watched a DVD in the evening. They have been sleeping late! They are working hard at the barn this morning getting things organized and cleaned up for second session arrivals tomorrow. (We’ll have a stall cleaned for your horse, Andrea!) Later this afternoon we’re taking everyone in to the mall for dinner and a movie if they want it. Then reasonably early to bed tonight.

 

Weather forecast:

Not perfect for the rest of the week, but not bad. Some rain tomorrow which is too bad for you guys arriving for your session, but it will not be a total washout. Then a great sunny day for riding Thursday, a few more rain showers Friday, and great weather again for our horse show on Saturday here at Longacres.

 

We’ll begin posting pictures again tomorrow, after the new session is underway!

 

July 27^th, 9AM:

z-z-z-z-z-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz’s

Ah, sleep is good!

 

July 26^th, 10PM Update:

Lydia and her mom just pulled out the driveway after a little “goodbye Lydia” party at the barn. She’s the last to leave from this session. Tomorrow we’ll post a few of the emails coming in from those of you who are home already and missing camp! I missed the “ggodbye party” since I had come up to the house to do this update, but at Lydia’s special request, I did tell the story of the haunting of the carriage house by the old woman when my grandmother used to live there and the story of the slight evidence that “the woman” is still around haunting the camp to this very day! Bye, Lydia – the story was for you!

 

July 26^th, 3PM Update:

A few new pictures here of saying “goodbye” to Emily and using Lydia as a garbage packing tool! The girls are having a quiet day showing some of the horses to people who want to adopt them for the winter, and we’ll be taking them in to town to do laundry and get a snack in an hour or so. Everyone but Ofelia and Kellie are out of clean clothes!

 

July 26^th, 1:30 PM Update:

Interesting weather.

For those of you checking in right about now who share my interest in weather, log onto the weather radar for the Buffalo area. There is a perfect example of “lake shadow” and lake breeze boundary effects right now. There are lines of thunder storms stretching parallel to the Lake Erie shorelines on both the north and south shores and down wind for a ways. We are just getting the edge of one of the lines of storms right now – I just lost my satellite signal. We at Longacres are just south a bit of the “A” in “Buffalo” on the radar image. Pretty neat stuff!

 

July 26^th, 9AM Update:

Check this link for more pictures of the show yesterday. They were taken in the indoor with only available light, so many are blurred, but there are some cute ones of the girls with ribbons. There are also some nice pictures of the girls who left this morning saying, “goodbye”.

 

Petra and Maddie left early for the airport with Taylor. Stephanie and Staci left with their families with all of us shouting out “’til next time” as they drove out the driveway. I especially like the picture of Stephanie in a wheelbarrow with her Summer Series trophy from last year, telling us, “You can’t get enough of Stephanie!” - and we can’t!

 

Emily leaves very soon with her mom, and then Lydia is the last to go late this evening. We have a big crew staying at Longacres over intercession break this year to hang out, care for the horses, and just relax for a couple of days. Michelle goes home the middle of this week for most of August and then returns for Lazy Days week, along with several others coming back. Michelle has been coming to Longacres for years and has earned the right to a special “just hanging out over break” stay with us this week!

 

More later.

 

July 25^th, 11PM Update:

Check this link for just a few pictures from the horse show and some of the girls watching video at the house tonight. It was a fun evening of victory dinner laughs, Kone King hi-jinks, and watching several hours of video. But it was bitter-sweet knowing that many of this group are leaving us tomorrow, as Longacres reaches the two-thirds point of the 2009 season. (Enrollments are coming in for 2010 – Staci was the first to enroll for 2009 a year and a half ahead of time and she is the second to officially enroll for 2010!)

 

Petra and Maddie leave for the airport at 7:30 AM, along with several who’s parents are driving and want to get an early start on a long drive home. By noon, only the seven staying over the mid-session break will still be here having a quiet day. Oh, and Lydia, who is being picked up late for her trip home. We saw Ofelia today when she visited at the horse show and for dinner, and she arrives officially for the second session tomorrow.

 

And we have a few new people to meet for the first time along with returning Longacres veterans like Andrea coming in on Wednesday.

 

Everyone watched the regular show video’s until about 10PM, when Meghan began giving rides back to the cabins to people who were tired or had to pack. Alexa, Rhiannon, Kellie, and Staci were planned for the last trip in the car, but we got to looking at old video’s of the High Derby and Alexa riding ShaBang and these girls stayed for another hour watching the Jumper Derby hi-lites. Fun!

 

Congrats to Kellie, who helped a lot by taking video at the show today and did a pretty dandy job of it!

 

July 25^th, 4PM:

WOW! Close one!

There is no a full tornado warning up for Buffalo metro area – the storm is passing about ten miles north of us – we appear to be well clear of it on the upwind side. We are monitoring it closely.

 

July 25^th, 3PM Update:

Congratulations to Noreen, David, and the rest of the Quakerfield crew on a great horse show! They faced nearly impossible conditions the past two days with heavy rain and then wet ground. But they worked late into the night last night, and the main ring was in very decent shape for the show today. Not one horse had a real slip and none fell or had big problems because of footing.

 

The rain held off as promised this afternoon, with the first drops falling just after our last outdoor class of the day. There were only a few sprinkles and it has cleared up again, with some sun out as I write this back at Longacres.

 

We are still lucky – there are severe thunderstorm warnings up right now for a major storm with large hail passing only 7 to 8 miles north of us right now! But at Longacres, the sun is out.

 

We’re caring for horses, cleaning up, heading to dinner for our traditional after show dinner, and then watching video taken at the show and on our outside course yesterday.

 

You’ll have to be content with all the pictures posted yesterday. One of our helpers canceled at the last minute today and we were just a little short handed, so Meghan and I did not get to take as many still pictures as usual. We did get good video, though.

 

July 24^th, 7PM Update:

The weather is holding and looks to stay good overnight and through about 3PM tomorrow. Conditions should be fine for the horse show, except that the rings are still wet and drying out. If you come to the horse show, come with a flexible attitude planning to make the best of the conditions and have fun. That’s the way we’re going to run the show. If one or both of the outdoor rings are still too wet in the morning, we’ll run the show in the indoor with shorter jump courses. We will make it work.

 

We do think the chances of the rings drying enough for showing are pretty good. The sun has been out most of the afternoon with a good breeze and David was dragging the big ring while I visited a short while ago. I will tell you this – if you drive in tomorrow and there are real jump courses set up and ready to ride, it’s because the Quakerfield crew worked far into the night. They are giving it their best effort.

 

It is a bummer that stables planning to host one show each season will work for weeks painting all their jumps and fences, preparing the courses, and making all sorts of plans and then, “SPLASH”, the rains come in and disrupt all that effort. It can be very discouraging. Ask Becky and Jaime who had a huge show going two weeks ago when the heaviest rain of the year hit late morning. There’s nothing you can do but shake your head, bite your lip, and do whatever is possible at your facility to let as many people ride as possible.

 

We get rained out at Longacres, too. We did the first show of the season when we had to change show days because of the rain on June 20^th. But since we put on four shows over the summer at Longacres, we can always shrug it off and hope for better whether in two weeks. It helps.

 

Here at Longacres it’s been a fine day of riding to end this two week session. Everyone got to Pond Ride yesterday and to jump the long outside course this morning. Everyone plans to ride in the show and they have a good attitude about making the best of the conditions and having fun tomorrow. It should be a festive final dinner out with the whole group and some of the parents tomorrow night at Pasquale’s. We’ve had fun with this group, especially this week after they bonded together.

 

Kellie arrived back at Longacres today to spend the rest of the summer with us. She spent three weeks here at the beginning of the summer and we’re pleased that she’s returning for another session. She is well liked, and dinner was very lively as everyone was bringing Kellie up to speed on what’s happened while she was gone. She is not the only one to be returning for a second time in the same season.

 

Katie “Junior” returns next Wednesday for her second time here this summer. Laura’s mom, Sharon, was here for mother – daughter week and is returning for Lazy Days. Michelle is here now and is also returning for Lazy Days week. Ofelia was here for mother – daughter week, and returns tomorrow for most of the rest of the summer. There is a surprise person returning for Lazy Days week that I am not supposed to announce! And two other students have “maybe’s” from their parents about returning for an additional session at Longacres. We like knowing that many of you are having a good time and want to come back twice in the same season!!!

 

 

 

 

July 24^th, noon Update:

We have dodged one bullet and may escape serious rain today all together. Keep your fingers crossed a little while longer! A line of powerful thunderstorms has passed just a few miles to our south and is headed east away from us. Yippee! There is still a chance of further thunderstorms later this afternoon as the sun boils the atmosphere, but at least one of the computer models for the weather is forecasting very little further rain until tomorrow afternoon. That would be slick for the Quakerfield horse show! But we are not completely out of the woods yet.

 

Here at Longacres we had “Big Field Day” with everyone riding the long cross country course over all the jumps out in the big show field. And I mean ALL the jumps! Nearly everyone did the bank and all did the Pulverman special jump. We took video of everyone, including the counselors, and almost 200 pictures. I will post many of the pictures at this link soon. Remember the little arrows at the upper left of each page to advance to the next picture or the next page full of pictures. If you are not seeing over 100 pictures, you are not getting to all the pages of the picture album!

 

July 24^th, 6AM Update:

Slightly Promising Forecast for the Horse Show:

The weather forecast for the horse show tomorrow is pretty good! We expect clearing overnight and sunshine in the morning, which is why we’re starting at 9AM (spread the word on the early start). Heavy rain may arrive again in late afternoon, but we should be pretty well done with the show by then.

 

All eyes will be on the weather this afternoon (Friday), when there is a 60% chance of more rain, some heavy. If there is rain at Quakerfield today, then everything in the article below applies and we will be dealing with wet ground and shortened jump courses tomorrow. But there is still a 40% chance it will NOT rain this afternoon in Orchard park, and if we get away with no more rain today, footing conditions should be pretty decent for the show. Keep your fingers crossed, and make your plans for the show tomorrow depending on what happens this afternoon. We’ll post another show update tonight.

 

(here at Longacres today, we’re setting up the big outside course this morning for everyone to jump before we get more rain later in the day. We handed out the course chart for our traditional X-country event last night so that everyone could learn it. The girls, especially the ones who don’t usually get to do this big course, are excited. We’ll video everyone and take pictures to post later today!)

 

July 23^rd, 10AM Update:

Quakerfield Show Questions:

We met this morning with Noreen at Quakerfield to plan for this weekend’s show. The show is on, rain or shine. It will begin at 9AM, or a little after. The weather for Saturday morning looks promising, though it may rain later in the afternoon, which is why we plan to start early. The problem will not be with the rain Saturday, but with the wet ground. Parking will be very limited, since the biggest parking field will be too wet for trailers or for cars.

 

Please pass the word about the early start.

 

ALSO, please call Noreen or Tom & Meghan at Longacres (716-652-9495) and leave us a message if you are planning to come and whether you have a two horse or a larger trailer. We need to plan trailer parking very carefully. We need to know how many are coming.

 

ALSO, we may have to run many classes in the indoor and others in the smaller sand ring. Courses may be shorter than at most shows. It will be a “go with the flow and have fun day”. Come on out and join us if that sounds like fun to you, but you might consider skipping this show if you want the bigger ring and full length courses for all your classes. Remember that only your best 7 shows count for the Summer Series points, so you can skip a couple of shows. Our feelings or Noreen’s will not be hurt if you don’t show up. This is going to be a relaxed, fun little horse show.

 

ALSO, if you come, please try to car pool or have someone drop you off at the show and pick you up later. Parking might be a huge hassle!

 

ALSO, keep your fingers crossed for good luck. Maybe it won’t rain as much as they are forecasting today and tomorrow. Maybe everything will dry out. But we are planning for the worst case!

 

Longacres people: Check this link for a few late pictures from last night.

 

July 23^rd, 10PM Update:

Sorry to have put a few of you parents at home “on the spot”. Well, not really sorry, since it shows we are having a good session this week! On the way home from the mall I overheard several phone conversations which included variations of, “Oh daddy or mommy, please can I come back to Longacres and take one of the four spots left in Lazy Days week at the end of August?”

 

And one of those “Can I?” requests got a “Yes”, and two got “maybe’s”, so we now have just three spots left. Even if those “Maybe” responses were just a way to stall your kid until you get them home and have time to explain the realities of economics and other family commitments to them, we are pleased that so many of this sessions students are having a good enough time that they want to come back again this summer.

 

It is another good group joining four other very good groups of satisfied Longacres customers in 2009. Meghan and I are grateful for so many things going right this year, especially the work of our fine staff with Destiny, Katie, and Alexa doing such fine work!!

 

Do look at the YouTube video of the Pond Riding at the above link – it came out very well, especially if you have a fast enough connection to watch it in HD!

 

 

July 23, 5PM Update:

Pond Riding!

Check this link for numerous pictures from this afternoon’s pond riding. Check this link a little later this evening for a YouTube video of the pond riding. The video will have a hi-Def version. The sun stayed out most of the afternoon. Still a good chance of more rain, though.

 

July 23^rd, noon Update:

Well, in spite of a dreary forecast this morning, the sun has come out at Longacres and we’re getting in two morning rides on the show horses for this weekend. But, man, is it wet! It did pour rain for a while this morning. There is water standing everywhere, including the sand rings. But when the going gets tough, the tough get clever. I went down to watch the girls and they were practicing jumping lines of fences over small jumps in the sand and doing the best they could. Then a brainstorm hit me – they were splashing through puddles anyway trying to practice their jumping in trying conditions. Why not turn this into the “Great Longacres 2009 Big Splash Contest”?????

 

Check this link for pictures of everyone’s efforts! These were taken right in our small show ring on the sand track along the right side of the ring. Then check the following links for close-ups of Stephanie jumping Justin and Rhiannon jumping in herself off of Chesney. Very cool pics!

 

July 23^rd 7AM Update:

Looks Wet Out:

We’ve had very, very good luck with the weather for riding during a cool summer that has featured abundant rain. Our fields and trails are lush and green, that’s for sure! But most of the rain has fallen at night or early morning or just before or after riding lesson times. We’ve lost very little actual lesson time. That good luck may not hold up during the last two days of this session, as large bands of steady rain are expected through much of today and tomorrow. There should be some breaks, and we will get on horses. But it won’t be glorious. There does appear to be a brief break in the rain Friday night and into the first half of Saturday, which should allow us to get at least a good part of the horse show at Quakerfield in before the rain returns.

 

Quakerfield starting time?

The Quakerfield crew had always preferred to start at 9AM on Saturday, but we prevailed on them to start at 11, which is usually better for our arrangements at Longacres. The current weather forecast makes their choice of an earlier start look smarter. Check back here or call us Friday afternoon to see if there is a change on the show times on Saturday.

 

At Longacres, we have had a mall trip and dinner out scheduled for later today and this evening. The kids will certainly enjoy that and having a chance to put on clean dry clothes after getting soaked riding this morning!

 

July 22^nd, 10PM Update:

The weather continued to cooperate all day, with fine riding conditions. Which may be coming to and end for a day or two. Heavy rain looks like it will move in through the night and into tomorrow. We’ll do our best to get riding lessons in between showers tomorrow morning, and we actually have a “wet” activity planned for right after lunch, when we hope to do “pond riding”. Thank goodness for our new sand ring, which allows us to jump right after a rain fall.

 

We had visitors at the barn tonight looking at Diesel and Boo as possible horses to free lease for the winter. Both families liked the horses and are coming back to ride them again. Thanks to the girls who helped us show the horses, especially Laura and Petra!

 

We’re planning to go into town tomorrow evening on the cook’s night off for dinner and a movie. Good timing, considering the rainy weather forecast. The weekend weather forecast is promising for at least the first half of the horse show. We’ll hope for the best.

 

July 22, 7PM Update:

Score!!!!

I won! (For a change). I happened to be paying attention during dinner when Cheryl put the Strawberry Shortcake out, one of my favorite desserts. I made sure not to act like I was done with dinner or to draw attention to the kitchen as I very casually slid out of my seat and got up to the dessert counter before anyone noticed. I had served myself before the regular “dessert thieves”, Emily and Alexa, even knew what was happening! One for me!

 

With master “dessert thieves” like Kellie, Ruby, and now Emily and Alexa, it’s rare that I get to the favorite desserts first like this!

 

July 22^nd, 1PM Update:

Meghan’s camera pictures are now uploaded at this link. There are now three albums full of pictures just from this morning, with many good ones from all our special riding events today! More good stuff coming this week, including pond riding if the weather holds up tomorrow.

 

Check this link for the “Picture of the Day” – Rhiannon jumping Quantum pretty darn big. She did a great job, after telling all the other girls who were there, “Don’t watch me!”

 

July 22^nd, 11AM Update:

It’s a great day at Longacres so far, with fine summer weather and lots of special riding events. We did the hunt course this morning and the bank jump. Next hour everyone who did one of those events will do the other. We have some neat pictures at this link!

 

There will soon be more pictures at this link. And then this link after lunch! Enjoy.

 

And MANY THANKS to all of you who are helping spread the word about our winter free horse lease program. We need help and you are responding! If you haven’t already, go to this link and copy the message into an email and forward it to EVERYONE you know. You never know who might be interested or know someone who is interested. Six degrees of separation, ya know.

 

July 22^nd, 8AM Update:

If you think we’re having gloriously cool riding weather in western New York this summer, you’re correct. Here are some NOAA figures:

.CLIMATE...

CHALK ANOTHER COOL DAY UP IN THIS INCREDIBLY COOL JULY AS

AFTERNOON RAIN HELD TEMPS WELL BELOW NORMAL ONCE AGAIN.

TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE 21ST (TODAY) WOULD MAKE IT THE COOLEST

JULY IN HISTORY AT BUFFALO AND ROCHESTER. THE NEXT WEEK OR SO

LOOKS TO AVERAGE CLOSER TO NORMAL WHICH WOULD PUT A DENT IN THE

NEGATIVE DEPARTURE TO SOME DEGREE...BUT IT IS BECOMING MORE LIKELY

THAT ROCHESTER AT LEAST MAY HOLD ONTO THE COOLEST JULY EVER LABEL.

HERE ARE SOME STATS...

FOR ROCHESTER...AVERAGE JULY TEMP 70.7.

COOLEST JULYS (BACK TO 1871)...

2009... 64.1 (THRU 7/21)

1884... 65.4

1992... 66.6

1891... 67.1

2000... 67.1

 

FOR BUFFALO...AVERAGE JULY TEMP 70.8.

COOLEST JULYS (AIRPORT DATA BACK TO 1943)...

2009... 65.2 (THRU 7/21)

1992... 66.8

1956... 67.6

2000... 67.6

1976... 67.8

 

COOLEST JULYS (INCLUDING DOWNTOWN DATA BACK TO 1871)...

2009... 65.2 (THRU 7/21)

1884... 65.2

1891... 65.3

1920... 66.1

1883... 66.8

1992... 66.8

 

July 21^st, 11PM Update:

I’m back at the house after driving the girls to their cabins just a little while ago. We had a great story telling session! I had promised to tell the girls a little of the history of Longacres and I ended up giving them much more, including my show experiences when I was doing the big jumpers. We pulled out old pictures of China Heart and old prize lists for the Jumper Derby at Longacres back when the fences were 4’ to 5’ and we were using the big water jump. We talked for a long time about how Longacres grew and changed over the years and how it came to be a horse camp in the first place. It was a fine time, with lots of laughter and kidding.

 

July 21^st, 7PM Update:

So far we’ve been skirted by the heaviest rain and the girls got in most of their riding time. Most of them got to ride bareback late this afternoon when it drizzled for a while. Right now, after dinner, there is heavy rain close by, but none right here at Longacres. Looks like we’ll get in another short after dinner ride!

 

Then we’re bringing everyone to the house in response to repeated requests from many of the girls to sit down and hear Tom tell some of the history of Longacres. We could be here all night! I have some old video’s, old brochures for Longacres from 70 years ago (the adult week students saw them), and some old maps and sketchs. It will be fun.

 

Special Thanks for Skyler’s Care Package!

We had some kind of freezie-pop thing for dessert tonight – not one of my favorites. So I passed up dessert. (Too bad for the “dessert thieves! – They had nothing to keep me from getting to.) Then as I passed by the end of the table on my way out I spied some sensational looking chocolate chip cookies along with lots of other tasty looking stuff in a box next to Skyler’s seat! I plopped down on my knees and began begging like a puppy dog. Sniffing at the bag of cookies. Skyler and the girls loved it – and Skyler relented and offered me one of those fine cookies. Thanks to whoever sent them to her!

 

July 21^st, 1PM Update:

There will soon be more pictures from Meghan’s camera posted at this link. We got in both morning rides as the sky darkened by the minute. Just as the girls were walking the horses back to the barn for lunch, the rains came, with thunder and nearby lightning. It’s still raining hard now, but the trailing edge of the storm is close by according to the weather radar. We will likely be able to ride all afternoon after our lunch and rest period.

 

Laura Takes the “Pledge”:

Laura is staying for the rest of the summer and told me yesterday that she definitely wants to learn to feel her leads without looking. Most of you read the long update about the “feeling the leads” lesson in yesterday’s blog entry. It is hard work to gain that skill as a rider, but few things make a bigger difference in your abilities.

 

So I was watching Laura ride in her lesson with Katie this morning, and sure enough, she was looking down to check her leads. I pulled her aside and asked if she really wants to take “the pledge” and devote a good part of the rest of the summer to concentrating on leads. She said, “Yes!”, with enthusiasm. So we stopped the lesson and Laura publicly took “the pledge” not to look down for her leads again this summer. And we’re all going to help her by acting as her eyes and confirming when she tells us she feels the left or the right lead. I am very pleased when I get a student willing to put in the extra effort and concentration needed to achieve an important goal in their riding. Yea, Laura!

 

Remember Winter Horse Home Week!

Yup, it is still that week and we thank all of you who have already given us leads for winter homes for our horses, or passed the information on to friends or your home stables. Check this link for the new Quicky info page that can be copied and pasted into your emails and forwarded to all your horsey friends. Or to everyone you know, even, so more people can enjoy our “Meet the Horses” page! We are updating that this week, also with new pictures of Lincoln and Chesney!

 

July 21^st, 11:30 AM Update:

Check this link for some nice pictures with captions from this morning. No rain so far, but it is pretty dark out. We’re hoping for a hunt course ride this afternoon and a bonfire with smores tonight. We need some more dry weather!

 

This morning’s pictures feature especially good riding over the tough cross country jumps by Lydia and Staci!

 

July 20^th, 10PM Update:

We have a short and to the point info sheet about our winter horse home / free lease program posted at this link.

 

Copy it and paste it into an email and send it to ALL the horse people you know. Ask your horse friends to pass it on to their horse friends. Thanks for your help!!!!!

 

July 20^th, 8PM Update:

Sorry for the bad link to this morning’s pictures! I simply goofed when I inserted the hyperlink. It should work now. Amazingly, no one wrote in to scold me about it!

 

Check this link for more pictures from Meghan’s camera, and this link for even more. It was a lovely, cool, sunny day for riding at Longacres. One of the last in a long series of cool riding days. In fact, up until now, this is the coolest July on record for our part of New York State since the earliest weather records. But that is about to change, with warmer, more humid typical mid July weather coming later this week and into the following week. We’ll take advantage of the warm humid weather for a long requested “pond riding day” later in the week. That, a smores party and campfire, and other special events will finish out this session at Longacres.

 

After watching the video tapes of the show with the girls last night, I took some time today to watch them ride more and give various girls special tips on things that would help their own riding progress. I’ll be doing more of that tomorrow.

 

On a personal note, I flew my radio control model airplane tonight for the first time since last fall. I had two flights with no crashes. I was taking my time getting used to flying again after such a long layoff. Some of you may remember my story in this blog from February about finding a brand new plane that I am fond of at a Florida hobby store while I was traveling. It is a discontinued model, so it was a lucky find. I have not flown the new one yet. I glued together and patched up my four year old version of the same plane so that I wouldn’t destroy the brand new one if I turned out to be a bit rusty on my flying skills.

 

Those flying skills were put to the test, since my old plane now weighs half again what it should because of all the epoxy glue holding it together from numerous “incidents”. I did not do any of my more advanced flying exercises like inverted flight, barrel rolls, inverted loops, and all that fun stuff. It was challenging enough just to fly gentle figure eights around my favorite field! After a couple more practice flights, I’ll charge up the brand new plane and play with it. And slowly I will start thinking I am a pretty good pilot again. And then I’ll start thinking I am a real hot shot. And then I’ll get overconfident and crash again and shed tears over hurting my brand new plane. And the cycle will begin again! That’s one of my forms of relaxation!

 

July 20^th, 12:30 PM Update:

Thanks for the help finding homes for the horses for the winter!

Already we’re getting great new prospects. It’s amazing how the word spreads when we put something like “Winter Horse Home Week” on our website. We have a LOT of regular readers and when you folks send us ideas (like the sign out front by the barn driveway) and pass information on to your friends and your stables at home, things start to happen.

 

We are especially in need of suitable homes for “the gentle giant aka, Diesel”, and for a couple of the more spirited show horses like Quantum and ShaBang, and for the very promising but spirited Chesney. Keep spreading the word. By later today we’ll have a form letter you can copy and forward at this link.

 

Here at the farm:

Today is the day for practicing feeling leads without looking. Check this link for pictures of my lesson this morning and other informals shots around the barn and riding areas.

 

There are a few standard questions I ask new riders when they sign up for a Longacres session. We ask the obvious – how long have you been riding? What kind of show experience do you have? Do you jump X-rails? Two foot verticles? Real courses? Or are you a 3” and higher jumping student?

 

But then we ask a couple of more refined questions when someone tells us they are a more advanced rider. We quiz them about related distances on horse show courses. What does a real horse show course designer assume a horse’s stride to be? (12’) How far apart do you set two jumps if you want a six stride line? (84’, NOT 72’) Do you understand and do you practice at home adding strides?

 

And then I ask, can you feel your leads at a canter without looking? Because that is something you have to be able to do if you want to be a really advanced rider. So much depends on that ability. You have to know your leads inside out if you want to ride a good course and get good lead changes on a jump course. It’s something that takes practice. And you need to be a serious student to be willing to go through the learning curve and apply the self discipline of NEVER looking down for your leads. It is something we usually teach at Longacres during our longer August session when most of our students have a serious goal of preparing for the Erie County Fair show and they are here long enough to put in the necessary practice time.

 

Today I talked to all the girls about the kind of exercises you need to repeat over and over and over to learn to feel leads without looking. And we did one. They come in to a small jump and pick up a canter over the jump. We set the jump going away from the barn so the horses are not influenced to take one lead more than the other. We have half the horses line up on one side of the jump and half on the other, so the horses are not influenced to one lead by wanting to pick up a canter towards their stable mates. The student takes the jump looking straight ahead. They have three strides to “guess” which lead they are on. They shout out “left” or “right” – without looking. Then, most importantly, one of the instructors or another partner student responds, “Correct, you are on the left”, or “Wrong, you are on the right”. And the student doing the exercise MUST NOT look down to check. They must trust their partner or instructor. And the must keep cantering straight away from the jump for 20 or 30 cantering strides gently repeating the lead they are on, such as, “the left, the left, the left, the left”, or “the right, the right, the right, the right, the right”.

 

It is not enough to just repeat the lead you are on over and over as fast as you can. You repeat “the left, the left, the left” in the rhythm of the cantering stride so that you begin to feel the rhythm in conjunction with the feeling of the left or right lead. At first most students feel nothing and it is a total guess. That’s OK. You learn then by being told which you are on and softly repeating “the left, the left”, or “the right, the right, the right”. And surprisingly quickly, most students begin to get a feel. Sometimes it is backwards. Skyler was pretty good at this exercise this morning. She was WRONG five times in a row! But that is good. If you are consistently wrong in telling what lead you’re on, you are feeling the leads OK – you are just feeling them backwards. And it’s easy to make the switch in yoru mind and tell yourself, “OK, I think it’s the right lead, so it is really the left.”

 

This exercise is fun when it is new and fresh. You get to canter a lot. But it quickly gets old and becomes a more tedious challenge. There are many variations we throw in to keep it new and fresh. You can use different combinations of jumps to start the canter. You can just pick up a canter anyplace on the show fields and try to feel the lead. You can jump one jump and then be forced to choose between two other jumps set about eight strides away next to each other, jumping the left one when you’re on the left lead or the right hand jump if you are on the right lead. There are lots of possibilities.

 

But all these exercises require that the rider doesn’t “cheat” and take a quick peek down before calling out what lead they think they’re on. If they do, they are only cheating themselves. You must learn to “feel” the lead, and not use your eyes.

 

We’re concentrating on this today with everyone. By tomorrow it will be very optional – perhaps one or two quick turns of the exercise at the start of a lesson for most of us. But we will make time for the serious students to pair up and work on this a lot. Laura is here for the rest of the summer. She is determined to take this new and important step in her equine education. Some of you coming in next week for the August session will also want to take the challenge. For those who learn this skill – feeling your lead quickly and without looking down – it is a giant step in your quest to become a serious rider. Go to it, girls!

 

July 20^th, 8AM Update:

Yesterday the girls got some good R&R on town day when they went in to do their laundry and get some shopping done. Lots of smiles and good cheer at dinner and then we watched video from the horse show – LOTS of it! The younger girls got to stay up to see all their riding and then Meghan took them down to bed while the older girls stayed a little longer to see the final rides. (More on video and getting to bed on time in another post.)

 

We all cheered for Petra and her amazing rides on Diesel, who is really learning to jump now. We’ll try to do a YouTube video of some Diesel hi-lites.

 

People really do read this blog – thanks to those of you who have already responded with ideas for spreading the word about our winter horse loan opportunities. We have two new prospects just in the first day of “Winter Horse Home Week”! Thanks for the idea of putting a sign right out front of the barn drive way. Just from that sign we’ve made contact with a neighbor across the street who did not know that we loaned out horses. Such a simple idea with good results already! We will have the one page info sheet posted later today for you all to email around like a virus!

 

July 19^th, 11AM Update:

Spending Political Capital:

That’s a phrase much in the news this year as we watch a new president deciding how to spend his. How much to risk his reputation and popularity to achieve goals important to him. But the concept of “spending political capital” is something that is in all our lives almost daily.

 

Do you make your kid clean up their room for their own good (or your idea of their own good) at the expense of a bit of their good will? Do you ask to use accumulated time off at work at the expense of even just a little good will from your boss? Do you rock the boat to make any group you’re part of a little more effective?

 

Here at Longacres, I’ve accumulated a lot of good will from the kids this summer. It’s been the reward of a calculated effort to have Meghan be the one to insist that things get done on time this summer. We’ve let me be “good old Tom”, the giver of horse wisdom and higher jumping lessons. And it has paid off, at least in a superficial way. The kids have generally been at ease with me, talk with me comfortably, and enjoy my stories. On the way home from Kone King last night I was asked once again when I would take time to tell more stories about the history of Longacres. I like this. Everyone likes to be popular.

 

So, you are thinking that there is more to this story. There is. Although we do most of the maintenance of the horse show grounds ourselves or with Joel’s maintenance crew, we do have a tradition that the morning after a horse show all our students head up to the show field with wheel barrows and hay forks to spend 15 minutes picking up loose hay and stuff left by show exhibitors. So it was this morning. I happened to be there cleaning up myself, moving vehicles around, taking down the pop-up shelter, picking up cigarette butts, and all the little things I do after a show. So I watched the girls rake hay into wheelbarrows for 15 minutes – then 15 more minutes – and I saw what so often happens; three or four girls taking some initiative while seven or eight tried to look inconspicuous or played with their hay fork. (This morning’s time killer game seemed to be dropping your hay fork and then trying to make it pop back up into your hands by stepping on the sharp part of the forks just hard enough so you don’t get hit in the head while trying to catch the handle. Admittedly, this would be more fun than picking up left over hay!)

 

As the fifteen minute clean up job stretched past half an hour, I asked myself, “Do I want to spend some of my political capital today?” I could have minded my own business, let the girls spend an hour doing a fifteen minute job, and gone through the day maintaining my status as “Good old grandfatherly Tom.”

 

Or I could have said something about it. It was a tough call for me. I chose to express myself. I told the girls as a group (no mention of any individuals) that I was disappointed in them as a group. I asked them to finish the job with everyone pitching in and doing their share. They were surprised that “Good old grandfatherly Tom” could be so crusty on a quiet Sunday morning, but they all got to work. I kept walking around picking up cigarette butts and other trash (another blog topic!) while the girls did a very good job of their part of the clean up. And I called them together again to tell them that my comments had nothing to do with getting loose hay piles picked up. I was concerned with a group where a few people were doing the work while others did very little.

 

So, the hay got picked up and in the end everyone pitched in and did their share. But I am less popular than I was just two hours ago. Some of my “political capital” is spent. Was it worth it? I don’t know. Kind of like being a parent, isn’t it?

 

July 18^th, 7PM Update:

Great Show!

