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Above: Laura on “Horatio” over the Longacres Sunburst jump. Laura will be a Counselor in Training at Longacres for part of 2010 after 5 years as a camper!

 

 

New Rotating “Fun Pictures” Album at this link:

We’re going to start rotating some informal, casual pictures of former students at the above link. Check out this album of oversize pictures every few days as we rotate new pics! We will change them often.

 

“New” sessions added to Schedule:

Check out our updated schedule page. We have added some new listings which give you additional options for scheduling a 2010 summer session at Longacres. Some of the changes reflect the fact that each year more moms are coming to Longacres with their daughters in sessions other than the traditional “mother – daughter week”. The updated schedule makes it clear that is OK. We are also opening that June 21 to 26^th week to all ages, so that you could come that week and the following session for a three week stay, etc. Traditional Camp weeks from June 27 to August 21 will still be for kids only.

 

Our Schedule Page has always explained that you could combine various June weeks for a longer session. The Updated page makes that more clear.

 

For Sale: Waterfront Property in Darien, Connecticut

Tom’s mother’s house: After 55 years in her Darien, Connecticut waterfront home, my mother is planning to downsize and move to a retirement community. My parents were lucky enough to find what is now a priceless piece of real estate long before Connecticut property values rose to their current levels. The house would need lots of work and would likely be replaced by a new owner of the property. Just for fun, check out this link which shows the privacy and beauty of the land in question.

 

We’re putting this link on the Longacres website because this site is viewed by many, many people who might know someone interested in the Fairfield County, Connecticut real estate market. Please pass this link on to anyone you know who lives in the New York Metro area and who might know someone interested in a unique waterfront property.

 

Many Thanks from the Kranz family!

 

Saturday, February 6^th Update:

It’s been a good week for us at Longacres! We enjoyed our three day trip to Canada for some REAL winter, and although we don’t have much deep snow here in Western New York at the moment, we’ve had just enough fresh snow to give us a fresh “clean winter” feeling. No messy thaw for a while now. If we’re going to go through winter, we might as well have winter!

 

Today was especially rewarding. We talked with Leslie H. and her mom from southern Pennsylvania this morning. Leslie is taking the final spot at the beginning of July for teenagers. She’ll be joining Heather as a CIT for that session. Some exciting news from Leslie is that she bought a 12 year old Quarter Horse named Zeus at the end of last summer. Zeus has been a bit of a rehabilitation project since he had a soft tissue injury when Leslie got him. He’s doing well and is likely to come to Longacres with Leslie next summer.

 

Zeus came from a place that does jousting and jumping through flaming hoops and stuff! Leslie says he was trained for the jousting – sounds like quite a horse. (Yes, Leslie still has Max, also.)

 

Today was a double enrollment day. We also got Delia G’s enrollment for one of the June clinic weeks. Delia is 12 and wants to really learn something while she’s here. She’ll have a good teacher, since Shelly will be the senior instructor that week. “Welcome to Longacres, Delia!”

 

 

 

Friday, February 5^th Update:

Hi again,

We’ve been away snowmobiling in Canada for a couple of days and just got home. We’ll catch up on updates over the weekend. If you want to see some pictures of Tom & Meghan playing in the snow, check this link and this link.

 

There’s a message on our phone to call Leslie H. & “Max”, so hopefully she’s going to sign up again. She may be taking the final spot for a teenager, leaving only a couple of spots for riders 12 & under at the beginning of July (plus early bird spots in June). Talk to you soon, Leslie!

 

Also a Longacres “Hello” to Jenna Z. from Connecticut who is interested, probably for a session in 2011. Glad to have you interested, Jenna!

 

More tomorrow – we just got back from a six hour drive and are ready to crash!

 

Tuesday, February 2, Update:

February is often a nice month here in Western New York, with cold temperatures for winter activites, but frequent sunshine. It’s like that today. We’re going to get in a little relaxed snowmobiling tomorrow and Thursday, have some of the finishing touches put on Meghan’s new bathroom, and do some more work on putting together the riding staff for next season.

 

You probably saw the note and video’s from Bethany Scarlata a couple of days ago. Bethany is well known to regular Longacres students, since she shows against us in many of the jumper division classes. We barely beat her out for Jumper Horse of the Year in the 2008 show season. Last summer Bethany came out on top, finishing just a few points ahead of Alexa and another girl for Jumper Horse of the Year. It’s always a spirited rivalry with friendship and good sportsmanship on both sides. If a Longacres horse or rider can’t win a jumper class, I usually root for Bethany to be the winner!

 

Just maybe, I can have it both ways in 2010. We have tentatively offered Bethany an instructor’s job at Longacres during this coming summer – if you can’t always “beat ‘em”, “join ‘em”! We’re having dinner with Bethany and her mom sometime next week to talk about Longacres instructor jobs, Bethany’s horses, and what dates she might be able to work. We’ll let you know what we’re able to work out, but we’re happy that Bethany is at least interested. She would be a solid addition to the group of experienced Longacres riders already planning to be on the 2010 staff, including Alexa, Shelly, Carly, and a really great group of CIT’s including Laura, Ofelia, Winky, Emily, Heather, Sydney, and Olivia (a first timer at Longacres). We’re going to have lots of depth on this year’s riding staff. We do still need a couple more good counselors to cover several sessions during the season. We have some good leads. Stay tuned.

 

Sunday, January 31^st, late night:

Thanks, Bethany

Thanks to Bethany S. who went out to visit Emily and Quantum over the weekend. Bethany said that Emily looked great on Quantum and that she rode Quantum also. Here is Bethaney’s message and links to some short YouTube video’s. We’re really glad that Quantum looks so relaxed and fit. He is often kind of antsy in the middle of the winter! Good job, Emily!

 

hi tom and meghan!

it's bethany scarlata. i just thought i would email you guys and let you know i went out to visit emily and quantum! while i was out there she rode him around and then offered me a ride on him! so i hopped on him and rode around for a bit and had a blast. quantum looks so good and he seemed very happy. i also visited boo for a couple minutes and got to see brownie being ridden. he looks like a fuzzy little monster!  heres some videos!

 

emily on quantum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dt9mlx0aTg

 

me on quantum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZClu7CDmSY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aODjNIztfNA

 

Sunday, January 31, Update:

Way to go, Ginger & Staci!

Many of you know that Ginger has been a little off during the fall while Staci has had her in New Jersey. Ginger has been better lately, and here is a message from Ginger and Staci, with links to YouTube video taken recently.

tom and meghen,

ginger has been doing so well! my trainer has at least one person school her each week while i go skiing. they are working on getting her off her forhand to stop her from leaning. i work on that too but im not as good with it yet. wenow can canter twice around the ring in both directions! :) it makes me so happy to finally get to work her again. she is being so good. she is also starting to get around three hours of turn out a day. we are gradually adding more time. i never realized how spunky she can be. she is always so playful bucking and running in the fields. she makes everyone laugh. i hope soon she will go out with the herd but for now she is by herself. i posted so videos on youtube of our first canter and some clips of my lesson. jeff really likes her too. we are hoping to do beginner hunter and beginner equitation during the spring season. if all goes well we will go to garden state too! since im a little big for ginger jeff wants us to show only in cross rails, but at home we are going to jump higher. im so excited to get to jump again i have not really jumped since camp. im right in the middle of a hectic ski season so i have been really really busy sorry havent sent an update in a while. hope everything is going well with you guys. you must have a lot of snow! we're going to Big Sky, Montana for the disabled national championships and my parents are going snow mobiling in yellow stone. i thought you guys might find that interesting. hope all is well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcqXv-46dWU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcqXv-46dWU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnbxFgsSQqQ

 

love,

staci

 

 

Saturday, January 30^th Update:

Moon at Perigee

Dr. Leslie is one of our most loyal readers and definitely a fellow lover of moonlit nights! She was the first to respond to my post last night asking if any of you were out under the full moon. Here’s her message:

“The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor

And the highwayman came riding, riding, riding

The highwayman came riding up to the old inn door.

 

With Shaun White on the half-pipe and the largest and brightest full moon of the entire year! What a moon lit night!

Tonight the moon is at perigee: A remarkably beautiful moon. 

 

Best to you!

Leslie”

 

Who else was out and saw that great moon last night?

 

Friday, January 29^th Update:

Anyone Looking at the Moon Tonight?

I just took a little walk out the driveway gazing at the full moon in the clear, crisp night air. Lovely sight as I walked on the very cold squeaky snow! Anyone else out and about tonight with clear sky? Email and let us know if you had a chance to look at the same moon we did tonight. I always enjoy the idea that we were looking up at a moon at the same time as good friends spread around the country. Aoweoooooooo! Howling at the moon.

 

Thursday, July 28^th, evening Update:

x2 – Busy and Rewarding Day!

Here’s a Longacres “Welcome” to Olivia from California, who has confirmed her enrollment as a student and CIT for the two weeks from July 11^th. Olivia is 17 and started riding fairly recently, but is a real horse lover and looking forward to trying new things during her stay at Longacres. We’re glad you’re coming, Olivia! It gives us a good feeling to sign up two students in one day.

 

Olivia took the very last spot in the second half of July. We now have only one more space for a teenager (13 or older) in the first two weeks of July, and two spots for juniors (12 or under) in that session. Then the traditional 8 week summer season will be full for the year. Enrollment is coming along well for Lazy Days at the end of the summer and especially for the middle Clinic week in June. We still have space in Adult Week and in the All Ages Clinic the last week in June.

 

(Hi, Sarah H!) Sarah was a Longacres rider almost ten years ago as a young teenager. She is returning with a friend as a young adult this June. She loves ponies, especially. (Think we have some fun ponies for her??) Sarah has been writing to us often the past month. We like enthusiasm!

 

Thursday, January 28^th Update:

Meghan has had a busy and fun day. We’ve been in touch with three families inquiring about Longacres. We’re hoping that it works out for Olivia to come all the way from California. She’s working on the details. We also both enjoyed speaking with Sarah F’s grandmother. Sarah is from New Jersey and is interested in one of the final sessions available in July.

 

And “roll of Drums” – a big Longacres “Welcome” to Lauren F. from Randolph, NJ. Lauren is 12 years old and is signing up for a three week session including the last week in June and the first two weeks in July. Lauren has ridden quite a bit, loves horses, and Meghan really liked talking with her! We think you’ll fit right in, Lauren! Lauren lives in the same town as Staci and Shaina.

 

We saw “Country’s” owner, Jessica, in the parking lot of Tim Horton’s donut shop yesterday. It was blustery and cold out and Jessica stopped by our car to say “hello” wearing only a light sweater. Meghan teased her that she was showing off for the guys steering their pickup’s through the drive through! Jessica laughed (but didn’t deny it!).

 

Wednesday, January 27^th Update:

Farm Life & bad communication!

But first, some fun horse news. We are very pleased that so many of you have written and want to get really involved with training new horses. It will be interesting to see what we find this spring!

 

I’ve also been very pleased at some of the messages you guys have sent me about your lessons and training sessions. Many Longacres riders have worked hard to pay attention and absorb some of the fundamental ideas on horsemanship that we try to pass on while you are with us in the summer. Your descriptions of your lessons and training sessions at home show that you are using your heads. (Ofelia, don’t “literally” use your head! I hope you fall on something soft when you get those special bucks!!!!!)

 

Laura and Sharon had some very nice ground work sessions with their horses yesterday. I hope your rides went well tonight. During the winter when horses get extra spunky, lots of ground work is very, very useful.

 

Meghan has been busy talking with new students this week. Two may be signing up tomorrow and if they do we’ll be full for the final six weeks of the regular summer camp sessions and will only have a few spots from June 28 to July 11^th, plus space in the early-bird June weeks. And the June 14^th to 19^th week will soon be full – lots of riders already signed up or interested in that week!!

 

Now About that Farm Life!

You make some compromises when you live out in the country on a horse farm year round. Your living room becomes a warehouse and tool room for most of the year. My air compressor and booster battery live right inside the front door and the diesel jug for the big tractor lives right outside the front door on the porch. And then there are little things like putting up with heating systems that don’t always keep the house very warm. We have a good gas fireplace in the room we spend the most time in, so we can be warm when we want. But for years we’ve gotten by turning that fire on and off when we need it. And we’ve run small fans in Meghan’s office next to a heater, along with an electric heater next to her desk.

 

Our regular readers know that Meghan has had a green light to remodel a bathroom this fall at the main house, and that has turned out very well. The final part of that project was adding modern baseboard heat to the new bathroom and a bedroom. We finished that heating work this afternoon and just turned on the heating pump. Within ten minutes we were too warm! This is NOT something we’re used to in the middle of the winter!!!! OK, that’s a nice little story about “progress” on the farm.

 

Here’s “The Rest Of The Story”!

There is a big old heat exchanger – sort of like a radiator – in Meghan’s office. Years ago I installed it to keep that office warm. I know that we had some kind of problem with the big fan which would generate a “blast of hot air” when needed. Either it didn’t work or it was too noisy and I stopped using it. I began using smaller fans that didn’t quite keep the office warm enough, but I put up with the cold. That was long ago. Meghan began using that office for her winter work almost ten years ago and she would sit in front of an electric heater, sometimes wearing gloves, to keep herself from freezing while she worked. She is not the complaining type, so she made do. She had never known that office when it was warm so she just assumed that’s the way it had to be. I don’t work in that office, so I didn’t much notice or even think about Meghan’s small heater fans and electric booster heaters – or the gloves she often wore while working.

 

But we had heating on our mind today when our crew finally finished the heating system for our remodeling project and it worked so well. I was sitting in Meghan’s office visiting with her and she spoke about how nice it would be if we could put the same heating upgrade in her office. I decided to take a close look at the big heat exchanger in the corner of the room to see if we could use it in an improved heating system for Meghan. I really didn’t remember why we’d stopped using the big fan on the heater ten years ago.

 

So I picked up an old dusty cord attached to the big fan motor. I really thought the motor was burned out or had other problems, but I told Meghan, “Watch out in case I blow a fuse, but I’m going to plug this in for a second.” I did. And what do you know? The big fan started easy as pie and a huge blast of hot air shot out of the heat exchanger. In about three minutes Meghan’s office was toasty warm!!!!!

 

“TOM. Do NOT tell me that this big heater has nothing wrong with it and that I could have been warm the past ten years?!?!?”

 

Meghan asked that just once, and then lay her head down on her desk.

 

Mind now, the fan is very noisy, and now I remember that we were experimenting ten years ago with smaller quieter fans. But somehow that project got short circuited and eventually forgottan. I have a feeling it will be warmer from now on!!! (Can’t blame this on “life on the farm” – just plain sloppiness!)

 

Tuesday, January 26, Update:

Who wants to work with the new horses?

Well, that’s easy – I know that you all probably do! And you all will as part of your Longacres 2010 experience. But I’d like to know how many of you are especially interested in the training and schooling that we’ll have to put into some of the new horses we’re buying this spring and summer.

 

We may buy one or two that are ready to go in the show ring. But the way Longacres usually buys horses is to find promising unfinished training projects and bring them along. We usually buy two or three horses every summer. This year we’re hoping to find five. A few of our great old friends like Brownie, Kingsley, and Bobert are nearing the end of their long useful careers. Brownie especially, is doing well this winter and we hope he’ll have another good year at Longacres. But we will be needing some fresh blood in the Longacres herd, for sure.

 

So let us know if you want to help put in the time training and conditioning new horses. Most of the greatest show horses in Longacres history started out as green broke beginner horses that we found in someone’s back yard. We’re really looking forward to the process of finding and training part of the next generation of Longacres horses this summer. We hope you are too!

 

The three horses we bought last summer, Lincoln, Chesney, and Tux are all doing well at their winter homes during the off season. After another year of exposure to the Longacres riding system, they should be solidly useful members of our riding program. I hope our luck with horse purchases in 2010 is as good.

 

Thanks

We’ve now heard from all families and confirmed your tuition payments for this month. Many thanks, and all is well! The final tuition payment is due April 1^st. Mark your calendar, and we promise to send out bills early so you’ll have adequate time to make those payments.

 

Sunday, January 24^th, 3PM Update:

Thanks to those of you who called or wrote to Meghan this afternoon about confirming your enrollments and making tuition payments. We’ve heard from and confirmed the enrollments for all but two of you. Thanks for your understanding why we need to get final confirmation on all our enrollments right now.

 

And indeed, things are going well this month. We’ve been getting one or more brand new inquiries every day this week. We’re feeling very good about the 2010 season!

 

As a favor to the Kranz family, especially to Tom’s mother, take a quick look at the House for Sale website linked at the top of this page. The Longacres Blog has readers all over the country with the kind of friends who might be interested in this kind of property if they were moving to the eastern suburbs of New York.

 

 

 

Sunday, January 24^th, Update:

Be sure to scroll down and read the Saturday Update with important information about the January 15^th tuition due date, if you missed it yesterday.

For today we have a more cheerful update with interesting reports from Kellie and from Alexa.

Here’s Kellie’s message from two days ago:

Hey guys(:

I know i haven't emailed in a while but I've been busy!

So I saw on your website that Heather took her Christmas tree down last week. BUT we still have ours up! I don't know when we plan to take it down, but its still there...

 

I have an Ebony story!

You know the school across Northstar its called Childrens Universtity. Well CU goes until 6th grade, and Northstar starts at 7th grade. We (Northstar) want the CU 6th graders to come to NOrthstar next year, so we have an open house. Only this year have we started the equestrain program, so we thought we could show the 6th graders the "Hunn Ranch", and to take them on a led-trail ride. The horses we chose to take on the trail were Ebony, Charger, Princess (friend's horse), and a cute palomino pony named Jack thats also a friend's. So I am leading Ebony with a 6th grader on her, and the trail ride is going just fine. We decide that since the kids are doing great controlling the horses, we can let them walk by themselves (with us right next to them). Ebony decides she needs to ...go to the bathroom. So she does her business while the other horses pass her. You know how she gets when she's not in the lead. When she ...finishes, she notices her friends are ahead of her, so she gets, you know, and takes off with a 6th grader on her. She goes a full-gallop until she in the lead again, but thankfully the 6th grader has ridden before (we were in western saddles, so she hung onto the horn), and she didn't buck or anything. The kid, Reece, was fine but a little spooked. I decided from then on I will tell the others to wait behind and hold onto Ebony. After that, we had 4 more rounds of kids and Ebony was great.

She is an amazing pony but horses are unexpecting sometimes.

 

Other than that, the ponies are great. I have jumped alot  (thanks to y'all!) and the rails are still intact.

I have really worked with Tux with Travis and I am getting him to behave more and making his head soft, etc.

We were supposed to ride today, but it started to rain. :/

Hopefully it will dry up by Monday for my lesson!

Texas has been bipolar about the weather lately (what's new?). Right now its 52 degrees and raining, but yesterday it was in the 60's and 70's and a beautiful sunshine. So much for snow!

I bet tomorrow its gonna be like 10 degrees.

Hehe(:

Anyways, 184 DAYS TILL CAMP!

:D !!

I'm going to go eat something so bye(:

 

Miss y'all always!

-Kellie

XOXOXO

 

And here is today’s message from Alexa:

Meghan and Tom,

(Tom I'm not sure on you favorite color if you have one, but I guessed green??)

    I have lots of good news to tell!!

    First, I have to regain the all-time tree record.  My dad was reading the website the other day and told me that the tree that stayed up for almost a full year was actually a real tree.  And that is why we changed to the fake trees the following year.  Also, there is an old Christmas tree planted in our backyard from the Christmas the day before I was born.  So we still have a Christmas tree that's 18yrs old although its not in the house.

    Next, is I just had a show yesterday!!  I haven't shown since the fair so it was nice.  It wasn't jumpers though :(  I have to start doing the hunters sometimes because that is what all the coIlege teams do.  I got to show my pony though, who hasn't been to a show in over a year.  Leo was amazing!!  We showed in children's hunter.  Leo went around like a perfect hunter!! He was perfect on his flying changes too, besides one he got half which was totally my fault.  I was very proud of him.  We got a 4th, 2nd, 4th over fences out of 6 people.  The flat class was a super epic power fail, I picked up the wrong lead going the second direction.  But, Tom you would be proud because Leo cantered maybe two strides before I new without looking and brought him down to a trot and asked again.  Theres even better news, I was showing by where Carly and Laura live.  So Carly and her parents came to watch!! It was really nice to see them again!!  Carly says her horse, Gold is doing well and she's starting to ride more.

    The last news is that I got accepted to Gettysburg, the college of my choice!!  Thank you very much for your recommendation! :)

 

Hope you guys are doing well!!  Enjoying the winter "break".  Have you heard any more news about Shabang??  And how Quantum is doing this winter, even though all the horses can be fresh??  I know Star and Lincoln are doing well!  Also, any ideas for these five new horses!!

 

I think thats all for now.  I'm actually about to go to the barn to ride.  I'm riding the pony Shaina usually rides because Leo gets a day off.  We were at the show from 9am to 7pm it was longggg day.  Shaina also says hi!!  I was talking to her yesterday and she wishes she could come again, and ride Zany but she has to get a job this summer.  I've heard that before.

Alexa

PS Guess what starts in three weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Congratulations, Alexa, on getting into your first choice college! We’re really happy for you!

 

And here’s another Christmas tree message from Micayla:

Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying your snowmobiling trip so far. I think you might have a new record holder for the Christmas tree contest! My tree is still up even though we got it back on December 8th! We even have the lights still on! Amazingly it still looks pretty lively. Now I'm looking at it though...it seems to have quite the tilt. Haha :) I hope everyones doing well and I'm thinking about this summer like crazy!

Micayla

 

And a similar message from Heather!

Hi,

Hope you are enjoying your trip!  Just sending a quick message to say that our family took down our crisp christmas tree last night!  I think half of it fell apart in our living room in the process of taking it down - it was so old!

-Heather

 

In addition to the Christmas tree stories from Kellie, Micayla, Heather, and Alexa, Uncle Billy also wrote the other day that his tree is still up (but it is one of those little ones that sits on a table!) I think keeping Christmas trees up forever must be much more common than many people think. It’s one of those little family secrets you keep unless you’re telling stories among friends, like here on the Longacres Blog!

 

Saturday, January 23^rd Update:

Important Info on Overdue Tuition – Please Read

We hate January 15^th!

We really, really do. And especially the following ten days after the January tuition payments are due every year. We hate it because we are forced to be hard nosed business managers, and that’s not at all the way we like to define ourselves at Longacres. Every fiber in our beings prefers to be focused on trying to give you all great personal customer service and trying to create a friendly, family atmosphere for you, our valued friends and customers.

 

But hard nosed we must be in January and here’s why. Longacres is a very small farm. With only nine spots for students plus a CIT or two, most of those spots are spoken for very early every fall. And that can be difficult. It’s hard for families to plan all their summer commitments almost a year in advance. It is why we spread tuition due dates out with a portion due by January 15^th. If your family vacation plans change by January, you are only out your deposit if you must drop out. And almost every year someone must change their plans and withdraw their reservation. People often wait until the last minute just before January tuition is due, often hoping that they can work things out to attend.

 

If someone cancels their reservation January 15^th, we are in a good position to fill the spot, since January is the busiest time of the year for signing new enrollments. Just this week, for instance, we are talking with a brand new family that wants a 3 or 4 week session next summer. As of January 15^th last week, we did not have any four week vacancies and we tentatively had to tell this family we could not offer them the session of their choice. BUT, several students are overdue making their January tuition payments. By this Monday, they will be ten days past due. We have to ask ourselves if these families are canceling their 2010 reservation, because we will have exactly the session the new family wants if one or more of those overdue payments does not come through.

