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Above: Picture of the Month is first time Longacres student, Valerie, jumping Tux over the Castle Jump on August 1^st. Valerie has been at Longacres just five days and is already showing real progress, witnessed by the very good form of horse & rider in this picture. (Get those toes in!) We have a large album of pictures from last July's shows at this link, all oversize with many interesting shots. Check it out.

 

 

2012 Rates & Schedule Now Posted

Follow the link on our home page to the 2012 rates & schedules. Deposits for 2012 sessions are now being taken. Go to the Rates & Schedule page for 2012 enrollment guidelines.

  

What You'll Find in this Blog:

Hello, and welcome to Longacres! If you're a newcomer to Longacres and are just visiting for the first time to learn about our summer riding programs, you may find this Blog a bit boring. At this time of year, most of what we post is news sent in by our students, and quite a bit of personal news about us and life on the farm at Longacres. It's only interesting to people who already know Longacres.

 

This Blog is a Key Part of our Customer Service During the Summer!

But if you come to Longacres next season, you will find this Blog VERY INTERESTING and very useful during the summer. We post daily news updates and daily photo albums as a way of letting all your family and friends at home know what you're doing with the horses every day that you're here. Click this link to jump to a time period in the middle of last summer, on July 10th. As you read, scroll upwards, since each day's post is above the day before. You'll see what the Blog is like while we're in session and going to horse shows every week. At Longacres we pride ourselves on very good, personalized customer service and communication. Check the link to get a sample! (Our daily hits are more than ten times higher during the summer!)

 

The 2011 Year in Review

 

Improvements & Accomplishments

Every fall, we take some time to think about the just finished season at Longacres, enjoying the memories of the things that went well, and considering areas where we can do better. It’s easy to list physical improvements to the farm, but more important are the achievements of our students.

 

Without doubt, the most popular new addition to our Longacres facilities for 2011 was the remodeling of the old barn and the addition of the new turnout paddock there so we could offer overnight trail rides with hayloft slumber parties in each of our sessions. Every bunk had one of these special nights with the horses at least once during their stay. We will definitely continue this new tradition for 2012 and beyond!

 

We think 2011 was one of the best seasons for our students in recent memory. We saw great improvement in everyone’s riding, especially in our many younger students last summer. We had more riders under age 13 last summer than in any other recent year. That is a good thing for the future of Longacres, since younger girls will be of riding camp age for longer than their older teenage friends. Our rate of returning students for 2012 is already the best of any year since the recession of 2008. As I write this in October, Longacres is already more than two thirds full for the 2012 season.

 

Each year gives us different kinds of accomplishments in our riding program. Some years we have many very advanced riders and win hundreds of ribbons and season championships in the western New York summer show series. The 2010 season two years ago was such a year. Other seasons we have more beginner and intermediate riders and we judge ourselves more on the improvements we see over the course of the summer and from the beginning to end of each session. This past 2011 season was a year like that.

 

Not that we weren’t thrilled with many wonderful performances by our more experienced riders. We were! Bethany won the Longacres Derby for the second year in a row. Mandi was “Queen of the water jumps”, helping us get other horses over both the small and big water jumps. Some years no Longacres horse tries the big Grand Prix water jump on our show field. This past summer, two Longacres horses (Jazz & Bristol), and a private horse (Holly) all cleared the big water. Ofelia finished her summer at Longacres with at least three nearly flawless rounds on her beloved Whitley, jumping clear in the Longacres Derby, also in the Erie County Fair team jumping event, and then putting in an excellent round on Whitley in a Hunter Classic. Kellie did the finest riding of her six years at Longacres, including a clear round in the Team Jumping at the fair. And first time at Longacres 12 year old student, Eva, showed extraordinary promise as a rider of the future.

 

I could go on and on mentioning girls who showed special improvement while they were at Longacres this year. I don’t have space here. So what I will do is conclude this “2011 Year in Review” article with two more examples of great rider improvement that really speaks for everyone who was a student at Longacres in the 2011 season. The first is about our accomplishments in the mid level jumper classes at the Erie County Fair.

 

Jumper events are important to us at Longacres. We train for them and try to have good horses capable of winning. And most years we do win several Championships in various jumper divisions at Erie County Fair at the end of the summer. But 2011 was destined not to be one of those years. As I mentioned earlier, this year we had fewer very advanced riders than usual, and more less experienced riders who worked very hard and showed great improvement during this season. That’s often even more rewarding than winning. (Well, OK, AS important as winning – I do like winning!)

 

A very good example of this was the improvement in our rider’s success at the big three day show at the fair from the beginning of the week through until the final day of this show. No, we won no Championships this year. And early in the week of the annual big show, we were pleased when we won a fourth or a fifth in one of the show jumping classes, most of which had more than twenty horses competing. But on the final day of the show, many of our girls settled down and had their best rides. When the dust settled, Longacres riders were 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th out of 22 entries in our final jumping class of the show.

 

Meghan and I are as proud of that gritty performance of Longacres riders, most with little experience in big horse shows, as we were of the 112 ribbons won by our more experienced show team the previous year. That improvement from the beginning of the fair show week when the going was tough to winning 2^nd through 5^th in a big class stands in our minds as a symbol of the hard work of all our 2011 students and the good training they received from a dedicated staff.

 

The Mindless Rider Track Conquered!

I have one more example of fine riding from the 2011 season, perhaps even more rewarding to me personally than that 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th finish at the fair. It is the fine job Mandi and the rest of the staff did in training our 2011 students to steer. Sounds simple and isn’t! Follow this link to a previous discussion explaining the “Mindless Rider Track”. Steering – and staying off the “Mindless Rider Track” – is one of my pet peeves as a trainer. I took Mandi aside back in May when she first arrived at Longacres as our new barn manager and explained the mindless rider track concept. I told her “I’d give her a trophy” if she could train people to understand the mindless rider track and really have control of their horses. Well, Mandi got her trophy at the end of the summer!

 

Most years I have to use the tractor to prepare the summer’s “Mindless Rider Track” – the ribbon of bare dirt around the Hilltop warmup ring – and then seed it and mulch it so that there will be a little fresh grass on the track when the following camp season arrives. NOT this year! I did put some hay mulch on the track and I did add a little grass seed. But now, just two months after the final lesson of the summer, you can barely even see where a Mindless Rider might have passed on the Hilltop arena. It’s the best basic riding effort put forth by a whole summer of riding students that I can ever remember. A tip of my hat to all of you out there who tried so hard over the summer of 2011 – you are horsewomen!

 

A Fine Staff

No “Year in Review” article would be complete without giving thanks to a fine effort by a good staff. We count among our successes putting together a fine riding staff. Mandi, Bethany, Ofelia, Sarah, Winky, Heather, Emily, and Fosto were all hard working and talented instructors and there is not one of them who we wouldn’t welcome back for 2012 or any other year. Yes, recruiting that kind of staff is one of our successes. Yet, they will not all be returning to Longacres next year, and that is one of our failures.

 

Working at Longacres for a summer is an exhausting and draining experience. We know that. And we spend many hours each winter discussing plans for better preparing, better supervising, and better rewarding the young people who take on this challenge.

 

The basic premise of Longacres – “Where else can you ride five hours a day?” – is a recipe for exhaustion. Throw nine students and several counselors and 25 or more horses into a riding program for the summer, and those counselors are going to be tired by the end of their job with us. Add to that the fact that we run a program with high expectations for neatness, performance, and most of all safety, and there is a lot of mental stress for staff in addition to physical exhaustion. Even young women who do love Longacres have to think twice before coming back to work for another season after surviving one with us! Until the day that all of them do want to make that choice to return for another season, we will know that we need to find a way to do better managing our staff.

 

2011 Summary

A very good year. Great students, more improvements to the farm, and many girls already signed up to return for 2012. We’re thankful for those successes as we think about changes and improvements that will carry us through the coming year and a half until our Diamond Jubilee 75^th Anniversary in 2013! Make plans to join us for 2012 and for the big Anniversary less than two years away.

- Tom & Meghan Kranz

 

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Monday, January 30^th Update:

Some Pictures

Check this link for some photo’s we’ve been looking at this weekend. New student, Ryan, sent in some of them. There’s a neat Collage of Longacres pictures put together by Sydney C. Sydney H. sent several nice Star pictures. Meghan also asked me to post a picture we were sent of Sultan, a pony we might buy. There are also some pictures of Becky, the girl from England who is interested in one of our instructor positions.

 

Sunday, January 29^th, 1PM Update:

“Welcome” Toni!

and “A Hogwart’s Summer” at Longacres (maybe)!

We send out an official Longacres “Welcome” to Toni from Long Island who will be Longacres 2012 student #35. Toni is 16 and will be one of our Counselor’s in Training during one of the July sessions. She has been riding for years and will have experiences to share with us all while she learns from us at Longacres this summer.

 

“Hogwarts at Longacres?”

It is still very early in the interview process, but we are having an interesting series of communications with Becky from England about taking the head counselor’s job at Longacres for the summer. Meghan and I each spoke with her this morning by phone and we are exchanging email and photo’s. We like her.

 

She is a dedicated horse woman and plans to make horses her life. She is in college now studying equine management and plans to have her own stable after she graduates – her own “yard” as the English call it. She is eager for a new “American” experience and has a ready laugh. When we talk with her there is no doubt that we’re talking with an English girl! It’s a good thing that many of you have grown up watching Harry Potter movies so that you are used to an English accent. That’s why I jokingly headlined this story “Hogwarts”. Sydney Coddington’s mom is English and we called her this morning after talking with Becky. Nicki Coddington thinks that an English trained horsewoman could be a very good fit at Longacres. Obviously there would be American horse show terms like “short stirrup” division that she’d need to learn, but much of the Longacres riding experience with our emphasis on jumping, cross country style jumps, and dressage as a foundation of good riding, is all compatible with the way the English approach horsemanship. We’ve encouraged Becky and her mom to contact Sydney and her mom.

 

What do you guys think about the idea of a summer at Longacres exposed to British influence?

 

Friday afternoon Update:

“Hello” to Ingrid

I enjoyed talking with Ingrid’s mom this afternoon and Meghan is looking forward to a longer talk tomorrow morning and talking with Ingrid. She is 13 and comes from Westchester, and interested in the August session.

 

Friday, January 27^th, 11AM Update:

Hilarious!

Thanks to Dr. Leslie for passing along this video link. Absolutely hilarious, especially if you’ve been around barns and horse shows for very long! Wish I had five bucks for every time I’ve heard the little phrases used in this YouTube piece.

 

New Instructor?

It is the time of year when we get serious about our talent search for new instructors for next season to work along with the fine girls who are returning from last year. We are corresponding with a girl in England who is studying horse science and teaches kids already. It is still early in the process, but she sounds very interesting.

 

Happy Birthday, Uncle Billy

We’re looking forward to taking Uncle Billy out for a birthday dinner tonight. You are “catching up” to Old Tom in age, Billy!

(Pssst! Helicopter Excitement!)

Meghan is a little nervous about having me post links to video of me acting immature. SO I won’t. But I will tell you who are good at finding where we upload our online video’s that there’s a new one of me succeeding (barely) in not crashing my exciting new model helicopter. Sadly, later yesterday after taking those video’s, I did crash hard, running into the ATV while flying in our workshop.)

 

Wednesday, January 25^th, Noon Update:

Back Online Again!

We were very busy for a couple of days over the weekend and didn’t get around to posting any updates. Then yesterday, we were just the opposite – VERY lazy, having a long breakfast in town and doing nothing more productive than watching movies on video all afternoon and evening. The kind of day you might think we would have all the time during the winter, when our summer camp business is closed up – we wish! But working for ourselves, we can have that kind of totally wasted day every once in a while.

 

Back to work today. Check this link for an album of pictures we took when we visited Kellie and the Texas horses. Kellie and her family take part in a huge horse parade at this time every year. The pictures give you just a hint of how many horses – thousands for sure.

 

Check this link for a video I took over the weekend of Meghan out on her snowmobile around the farm clearing trails after yet another western New York wind storm. See if you recognize the trails during the winter. Watch the ice floating down the big creek.

 

Meghan has been busy this week looking into new horses to bring into Longacres for this coming season. We expect most of the 17 we own now to be back for the 2012 season, and plan on about 8 more to buy or lease or take in on our “send your horse to camp” training program. Lots of interesting new horsies.

 

Friday, January 20^th Update:

Welcome Anderson & Emma

We send out Longacres “Welcome’s” to Anderson W. and Emma W. (not related), who both sent in their enrollments today. Anderson is 12 and returning to Longacres for her third year. She owns her own pony at home in Naples, Florida. Anderson is coming for both June clinic weeks and the June 24 to July 8^th sessions this year. She knows Kellie well (who will be here in June), and we think Anderson and Ryan will really hit it off together for the June 24 to July 8^th session – you two should get in touch. Anderson will be Longacres 2012 student #33.

 

Emma W. is 13 and comes to us from Greenwich, Connecticut. Emma’s been riding for about five years at the same barn at home, and is interested in stretching her abilities and gaining new experiences at Longacres. She will be with us for the two June clinic weeks with Kellie, Anderson, and Natalia so far in the first of those weeks and a whole lot more in the second week! Emma will be Longacres 2012 student #34.

 

Wednesday, January 18^th Update:

Goodness!

Longacres could be essentially full for much of the summer by this weekend! Anderson is planning to come for all of the June weeks and early July and two other new students are about to send in enrollments for the first July session. If those come in, we will be full for all of July and will only have two spots left in August and one for the June 18^th week. Things are happening FAST! If there are any “lurkers” out there reading the Blog while you consider signing up for a 2012 session at Longacres, you are just about out of time.

 

Here at Longacres today Meghan has been busy on the phone with people making last minute plans. I had time to do some tractor work out in the woods repairing flood damage to horse trails at one of the creek crossings. Check this video link for a clip of Longacres trails in the winter.

 

Tuition Payments

Forty percent of your tuition was due on January 15^th. Most, but not all of you, sent the payments in on time. We have not received several. Your reservations are not guaranteed until your tuition is paid. If the payment was mailed late, please shoot us an email, and we will gladly hold your space while the payment is in transit. (If your plans have changed and you do not plan to attend this summer after all, please let us know that right away so we can list your spot as still available.)

 

Tuesday, January 17^th Update:

Stormy!

Winds gusting to occasionally near hurricane strength and plunging temperatures will be over us for the next four or five hours. We’re huddled in the main house hoping for no major tree damage and for the power not to go out. We won’t know how much damage the farm has sustained until tomorrow or maybe even the next day if the storm is still blowing tomorrow morning. Wish us good luck!

 

Mandi

We haven’t heard from Mandi in quite a while, but got a nice message from her today. She got a job teaching riding at the same Ohio stable where Mave, Ginger, and Zanee are being leased. Mandi says that Zanee is the most popular horse in their program. But of course, that doesn’t surprise us.

 

Kellie

It has been a joy to have Kellie as a student at Longacres for what will be her 7^th season this coming summer. Most summers Kellie is able to join us for two different sessions. She is coming back this summer, but only for the June weeks. She has an interesting opportunity that will be keeping her from coming to Longacres during the August session. Kellie is taking part in a program where she will be training an unbroken Mustang as part of a competitive training program. She has to do all kinds of ground work and will be judged along with a number of other horsemen according to that training over the course of the summer. She will be spending a lot of time at her western trainer’s farm working in this program. It sounds very interesting and we’ll look forward to hearing about it as she does the training. We wish her the best of luck in this challenging endeavor!

 

New Enrollments

We will officially welcome Emma and Toni as the next 2012 Longacres enrollees later this week when we get their applications, which are on the way! They don’t know each other, but are both signing up this week.

 

That’s about it for tonight – wish us luck with the storm!

 

Monday, January 2^nd, Noon Update:

Texas Bound

We’re taking a week to head to Texas and visit Ebony, Horatio, and Tux at Kellie’s farm near Ft Worth. If we can make the schedules work, we hope to see some of the new girls who also live in the area.

 

BLOG at “toms thoughts”

For the next week or so, any Blog updates will be at Tom’s personal Blog, with the link here and at the top of this page.

 

Wimpy Storm – so far, anyway. Very cold temps and more snow are supposed to arrive tonight, but the promised heavy snow today quickly passed through and is south of here. We did get high winds overnight. Here is a link to a video of Meghan clearing fallen tree stuff off the driveway this morning.

 

Sunday, New Year’s Day Update:

I Love Weather

I do – it has always fascinated me. Mostly because I have managed horse shows and other sporting events for many years and it was always important to know the weather forecast. The girls at camp get used to me showing up at the barn to tell them that “a rain shower is 15 minutes away, but it will only last about half an hour, so plan on being able to ride again soon.” And many of our old friends know that for a couple of winter seasons I was the weatherman for the cruising fleet in the northern Bahamas for part of the winter.

Today is an example of really interesting weather here in western New York. We knew that a potent winter storm is expected to strike later this afternoon and through Tuesday, with blizzard conditions possible tomorrow. Yet we woke up to sunny weather with light wind and temperature just shy of 50 degrees this morning. I was able to do a lot of outdoor work during the morning as the wind slowly increased, but with balmy temperatures. Hard to believe what is likely to hit us over the next 24 hours with 55 MPH wind gusts and temperatures dropping to the single digits by tomorrow night! (Guess when we have plane reservations? Yup – right in the middle of the worst conditions tomorrow! I rather doubt that we’ll be making that flight.)

 

Saturday, December 31^st, 8PM Update:

Happy New Year!

All of us at Longacres wish you a happy and healthy New Year in 2012. Certainly it looks like a promising year for Longacres, with the strongest early enrollment in many years. We are thankful for a very high rate of returning students from last summer, as well as a strong enrollment of first time students. We look forward to continuing the best parts of our program from last summer, while evaluating new ideas to make things even better. An example of that is our wide ranging survey and discussions with former senior instructors and counselors and the implementation of new programs to make the very hard job of senior counselors at Longacres just a little bit less exhausting.

 

Welcome Sharon and Natalia!

We send out a “Longacres Welcome” to Sharon. Meghan tells me that Sharon reserved her spot early in the fall for Adult Week, but we keep forgetting to officially welcome her back for what must be her 7^th year at Longacres. We have two new adult week prospects who we hope to welcome soon. Sharon returns as 2012 student #30, though perhaps she should have had a lower number since she told Meghan to reserve her spot long ago!

 

“Welcome” also to Natalia, who is 14 and coming to the early bird Clinic weeks in June. Natalia will be at Longacres with Kellie, Carrie, Sydney, and a group of other younger students. Natalia and her mom just confirmed the enrollment this afternoon, a nice bonus for us on new Year’s Eve and a good way to kick off the 2012 year. Natalia is Longacres 2012 student #31.

 

Thursday, Dec. 29^th, 2PM Update:

I guess you can tell that we’re starting to think about the new Season since we are updating twice in one day. Still nothing compared to the four or five updates some days during the summer! We got a message the other day from the Watkins family, Kodak’s owners. Many of you know that they sold Kodak at the end of the summer to a French Canadian family from near Montreal. Following is a note from Wendy Watkins and she includes a message from Kodak’s new owners:

“Tom & Meghan,

For your campers who got to know Kodak, she is doing very well. Her new owners, who love north of Montreal absolutely love her.

And, very soon, Kodak will be focusing on motherhood. Her new owners are soon going to breed her and they are busy coming up with names. If any of your campers would like to help. So far Kristen has come up with Royal Dancing Wind.

 

 

For Kodak, she feel very good, she continue her training with our coatch. We work at canter for she can understand to start with the good feet. She is anxious when she is alone in the arena but with a friend, she is better. Selyna pass many times with her and Kodak love to be groomed. Just 3-4 mounth before breed Kodak with my stallion.... You'll be the first person than I'll contact when Kodak will be pregnant. Selyna start to think for a name for the futur foal. If it's a colt the name is "Royal Billy Chuck" (Royal for our breeding name, Billy for our Stallion Bill and Chuck because it's the name of the breeder of our Stallion) for a filly "Royal Dancing Coconut" or "Royal Belle Sadria" or "Royal Ballet dancer". She have a lot's of time to think about that lol  If Kristen would like to help Sélyna, she can send us suggestions.

 

I'll try to make a video of Kodak and Sélyna this weekend and I'll send you the youtube link. We'll give a big kisses to Kodak for Kristen tommorow ;)

 

byebye

 

Véronick”

 

Thursday, December 29^th, Noon Update:

Horse for Half Lease in New Jersey

Former Longacres rider and counselor, Debbie S, is now living in Paramus, NJ and has a nice horse. She is very busy with her young child and doesn’t get to ride as often as she’d like. She is looking for someone who would like to half lease the horse and have a chance to do a lot of riding at reasonable cost. Get in touch with us if you are interested and we will forward your name to Debbie.

 

Debbie wrote me mostly about the current discussion on staff handbook and benefits that we are having by exchanging messages with many former staff members. One of her comments was, “As exhausting as being a counselor was I have to say having a 2 and 3 year old is far more exhausting.” Keep that in mind, young counselors – enjoy your youth while you can before “big girl” responsibilities take so much of your time that it is hard to do horses at all!

 

We have had many useful comments on the staff discussion. They are going to be very helpful in improving our “staff manual” materials and giving first time Longacres staff a better idea of what they are getting into. And some good ideas have come up for giving staff a little more time off at useful intervals to keep them fresh.

 

2012 Staff

Meghan has been busy talking with girls interested in being 2012 season counselors, both new prospects, and returning CIT’s and Junior Counselors. It looks like we will have girls with good Longacres experience as counselors in each major camp session, as well as some new blood. We will be able to start making announcements soon.

 

Very Late Start to Winter:

Here in western NY we are setting records for least amount of snow and warm days. Only in the past two days have we finally had some very cold temperatures and a light dusting of snow. We know winter will come and come hard eventually, but we’re getting a chance to do outdoor maintenance far later in the year than most seasons.

 

We’re having time to do little things that help keep the equipment in good shape. Things like starting the old farm truck and the old horse show office Winnebago and letting them charge up their batteries and lubricate. Just driving stored vehicles back and forth 20 feet is very good for them to keep the brakes from sticking and so forth. Sometimes we can’t do this after November 15^th. It’s almost six weeks later than that this year and I was able to start and drive the farm truck yesterday. We also keep an eye on routine maintenance issues like broken fence and gate panels. During the season we fix that kind of thing right away. But in the winter we let these issues go and just add them to a growing “Todo list” that we tackle in April and May when it is time to bring Longacres out of hibernation for the coming summer. It will be a formidable list this season, since our jumps were in very good condition last summer and we didn’t have to do much work on them. All the jumps now have one more year of wear and tear, and we plan a massive painting and replacement effort in the spring. Not that they look bad. I’m sure you all remember how well the big jump course always looked last summer. But if you looked very closely, you would have found rotten boards here and there covered up by a thick coat of fresh paint. All that kind of thing will be fixed and replaced before camp next summer, as well as adding a few brand new jumps.

 

Lots of New Camp Prospects!

We always have a burst of interest in new enrollments around New Years after people finish being so tied up with the Christmas Holiday season. It’s no different this year, except that more people are calling NOW rather than waiting until next week after New Years. Just yesterday we had contacts with four different new student prospects, three of them brand new messages just yesterday. The few remaining spots in the regular camp session are going to be gone soon. Even the early bird clinic weeks are getting full. (Still plenty of space in early bird week #1 (June 11^th), and in Lazy Days, but everything else will soon be full – and it’s not even 2012 yet!)

 

Wednesday, December 28^th, 8PM Update:

Helmet Cams?

You all know that we do a lot with video and photography at Longacres. We’re interested in trying to do some “helmet cam” video this summer. Do any of you have a “Go-Pro” or other helmet attachable video camera yet? They are getting more and more popular for motor sports stuff, but I haven’t seen many video’s taken doing a horse jumping course. How about you, Petra? You are often in the forefront with new technology toys!

 

Anyone who has experience with this stuff, let me know how it is working for you.

 

Coming Soon: News on the Longacres Diamond Jubilee 75^th Anniversary in the summer of 2013! It is only 18 months away now.

 

Tuesday, December 27^th, 2PM Update:

“War Horse” !

Meghan and I went to see the “horse movie” yesterday. What it is NOT is a feel good sweet movie for young children. Bad things happen to horses and people, and it could be disturbing. What it IS is a deeply moving and thought provoking serious film about horses and about war in general. I think it is fair to say that it is an “anti war” movie, and in my opinion, that’s always a good place for a movie to be.

 

The horse photography is wonderful! The cavalry charges stirring (until you realize what was happening to many of the horses). There is a wonderful and tear producing moment when “the horse” gets all tangled in barbed wire in no-man’s land during the First World War and men from both the German and English lines put down their arms to rescue the horse.

 

 

Additional reading before you go to the movie: Try Wikipedia or Google for “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and also search for articles on “Silent Night” – The Christmas Truce about real life cases where soldiers from both sides in that war put down their arms and came together during Christmas. A real life example of what happens in “War Horse”.

= = = = =

Otherwise, things are booming here at Longacres after a quiet few days over Christmas. Four families have been in contact this morning (Tuesday) about camp sessions for kids, and about Adult Week sessions. This is very early for us to be getting Adult Week inquiries.

 

Santa was very good to me this year. That’s partly because we often need to upgrade or replace tools for the farm or our photographic equipment for Longacres, and we save up those needs and order the stuff and wrap it as presents for Tom & Meghan under the tree. It really pads out Christmas with stuff we would have needed anyway for Longacres!

One of my best presents is a very fast camera that takes 12 frames per second and will be very useful for photo analysis during your lessons. Many of you have had me do 5 frames per second series for you. This will be much nicer.

 

I did get one REAL present! A very spiffy model helicopter. It is bigger and faster and much scarier to think about crashing than the helicopters I have been flying the past year. I am determined to master this tricky hobby!

 

Hope you are all having a great holiday season!

 

Friday, December 23^rd, 9PM Update:

Christmas Eve Greetings!

Well, almost. We just had a traditional Friday night dinner with Uncle Billy, celebrating a Christmas Eve with a good friend just a little bit early. We talked a lot about Longacres and the good 2011 season and our hopes for an even better 2012. We talked about many of YOU!

 

And Uncle Billy isn’t the only friend of Longacres we’ll be seeing in the coming weeks. We think Sydney is still planning to visit here at Longacres before New Years (no snow, Sydney – sorry!). And we will be in Texas in mid January visiting y’all! We’ll be seeing Kellie and her family on the weekend of the 14^th, and hopefully meeting three girls from the Dallas area who will be at Longacres for the first time in 2012. All of you should feel welcome to stop by at Longacres in the winter if you are in our part of the country. Most winters it is snowy and white here at this time of year, though not THIS winter so far.

Hope Santa is good to you and your family, and we send season’s greetings to those who celebrate other holidays this month.

- Tom & Meghan

 

Thursday, December 22^nd, 8PM Update:

Happy Holidays!

As we head into this holiday weekend, Meghan and I would like to extend our season’s greetings to all! And a big thanks to those of you who thought of us and sent cards.

 

We are not Christmas Card senders ourselves, though we do love getting them. Sending cards is just one of the casualties of our very busy lives. I would like to especially thank “Bobsie” (my guess at how you might spell that charming nick-name). Barbara Schlogl Maurer was a student at Longacres many, many years ago. She came to us all the way from Austria! And in spite of only being at Longacres for a few weeks for a year (or two?) all those many years ago, coming across the ocean to be with us, she has sent me holiday greeting cards for more than twenty years. Your card is my very favorite every year, Barbara (Bobsie!). It reminds me of how long we’ve been doing what we do and how many years some of you remember your stay at Longacres.

 

Monday, December 19^th, 1PM Update:

“Hello” to Maddy

Hope I spelled your name right! Maddy is from just north of New York City and is considering Longacres for one of the final three spots in the June 24 to July 8^th session. Maddy owns her own pony and has spent lots of time exploring the Longacres website already. I had a good talk with her mom this morning and we hope Maddy chooses Longacres.

 

Video Clip

Check this link for a short video I took yesterday looking around the pasture and the show fields during one of the first light snows of the season. Nothing special, but it gives you guys who only know Longacres during the summer when all the jumps are up and horses are exercising all around you, a very different view of the farm!

 

Sunday, December 18^th, 5PM Update:

Cheers to Meghan, the “Christmas Elf”!

Christmas was always a big deal in Meghan’s childhood, and mine too. She loves her tree decoration time and wrapping lots of gifts. Too bad our “children” are all of YOU guys spread across the country. Ours is a childless house for the holidays, so I try my best to act like the kid! Not hard – I like toys! Meghan finished all the gift wrapping and tree decorations late last night, which is days ahead of our usual last minute schedule. We really look forward to sitting around before bedtime and enjoying the sight of the decorated tree during the coming week. Now if there just weren’t a household “rule” against picking up presents and shaking them or feeling how heavy they might be!

 

War Horse?

How many of you plan to see “War Horse” when it comes out on Christmas? The previews certainly make it out to have gorgeous horse photography. Whoever sees it first, write a review for the Longacres Blog to tell the rest of us what you think of it.

 

Video

I’ve been looking over some of our video from last summer, and I’ll be posting a few clips over the holidays.

Check this link for a video of Eva on Jazz winning 2^nd in one of the Derby classes.

Check this link for a clip of Kellie on Horatio in the Derby. (There are two of Kellie, the second of which is HD – I was experimenting.)

Check this link for a shot I took just yesterday out in the woods planning a new horse trail for next summer. (Duplicate of a link I posted two days ago.)

 

 

Saturday, December 17^th, 2PM Update:

2012 Horse Show Schedule

NOW we’re talking! It always feels like we’re turning the page from one season at Longacres to the next when we start scheduling horse show dates. While Meghan was wrapping gifts and finishing decorating our holiday tree, I drove around and talked with some of the trainers and stable owners in the area who took part in the Summer Show Series last season. We have a pretty good handle on the 2012 show dates, though we might need to tweak the schedule on one or two dates. The schedule changes a little bit every summer, depending on which area stables took part in the series the previous season. Here is the tentative schedule:

June 16^th – Newstead Equestrian Center

June 23^rd – Longacres

June 30^th – Newstead Equestrian Center

July 7^th – Longacres

July 14^th – Quakerfield Stables (tentative)

July 21^st – Longacres

July 28^th – Longacres

August 5^th – Skibbereen Farms

Awards Party & Longacres Jumper Derby – August 11^th

Erie County Fair (not STSS Points) – August 14 to 16^th

All of the above dates have been confirmed, except Quakerfield. Noreen was out of town today and we’re waiting to see if she wants her date from last summer.

We plan to hold a pizza party someplace near the end of January to let riders from the area ask questions and make suggestions for this year’s Series shows. When we pick a date and a place, we’ll post it on our Blog and on Facebook. We hope to see many of you there.

 

Friday, December 16^th, 5PM Update:

Around the Farm

Check this video link for a clip showing a planned new horse trail. We almost cleared this trail last summer, but we will definitely get it done for you by next season. I took advantage of decent weather today after the heavy rains last night to walk around the farm and check things out. We are about to enter our “hibernation zone”, the time each winter when we shut down all but emergency farm maintenance and just hunker down waiting for spring. I cleared some of the fallen branches off the trails during my walk, since it was pleasant out. From now on the sticks and branches will lie where they fall until spring clean-up time!

 

Thursday, December 15^th, 3PM Update:

Prowlers in the Night!

That almost was us! Meghan and I just got home after taking three days to bring a vehicle back to Longacres from North Dakota. Good thing we enjoy driving, isn’t it!? And we almost took a chance at getting busted as night time prowlers.

 

I have to set the scene by explaining that we have flown back and forth from the west coast several times this fall, almost always stopping to change planes in Chicago. We have several Longacres students living in Chicago, including Carrie, Kaitlin, and Sarah. We often send a text or an email to one of those girls from the airport, kidding that we looked down on them and waved as we flew in. And we’ve thought about trying to put together a micro reunion in Chicago sometime when we pass through.