Longacres girls won many ribbons in both rings at today’s show and against tough competition. Thanks to all the stables who came, including Farley Bridgeman stables, Skibereeen, Donnan Farms, Dunham Sports Horse, BZG, and many independents. The little show ring just finished! The hunters on the outside course were light, but we had lots of jumpers and tough competition. Gibson Donnan and Alexa Riddle were the ones winning many of the ribbons. Also Erin Cox in Puddle Jumpers. Alexa won all three schooling jumper classes on Quantum. We did have two of our girls take a tumble, but both are fine. Rhiannon and Emily were the “gymnasts”!

 

We took over 500 pictures today between the two rings. We OUGHT to be able to find a few good enough to post out of all that! Check this link soon, and this link later for some of the pictures. We’ll post more news later. We need to get ready to go to Pasquale’s for dinner now!

 

A BIG “thank you” to mother nature! In spite of a forecast 40% chance of rain showers today, we had a lovely, mostly sunny and cool day. Perfect for a horse show, perfect footing in the small ring, and dry on the outside course. Just after we got home from dinner and sent the girls off to bed and a long sleep in tomorrow it rained hard for a few minutes. What nice timing!

 

July 18^th, 7AM Update:

The horse show is on as scheduled, 11AM:

At 7 AM, the sun is out at Longacres and the footing is perfect, with only very light rain since yesterday. There is still a 40% chance of a passing shower today, but the vast majority of the day should be rain free. Looks good for the horse show. It should be a smaller show, since the big Elmira show is also this weekend. We should finish by mid afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed to help us keep those pesky passing showers away!

 

Check this link for a picture of the yummy desert I did finally get last night, in spite of Emily grabbing the first dessert and taunting me that she beat me to it! This is getting to be a 2009 tradition at Longacres, with a new person each session earning the title of “dessert thief” by making sure they beat me to the dessert tray!

 

July 17^th, 11PM Update:

Meghan is putting the finishing touches on horse show organization for tomorrow. She checked in with me a little while ago and reports that all the kids are in high spirits and getting along great. They are excited about the show tomorrow!

 

Here in the office I have managed to overwrite part of this latest news file, but the news is still here. I just seem to have deleted some of our announcements about vacancies available in late August.

 

The weather is holding. We’ve had only scattered light rain at Longacres this evening. There is a strong thunderstorm headed in this general direction, but I think it is going to slide by a little to our south. If we make it through the night, the forecast for most of the show tomorrow is not bad.

 

July 17^th, 7PM Update:

The girls are mounting up for the dress rehearsal of the mounted drill team. With leadership from Laura and Emily and good suggestions from everyone, it looks to be a fun performance to open the horse show at 11AM tomorrow. Congrats to all the girls who worked hard all week preparing this performance.

 

We’re pleased to have Hannah and Mike here for the weekend helping with the show. They are right now walking the whole cross country course so we’ll have accurate optimum times.

 

A couple of examples of camp director issues:

I’ve mentioned that this is a good group having a good time, but that now and then we have little issues as you would expect to have with a bunk full of 10, 11, and 12 year olds. Here’s a couple of examples from just the past sixty minutes.

 

At dinner everyone in the younger bunk (both bunks, really) was in a great mood and some of the girls began asking me questions about the history of Longacres and how it became a summer riding camp. Everyone had questions and I was enjoying telling stories from the days when my grandmother and great aunt were first founding Longacres.

 

Then, ten minutes after the girls left dinner and were at the barn getting tacked up and ready for the evening mounted drill team practice Meghan’s phone rang. Katie was asking for advice on how to respond to a little temper tantrum. One of the younger girls had accidentally left her half chaps at dinner. She wanted someone to run back to the dining hall with her while she got her chaps. But everyone was busy getting their own horse ready. Katie had told her to either run back herself and get the chaps or just get on the horse without chaps for this gentle ride. And that got an ill tempered response.

 

As I dropped Meghan off at the barn she was headed down the hill to tell the girl in question to “Cowboy up, buckeroo!” Either run get your chaps or hop on the horse without them. Your choice, but make it polite and cheerful whatever you do! This is a silly thing to make a fuss about.

 

And a silly thing to write in my blog about, except that I think the story will help give you folks at home a sense of how trivial the little issues are that do pop up from time to time during the session with a younger group. We try to be nurturing and patient when reassurance is needed and firm when it is time for a kid to “Cowboy up”.

 

Horse Show Update:

We have had very little rain at Longacres so far today. The sand in the ring is only wet a little way through. There is a light drizzle now, and some heavier rain nearby. With luck, we may still get by with no real wet weather. Or we could still get a downpour – they are in the general area, but most heavy rain is still passing us by. We’ll update this website and our answering machine at 8:30 AM tomorrow morning

 

July 17^th, 4:30 PM Update:

So far, so good:

The weather radar loops are really interesting this afternoon. Heavy rain continues to stream past just to the north of us. We’ve had a few sprinkles here this afternoon, but the girls all rode at the 3pm lesson and just got on their horses for the 4PM ride. It appears that we’ll have a dry spell for at least the next hour, so Longacres luck with “lake shadow” continues.

 

Meghan was out shopping for the past two hours getting Horse show stuff printed, picking up supplies, and making calls to confirm all her show helpers. We are hopeful that the show will go off as scheduled tomorrow morning. Watch this blog or call the office number in the morning to confirm that we haven’t postponed the show. As of now, we plan to run the show rain or shine.

 

We think we have all the horse show points properly tabulated. Check the horse show page links to see the points.

 

 

 

July 17^th, 3PM Update:

The weather and “the bunk squabble”!

Those are the two most recent issues at Longacres! The first is easy; we’ve been lucky today! Lots of heavy rain is moving through western New York and we still expect to get wet sometime this afternoon. But this is very much a lake effect event, and the rain is moving in a narrow band right off the northeast corner of the lake and through the Buffalo metro area. Another rain band is to our south. So far we’ve only had sprinkles, but five miles from here it is pouring. We got in both morning rides and are about to begin the afternoon rides. Fingers are crossed! Will it pour on us???

 

The “cabin squabble” is of more concern. Nothing serious, but we have a full bunk of younger kids and they are not always as diplomatic as we would hope in expressing themselves. Each of them is having a good time and laughs a lot and has friends. But several of them have bickered with one or another of their young cabin mates. We give the girls a little room to sort some of these kinds of problems out for themselves, but we keep an eye on it. Meghan felt it necessary after lunch to sit the whole bunk down together and openly talk about what was bugging each of them. Then Meghan talked with most of them individually. And we are scheduling the counselors to “hover” a little closer to this group to be available as referees. The morning rides, and the dining hall at lunch were filled with laughter and jokes. Things are good. But little kids will be little kids, unless we watch closely and insist that they act a little more grown up – which Meghan is doing.

 

PS – Hannah from last year will be here in an hour!!!!!!!!!!

 

July 17^th, 1:30 PM Update:

More pictures at this link, including Destiny “proof of life” pictures! Destiny lives and is feeling lots better today. All her campers are helping take care of her and make sure that she gets plenty of sleep and eats well! There are a few very dark pictures showing a couple of the many baby fawns in our woods this summer.

 

 

July 17^th, 11AM Update:

Check this link for some pictures of horse show practice this morning. The rain has held off so far, but we still think we’re going to get wet later today! I especially like the pictures of Rhiannon working with Chesney. She does a fine job keeping him quiet, just like Griffin did last session!

 

Speaking of last session, we’re pleased to announce that Katie “Junior” will be returning to Longacres for about the first half of the August session. It will be great to see “Junior” again when she arrives on July 29^th! (We still have one spot open for the August session and we will break it up into shorter stays than the full month, if it allows us to fill that last spot.)

 

July 17^th, 9AM Update:

Changing weather: Up until late last night it looked as though we were only going to pick up a few scattered showers today and early tomorrow. And the weather still looks pretty good for our show tomorrow, with only 30% chance of showers and mostly early.

 

But today and tonight – there may be what my weather loving friends call “a significant weather event”, with possible strong storms and heavy downpours. We are likely to have wet ground at Longacres for the show tomorrow. The outside course is on a gravel based field and will have good footing even if there is a lot of rain overnight. The inside ring is slower to dry and it will be wet. But we put 17 tons of sand in that ring right before our last show, so the footing should be workable.

 

Check our answering machine early tomorrow morning for any possible update, but based on what we know now, the Longacres show is on rain or shine tomorrow as scheduled. Our best guess is that it will be a mostly cloudy day with wet ground in the small ring, but little if any rain.

 

With the changing weather forecast, Meghan and I got up early this morning and raced down to the barn to move all the jumps for the show and mow grass under jumps before the rain hits later today. We had planned to do much of this work this afternoon and evening, but we can’t count on good weather then. Many thanks to Laura who helped Meghan move and reset most of the jumps in the small ring!

 

9:30 Update:

It still looks like quite a bit of rain later today, but the line of heavy rain that has been moving over Lake Erie and headed right for us all morning seems to be dissipating as it gets closer to us – lake shadow – we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we can get in a good show practice this morning jumping courses.

 

July 16^th, 9PM Update:

Hello everyone,

We just got home from the mall and the chatter on cell phones in the RV seemed very positive. I hope all of you readers with a student here this week got a call and that things are going well. If any of you have questions for Meghan or I, or think we should know about something you were told on the phone, email us or give us a call tonight or tomorrow. I’ll be up and answering the phone for another hour.

 

The weather forecast is unsettled for the next few days, with chance of rain now a little higher for tomorrow afternoon, and a little less for our show on Saturday. Neither day looks like a washout, so we should get in most of our riding tomorrow and the show should go OK on Saturday, with chance of scattered showers mostly early in the day and improving conditions as the day goes along. Some of our friends are showing in Elmira, NY this weekend, and it looks to be a little wetter there than here.

 

July 16^th, 2PM Update:

We’ve had a busy day so far, with me taking video of nearly everyone this morning and then video and still pictures of Alexa and Katie jumping bigger fences. Kind of an “employee development” project. You can see some of the more attractive pictures of Katie and Alexa at this link. I took over 100 pictures at 5 frames per second so that they can see how they look in all phases of a jump sequence. I did not post all the pictures!

 

Destiny didn’t get to ride in this exercise because she has gotten herself all tired out with a combination of her hard work, not quite taking care of her eating and rest requirements, and on top of that a family emergency at home. She fainted this morning, but Meghan put the full “Meghan care treatment” into effect, and Destiny is feeling much better now. Still, she’s off for a day to recoup her energy.

 

I had a good time at lunch joking with the girls and doing my own little imitations of various students (Emily especially!). I got a big laugh with the Emily impersonation! The girls are in a very good mood today.

 

July 16^th, 10AM Update:

Good weather is holding this morning and we’ll get in our scheduled rides and horse show practice before lunch. Then it’s time for showers and a relaxed afternoon with a trip to the mall and the Harry Potter movie. We’ve been planning a rest and recuperation break this afternoon since early in the week. The girls will get their cell phones about 4PM, so you can talk with them between that time and about 8:30 when we’ll be back at Longacres.

 

The weather is looking promising for the show on Saturday. There is a slight chance of a passing shower in the morning and improving weather later in the day. Very cool temperatures for this time of year, with a high only in the 60’s! It should be a pleasant day for riding.

 

Meghan is finishing our horse assignments for the show and fixing the horse show points file this morning. I’m doing a little more work on the horse trails, then video taping the girls and the counselors at the end of morning ride. There will be one more Drill Team practice this morning, then dress rehearsals tomorrow morning before the real performance which will open the show on Saturday.

 

July 15^th, 11 PM Update:

Check this link for some of Meghan’s pictures from this afternoon and a few fun but blurry cell phone pictures from Kone King, showing Lydia and her friends at the table next to us having a fine time!

 

And, guess what? I am finally caught up enough on my Longacres work that I am taking time to play with my model airplanes for the first time this year. First task is glueing one back together. I left it in a pile of pieces last fall after my final crash of last season! It sooths me to fly model airplanes and tonight was a perfect, calm night for flying. Too bad all my planes were in pieces! But it put me in the mood to start repairs. Hopefully I will be flying again in a few days. I’ll have a few days of careful fun, then I’ll begin thinking I’m a pretty good pilot, then CRASH! And the cycle will start all over again.

 

We hope to have our dumb mistakes on the horse show points spreadsheet all fixed by lunchtime tomorrow.

 

July 15^th, 8PM Update:

Psssst! We’re going to Kone King about 9:30 tonight right after we finish horse care. If anyone from the local area wants to show up there, it will be fun to say “hello”.

 

Computers – AAAaaaargh!

In addition to running Longacres and worrying about our own problems here at the farm, Meghan and I organize much of the Summer Series Horse Show arrangements. One of the things we do is keep track of the high score award points that everyone earns at each show. We got off to a bad start this year, with some sloppy labeling of the various Exxcel spread sheet files for the points. We had a basic set of records and another set with the points all sorted in each class. Meghan and I each thought the other was using a different system of file names. Twice we’ve thought we had the bad files segregated and the problem solved. But it turns out the points we posted tonight after a full day’s work are based on one of the bad files. It is mostly correct, but almost all the points from our own June 20^th horse show are missing from this file. Thanks to Briget Rockwell, Bethany Scarlata, and Katie W. for giving us helpful information. We think we have it understood now. Meghan or I will be up late tonight entering all the results from that first Longacres show over again. Then we should have accurate point standings. Thank you for your patience!

 

July 15^th, 7PM:

If you’re a regular Longacres blog reader and also follow the Summer Series points, do NOT get excited if you saw the points posting tonight. There are known errors which we’re working on. Check the full spreadsheet and then write to us and tell us which of your points are missing. It will help us diagnose the problem. You do not have to do this. We should be able to figure it out soon.

 

July 15^th, 6PM Update:

Quiz:

Check this link for a picture. Do you know where this is?

 

July 15^th, 11AM Update:

2010 Enrollments:

If you are planning to return to Longacres in 2010, keep checking the updates at the top of this page. Knock wood, we are having one of our best seasons ever and expect a good return of this year’s students for next summer. Especially the July sessions will fill very fast. First choice up until September 1^st goes to girls who were here for the same session this summer. After those requests are filled, first choice will go to anyone in the order that their deposits are received. We will not be making regular announcements in this space, so don’t get frozen out by signing up too late. We cannot make more spaces once the ones we have are filled!

 

Back to today: check this link for lots of jumping pictures from this morning! Rhiannon was scheduled to ride Quantum, and she jumped him fairly high, as you will see in her picture.

 

After watching the girls ride and taking pictures this morning, much of Tom’s day will be filled moving gravel around with the tractor to fill in some wet spots both on roads and out in the woods on our trails. The wet weather the past two weeks showed us where we can use the gravel! Horse farm maintenance is never ending.

 

Last night Meghan gave the girls in their bunks her traditional surprise cookie dough party. Check some of the pictures in this morning’s album at this link.

 

We’re also working hard to update the horse show series points. They will be posted later this afternoon over on the “shows” page. We have a few confusing results since some classes were cancelled at the last show, but we think we have things right. Let us know if there are any mistakes. We are still tracking down Briget Rockwell’s missing points!

 

July 14^th, 7PM Update:

The girls were very engrossed in watching themselves ride on video this afternoon. We did a lot of slow motion and rewinding, so they got back to the barn a few minutes late. But they got in both afternoon rides and are now getting ready for their third Drill team practice after dinner. This is a short week for the Drill Team, with just four more practices plus some meetings to decide how to dress everyone alike, and what music to play. The Longacres drill team musical ride will open the horse show Saturday morning.

 

Spoke too Soon!

We announced just this morning how good the weather looked for the horse show. Not so fast, pardner! We will have unsettled conditions over the weekend, and the weather forecasters are having a tough time pinning down the most likely times for rain. They have blanket scattered showers through the period, but as of this morning they thought Saturday would be sunny and cool. Now they’re thinking more likely cloudy with 40% chance of a shower. Stay tuned! We probably won’t really know until sprinkles do or do not fall on Saturday during the show.

 

July 14^th, noon Update:

Check this link for some pictures from this morning. Spirits are good and everyone has ridden. Our slightly homesick rider sat out the first ride but is taking part in the second lesson after Meghan had a good talk with her and her family. Things should work out well for the rest of the week.

 

Counselor Alexa says that today’s “gold star” should go to Staci for her outstanding work with Merlin in the first lesson of the day. Staci was very careful about all her turns and patterns and got the best out of Merlin. Good job, Staci!

 

BULLITEN!

First formal enrollment for 2010 is none other than our much loved Katie “Junior”!!!!!! We do not formally confirm enrollments for 2010 until September 1^st, but first choice goes to returning 2009 students who sign up before then, so Katie is assured of her spot for 2010! We have had a great season so far this year, and we expect the most popular July 2010 sessions to be sold out very early in September, if not by September 1^st.

 

July 14^th, 10AM Update:

Another gorgeous day at Longacres, with the sun shining brightly and very cool temperatures which are great for riding! We plan to take a few more video’s of the girls riding this morning and then everyone will come to the house after lunch to see themselves on video. It’s useful near the beginning of a session to watch yourself. You learn things you can’t tell when you are on the horse looking down!

 

Then we have our first full staff and CIT meeting of this session, including Laura and Michelle in our planning session.

 

All the staff will be up at the house after lunch for the meeting, and the girls will have to find their way themselves. Lydia piped up while I was talking about this with Alexa and said, “I know the way!” So I put Lydia in charge of finding the way through the woods to the hosue.

 

We are just starting to think about the Longacres horse show this weekend. We’ll be talking with the girls during the video session about which horses they want to show this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed at home on the Saturday weather. Right now, the forecast is wonderful for Saturday, but it is touch and go with scattered showers likely both Friday and Sunday!

 

NOTE: We do have our first homesick camper of the 2009 season this week. Meghan has already called and talked with or left a message with the family, so if you haven’t gottan a message, it’s not your student. The girl in question was here last year and had a good time. She was fine yesterday, so we hope it will pass quickly.

 

July 14^th, 8AM Update:

Horse Show is looking good!

It is still a day or so early to have a solid weather forecast, but we like what we’re seeing so far for Saturday’s show. Forecast calls for slight chance of showers Friday and Sunday, but sunny and cool Saturday (high of 69 degrees – how great is that for a horse show??!)

 

July 13^th, 10 PM Update:

Check this link for bonus pictures from the horse show this past Saturday. Meghan had some of the girls using our small still camera to take extra pictures and we forgot to put them online. Some are quite nice.

 

I finished Meghan’s “day off” by taking her out to a movie. (She did NOT fall asleep during the movie! Shows what 15 hours of sleep can do for a girl.) But wouldn’t you know it? The minute we were both gone from the farm, even if only a few miles, excitement broke out. The counselors found a dead fawn in the orchard pasture and were very concerned about any precautions they should take. They called us, and left messages which we returned shortly. But by the time we called back, they had resourcefully called our vet and had been reassured by her.

 

Bottom line is that fawns are very fragile creatures and since we have huge numbers of deer in the Longacres woods, we find the ones that don’t make it for any number of reasons fairly often. Some of them have been rejected by their mothers, others don’t gain strength quickly enough to begin foraging well when they are weaned, and others are hurt by dogs or wild animals. The girls had seen a live fawn in that area just a few days ago that did not run until they got right close to it. It’s likely that the dead one they found tonight may be that same one that was seen alone recently in the same spot. Death in the world of nature is something that you come to accept when living in the country, and it is of course a part of all life.

 

With three good counselors and two good CIT’s this session, we have almost as many staff as students! We’re taking advantage of that situation by giving our counselors more time off this week, just as I forced Meghan to take a day off today. Destiny and Katie, especially, have now been working nearly non stop since the last week in May. Destiny gets an extra “sleep in” morning tomorrow and Katie & Alexa will get the same in the coming days. We’re thinking of other little counselor treats to reward these girls who are working so hard for Longacres!

 

July 13^th, 5:30 PM Update:

Check this link for a few pictures of about half of the girls this afternoon. The other half were out on a trail ride.

 

Meghan slept for most of the afternoon after she came back from lunch. She should be getting caught up on her sleep a little by now – but she was probably about 100 hours behind what she should have had in the past 8 weeks!

 

I checked in on the girls, took some pictures, helped Joel put the Butterfly Jumps away until the show next weekend, and moved some garbage cans around. Then checked in to see how Meghan was doing (sound asleep as I write).

 

July 13^th, 4PM Update:

I was giving Petra and Alexa a ride back to the farm from doing their laundry an hour ago and Meghan was in the car. We were kidding about how Meghan was “invisible”, since she was on her rare day off. Petra said to Meghan, “Tom is doing a pretty good job of being you today!” I was pleased, because I have been checking on the girls regularly, taking pictures, and doing little errands while Meghan gets rested up for the second half of the summer. Meghan did enjoy lunch out after sleeping until noon. She actually treated herself to a glass of wine and cheese cake!!

 

July 13^th, 11AM Update:

I went down to the dining hall and joked with the girls a bit during breakfast. They were all cheerful and ready for the day’s riding. When I asked, “Are you guys tired, or are you ready for more riding?”, the loudest to shout, “Yes!!” was Staci! Check this link for just a few pictures I took this morning. I’ll take more in a little while which will be at this link. (not yet)

 

Although the girls were in great spirits at breakfast, there are sometimes a few little wrinkles with a new group, especially one like this that has more younger girls than the previous session. Last night some of the girls in the younger cabin gave their counselor a little attitude when she asked them to go down to brush their teeth and wash before bedtime. Meghan dealt with that firmly, and there will be no more of that this session. Their was a little sullen reaction, but it had gone away by this morning. We were specifically charged by several parents of the younger girls to watch out for their hygiene and sleep habits. We agree and we will demand good humored compliance with related counselor requests. This is the kind of group of girls who will respond just fine once they know the expectations and the limits to their behavior. Likewise, I had a rider this morning who did not like her horse because she had to push it to make it go forward. I overheard her saying this to a counselor after I had watched her ride myself a few minutes earlier. I interrupted briefly to say that all students here will ride a variety of horses, including very forward moving horses, and horses that make them work harder. They will learn from each, and we expect them to try their best on both kinds of horses.

 

Spirits among the girls are very good. I report the previous paragraph to let you know that we’re watching closely and well aware of most of the adjustment issues that are part of every new group at Longacres.

 

Meghan is deeply enjoying her day off – mostly in DEEP sleep! But along with sleeping deeply during hours when she is normally working hard, come some strange dreams! She just woke up and told me about her dream – she was at a great party at Hasty Hills with all her best friends from the horse world. Suddenly, everyone turned on her for – believe it or not – feeding carrots to the cats. And it was horrible in the dream. Then Meghan tried to get away, and some mean girl cut her off in her car on the way out and then the cops came and hassled Meghan and then she woke up. Weird???

 

I took video of most of the girls an hour ago and I’m about to head back down to the barn to take more video in a few minutes.

 

Here are a couple of emails that came in from our wonderful students from last session:

Hi Meghan/Tom!

Had a fabulous time at camp! I hope you are enjoying having extra napkins now that I'm not around to spill things. (eheheheh...)

By the way, Meghan, anytime you have a spare moment, if you could ship the 3 blue ribbons/the trophy that I lost, feel free. I can wait though, I have time.

GIve a hug to Kingsley/Zanee for me.

-Sophie

 

hey everyone!

i just wanted to say that i miss you all so much

last night i showered for an hour, i didnt have to hurry!

and i woke up at 11 this morning, it felt like i was sleeping in until 4 or later

i miss zanee so much, ive already told all of my friends about MY horse(:

destiny, alexa, and katie- i'll be sending your care package as soon as i can

i read the longacres blog about everyday now,

and i look at all the pictures!

i love you all and i miss you!!!

-natasha

 

July 12^th, 8:30 PM Update:

Two camper messages and an update.

Tons of pictures will be at this link soon!

 

Hi guys!

 

I wanted to let everyone know that I was sooooo sad on the way home :( I'm going to miss everything.... even Fonzy, Irkle, and the scary killer deer!

 

Destiny.... i'm going to send you some toothpaste so that you never run out :D and don't forget to read the closet door (the whole closet door! You'll see why!)

 

Katie, thanks for not being a party pooper like someone.... *cough cough* :)

I wish I had taken you up on the offer of under your bed :'(

 

Alexa ( grrrr. you should've come! it was amazing! ) you don't deserve anything, but im going to send you stuff anyways just because I can't resist :) Or maybe i will just send you millions of marshmallows (muahahaha)... or not. You'll see!

 

Say hi to Zanee, brody, justin, and everyone else for me! And don't forget to let Country give you a hug! And tell Zanee that I said sorry for jumping wayyyy ahead of her and pulling on her mouth at the show :)

 

Love you guys!

Drisana

 

Hey!!

 Its me Junior I miss you all so much I had so much fun at camp this year it was the best time I have ever had it was so awesome. I had fun at the mall with Alexa, Katie (Senior) and all of Pegasus there were some very funny parts at the mall!! It was hard to leave to camp today and I miss everyone already!!! We broke some fun records at camp and had A LOT of fun there. Everyone seemed to like my mom’s cupcakes, brownies, rice crispy treats, and the cake. I wish I could come back this year. I miss you all so much see you this weekend!!! I will give you guys care packages this summer!! Miss you!: (

 

Junior

 

Thanks for the nice messages fro m Drisana and Junior! But we’re thinking just as much now of this new group that arrivefd today. When I say, “new”, of course I remind myself that seven of them have been here before. So I shouldn’t be surprised at how well they seem to be doing as a group already!

 

After dinner the girls got together all on horses to begin planning the mounted Musical Ride for drill team. Meghan called me all excited from the barn to tell me that it was the best first night effort at a drill team ride that she’s ever seen at Longacres. There will be pictures in tonight’s album.

 

That’s it until tomorrow. I’ll be updating and keeping an eye on the farm. Meghan will be snoring and not doing a thing, or we will tie her up and lock her in a bedroom!!!!!!!

 

July 12^th, 7PM Update:

Everyone is here. Maddie is chatting away with Skyler, and all the girls who came earlier are beginning to bond and make friends. We’ll post some new pictures at this link later this evening, showing everyone around the barn and on horses.

 

After various horse care demonstrations and safety lectures this afternoon, the girls are all riding after dinner tonight. We’re starting work on the 2009 version of the Longacres Drill Team. It will be a crash project! They will work on drill team each night this week and everyone will ride in the “Musical ride” this coming Saturday morning to open the horse show. This is traditionally a Longacres July activity where the girls plan and train for the drill with only general safety supervision from counselors. It’s a good exercise in problem solving and working together as a group. It usually comes out very well! Pictures at the end of the week!

 

Meghan’s Day Off!

Meghan has been working 17 and 18 hour days 7 days a week since early May without one day off or a break of more than an hour or two here and there. She is holding up well, as you all know from meeting and working with her. But nobody can go on forever like that without a little break. I am forcefully locking her up and blocking access to the camp tomorrow and giving Meghan a real day off. This is a good time to do it, since all but two of this session’s students have been at Longacres before and know the ropes. All three of our counselors and our two CIT’s (Laura and Michelle with 9 years of Longacres experience between them!) will be in charge of the camp tomorrow, with Tom standing by to lend a hand or answer the questions that usually go to Meghan. Everyone is excited about chipping in to refresh Meghan!

 

I imagine Meghan will sleep until nearly noon. That will be the biggest luxury on her “day off”! Then I have a lunch out at her favorite restaurant planned, and perhaps send her out to shop for something fun. No plans for her afternoon. Maybe she’ll sleep some more!

 

If any of you at home need to call tomorrow, I’ll answer or return your call soon. I’ll be doing a few website updates, as usual. I’ll try to get one posted mid morning while Meghan is still sawing wood!

 

No one has earned a “day off” more than Meghan, especially this year. She’ll enjoy it. (But she has already complained that my plan is going to put her behind in her office work and her preparations for next weekend’s horse show!) Note to Scott & Diana – maybe I’ll even take away her pen! Then Tuesday I am sure she’ll go right back to 17 and 18 hour days for the next seven weeks!

 

More pictures coming in an hour or so at this link.

 

July 12^th, 3:30 PM:

And a note from Natasha!

hiii!

omgshhh okay so im at the apple store and i already miss all the horseys so much!

i almost cried in the car thinking about zanee :(

but the good part is,, im going to get to shower soon! woo!

i miss you all so much!

destiny! i shall send u crest whitening strips and more welches fruit snacks, therapist

katie--thank u for coming with us to "the place"

and alexa,,,our walk home from tom and meghans hahahh

 

 

i hope i see you guys soon-ish, probably not tho :(

i love you alllll!!!!!!

tell zanee i say hi!

*natasha

 

July 12^th, 3PM Update:

Everyone has now arrived except for Skyler and Madison, both coming in from the airport in an hour or two. The last few are getting ready to ride for the short afternoon ride. Then most of us will have a quiet after dinner ride to get reacquainted with some of the Longacres horses. Check this link for some informal pictures of some of the girls from Meghan’s camera this morning. We’ll post pictures of everyone else later this afternoon at this link.

 

Check this link for a great picture of Tracy jumping Horatio a few days ago!!!!

 

July 12^th, 1PM Update:

Griffin left two hours ago and she has already written to everyone!

 

“hi everyone i miss you all

hi katie and destiny and alexa and petra. im crying just writing to you right now camp feels like it was only 2 days.

 

i wonder who the next chesney rider will be and expect a visit from me to check and tell chesney that i LOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEE him.

 

o ya and katie  destiny and alex if you see nick his name is not petree dish lohan ya haha destiny very funny call me

 

next year im hiding in the grain bin the bushes didnt exactly work. haha i just thougt of the bush monster. tell merlin i love him tooo

 

haha katie i just thouht of something else really funny.  the little girl in the mall that was like rolling her eyes back and smiling good times and the omg she really has to go to the bathroom moveeeeee and then they turn the other direction haha

 

and alexa with two drops of hot sause please and half a bottle with that haahahahaha.

 

while idk what but im gonna do something like SLEEP hahaha

while call me when ya can

bye i love you guys

and i just pulled up my pants”

 

Guess What?

Natasha Has a Horse !!!!!!!!!

It’s all signed, sealed, and definite. Natasha is taking Zanee home with her at the end of camp to ride for the winter. Zanee is traveling all the way to Charlotte, NC to be Natasha’s buddy for the winter. We know that Zanee is going to enjoy the more mild climate in the Carolina’s! Congratulations, Natasha, you “horse owner”! Natasha was the last student from last week’s session to leave. We miss you all! Keep the emails coming, now that Griffin has started it.

 

July 12^th, 11AM Update:

We’ve said many tearful “goodbyes” this morningL

All the girls from the past session but Natasha are on their way home with we hope great memories of new horse and human friends from the last two weeks. We miss you all!

 

The new session is beginning with the early arrivals of Laura, Emily, and Staci. Many more are coming in during the next two hours! We’ll post some pictures later this afternoon at this link. Everyone will get on one or two horses today, but it is the horse’s day of rest, so there won’t be a full riding schedule until tomorrow. We’ll have lots of orientations and demonstrations today in between the rides we will do. We have good people for this session, including seven returning from last year. It will be great – but we’re going to have to work some to match the very special magic that bonded everyone this past two weeks!

 

July 11^th, 10PM Update:

Meghan and I feel truly blessed to have had the group that’s going home tomorrow during the past two weeks. Fine people! (And fine people our entire season so far! We are having very good fortune this year at Longacres, along with the pay-off for hard work.)

 

Tonight set an all time record for a Pasquale’s/Kone King outing. We had 33 people, including many parents. Check this link for a few pictures as we waited and then sat down at three big tables at Pasquale’s. The various parents seemed to bond almost as well as their kids have this session. Always sort of interesting to sit down for dinner next to total strangers with whom you share one major thing in common – the place that’s responsible for your children! Turns out several of the families had a lot of things in common and there was great conversation at dinner and Kone King amoung the adults. And plenty of chatter and laughter amoung the kids.

 

We will sure miss this group.

 

But, as Scarlet O’Hara so famously said, “Tomorrow is another day.” We’re really looking forward to seeing 7 kids and some of their families who are returning to Longacres for the next few weeks after being here in previous years. And to getting to know the two students who are very first timers this session.

 

We’ll do an update and pictures tomorrow evening and try to get shots of everyone. We’ll take the time to label the pictures of everyone so that you guys following us at home will know who is who this session.

 

I have been up for many hours – time for sleepy time for me!

 

July 11^th, 2PM Update:

We were up with the sun today preparing for the Hasty Hills show. Everyone went to ride today and we left at 6:45 AM – not my favorite time of day! Although the weather was great when we got there, we knew that rain was on its way. We juggled events and made sure that everyne rode in one of the eary events, so that if the show got rained out, at least we would all have had a chance to do something. Good planning, Longacres! At about 11:00 am, the skies opened up. There were storm warnings and flash flood warnings all over western New York as powerful thunderstorms passed through.

 

The show moved into the indoor arena and many of the flat classes and beginner classes were run. But lots of people and drenched horses loaded up and went home. About a half hour ago, the sun broke out again, and the weather at the show is great. But the ground is very wet. They are still running classes for the hardy souls who stayed, including three of our girls, Heather, Tracy, and Jamie. Meghan is with them and I drove the rest of the girls back to Longacres.