 

At a big camp, it’s a little less important if one spot goes unfilled in a session. But at a very small camp like Longacres, if just one spot is unfilled in a session, we lose more than 10% of our entire budget for that session. That’s why this is such a big deal to us!

 

Please, please understand how much we hate the idea of calling or writing you to ask, “Where’s our money?” Please understand that we must do so, only because we have other people ready to take the place of a cancellation - - and those potential first time Longacres students will have to make other plans if we can’t confirm a vacancy. If we turn someone away, we may not get another chance to fill the spot.

 

That said, by this Monday, it appears that several of you will be ten days overdue. We’d love to have you at Longacres this summer if we still have a space open when your payment comes in. But your reservation will no longer be confirmed if it isn’t paid.

 

Yes. We hate this week every year. And especially in this recession year when more people than normal seem to be in this position.

 

(If you are having an “oh, my gosh, I forgot all about it” moment, just give us a call – We’ll work it out!)

 

Friday, January 22Update:

Although we’re waiting until Monday for a confirmation, it looks like we may have a cancellation and will have space in two previously full sessions. Those of you who have been considering Longacres this month, contact us if you are interested in one of the sessions that has been listed as “full”.

 

Ten Day Special:

Also, we are offering one spot for the first ten days of the August camp session. One of our long time customers must come late for that session and we’re trying to find someone who wants to come just for that period from July 28^th to August 8^th to fill the unused portion of her session.

 

Check the new “Picture of the Month” at the top of the page featuring Laura on Horatio.

 

Thursday, January 21, Update:

Bulliten:

Remember our story a few weeks ago asking who might be the last one to take down their holiday Christmas Tree? Alexa immediately claimed the “All-Time” record, since one year she and her family NEVER took their artificial tree down until they redecorated it for the following Christmas. But this year, we just heard from Heather M. that they just put theirs away this week. Does anyone else have Heather beat?

 

Wednesday, January 20^th Update:

Meghan and I are off to the Adirondack mountains for a couple of days of snowmobiling. We’ll be getting our email, so if any of the group of possible new students that inquired during the past week have questions or want to talk with us, just email. We’ll call you back shortly. We still are amazed sometimes that in this day and age you can be in the middle of a big state park and keep right on running a business and communicating with your customers!

 

Monday, January 18^th, 8PM Update:

Just to finish the story of the day - - -

Meghan is still on cloud nine after conquering her fear of needles! We’ve gotten nothing useful done today – just out celebrating. I know it sounds silly. But here’s how Meghan explains it. She says, “It’s kind of like a fear of falling off a horse. Until your first fall, it’s a big deal. Then once you’ve successfully survived an unexpected dismount, it’s not that big a deal anymore.”

 

Now Meghan’s eager to go in and give blood. She’s always felt horrible that she wasn’t at least an occasional blood donor, but this phobia of needles was too much for her. Whatever. I’m sure glad she’s been in such a good mood all day!

 

Monday, January 18^th Update:

“Prick me, Baby!”

Not much Longacres news to report today, so I’ll entertain you with a personal story from the Kranz household. Meghan has conquered one of her deepest phobias and is bouncing off the walls today with good cheer. Many of us have phobias of one kind or another. Fear of snakes, fear of spiders, fear of flying, you name it and it really, really bothers some people. For me, it’s fear of great heights. You may remember my story from November of driving through the mountains in Utah and almost fainting as we drove past some seemingly bottomless canyons right next to the road.

 

OK, one of Meghan’s biggest fears ever since her childhood has been getting shots or having blood drawn at the doctor’s office. She would do almost anything to avoid needles. The past week has been tense around our house ever since Meghan got an appointment for a blood test as part of a routine physical. As the day for her blood test got closer and closer, you could sense the tension in the house. I understood how she felt, but it was hard for me to appreciate how the vision of that needle “plunging into her arm” was hanging over Meghan and occupying her thoughts.

 

This morning I dropped a gloomy Meghan off at the clinic and promised to pick her up right after her test was done. She didn’t want me waiting with her. So I went to breakfast and was reading my paper while I waited for the phone call that Meghan was ready to be picked up down the block. Suddenly I looked up, and there was Meghan, smiling from ear to ear and breathless after running around the corner from the clinic. “I’m not afraid anymore! It was fun!” Meghan says she really can’t explain it, except that she had a nice nurse drawing her blood and she suddenly just wasn’t afraid anymore. That’s when she added, “Prick me, baby!”

 

Warmer weather, but Dirty Snow!

We can’t deny that it’s pleasant to be able to walk to the car without getting frostbit cheeks or nose! But we do like our fresh white snow in the winter, and the past two days has turned the snowbanks gray/brown from the melting snow and slush. We’ll be happier when cold weather returns.

 

We had a fun dinner with Uncle Billy at the mall last night, talking about horse plans and the coming season at Longacres. Meghan will soon be getting serious about shopping for new horses. As we’ve told you, we hope to buy five new horses this season. We’ll be busy training horses in May and early June!

 

Thanks to the folks who sent their tuition check by FedEx this morning! It’s appreciated, but not necessary. Just send us an email if you have a payment coming a day or two late and we’re glad to give you the extra time. But we do want to know, so we won’t think you’ve changed your plans about coming to Longacres. We still haven’t heard from several people at all

 

New Students:

We’ve had lots of emails and calls from possible new students this week. The middle of January is usually our busiest time. We will be home all weekend, and we’re glad to have you call anytime this weekend to ask us about Longacres. Call anytime up to 11PM in the evening.

 

Friday afternoon Update:

A little history:

Several of you have recently asked me to publish more about the early history of Longacres. Which I will do soon. Here’s a little tidbit, in answer to someone who wrote in yesterday with a “history” question:

 

Subject: history

To: camplongacres@yahoo.com

Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 10:48 PM

 

Was this camp once called spruce lodge? i was a counselor there many years ago and i see it is not listed anymore, Any info would be of interest. thank you

meryl nash

 

 

Tom’s Response:

Longacres has been "Longacres" since it was founded by my grandmother and her sister in 1939.  The name "Longacres" was derived from my grandmother's maiden name, "Longaker".

 

There is a "Sprucelands" connection.  There is another camp in Java Center, NY by that name.  Sprucelands was founded by Shelley Black, who was previously director of Gohadago Camp in the Alleghany Mts. back in the 1930's.  My great Aunt, Laura Longaker Adams, was Mrs. Black's Assistant camp director back at Gohadago in the 30's.  When Mrs. Black left Gohadago to found Sprucelands, my great Aunt had expected to be named director.  But she was passed over, which is why she chose to found Longacres in 1939 with help from my grandmother, Jacqueline Kranz.  The rest is history, as they say.

 

- Tom Kranz

 

Friday, January 15^th Update:

Happy Birthday Debra!

A day late that is; Meghan reminded me on time yesterday but I didn’t get an update done. Hope you had a great day!

 

Tuition Day:

Everyone else please remember that your January tuition payment is due today. If it is on its way but not going to get here today, please email us and we’ll be glad to give you a few extra days. If your plans have changed, please let us know that, as we have good interest from new students who might want your spot. Thank you.

 

(Hi Deb M. – you really read this every morning?)

 

Wednesday, January 13^th Update:

Reminder: Tuition is Due Friday

Don’t forget that your first regular tuition payment is due this Friday to keep your reservation in effect. More than half are not here yet. If yours will be late, just give us a call or drop an email, and we’ll hold your spot for a few days.

 

Farm Life – A “Clean Snow Winter”

Here at Longacres, we embrace winter as an interesting change in the seasons. Yes, it causes problems with frozen pipes, winter storm damage, and wear and tear on our buildings and grounds. But it can be very beautiful here in winter with all the snow. We say, “If we’re going to go through a winter season, then BRING IT ON!” We hate a half hearted winter with dirty slushy snow and mud showing through on the roads and trails.

 

But this winter that’s not been a problem so far. It’s been continuously cold and snowy since Christmas, the driveway has a solid base of frozen packed snow, and everything is white. Check these pictures taken today out in front of the house along the drive. We’re about to get a partial warmup here in Western New York for the next week with cold nights but warm afternoons. It will be a pleasant break when we’re outside, but it won’t be as pretty.

 

Tuesday, January 12^th Update:

We’ve been lazy about changing the Rotating “Fun Pictures” recently, but we did it today. Click here or go up to the paragraph above to see some new Meghan favorites.

 

Also, here’s a Longacres “Hello” to Lily & Ali from Florida who are very interested in coming for one of the June Clinic weeks. Lily sounds like she’d fit right in at Longacres – she’d stay in her horse’s stall all the time if she could. Does that sound familiar to any of you guys?

 

Monday, January 11^th Update:

Happy Birthday, Katie “Senior”!

And – check this link! The renovation of Main Street in East Aurora was finished this fall ahead of schedule. I know that it will be hard for you to believe if you were one of our customers the past two summers driving your kids to Longacres and bouncing around during the major construction work! But the work is done and they’ve even put in new landscaping, including the circle of park benches right across the street from our Longacres “Town Day” laundramat. Meghan and I can just imagine the Longacres crew sprawled on these new benches after doing your laundry and shopping on Sunday afternoons.

 

It was good to hear from Katie & Jessica from Colorado today! We look forward to seeing you two again in June! We’ve had an extremely International month of January so far, with enrollments or serious inquiries from California, Colorado, Toronto, Canada, and half way around the world in Bahrain!

 

Thursday, January 7^th Update:

Lots of News:

It’s always quiet for us over the Holidays with all our friends and customers busy with family get togethers and vacations. And then busier after new Years. No exception the past week, as we’ve been getting new inquiries about Longacres every day. We send out a Longacres “Welcome” to Taylor from Arkansas who is taking the last student spot in the July 11 to 25^th session. Taylor’s family has several horses and she almost came to Longacres last summer. Glad it is finally working out for her to be with us! That leaves only a CIT spot for that session, and we had a conversation with someone this morning that might possibly fill that spot.

 

And another BIG “Longacres Welcome Back” to Shelly K. who has accepted our offer to be senior riding staff from the middle of May through June 13^th. Shelly will be helping Meghan open the barn, buy and train some new horses, and teach riding during the early June weeks. I have lost track of how many years Shelly spent at Longacres beginning as a young camper and returning year after year as a rider and then as a junior counselor. Shelly’s showing exploits on her beloved horse, “Janna aka Devil Horns”, are legendary in western New York.

 

One or two of you have asked if we have snow. Check this link on my snowmobiling trails website for pictures of Meghan and I riding snowmobiles and playing in the snow yesterday.

 

Tuesday, January 5^th Update:

Happy Birthdays to:

Drisana, Jessica, and Gertrude!

Hope all three of you enjoy a fine birthday –

 

Monday, January 4^th, 9PM:

It is winter here! Check this link for a few snow pictures near and around Longacres.

 

Monday, January 4^th Update:

Following is a nice message from Ofelia describing one of her training sessions. I’ve been getting a few of these descriptions from some of you recently, and I really like reading them. It’s interesting to see how some of the same themes we emphasize at Longacres are put to use in your riding at home. Perhaps we should start an archive of descriptions of good lessons. Or maybe Petra will do that in her photo clinic Blog. Anyway, here’s Ofelia’s description:

 

“Hi Tom & Meghan,

 

       Hope everything's well at Longacres, and you enjoyed your 24 hours without emails (not for long, though--you have silly people like me emailing you updates)!

      

       I wanted to tell you about a fun and interesting lesson my mom and I had the other day. Although there were quite a few people in the lesson, we did a very helpful exercise. Our trainer that day was telling that even though the horses often get a bit antsy and unpredictable in the the cold winter weather, keeping a good working walk, trot, and canter (whether you are doing any of those gaits) will keep them from getting bored and snappy, and also won't give them the opportunity to misbehave. Even though there are plenty of times horses spook and you couldn't have anticipated it, our trainer's advice reminded me of the things I have learned at Longacres. That working walk certainly comes in handy! We continued on for some of the lesson warming up our horses, getting ready to go through an exercise with a cross rail, to a bounce, to another bounce, and then two strides to a small vertical. This was very helpful, especially for the school horses we were riding, since we had to practice collecting the horses' strides before the gymnastic, but then keeping enough leg to go through the whole combination. It was hard though at first, since I am used to coming back into the saddle after the landing side of a jump (as with most jumps) -- only with these jumps, there was no time to come back of course, since it was a gymnastic. After going through this a few times each, and getting better and better at keeping our horses in control and attentive, our trainer moved things around a bit -- now there was a cross rail, which like before, we trotted into -- then a bounce, another bounce, then a one stride to a small vertical, and finally another one stride to the last vertical. After this, she added some other jumps into our little course, so that pretty soon, we had built up everything to be a gymnastic exercise, and then a few outside, diagonal, and quarter line jumps. My mom and enjoyed the exercise a lot, and it was great for all types of horses -- the quick pony I was riding had to wait and back off to wait for the jumps, and the more downhill horse my mom was riding learned to pick up her feet more efficiently. I thought I would tell you about this exercise since it reminded me so much of some of the combinations we did in preparation for the Derby, and during the Derby.

 

       We also got to see Laura, Sharon, Ho-Ho, Chesney, and Gold (Carly's horse; but we didn't get to see Carly) today, which was nice. Chesney and Ho-Ho looked warm in their winter coats and blankets, and both were happy I'm sure to get some attention! "Fosto" and I played some games of "velociraptor (to our moms' horror)," the game that originated at Longacres.

 

Ofelia”

 

We hope Sharon feels better soon – she took a tumble from a very feisty feeling “Chesney” on a cold winter day and is a bit banged up. Fortunately nothing serious, but she has what she describes as an impressive bruise! (Martha and Ofelia suggested posting a picture – you sicko’s!) I hope all of you out there doing winter riding are careful. Horses don’t get ridden as often this time of year and when they are ridden in cold weather, they often do feel very energetic and can let loose with unexpected bucking fits. Consider lunging your horses before riding, even if it is a normally calm horse.

 

AND - - -“Happy Birthday” to Rhiannon today and a belated New Year’s birthday to Leslie H.

 

Sunday, January 3^rd, 3PM Update:

Alexa Wins!

Don’t even bother writing in hoping that you might have the record for leaving your tree up longer than anyone else. Alexa writes that one time her family ended up leaving the tree up until the following Christmas! LOL HAR HAR HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! But it was an artificial tree, Alexa claims, and they DID take the ornaments down. Just never got around to putting the tree away. We’ll have to open another category for real trees!

 

Cute Story from Sydney:

“Hello! 

Today I went sledding with my friends at the barn. First we went sledding on the trails, then in Casino and Dancer's paddock.(Casino and Dancer are two of the senior citizens of the barn, They know a lot about sleds and how to avoid them.)Any ways two of our four sleds we left at the bottom of the hill and carried the other 2 sleds all the way up the hill. Once we left the 2 sled at the bottom Casino and Dancer immediately went to investigate. They where licking, pawing, and sniffing our sleds, they where so interested!!The whole time we where sledding ( about an hour) they where investigating our sled. Who knew that sleds where really that interesting!

Talk to you later!!

~Sydney

 

--

~___/>

 (    )   Horses!!!!!”

 

Sunday, January 3, 9AM Update:

We did it!

Not one single email from a friend of Longacres for 24 hours. That is a rare thing in our world! It made for a relaxing New Year’s weekend, but careful out there – don’t let this go on for too long, or we’ll start whining about being ignored. Enjoy your weekends – school starts again soon!

 

When is Your tree Coming Down?

Let’s have a little survey. When did you put up your Holiday decorations and tree? And when did/or will you take them down? Here at Longacres Meghan usually likes to get her tree and all her decorations up a week before Christmas. She was late this year and only had everything done by December 22^nd. As far as taking things down, Meghan is one of those who likes to keep the decorations as long as she can. The tree is never down by New Year’s day, which is when many people undecorate. She aims for January 8^th this year. (I don’t dare report the very latest date we’ve ever taken down our tree!)

 

Saturday night, January 2^nd Update:

Happy New Year!

In addition to the “New Year’s” greetings, we send out a Longacres “Hello” to Leslie G. who wrote late last night asking some questions about attending Longacres. What’s significant about that email beyond Leslie being the first new inquiry of 2010, is that it was also the last email we received. If we get none in the next hour and a half, it will be the first time in maybe a year or more that we’ve had no emails in a 24 hour period! With all the correspondents who read our Blog and keep in touch, it is a rare day, indeed, with no messages. (If you read this tonight, don’t jinx it – wait until after midnight to email us.)

 

Very cold here in western New York, but at least the first part of the day had a little sun and some lovely winter scenes. Once again, Happy New Year!

 

Thursday, New Year’s Eve Update:

I was busy this morning doing website updates. More are coming in the next few weeks. If any of you have time, check my work for mistakes in case we have any caption names wrong or if any of the pictures don’t load. Updated last night and today were our Rate & Schedule page, and the Longacres Facilities page, with about 35 new pictures added to the old ones.

 

Meghan and I are having an early dinner with Uncle Billy tonight, then staying home off the highways and watching a video or two. Have a happy & safe new Year’s Eve, everyone!

 

A Quick “Thanks” to NYSEG:

I am often at war with the local utility companies. Since Longacres owns a good sized parcel of land with electric and gas lines crossing the property, we have to be vigilant that the utility companies don’t come through and do unsightly or dangerous clear cutting through our woods and trail systems. We just won a major battle with NYSEG, the electric company, over a long term trespass where one of their big power lines was wrongly put on our property. So I am humbled to have to issue a BIG “thank you” to one of NYSEG’s maintenace crews.

 

They responded to a call from us about a tree down on one of their lines supplying the camp. They cleared the tree which was clearly their responsibility. But we still had uneven power in the camp. So we called them to come out again. But it turned out that there was an unrelated problem with the wiring on our side of the meter pole. The NYSEG crew would have been completely within their rights to shut off our power and leave until we had a private contractor come in and fix the problem. But not this crew. They offered to wait until one of my people could get to the job site, and then they showed us exactly where the problem was, helped us hook up a temporary supply wire, gave us the wire and special clamps, and stayed until the electric was tested and working properly. All above and beyond the call of duty. I called the crew chief back after they left and told him I hoped Santa treated his family well this season. Thanks, NYSEG!

 

Wednesday, December 30^th, 1PM Update:

Several things today;

Here’s a message from Petra who was at Longacres the first month last summer and returns for our second month in August this summer:

“Hi!

I just wanted to say Hi! I'm in Colorado right now, and I miss my horse. I can't wait to get back to Florida! It is cold here....brrrr.....

I was just wondering if you guys have any suggestions for topics for my blog? I have some ready, but I will be writing alot today in the afternoon, because I have no plans, and I will probably need some topics to write about. I try to write everyday, but I don't always have time.

I hope you guys get all of your electric work fixed, and have a happy new year!!!!

-Petra

horse-aholics.blogspot.com”

 

Check that link – Petra has started her very own Equestrian photo clinic & Blog. She’s doing a very good job at it, featuring mostly Longacres pictures of Longacres riders. Keep it up, Petra!

 

And here’s another message from Emily, who is also coming to Longacres during August this year:

“Dear Tom and Meghan,

 

     So here I am- thinking about camp, and before I know it, im reading the website from the earliest to most recent posts of this summer, and re-reading the summer basically. It was fun :) But then I realized I had stuff to email you about, so here I am.

     

For Tom- I have a working walk story! I know it's kind of late, but better late than never right? Alright, well here it is. The horse I lease, Ellie, has been trained and does know how to get her head into a frame when given the right commands. But during my lesson on Saturday, she was being particularly stubborn about it when I asked her in the trot. So I thought of camp, and all of a sudden, a little solution popped into my head! I remembered you (Tom) talking about the importance of the working walk and how the key to horse and rider is establishing and maintaining the "who's boss" relationship is by starting with a good working walk. So what I did was I brought her down to a walk, let her stretch her head for a lap around the ring, and then picked her back up and brought her to a steady working walk. She was confused at first, and then she got it and was overstepping and really picking herself up. Once we could maintain that without me nagging at her, I asked her to go into a frame, and she did it in a matter of seconds, and kept it throughout the walk, trot (forward, collected, and sitting), and even in the canter (which shocked me the most). "Uncle Tom's" words were in my head my entire lesson! :)

    

For Meghan- I may have found someone to fill those 10 days in the August session!! She may not want to show, but she is definitely interested. She just needs to talk to her mom, and I shall have more information for you on Sunday. Nothing is guaranteed, but there is a chance!

 

I hope you guys are having a good winter! I miss you soooooooooooo much :( I want to come back home already! Too bad I have at least 24 weeks of school yet :( But I hope I can see you guys in march and I'll get back to you Meghan when I have more information.

 

Take care! <3 Em”

 

As many of you know, I am a sucker for a good “working walk” story. Good job, Emily. I am glad you think of us when you do some good riding like this at home!

 

(A note from Longacres: We usually only accept students for the full 3 ½ week August session. Emily signed up for the full August session, but has a family trip that conflicts with this, and has to come ten days late for that session. We have agreed to try to help her find someone else to come just for those first ten days of the August session, beginning July 28^th. Let us know if that works for YOU. Someone signed up for the July 11 to 25^th two weeks might want to stay over and include the first part of August. We’re willing to be flexible to help out a good customer like Emily!)

 

Here at Longacres today we’re finishing up odds and ends from our Christmas. I helped Meghan put together a “some assembly required” make up stool for her new bathroom. And together we drilled holes in the wall and hung a couple of pictures. Meghan is smiling constantly!

 

If you are curious about how I spend quite a bit of my time in the winter, check this link for today’s “Update” to my snowmobile trail conditions website. Almost every morning after breakfast in town I take a drive (often with Meghan’s company) and take pictures and check trail conditions for a popular snowmobile trail system just east of us (near all the wind turbines).

 

Tuesday, December 29^th, noon Update:

Very cold here at Longacres today, but pretty with fresh white snow everyplace. More “fun on the farm” – electric power problem at the old carriage house cottage. Thankfully the heat is still working OK! But I spent a couple of hours tracing old wiring. We think/hope that it is a problem with the electric company’s wires. We’ll know by tonight!

 

We got a few responses to our posting about Meghan quitting FaceBook. For those of you who love your FaceBook, we certainly understand. It can be very useful and fun.

 

But we also had a great email (OUR kind of communication!!!) from a fellow Facebook “hater”! Some interesting comments and thoughts that we generally share.

 

Monday, December 28^th, 2PM Update:

First Tuition Payment Due January 15^th:

Thanks to a few of you who recently sent in your January payments early. 40% of your total tuition is due by January 15^th. The deposit you have already paid counts towards that. Meghan is sending out bills this week, but this is a heads up so you have a little extra time to plan.

 

Meghan & FaceBook: She’s “Out a’ there!”

Most of you know that we have expressed concerns about FaceBook privacy in the past. We signed up for a FaceBook account in the fall using Meghan’s name, since she is the most active manager of the Longacres business. But it is Meghan who most disapproves of the gossipy nature of many Facebook postings and it is Meghan who least often reads anything posted there. So today we deactivated Meghan’s FaceBook account. She’s “out a’ there”. Meghan MUCH prefers one on one communication and is always eager to hear from any of you via personal email!! Keep those messages coming. But she will not be reading FaceBook. (PS – We absolutely see how useful and fun FaceBook can be. It’s just not Meghan’s style.)