 

Well, we were driving east yesterday and you pretty much can’t miss Chicago! We were on schedule to hit the “windy city” sometime in the middle of the night, not a good time to stop by for a casual visit. And we were on a very tight schedule to get home during the current unusual warm spell before a snow storm could hit as we drove. That pretty much ruled out staying an extra day to try to have a Longacres get together. But how could we have a little fun, since we were going to be so close? We took out a laptop with our camper information and looked up Sarah and Kaitlin’s addresses.

 

I was seriously considering driving by Kaitlin’s house or one of the others (I found her address on Google maps easily), pulling up, and having Meghan hop out and tip-toe up to the front door or mailbox and leave a note saying, “We were here! – The mysterious strangers!”

 

But Meghan is too practical. She spoiled my fun by pointing out that more than likely we would end up with handcuffs in the back of a police car if we were sneaking around nice houses and mailboxes at 3AM! I decided she was right.

 

But once again, Chicago girls, we were sure thinking of you when we were close by. We are safely back at Longacres now after driving over 1500 miles in three days. The details of that drive coming to my personal Blog tomorrow – after SLEEP this afternoon!

 

Sunday, December 11^th, Noon Update:

Check Tom’s Thoughts Blog

We will be out of the office for a couple of days and are likely to update by posting something on the Tom’s Thoughts Blog until Wednesday. Check there if you are bored.

 

It is a cold but very sunny and white snow day here at Longacres. I did some work around the farm with my tractor finishing cleaning up here and there, including the old barn area.

 

Welcome to Valerie and Sophie who have both accepted our offers to be counselors in training for the second half of the summer in August. This will be Valerie’s second season and Sophie’s third at Longacres and we are looking forward to having them learn more about counseloring and providing leadership.

 

Did anyone see the incredible full moon out last night? The night air was crystal clear in East Aurora last night!

 

PS: Meghan is FOCUSED on putting up Christmas tree lights today! I am staying out of the way.

 

Saturday, December 10^th, 11AM Update:

Hello, Winter

We were supposed to get quite an early season lake effect snow storm this weekend, but it actually has turned out to be a gentle and very pretty introduction to the snowy time of year. We got a brief burst of wet snow last night, then much colder temperatures which made the snow cling to all the trees in bright patterns under a sunny morning today. Meghan and I enjoyed a beautiful after breakfast drive around town taking in the winter scenery.

 

If you missed the update below last night, check it out and check the new pictures of the horses on the “Meet the Horses” page.

 

Friday, Dec. 9^th, 4PM Update:

Updated “Meet the Horses” – FINALLY!

I’ll be honest with you, updating the “Meet the Horses page” on our website is a pain in the butt, and I procrastinate as long as I can whenever it needs a change. We built the page years ago with MS Word, and adding new pictures is very cumbersome. I have to go into the original HTML code for the page and change picture size settings to get the new pictures to look right.

 

But I made myself sit down today and put up new pictures and albums for Maggie, Kodak, Ladd, Mave, and Chexy. Let me know if I made any mistakes, but I tested most of the links and I think everything worked.

 

Friday, December 9^th, 1PM Update:

A Nice Anecdote

Thanks to Valerie, who was here for the August session last summer and is returning again this season. Valerie is the first to respond with a little student’s point of view memory of something especially nice done for them by a Longacres staff member. We want to include some of these little stories in the new staff manual, so it is not just a long list of rules, but also includes positive examples of good teaching and counseloring. Here is Valerie’s story:

“What I specifically wanted to write to you about is your most recent post.  I definitely have a little anecdote that I think shows how wonderful the LA staff is. 

 

On the second to last day of camp during our final ride (Sophie and I did go out later on a buddy trail ride which was amazing!) we were switching around on the horses.  It was more of a low key ride than others, but I knew I wanted to practice one last thing that had been bugging be throughout the entire 3.5 weeks.  Mounted on Zanee, my absolute favorite horse (who I don't go a day without thinking about!), I asked Mandi to help me with my jumping position.  I had never really gotten the hang of folding, yet I knew there had to be some trick to it if so many others had the hang of it.  Mandi had me go over a few single jumps with the advice, "Think about passing the cheese across a table.  Stay back over the saddle while your arms reach forward."  Voila!  That first jump that I "passed the cheese" was amazing!  I did not feel ahead at all and I really felt in sync with Zanee's jump.  Mandi had me go over a few jumps in a row and as long as I was consciously thinking "pass the cheese", I made sure I folded over the jumps.  Mandi's great little mini lesson at the end of the session was so amazing that I wished I had asked her 3.5 weeks earlier to help me with this!  I think this shows how if you need help at LA, you shouldn't be afraid to ask a counselor because they really do want to help you improve.

 

I also wanted to let you know that I continually think about LA even though it has been months since the summer.  Whenever I let my mind wander, it almost always strays to the amazing memories that I have from camp.”

 

Farm Life #137

There are many great things about living on a horse farm 900 feet back from the highway in the woods. But worrying about trees falling on your cars (or us!) is not one of those great things. We have to constantly monitor the condition of the trees close to the house and our parking lot. We’ve recently noticed that a good sized tree right next to where we park our cars was really almost completely dead. After upgrading Meghan to quite a nice almost new truck and spending time painting over rust spots on our very trusty Toyota, we did NOT want to come out of the house after a winter wind storm and find this ten inch tree laying across one of our vehicles. So we dedicated this morning to cutting down the tree and cutting it and stacking it for firewood. I started out using the light weight “older gentleman’s saw”, but this was a thick tree with hard wood. I had to get out the bigger “he-man farm boss” serious chain saw! I enjoy using it if I don’t have to hold it up for too long. Meghan gets uneasy when I use chain saws at my age, so she carefully monitored my work. I was good and used all my safety equipment. Check this link for a few pictures of us working.

 

Once we got the tree down and the wood stacked, we were on a roll and did a lot of other leaf raking and yard work around the house. We’re supposed to have the year’s first big snow storm today, but it was actually very nice out until just about the time we finished stacking the wood.

 

Now we are back inside doing office work and this update, which is how we spend most of our time working in the off season.

 

Thursday, Dec. 8^th, 9PM Update:

More “Staff Manual” Response:

The evaluation of the staff experience process is off to a good and positive start.  Several people who had key roles at Longacres in recent years have sent their comments and at the very least we will end up with a useful staff manual and more clarity to the Longacres job experience.  A few ideas are already coming into focus that may allow a little more planned personal time for senior staff without breaking our budget or changing the very good things about the Longacres program.

 

We had great responses today from Laura “Fosto” who has seven years of experience at Longacres, and from Tovah Abrams, who was here for five years as a student, long standing #1 rider, and senior counselor. The opinions and suggestions from people with that kind of Longacres experience are very valuable. We hope former staff will keep their comments coming over the next month.

 

Has a Senior Counselor Done Something Especially Nice for You?

You students can help us write the new staff manual. We want to include some little stories from campers at Longacres about nice things a counselor or instructor has done for you that made a lasting impression. Think about your Longacres experience a bit and see if you have some strong positive memory of something a counselor did for you. I’m thinking especially of things that were out of the ordinary; things that showed a sensitivity to your feelings or helped you get past some hurdle or challenge. Parents are also welcome to contribute.

 

Tuesday, Dec. 6^th, 7AM Update:

Good Job, Sarah!

Many thanks to 2011 first session senior counselor, Sarah H, for her superb and helpful response to the ‘Staff Manual” questionnaire. For others planning to respond, we liked Sarah’s way of doing it. She typed her comments right into the Word document that we sent out and used red text to highlight her comments. It was a good way for her to answer things as she read the article. Very useful comments! Several of her suggestions we will definitely implement.

 

Monday, Dec. 5^th, 2PM Update:

Where’s the Staff Manual?

It’s under review, that’s where! If you’ve read the “2011 Year in Review” article at the top of this page, you know that we have been thinking about a wide ranging review of Staff positions and plans for the future. A long document discussing all aspects of the Longacres staff experience is out there now, having been sent to many former staff from the past five or six years and some good friends of Longacres, asking for their comments. It is quite frank and we won’t be posting it on this Blog. But any parent or friend of Longacres who thinks they might have useful ideas is welcome to write me and ask for a copy.

 

Monday, December 5^th, 11AM Update:

Another “Neek-o”?

After recently buying “Maggie” in the off season, we are beginning our search for other new horses to add to the Longacres herd for 2012. So we were excited to get the following message from Jessica, the young horsewoman who owned “Neek-o” before we bought him two years ago. She thinks “Sultan” might make another Neek-o for us. Read her message and then check out the pictures!

 

“Meghan and Tom,

Hello! How are you guys doing? Is it snowing up there yet? I've managed to relocate myself from snowy Ohio to Aiken, SC and it’s been absolutely balmy here :)

 

In case you don't remember me - I have a new email because I started my own business - Its Jessica "Neek-o"'s former owner. I follow the blog religiously in the summer and I'm so happy to see my little orange horse being so spoiled and loved by those girls!

 

I was wondering if you guys were starting on your hunt for new horses just yet. I have the sweetest little Welsh pony that my client is looking to sell. He's 7, 14.1hh, and gentle. He WTCs and is very willing, but hasn't had a huge education as an english horse. He's had a year off and I've ridden him a couple times (no need to lounge him, he's that level-headed) and really think he'd be good for your program. I haven't started jumping him yet, but we've free-jumped him 3ft and he LOVES it! Very catty and can see his spots! 

 

I'll be showing him all winter down here as the show season starts up. Even though I've only ridden him twice I'm looking to put him in a Hunter Derby (doing Hilltoppers) on the 18th, so we'll see how that goes! 

 

I've attached some pictures just to get your interest and there's more information at my webiste.

He'll be coming to me on the 10th to get rolling on his training over fences and get him cleaned up (he needs a body clip and a mane pulling for sure!) for sale. 

 

Look forward to hearing from you guys!

 

Jessica Ann

Equine Veterinary Technician

Lake Erie College Graduate

Equine Trainer

Riding Instructor

 

Click this link for pictures of “Sultan”

 

Saturday, December 3^rd, 8PM Update:

Welcome to Longacres, Curry!

We send out a Longacres “Welcome” to Curry S. from Spartanburg, South Carolina, who will be joining us for the August session as Longacres 2012 student #29. As we mentioned a few days ago, Curry owns her own horse, a Palomino mare named “Fancy”, and is an experienced rider. She has been riding since she was four! She already enjoys riding a variety of horses at her stable in addition to her own, so she will fit right in at Longacres. She will be 13 when she arrives at Longacres next summer. We now have just two spaces left in the 3 ½ week July 25 to August 18^th session.

 

We are full for the July 8 to 22^nd two week session and still have about four spots left for the June 24 to July 8 session. About the same for the June 18 to 24^th session. We have plenty of space in the Early Bird week of June 11^th, and the Lazy Days week at the end of August.

 

Thursday, December 1^st, 5PM Update:

A Few Pictures

I’ve been bad about posting pictures here lately, so check this link for an album of various around the farm pics taken the past week or so. I took a picture showing that we finally finished painting the back side of the old barn where you take overnight trail rides; what the pasture looks like in the late fall after the grass grows where the horsies ate it down to the dirt in the summer; a few pictures of one of the small creeks where we’re trying to keep floods from damaging a gas pipe from our gas well; a picture of the new furnace we finally installed after living with the OLD one for fifty years (!); a few pictures of Meghan working touching up the paint on the tool box of her beloved truck; and then there are those pumpkin pictures!!!!

 

Tonight or tomorrow we will try to post pictures of Maggie on the “Meet the Horses” page. And we should have more “Welcome to Longacres” articles very soon.

 

One of the warmest falls in western New York and one of the most snow free on record, may come to an end soon. As of this week we can check on all the buildings around the farm by walking or taking an ATV. But soon it will be snowmobiles if we want to check on the trails and the barn!

 

Sunday, November 27^th, 2PM Update:

A Longacres “Hello” to Emma and to Curry

- and We Bought a Horse!

Meghan and I spoke with the families of TWO new students this morning, and we hope that Emma and Curry both sign up. But I know that many of our readers will find the other headline over today’s update to be more exciting. We bought a “new” horse recently – but a horse many of you already know. “Maggie May” was one of the horses we had on consignment last summer as a sale horse. We liked her, but did not plan to buy another horse during the season, so she went home to her owner in September after not selling during the summer. Meghan and her owner kept in touch and came to an agreement recently. Maggie will join us next summer as part of our regular herd!

 

The Phone Just Doesn’t Stop Ringing!

Meghan spent an hour on the phone with Curry’s mom. Curry is from South Carolina and is seriously considering the 3 ½ week August session. She has her own horse and might bring it with her.

 

This seems to be the day of girls that own their own horses. I just got off the phone after having a good talk with Emma’s mom. Emma is from the NYC area and keeps her own horse on Long Island. She is especially interested in dressage, and if she attends Longacres, she is likely to bring her horse with her.

 

Friday, November 25^th, 2PM Update:

Welcome to Longacres, Alexa

We send out a Longacres “Welcome” to Alexa from Rhode Island. Meghan has had her welcome talks with Alexa and her mom. Alexa is 16 and will be joining us this summer for the first time as 2012 student #28, attending the June 24^th to July 8^th session as a CIT. Alexa has trained most with a Polo trainer, but is interested in learning more about jumping while she is at Longacres. She has been riding for quite a while and her family has a horse. Much of her riding time, she has been self taught, so she looks forward to more formal jumping traning at Longacres. Maybe you can teach some of us about Polo, Alexa!

 

Wednesday Night Update:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Meghan and I wish all of you a happy and, we hope, thoughtful Thanksgiving. This is one of our favorite days of the year. We are blessed to love what we do for a living and at Thanksgiving we take turns after our meal remembering things we are grateful for. It is a long list.

 

Wednesday, November 23^rd, 3PM Update:

Another Very Good Day for Longacres

Meghan and I just got home from lunch out, and there was more good news in our mailbox. One student already signed up for the first weeks in July has requested extra days before their scheduled session, and there was a brand new “mystery enrollment” in today’s mail. Almost always, we hear from people by phone or email before they send in an enrollment. But now and then a check and registration form arrive completely unexpected. That’s always a nice surprise! Alexa requested a spot in the July 8 to 22^nd session which is already full. We are calling to talk with her this evening to see if we can change schedules around so we have a space for her. If we find a way to juggle sessions, Alexa will be Longacres 2012 student #28.

 

This was a fun day for Meghan in another way. She has been ordering accessories for her “new – used” pickup truck and she had her side steps installed today, making it easier for a short person to get in and out. Check this video link to see Meghan showing off her new truck step!

 

Tuesday, November 22^nd, 2PM Update:

Welcome to Longacres, Paige!

Paige will be joining her friend Zoe at Longacres for the July 8 to 22nd session as Longacres 2012 student #27. Paige will be eleven when she is at Longacres and has been riding for a while. She is starting to jump and is very interested in starting to do some shows – she rides twice a week. She’s been to horse camps before. One of her dreams is to live on a horse farm in Wyoming. (No, she’s never been to Wyoming! But she got the idea after doing a school report.)

 

Monday, November 21^st, 4PM Update:

Welcome to Longacres, Zoe!

(One “welcome” a day, Paige, your’s comes tomorrow!)

Zoe’s family called a week ago while we were traveling out west, and Meghan had fun taking turns talking to the families of Zoe and her friend Paige. Zoe is from the Dallas, TX area (very near Kellie), and she will be attending Longacres for the July 8 to 22^nd session as Longacres 2012 student #26. She will be ten years old when she is at Longacres, she has been riding for two years, and is starting to jump after doing lots of cavelletti’s. She’s been to camps before and is interested in leasing her own horse – which makes the Longacres experience a good one, letting her try out ALL the horse care stuff needed to have a horse of your own!

 

Here at Longacres:

It’s been a nicer day than expected, with bright sun and not too much wind. I spent most of the morning around the farm checking on drain pipes and creek crossings and ditches. Pretty boring stuff, but important to have that stuff all set for the winter storms. I’ve shown you pictures of the small dam in one of the little creeks near the big bridge in the woods. I thought we had it pretty well set for the winter, but water is a powerful force with a mind of it’s own! During a storm while we were traveling the water undermined the log dam on one side, so I had to pile rocks in the hole today trying to plug the leak. I am not sure if my “fix” will be successful. I also spent time on the roof of the main house raking leaves and cleaning out gutters on the big office sky-lights. Meghan scolded me for using a ladder without her there to help.

 

Thanks to Kaitlin from Chicago for adding her name and e-mail address to the penpals page.

 

Sunday, November 20^th, 8PM Update:

Thanks, Sarah!

Thanks to Sarah from Chicago who wrote in this afternoon and asked to be put on the “Penpals & References” list. I just posted your info there, Sarah. Thank you! Now we are beginning to have a good, up to date list of girls coming to Longacres in 2012 who are willing to help talk to new girls and answer their questions.

 

Sunday, November 20^th, 11AM Update:

New “Penpals” & References

This morning’s job here at Longacres was making some updates to our “Penpals & References” page. Dana and Isabella both wrote in recently and offered to correspond with new students and their familes, and we added their email addresses to the page. We also updated other information about people listed on that page, and deleted a few names of people who have been there a long time and deserve a break from hearing from strangers.

 

Meghan recently wrote to most of you who are signed up for next summer asking if you have time to be listed on our “Penpals & References” page. Please let her know if you can do it. It is a big help for first time Longacres students and their families if they can talk with some of you who know the ropes.

 

Even though we are nearly full in most sessions for 2012, many of the remaining spaces will be taken by first timers, and they will very much appreciate the chance to correspond with YOU!

 

Saturday, November 19^th, 11 AM Update:

Welcome Back Carrie!

Carrie W. from Chicago returns for her second season at Longacres, coming for a late June clinic week as Longacres 2012 student #25. Carrie was with us for Lazy Days week in August last summer, so now she will have the experience of Longacres very near the beginning of the summer, as well as right at the end. Carrie was one of our strongest riders last August, doing big jumps on Jazz and Horatio. She competes in track at home and is a natural athlete, very sticky on a horse. Welcome back, Carrie!

 

Here at the Farm Today

We are enjoying one of the last “warm” days of fall, with sunshine and temps in the fifties. I’m about to hook the big mower back up to the tractor and do a final trimming of the grass near the barn driveway. It got a little long while I was traveling last month, and I hope the ground is dry enough for me to use the tractor without leaving ruts. I have other work to do on one of our trailers and on the old farm tractor, so I won’t be bored today. I also still hope to get some work in one catching up the “Meet the Horses” photo albums.

 

Meghan has lots of office work to catch up with and just got home from a shopping trip ordering new tires for her truck and other stuff to finish setting up our trucks and trailers for the winter.

 

More “Welcome to Longacres” messages are coming soon, as the mail comes in next week with more enrollments. If YOU are one of the half dozen or so great Longacres students from last summer about whom we hear rumors online that you are coming back in 2012, don’t wait too long. We are now full for July 8^th to 22^nd, and very nearly so for many other sessions. We will feel badly if we have to turn you away because we don’t have space.

 

Friday, November 18^th, 3PM Update:

Welcome Back Valerie!

Four New Enrollments this Week!

July 8 to 22^nd Now Wait List Only!

First, we send out a big “Welcome Back” to second year student, “Cover Girl” Valerie, from Connecticut. Cover girl? Just scroll up to the top of this page – Valerie is the rider in the picture of Tux at the top of the page. It’s one of our favorite pictures from all of last summer. Valerie knows Sophie from home and found out about Longacres from her. Valerie came to us last summer as a dedicated student always giving her best, and we introduced her to the challenge of riding jumpers. I think she has pretty well crossed over to “the dark side”, as we call jumper riders! She rode Zanee very well both in the Derby at Longacres and in the Team Jumping event at the fair. Valerie returns for the long August session as 2012 student #24. Glad to have you back!

 

Three More Enrollments This Week!

In addition to Valerie, 3 more enrollments are here in the office or on the way in the mail. We’ll continue our fall of 2011 tradition of introducing just one new student a day. Check in tomorrow for the next “Welcome Back”, and two more are in the mail and on the way.

 

July 8^th to 22^nd Now Wait List

After the two enrollments coming in the mail arrive, the July 8^th to 22^nd two week session will be full and available only by wait list. 2011/2012 continues to be the best enrollment season since 2008. All regular season sessions are well on their way to being full, and we are sure to fill the mid-June clinic week, as well. Only the early June Adult Week and the Lazy Days week in August are still wide open and likely to have space well into 2012. A good year!

 

Tractor Maintenance or a New Horse? – Farm Life #359

If you guys had a chance to choose between having reliable tractors or another new horse at Longacres, I am under no illusions as to which you would choose. So I better answer that we will do both! We will have new horses at Longacres for 2012, but part of your continuing education in running a horse farm includes and understanding of the substantial cost of all the behind the scenes stuff that keeps a farm running. We had the big Kubota tractor serviced and minor improvements added after it’s 1000 hour check-up. We also had some repairs made to our antique Ford tractor that has been a Longacres workhorse for half a century. The total bill from the tractor repair shop was equal to what we’d pay for a decent school horse. When we spend that kind of money on a horse, it is very rewarding, since we get to watch you riding the horse and training it.

 

It’s frustrating when we have to spend that much on tractor maintenance. The tractors don’t look any different or do any more. They just do it more reliably and will last longer. (Well, I can tell the difference – I was actually as thrilled as a little boy with a new toy last night when I got home and went out and turned on my new rear work lights on the big tractor!)

 

 

Thursday, November 17^th, 8PM Update:

Home Again!!!

It was 74 degrees and sunny in Arizona this morning, and I have to admit that it was pretty nice! We just walked into the house after getting a ride from the airport with taxi guy John. There’s about 3” of snow in the woods and on the grass and it’s cold and windy, but we are GLAD to be home at Longacres. We were pleasantly surprised to find the heating system working perfectly – hey, it’s farm life!

 

We’ll be busy updating the “Meet the Horses” pages over the next few days, writing a big story about the Longacres “Diamond Jubilee” in 2013, creating an all new set of webpages describing our Jumper Derby course designs and good strategy for riding big jumper courses. Meghan is already at work fifteen minutes after walking in the door from “working vacation time”; she’s on the phone with one of our new families from Texas filling them in on all the details of life at Longacres.

 

And YES, there are new enrollment checks! I’ll post another “Welcome back” story later tonight.

 

- Tom “Back at Work” guy!

 

Thursday, October 27^th, 10AM Update:

Most Updates for the next two weeks will be on Tom’s personal Blog at this link, beginning today.

 

Wednesday, October 26^th, 10PM Update:

Welcome Back Sophie!!!!!

Just a day after I wrote about the quiet time between now and New Year’s when we rarely hear much from our good friends of Longacres or get enrollments, we opened today’s mail to find the formal enrollment from Sophie L. Sophie returns to Longacres for the August session and will be 2012 Longacres student #20. This will be Sophie’s 3^rd summer at Longacres and it is fitting that her enrollment comes in at the same time as Kellie’s. Sophie and Kellie are two of our most graceful and natural riders. Sophie took Neek-o home as a winter lease last winter and she worked hard on his training and on her equitation. She came back to Longacres last summer as one of our most improved riders over the off season and I can’t wait to see how she progresses between the end of this past summer and the time she arrives at Longacres at the end of July this coming year! This will be Sophie’s second year attending the 3 ½ week August session featuring the big shows at the Longacres Jumper Derby and the three day show at Erie County Fair. She is a big part of what is shaping up to be a “Dream Team” of enthusiastic hard working riders and fun people filling out our enrollment for the August session! Glad to have you back, Sophie!!!!!

 

PS: We are heading back out “on the road” for another few weeks before Thanksgiving. Watch for most of our updates from the road to be posted over at Tom’s Personal Blog the next few weeks.

 

PPS: Thanks to some of you for your patience in waiting until now for the picture DVD’s you asked us to make. We finally finished the ones requested and put them in the mail today. Meghan is also sending out a little bonus “surprise package” to one very deserving person!

 

Monday, October 24^th, Late Afternoon Update:

Don’t miss the all new “2011 Year in Review” article above!

 

Monday, October 24^th, 1PM Update:

Working in the Rain & Other news

With the first snow of the season possibly arriving at the end of this week, we kept busy finishing work around the farm today, even in the rain. I screwed the doors and stall windows shut for the winter and closed up the shower house and wash room down by the dining hall. Meghan took another full truckload of junk out of the house and office for trash day. (I don’t know where all this “stuff” comes from, but we get so busy during the summer season that stuff just piles up and we have no time to sort through it.)

 

I’ll post links to some video’s we uploaded today at the bottom of this update, but first let me pass on a nice message from a long ago alumni. Toni wrote the following:

“It was the early 60s when my parents made the decision to send me to Camp Longacres with the hope that if I had to spend part of my summer being responsible for taking care of a horse, I might lose interest.  It was my first experience at a sleep-away camp and they couldn't have chosen a better one for me. 

 

Back then we were responsible for bringing in the horses from their overnight pastures to be fed, groomed and saddled.  Each morning I bounded out of bed and hurried to the stable area.  The gals in my cabin would rather sleep in and they paid me to take care of their horses (they didn't know that I would have done it for free).  The money I earned from them was spent at the little store just off camp grounds.  Yup, from time to time I would sneak there to buy a sugary treat.

 

I rode as much as possible, often signing up for extra rides.  While I enjoyed the lessons, I most enjoyed the trail rides.  But camp wasn't only about learning to ride, there were plenty of other activities to keep us entertained.  I tried taking tennis lessons without success.  However, I did learn to shoot an arrow and crack a whip.  There was time for art and craft, swimming and just being a tomboy.  I remember the Kranz's grandson, Larry, and became friends and sometimes we would head to the creek to catch frogs or to fish.  The trip to Niagra Falls was enjoyable as were the many nights giggling with my cabinmates after lights out.

 

Although I never returned for another summer at Longacres, my experience there reinforced my love of horses.  My parents could not afford to buy and board a horse for me, but with gift money and money earned, I would go riding whenever I could.  Once I obtained my driver's license I would drive to a nearby stable to muck stalls in order to earn ridng time.  It wasn't until my 20s that I finally purchased my own horse, a 15.2 hands strawberry roan quarterhorse.  Although I was no longer riding English, the lessons I received at Longacres helped me to properly care for him.

 

It was a pleasure to read through your website to see how wonderfully Camp Longacres has evolved. 

 

Toni G.”

 

Nice story. (It was Marshall’s Store that she used to sneak out to – long gone in this day of consolidated grocery stores.)

 

And here’s another more recent horse story about Bristol, just sent in by Sharon:

“Not sure if you guys saw my Facebook update after my lesson last week so just in case wanted to make sure you heard the story.

 

So Tuesday was a gorgeous riding evening  and we were riding in the outdoor ring.  Two of the barn cats were hanging out in the ring with us - one of them, Magnum,  perched on the coop jump (like Snoopy on the doghouse) for almost the entire hour.  Had a really lovely ride

and was finishing up the lesson with a left lead canter before cooling down.  As we approached the gate (and I was applying a little leg, since that is a popular slowing down spot), Magnum hopped down off the coop and started trotting out of the ring - RIGHT BETWEEN

BRISTOL'S LEGS!  Magnum never changed pace (I guess he had planned out the timing perfectly!) and Bristol never changed pace - completely unfazed by the small orange creature moving beneath her!   The humans, my trainer and I included, all stopped breathing and had our

jaws hanging down - and then started searching for words - which ended up being mostly along the lines of "uh, uh, uh, did that actually just happen?"  Quite a horse!

 

Anyway, having a great time with her - have started warming up on the track when we are hacking - which both of us seem to enjoy.  I had never actually cantered any distance on the track -never felt secure enough in my horse-rider combination before.  I had mentioned to

Meghan that this year's goal was to get Bristol even paced over cross rails (rather than speeding up).  We started last week doing ground pole courses at the trot - first time she surged forward as soon as I went into 2 point, second time she stayed steady but was really pissed about it, third time it seemed like a light bulb went off ("oh, we're not doing a jumper course!) and we had a fairly relaxed even-paced trip.  Have also worked on a canter figure eight with a simple change - I think the plan is to combine these two to a cantered course over

ground poles where we are maintaining an even pace before we start adding in jumps.  I would be happy if we could manage a simple short stirrup with 2 cross-rail type course at an even pace, but obviously my trainer is aiming fro better than that!

 

 

Hope all is well.  

 

P.S. I am planning on adult week for next spring.  So please include me in the count!”

 

A Slow Time of Year

Usually the period from late October through Christmas Holidays is very quiet here at Longacres. We always get a flurry of messages and enrollments between the end of the summer and the middle of October. More than usual this year, leaving us about two thirds full for 2012 already! But then the news and messages from friends of Longacres tapers off markedly as people settle into their routines at home and get ready for the Thanksgiving through Christmas and New Years holidays. Then things pick up right after the holidays as families start making their plans for the new year.

 

So we are especially pleased to hear from you all at this time of year. I enjoyed the alumni message from Toni posted above, and just got a great story sent to me from Sharon about Bristol (also posted above). We do still expect several more official enrollments during the coming weeks, but the next big surge in 2012 enrollments will probably not come until after the holiday season. So if you take the time to write us or send us horse news between now and Christmas, you will be SPECIAL, and really brighten our day!

 

Here are some video clips from the past couple of days:

Click this video link for a clip of Meghan cleaning out a drain pipe along a camp road.

Click this video link for a clip we took during the same ATV ride showing one of our little creek and drainage control projects. There’s always something more to do to maintain a farm!

 

Click this video link showing one of the small series of waterfalls next to the “creekside loop” horse trail. Lovely at this time of year!

Click this video link if you REALLY have nothing better to do than watch my cordless drill put a screw into the shower room door to close it for the season!

 

Coming soon:

Early plans for the Longacres Riding Camp Diamond Jubilee 75^th Anniversary the week of August 10^th, 2013 – now just 22 months away!

 

Saturday, October 22^nd, 10PM Update:

A Crazy Day

If you are a die hard Longacres Blog reader check out today’s “I’ve Always Been Crazy” write up over on my personal Blog. It has nothing to do with Camp Longacres today!

 

Friday, October 21^st, 9PM Update:

Tractor Repairs

The big project of the day was getting the old Ford tractor started and dragged out of the tall grass so we could send it in for repairs. This fine old Ford 8N tractor still runs very well after 60 years of service! We don’t use it so much now that we have a very new Kubota tractor doing most of our farm work, but the little Ford is still very handy for certain jobs. The clutch froze up over last winter, so we didn’t use it at all this past summer. But when we made arrangements for Frank to truck the big tractor to the dealer for it’s 1000 hour routine service, we decided to load the old Ford on behind and have it fixed up. We’re planning to order some new sheet metal parts for the hood and grill so the tractor will look as good as it runs. We’ll post some pictures as we get it cleaned up and painted up.

 

Diesel Looking Good!

We’ll post pictures soon of Diesel and other things going on around the farm. We took a quick trip to Connecticut to help settle my mother’s estate this week, and we stopped on the way in Binghamton where Courtney is leasing Diesel for the winter. You all got to read the story of “Diesel and his girls” a couple of weeks ago. When we stopped to see him, he had been in his stall most of the day and he was REALLY ready to munch on green grass when Courtney lead him out of the barn! He was a bit of a bull, dragging us around to get at the grass, but a few reprimands and he was back to behaving like the gentle giant that he is. Courtney and the staff at his barn are feeding Diesel very well – he is chunky as ever and looks very healthy.

 

Crummy Fall Weather

I am glad we flew home from our trip out west to enjoy some of the nice October weather in East Aurora. And it was beautiful, indeed, for the first week we were home. But it has been cold and blustery the past few days and will be much of next week. Oh, well. It really was nice while it lasted!

 

Wednesday, October 19^th, 9PM Update:

Welcome Back Kellie!!!!

