Greetings to all! We've had a busy October, but a good October. Our horses settled in well to the new barn, actually no one seemed to care much that they were living on the other side of the property before. I think we're enjoying the barn more than they are. Since we are able to have our own wall for saddles and everything, I did add a dry erase board to use as our lesson board. If you look above the column of helmets, there is a small dry erase board where I am posting the day's lesson schedule. Your always welcome to come and find me if you have any questions or concerns about your horse or tack or anything. Also, we do have working students/helpers most days... often they can help you out as well.
Monday - no workers, only intermediate students riding
Tuesday - Morgan and Natalie
Wednesday - Gabbie and Victoria
Thursday - Morgan, Natalie, and Victoria
We also went to a horse show at Chagrin Valley Farms this past Sunday, October 21st. We had a large group of horses and riders and everyone did really well.
Emily Fields- Gavorski - 1st in leadline aboard Serenade
Natalie DiGioia aboard Julius - 2- 4ths and 2 - 5ths in the 18inch walk/trot/canter division
Brittany Douglas aboard Julius - 2nd and 3rd in walk/trot non-jumping
Alexandrea Geraci aboard Beamer - 1st and 2nd in walk/trot non-jumping;
1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th in walk/trot crosspoles
Victoria Fortin aboard Trixie - 2- 4ths, 5th, 6th in walk/trot crosspoles
Morgan Sterpka aboard Kessie - 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th in walk/trot crosspoles
Gabbie Van Scoy aboard Elliot - 1st and 3- 3rds in walk/trot crosspoles
Reserve Champion in their division
Congratulations to all our riders and horses, it was a fun and successful day.
Below is a link to the photo bucket website, lots of pictures were taken at the show, I want to group them on a photo site so we can all view them. If everyone who took photos can email them to me or give me a CD or some type of media with all their photos, I will add them to the photo bucket website.
http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd64/ProgramforEquinePartnership/ChagrinValleyFarmsShow102107/
At this point in time it looks like we will be done showing for 2007. We may try to take a small team to shows in January/February but due to potential weather problems, we won't try to take a large group. We will also be working out details for clinics during the winter months so our riders can have the opportunity to have an extra lesson with a guest instructor. Sometimes a new idea helps work through a problem or sometimes the same old thing said a little differently by someone else helps you "get it". So look for details on clinics to come.
Lastly, I am out of town this weekend, from Friday October 26 - Monday October 29 --- anyone with lessons on those days has been rescheduled (or is skipping a week). I am traveling to Virginia to visit the riding instructor I grew up with and will be participating in a clinic he is hosting on Saturday. I will have my cell phone with me but I am not sure how much cell service I will have. So for those of you with horses or are leasing horses, in case of any emergency please contact my friend Debbie Bowling on her cell 330-xxx-xxxx. She cannot answer any lesson questions, but if any horse problems arise, she can help you handle those.
Happy Halloween
Shellie
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Save The Date - Christmas Party
Just a quick note before time slips away from us.
Please mark your calendars now, save the date of
Friday December 28th for our
Christmas party/Camp Day.
Many more details to follow..... some current plans include
Mounted games (egg and spoon, musical stalls, etc)
White elephant gift exchange
Christmas crafts
and much more....... Stay tuned!
Limited to students only - all ages and abilities, parents welcome to participate.
Lunch ideas/input welcome
And for everyone's information, we will have no lessons during the holidays, December 21 - Jan 6th.
We encourage everyone to contact us about scheduling a short term lease or practice ride(s) to fit your schedule during the busy holiday time.
September E-Newsletter
Hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather! The cooler temperatures are nice, but I’m already missing the longer periods of daylight. I always feel so spoiled in the summer when it stays light until 9pm.
As most of you might remember, in the August newsletter, I thought we were done with changes for awhile. Almost immediately after I sent that newsletter, the opportunity presented itself to move into the other, newer barn at Promise Land. So come October 1st, we are moving the horses over “to the other side”. While the horses will appreciate the larger stalls, our main reason for moving is that the barn has an aisle way that connects to the indoor arena. So as long as we can safely walk from the parking lot to the barn, we don’t have to worry about walking horses on an icy pathway to the arena. So that should help to eliminate safety issues for both horses and students. There is also a heated bathroom in that barn and more lighting, including a light in every stall so we get a few more creature comforts too.