 

We might open another account in Tom’s name. Tom spends a lot more time on the computer and is a more public kind of person by nature. He (I) is the one who writes almost all of these Blog posts, anyway. We have also been concerned that some people might have “friended” Meghan thinking that it was just Meghan, and not an unofficial Longacres account used by both Tom & Meghan.

 

Sunday, December 27^th, 8PM Update:

Today was the day we exchanged gifts in our house, postponing the fun to give us time to relax and enjoy it all after a very busy week. Santa gave Meghan an almost finished brand new bathroom. He brought me some nice DVD’s, an Apple Magic Mouse, and a really great high quality leather tool bag. I don’t do as much of the farm maintenance as I once did, but Meghan wanted me to have the really nice tool kit for the times I do get pulled away from my computer and roped into that kind of work. Thanks, Meghan!

 

Many thanks to all of you who sent us cards and email messages over the holiday weekend! We love hearing from you all.

 

Oh, and Santa also brought about a zillion different kinds of cookies, chocolates, and GREAT home cooked and restaurant meals over the past few days. Evil stuff! Tom is going to be on a starvation diet for a long time after the holidays to compensate, I’m afraid.

 

Saturday, December 26^th Update:

Happy Birthday, Alexa!

Hope you have a great B-day, you highly valued, appreciated, and loved and now adult Longacres counselor, you!!!!!!!!

 

Christmas Day Update:

Did you really think I wouldn’t Post here on Christmas?

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

OK, as we’ve told you, it’s not really Christmas in our house until Sunday, but we know it is for most of you. (Not Heather – she wrote that her family is delaying until Monday, since they’re away on vacation where it is WARM this week!) We’re having a very relaxing day putting a few more momentos on the tree, cleaning up around the house, and having some GOOD food home cooked by Meghan the chef!

 

And even though we’re waiting for our personal gift exchanges on Sunday, we did get a very nice Christmas present this morning. We spent almost an hour on the phone talking to brand new Longacres student Alexandra and her dad, who are half way around the world in Bahrain. We hit it off great with them and Alexandra is definitely coming to Longacres in August. She’s taking the final available spot, so Longacres will be completely full now in that session. That’s a nice Christmas morning for us! Alexandra will probably be emailing some of you who are attending that session. We hope you share your feelings for Longacres with her!

 

Check this link for a few pictures of the special memories we put on our tree along with the usual lights and decorations. Meghan has more than fifty of these little trinkets that bring back special memories. They are an important part of our family Christmas tradition.

 

Thursday, Christmas Eve Day:

How About a Two Day Delay?

Christmas in our house has been declared to be December 27th! Ah, we understand that this would be impossible in most households with kids chomping at the bit for the arrival of Santa. But we’ve made a special arrangement for Santa to do all his magic around the world, take a long nap, and then come by Longacres on his way back to the North Pole on Sunday! We hope he is good to all of you tomorrow if you celebrate Christmas.

 

For us, this week has been just too hectic to prepare for the big day in time. One of Meghan’s favorite things about this holiday, besides seeing friends and family, is getting her tree up and gifts wrapped in time to just sit and enjoy the beauty of the season for a few days. With the turmoil of the rental house furnace repairs and the delay caused by our unexpected snowmobiling trip Monday and Tuesday, we’ll barely have everything ready by tonight. And as we were rushing to finish preparations last night, we stopped and said, “Ya’ know, there’s no reason we can’t finish everything up Christmas Eve and then just enjoy the beauty and the good feelings of the season for a couple of days and declare Sunday to be our personal day to exchange gifts and stuff.” So that’s what we’re doing. We’ll have a very relaxed real Christmas Day tomorrow and just look at our tree and wrapped gifts. We’ll spend some time calling friends & family and we’ll think of all of you!

 

“Boxing Day” we’ll go out to lunch with friends and maybe venture out among the hoards of shoppers and gift certificate spenders. And then have our own gift exchange on Sunday.

 

= = =

 

“Some Assembly Required”

That was the dreaded phrase stenciled on the outside of a package Meghan had delivered yesterday, as one of the final touches for her new bathroom. Guess who gets to help with “some assembly”? Check this link for a few pictures, including the nearly mortal wound I suffered in the process!

 

= = =

 

A Longacres “Hello” to Alexandra. She and her dad are considering signing her up for one of the final spots in the second session. She is going to a British School in the Kingdom of Bahrain where her dad is working. She’s had some interesting experiences riding in several places around the world. We hope the dates work out for your summer holiday plans, Alexandra!

 

= = =

 

Swapping Jobs:

Meghan and I were both frustrated yesterday with the furnace problems in our tennant’s house and all the last minute shopping we had to do. So after venting to one another, we made a deal. We swapped jobs for the day! Meghan took over dealing with the plumbers and making decisions on getting Katie’s furnace fixed or replaced. And I volunteered to spend time driving and in long lines at the butcher shop picking up all the holiday food and goodies. Meghan supervises much of the maintenance work around the farm in the summer, anyway, and she is good at it. I normally hate standing in lines and shopping, but this was a fair trade. The change in normal roles was good for both of us. Try it sometime!

 

= = =

 

Anyone Out There?

The couple of days right before and after Christmas we usually hear very little from our internet friends. That’s a good thing! You should all be enjoying the holiday time with your friends and families. But if anyone’s reading this, shoot me a quick email. Just curious how many of you die hard Longacres Blog readers checked in today.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you if you don’t check back later1

 

 

Wednesday, Dec. 23^rd, 2PM Update:

Still a mixed day. We’re continuing to deal with the yucky furnace problem, with Meghan now working on a second estimate for furnace replacement. (She always does her homework!)

 

But we got more really nice news out of the Longacres past. Many years ago, about the time Beth Kramer was here (see below), we had a foreign student from Austria named Barbara. “Bobsie” to all the other girls at the time. Every year since then, and that is a lot of years now, I get an overseas envelope and Christmas Card from Barbara and her family. I wish I always took the same effort to send her a card in return. But today I did send her the following email. I post it here even though it is quite personal because the same thoughts apply to many of you out of the distant Longacres past who still think of us from time to time:

 

“Dear Barbara,

(Bobsie, I think they called you when you were at Longacres?!)  I just want to tell you that you bring a special moment of joy to my holiday every year when you take the time to send your annual card.  You have been doing it for a long time now.  Thank you from deep in my heart!

 

Many other girls who enjoyed their summer riding horses at Longacres over the years do send us occasional cards or email messages.  But few for so many years and from so far away as you.

 

Please accept my best holiday wishes to you and your family from all of us at Longacres.  If I am ever in your part of the world, I hope to stop and buy you and your husband a drink.  Or if you are in the states, please know that you are always welcome at Longacres.

 

- Tom Kranz”

 

Wednesday, Noon Update:

It’s been a day of contrasts. We (mostly Meghan) have been dealing with that unpleasant plumbing and heating problem in one of our houses and it is not completely solved yet. Yucccck!

 

On the other hand, I had a chance to spend time doing one of my favorite things; getting to know a possible new Longacres student during a long phone call. I spoke with Laura, from Indiana. Laura and her husband are both considering coming to Adult Week. They have their own horses and are interested in eventing. They enjoy the training and schooling even more than competing, and they both really like horse care – they keep their horses at their own place. Our kind of people, so far! It also turns out that Laura’s best friend is Beth K. who was a Longacres rider for several years quite some time ago. I immediately remembered Beth, who was a good rider and a popular girl when she was at Longacres. One of those people we really enjoyed having here and who you always remember! Beth does not ride anymore, but still keeps her foru legged “lawn ornaments” to this day! So we’re hoping that Laura and Dave both like the sound of Longacres and come spend a week with us so they can report on the changes to Beth when they go home.

 

We also enjoyed talking with Sarah and Jenny, two other young adults who are coming to one of our clinic weeks. They had a change in schedule and are switching weeks, but still very much looking forward to their Longacres session. It has been a busy morning of Longacres fun horse business by phone while we deal with the yucky business of furnace problems!

 

Wednesday, December 23^rd Update – morning:

The “We hate Plumbing” Day:

Yep, we do! When we have problems with horses, it can be frustrating or even heart rending. But when you’re done, you have either accomplished something or managed a problem that affects your most important and cherished assets. Not so with plumbing problems. The very best possible outcome is that things will be exactly the way they were before the problem came up, but your pocket book will be lighter.

 

We are landlords, renting out several small houses we own on the outskirts of the Longacres farm. Few things are more aggravating than getting that call, often on a freezing night, telling us “there is a problem with the heat in my house”. We’ve had good luck in recent years, and have not had many rental house problems. So I guess we should count our good fortune. None the less, an unpleasant responsibility is consuming our time during this happy holiday season. After spending two days diagnosing the problem with some of our regular part time maintenance help and working with a VERY patient tenant (thank you, Katie!), we bit the bullet this morning and called in the expensive plumbers. Hopefully the problem will be taken care of today. (cutting back on plans for expensive restaurant dinners over the holidays!)

 

Tuesday, December 22 Update:

Ebony, the Parade Horse! (Picture here)

Our large black pony, Ebony, has always marched to the beat of her own drum. Although she can be a little temperamental, like most ponies, she is a trustworthy ride. To find out just how good she can be when she wants, you’ve got to read the following report from Kellie!

 

“I actually wrote this like last week, but I forgot to press send. So yep:)

 

HEY.

Guess what the temperature is?!

50 degrees. In the morning. Haha yeah your jealous:)

And guess what I didn't wear yesterday?!

A JACKET!

Yep its true a warm-ish front came through this weekend, like you said. It was about 60 yesterday afternoon!

Its sad, but the only nice time to ride was yesterday, but I couldn't.

I had a mother-daughter girl scout thingy from 3-4, and I woke up at like 12 ish...

 

But I did ride Saturday!!! In the parade!

Ebony was AMAZING.

Her friend Charger was in it also with his owner, Tim.

Well Charger wasn't the best...Tim stopped him in the beginning of the parade because he was just sooo flipped out.

He was not doing anything Tim told him to do. He was a mess.

But Ebony was awesome. Even when the other horses with us were all strung out, Ebony was just like "Jeez, whats so scary about this?"

Haha. When Charger turned back, she was still great. Despite the major amounts of flashing lights, screaming children running up to the horses, and the police car stationed behind us in the parade had its siren on almost the hole time. It was annnnoying!

But Ebony's head was really low the whole time acting like she had done this a million times.

Oh I forgot! There were train tracks literally rightt next to the trailer. Like 5 feet away from us. When the train went by, All the other horses were flipping out!

Ebony's ears didn't even move. Her lower lip still stayed like hanging there. Shes amazing :)

Like you said, she would either be perfect or a spaz.

She was perfect. We had a great time.

 

The parade overall was great. there were lots of interesting floats, and the Northstar float turned out a great sucess.

We dressed up the horses really cool. We put green tinsel around the breast collar and white shiny tinsel in their tail. I was going to put some in Ebony's forelock, but it kept falling in her face. We also put light around the saddle and I made her hooves all glittery. I attached a heat shot of Ebony with the green tinsel and the shiny tinsel in her forelcock. (AND her hott pink halter!) I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but the train tracks were close.

Enjoy!

 

I hope you stay warm in New York. You have to come back down and enjoy the 50 degree weather!

I hope you had fun at the NYC reunion. I wish I was there /:

This week is the last school week for school! Yeah!

My family (and maybe a few friends) are officially going to our beach house for New Years. We plan to leave the morning after Christmas. We are gonna party!!

 

Its time for school soo buh byee!

Stay warm!!

 

XOXOXO,

Kellie<3”

 

Here at Longacres, Meghan and I just walked in the door from a day and a half of snowmobiling in the Adirondacks. Check this link for a few pictures. I’ll try to remember to write tomorrow about the drag race, won by Meghan with some clever strategy!

 

Monday Morning, 8AM:

Thanks to Laura for sending a nice write-up on her recent lesson and conditioning exercise with Horatio. As background, most of you know that Laura has Horatio at home with her for the winter. Ho-ho has been having some very odd symptoms of unsoundness for the past two months. He seems completely sound at the trot, and gallops around like crazy in pasture. But he has done some odd bucking and lead swapping at the canter. Hard to figure out. Laura has been doing conditioning work with him and other stuff. I really liked what she and her trainer did in the exercise she describes below.

 

“Hey!

 

Happy holidays!!!! I love Meghan's new bathroom. It looks great.

 

So first things first. Petra has a great blog that she updates a few times a week talking about horses and riding. Her last few updates have been George-Morris-esque Jumping Reviews (though much nicer!). Her first few victims have been Michelle, Emily and me. And we've all been on Longacres horses. http://horse-aholics.blogspot.com/ --there's the link. You should definitely check it out. It's worth a read.

 

On another happy note, I have Horatio news. I would like to say before you read this that he is on Bute this week and that probably has something to do with his great performance, but it is still great progress.

We had a lesson Thursday night, and he was great. We started out with a solid ten or fifteen minute warm up at the working walk, doing circles, walk to halt/halt to walk transitions, and other suppling exercises. He even stretched out his top line and got into a frame a few times! We then moved on to trotting, doing the same sort of circles (now bigger) and up and down transitions. There was a chute set up, just two poles set up to go through. They were close enough to few ground poles to make a nice very-mini course going through the chute, over the cavalettis ("Horatio, these are TROT poles, we're not jumping, TROT poles, good boy...!") and in a small circle around the mounting block, working on leg yielding and proper rein and body usage to supple him. We did the course a few times until Horatio was trotting the poles instead of trying to canter or jump them and our circle was round. We changed direction and did it in the opposite order until he was calm (-er. He's not really ever not calm). My trainer then took down the jumps used in the previous lesson and just put one pole between the standards so that there were two "jumps" in a line about three canter strides apart, I did the poles a few times in each direction ("Horatio, I know there are standards now, but this is still to be TROTTED over, not jumped...TROT...good boy!...now coming to the next one...still trotting, Horatio...good boy Ho-ho!") Then Horatio rested for a few times around the outside. Following this came the dreaded command: "Okay, Laura, now I want you to drop your stirrups..." Oh, dear... "...and do the whole thing. Circle the mounting block twice, go over the cavalettis, through the chute, and over the 'jump' line." Ugh. But Horatio was a complete saint. He seemed to understand my mangled cues and performed like a champ, me bumping on his back harder than I would like to admit the whole time. We did it once more. This time I was a little more secure, and he decided that a little canter stride and a small hop over the pole followed by another canter stride was just what my new security called for. Over each "fence." It was really quite fine, as he went right back to a trot when I asked him to and was not excited in the least. We changed direction (still no stirrups!) and did in the the opposite direction. Then, the newest form of torture was introduced. I was given one stirrup. I would go around twice with my right stirrup only, then I would make a large cirlce (half the ring) and during that cirlce I was to switch stirrups. Not take back my left and leave my right--that would be simply too easy. I took my foot out of my right stirrup then and did the course with only my left foot in the stirrup. I am pleased to say that while my two-point was a little shaky over the two poles leading into the chute and he again jumped and did a short canter stride after each of the ground poles in the line, we did quite a solid job. My sitting trot was much more acceptable, and he didn't seem to mind my free stirrup banging against his side the whole time. It was very nice. We changed direction (are you seeing a pattern?) and did it twice more in the opposite direction. We then did it again in both directions with both stirrups. As Horatio and I cooled out, my trainer and I discussed theory. It was a very nice lesson and a promising lookout on Horatio's recovery.

 

Laura”

 

Saturday, 1PM Update:

OK, the tree procuring adventure was a success, with only two minor wounds from the jungle as I cut the tree and dragged it to the driveway so I could bring it to the house in the tractor bucket. Pictures at this link. There’s also a picture of Meghan’s new bathroom project, almost finished now. Just a few trim pieces around the toilet room door and she’ll be done. Very exciting Christmas for Meghan. First shower in the new bath later today!

 

Bulliten:

Hasty Hills just wrote and confirmed their show date for Saturday, July 10^th. Glad to have them back in the Summer Series for 2010!

 

Saturday, December 19^th, noon Update:

Hi everyone,

Brody:

We’ll be updating again later on this holiday weekend. In the meantime, check this link for some pictures we took of Brody this morning over at Quakerfield. David took time out to show him to us and he looks great. Merry Christmas, Ofelia! These pictures are your “present” from us.

 

X-mas tree hunting:

We’ll post more pictures later this morning at this link of Meghan and I climbing through thickets of prickers and thorns as we try to choose the perfect Christmas tree. We think we found a nice one, and if we don’t die of our prickerbush attack wounds, we’ll go back out with the chain saw soon so we can do tree decorating this evening!

 

New From Annie!

And now a posting of one of Annie’s novels. Great to hear from you, Annie, and that your horsie is doing well. I understand that the owner of the barn at school is a former Longacres rider, Rita?? (9PM correction: it’s Regan that is at Rita’s barn, not Annie.) Here’s Annie’s message:

 

“Happy Holidays from the Hankins and Bremmy!

I Hope you dont have more snow than you desire!

 

Heres a Holiday update!

Bremmy and I are currently at our home barn on winter vacation. She's loving being able to frolic in the fields with her friends and giant round bales, unlike her private turnout paddock at school. However, she is not allowed to be let loose in the 42 acre pasture here... I don't think i would ever see her again! We're both getting our butts kicked and confidence boosted, we apparently got pretty out of shape at school! Runkey also enjoys going to horse shows now that we're home. At school she loooved being my lab partner and getting pampered for 2 hours during basic horse handling lab. That is....until final turnout when she had to be braided, groomed, wrapped, and tacked to perfection. Resulting in a cross tie time of 6 hours...she was not a happpy camper that day! She also loves her stall with a very open gate, her personality made her one of the favorites among the barn workers, surprise surprise! School didn't neccesarily embrace all the peculiar things that make Bremmy such a good jumper horse ( I cant blame them, its a very specific style to figure out) So at our first show home she was showed under the name "Runkeys got her mojo back," I tried to remember to trust her at let her go a little looser. Now its just a matter of getting Annies mojo back! We have high hopes that her new bit will last. She gets sick of most bits after a year, fights it, and we have to change it up on her. But her new one is a combination bit. It has a slightly ported sweet iron leverage bit, with a rope over her nose, and a curb strap. When you pull on reins it tightens the rope and curb strap while applying poll pressure, then it applies pressure to her mouth. She likes it MUCH better, as it distributes pressure over a variety of areas rather than placing it all in her mouth.  Shes very loose and supple and has great reactions to it. Just in case, we only use it for jumping and we've been given a simple snaffle to hack in. I made it very successfully through the first semester at college, and we'll see what happens in the more challenging second semester!

 

Annie Hankins

popping in to say hello!”

 

 

Friday, December 18^th, 4PM:

More horse show news – check this link – Linda from Northfield Farms called in and confirmed their Summer Series date for Saturday, June 26th. We should be hearing from the other traditional Summer Series show stables soon to fill out the 2010 schedule.

 

Friday, December 18^th, 1PM:

Horse Show Dates Coming Together:

Check this link for our 2010 Summer Series Horse Show information and schedule. Longacres, Skibbereen, and Quakerfield are the first stables to confirm their 2010 dates, which accounts for 7 of the 10 possible Series dates for next season. We hope to hear from the other members soon. Keep checking the above link!

 

Longacres shows, as well as the other dates confirmed so far are on the same weekends as last year, but one day earlier with the calendar changes.

 

Most shows will have nearly the same class lists as in 2009. We’ll post any changes as we hear of them.

 

Longacres will probably add a second “Beginner Derby” or “Puddle Jumper Derby”on Derby Weekend so that more riders can have a chance to ride multiple horses in one of those exciting events. (YES, there will be a Championship Cooler in the extra class!!!!)

 

Friday, December 18^th Update:

Just a Week ‘til Christmas!

Have you all been good? We’re hard at work here at the farm, both office work and maintenance projects. Most years we’re our maintenance guys are off for the season by now, but not this year. We also expect to start working outside very early next spring finishing the enlarged sand ring and lots of other projects around the riding area.

 

We’re looking forward to dinner with Uncle Billy at the mall tonight. Thanks also to all of you who have sent us Holiday Greetings by email or cards. (We think the cutest card so far is from Andrea’s family!) Thanks to Shiela from Dunham’s for the very funny “New Year’s” email!

 

I didn’t quite get to updating the Fun Pictures file yesterday, but it is done now.

 

Thursday, December 17^th, Noon Update:

A Nice Winter Day!

Indeed, we’ve had some lovely big snow flakes floating down off and on this morning, punctuated by sunny breaks. It’s cold, but not windy. Really quite nice winter weather.

 

Check the link at the top of the page for Rotating “Fun Pictures”. I’ll be updating them this afternoon.

 

Meghan is out Christmas shopping and I’m planning to try to pick a tree to cut. We’ll be putting up and decorating the tree Friday evening after the glass panel is installed in Meghan’s new shower. (How many of you put up your tree in your bathroom?!?) We’ve done it that way for years since the bathroom space was unfinished and a perfect place for the tree. Even with the bathroom finished (almost!), there is a nice open dressing space where we usually put the tree, so we’re going to continue that tradition.

 

PS: Meghan left the following “post it” note next to my computer when she went out to go shopping:

“There is NO possible way my bathroom could be construed as “orange”. I forbid that from the LA Update!!!! J LOLOL”

 

Wednesday, December 16^th Update:

Busy Time of Year!

We always get less mail from all our Longacres friends at this time of year, and we’re pretty busy ourselves with Holiday arrangements. Things get busy here right after New Years!

 

I am also busy taking care of two other “blog like” websites right now. If you’re bored and want to browse and see what else is keeping me busy, you can check out www.oneaurora.org and this link for my Snowmobiling trails website. Oneaurora.org is a local political effort to consolidate our East Aurora Village and Town governments into one more efficient body. It’s been a pet project of mine for several years and finally has a good chance to pass this year.

 

We had dinner with Uncle Billy and counselor Katie the other night. Katie sends her greetings to all of you and says Abby is coming along very well. She’s been taking some lessons from Peter Anderson.

 

We saw a lot of Shannon Hiczewski this fall. (She rides with Farley Bridgeman at the shows in the summer.) Shannon is working at our favorite restaurant, the Roycroft, so we see her there about once a week. And we ran into her at breakfast today. We accused her of “stalking” us! With working and plans for school she’s not getting so much riding time this season.

 

Dr. Leslie Ann has asked us to publish more in the “History of Longacres” page about Tom’s riding “back in the old days”. It is nice to know that many people browse all the obscure pages on the website, so I will try to add to that history page over the holidays. Be patient, Leslie!

 

Meghan’s new purple and orange bathroom is almost done! It is her big Christmas present this year, and we are going to finish it just in time. The glass wall for the shower is being installed the day after tomorrow. There is some good natured joking between Meghan and I about the color scheme; some of you have written in and aligned yourselves with Meghan’s color choices. Alexa and Heather, especially, I will not forget who’s side you guys declared for – paybacks are sweet!

 

Sunday evening, December 13^th:

Alexa’s on Board!

We’re very pleased to announce that Alexa will be returning for most of the 2010 season as our senior riding counselor. Alexa attended Longacres for several years as a student, returned again as a CIT and junior counselor, was at Longacres last summer as a senior counselor, and now will be running the barn in 2010. Carly will be her right hand along with a whole BUNCH of great CIT’s during the August session. We still have to fill a second senior counselor spot for at least the month of July and parts of June. WELCOME BACK, Alexa!

 

Check this link for some fun pictures taken at the New York reunion this weekend. Many thanks to Ofelia, Martha, and family for hosting the event. Thanks to Sebastion for putting up with all of us!

 

More details tomorrow; we just got in from the train very late back here at the farm.