We’re especially pleased to announce the formal enrollment of Kellie H. from Texas as Longacres 2012 season student #19. Kellie is signing up for the June Clinic weeks. Kellie returns for her 7^th season at Longacres, one of our longest current streaks, along with Ruby, Sydney, and Winky. All these long term Longacres students are like family to us, but especially Kellie, since she takes three of our horses home for the winter with her to Texas, and we have often visited with Kellie and her family in the off season. (One of our memorable visits included Kellie and Meghan sharing a catapult thrill ride together at the Texas State Fair!!)

 

I have been deeply rewarded by the opportunity to watch Kellie grow up over her years at Longacres, both as a rider and as a fine young woman. She came to us so many years ago as a fun loving little girl who enjoyed horses, but really mostly riding casually and for the fun of it, rather than as a serious student. But a fine student is what she would become, beginning in her second and third seasons at Longacres when I spent time with her myself talking about what she could become with her natural talent if she decided to really get serious about riding. And she did. She became one of those students who is always sitting up, paying attention to her horse, and interested. And, oh yeah, it helped that her natural talent on a horse is pretty amazing!

 

Kellie has been one of our most graceful and talented riders for several years. The only thing holding her back from the very highest levels was that she was a careful and cautious rider (good things), and did not enjoy riding horses that she was worried about being able to stop or fully control. That all changed this past summer. Kellie returned to Longacres in the spring of 2011 an older, bigger, stronger, and more confident rider. From her first day back at Longacres last June, I could tell that she was ready to move up to the highest levels of riding. Bethany, Mandi, and I all worked with Kellie developing her advanced half-halts and other control techniques. And I frequently challenged Kellie to higher jumps on more difficult horses.

 

The training and the growth of this rider all came together in August when Kellie began showing Horatio in the most challenging events, successfully riding him on the Derby course, and at Erie County Fair, where she put in one of Longacres’ two clear rounds in the demanding Team Jumping event.

 

I am proud to announce that Kellie, who I first saw as a bubbly little beginner almost seven years ago, will return to Longacres in June of 2012 as Longacres #1 rider among our students. (Our most recent officially designated #1 rider is Bethany, who always will be that to me, though she is now an adult and really pretty much a professional rider and on another level all together. I know that Bethany will join me in saluting Kellie’s maturity as a rider, since Bethany did much to encourage and help Kellie last summer.)

 

It’s been a great journey, Kellie, watching you and helping you grow as a horse woman. We look forward to many more years knowing you and keeping in touch after this coming summer at Longacres!

 

Monday, October 17^th, 3PM Update:

More on “Meet the Horses”

I finished updating some of the little details on the “Meet the Horses” page, like correcting statements about how many years certain horses have been with us. I have to change those every day. I also got Piper and her photo album posted. Later in the week, we will get photo albums posted for all the training and consignment for sale horses we had here last summer.

 

Available Vacancies

Check the Rates & Schedule page for an updated listing of the number of spots we still have available in each session. We have at least two spots still left in every session, more in some. We have removed the “Hold” on enrollments for the July 8 to July 22^nd two week session. We were saving spots in case some of our known returning students wanted four week sessions during that time, but the girls we had in mind have all signed up for the 3 ½ week August session. So the remaining spots are available first come, first serve.

 

As I write this, the computers are transferring the photo folders for DVD’s over to Meghan’s computer so we can burn the disks. Those of you who have been waiting, thank you for your patience – it is only a few days now.

 

Sunday, October 16^th, 11PM Update:

Changes to “Meet the Horses”

We always seem to find an excuse to delay the process of updating the “Meet the Horses” page, since it is very time consuming. But we got to work today. Meghan is putting together the new picture albums for horses that were added to our string or were here on training this past summer. I started making changes to the webpage, putting “place holders” in the file for the new horse pictures and updating some out of date information and deleting horses that were retired this year. Feel free to watch me work as I make changes, but it will be a few days before the new page is fully operational.

 

Also, send us your own horse descriptions or remind us if you already sent one. I know some of you have this year, and we do want to include your stuff!

 

Sunday, October 16^th, 2PM Update:

Get Better Soon, Kristen!

We prefer to report good news. But the news today is of Kristen W, who fell off Neek-o and broke her arm this week. So we send out a BIG Longacres “get well soon” message to you, Kristen! Kristen and her family have leased Neek-o for the winter. Of course we’re bummed to have to report a riding injury, but the story behind Kristen’s fall is a heartwarming one. Here’s her mom’s description:

“Hi Tom and Meghan,

 

Hope you are doing well and having a great time out West. 

 

We love Neek-o - he is an incredibly sweet horse. He is doing great. A barn favorite for sure with the adults and the kids. 

Kristen has been riding him every other day.

Unfortunately, Kristen had her first fall off of a horse on Thursday resulting in a broken arm.

She was cantering Neek-o and lost her stirrup. He was such a good horse - he knew she was in trouble and slowed right down and as she fell came to a complete stop with her underneath and even backed up a step to make sure he didn't step on her and then stayed perfectly still until she was taken care of. Pretty amazing. I knew they had a strong connection as he followed her around like a puppy dog, but this was pretty unbelievable even to others in the barn. 

 

All she cared about on the way to the hospital was that everyone knew it wasn't Neek-o's fault. One of Frank's student who does reining was her attending doctor at urgent care and knew her and Kodak (small world) from when we had her there. Another nurse at the hospital rides at Skibbereen. Small world. 

 

Anyway, Larry is going to ride Neek-o until Kristen can get back on. She went out today and walked him around.

 

Just wanted to give you that update.

 

All the best,

 

Wendy”

 

Cleaning Up Junk

Here at the farm it’s another rainy, blustery day and we’re working indoors. This morning I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the work shop, after Meghan, Rob, and I worked all afternoon there yesterday. We got rid of 10 garbage cans of trash and had a scrap metal dealer come and take away a whole truckload of old metal parts and obsolete machines. This morning I was mostly trying to clean and mop floors that we haven’t even seen for more than ten years because they were covered with piles of “treasure” that I really never needed. Dirt and mud were caked on the shop floor and the floors are cleaner now than they were yesterday, but they will need down on hands & knees scrubbing before they are really clean. But the shop is shaping up. (Dayton is about the only one who could tell the difference from last summer, since he helped us in the shop a lot.)

 

Horse Pictures Coming Soon

Meghan spent this morning, while I was working in the shop, putting horse pictures in albums so we can update the “Meet the Horses” page on the website. We are getting close!

 

Picture DVD’s?

We have finally finished putting together photo files for each week of the summer, and we’re burning the DVD’s for several of you who requested them. We know we owe them to Winky, Eva, and Caroline. Have we forgotten anyone else?

 

Sunday, October 16^th Update:

Check this link for the pictures Bethany sent from her show last week. Sorry it took me a few days to post them.

 

Check this link for a video clip of Rob and I working on a small dam in one of the creeks this week.

 

Check this video link for a clip of Meghan clearing trails a couple of days ago.

 

Check this video link for a quirky little clip showing the little water plants on the pond quickly closing in after being disturbed with a shovel. (I had nothing better to do!)

 

Check this clip taken from my tractor during one of the many hours I spent mowing grass this past week.

 

And it was great to hear from Darci Pool, a year round rider at Longacres when she and her sisters were young here many years ago. I remember you well, Darci! Darci’s comments are posted on my personal Blog oover on Wordpress.

 

Saturday, October 15^th, 9AM Update:

We’re Still Here! (If we don’t blow away today)

Sorry for the lack of recent updates – we’ve had a very busy week around the farm and between work sessions we’ve often bolted to our car for short fall foliage drives. The foliage is breathtaking this week. But we have a prolonged rainy spell in store for us the next week and you can expect some extensive updates to the Blog and new pictures soon. Check back later today. (If we don’t get blown away by the forecast high wind event!)

 

Wednesday, October 12^th, 9PM Update:

Longacres “Hello’s” to Renee from New Jersey and to Daisy from Georgia

It’s been a busy day in the office on this rainy October day. We’ve exchanged messages and phone calls with two new families, so the prospects for filling all Longacres sessions by Christmas are now looking pretty bright! Five more families from last year have given us verbal requests for 2012 sessions, but have yet to actually sign up. If they all do, we will be very close to full all summer. We actually already have 6 students for the Early Bird week of June 18 to 24^th, which is more than we usually have all together in those Early Bird weeks.

 

Congrats to Bethany

Longacres top rider and one of our instructors the past two years, Bethany, had surgery on her wrist right after camp closed. She had to pull out of the Erie County Fair events in August because of this injury. Apparently the surgery went very well! She had her first show since the summer this past weekend on her own horse, Holly. She entered five classes. Won four of them and was “second” in the fifth. I guess she’s feeling better! (I will post a few pictures she sent tomorrow at this link. That’s right, that is Bethany in the hunt coat – she WON a Hunter Classic on Holly! Pretty good for a feisty jumper mare!

 

Tuesday, October 11^th, 9PM Update:

A Day for the Foliage

We’ve been working pretty hard the past few days. I’ve mowed all the grass on the farm over three days and done some work in the shop. Meghan says she is finally getting caught up and organized in the office, had a little rest, and is finally feeling “human” again! It is nice to see her feeling rested!

 

Today was planned to be a work day. But we are just a few days short of peak fall foliage here, and a high wind advisory is in place for Friday and Saturday as a storm blows through. We may lose many of our lovely fall leaves on the weekend, so Meghan and I decided at the last minute this morning to take another day off and head down to the Pennsylvania border on a leaf peeping drive. It was a great day! Check this link for a few pictures.

 

Tomorrow with rain in the forecast, we’ll be hard at work catching up in the office.

 

Sunday, October 9^th, 11AM Update:

Counselors Active Today!

It’s an active day for some of last summer’s staff. Bethany is showing for the first time since she had wrist tendon problems at the end of the summer. We’re waiting to hear the results, but have high expectations! And Ofelia and Mandi traveled to get together for the weekend in Ohio where among other things, they are visiting the beloved Whitley where he is spending the off season leased to Findley College.

 

Fall weather continues to be just sensational here at the farm. We’re not working too hard today, but I’ll get a good bit more of the grass mowed while Meghan is busy around the office. We’re also budgeting time for a foliage drive around the area this afternoon.

 

Saturday, October 8^th, 1PM Update:

A Longacres “Hello” to Hannah D.

Hannah will be 12 next summer and has been busy corresponding with us asking questions this week. We hope it works out for you to attend next summer, Hannah, and then we’ll be able to turn the “Hello” headline into a “Welcome” headline.

 

Here at Longacres it is a gorgeous fall day with serious colored foliage coming out on the hardwoods. We’ll be near peak foliage in a few days.

 

Near Full Moon Party

It is almost a full moon. Let’s see how many of you out there can join us for an “I see the moon and the moon sees me and the moon sees all the ones that I’d like to see” party tonight. If the sky is clear of clouds where you are, try to get outside and look at the moon at 11PM eastern time, 10 PM central time, 9 PM mountain time, and 8 PM Pacific time. Then email us and tell us that you shared tonight’s nearly full moon with us and the rest of the Longacres family. How many will read this in time?

 

Meghan and I are getting caught up on chores around the farm today, with me mowing grass, Meghan answering mail and cleaning up the office from a summer’s accumulation of horse show ribbons, left over trophies, and odds ‘n ends. We also are spending a couple of hours in this nice weather doing body work on our Toyota, sanding and patching little rust spots before they get to be big rust spots. We love our 2002 Toyota Camry and hope to keep it four more years. It runs perfectly and we’ve maintained it very well mechanically. Now to make sure those pesky tiny rust spots don’t spread!

 

 

Friday, October 7^th, 2AM Update:

That’s right, 2 AM! Just got in from the cross country flight after a great “working vacation” visiting “Wandering Blond” and Elena & Heidi’s family. It is really good to be home for a while, but the minute we walked in the door, we were met with piles of things we have to take care of this fall. There’s tons of Longacres related work, and we still have to finish settling my mother’s estate. We will be busy in between several more short traveling sessions. We won’t be bored!

 

We wish Bethany luck in her first show of the fall season on Holly. Bethany writes that she is recovering well from wrist surgery and Holly is feeling good. If we can get caught up on our homecoming work, we might drive down to the show and cheer her on.

 

We’ll try to post some more horse news tomorrow.

 

Thursday, October 6^th, 4PM Update:

Test Update

Just checking to see if I can do a FTP update from the airport. This Blog page will be back in action for sure tomorrow.

 

Wednesday, September 14^th, and for the Next Week or Two:

 

We are traveling – check Tom’s Personal Blog at this link for Updates from the Open Road until Further Notice.

 

Enrollment Note: We are having a swarm of inquiries and requests for spots in the July 8 to 22nd session. We will not be pushy about trying to get our good friends from last summer to sign up, but when we are full, we will be full and can’t take anymore.

 

Tuesday, Sept. 13^th, 11AM Update:

Welcome Isabella!

Longacres 2012 student #9 is Isabella from the Bronx. Isabella was part of a very joyful Pegasus bunk this July, and most of them plan to return for 2012. She was one of our more improved riders this summer, gaining lots of confidence with the many hours of riding every day. She has been regularly corresponding with the other girls in her bunk. She will be 13 next summer and is returning for the popular July 8 to 22^nd session. We’re glad you’re returning for 2012, Isabella!

 

A Good Day’s Work:

Check this video link for some clips of work around the farm yesterday. It begins with me rudely invading Meghan’s privacy while she works at her computer in her office. You will note her lack of enthusiasm for being part of my little video production. The video then moves to south Buffalo where I am delivering our commercial dishwasher pump to a shop in the industrial section. I did many errands yesterday. There’s also a clip of the dining hall before putting up the shutters, and another of Joel, Danielle, and Rob working. I also did some work around the old barn mowing the grass in the turn-out paddock so it will be thicker for the horses going on overnight trails next season.

 

It’s a lovely day here at the farm today with a nice breeze and bright sun. A sharp cold front comes through tomorrow, with rain and much colder fall like temperatures. We’ll enjoy outdoor work today!

 

Monday, September 12^th, Noon Update:

Welcome to Katherine!

We’re pleased to welcome Katherine from Watertown, NY as 2012 student #8 at Longacres. Katherine has started riding fairly recently, rode western at first, and is just switching to english, so she’ll have some experience when she gets to Longacres next June. She’ll be ten years old at Longacres next summer. We’re having good luck signing up more younger riders both this just completed season and for next year. That is very good for the future of Longacres, since younger riders are more likely to keep returning year after year for a few years.

 

We had one more enrollment of a returning student come in this morning’s mail, and we’ll announce that one in tomorrow’s update.

 

Other Longacres News

Meghan finished her tax accounting late last night and is taking all the finished bookwork to our accountant this afternoon. That’s a big job done! Although most of us find tax preparation work frustrating, and Meghan does too sometimes, most of the time she loves it. She looks at tax preparation as though it is a big puzzle challenging her. I will sometimes late at night hear a squeel of delight coming from her downstairs office as she discovers the solution to one more mystery accounting discrepancy. Meghan is a one of a kind, but many of you know that already!

 

Today will be a big day for our maintenance crew, with Joel, Danielle, and Rob putting up the winter shutters on the dining hall. If I have time I’ll take some before and after pictures to show you what we’re up to today around the farm.

 

After I post this update, I’m headed out to do some errands including dropping a part of the dishwasher off at an electric shop for repair, AND picking up one of my model helicopters which has been repaired after a recent “hard landing”.

 

Meghan and I will be in regular touch with the office all fall, but we do take short vacation trips at this time of year. Because it is harder to update this Blog while I’m away from the office, I will be posting most updates on my “Tom’s Thoughts” personal Blog, at the link at the top of this page. Check there beginning tomorrow for most updates.

 

Sunday, September 11^th, 9PM Update:

Welcome to Keana!

We actually had two new 2012 enrollments today, but the first (by moments!) was Keana, so we’ll introduce her today and the other tomorrow. Keana is 13, comes to us from Barrie, Ontario, and has been riding a couple of years. She has her own horse, but probably will not bring him when she comes to Longacres for the July 8 to 22^nd season. She is looking for a riding camp where she can learn more, and we hope she has come to the right place. Keana and her family drove down from north of the border today and went on a long tour of Longacres with us. They signed up on the spot to reserve one of the quickly shrinking number of two week July sessions. She is a Longacres kind of girl and we look forward to teaching her next summer. She’s 2012 student #7. (#8 to be introduced tomorrow!)

 

Pictures:

I know, we haven’t posted many lately. Check this link for a few from today’s camp visit and other recent pictures.

 

Enrollment Getting Tight for some Sessions

With two new enrollments today and several “the check is in the mail” messages over the weekend, students interested in the July sessions should not wait too long. We still have space for everyone who has called or written in, so don’t panic. But keep an eye on the Blog – we’ll give you warning when we get down to two spots.

 

Saturday, September 10^th, 2PM Update:

Office & Outdoor Work

Meghan has been tied up in the office most of the week. She finished the spending and horse show money accounting for the August students yesterday and has mailed out refund checks and statements to all of you. Watch for them in the mail. She’s also very busy on business accounting and tax returns – not her favorite job, but she’s good at it.

 

I’ve spent a lot of time on my tractor mowing and taking care of horse trails and farm roads this week. I’ve had more fun with my job than Meghan has with hers! I have a nice tractor (thank you, Meghan!). Joel is busy closing up camp buildings and making small repairs around the farm. He is getting together with Rob and Danielle on Monday to put the winter shutters on the dining hall windows.

 

I spent some time yesterday afternoon draining water pipes and turning off the gas to the kitchen and shower room. I disconnected the water pump in the barn, which is one of the final steps in closing up the barn for the winter. With all the jumps put away in horse stalls, the barn area doesn’t look anything like it does during our regular season!

 

We have visitors coming to look at the farm tomorrow, and we’re spending a little extra time today making our closed up farm look attractive for the walking tour we plan to offer. With no horses here to show off, we’ll spend more time showing them the beauty of the Longacres horse trails and forests.

 

Several of you have “checks in the mail” to us for enrollments, so we should be announcing more 2012 students beginning Monday. Stay tuned, so you’ll see the notice in case some sessions get close to being full.

 

Meghan also asked me to work on making a couple of copies of DVD’s with the big picture files from certain sessions for those of you who ordered one or more. We don’t push this, since it takes a lot of time, but we can transfer full size files of the pictures we post on the Blog to DVD’s so you can have big prints made. To cover our time, we charge $35 for a week’s worth of all the pictures we take. We encouerage you to get together with friends and share a DVD; we do not mind if you make copies for one another – it saves us time and we’d rather not make money burning CD’s for $35!

 

Thursday, Sept. 8^th, 1PM Update:

Welcome to Ryan from Texas!

Ryan will be Longacres 2012 student #6 after enrolling for two weeks in July. Ryan owns two horses, rides four to five times a week, is an eventer and has done hunter-jumper shows. All that, and she is only 11! She lives not far from Kellie in Texas and went over to Kellie’s ranch and spent an afternoon riding and talking with Kellie. Kellie says she thinks Ryan will fit right in at Longacres. Welcome to the Longacres family, Ryan! Meghan and I hope to meet you if we travel though your part of the Lonestar State later this fall.

 

I just got in off the tractor after mowing just about all the grass and trails on the farm so it will look good when Keana and her family visit on Sunday. Meghan is busy finishing spending money account statements and she will be sending them all out this afternoon with refunds if we owe you or bills if you owe us. (Let Meghan know if you’d like her to apply any refund to your 2012 deposit – hint, hint!)

 

Wednesday, late Evening Update:

Meghan and her crew killed themselves working late this evening, but they got all the jumps put safely away for the season. Thanks to Joel, Mark, Rob, Danielle, and Beta for all their hard work! I will have video of the jumps being put away at this video link later tonight. (It’s a long video of just taking down the Castle jump – watch if you are oted tonight!) More jump work video at this video link.

 

Flooding in Central New York

The remnants of “Lee” are only a hundred miles or so from us. We got lucky and have had very little rain yesterday and today while the jumps were being put away here at Longacres, but there is all time record flooding in Central New York near Binghamton. It is quite fascinating for a weather junky like me, but I hope there is little loss of life. It is a very rare event for rain bands to continue hour after hour for a couple of days over one small area, as is happening in a narrow band from Washington up through Pennsylvania and Central New York.

 

Wednesday, September 7^th, 1PM Update:

Welcome Back Alexandra!

Longacres student #5 for 2012 will be Alexandra, returning to Longacres for the longer August session after a year’s absence. Alexandra was a first year Longacres student two seasons ago in 2010. She came for the month of August and was one of our “most improved riders” that session. She showed Neek-o in the Derby and at the Fair and she won 2^nd place out of 8 in the beginner Derby event. She is Canadian and has lived all over the world, currently in the middle east in Bahrain. Other travel commitments kept her from being at Longacres in 2011, but we’re really pleased to have her returning for 2012.

 

A Longacres “Hello” to Stephanie from Chicago!

I had a nice talk with Stephanie’s mom this morning. They have been through the website and are very interested in one of the two week sessions in July. They are hoping to talk with Kaitlin and Sarah’s families, since they are also from Chicago and about the same age. Stephanie will be 11 next summer at Longacres and is just getting ready to start jumping.

 

Mowing and Cleaning Up

I’m busy this afternoon mowing grass after a two week break. We’re cleaning up and putting things away, but making Longacres look as inviting as it can with everything put away for guests this weekend. Keana and her family are driving down from Canada on Sunday to visit with us and see the camp before she signs up for one of the July sessions in 2012. We’ve warned them that there’s not much to see with all the jumps tucked away in the barn, but it is a pretty time of year to see the farm.

 

Meghan and Joel and a crew of helpers will be finishing up putting the jumps away this afternoon if the rain holds off. They got the big jumps like the Castle, Butterfly, Light House, and Sunburst all done yesterday and have to do the samller stands and the jump poles today. The remnants of tropical storm Lee are close by, and it is raining hard not too far away.

 

Tuesday, Sept. 6^th, 1PM Update:

A Longacres “Welcome” to Katie!

Katie M. will be 2012 student #4, coming for the June 24 to July 8th session, which is beginning to fill up. Katie found out about Longacres from Dana – their parents are acquainted. She will be 12 when she is at Longacres next season. Katie already has “experienced” a Longacres horse show, since she visited us during one of the shows this past summer to see first hand what Longacres is all about. She was the first new student to sign up for 2012, though we have others who will be introduced in the coming days! She jumps and has done a bit of showing – she should fit in during the July session really well.

 

Hi Ruby & Valerie!

Here’s a message that came in last night from Ruby:

Hi Tom and Meghan, I miss Longacres so much!!!! Even though the camp is not going right now, I still miss everybody. I was wondering who took Ginger home this year, because I was looking on the Longacres website and I saw pictures of Ginger and I could not stop missing her. My parents say that maybe I can take her home next year, which I would be very, very, very happy about! I miss Ginger and Joc and Zanee and BROWNIE! I love him so, so, so much, I wish I could have been there at the derby. I miss all the other horses soooo much, and I wish i could see them!! 

 

from, Ruby

 

p.s. I am in italy right now.

 

And here’s a message from Valerie:

Hi Tom and Meghan,

 

I know I haven't done the super-early signup, but I do plan on coming back next year for the August session!  I think I may have already said this, but I'd love to be on the pen pal list.  I have so many great things to say about Longacres! 

 

Also, I had a riding related question.  By the end of camp I felt that I had progressed soooo much as a rider and it was a really rewarding feeling.  I know that during the year it's obviously not possible to ride 5 hours a day and make the same kinds of leaps and bounds with my progress as I had done in the 3.5 weeks of camp.  But, is there anything you can suggest that would help me make the most of my 30-60 minutes of riding each week?  It would be nice to find a happy medium between the super speedy progress of camp and doing the same crossrail week after week...

 

Thank you very much!

 

Valerie

 

P.S.

What was the name of the place that Zanee went to for the winter? 

Oh, and I definitely want to put up the flyer for leasing a Longacres horse in my barn next year! :D

 

Maypine Stables is the Answer

It’s great to hear from Ruby and Valerie, and I can give each of them a common answer about their favorite horses. Ginger and Zanee are both being winter boarded at Maypine Stables near Cleveland, Ohio for the winter. We are not sure yet whether they will be used mostly for lessons, or half leased by certain students. We’ll try to get some more details, but it is a very well regarded stable – you can Google them for information.

 

How to Make the Most of a Weekly Riding Lesson

I thought I’d answer Valerie’s question in the Blog, since it is relevant to so many of you. There is no substitute for riding many hours each week, of course. One lesson a week just can’t give you the steady progress and continuity that riding all the time does for you. But if your busy winter and school schedules (and $$) limit you to one lesson a week, there are things you can do to make the most of that short weekly riding time. What you can do is try to implement the Longacres system of “building blocks” and careful attention to control and details every single minute of your lesson time.

 

Most of you know one of my favorite sayings about paying attention while riding; is that “light switch” on the wall in the on or off position? I always say it is OK to relax and ride on a loose rein or drop your stirrups (or even slouch – yech!), so long as you know you are taking “time out” from serious riding – that imaginary light switch is “off” while you know you aren’t giving 100% as a rider. When you are seriously riding and paying attention, that light switch on the wall is “on”.

 

Needless to say, if you are serious about riding and limited to one lesson a week, that light switch should be “on” every second that you are on the horse, AND every second that you are handling the horse or preparing for the lesson.

 

If you are taking a private lesson from a good instructor, they will likely keep you on your toes the whole lesson. The biggest challenge facing a serious riding student who is limited to one group lesson a week is finding a way to be “really riding your horse” every minute of the lesson time, even if the instructor has you taking turns doing an exercise, and even if that instructor is not as rigorous in commenting on your ride as you might like.

 

Remember that even standing still waiting your turn to do an exercise, you can be alert and attentive, have contact with your horses bit, have your legs in contact with the horse, and be sitting up straight, well balanced. And you can do more. You can work with the controls while basically standing still waiting your turn to jump. You can play with leg and hand contact and ask your horse to take one step forward or one step back and then stand square. You can practice leg yielding exercises, making the horse take a half step to the left or right and stay straight. You can practice bending left and right as you leg yield. You can intentionally turn your horse just a little to the left or right and have them stand at a slight angle in line, rather than parallel to the other horses or the side of the arena. You can practice making those slight leg yielding shifts on the forehand or on the hindquarters. All these things will be imperceptible to an instructor paying attention to other people, but they will be real and important riding exercises.

 

Then make the most of your time actually riding and doing small X-rail jumping exercises. Make your turns before a jump and after a jump or line as perfect as possible. Pay attention to your pace and your approach to a jump, even a little jump. Jump the fence perfectly in the center (right, Carrie?). Or if your horse is behaving well, intentionally jump one foot to the right of center or one foot to the left of center. My point is that if your lessons are not as frequent as you might like, not as long as you might like, or not as demanding and interesting as you might like, it is within the power of each rider to seek out your own challenges and to try to do even the simplest jumping perfectly, not just “ok”. And NEVER accept the pace a school horse wants to give you just because it is “the way that horse always goes”. Remember Tom’s words from Longacres about “The Wonderful Working Walk”. I’ll never forget Meghan overhearing one of our students last summer telling another girl, “Jazz doesn’t have a working walk.” Wrong – you just weren’t working hard enough to achieve a good working walk.

 

Every gait a horse has can be collected and extended. You can work on subtle extensions and collections – changes of speed – all during group lessons.

 

Everything I just wrote is hard work. But the suggestions are a blueprint for making the most of limited winter riding lesson opportunities. Give it a try.

 

Monday, September 5^th, 11AM Update:

Welcome Back, Dana!

We’re proud to announce Dana H. as official student #3 for the 2012 season! Dana returns to Longacres next year for her third year, joining us for the first two week session, June 24 to July 8th. Dana was one of our most improved riders from her first year to this 2011 season, and we can’t wait to see how much you progress between now and next summer, Dana. Really glad to have you back again next summer!

 

It’s a dreary, grey fall day at Longacres today, so different from all the great riding days we had this summer. We’re hunkered down on “Labor Day” laboring in the office doing accounting and updating the website.

 

References & Pen Pals?

If you plan on returning to Longacres for 2012 and are willing to help answer questions from new students, please let us know. It is very useful for new students and their families if they can talk with returning Longacres students. As you probably remember from when you were first considering Longacres!

 

More 2012 students to be announced each day this week!

 

Sunday, Sept. 4^th, 7PM Update:

A Longacres “Hello” to Ryan, Katherine, and Keana

We’re communicating with the families of the above three girls, all very interested in signing up for 2012 this week. Exciting for very early in September! Meghan says that of the first ten girls who have signed up for next summer, or have their enrollments on the way to us, half are returning students, and half are coming to Longacres for the first time. That’s an unusually high number of girls enrolling as first timers this early in the season. A good sign for Longacres 2012.

 

A big “thank you” also goes out to Kellie and her family, who got together with Ryan and her mom today to see the ponies and talk about Longacres. Thanks, Kellie!

 

Sunday, September 4^th, 9AM Update:

Welcome Back Sydney & Sydney!

Sorry for no updates for a couple of days. We took a two day trip to help settle my mother’s estate in Connecticut and stopped at New York State Fair for fun on the way home.

 

We announced first to enroll, 2012 student #1 on Thursday, Sydney C. Coming in at almost the same time last month for official enrollment #2 is Sydney H! Sydney will be returning to Longacres for what Meghan thinks is Sydney’s 7^th year in a row at Longacres. She is returning for one of the June clinic weeks, then going home for two weeks and returning to Longacres for the July 8^th to July 22^nd session. We’re pleased that the first two students to sign up for 2012 are both coming for longer sessions than they were here for in 2011.

 

NOTE: Not ALL 2012 students will be named “Sydney”, even though our first two happen to be! We’ll be giving you “Welcome Backs” and short profiles of the rest of the students registering early for 2012 over the rest of the coming week.

 

Jump Party

Meghan is putting together a crew of helpers and volunteers to put away all the jumps on the big show field. She will be working Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons from 3:30 until 8 each afternoon. Stop by if your idea of “fun” is lugging jumps and rails around all afternoon!

 

Thursday, September 1^st, 8AM Update:

The “2012 Season” is Beginning

Welcome to Sydney C.!

The first official enrollment to be confirmed for 2012 is Sydney, who sent her deposit check very early. Sydney was here for two weeks in July and almost came back again for one of the August sessions. Sydney is one of the “I’ve ridden every horse in the barn club members”! Sydney is coming for the full August session next year, and we’re really pleased to hear that several of you out there who came for two weeks in 2010 are returning for the longer August session in 2012. We’re really pleased to have you returning, Sydney! You are 2012 student #1.

 

Other 2012 Riders to be Announced Each Day

We have more students signed up for 2012, but I think we’ll feature one each day. (Hint – the second one to sign up has a name that will be VERY familiar, after reading today’s update!) Note to parents – all of you who sent in deposits are confirmed. There are no conflicts with too many enrollments in any one session.

 

Wednesday, August 31st, 10PM Update:

More Video’s

Check this video link for a clip showing Meghan’s new/used truck. She loves it! (NOT a good truck if you need to park in tight parking spots! It is definitely a work truck for a horse farm and going to shows!)

 

Check this video link for a clip of Meghan and Rob doing horse care and “saying hello”.

 

Check this video link for a clip of Rob putting away parts of the jump course and stacking jump rails.

 

Brownie and Brody are the last two horses at Longacres, and they leave with Frank tomorrow afternoon.

 

Jump Storing Party!

Meghan and her crew plan a jump putting away party next Tuesday or Wednesday – give us a call if you have time to stop by and lend a hand!

 

Wednesday, August 31st, 11AM Update:

Check this video link for a clip showing Rob taking down more stuff on the show field to put away.

 

Check this video link for a clip of Brownie and Brody in pasture and some comments on how well Brownie seems to be doing at age 30 before heading out this week to his permanent retirement home with Alex.

 

New Truck for Meghan!

The big news of the day is that Meghan just bought a “new” used truck for Longacres. No tan rust bucket for us when we go to shows or give you a ride to do your laundry in town next year! It’s actually almost a four year old Chevy truck, but for us, that’s like brand new. We’ll post some pictures later today. Meghan is VERY happy about it, though sad to be saying “until next time” to her tan truck which has served us well for a long time. Actually the tan rust bucket still works great and we plan to use it as a farm truck next summer still.

