Fortunately, we also have some pretty good teachers, but nearly all of you have chosen Longacres for your riding vacation primarily because of how much riding time we offer. Our basic schedule offers five hours of riding opportunity daily, and you often will actually spend all five of those hours in the saddle. We ride from 10 until noon (part of the 11am group until 12:45), again from 3 to 5PM and again after dinner every week day. And we keep at least one and a half and usually two or more horses for each student, so that under normal conditions there will always be a horse for everyone.

But there are times when someone may have to "sit out" a lesson. There are a hundred things that can go wrong and put some of the horses out of action for a few days. Horses pull muscles, throw horse shoes, step on sharp rocks, get saddle sores - you name it, and sometime during the summer, it will happen to one or more of our horses! Normally, we have enough extra horses to cover these losses, but sometimes not.

"A" and "B" Riders:

If we are short of horses for a lesson, we have an organized system for deciding whose turn it is to "sit-out". Every riding hour, half of you are assigned as "A" riders, and the other half as "B" riders. "A" riders always have priority - if someone has to sit out or have last choice on horses, it will be a "B" rider. Almost always, everyone gets to ride. Perhaps once every four or five lessons, someone is required to sit-out. Rarely, more than one person. This happens so rarely that after the first few days of each session, we rarely bother with the "A" and "B" rider records - but they are there in case of an unusual series of horse health or soundness issues.

Voluntary Sit-Outs:

At least once a day I will see a lesson where one or more students have voluntarily decided not to ride. Five hours of riding a day is A LOT OF RIDING, especially when you first get to Longacres, and it is not uncommon for someone to simply be tired and want to take a break. As long as you are participating most of the time, we respect your decision if you ask to rest for an hour. Also, before an instructor formally asks a "B" rider to sit-out a lesson, they will ask if anyone would like to volunteer to sit-out. We also are doing more training of young horses every year, and some of you will be involved in ground work or other training certain hours.

"Tom, Can We go to the Mall?"

The most common reason for not getting in a full five hours of riding in a day, is when you students as a group ask Tom or Meghan for permission to take the afternoon off and go to the Mall! We are a riding camp, and most of the time I expect you to work on your riding and take advantage of the opportunity that you are paying for here. But it is also your vacation, and we want you to have a good time. Once or twice a week, it is nice to take a break and go into town. Usually everyone agrees that "it is time for a road trip". About the only time we have some disagreements is during the July 8th to 22nd session. By then the full season students are getting a little stir-crazy, and eager to take occasional breaks. But the students here for only that two week session want to get in all the riding they can. I try to balance those interests evenly.

I hope this article gives you newcomers a better idea of the time you will spend riding and how we ration that time. Almost never do we have anyone complain that they aren't getting enough riding time at Longacres.

- Tom

I'll tell you in this article a little about how we assign horses in lessons. Your first few days at Longacres we do a lot of swapping horses during lessons so that you'll get to know a number of suitable horses. We also post a chart on the wall of the barn where you can list your favorite horses. Often you will add to or change that list during the first four or five days of your session.

Horses for your lessons are assigned by one of the staff at the beginning of each day. The person doing the assignments is supposed to consider several things. First, they will check the schedule to see who is an "A" rider and who is a "B" in each lesson. They should also look at the list of favorites that each of you has posted in the barn. They will then do their best to assign one of your favorites or another of the most desirable horses to everyone who is an "A" rider each hour, with next choices going to "B" riders. This may sound a little complicated, and it is for the first few days of each session until the staff get to know you and the kind of horses you prefer.

In practice, the horse assignment process becomes very easy after the first week. We always have a few situations where two or three people have the SAME horse as their favorite, but most of our students find a favorite mount that is special only to them. Once that pattern sets up, my instructors will go out of their way to assign you your favorite horse several times a day. Because all the horses need breaks, you will also ride a variety of other horses during the day.

We also have certain lessons that are designated as "greenie" lessons, where we have everyone ride the least experienced horses and work on training them. Other lessons will be designated as "show horse" lessons where you will be assigned the horse you plan to ride in the next show.