 

Thursday night, 9PM Update:

“Hi!”, to Katie and Sydney who both wrote us this afternoon. Good to hear from you guys, and we’ll probably see you Monday night, Katie. (Counselor Katie)

 

Now we have snow! We may yet get the two to three feet of snow they are talking about by Saturday, especially if it keeps coming down like it is now. We got ten inches in the past two hours, which is VERY impressive. A good steady snow is 1” per hour. 2” per hour is a heavy snow. Five inches an hour like we’ve been getting since dinner is extremely unusual. We’re expecting another hour or two of that before the band of heavy snow moves further south. I just got done clearing the driveway and managed to get the big four wheel drive tractor stuck for a few minutes. We should be able to get to the train station tomorrow morning and still plan on seeing you guys in New York Saturday.

 

Thursday, December 10^th, Noon Update:

We’re really looking forward to seeing some of you in New York on Saturday. If we aren’t snowed in, that is! Western New York forecasts call for two to three FEET of snow in some places, but so far we have nowhere near that at Longacres. But check the website lunchtime tomorrow. If Amtrak is not running or the roads are closed between us and the train station, we’ll post that info by late morning. If you hear nothing new, it means we’re on our way to New York.

 

Horse News:

I’ll post a nice letter from Natasha below. She is having a great time with Zanee, as you will read, and she’s getting to ride lots of other horses for her trainer. She should be in great riding shape when she gets back to Longacres at the end of June. Here’s her message:

 

“hi tom and Meghan! I'm typing this on my itouch, so sorry if there are

alot of spelling errors! I wanted to update you guys on everything.

well Zanzibar is doing great. she's being so well behaved and my new

trainer wants me to jumpers on her! however, I told them I wasn't sure

if I was ready yet as much as I want to do them, but I know that by the

time camp comes zannee and I are gonna be ready!!! well, as I've told u

bfore, Jason was let go of. but he's found me quite a few more horses

to ride. I've been riding a little green pony that needs some training

and she is sooooo cute! I'm also helping another pony get back into

shape after being out of work for about a year. then, I've been riding

jasons horses for him, his "fancy" jumper mare and one of his older

horses that just needs excercise evry now and then. I've been

overloaded with homework everyday, and I've been practically living at

3 barns. my grades haven't dropped below a B though even though we

don't get home until about 9pm everyday. I've been so tired to, riding

aboutthree horses a day! there hasn't been any snow here unfortunatly,

but it's been very cold and rainy. well I have to go do myhomework, but

I just wanted to update you on everythign and tell you how perfect

zanee is :) I can't wait til camp!!!!!!

 

Natasha”

 

Wednesday, December 9^th Update:

Stormy!

I’ll make a quick update this morning while I can in between blasts of rough weather! The wind really kicked up overnight and we had no power in the morning. Branches were down all over Longacres, but the power problem was out on the public roads, so we just had to wait. Sometimes power is out for a couple of days here in really bad wind storms, but ours came back in a few hours. The wind has died down now for a short time. Even higher winds are supposed to return later this afternoon! We have a generator ready and extension cords to run to our furnace if we lose power during the really cold weather coming soon.

 

Everyone likes to complain about weather forecasts when they are not perfect. I hear people all the time saying, “They have no idea what the weather is going to be like tomorrow.” But they do. It is really pretty amazing with modern technology how well we can forecast big weather patterns, and even quite detailed forecasts in the short term. Some patterns are very easy to predict and others much harder. But today’s weather has been predicted very accurately for several days in advance, right down to the brief period of dry, sunny weather we had right after breakfast. If you are ever interested in reading about how the guys at the weather service are more confident of some forecasts than others, go to the NOAA weather page for your area and scroll down to the bottom right corner of the page. There you will find about 8 or 10 links to other weather pages. Click on the one that says, “Forecast Discussion”. Someone in each weather office around the country writes this discussion of the local area forecast and updates it several times a day. They explain the big picture and their reasoning behind the forecast issued to the public. What is most interesting is that they are very open about the level of confidence they have in their public forecast. They will tell you if the various different computer models they use are in close agreement, indicating a high confidence in the forecast. Or they will often explain that the models for their four and five day forecasts are quite different and that they have “low confidence” in that forecast. Pretty cool stuff for us weather fans!

 

Tuesday, December 8^th Update:

Snow! Yahoo!

Well, at least I got my first snowmobile ride of the season in this morning. But there may soon be too much of a good thing here in East Aurora, as we have a winter storm warning up for tomorrow night and Thursday. We may get over two feet of snow right on top of Longacres. Most of you know that I am a bit of an amateur meteorologist, and big storm systems provide me with lots of entertainment. This one will affect much of the country, as you all must know by now. We’ll post some “snow at Longacres” pictures later in the week. There are a few from this morning at this link.

 

Weather will also be cold and stormy here at the beginning of the weekend, but I see that Saturday may be a decent sunny day in New York city for our Longacres reunion, so unless we get snowbound in Buffalo, we look forward to seeing you all as planned at Ofelia’s.

 

Sunday night, late:

So far, Carly, Alexa, Emily, Morven, Laura, and Ofelia and some family members! And us!

 

Sunday, Dec. 6^th, 4PM Update:

Cool Diesel News!

I went across the street this morning to visit Diesel, and had a chance to talk with Kurt, Connie, and Ciera who all really like him. Check this link for a few pictures! The ones showing Ciera and her friends on Diesel bareback are very cute. In fact one of the pictures was chosen for an area 4-H calendar. Diesel seemed to be enjoying all the attention.

 

But there’s more news as you will see from the pictures. Kurt and Connie took Diesel down to Amish country in their trailer to have his feet trimmed and while they were there, they let the Amish farriers hook Diesel up to a farm rig teamed with one of their Belgian-Percheron cross mares. They drove the team all around and Diesel acted like he’d been doing it all his life. We know from our own work with him, that Diesel knows how to drive, and we were told by his former owners that he’d spent a full season being driven by Amish farmers. But he hasn’t done it for about four years. It is a tribute to this really cool and cooperative horse that he stepped right into harness like he’d been doing it all the time!

 

Kurt and Connie were so pleased that they bought the mare and brought her home to keep Diesel company. Maybe we’ll get together with Kurt and Connie and go in on harness stuff and a buggy partners so you guys can try driving during the summer. Enjoy the pictures.

 

Sunday, December 6^th Update:

The New York Reunion II – It’s ON for December 12^th!

Ofelia and Martha have very generously offered to host our “LA in New York Round II” reunion at their apartment on the upper west side near the Museum of Natural History next Saturday afternoon from 4PM until?? We prefer not to post a private address here online, but if you’re coming, check soon on Ofelia’s Facebook page for directions, or email us and we’ll send you the address.

 

This will be a just for fun get together to talk about Longacres plans and ideas for the 2010 season and share pictures from everyone’s fall riding experiences. Plan to chip in a few dollars for pizza & snacks – it will feel just like camp with Meghan figuring out everyone’s share! Do bring any horse pictures from your own riding at home, as well as favorites from Longacres. If the weather is good, and some of you come up with a good idea to do something after the late afternoon apartment get together, it is a possibility, but we have no definite plans beyond meeting at Ofelia’s for holiday good cheer.

 

We’ve been thinking all along that this will be just a small meet up since many of you had your own Longacres reunion just a month ago. But it sounds like we will have an apartment full of people! There are four in Ofelia’s family, Laura & Sharon are likely to come, Meghan & I, Alexa & her dad, Emily, and maybe Carly (it’s been a few weeks since I heard from you, Carly – can you make it?). That’s a dozen or more depending on any family who come along.

 

Contact Ofelia or us at Longacres if you can come.

 

Check this link for a few pictures I’ll try to post later this afternoon.

 

Saturday, December 5^th Update:

Reunion Stuff - - - & “Purple?”

First the New York reunion; we just made our train reservations so Meghan and I will definitely be in the New York area over next weekend. It’s a chance to visit my mother in Connecticut and we are tentatively planning to get together with some of you on Saturday afternoon in the City. We’re still open to “doing something”, but we’re also glad to just meet up and talk. Check in with us tomorrow (Sunday) if you’re planning to come. We think Ofelia, Martha, Laura, and Sharon are coming almost for sure and probably Emily and several others. Email or call tomorrow so we can plan.

 

Purple?!?

Meghan is hard at work remodeling a bathroom here at the main house at the farm. She is calling all the shots and I am a curious bystander. She’s starting to paint today. One of the main colors is “purple”; well, a dark purple-plum color. I rolled my eyes, but Meghan says that many of you guys will understand. Especially Peyton and Alexa, a couple of our original Longacres Purple Lovers!

 

Friday, December 4^th Update:

A Tribute to “Wendy & Dillon”

Today’s posting will be a special tribute to a horse and rider from a stable that often competes with Longacres in the jumper ring. A horse that I hadn’t thought about in a while; a horse with a very special place in the long history of the Annual Longacres Bold Jumper Derby.

 

That horse would be “Dillon”, and his rider was Wendy Serena who has ridden for years with Leigh Fischer. Before I go back to a remarkable day on the Longacres Derby Field many years ago, I’ll tell you about a chance meeting this morning in the local Valu hardware store.

 

I was waiting for Meghan to pick out some paint samples for a repair project, and Wendy’s parents introduced themselves. We began reminiscing about horse show experiences and horse show personalities in western New York many years ago. And I mean MANY years! We traded memories of John Shaffner, Al Klaus, and other trainers and stable owners from the old days. And we spoke of some of the jumpers I showed while I was still actively riding. And then they reminded me of their daughter’s horse, “Dillon”.

 

“Dillon was YOUR horse?”, I asked in amazement. They were a little surprised and pleased that I remembered him so well.

 

“How could I not remember Dillon”, I replied, “his was one of the great stories in the history of the Longacres Derby!”

 

So here is the story of Dillon at Longacres. Remember, readers, that hundreds of great jumpers have showed at the Longacres Derby over the years, including at least two that went on to win Olympic Medals. (Nazarius and Abdullah) And remember that the Derby has always been held over a long, challenging course and that many times no horse completes the course without a fault. The Derby has often been won by a horse with 4 or even 8 faults in the first round. Very early in the history of the Derby, back in the early 1970’s and 1980’s, we did some tricky things on the course. The year Dillon showed, we actually had two thirds of the course out on the big show field where it usually is held, and then you had to ride across the driveway on a sawdust path, jump over a lowered section of the small show ring fence into the small show ring, jump a course of fences in that ring, then jump back out and finish the course on the outside field. Not just a few horses stopped and wouldn’t jump into the small show ring!

 

There were lots of great jumpers in the Derby that year. Many with more jumper experience and wins than Dillon. In fact, Dillon was a small paint horse, and not particularly fast. (His trainer, Leigh, says “Slow as molasses sometimes!”) But here’s the deal – Dillon and Wendy had a bond – they trusted one another. And the horse was HONEST!

 

There was no time allowed in the Derby back in those days. If your horse jumped clean and completed the course with few faults, you would be in the ribbons. That particular day, many experienced and well known jumpers tried the course, but all that went before Dillon had faults. Lots with one or more refusals and others with knock downs on tricky parts of the course. Then it was the turn of Wendy and Dillon. It was clear from the start that Dillon would not have the fastest time. If the little paint horse tied with the same number of faults from refusals or knock downs, he would lose because of a slower time. And the crowd had a lot of time to consider that fact as Dillon took the course cantering carefully from one jump to the next, eyeballing the jump, and hopping over one after another without a fault. By the time Dillon got halfway around the course everyone in the crowd was on their feet, and a little cheer began to erupt every time “the little horse that could” cleared another jump! When Dillon got close to the end of the course without a fault, we began to count the fences down – “four fences to go; three to go and still no faults; just two to go! One more fence now – Ladies and gentlemen, CLEAN PERFORMANCE – NO FAULTS AT ALL! Dillon is the LEADING HORSE!”

 

I hope all of you reading this story are just a little emotional now, because most of us there that day surely were! It didn’t matter that Wendy and Dillon were from a stable that’s often one of our toughest competitors, this was an amazing achievement. And, yes, Dillon was the winner of the Derby that year, the only clean horse on the course.

 

It gives me great pleasure to remember this winning effort by “the little horse that could”. And to honor the horse and rider combination. Dillon died just two months ago this fall at nearly 30 years old. Long may he be remembered.

 

Thursday night, later:

Hello to Diane & Arianna,

I hope you guys check in and read this. I accidentally deleted your phone message before copying your email address, so I can’t get back to you. I did get your mailing address and I’ll send a few print outs of pages from the website. But we don’t have a real printed brochure for Longacres. Our brochure is the “Tour of Longacres” set of links on the website. If you read this, please call again so we can answer your Longacres questions! And take the “Tour of Longacres” on the website.

 

Thursday, Dec. 3^rd, 2PM:

We’re home!

Farm problems to take care of, snow storm coming tomorrow, mail to answer and more! But tractors to play with, and plenty TO DO! We won’t be bored for some time to come! Yeah!

 

Thursday, December 3^rd, 8AM Update:

Happy Birthday, Mandy!

It’s Mandy Bartlett’s birthday, and we wish her a great day. We’ve corresponded with her recently, and we know that her life is GOOD these days! She is recently engaged to be married (a nice time of life right there!), and part of their plans include building Mandy’s own training stable in Massachusetts on family land. Mandy’s maintained her interest in horses all through college and plans to keep horses the important part of her life that they’ve always been.

 

Mandy first came to Longacres as a horse loving kid herself, kept coming back as a junior counselor, counselor, and program director, and finally as Director of Riding and camp manager along with Meghan. She is the role model we describe when we hire someone new for the job. She will make a great training stable owner! If you’re in her part of the country, stay tuned. It may even be “Longacres East”, since Mandy is interested in taking Longacres horses as school horses when she is set up and running. (That could be a good balance to “Longacres South”, where the Hunn Ranch in Texas already has two Longacres horses and might have more in the future.

 

(A quick aside here: Finding good winter homes for all our horses is a challenge in these times of a tight economy. We are very interested in hooking up with quality stables that might take a group of our horses every winter. It would be an especially good fit for college riding programs or boarding schools that have great need of horses exactly the time of year when we don’t need ours. If you know anyone who takes part in college or boarding school riding programs, have them tell their riding directors about the Longacres winter horse loan program and the quality of our school horses.)

 

ALMOST HOME!

We are sitting in the passenger lounge at Orlando airport waiting for the flight home to Longacres. We’ve been away a long time this fall and we’re really looking forward to getting home and going to work improving the website, building new show jumps, and making plans for the show series for the summer of 2010. Next time you hear from us will be tonight, with the update posted right from our office in East Aurora!!!!!!

 

Wednesday, December 2^nd Update:

We’ll be Home at Longacres Tomorrow!

 

December 12^th New York Reunion?

The next important Longacres project is planning our get together in New York. Get in touch with us, or with Ofelia, , Laura, Emily, Carly, or Alexa if you’re interested in meeting sometime Saturday, December 12^th in New York City. The time is getting close, and we have to see if there are enough people interested, and decide what we might do. We’ll probably phone the New York City area crew when we are back at Longacres on Friday and see what everyone thinks.

 

Ofelia and Martha have offered that we could at least meet at their place on the upper west side. They are not far from the Museum of Natural History. Meghan and I don’t care if we do anything “exciting”. We’d be glad to just sit down with you all, talk about Longacres plans for next summer, and maybe have pizzas delivered. We should decide this weekend who’s coming and what we’re going to do. Just remember that the city will be crowded on a Saturday two weeks before Christmas so we should keep the plans simple.

 

Tuesday, December 1^st Update:

One More Day Until Home!

It’s been a great fall vacation time for us and we feel well rested. But we’re very eager to be home on the farm in East Aurora after our final day here in Florida tomorrow. We made our annual stop to see Disney yesterday under perfect weather. Check this link for a few pictures we took yesterday. We are real fans of the Disney World experience. But, boy oh boy, is it getting expensive! Nearly three hundred bucks just to get two of us through the gates for one day. Phew. That does include the extra to have “Park Hopper” passes allowing us to visit all four parks in one day. Disney seems even more expensive if you do it “the right way”, which to us means taking it easy and not really seeing very much of any one park. In a way, you aren’t getting as much for your money as you would if you rushed around trying to see everything. But the great mistake made by many visitors to Disney parks is racing along trying to see everything and getting exhausted in the process.

 

Most of our friends who visit Disney often will start early before the crowds get too big, then go back to their hotels for a long midday rest, and return for a second round at the parks in the afternoon and evening. Personally, we think visiting in an RV like we do is the ultimate way to go to Disney. This way we can be “home” in fifteen minutes for a rest before trying a different theme park. We never get overtired. You could never see everything at even one of the four theme parks at Disney World in one day anyway, let alone all of them. So we opt for just enjoying ourselves, knowing we’ll be back again.

 

We had a great message from CIT Heather yesterday and with her permission we print it here. We’re really looking forward to having Heather’s help at Longacres during the first part of July.

“Hi Tom and Meghan!

Wow I'm so sorry I never got back to you a few weeks ago about the CIT position, I have been swamped in homework and riding and then this week with the holiday.  I really hope you both had a great thanksgiving! I have been trying to catch up on reading the blog and it seemed like you had a nice warm holiday?  It was rainy and gloomy here so that must have been nice!  Like I said, I am behind on the blog but I did see that the sessions are seeming to fill up pretty quickly.  I really hope I am not too late and there is still a spot for a CIT in the first 2 week session at the end of june-july?  If there is what do I need to do to sign up for now?  I would love to get my registration in!  So I meant to e-mail you a while ago, in fact I think I promised you an e-mail about some of the horsey stuff I have been doing, but I never got around too it with my crazy school life.  Chemistry and Math are not my strong points and so I have really started buckling down on them cause at the moment my grades aren't too high... :(  ((*warning this may be a novel*)) Well anyway, I have actually ben showing quite a bit this fall compared to the usual!  Since my friend got a 2 horse trailer and is willing to take us, we have started going to this nearby farm which is known for hosting A and B rated shows but has recently started more schooling/fun  shows and "friday night live" jumper shows.  They have an indoor which is a luxery for us and so even if it is rainy or dark (on the friday night jumper shows) we can still show!! yay!!  So far we have gone to a schooling show and showed in the schooling hunter division at just 2' since I was riding Nikki, the dark bay horse who I don't usually ride in lessons because, well, its complicated.  Lets see, he is a good/well behaved lesson horse, and I get put on the bad ponies and green horses to train them haha I show nikki though because the greenies are not quite ready.  We did pretty well, two 3rds, one  2nd and a 4th!  We had planned on waiting for the jumper division to try it out but the show was taking forever because they then went on to do the same 5 classes at 2 more heights.  Luckily they had one of their jumper shows a few weeks later though so we went to that! It was rainy, cold, windy and dark but we still had a blast! I missed jumpers sooo much!!! I love it now!! Nikki is probably one of the longest and least flexible horses I have ever met but he was still a star at jumpers! He is so kind and will do anything to please you, as long as you try your hardest :)  We did 2'-2'3" again since it was our 1st time at jumpers and in an indoor the turns could get tight.  I memorized my course, planned my attack plan  and we ended up getting two seconds and a 3rd giving us reserve champion!! It was a very fun night, even though we froze and I didn't get home till about 10 pm!  There is another schooling show this saturday and I will probably go although the one green pony I have been riding for a year is finally becoming calm enough so that we might be able to take her!  She (Babe) is a 14.1 hh chubby haflinger pony who is so sweet but can be so frisky too! She has come a long way since I started training her last year when she was pretty much completely green so I'm excited!  Rembrandt, the belgian TB cross I was telling you about before is also coming along well! I rode him today and he was really good!  He doesn't get quite so fast or lunge at the jumps quite as much. Also doesn't trip on his own feet quite as much either which is a relief since thats what Babe did to me last april and it landed me in an ambulance on the way to the hospital because I had been knocked out for a few minuets and had a bad concussion!  (she tripped, went down on her knees, then her side, rolled off of me, but I hit my head really hard and scraped my knee badly) I just hope this winter  isn't too harsh so I can continue getting them both exercised and they can continue to improve!  So far it hasn't been though, today it got up to 60° and it was so sunny! I was riding in short sleeves!  I'm not sure if it is warm or cold in buffalo but I hope you guys get good weather for snow mobiling!  I briefly saw some pictures and updates on your trip and it looked amazing by the way! I will try to catch up on the rest of the updates and look at all of the pictures!  Well sorry for the long e-mail and for not getting back to you for a while, but I hope the CIT position works out!

-<3 Heather  :) :)”

 

(Ed: Yes, Heather will be a CIT!)

 

And, here’s a lovely note from Drisana who is coming the same session in July for her second year at Longacres:

 

“Hi Tom and Meghan!

 

I know i've already said this before but THANK YOU! My riding has been getting better and better ever since I left camp. I definitely still have things to work on, but much less than before! I'm so excited to come back next year so that I can get even better!!

 

I've attached a picture that my dad took  of me yesterday. his was about 3" shorter than we got to by the end of the lesson, and it wasn't my best jump (I didn't get enough impulsion... just one thing I need to work on, just like at camp), but it is at least a hundred times better than what I was before!

 

Drisana

 

--

I have spread my dreams beneath your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W.B. Yeats”

= = = = =

Here’s a “Longacres Hello” to Cassie and her friend Carly, from near Toronto in Canada, who are both very interested in attending Longacres for the first two weeks in July. If their enrollments come through this week, we’ll have no more spots for teenagers in the first half of July. The only spots left will be for younger girls age ten through twelve. The younger girls’ bunk has been slower to fill during that first session this year. We need more bunk mates for Lydia and Ruby!

 

I am sorry that Emily wasn’t with us on Thanksgiving afternoon, when I ate too much dessert. She wrote a funny letter pointing out that if she HAD been with us, there is “no way” I would have gotten to the dessert first, and then I would not have eaten too much! Good one, Emily.

 

Nice letters also came in this week from Alexa and from Shelley talking about jobs next summer. We’re making progress in getting the staff plans organized for the 2010 season, but it takes time to put it all together.

 

December 12^th New York Reunion?

Do get in touch with us, or with Ofelia, Emily, Carly, or Alexa if you’re interested in getting together sometime Saturday, December 12^th in new York City. The time is getting close, and we have to see if there are enough people interested, and decide what we might do. We’ll probably phone the New York City area crew when we are back at Longacres on Friday and see what everyone thinks.

 

Sunday, November 29^th Update:

Be Careful What You Post on Facebook:

Stop and think before you hit “enter”, or that “send” or “post” button!

And be careful with other online social networking sites. And with what you send via email or any other online communication, for that matter!

 

If you follow the news very much, you have surely seen headlines and stories about people who were turned down for jobs or for college applications because of something they once posted online or emailed, and which they might have long forgotten. The trouble is, the internet does not forget. Did you know that there are internet incremental backups and archives that store almost EVERYTHING ever posted online, even if you go to your account and delete something you posted? And that people often download and copy Facebook or MySpace posts to their own computers so that they can’t be deleted?

 

Meghan and I (and we are writing this article together in total agreement) have always been uneasy about a business like Longacres having a presence on Facebook. We’ve said so publicly in this space. We are uneasy about anybody who broadcasts very personal comments for the world to see. And especially uneasy about young people who might not stop to think before posting something online that could be hurtful or embarrassing to others. Others you might not at first expect would see what you post, but who certainly can.

 

Remember the comment below from us?

 

“But we’re there, and it is fun to see what you guys are doing from time to time. If you don’t want us to be able to “stalk” you on Facebook, don’t “friend” us. You are warned!”

