Category Archives: Around the Farm

Been somewhat of a busy June and July so far. Teaching lots of lessons around the barn, getting the boys back in to serious work after their break since Jersey Fresh and IEA. We just arrived today at Stuart Horse Trials in upstate NY. Deke and Finn are running Intermediate; Thomas is doing Training. Hopefully the weather here in New York will be a little cooler than Ohio weather.

Back in late June, we had a picnic/cook-out at the barn, sponsored by Buckeye Feeds. Buckeye was very generous and brought us all lots of goodies: coffee mugs, hats, the electrolytes that the boys love, and LOTS of horse treats. I’ve been feeding Buckeye products for about a year now and have been very happy with the results: the horses stay in better weight on less food than what I previously fed, their coats look great, and I’m saving money too!! Who could ask for more.

Also got all four of my horses on the GLC5500Rx joint supplement now. Been happy with results with the first two horses I put it on! So I thought I’d go ahead and put them all on it–from 22 year old Scotchy to 8 year old Thomas. They all seem to be feeling quite well! And it’s great to see the 22 year old running around the jumper courses having a great time!

I took a bunch of students to the cross country schooling at the Kentucky Horse Park a couple of weeks ago. We all had a great time; some doing Beginner Novice/Novice stuff; others doing Training/Prelim stuff. Thomas went too to school some of the Prelim stuff as I plan on moving him up to Prelim in August at Penny Oaks Horse Trial in Indiana. Had a couple of first timers too–both students and horsies. Good experience and education for all of them. Most of the students will be heading to Penny Oaks too. Click on the thumbnails and you can see the photos a bit bigger.

This past weekend took some of the same students to a little jumper schooling show at David Beisel’s stables here in the area. Everyone did great and Finny event took 2nd place in the Jumper Classic and won $150!! Too bad we can’t win $$money$$ that easily in eventing.

Monday evening I had volunteered Finn and Thomas to be demo riders for a Leslie Law clinic. Leslie rode them both while he discussed different training ideas for each horse. Both boys were very good for Leslie–Thomas, the little sports car, did some flat work and jumping. Finn just did flat work and got lots of compliments; especially from Leslie.

So now here we are in New York. Got the boys settled in and ridden. Had a nice dinner and now at the hotel for a good night’s rest (after getting up at 3:45 this morning) so we can start the competition stuff in the morning. Thomas goes first.

We have been generously given a beautiful horse to use for ourselves and our program. Defender, an Anglo-Trakehner, is a gorgeous guy with a sweet disposition. We’re excited to have him here and promise to give him the best home possible. Come visit him!

Had a pretty uneventful trip home from Jersey Fresh yesterday. Back to teaching and keeping things running around my little barn. The boys get a bit of a break for a while until Stuart Horse Trials. But sale horse, Thomas, goes to Virginia Horse Trials this coming weekend, as well as a couple of student horses.

Norton is definitely SOLD! Hooray for Norty for finding a great home with Brooke. We hope to keep in close touch with Brooke and hear about Norty’s progress and hope to see him at shows soon.

Thomas is supposed to get a visitor when he’s at Virginia HT–someone possibly interested in buying him. We keep hoping he’ll find that great home too.

I look forward to getting a CD of photos from Jersey Fresh from Shannon Brinkman. I’ll post some as soon as they arrive.

Deacon and Finn had another swim this morning at KESMARC; both swam several laps and recuperated very quickly. Deke had another round, then, in the hyperbaric chamber. One of the horses that ran the Derby Saturday followed him in the chamber–it makes a great tool for recovery from stress and exertion too.

Yesterday, down at the friend’s home I stayed at in Lexington, both boys had a jump school and they were awesome. Hopefully we’ll all keep that feeling for Jersey Fresh.

Norton is leaving the barn tomorrow to go for a pre-purchase trial and vet check. It works out that he’ll be gone while I’m gone. And we hope that this new home will work out for him and he won’t be back–although we will definitely miss seeing his head hanging out his stall window.

Got back to the barn early this afternoon and then was busy packing, teaching, and trying to prepare to hit the road tomorrow for the 11 hour drive to Jersey. So now it’s off to bed because 3:00am comes pretty quickly!

The last couple of days have been full. Friday the boys went down to KESMARC to swim again and Deacon also had a treatment in the hyperbaric chamber to help with his condition/stamina for Jersey next week. They go one more time on Monday. Again, the folks at KESMARC have been just awesome to deal with and have really helped and supported me!

Then Friday, Mike Corcoran, came in to check/re-flock all our saddles and one of my students also got a new dressage saddle from him. Mike is the best. I highly recommend him and his fitting skills and his products to everyone. Mike also brought his thermography camera. It’s an excellent tool for helping to fit saddles and see where issues are. And to help people understand the importance of proper saddle fit. We also used the camera on a couple of the horses in the barn: one of the school horses who has not been quite right lately–he appears to have some issues going on in his feet–lots of heat and blood there. And also checked out the hocks of the young horse that I put on that new supplement, GLC5500Rx. Thought I would get a before and after thermographic image of his hocks. Saturday’s image and then another image after he’s been on this supplement for a while, as Mike is coming back in August. Then we may have some concrete evidence to see if the supplement is helping with his sore left hock.

Saturday we also had someone come to look at Norton. She really seemed to like him and they seemed to me to be a perfect match. She did a great job with him. Hopefully this will work out for Norton and Brooke, and Norton’s current owner will be glad to see him get a new home, although we’ll miss him!

Today I’ve finished barn chores and then I’m heading with my two swimmers to stay overnight with a friend in Lexington. We’ll jump and fool around with some of her horses today, then I’ll head Monday morning to KESMARC for the boys last swim and another hyperbaric treatment for Deke.

The last couple of weeks since the Fork Horse Trials I have been busy trying to keep the boys fit in preparation for Jersey Fresh in May. Because we’ve had so much rain, I needed to find another way to keep them in shape since galloping is completely out of the question. I discovered KESMARC (Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center) down in Lexington. I have been taking the boys down two or three times a week and letting them swim! What a wonderful facility KESMARC is and a great group of people to work with (and especially the owner). They have been very welcoming and supportive of my efforts. The boys even got to stay there for a couple days when I went over to watch Rolex. And a client’s horse is also there now for some rehab. I can see that KESMARC will be invaluable to me in the future for getting and keeping my horses fit and ready for the upper levels!

Speaking of Rolex, had a good time there all weekend watching, networking, looking at new products and picking up free samples, talking to friends, shopping, etc.

Back to business as usual at the farm. I have 5 to ride every day right now as another sale horse that belongs to friends is in for 30 days of training.