Our team has also attended a few horse shows in September. Morgan was kind enough to show Kessie at an Up & Over show at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds. Kessie was a good girl and shows plenty of promise to be a successful show pony down the road. Morgan has agreed to continue to show Kessie for at least the next few months to help build her confidence at shows and get Kessie ready for our younger riders to show. We also got to see Alex on a different horse – her pony Beamer has been having some health problems so Alex switched to Serenade and she did a great job adapting quickly to a new horse.
We also had two students show at the Mini Trial at South Farm in Middlefield. A mini trial is made up of 3 phases, a dressage test, a stadium jumping round (jumping fences in an arena) and a cross country phase (jumping fences out in the open fields). Natalie did a great job on Serenade, completing all three phases cleanly. Since she did not have any jumping penalties, she finished on her dressage score which put her in 4th place, but only a point and half behind the 1st place horse. So it was a very tight competition. Faith and Hank were 1st after dressage and held on to first with a clean stadium jumping round, but had 1 jumping fault on cross-country which gave them a 20 point penalty which had them finishing in 6th place. It was a very fun day overall, and I think we’ll be heading to more Mini Trials next summer.
Our next show will be Sunday October 21 at Chagrin Valley Farms in Bainbridge. While we still have plenty of time to make changes I currently have the following horses and riders to show:
Alex Geraci on Beamer (or Serenade if needed)
Victoria Fortin on Serenade
Morgan Sterpka on Kessie
Gabbie Van Scoy on Elliot
Emily Gavorski on Serenade (leadline)
Julius will be attending as well to gain some show experience to prepare him to show with his new owners, Cindy and Brittany.
I know some of my younger riders are interested in showing, I strongly suggest that you attend or come with our team to a show to watch before you compete so you have an idea of what to expect at a horse show. If you want to put the date on your calendars and please talk to me before hand so I can give you more information. We can still make changes or additions to who’s competing in October so if you're interested, please let me know. We usually attend one show each month throughout the winter, weather permitting.
Also a reminder, most of our school horses are available for practice rides, half and full leases. Rates are very reasonable – a half lease is $195 and that gives you 3 days a week of riding AND it includes your semi-private/group lesson in your lease price. Full leases are $375; that includes 6 days a week of riding and your private or semi-private lesson as well as first right to show your leased horse.
We have also started an informal riding clothes swap. Many of you have been “turning in” out-grown breeches, boots, show clothes, etc to me to pass on to younger riders. As this is still in the small scale, we don’t have an official system yet. But Mary Geraci (Alex’s mom) is going to start to co-ordinate our efforts. So if you have any out-grown or unused riding clothing, please feel free to bring it in to either Shellie or Mary. If it is higher value item, like a show coat or tall boots, please attach a label with the price you want for the item and your name. We will attempt to sell the item among our riders. We ask that smaller items be considered donations and will be given as needed. As we get a list of items, I will post them in this newsletter so everyone knows what is available.
And a further informational note; as some of you have heard, our horse blankets get sent out to a very talented woman who is known to most as “The Blanket Lady”. She washes, waterproofs, and repairs horse blankets wonderfully. But my reason for mentioning her to everyone is that she does a great job repairing half chaps and other assorted items too. She has repaired two pairs of half chaps that I was ready to throw out for about $5 each. They came back almost as good as new. So if anyone has any items that need cleaned or repaired, please talk to Shellie and we can show you how to tag your item and where to leave it for pick up.
As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, or concerns.
See you at the barn,
Shellie
As most of you might remember, in the August newsletter, I thought we were done with changes for awhile. Almost immediately after I sent that newsletter, the opportunity presented itself to move into the other, newer barn at Promise Land. So come October 1st, we are moving the horses over “to the other side”. While the horses will appreciate the larger stalls, our main reason for moving is that the barn has an aisle way that connects to the indoor arena. So as long as we can safely walk from the parking lot to the barn, we don’t have to worry about walking horses on an icy pathway to the arena. So that should help to eliminate safety issues for both horses and students. There is also a heated bathroom in that barn and more lighting, including a light in every stall so we get a few more creature comforts too.
Our team has also attended a few horse shows in September. Morgan was kind enough to show Kessie at an Up & Over show at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds. Kessie was a good girl and shows plenty of promise to be a successful show pony down the road. Morgan has agreed to continue to show Kessie for at least the next few months to help build her confidence at shows and get Kessie ready for our younger riders to show. We also got to see Alex on a different horse – her pony Beamer has been having some health problems so Alex switched to Serenade and she did a great job adapting quickly to a new horse.