 

Search back through this Blog a month or two. You’ll find the above warning.

 

When Meghan created a Facebook page earlier this fall we had no idea how many people would want to “friend” her. Lots. And we said to ourselves, “OK, this will be an interesting learning experience.” And we went ahead and clicked “OK” to the friend requests from anyone associated with Longacres or who we knew even casually.

 

And there’s the rub. If in a moment of curiosity about Longacres, you asked to be on Meghan’s Facebook “friends” list, you are probably still there. Which means that if you write something very personal on someone’s Facebook “Wall” and you meant for that comment to be just for that person on their wall, well, “DUH!”, the comment is there to read by everyone and anyone who is a “friend” of you or the person who’s wall you wrote on – including Meghan and Tom.

 

Is this starting to sink in?

 

PARENTS:

PLEASE discuss this article with your children! We at Longacres believe that the internet world is a fascinating and useful place. But we believe that good parents should carefully monitor their children’s internet use, and especially Facebook and other social networking sites. That doesn’t mean that all parents should look over their teenage children’s shoulders and read everything they write online everyday. But it certainly means that you should have mutually agreed guidelines and that some oversight is in order.

 

And be responsible for yourself! This is true for all ages, but especially for teenagers. Think before you post. Do you REALLY want what you are about to say online available to everyone you ever “friended”?

 

Our greatest hope is that all “friends” of Longacres will post responsibly online. But if you are not sure you’ll always be willing to follow that guideline, our second choice suggestion is that you periodically review your “friends” list. If you don’t want someone to be able to read everything you ever wrote, take them off your friends list. Believe me, we at Longacres will NOT be offended if you “unfriend” us. It is simply not appropriate for your camp directors to be reading your wall posts if you plan to be very casual or a little naughty with what you write.

 

Believe me, we are not naïve or prudes! We are not particularly shocked or upset if we see the occasional expletive in a post, or a naughty joke. That’s part of social networking and part of growing up. What does bother us are comments that can be hurtful or embarrassing – to anyone. Facebook is not the place for that kind of posting. Those thoughts and communications, if you must have them, should be kept private and personal (a concept rapidly disappearing from the internet!). Keep personal or potentially harmful remarks between you and your intended audience. Phone calls are good. Snail mail is good. Personal emails are next best, but remember that even they are not really guaranteed private and secure in the modern online world.

 

In summary, have a chat with your parents, and another with your good friends about online privacy and appropriate use of Social Networking sites like Facebook. Go back and review your personal posts. If you feel a little embarrassed by a post you’ve made, delete it. And remember that your “wall” is not written in stone. YOU are still responsible for what is on your Facebook “wall”. If you are uncomfortable about something someone else wrote on your wall, you can and should delete it. It reflects on YOU as much as on the person who wrote it in the first place. And there is nothing at all wrong with taking people off your “friends” list. Here’s a good excuse: “My parents are now going to be reading EVERYTHING posted in my Facebook account! I am taking you off my friends list just to be careful for both us! Email me instead!” Who would be offended by that? Certainly not Meghan.

 

If you are wondering why we wrote this long article now, yes, there is a reason.

 

Saturday night, November 28, 10PM Update:

One of the reasons we spend Thanksgiving in Jacksonville every fall is because the city puts on one of the best fireworks displays in the whole country on Saturday night right after Thanksgiving. A picture or video is worth a thousand words, and I will post a YouTube of part of the fireworks when I get home next week and have a fast connection.

 

Jacksonville is a city that was built to host a great fireworks display! I am a bit biased since I publish the “Boating and Cruising Guide to the St Johns River”. The river runs right through the middle of downtown Jacksonville, with high rise buildings on both banks and riverwalks and a lot of nightlife on both sides between two bridges. On fireworks nights, they position three barges filled with fireworks about a thousand feet apart up and down the river in the middle of downtown. When the fireworks go off, the flashes and the sound both reflect off all the buildings and amplify everything. At the climax, they set off more fireworks including “waterfalls of fire” from two of the bridges. I’ve seen some fireworks displays that might have had more rockets and explosions, but I’ve never seen one that has such a perfect setting!

 

Meghan ansd I will travel a bit to see a really good fireworks. Write and tell us where your very best experiences have been for this kind of thing. We’ll share your reports.

 

Saturday, November 28^th Update:

Home in Five Days!

I’m getting pretty eager to be home. Meghan and I have really enjoyed our long fall vacation, which we take every other year. It has really accomplished its purpose this fall, giving us a great mental break from our routine at Longacres. Meghan is already back in “work mode”, spending every spare minute on the computer organizing new updates for the website to be posted when we get home. I have my own list of projects, both on the website and around the farm, that I’m looking forward to next week.

 

One of our new projects is computerizing more Longacres record keeping. Meghan has long preferred doing most of her business out of her notebooks and planner that are always with her in her traveling leather work folder. She likes it since she can “go to work” in an instant wherever we might find a few spare minutes. Breakfast at a restaurant, traveling by car, a few minutes waiting someplace – these are all work opportunities to someone like Meghan. (Like Meghan? Naah, she’s a one of a kind for sure!) But we both recognize the advantages of being able to safely store and retrieve business information by computer. Our accounting has been computerized for years. Beginning this year, your enrollment records and all the little bits of information like who has their own saddle, and a dozen other details will be in a database. Knowing Meghan, she’ll probably keep all her notebooks up to date along with the computer records, and it will just make more work for her, at least at first. It will help Tom a lot, since he lives more by computer than Meghan, and he will be able to access information without asking Meghan. (As I write this, we were talking, and Meghan told me, “One of my greatest satisfactions is getting something on my todo list done and CROSSING IT OFF with my pen! Don’t expect me to give that up easily!”)

 

Ultimately, we are confident that more stuff on computer will make us more efficient. But we’re not naïve – we fully expect to have glitches. Don’t be surprised if you get a bill for the first four weeks of camp instead of the month of August you really signed up for! We will try hard to double check everything before it’s sent out, but bear with us during this year of record keeping transition.

 

Winter Horse Care:

It’s that time of year. In northern climates the snow will soon be flying, the ground muddy, and there will be ice in water buckets. Even in the south, horse care will be more difficult. It’s a good time to review winter weather horse care precautions. This short check list is especially for those of you who have your own horses or have leased a horse and are caring for it at your own barn. But if you are a boarder at a professionally run stable, you should not take responsible horse care for granted. Read through the Longacres check list and make sure that your stable is giving your horses responsible winter care. Here are some things that can be difficult to do in the winter and are sometimes not done well.

 

1) Water is life to horses. In freezing weather be sure that your horse has regular and unlimited access to water. Try to arrange full time access to full water buckets or watering units just as you would in warmer weather. If you have horses in northern climates in barns that go below freezing consider heaters that keep buckets or troughs from freezing (follow directions for electrical units carefully for safety). If you must change out frozen buckets in really cold weather, be sure to let your horse drink his fill at LEAST three times a day and leave them with a full bucket after each feeding. Give water before and after feeding. Lack of water is one of the very worst things for a horse.

 

2) CHECK FEET! If your horse spends much time outdoors in cold and muddy weather it is very easy to put off cleaning and picking out feet. Your horse is only as good as its feet. Feet should be cared for daily – thoroughly. That means cleaning off any mud as well as picking out hooves. At a bare minimum (and only if daily care is impossible for a short period at times), feet should be cared for and examined every other day. And that is NOT desireable. If you find that you’re letting good foot care go for a week at a time in muddy, cold weather, you are neglecting your horse in a dangerous way.

 

3) Keep up a good grooming schedule. You should be grooming your horses thoroughly daily to keep a healthy coat, and so that you’ll notice any skin conditions or injuries before they get worse. Easy to put this off in bad weather. If you are caring for horses kept outside for some period of time, at least handle the horse and give them a thorough check daily looking for injuries.

 

Clipping and the use of blankets in winter is a whole different topic which I’ll cover soon. Clipping is absolutely optional in the winter, and so are blankets for healthy horses so long as they are not clipped. There are advantages both ways, clipped or not clipped.

 

4) Watch your horse’s weight. As they grow a winter coat it can be hard to notice a gradual weight loss. Measure your horse’s weight with a tape and tape often to see if there is any trend of weight loss (or too much weight gain!). Feed adequately. Except in southern climates, your horse will not be benefiting from grazing in pasture and you need to provide all nourishment with hay and feed.

 

We’ll add to these suggestions, and we welcome you guys to write in your own warnings, suggestions, and comments on winter horse care. But what I’ve just written covers the most important challenges to good winter horse care. Water, foot care, regular grooming and examination – these are the most frequent problem areas we see in winter horse care.

 

Black Friday, Nov. 27^th, 6PM Update:

The Revenge of “the parking lot crowd”!

A case of Poetic Justice, I guess. I wrote this morning that we parked about 9:30 AM in a far corner of the normally empty outlying parking lots at the St Johns Town Center. Nobody around. I thought we were being very considerate of all the Black Friday shoppers. We always enjoy people watching opportunities, but today was more than that. Today was an opportunity for research on the state of the consumer economy, a topic of much interest to us.

 

Well, we have a strong indicator that the economy is improving from this time last year. The parking lots here never did get very crowded last Thanksgiving week in the area where we are parked. But by noon when we finished breakfast and returned to the RV, the lots were jammed and we were getting dirty looks from people driving around looking for a spot. And by two PM people had started to park illegally blocking lanes, and we were stuck here for the afternoon.

 

Which we didn’t mind. It is a very upscale outdoor “Town Center” shopping center. It was fun to window shop and people watch all afternoon, including a stop at Panera’s bakery for stuff that I didn’t need the day after Thanksgiving dinner! The Town Center is patronized by the kind of people who can send their kids to a horse camp like Longacres, so it was reassuring to see so many people out and about – and many of them carrying packages after buying stuff. It is a good confirmation of our own early observations on the prospects for the 2010 season at Longacres. The total number of students signed up at Longacres right now is similar to this time last year, but the majority of them are signing up for longer sessions than last summer.

 

So the Town Center parkers got us back a little for taking up four spots with our RV by blocking us in until late afternoon. But we did have fun with the extra time people watching. In fact, Meghan tells me that the percentage of very fit and attractive people (men and women) is probably higher here than at any other shopping center we’ve visited in the country, and as serious people watchers, we’ve visited many. I tend to agree with Meghan based on our walks today (though my senior citizen eyes are no longer as reliable in this regard as they once were!). I’ve read essays on this phenomena, and I am sure there is dispute on whether it is an accurate generalization to say that economically well off people are statistically any more fit and/or attractive as a group than a similar sample of people who are less prosperous. But it seems reasonable that people of means often eat better and can afford more leisure time to exercise. Whatever reason, Meghan saw lots of hot guys today; and I - - - well, you know. If my mind is wandering in this Blog Post, please excuse me. It’s been that kind of day. Do remember to look at the informal, fun pics Meghan has chosen for our new “Rotating Fun Pictures” album.

 

Black Friday Update:

Ok. We’re still killing a few days in Florida before we fly home to Longacres to really go to work organizing the 2010 season. After a more than filling feast yesterday at the same place we’ve celebrated this holiday meal for the past three years, we thought we’d spend this morning at a favorite upscale shopping center “people watching”. Looks like we’re getting more than we bargained for!

 

We arrived early so that we could enjoy crepes and Belgian waffles at a favorite pancake place. Good enough. We parked the RV way out at a far corner of the parking lots that is never used. But we came out of breakfast a little over an hour later to find the lots absolutely jammed full to the farthest corners. Indeed, I’m sitting here in the RV typing this update watching people drive by and slow down as they give us an angry look for taking up four parking spotsL. Sorry folks. But at least we will have a crowd of about a zillion for our people watching walk coming up in a few minutes. (We are really wasting space in this parking lot – we DO NOT buy stuff on Black Friday – we just watch all the other people spending their money!)

 

Writing Projects:

I’ve been collecting ideas for many new Blog articles to post when I get home and have my regular fast internet connection. I told you recently that I’m eager to begin writing a series of articles on the Longacres philosophy of riding as a series of basic building blocks. Don’t know how I’m going to organize it, but we might even publish a short book on the basics of our Longacres ideas on horsemanship. Could be titled something like, “The Wonderful Working Walk and other Fun Ways to Prepare Your Horse”.

 

I have been pleased to hear from some of you who are doing just those things. Thanks to Staci and others who wrote down some of their good ideas for getting their horses listening to them!

  

“Welcome back” to Natasha, who has now formally enrolled for the first two weeks of July! She has Zanee with her in North Carolina all winter and is doing very well furthering Zanee’s training. They should be quite some combination next July in Summer Series shows! ( We will try not to spoil her during the weeks she is here before you arrive, Natasha!)

 

Big “Thanks” to Sophie L. , a first time Longacres student from New Canaan, CT, who will be at Longacres the full month of July along with Ruby and Lydia. Sophie wrote me a really good description of her riding interests and experience that will be very useful. I love getting these detailed descriptions of experience from new Longacres students. Not only was Sophie’s write-up very informative, it was VERY well written. Complete sentences, good grammar & spelling, all that stuff that teachers and old fogey camp owners love! Sometimes I worry that the new young computer & Facebook & texting generation has forgotten how to really communicate with adults. It restores my faith in young people to get something via email as well written as Sophie’s message. (Don’t go thinking that she must be a nerd because she can write well – she just was careful and thorough – GREAT qualities in a Longacres riding student!)

 

Speaking of thorough descriptions of new student riding experience, Meghan had a great long talk with Jenny S from Arizona and more recently Washington, DC areas. Jenny will be a first time Longacres adult riding student during one of the Pro Clinic weeks, which she is attending with her friend, Sarah, who WAS a Longacres camper when she was younger. Jenny is looking forward to jumping more often than she can at home, and wants to be pushed to her limits while she is here. She told Meghan, “We want to get our butts kicked while we are at Longacres!” (We’ll try!) Meghan was telling Jenny all about Longacres and how we are not like a Five Star resort. Jenny answered by telling Meghan about her stint in Bolivia while she was in the Peace Corp, and about some of the “facilities” there. Let’s just say that jenny should have no trouble fitting in at Longacres!

 

Wednesday, November 25^th Update:

Gold Star of the Day Goes to:

Micayla!

“Hi Guys! I thought I would just send you a short email that I think Tom will appreciate....So today was one of the days I hack the horse I'm leasing. He has had a lot of trouble developing muscle in his back and hindquarters so I decided to make the main part of his work out the wonderful working walk ;) It was quite difficult at first since he is probably the laziest horse I know, but after a few minutes he started moving off my leg more and was really picking up his feet! Only a few minutes in my legs were burning! He was doing really well though and his head was bobbing quite a bit and he was paying really nice attention to what I wanted. He was definitely sweaty after! The working walk will most likely be showing up in a lot more of our hacks :)”

 

Also, good news and bad news from Staci. The good news: Ginger is better and they are starting to work her! The bad news: Staci only goes out of town about four times a year, and two of those have been when we plan Longacres reunions for the New York Area! We’ll miss you, Staci (AGAIN!).

 

We almost never get bored traveling in the RV, but now that our journey is nearly complete and we’re already at our final destination, we are getting a little bored. If we could get a cheap flight, we might even bale out on the final few days of our trip here in Florida, but likely, we’ll be here until December 4^th, as planned. We’re just not very good at doing absolutely NOTHING.

 

We’ll have a few more posts perhaps even later today, but just in case we don’t, “Happy Thanksgiving!” Thanksgiving is a very important holiday to us and we spend a lot of time each year on this day evaluating all the good fortune in our lives. You do the same.

 

PS: Check this link for some cute pictures sent to us by Sydney H; Star and Lincoln are both spending the winter with Sydney, Sam, and youngest sister, Sophie. Thanks for the pics, Sydney!

 

Check the new “Picture of the Month” at the top of the page. Katie will be here for the full August session. (Drisana’s picture which was up for the past month was very popular – thanks for being a “cover girl”, Drisana!)

 

Monday, November 23^rd Update:

December 12^th Get Together?

We are working on a plan for a Longacres get together in New York City on Saturday afternoon, December 12th. It’s kind of a “do over”, since Alexa, Michelle, and a bunch of you already had a great reunion there a few weeks ago. But Meghan and I will be passing through the city about that time and we’d love to set aside time to see a few of you and come up with some stories and pictures for the website. Emily, Ofelia, and Carly are all interested, so get in touch with them or with us if you think you’d like to try to join us. We don’t even know what we’ll do, besides soaking up some mid-town New York Holiday spirit.

 

We’re just west of Tallahassee, FL today and are headed towards Jacksonville. We spend a lot of time in the Jacksonville area since I wrote a boating book about the St Johns River in north Florida. We are almost sold out of the book and have to begin working on an updated edition. We’ll be busy with that over the next week before we head home to the cold, wet, snowy Longacres Farm in East Aurora next week.

 

Congrats to Uncle Billy for joining the modern computer World

And how! Uncle Billy works with computers every day and is quite an expert on Excel, especially. But he has not bought a new home computer for a long time, and has resorted to getting all his email and website updates during break time at work. Not no MORE! He just got himself an early X-mas present of a new MacBook Pro. Great choice – EXCEPT that he now has a newer and more powerful version of my MacBook Pro, and I am VERY jealous!

 

The “Other New Movie”

No, not the one you all went to this weekend! Meghan and I saw “Blind Side”, a true story sports movie. Just wonderful. We both really like well done sports movies anyway, and this one joins some of the all time favorites on our list of good films. That would include classics like “Chariots of Fire”, “Hoosiers”, “Breaking Away”, “Rudy”, and perhaps “Seabiscuit”. “Blind Side” is right up there. See it, and try some of the others on DVD if you haven’t seen them all.

 

Sunday, November 22, Update:

We’re getting more and more busy with Longacres communications as we near the end of our vacation. It’s OK – keep the messages coming! We’re getting bored with taking it easy, anyway.

 

Staci was doing much better with Ginger for a while, but she wrote that Ginger has had a setback and is not completely sound again . Along with Horatio’s odd problem, that’s two of our horses out at winter homes with Longacres students that are having troubles. When we heard from both of them and from the lady who has Bobert and needs to try to find another home for him all within a short time this week, it was a little discouraging.

 

But then we had a flurry of good news. And although we are certainly sorry that two of our valued friends are having problems with Longacres horses, we are trying to keep in mind that more Longacres customers than ever before have taken horses home with them this season. Horses are fragile creatures, and unsoundness and injuries are a part of the gamble of having a horse. We have nine horses out this winter with campers and seven of them are doing very well. The glass is well over half full!

 

And we heard this week from the girl who has ShaBang for the winter. She LOVES him and he is doing well. We are hopeful that he will be back to his old self by next summer. As you all know, ShaBang is one of our best jumpers but got a small soft tissue injury in pasture during the first week of the 2009 season and he was out of commission all summer long. It’s the first time in many years that we have lost the use of one of our best horses for a full season. Good news that he is doing better.

 

 

And Ofelia wrote that she and her mom had a great week and took a lesson together. Ofelia’s message came in at the perfect time, right after we had bad news from a couple of the horse leasing people. THANKS, Ofelia! (Here’s her messageJ

 

“Hi Tom and Meghan,

 

       Hope you are enjoying your "working-vacations"! I am hoping that I can come to the reunion you are planning on having in December; after all, you will be right near where we live! My mom and I just had a lesson today together, and we were talking about feeling leads :) (it is coming in handy) and using them to ride courses. AND....last week, I was riding Fancy(who gets  distracted very easily) and crop switching proved to be VERY useful when Fancy didn't want to walk and trot on the rail! Yah!

 

Hope to see you for the grand Longacres reunion!

(I am jealous you got to go see the Hunns, Kellie, and Tux & Ebony....who looked really good!)

 

Ofelia”

 

And the “glass is half full”, as much as “half empty” with the Sharon and Laura duo. Although Horatio is having soundness problems, Chesney continues to shine! Sharon loves him asnd is thinking of spending adult week at Longacres again this year just so she can ride Chesney on the big outside course after working with him for a year at home! THAT’S progress!

 

We are hoping it works out to see some of you in New York City on Saturday, December 12^th. We are not regular New Yorkers, so we will need help and advice from those of you who are. Do you want to do something very “visual”, like skating? Tom would love to take embarrassing pictures of you guys falling on your butts on New York City ice and putting together an album! (I am still waiting for the trampoline pictures from your last reunion!) So Ofelia, Emily, and the other girls from the city and surrounding area, put your heads together and make a plan. Meghan and I will show up, take pictures, and help tell the story of the reunion.

 

A few pictures will be posted at this link next time I get to a good Wifi connection.

 

Friday, November 20^th Update:

When it Rains, it Pours:

We’ve had a fun vacation trip mixed with enjoyable visits to current friends of Longacres and phone calls with new Longacres families. This RV trip is doing just what it is supposed to do – give us a break from the tensions of managing a complicated business and dealing with unexpected problems. But we’re not fooling ourselves! We know that for us, at least, the “real world” means dealing with problems. Last night we were presented with two completely unrelated horse problems in 4 hours.

 

First we had a message from Laura with discouraging news about Horatio’s current situation. It is an odd problem and, as Laura said, very frustrating. He seems sound out in pasture, at a walk and trot, and even on one lead. But then does weird stuff when you ask for the other lead. We will be trying to help evaluate that situation when we get home soon, and perhaps trying to find a home for Horatio where all he needs to do is walk – trot pleasure horse stuff and rest. Anyone interested?

 

Then not four hours later an email comes in from the woman who has Bobert. She has a personal situation that has changed her plans and may need to find Bobert a new winter home. Anyone interested in Bobert for the rest of the winter?

 

I am trying to let Meghan have the final ten days of her vacation relatively stress free, so I have been communicating about these two horse problems. Soon enough, Meghan will be home and doing what Meghan does – worry about and solve problems. We hope you all can handle your horse problems for another two weeks until Meghan is back at Longacres and back at work! Horses – always the unexpected, never boring.

 

PS – Meghan did have a lot of fun last night. She dragged me to a naughty, nasty movie. I know that none of our proper, innocent, nice students ever go to “R” rated movies, so most of you will have to wait until you are at least 17 to see “Zombieland”, but Meghan is recommending it to our staff and adult friends. You wouldn’t know it from watching her work at Longacres, but nice, sweet, responsible, good role model Meghan has a cynical streak and sicko sense of humor a mile wide buried under that camp director exterior! She was rolling in the aisle laughing watching Woody and the others in Zombieland! Me, I was shocked – one of us has to be the grown up. (And if you swallowed that, I have other stuff to sell you!)

 

Thursday, November 19^th, 2PM:

Happy Birthday, Katie V!

(Meghan knew it was your birthday yesterday, but it was too late for me to find a Wifi spot. Hope a day late is OK! – Tom)

 

Well, since I wrote this morning’s update below, which you are just able to read now, we did find a whimsical and, yes dopey, place to stop. Our route took us just a couple of miles from Graceland, the Elvis mansion and memorial in Memphis. We were all set to stop and put our hip waders on to stroll through all the sentimental and hokey mush until we found out they get 28 bucks a person for the tour. Our “frugal folks” genes kicked in and we drove on by with a friendly wave to the ghosts of Elvis at Graceland. (Besides, wasn’t that maybe Elvis, himself, that we spotted behind sunglasses at the wheel of a classic Cadillac at the last Flying J fuel stop?)

 

Thursday, November 19^th Update:

We’re on our way east between Little Rock and Memphis. And the SUN IS OUT! We haven’t seen sunshine in four days, and it is good to have it back. We plan a relaxed day on the road with a few stops if the whim strikes us. We’re setting a goal of stopping and seeing something really trivial or even dopey before the end of the day. We’ll report tomorrow on any success.