 

Our sympathies to Becky and Jamie at Hasty Hills. It poured in the middle of their show last year, too. They put on a lovely horse show and put in weeks of work getting ready for it every year. It is very discouraging to be rained out for part of the show two years in a row. We are glad we went yesterday and rode jumpers in glorious weather! And all our girls went in some classes this morning before the rain hit.

 

Check this link for pictures from the show this morning. Check also the pictures of our normally tame creek next to the camp. In this storm, it has turned into a raging river, and the girls have been warned to stay away from it.

 

We offered out girls a chance to ride again this afternoon after the show was rained out, but they are mostly all “horsed out”. The girls who came back to the farm with me are taking a short nap while we wait for Tracy, Jamie, and Heather. When they get back we’ll watch the video’s of the show yesterday and today.

 

Then tonight we all go to Pasquale’s for our traditional final night of the session dinner, with quite a few parents in attendance. Then, boo-0hoo, we have to say “goodbye” to a great group of riders. THEN, tomorrow morning, we get to say “hello” to another group of students, seven of whom have been to Longacres in previous years and are good friends of Longacres! Yea!

 

Remember, we have one extra spot open these coming two weeks. Call us if you’d like to come at the last minute!!!!!

 

July 10^th, 6PM Update:

Great show! All our girls rode well and won many ribbons. Alexa was reserve champion in the higher jumpers on Quantum. Heather was reserve Champion on Quantum in puddle jumpers.

 

Check this link for many pictures from the show.

 

We’re headed out to dinner, lan to watch some video’s from the show, and then final show prep for tomorrow. We “might” be in luck with the weather. It sounds like rain in the early morning and then most of the mid day rain may skirt along just to the north of us. We may get hit hard again by 3PM with strong thunderstorms. There’s a good chance that most of the show will be done by then.

 

Or our luck could be not that good. We’re hopeful.

 

Best sequence of pictures in today’s album is of Drisana ALMOST falling off but saving herself. You will laugh!!!!

 

Vacancies:

Longacres has been completely full for the past three weeks. We do have one vacancy next week if anyone wants to stay over or come in at the last minute. Then we have two spots open for all of August. We normally take only full month students in August, but we’d like to fill the fnal two spots. If you’d like to come for only part of the August session, we’ll try to put you together with someone else who wants one or two weeks and fill one of the spots that way. Give us a call if you’re interested. There are several spots left in the Lazy Days week at the end of August.

 

 

 

July 10^th, 11AM Update:

Wish us luck!

We’re leaving in an hour for the jumper part of the horse show in good weather. Note those last three words, because the weather forecast for tomorrow’s hunter portion of the show is not so good. Check back tonight and we’ll have a better idea of exactly when the cold front and storm system is blowing through, as well as word from the show managers on what they have for a plan “B”.

 

The day is not supposed to be a total washout. I would guess that they will run the show ducking in and out of their arena between rain events. There is supposed to be some clearing by mid afternoon. It could be a long day! We are hoping for the best, but if you are driving a long way to be at the show tomorrow, check in with us later tonight. We’ll do a 9PM update on the show prospects for tomorrow.

 

We have a small contingent who are not showing today staying here to ride this afternoon. Tough call. They wanted to watch everyone else ride and we gave them the choice, but they decided to get in more riding here. Ruby, Katie, and Leslie will get a full afternoon’s worth of riding.

 

Questions on when to “skip a ride”:

The previous paragraph about making the choice on whether to watch the show or stay and get in more riding is a good segue into some thoughts on that general issue. Meghan and I both work hard to make Longacres the best it can be for everyone. We agree on 95% of the decisions to be made here. Now that Meghan has taken over so many of the responsibilities of running the business, I usually defer to her judgement on those few times we disagree.

 

One of those issues involves how we make decisions to skip a scheduled ride for various reasons. Our slogan is “Longacres – Where else can you ride five hours a day?” That’s why many of you chose Longacres in the first place.

 

Meghan and I both work hard to make the regular schedule work so that we have five lessons in a normal day. Our difference in approach is subtle. I look at the promise of five riding lessons a day as a goal for a normal day at Longacres with no other special issues. Meghan (probably because she is an extremely organized person who lives off her notes and planners) considers the promise of five lessons a day to be gospel. She is afraid that we’re guilty of false advertising if we don’t get in all of those five lessons if it is humanly possible. Every day!

 

We are both sensitive to our responsibility to provide the riding program we promise on our website when you are here at Longacres. But when I was making more of the daily decisions, if I sensed that the girls were getting a little tired I was quicker than Meghan to ask, “Do you guys want a late sleep in tomorrow morning?” Or to schedule a midweek trip to an afternoon movie on a hot day. Or to skip an evening ride to show more of the video we took earlier in the day. I was comfortable if students left here telling their friends, “A lot of times we ride five hours a day, but we often change the schedule for something special.” Meghan really wants students to leave here and tell their friends, “Yes, we really do ride five hours a day almost all the time.”

 

So now you know something about some of the conversations we have behind the scenes at Longacres. And some of the hard choices to be made balancing getting the most possible riding in a day vs. making some extra time to get rested and kick back. There’s not one right answer.

 

July 9^th, 10 PM Update:

It’s been a very busy day and we’re in for three more very busy days! Today it was preparing for the horse shows and doing some end of session fun things here at the farm. Tomorrow the jumper show at Hasty Hills, then Saturday the hunter show at Hasty Hills (if it does not get rained on too heavily which, sadly, looks possible. We’ll hope it is not a complete washout so that we can get in all the classes in between showers if it rains.

 

Sunday we have ten girls going home and nine new ones coming in to take their places. To say that will be a busy day is an understatement!!!! Monday? Meghan and I are going to crash and let our fine staff run the show themselves for a day!

 

Check this link for some pictures from today, including the “horse wedding” planned mostly by Ruby and Griffin, but with lots of help from everyone else. It was a kid planned and kid run event and went off well! Enjoy the “wedding pictures”!

 

This morning Tracy jumped Horatio pretty darn high – almost as high as when we tested him for the first time over big fences two summers ago. It was near 3’9” today, perhaps an inch or so less. It was over the new light house jump. I did NOT have my camera with meL

 

Then tonight it was CIT Heather’s turn to shine. Heather has shined in many ways, as a counselor in training, assistant instructor, Quantum Rider, trainer of Country, and enjoyer of many new challenges. After dinner tonight she told Meghan that she had not yet ridden Diesel and wanted to before she left for home. OK – so I was watching her and considering the fact that she is a strong, secure rider and had Diesel listening well. So we began jumping Diesel. At first he was knocking down rails carelessly as he sometimes does. I looked all over for our heaviest rails to give him a little lesson. Didn’t make much difference. So I tried different kinds of approaches and finally the ticket turned out to be trotting in and giving a big push at the last minute. Diesel could keep track of his feet better that way. Check the picture in today’s album for the result. Diesel and Heather set an all time jumping record for Diesel, clearing about 2’9”.

 

A busy day. More fun to come tomorrow! (See why I only posted once, Amy?)

 

Info for Parents in the area:

We usually go out to dinner at Pasquale’s restaurant after a show. Depending on the weather Saturday, we will likely have eight families represented in the area and planning to attend the show. We hope some of you can join us for the group dinner and end of session get together. To help us plan, please email or call and let us know if you are likely to attend.

 

July 9^th, 5PM Update:

Check this link for a video of Natasha riding Zanee. Natasha is thinking about taking Zanee home for the winter and this video is partly for her trainer at home to see and partly for all of us to enjoy. It came out very well. Nice horsey! Another update coming after dinner or later this evening.

 

July 8^th, 4PM Update:

We’re getting things pretty well organized for the Hasty Hills show Friday and Saturday. Scroll down for some details. And check this link later this afternoon for some nice pictures taken out on the cross country course this afternoon. Meghan thinks she got some good ones.

 

We’re headed into town tonight for a quick dinner out on the cook’s night off. We’re not going for a full movie, etc experience, since we wanted to get in a full riding schedule this afternoon. Just dinner and a little relaxed time.

 

I am waiting right now for a call from Meghan to go back out in the woods and take pictures on the old hunt course. She’s sitting there doing office work as she waits for the trail ride to arrive. It’s a nice day and I don’t feel sorry for her.

 

July 7^th, 8PM Update:

Today was an all around good day.

Everyone was in good spirits, which somewhat surprised me since they were up so late last night watching video. We worried about that, but there was simply no other time to watch the video of the show.

 

Everyone has chosen horses and we have a good plan for the shows at Hasty Hills on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. We’ll be there with ten or eleven horses total.

 

Ruby has taken over Kellie H’s job as the desert thief. Kellie used to make me laugh before she went home to Texas, because when there was a really good desert, she would either race me up to the kitchen counter for first choice on desserts, or she would sneak up before I saw the good dessert and then smirk at me like she had “won” by getting there first. Anyway, tonight we had strawberry shortcake (but I didn’t know it). Suddenly this quiet little voice from Ruby said, “Tom – “, as she took a big bite of shortcake and smirked at me. It was obvious that she was officially claiming Kellie’s old title of master dessert thief!

 

But maybe not for long. Ruby has to leave this weekend – sniff, sniff, boo-hoo. And it is now official that Kellie is flying back to Longacres from Texas to spend the full August session with us. So I will STILL have to watch out that I get my share of the good desserts!!!

 

After the hard riding we did this morning, the girls had lighter lessons and trail rides in the afternoon. Our trails are really being well used this year – good thing, because of all the work I put into them in the off season! Then tonight there were two short lessons and a lot of mounted games and plain old fun on horses. During the two lessons, Alexa and Griffin worked out a little tiny “drill team” pattern with just their two horses. Usually there are eight to twelve on a drill team. They were laughing hysterically when I showed up and they asked me to watch them. They were good, with meshes, leader switches, and other good stuff. I clapped for them when they finished and we were all laughing. Then I said, “You think that’s fun? How about this?” And I got back in my car and said, “Now we’ll do a REAL drill team – you guys follow me!”

 

So Griffin and Alexa began to follow my Toyota as I drove patterns all around the dressage ring and Hilltop riding areas, doing figure eights, tight turns around trees and whatever I could think of that seemed like being a horse. At first we just trotted, but then I started calling instructions out the car window and I would come around a corner and speed up while I went straight along the side of the driveway and the girls would canter after me. Then we’d transition down to a trot and make another turn. It was hilarious! Suddenly Katie Junior shouted out, “Can I join?” So she joined in as a single following behind Alexa and Griffin and we did the whole pattern again. The whole group had by now stopped their lessons and were all laughing at us!

 

Then it began to rain just as the girls were riding back to the barn. Destiny’s group made it to the barn before the rain, but Katie’s got wet! Then as I drove out the driveway from the barn, the sun came out while it was still raining. I was treated to one of nature’s good spectacles, with the rain drops sparkling in the sunset, and sure enough, a big rainbow! A good evening, all in all!

 

July 7^th, 3:30 PM Update:

Check this link for some nice new pictures of the girls today. After working with these girls for a week, I am talking with Katie, Destiny, and Alexa and we are trying to pick the most important single thing each girl needs to improve and come up with appropriate exercises for the rest of the week. The picture album shows multiple pictures of Jamie and Drisana, both of whom worked one on one with Tom today. There are captions explaining what we were doing.

 

Check this link for the picture of the day in a larger size!

 

July 7^th, 11:30 AM:

Check this link for a bunch of new pictures, some informals from last night and a few of the girls jumping cross country fences when I taught them this morning. I didn’t get pics of everyone this morning because I was coaching the girls and trying to take a few pictures. Some horses I wanted to pay closer attention, so I didn’t get a picture.

 

I really enjoy teaching this group. When they showed up on the field to do the Pulverman, I casually told them they could stay to the left of the Pulverman jump waiting their turn and I would let them stand anyplace they want and just relax with no criticism from me. Or they could stand waiting their turn on the right side of the jump, if they wanted to practice having their horses standing straight & square and fully under control. I am gratified to report that everyone chose the latter. Mostly with good success.

 

Everyone, from the youngest right up through our CIT’s, Heather & Tracy, did both the Pulverman and the Bank jump. DIESEL did the bank jump!!!!!!! Max was WONDERFUL doing the bank jump!!!!!!!!! Check the pictures!

 

July 7^th, 8AM Update:

Hasty Hills Horse Show information:

The show this weekend is (inconveniently for us, but good for many people in different situations!), spread over two days. We are almost certainly going both days. The show for jumpers begins at 1PM Friday. We would have most of our girls in the first class. The show Saturday begins at 9AM, and we would have some in the first class. We will post tonight (Tuesday) a much better list of which girls will show each day and about what time.

 

Directions to the show:

From Main Street in East Aurora, take rte #20A (Main Street) east for several miles out of town. Turn right at the “Y” intersection onto rte #78. Follow #78 for about 12 miles to Java Center. Watch for Pitt Road on the right. Turn onto Pitt Road and the farm will be a short distance down the road.

 

More updates coming later today.

 

(Personal Rant: I rarely watch TV during the summer because of our schedule, though I am a bit of a political and news junkie. But I try to get a quick CNN update a couple of times a day while I’m in the house working on website updates so I can keep track of what’s going on in the world. Not this week. Solid Michael Jackson stuff, as you all know if you watch ANY cable news channel. I just don’t get it. I think it’s the ultimate media driven hype event. I am stunned that the media – and presumably some of you out there equate the Jackson thing to a presidential death and are giving it this near 24 – 7 coverage. Oh, well. Maybe just a sign of my advancing age!)

 

 

 

July 6^th, 5PM Update:

It was a relaxing day at Longacres for horses and riders. Some riders were still pretty tired from yesterday, so it was good to be having an easy schedule. After returning from Laundry and “Town Day”, we tacked up and had a relaxed lesson. Then it was time for everyone to have a chance to get their picture taken jumping our star horse, Quantum. So that he didn’t get over used, we let only the girls who have not ridden him yet this session do the jumping today. Heather and Jamie and Alexa showed him yesterday so there are plenty of pictures of them. Check this link for the pictures. There are also pictures of some of the other girls jumping the butterfly jump with different horses and ponies. (Sophie was feeling tired out, so she’ll get a chance later in the week.)

 

July 6^th Update:

Everyone is sleeping late this morning after a long day of excitement at the show yesterday. The horses have this morning off, also, but we’ll be riding a regular schedule later today. Hope you guys at home are enjoying all the show pictures at this link. Remember, they’ll be deleted in a few days to save server space.

 

Hi, Kellie! You get the award for most regular e-mailer this week. Kellie went home after mother – daughter week, but has sent us her own brand of “Updates” every day since she left. We’re all enjoying reading them and are glad to know that Kellie thinks of us so often with all her other summer activities. One of the bonuses of Longacres for Meghan and I is getting to really know some of you who correspond with us all year round, or at least for a few months before and after you actually attend Longacres. Some of you become almost like family to us!

 

Another regular e-mailer, Emily, is arriving at Longacres in just 6 more days for her 2009 session. Can’t wait to see you, Emily.

 

Remember the Hasty Hills Show this Friday and Saturday.

 

July 5^th, 10PM Update:

We had a great show today, especially considering it was the 4th of July weekend and so many people have other plans. We had 62 horses show. Our Longacres girls did very well, including (well, I can’t begin to remember who won what this late at night, but I’ll mention a few.) – Alexa and Quantum Reserve Champion schooling jumper; Petra did the first ever full course on Diesel in a show without knocking anything down or running out on a jump. Outstanding job, Petra!!!!!! Griffin did a great job riding Merlin in jumpers and Chesney in the ring – and lots of ribbons. Sophie was also wonderful in jumpers and came within a whisker of winning one of the classes against all the other horses! Probably our strongest rides came from Heather and Tracy – they showed Quantum, Brody, Horatio, and others between them and really got Brody going. We’ll try to post some more specific news tomorrow on more of the riders. In the meantime, check this link for almost 200 pictures from the show today. Look at them tonight or tomorrow. There are so many that I’ll delete the album from our server in a day or two.

 

We usually give the horses Sunday off every week. With the show, that wasn’t possible so we are splitting up the horse’s day of rest. We rested them a little each of the past two days. Tomorrow will be a sleep in for the girls and then town day for laundry. The girls will get back early from Laundry and ride all afternoon and evening after giving the horses another half day of rest.

 

There are a few scattered rain events in the forecast this week but it will be generally dry with cooler than normal temperatures – great riding weather!

 

Next show is Hasty Hills Farm in Java, NY about 18 miles from here. The jumpers will go Friday afternoon. We’ll find out the exact time and post it tomorrow. All other classes will be on Saturday beginning pretty early – will post time tomorrow.

 

July 4^th, 10PM Update:

The show grounds are in great shape and we are well prepared for tomorrow’s show at Longacres. We never know how many horses will show up until the morning of the show. We rather expect this show to be small because of the holiday weekend and all the family parties and vacations. But sometimes we are surprised on days like this. We look at it as a win-win. If it is a small show our girls get tons of ribbons and win lots of Championships. If it’s a big show on the other hand, each ribbon that one of the girls does win is that much more meaningful.

 

We have posted over 100 new pictures at this link. Sorry, no time for captions tonight!

 

 

July 4^th, 6PM Update:

Gorgeous sunny day, exciting riding on all the big horse show courses, couldn’t get much better! The footing is perfect in both rings for tomorrow’s show with temps in the mid 70’s. There will be another update later tonight and lots of pictures to post of the girls jumping the nice show jumps!

 

July 3^rd, 11PM Update:

Check this link for some pictures of the girls at the town park fireworks tonight. The first pictures show everyone laying around on all the blankets we took to the event, sharing “cookie cakes”. (Tom did get his share!)

 

There are a few more pictures of Meghan and the girls up close to the band with Meghan dancing and slowly getting everyone else fired up. By the end, everyone was dancing. Believe it or not, one of the best dancers was one of our youngest. Sophie rocks!

 

Everyone is headed to bed or in bed, and they get to sleep a little late tomorrow morning. Then horsecare and one morning ride. Then a group session finishing setting the jump courses for the show. Then after lunch, we do some serious practice on the course now that we FINALLY have some dry weather. Footing should be good to excellent by the afternoon on the big course.

 

The small show ring is pretty wet, but it should be OK by Sunday. We had 17 tons of sand delivered today to spread around the wet spots in the ring.

 

Five PM Update:

The sun is out, we have a nice breeze, and only slight chance of more rain showers. The ground should be perfect for our show on Sunday!

 

July 3^rd. 2PM Update:

Finally,

Our weather is beginning to improve. There’s been no rain today and now only a slight chance the rest of the day. The sun is beginning to poke through, and the weekend looks very good, with mostly sunshine and cool temperatures both days. The ground on our big show field should have perfect footing on Sunday. The small show ring may have a few wet spots, but we’re having a dump truck load of sand delivered this afternoon so that the footing should be pretty good everyplace in that ring, as well.

 

The girls have missed very little riding time all week and we only went to “Plan B”, riding in the barn, one short hour. The only thing we regret is that we’ve only been able to practice partial courses during the week. Our only real full scale practice riding jump courses will be tomorrow afternoon when the footing on the outside course will be getting pretty good. But we’ve practiced all the basics of good horsemanship, riding lines of jumps, doing good turns, and everything else needed to do well in a show. I think the girls will do well Sunday.

 

We hope to get a few pictures later today, but no guarantees. We are very busy getting ready for the horse show.

 

July 2^nd, 11PM Update:

Kone King! An all time record!

Check this link for a few pictures from our first Kone King trip of this session. Like so many things in this session, this crew took to the activity at hand like ducks to water. Their first time to Kone King, they set an All Time Longacres record for the biggest bill ever! These chicks like ice cream! Usually most of the girls order a small dish of ice cream or a soft serve cone, with chocolate dip and sprinkles, if they are adventurous. Not this group. It was Banana Splits and supersize cones right out of the gate!

 

A Tribute to the Parents:

On a more serious note, Meghan and I would like to take a moment tonight to commend the way the parents of this session’s students have brought up your children. There is not one girl here who has not cheerfully pitched in to do her share of the work around the barn, been nice to the other girls, filled with laughter and good humor, cooperated with Meghan and I, wanted to learn, accepted training and riding suggestions from us and the counselors, and generally been wonderful Longacres students. This is true from time to time during sessions when many of our students are second, third, and fourth year Longacres girls. But it is rare to have this great a group composed 75% of girls new to Longacres. Often one will be a bit homesick, another a good student but a bit lazy doing barn work, and perhaps someone a little difficult to get along with. Not this session. We’d have these girls back individually or as a group anytime! They have been well brought up. Good job, parents – take a bow!

 

July 2^nd, 6PM Update:

Check this link for a few more pictures, taken at the end of the afternoon in Sunshine, thank you very much! Our footing comes back quickly after a rain on our fields, so we jumped some real horse show like lines, and a few bigger oxers with Tracy and Heather. Both Tracy and Heather signed up for Longacres as CIT’s because those were the final two spots we had. But they are both going to begin coming to counselor meetings and would like to help teach some lessons. Nice girls and good riders. They are the kind of people we like to groom for future instructor jobs.

 

July 2^nd, 3:30 PM:

Spending Money refund checks:

Our apologies to the people in our early June weeks for the delay in getting you your spending money account refund checks. Cheryl and Alex both work on this stuff, and they both had personal vacations in mid June. We’ve been tabulating this week, and the first refund checks are going in the mail today and tomorrow. We should be caught up soon. Thanks for your patience1

 

Back at Longacres:

The sun is out again, yahoo! We watched lots of slow motion video of everyone after lunch, and they are all down at the barn getting on horses again for afternoon rides. More rain is expected off and on through mid-day tomorrow and then it will finally begin drying out. It looks like five days in a row of mostly sunny weather. The footing on our big show field should be very good on Sunday. The inside ring dries slower and will have a few wet spots, but be very rideable.

 

Our girls have pretty well chosen who they will show. We’ll be practicing tomorrow and Saturday on their show horses. We won’t really be able to ride many full courses until the footing firms up Saturday afternoon. In the meantime we’ll work on control, individual jumps, and short combinations to get ready.

 

July 2^nd, noon Update:

Check this link for a few wet camper pictures! Actually, they had just been in the barn doing games and a horse grooming contest when these pics were taken, and they were pretty cheerful. But they had been bummed out a little earlier. Everyone got on for the first ride of the morning and then it started to rain. They toughed it out and got soaked before giving in and going back to the barn. Some were not so cheerful. But it is a good group, and as you can see in some of the pictures, the mood was good again very soon. The rain has ended for the moment and they are tacking up to ride another set of horses.

 

AND – a few more pictures of some of the girls who got back on horses and experienced brief SUNSHINE!

 

July 2^nd, 9AM Update:

Points Mistake:

For those of you from the Summer Horse Show Series who check in to this blog, note that I posted updated points last night. But I made a big mistake on the spreadsheet and it ignores all of the last show at Longacres. I will post corrected points later today. Sorry for the mistake.

 

The sun briefly poked through a few minutes ago. We expect another day of scattered rain today, but should get in most of our riding. We need to review the video tape taken of everyone the past couple of days, so we’ll take time for that after lunch. Even though we have missed very little riding, the on and off rain this week is beginning to add up to very muddy horse pastures and horse trails. We have to get through one more unsettled weather day and then it looks like five days in a row with mostly sun. It will be nice to dry out!

 

I walked in to breakfast this morning to much laughter and chatter in spite of all the mud around the barn. In fact there was great merriment at the expense of several girls (and counselors!) who had fallen SPLAT in one mud patch or another this morning.

 

The high spirits were partly due to a couple of food & drink spills at the breakfast table. This has been a common occurrence lately. A camp owner is tempted to ask the girls to be a little more careful with their food passing and goofing off at meals. But a wise camp owner knows that some spilled food is a small price to pay for good spirits at Longacres, and keeping our spoil sport – adult mouths shut is the better choice in this case!

 

My morning includes fixing the incorrect horse show points file, stopping in at the barn to watch the girls ride and see how everyone is doing, take a few pictures, and some farm maintenance planning. Now that Longacres is open and running for the season we have to turn our maintenace efforts to long term projects. There is a rotten spot on the Pixie-Oakwood cabin roof that needs attention, and an improved electric service to the wash room building. Stuff that takes time and money but which the girls never notice. Also planning where to put some new gravel on trails to get rid of some of the mud, but that will have to wait for some good, dry weather.

 

July 1^st, 10PM Update:

The girls all seemed to have a fine time at the mall and were in great spirits during the ride back to Longacres, chattering about which horses they want to ride in the show. When we got home, I took five minutes and had each girl tell me the horses and events they’d like to do in the show. Everyone had good ideas and appropriate class choices. We may have to make accommodations on the choices for a few of the most popular horses, like Merlin! Lots of people want to show him. But there are lots of classes and we should be able to share the horses like Merlin. I was pleased that many riders have found a particular favorite already that they’d like to show, some with real challenges that will stretch their abilities. I really liked both the enthusiasm and the sense of cooperation and openness to suggestions that I got during this talk. This is a good group.

 

Most of you parents at home probably heard from your student today. If you have any feedback you think might be useful to us, either email or phone us. Even the smallest complaint, we’d like to hear in case it’s something we’re not aware of or might be able to do something about. (If they complained about the wet ground, forget it! We’ve got to live with that for another day or two.) Although this group appears very cohesive and in good spirits to us, if your daughter expressed any issues with another camper or one of our staff, let us know. We might not do anything openly about it, but that’s the kind of thing we like to know about and monitor. AND, if you want to tell us how wonderful we are, that’s also acceptable!

 

PS – Meghan and I did go to a movie. I stayed awake all the way through. Meghan did not. She is maintaining her perfect record of falling asleep during movies in the camp season. She works harder than I do!

 

July 1^st, 4:02 PM Update:

Rain!

We’re outa here!

 

July 1^st, 3:30 PM:

Oops!

The weather held through early afternoon, so we could have gotten in at least part of the 3:00 ride. But the skies are getting darker so our decision to take a break this afternoon may still look good by the end of the day. The girls will get their cell phones at about 4:30 so you might hear from them or you could call them between that time and about 8:30 this evening. Most will go to a movie along with getting dinner at the Galleria. A cute picture of Alexa arriving is posted at this link along with one of Ruby and her “wedding planner” gang!

 

July 1^st, 2:30 PM Update:

Welcome Alexa!

Alexa Riddle is back at Longacres for her fourth year, and her second as a counselor and instructor. Alexa arrived late this morning after attending a leadership training event that conflicted with the first two days of our Longacres session. Glad to have you back, Alexa, and it will help everything continue to run smoothly at Longacres this summer having one more person on the staff.

 

Our luck with the weather was at least interrupted late this morning when it rained in the middle of the second morning lesson. Our girls are tough chicks, though! They continued the lesson right through a pretty decent rain shower.

 

Now comes another test this afternoon. Will we look smart or will we look dumb? With an eye on the weather, we’ve been planning since yesterday to let Cheryl our cook have her night off tonight and take the girls out for one of our weekly mall/movie/dinner outings. We usually wait until near the end of the first week of a session to do any kind of field trip, but with the off and on rain this week, we thought it would give the girls a nice chance to get cleaned up and dried out and rested if we took a break on what is supposed to be another rainy day.

 

So the rain that dumped on the girls at 11:45 this morning helped us look smart. Surely, wet riders would appreciate a chance to check out “civilization” this afternoon. But right at this moment, the sun is shining again. We will look a little dumb if we drive out from the barn this afternoon during gorgeous riding weather! But help may be on the way from mother nature; as of 2:30, a line of thunder storms is showing up on radar coming this way. With luck, there will be impressive rain when it’s time for us to leave for the mall and we’ll look like we planned well!

 

PS: Cindy, my cupcake was delicious! I don’t know how you knew that white cake with chocolate frosting was one of my favorite things. – tsk

 

Check this link for a few more pictures when we post them later today.

 

July 1^st, 11AM Update:

One more day of “80% Chance of rain – one more morning of fine riding weather at Longacres. I know our good fortune is bound to run out, but so far we are lucking out again!

 

We jumped higher this morning! The girls had a chance to choose their own height (within reason!) for the video session this morning. Check the pictures at this link.

 

Thanks to Katie Jr’s mom, Cindy, for dropping off cupcakes for the girls after lunch treat today. It’s handy when one of your parents lives so close by.

 

We’ve got a field trip to town planned for late afternoon and this evening, so you at home are likely to hear from your loved ones at Longacres. They will have their cell phones for the afternoon, probably from about 4pm until 8pm.

 

June 30^th, 9PM Update:

90% Chance of Rain, my foot!

OK, it did sprinkle a little at the beginning of the 11 o’clock ride. But we got in all five hours of riding today, mostly in plenty of sunshine and improving footing all day. Evening ride just finished. And, guess what? We jumped Diesel. I mean REALLY jumped him! Petra was riding him and he respects her since she is a pretty strong girl. She trotted over a couple of X-rails at first, knocking them down as he so often does. But then I worked with her, got him to canter, and helped Petra get him really listening. We set up a small vertical jump, got Diesel lined up and in a good canter, and he jumped it beautifully! Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, he did it again just as well. I swear that Diesel will jump a full course before the end of the summer!

 

Check this link for more pictures taken just an hour ago this evening.

 

AND – It is 15 hours and 14 minutes until Alexa gets here!

Alexa is our third instructor this summer, but she only just finished school herself, so she arrives tomorrow for the rest of the summer. We are very pleased with Destiny and Katie and the great work they have done opening Longacres and running our June programs. But Alexa brings three years of previous Longacres experience and a great personality. She will really be a help and add something to Longacres. We can’t wait until tomorrow!

 

June 30^th, 5:30 PM:

We must be doing something right!

Thank you, mother nature, for one more lovely sunny hour. We just finished the 3 and 4PM lessons in lovely summer weather. Not bad to get in four lessons with only a short shower on the second lesson when it was supposed to be 90% rain today! Radar shows no rain close by, so we may get the evening ride in also. If not, we’ve done well today already.

 

I just got back from the barn where I taught Drisana, Tracy, Sophie, Leslie, and Natasha a part of a lesson. We talked about the theory of setting fences for a course and figuring out striding, then did a two stride combination and took video for later analysis. Sophie and Natasha did especially well on Bobert and Horatio.

 

I forgot to report another piece of good news from the vet. Quantum has been tossing his head more than he used to lately. I thought it could be just a new habit when he is up during a serious ride. But I wondered if he had a tooth problem that was bothering him with the bit when the rider picked up a little contact, so we had the vet check him out. Sure enough, there were a couple of very rough spots on his teeth, so he was tranquilized and had his teeth filed. I am hopeful that this will cure the head toss problem and make him a happier horse. It’s nice when you find out there is a reason for a mysterious behavior!

 

June 30^th, 4PM Update:

Another fine hour of riding! There was nothing but bright sunshine for most of the 3pm ride and all the trail rides and lessons ran on schedule. Drisana sat out for a shower which she said revitalized her and felt wonderful after getting wet this morning! Sophie rested for an hour and hung around the barn with Meghan and Drisana. They were all laughing and having fun when I was there a few minutes ago. Five hours a day is a lot of riding and the girls are encouraged to sit out and relax now and then if they’re feeling tired.

 

The weather radar picture looks very promising for the final ride of the afternoon, and we might even get in the evening ride in this “bubble” of rain free conditions. The sun is still shining as I write at 4:11 PM.

 

The vet came for a routine visit this morning and mostly confirmed observations we had made on our own with various horse conditions. One piece of news is not so good, and Meghan is bummed to know that good old Kingsley’s bowed tendon is acting up and that his already light work load should be cut even more. We bought Kingsley two years ago knowing that he had a history of tendon problems, but his personality was so great that we bought him anyway. He has done very, very well for us with light work. He is an old horse, so it is not surprising that the tendon problem is worse at this point. We’ll be giving him more time off completely and even lighter occasional work. Stay tuned, but not great news about one of our very useful beginner horses.

 

Besides that, we got what I call good news on ShaBang, who has been very slightly off for several weeks. The vet and our farrier agree that he has no serious problem, but some soft tissue bruising, most likely caused by an injury from another horse in the pasture. The vet advised another week or two of complete rest. I am concerned about the horse losing all muscle tone if he gets no exercise, so we are likely to give him a little light work and monitor his condition. We had the vet look at Horatio’s warts under his eye, which he’s had for a couple of years. They are no worse, and there is a treatment you can go through which will remove the warts, but it makes the skin yucky for a couple of months. We probably won’t do it this summer, but will give whoever takes him for the winter the option of doing it in the fall. It doesn’t bother him. We checked Zanee’s respiration because she has been coughing when ridden hard. As we expected, there is some respiratory impairment (heaves ). We got some medication that will help quite a bit. Zanee has been happily jumping and feeling good between occasional coughs. So that’s the most up to date news on the various “older horse ailments”. Nothing we didn’t know already, with the better analysis of Kingsley’s tendon problem the only thing that will really affect our use of a horse in a serious way.

 

The above is balanced by the very good news that our newest horses, Lincoln and Chesney, went wonderfully this morning and are ahead of schedule in their Longacres training program. They are the new additions who will be very useful for us for a long time as some of the older horses must have their work loads cut or be retired. Too bad horses aren’t like cars, where if you really like an old car, you can cut out the whole rear end and go get a new one and keep the car running forever!