We also had two students show at the Mini Trial at South Farm in Middlefield. A mini trial is made up of 3 phases, a dressage test, a stadium jumping round (jumping fences in an arena) and a cross country phase (jumping fences out in the open fields). Natalie did a great job on Serenade, completing all three phases cleanly. Since she did not have any jumping penalties, she finished on her dressage score which put her in 4th place, but only a point and half behind the 1st place horse. So it was a very tight competition. Faith and Hank were 1st after dressage and held on to first with a clean stadium jumping round, but had 1 jumping fault on cross-country which gave them a 20 point penalty which had them finishing in 6th place. It was a very fun day overall, and I think we’ll be heading to more Mini Trials next summer.
Our next show will be Sunday October 21 at Chagrin Valley Farms in Bainbridge. While we still have plenty of time to make changes I currently have the following horses and riders to show:
Alex Geraci on Beamer (or Serenade if needed)
Victoria Fortin on Serenade
Morgan Sterpka on Kessie
Gabbie Van Scoy on Elliot
Emily Gavorski on Serenade (leadline)
Julius will be attending as well to gain some show experience to prepare him to show with his new owners, Cindy and Brittany.
I know some of my younger riders are interested in showing, I strongly suggest that you attend or come with our team to a show to watch before you compete so you have an idea of what to expect at a horse show. If you want to put the date on your calendars and please talk to me before hand so I can give you more information. We can still make changes or additions to who’s competing in October so if you're interested, please let me know. We usually attend one show each month throughout the winter, weather permitting.
Also a reminder, most of our school horses are available for practice rides, half and full leases. Rates are very reasonable – a half lease is $195 and that gives you 3 days a week of riding AND it includes your semi-private/group lesson in your lease price. Full leases are $375; that includes 6 days a week of riding and your private or semi-private lesson as well as first right to show your leased horse.
We have also started an informal riding clothes swap. Many of you have been “turning in” out-grown breeches, boots, show clothes, etc to me to pass on to younger riders. As this is still in the small scale, we don’t have an official system yet. But Mary Geraci (Alex’s mom) is going to start to co-ordinate our efforts. So if you have any out-grown or unused riding clothing, please feel free to bring it in to either Shellie or Mary. If it is higher value item, like a show coat or tall boots, please attach a label with the price you want for the item and your name. We will attempt to sell the item among our riders. We ask that smaller items be considered donations and will be given as needed. As we get a list of items, I will post them in this newsletter so everyone knows what is available.
And a further informational note; as some of you have heard, our horse blankets get sent out to a very talented woman who is known to most as “The Blanket Lady”. She washes, waterproofs, and repairs horse blankets wonderfully. But my reason for mentioning her to everyone is that she does a great job repairing half chaps and other assorted items too. She has repaired two pairs of half chaps that I was ready to throw out for about $5 each. They came back almost as good as new. So if anyone has any items that need cleaned or repaired, please talk to Shellie and we can show you how to tag your item and where to leave it for pick up.
As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, or concerns.
See you at the barn,
Shellie
August E-Newsletter
Wow, summer has flown by, but I am going to sneak this newsletter in while it is still August. I'm sure most of you will agree that summer went by way too fast. But we got some fun activities in including our summer horse care series which was a lot of fun and we even had good weather up until the last day when it got way too hot. Based on our experiences this summer, we are tentatively planning our ideas out already for next summer - thinking probably a short non-riding camp for intermediate students again as well as a short jumping camp for advanced students. And some additional theme camps for younger students, maybe a games camp, maybe an intro to jumping camp, etc... I welcome your ideas and input as well. We are also going to be discussing the possibility and logistics of going as a group next summer to a sleep-away camp in Virginia that is hosted by the riding instructor I grew up riding with; check out Academy East School of Riding Click here: Academy East or www.academyeast.com -- so please let me know what you want to do next summer; what you wish we had offered this year, etc.... My summer schedule has to be done by the end of 2007 so let me know now.
Before next summer however, we will do other activities and events at the barn as well. We'll be having a clipping "party" at some point this winter when we can put some of you to work. The school horses will need some body clipping during the winter to keep them comfortable while working so we'll do that as a group. So we'll do a few fun events like that to keep us busy during the fall and winter months.
And we'll be heading to a variety of horse shows in the coming months, with hopefully enough availability to allow everyone who is interested in showing to be able to participate. I am trying to find shows that are as local as possible but allow everyone to compete successfully. For example, I know some of the younger kids find it discouraging to have to show in walk/trot classes against riders twice as old; so I am trying to find shows that also divide classes by age to help level the playing field. No matter what age though, keep practicing!