 

We’ve had a nice success in tweaking our website. As you know, the Longacres advertising slogan is “Where else can you ride five hours a day?” For many months, that slogan popped up when you found our listing on Google searches, especially when you searched for “Riding Camp” or “Riding Camps”. (Oddly, Google is very fussy about plurals, and often you will get quite a different search ranking depending on whether you add an “s” or not.) But in recent months, that slogan did not appear with our search results. We carefully examined the coding of our home page and made changes to several invisible HTML codes as well as adding the slogan to a spot near the top of our homepage. The “Where else can you ride five hours a day?” once again appears with the Longacres listing if you find us on a Google search.

 

The Google search business is still very tricky to figure out. Longacres “owns” the terms “riding camp” and “riding camps” on Google. Depending on what month you search, you will find either us or IRC at the top and the other right behind. But other important search terms like “horse camps” or “equestrian camps” find us farther down the listings. That’s why businesses like ours pay for “sponsored search” listings that appear to the right of the regular search listings. At least that way you can be sure people will see your ad if they put in certain search terms. (Please don’t click on those sponsored links if you already know about Longacres – it costs us money each time you do!) Tricky stuff, this internet business.

 

Wednesday afternoon, November 18^th Update:

 

For those of you following Longacres enrollment as an indicator on the economy, we have seen a big increase in enrollments for longer sessions this year over the 2009 season. Last summer almost everyone (except Petra!) who came to Longacres early in the summer came for two week sessions, and we did not fill four of the longer sessions in August. This year we will be full in August, and it looks like half of the July spots are going to riders who will be here at least for the four weeks, or longer. Now part of this is because we have many returning students who started out at Longacres a couple of years ago as young two week students and they are naturally growing up and are now logically ready for longer sessions at camp. But part must also be because of the slightly improving economy. For whatever reason, we’ll take it!

 

Wednesday, November 18^th Update:

Coincidence!

Below are messages from Katie last night and from Sydney & Lincoln yesterday and the day before.

 

Plus, click this link for a picture of Sarah H. and “Dylan”. Sarah we mentioned the other day, is coming to Pro-Clinic week one with her friend, Jenny. Sarah liked ponies (Brownie and others) at Longacres and she still does as an adult. Dylan is a pony she rides and shows at home – very cute!

 

We had a good time at an “Oakridge Boys” concert in Branson last night. We try to see them anytime we’re traveling near a place they’re going to be performing. We get to see them a couple of times a year. I know, I know, most of you have probably never heard of the Oakridge Boys. In fact, I remember telling a great story about when I actually met Joe Bonsall, the lead singer, almost 20 years ago. Almost no one at Longacres had heard of them even back then. (Though Uncle Billy’s niece, jenny, not only did know them, but was a big fan of Joe Bonsall. (The story was that we stopped at a restaurant after the concert that time 18 years ago and ran into Joe, the lead singer, at the bar. We ended up spending the evening with him sharing stories about show business and boating. He actually remembered us and phoned us the next time they were in the Buffalo area and invited us to the show, but we were traveling out of state and missed the chance. I’ve never met him personally again, but we remain fans. - - - If you’re scratching your head and wondering about the time line, no, Meghan was not there at that meeting!)

 

 

Hello Tom and Meghan-

 

So I'm chatting on the phone with Alexa tonight, (yes currently typing and talking this very moment), and we were filling each other in on our lives;  work and school and horses.  As I began to tell her about Abby's workout this morning she laughed and told me I get the gold star.  Then she told me why.... apparently I had followed along with Tom's post on the Blog for today without having any idea I was doing so (I have not read in a few days- guilty as charged).  I know how you feel about a good working walk, so you'll enjoy this:  Abby had a 20 minute work-out today, doesn't sound like a lot, but all we did was POWER WALK.  For a straight 20 minutes, we walked our butt off.  At the beginning I could tell she just thought it was a normal warm-up, for the first 10 minutes or so she was content.  Once we hit about minute 15 she got confused... she looked at me, Why aren't we trotting yet?!?  I laughed and pushed her on.  She finished great!  She was over-stepping a good 6-7 inches...her butt and head were swinging, spine moving, tail lifted :)  We finished with a walk up and down the big hill off to the side of the property and then a long grazing.  

 

Hope you are all doing well, and having a great night.

 

Much love,

Katie

 

AND a message from Sydney & Lincoln:

“Cool. I will try to convince my mom into going to at least one of those reunions.

Yup a flying change. I can also get Star to do them for me.

we are making a list of Lincolin's accomplishments this year. I will mail it to you one we get a decent sized list.

Talk to you later!!!

~Sydney

 

Tom wrote:

Flying change?  Way to go SYDNEY!  Reunion thingy is in New York city, but maybe another one at Michelle's in Rochester later.

 

Tom Kranz, Longacres

716-652-9495

 

 

 

Hi,

 Where in N.Y is the "mini reunion thing".

If it is near by I bet I could convince my mom to let us go.

~Sydney

 

P.S Lincolin has an achievement list and his latest addition is flying lead changes.

(He did these for me VERY reluctantly, especially tracking right.)

 

--

~___/>

 (    )   Horses!!!!!

 

 

 

--

~___/>

 (    )   Horses!!!!!

 

Tuesday:

Special: A Longacres “Welcome” to Sarah H. and her friend, Jenny S. who just signed up for the first Pro-Clinic week in June. Sarah is an adult who was also a former Longacres student as a teenager. We’re looking forward to having Sarah and her friend, Jenny, at Longacres!

 

Tuesday, November 17^th Update:

The Wonderful Working Walk

(and other building blocks to a fine ride)

Most of you who have been to Longacres have been taught the importance of the least appreciated gait used in serious riding – the working walk. Those of you coming here for the first time in 2010 will at least be exposed to the concept, and I hope some of you come to appreciate this most under rated of riding disciplines.

 

I’m going to write an article about the working walk and the building blocks to good communication with your horse and a good ride that come before. If you have time, jot down a few of your memories of one of Tom’s favorite lectures (As you know, we think that the foundation building blocks that you lay when you get ready for a lesson or a riding exercise are crucial to the success of a serious rider). Put some of those “building blocks” in your own words and send them in. I’d love to include your comments in my article. And thinking about the building blocks of getting your horse really ready for a ride will be good for you as a horseman.

 

Besides the most fundamental building blocks of how you handle your horse when you first take him out of his stall, tack up, and mount, I’d love to hear detailed descriptions of some of the things you are doing at home when you prepare your horse for a ride with the wonderful working walk! If you’re feeling really honest, tell me both the exercises you know would be good to do and the ones you REALLY do! You get double points for the ones you’ve really been doing, and half points for ones you think of that you haven’t taken the time to do. Bonus: How many of you have been asked by your instructor at home to do a better working walk or a “Wonderful Working Walk” exercise as part of your lesson? Your instructor at home gets bonus points if they have.

 

Poor Us!

Not such a great day for us on the road with the RV. I wouldn’t be feeling great anyway, since it is cold, grey, and drizzly dreary outside. I’m very much a “S.A.D” (seasonal affective disorder) kind of person. Sunlight does a LOT for my daily moods! But we’re having a run of minor troubles to go along with the overcast weather. The cruise control on the RV quit last night while we were driving through the Ozarks (very beautiful from what we could see on a cloudy day). The cruise control on our RV is a bad design and fails at least once a year. And it is hard for a mechanic that is not familiar with it to diagnose the problem, since the RV wiring is difficult to get at and to trace. Our guy at home could do it quickly, but it is always a problem while we’re traveling. It was just fixed in Denver three weeks ago, but it’s too far to go back to them and have them fix the problem. So we’ll pay all over again for someone else to start from scratch – aaargh!

 

Then there is the bathroom scale. Not kind to either Meghan or myself after our wonderful visit in Texas! Kay took us out to a great Texas dinner, and didn’t stop there. She served a scrumptious breakfast and other snacks. (Kellie said at one point, “Mom can go overboard supplying food.” – and we all know that Kellie REALLY likes to eat, so if Kellie says there’s lots of food, you get the idea!) Anyway, we loved the Texas chow, but we paid for those good times when we weighed ourselves today. Meghan just got back from stocking up on fruit and vegetables so we can eat sparingly the next few daysL

 

Time to get on the road for the day. We’re headed to Branson, Missouri, where we have tickets tonight for an Oakridge Boys concert. That should cheer us up!

 

 

 

Monday, November 16^th Update:

Wow, was it windy overnight!

And still very cold now in Oklahoma as we travel east. We’re still enjoying the good feelings from our weekend Texas reunion with the ponies, Peyton, and Kellie’s family. It was VERY nice to see everyone and to see a brand new horse facility coming to life. Kay & Kellie & family have their work cut out for them but are off to a great start. They may take even more Longacres horses to Texas next winter.

 

Secret Santa:

Alexa and Staci are organizing a “Secret Santa” gift exchange open to Longacres people who want to take part. Go to their Facebook pages for details. It sounds like fun! Meghan and I just want to caution that these things can get complicated when people are expected to exchange gifts by mail and when some people hear about it and some don’t. If you want to take part, do it for the fun and don’t be upset if something gets confused.

 

December Reunion in New York?

Meghan and I are available to meet with some of you in New York for another mini-Longacres Reunion in the city on Saturday, December 12^th. Emily, Carly, and others are going to help make plans, we think. Let us or them know if you’re interested in coming. Meghan and I would be available from about noon through mid afternoon to do something interesting, have a lunch together, and we’d then turn you loose to either go home, get together at someone’s house/apartment, or whatever. We’d love to see some of you if it works out. We were very jealous that you got together in November and we were out west!

 

Kellie officially signed up for second session and maybe Lazy Days this weekend, so we are down to only one spot left for the August session.

 

Hope you’re all having some fun with horses now that the weather is getting colder!

 

 

Sunday morning, November 15^th Update:

Happy Birthday, Peyton!

“The Hunn Ranch” Visit!

There’s lots of news today about our fun visit to Kellie Hunn’s new horse ranch just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. People are the best part of any story, and we sure enjoyed seeing Kay and Kellie (who come to mother-daughter weeks together and are great friends of Longacres), and Peyton M. who was at Longacres for years until 2009. It was great to see Peyton again after more than a year, and good to be able to introduce her to Kellie who lives so nearby. After people, horses come next, and we have tons of pictures of Tux, Ebony, and the other horses at the Hunn Ranch at this link.

 

But there was more to the visit! Kellie’s dad and her brother Dayton like toys – they restore old cars for fun. One of the favorites is a classic Lamborghini sports car; very fancy stuff which I carefully admired in the garage Friday night. Saturday morning as we were getting ready to drive over to where the horses are kept, Kay and Dayton came up to me and said, “Come on out back, Tom. We’re taking the Lamborghini over to the farm, and YOU’RE driving.” Well, my heart started beating pretty fast, but driving a car like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and how can you say, “No” to that? (It was grand, and I only ground the gears a wee bit as I figured out the transmission!)

 

After the happy “hello’s” were exchanged when we first got to Kellie & Kay’s, we fooled around with Tux and Ebony just before dark. Tom & Meghan had painted some 2 by 4’s to look like Longacres jump rails as a gift for Kellie so she could do some jumping at her ranch and remember what it was like at Longacres. We set them up with some logs as stands (see pictures), and Kellie led the horses over the jumps to get them used to the idea. Then we just stood around talking. We looked over at the jumps and saw Tux walk up to one of them and stand there looking it over. Mind you, this was right in the middle of a huge pasture with nothing else near him and we were standing 30 or 40 feet away. The next thing we knew, Tux trotted two steps and jumped the new jump ALL BY HIMSELF!!!! I have rarely seen that happen, though I’ve heard lots of stories about horses jumping “just for the fun of it”. But usually that happens when jumps are set up along a rail or something and they are in the way of horses going someplace like around the outside of a ring. This time Tux was in a wide open pasture, clearly looked the situation over, and then decided, “hey, this looks like fun and I’ve done it before”! We have a picture Meghan took at the last second from a distance showing Tux right before the jump and a blurry picture of “the jump”.

 

Thanks the Kay and family for taking Meghan and I out to dinner in down town Fort Worth at a nice “Texas style” restaurant where I had a Buffalo steak. It was very festive on a Friday night in the city with all the lights and nightlife.

 

Early Saturday Peyton arrived and we had an emotional reunion. Peyton as many of you know, had a long history at Longacres and was one of our great success stories since she came for a full eight week season her first year when she was 12 and had NEVER ridden a horse before. After 7 weeks at Longacres, Peyton won the Beginner Jumper Derby event on Brownie. An amazing achievement! We had not seen Peyton for a year, and as you can see in the pictures, she looks great on the ground and on a horse! It was also great to introduce Peyton to Kellie and her family. They had “talked” on facebook, but never met before in person even though they do not live far apart. Peyton plans to start visiting the Hunn Ranch and riding and helping as the new ranch is developed. We really like it when Longacres people get together when they’re not at camp in the summer.

 

It was also good getting to know Kellie’s brother, Dayton, who took time from his other interests to spend two days hanging out with us and getting acquainted. Really nice guy. He was very patient with Tom showing him how to drive the Lamborghini, and Meghan enjoyed his fiddle recital. (Dayton is a good musician, and played for us for a while cheerfully. - - - Kellie isn’t bad either, albeit a slightly less eager recital participant!)

 

All in all, a great reunion visit and one we will repeat as often as we can as we watch the Hunn Ranch grow. Kellie’s family is really involved in youth activities, as part of the group that founded and is developing the new North Star day school. The school’s new equestrian program is being held at the Hunn Ranch, and they are one of the few (if any) Dallas-Fort Worth schools with a horse program as part of their program.

 

Today we are off to the northeast, heading towards out traditional Thanksgiving in Florida before going home to Longacres in three more weeks for most of the winter. We’ll be at a country music concert in Branson, MO on Tuesday night. After watching Football this afternoon!

 

 

 

Friday, November 13^th Update:

Culture Shock! Trees & Grass!

What a difference a few hundred miles makes. East central Texas is much like western New York, with plenty of trees, grass, and even water, ponds, and streams in low spots. Yeah, we know – just like much of the country. But for the past two and a half weeks we’ve been almost always in the desert as we traveled through Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas. I am a desert lover. I like the vistas and the dramatic emptiness, along with the unusual life forms. But it is nice to be back where the color green is more common!

 

A Longacres “Hello” to Sarah H.!

Sarah was a Longacres student ten years ago and one of her favorite horses was Brownie. Brownie was in his prime back then, one of our good jumpers. Sarah was thrilled to hear that Brownie is still going strong, teaching little kids and beginners to ride as he nears 30 years old. Sarah is considering bringing one of her horsey friends with her to Adult Week at the beginning of June or one of the Pro-Clinic weeks.

 

We traded emails yesterday with Carly who is going to be one of our counselors for part of next summer. She is recommending another New York area Longacres reunion for December when Meghan and I could come, since she also missed the last one which was held while she was sick. How about the weekend of December 12^th? We could meet in New York and do something traditional like watching the skaters at Rockefeller Center (or even skating – how many of you skate?). We would get good Christmas atmosphere in New York then, but it is far enough before Christmas so that the city wouldn’t be crazy-crowded. Let us know if anyone is interested. Meghan and I will be in the New York area anyway about that time visiting my mother in Connecticut.

 

Later today we get to visit with Kay & Kellie & Tux & Ebony. Tomorrow we hope to see Peyton as we pass on through Dallas. We’re looking forward to our “Longacres South” visit here. We should have lots of pictures of Tux and Ebony to post tomorrow!

 

Thursday, November 12^th, 3PM Update:

Quiz:

Take a look at the pictures at this link. What is Tom doing in the RV? We’re having a relaxing afternoon near Abilene, Texas. Meghan is at a Laundromat catching up on doing dirty clothes and Tom is enjoying a very good Wifi hotspot to catch up on website stuff AND doing what he’s doing in the pictures. Put your thinking caps on and put 2 and 2 and 2 together!

 

Thursday, November 12^th:

We had a great time in the Guadaloupe Mountains of west Texas and New Mexico the past two days. Really beautiful! Then it was out onto the desert plains more commonly associated with West Texas. Just like the scenery in one of our favorite movies, “No Country for Old Men”, which took place there.

 

And if you are in West Texas in the fall, you surely will hear about high school football! It is a religion for many out here, and the culture has been studied and portrayed in the book, movie, and television series all named “Friday Night Lights”. We are big fans of the TV series, which is a high quality drama about family issues and coming of age much along the lines of previous TV shows (now canceled), “My So Called Life”, and “Once and Again”, which were also favorites of ours.

 

Anyway, back to Friday Night Lights. It is on DirecTV on Wednesday nights. How appropriate that we were driving into Odessa, Texas Wednesday evening just in time to park and watch our show! The show is based on the book which was written after the author spent a year living in Odessa and following “Permian Panthers” football. Just to give you an idea of how fanatical many out here are about their football, the author received death threats after the book was published, since he accurately portrayed many troubling and controversial aspects of the culture. He had to cancel scheduled book signing appearances in Odessa after the book came out.

 

Like the good little tourists/fanboys that we can be sometimes, we drove around Odessa last night, visited the 19,000 seat Ratliff Stadium (for high school football!), and actually watched a Permian Panthers afternoon football practice. We’ll post some pictures later this afternoon or this evening at this link. We were nervous taking the pictures as we wondered whether the coaches would think we were spies from their next play-off opponent and run us out of town on a rail! (They ignored us.) If you are wondering, yes, the regular high school season is over, but it goes without saying that “Mojo Football” will continue for a few weeks with Odessa in the play-offs.

 

After seeing the Panthers practice we parked and watched our favorite TV show with a heightened sense of reality. We do recommend it. Although the show has adult themes, it’s good family viewing and deals with themes worthy of family conversation. (We also recommend the now canceled series “My So Called Life” and “Once and Again” on DVD.)

 

Horse News:

Just got the following email from the people who have Brownie for the winter. Not surprising that a whole new barn would fall in love with one of the greatest ponies that ever lived! (pictures here)

 

“Hi Meghann and Tom,

 

Just wanted to send a quick update with some pictures of Brownie.  As you can

see, he is getting pretty fuzzy even though we have been putting a blanket on

him!  He has quickly become a favorite of everyone in the barn because of his

winning personality. It would be difficult to find a more agreeable horse.

Isabel & I have both been taking lessons on him, and he's doing great. As Gail

says, "When is Brownie not great?"  He loves the trails & is a calming influence

on Boo when we go out together (Boo is not a fan of joggers).  No one can

believe how old he is, I love to see the look on people's faces when I tell

them.  Every once in a while he gives a funny little buck when you ask him to

move a little faster, so there's still a lot of spunk in the old guy.

 

Regards, Elaine Sia

 

And from Peyton:

 

hey guys,

if you could give me a time and place to meet yall, we can hang out on friday. can't wait to see you!!

<3 Peyton       

 

See you TOMORROW, Peyton!!!”    

 

And we got the following message from Micayla describing her riding experience and what kind of horses and riding she likes. This kind of description from first time Longacres students is very helpful – thanks, Micayla!

 

“Hi guys! It's Micayla. I hope your Vacation: Part 2 is going well and I just wanted to send you an email to give you some more info about me as a rider. Like I told you before, I had shown for quite awhile before starting the lease, and did fairly well. I am really competitive when I get in the ring but I also love to have fun when riding, even if my face is frozen in a look of determination :) When it comes to jumping, I am pretty comfortable with really anything. If I'm on the right horse, 3 foot isn't that much a push for me as a rider. For 4 of the 5 years of riding for me I was with a very hunter style trainer. When hacking around I am often stuck in my favorite hunt seat, but my current trainer is helping me sit down more in the saddle and to stay directly above my horse's back and not over his neck. When it comes to working around the horses I am very comfortable and am not afraid to do any kind of work. I also am not very intimidated by many horses unless they become very aggressive whether in the barn or in the ring. I enjoy a large range of horses, but my favorites are the ones who know they're jobs, love to do it, and are just fun horses in general. I am very excited for next July and will hopefully talk to you guys before! 

Micayla”

 

Just in case you missed it at the top of the page, we’ve changed the picture of the month from Ofelia to Drisana. We may rotate them more often at this time of year now!

 

Tuesday, November 10^th:

Hello again,

We’re in Texas now and will be exploring the west Texas mountains in Guadaloupe National Park today. We’ve never been there before. A lot of west Texas is flat and very desolate, but we’re told that the mountains along the New Mexico border are very beautiful. We’re looking forward to this part of our trip! Here’s a link to a few fresh pictures.

 

(Happy birthday to Shelley! Are you still reading these updates?)

 

And now for another report on the recent reunion from “Winky!”:

 

Hey Tom and Meghan! I know you guys heard about our reunion in NYC already, but I thought I would add my own little account of it.

Friday Katie and I flew out of Rochester to Laguardia where Emily and Alexa met us. Katie and I got really confused when we saw the sliding doors to the exit were blocked off. But then we realized that they had removed the glass panels on the side of the door and we could walk right through. We felt smart. So then we went to Emily's house and played Guitar Hero and cards, and just hung out for a while. Saturday we went to Emily's barn and watched her lesson on Ellie, the horse she leases. That mare is FIESTY!! She's cute and really sweet, but she had an attitude. Haha. Her barn is huge and has a grand prix field, which Katie, Alexa and I checked out enthusiastically. And the stalls are like 4 times the size of the stalls at Longacres. It was awesome. Later we went into the city where we had pizza with Laura, Sharon, Ofelia and Martha, we walked around and went to the most amazing candy shop ever. Sunday we went to Emily's soccer game and made signs to cheer her on; I think the other players thought we were weird. We got really good bagels for Katie to bring home (it made her bag smell like bagels later) and we went on the trampoline. Alexa left and me and Emily started crying really bad. Katie shed a tear after she left. Then we had to go to the airport and we all started crying again. Our plane was delayed by 2 hours!! So Katie and I got dinner and played games on my ipod while we waited. Once our plane got there we realized it was even smaller than the first one, with only 9 rows and we were in the very back. Although it was annoying how late it was, the lights from the streets and buildings were really cool to fly over and we took pictures. Then we went back to my house so Katie could get her car and drive home. And I started crying again! After Katie left it was even worse; it was just like leaving camp.

Katie and Alexa took lots of pictures, unfortunately I couldn't find my camera so I didn't get to take any :( But the reunion was soo much fun. We missed Carly, who was sick, and Staci, who was out of town, though.

Another note about the sweatshirt orders. We were wondering if you were interested to buy a few extras to sell to newcomers who don't know about it, that way no one would feel left out and more people would have the opportunity to get them.

I was also wondering if a possibility would be to have the order come to me, then when Frank picks up Merlin, he could bring the boxes to camp, so that way everyone can get them no matter when the are going this year.

 

Sorry for the novel, see you soon!!!!!

-not-so-little Michelle (Winky!)

 

And another message from Sydney:

I just now realized why Lincoiln has a heart shaped marking on his forehead! He is such a lover-boy, He is everybody's friend at the barn now.My mom saw him yesterday standing by his friend Red and "hugging" him.

 

I feel enlightened now!

 

~Sydney

 

--

~___/>

 (    )   Horses!!!!!