 

June 30^th, 1PM Update:

Not bad;

We just got tacked up for the second lesson when it started raining pretty hard for a few minutes. We ducked back into the barn briefly, but it soon let up and we were back out in just some light sprinkles riding and jumping. By the end of the lesson, the sun was out again. (See the pictures at this link for proof!)

 

Jamie did a great job on Quantum and will be riding him again. She is a small girl and I didn’t know if he would respect her, but he seemed to like her light weiht on his back and he was very responsive to her. She rode carefully and made him behave. It was a good session for him. There are pictures in this morning’s album.

 

I especially liked two other horse – rider combo’s from this morning. Tracy rides Horatio very well and did some good jumps on him. Griffin rode Chesney and put in the best jumping lines I’ve seen from this new and promising horse all summer long. Fine job, Griffy!!!! She will be showing him this weekend! Enjoy this morning’s pictures.

 

June 30^th, 11AM Update:

So far, so good:

Considering that we have a 90% chance of rain forecast for today, we’re off to a good start. It rained heavily last night just as the girls were done with all their barn chores and heading for bed. The only thing that got canceled was a surprise “Cookie Cake” party in the bunks – Meghan would have been drenched if she took the cake to them. It will be tonight instead.

 

It was drizzly when we got up for horse care this morning, but it cleared up nicely with the sun poking out for our first ride this morning. Everyone got to jump, taking care in the corners because of the wet ground. They are tacking up for the second morning ride as I write, with darker clouds close by, but some sun still peeking through. Good chance that we’ll get in the second morning ride without resorting to plan “B” in the barn! For this afternoon, we can only hope for the best. Most of the rain is over to our southwest right along the lake Erie shore, and perhaps it will stay there – but perhaps not. I’m not complaining – the weather at Longacres has been way better than forecast during the first two days of this session! And it will begin improving significantly on Thursday. Just one more real iffy day to go.

 

I am about to head back to the barn to help Jamie try out Quantum. She has shown good control and a secure seat and is one of the first three riders this session to get on our big guy, after Tracy and Heather. We’ll try to get some pictures. Check this link later this morning or at lunch time.

 

June 29^th, late night:

Check this link for a YouTube video of Heather jumping Quantum over a pretty big gymnastic combination ealier this evening. Pretty nice!

 

June 29^th, 9PM:

Thanks to Emily for the following email about “Waiting for your camp session at Longacres”!

hi tom and meghan,

 

save me from this horrible condition! 

 

LONGACRES SESSION- WAITING SYNDROME! 

13 more days until i can be saved. what am i supposed to do? I MISS YOU GUYS SO MUCH.

 

13 more days..... i can do this......

 

emily

 

p.s. i have checked the website 8 times today. 8. that is ridiculous.

 

OK – Tom took advantage of the great footing and nice weather after dinner to school some of the girls over jumps a little bigger than we were doing during our early “get acquainted with the horses rides” yesterday and today. It will be fun to review these video’s tomorrow if it’s raining out. Heather rode Quantum and did a great job schooling him on the flat and then over a three jump gymnastic. She jumped pretty big! We may put it up on YouTube later tonight.

 

Check this link for a couple of pictures of Ruby and Katie jr. making check lists for the “horse wedding” – Ruby has quite a plan with different horses being led by all our students in a horse wedding ceremony, to be completed during a rain period tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

June 29^th, 7PM:

Following is an email we got from Kellie this morning. Kellie was at Longacres for the past three weeks, her third summer with us. She left in the middle of the night early Sunday morning to catch a dawn flight home to Texas. (That’ll explain the “yall”.)

 

hey yall,

 

the morning i left it was soo sad taking one last look at all my new friends i made sleeping. i couldnt stop crying after that, but i fell asleep to shut myself up! right now i am in the car on the way to my beach house. man it is hottt in texas!! anyways  i cant stop thinking about you guys its insane. if its not about longacres, its about merlin. if not merlin, its ebony and the possibility of taking her for the winter. dang i really do belong at longacres. if there was webcam on emails, my face would be red and wet with tears. not dandy. i rlly loved the counselors this year. they are trustworthy, good teachers, and most of all, hilarious!!! we had soo many inside jokes its insane. katie and destiny, yall HAVE to come next year! i'd die without u guys. i thought i would get better this year about leaving u guys at the end of my session but it just got worse!! probly cuz the couselors, my new (and old) friends, merlin & ebony, and tom and meghan!!!!!! well i just arrived at my beach house so ill try to keep the emails comming and care packages arriving. i love yall so much and im going crazy i miss yall so much!!!

have a dandy summer;)

Kellie

 

June 29^th, 6PM Update:

Lake Shadow!

Heavy rain and thunder storms have rumbled through western New York all afternoon, but not a drop here at Longacres, where we got in all our scheduled riding in great conditions! Thanks to “Lake Shadow”, a term well known to regular readers of this blog. When the winds are from the southwest, Lake Erie has a big effect on our weather in the immediate vicinity of Longacres. In the winter, those SWwinds pick up lots of moisture from the lake and we have heavy snow. But in the summer, the cooler breeze off the lake stabilizes the atmosphere passing well inland from the lake, and we often have rain free periods when it is raining and generating thunderstorms to our north and south. That was the situation today.

 

Tomorrow, unfortunately, we are in for a much more widespread rain event. But at least we’ve lucked out into pretty good riding conditions for the first two days of this session. And tomorrow we’ll make the best of it, riding between rain showers and even using our plan “B” and riding in turns inside the barn with some mounted games and exercises.

 

(As I write, it is getting darker outside. Whether or not we have a dry after dinner ride is in question!)

 

Check this link for more pictures from Meghan’s camera to be osted after dinner.

 

 

June 29^th, 4PM Update:

The weather has been wonderful all day and we’ve done lots of jumping and some trail rides for our new students to explore more of the farm. Everyone had a chance to do a small course on the big show field. All the girls were eager to do that, some chomping at the bit last night and asking, “When can we jump the big course?” Many found out that there is a good reason why we take our time preparing new riders to jump that course. Everyone did “ok”, but there were lots of bad turns, poor approaches to jumps, and some run-outs. I think we are now going to have more understanding of the need for step by step preparation! A little “humility” sometimes does wonders. But they had fun, and we got it all on video, so there will be good chances to review it and learn more.

 

Lots of new pictures from this morning now posted at this link. No captions, since we are pretty busy today.

 

June 29^th, 6:30 AM:

Promising weather for this morning. There’s some sunshine poking through early this morning and only a 30% chance of rain today as of the latest forecasts. We should get in a full riding schedule even if there is a scattered shower. The weather pattern for the rest of the week is becoming a little clearer. Tomorrow looks like the day with the most rain when we’ll have to use our ingenuity, and then gradually improving conditions with scattered rain the rest of the week. The NOAA weather forecast discussion suggests that rain showers will be more numerous later in the day the next two days. If that forecast is the same by tonight, we may get up very early the next two days and get in a couple of early morning lessons. We’ll monitor the weather closely (as we always do!!!).

 

Watch for pictures at this link by lunch time. With the likely good weather this morning we should be able to get some nice jumping pictures!

 

Thanks to Debra H, Sam, and Sydney for their nice note yesterday and to Kellie for her email to all the camp this morning. We miss all of you from last session very, very much, and Longacres is less dandy without you!

 

June 28^th, 10PM Update:

And courteous, too!

This session’s kids are coming together fast, with lots of joking and good spirits. A picture is worth a thousand words, and today’s album shows the girls having a good time! When they came up to the house tonight to watch the video we took this afternoon, there was a lot of horsing around and rather loud talk in the video room while we waited for the final group of riders to come up from the barn. I braced myself for the possibility that we would have to chastise one or more for not paying attention while we reviewed the video – that happens sometimes.

 

But they were great. We did quiet everyone and explain the rules before we started, but then they paid close attention to the video and to my comments. They laughed when it was appropriate but were very attentive when I had something to contribute. It was the way it should be and I enjoyed the session. After the video session several of the new girls asked me for suggestions on certain things about their riding. I have a good feeling about this group, especially since there are more than half first time Longacres students here this session.

 

June 28^th, 7PM Update:

Not bad, so far!

The weather and all. After some drizzle this morning during which the girls got in plenty of riding, the sun came out for our afternoon ride and is shining brightly as I write just before a late dinner. Most of the girls will have been on five or six horses by the time they go to bed tonight. That’s more than we do most opening days, but we wanted to get in every hour we could because of the showers expected on and off for much of the week. We have a head start.

 

We also took video of everyone this afternoon and will watch it at the main house after turning the horses out for the night. I’m already getting a good idea of what each rider ought to work on, and we’ll soon find out who wants to really concentrate.

 

I am enjoying the sunshine coming in through my window as I write this in front of the computer, with a weather radar display on the monitor showing another line of thunder storms heading our way about sundown.

 

June 28^th, 4PM – Bonding time!

Sometimes it is quiet for a while at the beginning of a new session before the girls really get to know one another and they bond into a group. Sort of a “calm before the storm” – a storm of laughter in this case. It was a bit quiet at the beginning of our first meal together (late afternoon lunch), in spite of Petra’s best efforts to fill the quiet. (Yes, Petra told us the minute she arrived that she “talks a lot” – and, yes, she does! I have been kidding Petra a bit about how much she talks, and she has taken it in good humor. I made a joke at lunch about putting a “gong show buzzer” under the table we could press when Petra passed her allotted talking time – a joke which Petra enjoyed, and caused great merriment to everyone else. That broke the ice – they all started competing to get a few words into the conversation and string of jokes. Check this link for pictures taken just a few minutes ago of everyone having a fine time and bonding into the next Longacres “team”!

 

Leslie, Max, and family did arrive safely a short while ago and Max is getting situated in his stall. Everyone is mounting up right now and riding a couple more horses before dinner, horse care, some video, and an early bed time tonight.

 

We are off to a good start for this session. (But we MISS you guys from last week very, very much!)

 

June 28^th, 3PM Update:

Almost everyone made it - - -

And Leslie & Max are on their way! For those of you keeping score at home, everyone scheduled to be at Longacres today has arrived safely. Except poor Leslie. She is bringing her own horse to Longacres from Pennsylvania and her van broke down this morning three hours from here. But they met someone nice with a truck who hooked onto the trailer and is hauling them all the way to East Aurora. There are good Samaritans still out there! Leslie and Max will be here in about an hour.

 

Jamie, Natasha, and Petra just arrived a little while ago from the airport. They will be riding horses right after a lunch break. Everyone else has ridden three horses already and will ride more after lunch. Heather arrived early and has ridden four horses already! Check this link for some slightly blurry iPhone pictures around the farm this morning. We’ll get better pictures of everyone riding this afternoon.

 

It has rained off and on today but not hard enough to stop us from riding. As I reported above, we’re getting on plenty of horses and everyone is jumping already. We’ll post more pictures at this link about dinner time!

 

The “goodbyes?” – Don’t ask! Meghan broke down and cried last night after everyone went to bed for their last night at Longacres during mother – daughter week. She knew that it had been a wonderful week for everyone. But she kept telling me, “Oh, I wish I had spent more time with this person, and that person, and that person!! And now I won’t see any of them again until next year!” But that’s not quite true. Laura and Ofelia are returning to be CIT’s later in the summer, which means we will see Sharon and Martha again. And others are talking about maybe returning later in the summer to at least visit, and some, perhaps, to return for a session later in the summer. It was a very good week with “The Dream Team”!

 

June 28^th, 7AM Update:

The Plan:

OK – we won’t lie to you. The weather forecast for this week is pretty crummy. But we’re committed to doing everything we can to keep our string of four straight weeks of happy students and customers going for the first week of the July sessions, in spite of mother nature. So we have a plan,

 

Sometimes if we have an especially rainy day during a regular session we’ll do off horse activities and resume riding the next day. But not this week. With many first time students and scattered showers every day through Thursday, we’re going to ride in some way or another every day as much as possible.

 

Today we will be playing musical horses with very short rides so that everyone will get to know as many new horses as possible. We’re going to try to get every new student on four or five different horses today just for short, get acquainted rides.

 

Then, beginning tomorrow, we will stick to a full riding schedule, with as many as possible on horses every scheduled riding hour of the day. If the showers let up even for a short time, we will have everyone out riding in the sand ring and other safe riding areas. If there is a light mist, everyone will be riding in the rain. If it rains harder, into the barn we go to try imaginative new mounted games and riding tests inside the barn. It’s not an indoor arena, but the main aisle is 180’ long and we’ve ridden inside many times in past years. We’ll have three or four horses that don’t kick tacked up at all time and keep taking turns doing mounted games and even low jumping in the aisle.

 

This is our “Plan B” for getting in as much riding as possible this week in spite of the weather. We’ll also have a discussion with all our new students after dinner tonight and see what ideas they bring from their home stables for similar riding exercises that can be done in confined spaces or even in the rain.

 

AND – Ta Da – maybe the weather forecast is too pessimistic and maybe it won’t rain so much, after-all. Actually the forecast is only for 40% to 60% chance of showers most days this week. Not sunny and cheery, but not a washout.

 

That’s the plan, folks!

 

June 27^th, 4PM Update:

Hi everyone,

Thanks to Northfield Farm for a great show today! All our girls had fun and won ribbons. Kellie was Champion in the lower hunter division on Merlin! We’ll announce many other results tonight. There will be pictures at this link.

 

We can’t wait to meet all our July session students tomorrow morning. See you all very Soon!!!

 

June 26^th, 9PM Update:

We were busy getting ready to go to the Northfield show today, so that’s why we haven’t posted an update until now. But we have lots of new pictures at this link. Some are from the great discussion session with visiting professional horseman, Peter Anderson, yesterday. Some from the “fun pretend horse show” last night!

 

We can’t quite believe that our week with “The Dream Team” of mothers and daughters is almost over. Deb, Sam, and Sydney have to leave right from the show. Most of the rest will join us for one final group dinner at Pasquale’s after the show and then they are off to all corners of the country from Texas, to Iowa, to New Jersey and New York.

 

And then it’s on to the first week of traditional summer camp where we will welcome about an even split of returning Longacres riders and first time students. Quite a change from this week where everyone has two to five years of previous Longacres experience!

 

I had an interesting talk with 14 year olds, Laura and Ofelia, both of whom are doing our CIT program this summer (Counselors in training). Laura and Ofelia have four or five years of experience at Longacres and have always been here as part of the “younger girls group”. Not that there is much difference at Longacres between age groups – we all work together on pretty much everything.

 

But I did ask Laura and Ofelia how it felt to be “the older more experienced girls” at Longacres this year. They both smiled, and said, “It feels pretty good!” They have both showed good leadership this week and both taught good practice lessons. Thanks, girls! Both are going home for a few weeks now after being here for mother – daughter week. Laura returns in just two weeks to stay for the rest of the summer, and Ofelia will be back for the month of August. August is going to be a fun session at Longacres this year!

 

June 25^th, 6PM Update:

Check this link for the YouTube video we posted showing our riders during an informal after dinner ride last night.

 

The moms are enjoying Meghan’s annual mother – daughter week “Happy Hour” party at the house right now while Destiny and the girls take care of evening horse care before we go out to dinner. Three of the girls had a short late afternoon ride after Peter Anderson’s guest talk, but most had absorbed so much horsemanship from Peter’s talk that they just wanted to just relax before evening horse care. (See, I told you the talk was good!)

 

June 25^th, 4PM Update:

Peter Anderson has been talking to the girls (and moms – girls – whatever!) for almost an hour now, and Meghan reports from the barn that it is one of our best ever guest lecture sessions at Longacres! Most of the rain has passed over us and we were planning to try to get on horses at 4, but Meghan says the question and answer session is going so well that she wants to just let Peter and the girls talk as long as possible. Thanks so much, Peter. We’re actually glad it rained and that we put in this talk session!

 

June 25^th, 3PM Update:

The “severe thunderstorms” that almost were:

As our regular readers know, we are close watchers of all things weather related. Tom was actually the weather man for the cruising fleet in the northern Bahamas for two years. So we’re very aware when there are watches and warnings. Quite suddenly about 1:45 this afternoon a line of severe thunderstorms popped up across northwestern New York in the Buffalo area and a severe weather statement was issued with a warning that the storms would cross East Aurora in about 18 minutes. We quickly gathered everyone together at the barn and watched the lightning approach. Fortunately, the severe storms weakened and the most active cells passed just to our south, as so often happens at Longacres. Right now (3:11 PM), the severe warning is canceled and only light rain is falling with distant thunder to our south now.

 

We had a Peter Anderson clinic scheduled for this afternoon, and he is on his way over now. He’s going to do an indoor question and answer session first, and then it looks like the rain may have passed by at 4PM and we might be able to ride after-all. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

 

We’re scheduled for a dinner out this evening on the cook’s night off, and then I expect we’ll watch a bunch of video that we’ve taken at the recent show and in one of this week’s clinics. The weather report for tomorrow and Saturday still looks very good.

 

June 25^th, 10AM Update:

Weather reports, etc

Our luck with the weather continues to be pretty good this summer if you can ignore the fact that we had to postpone a pretty big horse show here at Longacres last Saturday and lost a lot of entries. But even in that case, our own students got to all show either Friday night or Sunday in the make up show sessions. The only loss for us was money – so, life goes on!

 

Our lessons have rarely been rained out this summer, and this week it looks like our luck will continue. Today had been forecast as a washout, but the cold front has slowed and we have only scattered rain likely for later this afternoon. The serious rain will come overnight tonight when we could use it, and tomorrow and Saturday look to be great riding weather once again. We love it when rain comes at night.

 

June 28th Arrival Weather!

The only fly in the ointment is that it looks like a grey day and some rain Sunday when our new session students are arriving, quite a few for their first time ever at Longacres. No horse farm or camp ever looks it’s best on a dreary, grey day. SO, you folks planning to arrive at Longcres for the first time Sunday, spend some more time on our website looking at all the lovely pictures of Longacres in good weather and keep those memories in mind if you arrive during a rain shower and have to spend your time in the bunk and the barn your first few hours here. Things will get better! If you have good ideas for rainy day horse activities, bring them with you and tell them to Meghan, Katie, and Destiny.

 

The weather for early next week is a mixed bag. The bad news is that there may be several days with cloudy skies and occasional showers at the beginning of the week. The good news is that temperatures will be below normal for the beginning of July, which will result in very comfortable riding weather!

 

We are excited about our first away show of the season this Saturday at Northfield Farm (9AM start – note the change from 11). It looks like we will be taking eight or nine horses!

 

Peter Anderson comes to Longacres again this afternoon for a guest instructor clinic. We’re all looking forward to that.

 

“Hello” to Laura from the adult clinic and Stephanie from the past two weeks. We loved hearing from you guys via email and thanks for the nice words about Longacres. Stephanie was here for the first time, coming to us from Chicago. She reports that her two weeks at Longacres were her best ever horse vacation, and she has ridden a few other places! Thanks, Stephanie!

 

June 24^th, 6PM Update:

There should be some decent pictures at this link later tonight. We’ll try to get some smiling close-ups since you’ve all seen plenty of jumping pictures the past few days.

 

We’re looking forward to the Summer Series show at Northfield this Saturday at 9AM (changed time). The weather is looking good at this time, with some rain tomorrow and then nice weather Friday and Saturday. Most of the girls and some of the moms are planning to show!

 

We’d like to thank David Laks from Quakerfield Stables for coming over to be a guest instructor at Longacres this afternoon. He was a lot of fun for the girls and the moms. Thanks, in case I forgot, to Quakerfield for their usual great support of our show on Sunday.

 

We’ll have one more update later tonight.

 

June 23^rd, 11PM Update:

Oops!

I made a mistake on the link to the 100 new pictures from the clinic and tonight’s ride. This link should work. Sorry!

 

Modern Technology:

We gave the girls their cell phones during the Kone King trip. Not many calls home, since the moms are right here. But Meghan nudged me at one point and we noticed that six different smart phones including three iPhones were all connected to the Longacres website reading the update and looking at all the pictures while the girls slurped down their ice cream – and got it all over themselves – and spilled water on each other accidentally AND on purpose! Another good night at Longacres.

 

June 23^rd, 9PM Update:

Check this link for the ‘Picture of the Day”!

It’s Laura jumping Quantum pretty big over the Butterfly jump. NICE JOB, Laura! Many more riders did nice riding jobs today and you can click this link later tonight for another big album of pictures from the Kathy guest instructor clinic and various lessons during the day and this evening.

 

Kellie jumped Horatio pretty high tonight, Destiny jumped Quantum down the road line with the final oxer at almost 4’, and lots of other good stuff.

 

We are off to Kone King in ten minutes to finish off another fun day at Longacres!!!!!!!!

 

June 23^rd, 3PM Update:

Not bad!

That’s how things are going at Longacres in 2009 – not bad! Meghan and I had a chance to go out to lunch together in town today. It was one of the first times in a month that we’ve felt we could take even 90 minutes away from the farm. We (well, especially Meghan!), have been working long hours to do our best at making Longacres all it can be this season. Well, guess what? Hard work pays off!

 

The first month of our season has been one of the best in years. As far as we can tell, all our customers have been very pleased with the horses, jumps, and the instructors. Especially the instructors. Katie and Destiny are the best pair of instructors too start a season at Longacres without having worked here previously in many years. They are right up there with Mandy and Lillian, two of our most experienced Longacres instructors in recent years. Katie and Destiny are doing so well partly because they are fine young women with good personalities and great work ethic. Their success is also partly due to the many hours Meghan spent with them in the pre-season and their first couple of weeks training them and explaining step by step what we expect and how we get things done at Longacres. It has paid off. Meghan, Katie, and Destiny work together well and are a good team to run a riding program.

 

As I’ve written recently, we have the “Dream Team” of students this week, with five families of mother – daughters, all with previous years of experience at Longacres. Many of the daughters are likely future Longacres instructors. Especially Laura and Ofelia who are both junior CIT’s this summer, getting their toes wet with practice teaching and learning the ropes of what it takes to be a staff member. It is Destiny’s day off tomorrow, and Laura and Ofelia will be stepping in to help with some lessons. We have great confidence in both of them – both with many years already at Longacres!

 

We look forward to the rest of the 2009 season. Usually when things go this well for the first month, it carries over to the rest of the summer. The staff have confidence, we have confidence in them, the horses are getting well trained, and we are all having FUN! We can’t wait to see the rest of our 2009 students in the coming two months!

 

Enrollments for 2010:

Longacres traditionally is full almost a year in advance for the following season. We are full this week and for the next month, with just a few spaces open in August. But we are down about 14% on our total enrollment this season, partly because of the recession and partly because we had some staff issues last year and did not get as good a return rate for our older girls – and some of our older girls just outgrew summer camp.

 

But with a great season shaping up this summer and the economy looking a little better, we are very likely to fill early for 2010. If you had a good time in your session this year and want to return next summer you should be thinking about your plans. We accept enrollments at any time but will not confirm any until September 1^st. Check our schedule page for details. Sessions next year will be almost the same dates. Our prices will have only a small increase next year to cover likely inflation.

 

June 23^rd, 1PM Update:

LOTS of pictures from this morning at this link! Everyone jumping the Butterfly Jump and other riding pics. We’re starting to think about the horse show this weekend, just four days away. (Remember, it begins at 9AM, not 11 as previously advertised in our news pages.

 

June 22, 9PM Update:

Check this link for a few more pictures from the past two days around Longacres. There are some nice pictures of Ruby at the horse show yesterday! Also some informals Meghan took at the barn this evening. Enjoy.

 

Everyone got in lots of riding today. Our returning students had a chance to ride some of the new trails we put in over the winter. They liked the view from the trails overlooking the steep ravines and the brooks. Laura got to ride Quantum. Ofelia will be riding Dennis tomorrow. Everyone tried several different horses during the afternoon and evening rides. It looks like we’re going to have great weather for most of the week. Maybe a little rain Thursday, which would be about the right time to water our grass again!

 

June 22, 2PM Update:

It’s great working with people you know and trust. Everyone worked together to come up with a bunk assignment solution that worked for everyone. Laura and Ofelia were looking forward to bonding with their mom’s this week, so they are in esseress bunk with the adults. Kellie and Ruby who are ENJOYING being independent whipper snappers (that’s an old folks term!), are in a mostly kid’s cabin with Sam and Sydney and a counselor.

 

Everyone rode this morning after getting settled in. Check the pictures at this link. More pics coming later this evening.

 

The Northfield Farms horse show next Saturday begins at 9AM – some newsletters incorrectly called for an 11am start. It is 9AM. Pass the word.

 

June 22^nd, 10AM Update:

Everyone has arrived safely and I wish I had a dollar for every hug exchanged! As I wrote last night, we’ve got all veteran Longacres families here for Mother – Daughter week and we know them all well. Not that we don’t have to do problem solving even with our oldest friends! I’m up here safe at the office doing this update while Meghan juggles the housing preferences of the mom’s & daughters who really want to bunk together this week for the “mother – daughter ambiance”, vs. the wishes of some of the daughters who would rather have their independence and enjoy their mom’s more at arm’s length. I’m curious, myself, to see how it turns out!

 

I forgot last night to thank all the folks at yesterday’s horse show who volunteered to help raising and lowering the jumps. Especially the Donnan family, all four of them, who seemed to magically appear on the field whenever the jumps had to go up. Who was holding you guys’ horses, anyway?!

 

It seems like we’ve already had half a season of horse shows here at Longacres, even though we haven’t really had a full show yet. We had the informal fun show over a week ago, then with the rain this weekend we had half a jumper show Friday night, and then the five hour postponed show in both rings yesterday. So that’s three days with some kind of horse show activity here in just a short time. We’re psyched to get off our farm and move on to showing at other members shows. On to Northfield next Saturday the 27^th!

 

Thanks, also, to Leigh Fischer from High Time. On short notice after our show was rained out Saturday, Leigh brought two jumpers for the outside course and a couple of horses for the inside ring, AND helped us find our last minute replacement judges so the show could go on Sunday. Thanks, Leigh!

 

June 21^st, 11PM Update:

OK, I now have over 100 pictures posted from today’s show. I only have a couple of Kellie and none of Ruby, since I was running the outside course and the jumper show. There are some of Katie riding Quantum, and he is looking good. Katie was leading in one of the schooling jumper classes for a while, but Gibson and Bethany were also in that class, and they were just too fast. There are some nice pictures here of our exhibitors, and you will recognize some of them at this link. Bethany Scarlata is a good friend of Longacres, and she had a very good afternoon, going fast as always, and winning at least one of the classes. Gibson Donnan was blazing fast!

 

Thanks again to everyone who came out to the show today. We had a very good turnout in the jumper ring, and Meghan’s inside show ring was busy as always. The show ran until 7 PM in both rings. We had no hunters for the outside course, which is probably a good thing – we would not have had time with all the jumpers that went. The footing on the outside course was first class! The inside ring was still a little wet, but there is a lot of sand on the corners and under the jumps in that ring, so it worked out ok.

 

We will get plenty of pictures at the next show at Northfield Farms next Saturday.

 

It is hard to believe that we are now entering the fourth week of the 2009 season at Longacres. It is one of the best beginnings to a Longacres season in quite a while. Instructors Katie and Destiny have been very popular with each session and we are very pleased with them. After having some unplanned staff turn-over during last summer, it is a joy to be working with two horse women who we like and respect as we do these two! And Alexa will be here in just over a week to bring her years of experience at Longacres to this year’s staff.

 

And the students!!!! Most years there are a few who just don’t click at Longacres, and that might still be true later this summer – after all, Longacres is a unique place! But so far we are thrilled with the people who chose to ride with us this season. We’ve had lots of riders during June who are here at Longacres for the very first time. Meri, Renee, and Laura were all new at adult week, and they were wonderful as students and as women who we and the instructors enjoyed working with around the barn. And for the Clinic Weeks, Katie2, Katie3, Jessica, Stephanie, and CHristien were all here for the first time and all seemed pleased with their stay at Longacres. (Christien had some business stuff come up and didn’t have time to ride so much during her second week, but her daughter, Stephanie made sure she put in her riding time for the family!) All in all, we have rarely had so many new students during the early June weeks who did so well and who we liked so much at Longacres. Wonderful.

 

BUT – not quite as wonderful as what we’ll have this week. Over the winter, Meghan would keep referring to the 2009 Mother – Daughter week as “The Dream Team”! Mother – Daughter week 2009 was full more than a year in advance as some of our very favorite moms and their daughters from the past five years all signed up very early to come for this week in 2009. Moms, Kay, Diana, Martha, Sharon, and Debra are all GOOD friends to Longacres and this is going to be more like a week long reunion with old friends than anything else. And their girls, Kellie, Sam, Sydney, Laura, Ofelia, and Ruby are all girls with multiple years of experience at Longacres and are great kids. We think this will be one of our favorite weeks ever at Longacres. Meghan and I can’t wait until tomorrow morning when everyone arrives!!!!!!!

 

June 21st, 9PM Update:

Thanks to everyone who came to the show today. Both rings ran until after 7PM, and a good time was had by all! I will post some nice pictures at this link later tonight and a longer update. We’re exhausted and heading out to dinner with the girls who stayed between sessions. Kellie and ruby both won lots of ribbons today!!!! More in an hour or two.

 

June 20^th, 3PM Update:

The full Longacres show, both rings, will begin at 3PM Sunday afternoon.

 

The outside course will begin with the jumpers. The inside ring will follow the normal schedule, per the prize list. Because of the change of date and it being Father’s Day, we assume we will have a smaller than usual show. If so, we should finish before dark. If it is big – well, we will do our best!

 

We will be staying off the rings as long as possible tomorrow to allow some drying. It poured here today! Schooling will begin promptly at 2PM in both rings.

 

= = =

Kelly and Ruby who did not show in last night’s jumper show will both be showing tomorrow. At Longacres we had a good time watching the video of last night’s rounds in the jumper division. Kelly did a great job in her first time running the good video camera.

 

The girls are having a relaxed time today as the Clinic Weeks end. Kelly, Ruby, and Diana are staying on for Mother – Daughter week beginning Monday morning. Jessica and Katie are staying over an extra night tonight and driving home with their family tomorrow. We said a sad “good bye” to Stephanie before lunch. You did a great job in your two weeks, Stephanie! Write to us!

 

June 20^th, 8:30 AM Update:

The ground is soaked and more rain is falling off and on and is in the forecast for the rest of the day. The Longacres show is postponed or cancelled.

We will plan to finish the jumper division, at least, at 3PM Sunday. Check back this evening to see if we have found a judge to do the small ring classes. This just wasn’t our weekend.

 

9AM Update: It appears that we will have judges available for both rings tomorrow at 3PM. We will try to run all classes, at least as long as the light holds out. We will begin with jumpers on the outside course and then go back to the hunter classes, probably n oearlier than 4 PM on the outside course. The inside ring will run in normal order as per prize list.

 

Because of the last minute changes, the judges will be people who know some of the exhibitors. We trust them to do their best to be impartial. If you are picky about judges, you are advised in advance!

 

June 20^th, 6:30 AM:

Check back at 8:30 AM as planned for a final decision on today’s Longacres horse show. But it is unlikely that we will run the show today. There has already been enough rain so that there is water standing in much of our small ring and the grass on the field is very wet. There is only light rain at the moment, but more heavy rain is on the radar coming this way. If that continues and it starts raining again, the show is postponed.

 

June 19^th, 11PM:

Scroll down below the Horse Show Update for news from the camp for tonight! Check this link for a few pictures from tonight’s show.

 

June 19^th, 9:40 PM:

Read the Horse Show Update below and scroll down for my rant on the uncertainty of the show business!

June 19^th, 8:30 PM Horse Show Update:

Although the weather is fine this evening, the forecast still calls for 90% chance of heavy rain tomorrow. We will make a final call on whether or not to run the horse show at 8:30 AM Saturday morning. If it has not rained overnight and there is no rain on the radar close by, we will try to run the show. If there has been heavy rain overnight and/or if there is rain close by coming our way, we will postpone the show. Odds are about 70% that the show will be postponed.

 

If postponed, we will run much or all of the show at 3PM on Sunday. We will be looking for a judge for the hunters???? Anyone?????

 

Thanks to all the jumper riders who stopped by tonight to get in some of their rounds. We ran jumper classes from 5:30 pm until near dark.

 

Longacres Student News from Friday night:

The Blog gets hijacked a bit around horse show time for the benefit of western New York horse show exhibitors. But this newsletter is mostly for the benefit of Longacres students and their families, so here’s the newds from today that you want to hear. The girls had a great time tonight. Five of them showed. Ruby did a “Ruby special exhibition ride”, and Kellie is showing next week and was not quite ready for the jumpers on the outside course, so she kindly volunteered to take video of everyone else. THANKS, Kellie! The girls were excited with their horse show rides, but they were just in fine spirits in general. They all helped set up the new jumps for the show and after they all pretended to be horses and had a track meet jumping over all the horse jumps. They were very “up” tonight!

 

Meghan and I were very busy with horse show stuff so we didn’t take as many still pictures as usual. There are just a few at this link to give you an idea of how things looked. The new Light House Jumps look amazing!

 

 RANT!

OK, I’m human too. MANY of you have phoned today to ask about our plans for the horse show tomorrow. And 95% of you understand that we simply won’t know the weather conditions for sure until the last minute. Most of you have been understanding and commiserated with us over the bad forecast.