 

Tuesday, August 30^th, 11AM Update

A Quiet Day

We slept late, but things are going on around the farm. Beta is working today putting over 1000 silk flowers away for the winter as we continue to take down the big show field jumps. After a late start, we’re doing office work. It will still be at least a week until we have statements of your show expenses, etc mailed out. But we’re working on it.

 

Did You Forget Stuff?

We have mailed out numerous parcels via UPS with stuff you forgot. We are not finding everything you have written to us about, but we keep going through piles of stuff over and over again. But we can’t guarantee we’ll find everything you left behind. Let us know, if you haven’t already, and we’ll look.

 

September 1^st

We will formally accept the enrollments we’ve received beginning Thursday, Sept. 1^st. There should be no problems getting the spaces some of you have requested. We were a little worried that some spots would fill right away, since MANY of you who were here for the July sessions this year are planning to return next summer, and we already have two brand new students planning to enroll for next July. But enough of you are planning to move up to the longer sessions in August so that the early enrollments will be well spread out over next season, and we do not expect to be “full” right away in any session. You will have some time to make up your minds about when you want to come next year. Just monitor the website, and we’ll try to give some warning when we’re down to the last few spots in any session.

 

It’s a really gorgeous late summer day at Longacres today. Hard to keep working in the office in this weather, which is so perfect for taking a country drive or just a walk in the woods, which we have time to do this week!

 

Check this link for pictures Kellie sent in of Tux, Ebony, and Horatio arriving on her farm in Texas yesterday.

 

Monday, August 29^th, 9PM Update:

LOTS of Horse Communications Today!

But first, check out this video link for a clip showing the jump course on the big show field starting to come down and get packed away for the winter. Rob worked all afternoon taking rails down, cleaning up haybales and evergreen boughs, and putting jump cups down in the barn.

 

We send out a HUGE “thank you” to Laura and Sharon who worked way longer and harder than we ever would have asked closing up the barn and getting the tack cleaned and ready for next year. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

 

Horses were being trucked all over the country today. We got word early in the afternoon that Diesel had arrived safely at his winter home in Binghamton, NY. A few hours later the news came in that Jazz is safe and sound with Eva and her mom near Philadelphia. Check this link for some pictures of Jazz getting off the van and getting used to her winter home. It looks great! And just an hour ago word came in from Kellie that Horatio, Ebony, and Tux are happy and healthy on the Hunn ranch outside of Ft. Worth, Texas! Also a few hours ago word came that Bristol is safe and sound at Sharon’s barn in New Jersey.

 

Sunday, 2PM Update:

Ebony, Tux, and Horatio just pulled out the driveway in a van headed to the Hunn Ranch in Texas. Have a great winter with the ponies, Kellie!

 

Sunday, August 28^th, 9:40 AM Update:

Let’s see, Meghan’s planner says that at this time she is scheduled to be delivering Sunday doughnuts to the girls at the barn for late morning horse care. Oops – that would be while we are in session – actually looks like she is still sleeping this morning!

 

Saturday, 4PM Update:

All Done – for THIS Year!

All the students have gone, and Meghan has just checked Carrie in at the airport for her flight back to Chicago. Laura and Sharon are staying two more days to volunteer for horse care and to help send out the horses to their winter homes, but the 2011 season is now history.

 

Counting Down to September 1^st

Just five days now until we can announce the first confirmed 2012 reservations, and we have a handful already.

 

More Horse News

We’ll keep making updates for the next week daily as we have news about the horses leaving for their winter homes and then the first 2012 students signing up. We’ll also be updating frequently with Longacres and Kranz family gossip, but perhaps not every day.

 

Thanks to ALL of You for Helping this be a Great Season!

I’ve been waiting until the last student left and we were done with the last riding lesson, which we almost are, to say what a great season we had with the help of all of you out there. We had no people hurt this year beyond an occasional scratch or bruise. We had no serious horse injuries, with only a few routine vet calls. And the horses were remarkably sound all summer, thanks to a carefully planned work load and lesson plans by Meghan and Mandi. (Good job, Mandi!) We have more early bird 2012 enrollments sitting in the office waiting for Setpember 1^st than we did at this time last year. All evidence of a very good 2011 season at Longacres.

 

Thank you all!

 

Saturday, 1PM Update:

Greatest Brownie Video Ever!

Most of you know that Brownie is being permanently retired to his very long time friend, Alex, after camp ends today. There have been many “this is the last time Brownie will do this” moments during the summer, but we could not have predicted what happened this morning.

 

While the girls were pond riding, we let Brownie loose on the lawn by the barn and pond to free graze on tasty green grass. First he grazed a bit, then he lay down and rolled, then he lay with his head up and munched on the grass while lying down. All very cute! And we’ll have pictures of that. He got up and walked closer to where all the horses were taking their turns going in the pond, and he lay down again where he could watch. We took the final group of girls into the pond on Diesel, Brody, and Star, and THEN, here comes Brownie!

 

All his life he has been one of the best pond riding ponies, since nothing bothers him, and he always seemed to like it when someone rode him into the pond. Today, he saw his horse buddies splashing and having fun in the pond, and walked right in, following them out to the middle of the pond, the way he has done with a rider 500 times in the past 27 years. Then he turned around and walked out again with his friends! The proof is in this video clip! We have pond riding pictures at this link and there will be more from Meghan’s camera at this link soon.

 

Saturday, August 27^th, 11AM Update:

Last Day

The girls are getting ready for pond riding as I write, and just finished a final training session. Sharon jumped Brody through the Pulverman, a good achievement for our “mommykins” student. Check this video link for a clip of Carrie riding Horatio through the long curving road line of the Derby course. It was a good grand finally for her.

 

There will be pond riding pictures at this link after lunch. Several girls are leaving at lunchtime, then we take Carrie to the airport for her return to Chicago, and Longacres 2011 is in the history books.

 

Another 2012 enrollment

Good news for Longacres and for all of you! We got another enrollment for 2012 this morning from a student who was here two years ago. She wants the full August session. We now have deposits in the office waiting for September 1^st confirmation for every 2012 session. The good news for all of you out there making your 2012 plans, is that some girls who came in July this year are moving up to the 3 ½ week August session, as we had hoped. That means that we are not likely to be completely full in any sessions by next week and it gives you guys at home a little more time before you have to worry about particular sessions being full. Some years we fill certain July sessions very early, and others not until 2012. We like this trend of people signing up evenly for all our 2012 sessions.

 

Friday, 11PM Update:

We had a final camp fire and “smores” party tonight, with stories of ghosts, “the Boggy Creek Monster”, and of how I used to scare the girls at the end of the movie “Wait Until Dark”. Beta can scream LOUD!

 

Check this link for many pictures Meghan took earlier today of the girls riding at the barn and out on the old hunt course, and of the evening ride with guest rider, Uncle Billy on Rocky.

 

Friday, 5:30 PM Update:

We’re already beginning to feel lonely as we count down the hours until all the riders and horses leave over the weekend. But we’re pleased to report that two more 2012 enrollment deposits came in just today, one of them for the full August session. It will make it easier to be alone at Longacres the next few months, knowing that some of you are already planning to join us again for 2012!

 

Friday, August 26^th, 11AM Update

24 Hours to Go

It’s a very strange feeling as the real end of the 2011 season is just 24 hours away. Already our email messages from all of you have tapered way off as you enjoy late summer family vacations and prepare for (school)! Next week we’ll post a final 2011 update remembering some of the high-lites of this season, and then we turn our attention to the 2012 season and early enrollments beginning on September 1^st.

 

Today the girls at Lazy Days are having Farley Bridgeman as a guest instructor, doing some last time rides on their favorite horses, getting a few more pictures taken, and doing a cabin plaque to hang in the dining hall. We have our final dinner in the dinning hall tonight, then packing up for departure tomorrow morning. Girls staying until noon will have a final ride tomorrow.

 

Don’t forget to read up on the 2012 sign-up procedures at this link.

 

Thursday, 10PM Update:

A few more pictures from this afternoon and Meghan’s evening Gymkhana are at this link and this link. We all enjoyed a dinner out at Pasquale’s tonight, the last of these traditional Longacres dinners for this season, sniff, sniff. One more full day of riding and a few rides Saturday morning, and we will bid farewell to Longacres 2011. (Bring on the enrollments for 2012 – we will have several to announce next week.)

 

Thursday, August 25^th, 3:30 PM Update:

“Hello” to Ryan from Texas

Ryan is an 11 year old eventing rider who happens to live right around the corner from Kellie in Texas. She is very interested in Longacres and we hope she signs up.

 

Thursday, Aug. 25^th, 1PM Update:

More pictures at this link, including one of Carrie jumping Horatio 3’3”. Carrie is a great athlete and sticky rider, so she is getting to do some higher jumps. We’re concentrating on getting her to steer to the center of the jumps, watch her approaches, and keep her toes in over the bigger stuff. There’s always something to improve, especially when you jump higher! But she is a nice rider who we hope will be back again next year.

 

Sharon has also really improved as a rider this year, as you will see from her pictures. She did good jumping this morning. So did Winky and Alexis. Beta was off on other business this morning.

 

Meghan and I had fun this morning, with both of us helping to teach this group. Meghan is teaching more this week. She wishes she had time during the regular season to do more of it.

 

Check this video link for a clip of the girls doing barn chores this morning.

 

Thursday, August 25^th, 8AM Update:

“Mommykins” is Here!

That would be Sharon Waters, mom to “Fosto the Great”, our counselor for this week. Sharon and Fosto are old, old friends of Longacres. I think this is year seven since they first came to Longacres as a mother-daughter week pair. Sharon has been back as a student either during mother-daughter week or adult week ever since, and she volunteered to come up and help us ship out the horses this weekend and close up the barn. We’re glad to have her join us for that and a couple of days of riding.

 

One more day to Go!

This is the second to last day of Longacres 2011. Although Meghan really looks forward to sleeping for three days with no responsibilities, we are also sad to have a great season end. We’ll be writing a wrap up of the season on the weekend. I don’t want to jinx the final two days by saying anything too perfect about this fine season before it is finally over!

 

Tonight is our Gymkhana and Fun Show. We’ll get in a pond ride tomorrow, and make sure everyone gets a final chance to be on their favorite horse. We’re having a traditional Pasquale’s dinner out tonight, as well.

 

We got in our full riding, and an extra hour yesterday, before the skies opened up and heavy rain fell after dark. It rained heavily much of the night. Meghan and I went out and slept in the RV after midnight to enjoy the sound of rain on the roof and be closer to nature. We’re a little sleepy this morning, but hey, we can sleep ourselves silly beginning in three more days.

 

More pictures coming to this link soon.

 

Wednesday, 1PM Update:

Check this link for some pictures at the hayloft party last night.

 

There will be more at this link after lunch of the girls riding this morning. Because of the overnight trail, they were up very early and will likely get in five hours of riding today.

 

Wednesday, August 24^th, 11AM Update:

6 Hours to “Mommykins”!

And: “I leaned over to pick up the crop, and instead picked up - - - - !”

 

Also, we’re having very good luck with the weather today. Possible passing shower today, but so far very nice. And heavy rain, but almost surely it will come overnight and be gone by riding time Thursday. Yippee!

 

Sadness:

It’s VERY easy for me to park at the barn. Why is that sad? Because Mandi’s big truck and Bethany’s car are not in the parking area, which is why it’s so easy for me to park.

 

Tuesday, August 23^rd, 8:30 PM Update:

A Fine Day!

I’ve been blessed with many exciting days in my life. Many with grander events than today. But this day at Longacres just clicked for me, and if I were to die in my sleep overnight, I’d want all my friends to know that there’s not much I would change to try to have made it better. I’m sorry that Meghan was in discomfort from her bee sting, but I at least managed to get her to go to her doctor, which is a tough accomplishment! They gave her heavy duty insect allergy medications, and she feels a little better. So I helped her.

 

My own day was excellent in many ways. Partly because Meghan was not feeling tip-top and was very busy with horse vanning arrangements, I spent more time with the girls than usual. I had fun helping them do the Pulverman jump and taking the pictures I posted at lunchtime. I had a good time at lunch with the girls and then this evening I helped Winky and Carrie jump Jazz and Kodak over some good sized jumps. Michelle’s form was excellent, as usual, and Carrie got to jump higher than ever before. I wasn’t planning any such thing – I just worked with Carrie to get her pace and striding right, and before I knew it, Carrie was saying, “That’s the highest I’ve ever jumped!” I keep asking Carrie how she likes each new horse she rides, and every time she is in love with the most recent horse she has ridden. She is fitting in well here at Longacres.

 

The Watkins family stopped by tonight to say “goodbye” to Kodak, who has been sold and is leaving for Montreal tomorrow. They were excited watching Michelle and Carrie jump Kodak over bigger jumps. Kodak has been a great horse recently – she has really learned things from being at Longacres for a summer! Longacres has done well for the people who sent horses here on consignment for sale this summer. Kodak is sold, Ladd was sold, and we think Chexie and Maggie both have buyers. Spread the word that Longacres does take on promising sale horses which we train and show while they are offered for sale.

 

The above are a few of the fine memories of the day. Meghan and I still have to go into town and pick up pizza and some vegan snacks for the girls having the hayloft slumber party – it will be fun to deliver the stuff and see their pleasure.

 

Oh, yeah. I also had fun with my “toys”. I had two perfect flights with one of my radio control fixed wing airplanes after dinner, and then had the best flight ever with one of my model helicopters. I did real figure eights, nose in. (Very hard thing to do with model helicopters, as my many crashes over the summer have proved!) Like I said, a FINE day!

 

Tuesday, 2PM Update:

Bonding Well

I sat with the girls for a while at lunch and took this video clip. Everyone is taking part in the chatting, and they are bonding well as a group. I commented on that, and Michelle said, “With only five of us, we have to!” She’s got a point.

 

In a way this group of five is a preview of what Meghan and I might do if we decide to “retire” from Longacres someday. Unless I had a serious health issue, I don’t think we would ever suddenly sell off everything and close the doors to the barn all of a sudden. We have talked about various possibilities, and the most likely is that we may get to a point in a few years where we don’t want to do as much work as we do now running the current program, and we would cut back and take just five or six girls for a more “Lazy Days” like experience. We’d likely run one or two shows during the summer, but give up managing the elaborate Summer Series. We might go back to a six or eight week season and drop the pre-season clinics and Lazy Days, since the whole experience would be so much like what we do in “Lazy Days” now. But that’s still a few years off in the future!

 

Tuesday, August 23^rd, 10AM Update:

Odds and Ends

Check this link for pictures Tom took in a lesson this morning.

 

Check this video link for a clip showing Mandi’s round in working hunter at the fair last week on Whitley. One of about five great rounds Whitley put in over higher fences at that show! Good riding, Mandi!

 

Check this video link for a 4 minute clip taken just minutes ago down at the barn showing everything going on all at once this morning. It may seem a little frantic, but it is a busy morning.

 

Spending Money Refunds

Everyone from sessions earlier this summer should have received an accounting and refund or bill for show and spending money expenses. That includes all July and June sessions and those who came for short early August sessions. The statements for those of you here last week will take another week or two. We have to wait for the final accounting from the big show at the fair. Just wanted to give you a heads up.

 

Pictures

You may order DVD’s with the large photo files for all our summer pictures. We are in no way pushing this, since it is time consuming for us, but we’ll do it if you really want them. They cost $35 per week, or per full DVD. We encourage you to get together and order just one copy, then make copies for your friends, or if two of you want to each order one of the weeks you were here and then share them, that is fine. It is not a moneymaker for us but a convenience to you.

 

VIDEO

The same goes double for video. It is VERY time consuming to search and edit video. We can do it if you are patient, and willing to pay $50 an hour editing cost, which adds up quickly. Making a DVD for you even with just a few jumping rounds can quickly end up taking three or four hours if we have to search through a full tae to find your rounds. You can save a little money if you want us to post it on YouTube, rather than burning a DVD.

 

Tuesday, August 23^rd, 8AM Update:

36 Hours to “Mommykins”

Several horses are leaving for their winter homes later today, and we made a big effort to get Carrie on all of them yesterday. We’re trying to let Carrie ride every horse Longacres owns by the end of her week here. Most of the other girls can also make that claim, since they have been here before and ridden many of the horses. But for a first timer like Carrie, it is a real project. It’s fun to help her and see which ones she likes the best. Last night she hopped on Piper for just a few minutes right before dark so she could “count her” in her tally!

 

Today is a busy day for the riders. We have Vinessa, a guest instructor, coming this afternoon to teach, and are planning an overnight trail ride and hayloft slumber party tonight at the old barn.

 

Today is a no-fun day for Meghan. She is very allergic to insect bites, and got stung on a finger by a bee yesterday afternoon. She’s heavily dosed on allergy drugs and creams and not her usual cheerful bubbly self. If any of you at home need something minor today, call the office phone (716-652-9495), rather than Meghan’s cell, and I’ll try to help you. Meghan is out around the farm already working and organizing horse transportation – just not happily.

 

Besides Meghan, everyone seems cheerful and enjoying Longacres. Pictures to come later.

 

Monday, August 22^nd, 10AM Update:

Carrie’s Rainbow

Check this video link for a clip we took on the way to the airport last night to pick up Carrie. This was right after the rain storms that pummeled the fairgrounds when Meghan and I were having a little quiet time to ourselves before going back to work for this final week of the summer.

 

Check this link for a few recent iPhone pictures I’ve snapped around the farm. And more pictures of the girls riding this morning will be posted at this link around lunchtime.

 

My Monday morning started off bright and early with fifteen minutes to myself to fly radio controlled helicopters and airplanes. It puts me in a good mood for the rest of the morning! (IF I don’t crash, which I did not this morning.) Then Meghan and I went to the feed store to get horse feed for the next two days. We are buying smaller quantities this week so we won’t waste any that might be left over from our normal grain order if we took a truckload.

 

Back at the farm again I said “hello” to all the girls while they cleaned stalls, checked out the electric fence for low voltage, found the break in the lines and reported it’s position to Meghan for repair, then I moved jumps around so the girls will have a good jump course in their first ride later this morning. Back to the office to help with paperwork and update this Blog. Later I will watch the new girls riding and jumping, post the pictures Meghan will take, hook up the grading blade on the tractor to fix small washouts from last night’s heavy rain, and then maybe even take Meghan out to lunch. We like the people we have here this week to ride and look forward to good times all week.

 

Missing YOU!

But we do miss all of you from this just completed regular season at Longacres. Check the rates & schedule page for details on signing up for 2012. Missing YOU will be less painful if we know you are returning for 2012!

 

Good luck, Bethany.

Bethany is planning the wrist surgery she has put off while riding and showing all summer, Wednesday, I think. Everyone keep her in your mind and hope for a quick and full recovery!

 

Sunday, August 21^st, 10PM Update:

Welcome Carrie

Meghan and I picked new Longacres student, Carrie, up at the airport this evening and enjoyed meeting her. She’s got a ready smile and nice sense of humor. She already knows most of the horses from the website and is eager to meet them in person tomorrow.

 

Alexis also arrived tonight for her second year at Lazy Days, and Beta moves in tomorrow morning. Longacres got plenty of needed rain today and the weather now looks very good for the rest of the week. We should get in a full day of riding tomorrow. We’ll take plenty of pictures of our new students.

 

Meghan dragged me over to the fair twice today for final walks around the grounds. Meghan loves to visit the fair the day after our regular season ends so she can enjoy the sights and sounds and food without having Longacres students to worry about. We had a good time. (We ran into Tom the cook/crook at the fair – we were not nice to him.)

 

Sunday, August 21^st, 4PM Update:

Thunder!

There were very strong thunderstorms in the area all morning, causing us to brace up the jumps for possible 60 mph wind gusts. The worst of the storms passed just a few miles from us, but we did not get any damaging winds here at Longacres. If you at home are really bored and want to listen to ten or twelve minutes of nearby thunderstorms and me giving a minute by minute account of the coming storms, check the following video links and join me for weather watching in the woods at Longacres. First video link (3 minutes). Second video link (almost ten minutes).

 

Sunday, August 21^st, 11AM Update:

Is It Worthwhile Cleaning up the Whole Farm for Just Two People?

Yes, in a word. After an exhausting week and a half including the Derby and the Erie County Fair shows, it is tempting to tell ourselves, “The farm looks pretty good – good enough for the parents coming in and out in 30 minutes to pick up their kids yesterday, and good enough for just two new students arriving for Lazy Days tonight.”

 

It was tempting. But when I succumb to that kind of thinking, the day has come for us to give up on running a quality riding program. And we aren’t quite ready to quit yet!

 

Joel spent all of Friday while the kids were doing last day fun stuff with the horses using his weedwacker all over the farm, under all the fences and close to the jumps. I spent much of Friday and again yesterday after everyone left on my tractor mowing every inch of the farm. We made sure the jumps are all up last night, and are double checking things today. Longacres will look as good as it has on any day this season when Carrie and Alexis arrive tonight to join Fosto, Winky, and Beta for Lazy Days week. That’s the way we try to do things here.

 

There is nothing going on here today at the barn besides taking care of the horses, and letting Fosto and Winky have a ride this afternoon. We said our “until next times” to Jessica and Ofelia this morning, and there will be just two here this afternoon, before the other three arrive for Lazy Days later.

 

Meghan is devoting all day to contracts and special arrangements for the final horse loans for the winter, especially the commercial agreements with Findley College and Maypine Farms.

 

Me? Helping here and there, but mostly missing all those wonderful hours watching riders this summer learn new things, try bigger jumps, train horses, and enjoy their horse time at Longacres.

 

Sunday, August 21^st, 8AM Update:

3 Days Until “Mommykins”

11 Days Until Sept. 1^st!

“Yeah, they’re a little scrawny”

At least we’ll tell you what September 1st is – it’s the first day we’ll confirm enrollment applications for 2012, and we already have our first deposit checks in hand. Be sure to go to the freshly updated rates & schedule page and check the 2012 dates and enrollment guidelines.

 

Saturday, August 20, 9PM Update:

4 Days Until “Mommykins”!

(You’d have to be here to get it.)

 

Thanks to a great 2011 staff for making Longacres the success it has been this season. Mandi and Bethany both left to get ready for school today. Ofelia leaves tomorrow morning. Winky is back for a second time this summer, this time as a “camper” to have fun! “Fosto the Great” is our senior counselor for Lazy Days, along with Meghan and I. And we haven’t forgotten Sarah, Heather, and the others who helped out for short times, along with some great guest instructors!

 

Saturday, August 20^th, Noon Update:

“Until Next Time”

As most of you know, that’s Meghan’s saying, rather than “goodbye”. Much less terminal! We’ve had many “until next times” this morning, with Kellie leaving first for the airport, then Anderson, Sophie, Cassie, Valerie, and both Stephanie’s by car. Jessica is staying nearby tonight and is still hear, along with Eva, who is playing with Jazz with her mom, since they are taking Jazz home for the winter. Mandi just pulled out for the long drive home to Oklahoma a few minutes ago. (We miss you already, Mandi!)

 

Winky arrived early for Lazy Days, and Fosto, Winky, and the girls staying late will take care of horses today, along with some riding. Bethany is here until later this evening, and Ofelia is staying through the middle of tomorrow to help Fosto. We look forward to Carrie and Alexis arriving tomorrow for Lazy Days.

 

It’s hot & humid today, but a cold front is coming through tomorrow with some much needed rain, then we’ll have wonderful riding weather most of the week with temperatures in the 70’s.

 

Friday, August 19^th, 4PM Update:

Big Water Conquered, Once and for All!

We’ve had Longacres horses, Bristol and Jazz, and Bethany’s private horse, Holly, over the big water jump a week ago. But it was not quite full of water, so there was just a sliver of doubt about whether we had accomplished our summer long goal of having our top horses do the big water jump. No more. We topped off the water jump this morning and took pictures of Bristol, Jazz, and Holly doing first the small Liverpool jump, then the wide Grand Prix water jump. Check the pictures at this link. One of them will go on the special “Longacres Jumps” page on the website to replace the one we have now of Quantum doing that jump.

 

Check this link for a bunch of pictures from this morning, including Eva and Kellie doing the smaller water, and Kellie and Eva over a high Butterfly on Horatio. Then check this link a little later for Meghan’s pictures of the girls doing pond riding just a few minutes ago.

 

Friday, August 19^th, 9AM Update:

Last Day (Lazy Days Doesn’t Count)

Just had a fun talk with the girls at breakfast. They slept in late (11 hours for Cassie!) It will take a few days of rest at home to really catch up on sleep, but they are better than last night.

 

They will do late horse care this morning, then have a long “goodbye ride”, switching horses often so they can have a last day ride on each of their favorites. Then a late lunch, then pond riding and a few short trail rides or additional “goodbye rides”, then showers and back to the fair with no horses just to have FUN!!!!!

 

Thursday, August 18^th, 10PM Update:

WHERE Do They Get the Energy?

The older girls in Esseress bunk are more like us adults – pretty tired after this grueling week of showing. Most of them quickly fell asleep as we watched over three hours of show video tonight. But NOT the younger kids in Pegasus. They went running and skipping back and forth between the main office room where they were eagerly painting their permanent cabin plaque, and then to the video room when their horse was on screen. (Eva “cantered” back and forth, mostly.) The younger girls not only stayed awake the whole time for their video’s, but did a great cabin plaque to hang permanently on the dining hall walls.

 

Tomorrow they all sleep late, then horse care, then a fun ride with everyone getting to try their favorite horse and do a few bigger jumps. After lunch we’ll do pond riding, then get all cleaned up and take the girls back to the fair with no horses to do RIDES, and see all the animals and displays. It is a BIG fair, with over 1,000,000 people through the gates over the 12 days of the fair. One of the biggest in the United States.

 

Then packing for home and goodbye’s to the horses on Saturday morning.

 

Thursday, August 18^th, 1PM Update:

Oops!

I thought I had uploaded enough pictures already today until Meghan handed me her camera. I just hooked it up to the computer and find that she took 306 new pictures this morning in addition to those I took and already posted. Check this link and this link for many of Meghan’s, after we cull out some of the bad ones.

 

Most of the girls are done riding at the fair, we took our traditional group pictures, and they are coming back to the farm with the horses on multiple trips. Ofelia has an important Hunter Classic this afternoon and she is staying with a couple of people until that class is done. We wish her good luck!

 

Thursday, August 18^th, Noon Update:

That’s What We Want!

Big jumper class of 19 horses on our last class of the fair. We didn’t win – BUT our girls won 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th! Kellie was 2nd on Horatio and 3rd on Merlin; Ofelia was 4th on Whitley and Valerie was 5th on Zanee. What a great finishing touch to a challenging Erie County Fair! Pictures from this morning at this link.

 

Thursday, August 18^th, 6AM Update:

Two More Days

Of the regular season, anyway. Then a week of very relaxed and fun Lazy Days, with a small group. It’s hard to believe that Longacres 2011 is so close to ending.

 

Today we have one more day of horse show at the fair, with about a half day of riding, then packing up for home. We’re switching a couple of riders into more compatible events in cases where they have been struggling the past two days, or where the horses seem tired. We’re looking for an enjoyable day of successes.

 

The girls will get a few hours turned loose to just have fun at the fair either tonight or tomorrow night – we’ll ask them.

 

Friday will be a relaxed day here at the farm riding favorite horses and saying “goodbye” to them until next season. We’ll do pond riding and other fun things during the day. We’ll squeeze watching some video of ourselves at the fair in there sometime, goodness knows when.

 

Meghan and I are counting the hours until we can rest on one hand, and getting ready to wipe away the tears saying “until next time” to everyone with the other hand.

 

Check this link for my final favorite oversize pictures from yesterday.

 

Wednesday, August 17^th, 9PM Update:

Another Good Day

We just got back to the farm from the Fair and I’m catching up on phone messages and uploading pictures from the show. You can see pictures appearing over the next couple of hours at this link, this link, this link, and this link. Also some of the best at this big picture link!

 

The horse show is bigger than usual this year, with some VERY good horses. Darren Chiachia, a Bronze Medalist in the Equestrian Olympics 8 years ago, was showing against our girls in some of the jumper events! We haven’t won as many ribbons as usual this week, but the girls who did win really EARNED them! Anderson won a big event outright, and many other girls placed well on our horses. And we have one more day to add to the ribbon total.

 

I posted real time updates over on my personal Blog, and might do it again tomorrow.

 

We’re proud of the efforts of every single rider and their personal triumphs, win or not at this big horse show. Some notable rides included Valerie almost every time she rode on Zanee, Mandi on Whitley having a really good round, Kellie on Horatio going clean in the big team jumping event, and Ofelia on Whitley doing probably her very best ride of the fair.

 

We really missed having our #1 rider, Bethany, showing with us. We needed her, but her wrist which she has been nursing under bandages and with medication all summer has really given out on her and she just couldn’t ride after the first day. I know it was killing her to be helping everyone and not be able to ride herself. (Darren CHiachia is LUCKY she wasn’t able to ride! LOL)

 

Some other results:

Anderson – two 1sts

Sophie – 1^st in jumpers, 3^rd in child hunter; 3^rd and 4^th in Pony hunters on Ladd

Valerie – 1^st in pleasure horse, on Zanee (BIG class), 2^nd in puddle jumpers (BIG class!)

Kellie – 3^rd in jumpers on Horatio, 5^th in jumpers on Merlin

Cassie – 3^rd in hunters on Merlin, 4^th on Star in long stirrup, and 6^th on StarEva – 4^th in hunters on Star

Ofelia – 5^th in Open Hunter on Whit; 6^th in higher jumpers on Whit

 

Browse through all the picture files – we think we got good pictures of everyone.

 

 

Wednesday, August 17^th, 7AM Update:

2012 enrollments

I was up early this morning getting all the video and photography stuff ready for this morning’s show events. I’ve also been getting phone calls and messages about enrolling for the 2012 season, so I updated the dates on the Rate & Schedule page this morning. 2012 enrollment deposits will be accepted beginning September 1^st, and reservations for the 2 week sessions between June 24 and July 22^nd will go quickly, depending on how many of this year’s two week students move up to the 3 ½ week August session.

 

Check my personal Blog during the day today for real time updates from the show at the fair.

 

Tuesday, August 16^th, Midnight Update:

Real Time Fair Updates Wednesday!

Check at Tom’s personal Blog (link at the top of this page) during the day tomorrow. I will be updating frequently in real time from the fair.

 

Here are some of the results from the first day at the fair, compiled by Kellie:

 

Kellie: 5^th in jumpers on Merlin; Ebony 6^th in jumpers and 6^th in hunters

 

Anderson rode GREAT in big classes, with really good pictures (see the albums today), but did not get a ribbon on the first day

 

Eva: Ginger 3^rd and 4^th in hunters (big classes) and a 5^th in jumpers

 

Jessica got a 6^th in jumpers on Boo ( 20 horses in the class!)

 

Sophie: 1^st eq on the flat with Merlin, and a 3^rd in Eq over fences; Blue ribbon in jumpers on Merlin

 

Cassie did not win a ribbon yet, but Meghan felt she was wonderful on Merlin in the hunter ring.

 

Valerie won 2^nd in eq over fences with Zanee; 4^th with Zanee in Eq on the flat; 5^th in the hacks (18 horses!); 2^nd in beginner jumpers with Zanee out of 19 horses, and came within 8 tenths of a second of winning. (Valerie will move up to higher jumpers tomorrow!)

 

Ofelia won a 6^th in a big hunter class with Whitley

 

Stephanie D did not win a ribbon but rode Ginger in the hunter ring to her best jumping ride of this season. NICE work, Stephanie!

Stephanie R won 4^th in a BIG hack class; won two 5ths in hunters with Rocky.

 

More to come tomorrow!