 

 

Monday, November 9^th:

Hi everyone,

Apparently the Longacres reunion in New York City was a big success. We really wish we could have been there, but we’ll rely on Emily’s report as follows: (today’s picture album here)

 

Hi Tom and Meghan-

 

So, as you know, we had a reunion this weekend. We wished you had been able to be here this week, but your travels had you far away from here this weekend :( i'm sure you'll be getting tons of emails from alexa, michelle, and katie (plus fosto and ofelia probably) about it, but here's my randition of it (because i know you want lots of details!)

Friday: Alexa drove it at 4, and we made muffins in essence of the chocolate chip muffins that everyone loves for breakfast :) Then we took a walk, and for dinner we had STIR FRY! In honor of our favorite dinner at camp. We picked up Katie and Michelle from LaGuardia airport at 8:30, and the night was full of crazy laughs and fun jokes. We had a ball.

Saturday: The morning was full of more craziness, and then we went to my barn to see the horse i lease. I had a lesson, and the three girls helped me with my eyes by making funny faces so I would look up. It helps to have people who know your riding strength and weaknesses very well help you out! After my lesson, we went to dinner in the city with Sharon, Laura, Ofelia, Martha, and the four of us girls plus my mom and brother. We had fun walking around and getting candy at Dylan's candy bar. We were goofing off, but in the city, anything is considered normal!

Sunday: The saddest day :( We spent most of the morning together, and the highlight was jumping on my trampoline (longacres girls gone WILD!) Alexa left at 2:30 (yes, michelle and i turned into niagara falls while katie tried very hard not to cry). Then we drove Michelle and Katie to the airport where michelle and i started crying yet again, and Katie fought hard not to cry.

The whole weekend was full of fun laughter, jokes, and lots of memories being remembered from this summer!! Now I dont have many pictures (Katie and Alexa have them all), but here is one to get an idea.... (attached in the email). The pictures (one is missing fosto and the other has her hand :] )

Also, about business (on a more serious matter), here is a note about sweatshirts that we were hoping you would be able to post on the website, if that is ok: Hey everyone! We made some sweatshirts this year open to anyone who would like to buy one. We have a hoodie:http://www.customink.com/designs/lahoodie2/14967230-3223134/share/?cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end

and a zip up:http://www.customink.com/designs/lazipup1/14967207-3223134/share/?cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end

and sweatpants:

http://www.customink.com/designs/lapants1/14967338-3223134/share/?cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end

We don't have the exact price. But if you would like to purchase one, please message Emily Romano, Michelle Kirsh, or Alexa Riddle to tell us what you would like. The more people order, the less the price is! So just let us know by February 28th, 2010.

We will have an approximate in about of week (the approximate of each will be the max price they will be).

Thanks!!! Bucket, Winky, and Alexa Kalexa.

 

Thanks!!! Miss you guys!! Emily :)

 

AND, here’s a message from Laura:

ey!

 

Hope you guys are having fun on your road trip! I'm supposed to be doing homework, but decided to email you instead. Horatio's doing pretty well since we took his back shoes off and re-fitted my saddle (got a new riser pad). He's still a bit off on the right lead, but should be fine by the time rowing ends in a week (!). So I have a funny story to tell you about him. I was in the barn after my lesson Thursday night (I rode one of my trainer's horses, not Horatio) doing something for Fran. I was trying to find one of her other students, so naturally I "yelled" out, "Hello!" No one answered me, except Horatio, who I hear from the other side of the barn nicker quite loudly. It was very cute. My mom has been doing very well with Chesney and my trainer described him as "point and shoot." She likes him a lot. Oh and the dinner in New York was awesome and really fun. We were kind of confused at how to split up the bill without you, Meghan!

 

Laura

 

AND, here’s a message from Natasha:

Hi Tom and Meghan!

I wanted to write one of the "Meet the Horses" things for Zanee!

 

Zanzibar!

Zanee is the most willing and sweet horse ever.

She will do anything you ask for, and she will NEVER

refuse a jump unless the rider does something wrong.

She is so much fun to ride, and shes very athletic.

Zanzibar is extremely calm when your grooming her

and tacking her up, but when you bring her in the ring,

its like she suddenly wakes up. Its not at all what you expect.

She has A LOT of energy, and a big stride for her size.

Zanee is a fantastic horse and amazing to ride!(:

 

 

-Natasha

 

Even though we couldn’t be part of the NYC bash, we are planning a smaller reunion of Longacres horse and people in the “Lone Star State” this weekend. We’ve been in touch with Peyton and Kellie and hope to meet up with them and with tux and Ebony on Friday afternoon. We should have pictures and a story on the weekend.

 

And now for a little report direct from the RV written at midnight Sunday night. We had a relaxed day on the road, only putting in about 75 miles of driving.

 

I just came in from a little walk under the stars. The night sky in the desert is really something! The milky way was spread all across the sky above me and I picked out Orion, a few other constellations, and saw a couple of meteorites streak across as I looked up. The lights of the small city of Benson, Arizona twinkled some miles off to the northwest, reminding me that we weren’t really so far from civilization. It’s very peaceful tonight where we are parked just off a rarely traveled country road, but we had lots of fun earlier today.

 

Meghan is quite the football fan, and we watched a couple of games today while we parked in desolate spots way out in the wild. Well, not so wild. We were far from other people, but while Meghan watched football, I watched trains go by – lots of them. We parked in several spots along the Union Pacific Railroad line during the day.

 

At breakfast I pulled out my iPhone and looked at Google maps of the area, which show all the railroad lines in the US in great detail. I found a part of the train track that doubled back on itself in a way that looked very promising for photography. We headed in that direction and turned off the interstate on a small country road. A VERY small country road! See my picture album from today. What had appeared to be a regular country highway on the maps turned out to be a single lane gravel road heading out into ranch land. And that was only for the first ¾ of a mile. We turned down what we thought was the road on the map towards the photo spot I had picked out for train watching, but we were soon on a barely passable rocky trail with no place that looked good for turning a 34’ RV around! And when we got to the end of the trail, it didn’t even have that good a view of the big curve in the train tracks. I was able to find a wide spot next to the jeep trail and get the RV turned around, though, and we escaped without getting stuck.

 

I checked my maps again and we drove a few miles further east to another promising spot for train pictures. Once again, the paved country road off the interstate quickly gave way to sand and single lane jeep trails along the railroad right of way. But this time the view of the trains was excellent and traffic on the rail line was heavy. I got lots of video and every time a train came Meghan would jump up from watching her football games and take picture of the train going by while I did video. Thanks, Meghan!

 

I think I told you the other day that I’ve been hiking around the desert the past couple of days looking under bushes and between rocks for desert creatures without seeing anything. This afternoon while I was carrying my camera back to the RV not even thinking about creatures, I almost stepped on a tarantula spider crossing the path. He wasn’t very big, but he was sure enough a tarantula spider and I can now say I’ve seen an exotic creature of the desert up close. We interrupted his travels for lots of pictures and then let him go on his way. We considered boxing him up and mailing him to Uncle Billy in Buffalo - - -JUST KIDDING, Billy! (Uncle Billy does NOT like spiders!)

 

Today, Monday, we are making tracks east and expect to drive a little over 400 miles to get to our next destination, which will be visits to Guadaloupe National Park and Carlsbad Caverns. Then we’ll soak up some west Texas emptiness mid week and on to Dallas for our “Longacres South” visit!

 

Sunday, November 8^th Update:

Griffin & Laura liked the math equation – thanks!

 

Rhiannon wrote that she lives right near the California coast highway that I wrote about the other day.

 

We zipped through half of Arizona yesterday, passing through the HUGE city of Phoenix on our way to the Tucson area where we spent the night. We have read a lot about growth in the southwest over the past ten or fifteen years, and we kind of knew that Phoenix was a good sized city. But we had not quite known that it has a populations of one and a half million and covers MANY miles. And has gruesome traffic jams even on a Saturday! Parts of the city show vast and unattractive urban sprawl. But their freeway system is vcery well set up and landscaped beautifully. We give the city a mixed review and will be careful never to pass through during a rush hour period! We liked Tucson more, partly because it is only 1/3 the size of it’s bigger neighbor to the north. There are a zillion RV’s in both cities! Snow birds flock to Arizona almost as much as to Florida. Meghan likes this state better than Florida, and we may spend more of our fall and early winter travels here in the future. (We’ll always spend the heart of the winter in New York State, since we do like the snow.)

 

PS – We think many of you are getting together as I write this for a little Longacres reunion in the New York area. When we listed some of the people who live in that area the other day we forgot to mention CARLY! We were thinking about who we had listed as campers from the New York metro area, and Carly is going to be a counselor, but we should have remembered to mention her anyway. “Hi, Carly! We hope your leg is almost completely healed.”

 

All our horses have winter homes, and we have had two recent calls from families that want to adopt one of our horses for the winter. We are beginning to look for horses to buy for next year. There are good deals to be had on horses at this time of year, and if we find one, we can buy it and immediately loan it out to one of these new families until May. We are hoping to buy three more new horses between now and the 2010 camp season. We’re especially looking for Brownie / Star types that can be safely ridden by almost anyone. Keep your eyes open and let us know if you find a for sale listing for that type of horse.

 

Saturday, November 7^th:

Heading Home the Long Way

After meandering west for the past month, we’ve finally turned the corner and are heading back east. We got as far west as Goff, Calfornia, a small nearly ghost town on old US Rte #66 near Needles, California. We were there chasing trains and taking pictures. We’ve had quite some variety in our choice of scenery the past week!

 

Just a week ago we were in the wilds of wilderness Utah taking pictures of the Hoodoo’s near Bryce Canyon under the full moonlight. And yesterday we had a wild change of pace, stopping for a day of people watching under the neon lights of Las Vegas. Meghan and I are not people who are really into the night life usually, but Las Vegas is a trip of sights and sounds. We do make a brief stop there when we are in this part of the country. And yesterday we actually splurged and went to a traditional Las Vegas strip show with all the costumed dancers and staging. I’ll probably never blow the money to see this kind of show again, but it was an interesting experience. I kind of trapped myself into it. For weeks I had told Meghan, “Well, when we’re in Las Vegas later this fall, let’s actually go to one of the big shows instead of just walking around people watching the way we usually do.” When we got there, she hadn’t forgotten my promise!

 

We had figured we wouldn’t mind spending $50 a ticket to see a glamorous show. Silly us! We walked up to the box office and found out that a few seats in the very back row of the theater were available for $54 each. And they went up from there. We walked away for a conference. “How much do we really want to see this?”, we asked each other. And both of us said the same thing: “No song and dance show is worth the kind of money they get here.” But still - - - I could tell that Meghan really had been looking forward to it, even though she was saying she didn’t think we should spend the money. Part of the trouble is that although I am pretty frugal by nature, if I am going to splurge on something, I don’t like to settle for third best. So I told Meghan, “OK, let’s go – but if we go, we’re going top shelf.” We walked back to the box office and plunked down for the best seats in the house. You know, just like in the movies, one of those booths right up under the stage. And it was fun. But only just this one time!

 

And now we’re back in the wild, crossing the desert south west heading slowly back 2500 miles to the east coast so we can be home at Longacres by the beginning of December. Last night we camped many miles out in nowhere, right in the desert along California #95. We stopped just before dark and drocve off the road on a jeep trail heading out into the mountains. We walked around trying to see some desert creatures, but they were all hiding. Many holes in the ground around cactus and sage brush, so we knew there were all kinds of little creatures and Tarantula’s, etc. But all we saw was one coyote next to the road in the morning. A good part of the way we’ll be following railroad tracks and taking pictures and video of trains. And enjoying some great scenery on the way. We should be on schedule to stop in and see Tux and Ebony near Dallas next Friday or Saturday. If we remember right, Peyton’s birthday is next Sunday. We hope we get to see her for a “Happy Birthday” greeting, also!

 

Last little story for this update will be about “Tom, the mechanic”. For much of my life, I did lots of mechanical work. I was involved with race cars, and I always worked on all the farm vehicles and tractors at Longacres. In recent years as I have become a little less flexible and adept at crawling around in and under machinery, I’ve had shops do more of our mechanical work. I still know how, but one of the benefits of age is being able to duck out of the unpleasant jobs of maintenance and repair. But I did a repair yesterday. We’ve spent quite a bit of money on RV repairs already this fall, even though we haven’t actually broken down ever. But the RV was due for several bigger routine maintenance procedures, and some of them cost more than we had budgeted for. So when a little oil began dripping from the engine compartment, I didn’t relish having another $300 repair bill. And I was pretty sure I knew exactly what needed to be done, since I am very familiar with the mechanical stuff in our RV. So we stopped and bought a few parts and then Meghan was wonderful helping take off the engine cover, handing me tools as I crawled inside the motor compartment under the bed, and giving me a helping hand as I contorted myself crawling in and out. We fixed the oil leak ourselves for $5.07 instead of the $300 or so a repair shop would have charged. And we were pretty proud of ourselves afterwards! Meghan called it the “Tomeghan Repair Treatment”, and the RV (“Meteezeeer” to those of you in the know!) feels just fine again and is not losing any more oil.

 

PS: “Meteezeeer” = Mountain Time Zone – it’s a Meghan thing.

 

November 5^th Update:

PS – Go to Facebook and check Kellie’s “wall”, where I posted a nice little Algebra example just for those of you who may not be enjoying math this year in school! - Tom

 

New York / New Jersey Reunion this weekend:

It’s not an official Longacres event, but Alexa, Emily, Michelle, and some of the other girls in the area are all getting together this weekend, we hear. If you are in touch with any of these girls or the other Longacres people in the area like Ofelia, Laura, Staci, Christina and the others, email them and see what’s going on. We wish we could be there, but we’re half way across the country on our fall vacation. We hope you all have a great time. Someone please write us with a good article about the get together and we’ll post it here.

 

PS – Alexa, I will have your reference done by next week!

 

Staci wrote a nice update on Ginger, who is now being ridden again. Here’s Staci’s article, and check this link for some pictures Staci sent in!

 

From Staci:

hey guys!! :)

ginger is doing very well. i can walk her for twenty minutes now and trot the long sides. so far she is holding up :D. i rode her in the halloween costume class last weekend in our fun show at my barn. she was a devil and i was an angel. i will attach pictures. this week i am in florida but y friend nicole is riding her. she is a great rider! she rode in the maclay finals last season! ginger is in good hands. nicole likes ginger and im sure she will have fun with her. she rode her once for me already. the first day ginger was aloud work nicole got on her for me to amke sure she wasnt too excited. nicole will school her for me while im away and whenever jeff thinks the pony needs someone more experienced on her to either fix a problem or teach her something new. we are mostly working on keeping steady consistant contact and framing up. she has a sensitive mouth and does not really need to much contact. nicole framed her really well last time she rode her. hopefully we can jump her in about a month. she is much happier now because she is getting half an hour of turn out. she is much much better now and not nearly as evil as i thought she was. was highway #1 the  Pcific Coast Highway? we went on that rode! it is ridiculous!!!!!! i was scared. have fun on your trip.

love

staci <3 <3 <3 <3

 

We’re at the very south-west corner of Utah today (St George) having a small repair done to the RV. It’s a stupid little $25 electrical part, but it is in a very awkward place to get to and is going to take half a day to replace. We’re spending the morning at a Barnes & Noble with free Wifi catching up on some work and posting this update.

 

November 4^th, 9AM Update:

Defying Death on the Highways!

OK, we’ll get to that in a minute, but first the news from Longacres: It’s been a quiet week at the farm, with just a little news from friends of Longacres. Kellie sent a few pictures of Tux and Ebony at their winter home in Texas. We’re looking forward to stopping by to see them in person in just over a week from now. Emily and Michelle are working on a new design for “official” Longacres sweatshirts and other cool stuff. We do have a crew working around the farm on fall repairs and maintenance, but it is mostly stuff that would be boring to many of you. Upgrading our electric supply, plumbing repairs, road work, and that kind of stuff.

 

Back to that headline about “defying death on the highways”. Meghan and I do spend a lot of time driving around the US when we take RV trips every other year in the fall, and if you ever want advice on where to find great scenic roads, give us a call. Or write us and tell us of your favorite drives. In this update I’m going to mention four roads that are without doubt some of the most dramatic anywhere in the US. Almost too dramatic for me! There are some highways that are scary enough in an automobile if you aren’t driving very carefully, but that are downright dangerous in an RV. Breathtaking, but decidedly dangerous. Here are four of the roads that have the most vivid memories for us, including the one that scared the hell out of ME yesterday!

 

1) Highway #1 on the California coast just north of San Francisco has hairpin switchback turns with no guard rails many hundreds of feet above the Pacific Ocean. I don’t have words to describe the view, but it was white knuckle driving for me two years ago.

 

2) The Bear Tooth Pass highway heading out of the Northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park rises to just under 11,000 feet and has all kinds of mountain views as the road rises way above the timber line. Oddly, I didn’t find this road as scary as some of the others, but it is one of the great mountain drives in North America.

 

3) Third on my scary road list is also in Yellowstone Park. Several years ago I took our large RV over Dunraven Pass in the northern part of the park. This road rises to 8800 feet as it winds back and forth high on a mountain side with no guard rails at all. One slip with the steering wheel and they would be taking an RV and it’s passengers out in garbage bags. It wasn’t my idea of fun , though Meghan sure enjoyed the views!

 

4) But the scariest of all for me came just yesterday on a road that I’ve been on before. I should mention here that I have never really liked heights. And as I get older, I think my acrophobia (fear of heights) is getting worse. Maybe because my balance is not as great as it once was, my body is reacting to heights with a vertigo like sensation. Certain kinds of heights give me a real physical reaction. One of those came on Utah highway #12 just east of Escalante the other day.

 

This is a great scenic road, with one stunning vista after another for over 100 miles near Bryce Canyon National Park. But this one place in particular is just too much for me. The road through the mountains and canyons suddenly goes out onto a winding ridge about 1500 feet long. The highway is built right on the very top of a narrow ridge line. The road is two lanes with almost no shoulder and (as is so common on dramatic western roads), no guardrails at all. And for the 1500 feet or so, the land on each side of the road drops away more than a thousand feet nearly straight down! I had done this road once before, but my fear of heights is greater now and I nearly froze in the driver’s seat. I’ll never drive it again, though perhaps we’ll do it with Meghan driving. If you ever have a chance to drive this road, and you REALLY trust your driver, don’t miss it!

 

Write in and let me know if you’ve driven any of my four “Death Defying” roads, or if you know of others like this.

 

By the way, check this link for some pictures I took at Bryce Canyon the past two days.

 

October 31^st Update:

The Quiz Answer is “E”!

Woot! Woot! We’re having good luck with our travel arrangements! Flights had been cancelled or delayed for hours all day in Denver on Thursday because of the major winter storm in Colorado. But the winds began to die down in the early evening and our flight from Buffalo through Atlanta arrived ten minutes early shortly before midnight, allowing us to easily get to the rental car counter on time. The roads were in good shape to the northwest of the airport where we had to go to get to the RV. (Glad we didn’t have to travel east – blizzard conditions were still taking place just thirty miles east towards Nebraska with all major highways closed!)

 

We got to the motor home by 1AM with temperature a “brisk” 16 degrees. We piled every guest blanket and sleeping bag in the RV onto the beds and burrowed in for the night. You know that it’s cold when you feel bone chilling cold if you move even an inch in bed!

 

We woke up to bright sunny skies Friday morning and it looks as though our very good luck with weather on our whole trip west this fall is going to continue for the near future. (When we drove west from East Aurora all through Canada and the northern US states in September we had wonderful fall weather all but our last two days before returning home.) Now, as we head west over the Rocky Mountains today towards the Utah National Parks the weather is warming and generally sunny for at least the next five days. It looks like it will be a fine time to be traveling in the west.

 

We had some brief bummers yesterday getting the RV ready for the trip. We’d had a lot of routine maintenance, including some major brake work, done while we were back in East Aurora during October working at Longacres. Some of this was not quite ready when we got here yesterday, and some work had to be done over to make things right. But the mechanics worked all day making corrections, and we left them last night with good will for their great efforts fixing their mistakes. While they fixed things that we found wrong, Meghan and I had a great sight seeing drive.

 

If you’re ever in the Denver area and want a fine scenic drive, take state route #119 west from Boulder into the mountains. Wow! We’ve made this drive before during early fall and it is impressive then. But with as much as three and a half feet of fresh snow in the canyons, and with bright morning sun, we had a great experience yesterday. We’ll post a few pictures next time we update. We should have some more good picture opportunities later today as we take I-70 west through the high country.

 

Thanks to Kevin and Joel for taking care of things back at Longacres while we “vacation”. We plan to enjoy some of the great scenery in Utah this week, stop for a quick “people watching” experience in Las Vegas, and then explore the desert southwest the following week. We expect to be in Dallas the weekend of November 14^th and 15^th, and we’d enjoy seeing some of our Longacres friends in that area. We’ll be stopping by Kellie’s new farm to see Tux and Ebony, and we hope Peyton, Kim, perhaps Destiny, and some of our other recent Dallas or nearby Texas Longacres students will be able to stop by. Perhaps we can schedule a pizza dinner at a convenient location.

 

More coming in a day or two. We’re off into the mountains now!

 

 

Bulliten:

Natasha wrote that they are filling out her enrollment form and sending it in. GREAT to have you returning Natasha! Natasha has Zanee with her for the winter in North Carolina. Zanee is doing very well with lots of patient flat work to make her already great jumping skills even better.

 

Double Bulliten!

Anderson, age 10, from Florida officially signed up today. She has her own pony and should fit right in at Longacres. Welcome, Anderson! Meghan has been trying to reach your mom to chat and answer any questions you might have.

 

Meghan also spoke with Cassie’s dad in Toronto. If Cassie signs up for the same session as Natasha, we’ll have only a few spots left in all of July and August. There is still plenty of space in the June sessions and in Lazy Days at the end of August.

 

Today’s Quiz:

We’re flying from Buffalo to Atlanta later this afternoon, and then from Atlanta on to Denver. Crazy how modern airline “hub” scheduling bounces you around the country. There is a major winter storm just winding down this evening in Colorado. Our flight is scheduled to arrive in Denver just 43 minutes before the rental car place closes, even if everything is on schedule. It is a 40 minute drive in good conditions from the airport to where our rV is waiting for us. The quiz choices are:

A) Tom & Meghan will be sleeping on the floor at the airport tonight because they missed their rental car closing and all motels are full because of the storm.

 

B) We don’t make it in time to get a rental car, but we end up in an expensive motel paying a premium price for the night.

 

C) The evening flights are cancelled and we spend the night in Atlanta!

 

D) All goes well until we start driving through the winter storm and end up stuck on the highway in the rental car.

 

E) We make all connections with minutes to spare and make it safely to the RV tonight as planned! Woot! Woot! Woot!, as Texans would say!

 

In the meantime we’re doing some final chores around the farm. Check this link for pictures of Tom washing all the mud off his tractor so it will be clean and ready to plow snow when we return to Longacres in December.

 

Wednesday, October 28^th, 10PM:

There is photo evidence here that Andrea did VERY well at the BTRC show in Buffalo last weekend. We’re hoping for all the details soon! Good job, Andrea!