 

But a few have had a little attitude, almost as though they thought we had planned this uncertain weather situation to make their lives complicated. I am polite as can be on the phone, then I hang up and shake my head. If a horse show exhibitor is frustrated at not being able to make solid plans for their weekend, I would hope they might try to imagine how Meghan and I feel. We have worked for weeks and weeks preparing for this show. We are just as frustrated as anyone not knowing what the weather will be for sure during show hours tomorrow. AND, we stand to lose several thousand dollars this weekend compared to what the show would have been like in good weather.

 

We don’t want to get everyone here for a horse show, have heavy rains come, and everyone have to go home wet and wasting a day.

 

Neither do we want to cancel the show for sure tonight and have it not rain at all tomorrow. That sometimes happens!

 

So we do the best we can. Meghan and I are paid to deal with adversity cheerfully, to have a plan “B”, and to give the best customer service we can. We’ll be up until 2 or 3 AM tonight putting the finishing touches on preparations for a show tomorrow that may very well have to be postponed anyway. But we will be ready to run it if the weather turns out better than forecast.

 

How will we decide tomorrow morning whether to run a show?

It is not rocket science. It will not be a whim determined by which side of the bed we got out of!

 

If it has rained heavily overnight and the place is a swamp, the show will be postponed.

 

If it has rained moderately overnight and it is still raining in the morning, and more rain is on radar coming our way, the show will be postponed.

 

If it has not rained overnight or only rained lightly, and there is no rain on radar coming our way at 8:15 AM, then the show is on.

 

If it has not rained, will not rain for a few hours, but they “think” rain will come by 2 or 3 PM, then we may gamble and run the show hoping for the best.

 

If it has not rained overnight but there is heavy widespread rain on radar coming our way, the show is postponed.

 

The tough call will be if conditions look good in the morning, no rain is due for a couple of hours, but they still say “90% chance of rain by noon”. Then we will flip a coin.

 

Many thanks to the 95% of you who have been so understanding and are waiting patiently to see what happens! We at Longacres are just as curious as the rest of you about what mother nature will bring over night. As of ten minutes ago, the leading edge of the coming rain had just appeared on radar headed our way from Michigan.

 

By the way, to the parents and friends of our Longacres students, most of the girls rode in the early jumper classes tonight and did especially well in the Puddle Jumpers! Colorado Katie was F-A-S-T!! Jessica did a fine job with one of our green horses. Instructor Katie was great on Horatio and did a schooling round on Quantum, putting him over his first full outside course of the year. He was WONDERFUL! He is BACK!!!!!! Thanks to Kelly who took video of the other girls when they rode. And to Ruby for her “exhibition ride on Brownie! And to Stephanie for a fine job on her first jumper courses, besides the fun show.

 

 

June 19^th, 2PM Update:

Horse Show Update:

The forecast for Saturday continues to be poor. We will make a call on postponing Saturday’s show at 8PM tonight.

 

We will be running at least the jumper classes over the weekend with an option of when you show. You may come to Longacres anytime after 5PM tonight (Friday) and ride any or all of your jumper classes. (The sun is out at Longacres right now. ) The judge’s cards will be left open. If the show tomorrow gets postponed, we will show at least jumpers and maybe more beginning at 3PM Sunday to finish the jumper division.

 

June 19^th, 9:30 AM:

Keep checking back here for show updates. We are VERY likely to do the jumper part of the show over the weekend, holding the score cards open. If the weather holds today, the course will be opened about 5PM today for jumper classes. If jumping is not practical Saturday, we would finish the jumper classes Sunday afternoon. Final decision after lunch.

 

We are still holding out faint hope that the show can be run as planned tomorrow for all other classes, but check back later today for a decision.

 

June 19^th, 8AM:

Jumpers this afternoon?

I can’t do this for hunters since I wouldn’t have a judge. But check here at lunchtime. Some jumpers are already planning to be here this evening for schooling or to stay over. I may let jumpers do their courses this evening and hold the score cards open. If you have a jumper and are interested, check back at lunchtime. (It could still rain even this afternoon, but if not, this could help a few people!)

 

June 19^th, 7AM Update:

Our luck with the weather continues to be just dandy for today – not so for the show tomorrow!

Today we expect little if any rain at Longacres and should have no trouble getting in all our planned riding and guest clinics. We will also be working all day to finish preparations for the horse show scheduled for tomorrow here at Longacres. Everything will be set and ready in case the forecast changes for the better. (Stop by tonight and at least look at the beautiful courses!)

 

The forecast for tomorrow only gets worse with the passing of each hour. They are now calling for 100% chance of rain, heavy in many places. We are NOT calling off the show just yet. We will update this information at lunchtime today, and make a formal call probably at 8PM tonight. If it is possible to run a show tomorrow, we will.

 

Otherwise, there are limited options. We might consider running the jumpers and some other classes on Sunday afternoon if the weather improves as forecast. I can judge the jumpers. But neither of our judges are available for Sunday, so we would be scrambling for a hunter judge. Anyone available?? If we don’t run a show Saturday or Sunday, we will run a probably non points show here Tuesday from 4PM to dark when the weather looks great. After all, we’ll have everything set up, so we might as well let those of you who could get here on Tuesday ride the nice courses! That’s plans “B” and “C”!

 

Stay tuned and hope the weather forecasts are wrong – but they are probably correct this time.

 

 

 

June 18^th, 11PM Update:

Check this link for a few pictures Tom took this morning at the barn during horse care. The girls were in great spirits after their movie and dinner at the mall. We think the extra sleep they got this morning came at a good time.

 

We’re pleased that the rain the second half of this week has come at off hours, except for this afternoon, and that even this afternoon we got in both our clinics in light rain with a very accommodating guest instructor – THANK YOU, Lindsay! We have lost almost no riding time to the weather this week, and tomorrow looks to be dry most of the day. Our horse show prospects for Saturday? Don’t ask! But we are still hoping for a slight change for the better in the forecasts. Just to give you an idea of how big a show it might be if the weather holds up, we ran into people at the movie theater tonight who walked up and said, “Aren’t you guys from Longacres? We’re all riding in your show on Saturday!” If there is one - tsk

 

June 18, 5PM Update:

Check this link for some late afternoon pictures from Meghan’s camera.

 

Alex Update:

Alex is back from “Bonnaroo”, which she says was one of the awesome experiences of her life, she went to many of the concerts, including Springsteen (one of the few bands at Bonnaroo that even Tom likes!), spent MORE money than she had planned, and is already making plans to go again next year. Alex thanks you gals from adult week who wrote in asking how she made out. She says it was better than she dreamed! She has one more quick family trip and then will settle down as a nearly indispensable Longacres staff person. The only sad thing about Alex’s great trip is that I guess we already have to start maing plans for how we’ll get along without her again for a week next speing!

 

The Clinic:

Thanks to Lindsay Cornell from Hunters Ridge Stables for the fine clinics in the rain this afternoon. Lindsay taught good, cheerful lessons all afternoon in a light drizzle. We owe you, Lindsay.

 

June 18^th, 2PM Update:

My Day so far:

7am – woke up- checked weather on computer and fretted about the show

8am – breakfast, read paper, checked weather in the paper and worried about rain for the show

9:45 am – posted website update

10:30am – drove over to Gina’s to pick up the light houses and admire her work!

11 am – helped katie2 longe Quantum

11:15 am – gave Katie2 a private lesson on Quantum (fun for me)

11:45 am – checked the weather and fretted about the show

noon – spent 15 minutes planning a new jumper course for the show

12:15pm – had lunch with Meghan and the girls – complained about a bad stall door latch

12:30 pm – measured how much wire needed for PA system for show

                           unrolled speaker wire needed back at the shop

                           drove to the barn to double check my wire length

12:45 pm – welcomed Alex back from her trip!

1 pm – wrote this update and posted to the website

 

still to do:

 

 

1:30 PM – nap????

2:30 pm – hook up pa system for the show, get a head start on tomorrow’s show prep

3:30 pm – check weather again and decide how hard to work on show prep that might be wasted work

4 pm – work on horse show newsletter

5pm – drive our girls to the mall and movie theaters

6pm – have dinner with Meghan & Uncle Billy

7pm – sleep through a movie

9pm – drive the girls home

10 pm – check the weather, and, well, you know what!

 

 

June 18^th, 10AM Update:

There has been a little light mist this morning, but conditions are not bad. We easily could have gotten in both our morning rides, but many of this week’s students have now been here almost two weeks and they are showing signs of being physically tired from all the riding and barn work. We offered a “sleep in” morning which they joyfully accepted! They started horse care after breakfast and will have one ride at 11, then guest clinics this afternoon, and a field trip to the mall, a movie, and dinner out. That should get everyone well rested for the show this weekend (weather permitting!!).

 

Colorado Katie is going to ride Quantum this morning. His training and conditioning are coming along well.

 

I am off in the truck to Gina’s house to pick up the small Light Houses which are all painted and ready for the show.

 

Show Status:

We just don’t know yet. It is tough to have hundreds of people all ready to come to what looks like a big show and still be hostage to an iffy weather forecast. We will post online which way we are leaning at 1PM Friday when the weekend weather forecast will be more accurate. We will update the show status at 8PM Friday, with a pretty good idea of what the Saturday weather will be. We may not make a final call on holding the show until 8AM Saturday morning. Check here then or call our phone 716-652-9495 and we will also have a recorded message with “go or no go” on the show.

 

July 17^th, 7PM Update:

Longacres luck is holding for the moment. It poured rain during dinner but has just let up in time for a bareback ride and mounted games for evening ride time. We got in all five rides today in spite of off and on showers. Maybe our luck will continue and Saturday will be better than the official forecasts??!?!?! Doesn’t hurt to hope!

 

We may have one more small album of pictures at this link when Meghan comes up from the barn.

 

I am still in a pretty good mood after finishing “The Dark Stranger’s Loop Trail”. Our students returning this summer who were here last year are going to have many new riding areas to enjoy. On a rainy day like this, the sand ring is one of the nicest additions! Diana, Katie, and some of the other girls were really pleased with their ride in the rain in the sand ring this afternoon. They said the footing and drainage were excellent.

 

Let me see; we now have Hill Top warm up area, the new Sand Ring, Avenues warm up riding area, the dressage ring, the smaller show ring, and the big Outside Course, plus the lawn in front of the barn as 6 or 7 separate riding areas. And out on the trails we have the Creekside Loop near the barn, the Powerline trail loops, the new Maple Grove loop near the powerlines, the Dark Stranger’s Loop, Galloping Field, Cantering Lane, the new trails by the old junior barn including Ridgeline, and the Old Hunt Course. That’s a LOT of different places to ride for nine students on 95 acres! Meghan and I took an ATV ride around some of the trails this afternoon so she could see our progress with the new ones. It took us 20 minutes on an ATV and we only got to about half the trails.

 

July 17^th, 4PM Update:

Happy Birthday, Sharon!

We’ll see you in about four days. Hope the whole family is treating you like a queen.

 

The rain has moved in, but we got in all our morning rides in nothing more than a few sprinkles. And most of the girls went out on trail rides in light rain at 3PM. And right now, during the 4PM ride only two are sitting out – everyone else is riding in the rain! It looks like a break in the rain is showing on radar that will move in after dinner in time for us to hold a fun gymkhana event.

 

Not sure when I’ll get to show everyone the video we took yesterday.

 

I finished the final work clearing what will now be known as “The Dark Stranger’s Loop Trail” before the rain got too heavy. I had to grab Meghan and take her for an ATV ride to show her the cool new trail. It parallels the main trail leading past Dark Stranger cabin and on up to the main hosue and galloping field. By turning off next to Dark Stranger, you can make a circle in the old growth forest with trails branching off to all the other main riding areas. And it is very pretty, as it winds along the top of the ridge between two streams.

 

Check this link for a few pictures taken with Tom’s camera this morning while we were doing the X-country jumps.

 

 

 

July 17^th, 1PM:

A bunch of pictures from this morning at the Farley Bridgeman clinic and Tom’s X-country jump lesson. Click this link.

July 17^th AM Update:

Weather for Saturday Horse Show NOT looking good:

We are ready for a great show, with lots of calls from stables bringing horses, judges, secretaries, ring crew, ribbons, new jumps, and trophies all ready. But chance of rain for Saturday is now up to 70% and may go to 100% by later today. We will stand by right up to the last minute ready to go, but a betting person would put their money on our Saturday show being postponed or canceled.

 

Does Anyone Want a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday Longacres Show?

We have other shows coming up later in the summer, and we can deal with canceling this show completely. But if some of you are chomping at the bit to ride our courses and would like to come Sunday, or even Monday or Tuesday for a show when the weather is better, give us a call. (716-652-9495) We’ll consider it if there is enough response.

 

And we WILL run on Saturday as scheduled if it is at all possible. Stay tuned. We won’t be doing any more guessing about postponing the show until Friday afternoon. Check back here or on the shows page then.

 

June 16^th, 10PM Update:

We just finished the first camp fire of the 2009 season and, yes, there were smores! Check this link for a bunch of pictures from Meghan’s camera today, including the camp fire. And do your “anti rain” dances – the forecast for our show this Saturday is not looking great.

 

June 16, 7PM:

Griffy checks the website 7 and sometimes eight times a day!

 

June 16^th, 4:06PM Update:

Many of you know all about Longacres “website addiction”. Check this email I just got from Emily! Emily is a 2008 student returning in a few weeks for a 2009 session.

 

“dear tom and meghan,

 

alas, i have set a rather embarrassing and unique record for myself. when i was looking through the website, which is something i do a lot these days, i was reading about how you said that these girls checked the LA website 4 times a day.  SO.... i went checking through my computer history, and oh dear, here's yesterdays:

June 15th 2009

1) http://www.longacres.com/marnew98.htm#today (7:09 am)

2) http://www.longacres.com/marnew98.htm#today (3:05 pm)

3) http://www.longacres.com/marnew98.htm#today (6:21 pm)

4) http://www.longacres.com/marnew98.htm#today (8:43 pm)

5) http://www.longacres.com/marnew98.htm#today (10:36 pm)

 

I think i have a slight addiction and am going through LA withdrawal symptoms....

I MISS YOU

save me from this horrid condition :(

 

Emily”

 

June 16^th, 4PM Update:

Check this link for a few pictures from the first guest clinic session this afternoon with Stephanie, Kellie, Ruby, and Destiny. I took more pictures of Stephanie than are in the album, but the others didn’t come out as well.

 

June 16^th, 3PM Update:

Thanks, Hannah, for the note about Ho-ho. He is doing very well, as you can see! You and your dad are welcome to visit anytime, and the weekend of the 17^th sounds good to us.

 

Check this link for a series of pictures taken at 5 frames per second while a rider goes through a gymnastic exercise. The sample I’m posting shows Jessica from Colorado on Chesney, but I took a series like this of everyone this morning. We’ll be looking at these pictures and video soon.

 

I am sure hoping the weather gives us a break this weekend. We’re getting LOTS of calls about our show and if it doesn’t rain, it could be one of our biggest shows ever. But mother nature will decide – still calling for 40% chance of showers. But let’s consider the glass “half full” rather than “half empty” – that means 60% chance that there will be no rain!

 

Because it may be damp here the next few nights, Meghan tells me that the plan is not to go to Kone King tonight, but instead have a camp fire and smores here at the farm. It’s a surprise – don’t tell!

 

Most of the girls had a break and went to the creek to splash around or sun bath right after lunch. They are getting ready for the guest instructor right now.

 

Katie & Molly V. - - “Checking FOUR times a day??” Welcome to the club of people addicted to the Longacres Blog! Join a long list of regular readers like Mike, Dr. Leslie Anne, and so many others.

 

One more thank you from Longacres: to the four different riders from four farms who took time out of their busy days to send us thank you emails about the schooling show this past weekend. We put a lot of hours into preparing for and running shows, and it is all worthwhile when you get that kind of response to your efforts. Thanks to each of you for your generous comments!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

June 16^th, 10AM Update:

What a grand day for horses and riding!

And we’ll do our best to enjoy it, since the rest of the week looks like there will be some very unsettled weather. Even our big horse show scheduled for Saturday is in danger of getting rain. Oh, well – we’ll hope for the best. And no day this week has worse than about a 50% chance of rain, so there will be considerable rain free periods to get in our riding.

 

But today is just wonderful – clear blue sky, cool perfect riding temperatures and a light breeze. If only every day of the summer could be like today! We’ll take some video of everyone later today, take some special “posed” pictures over some nice jumps for tonight’s album, and then there is a guest clinic this afternoon. Pssst – and maybe Kone King tonight!

 

Happy Birthday to Carly R. from NJ. Carly is a friend of Laura’s and is coming for the August session and bringing her own horse, Gold. Have a great day, Carly!

 

Special thanks to our instructors, Katie and Destiny, who have now been here almost a month and are doing a fine job. Their own riding has improved in addition to their good job teaching everyone else. We always have our instructors take lessons with our guest teachers to help enhance their experience.

 

June 15^th, 9PM Update:

Meghan is down in the cabins having a good time with the girls after a good day. Check this link for lots of pictures.

 

The day began with all the girls riding a jumper course with Tom’s advice on jumper turns and angles. Even Stephanie and Kellie did it and had a good time! Stephanie was really good on Ginger. The fastest time was instructor, Katie, on Horatio. Second fastest was katie2 on Zanee. Jessica chose to ride a green horse, Chesney, and did very, very well on a full course.

 

We have lots of pictures in tonight’s album of Diana and Ruby who arrived today for their third year at Longacres. It feels like they never left.

 

Kellie began moving up to bigger horses tonight, riding Rocky in the evening lesson. Kellie is improving fast and is going to be on harder horses, as well as her old friends, the ponies.

 

And Jessica got to ride - - - tada - - - Quantum Leap tonight! Quantum has been full of himself for the past few weeks, but we have been patiently working him down and giving him consistant discipline. He was ridden first tonight by instructor Katie, who has put a lot of time into his training. Then Jessica got on and did very well on the flat. Then she jumped him pretty big, to the second highest hole on the schooling jump stands. Quantum will probably be shown this coming weekend.

 

June 15^th, 10AM Update:

Horse Show Forecast:

Not the best! We are hoping for the best this coming weekend for our first points show of the season. There is a 60% chance that it won’t rain and everything will be fine. But that means there is a 40% chance of showers or a thunderstorm. Not my favorite forecast for a horse show day. Sometimes Longacres postpones a show until the following Tuesday or Wednesday if the weather looks bad, but that’s not feasible for us next week. We’ll have to hold our show this weekend or cancel it all together. So stay tuned as the weekend gets closer and keep your fingers crossed.

 

I am headed to the barn to teach a lesson myself this morning, partly about planning jumper course rides. All our girls did well in the jumper classes Saturday, partly because no one from our stable or the other stables really made good “inside” turns to cut their time. There were a lot of “doors left open”, as we say in the jumper world. I am going to show them where to save time and not “leave any doors open”.

 

By the way, I don’t think we announced yet that Horatio was Champion in High Jumpers with a 1^st and a 2^nd with counselor Katie riding. Horatio was also very good in medium jumpers with Jessica riding.

 

June 14^th, 9PM Update:

An Invitation:

Hi again,

Meghan and I finished our day just before the sun went down by driving all around the farm checking everything out and simply enjoying the results of all our hard work this spring. The place looks great. Perhaps better than Longacres has ever looked.

 

This is partly the result of about six years in a row of major maintenance projects, demolition and clean up of old, unused buildings, and significant reinvestment in our buildings, grounds, and especially in our horse jumps and facilities. It is also partly luck. We had excellent weather for working outside early in the spring, got a head start on preparations for the 2009 season, and have been ahead of the maintenance issues right from the start this year. Some years we seem to be playing “catch up” all season. This year everything is under control and in good shape!

 

The Invitation:

We’re eager to share our enjoyment of Longacres “2009” not only with our students this summer, but with old friends of Longacres and former students. If you’re in the area, stop by to say “hello” and walk around the paths and trails you enjoyed when you were here. If it’s been many years, you may not recognize some parts of the camp! And remember: mark your calendars for August 10^th, 2013. That’s coming up in just four more years and it will be the Longacres Riding Camp Diamond Jubilee celebration of our 75^th year.

 

We talked with Diana and Ruby on the phone tonight. They’re staying nearby with family and will be here tomorrow morning. We can’t wait to see you both!

 

Also, a Longacres “hello” to Micayla, who is one of our earliest serious inquiries for the 2010 season. We begin accepting formal enrollments for 2010 on September 1^st right after this season is over.

 

And a Longacres “goodbye” to Katie from New Jersey, who left yesterday after a week at our Clinics. We miss you, Katie! Thanks for the email tonight.

 

More pictures will return tomorrow.

 

 

June 14^th, 5PM:

Hello everyone,

Sorry for no updates earlier today. Longacres is officially “closed” today even though six people are staying over from the first to second Clinic weeks. It was a relaxing day for everyone, Meghan and I included! The girls all got up late and took their time taking care of the horses. Then we gave them a long “town trip” to do their laundry and some shopping under Destiny’s supervision. Meghan and I took a few hours off for ourselves while the girls were in town. We went to a movie, a rare treat for us during the summer!

 

Not only is it hard to find time to go to a movie (we love movies!), but if we ever do make time for this from May through August when we’re so busy, we almost ALWAYS fall asleep during the film and waste the price of our tickets. Today we went to “Pelham 123” which is a remake of one of my favorite films from 25 years ago starring Walter Mathau back then. This one starred John Travolta and Denzel Washington. They were fun to watch, for me at least. Sure enough, Meghan slept through half the movie! I guess I’ll rent the original, which I think was a better film anyway.

 

The kids at Longacres are doing really well. We told you last night that they rode well in the show. And they were in great spirits att dinner last night and watching their video from the show. If you had to rate their spirits last night on a 1 to 10 scale, they would get a 12. It is a happy group getting along with each other and working together very well. And we can’t wait to see Ruby and Diana who will be returning to Longacres for their third summer tomorrow morning.

 

Although this was mostly a day off, I did take an hour between breakfast and the time I had to drive the girls to town to work on the new trails over by “Ridge Line” near the old junior barn. Check this link for a few pictures of my work removing small stumps in the trail that could hurt a careless horse’s hoofs. I took my time, pushed out a couple of stumps, trimmed back some pricker bushes, and had a good time.

 

June 13^th, 6PM Update:

What a great schooling and Fun Show!

Special thanks to Peter Anderson’s crew, to the Donnan family from Geneseo, Cornerstone Farm, Cimperman’s, Autumn View, Smokey Hill, and everyone else who were so fun to have at the show. Everyone had great schooling and showing experiences. We’re glad we put this on, and look forward to seeing everyone at the REAL Longacres show next Saturday!

 

And, my goodness, the Longacres girls rode their hearts out. There were goofs and disappointments, but everyone put in some great rides and I think everyone won ribbons – lots of them! Check this link for some of the best of the 209 pictures we took today. We got lots of video of everyone and we’ll be watching that tonight and tomorrow.

 

AND – I’d like to send out the biggest “thank you” of the day to Katie from Colorado, who went back to the barn early from the show all on her own, and did EVERYONE’s horsecare chores! What a girl!

 

June 13^th, 8AM Update:

It’s a nice sunny morning for our first horse show. There is a chance of a few scattered showers after 2 PM, but we should be pretty well done with the show by then.

 

Thanks to Joel for all the work weed trimming last night. The farm looks great for our visitors today!

 

We will have lots of pictures tonight.

 

PS – Thanks for the “get well” messages – I feel a lot better than I did at this time yesterday. I’m good to go for a full day heloing run the show.

 

June 12^th, 9PM Update:

Tom lives. Barely. I was able to get in to my doctor this morning and got some medications to help control the bit of sinus infection that hit me last night. I am feeling better already. I did take a long nap this afternoon, but not before watching the girls jump two practice courses each for the show. They were riding well, so I also let each of them jump a bit bigger final practice fence. They had fun!

 

I watched them all ride again after dinner and they were in good spirits.

 

Meghan was very busy with horse show arrangements all day and I am not sure if she had time to take any pictures. If she did, I’ll post them at this link when she comes in from her evening barn work. But we may be pictureless today! There will be plenty after the horse show tomorrow.

 

June 12^th, 9AM (Day before the Horse Show!)

Today will be busy practice for tomorrow’s horse show! Meghan will be busy with preparations for hosting the event and meeting with the girls for them to choose their show classes. Spirits at the barn seem good.

 

Your blog author is not so good, with a nasty sinus infection sneaking up on me suddenly last night. I’m off to the doctor’s this morning to try to nip this in the bud so I’ll be back in action soon. Don’t expect a lot of cheery updates during the day today. I will pull myself together again this evening to bring you up to date and post pictures which I am sure Meghan will be taking. (We took almost 500 yesterday to come up with the ones we posted.)

 

We talked with several barns yesterday that are planning to come to our fun show tomorrow, so our girls will not have all the ribbons to themselves unless they earn them. It will be a good time with fine weather in the forecast.

 

June 11^th, 11PM Update:

 We just got back from our dinner out and a stop on the way home at “Kone King”! Yummee! All our students seem happy and are getting along great with one another. It’s been a good day.

 

Check this link for yet another photo album from the clinic this afternoon and a few informals.

 

Tomorrow we do final practice for the horse show. It is a fun show and we thought it was going to be very small, but we just heard from a stable that is bringing six horses, so I guess there will be some competition! Saturday sounds like a great day for a show.

 

June 11^th, 5:30 PM Update:

Yippee!

We got in both Peter Anderson lessons with only light sprinkles of rain. The clinics were 1^st class and Peter is returning in two weeks for another guest instructor session. We are extremely grateful that some of western New York’s successful horsemen and women give up their time to visit Longacres for these guest clinics. It adds greatly to our program. We always have our own instructors take these clinics to add to their experience.

 

Check this link for some Peter Anderson clinic pictures. Meghan will have lots more for later tonight at this link.

 

Ran Out of Jump Standard:

We have written before that Quantum had a fine winter home and they fed him very well. He was not ridden much at his winter home during the month or so before he was returned to Longacres and he was full of beans when he got here! He was throwing some pretty good “Quantum Leaps” when we gave him a little work. Last week Andrea came by and rode a lot of those bucks and leaps out of him. She barely stayed on, and she is a good rider. At the end of that ride Andrea and I worked him down to behaving, but he was still full of it.

 

Since then we have been longing Quantum and then riding him every day, mostly just walk trot work and a few short canters. We have thrown in some small jumps and more canters the past few days, and he has been good. Last night Destiny rode him and I let her jump him maybe 2’9” or maybe a little more. He was good again.

 

Today it was Katie’s turn and she did all the warm up exercises with Quantum in good control. Then I set up a small vertical and let Quantum and Katie trot in several times over as I raised the jump each time. Quantum didn’t blink, giving us decent flying changes in the turn after the jump and not bucking or “Quantum Leaping”. I kept raising the jump each time Katie rode in. Suddenly I turned to raise the jump one more time and realized, “Oops! We’re at the top of the jump stand. There’s no place else to go!”

 

We were not using our 5’ show stands, but it was still a pretty good jump – effortless – from a trot. I think Quantum is about ready to go back to some serious training!

 

June 11, 3:50 PM:

Longacres Luck

is holding for the moment. The girls are two thirds of the way through the Peter Anderson clinic and we’ve had only a few scattered rain drops. Radar on the computer shows the heavier rain very close, but I think we’re going to finish this clinic session all right. There is a second small session planned for Christien, and it’ll be close whether we have time for that before the rain. As the only adult this week, Christien has been getting a shorter private lesson with each of our guest instructors which is why she’s riding at a different time.

 

Pictures from this morning are now posted at this link.

 

June 11, 3PM:

Touch and go whether or not we get the clinic in this afternoon. We’re already getting a few light sprinkles, and heavier rain is on the radar nearby. We think we have about an hour before real rain comes in – fingers are crossed!

 

Check this link in a little while for pictures from early today.

 

We’re all going “out to civilization” this evening for a dinner in town on the cook’s night off. The girls will have their cell phones from about 7PM on, so you can try to call them or expect them to phone you.

 

We have a few pictures taken on our trails in today’s album. We have a really nice trail system at Longacres that was expanded this year. Kelly just went on the new trails for her first time, and commented on how pretty they are. They do not appear by magic! We put long hours of mowing, tractor grading, chain saw and pruning work into building and maintaining a trail system that is like a park bridle path most places. The trails are one of Tom’s contributions to the farm. To be honest, I kind of like playing with the equipment needed for trail maintenance and I even enjoy on a slow day going for a long walk with a tree pruner and cutting back the encroaching underbrush. And encroach, it does! Sometimes it seems like we are in a tropical jungle and as soon as I get one of the trails well trimmed, the vines and pricker bushes engulf another trail. But it is rewarding to ride or walk these trails when they are all well groomed – as they are today!

 

June 11^th, 1PM Update:

Sometimes you are pleasantly surprised. I was this morning. I gave the girls a little talk on the value of doing careful, slow practice jump courses with lots of trotting and concentration on the route and on getting deep into all the corners. As you might expect, there was not a lot of visible enthusiasm, since everyone had visions of cantering grandly around the big outside course with not a care in the world.

 

But they surprised me. Some of it meant something to them and the girls put in two excellent courses with very careful riding. A good job by all!

 

After the jump course work, everyone went on a long trail ride to the old outside hunt course and everyone jumped the jumps there - - - EVERYONE! Check the album later this afternoon with pictures of mom, Christien jumping!

 

The Peter Anderson Clinic is scheduled for 3PM, but it looks a little “iffy” on the weather. Keep your fingers crossed! We expect a soaking rain overnight, perhaps lingering through the first morning lesson tomorrow. Then grand sunny weather later tomorrow and through most of the weekend, including our fun show on Saturday!

 

Lots of pictures coming a little later this afternoon.

 

June 11^th, 8AM:

Finally Meghan was able to pull off the surprise cookie dough party in the cabin last night. Some pictures at this link! I hope everyone makes it to horse care this morning without a tummy ache.

 

June 10^th, 10 PM Update:

Check this link for more pictures from Meghan’s camera taken at the Farley Bridgeman clinic this afternoon and at the barn tonight. We jumped mostly smaller jumps at the beginning of this week while we got used to our new riders and they got used to the horses. We’re beginning to jump a little bigger now and should be ready for the show on Saturday.

 

Instructor Katie let Kellie get on her private thoroughbred mare, Abby, this evening. Katie is going to let Jessica help train Abby tomorrow, and perhaps Kellie again next week. Abby is a five year old TB mare just starting over fences. Katie is going to let some of the girls help her train this nice young horse over the summer!

 

We have several more green horses coming to Longacres for training beginning June 21^st when we will have more riders available to school these additional horses.

 

June 10^th, 5PM Update:

Things are going well this afternoon. Everyone enjoyed the guest clinic from Farley Bridgeman, and before that during rest hour, all the kids were in one cabin goofing around, laughing, and having fun. Meghan got together with them for a bit to make up for the cookie dough party we didn’t get to last night. I believe the dough was consumed today!

 

Check this link for fresh pictures from my camera from this afternoon. Meghan was also taking pictures, so there will be another batch at this link later this evening.

 

We’re expecting a bit of rain overnight and tomorrow morning, then clearing sky and fine cool riding weather through the weekend for our show on Saturday. Hope to see some of our regular readers at the fun show here at Longacres. We’ve already heard that some nice horses will be coming!

 

June 10, 1PM:

Meghan and I both had good talks with a student who had some issues and are hopeful that things are working out for the good.

 

Re: last night’s note that some of our students have been lazy about grooming their horses, I am glad to report that no one was asked to get off their horse and go down to the barn for better grooming this morning. But it was close! Two riders were still careless, and against my better judgement I gave them one last reprieve. The next hour I went through the barn while the girls were tacking up and personally checked each horse, finding more dirt to clean on almost every horse. So the extra work was done before mounting. But from now on, each rider is expected to bring their horse to the lesson clean to begin with. If not, off you go to do the work properly.

 

Check this link for some pictures from a lesson Tom taught this morning including slow & fast trotting races (youngest Katie the winner!), and jumping on the outside course while learning about walking courses and figuring striding in a horse show line. Little & middle Katie’s, Jessica, and Kellie rode. Stephanie and her mom were out on a special mother-daughter trail ride and I promised Stephanie that she will get to jump the outside course this evening or afternoon. (Guest clinic is also this afternoon with Farley Bridgeman).

 

We are beginning to do some serious riding this session and there is a lot of talent here. We are also beginning to expect more from our riders, both on and off the horses. All good things come with a price.

 

June 10^th, 9AM:

A short correction from last night’s post: we strive for full reporting and accuracy in these updates, even when something doesn’t go well at Longacres. I reported last night that everyone was in good spirits and that Meghan was hosting a cabin party. Make that all but one in good spirits. It turns out we do have one student who is not happy with the horses she has been assigned and has had a less than satisfying relationship with our staff. (There has been full communication with this student’s family at home, so if you don’t know about it, it doesn’t affect YOUR student! Everything else continues to go well. AND, Meghan just phoned me from the barn to report that she had a good talk with the student in question this morning and things look promising for resolving the issues in question. We know we can never make everyone happy all the time, but we feel badly if we have a student leave early for whatever reasons. We’re hopeful that things go better today in this case.)