 

Tuesday, August 16^th, 9PM Update:

The group as a whole rode VERY well today and many of the girls won ribbons. Sophie was 1st in Eq. on the flat. Valerie was our star jumper rider, leading in a class of 20 horses until the very last horse went and beat Valerie’s time by .8 seconds!! Exciting stuff!

 

We did not “kick butt” the way we sometimes do. Sophie’s was the only blue ribbon and some of our top riders had bad luck with rails falling at the lightest touch or horses spooking. But the level of riding was excellent on the whole.

 

There will be pictures at this link, this link, and from Meghan’s camera at this link and this link.

 

Some of these pictures will be posted very late tonight.

 

Expect your children to sleep for two solid days when they get home!

 

More later.

 

We will be posting news in real time from the fair tomorrow on Tom’s Personal Blog, link at the top of this page.

 

Monday, August 15^th, 11PM Update:

Don’t Know Why I was Surprised

I was surprised at how well everyone did practicing late in the evening in the show ring over at the fair. For many of the girls, this is the first time they’ve been to a show where the horses stay overnight multiple days, and they could be forgiven for being nervous. But they all rode very well and showed little sign of nerves.

 

But I should not have been surprised. After all, they just finished one of the most demanding jumping events they may ever have at the Longacres Derby, and they all managed to do well in that. VERY good practice for a big horse show!

 

No pictures today – Meghan and I were running from dawn to late this evening ferrying people, horses, and supplies to the fair for a three day stay. But there will be lots of pictures each of the next few days. They will be posted late at night when I return from the fairgrounds.

 

Eva and Jazz were perhaps the standouts tonight, just because Jazz is still learning and I expected her to be excited at the big show. But she behaved wonderfully, and I let Eva jump bigger than most because she was doing so well with her horse! Good thing Eva and her mom are taking Jazz for the winter. Eva is really clicking with this horse!

 

Much more news to come tomorrow.

 

PS – Check this video link for a clip of Whitley’s clean round in the high Derby on Saturday! Nice job, Ofelia!

 

Sunday, August 14^th, 10AM Update:

Rain TODAY!

The rain that was forecast all week to spoil our Derby & party last night held off completely until this morning. Yahoo! It will rain much of today (good because it is the horses’ day of rest anyway), and a good part of tomorrow (not so good because it is final practice for the Erie County Fair and a day of packing and traveling to the fair and setting up our stalls & tack room there). Then several days of wonderful late summer weather while we show at the fair. (GOOD!!!)

 

The girls were bright and cheerful after a night’s sleep and fooling around on the barn porch this morning counting seconds to see how far away lightening strikes were hitting as they ate their special Sunday breakfast from the doughnut shop. Check this video link.

 

They will benefit from a nice day of rest today, and the afternoon town trip. We should find time this evening to watch video of the Derby last night, though the girls saw much of their own riding while watching during the Awards Party last night.

 

Final Week Excitement!

From Derby Day on to the end of the regular season next weekend, it is one exciting thing right after another, and not much SLEEP for us! While the kids and the horses rest today we are frantically doing paper work for the big three day show at the fair. Then off to the fair tomorrow, practice and set up at the fair, dawn to midnight work supporting the girls at the fair Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, more fair show events Thursday morning, then packing everything up and bringing it home to Longacres Thursday afternoon, fun events like pond riding and bigger jumping on Friday, and pack for home Saturday. Something missing? Time for Meghan to eat and sleep!

 

But Lazy Days and a much more soothing schedule is right around the corner, and then two weeks from today we will be going through a very sad withdrawal pain from what we love about this business!

 

Saturday, August 13^th, 10PM Update:

WOW!

Ofelia & Bethany ROCK!!

What a great Derby day and fantastic ending to the Summer Series of horse shows. We always worry that nobody is going to show up for the party. LOTS of people did and it was a great Awards Presentation in front of the Gordon Highlanders Bagpipe band and an enthusiastic crowd.

 

We always worry that we are going to have no horses for the High Derby event. And for a time we thought it might be just our own horses and only four or five of them. But the trailers kept rolling in at the last minute and we had 13 horses jump the high Derby course. We raised $1000 in the Calcutta Auction jackpot to pick the winner. A couple of spectators went home happy about that. One of those 13 horses for the high Derby was Merlin with Kellie Hunn riding. Kellie won the 2’6” Derby on Merlin in the afternoon, and we invited her to enter the higher evening High Derby. She nearly made the jump-off, just barely missing the last turn and running out on the jump. Merlin jumped all the high fences with no trouble!

 

Ofelia

I mentioned Ofelia first in the headline, because she so rose to the occasion for the second year in a row. Last year Ofelia rode in the Derby to a 4^th place, better than she probably hoped for, doing some of the best riding of her summer in 2010. She did even better this time, finishing 2^nd in the High Derby and winning enough money to pay all her expenses! Fine job, Ofelia.

 

Bethany

Oh, yeah, Bethany. She did what I hoped and expected her to do – kick –ss, bigtime! I don’t have the score sheet in front of me, but I think the best time anyone else had in the jump-off was about 44 seconds. Bethany sizzled the course on her own horse, Holly Would, in a time of 39 seconds. SMOKING fast! Bethany has now won the High Derby two years in a row, a feat that has never been accomplished, as far as I can remember.

 

Mandi

Head counselor, Mandi, was not thrilled with her rides, because she didn’t win and she has high standards for herself. But I was happy for her. She rode Brody strong & tough and got him all around the course after he did one dirty quit early in the round. Good, strong riding. Bristol is hard to handle on tight turns, but Mandi put in a very fine job for ¾ of the course, before Bristol ran out on the long road line of jumps. A good job on hard horses.

 

Brownie Retired

Anderson jumped Brownie for probably the final jump of his career at Longacres. A career that spanned 27 years, since we purchased him as a three year old. At 30 years old, he willingly jumped one of the lowered jumps on the Derby course in front of the crowd. I then told Brownie stories while Michelle and Anderson walked Brownie off the Longacres show field for the last time before his permanent retirement, while the Bagpipe Band played Old Acquaintences Be Forgot, or however you spell old lange sine.

 

We took more pictures. They will soon be at this link. As of tonight, we have 40,490 pictures in the Longacres iPhoto library, covering the past several years!

 

Saturday, August 13^th, 3PM Update:

Winners! The lower four Derbies are now in the books and our girls did wonderfully. Every one of them learned from mistakes yesterday and were excellent today! The high Derby is still to go tonight. Check this link for over 130 pictures from this morning.

 

The Championship cooler for the beginner Derby was won by Stephanie R. on Rocky! The next level up winner was Jessica on Wilful Child (Boo); the next was won by Eva riding Joc-a-Bee for Bethany. The highest of the morning Derbies was won by Kellie on Merlin.

 

Other winners were:

Derby 1:

Anderson 2^nd; Cassie 3^rd; Stephanie D 4^th; Stephanie D 5^th; and Stephanie R. 6^th

 

Derby 2:

Eva 2^nd; Sophie 3^rd; Anderson 4^th; Cassie 5^th; Kellie 6^th; Valerie 7^th;

 

Derby 3:

Sophie 2^nd; Jessica 3^rd; Kellie 4^th; Valerie 5^th; Alexis Merlino 6^th;

 

Derby 4:

Kellie 1^st; Eva 2^nd; Alexis 3^rd; Jessica 4th

 

Saturday, August 13^th, 9:25 AM Derby Day Update!

Just an hour and a half now until the first horse enters the big show field for the high point of the summer at Longacres. At least two Longacres riders will come away with Derby Champion coolers, since the light entry of outside stable horses will allow us to restrict those first two classes to just Longacres entries. The other three will be challenged by outside riders, though we expect an unusually light outside entry today.

 

Several Longacres horses will win Season Championships at the Awards Party for the Summer Series, held here at Longacres tonight with the bagpipe band playing during the presentations. It is an exciting evening!

 

Scolded Counselors

It is always a tough call whether or not to point out deficiencies to staff on an otherwise exciting and happy day. I could not hide my disappointment this morning after using one of the water tubs the horses are watered from to fill the water jump. I found two inches of filthy, rotting yuck in the bottom of the trough as I dumped it into the water jump with the tractor. I called the three staff over and held up a handful of the filth and asked them to smell it, then said, “I don’t even want to know when the other troughs were last dumped and cleaned, but think about it.” I said it calmly and quietly. I trust that they (who share the blame equally) will rebound as they always do and offer cheerful supervision the rest of the day. Maybe I should have saved the quiet scolding for tomorrow, but the delicious odor of the “stuff” in the bottom of the trough would not have been nearly so impressive by tomorrow. Another aspect of running a stable.

 

Friday, August 12^th, 5PM Update:

Good Riding!

Everyone but Ofelia, Bethany, and Mandi has ridden their full dress rehearsal ride for the Derby. (Those three ride the higher fences after dinner.) The girls rode very well, with everyone finishing the long Derby course on at least one of their horses. Most finished well on two horses, but Brody was a bad boy and had too many refusals in one of Valerie’s classes. But she made him finish the course.

 

I have 212 pictures soon to be uploaded at this link. We will have more pictures of the three staff in the high Derby after dinner at this link.

 

The weather report is slightly improved for tomorrow, with likely good weather for most of the day and perhaps even holding out until the high Derby in the evening. It looks very likely that the low Derbies will run as planned.

 

Our “winners” this afternoon, in case of heavy rain canceling tomorrow’s event completely were Anderson on Ladd, Jessica on Jazz, Sophie of Merlin, and Kellie also on Merlin.

 

Thursday, August 11^th, 9PM Update:

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! (This one’s for you, Joy & Kathy!)

(I know, I know, that’s a forever tainted phrase, but if ever it was appropriate, it was today here at Longacres!) Tonight just before dark, Jazz jumped the big water with Bethany in the saddle. Bethany and I had many goals for this season at Longacres, but one of our most challenging was to get Jazz to jump the big water jump by the end of the summer. At the end of last summer we tried to get Jazz to jump just the little Liverpool water jump, and the horse would not even go NEAR that water! Wanted NOTHING to do with it! So our work was cut out for us.

 

Wouldn’t you know, that on the day when we finally succeeded, two other horses also jumped the wide water jump. Bristol, who has been so well ridden by Mandi in recent weeks, jumped it this morning, as did Bethany’s own horse, Holly. I believe this is the first time in Longacres history that three horses have jumped the wide water in the same day. Back when I was showing myself and riding China Heart and Yorke Springs, they both jumped it easily. And more recently, Tip-off and Miscellaneous both jumped it well in the same years. We then had a long spell with no horse willing to do it, until Quantum did three years ago.

 

There are no pictures. It was late in the evening with not enough light for good photography. That didn’t stop half a dozen of the girls from snapping their own pictures, but they are all blurry from the poor light. We’ll do it again tomorrow and get good video and pictures.

 

On to the Next Challenge!

With this goal achieved, we move on to our next important challenges: getting nine girls safely around the exciting Derby course tomorrow and Saturday, and then on to the three day horse show at Erie County Fair next week. These are the high-lites of the summer, and the girls are very excited. They were having a good time at the barn tonight and in the evening lesson, and watching us train Jazz was icing on the cake.

 

Dress rehearsals for the Derby are tomorrow afternoon, and it looks like the weather is likely to cooperate with at least the low Derbies on Saturday. The high Derby Saturday evening may get rained out.

 

Thursday, August 11^th, 1PM Update:

Good Video – The Big Water Jump is Conquered!

Not by Jazz, not yet, anyway! But BOTH Bristol and Holly jumped the big water this morning. The jump is not quite full of water, but I don’t think tht will make any difference. Check this link for a few pictures of Mandi on Bristol and Bethany on her own horse, Holly. Then check this video link for Bethany & Holly; this video link for Mandi & Bristol; and this video link for a clip of the girls practicing this morning.

 

Some Disappointments Coming

It is time for us to make the final horse assignments for the Derby this weekend. We are able to give most girls one of their first choices. But in several cases, it is our opinion that a rider’s reach may exceed her grasp, and safety must dictate the horse assignment. This is a very demanding jumping event, and we will not put someone at risk on a horse that may give them problems, unless they have a VERY secure seat. Every rider will be assigned one or more suitable horses in suitable events. We hope that the two or three who are not getting their first choice can understand that we must make a judgement based on our knowledge of the horse’s behavior and safety issues. Some will get their first choice horse, but we will require them to jump in a lower height event than they might wish.

 

Wednesday, August 10^th, 11PM Update:

Options for the Derby

The weather forecast for Saturday keeps changing, with the most recent a little more promising. We will do our best to run all Derbies on Saturday, as scheduled. The Awards Party for the Summer Series will be in the Longacres barn beginning about 5:30 PM, as planned, rain or shine.

 

Plan “B” for the Derbies

Because of the moderate chance of rain on Saturday, we will be running a “dress rehearsal” for all four of the lower Derbies beginning at 2PM Friday. The lowest two are being run just for Longacres students. One of the 2’3” Derbies and the 2’6” Derby are open to all.

 

Riders from other stables are welcome to take part in the Friday “dress rehearsal” Derbies at no charge, for the fun of it.

 

IF THE DERBIES ARE RAINED OUT on Saturday, the Friday results will count, and ribbons & Coolers will be awarded at the Awards Party. Non-Longacres riders who placed in the rehearsal Derbies Friday may pay the appropriate entry fee after the fact and receive their awards at the party.

 

We will make every effort to run the High Derby Saturday evening as scheduled. If it is actually raining or the field is too wet, it will be cancelled and a for fun make-up high Derby may be held on the following Friday after Erie County Fair. In any case, the Awards Party is on rain or shine in the Longacres Barn Saturday night.

 

And Here at Longacres Tonight:

In spite of a partly to mostly cloudy night, we held the moonlight ride this evening. It was actually very pretty watching the moon duck in and out of the clouds, with heavy chirping from frogs in the woods as background noise. We did our usual walk, trot, and individual cantering, and even did the moonlight jumping, in spite of the changeable moonlight. We had more horses out than we usually use in a moonlight ride – nine in all. It made the traditional two minutes of silence at the end of the ride very nice, with that many horses lined up, breathing and chomping on their bits. After the two minutes of silence, most of the girls stayed sitting on their horses in the moonlight for several more minutes.

 

Hard Work in Lessons

We have a group of motivated students this session, but many with not a lot of advanced riding experience. Many have good form, but not a lot of strength in their riding. The theme today in lessons was, “Cowboy Up, and get tough!” We ran numerous exercises forcing students to really push their horse forward, or hold back to shorten the stride. Most made good progress.

 

Most of the girls are sitting up and really concentrating during these training sessions. One got caught not paying attention this morning. You would think it would have been one of our less experienced students, but you would be wrong. It was one of our best riders, twice being very inattentive during the lesson I was helping teach myself. One of my favorite people. I expressed my disappointment clearly (one way of putting it). I am usually pretty easy going in my old age, so the few times I become more animated in my riding comments, it tends to make an impression. Boy, oh Boy, did everyone sit up and have their horses behaving well for the rest of the morning lesson!

 

Tuesday, 11PM Update:

Not a Bad Riding Camp

Meghan and I just got back to the house after visiting Bethany, Eva, Cassie, and Stephanie in the old barn hayloft where they are enjoying their slumber party. We took them some chocolate milk & cookies and shared their snack. On the way back Meghan and I stood near the barn for a few minutes looking up at clouds beginning to obscure the nearly full moon, listening to the horses happily munching fresh grass, and observing some lightning off in the distance. We listened to the girls giggling and telling stories up in the loft. We are really pleased with the popularity of the hayloft slumber parties & overnight trail rides. We knew the girls would like this new activity when we added it to the Longacres experience this year, but it has turned out even better than expected.

 

We talked about the beauty of that moment on so many levels and gave thanks for what has been a very good season at Longacres. The new “Really Cool Surprises” check list of special activities we try to fit in each session has really added to the sense of fun. Meghan and I chatted about how well those special “extra’s” have gone over this season and decided to pat ourselves on the back for running a pretty unique experience for young horse lovers!

 

Check this link for pictures taken at tonight’s hayloft slumber party.

 

Tuesday, August 9^th, 9:30 PM Update:

Lots Going On

Thanks to Danielle, who works for us running horse shows and who interviewed for our cook’s job two years ago. Danielle cooked tonight and will again the next two meals, then Joyce takes over for the rest of the summer.

 

Joel & Rob were busy cutting evergreen trees to use brushing up the jumps for the Derby.

 

Tom set up the spacing for the final position of the jumps on the Road Line, and we’ll have the course in it’s final form except for decorating by tomorrow night.

 

Good job Mandi and Bethany for keeping the riding program rolling after a late start due to the morning rain. They got in four lessons, three in the afternoon and one after dinner. Some girls even sat out the evening ride because they were getting tired.

 

When I was at the barn this evening we had three groups. Kellie, Anderson, Jessica, and J.B. were hanging out at the barn relaxing and taking an hour off. Having fun. Bethany was leading the overnight trail ride with Eva, Stephanie, and Cassie. Mandi was teaching a lesson and then leading a mini-moonlight ride in the late twilight around the big show field with Ofelia, Sophie, and Valerie. Am I missing someone?

 

Meghan was doing office work, signing up a new student for Lazy Days, getting a snack treat in place for the overnight riders, taking care of a horse insurance question, giving Joel instructions for the jump course evergreens, checking on the horse list for tomorrow, and - - - well, you get the idea.

 

All in all, spirits very good!

 

Tuesday, August 9^th, 10AM Update:

Steady light to moderate rain is falling giving us a much needed soaking. The girls enjoyed a late sleep-in and late breakfast. I gave them the option of riding in the rain this morning, but they unanimously chose planning for the Derby and watching more video of last year’s Derby to learn the courses. We should be riding again by mid afternoon.

 

PICTURES

Pics from yesterday (Monday) are now posted at this link – I uploaded them yesterday and forgot to put this link up on the website.

 

Tuesday, 8:30 AM Update:

Horse Show Points are Now Posted

Check this link for the final Point Standings for Season Championships for the 2011 Summer Series. See you all at the Awards party! (We could use a couple more Party Sponsor patrons.)

 

Tuesday, 8AM Update:

Cook Problem Looks Like it’s Solved

Meghan and Joel will handle it for two more days, but then Joyce, who cooked for us for years until she got too busy with her party catering business to continue, will step in for the rest of the summer. Joyce is a fine lady and has continued to cater the Derby Party since she cooked for us regularly. A great solution to the “Mysterious Disappearing Cook” problem!

 

Tuesday, August 9^th, 7AM Update:

Interesting Summer for Weather Followers

It looks like the first half of today will be one of the few complete rain-outs of the summer for Longacres. We’ve called down and told everyone to stay in bed during the steady rain. They can use the rest anyway, and there will be late day clearing when we will get in several training sessions.

 

We have had just enough rain here the past two weeks to break the July draught and give us good footing and green grass for the Derby. But most area heavier rains have missed us, because of our position right at the end of Lake Erie. Yesterday there were heavy rains just north of us near the airport, but almost nothing at Longacres, with a full day of riding. That’s been a pattern this summer.

 

Here is a Climate report from the National Weather Service issued this morning:

.CLIMATE...

IT LOOKS LIKE BUFFALO`S LONG STRETCH OF 80 DEG PLUS WEATHER WILL

COME TO AN END TODAY. THIS STREAK HAS BEEN REMARKABLE...LITTLE

EXTREME HEAT...BUT INCREDIBLY CONSISTENT WARMTH. MONDAY WAS

BUFFALO`S 26TH CONSEC DAY OF TEMPS 80 OR BETTER...THE THIRD LONGEST

IN HISTORY. ONLY 1949 WITH 32 DAYS AND 1983 WITH 29 DAYS EXCEEDED

IT. AND...38 OF THE LAST 39 DAYS REACHED AT LEAST THE 80S...WITH THE

LONE EXCEPTION A 79 ON JULY 13. THIS 39 DAY STRETCH (SINCE JUN 30)

IS THE LONGEST EVER AT 79 OR ABOVE. AND...THE TEMP HAS BEEN ABOVE

NORMAL FOR 25 CONSECUTIVE DAYS AS WELL.

 

As the weather service reports, it has been very warm, but only a few days of real 90 degree plus heat. Not a bad summer for riding. The next few days feature below normal temperatures, really nice for riding!

 

Derby Weather

If the current long range forecast holds, we will have decent weather for most of Saturday when most of our girls will ride in the lower Derby events. There will be increasing clouds and late day or early evening showers expected, so getting the High Derby event in will be nip and tuck as far as rain goes. We will hold a full dress rehearsal of the High Derby Friday, setting the jumps at the high height for those of us qualified for that event. Then, in case the High Derby gets rained out Saturday night, everyone will have had a chance to ride the course just as though it were a real show. The Awards Party will be held rain or shine Saturday evening.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

Summer Series Points

All final points have been tabulated and will be posted on the Summer Series News page later this morning. Congratulations to all Season Champions, some from Longacres. It has been a good year for the series, with some long time members of the series moving on to other showing opportunities, while great new stables have taken over and provided good horse counts for the shows.

 

Any last minute Awards Party sponsors out there? One show has not paid their Series Fees and we have given up hope on getting their fees. That leaves us a few hundred dollars short to cover the costs of the trophies and the Awards Party. If anyone would like to offer $75, $100, or $150 Silver, Gold, or Platinum Awards Sponsorships, the riders will be grateful! Give us a call with a pledge if you can. Same thing happened last year and we had a flurry of last minute contributions that let us balance the budget.

 

Monday, 9PM Update:

Longacres Has Been “Eva-ized”!

It’s impressive what the addition of one very cheerful and outgoing 12 year old can do for morale in a camp program. It’s not just Eva’s arrival, of course – it is a mix of several new girls and returning old friends of Longacres all working together and fitting in the program. The girls all were mounted tonight under a three quarter full moon and riding all around the Derby jump course, just on the flat while they learned the pattern of the course. There was lots of good natured joking and animated chatter as I sat in my tractor next to the field watching and listening. Eva was in the thick of it!

 

The girls took turns teaching and quizzing one another on different parts of the Derby course.

 

There is a smores party by the campfire pit in 45 minutes. Meghan and I are headed into town in a few minutes to stock up on chocolate!

 

Still Looking for a Cook

Joel and Meghan got together to cook and serve dinner tonight. It was a good job, with pasta, meatballs, salad, great hot rolls, veggies, and more. (Anyone out there want to give us a hand, either for pay or in trade for a riding lesson? We only need to cover about 8 or 10 more dinners. Guest chefs are welcome. We resort to Manpower temps tomorrow.)

 

Monday, August 8^th, 2PM Update:

Bristol Does the Big Water!

Who knew? Our project for the summer has been slowly and carefully training Jazz to jump the big water by the end of the season. But when we were casually fooling around with the horses this morning, Bristol leaned way out over the water as though it were nothing special. So I asked Mandi to trot her up to the edge of the big water just to see what would happen. What happened is in this video clip!

 

Bristol, our once Olympic Combined Training Event horse prospect, is a natural at water jumps! Now Jazz REALLY has to learn to do the big water in the next two weeks. With Bristol here to lead her, it should be manageable.

 

Here is a video clip showing some of the girls this morning doing the exercise we described in last night’s update, trying to put one or alternately, two strides in combination jumps. Those of you at home, read what we posted last night, and then watch the video.

 

Everyone practiced big parts of the Derby course on the big show field this morning. Most did very well and we found out which horses still need more work.

 

The girls are up here at the house right now watching video from the show yesterday and video from last year’s Derby. More riding coming later today and this evening.

 

Welcome Kerri from Chicago!

I had great talks this morning with Kerri and her Mom about Kerri likely attending Lazy Days week. We have a couple of spots still open that week, so if anyone is free for that late August week, give us a call!

 

Sunday, August 7^th, 10PM Update:

A Once in a Lifetime Riding Experience, etc

There aren’t many things you do with horses that are legitimate “Once in a Lifetime” things. Riding in the Longacres Derby may be one of them, though. Once a summer we set up the very special Derby jumping course on the big show field. It’s a course of about 32 separate jumps, including all the special jumps in our inventory, and for many/most riders, they will probably never jump a course like that again in their lives. Our jumps and facilities are unique and it takes enormous resources in facilities and in labor just to set up that kind of course and decorate it the way we do.

 

It also takes intense training and practice for our riders to succeed on this challenging jump course. Derby Week every year has it’s own rhythm and a little bit different schedule from the rest of the summer. We may ride a little less than five hours a day this week, because when we ride, much of it will be very intense training. Horses and riders, both, will need to be well rested between training sessions. Already, we have scheduled a late “sleep-in” tomorrow morning after the horse show today to help get everyone well rested. We may do a few extra fun little special events or field trips during the week to get everyone to relax between difficult training sessions.

 

Here’s a good example of the kind of special training required: Much of our jumping during the regular program at Longacres is over single jumps, a line of two jumps a certain number of strides apart, or short jump courses with turns in between several jumps. But one of the hardest things about the Derby course is that it includes a number of triple combinations. A “triple” is a jump, one stride for the horse, another jump, then one more stride for the horse, then a third jump, all in a row. The jumps are set a technically determined distance apart (typically 24 feet). The real challenge is that big show horses, like Jazz, Horatio, Whitley, Bristol, and some others can take these triple combinations with just one of their strides between each of the three jumps. Small horses and ponies might be able to comfortably squeeze two strides in between each jump, where the bigger horses put in only one. And some horses and ponies are right in between, where they might prefer one stride or two strides, or not be sure how to do it.

 

Tomorrow we will set up a triple combination in the sand ring and practice so that each horse and rider combination entered in the Derby will be able to develop a plan so that the rider can help set the horse up to do the triple appropriately, either doing each part of the combination in one stride, or in two. Some ponies may actually be most comfortable doing the space between the first two jumps in one stride, then falling a little behind and putting two strides in between the final two jumps. This is a very technical riding exercise, and each rider needs to have a realistic plan.

 

Sometime during the day tomorrow, we will meet at the main house and watch both the video’s from today’s show, and video taken over this same Derby course last year. We’ll give this year’s riders insight into how their chosen horse did in last year’s Derby. We’ll point out the most challenging part of the Derby jump course.

 

We’ll post pictures all week and try to comment on some of them so you at home can understand what we’re trying to accomplish with the week’s very specialized training.

 

Fine Spirits!

The past week and a half has been good, but we have had an odd mix of ages and riding abilities, and we have been not quite full to capacity. These factors contributed to a quieter, less boisterous group at Longacres than is often the case. I won’t say that Meghan and I didn’t find that a bit relaxing sometimes, but we do like high spirits and laughter at meals and get togethers. With the arrival of four new bodies this weekend, including the VERY boisterous Eva, we are full again and spirits are running high. Check out this video link, and this one for clips from Kone King tonight. The group we have for the balance of the regular season is a very good one!

 

Sunday, August 7^th, 7PM Update:

A Good Horse Show

The girls are doing horsecare and getting ready for our Pasquale’s dinner after a very nice horse show. We won many ribbons against very tough competition. Our good friends at Newstead Equestrian Center did VERY well – they are really ruling the Puddle Jumper division this summer, that we often win. We salute them!

 

Check this link and this link for a couple hundred pictures from the show. I hope we got some of everyone.

 

We’ll watch some of the horse show video tonight and some tomorrow night. We could all use some early to bed and maybe a sleep-in after a very strenuous weekend!

 

It did rain hard for a while at the show and many of us got wet. But the sun kept coming back out and the footing was very good in the sand ring.

 

Saturday, August 6^th, 10 PM Update:

Yes, We Fed Them!

Meghan served up the chow and Tom ran the dishwasher tonight as we served the girls pizza, Buffalo wings, Bar-B-Que wings, and wholesome vegetable salad and potato salad. I did the dishes, and I did a good job – it is NOT the first time I have run that dishwasher over the past 50 to 55 years! I wish I had a buck for every dish I ran through that machine during my younger years at Longacres as child labor!

 

Actually, if truth be told, I rather enjoy doing dishes, so long as I don’t have to do them too often. It’s a bit like mowing grass, which I also enjoy. You get immediate positive reward for doing the job well. Your results just look good. Meghan and I have a saying around the farm that we both understand; “Getting’ work done; Feelin’ good! Raaaargh!!”

 

Check out this video link as proof that we served dinner tonight.

 

We welcomed Stephanie D to Longacres late this evening and she will show tomorrow, along with Eva, who will come directly from the civil aviation airport to the show and hop on a horse.

 

Saturday, August 6^th, 6PM Update:

Good Horses, Good Riders

Sometimes it is rewarding to put yourself in a stranger’s shoes and take a long look at Longacres from fresh eyes. This morning we hosted the trainer from a farm in Ohio considering taking several Longacres horses for the winter. As Meghan and I described the various horses available for lease, I enjoyed the process of watching and evaluating our hroses – AND our riders this session.

 

All the girls rode competently and smoothly. They made our horses look good – which they are, of course! Near the end of the lesson, I had Mandi on Mave, Kellie on Piper, Katie on Boo, and Valerie on Zanee up in the little show ring. After watching these four horses and riders jump a small course and then work on the flat, I asked them to all pretend they were complete beginners, and let their horses one at a time trot into a line, jump the first fence, and canter on down to the second jump on a loose rein. This is a good way to show a visitor just how the horses behave without skilled rider input.

 

Each of these four kind horses trotted in willingly and jumped gracefully with no rider input at all. What a nice string of horses we have! And what nice riders! And Eva & Stephanie will be joining this group for the final two weeks.

 

Derby Day, 7 Days & Counting

Joel and Rob worked all day today putting the jumps in position for the big Derby Course. Meghan and her crew will be busy for the next 6 days now decorating the jumps with hundreds and hundreds of flowers, hay bales, evergreen brush, plants, and more and more until the course looks like it did last August for the 2010 Derby. Check this video link to see how the course looks now, at the beginning of the week.

 

Horse Show Tomorrow

The girls had a good practice this morning for the show at Skibbereen tomorrow. We’ll be leaving early in the morning, with the first event at 9AM. Sorry we had no pictures of the girls today, what with various busy actitivities, but we’ll make up for it tomorrow with hundreds of pictures that we’ll take at the horse show. Check back this time tomorrow night for pictures. We especially wish good luck to our three new students, all of whom plan to show tomorrow with very little practice. Stephanie R arrived this morning and did get to ride a couple of hours. Stephanie D and Eva both arrive late tonight or tomorrow morning and will go right to the show with no practice. But they want to show – that’s guts!

 

Eva & Her Mom

Are taking Jazz for the winter!!!!! What a great home for a great horse! We are finding homes now for most of the horses and we owe part of that success to all of our regular readers who have been passing the information on the Free Lease program on to friends. Keep it up!

 

Week’s Weather Report

We were really hoping for the heavy rain that hit many parts of western New York to come down on us today while the horses were at rest. But no such luck – we had only a few sprinkles, while heavier rain passed north and south of us. Our grass is green still from last week’s rain, but we would like more before the Derby. There is low chance of rain every day this week, so with luck we will get some. (Watch – with our luck we will get rain right on Derby Day, which would NOT be so good!) It is also going to be a cooler week, just right for riding.

 

Food

Oh yeah, that. We will have food. It’s an interesting example of moving on after yesterday’s big story that I actually uploaded this update without remembering to update you on our food service situation. Meghan and I are serving dinner ourselves tonight, and tomorrow is our traditional Pasquale’s dinner after the show. We have a couple of people lined up to provide dinners during the next ten days when we are eating here at our dining hall. The schedule is not firm yet, but we’ll get it done. (Any of our local readers want to come and be “guest chef’s” for a day? Give us a call!) We only have a couple of weeks to get through before the end of the season now.

 

Friday, August 5^th, 9PM Update:

“The Case of the Mysterious Disappearing Cook”

or “Never a Dull Moment at Longacres”

Quite a story for tonight’s Blog! But first, check this link for pictures of everyone on the old hunt course this afternoon. Now on to the “story”.

 

A careful business owner/camp director would not write this kind of story until all the details were more clear, and Plan “B” fully implemented. But what fun would that be? I have always been proud that we share almost everything with the extended Longacres family of past and present students, family, and friends. You share our triumphs and our pain in almost real time as we go through each season at Longacres.