You are ALWAYS welcome to tell the assistant instructors if there is a horse you would like to ride, but haven't yet. Generally I leave horse assignments to my assistants, but if you are never assigned a horse that you think you could safely ride, I am also very open to have you tell me personally. If I agree with you, I will mention it to the girls doing the assignments.

Summary: You will often ride your very favorite horse at Longacres, but not every hour. It is important for you to communicate and let all of us on the staff KNOW who you want to ride. (The line between communicating well and being a pest is a fine one!) Go out of your way to get to know all our horses - you may be pleasantly surprised at how well you get along with some horse that no one else particularly likes - then you will be able to ride him much more.

At Longacres we try to provide you with several things. First is the amount of riding, often five hours a day as explained above. We also offer you the chance to ride a variety of horses, including many that are real show horses, much more interesting than the average school horse you will ride at many stables. We also do our best to make sure that you are supervised by responsible assistant instructors and student-leaders during the day who have good judgement on what they can allow you to do with safety, while giving you an enjoyable time riding and learning.

But there is another very important factor in the equation that makes up the Longacres Riding program, and that is my personal participation in your instruction and the evaluation of your riding progress. I have been in the horse and rider training business for many years, and our horses have been consistent winners at western New York shows during that time. One of the important benefits of coming to a small riding school like Longacres is that in addition to your many hours practicing with assistant instructors, you will have direct personal attention from a very experienced professional trainer.

I will get to know some of you very well during your time here. I pledge that I will pay attention to each of you and to be familiar with your riding progress and with what you should be practicing to improve.

Most days I will either teach one of your lessons personally or if I don't, I will either be video taping one of your lessons to discuss with you later or I will observe while one of the other instructors actually teaches the lesson. Either way, I will be very aware of your riding level, your progress, your strengths, and your weaknesses as a rider. I will discuss your riding regularly with the other assistant instructors, to be sure we all are doing the best we can to help you.

A slight change (and improvement) for 2007 will be more formal twice a week staff and assistant instructor meetings with Meghan evaluating all riders and what they're working on in lessons.

I will be happy to answer your questions about your riding during the day between lessons anytime.

The barn manager and other instructors assign you horses in your daily lessons, but if you feel you are qualified to ride a horse that they do not let you ride, you are always welcome to speak with me about your request. I tell my assistants to be conservative and careful in letting you ride horses that are at the limit of your ability. They would not be doing their job if everyone always got to ride every horse in the barn that they requested, so I expect some of you to ask me for special permissions, and sometimes I will say yes. I pledge to hear you out if you have a special horse request.

Perhaps more important than anything else, I pledge to hold you to a high standard of horsemanship WHEN you ride with ME. I hope that some of you care enough about your riding to try to be your best and be 100% focused all the time, but we recognize that Longacres is not only a riding school, but your riding vacation, and you come here to have some fun with horses. When you are riding with assistant instructors or on trails, you will have numerous chances to ride more informally. In my lesson, you will pay close attention, both to what I am teaching you and to your horse and your equitation.

To give you an example from my lessons, I expect all my riders to be sitting up straight in the saddle with their legs on the horse and contact through both reins even while you are standing in line waiting your turn to ride a jump course. I am told that I have eyes in the back of my head! When you are lined up at the side of the ring waiting your turn, I want you to have your horse standing straight and square with the rest of the line, his nose even with the two horses on either side of you. Part of this is simply to keep you sharp and ready to perform well, but a big part is teaching you that a serious rider is "riding their horse even when they are standing still". A horse loses interest in and respect for a rider who is slouching and not paying close attention. You will be very aware of that when you ride with me.

I expect a lot from you when you ride with me. I try to give you my best in return. The staff and I haul jumps all around the fields to set up interesting challenges for you. I don't get lazy very often and simply throw a single rail on a jump for you to go over - I set solid jumps with good ground lines. And I know my course design theory backward and forwards. If I tell you a line of two fences is set carefully for a five stride official horse show distance, you can bet that it will be darn close to 72 feet.