 

Also, because Meghan spent a long time talking with this student last night, the cabin party got postponed to today. (psssst! Don’t tell if you happen to hear from your student today!)

 

We will be back to reporting GOOD NEWS and happiness later today!

 

June 9^th, 9PM:

It was a guest clinic day today and we took almost 500 pictures between this morning’s ride and the clinics in the afternoon! Here’s a link to about another 80 of the best. No captions tonight!

 

Oh – by the way, Katie from Colorado (Katie2) did a great job of riding big Diesel this evening. She had him under control, cantering, and even jumped a few times. Check a few pictures here.

 

Everyone is in good spirits tonight, worked hard taking care of the horses, and Meghan is throwing a surprise cookie dough party in the cabin tonight. This is good.

 

But things go up and down. There may be a few pouty faces around the barn tomorrow. Some of the girls have been pretty sloppy about grooming their horses before they ride and have come up to ride with mud still on their horse. We’ve made some gentle comments on the need for better grooming. This evening Meghan made another gentle warning that if you don’t have your horse properly groomed when you come to ride, you’ll be sent back to the barn to do a better job before you get to ride. Hopefully this warning will be sufficient. But, knowing teenagers as I do, I’m not counting on it. I’ll give you an update tomorrow. I will be very pleased if I can report that no one was sent back to the barn to do a better grooming job. Keep your fingers crossed. And don’t place any big bets!

 

June 9^th, 1PM:

How to get a few big smiles!

I was a little demanding of some of the girls earlier this morning when they were not paying good attention to how their horses were behaving during the “boring” parts of a lesson. They were riding better in the second lesson, so I thought it might be time for a little treat. I walked up and asked, “Do you guys think it’s time for a little Butterfly Jumping session?” You should have seen the smiles break out, especially on little Katie. I don’t know but what she may have come to Longacres just to jump the Butterfly! Check this link for some pictures from the second morning lesson, including the Butterfly jump which they all did very well. (Gina, your painting work on that jump sure is appreciated!!!)

 

June 9^th, 11AM:

We’ve got some nice pictures from the first morning lesson at this link. We made them a little bigger than normal since we got some interesting shots!

 

All our students are doing some good riding and seem to have found a couple of horses each that they enjoy especially. Although we have some good riders here this week, as so often happens, we have some who are at Longacres for the first time and who are not used to the level of attention we expect to detail.

 

It is tough to balance the value of letting the girls relax and just have fun riding against the value of asking them to pay attention and have their horse listening properly all the time and to making their horse walk at a proper working walk before they do exciting jumping exercises. I’m taking the first two days to try to make the point that you need to “walk well” before you “run well”. After that, I won’t push it unless a student asks to be pushed. I am aware that riding four and five hours a day, it is hard to have full concentration all the time.

 

June 9^th, 8AM:

Yippee!

Just what the farm needed; heavy rain rolled through overnight (along with some pretty impressive thunder & lightning!), but already this morning the sun is out and we’re looking at two nice days in a row. It has been very dry and we did need this rain, so we are happy that it came at night and that we’ve gotten away with only missing an afternoon ride yesterday. Our grass will be lush and thick for the show this weekend.

 

Prize List for this weekend’s Fun Show at Longacres.

 

June 8^th, 10PM:

It usually takes two or three days for a new group to really bond and become a team at Longacres. But this group is well on the way. They were laughing and goofing around together during evening horsecare and seem to be getting along very well. One of our best riders in this group is one of the youngest – little Katie from New Jersey is one tough little rider with good natural instincts and good training at home! She’s going to do well at Longacres.

 

We did get a soaking rain this afternoon, but it cleared up and the sun was out for an evening ride after dinner. We’re expecting more rain overnight, but then much of tomorrow will be rain free and it looks like a sunny day on Wednesday. The weather at Longacres once again is proving a little better than predicted at the beginning of a week.

 

Another set of pictures are posted at this link. It was getting dark when Meghan took many of them so some are a little blurred or underexposed. But they show the girls having a good time during evening ride and horsecare.

 

Tom spent some time after dinner watching the girls ride and almost an hour out on the ATV with saws and pruners clearing the “jungle” back along the horse trails. Check his picture in tonight’s album.

 

June 8^th, 3PM:

The pictures from this morning are now posted with captions at this link so you all at home can see who is riding at Longacres this week. All but the youngest Katie are staying for next week also, and will be joined next week by Ruby & Diana.

 

Our great luck with the weather has finally run out and we’re at the moment getting a soaking rain. (Which we badly need to keep the ground soft for the horses and the grass lush and green.) But it began at lunch time and we got in all our morning lessons first. It looks like there may be a lull in the rain in time to have a good ride after dinner. Then some more rain tomorrow morning, but only scattered rain the following few days and great weather at the end of the week. Not bad.

 

June 8^th, 2PM:

Katie, Christen, Stephanie, and Jessica have been on several horses and Kellie & Katie who came in after the first ride have been on one. We’re all on the way down to a late lunch and then quick back for another ride to beat the rain which may come in later this afternoon! We’ve got video of everyone riding and will watch that this evening or late afternoon if it rains.

 

Thanks to Meri for your email! I am handing it to the girls at lunch. Pictures to be posted soon at this link.

 

June 8^th, 11AM:

Everyone but Kellie has arrived safely for this session, and we expect Kay and Kellie soon! Katie from New Jersey is just getting on her first horse right now and the rest will be mounting up for their second ride. We’ve got video of everyone to show later today. We’ll have pictures to post at this link after lunch, and more later this evening. All of our readers out there in “internet land” should be able to see your Longacres student online by the end of the day.

 

June 7^th, 10PM:

We’ve now met more than half of the Clinic Week students. Stephanie and her mom and dad from Chicago are staying in town tonight and joined us at Pasquale’s for dinner, so we had a chance to get acquainted. Katie and Jessica from Colorado flew in via New York tonight and are staying at the farm tonight to be ready bright and early tomorrow. We just have to meet Katie arriving from New Jersey tomorrow morning, and Kellie arriving we don’t know when. Kellie and her mom like to surprise us! Katie had a horse show today, so they have to drive a long way tomorrow morning. A horse show is a good reason to be late for camp!

 

Adult Week Students Got Gyped! No Flowers!

Click this link for a few odds ‘n ends photos. There are a few of Renee on Diesel the other day and of other Adult Week students, and some showing all the flowers Meghan and Alex put around the jump courses today. Sorry we didn’t have them out for you guys during adult week – we ran out of time.

 

Alex and Taylor came out to help Destiny with horse care this morning and then rode for a couple of hours. Taylor has another job working with horses, so I knew she could ride. Alex was the surprise. I guess I knew that she used to ride “a little bit”. I did not know that she has jumped and has pretty darn good form! Wait till you see a picture of her riding and jumping later in the summer. Add one more talent to Alex’s “jack of all trades” abilities (painting jumps, maintenace work, cooking, office work, anything Meghan needs!).

 

June 7^th, 11AM:

Welcome to the students arriving in town this evening and first thing tomorrow morning for our two weeks of “Pro Guest Clinics”. Over the next two weeks (two more arriving next week for almost a full house), we have students coming from Chicago, Illinois; New Jersey, Colorado, Texas, and Iowa. Quite a geographically diverse group, thanks to Longacres’ internet presence!

 

If the next two weeks go even almost as well as this past week, we’ll be very pleased. It sounds like a good group of horse lovers. Just like last week at this time, there is scattered rain forecast for early in the week and then bright cool good riding weather for the second half of the week. Best chance of rain is tomorrow afternoon and overnight, so we’ll try to hurry and get everyone on horses their first morning and then squeeze in more rides between any pesky rain showers the next day or two. Or perhaps, like last week, the rain will come only at night and we won’t lose much if any riding time! Cross your fingers.

 

June 6^th, 10PM:

OK, we’re relaxing a bit between sessions and giving thanks for a good first week of the 2009 season. How good? Well, I can’t think of a better tribute to the fine work of our instructors, Katie and Destiny, and of the good spirits and hard work of our adult week students, Renee, Meri, Laura, and Anne Catherine, than to tell you this: Meghan sat across from me at dinner tonight and told me, “This is the most enjoyable and rewarding first week of camp ever, in my 14 years at Longacres!” I can’t disagree. Thanks to our riding staff, to our students, and to all our grounds and support staff (Joel, Alex, Taylor, Julie, and Nick) for making this great first week possible.

 

I am “touching wood” as I write this and hope that the next 12 weeks of 2009 will be nearly as good!

 

June 6^th, 1PM:

We’re in the middle of saying, “Goodbye” to the adults who were here this week. It was our best adult week ever, with all really compatible people. Everyone really improved during the week. We miss you all. And it sounds like most of you are returning next year.

 

Laura’s Big Jump!

Speaking of improving, Laura from Seattle kept getting better and better all week, and her confidence improved daily. Tom worked with her on Brody just this morning to give her a personal best jumping experience. Check the picture at this link. How about that Brody!??!!! Fine job, Laura!

 

June 5^th, 9PM:

In a few minutes I’ll get a call saying that evening horsecare is finished and that it is time to drive into KONE KING!!!!!! It’s been an active last day of this session, and the ice cream break is well deserved. Meghan still has her camera with her, so I expect one more photo album later this evening at this link. Renee has to catch a plane home first thing in the morning, so we’ll sadly say “goodbye” tonight. But the other three adults are staying for two more rides tomorrow morning before they have to go home.

 

And we still have to watch the video’s of the outside course and hunt course rides later tonight after Kone King.

 

June 5^th, 1PM:

The girls all did a fine job jumping on the outside course and we got good video. A few pictures are posted at the link in the next paragraph. Katie Rode Horatio and got him going very well. (He looks great, Hannah and Mike!). Catherine was excellent on Rocky and Laura did very well, especially on the higher course with Merlin. Meri went around the course riding near Katie and jumped some of the jumps, skipping the bigger ones. She was great! Renee is just starting to jump, so she rode around the course bypassing the jumps to get the flavor of it, and walked part of the course with Tom to get the idea of course walking. Destiny was with the farrier – she’ll ride the course this afternoon!

 

June 5^th, 10AM:

Simply a grand day to ride and work with horses!

What more can I say? This has been a fine week with cool temperatures and bright sunshine the past two days. Today is just perfect for our adult’s last full day of riding. Everyone gets to ride a long course on the big show field today – even our beginners will be out on the field riding next to the jumps to get a feel for what this kind of course is like.

 

This afternoon is a trail ride to the old hunt course and the new “Ridge Line” trails. Pictures later at this link. (Did you have enough pictures yesterday?!!?!)

 

June 4, 9PM:

Hi again,

I’d like to send out a “thank you” to Andrea, who came over and rode some bucks and leaps out of Quantum yesterday. It got pretty exciting. Andrea and I worked with Quantum both longing and riding after the wild session, and got him pretty quiet. And then tonight, he was wonderful! Katie did a great job, longing him first and then giving him a long ride with lots of cantering and even a jump at the end. He was pretty much back to his good old well behaved self. So to the extent your riding helped, Andrea, thank you!

 

Here’s a “Happy Birthday” greeting to Mick Jogger, Jaclyn’s horse, who turns 8 next week. Thanks for the message Jaclyn, and I hope Mick is doing great in his “middle age”.

 

And while I’m thanking people, “Thanks” especially to Meri, Laura, Renee, and Anne Catherine for being truly wonderful adult week students this session. What a fine group of women to teach and work with! I hope they all return for 2010 Adult Week!

 

Uncle Billy came over tonight and spent some time just relaxing and grazing horses on the nice fresh show field grass. It’s been a good day at Longacres.

 

June 4^th, 7PM:

There was much gaiety and good natured ribbing at dinner this evening while we showed a computer slide show of today’s pictures. Click this link for another batch taken with meghan’s camera – some similar to the last batch we posted, and some new.

 

We have just one more full day plus Saturday morning for this batch of riders, and we’re going to miss them. They’ve bonded together well as a working group of horsewomen!

 

The weather will hold with bright sun for two more days. Then our forecast for the first part of the next session is similar to what we had at the beginning of this week. No washouts, but some scattered showers. This past week, none of that rain ever materialized here at Longacres. I’m about to water the flowers right after I post this update, so we could use some rain.

 

June 4^th, 1:30 PM:

Lots of pretty jumping pictures this morning, some of them at this link. We had a few tumbles doing the more exciting jumps out in the big show field, but both hopped right back on and jumped again. There was lots of cheering and hooting and hollering!

 

June 4^th, 11:30:

I just had a good time working with Laura on Ebony for an hour. We’ve been emphasizing basics this week, so today was the first time she’s jumped full courses at Longacres. She did a fine job with Ebony both in the small show ring and on the outside course.. AND – ta-da – Destiny jumper Diesel over the small stone wall a couple of times. He was good!

 

Next hour is picture hour with lots of close-ups over the outside course jumps. We’ll post some of the best this afternoon.

 

June 4^th, 10AM:

Today’s personal message is a “hello” to “Deb, a voice out of the past”, and her co-workers who are now checking the Blog! You guys join Seth, Queena, and Heather in DC who are following Renee’s exploits, including her exciting cantering eercise yesterday.

 

Also, can’t wait to see Kellie and Kay and everyone arriving Monday for the following two weeks of guest instructor clinics. The horses are chomping at the bit, so to speak. The only ones still a little wild are Quantum, and maybe ShaBang, who also has had little work the past two months. We’re working on them.

 

Speaking of working on a horse, Destiny will be working hard in about ten mintues. She rides Diesel this morning, and I plan to have her jump him. Pictures coming!

 

June 3, 10:30 PM:

I finished putting the points on the computer fast than I expected. All points from the High Time show are now posted. Check the Shownews link.

 

June 3^rd, 9:30 PM:

Gung Ho riders, or what????

Three of our students and an instructor are tacking up for a night ride, after putting in a full day in the saddle. These gals are gung ho! And that’s after doing an early evening horsecare and going out to Pasquale’s for dinner. (Where Destiny and Tom had a diet coke drinking contest – unbelievably, Destiny was the winner. - - - WITH an asterisk – ask her about that when you come to Longacres!

 

Many of you compliment us on getting some good pictures to post on this Blog. We do have good cameras and get some good shots. Mostly, though, it comes from taking a LOT of pictures and culling many before we post our little albums. Today, for example, we too more than 300 pictures to post perhaps 80 or 90. While I sit and write this, the computer is importing another 180 pictures and I’ll post the best 30 or 40 at this link for those of you up late. Just to satisfy my curiosity, email me if you saw this late evening post before going to bed tonight. Thanks,

Tom

 

STSS Show Results will be posted by midnight tonight. The Jumper results are up already and we’re nearly done with the rest of the divisions. Check this link for the latest Show News page.

 

June 3^rd, 6PM:

We’ve had a full day, with the first trail rides of the season this morning and Kathy coming to give a guest instructor clinic this afternoon. We’ve got lots of pictures at this link.

 

Renee cantered!!! First time, and she made it look good. Her pictures in our albums are often pretty serious looking, but you’ll see her smiling broadly today! Meri also had a good clinic with good canters and very good posting trots.

 

Destiny had a well deserved day off, sleeping late this morning, but then riding the rest of the day. That’s a horse lover for you!

 

Thanks to Andrea who came over to ride Quantum this afternoon. She did a great job, and had him very quiet at a trot warming up. Then the fun started, with big Quantum Leaps out on the field. Andrea was grinning from ear to ear at first, but then the leaps got bigger and it was not as much “fun” anymore. We gave him a long longing session and then Andrea got back on and schooled him in the sand ring and got him to behaving again. Then we quit while we were ahead.

 

June 2, 9:30 PM:

We have a few more pictures at this link. Destiny jumped Brody over a good sized jump, and Brody thought it was no big deal. He was very quiet and well behaved. Quakerfield did a good job with him this winter. Thanks, guys!

 

It is early to be sure, of course, since we’re only finishing our second day of the 2009 season. But we feel very, very good about Longacres this year. Destiny and Katie are both teaching well, popular with their students, and simply knocking themselves out working hard. Good job, girls!! And we love all our students. ALL of them! I just knocked wood that I didn’t jinx us by writing this in public!

 

PS – So you think you might like to own your own horse farm some day?? Right now (10PM), Meghan is out in the dark in the horse pasture putting electric fence insulators back on the posts after one of the horses tore 12 of them off the fence line getting too close while flirting with a mare on the other side. Fun, wow.

 

PPS: Here is Griffy’s idea of “sausagey” - - pretty close!

 

“i think sausagey means that there was a lot of sausage or something was fat like u know like beefy but sausagey ya neway hows camp doing im pretty dang bored here at home but tommorow im going to a concert!!!!!! but i have to miss riding but then il have a make up lesson haha!!!!! well i gt keep babysittin my sis so ill ttyl

byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeee

griffy “

 

June 2, 7PM:

Click this link for a couple of pictures I took an hour ago at “Meghan’s Happy Hour” – adult week is fun!

 

PS: The word of the day at Longacres is “sausagey”- - - If you feel adventurous, you can guess, or maybe it’s one of those cases when “you had to be there”!

 

June 2, 3PM:

Click this link for a nice batch of pictures from today at Longacres. Everyone rode well this morning!

 

We already have reservations for the June 13th fun show, so it sounds like we may have a nice turnout, even with no points. Give us a call if you plan to come so we’ll have an idea of how late the show will run.

 

June 2^nd, 11AM:

Fun & Schooling “show” at Longacres June 13^th:

We’ve had lots of calls from riders and trainers who want to come over and school the Longacres courses before the Summer Series comes here on June 20^th. Combine that with complications arranging another location for a non-points show on June 13^th, we’ve decided to kill two birds with one stone and host an informal “fun show” and schooling event at Longacres on Saturday, June 13^th at 11AM. Just $5 bucks grounds fee and $10 entry fee in all classes.

 

There will be courses in both rings at various heights and flat classes on the inside and outside courses. There will be two jumper classes at two heights each. About 20 classes in all. The inside ring will begin at 11AM, and the outside course not before noon, perhaps alternating back and forth after that. Just one judge and one ring running at a time. Very informal show with opportunities to do any kind of schooling you need when it’s your turn.

 

We have more than our share of shows already at Longacres this summer, so if anyone else is running a show that weekend, we’ll be glad to post the info here. We’re just looking to have a fun schooling event on June 13^th. Hope it works for you!

 

June 2^nd, 10AM:

Just a quick “good morning” to all our readers. And I mean all! I’ve spoken with two people in the past 24 hours who do not attend Longacres but are addicted to our daily Blog ramblings. It makes me nervous sometimes when I look at the site logs for the website and see thousands of “hits” a week at longacres.com. A special “good morning” to Seth, Heather, and Queena in DC!

 

None of our new adult students fell off yesterday, and though they were definitely ready for bed after 4 and 5 rides yesterday, they all seem happy. We took video of all of them yesterday and will take a few more minutes this morning. Then we’re having video review of their riding after lunch.

 

More to come later.

 

June 1^st, 8PM:

Check this link for a bunch more pictures of everyone riding, caring for horses, and eating lunch at Longacres today! This is adult week, but except for the students being bigger than our summer students, it feels just like camp. Everyone did some good riding, and we’re pleased with Katie and Destiny as teachers. No captions tonight – it’s been a long day.

 

Psssst – the Light Houses arrived – they’ll look great when they’re painted!

 

June 1^st, 1PM:

Special to the Washington, DC Followers:

Renee arrived safely and says, “Hello!” She’s just getting on her first horse now. Normally we’d be headed to lunch now, but we’re going to get in an extra ride first to beat the rain, which will arrive sometime this afternoon. Weather looks good for us for the week. Some rain tonight, a great day tomorrow, then a little more rain tomorrow night and Wednesday morning, then great weather for the end of the week. Can’t ask for much better than that on a horse farm, where you like a little night time rain to keep the grass green and the ground soft.

 

Pictures of everyone coming tonight. The “gals” have had video taken this morning and we’ll be analyzing that in slow motion if it rains later this afternoon, or this evening.

 

June 1^st, 10AM:

The “gals” are just tacking up for their first ride, and Longacres is open for the 2009 season. They did not freeze to death last night in the bunk, but it was close! Everyone is here, but Renee, who arrives any minute now. Click this link for a few pictures from morning horsecare and breakfast – lots more to come with everyone on horses later today.

 

May 31st, 9PM:

If their families are checking in at home, Meri and Laura have arrived safely at Longacres!

There’s a picture of Laura with Meghan next to the horse pasture at this link. Meri came in when it was too dark to take good pictures, but she looks happy to be here. Happy at least until the sun goes down completely and the cold front really sinks in! We may break an all time record for the coldest recorded June temperature in many parts of upstate New York tonight. With a frost advisory in the colder valleys. Probably 35 or 36 here. At least we won’t be riding in hot sticky weather this week. Actually it looks like very pleasant riding weather with temps in the mid 60’s most of the week and only this one really frigid night.

 

The farm look good almost everywhere thanks to Meghan and her crew. I posted some pictures of the jump courses tonight. Joel and I worked all weekend mowing and trimming, and I don’t think you could find another blade of grass anyplace on the farm that needs trimming. We rocked!

 

Keep the emails coming in – even though we are very busy and don’t always answer you right away. Thanks to Ofelia, Heather, Junior, Griffy, and the others who emailed in the past two days. And Hannah. She had Horatio for the winter, and sent the following nice email about saying “goodbye” to him. It’s nice to hear about how horses act when we pick them up to bring them “home”!

 

“hi again! 

 

So many horses!  Wow.. now that merlin is there it really seems like camp is about to start!  I guess mother daughter week is starting next week?  Aaaaa this is so exiting!  I'm looking forward to all the camp updates and seeing everybody ride.  It'll be really fun to see all the new people enjoying their time at longacres and watching as their riding progress.  I especially can't wait to see who the new hoho-riders will be!

 

Speaking of Hoho, he is on his way up! (as you know already..lol)  It was very sad to say goodbye, but hoho was perfect and happily went on the trailer.  As the trailer drove off past the fields, Hoho looked out is window and whinied.  All the 80+ horses in every field came running over in unison, neighing back at him.  It was such a beautiful sight--the sun had just risen and everything was glowing.  It was a picture-perfect setting for a bittersweet moment, and needless to say, Hoho will be very missed.  I have realized over and over again that you can't fully appreciate anything or anyone until they are gone, and this was certainly no different.  While i loved every minute of having hoho, i wish i could start it all over again...this time with the knowlege of how i'd feel once he left.  He is such a special horse, and i know he'll have a terrific summer with you guys and everyone else at longacres.  And i'd LOVE it if you could post some pictures of him arriving at the farm :]

 

Thanks so much for Hoho,

Hannah”

 

May 30, 3PM:

Congratulations to all the winners at the first Summer series show of 2009 over at High Time Stables. Leigh always sets a great course! We’ll have results and points posted soon after High Time gets us the results. The next show in the Series will be at Longacres on June 20^th. There will also be a fun show at a place to be determined (we’re working on it and have two possibilities) on June 13^th – not for Series points, just for fun & practice.

 

Check this link for just two pictures – one showing the freshly mowed galloping field which I just finished a few minutes ago, and another of Andrea and Copper at the High time show this morning to celebrate the start of the summer show season.

 

Our farm is really looking good! Meghan has almost finished setting all the jumps on all the courses with great help from Katie and Destiny (AND Griffy, today!), and she is about to start setting out all the flowers and flower boxes. Our first adult week students arrive in about four hours, so GET TO IT, Meghan!!!

 

In case you saw me at the High Time show this morning and thought I was looking much older and walking awkwardly – well, of course, I am older, but it was mostly stiffness from riding my favorite giant horse on a long trail ride yesterday showing our new instructors around the trails! I am moving a little better now after weed wacking all morning. Tonight will be another story.

- Old Tom

 

May 29, 8:30 PM:

Exemplary:

Normally it is Longacres policy to only use last name initials on the website to honor the privacy of our customers. But now and then there are times when the only appropriate thing to do is fully identify people.

 

Deb Hollasch along with her daughters, Sam and Sydney, took “Star” home for the winter. Hannah Sangillo and her dad, Mike, were “Horatio’s” winter family! Laura and Sharon Foster took “Rocky” for the winter. All three horses were vanned back to Longacres by Frank Schlossin, arriving at Longacres just half an hour ago.

 

I need to tell you that Frank is a perfectionist in the care of his horses. And not bashful about commenting if any of our horses come back from their winter homes in less than perfect condition. So when he pulled into our driveway with his big horse van tonight after driving to Maryland and New Jersey and back, and got out of his truck shaking his head, I was nervous. Frank walked up to us, paused for a minute, and said, “These horses have had exemplary care – all three of them.”

 

So off the trailer they came, one by one, first Rocky, then Star, and finally Horatio. They are all in awesome condition! As you will see in the pictures at this link! We’ll post more pictures tomorrow taken in better light.

 

So a HUGE Longacres “thank you” to Deb, Sydney, Sam, Laura, Sharon, Hannah, and Mike!!!!!!! Outstanding job caring for our horses over the winter!

 

And they aren’t the only ones – the whole herd looks really, really good this year!

 

More news later, including a very touching message from Hannah written just after she said, “Good bye” to Horatio.

 

May 29, 11PM:

Sorry so late, but we just got in and Meghan has a few pictures of the horses that returned to Longacres from their winter homes today. Zanee, Ginger, Merlin, Brownie, and Brody all look good! At this link.

 

May 29, 1PM:

We’re making progress on a busy day. Click this link for a couple of pictures of this morning’s “surprise”! Everything around the farm seemed normal all morning as we drove in and out of the barn driveway several times. Then Meghan started to drive out and go up to the house to get some paperwork ten minutes before a load of horses was due to arrive: and the driveway was blocked by a fallen tree!

 

Luckily, I drove in at that exact moment with a truckload of new jump rails, saw what was happening, and raced up to the shop for the tractor and chain saws. With the help of Meghan and Alex, I was able to get the tree cut up and out of the way in time for the horse trailers to get in the driveway!

 

May 29^th, 9AM:

It’s a bit grey and dreary looking outside, but we lucked out and did not get the heavy rains forecast for overnight. We’ve had just enough rain over the past couple of days to green up the grass, water the flowers, and soften the footing for the horses. We’ve got two nice days over the weekend to finish all the mowing and trimming and jump course building so we’ll be ready for our adult week students. Maybe a few showers overnight tomorrow night – just when we want them!

 

Do bring your poncho’s if you’re riding with us next week. There are scattered showers in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday, but not a wash out. We should have no trouble getting in plenty of riding. Then some fine sunny, cool riding weather for Wednesday and Thursday!!!

 

We know that our season is underway when we start having our instructors take their day off, and Katie is enjoying a well deserved day of rest today, while Destiny and Meghan run the barn. And they will have much to do, with five of our horses returning today from their winter homes and the farrier busy here all morning. Ginger, Merlin, Brownie, Brody, and Zanee will all arrive today, have their bridles fit, get a little schooling ride, and become reacquainted with their pasture buddies. I don’t doubt there will be some running, bucking, and squeeling going on out in the pastures as they are greeted by the horses who have already been here a month!

 

I am about to drive over to the lumber mill and pick up a truck load of new jump rails this morning. Recession or not, we’ve continued to invest heavily in jumps and related jump course materials this season. Good jumps have become one of the important things that sets Longacres apart from other riding camps and Meghan is continuing her schedule of annual improvements. The new Light House jump is due here over the weekend – can’t wait to see it!

 

Did I write “good jumps”? Let’s call that “great jumps”!

 

Pictures coming later today at this link.

 

May 28, 6PM:

Click this link for some pictures from this afternoon. It is raining out now, but we got in most of our planned rides today plus lots of outside work. Heavy rain coming overnight, but then it looks like we’ll be able to ride much of tomorrow. I hope this luck with the weather holds up for next week!

 

We begin setting up the big outside course tomorrow and should be done by 6PM Sunday evening. Stop over then to see if we made it on time!

 

May 28^th, noon:

Chesney makes big stride forward!

We like the way Chesney moves and behaves around the barn. But he’s been a little excitable at the canter and especially jumping since he’s been here in a new place for him. He was especially excited yesterday. So we were very pleased to watch him do an about face and canter and jump like a gentleman this morning. It just takes a little time with new horses!

 

The gas company finished repairing our gas service this morning and got all the water heaters and stoves lit. Then we found a squirrel’s nest in the flu of the shower building. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. But this problem is an easy fix - - - for Joel, not for me. My days of climbing on wet roofs to clear flue pipes are done!

 

Longacres is having good luck so far with mother nature’s rain schedule. We’ve gottan all the rain totals that were forecast yesterday and today. But it has thoughtfully cleared up during all our riding sessions, with much of the rain falling overnight. We should get more rain later today, but so far it looks nice out. The same looks to be true for the beginning of adult week next week. There will be scattered showers in the area Monday and Tuesday, but neither day looks like a washout. We will ride anyway, but it is more fun if you’re not getting water down your neck while you ride! Kind of 30% to 40% chance of showers. Then clearing nicely by mid week.

 

More update coming later. I’m off to town to pick up mower repair parts so that all our machinery will be humming along over the weekend to make the farm look perfect for our new arrivals.

 

May 27^th, 11PM:

NOTE: 2008 picture albums going “Bye-Bye”

Over the next few days we will be deleting most of the daily photo albums we posted last summer to make room for new ones we’ll put online this season. In case you are fond of checking those old albums, download any pictures you want to have over the next day or two.

 

Today’s pictures are now posted at this link – sorry, Griffy, we didn’t get any of you, but thanks for coming and helping!! There are nice pictures of Katie, Katie “Junior”, and Destiny and some of the horses!

 

We have two possible sets of Longacres alumni and their daughters considering Longacres sessions this summer. We hope they both work out!! Deb and her daughter, Jill, are almost certain for Lazy Days week.

 

HAPPY Birthday to David Laks!!!!!! At least the final eight minutes of it! It’s almost midnight as I get ready to post this update.

 

May 27^th Update:

We’re late with an update today, since we’ve been on the go from 7 AM. I’ve lost track of how much riding was done, with Katie and Destiny riding four or five sets of horses. Griffin and Katie W. were also here and rode multiple horses!

 

Meghan had her camera with her, so I bet there will be pictures a little later at this link. But I haven’t talked to her for more than a few seconds at a time.

 

The gas company FINALLY got a crew here this morning and they are nearly done with repairs, so I am pretty confident that the adults next week will have hot water showers! LOL (Don’t worry, we had a plan “B” with showers at the main house and in the RV on stand by just in case.

 

Speaking of the RV, we went to pick it up from it’s annual inspection this morning. Tom knew that it was very low on fuel, so he headed straight for a service station that has diesel fuel - - - and ran out of gas on the way there! Meghan was already almost home, so Tom waited for Meghan to return 45 minutes later with fuel cans. Wasted a mere hour and a half or so on this little problem.

 

But many good things got done today, including some final grading on some of our new trails.

 

SPEAKING OF TRAILS!!!!!!

 

Click this link for a scan of a new Longacres trail map we’re putting together. Once we have a final version that is pretty accurate, we’ll see if we have any artists available who would like to “Prettify” it before we print.

 

May 26^th, 6PM:

Good News for Quantum Lovers!

Horses, like people, all age differently. Quantum is no longer a young horse, turning 16 or 17 this year (Meghan will know which), and every spring from now on, we will be wondering if his age is causing him to slow down. His withers were more prominent last summer than when he was younger.

 

But last summer was one of Quantum’s best show seasons ever. He had a good winter home this past winter (thanks, Becka!) and he is well fed and shiny. My first impression of his over all condition this year was promising when Meghan turned him into the pasture with the other horses a couple of days ago. You can just tell by the way a horse trots and canters when they are excited how much spring is left in their stride. Quantum floated as he pranced around the pasture.

 

And today we rode him for the first time. There is a LOT of horsepower left under Quantum’s “hood”. Ask Katie! She is a strong rider, and she was almost unseated by a couple of “Quantum Leaps”!

 

All we did besides walk-trot, a few short canters, and some transitions was to trot over some rails on the ground, and he exploded over them. It is too early to be sure how Quantum will act in the show ring this summer, but in my opinion, he’s still “got the stuff”!!!

 

Thanks to Griffin who is coming out and helping ride the horses and work in the barn most every day this week. Kinda cool to live four miles from Longacres year round!

 

And thanks to Katie W. – I just had one of your brownies last night after we got home, and Meghan is right, it was wonderful.

 

Today I spent four hours on a rented backhoe machine working all around the trails getting rid of numerous small stumps that could bruise horse’s feet and digging some drainage ditches next to wet spots on some of the new trails.

 

Justin is down at the barn now where he just arrived. Meghan is taking pictures which we will post along with many others at this link later this evening.

 

Meghan leaves in an hour for the airport where she is picking up instructor, Destiny, from Dallas. Welcome, Destiny; there’s plenty to do and lots of horses to ride the rest of the week!