 

During 73 years of running Longacres, we’ve seen almost everything, including “Mysterious Disappearing Cooks”. But not quite this way before. (Cook Julie disappeared for two weeks several years ago. She just didn’t show up to cook dinner one night and was gone for two weeks. It turned out she had a flu and for some reason just assumed that we would know that. We didn’t.)

 

I’ll tell you what we know right now about this year’s “Mysterious Disappearing Cook”, but first I need to acknowledge that Chef Tom has done good work catering dinner at Longacres all last season, and for most of this season right up until last night. He’s a good cook and has been very nice to the kids. If he cooked his last meal for Longacres last night, we will remember the good. We will also remember the following facts, as well as more facts likely to turn up in the next few days!

 

Three days ago we had an anonymous message on our answering machine alleging that one of our cooks was engaged in a scheme to double bill us for food supplies, while defrauding local grocery stores through a system of requesting double receipts and returning many purchased food items for cash refunds, which he pocketed. As an anonymous tip, we took it with a grain of salt, but began a quick check comparing inventory and receipts. Not as though we don’t have plenty of useful things to do with our time, but we did not want to make allegations based on a “tip” without some good evidence. Especially against a good cook.

 

This afternoon, the plot thickened. The manager of the local grocery store called and gave me the results of one of their “stop loss department” investigations. It turns out that they have a record of our caterer, Chef Tom, repeatedly making large purchases, talking some cashier into giving him two copies of the receipt, and shortly after returning many of the purchases for a cash refund. The extra copy of the receipt was turned into us for reimbursement on his time & materials contract for food services. The grocery store confronted him this afternoon and refused to give the second bogus receipt, or to take back the purchased goods in the future.

 

I was shocked (well, maybe not really shocked – I have a jaundiced view of human nature in many cases I am afraid), and certainly saddened. Meghan and I discussed how to best present this information to Chef Tom and ask for his side of the story. We needn’t have worried about choosing the best time for this meeting. Apparently Chef Tom realized after being confronted at the grocery store today that “the jig was about up”. He simply didn’t show up tonight, and we all walked into the dining hall for dinner and found it empty with no Chef and no dinner. Suddenly it became pretty clear what was happening.

 

Fun, wow, huh?

 

But don’t worry, you parents at home. Meghan is nothing, if not well prepared for almost anything with a solid Plan “B” in place. Breakfast cook/right hand gal, Sarah, has had her father on standby as a substitute cook all summer, “just in case”. He has been in several times doing breakfast and dinners when Chef Tom could not make it. Between him, Sarah, and a couple of other standby past Longacres cooks, we’ll get everyone fed. (Meghan is a past longacres cook!) And we really have only one more week to run a regular dining hall schedule. The whole week of Erie County Fair, we spend many nights eating at the fair and cook very simple portable meals to supplement fair food with something more wholesome. And we have a small group for Lazy Days week who will be easy to feed. We’ll do OK.

 

Bottom Line

I am a lot more sad than mad. Longacres was not badly hurt by these shenanigans. As near as we can tell, we may be out $500 or $600 dollars over the course of the summer. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. Not a lot of money, and we have had good meals provided. We have turned our information over to the police and pledged to cooperate with the Grocery store stop-loss investigation. The Top’s Market people may have been hurt more by the fraudulent returns, and may be more aggressive in pursuing this matter. And there may be more to this than just our dinners.

 

The really sad thing is that there are seemingly nice people in the world with good talents who will jeopardize themselves and their families for just a few hundred dollars. That people down on their luck will resort to petty crime as a temporarily easy way out of their problems. I spoke with our girls here at Longacres this evening (while we were enjoying a bonus meal out!) and told them to give thanks that they come from families comfortably well off and able to take it for granted that there will be food on the table every night. It is a blessing not to be faced with temptation.

 

I am not yet sure if what we’re dealing with is a crime, a civil breach of contract, or simply unethical behavior. Doesn’t much matter to me. I am sad that this happened. But I won’t lose a minute’s sleep if the culprit pays a stiff price for his conduct.

 

Friday, August 5^th, 3PM Update:

“We’ll Let Longacres’ Reputation Ride on that Lesson”

Nice job, Caroline, and Bethany and the other instructors who taught her the past nine days. Caroline arrived last Wednesday pretty much a beginner, just able to post and never having jumped. Caroline came for one of the ten day specials we offered this month to take advantage of a couple of August vacancies.

 

Caroline’s mom joined us to watch the morning lesson today, since she got here early to pick up Caroline at the end of her stay. After nine days at Longacres, Caroline is doing solid trot work, cantering, doing small X-rails jump courses, and cantering over small vertical jumps. Caroline rode her best while her mom and I watched Bethany teach her this morning.

 

At the end of the lesson, I turned to Caroline’s mom and said, “Yup – I’m willing to let our reputation ride on what I saw your daughter do this morning!” Longacres teaches a lot of advanced riders and does a lot of showing. But some of our proudest moments come when we see such rapid progress with beginner riders. Beginners are always welcome at Longacres!

 

= = = = =

 

I just posted pictures from this morning at this link. They show some girls in lessons, including Sophie jumping Lincoln bigger than he usually does, little Anderson jumping BIG Jazz pretty high, and Kellie jumping Horatio 3’6”. We will have more pictures from Meghan’s camera showing the girls on the old hunt course at this link in an hour or so.

 

Does Jazz Have a Home?

MAYBE! We’re waiting for final confirmation to make the announcement, but Jazz may have a great home with one of this summer’s students and her mom. Stay tuned!

 

More Winter Horse Homes?

We have had several interesting conversations with Maypine Farms near Cleveland, Ohio. They lease good lesson hroses from two colleges in Ohio during their summer season, and they like to find good camp horses like ours to augment their string of school horses for the winter. It could be a good arrangement. Are any of you familiar with this farm. We need to check them out carefully befoe agreeing to any arrangement for them to have some of our horses. Here is their website. Ask your horse friends near Cleveland if they know of this stable and the people running it. Thanks.

 

Thursday, August 4^th, 1PM Update:

Quantum Would be Proud

Check the pictures at this link from this morning. I think we got one or more of each rider in the morning lesson.

 

Then just before lunch I set up a bigger combination and had Bethany ride Horatio over, first at 3’6” (a pretty big jump), then at 4 feet (a VERY big jump!). Horatio did all the jumps effortlessly, with plenty of room to spare. His form was first class. What a horse. Quantum would be proud! (See pictures at the end of today’s album)

 

As most readers know, we lost Quantum Leap, one of our all time most successful jumpers, to a broken leg last summer. He was a one of a kind horse, with immense talent ridden by good riders, but the patience to take care of much less experienced riders when we gave them a “Quantum ride”. It was a heavy loss for Longacres, but Horatio stepped right in, winning the Longacres High Derby last August. We have been training both Jazz and Horatio over increasingly difficult courses and jumps this summer. They are coming along well. Horatio may even have a bigger jump than Quantum, though he is still not quite as fast as Quantum on turns. We’ll never forget Quantum (“Q” to his many loyal riders), but we move on and we are very pleased with the progress of our current top jumpers.

 

Quantum would be proud, for sure. On the way back to the house from helping Bethany with the big jumping this morning, I took the ATV out along the trail to Jumper Hill and stopped and saluted Quantum at his grave. I sensed that he approved of today’s events.

 

Thursday, August 4^th, Noon Update:

Mall This Afternoon

We’ll be going out later this afternoon for dinner at the mall on the cook’s night off. The girls will have their cell phones between five and nine PM, so you can expect to hear from them or try to phone them.

 

HORSE SHOW DETAILS

We show at Skibbereen Farms on Sunday (SUNDAY THIS WEEK), with the big ring starting at 9AM and the inside ring starting at 11:00 AM. Skibbereen is about five miles from Longacres. The prize list is posted on their website here, and is the same as it was last year.

 

This show is the final one in the Summer Series, and many season championships are still to be decided. Three of the nine are locked up, but the rest wide open!

 

Here At Longacres

The girls were riding well this morning. Caroline did some of the best riding of her ten day session in the beginner lesson, looking pretty good over multiple jumps. Her mom visits tomorrow to watch a lesson.

 

I talked with the girls about how to handle refusals on jump courses this morning. We had a lot of joking about the high likelihood that there will be some refusals on the long Derby course next week. We’re giving good training in how to handle these situations and setting the tone for making the best of it.

 

Meghan took some more pictures this morning which will be at this link after lunch.

 

Wednesday, August 3^rd, 10PM Update:

It’s been a busy day, including some great luck with the weather. We got in every minute of our planned riding, in spite of a very rainy forecast. It did rain heavily across most of western New York, but not right here at Longacres. The rain passed by just to our north and just to our south, with only a few sprinkles here and there in East Aurora. The girls are all sleeping in the old barn hayloft tonight, and as I write, Meghan is out getting pizza for the slumber party. Usually Meghan brings me pictures to post, and if she does, they will be at this link soon.

 

We are hard at work training for the Jumper Derby. We began dismantling the regular horse show jump course today and placing the jumps where they will be for the Derby on the 13^th. The girls are beginning to practice riding the pattern of the Derby jump course every day now. This morning the girls who already know the course were leading the new girls around the course, including the Pulverman and the various log jumps. Some of them despair at learning the 32 jump course, but with practice they will get it!

 

Check this video link for a clip showing Meghan and I putting the girls’ sleeping bags and stuff in the loft for tonight’s slumber party.

 

We were light on pictures the past two days while we’ve been especially busy around the farm. I’ll try to take some nice ones of the girls out practicing the big jump course tomorrow.

 

Tuesday, August 2^nd, 9PM Update:

Jazz is “Getting it” over the water!

Check this video link for a clip taken an hour ago as Jazz practiced over the smaller water jump. She really challenged us the two previous training sessions, but is now beginning to settle down and accept it as one more part of “her job”. On to the real challenge of getting her to do the “big water jump” by the end of the summer. We’ve only got three more weeks.

 

Everyone is riding well. We let Valerie ride Horatio tonight and she liked him. Kellie got to ride Ebony her first night back at Longacres. More pictures and riding news coming tomorrow, likely in the afternoon, since we might get rained out in the morning. The overnight trail ride for this session is scheduled for tomorrow night.

 

Rest? What rest?

Today was going to be a restful day for me. I got rather whupped yesterday after getting up in the middle of the night to prepare jumps for a strong thunderstorm and then working more than usual all day Monday. So Meghan offered me a rest day today. But I got into one thing after another, most very enjoyable. I coached several of the girls this morning and gave Caroline a private lesson. Then worked on Horse Lease newsletters and mailings all afternoon, then helped Joel build a dam on one of the small creeks to protect a gas line. That project got more involved than we had expected. I helped Bethany school Jazz over the water at the end of evening ride, then took a shovel out in the woods on some of the trails prone to flooding and worked to improve drainage outlets in preparation for the heavy rain that may come overnight tonight. You could say that I am “whupped” for a second day in a row, though I don’t feel quite as exhausted as last night.

 

Winter Horse Homes

This is one of our big efforts for the next two weeks. We have seven more horses in need of winter free leases. Check the links on this page, download the posters and pass them on to your horse friends via email, posting at your barn bulliten boards, or anything else you can think of the might find someone wanting a great horse for a temporary 9 month lease. It would help us very much if one or two of our regular readers can come up with a possible home for even just one more of our horses!

 

Tuesday, August 2, Noon Update:

Studying for the Derby & More

I always take a more direct part in teaching during the weeks preceding the Derby than at other times during the summer. I am now giving daily “Tom’s Tidbits” of information on special jumper rules and ideas for training for the exciting Derby event coming in TEN DAYS now! This morning we talked about the definition of a “combination” (LOTS of them in the Derby course!), and the difference between “open obstacles” and “closed obstacles” (one you must jump all elements in case of a refusal, the other you don’t).

 

After teaching the whole group for a bit, I was on a roll, so I gave Caroline a private jumping lesson. I’ve always liked watching a beginner just starting to really “get it” while they are learning to jump. Caroline and Kristen have both come a long way in a short time this session at Longacres. Kristen already has her 2012 enrollment request in, just waiting for the 2012 enrollment Period to open on September 1^st.

 

I should have pictures from Meghan’s camera at this link very soon, including the ones she had last night that I fell asleep trying to upload!

 

Monday, August 1^st, 10PM Update:

More Good Stuff

We finished the day with a splash or two. (That would be the splash almost made by Bristol and Jazz jumping the Liverpool filled with real water.) Everyone got to watch and with their horses help encourage Jazz to do the water jump, which she did after some "coaxing" from Tom. Bristol was very "ho-hum" about it, trotting over it the very first time we asked her. Bristol is just getting better by the week!

 

We also got confirmation that Courtney from Binghamton is taking Diesel home for the winter. We really liked her when she visited to look at Diesel yesterday and we're glad she confirmed the lease! You can see Courtney on Diesel at this link.

 

"Derby Day" count down is 11 more days!

 

Looking forward to seeing KELLIE tomorrow night!

 

The weather will be mostly good the rest of the week. Tomorrow is supposed to be a great day with lower humidity and bright sun. We do expect some heavy rain Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, but then more good weather the end of the week. The rain is very good for our footing in the riding areas, so we'll accept an occasional rain out of a lesson.

 

A few more pictures from Meghan's camera will be at this link shortly.

 

Monday, August 1^st, 1PM Update:

Nice Pictures and Good Morale

Enthusiasm is good this morning. The student who was having trouble sleeping got a recommended medication that really helped and she is much better today. And with the girl who was having ankle problems gone home to get better, everyone left here is doing great and in good spirits. We had a really fun morning of jumping the Butterfly , Castle, and other jumps on the big field. We'll be riding on the big show field for the next 12 days as we prepare for the Derby on August 13th!

 

Check this link for some nice oversized pictures of everyone jumping this morning. That "everyone" includes our youngest and least experienced riders who both jumped on the big show field today. Also be sure to check the new picture at the top of this page, showing Valerie on Tux this morning. We LOVE the new picture! It will have to go on the "Meet the Horses" page. Nice job, Valerie!

 

Check this video link for a clip of a girl who drove over three hours yesterday to check out Diesel and possibly lease him for the winter. She did well with him and really liked him. She spent a good bit of time grooming and handling him, but when she finally climbed on, she said, "Wow! He is REALLY big!". He is.

 

Monday, August 1^st, 5:30 AM Update:

More Night Time Jump Crew Stuff

Woke up about four and followed the progress of strong thunderstorms on radar for a while. As the thunder grew near, we hopped up and went to the show field to take down the Butterfly Jump so it would not be damaged in strong winds. So far we are getting heavy rain and thunder, but not strong winds. Better safe than sorry, though. We will be putting the Butterfly right back up later this morning, since pictures of this session's students doing the Butterfly are part of the lesson plans for today.

Nice that the drought of July is over. We have off and on rain for much of this week, but quite scattered, so we should get most of our regular lessons in easily. The ground is nice and soft and the rings are dust free. Very good riding conditions, with the grass turning bright green again.

 

Sunday, July 31^st, 9PM Update:

"Derby Day" is Just 13 Days Away!

The first few days of this session are always hectic, since we have a show just three days after August session students arrive. But once this first show is out of the way, our thoughts turn to one of the biggest events of the summer for Longacres – the annual Longacres Bold Jumper Derby. It's now less than two weeks away and tomorrow morning we will begin picking first and second choice horses for everyone to ride in the Derby. We have five separate Derby events at different heights (two of them at the popular 2'3" height, so our girls can share horses in this event). There are plenty of good options for horse – rider combinations.

 

We will start doing much more jumping out on the big show field beginning tomorrow to get the girls used to the big field. We'll start learning the Derby jump course, which will be the same as last year's. We'll begin giving refresher courses in the special rules that apply to this event. We like the looks of the group of riders Longacres will have in the event. This year's riders are more experienced, on the whole, than the group we had last year. Meghan and I were worried last year that many of the girls would have trouble getting around the 32 jump Derby Course and they did have lots of trying times during practice the week leading up to the event. But by the time of the show, the jitters were gone and last year's group did very, very well. We think this year will be even better! Preparations start tomorrow. For some details on the Derby Event, go to this link.

 

We have other things to do this month, as well. Be sure to read the paragraph below for some high lites.

 

Sunday, July 31^st, 6PM Update:

Not Always Perfect

We wish every student's stay was a horse lover's Dream from beginning to end. Often it works out that way, but not always, and today was one of those days. Meghan has been busy most of the day with phone calls, meetings, and making plans to work with two students having problems. One of our younger girls has been having trouble sleeping, and with our strenuous program, that can be a big issue, especially for young girls. We just got back from town picking up a medication that her parents hope will cure the problem.

 

One of our first time teenage students has ankle problems and was not up to the rigorous schedule of five hours of riding plus all the horse care work and the hills between the barn, cabins and dining hall. She is leaving camp to rest and recuperate. We wish her a speedy recovery and a happy August with some good riding when she is feeling better.

 

Phew! And all on our "day of rest"! We're glad to report that everyone else seems to be doing A-OK and looking forward to more jumping out in the big field this week, the overnight trail ride Tuesday or Wednesday, another show coming next weekend, four new students arriving by Saturday, many of them very popular returning students from last year and from the June sessions this year! Then it's less than two weeks to the Derby and just over two weeks until the big three day show at the Fair. Oh, yeah, how about the moonlight rides coming up in two weeks?

 

Good stuff is still in the works, in spite of a downer of a day.

 

Saturday, July 30^th, 5:45 PM Update:

More Pictures

Check this link for the pictures from Meghan's camera. Between us we took just over 400 pictures today. I am at the moment deleting some from Meghan's batch where the timing was off or the focus bad. There will still be a LOT to post!

 

The show had just finished when I went to get the camera ten minutes ago. Sophie was walking out of the ring on Neek-o with a couple of first place ribbons and a Championship! Cassie & Valerie each had a 2^nd and a 3^rd in the Pony Hunter classes.

 

Many thanks to Newstead Equestrian Center, Quakerfield Stables, and all the other farms that supported the show today. It was a long day in the smaller show ring, but very rewarding, with each stable doing well in certain events. The ribbons were split amoung many barns, which is a good result!

 

Saturday, July 30^th, 5PM Update:

A Great Day for a Horse Show!

And our riders rose to the occasion, with fine jobs in the saddle. It began this morning with very nice riding by our three least experienced riders, Jenny, Caroline, and Kristen. These girls put all they have learned this week into very respectable show ring performances. They didn't win blue ribbons, but we were proud to tell people they were Longacres students. They rode straight and deep into their corners, and Meghan gave them high marks for great efforts!

Out in the big show field where I was working, Bethany was Champion in both Schooling jumpers and the higher Special jumpers. We had good competition at this show! Ofelia did a great job in Schooling jumpers and was Champion in Special Hunters on Whitley. Sophie did well on Merlin in Puddle Jumpers, as did Katie on Boo.

 

Boo and Brody had hissy fits during the morning warmup – we still don't know what spooked them, but Boo settled down enough to do well on the big field.

 

Brody was scratched from the big field, but he later did very well in the small show ring for Valerie.

 

I am posting this while Meghan finishes running the show, and she will get me the results from her ring and many more pictures soon.

 

Try this link for pictures from the big field, and this link a little later for pictures from the smaller show ring.

 

As I left the show half an hour ago, Anderson, Cassie, Valerie, and Sophie were all looking good and riding well in the lower hunter and equitation classes.

 

Friday, July 29^th, 6PM Update:

Sorry, No Pics Today

We were very busy all day preparing for the show tomorrow and did not get to taking still pictures. While Meghan worked on horse show prep stuff, I did spend an hour with the girls video taping everyone. They will get to see the video after dinner.

 

It also gave me a chance to really closely watch all the girls ride after two days at Longacres. They are already showing improvement, especially just in fitness and getting more relaxed on the horses. I did my video work in the morning, so I sat down with all three counselors and Meghan after lunch and we discussed each student in detail and worked out lesson plans for each individual.

 

The first show is tomorrow at 9:45 in the big field and 11:00 AM in the small ring. It is not much time for our new students to practice, but we think we have good horses and events assigned for each rider's abilities. Then they get another full week of practice before the Skibbereen show.

 

I'll have another update later tonight.

 

Friday, July 29^th, 4AM Update:

Middle of the Night Jump Crew:

Welcome to our world – "Farm Life #833" – I woke up about 3:45 AM to the rumble of constant thunder in the distance, rolled over and brought up the weather service page. The "Special weather statements" and "Severe thunderstorm warnings" were lit up like a Christmas tree! I woke up Meghan and we drove down to the show field where we tipped over all the tall special jump stands and laid them down gently. Very high winds will knock them over during storms, often cracking or loosening a panel or other delicate part of the jump. The time it takes to lay them down before a strong storm hits is well spent, even if it's the middle of the night.

 

By the time we had finished, the very severe storm had passed by to our south, but more strong storms are in the forecast for later today, so I think our early morning sleep loss will be worthwhile. The girls slept peacefully, cuddled up in their beds as the distant storm rumbled and the lightening flashed off to our south.

 

Thursday, July 28^th, 9PM Update:

Some Big Jumping!

I wish I had more pictures or a quick video, but I got back to the farm from a dinner out just in time to help Bethany and Mandi jump "Jazz" and "Bristol" over some pretty big stuff. I was too concerned with schooling the horses before dark to have time for pictures. Meghan was nearby, but she was too excited watching!

 

Check this link for a variety of pictures taken on my iPhone the past week or so, including a couple I took after tonight's jumping showing the jump we used set at just under 4', which Jazz cleared at the end of our session. Bristol easily cleared 3'6", and she was only about 90% sound. Bristol has been a very, very sound horse, but did get a little sore after the show with Emily last weekend. She is almost 100%, but not quite, and did show just a tiny bit of soreness after we did the training tonight. We'll go very easy on her the next few days. Bristol also went over the water filled Liverpool jump on the outside course tonight after we jumped the big timber in the sand ring! Nice horse! (Nice job working with her last session, Emily!)

 

The Girls Getting Along Well

Meghan had a few minutes to chat with all the girls as they rode around the big show field after tonight's lessons. It was a nice evening, and the girls were all in good moods. Things are coming together this session. I wish the girls had stayed up top to watch the big jumping, but they left quickly to get horsecare done, and missed the excitement. We'll do another session for them to watch soon.

 

Cookie Dough Party with Chocolate Milk & Goodies!

Meghan is on her way out the door with stuff for a surprise party in the cabins. This is a Longacres tradition for the second or third night, and Meghan tries to catch them out of the bunk on their way back from the showers when she delivers the "party supplies".

 

Thursday, July 28^th, 1PM Update:

Good Riding Progress & Some Luck with the Weather!

We had a forecast for 70% chance of heavy rain today, but it has passed us by with nothing but a few sprinkles so far. The girls all got in both morning lessons, and they went well. The least experienced riders seem to be enjoying their lessons, and they are talking with me and telling me stories of their lessons when I walk up to watch part of a lesson.

 

Kristen was very bashful her first day, but twice has started conversations with me this morning with smiles as she described Rocky actually "jumping" over a ground pole. Caroline was smiling broadly as she listened to me joking with Jenny during one of my visits to their lesson. I gave suggestions to several riders this morning for exercises they could do to improve their riding. Valerie took note of my suggestions in her so far very serious way. She is really focused. She is on my list to encourage to "lighten up" and have some plain fun in between really focused training!

 

Generally we're making good progress. Behind the scenes we're holding frequent meetings emphasizing safety issues with a new and less experienced group this session. It is so easy to take it for granted that everyone knows how to handle a horse, but we can't. The basics, like how to turn a horse out to pasture safely, all have to be taught over again each session. But we're getting there.

 

Check this link for some of Meghan's morning pictures.

 

Horse Show Saturday Begins at 9:45 for jumpers and 11:00 AM for everyone else.

 

Wednesday, July 27^th, 11PM Update:

Another Good Start

Katie made it to Longacres, after some flight delays, just in time for evening ride. We're all here but Kellie, who is on a trip and has to arrive two or three days late.

 

Check this link for lots more of Meghan's pictures from today.

 

We like all the new students, but it is a very diverse group both in terms of ages and of riding backgrounds. We've got good staff, so we should be able to offer appropriate lessons for everyone. We'll keep a running report on the bonding process as the girls get to know one another.

 

Most of the girls got to ride four or five different horses today, as we were able to stick to a full riding schedule. Some of the lessons were a bit shorter than usual since it takes this new group a little longer to tack up their horses while they are getting used to the lesson routines.

 

Wednesday, July 27^th, 11:30 AM Update:

Almost everyone has arrived and they are getting on the first set of horses as I write. Caroline is coming soon by car and Katie is flying in this afternoon. Pictures coming to this link soon from the first ride.

 

Good News!

Another family is considering coming for Lazy Days. We still have open spots in that fun and relaxed week with horses!

 

Wednesday, July 27^th, 7AM Update:

Welcome August Students

We expect Jenny to be our first arrival of the day in a couple of hours, and then the rest of you during the morning. Today is the nicest weather of the past two weeks – just a great day of sun and moderate temperatures after the heat wave of recent days. A fine day to get in your first rides of the season at Longacres. We'll be doing quite a bit of riding this opening day, more than usual. Most opening days are on Sunday after a show when we have to balance the horses getting some rest with the chance for new students to try out some different mounts and get to know them.

 

The horses have been getting rest for the past three days and are ready to work. Our earliest arrivals will get nearly a full regular riding schedule today.

 

We'll have some pictures at this link later today showing this session's students in the saddle and around the barn. The link will not work until late this morning.

 

Tuesday, July 26^th, 9PM Update:

Saturday Horse Show Info:

We will post the start times for Saturday's horse show tomorrow night (Wednesday). The weather is looking decent for the show and we think as of this moment that we will go back to our normal start times of 9:45 for jumpers and 11:00 AM for the small ring. Please confirm that on this website or by calling us tomorrow night.

 

Welcome August Students!

We're pretty well rested, the farm is looking good, and we're eager to meet some new people and some old friends arriving tomorrow for the August camp sessions. See you VERY soon!

 

Tuesday, July 26^th, 2PM Update:

Diesel Drives!

Well, we know that. The Amish trained him when he was young and now and then over the years we've hooked him up to something. But we don't have real harnesses at Longacres or any kind of cart. Every summer we put on "long line" reins and hand drive Diesel for fun. But today I gave the girls here on the break an assignment to make a harness and find something to sit on and actually drive Diesel. I left them alone for two hours.

 

Then they called and said, "Come down to the barn and watch." When I drove down the hill to the barn and saw Diesel, I cracked up laughing. It looked like a giant spider had thrown a baling twine web over Diesel! He was covered in baling twine, lead ropes, and lunge lines. And he was standing their like an angel, patiently waiting to be told what to do. Belgian horses are GREAT! Almost the best thing was the "cart" the girls had rigged up out of an old lawn chair. Enough talk – check this video link.

 

We will definitely do this again next session, and take time to find some canvass or leather pieces for a proper breastplate harness. Diesel was almost choking on the ropes around his neck, the rope from the "cart" was cutting into his front legs, and the reins were too tight. Yet he still just tried to do whatever we asked. He will be amazing in a better harness!

 

Tuesday, July 26^th, Noon Update:

Diesel Day!

Check back here later today for hopefully exciting news about Diesel Day here at Longacres this afternoon.

 

"Show Piece Safety Rules"

We have very specific and strict rules for the way horses are turned loose in pastures during turnout time here at Longacres. I stopped down this morning just as the girls were turning horses out for the day. Even knowing that I was standing right there 20 feet away, the process was not perfectly done, even by people who should know better.

 

Here's the proper procedure, and as you read, you will understand why it is tempting for someone to cut corners during the process. Doing it right takes a little longer and allows for less affectionate treatment of the horse.

 

1) Lead your horse through the gate and into the pasture, then turn the horse around COMPLETELY so that he is facing back looking directly at you. One hundred percent facing you, not 90% or 83% or 45%. One hundred percent.

 

2) Make sure you have the horse's attention. Make sure he is not already looking over his shoulder at a friend already in the pasture, and thinking about whirling around, happily kicking up his heals, and galloping out to pasture to meet his buddies. Have his attention on you.

 

3) Check your line of retreat. Make sure you have space to back away the first three steps, and more after that if needed. This is an often neglected step in the process.

 

4) Unsnap the lead rope and step briskly back three steps, creating space between you and the horse, should he choose to whirl around, kick up his heels, and gallop off to the pasture. The whole idea is to have room to spare so that if the horse whirls, kicks up his heals with enthusiasm, and gallops off, those heels won't be in your face.

 

5) Be aware of your surroundings. Where is the next horse in line to be turned out? Who is holding the gate, and are they paying attention? Where will you go as you walk out of the pasture gate area and by the next horses in line to be turned out?

 

See why we have a battle on our hands every year to make sure this process is done right? Most girls love and trust their horse friends and would be much happier walking into the pasture to turn their four legged friend loose for the night with nothing on their mind but saying an affectionate goodbye to the horse. Many good horse people walk in, give their horse a little hug or pat on the shoulder, unclip the lead rope while standing next to the horse facing out into the pasture, give him another pat on the shoulder, or even (ugh!), a friendly pat on the rump as the horse walks or trots on out to pasture. And 99 times out of a hundred; maybe even 999 out of 1000, the horse will happily head on out to pasture with no harm done. But done casually, maybe once in a hundred turnouts, or maybe only once in 1000 turnouts, a horse will be excited and you will have a close call or worse. And if you are hurt, it was an avoidable accident. We do everything possible at Longacres not to allow avoidable accidents.

 

"Show Piece Safety"

What this means is that a place like Longacres has certain safety rules, such as our turnout procedure, that might seem at first to be excessively detailed and rigid. Our turnout procedure is detailed and strict. And, yes, you could get by for a long time being more casual about turnout without probably getting hurt.

 

We have this rule and procedure partly because it is the safest possible way we know to turn loose a horse in pasture. But we also have this detailed safety procedure because it is a daily reminder that horses are powerful and not fully predictable creatures, and that handling them carelessly can be dangerous.

 

We have other "Show Piece" Safety rules. We don't canter full turns or circles on the hilltop and dressage ring grass in most lessons. We could. We do canter circles on grass in shows and other special training situations. But right next to the hilltop riding area, we have a wonderful sand ring, and we do most of our tights turns and courses on the better footing. And we practice turns on grass in other places. Having the "Show Piece" rule about turning on grass in some areas is a reminder to be aware of footing and balance in all riding situations.

 

Hope you riders coming to second session are eager to ride and handle the horses, and ready to adopt the safest possible standards of horsemanship. I hope this article will give you a better understanding of why we have some of these seemingly over cautious safety rules.

 

Don't worry – you get to have lots of fun here, and we do knowingly do risky horse training. We just want to avoid unnecessary risks.

 

Monday, July 25^th, Noon Update:

"Be Careful What You Wish For" Department!

Well, our immediate drought threat is over. We've caught up to about normal rainfall for the month – all in about 20 minutes! (Thanks very much, Kaitlin & Sarah – I know you guys had severe flooding in the Chicago area over the weekend, and it just arrived here, though not as badly as you guys got it!) The grass will get greener, but my relaxed two days during break are now going to be consumed by re-grading roads and trails around the farm washed out by the monsoon rain. It is a mess. But it should look good for new arrivals Wednesday. Weather for Wednesday looks great at this point.

 

The girls are fine, and Meghan still got her rest this morning. I was watching my radar while I was out for breakfast, and I cut breakfast short and rushed home to make sure the girls were In a safe building. I then kept checking on them during the storm and a second storm watch. It looks like the worst storms have passed by now.

 

Sunday, July 24^th, 8PM Update:

An Adventure

An adventure that pleases me greatly. I am pretending to be "Meghan" today and tomorrow while I try to get her to do absolutely nothing but rest. So I am driving the girls to do their laundry and checking up on them.

 

I drove to the barn an hour ago and saw nobody. I walked to the cabins. Nobody. I was a little concerned, so started to head down the trail to the dining hall to make sure everyone was OK. I heard voices. I rounded the bend to the little bridge and saw the girls all standing together on the little sand bar in the middle of the old swimming pond (now swamp).