I also care about the appearance of our farm and the jumping arenas. You'll often see me on my trusty old Ford tractor (or the shiny new Kubota - thank you, Meghan!) or with a weed trimmer in hand right before an important jumping lesson, trimming around the jumps just so they will look pretty for your lesson that day. A horse and rider doing a fine job over a jump course is a beautiful sight, and that picture deserves to be framed with well painted and maintained jumps and a well trimmed arena. I try to provide you that at Longacres!

We have many thousands of dollars invested in professional video equipment at Longacres, and we take many hours of video of you riding during each session. We frequently meet at the main house after lunch or in the evening to review and comment on those videos. This video work and evaluation is another important personal contribution I make to your riding progress at Longacres.

I try hard to set a standard of excellence at Longacres, and to praise and reward those who work hard towards achieving that standard. I try to create an atmosphere where people try to do their best in my lessons even if they are a relatively inexperienced rider. And the better you are, the more I will expect of you! At the same time, I am realistic enough to know that this is supposed to be fun for you, and after your lesson with me, you will have many more relaxed riding opportunities. You'll also have some FUN with me! I love to include surprise gymkhana's and mounted games and contests as part of my lessons. And because I have the final responsibility for safety at Longacres, you will often have a chance to jump a little bigger in my lessons than the rest of the day. There are rewards for hard work.

Once last summer I was talking with a group of students about a day's lesson, where someone had been chastised for not paying attention. I said, "Yes, I'm kind of an old meanie."

One of the students responded, "You're strict, but you're not mean!" If you girls who are new to Longacres this year feel that way at the end of your stay with us, I will feel that I have done well.

Let me say first, that Longacres welcomes you either way! But it is important for us (and for you) to know what you really want to achieve in your riding.

I like to classify riders in three groups.

First are riders who enjoy being on a horse and riding, but really have no interest in learning more advanced technique or going on to any more serious riding. I am glad to have girls with this attitude attend Longacres and take advantage of the many hours you get to ride here. But I would have to say that you are kind of wasting your money to pay to come to a place like Longacres if that is all you want to get out of horses. Still, if that is your goal, you are welcome here. We will of course teach you and especially make sure that you learn what you need to ride safely and have fun with horses. But we will be less demanding in the way we teach and evaluate you.

Second is the group that includes many students who come to Longacres. Students who love riding and who do want to polish their technique and learn to go on to more advanced riding and do some showing. Riders who are interested in learning, but who want to show mostly for the fun of it. Riders who do not consider themselves highly competitive. Riders who like riding because they love horses and spending time with them. Riders who are interested in much of what we have to teach you, but who want to be able to relax on their horse and not have too much pressure put on them in lessons. This is a fine attitude to have about your riding. I am pleased to have students like this at Longacres. Students in this catagory will get a lot out of Longacres, and will be pushed a little harder in my lessons, but I will go a little "easy" on you!

Finally, we come to the group of students who I will call serious, competitive riders. These are the girls who are competitive by nature and who have ambitions not just to go on to more advanced horse showing opportunities, but to WIN when they do. These are the students who make a point of practicing good equitation even when they are on a casual trail ride. The students who are sitting up straight and in full control of their horse even while they are standing in a line waiting their turn to jump a course. The students who during a "free ride" session on the training field are off in a corner by themselves doing dressage exercises or practicing clean lead changes while many others are riding casually with friends chatting about the day's events.

As I read over the above paragraph, it sounds as though I think every student should be a "serious competitive student". But that's not true at all! Riding is a great recreational activity, and Longacres really does welcome students who are here more for the fun and chance to learn a little more, than to win at all cost. I do, though, want you to know which kind of student you are. If you set the highest standards for yourself, I will have those same highest standards in mind when I teach you, and I will be the most demanding of your performance when you ride.

Favoritism - preferential treatment; these are bad words around programs for children and young people. But preferential treatment exists at most institutions, and it exists in a planned way at Longacres to an extent. By frankly discussing this here, I hope to avoid resentment and jealousy as much as possible when all of you are here riding in the summer.

Longacres is a riding school that tries hard to give all our paying students an equal chance to ride nice horses and to show at an appropriate level if they wish.

