I have moved!

Fancy, our wonderful, 26 year old Snowflake appaloosa mare has moved to Stony Bridge Farm. Fancy gave Jen lots of love and excellent years in the show ring and has moved on to a quieter life where she will continue to be loved and cared for, and get a well deserved rest. We will miss her! Happily though-she will be close enough to visit and is with a friend.

Thank you Fancy for all you gave to our Family! We love you!

All on a Late Summer's Day

September 20, 2009

What a beautiful, sunny day. We decided to head out to Day 2 of a local 2 day show at Camp Marshall. Packed up and off we went.
Jen and Fancy entered the Senior Horse Division. Jen said "this is Fancy's division!". First class Sr Horse pleasure AM..........Blue ribbon, second class Sr Horse...Yellow ribbon, 3rd class Sr Horse Pleasure PM.....Blue ribbon. Jen was right it was Fancy's division, not only did she take home Day end Champion for the division but she also took home Week-end Reserve Champion for the division!!

Jen and Fancy placed 2nd and 3rd in Med/long stirrup jumping too!

Great way to spend a sunny Sunday in September!

Woodstock 2009

What a week at the Woodstock Open Horse Show this year! Arrived on Thursday afternoon, complete with camper (full of supplies and food), horse trailer (complete with horse supplies for 5 days), a husband, two college students and a friend. Hatches were battened down by 6:00 PM or so and we settled in for an evening of relaxing and hanging out at the barn.
Friday AM- feed horses and head for Providence to move Jen into her "luxury condominium" that she will call a dorm from now till next May. What a beautiful place.lucky girl! Back to Woodstock Fairgrounds (with a short side trip to one of Jen's favorite stores: Tractor Supply). Cool (and I mean cool) evening of watching horses.
Saturday 6:00 AM- feed horses and the girls got ready for their first class scheduled for 8:00 AM! Jen placed 8th out of 37 riders! Great class. Great weather all day, lots of classes and lots of laughs.  Midnite: watching the last of the jumping classes. Jen also placed 3rd out of 17 horses in a jumping class.  Let's see......bed around 1 or 2:00 AM?
Sunday 6:00 AM- off for another day of classes. Another great day all around...................by 11:00 PM, watching jumping classes and every one is a bit tired..............
Monday- 8:00 AM.......decision made not to ride today as riders and horses are whipped and school is creeping up fast (Tuesday 7:00 AM).....quiet day.packing and heading home.
Jen was off to work and then to her new "Dorm" and another year of college!!

Wonderful week-end--lots of fun and laughs............great end to the summer!

"My Old Man"

This is Pete or "Special Edition" as he is know around the Horse Show circuit! Pete is 25 year old Quarter horse. Pete was Jen's first horse, a gift from her riding instructor, many years ago. Jen has shown Pete in Hunter classes at Barre and Camp Marshall and in eventing at Apple Knoll in Millis. Jen and Pete took first place in a Halloween Hunter Pace in Millis a few years ago. Pete was a rescue horse and was abused somewhere along the way. As a result he has a tendency to fear kick at other horses who ride up closely behind him, although he is much improved from when we first got him. Pete is semi retired now but still enjoys being ridden here at home, and can still jump at least 2'9"! As stubborn as he can be he is a sweetheart. His real name is Peterbilt (like the truck), and that is how he is built.
Funny story-first day we brought him home-he decided to run away and run he did-the local police found him approximately 2-3 miles away. Jen and a friend walked him home with a police escort and parents following in trucks--was quite a night!! He never left again! and he slept well that night.

Our First Summer with a College Student

Well- the weather has changed from hot and humid to almost cold...63 degrees this morning! Not like last week when it was 80 at 6:00 am! Not a good sign here in the Northeast region.

One more week to have Jen home before the big move back to the dorm in Providence.

Our summer was so busy with horse shows which started in April, seemed like we were on the road every week-end. Was a good summer for her and her horse "Tickle My Fancy", lots of experience with lots of different types of shows. And of course.more ribbons and trophies.........we will be adding on a separate room on the house soon I feel, for all of them.

Well let's see-summer life with a College Student-new for me, and for her I imagine, as well as all others in the house. College students, though home for the summer are rarely seen I discovered, stopping by for a meal, a shower and clean clothing before they are off for another adventure. Oh and don't forget all the people they always bring home with them!! Kind of like another whole family!

Jen was lucky to land a job training polo ponies about 3 miles from home and loved every minute. She did alot of traveling with the job and saw many different polo clubs across the Northeast.

She did however spend some time in local, and not so local Emergency rooms, guess that comes with the territory and her chosen career. She does love the horses and the riding.

As we look to the next week, we will leave for Woodstock Fair Horse Show on thursday morning with: the car loaded with her things for college, the horse trailer with one horse and enough supplies for 5 days and a camper filled with enough stuff to probably leave home for weeks....we will get things settled at the fairgrounds on Thursday and on Friday we will travel to Providence to move her into her luxury condo that she will call a dorm room! The rest of the week-end she will compete at the Fair and then off to Sophmore year on Monday night.

Wow! and I had visions of a quiet summer with my daughter.........oh well it was a wonderful summer just the same and it will be lonely here in another week without her.

College students are amazing though-they leave for the freshman year as a dependent child out of high school, and return home for the summer a totally different and wonderful independent young adult. A person capable of staying up all night, sleeping all day and still getting things done.......remember those days?