 

They greeted me enthusiastically and all started to tell me of their "adventure". Micayla, Winky, and Sydney pooled their knowledge of Longacres history and took Mandi and Anderson on a walk of discovery, showing them many old ruins hidden deep in the woods of old Longacres structures. They had been to the old arts & crafts building, the old Director's Cabin, Far Corners, tent city, and the old falling down toilet buildings for tent city buried deep in the woods. They had seen much of the stuff that I showed a big group a year ago when I lead a "history hike" around the farm.

 

I was really pleased that the girls had done something so imaginative on their intercession break day of rest! They will share another rest day tomorrow with the horses, then greet Ofelia who is stopping by to help with horse care tomorrow evening and arriving for good on Tuesday.

 

Sunday, 10AM:

Junior left while I was on a stop up at the office. See ya' soon, Junior, for a Junior Day visit! A lot of tears were shed in the past hour, even just saying, "Till Next Time", and not really "goodbye". The most tear streaked face was Emily's, but she has been coming to Longacres for a long time. A Longacres reunion is already being planned for the Syracuse Invitational Horse Show in November.

 

Sunday, 9AM Update:

Until Next Time

"Until next time", to Sarah & Kaitlin and to Amelie, who left very early this morning for long trips home. You were GREAT new members of the Longacres family! Thanks to the girls leaving later in the morning for helping Mandi with morning horse care. And thanks to Sydney and Micayla who actually extended their planned departure until Wednesday to stay and help care for the horses and enjoy some very relaxed Longacres extra time. Ruby, Lena, Junior, Emily, and Isabella will be departing with their families soon.

 

A Good Rain

We did get a decent overnight rain and the grass is already looking better. If we get a couple more showers or thunder storms over the coming days, the draught problem will be much improved! I'll try to take a picture of the big jump course later today – it looks very good for the new session arrivals on Wednesday.

 

Forgot It?

If you forgot something, we'll take a look around and do our best to find it. We send things home to you through the local UPS store and charge the shipping cost to your account. If it's something of little value, you may be better off to just have us chuck it.

 

I'm off for a quick model helicopter flight and then down to the barn to help Meghan say "Until Next Time" to the rest of the departing students.

 

Great Group of Young Students for 2012!

We worked extra hard to recruit new younger students to Longacres this season, and it has worked out better than we could have hoped. Nearly every 11 to 12 year old student has already announced plans to return for 2012, some of them for the longer 3 ½ week August session. We would LOVE to have a big group of 12 and just turned 13's for that session next summer! And we welcome all of you back for any session you choose.

 

September 1^st Enrollment

We begin taking 2012 enrollments on September 1^st. During the first week of September, first choice on sessions goes to girls who had them this year. Read the full 2012 enrollment rules and guidelines on the Rates & Schedule page and start talking with your friends and family to see what choices you may want to make for Longacres 2012.

 

Sunday, July 24^th, 6AM Update:

RAIN!

Not a lot, but enough to at least wash several weeks of dust off the grass and wet down the sand rings. Too bad we won't be riding for a few days now over mid-session break! The forecast hints at occasional rain over the coming week, though we could be back to very dry conditions if the scattered rain misses us.

We're getting up early to say, "Until next time" to our departing friends later this morning. We look forward to greeting second session riders on Wednesday.

 

Saturday, July 23^rd, 10:30 PM Update:

"Until Next Time"

That's Meghan's parting phrase, and we hope it applies to all of you going home at the end of this session. There's not a one of you we don't hope to have back at Longacres next year! The show was great today with many good rides by each rider. Check this link for a large album of pics to be posted late tonight. Remember that you can order DVD's of the Longacres pictures with the full size original photo files. They are $35 for each week's pictures, and you are welcome to share them with friends. We suggest two of you getting together and each ordering one of the DVD's and swapping after you copy them onto your computer. Email Meghan and tell her if you want one charged to your account. Of course you are welcome to download the smaller picture files from the Blog albums for free!

We are watching the weather radar and there is a good chance our drought will ease with a few storms later tonight and tomorrow. We hope so!

 

Can't wait to have a coupe of days rest over break. And can't wait to see the new session's riders coming Wednesday.

 

"Until Next Time"

Tom & Meghan and the horses & staff at Longacres

 

Friday, July 22^nd, 10PM Update:

More Good News

The Derby Prep course ride with the younger girls was heart warming, though it did start off with a "thump". That would be the sound of Isabella hitting the ground when Ebony stopped in the Pulverman jump. Meghan had warned Isabella that Ebony might test her determination on this kind of course, but Isabella has really enjoyed riding Ebony lately and wanted to try. It was a graceful fall and she was fine – but quite willing to accept our advice on another horse to ride for the event! And ride she did! Isabella rode Star around the course with no refusals and had one of the best rides of the evening, earning a high five from me! All the younger girls completed this 20 jump course over all the fancy things on the big show field. I am very proud of them all and told them so!

 

Show Prep

I just got back from the barn where all the girls were eagerly cleaning their equipment for the show tomorrow. They were in good moods and enjoying the pre-show party that is a tradition at Longacres. They were beginning to quiz one another on the first courses for the show as I left.

 

Bethany & Jazz

The high light of an already good day for me was working with Bethany to get Jazz over the Liverpool water jump on the big field. Until now, Jazz has wanted no part of this scary looking jump. But we had a plan. We tricked Jazz into jumping over a row of poles in the sand ring about the size of the water jump. We even added flowers and white standards to the row of ground poles. Jazz did it with no commotion. I then moved the same jump – same ground poles, same wings, even exactly the same flowers out to the far side of the field near the Liverpool. Jazz jumped it like she had been doing it all her life.

 

Then I put those same wings and flowers right next to the Liverpool and covered the bottom of the Liverpool (no water yet) with the same ground poles Jazz had just jumped two other places. It looked nearly identical. But Jazz would NOT go near it! It is amazing the subtle cues horses pick up on if they sense danger or the unknown. A human would have had great trouble telling the difference between the practice "Liverpools" and the real thing.

 

So we failed with our gentle and sophisticated plan and went to Plan "B" – which involved a lunge whip and some level of fierceness on our parts. It was a bit of a battle and the outcome was still in doubt after half an hour. We kept offering Jazz the choice between a carrot (gentle reassurance), and a stick - harsher treatment for refusing to move forward.

 

Bethany and I won, but it was not easy. Jazz finally gave in and jumped the Liverpool a bunch of times in a row, quieter every time. It is not over yet. I imagine she will need several training sessions to become reliably obedient over this kind of jump. But she has the idea.

 

It was sweat drenching work for me on the ground and for Bethany in the saddle, but very rewarding. This is what a horse trainer lives for. Really making a dramatic change in a very promising horse.

 

Yes, it has been a very good day!

 

Friday, July 22^nd, 5PM Update:

A Pretty Darn Good Day

Oh, it's hot all right. Most of the girls took our advice and rested during the afternoon and will ride the two hours after dinner. But spirits are good. The riders are looking forward to the show tomorrow and all are on horses they like. Two of the older girls are staying over during mid-session break to help with the horses and hang out with horse loving friends.

 

The day has been especially nice for ME, since I am on orders to get rested up for the show and the final weekend of this session. I had a longer than usual breakfast reading the "paper" on my iPad. And I kidnapped Meghan to take a short sight seeing drive right after breakfast. It's like pulling teeth to get Meghan away from her beloved time schedules and check lists for even 20 minutes, but I managed it this morning. (I'm sure she will work the extra 20 minutes robbed from her planner at 2AM late tonight!)

 

I chatted with the girls a bit during morning ride, and ate across from Kaitlin and Sarah and Isabella at lunchtime. I enjoy the younger group and I had a good time with them. I also flew model planes and helicopters today (as I do most days, but extra time on this "Tom's relaxing day". As you can see, I posted to the Blog, which I also enjoy.

 

I did some office work to help Meghan, calling back a couple of parents and show stables who had questions about tomorrow. And I dealt with a computer network problem Meghan was having – that could have been a bummer, but I was the hero coming to the rescue, so it was fun. I also wrote the Horse Show Newsletter to hand out at the show tomorrow.

 

Late morning I "worked" for a couple of hours mowing the show fields, even though there is almost no fresh grass. But they look better with the tops of the weeds mowed off. And I measured part of the jump course and moved a couple of jumps a little to make for better jumping tomorrow. Don't feel sorry for me – the tractor cab is air conditioned and I enjoy "working" with my tractor.

 

OK, I'll admit it - - I also took a nice nap after lunch! That's always a good thing on a hot day!

 

Then at 4:30 I went down to the show field where Bethany was working all alone in the HOT sun with her own horse, Holly. I talked about the horse with Bethany and helped her jump some bigger jumps. Check this video link for one. I always get inspired helping really dedicated riders like Bethany. I wasn't there long, but it was quality time!

 

Much of the real heavy work setting up for the show will be done tonight when it's cooler, and most of it by Meghan, Rob, and Joel. But I still have to set up the generator and sound systems. Sometimes that can be frustrating, but I think everything is working well this week. Not a bad day.

 

Oh, yeah – I still have to video the younger girls after dinner doing a long jump course on the big show field. If that goes as well as I am expecting, I am going to see some VERY BIG smiles, and that's a fine way to end a day at camp.

 

Friday, July 22^nd, Noon Update:

So far, So Good

Everyone seems cheerful and they are working to stay hydrated. Lots of fresh water being delivered to the barn by Righty and Meghan.

 

Meghan and I had another of our "discussions" about how much riding to schedule. The compromise is that we have a total of five possible rides scheduled for the day by Meghan, but she has agreed to heavily promote three of them as "highly optional". I walked up to Bethany's lesson this morning with some of the younger kids and told them that just like our jumping slogan for safety, "No Shame in mane" (meaning grab mane if you have to!), our slogan for the day is "No Shame in quitting a lesson early if you feel woozy."

 

So Far, So Good.

 

Travel Schedules:

We always ask families to confirm their departure and arrival plans right before a session change via email. If you didn't already write us today, please do so confirming your planned departure time on Sunday morning and planned arrivals next Wednesday for the August sessions.

 

Thanks

 

Friday, July 22, 7AM Update:

The older girls all did a long "Derby Prep" course on the big show field last night. The younger girls will do it tonight. The best courses were turned in by Junior riding Merlin and by Emily riding Bristol. Frenchy (Amelie) got to do her first ever Pylverman jump and bank jump. She was giggling with joy as she did them, saying, "That was FUN!"

 

Weather

Although many parts of western New York set all time July heat records yesterday, it was not so bad here because of very strong winds off Lake Erie. Although a few degrees cooler, today may seem even hotter with light winds. Humidity will also be down from yesterday a bit. The girls are getting on for an early morning ride as I write, then having a few very relaxed optional rides during the day, and riding again tonight after dinner. We will be vigilant for heat problems in horses and riders. We'll be taking water around to the girls while riding and forcing drinks between rides. Also encouraging students to sit out the optional rides during the day if they are hot.

 

Remember, horse show at 8AM.

 

Thursday, July 21^st, 9PM Update:

Horse Show Schedule for Saturday

Both rings at the Longacres show on Saturday will start at 8AM to try to beat the heat. We will try hard to move the classes right along with no delays and hope to finish the show by noon if everyone cooperates.

 

The Outside course classes will go in the same order as usual, beginning with Puddle Jumpers.

 

Changes for Inside Ring:

Check this link for the revised class list and order of events for the Inside ring. Because of dusty conditions most of the hack classes will be run on the grass dressage ring area next to the small show ring.

 

The small show ring classes will begin with some of the more popular jumping events to get the most strenuous events out of the way before it gets very hot.

Order of classes will be:

Warm-up Hunter

Equitation Division (flats & O.F.)

Low & Slow Hunter Division

See Prize List for following order of events

 

 

Thursday, 7:30 PM update:

We're back from an afternoon at the air conditioned mall and getting ready for an evening ride. The older girls are jumping the long "Derby Prep" course on the big show field tonight, and the younger girls will do it tomorrow night.

 

Check this link for pictures Meghan took at her mounted games event this morning.

 

We have a couple more hot days ahead of us. More early morning and late evening rides. Remember, both rings at our show begin at 8AM on Saturday to beat the heat.

 

Thursday, July 21^st, 10AM Update:

Horse Show Confirmed for 8AM Start in both rings

The normal schedule of classes for the jumper ring will begin at 8AM on the big field.

The smaller show ring will also begin at 8AM, with a change in the order of classes. That order will be posted later today, but we will run the higher classes like Special Hunter, Low & Slow Hunter, and Eq Over Fences FIRST, before the beginner and walk-trot classes. The idea is to finish the more strenuous classes early in the morning.

We expect this show to be fairly small, with only regulars going for points attending because of the heat. We hope to be done by noon!

Because it is very dusty on the track in the small show ring, we may try running hack classes on the grass dressage ring area to keep the dust down.

Warning: The small ring footing is pretty good. The big field is very hard because of the draught. Keep that in mind when deciding whether to come Saturday. (We have been jumping on the big field, and there is still grass turf there, but the ground is very dry.)

 

Great Breeze Thursday!

So far, it is not as hot and unpleasant as the weather forecast lead us to expect today. There is a strong, gusty wind off Lake Erie and it is not so bad – so far!

 

Thursday, July 21^st, 10:30 AM Update:

A 10:30 AM Snapshot of Longacres

Here's what was going on 30 minutes ago as I toured the farm. The younger girls were enjoying mounted games on the lawn in front of the barn, with Meghan taking pictures and helping judge, while Mandi kept things going smoothly. Many of the older girls opted out of the mounted games and went back to the bunks to shower or have some free time. WInky was riding Chexy on a free ride hour assigned by Meghan. Bethany was riding her own horse, Holly, on another free ride hour. Tom and Bethany had a good chat about "life" – went well!

 

Tom met with tree cutting guys trimming the big powerline more than we would like, made friends with the foreman on duty and took pictures of the chain saw guys to document future "legal actions". ( As large land owners we have a whole other life of confrontation to protect our property and quality of life from a host of threats. We wish we could always just be "nice Tom & Meghan" to everyone, but alas it is not so. This is a whole other story for sometime!)

 

Meghan met with the fire inspector to have the fire extinguishers and other possible dining hall issues inspected and approved – this is done every summer about this time.

 

Tom set up sprinklers outside the office to water plants.

Tom checked a work site on the farm where we are building a small dam on a little creek to protect a gas well line.

Meghan got back to the barn from fire inspection and talked with Mandi about the day's schedule. Tom played with a hose watering down some horses, just for fun.

 

All this between 10:30 and 11:00 AM. Just thought you'd enjoy a snapshot of those moments on a hot morning.

 

AND – it does not seem as hot as forecast with the fresh breeze.

 

Thursday, July 21^st, 8AM Update:

Getting By

We did pretty well beating the heat yesterday and got in four riding periods, down only about an hour from usual. We rode at 7:30 AM, did the pond riding period after lunch, then rode two lessons at 6:30 and 7:30 until dark.

 

Today the girls are riding right now very early. They will have another rest period this morning and a couple of optional very quiet trail ride opportunities mid day. We will go much earlier than usual to the mall for the weekly dinner out, leaving early enough for an afternoon movie. Then back to Longacres in time for a good late evening ride. The girls will have their phones between about 1:30 and 6:30 PM.

 

Wednesday, July 20^th, 3PM Update:

A Great Way to Cool Off!

Check this link for nearly 90 pictures of the girls riding in the pond today. BIG smiles all around! They also went wading in the creek that runs by the farm this morning after breakfast. Some took naps, which we encouraged.

 

They are coming to the house to watch video of the pond riding soon, then after dinner we plan a longer riding session when the evening starts to cool things off.

 

Winter Horse Homes

At Longacres we are always dealing with "today", but there are also always one or more "tomorrow" projects on our minds. One of the biggest "Tomorrow" efforts is the annual job of finding homes for all our horses over the coming winter. We usually lease about half of our horses (at no charge) to current students. We had a big group of horses go out with last year's Longacres riders – more than most years.

 

Not all of you are in a position to give a great Longacres horse a home for the winter, but perhaps you know someone who might be interested. We will soon post online and mail out an information sheet telling about the Longacres winter horse lease program. You at home would be doing us a great favor if you pass a few of these around at your home stable or riding group. Of course if you ARE interested in taking a Longacres horse home for the winter, please call Meghan soon – we are starting to promise out horses, and want to give Longacres students first choice.

 

Info at this link.

 

Wednesday, July 20^th, 8:30 AM Update:

Finished Morning Ride – and "Bigger Jumping"

We downplay the idea of what we used to call "Big Jumping" these days. It is more a chance to ride any horse in the barn that you might not in normal lessons and to jump "bigger" than you normally would in a lesson here. We did that this morning, beginning at 7:30, when it was already pretty warm. Everyone got to do some nice jumps and the pictures are at this link.

 

The girls are headed to breakfast, then back to the barn to finish horse care, then to the bunks for a siesta! After lunch we will be doing pond riding, and that will give everyone a chance to get nice and wet! Then showers and if there is still time, perhaps a horse movie at the house. Then an early dinner and a good long ride or maybe two rides after dinner in the cooler evening hours, right up until dark. We hope to survive the heat of the day this way.

 

Tuesday, July 19^th, 10PM Update:

Video & Pictures

Check this link for a video taken at dinner tonight. Much glee – more comments on this later.

 

Check this link for a video of the intense balance and control exercise we had this morning.

 

Check this link for more pictures from Meghan's camera today, including some from tonight's hayloft slumber party.

 

Awkward Moments

As owners of a camp, we know well the limits of comfortable communication between adults and teenagers. Sometimes we have good luck piercing that curtain and other times less so. Meghan and I asked Mandi and Michelle to join us for a nice lunch in town today, partly as a gesture of appreciation for their very good work, and partly to share thoughts with them about "the big picture" issues involved in running a camp like Longacres. It sounded like a fine idea for two way communication, but there ended up being a lot of awkward silences and forced small talk. Maybe I made a mistake telling them on the way into the restaurant that we were interested in talking about "big picture" camp issues. I think they spent much of lunch wondering what we were really going to talk about. Sometimes things like this that sound like good ideas just don't go over well.

 

Oh, well. We like you, Mandi & Michelle! Maybe we'll try again sometime. More likely, we'll reward you for great work by sending you off to lunch by yourselves and not trapping you with the old folks!

 

 

Tuesday, 11AM Update:

Check this link for a few pictures Meghan took this morning as she watched the girls jump the fancy jumps out in the field. Check this link in about an hour for more pics of the other girls.

 

Tuesday, 10:30 AM Update:

Tom's Theory Class Warm-up Revisited

My role has changed over the years at Longacres. At my age, I now don't teach the girls regular full lessons. I'm the observer and setter of big picture goals and standards. I watch the girls every day, give a few suggestions, and talk with Meghan and the instructors about what I see.

 

But I once was in the regular teaching rotation. Some years ago, when we had many more riders back in the 70's and 80's, I taught a daily lesson called "Tom's Theory Class" that you attended only after a try-out. Riders had to demonstrate real motivation and it was hard work. We did a demanding warm-up and then talked about and practiced advanced exercises.

 

Today at Longacres, we're giving the girls just a taste of what "Tom's Theory Class" used to be like – EVERY morning! I used to give my students five to ten minutes of free ride to really get their horses listening. We do much the same thing with all our students to this day, calling it the "Words of Wisdom" warm-up. After that free individual ride, I called all the students in and had them form a circle around me, much as though they were on a giant longe line. The basics of that "conditioning ride" were simple – keep your spacing as requested and keep your horse exactly in a circle around the teacher. First at a walk, then at a trot, and finally, if the group was really good, at a canter. Sounds easy doesn't it? Just ride in a circle. But there is much more. Those walks, trots, and canters are in short bursts of five or ten steps, then a transition to another gait. It gets harder to maintain perfect distance when you are constantly doing transitions! It is a great exercise in extension and collection.

 

But there is more! While maintaining spacing doing all the transitions from one gait to another, you are constantly asked to drop your stirrups, pick up your stirrups, drop the right stirrup, drop the left stirrup, pick up the right, posting trot without stirrups, sitting trot with only the left stirrup, and so on – WHILE maintaining perfect control and spacing.

 

There is more! You will also constantly be switching your crop from inside to outside, from holding the crop and the rein together, to taking both reins first in your right, then in your left hands and pretending to use the crop with your other hand – WHILE doing all the other exercises!

 

Are you beginning to get tired just reading? Ten minutes of this will exhaust the best of riders.

 

We just got done giving the younger girls their chance at this exercise. They were quite good. Ruby was leader, with everyone else working to maintain their spacing while being tortured. They liked it, even though it was very hard.

 

The older girls get their turn early next hour. Mandi and I are planning the worst kind of challenges for the more advanced riders. Stay tuned!

 

 

Tuesday, July 19^th, 7AM Update:

Getting Warmer!

We're still doing fine, but the real heat is nudging closer by the hour. We plan a full riding schedule today with temps still in the 80's and a brief break in the high humidity this afternoon. We are very pleased that this group of girls is so well bonded as a whole and are getting along so well. They are having so much fun just hanging out together as horse lovers, that I think they will survive the real heat wave the coming three days in good spirits even with a curtailed riding schedule.

 

Tomorrow we will get up quite early and have a good lesson at 7 or 8 AM. Then a leisurely breakfast and horsecare around the barn and back to bed for a mid-morning nap. We'll offer an optional ride early afternoon and plan a break at the house with video or a creek walk where we can all get soaking wet! Dinner will be a little early and then we'll get in at least one and perhaps two evening rides, riding right up until dark. This should work for Wednesday.

 

Thursday is looking like a possible all time record hot day. We will plan an early ride again, but that might be all the riding we do, depending on how breezy it gets and just exactly how hot. We'll play it by ear. Thursday is the cook's night off and we always go to the mall for dinner that day anyway, so we will plan that and leave early for an air conditioned movie and long dinner. (Can you spell Harry Potter?) Our biggest challenge Thursday will be caring properly for the horses, keeping them well watered and as cool as possible. We will have to plan shifts of people to try to spray down the horses and triple check that all the troughs are always full.

 

Friday looks like a slightly cooler day but still over 90, so we'll plan the ride early and late scenario. Saturday looks a tad cooler for our horse show, but we still plan an 8AM start to both show rings and a speedy show, hoping to finish by noon if the turnout is light, as we expect it to be.

 

That's about it. Things are very good at Longacres! But we will be challenged over the next four days.

 

Here's the weather service Climate summary for July so far:

 

.CLIMATE...

THE BEAT GOES ON DURING THIS WARM AND DRY SUMMER OF 2011. MOST OF

WESTERN NY ESCAPED RAIN AGAIN MONDAY...AND MANY AREAS HAVE RECEIVED

VIRTUALLY NO RAIN THIS MONTH AND LESS THAN HALF THE NORMAL SINCE

JUNE 1. TOPSOILS ARE PARCHED. SUNSHINE HAS BEEN CONSTANT...90

PERCENT AT BUF THE FIRST 18 DAYS OF JULY...AND TEMPS HAVE AVERAGED

CLOSE TO 3 DEG ABOVE NORMAL. EVERY DAY HAS REACHED AT LEAST 80 BUT

ONE. AND SOME RECORDS MAY BE IN JEOPARDY LATER THIS WEEK. HERE ARE

THE RECORD MAXES FOR OUR 3 CLIMO SITES FOR THE WED-FRI PERIOD...

 

WED 7/20...BUF 91 (1994)...ROC 99 (1894)...ART 93 (1978)

THU 7/21...BUF 93 (1953)...ROC 97 (1994)...ART 94 (1994)

FRI 7/22...BUF 94 (1953)...ROC 97 (1955)...ART 94 (1955)

 

Monday, July 18^th, 9PM Update:

VERY Good Spirits Tonight

Although the grass has pretty much gone dormant during the draught, I did spend time in my tractor tonight mowing to at least knock the heads off the weeds on the riding fields. That tractor time while the girls are riding and caring for the horses nearby always lets me see how they are really doing, sicne they tend to forget that I'm even there hidden away in my tractor cab.

 

Spirits were very good. They had a great hay fight while haying the pasture – maybe not the healthiest activity, but it sure looked like fun. See the video at this link!

 

I am about to head down to camp for a bonfire and smores party. I saved a little space in spite of chef Tom's good cake and strawberries dessert at dinner.

 

Check this link in about an hour for pictures from Meghan's camera this afternoon and this evening.

 

AND, check this video link for a clip taken at the Smores campfire tonight.

 

Monday, 5:30 PM Update

Check this video link for a clip showing part of one of the afternoon lessons today. The girls were doing some nice riding and really paying good attention. Nice job! The rest of the students were out on an afternoon trail ride.

 

Monday, July 18^th, Noon Update:

The Mindless Rider Track/Trap & Other Obstacles to Good Horsemanship

I spoke a little harshly to a group of the girls this morning. Harsh overstates it, but there was an edge of frustration to my voice after watching some of the better riders in Mandi's morning lesson taking shortcuts across the "mindless rider track".

 

For those of you at home, a word of explanation. The terms "mindless rider track" and "mindless rider trap" are interchangeable here at Longacres. They refer to a worn track in the grass around the hilltop riding area where we do a lot of our warmup riding at the beginning of lessons. It is much like a "game trail" in the wild. Wild animals tend to follow a worn game trail because hundreds of other animals before them have safely walked there previously. There is an instinctive sense of comfort and safety going where "the herd" has gone before. And such wild animals don't have to think. They follow a path of least resistance.

 

Much the same instinct takes hold of horses warming up for a lesson at Longacres if the rider fails to provide intelligent guidance. A "mindless rider" can sit there and let their horse choose a comfortable path around the hilltop riding area. The "mindless rider track". And that track also becomes a "mindless rider trap", tempting the unguided horse to follow where many horses have gone before and making the horse actually resist efforts of a "thinking rider" to steer and choose their own path – trapping the rider into unplanned routes.

 

Steering is one of the fundamentals of good riding. It sounds simple, but is not. I wish every rider that comes to Longacres would get an "inoculation" against the tendency to follow the "mindless rider track" and leave here a couple of weeks later as a rider who steers and thinks and chooses her horse's path carefully at all times. But that doesn't happen. It is HARD WORK to always be steering your horse and always choosing the extent of collection and extension in your horse's gait (how slow or fast they are going).

 

The best I can hope for is that all students will be exposed to the concept of carefully riding and training any horse they are on, and that most of them will try it some of the time, and that SOME of them will really get it. I vented for a few minutes to the whole older group of girls this morning. And at the beginning of the following lesson I took half a dozen of the girls aside. These girls had either written to me in the spring or spoken to me at the beginning of this session and told me that they wanted to be pushed and held to the highest standard. I spoke more gently to this group, reminding them that most troubles at horse shows are the result of careless training of the horses back at the farm.

Horses cut corners and don't change leads at horse shows because they have been allowed to be that way during lessons at home. Careless riding makes for careless, unbalanced horses. Careful riding makes for attentive horses. The same is true in so much of life!

 

I ended my talk this morning repeating my mantra: riding is pretty simple; remember to steer and remember that YOU, the rider, are the one choosing the pace, not your horse.

 

I don't want Longacres to be the "no fun camp" where you are under the control of drill sergeants every minute in the saddle. But I do want every student at Longacres to know the difference between careful riding and casual riding. We call it the choice between having an imaginary light switch "On when you are training carefully", and "Off when you are kicking back and relaxing on a horse". It is not evil to have the light switch "Off" part of the time and simply enjoy your horse. It is evil to not know the difference.

 

Words of Wisdom for the morning!

 

Monday, 9AM:

Rained hard 3 miles away in town – barely a drop here at Longacres. Bummer. Heavy rain passed off to our northeast during the past hour. Still a chance of good rain later today, but it seems to be evaporating as it comes off Lake Erie and gets closer to us. Ah, well.

 

I met the girls at their breakfast and gave the counselors some suggestions on focusing on extending, collecting, and good corners in lessons today and tomorrow. Those were the most common weaknesses exposed at the show. I plan to meet with each girl individually this morning and talk about their own lesson plan for the week.

 

Jazz is looking good and will be used this week in lessons, first with the younger girls who are light on her back, then with more riders as she gets back in shape from her week off.

 

WINTER HORSE LEASES

We are near the half way point in the summer and that is a time when we turn major attention to finding our horses good free-lease homes for the winter. We need to hear from all of you who have mentioned the possibility of taking horses for the winter and we need to confirm with those of you who definitely plan on it.

 

We will update the Winter Horse Lease webpage with current information soon and give you all the links to send out to your friends and help spread the word. The leases will again be without charge. People who take our horses this year will bear more responsibility for vet bills than in the past, but no other changes.

 

Monday Morning, 11AM

Show News

Check the link to the Show News page with updated point standings for the Summer Series. Several Longacres horses and riders are doing well in the standings!

 

THREE MORE division sponsors are needed for the Championship Awards. Got an extra $150 burning a hole in your pocket?

 

Monday Morning, July 18, 7AM Update:

Report from Tom, the Weatherman

It still looks like a very hot week for much of the time. Not bad today, with temps in the mid 80's, if we can ride in between showers and thunderstorms. At least we HOPE showers and thunderstorms – as so often happens, the heaviest rain seems to already have passed by to our northeast. But we are still expected to get at least some rain here during the day and into this evening. We sure need it!

 

Tuesday looks to be a nice riding day, with lower humidity, and bearable mid 80 temps.

 

Then Wednesday through Friday will be scorchers. We will do some very early and very late riding with a mid-day trail in the woods, and lots of air conditioned breaks to watch Longacres video, go to Kone King, and play in the creek. I'll hope we can average maybe only an hour less riding than usual, but we'll play it by ear with health concerns first, for horses and people.

 

Saturday COULD be a little better, or could still be very hot – too far out for the computers to be sure. We are very likely to begin our horseshow at 8AM both rings to beat some of the heat, with the class schedule modified a bit.

 

But back to today – BRING ON THE RAIN!!

 

Sunday Afternoon, Horse Show News:

We posted a zillion pictures from yesterday's horseshow last night. Here are some details!

 

Horatio was a star! He won the high Special Jumper championship with Bethany on board against a big division with some very good horses. He also was Champion in Special Hunters with Micayla.

 

Ruby won warmup hunter and was Champ in the Pony hunter division on Ginger. Heather was Reserve champ in special hunters. Emily and Brody were 3^rd in special hunters. Michelle and Merlin won 2^nd in Eq over fences. Ursula and Merlin were Reserve Champ in Puddle Jumpers. Sydney won 2, 2^nd, and 3^rd in Puddle jumper with Zanee. Kaitlin & tux were Reserve Champ in the Hack division (enduring hardship with a smile!!!) Amelie was Champion in Hacks. Lena was reserve champ in Walk – trot! Isabelle won ribbons in beginner horsemanship and more. Kaitlin was Reserve Champ in beginner division. Sarah was X-rails Champ on Merlin! Amelie won many ribbons in X-rails and 2^nd in a big equitation class. Junior won a big Under Saddle class on Ladd. Ursual had 1, 4, and 5^th on Brody in Low & Slow Hunter. Sydney had some ribbons on Lincoln.

 

Sunday afternoon, 5PM Update:

"Winky Day" & "Until Next Time, Ursula!"

On the way to East Aurora for Town Day, we declared this to be "Winky Appreciation Day", with big thanks to Michelle K. for all her patience and hard work as one of our most respected Junior Counselors. In her 7^th year at Longacres, Michelle knows all the ropes, works tirelessly, and never shows anger or frustration. A fine job is what she does! We asked everyone to try to come up with little surprises for Michelle today and this evening. Meghan and I both expressed our great appreciation to her, and I won't rule out the fact that some of the kids may be brewing some pranks! Well earned recognition for a valued member of the Longacres family!!!! !!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!