But Longacres is ALSO a competitive show stable, with a long history of fielding very successful horse and rider combinations in western New York Show Jumper competition. We have won every possible show jumper championship in western NY over the years with horses like China Heart, Yorke Springs, Deamyn, Rameses, Tip-Off, Miscellaneous, Peppermint Patti, Leather 'n Lace, and Quantum Leap. And with very fine riders like Julie Murray, Sue Bell, Linda Reading, Sarah Helmstadter, Sarah Pistone, Meghan Duthie, and Tovah Abrams.

Number One Rider

I think it is good for our program to have the excitement of some of our horses bringing home the blue ribbons at a show. I think it is good for our program to have one or two extremely talented riders on our team as examples to us all. Because of this, Longacres often has a student who is in the "Number 1 Rider" position, a student who sometimes receives financial help from Longacres based solely on their talent and potential as a show rider.

Being "Number One Rider" at Longacres is pretty nice. And any one of you reading this article might be recruited to this position. I am always on the lookout for girls with exceptional talent and ambition who might grow into this role in our program. As a matter of fact, there has not been a designated "Number 1 Rider" at Longacres since 2004. We've had a number of talented girls, but no one who clearly stood out - the position is "open and waiting"!

Whoever is our current top rider does get some very nice benefits. They will ride our best jumper in the biggest horse shows. They will get special private training sessions from me, and may ride the top show horses extra hours in training. But heavy responsibilities come along with the rewards. If I am giving extra attention and benefits to a very fine rider, I expect a lot of them in return. I expect them to help other students in any way they can. I expect them to ride any horse that might need training or be giving someone trouble. I expect them to be always working to do the best for our horses and to assist the barn management. And I expect them to be NICE to the rest of our students and a good example as a person. Ah, that last sentence! By her very nature, a teenage girl who is a successful show jumper rider is likely to be an intense, competitive type "A" personality.

I think that some of our most recent successful top show riders have done very well at being supportive and good for the rest of our students while riding to win for Longacres. Sarah Pistone was the "it girl" in 1997 and 1998. She was one of the best riders I have ever coached. Meghan Duthie came to us for just two weeks in 1999 as an unpolished, but very gutsy and determined young rider. I was so impressed that I invited her to return for the big Hamburg Fair horse show at the end of that season, where she fell off once - - - and then WON a big class! Meghan returned in 2000 as my primary jumper rider, and was with me the following two years again as both a student and an instructor. She was a great help to me and to Longacres. Tovah Abrams moved smoothly into the #1 rider role and our head trainer position in 2003 and 2004. But in 2005, 2006, and for most of 2007, no one student rose to the top spot. We're waiting!

We try hard at Longacres to give each student an equal opportunity to learn, to ride nice horses, and to try new things. It's just that one rider is some years going to get just a little bit "more equal" opportunity!

I want all of you coming to Longacres as students this year to know that those special "top rider" benefits are not given as personal favoritism because someone is a good brown-nose or suck-up. They are earned benefits and a planned part of our program. I hope that each of our students will benefit from being part of a program where excellence and success are nurtured and rewarded. And as I teach all of you this summer, I will be wondering which one of you might be a candidate to step up to that "top rider" position that was most recently held by Tovah Abrams in 2004 before she left Longacres to move on to other things.

Hope this article helps you understand more about Longacres.

- Tom

As Meghan and Tom plan for the 2007 season, we are remembering that we are coming off one of the best years ever at Longacres last summer. We had a great group of girls who were in high spirits all summer and worked together wonderfully. Many of them are returning. We have high hopes for another great year, but anytime we have a success as great as we did last summer at Longacres I am a little nervous that we can't possibly quite measure up again. It will take effort and some accommodation from everyone if we are to have the same spirit as last year.

We have the tools in place for the same kind of year. Wonderful horses, a great show schedule, and a good core of returning riders from last summer.

Just about half our students most years are returning from last year, and half are new to us. For 2007, more than 70% of the July and August students are returnees. That's a good combination for creating a happy camp group. But our returning students must go out of their way to make all the new people feel welcome right away. There are a couple of things we do to help make that happen.