Speaking of practicing, just a reminder practice rides are still available to everyone enrolled in lessons. At only $12 per ride, it's a very affordable way to gain extra saddle experience. Check with us to schedule a ride time.
And, it seems that each newsletter brings us a new horse to talk about. (And I'm not complaining about that.) Congratulations to Victoria Fortin on her new horse Trixie. Trixie is boarded at Promise Land for a few months until the Fortin's barn is completed. Hopefully even when Trixie moves home we will continue to enjoy Victoria's company whether it is in lessons or meeting up with her and Trixie at horse shows. Best of luck Victoria with your new best friend! Also congratulations are in order to Cindy Wright, and Maria and Brittany Douglas on their purchase of Julius. We want to extend a warm welcome to Cindy, Maria and Brittany and look forward to working with all of you and helping you to have a great partnership with Julius.
Fall schedule is getting fully underway this week. Most of you are in a new or returning lesson time since summer is over, if anyone has any concerns please let us know so we can move your lesson time. On a technical side, all 5 school horses are in the front of the barn; allowing us the opportunity to be more of a unit. And while it may seem confusing, I will be making one hopefully final change with the tack lockers. Within the next week or two, we are shifting some of the tack so that all saddles, will be in ground level lockers and will be clearly labeled. So no one will have to ask for assistance in reaching their saddle, or putting it back. So this should enable students of all sizes to be able to be more independent. And in case some one did not notice, all saddle pads are in one locker allowing them to lay flat and not clutter up all the lockers. Please help out, put things away neatly! Make sure saddle flaps are not folded or bent, bridles do need to be wrapped in order to fit in the lockers, please ask if your not sure how to wrap your bridle. Equipment is expensive, please help to take care of it.
Hope everyone has a great school year! Warmest wishes
Shellie
Program for Equine Partnership
Before next summer however, we will do other activities and events at the barn as well. We'll be having a clipping "party" at some point this winter when we can put some of you to work. The school horses will need some body clipping during the winter to keep them comfortable while working so we'll do that as a group. So we'll do a few fun events like that to keep us busy during the fall and winter months.
And we'll be heading to a variety of horse shows in the coming months, with hopefully enough availability to allow everyone who is interested in showing to be able to participate. I am trying to find shows that are as local as possible but allow everyone to compete successfully. For example, I know some of the younger kids find it discouraging to have to show in walk/trot classes against riders twice as old; so I am trying to find shows that also divide classes by age to help level the playing field. No matter what age though, keep practicing!
Speaking of practicing, just a reminder practice rides are still available to everyone enrolled in lessons. At only $12 per ride, it's a very affordable way to gain extra saddle experience. Check with us to schedule a ride time.
And, it seems that each newsletter brings us a new horse to talk about. (And I'm not complaining about that.) Congratulations to Victoria Fortin on her new horse Trixie. Trixie is boarded at Promise Land for a few months until the Fortin's barn is completed. Hopefully even when Trixie moves home we will continue to enjoy Victoria's company whether it is in lessons or meeting up with her and Trixie at horse shows. Best of luck Victoria with your new best friend! Also congratulations are in order to Cindy Wright, and Maria and Brittany Douglas on their purchase of Julius. We want to extend a warm welcome to Cindy, Maria and Brittany and look forward to working with all of you and helping you to have a great partnership with Julius.
Fall schedule is getting fully underway this week. Most of you are in a new or returning lesson time since summer is over, if anyone has any concerns please let us know so we can move your lesson time. On a technical side, all 5 school horses are in the front of the barn; allowing us the opportunity to be more of a unit. And while it may seem confusing, I will be making one hopefully final change with the tack lockers. Within the next week or two, we are shifting some of the tack so that all saddles, will be in ground level lockers and will be clearly labeled. So no one will have to ask for assistance in reaching their saddle, or putting it back. So this should enable students of all sizes to be able to be more independent. And in case some one did not notice, all saddle pads are in one locker allowing them to lay flat and not clutter up all the lockers. Please help out, put things away neatly! Make sure saddle flaps are not folded or bent, bridles do need to be wrapped in order to fit in the lockers, please ask if your not sure how to wrap your bridle. Equipment is expensive, please help to take care of it.
Hope everyone has a great school year! Warmest wishes
Shellie
Program for Equine Partnership
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