 

"Until Next Time", Ursula

That's always Meghan's chosen phrase, rather than "goodbye". It is certainly appropriate to use in Ursula's case. She has done a fine job here as a student for more than three weeks. We really get to know our students when they are here for longer than the more common two week sessions. We already miss Ursula a lot and can't wait to see her again next summer, which she and her family tell us is a sure thing! See you soon, Ursula!

 

Ursula's longer session here is actually a hybrid with Ursula sharing a full season session with Anderson from Florida. Anderson came in this morning as Ursula was leaving and took her space in Pegasus bunk. Anderson was here for the full August session last year, signed up for that again, but wanted even more Longacres, so Anderson added this coming week and intercession break for a total of more than five weeks of Longacres. Welcome back, Anderson!

 

Sunday, Noon Update:

Yep, It's Hot

I'm glad the girls are getting time off today. They're getting ready for town trip after turning out the horses now. We'll probably "water the horses" when we return later this afternoon, sponging some of them off out in the pasture or just tossing a bucket of water over them.

 

More on Irrigation

It's interesting how even a relatively knowledgable observer, as I think I am, can be off when guessing dimensions. Check the story below for the corrections I made after measuring this morning.

 

Sunday, 11AM Update:

Irrigation

NOTE: Skip this article unless you are really addicted to the Longacres Blog and curious about how I spend my time!

Facing a three week draught with hard ground and increasingly dusty conditions, and having a little time on my hands on a Sunday morning, I've been doing some thinking on possible ways to water the sand ring and show field. I will throw this topic out there to see if any of our readers have experience in this field, or if you want to take a crack at some Google research.

 

We would plan to get a good size gas powered pump to pump water from our pond up the hill in two directions so it could be used to water down the sand ring and water the big show field. We would plan on a system big enough to do either of those rings by themselves, but not both at once.

 

I took a walk through the woods this morning to the swampy area where excess water runs out of our pond. I was interested to see how close to full our pond is right now when we have had zilch rain for three weeks. Turns out that a very small flow of water is actually still overflowing the outlet of the pond, even during this draught. That's a good sign. Our pond is spring fed off a large hillside, so I think we would have enough water even in very dry conditions.

 

For the technically minded, the "head" we would be pumping up to the upper fields is about 15' above the surface of the pond.

 

I have not measured it exactly, but we would be pumping through about 700' of pipe from the pump to the sprinkler heads. That is important for sizing pipe and pump size.

 

The sand ring is about 80 feet wide and 170 feet long. A sprinkler head located in the middle of one side of the ring could wet the whole ring with a water throw range of about 80 to 90 feet.

 

The big show field is about 300' square. That same "90 foot range" sprinkler might have to be moved to 4 locations to fully cover the 300' on a side show field. At least we would not mind moving it four times over a couple of days to irrigate that field.

 

Corrections:

After doing some surveying with a transit level and walking off more carefully the distances, here are some corrections to the above numbers.

 

The sand ring is 90' by 200' after last year's expansion.

 

The big show field is 315' by 345'.

 

After allowing for several turns around obstacles, the pump would have to push water about 900 feet, rather than the 700' I estimated.

 

The "head" from the pond level to the upper show fields is more like 20' rather than the 15' I estimated.

 

Bottom Line: Bigger pump and pipe than I had first guessed.

 

More Data on the Pond: I will make an initial guess that the pond (very irregular shape) averages 200' by 80'. It might be considerably bigger, which I'll report after better measurements. That would be a surface area of 16,000 square feet. If we wanted to draw down the water level by no more than 4" during an irrigation session, that would be about 5,300 cubic feet of water. There are about 7.5 gallons of water per cubic foot, so the 4" draw down equals about 40,000 gallons.

 

One ad I saw on the internet showed a commercial sprinkler head that used 30 gallons of water per minute. That 40,000 gallons would last 22 hours at that rate. I doubt we'd use half that much water irrigating the big show field and sand ring adequately once every four or five days during a draught.

 

Unknown Data: How long will it take the pond to fill up again after being drawn down 4"??

 

For you Smart People Out There:

AM I missing anything?

 

This is how I spend some of my spare time at Longacres. Dreaming of improvements and cost effective ways to get there. Anyone have suggestions on this problem, let me know.

 

Sunday, July 17^th, 7AM Update:

A Day of Rest

We had fine spirits at the Pasquale's dinner last night, and even finer at Kone King afterwards! We chose not to show the horse show video's so that everyone could shower and get to bed relatively early. There is a sleep in morning, a late horsecare, and then off to Town Day activities in the village, including laundry and buying junk food. We will watch video either later this afternoon or tomorrow during what MIGHT be rain for the first time in two weeks! Even if we get the much needed rain, it will not be an all day rain and we should get in most of our scheduled riding.

 

Hot, Hot, Hot

It will be bearable Monday and Tuesday with a fair amount of cloud cover and temps in the upper 80's. Later this week we will be cracking 90 for several days. As reported the other day, we have "Plan B" in reserve with very early and very late rides possible to beat the heat.

 

July 23 Horse Show 8AM Start?

Check this Blog or the Horse Show News page later in the week to confirm the start time of next Saturday's horse show. It might be 8AM if the forecast stays as hot as it seems it will.

 

Odds 'n Ends

After a very busy week, we are trying to catch up on minor communications today while the horses have their day off. The girls will be getting their cell phones durng "Town Day" from about 12:30 to 4PM today. Enjoy the chance to catch up with them if you didn't talk with them after the show last night.

 

If parents need to talk with Meghan about anything routine, this is a good day. Either email or call her on her cell phone, 716-380-6088. I know she has plans to talk with a few of you about little bits of this and that.

 

Enough Pictures?

We were light on pictures on Friday with all our horse show preparations. I hope you are satisfied with the number we posted last night! I think we took well over 350 pictures at the show. Not sure how many we finally posted after editing.

 

Have a pleasant day at home. We're already beginning to feel a little better rested here this morning.

 

Saturday, July 16^th, 3PM Update:

Some Show Pictures

The show is still in progress, though we are done with ring 1 classes. Check this link for some nice pictures in that more advanced ring. There will be many more from Meghan's camera in Ring 2 when it finishes in another two hours. Check this link later this evening.

 

Tux and Brody both got nervous about traffic in the ring near the highway and dumped their riders, but both got right bacl on and finished. Kaitlin and Emily are both fine. We won LOTS of ribbons. We'll announce some of the best later and the kids will have their phones in town tonight and tomorrow to tell you stories. It is a hot day, and they are tired now, but tomorrow is a day of rest for riders and horses.

 

Friday, 5PM Update:

"Goodbye Mr. Mud"

Check this video link for a clip showing the OLD mud racing trailer leaving Longacres with a nice young man who wants to fix it up and give it a new home. This trailer started life as a four horse trailer purchased by Longacres brand new back around 1970. For years we used it to haul horses to shows, and I drove it all over the northeast when I was showing jumpers myself year round.

 

During the late 1980's it was converted to a race truck hauling trailer and used during my long career as "Mr. mud" in that business. For the past ten years it has just sat in the weeds near the barn irritating Meghan, who has painted one side of it dark green so it would blend into the weeds better. Now it is gone, and with it a real piece of Longacres history. If that trailer could TALK, boy, oh boy, could it tell some stories. Maybe I'll share some with good friends one day – not with the camp kids!

 

Friday, July 15^th, 4PM Update:

A Good Day

The girls are in good spirits as they get special lessons today from our own staff and two guest instructors. It's a nice change of pace to have two more adult riding professionals helping teach today! Many thanks to Vinessa and Kathy!!!!

 

As I mentioned in this morning's post, Bethany is here for the last half of this week and I sat in on part of her lesson. You can tell that she is very fresh and still full of energy. She had all the girls smiling and having a good time in her lesson. After that lesson, I helped Bethany and mandi each jump a short course of quite high fences. Trickle down excellence, as we call it here.

 

Meghan and I have been busy in the office between quick trips to the barn writing horse show newsletters and updating the High Score Award points.

 

We also have maintenace crew busy today making improvements to the trail system. They chain sawed a fallen tree that had blocked the "Ridgeline West" trail that runs past Dark Stranger cabin. Also, the "Stairway to Heaven" step jump has been out of commission for a year as the logs in the step jumps rotted away. We dug that up today and will repair it in the next few days. It is a popular part of the trail system when it is in commission!

 

Friday, July 15^th 9AM Update:

Here Comes Summer

With a vengeance! We face a hot & humid period of mid-summer weather over the weekend and through Monday. There's an expected break in the very warm weather Tuesday and Wednesday, but with rising temperatures again later next week. We've been doing this for 73 years, so we have "Plan B's" in the wings. If it is really hot, we'll ride an hour early in the morning and two periods after dinner in the cooler evening air, with only trail rides in the woods during the midday heat. Stay tuned.

 

More on Exhaustion

I've had several updates this week about our efforts to keep the girls from getting too tired out. They are doing well. They were cheerful at the mall last night and seemed in good spirits at breakfast a few moments ago when I went over their horse show choices with each girl individually.

 

Our staff is now our bigger concern. A very intense riding program like ours comes with a human cost. It is physically hard work and a very long day. Meghan and I do it because we love it and it is our job. Even we crash sometimes (me last night). For the counselors, it is harder. It is supposed to be a chance for doing something they love as a summer job, but it is hard to prepare yourself for the mental and physical toll involved. One of our very best Junior Counselors, Heather, is leaving one week before planned because she feels tired. She tells us it is largely because of a heavy travel schedule before and after camp that wore her down before she even got here, but the Longacres intense schedule certainly makes it hard for someone already tired to "catch up" while they are here. Heather is a three year veteran of Longacres, and we wish her well and understand.

 

Meghan has called in reinforcements to give the rest of our staff a little extra rest as this week ends. We have good relations with a number of fine professional horse people in our area and central parts of our June "Pro Clinic Weeks" are visits from these guest instructors. We scheduled two of them to teach guest lessons here yesterday and today. Vinessa and Kathy provide great teaching and fresh enthusiasm. The lighter workload for Mandi and the Junior Counselors these few days is going down very well! It's also a blessing to have a fresh Bethany as a senior counselor for the latter half of this week. Part of our master plan for the summer (not as though we've never dealt with the issue of staff getting tires!), was having Bethany start later in the summer, working half time for this week and next, and then starting feeling still very fresh to be with us full time in August, when Ofelia also returns with fresh energy for the August session.

 

So we are on top of it. Most of the time. I hit a wall myself last night and aborted my planned and always much anticipated dinner with Meghan and good friend Uncle Billy. I slept in the RV while Meghan & Billy and the kids were enjoying the mall. I crashed immediately after driving the kids home. I feel better this morning, but will pace myself today so I have full (???) energy to help run the horse show tomorrow at Quakerfield.

 

Possible Change in Starting Time for July 23^rd Longacres Horse Show

Be sure to watch the website. If the weather is extremely hot again next weekend for the Longacres horse show, we may start at 8AM instead of our normal mid morning start time.

 

Horse Show News

Check the Horse Show Newsletter at this link later this morning for lots of updated information on the Summer Series of Shows.

 

Thursday, July 14^th, Noon Update:

Ursula's Personal Best

We don't make a big deal out of how high you jump at Longacres, we're more interested in how well you jump. Still - - - - - Ursula has made it known that her highest ever jump before Longacres was 2'9" – a very respectable height. This morning Mandi was giving Ursula a private lesson in recognition of her hard work over a longer three + week stay here this summer. Mandi had Ursula on one of her favorites, Whitley. Whitley can be a handful to control. Ursula, in fact, fell off Whitley at the show two weeks ago. But got right back in the saddle and wanted to really achieve something on this horse. Ursula and Mandi had Whitley really listening well over some interesting exercises.

 

When I stopped by the sand ring to watch, Ursula rode up to me and reminded me of her "personal best" jump height. She asked, "Tom, I really like Whitley and he is going really well this morning. Do you suppose - - -?"

 

What could I say. Mandi and I put the jump up to 2'9", Ursula's previous best height and Ursula sailed over it easily. We raised it to 3' and Ursula and Whitley trotted right up, cantered a ground pole, and up, up, and over she went. She was a smiling girl. Wish I had taken video, but I was too excited for Ursula and concentrating carefully on her approach to the jump. Great job Mandi and Ursula!!!

 

Check this link for a video of all the girls warming up for their morning lesson.

 

Aaaaargh!

Between all the little things we do to keep Longacres going smoothly, we also manage and organize the Summer Series of show here in western New York. We keep track of the points totals for season championships. That requires computer work that sometimes does not go well. We make mistakes, or in this morning's case, the computer makes mistakes. We find the latest Apple OSX does not play nice with our older version of Excel. We have twice lost data this morning as we try to get the points up to date for the show on Saturday. We'll get it done but it can be very frustrating. Hard to farm it out to someone else, too, since it needs to be done by someone who knows most of the riders and can guess that "Mr Beechly" on a judges card is probably really "Mr Beezley".

 

Wednesday, July 13^th, 11PM Update:

Moon Light Rides

Plural. Usually we do a moon light ride for one cabin one night and the other cabin a different night. But it is just too perfect a night to pass up. We did the younger girls' ride first, then four of the older girls. (A couple of the older girls who have done it before sat it out and went to sleep early.)

 

It was quite cloudy this afternoon, but cleared completely as the sun went down. Just a fabulous night just before the moon is full. All the girls got to walk, trot, and canter, and to JUMP under the light of the moon. Don't worry, new parents – this is carefully scripted and controlled. We set up a X-rail jump with white rails and white stands and ride to it with the moon at our backs shining brightly on the white jump. It is almost as clear as in full day light. The horses do it easily. Everything went off without a hitch.

 

We are knocking off "the special fun stuff list" quickly this session!

 

Wednesday, 7:30 PM

Dinner Video

These are always a good barometer of morale and enthusiasm at camp. It is true that some of the girls and most of the staff are pretty tired by this time of the first week of a new session. But you'd never know it from watching this video!

 

Rest or Ride – Part #2

Meghan and I had another discussion on the old rest vs. riding issue that comes up all the time. Both bunks are doing a moonlight ride tonight, which works out to six rides today. I pushed for dropping the 3PM ride and letting them all have a long rest hour after our Kone King trip, but Meghan had planned lots of special things this afternoon, including the Hunt Course rides, so she did not want to eliminate an hour in the afternoon. She compromised a little by shortening the afternoon rides. Not what I would have done, but she is boss. I will admit that the girls seem plenty peppy still in the "Dinner Video" posted tonight!

 

Wednesday, 6PM Update:

Tons more pictures from this afternoon at this link.

 

If the clouds break up later, the moonlight rides are on for tonight.

 

Wednesday, 2:30 PM Update:

Rain?

Probably not, but there is a slight chance of a thunderstorm this afternoon. We all did a rain dance when we went to Kone King after lunch. We need the rain more every day with the grass starting to turn brown and the ground getting harder by the day.

 

Great Spirits!

Most of the girls in the older cabin have known each other for years and the new faces are fitting in fine with these nice long term Longacres veterans. We are not surprised.

The younger girls cabin, Pegasus, is bonding better than we could have hoped. They are constantly laughing and playing games between riding sessions. They are fully enjoying every special activity we throw at them. But enough of my words – a picture is worth athousand words. Check this video link for the Kone King trip half an hour ago!

 

Wednesday, July 13^th, 1PM Update:

Strict Riding Standards – Who Will Stick With Them?

We have been strictly enforcing our standards of careful attention and full control of the horses yesterday through this morning. We will still do our best to give very good lessons and to push to the limit each student who shows an aptitude for that level of commitment. But we will go easier on those who want a little bit more relaxed lessons. We always want each student who comes to Longacres to be exposed to the most demanding kind of lesson the first day or two and then choose the level of intensity in their instruction. Over the next day or so we'll get a good handle on the best way to teach each girl.

 

Jazz Back in Action

Jazz has been off in her hind quarters for several days and missed the show on Saturday. She looked back to normal this morning and I put two very light riders on her for a very relaxed walking and slow trotting schooling exercise. Ursual rode Jazz very well for most of the hour. I also let Sarah get on for a couple of minutes. Sarah has LOVED Jazz from afar all spring and without ever seeing the horse in the flesh, dreamed of the time she might ride her. I gave her her wish this morning. Check this video link! Sarah will ride Jazz again before going home.

 

With luck, Jazz may show this weekend.

 

Meghan took some nice morning pictures. Check this link for the album with captions.

 

Psssst – secret – the girls are gong on a short surprise Kone King expedition after lunch! They don't know yet.

 

Tuesday, July 12^th, 11PM Update:

What a Great Bonus – The Moon!

Tonight is our fourth time this year doing the new overnight trail ride activity. It is the first time we've done it under a nearly full moon. I don't know why it didn't occur to us that this would be such an amazing addition to an already memorable event! But it is. The nearly full moon was high in the sky already as the girls arrived on horses at the old barn. When it got really dark, there were the horses outside the hayloft window bathed in the soft light of the moon on a really clear night. Just amazing. Meghan and I sat in the hayloft door for a long time soaking in the scene. The girls? They glanced at the moon for a few minutes and then dove into the pizza, ice cream, and junk food and gathered in a circle playing slumber party games. Maybe you really need to be an adult to fully appreciate the beauty of this kind of event. But I know the kids do appreciate it in their own way, and I know it is something they will remember for years into the future. It is a good night here at Longacres.

 

Check this link for fresh pictures.

 

More pictures from the overnight trail at this link. (Some show tom giving a Longacres history talk.)

 

Tuesday, July 12^th, 7PM Update:

A Few More Video's

Check this link for a clip showing the afternoon ride at 4PM.

Check this video clip ONLY if you have a good tolerance for kids of all ages getting along well together and acting pretty goofy! Remember when I posted a video of dinner time back on Sunday and said that the girls were just beginning to get to know one another and bond as a group? Well, after two days, they are doing very well.

 

As I write, the overnight trail ride is leaving the barn, touring all of our trails, and ending up at the Old Barn for the slumber party in the hayloft. I'm sure Meghan will have some pictures later. I plan to stop by and give the girls an old Longacres riding area history talk. There might be pizza involved!

 

Tuesday, July 12^th, 4PM Update:

Meghan & Tom Get a Much Appreciated "Break"

Short, but refreshing! We just got back from a lunch in town and actually took a nap while the younger kids in Pegasus bunk were taking theirs. Now we are "up and at em" again getting ready for the overnight trail ride. Before dinner we have to take water and hay for the horses and the riders sleeping gear over to the Old Barn.

 

Personal down time is scarce for us during the summer. We do take a quick breakfast break in town together every morning where we go over the days plans while the staff and the kids do morning horsecare. We also have a personal dinner with good friend, Uncle Billy, every Thursday night while the girls are at the mall for their dinner out on the cook's night off. Oh, yeah, and there are those ten minute breaks here and there when I fly one of my many radio controlled flying models! And we have a full 48 hours off together during mid-summer break on July 25^th & 26^th. That's about it until the end of the summer. That's why today was sweet.

 

Tuesday, July 12^th, 11:30 AM Update:

I Feel Long Winded Today!

This is going to be a lengthy update, so grab a cup of coffee or tea! I have a little extra time on my hands this morning, so I took some good pictures and will write about a couple of things.

 

First the pictures: I got out the 'big glass" that I use for horse shows and took some close-ups of all the girls. Check this link for pictures of them riding. (Heather was teaching this hour.) Often it is hard to really see your rider's face in our pictures, but you will in this set, and I uploaded oversize files to make sure! Check this link for an interesting set of pictures of Ursula. She has been here for almost three weeks now and her session ends this weekend. I gave her a private lesson after spending time with all the other riders, and I took a couple of sets of 5 frames per second pictures of Ursula jumping Whitley. I commented on one set of pictures in this album, the way I did when I showed them to Ursula right after her jumps. Ursula is a good student and we will miss her when she is gone next week! This is a good example of the kind of commentary we give the girls when they see their video tapes. We try to do the rapid fire pictures with everyone sometime during their stay, but don't always have time to get everyone in a session.

 

"Pay Attention Day"

That would be today and tomorrow morning. Longacres is known for trying to straddle the fine line between being a very serious riding school, while not forgetting that we are also a summer camp where kids come to just have fun with the horses. For a serious student, we have a lot to offer. But you get out of a program like ours only as much as the effort you put in allows.

 

We spoke to most of the girls yesterday about the importance of being an attentive rider. We spoke to them again last night when we watched video tape, since they could see in front of them what they look like when they are not in full control of their horse. We announced at breakfast that they were expected to all be on their toes today and that we expect our teachers to watch for any sign of slacking off. We will hold EVERYONE to the highest level of attention today and tomorrow morning. We want any student who comes to Longacres to be exposed to this level of expectation – of excellence.

 

After lunch tomorrow, we will ease up a little. Girls who are here to learn in a bit more relaxed way will be given a little more slack. Girls who want to be pushed, will be monitored on a tighter leash, so to speak.

 

Here are a couple of examples of the kind of attention to detail we are talking about. Often in a riding lesson an instructor will call everyone in to listen while some detail is explained. Horses, when left to their own devices, will stop all over the place in a hodge podge of disorder. If the horses come to rest that way during a talk by the instructor, I know that the riders were not planning very well. I like to see riders come to the center of the ring and take a cue from the instructor or talk among themselves and line up in an even row facing the instructor. That exercise, in its own right, is a valuable training tool. It forces riders to think and to have control of their horse. Then I expect riders to keep their horse neatly lined up and paying attention during the talking session. I expect riders to be sitting up, have contact with the reins, and be fully balanced and in control in case some horse were to spook at a deer or be bitten or stung by an insect. This attention to detail is DEMANDING!

 

I spoke with two girls last night who had written me all spring telling me how much they wanted to be pushed to do their best. They both agreed that they really liked it here and were already learning a ton of new things, but said, "It is HARD!" And they are right!

 

Another example of what NOT to do when you are riding occurred yesterday afternoon. One of the new younger students was riding her horse at a walk around one of the rings during the warm up session at the beginning of the lesson. Meghan was taking pictures and watched her ride right into a jump stand and knock it over with her boot and the horse's shoulder. There was a whole field to the right and to the left of the jump, but the rider was in never-never land someplace and was oblivious to the fact that she was about to run into a jump. We chalk that up to a 12 year old's short attention span and being here for the first time and still needing to learn our expectations. But, the same thing happened this morning with another student. That other student is arguably the best rider in our group of students this session, has been to Longacres multiple times, and never should let something like this happen. Just a human lack of attention for the brief moment it takes to run into something. I would let that student remain nameless, but her initials are MM! This is just an example of the fact that the very best students (and she is certainly one of them) can be careless. It would be humorous (and we all joked with her when it happened), if it weren't for the fact that this kind of carelessness is dangerous. The sloppy act of crashing into a jump stand because you weren't steering your horse ceases being funny if the jump stand falls under the horse and gets caught up between his legs and slices them up. We have had accidents like that.

 

Safety & Enough Rest

Two very important concerns at a camp or stable, and concerns that keep Meghan and I up at night talking and worrying. I'll give you examples of each issue that we've considered in the past 24 hours.

 

I got up a little before Meghan this morning (unusual!) and took an extra moment to drive down to the barn and quietly observe morning horsecare. Winky (counselor Michelle) saw me walking down the hill to the barn. I nodded to her in a friendly way, but she was not fooled so easily into thinking this was simply a social call on my part. I could see Winky frantically looking around wondering if anything was going on that Tom might not approve of. She knows me well after 7 years! Most of the girls were standing in a group right next to the pasture gate where two of the counselors were catching horses and then handing them one by one to one of the girls to lead into the barn. Winky noticed that the girls were not giving the horses enough room to walk safely past and down the path into the barn.

 

Winky called out to the girls, "Move over to your left!" They pretty much ignored her. It's too easy for every individual in a group to think, "That doesn't mean me.", if an order is given to a group as a whole. Michelle twice more spoke to the girls and they moved over only just a bit as I watched, still too close to the gate to give a horse safe room to pass by.

 

We have plenty of rules for handling horses and the girls know them all. So do the counselors, but it is very hard on anyone in a supervisory position in any business and at any level to have to be the nagging "bad guy" all the time. If you ignore proper safety procedures long enough, everyone gets complacent and careless. WE DO NOT LET THAT HAPPEN HERE. WE WILL NOT.

 

After watching the imperfect job of bringing the horses in from pasture safely and the less than perfect response to Michelle's very proper request that they move and give the horses more room, I considered jumping in and giving the whole group a good scolding. But I chose to let it pass for the moment and deal with it in a measured and thorough way later. I took Michelle aside and comlimented her on knowing there was a situation and on her effort to deal with it. I urged her to stick to her guns the next time and finish the job making sure everyone listened. (Hint: Never address a "group" with a request you know they're not going to like to accommodate – ALWAYS follow up such a request by singling one person out. Say, "Guys, you need to give the horses a little more room. Alice, please move to the left a little."

 

Meghan and I spoke to the whole camp about this episode after breakfast when we had everyone's full attention. We will change a part of our barn introduction to better speak to this particular issue. This is a good example of the kind of safety issue that comes up every day, all day, and how difficult it is to attend to the little safety issues that can cause big problems when something suddenly goes wrong. We work on these things constantly.

 

Enough Rest?

Meghan and I often differ a little when it comes to balancing the time demands of getting in all the riding we promise or getting the girls a little extra rest. You'd expect Meghan to have the more motherly approach and old Tom to be more concerned about getting in all the riding sessions as scheduled. You'd be wrong! Those of you who know us well might not be very surprised, though. It stems from Meghan's mania for good organization and her paranoia that someone might ever accuse her of FAILING to deliver everything she promises in those hour long phone calls over the winter to new students. When we do have to shorten a planned riding session or, heaven forbid, cancel a session all together, she groans. Meghan is deeply committed to delivering what she has promised. Always has been, always will be. She is a fine person!

 

I hope I'm a "fine person" in my own way, too. But a lifetime of doing business has made me more concerned with the "big picture" and more willing to fudge a detail here and there or make a change on the fly if it is on the whole better for Longacres. I'm normally the one advocating for a change in schedule to allow for a little extra needed rest. Today I prevailed on Meghan to cancel the 3PM ride for the younger group in Pegasus Bunk, since they are getting an extra long evening ride with their overnight trail ride. And they will need every bit of rest they can manage since they often are up very late with the Hay Loft slumber party event. Meghan worried about the girls missing a riding lesson. But she went along with me.

 

(She is grumbling about me writing this article – she wants me to be sure to mention that she DOES watch out for girls who seem tired and takes them aside to see how they're doing!)

 

Anyway, the younger girls are going straight back to their bunk right after lunch, and spending a two hour rest period and nap before reporting to the barn for their 4Pm ride today. We hope that will help them get much needed rest to be full of energy for the overnight adventure!

 

How's that for a long update? Just another day for us here at Longacres1

 

Tuesday, July 12^th, 7AM Update:

I literally fell asleep during the process of uploading the last pictures from Meghan's camera late last night. She couldn't wake me up when she came in from putting out the garbage cans (midnight). Typical evening for us at this time of year!

 

This link should work now.

 

Monday, July 11^th, 9PM Update:

Video Watching

We are about to all meet at the main house for a short talk on the "Longacres System – ie, paying good attention. We'll also watch the short video we took of everyone riding this morning.

 

Then off to bed so it is not too late a night. We'll evaluate tomorrow morning to see if we need to give the girls an extra long break after lunch. Longacres is intense, and we have quite a few younger girls who need their rest! Balancing that with five hours a day of riding is a tough act! Especially since the younger girls cabin goes on the overnight trail ride and hayloft slumber party tomorrow night.

 

Lots more pictures at this link soon!

 

PS – For evening ride tonight, everyone got to jump one of the special jumps out in the big show field.

 

Monday, July 11^th, 5:30 PM Update:

Good Trail Rides

Many sessions we don't do trail rides for two or three days. But this group of riders was doing well on all the horses this morning, and it is a very warm afternoon. A good kind of day for riders to be out in the shade of the woods, and the heat also takes a little of the edge off the horses, making them that much more safe on trail. We also ran a lesson back at the barn each hour for those not on the trail.

 

No Rain Still

We were really thinking we would get some much needed rain this afternoon. There was a strong line of thunderstorms out over Lake Erie headed this way, but the lake effect evaporated all the moisture and killed off the storms before they got to us. It rained to the north of us and to the south, as so often happens. The good news was that there was no disruption to our riding schedule. But we really do need the rain. Grass is beginning to turn brown many places today.

 

Monday, 4PM Update:

Observed:

We have two sets of friends who came to Longacres together this session. Although we are glad to have girls who come together maintain their friendship at Longacres, I was very pleased after lunch today to see each of the four girls who arrived yesterday with a friend walking back the trail to their bunk chatting happily with one of the other students they had not known until yesterday. That speaks well for the group spirit as a whole, that they are all quickly making new friends and not sticking only to people they came with.

 

Monday, 2PM Update:

More Pictures

Meghan is taking more pictures this afternoon, so check back later and you'll have stuff to look at.

 

Speaking of pictures, several of you have asked for the DVD's with the original full size picture files. I am burning some of them this afternoon. Please confirm if you want one or both DVD's. They are $35 each with one week's worth of pictures on each DVD. About 3.5Gig of pictures per week. If you know someone else from Longacres, we do not mind at all if each of you orders one of the two weeks, then you can copy the pictures onto your computer and swap DVD's and save $35. We are glad to do it for you, but also glad not to have to take the time if you want to share. You have full rights to use pictures of YOUR student in any way. Please do not publish in any way pictures of someone else's child without their permission.

 

NOTE: A Heads Up on 2012 Enrollments

It is not too early to be giving thought to your plans for next summer's camp season if you are interested in attending Longacres again. We have had young kids here since the June sessions and we are having a very good season. Many from these sessions have indicated that they plan to return for 2012. It's not impossible that we will be full or nearly so for the June 26 to July 24^th sessions for 2012 very soon after 2012 enrollment opens on September 1^st. Read the rules for accepting 2012 enrollments on our Rate & Schedule page so you will know how early enrollment works.

 

We hope that some of our younger riders will "graduate" to the 3 ½ week August session with the big shows for next summer. That would free up some of the pressure on the enrollment for next July.

 

Monday, 1PM Update:

Some video from this morning at this video link. (Long!)

 

Monday, July 11^th, 11AM Update:

Butterfly Jump

Everyone gets to jump the Butterfly Jumps today. Most did last hour and their pictures are posted at this link. Sarah was on a better horse for jumping in the next hour, so she jumps it then, and we'll get her picture up later today. We're doing lots of work on the basics today, but having fun at the same time.

 

I just had one group do a trotting exercise where they tried to trot as slowly and with collection as possible down one side of the sand ring, then reverse and extend to the fastest possible trot up the other way. Sarah had the best "difference" on Rocky! Ruby might have beat her, but Ruby and Ginger broke to a canter trying to do their extended trot!

 

We are taking short video of all the girls during the next hour and they will get to see what they look like tonight.

 

Sunday, July 10^th, 9PM Update:

Good Vibes

I took a drive around the farm a few minutes ago with Meghan and had a chance to compare notes. We've been doing different things all afternoon and haven't seen much of each other. She reports very good progress with this new group bonding together well and very good spirits during a "horse braiding party" after dinner. Meghan thinks they are getting acquainted even quicker than the last session group, and that group ended up very tight after three or four days.

 

Today we had a very light schedule, giving the new girls plenty of time to get organized, get to know one another, and get rested from their travel to Longacres. They rode a couple of horses this morning after arrival, but mostly we did orientation, horse care, and played with the horses on the ground, just to get the new girls familiar with being at Longacres and familiar with some of the horses.

 

We will have a good batch of pictures at this link as soon as Meghan gets here with her camera.

 

Tomorrow we ride all day!

 

 

Sunday, 7PM Update:

A Few More Video's

Check this link for video from dinner tonight. The girls were still a bit quiet getting to know one another, but louder by the minute! Check a video like this a day or two from now and it will be much louder!

 

Check this link for video taken right after dinner as the girls left for the barn to see the HORSES again!

 

Check this link for Mandi's "rain dance"!!!!!