 

May 25, 5PM:

A big Longacres “Thank You” to Griffin S, Katie W., and Uncle Billy for coming out to help Counselor Katie exercise the Longacres horses. Some of them are used to working and will be ready to go to work next Monday for adult week. Others, like Boo, Diesel, Chesney, and Lincoln are out of shape and need work this week to get them ready. It was a huge help to have Katie and Griffin here all afternoon helping in the barn and riding. Uncle Billy is going to try Lincoln next hour – he didn’t even recognize Lincoln after seeing the pictures of how thin he was when he first came to us a month ago (less than that, I guess!). Lincoln is closing in on gaining 200 pounds and looking pretty decent.

 

We’re having a big after riding Pasquale’s dinner tonight! Then it will really seem like summer, since we all go to Pasquale’s after shows most Saturday nights. We may have ten or eleven people there tonight, with Griffin’s parents, Katie’s boyfriend, the girls, Uncle Billy, and Meghan and I! Sometimes we have 24 or 25 at dinner during the summer if several sets of parents join us. (After dinner update – there were high spirits around the table and interesting talk. We learned that Katie (younger one) is DEFINITELY not shy! And we learned that Griffin’s idea of a cabin party is more than cookie dough!!!!!!!. And lots of horse talk.

 

We’ll have a good album of pictures at this link later this evening. Lots of pictures!

 

We got lots of other stuff done today, as well. Alex helped the guys take all the winter shutters off the dining hall windows so it looks a lot more inviting. Then Alex cleaned more jumps and put bedding in lots of stalls.

 

Tom cleaned out the two water jumps so they’ll be all ready to fill with lean water before the weekend in case mother nature doesn’t do it for us.

 

Joel and Tom worked over at the old junior pasture salvaging wire fence to refurbish the safety fencing next to the high banks along the creekside trail.

 

All in all, today was much like a regular day at Longacres during the summer. It sure felt that way with everyone here riding! Thanks to Katie for doing such a good job on her first real day as a Longacres instructor. Good job, Katie!

 

May 25^th, 11AM:

Busy Day: Katie is moving in today and Destiny tomorrow evening. More horses are arriving during the week and lots of them at the end of this week! The instructors and guest riders like Griffin will be riding for hours every day getting the horses who have not been working regularly well muscled and trained.

 

Joel and Alex are taking the shutters off the dining lodge today so that area will be ready for opening day. I have some more landscaping and a trip to Home Depot for supplies on my list. Pictures to come later.

 

May 24^th, 4PM:

I wasn’t going to do another update this afternoon, but I am in such a good mood that I have to share it with you. I always enjoy hearing from “voices out of the past”, but it would be hard to beat the thrill of hearing from Pat Wood Queen this afternoon! Pat was at Longacres for eleven years, from 19&% to 19*#. (There, never say I didn’t do you a favor, Pat!)

 

Pat first came to Longacres as a camper and went through the whole progression from student to CIT to counselor, and was one of the camp directors in her final year. And when the opportunity came for me to go to Virginia and study advanced riding with Olympic rider, Hugh Wiley, Pat went with me for a while. After she made me play, “Guess who this is?” we spent more than half an hour on the phone taking turns with the “Do you remember?” game, laughing like kids at the memories, only some of which would be suitable to repeat here!!

 

Pat’s daughter is graduating from high school in a couple of weeks and heading off to Bryn Mawr college in the fall. They are toying with the idea of coming up to Longacres this spring for a mother – daughter Longacres experience during one of the Pro-Clinic weeks, which would be really, REALLY fun! I hope it works for you Pat. My treat when we go out to tell stories from the old days!!!!!

 

I do often remember people who write in after stumbling across our website; people who were here at Longacres 20 or 30 or more years ago. But it is not often that I hear from one of the real central figures in Longacres history, like Pat, who were here for more than ten years in a row. Bonus: Pat lives in Savannah, one of our favorite cities when we drive home from Florida every spring, and we look forward to visiting next time we drive through, whether or not it works out for pat and daughter to visit Longacres this June! Thanks for the great conversation and memories, Pat.

 

May 24^th, 3PM:

Meet our staff!

Click this link for some pictures of the horsewomen who will be helping you all learn and have fun while staying safe at Longacres this summer. Alexa arrives in a few weeks in time for the regular camp sessions and will then be with us all summer. Alexa is returning for her fourth year at Longacres. She is leaving her own horse at home for the summer.

 

Katie is a college graduate, serious about horses, and is bringing her own young horse, Abby, to Longacres and will be letting some of YOU help train Abby! This is Katie’s first year actually working at Longacres, but she is from our area, we have many mutual friends in the horse world, and she has visited Longacres in previous seasons and already knows a lot about how we do things. She has been training and helping us get ready for the season all this week.

 

Destiny O. is from Dallas, Texas, and is really brand new to Longacres. She has her own horse at home, but it is too far to bring him from Texas. Destiny has great references and we look forward to having her on the Longacres team this summer! Destiny arrives for the full season on Tuesday night. We’ll plan to give her a “Kone King” welcome on the way home from the airport if it isn’t too late!

 

May 24^th, 1PM:

Correction on that “day off”!

Meghan now tells me that she never said, “I’m going to take it easy Sunday.” She claims her words were, “I’m going to take it a little easier Sunday.”

 

She gave all her staff the day off and was at the barn doing horse care from 8 to 10AM. She did then go to a relaxed breakfast with me, but as I enjoyed my morning paper, I noticed that she had pulled out her planner and was scheduling work for the rest of the week. Back at the farm she did a little office work and is now driving the truck around the farm collecting rubbish for trash day. She has two more hours of office work scheduled later today since she doesn’t have to be overseeing work crew. Then, “maybe” a couple of hours for a trip to the mall and a snack out, then back to welcome Bobert home and do evening horse care. That’s Meghan’s idea of a “day off”!

 

I am much better at doing “days off” than Meghan! I watched the Monaco Formula 1 race early this morning and am now sitting at the computer doing this update while I watch some of the Indy 500. In between I did do a little tree trimming and mowing, but that’s more fun than work. Here’s a link to a few new pictures from my iPhone camera. They say the best camera for the job is the camera you have with you. I find that I’m posting more and more iPhone pictures in our albums even though I am a bit of a photography elitist with my 5 frame per second DSLR and fancy schmantzy F2.8 telephoto lens that I use at shows and stuff!

 

May 24^th 9AM:

News Flash – Meghan is taking a day off!

This is news, indeed! Meghan rarely rests at this time of year, but with the rest of the summer fast approaching and tons of work accomplished this past week, she is planning to take it easy for one day. A well deserved rest! I don’t see much of her at this time of year, but we may go do something later this afternoon.

 

We took lots of pictures yesterday that I never had time to post. Click this link. There are great pictures of Quantum asserting his roll as one of the pasture bosses, pawing the ground and posing. And good pictures of all the jumps finally moved out of the barn and onto the show fields and practice rings. Enjoy.

 

 

May 23, 3PM:

Click this link for a few pictures from this morning around the farm. Most are of Katie on Lincoln and Leslie on Diesel. Our big boy, Diesel, has been so enjoying his total vacation for the past nine months with lots of food and no work at all. Poor boy. All we did is trot, a few canter strides, and some work through cavaletti poles. He was dripping with sweat when we let him stop! But he behaved very well and Leslie loves him. She especially likes his sitting trot – she says it feels like you’re floating on a cloud – a BIG cloud! Like last summer, he would just as soon be eating with his buddies or resting at the barn and he had to be told firmly not to stop by the in gate. But Leslie is a tough cookie, and he quickly got the idea that he shouldn’t mess with her.

 

Meghan and her crew are almost finished moving the jumps up to the various riding areas from winter storage. Now we have all next week to set up courses. Alex continues to be official jump scrubber and touch up painter – good girl!

 

As planned, I played with my tractor, watched Leslie and Katie ride, trimmed some grass, gave some advice on monitoring Quantum and Diesel’s “reunion”, and am now ready for my nap! More coming later.

 

 

 

May 23^rd, 9AM:

Meghan and I are on different schedules today. She has a big day moving jumps planned along with numerous other smaller obligations all coming due this morning. She will be trying to be in three places at once. She was up late last night and will sleep well when she finishes work this evening! But moving the jumps is one of the last big jobs left before we’re completely ready to open for the season. That gives us all next week to put on the little finishing touches. (Meghan has a couple of good helpers, so hopefully she will pace herself.)

 

I am definitely pacing myself today! I put in a couple of long days with some heavy work on the trails at the end of the week, and I’m feeling it. So today I’m going to man the office phones, do a few “fun jobs”, and perhaps even take a nap. I have to put a new battery in the old farm truck so hopefully Meghan’s jump crew will have two trucks available for the day. Then I’m going to take my tractor and a few trimming tools out on the trails. But unlike the urgent work the past two days clearing heavy branches and logs, I plan to just enjoy being outdoors on a great day while I putter around doing light trimming. It will be fun.

 

I’m also making time to be at the barn later this morning when Leslie McCulloch is stopping by to ride Diesel. That should be fun, since he’s only had a couple of us hop on bareback for a few minutes. No real riding for Diesel since last fall. Leslie is used to being on big horses, if perhaps not quite this big! She’s looking forward to it.

 

Speaking of Diesel, I guess I forgot to write last night about his latest cute behavior. A neighbor stopped by with his pickup truck last night to get a load of manure for his gardens. We have some piles of good garden stuff in the pasture, so we opened a gate and drove in with my tractor and the big pickup truck. The sight of a strange truck in their pasture is very unusual for the horses, and most of them walked away to the far side of the pasture when we drove in. Not Diesel! Before the pickup truck had even stopped moving, Diesel walked eagerly up to the truck like it was a new “friend” he wanted to meet. I mean RIGHT up to the truck! He leaned over the hood of the truck sniffing all over, just like he was meeting another horse. Apparently he liked the feeling of the hood of the truck which was warm from engine heat. Diesel just stood there with his muzzle resting on the metal truck hood while we loaded with the tractor. Meghan and Nick were working nearby and they cracked up. I always enjoy new Diesel behaviors, so I was also enjoying this. The only one who was a bit nervous was the guy who owns the truck!

 

May 22, 7PM:

We had a very productive, but exhausting day. We’re still going, so we’ll have an update late this evening to fill you in. Stay tuned.

 

Click this link for lots of pictures from today! No captions since I’m in a hurry, but here’s the run down on the day.

 

Meghan was up early working with the farrier – all her horses behaved very well! The first half of Tom’s day was spent negotiating with the gas company about who pays for the repair to the line to the dining hall. For the moment they won, and we’re going to pay a bunch of money to replace the whole line. There may be a round “two” of negotiations, but we have no choice but to get the line fixed immediately and that means playing by their rules.

 

Lots more jump painting got done and then Meghan and Nick moved many of the jump stands and rails up to the show fields.

 

Joel has been off for a family emergency the past week, and he returned just in time. He fixed the electricity to the cabins this afternoon – YEAH!!!!!!

 

Katie and her friend, Amanda, got in some good training on Chesney and Boo this afternoon. They are breaking in all the various riding areas and they say that the sand ring is getting better with a little use. We still haven’t dragged it with the tractor, but it is looking pretty good.

 

Enjoy the pictures, and Good Night!

 

May 22, 10AM:

Meghan “the perfectionist” & When’s the Rain?

Several times earlier in the spring we wrote about how good all the jumps look, since we painted most of them for the Derby right at the end of last summer. We had planned to just scrub them all and touch up a few nicks here and there. But that’s not our Meghan’s way. As she had her crew take all the jumps out of winter storage in the barn, she just couldn’t resist instructing the workers, “Let’s just paint those rails.”, or “It really won’t take much longer to completely paint that batch instead of just touching up the bare spots.” As you will see from the pictures at this link, we have painted nearly every jump rail we own after all, and many of the standards. Lots of time spent, but we have good workers on the crew this spring, and the show field will look top notch for our first weeks and for our first show on June 20^th. Nice job, painting crew!

 

About the rain;

We need some! Riding and horse care are very much affected by weather in obvious and not so obvious ways. We’ve had almost ten days of wonderful early summer weather at Longacres now, and it has been a boon to us in allowing lots of outdoor work and painting to get done. And during the summer season we do welcome gorgeous sunny days for our lessons and trail rides.

 

But we do need rain. Too much nice weather leads to dry, brown grass and hard ground. Not nice to look at and hard on the horses’ feet. On the other hand, too much rain leads to mud, torn up turf, and other problems with horses’ feet. In a perfect summer we have rain about every three days and all of it falls overnight. Once in a while we have a summer like that, but nature doesn’t always cooperate that well. We are overdue for rain now. A small short term bonus is that the grass has nearly stopped growing and I can mow each riding area about once a week, instead of every four days like I have been doing until recently. But the grass is no longer that lush, emerald green.

 

We do have a good rain making system forecast for the middle of next week. It should get our grass going again and soften the ground. With luck, conditions will be perfect for the arrival of our Adult Week students on June 1^st. The long range forecast also looks promising for the first Summer Series show May 30^th and 31^st.

 

We should have another album of pictures with more horse pictures this evening at this link. Enjoy.

 

AND - - - Happy Birthday, Petra!!!!!!!!

 

May 21^st, 9PM:

Horse Show News:

Beginning tomorrow we will have pretty frequent updates to the Summer Series horse show page, since the season is kicking off just a week from tomorrow with the High Time Stables show in Marilla. Leigh’s show will begin at Noon on Saturday (May 30^th) for jumpers, and the Hunter rings will begin at 9AM on Sunday. Go to this link for Summer Series information and latest news, and bookmark that page.

 

Those of you coming to Longacres for the first time from a distance will enjoy the Summer Series horse shows. The Series has a long history in western New York. It is a series of local shows put on by six quality stables. Although the shows are local and unrecognized, they are run very much like rated horse shows, with quality courses, and competitive classes of all kinds. They have been good sized shows in recent years with most of the shows drawing between fifty and a hundred horses. Whether that holds true in this recession year, we will soon find out. Around the country, some show circuits have been down on entries, but the big show in Batavia (near us) last week had a very good turnout. Doesn’t really matter much to us – we plan to have a great time at the shows this summer whether we have 30 horses or 130!

 

One thing I can tell you is that with the tight economy, sponsorships for the high score awards are coming in slowly this year. We spend several thousand dollars on high score awards and the awards party. About half of that is covered by the $3 per exhibitor Series fee paid by riders at each show. But the other half comes from generous sponsors. If any of our readers can afford a $150 sponsorship to help with the costs of one of the divisions, or a $100 Awards Party sponsorship. Please get in touch with Meghan. The August 15^th Awards party is one of the high points of the season!

 

May 21^st, 1PM:

One of “those” moments:

I was driving the tractor from one end of the farm to the other on the road this morning with a heavy load of cement blocks in the front bucket. I was a little worried to begin with about the weight of the blocks so I was concentrating on the bucket as I pulled out of the barn driveway. As I pulled out there was a grinding mechanical noise as the transmission shifted. And as I drove up the road with the heavy load, I kept hearing this mechanical unpleasant noise from the transmission area. I was fretting about whether to stop before I made it worse, but the tractor was moving smoothly and the noise would come and go, so I kept going past the house and towards the dining hall driveway trying to figure out what the noise was likely to be. This is the “new” Kubota – new enough to be very expensive if the transmission was going bad, but just old enough to be out of warrantee!

 

So I pulled over beside the road to get out and see if something was dragging under the tractor. And as I looked behind me for traffic while pulling off the road I noticed that someone had forgotten to raise the mower deck before going out on the highway with the load of blocks, and the mower was making “a grinding mechanical noise” as it bounced down the paved road.

 

“Gee, Tom –“, an embarrassed voice in my head said, “Could we have been fretting for five minutes about a major repair just because we forgot to raise the mower? Ya’ think?”

 

A senior moment, indeed!

 

Now that I get a social security check, the question of whether Tom could or should be doing various farm jobs comes up more and more frequently in our house. I usually feel that I can do anything I ever could if I take a little more time and care. Meghan doesn’t always agree! Just before I came in for lunch I snuck up on the flat roof of the office to rake leaves and small branches. I was afraid I might get in trouble for climbing on even a nearly flat roof with ladders. I did know enough to leave the job of crawling along the edges of the roof cleaning out the gutters to younger, more agile members of our crew!

 

May 21^st Update, 9AM:

Happy Birthday, Ofelia!

Much of today will be devoted to last minute scrubbing of dirty jumps and rails. Tomorrow is the big push to take many of the jumps up to the show fields and start setting courses. Any volunteer helpers would be gratefully accepted!

 

So, What’s “tweeting” all about?

In many ways I am a committed computer geek. I’ve always enjoyed the website stuff. But I just don’t get Twitter. So last week I signed up for a Twitter account (Horseman64 ) just to see what it is all about. But I have yet to post a “tweet”. I notice that they have highly automated ways of checking to see if people in your address book are twitterers. I’ve learned a few interesting things just by finding out the “twitter names” of some people in our email address book!

 

So what should I tweet about? Five of you are “following me” already, whatever that means! Stay tuned!

 

May 20^th, 10PM: - This & That

Click here for a good many pictures taken today by Meghan the photographer. She had some fun just snapping fun views in the woods as well as work pictures and horse pictures. Instructor Katie is getting more comfortable with “her barn” every day and is looking forward to having students very soon! Her horse also seems to be enjoying Longacres. (Be sure to check out Meghan the mechanic repairing one of the gates!)

 

Hard to believe after a long winter, but the summer horse show season begins next week with Leigh’s show just 9 days from now.

 

Guess what? Leslie McCulloch wants to come ride Diesel! Cool!

 

And I will close with a weird observation. I have writer’s block tonight. I just can’t think of a good topic to fill a long update. The weird part is that I just had a very successful two days as an author! One of my books is the “Boating and Cruising Guide to the St Johns River” in Florida. I had four orders from Marinas and book stores for a total of 56 books come in yesterday and today. And “Tom the author” can’t think of anything good to write on the blog tonight! Irony.

 

 

May 20^th 11AM Update:

Farm Life #101:

Sometimes our job is very rewarding! Often, indeed, even though we sometimes forget that during this very busy time of year. We are nearly done “beautifying” the grounds and after a long day’s work we often take 15 minutes just before sunset to drive around the farm and admire the beauty of the woods, fields, riding areas, the freshly painted fencing and buildings, and the wildlife we often encounter at that time of day.

 

We are tired by that time of day, but it is refreshing to be able to stop here and there and say, “We did this!”

 

The place is looking good – maybe better than ever; we think our first guests arriving June 1^st will be pleased!

 

May 19^th, 8PM:

Click this link for some more pictures from today. Thanks to Griffin and her family for coming out this evening and helping Meghan with horsecare! Griffin will be riding with us next week some of the days. So will Uncle Billy! Anyone else?

 

We christened the sand ring today – Katie and her horse, Abby, were the first ones to ride in the ring. It was just a little hard, but the sand was quickly softening up and with a few horses, it should ride very well.

 

Griffin spent a lot of time grooming Lincoln, and she LOVES his personality! She will be riding him next week.

 

The old “Peppermint Lounge” outhouse is now just a memory and a small mound of fresh gravel. Such memories over so many years! We started preparing the ground for the new more civilized and discreetly hidden commode. Hope it is done in time! (Kidding – it will be!) And the shower floor looks better than it has since it was new MANY years ago! Check the picture in the album.

 

More later – we have links to Alexa riding a course and we’ll be posting some pictures of our 2009 instructors in action.

 

May 19^th, 11AM:

Three steps forward and one step back; we’ve got marvelous weather all this week and with a good crew of helpers we’re getting lots of work done around the farm. Most projects are moving ahead well. But we had the gas company out to turn on the hot water heaters and stoves this morning and they found a big leak next to their meter. There happens to be a major gas problem this week in an adjacent town with lots of people with no service, so it will be a few days until we get our repair. One of those little setbacks we just have to deal with every spring.

 

Exercise Riders Wanted!

Two of our instructors will be moving in for the summer next Monday, and we would be glad to have nearby Longacres students and friends stop over next week to ride with us (for free). Our horses will need exercise and our new instructors could use the practice getting horses and riders ready while they get used to working in the barn. Give us a call if you’d like to stop by and ride. We’ll plan to be riding in the afternoon and the evening.

 

Today Nick, Alex, and Taylor are busy doing all kinds of projects around the farm, including bringing jumps out from their winter storage and cleaning and painting where needed. And in about a half hour, Gary the jump builder will be delivering a load of brand new jumps, including more small stick standards and the arches and walls for the Light House jump. The Light House itself will not be ready until next week.

 

We hope we had out final frost of the season last night, so we’ll be planting marigolds around the farm where we have our decorative flower beds tomorrow and the next day.

 

The farrier was here this morning. He likes Chesney. He loves Diesel. Like Frank, the trucker, Joel thinks Diesel has grown very noticeably since last fall. He says that in addition to a little more height, he thinks Diesel has a lot more muscle mass on his neck and haunches. And as we were all handling Diesel while he was getting his feet trimmed, we talked about how good it is that he has no idea of his own strength – and that he likes people so much! As I watched Joel file one of Diesel’s front hooves, suddenly Diesel lowered his big head to get a close look at Joel working on his foot, and gently nuzzled against Joel’s shoulder while he worked. VERY cute!

 

Christina’s Famous!

Well, sort of. She sent in a link to a story in the Stamford, Connecticut paper and a related video link. It’s a cute story about the reporter’s visit to Christina’s stable. Christina gets to talk on camera and ride. Check this link.

 

May 18^th, 10PM:

Click this link for a few pictures from today around the farm. One of Meghan in a position that’s rare for her!

 

Let me see, website updating, trip to plumbing supply store for pipe, dish washer repairs, cleaned the dining hall and kitchen, got big hay delivery, ground training for Chesney and Diesel, researched driving equipment for Diesel, mowed big field , tractor work on trails, tractor work on new creek crossing, chain saw work, weed wacker work, major trimming of electric fences in pasture, drain pipe installation: a good day’s work!

 

May 18^th:

Happy Birthday to Diana G.!!

We’re looking forward to seeing you and Ruby in just a month now, Diana. Have a great birthday!

 

You know you’re busy when you need to be in two or three places at once. Meghan was shopping in town when her cell phone rang five times in two minutes with questions from her crew cleaning the dining hall, a message that her hay delivery was arriving at the barn in 15 minutes and another message that the dish machine repair guy was also arriving at the dining hall in 15 minutes! I was drafted to meet the dish washer guy, which I did on my way back from picking up diesel fuel and a drain pipe culvert in town. It’s going to be a busy day.

 

We enjoyed meeting “Country’s” owner at the barn this morning. “Country” is a horse we’re taking in on the send your horse to camp program for the summer, and her owner wanted to see where her baby was going to be staying. I think she liked what she saw!

 

We’ll post another update this evening. Have a good day!

 

 

 

May 17^th, 10PM:

Welcome to Longacres, Meri C. from West Virginia!

Meri is joining us for Adult Week, which is coming up very soon! She rode some years ago and then not for quite a while. She has been getting back into it recently and just found out about our adult week.

 

Here’s the deal: A long time ago Meri went on a riding holiday in Ireland and on one of the rides they had the option to jump some small stone walls or go around. Meri hadn’t jumped much, so she had to elect to go around. Now that she’s getting back into riding again, she wants to do that Ireland vacation again - - - and she does NOT want to skip those cool stone wall jumps this time! So our job at Longacres is to help Meri get enough jumping confidence to go on her Ireland vacation and jump those walls! We’re “down with” the challenge!

 

And we are finally feeling pretty good about our immediate challenge of getting Longacres all cleaned up and ready to open for that “Adult Week” coming up just two weeks from tomorrow. We were a little panicked just a few days ago, but several of Meghan’s favorite summer workers just came back in town and she hired a new guy who did some good work today. She has six people working part or full time helping finnish all the spring work the next two weeks. Things are looking good! We could open in a couple of days if we had to, and we think the farm is going to look its very best when the adults arrive on June 1^st. We’re getting psyched for it.

 

Click this link for a few pictures I took yesterday and today and four pics that “Kounselor Katie” took with her cell phone this afternoon of the horses having fun in pasture. Thanks, Katie.

 

We had a fun email last night from an “out of the past” Longacres student. Annie Wedekund was here a little over 20 years ago as a student, and she is amazed that Brownie is still here and being ridden. She knew him then. And she was one of the first Longacres riders to jump Peppermint Patti when Patti was three or four years old and just getting started at Longacres.

 

Annie is now an author of horse books! She is the author of “A Horse of Her Own”, which I have heard of, and has two more horse books coming out this spring. Here is the link to Annie’s website: www.anniewedekind.com

 

We enjoyed our visit with Leslie Anne McCulloch the other day when she took us all out to lunch. She sent some cool YouTube video links yesterday. I’m going to post my favorite here below. And if any of you would like to send me interesting or favorite YouTube links, I’ll try to post some of the best.

 

This link to one of the video’s Leslie sent is of a fascinating variation on a high level Dressage Exhibition. Usually a “Pas de Deux” is two high level dressage horses doing an exhibition where they mirror or compliment each others movements. It is very beautiful. But there is a twist in this YouTube video; one of the horses is a Grand Prix level dressage horse and rider, but the OTHER is a gorgeous western reining horse. You would think it would be silly, but it is amazing! And half way through the ride - - - well, I won’t spoil it for you – do watch! And, thanks, Leslie!

 

And to Shiela and Virgil, we’re sorry we missed you when you stopped by today. We were in at the airport giving Uncle Billy a ride home and having dinner.

 

Finally – check out the pictures taken today next to the sand ring where Tom is clearing out brush to make a shaded grove of trees where riders can stay cool on a hot afternoon between rounds in one of your lessons. It’s coming out very well.

 

May 16, 4PM:

Are any of you watching the “Rolex” Combined Training this afternoon? These people are NUTZ !!!! Well, some eventing people I know think that show jumpers are crazy, so to each his own. I am troubled by the number of horses that have had fatal accidents in world class eventing the past couple of years, but I am told that some changes have been made in the interest of safety. Anyway, it is impressive to watch!

 

Click this link for some pictures of the horses today, especially of Chesney. He adjusted to Longacres almost instantly, and is good buddies with Katie’s mare, Abby. (In the album Abby is the one with the fly mask on.)

 

I did tons of mowing today, and the barn area looks almost like it will on opening day for the Adult week June 1^st. We’re really pleased with the way things are coming together. Getting the farm ready for opening day every spring is a juggling act, with a number of different projects all going on at once.

 

We have plumbing and electrical projects every spring to repair damage from the winter. We’re coming along well with those repairs.

 

The big job, of course, is bringing in all the horses and making sure they are in good shape and ready for YOU to ride! Then there is the updating and safety checking of all the riding equipment.

 

Preparation of the turf and all the grass riding areas is trickier than you might think. I have to balance just how often to mow so we don’t build up too much loose grass clumps on the fields. We’d be doing nothing but mowing if we kept ALL the grass perfect all spring, so we try to time the mowing of the various fields and the weed trimming so it will all come together with perfectly manicured grass the day before our first guests arrive. If we don’t get rain the weekend of May 30^th, we’ll be right on schedule.

 

Meghan and her crew are also busy painting, cleaning, and updating the shower, wash room, and kitchen facilities. Remember that in addition to the barn and riding program, we do everything at Longacres thst a hotel and restaurant owner would have to do. Keeps Meghan very busy!

 

Another crew is painting jumps and finishing building a whole new set of jumps including the new “Light House” jump and another batch of new jump poles. We’re happy that most of our jumps were painted right at the end of last season, but many are getting fresh paint now anyway.

 

So those are a few of the things keeping us busy. Amazingly, we do take time every day to stand next to the pasture for a few minutes and admire our beautiful horses!

 

May 15^th, 10PM:

Welcome, Chesney!

Click this link for an album of pictures from down at the barn tonight. Chesney arrived later than planned, but he looks good and we are keeping him in tonight so he can meet the rest of the herd in daylight tomorrow.

 

May 15^th, 5PM Update:

It’s been a busy day! The most fun thing is that it looks like we’re going to have a second generation student this summer. We are getting more and more daughters of former Longacres riders, with Kim from Texas and Danielle from right here in western New York attending in recent years.

 

Debbie M. and her daughter, Jill, from New Jersey are interested in a spot at the end of the summer. Quite often if a former student from years past calls or writes I remember at least their first-last name combination since I write them on many lists. About half the time I can put a face to the name even if it is from fifty years ago. But the best of these “old timer” contacts are times like today, when I remember the former student very well. Debbie was one of our top riders and one of the leaders in her age group when she was here. She mentioned a couple of the horses she used to ride and show at Longacres, and sure enough, they (Major and Yorke Springs) were two of the great horses of that part of Longacres history. Debbie and I shared some memories and chuckles. We hope it works out for Jill to come – we’re saving her a spot in the Lazy Days week until everything is finally confirmed.

 

And that’s not the only sociability we had today. Our new instructor, Katie, brought her 5 year old mare, Abby, to Longacres this morning. Katie is good friends with none other than our good friend Dr. Leslie Anne McCulloch of “Finis” fame. Leslie trucked Katie’s horse for her and offered to take us all out to lunch after the horse got settled in. We all went to Pasquale’s, which you Longacres regulars know is the “hang out” after horse shows. So Pasquale’s has now been officially christened for the year by a group of Longacres people who smell like horses! Nearly all of you coming this summer will experience a Pasquale’s dinner sometime during your stay with us. (LAST NIGHT, Meghan and I paid the first official Longacres summer season visit of the year to the “Kone King” ice cream parlor which all of you will also experience while you are here this summer!!!!!)

 

Many pictures are coming tonight to this link. Check back later to see Katie’s horse and other shots from the barn today.

 

Diesel Story: Horses are usually pretty accepting of farm machinery since they are used to the sounds. But they keep their distance out of caution. Well, this afternoon I was mowing under the pasture fence with the big Stihl commercial weed wacker (loud) and I was pretty much engrossed in what I was doing. Slowly, I became aware of a large shadow, and looked up to see Diesel standing not five feet from me and the weed trimmer with chunks of grass and occasional pebbles and dirt flying his way. I guess he was mostly curious – not at all intimidated. And he may have smelled the very fresh grass and clover as the machine chopped it up. He did follow me along the fence as I worked nibbling the fresh grass that had been thrown under the fence into the pasture. He is quite the eating machine!

 

In fact, Diesel has developed a special feeding skill that allows him to get at fresh grass the other horses don’t dare try for. There is grass still in the pasture but the most tasty stuff has been eaten down and is now only found way under the fences underneath the electric fence wires. Most horses won’t go near it.

 

But Diesel has learned a trick. He has a very thick flowing mane which we keep long. He has learned that if he reaches under the electric fence wire and lifts the wire with his neck, that thick mane insulates him from the high voltage and he doesn’t get a shock. So he gets to enjoy fresh grass the other horses won’t go after. And he is very smart about when he is immune to getting shocked and when not. I watched him as he followed me with the weed trimming machine and I saw him lean way under the live wire with his head turned sideways to get as far out as possible. His ear was very near the wire and he was very aware of exactly where his ear was in relation to the electric wire. I could see him carefully bending his ear back just an inch away from the wire as he munched on the fresh grass. Horses can be pretty cool to watch!

 

We also spent some time last night investigating draft horse harnesses. We may order one and do some real harness work with Diesel this summer. He does know how to drive. I don’t know if I’ll have time to get this all done in the next month, but what I’d really like to do is fit buggy shafts to one of our old farm wagon chassis and make it into a work wagon. I’ve always wanted to make one of my old hay wagons into a mobile rack for extra jumps poles, cups, and panels. How cool would it be to have Diesel hitched up when we’re setting the course for a show and move the jumps around with him?!!

 

Lincoln News:

We’ve told you that Lincoln had a tough winter and had lost a lot of weight when we bought him this spring. Well, we’ve spared no expense on getting him the best feed and hay and good pasture space. Usually it takes a month for a horse in poor condition to really show improvement. But already in just over two weeks at Longacres, Lincoln’s ribs are much less prominent, his back line and hips are filling in, and he is looking much better. We think he has gained 100 pounds in just two weeks! It will take a while to put real muscle on him, but it is a very good start!

 

May 14^th, 8PM:

Click here for more pics from today. Just little stuff to keep you up to date on how we spend our time getting ready for the new season. I was shocked at the cost of minor barn medications and supplies! Tom’s day was spent mostly installing a new drain pipe under the road near the dining hall. Tomorrow we’ll be seeding new grass around the sand ring.

 

May 14^th Update – 1PM:

Want to see a big belly and BIG feet? Click this link for some pictures taken an hour ago at the pasture. It was a cool, windy morning and Diesel and Boo were lying down next to each other in identical positions looking very cute. I snapped an iPhone picture, which I’ll put online later. Then I ran home to get the good camera with the telephoto lens for better pictures. By the time I got back to the barn, Boo had gottan up and was over by the fence eating. But I did get the posted pictures of Diesel rolling before he got up – hilarious!

 

There are also two Boo pictures – look closely – he is really showing his teeth in one, and I don’t know if he was chewing or stretching, or what. There is also a picture of Lincoln close up – and a tulip, of course!! Enjoy. We’ll post more later today.

 

PS – (Write and tell Meghan she is working too hard. She put in 19 hours yesterday, getting to bed at 2AM – so she told me, maybe it was later. I put my foot down when students arrive and try to make sure she gets enough rest to maintain her usually cheerful manners, but at this time of year she works LONG hours! )

 

May 13^th Update:

Happy Birthday to Jamie S. from North Carolina!