1) I try to put two girls who come together in the same bunk. But I also make sure that new students are evenly divided between our two bunks. If five or six of our students are here for the full eight weeks - to some of their slight displeasure, I will insist that only two or three of them be in the same bunk so we do not have a "clique" of full season riders.

2) Often when you get here, you will meet someone in "the other bunk" who you buddy up with and you might ask to change bunks the first day or two. My answer will be "no". Part of going to a camp is meeting new people and fitting into a group. I rarely allow a bunk switch during a session. If I do, it will be later in the session, not during the first day or two.

3) We will have lots of "bonding" activities during the first week besides our regular riding program. It is a tradition at Longacres that someone will ask for a "scoonies ice cream stand" trip after a day or two!

• Tom

An important part of the riding instruction plan at Longacres has always been the promise that I will directly teach or personally watch every one of you ride every day. I have high standards, and part of what you are all paying for is being exposed to those standards. We split our riders between two groups who have their most formal lesson of the day at either 11 to 11:45 or 11:45 to 12:30. (Tom often looses track of time during an interesting lesson and makes the second group late for lunch.)

With only half of you mounted at a time, you will all have a good choice of horses for this most important lesson of the day. You will spend less time waiting your turn. I will have more time to give personal attention to each of you.

BUT NOT EVERYONE returns. The most frequently observed reason for a girl not returning to Longacres or not liking their stay here is if they have a nice horse of their own at home and they live too far away to bring their horse to Longacres with them. Of our eleven 2006 students not returning for 2007, an impressive 82% either already had their own horses or bought their own this fall. Of these girls, most had good stays at Longacres in 2006 and enjoyed themselves, but are staying home to ride and show their own horses next summer. One girl did very well here last summer, but when asked by a friend if she is coming back again answered, "No way - it's way too much work at Longacres taking care of all the horses. They do all that for me at my home barn and I just ride." For most of our horse loving students, the chance to work around the barn and actually take care of the horses is a bonus that they enjoy. But if you have your own horse at home at a professional barn and don't have to do any of your own work, ask yourself if a program like ours is really what you're looking for.

Two other teenage students in 2006 just flat out did not like Longacres, and left for home early. Their reasons were numerous, but significantly, they both had nice horses of their own at home and close relationships with their own riding instructors at home. We have many students with their own horses who love Longacres. But if you are considering coming here for your first time and have your own horse and trainer at home, be sure you know why you want to come to Longacres and be prepared for all the horse care work!

- Tom & Meghan Kranz

2009 Enrollments: (scroll down for 2009 session dates)

If you are exploring the Longacres website for the first time, we welcome you and hope you will contact us with questions and stay in touch. But as you will see when you browse our schedule below, we fill most of our sessions a year in advance. We hope that you are available to sign up for one of our few remaining 2009 vacancies. But if not, please do check back here and keep in touch for next year.

Tuition at Longacres is $1350 per week. Nearly all our students show each week and pay extra to cover show costs. We list details of our extra charges below, but you should plan on a little over $300 per week in extra expenses on average to cover shows, field trips, and incidentals.

2009 Sessions and Dates:

NOTE: Longacres summer riding camp sessions jump ahead one week on the calendar every 6 or 7 years in conjunction with the dates of our County Fair, which traditionally coincides with the end of our regular season. Next year is one of those "jump ahead" years.

June 1 to June 6 - Adult Week - $1350

June 8 to June 13 - Pro-Clinic Week - $1350

June 15 to June 20 - Pro-Clinic Week - $1350

June 22 to June 27 - Mother - Daughter Week - $1350

June 28 to August 22 - Traditional 8 Week Camp Session - $10,800

June 28 to July 12 - Two Weeks - $2700

June 28 to July 26 - Four Weeks - $5400

July 12 to July 26 - Two Weeks - $2700

July 29 to August 22 - August Camp Session - $4725

August 24 to August 29 - Lazy Days of August Week - $1350

JUNE CAMP - Any early bird "Clinic Weeks" students may enroll for any combination of Clinic Weeks and Early Bird weeks so they can get as long as a three or four week stay at Longacres during June. Any combination including the three "Early Bird" weeks and mother-daughter week is especially attractive to private school students or students from southern states who get out of school early. We often have students from California, Texas, Florida and other southern states.