Jamie is coming to us for the first time this year for the first two weeks in July. Hope you have a grand day, Jamie.

 

If you read the blog yesterday, you know that Meghan planned on getting to a lot of office work. Well, she is getting to be quite the barn rat, and never made it back to the office until late in the afternoon. She got side tracked into inventorying and safety checking all our horse tack. (Arno, guess what? We are still using a school saddle that we bought at the Fox Hill liquidation sale! They made them strong back in those days!)

 

Jeff is nearly done with the new sand ring – it may be finished today so we can plant fresh grass seed around the edges. It will take another year for it to fit in like it is supposed to be there, but we’re pleased to have it in service for this summer. We’ll post another picture when it is all graded and ready to ride.

 

We’re also about ready to plant all the yellow Marigolds we use to decorate the entrances, outside the barn, at the water jump, and this year next to the old pond bridges. Nick did a good job digging and preparing the planting beds – now we kind of “draw straws” for who gets down on their knees to plant the flowers1

 

More horses (Chesney and Abby – Instructor Katie’s horse ) are coming in Friday, so Diesel, Boo, and Lincoln will have company. Then lots more horses arrive back from their winter homes the last week in May so they’ll all be ready for our adult week students arriving June 1^st.

 

Bulliten: I just took a break from writing when Meghan phoned from the barn to say that the sand ring was almost done. I went down and took some video which we’ll post later today. Along with today’s pictures at this link – but not for a few hours. I will do another update later this afternoon, but need to go out and get some outdoors work done now.

 

Later - - - (8PM)

 

Click this link for the short video clip of Jeff finishing up the sand ring grading.

 

Then check out the photo album of the day. There are a couple of pictures of Meghan having fun leading Lincoln over his first cavaletti and jumps here at Longacres. He made it seem like no big deal - we’re thinking he may have done this before he did his stint as a western trail horse. In any case, he will be a quick study at Longacres. I also took several pictures in sequence to make a couple of panoramas showing the layout of the barn and various riding areas at Longacres that might be interesting to those of you coming for the first time – (or those of you who miss us!)

 

May 12^th Update – noon:

Click this link for today’s pictures. It was a nice, sunny day for photography, so I made the pictures a little bigger than normal. Some are of the horses and others various human interest shots from our past two days! (Speaking of photography, one of our new students, Natasha, is very interested in photography. She’s edited some nice video and sent us the links. We’ll see if she has time to take pictures and do any cool stuff while she is at Longacres in July.

 

WELCOME BACK to Christina G, from Greenwich, Connecticut! Christina was here last summer and just signed up this week to return for the month of August. She was a fine student last summer and has been riding over the winter. Also a “hello” to Georgi and to Sarah who both inquired about Longacres sessions yesterday. We had not heard from any new inquiries for over a week, so it was nice to have a “flurry” of activity yesterday!

 

Our work for today is in the office and down in the dining hall testing the refrigerators and dish washing machine. Just over two weeks until we have our adult week riders. We are “on schedule”, but there is still lots to do to get the farm ready. I’m sure you can tell from our daily updates that we are not loafing!

 

May 11^th Update: Click this link for today’s pictures

Ofelia, America misses you!

Veteran Longacres student, Ofelia, is spending the final month of her school year studying at her sister school in Italy. She just got there, and she might be checking in at the Longacres website from part way round the world. Hi, Ofelia!

 

We will be posting an informal collage of pictures of your 2009 Longacres staff sometime in the next few days. We have a nice group of girls to teach and look out for you this summer! Although you might think this would be normal, this is the first time in a few years that every girl on the Longacres staff owns her own horse. Some plan to bring their horses to camp with them and some (like Destiny from Dallas, Texas) are too far and will leave their horses at home.

 

Lincoln, who arrived at Longacres a little less than two weeks ago low on weight after a hard winter, is starting to put on the pounds. It takes usually a month for a thin horse to put on any noticeable weight, and two or three months to really round out and begin to muscle up. But we think we’re seeing improvement already. He certainly likes Longacres and the unlimited feed and pasture!

 

“Chesney” and counselor Katie’s horse both arrive this coming Friday, so Diesel, Boo, and Lincoln will have to start sharing the pastures they have had all to themselves until now. The past ten days the horses have been confined to the “big” pasture, but today we let them into “little” and the “orchard” pastures. They loved the untouched grass!

 

The new sand ring should be finished by the end of this week. Some of the sand is in already. We did more “rock picking” today and drove equipment around packing the base before we spread the rest of the sand. It will be a nice change of pace to be able to school in this new training area part of the time.

 

Meghan meets again soon with jump builder, Gary, to look at the progress on the new light house jump. And our new batch of “stick jumps” for the training rings and for building triple bars and hogsbacks should be done this weekend. Nick was busy getting jumps out of storage today and setting them up on the porch for a coat of fresh paint. Most of the jumps look great after getting painted near the end of last summer, but we’ll be touching up here and there as needed. We have a bunch of new rails coming in from the mill to paint, also. And Meghan and Nick were sorting out jump cups that need repair, painting, or safety work (smoothing any sharp edges).

 

The South Towns Summer Series horse show season kicks off in just two more weeks at High Time Stables. Heads up to everyone in the area to get yourselves ready for the show season! The second show in the series will be here at Longacres on June 20^th.

 

May 10^th Update:

Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday – I took a flying one day trip to Connecticut to visit my mom on Mother’s Day weekend. She is doing very well and we talked about her planning to attend the big Longacres Diamond Jubilee August 10^th, 2013 – just four more years away!

 

Waterfront Real Estate in Connecticut:

I will mention here that my mother will soon be putting her Connecticut home on the market. I’ll post two pictures I took from her living room window in today’s photo album. She is in no hurry to sell in this real estate market, and may not even list the property this year. But since we have hundreds of regular readers of this blog, many with affluent friends in the greater New York area, it seems smart to mention the property here. You never know who might know someone looking for this very opportunity.

 

It is a unique piece of real estate! Over 2 acres on the water in Darien, Ct. The property is back off a residential street and is surrounded on three sides by water, salt marsh, forested park land, and several parcels owned by the nature conservancy. You have to try hard to see another house from most rooms in our place. And the view will always be there. There is several hundred feet of water frontage on an inlet off Long Island Sound suitable for maintaining small boats. Our shoreline is too shallow for large yachts.

 

The house, itself, is weird. It was a life long project of my late father and is in need of extensive remodeling or more likely, a tear down. What you’d be buying is a one of a kind waterfront building site. Waterfront properties like this come on the market rarely, anyplace in New England, which is why I’m mentioning it early, before any formal listing. I ask YOU, the greater Longacres “network”, to file this information in the back of your mind and mention it to anyone you might know or meet who could be interested.

 

Two nearby properties with similar views are now on the market for $2.5 million and $3 million. My mom’s house is junkier than these two, but her lot is larger with a better view. We have not yet priced the property, but it will be in a similar price range. Call Tom, ‘the real estate guy” if you have a hot prospect! - Thanks

 

I am not really a city boy, but I do enjoy quick visits to the bright lights and hustle and bustle. Meghan went with me just a week ago on a one day drive to Toronto to visit the newly remodeled Ontario Gallery of Art which has a beautiful building. And I took the train to New York yesterday. (Some of you know that I like trains and far prefer them to flying when I have time.) When the weather is good, as it was for this trip, I enjoy walking from Penn Station over to Grand Central to change trains for Connecticut. I like the walk past Macy’s and through Harold Square and Bryant Park. This is big league “people watching”, a whole bunch more varied than the normal Mall walking people watching I do more frequently!

 

Back here at Longacres, Nick is home from college and doing his usual hard work on Longacres landscaping and maintenance. As I write, he’s digging up and preparing the flower beds for all the Marigolds we plant by our entrances and the front door of the barn. Next week he will work with Joel to bring all the jumps out of the barn and begin setting up the jump courses for our first students who arrive in only two weeks and six days!!!!!!!!

 

We’ll post a few pictures at this link later today, and lots more tomorrow when it will be sunny and good for photography!

 

Greetings to Christina from last summer, who just wrote this morning and is seriously considering returning to Longacres for the month of August. It will be great if that works out, Christina!

 

The rest of today’s post will be a salute to all of you who have been writing in and keeping us updated on your lives. We love hearing from you. I don’t have time to post everything that’s been sent in, but here below are a few samples. CONGRATULATIONS to Annie “the novelist”, who had a fine birthday yesterday, and it looks like her longtime 4 legged friend is now hers and will be going to college with her! There is a link in her message to birthday party pictures.

 

From Annie H !!!!!!!!!

I come bearing exciting 18th birthday news! (that's still being kept on the down low while i spread the word)

 

I'm attaching pictures that I'll let pretty much speak for themselves:

http://anniehankins.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album03d

 

The surprise party, and the surprise present.

(looks like a certain somebody is going to have to tag along to college)

 

 

-Annie (the novelist who wrote at length about said present)

 

 

Here’s a message from David L. after he rode “Lincoln”:

HI TOM & MEGHAN!!

Well here is my little "write up" on Lincoln.

I really liked him and he seemed to know what i was asking him, most of the time. But when he did not understand something, he did not get frustrated, he did not get mad, he tried to work with me!! He was very willing to learn. When we first started, he was a little confused as to what I was asking him. He defiantly did not think that leg meant move over. I can tell he did A LOT of western, but he seemed to know a little bit about what i was asking him though. When we were trotting, the posting threw him off but after like a couple minutes, he figured it out! He was a little "dumb" to the bit when i would try to ask him to slow down, or put his head down, he would just throw his head up. I would defiantly like to see him in a martingale. After a little bit of time, he started to accept the bit and round himself a little bit. IT FELT NICE!! The leads were another thing he did not really grasp. But he is extremely balanced, being able to canter around on the wrong lead with out breaking :p Lincoln is going to make a great camp horse!!

 

And a GOOD idea from Griffin’s mom!!:!:!:

as a loyal blog reader, i've kept up with latest longacres news. i had no idea tom loved tulips so much! (or rather, just the one tulip) anyway, while looking at the pics posted last night, i wanted to suggest that one of your new jumps be a "tulip jump".  have a great day today! we'll honk as we drive by the farm later.

 

Amy Sullivan

 

And a long report on Laura’s Hunter Pace from a week ago:

 

*Warning: This is a novel*

Hey!

 

Today Rocky and I went on a hunter pace in the rain! I have nothing to do right now besides homework so I'm going to give you a semi play-by-play. So yesterday I needed to ride Rocky out on the trails to get him used to trail riding again. I decided to ride him bareback, because the friend I was riding with was already mounted and I was running late. It was about 7:40 and it gets dark around 8:20 on nice days (like it was yesterday). So I went into the barn, gave him a quick once-over on with a hard brush and picked his feet, then got his bridle (and my helmet) on. I got outside, down to the outdoor ring, and found that the humongous mounting block had disappeared. "Oh, well," I thought. So I went out of the ring and did the stupidest thing I've done around horses in well over a year. I tried to mount him from the picnic table's bench. Well, he was fine. That is, until I used my famous (or infamous) bareback mounting skills. Needless to say, I didn't make it up onto his back. I grabbed for mane, and slipped, landing on the wooden bench. Ouch. He shied (smart horse) and walked about six feet away where there was a nice patch of grass. So I got up, brushed myself off, and laughed out loud at my own stupidity before going to get him. He cooperated (though he wasn't too keen on being taken away from his grass). It seemed that as soon as I had a hold of him, I heard the breaking of a halter in the wash stall, just out of sight beyond the six-horse trailer. I see the barn's "special" mare (imagine Ginger's territoriality, but ten times worse and refuses to be caught) trotting towards me with no halter on. She stops dead a few feet in front of Rocky and begins to graze. By now my friend Carly (who's coming to camp second session and bringing her horse) has come up to us and is asking if we're okay. She goes up to the barn to get the rider, and I stay put, figuring that I might as well watch over the horse (and if she's there because of Rocky, moving wouldn't be too good). The rider comes down, food in hand, and I go up to the inside ring to get mounted on a real mounting block (I succeeded) and started to warm him up on the track. So I rode him around a little bit and Carly and I went on the trail, both bareback, with a nice view of the setting sun. She got off, and I decided to canter him around the track a little bit (collected, collected, collected) in the spirit of Derby Day. He was very nice. After cooling him down, I hopped off and started towards the barn. There, someone else getting ready for the hunter pace was going through the back shed looking for her cooler and Rocky thought that a scary rustle-monster was after him (very scary things, those rustle-monsters) and started a little. Realizing it was just Necole, he went on to sniff her for treats, rustling or not. So I got him on the cross-ties and brushed him really well. I also show-sheened his tail to death. So after I had gotten him ready, given him treats, and helped Chuck tame the mane of the crazy mare that had broken the halter, it was about 9:30. I went home and SLEPT.

 

At the hunter pace the next day:

Chuck and crazy-horse (Cinderella) are Rocky and my partners. Awesome. Oh, and it's raining. So we start off, and are doing pretty well, going along the trail, jumping the smaller logs on the flat and slightly uphill, trotting where it's nice footing and not downhill, finding interesting ways around the bigger coups and banks and four-foot-thick fallen trees across the trails, when we come upon a guy in a huge trailer. I was slightly nervous, but figured that we were in horse country and he probably knew to no rev his engine when there was an unfamiliar horse around. I was wrong. The guy waved me on (how nice!) and I was going along about fifty feet to his right when the jerk revved his engine. Rocky, while he didn't flip out, certainly shied suddenly and extremely, and I almost fell off. Fun, fun, fun. So we were going along, having fun after that, and suddenly I recognized where we were. We had gotten turned around a lot. So we went back up the way we came, after finally getting our bearings, and found the markers again. By now the other teams had gotten quite ahead of us, and the conditions were getting worse and worse. Chuck and I decided that walking would be the best course of action. So we did. And we came upon a road, with markers all along it (we were supposed to follow it a ways). I remembered the proper road-walking procedure you had taught and we walked across the road on three in a pair, even with each other. When we were on the opposite shoulder, we walked in a single-file line along one side. Now, we were at the bottom of two hills, which was quite frightening, considering how my earlier experience with the tractor had taught me that not every one in the area knew a lot about horses. But we survived. We came in, soaked and hungry, to the Hunt Club and dismounted, took off our tack, and "threw" the horses in the three-horse trailer out of the wet and cold. But everybody had fun. And we got third! It was quite an exciting two days.

 

Also: My mom and I have noticed that Rocky seems to be spooking at things to his right (like horses going in the opposite direction in the ring) but it's not severe, just strange for him. I'm not very worried, just thought it was worth mentioning. He's still fine jumping and trail-riding.

Laura

 

AND a message from a Longacres counselor from 35 years ago!

Hi Tom,

Thought I would explore on the internet a little and lo and behold there is Camp Longacres still doing a fabulous job at creating a can do atmosphere for young riders. You will remember me as Paula Askman. I will always remember my one summer as camp counselor under Valerie back in 1974. I think you had a large jumper named China at that point and we experienced an accident at precamp when the horses got out and I wondered what in the h-e double two sticks I had gotten myself into. I think you paid me a whopping $600 for that summer but it was a wonderful experience and I would have done it again except my parents wanted me home the next summer and I went to Holland with them the summer after that. Poor me!!

 

I am still riding. I actually have accumulated 6 horses, two babies, two broodmares, and one 21 year old queen of the pasture and an 8 year old Hanoverian Thoroughbred cross that I am doing dressage and jumping with. It is keeping me young. Ha! I have a husband and two children, 27 and 25. My daughter Megan also rides and is doing hunter/equitation and hoping to do jumper classes in the future. Maybe I will send her your way.

Let me know if you remember me and if we ever go up through there during the summer we will stop on by.

Best wishes,

Paula Askman Byrum

 

PS You have grey hair!!!! (I SURE do! – Tom)

 

May 7^th Update:

Happy Birthdays to Annie H. and Emily P.!!!

 

This was a pretty quiet day with a light rain falling much of the morning – we took it easy, driving around doing some errands, and then going out to lunch. More tomorrow.

 

May 6^th Update:

We’ll have lots of pictures later tonight when Meghan gets home. Try this link later on. Meghan’s out checking on some of our nearby horses to make sure they don’t need any special conditioning before they go back to work with us for the summer. She’s taking lots of pictures. She stopped and took pictures of Quantum, ShaBang, and Bobert. Meghan called to tell me all of them look very good. Shabang may be fatter than ever! Quantum also looked to be in great shape and moving well when she jogged him. Bobert is getting older and we were a little concerned about how well he would winter, but no worries – he, too, looks excellent.

 

Meghan and I worked together for an hour or so this morning turning on the water to all our buildings. This can be an adventure every spring when the water is turned on for the first time, since freezing winter conditions can break pipes. But things went smoothly. We have one small split pipe in the shower room and a small leak outside between buildings, but those are easy fixes. This afternoon while Meghan was out looking at horses I also helped Joel plan his work reconditioning the electric lines that feed power to the bunks way out in the woods. Every year there is wind damage to these electric lines over the winter and we have repairs to make. We’re planning to do extra work this spring to improve many of the connections and make the line easier to repair when those pesky tree branches come down during winter wind storms!

 

You’ll enjoy some of today’s pictures showing us working on the water pipes. My job is to use my years of experience at Longacres to remember which pipes are turned on first and last, and where all the open drains are located. Meghan’s job seems to be following me around when I am under the dining hall saying, “Watch out! Don’t bump your head on that beam. Be careful, Tom!” (It’s nice to be pampered.) Meghan is also responsible for reminding me where I last put the screwdriver or pliers when I misplace them temporarily – which happens more than it used to!

 

I also spent some time in the tractor this afternoon mowing and clearing some of the new trails we cut into the woods last fall. About half of the new trails will be ready for you to use as soon as we open on June 1^st. But we may have to delay using some of the trails. There are a number of small stumps left where we cut small trees on the trails and I noticed today that some of them have sharp edges that could hurt a horses legs and feet. We need to spend some time carefully trimming out certain sections of the new trails to make sure they are safe for the horses before we begin using them regularly.

 

 

May 5^th, 8PM:

Check back here in a couple of hours if you are still up. David and Brie from Quakerfield came over to ride today. Brie rode Boo and David gave “Lincoln” his first Longacres workout. He likes Lincoln almost as much as Meghan does! Meghan took a bunch of pictures which we’ll post later this evening. See ya’ then!

 

This afternoon’s pictures with David, Brie, Lincoln, and Boo are at this link.

 

We did a LOT of work today, with all Meghan’s horse activities, Tom weed wacking around the barn to trim things up, and Joel doing a lot of work organizing electric lines in the main camp area. Tomorrow we turn on the water for the dining hall and the showers – keep your fingers crossed that we don’t find many leaks!!!!! Some spring seasons are better than others for plumbing problems!

 

May 5^th Update: Today’s Pictures here

This is a busy and horsey day at Longacres. Meghan got up extra early to meet Joel the Farrier down at the barn to trim Diesel’s feet, which were overdue. A good size chunk had broken off one of his hind hoofs, but Joel said it is not anything to worry about. Diesel got his feet trimmed, but we’ll wait for another few weeks to put working shoes on.

 

When Joel arrived he immediately said, “I think this monster has grown over the winter!” The same reaction we got from Frank the trucker when he vanned Diesel back to the farm a week ago. So we put a measuring stick to him. Sure enough, Diesel measured 17.3 ½ hands last summer and he is a solid 18 hands plus with no shoes on this spring! We will measure again soon when we have an official level and square measuring stick, but we were pretty accurate this morning. He is a BIG horse!

 

But Meghan’s real goal for the day was not worrying about Diesel’s feet, but to give a long bath to her beloved project horse, Lincoln. I drove down to the barn a little while ago to check on Meghan and she was half soaked from working on Lincoln. Click this link for pictures from this morning, mostly of Meghan and Lincoln.

 

There are a few gardening pictures, including a couple of my new “weeds” that I transplanted last night. If any of you gardeners out there can tell me what I planted, let me know! There is also a picture of my wild ferns, which are thriving in the office door garden.

 

I ran some errands this morning making arrangements for the Winnie to get a thorough spring mechanical check up so it will be all ready for trips to shows this summer. Then I stopped at an electrical supply place in Orchard park to get special copper “split bolt” clamps for repairing the electric lines in our woods which feed the cabins. These little copper clamps used to cost fifty cents a piece. The price of copper is high, and they are over $4 a piece this year. Yikes!! Instead of buying a bag full I just got a handful for now and we’ll buy only exactly what we need. That’s where some of your tuition money goes every year.

 

Gary the Jump Building carpenter is arriving at the barn any minute to talk with Meghan about the new lighthouse jump and other new jumps. And I ordered fifteen new jump rails from the lumber mill yesterday, so we are hard at work adding to our already AMAZING set of jumps!!!!!

 

Thanks to Natasha for sending me a link to a video of her showing this weekend. I watched the video right through as soon as I got it and I was impressed. One of the first lessons we have to teach most girls coming to Longacres for the first time is to take their time on jump courses, ride straight off their lines, get deep into their corners, and have good approaches to the next line of jumps on the course. Natasha has been well trained in that aspect of her riding and was doing a great job.

 

I enjoy seeing video of new students before they come to Longacres. If any of you out there (or our returning students) have time to get video of one of your jumping rounds and post it online, I’ll enjoy watching.

 

May 4^th, 9PM:

Meghan’s in love! With her new horse, Lincoln. Meghan always puts a lot of weight when she is horse shopping on the temperament and manners of the horses she considers for Longacres. Lincoln was a good horse to handle right from the start and Meghan says he is only getting better as she checks him out, grooms him, and watches over him to make sure he’s getting his full ration of feed every day. The fact that he was very thin when we got him makes him even more attractive to Meghan. She is a natural “care giver” and is putting all her effort into the special care this horse is going to need to make a full recovery and build up the muscle needed to put him in good shape.

 

Lincoln was getting a couple of quarts of feed a day when he first arrived at Longacres. You can’t up a horse’s feed too fast, or you risk colic and other digestive problems. We are raising his feed about a half a quart a day and he will be at six quarts tomorrow. We’ll hold at that level for a couple of days while his system adjusts to the increased feed, and then we’ll take him up some more, probably to ten quarts a day, depending on how his system tolerates the higher feed levels. We watch his manure closely to make sure his digestive system is working normally and passing manure with normal texture and appearance. It’s also important to make sure a horse in poor condition is getting lots of hay and grass to give him bulk and roughage, and unlimited water. Lincoln is getting all this, PLUS Meghan’s TLC. I am up here updating the website at 9PM, while Meghan is still down at the barn in the dark grooming Lincoln from top to bottom to stimulate his coat and condition!!!!!! (She just called all excited to report that after a week of picking out his feet, when she finishes picking his near front foot and turns to his rear, he already has that foot in the air by the time she gets to it!)

 

If You Can’t Beat ‘em, Join ‘em, Gardiners edition:

My regular readers know that I enjoy gardening in the few spare minutes I can find. You’ve seen the pictures of my favorite tulip. But I especially enjoy experimenting with plants that I get out of the woods here at Longacres. I have very good luck with natural ferns next to the office door.

 

Which brings me to the “giant weed” experiment. Current Longacres students will likely remember the tall cane like plants that grow in one of the back corners of the inside show ring. They are annoying because they grow so fast and spread so quickly that they invade the show ring and we regularly have to cut them back during the season. On the other hand, their fast growth gives us a natural shelter in that corner of the ring. So this evening I dug up a few of the plants and transplanted them to my front door garden at the office. I have no idea what they are. But I will bet they will grow! I will post a few pictures soon and see if any of you out there can tell me what they are.

 

May 4^th Update:

Happy Birthday, Sydney!

Sydney H. and her sister, Sam, will be third year Longacres students this summer. They have “Star” at home with them for the winter. Hope you have a GREAT B-day, Sydney!

 

May 3^rd Update:

Hi again. Today was a rare “day off” for us, except for answering a few phone calls and posting this update. But we’ll be back at work first thing tomorrow morning. Thanks to all of you who sent messages today. We heard from Ofelia, a LONG letter from Laura about her hunter pace which we will probably post soon. And I got an email from a girl who was a counselor a Longacres in 1974 reminding me of some of the things that went on back then. Paula now has her own farm and lots of horses.

 

HOW ABOUT that Kentucky Derby??? Have you ever seen a horse come from behind like that? It looked like the rest of the field was standing still! Wow! (I was privately rooting for Tom Murphy and General Quarters – old guys who are small farm trainers have to stick together!)

 

 

 

May 2^nd Update:

First “Ride” of the season at Longacres!

Andrea & Boo

Thanks to Andrea B. who stopped by today and offered to give Boo a work out. Andrea will be at Longacres in August for her third season and she is becoming quite a rider. Andrea has a couple of her own horses including Cali, who was very green when Andrea got her last year. All the work on green horses has been very good for Andrea. As she has grown bigger and more mature, Andrea is not only becoming a strong rider, but a very thoughtful horse trainer. I stopped at the barn to watch Andrea work Boo (who has been ridden only once or twice since last fall). There was nothing useful for me to do but watch Andrea ride and tell her, “Nice job.” She was patient, used good judgement, and demanded and got the best out of Boo, making him look like he’d been doing this every day all year. Thanks, Andrea!

 

Click this link for more pictures of Boo and a few other photos taken at Longacres today, including a couple of Joel putting the finishing touches on the new Sand Ring grading.

 

Click this link for bigger versions of some of my favorite pictures from today.

 

May 1^st Update:

It’s an exciting day at Longacres as the bulldozer goes to work preparing the foundation of the new sand ring warm up area. We’ll soon post some video for Sebastion and other machine loving readers at this link! And today’s picture album at this link.

 

But first, today’s horse news: This is an enjoyable time of year for Meghan and I. Spring in western New York is pretty nice to begin with, but this time of year also gives us a rare few weeks when we can simply enjoy having horses. We work all winter in the office making plans for summer. And then when summer really arrives, we are so busy that it is hard to relax and enjoy the horses. But just now and for the next few weeks we are able to stop down at the barn several times a day and just watch the horses being horses.

 

Meghan’s new horse, “Lincoln”, bonded with “Boo” in his first ten minutes at Longacres. Check a few of today’s photo album pictures showing Lincoln and Boo sharing the same hay pile in pasture! Since Boo and Diesel have been buddies going back to last fall and were alone together in the pasture the past few days, I thought that Lincoln would have a hard time breaking into the group. But not so. Boo dropped his other buddy, Diesel, cold turkey as he partnered up with Lincoln.

 

Diesel is a very mellow horse and never starts trouble with anyone else in the pasture so it has always surprised me that he doesn’t have more pasture buddies. He is often all by himself in the pastures. I think maybe I have finally figured out the reason. Since Diesel is So-o-o-o big, I’m not sure the other horses even think of him as a horse. They probably are always wondering what this elephant is doing in their pasture trying to make friends with them! What do you think?

 

Speaking of Diesel being big, we are planning to measure him again this week. Frank the horse trucker told Meghan when he picked Diesel up that he thinks the horse has grown bigger since last fall. I don’t know – Diesel was a huge horse last fall and he sure is still huge now! We’ll check carefully and see if he has passed the 18 hand mark. Last summer he was 17.3 and 1/2 hands. We’ll see if he grew a half inch over the winter.

 

Happy Birthday greetings (tomorrow) to Emily R.!!!!!

 

 

 

April 30^th Update:

Click this link for some more pictures from today. Meghan and Frank took a long drive this afternoon to pick up “Storm”, who’s new name is likely to be “Lincoln”. Meghan’s department. “Lincoln” is very thin, almost a “rescue horse”. The farm where we found him had some very hard times this winter and his condition is poor. But he passed the personality and attitude test that Meghan gives all potential new Longacres horses with flying colors. If we can get him back in good shape, he may turn out to be another great Longacres horse. As you can see from the pictures we took half an hour ago, he is very cute and alert. He will be on a good grass pasture from now until June, and we have special high protein senior horse feed just for him. We have to begin his grain ration low where it has been where he came from for a day or two, but we will gradually increase that until he is getting about five times the feed he has been on in recent months. We think his condition will be hugely improved in 30 days, and if his basic metabolism is OK, he should be in good working condition by the beginning of July. We enjoy a project like this at Longacres. Horatio came to us looking much like Lincoln, and he is one of our good jumpers now!

 

I spent the first half of the day in the tractor giving some of the trails and most of the important riding areas their first good mowing of the season.

 

Visitors Welcome!

Every year some of our first time students and their families ask if they can visit Longacres in the spring. We usually ask that they wait until we have things cleaned up in the middle of May, but we are way ahead of schedule on most of our outdoors work, so we are declaring Longacres to be “Open for Visitors”! Just give us a call if you’d like to stop by for a tour. We’d love to show you around and introduce you to the horses that are here early.

 

April 29th Update:

Horses are here again! Click the links below for two video clips of Boo and Diesel running and bucking as they enjoyed their first day back at Longacres. They seemed very glad to be home from their winter homes! In addition to all the bucks and gallops, watch them flip off flying lead changes as they chase each other around the pasture. Remember that in case they “try to tell you” this summer that they “can’t” do a flying lead change! Meghan and I both love to watch the horses when they are first turned out every spring – it’s one of the best and most beautiful experiences we have as horse owners.

 

Part One of Boo and Diesel video

 

Part Two of Boo and Diesel video

 

Click this link for still pictures from today (to be posted later this evening, if the link doesn’t work right away).

 

While I post videos this evening, Meghan is out taking a close look at “Lone Ranger”, who’s pictures we posted the other day. If she buys him, he will be the final horse to be added for the 2009 season. He sure looks good in his pictures.

 

Tom’s Tulips: In case you thought you escaped having to look at tulip pictures today, I did spare you from more of them right on this page, but you will find the daily quota in today’s picture album. I knew you really wanted to see them again.

 

April 28^th after lunch:

Click this link for pictures from today as we got ready for the horses to arrive tomorrow. The captions will tell much of today’s story. Meghan has hay and water in the stalls for Diesel and Boo when they arrive tomorrow. We hooked up the main water pump for the barn and were pleased that everything worked after the hard winter with no split lines from freezing ice, etc! Everything went very smoothly and the barn looks great. It will be better tomorrow with horses.

 

Below is my tulip picture of the day – more in the photo album of the day!

 

 

We’re supposed to get some rain today which is actually needed for our grass. Then more sun tomorrow when Diesel and Boo return to Longacres to officially open our 2009 horse season. We have grain in the grain bin, hay in storage racks, and we’ll be turning on the pasture water today. Bring on the horses!

 

April 27 after lunch:

We’ve got a few video links for you.

 

Chesney takes you to a video Meghan took last night of our newest horse!

 

Lone Ranger1 shows another 16 hand thoroughbred we are considering buying from a good friend of Longacres.

 

Lone Ranger2 is another clip of same horse.

 

Lone Ranger3 is another of the same horse.

 

Lone Ranger4 is – well, yet another video of (can you guess by now?) the tB named “Lone ranger”!

 

Here is the description of “Lone Ranger” on his for sale listing. We know the owner well, as she has judged some of our horse shows. (We would promise to be a good home!)

 

Pretty moving 6 year old TB gelding willing to please. Quiet. Still green and needs miles but started under saddle as seen in below videos. Extremely easy to work with and loves people. Clips, loads, and baths. Adapts quickly to changes and moving. Good home only.

 

April 27 Update:

Meghan is busy at the barn stacking our first hay delivery of the season while I do morning office duty. Meghan took some video of “Chesney” last night and we’ll try to upload some of it to YouTube later today. Check back for the link.

 

Happy “25^th” Birthday to Gina Bennett, Butterfly Jump painter extraordinaire! Have a great day, Gina. We ran into Gina, Debbie Puffer and Hannah on their way out for a ride when we were at breakfast in town this morning. It is a fine day for a trail ride here in western New York!

 

Below is my April 27^th Tulip picture. Flowers are amazing to watch, with the tulip bud forming slowly over a period of time and then BAM!, one morning it opens wide all of a sudden. I thought it would be a day or two at least before it bloomed after yesterday’s picture. The wonder of nature. This tulip burst into full bloom so fast that it reminded me of my Playstation 3 game, “Flower”. I wrote about that a month ago or so. Did any of you out there ever check it out? It is so different than most games – really soothing and beautiful.

 

 

April 26 Update:

Yeah! Meghan has been gone all evening taking a second look at “Chesney”. She just phoned to say that Longacres now owns him and he’ll be delivered in two weeks.

 

Tom the Gardiner!

If you have beds full of tuips in your garden, don’t laugh at me. I have one tulip, or at least one that I care about. It is a nice one and is just about to bloom. I posted a picture in the album we put up of horse pictures yesterday. Below is another picture I took today. I’ll post a few more over the next week or so as it blooms. Bear with me – we’ll have horse pictures, too!

 

 

Now isn’t that pretty?

 

In other news from around the farm today, your senior citizen camp owner built the season’s first bonfire to get rid of some brush and wore himself out in the process. We scheduled the bulldozer to come in and level the new sand ring, and Meghan is looking into one more possible new horse. More tomorrow!