Six days, June 22 to June 27. LOTS of riding - some with instruction and some on your own. $1350 per person for this session.

2009 Sessions and Dates:

NOTE: Longacres summer riding camp sessions jump ahead one week on the calendar every 6 or 7 years in conjunction with the dates of our County Fair, which traditionally coincides with the end of our regular season. Next year is one of those "jump ahead" years.

June 1 to June 6 - Adult Week - $1350

June 8 to June 13 - Pro-Clinic Week - $1350

June 15 to June 20 - Pro-Clinic Week - $1350

June 22 to June 27 - Mother - Daughter Week - $1350

June 28 to August 22 - Traditional 8 Week Camp Session - $10,800

June 28 to July 12 - Two Weeks - $2700

June 28 to July 26 - Four Weeks - $5400

July 12 to July 26 - Two Weeks - $2700

July 29 to August 22 - August Camp Session - $4725

NOTE - August 15, 2008:

We have received more 2009 deposits and spoken with more parents of present students. Although we do not formally confirm any 2009 sessions until September 1st, we can tell you this:

Mother - daughter week is definitely wait list only at this point. We will accept additional mother - daughter pairs either during the June 15th Pro-Clinic week or in Lazy Days beginning August 24th.

More than 20 of you have sent in deposits for 2009, which give you a place in our "que", or a priority when making reservations for next summer. This far in advance it is not surprising for your plans to shift! Several of you have already made changes in the dates you are requesting, which is fine with us. At first it looked like the two week sessions in July would be completely full. Then several of you changed your requests to the August session and that looked like it would be full. Now it appears that all sessions from June 28 through the end of regular camp in August will be quite evenly enrolled, with a couple of spots open in each session as of today. This does NOT COUNT those of you who have said, "We're coming next year", but who have not sent in deposits.

If you have any changes to request in your 2009 reservation, make those requests before September 1st - as of that date, you will be committed to your chosen session unless there is space in another time period.

2009 Tuition: Basic weekly tuition for 2009 will be $1350 per week which is a 12.5 % increase from 2008 rates. All sessions will be billed at this same weekly rate, which will result in some steep increases for a few of the longer sessions.

2009 Sessions and Dates:

NOTE: Longacres summer riding camp sessions jump ahead one week on the calendar every 6 or 7 years in conjunction with the dates of our County Fair, which traditionally coincides with the end of our regular season. Next year is one of those "jump ahead" years.

June 1 to June 6 - Adult Week - $1350

June 8 to June 13 - Pro-Clinic Week - $1350

June 15 to June 20 - Pro-Clinic Week - $1350

June 22 to June 27 - Mother - Daughter Week - $1350

June 28 to August 22 - Traditional 8 Week Camp Session - $10,800

June 28 to July 12 - Two Weeks - $2700

June 28 to July 26 - Four Weeks - $5400

July 12 to July 26 - Two Weeks - $2700

July 29 to August 22 - August Camp Session - $4725

August 24 to August 29 - Lazy Days of August Week - $1350

Conditional Tuition Surcharge:

We fully expect and greatly prefer that the above tuition increases will be the last needed for 2009. But because of the potential for further severe inflation over the next year, we reserve the right to add a further surcharge to 2009 final tuition payments in the case of severe cost increases. These would be triggered by any combination of the following conditions in April 2009: A consumer price index rate of inflation running greater than 6% during spring months; gasoline at greater than $5.50 per gallon; diesel fuel at greater than $6.50 per gallon. None of these conditions are likely in our opinion, but they are possible.

1) No 2009 enrollments will be considered until after September 1, 2008, this fall, but we will confirm 2009 registrations immediately after that date. Don't be late!

2) After that time we will consider and honor registration requests accompanied by deposit checks with preference to those with the earliest post marks, with the following special considerations.

5) If your family is not in a position to make a commitment almost a year in advance for summer camp, we will be glad to put you on a "second chance" wait list and inform you if there is a cancellation during the winter, which is certainly possible. We are sorry in a way that we have to put you in a position of having to make reservations so early. But it is a nice tribute to our program and the work we do here!