 

Wednesday, October 28th, 3PM Update:

Hi everyone,

We’re getting some abuse from people like Uncle Billy, who are writing in to call us “wimps” for not traveling to Colorado last night, “just because there’s a little snow on the roads”! After all, we’re Buffalo people, and snow should be nothing to us according to Billy. Hummppphh! But RV’s and snow do not mix very well. The last time I had the big RV in snow was out west, in fact. I drove up over the mountains on Utah rte #12, a beautiful highway going east from the Bryce Canyon area. There was light mountain snow the night before and just a coating of frozen snow on the roads. I traveled quite a few miles that morning at 10 to 15 miles an hour with the front of the RV skidding sideways every time I touched the brakes on a steep hill. Sometimes I would only stop sliding when a front tire hit the gravel on the shoulder of the road. Finally by mid morning the sun melted the snow on the roads and we were safe. But I am very careful about snow in a big RV now! I have no interest in driving from Denver over the mountains to Salt Lake City during heavy winter weather like they are having today and tomorrow in Colorado. The place that did the repairs for us while we were back east told me today that we made a very good decision, with the snow coming down hard just north of Denver today. So, THERE, Billy!

 

Last Spot in August?

We talked to a new family from Florida that is sending the deposit for the second to last spot in the August session by overnight FedEx so that we’ll get it before we leave for out west tomorrow night. That leaves just one spot left in August for several people who have been considering it. If you think that you are coming to Longacres in August, check with your parents and make sure that they’ve sent in your paper work. We are no kidding, almost full then!

 

I am taking some time these two extra days in East Aurora to nearly finish adding new gravel to the office driveway. I thought this was going to have to be a next spring job, but with the break in the weather this week, I have been able to get three dump truck loads of gravel and spread it. This wasy it will settle over the winter and I can do a final grading job and finishing crushed stone in the spring.

 

Tuesday, October 27^th, 9PM:

Congrats, Sydney!

Check this link for the picture Sydney sent in of Lincoln at their stable’s Halloween show this past weekend. Bet you can’t guess what their costume was – He was “Mr. Abe Lincoln”!

 

To Fly or Not to Fly:

We should be in the air right now on the way to Denver to resume our RV trip. But, I checked the Denver weather this morning and “HELLO!!”, there is a winter storm warning, with 8 to 12 inches of general snow expected and two feet in the mountains. Not my idea of fun for an RV, with temperature in the low 20’s at night. So we checked our options this afternoon. It’s costing us over 350 bucks to change our plane reservations to Thursday. But if we went to Colorado tonight we would have had to hole up in a motel for a couple of nights probably during the storm to stay warm. We finally decided to postpone the trip two days, taking the hit of a little more money for the flight change. But we’ll be here in much warmer western New York for now, and when we do get to Denver Friday morning, a big warm up will be under way. Sunny and much warmer weather is coming for Colorado and Utah where we’ll be over the weekend and early next week. And all the snow on the mountains should be very pretty when we drive through them Friday and Saturday.

 

PS – We got a registration in the mail today for the almost full August session from a “mystery student”. We’ll keep it a secret who signed up for a little while at the request of the “Mystery Girl”. A little mystery is always good for Longacres.

 

Monday, October 26^th, 9PM Update:

More Sand Ring stuff & Cool Diesel News!

First, check this link for a few more pictures we took today around the farm showing our progress on the enlarged sand ring. The dozer put in a few more minutes today making sure the drain around the bottom edge of the ring would take all the water away and over the bank. Joel and Kevin were both working on remodeling projects around the farm on this nice fall day. Joel is our concrete expert and put a new cement cap on one of the fireplace chimneys. Kevin is busy with plumbing and indoor fix up work.

 

I had some good fun flying my model airplanes both early in the morning and again when the wind died down this evening. This is not a good winter hobby, so my flying sessions may be almost over for the yearL

 

But my real joy today was a visit with Diesel! I went across the road to the neighbors place where he is staying. Nobody was home and it was very quiet. Their German Shepard usually barks loudly when anyone stops by, but he has gottan to know me from all the “stick throwing” I’ve done for him this fall, and he barely woofed.

 

But Diesel knew someone was visiting! I’d like to think he recognized his good buddy Tom getting out of the Longacres pickup truck, but more likely he just associated someone walking to the pasture with getting FOOD. FOOD is Diesel’s main interest in life! For whatever reason, he picked up his head out in the middle of the pasture and walked briskly to meet me as I climbed under the fence and into the pasture.

 

Yes, he did check first to see if I had any treats. But he stayed with me after I showed him my empty pockets and seemed pleased just to be getting ear and chin scratches and hugs. And best of all, he quickly remembered a new trick I taught him two weeks ago. Not sure if I told you guys about it.

 

Diesel’s friends from Longacres all know how much he likes to please. It is so cool that this 2100 pound Belgian Draft horse so desperately wants to obey and to cooperate. He is well known for putting his head down when you hold out his halter. The new trick was an expansion on that behavior. I was giving Diesel a hug with his head under my arm like I often do, and he was a little restless – he twice pulled his head away and lifted it up high to look around. So I told him, “bad horse – whoa”, as I held his head down and put it back under my arm for a good hug. And like he nearly always does when he can tell you aren’t pleased with him, he immediately acquiesced and held still.

 

So I decided to push that behavior to the next step. (Remember, at Longacres we believe that most horse training is a series of building blocks – one behavior leading to the next.) So, instead of putting Diesel’s big head under my arm and having him hold still for a hug, I stood in front of him, reached up to the top of his head between his ears, and pulled his head down so that his ears were about at my waist level, along with the command, “head down”. At first he didn’t understand and he pulled his head away. But the third time I pulled his head down along with the same command, and then said, “Whoa, hold still”, he seemed to suddenly understand. And over and over again I could put a hand up between his ears, say, “head down”, and he would do it and hold his head still way down by my waist. Very impressive. And today, two weeks later, I reached up, gave him the “head down” command, and he immediately remembered!!!!!!!

 

I know that I’m supposed to be a jumper trainer, and don’t worry, I still get a kick out of success in the jumper ring! But 2009 has really been the year of the Diesel for me. This great big horse has been such a joy to work with. He’s given me many happy hours, both when I work with him myself, or sometimes even better, when I watch some of you enjoying him. Petra was so great with him the first session, and Laura and many others taught him even more in the August session. I’ll never forget Petra riding Diesel through most of the cross country event on the outside course!

 

Bulliten:

Meghan just got off the phone with Lydia’s mom, and they confirmed that Lydia will be back at Longacres for the full four week session in July. We are now full for the July 11 to 25^th session, except for two counselor in training spots for girls 14 or older. Wait list only for that session, unless you want one of the CIT spots. The August session has two spots, depending on our receipt of the actual registrations of two girls who asked us to save spots for them. The June 27^th to July 11^th session is now half full. The June sessions all have plenty of space still.

 

There – a long update! I might do another tomorrow, but then we will be traveling, and we may only update every three or four days during much of November.

 

Sunday evening, PS:

Answers to the “Twilight” quiz the other day – “B” is the leading response!

 

Oh, and I forgot something else fun I did today besides nature photography. The wind was pretty calm first thing in the morning and again early this evening, so I got in four successful flights with my RC model airplanes. No crashes, and I was getting pretty sporting by the final flight this evening. Trouble is right around the corner every time I start to think I’m flying pretty well!

 

Sunday, October 25^th, 4PM:

We’ve worked a bit today, but not too hard. We did some more closing up down at the barn, taking down loudspeakers used at the shows, fastening stall doors shut for the winter, and then putting locks on some of the cabins. Meghan also put in some time doing final organizing in the tack room and counselor office.

 

But we had fun enjoying a nice fall day. Check this link for an album of pictures and this link for an oversized copy of my favorite picture of the day. I spent about half an hour with my camera taking pictures in quite a variety of lighting as clouds and sun alternated up around the corner on Mill Road hill.

 

I’ve been thinking about the incredible variety in climate and geography that we enjoy in the United States as we prepare to head west again in a few days to continue our fall RV adventures. Here in western New York at this time of year we have all the moisture anyone could want. Plenty of ground water, streams and drainage ditches full of rushing water, and mud where we don’t want it, but a landscape that is very much alive. Yet by this time next week we’ll be in the arid southwest. Meghan and I enjoy desert. There’s something that gets to us about the vast spaces and the emptiness. We’ll be spending some time in New Mexico and Arizona, and then a few days getting to know West Texas a little better. We’ve driven through west Texas, but this trip we plan to spend a few days there – BIG open spaces! We’ll then be slowly driving east. We usually spend Thanksgiving in North Florida before coming home to spend most of the winter here at Longacres, working on plans for the 2010 season and occasionally playing in the snow.

 

Thanks to Stephanie from Chicago for updating us on her life, and to all of you who’ve sent in your horse descriptions for the new Meet the Horses pages. Thanks to this fall’s biggest Merlin fan, Michelle, for the pictures and stories about him. Michelle is part of a great group of long time Longacres students who will be senior CIT’s next summer and then joining the staff as counselors hopefully in 2011. Meghan is posting some really nice horse descriptions sent by Michelle, including the beloved Merlin, in the next hour or so. Michelle also described Lincoln, Star, Brownie, and Diesel.

 

Friday, 1PM Update:

A Bigger Sand Ring!

Indeed, we have made a big mess down at the riding complex. But it will be wonderful when it’s all done. Check this link for pictures of the bulldozing work underway here at Longacres today. We were worried that the job would have to be put off until next spring as winter weather came closer. But it’s very good to get the first part of the job done this fall so that the ground will settle and provide a good base for the sand we’ll add in the spring.

 

The new sand ring will be almost twice the area of the one we had in place this year. Forty feet longer and twenty feet wider. We’ll now even be able to use it as one of our show rings if we must run a show right after a rainy night. And we are considering putting up some lights and in very hot weather doing some night lessons. How much fun would that be?!

 

We posted a bunch more descriptions of the horses that were sent in by Laura. Speaking of “Fosto”, check out the page of Brownie pictures on the Meet the Horses pages. Right near the beginning of his album, note the picture of “little Laura” with Brownie and some first ever show ribbons. The picture was taken a few years ago. How time flies by!

 

Friday, October 23^rd, 8AM:

Thanks to Ofelia and Emily for sending new “Meet the Horses” descriptions. We’ve updated Brody, Tux, and Justin’s listings this morning. Keep them coming, everyone!

 

We’re just past peak foliage here in Western New York, and with rain and wind yesterday and today, the leaves are falling like the raindrops. We’ll have bare branches in no time at all. There have been some nice fall colors here and there, but it’s been a rather muted fall season on the whole. Partly because we’ve had a lot of overcast days when we didn’t have sun to appreciate the colors. But the pattern of a very dry September followed by the wet, cool October may have had an influence as well. Ok – on to winter!

 

BULLITEN:

As I was writing this update this morning, the phone rang and it was our excavating guy, Jeff Eaton. The light overnight rain had made the job he was on too muddy, so he is available this morning with his dozer for sand ring work! I drove down to the barn to check the condition of the ground. I dug a couple of little holes in the ground with a shovel and determined that the ground was only wet for the first inch or so and the subsoil is still dry. So Jeff is on his way and if the heavier rains hold off until mid day as forecast, we should have the foundation of our sand ring expansion done. We really wanted to get it done this fall so the ground could settle all winter and have a firm foundation for the sand when we spread it next spring. Good deal.

 

 

 

Thursday, October 22^nd, 1PM Update:

Sorry,

I never posted the promised YouTube last night. The video turned out a little too corny. When did that ever stop me? Well, the subject was the first ever “Royal Flush” of our new upstairs toilet. All our regular customers are familiar with the really grungy downstairs bathroom at the main house here at Longacres. (Finally remodeled this fall.) What you may not all know is that Meghan and I have used that as our only bathroom for many years. The bathrooms for our customers down in the camp are far nicer than the one we used ourselves. I think we often don’t really understand all the reasons we procrastinate on cleaning up or making needed repairs. One of the reasons I think we tolerated the crummy downstairs guest bathroom here for so many years is that we always planned to add an upstairs bathroom “soon” for our living quarters. But year after year went by and we just put up with the downstairs one; why fix it when “maybe next year” we’d have a nice new bath upstairs?

 

But this fall we’re finally doing the upstairs work. Yesterday we got the water lines hooked up for the new upstairs toilet and we held a little “Royal First Flush” celebration with Meghan, myself, and Kevin the plumber/all purpose handyman. He brought in a small bottle of champagne, we toasted the completion of this part of the job, and Meghan pulled the lever. You know me and photography – I had to video the event from start to finish with all the giggles, whoops, and cheers along with the gurgling flush! Yesterday posting that video online seemed like a clever, cute idea. Today, a little less so! You have been spared.

 

PS – Meghan updated many of the “Meet the Horses” pages with new or updated descriptions yesterday. Check them out.

 

PPS – The new “Twilight” movie is coming out soon. Here is today’s quiz, for those of you who were real Edward fans.

 

A) You are really worried that they will spoil your great memories and secret fantasies by doing an inferior job on the new movie.

 

B) You are going CRAZY waiting for the new movie and the chance to see Edward again!

 

C) What’s Twilight? Edward who?

 

Wednesday, October 21^st, 3PM Update:

We’re enjoying having Diesel spend the winter right across the road with our neighbors. I’d probably be up there every morning giving him a pat and maybe a carrot, but I don’t want to wear out the neighbor’s hospitality! We’ve been giving them some advice on the different kinds of gravel to put in as a base for their new horse shed. They have the poles for the shed all in the ground and it is right on schedule to be done in time to provide shelter from the early winter storms that are not so far away.

 

Meghan worked long hours collecting everyone’s descriptions of our horses and typing them into a working file. We’re beginning to upload them to the “Meet the Horses” pages today. I did the first couple, and Meghan interrupted me with an, “Oops! I need to add something!” So I’m waiting an hour while she adds some final touches and then we’ll update all the individual horse album pages with the multiple descriptions. It will be easy to add more stories and descriptions, so keep them coming! “Fosto” promises a whole set for all the horses. If you go to the Meet the Horses page and then click on the “more info” link for each horse, you’ll find the updated information at the bottom of that horse’s page.

 

Later tonight there will be a short video posted at this link. Don’t laugh at us too hard! This “new addition” to life at Longacres has been a long time coming and today’s event deserved the little celebration captured, like so much at Longacres, on high def video.

 

Joel did a great job with the cleanup down in the main part of camp where the new roof was put on Pixie-Oakwood cabin. Everything is neat and ready for next spring. And Tom moved about four tractor bucket loads of logs from the big tree that fell down on the lower old archery field. (AND, I had a great flight with my model airplane! No crashes now for almost a week. Knock wood!)

 

Tuesday, October 21, 3PM Update:

Worked laying out the sand ring expansion and moving log jumps this morning. Check this link for photos.

 

Monday, October 19^th, 6PM:

Check this link for some pictures taken around the farm today showing fall foliage and Tom working on the office driveway. It was a fun day, including a relaxing lunch with Meghan at the Roycroft.

 

Welcome back Drisana! Drisana’s enrollment for the first two weeks in July came in today and we’re glad to have her back at Longacres for 2010. The first session in July usually fills first, but not this year. But we are now getting lots of interest for those early summer sessions and we hope to hear from more of the great girls who came to that early July session last summer. We have two first time Longacres students coming already, along with Drisana. And we just traded emails with Cassi from Toronto, Ontario who is also interested in that session.

 

Meghan was busy this afternoon editing descriptions of our horses which I hope to post later this evening or tomorrow morning.

 

Monday, October 19^th, noon Update:

Another great sunny day at Longacres today, and then back to grey, drizzily weather for much of the rest of the week. But we are enjoying today! We flew home from our RV trip to spend three weeks at Longacres during what is often wonderful Indian Summer October weather with the great fall foliage as a bonus. But it looks like we may only experience three or four nice days during the whole time we’ve been home. Oh, well.

 

Check this link for a couple of pictures of Tom across the street at Connie’s farm saying “hello” to Diesel. They moved him out of their big pasture which has been muddy with all the rain this fall, and into a smaller but drier pasture on the side of the house. They had just spent the day yesterday grooming all their horses, and as you can see, Diesel looks great. Good job, Connie! Last week she took Diesel to a Parelli horse handling clinic. He was the star of the day, not just because he attracts so much attention because of his size. He behaved wonderfully, which does not surprise us. A lot of the training Tom gives Diesel from the ground is much like the Parelli and other “horse whisperer” methods. It’s good training for any horse. So Diesel took to it very quickly.

 

(I have sometimes thought about putting together a “Longacres Method” clinic series of ground work exercises, or even a short book. You guys know my philosophy of horsemanship – “Building Blocks” – do the simple horse handling things carefully and properly and the harder things will come naturally. To me it’s all just common sense, but since people seem to be so eager to be “taught” some trick, maybe we should write a book. It would be a good addition to our boating books and truck racing book. Kind of odd that I have written three books and none of them have been about horses. ) On the other hand, my aunt Neale Haley beat me to it by 30 years. She did write five or six horse books during the early history of Longacres. If you’re interested, go on Amazon or even Google and search for Neale Haley Horse Books.

 

Sand Ring Progress (NOT):

As our regulars know, we have always liked riding on grass and turf at Longacres. But we did put in a small sand ring this spring as an experiment. Even though I will always like watching horses work on grass, I can’t deny that the sand ring was very useful this year, especially since we had frequent wet weather. We are committed to nearly doubling the size of the sand ring before the 2010 season. We’ve had a call in for the bulldozer for more than a month, but the wet October has put our guy way behind schedule. We are hoping to get the machine in for the basic dozer work this week and then finish packing and picking stones and laying the sand next spring after letting the ring settle all winter. If the weather doesn’t cooperate later this week, we may have to push all the work back to next spring, but we sure hope to finish this week!

 

We have a load of gravel coming this afternoon to begin improving the driveway to the office to make it as nice as the barn drive which we fixed in 2008. It will be nice to get some outside work done this month. Most of our budget this month has gone to inside remodeling and repairs and plumbing improvements.

 

Sunday, late evening:

We’re going to start posting some of the descriptions our students have sent in on the updated “Meet the Horses” pages. Take a few minutes to write short comments about your favorite Longacres horses and ponies. Here are a few that Staci sent in last week:

 

my pony ginger

ginger is the bggest brat you will ever meet in the barn so at camp she is tacked up outside to prevent any accidents, but her attitude almost is invisable when you are riding her. beside the fact that her ears are pinned back sometimes ginger is a great show pony! she has shown in both hunters and jumpers and does very well in both. she has great knees and just an over all awesome pony. ginger is ten (2009) and is 14.1 hands. she is very fun to ride and is loved by many campers.

 

star

star is a very cute paint large pony. she has very very comfy gates and is an amzing bareback horse. she can be a little lazy but with a strong leg she is perfect. she shows very well in hunter and jumpers and she is a great trail horse. star is a fantastic pony who is very loved at camp.

 

merlin!

merlin is a huge favorite at camp. inless you are stuck cleaning him for the first ride. he is so much fun to ride and really takes very good care of his riders. merlin is so popular he even has his own fan club. merlin is probably the most popular large pony at camp.

 

staci  

 

Meghan is typing in several more descriptions that the counselors wrote at the end of August tomorrow morning.

 

Sunday, October 18^th, 2PM:

Happy Birthday, Junior!!!! - - AND Griffin!

Today is Katie “Junior’s” birthday and fittingly, it is a grand fall day in western New York after a long rainy week. We hope you’re doing something really fun today, Katie. And Griffin’s birthday is coming up Tuesday, so another birthday greeting goes out to YOU!

 

Meghan and I visited the local “Great Pumpkin Farm” this morning to see a “pumpkin hurling” contest. Check this link for a few pictures. Meghan got to shoot the big air cannon and hurl a couple of pumpkins more than half a mile! Local high schools sent teams with trebuchet’s, a fancy kind of medieval catapult. We had a grand time! I don’t know what it tells you about us at Longacres, but as far as we’re concerned, there’s always something exciting about busting up some pumpkins! Here’s a link to a video we made last year of us throwing pumpkins of the high deck on the side of the main hosue here at Longacres. Griffin liked it last year, so this “repeat” is a little birthday gift to you, Griffin.

 

After the rainy week or ten days we’ve just been through, it’s hard to choose what I most want to do outside. I had a great flight with my radio control airplane on the way into town for breakfast this morning. Then the pumpkin hurling, and later this afternoon I want to get out around the farm and trim some trees. Just a great day here at Longacres!

 

Saturday, October 17^th, 9PM:

We did some more work on the “Meet the Horses” page this afternoon, posting links to several YouTube videos of Longacres horses. We’ll try to keep adding stuff to that page all week. It may take longer than that to get video of all the horses posted, but we’re working on it.

 

We’ve still got a very wintry feeling in the air at Longacres tonight, but it’s finally supposed to warm up a bit in a day or two. We’ve had a pretty crummy month of October so far!

 

Saturday, October 17^th, 1PM:

Hi everyone,

FINALLY we’re making progress on updating the “Meet the Horses” page and other website improvements! It is slow, frustrating work sometimes. We use WORD to put our web pages together which is very quick and easy to use. What you see is what you get. But the HTML Web page files that are generated by WORD are very cumbersome and use some wacko conventions for naming and storing picture files that are on each page. So going back later and making changes, especially changing pictures, can produce some very unexpected results. For a while today, some of you may have looked at the spot on the Meet the Horses page where we describe Ginger and you would see a picture of Tux. We think we have most of those mistakes corrected right now, but more odd things are likely to pop up during the next week as we make more updates. Please let us know if you find mistakes in the Meet the Horses pages.

 

Today we posted new pictures and photo albums for the three horses we bought this season, Chesney, Lincoln, and Tux. And we made a few other changes to bring the page more up to date.

 

We still have to post pictures of some of the most recent private horses that came to Longacres. We’ve got great pictures of Max, Caliente, and Abby and we plan to put them up soon.

 

So please enjoy the new pictures and check back regularly to watch our progress on updating the Meet the Horses pages for 2010!

 

More 2010 Sessions to Fill Soon:

We had to turn down a request for a 2010 session for the first time last night. The second two weeks in July is now closed to girls 13 and up unless you qualify for one of two CIT spots open to girls age 14 or older. We do have one more spot in that session for a rider age 10 to 12. The August session is likely to be full very soon. There are two more spots and several different 2009 students have said they are interested.

 

We do have space in the two week session at the beginning of July and we have lots of space in all the June sessions still. An interesting thing is that the group of mothers & daughters who have been coming to the June Mother – Daughter week for several years all together is splitting up with many of them choosing other Longacres sessions. Some of the moms are coming to Lazy Days week in August, and others might come for one of the June Pro-Clinic weeks. We will probably open up the last week in June that has been only for Mothers and Daughters the past few years to all ages, since the pattern of emrollment that week is changed.

 

It’s interesting how each year has a little bit different enrollment pattern. We never did completely fill the 3 ½ week August session last summer, what with the recession and different family plans. But with many of our long term girls growing up and becoming more experienced riders, there is a big demand for the August session and the big August shows this year. The August session will be full for sure this year, probably in the next few weeks.

 

Excitement at the 2010 Jumper Derby!

We liked the format we used for this year’s Derby Show with one class at the higher height with everyone showing at 2’9” in the first round and then choosing one of three different jump off heights with more prize money if you returned for the jump off at a greater height.

 

For 2010, we plan to try hard to add to the excitement by recruiting at least a few horses interested in an even higher jump off. We may offer as much as $3000 total prize money to horses attempting the highest jump off height, and that height may be increased from 4’ to 4’6”. We may include the big water jump in the high jump off. Stay tuned!

 

Friday, October 16^th, 1PM:

Snow at Longacres after all!

Indeed, it snowed a couple of inches after we went to bed late last night, and galloping field was covered in white when we left the house this morning. Check the pictures at this link. Most of it melted in a few hours. Also check the picture of Quantum jumping which Emily sent us. It’s a little blurry because of low light in the arena but she looks great and so does Quantum!

 

I hope you like the picture I took of the valley from just up the road this morning. It’s from about the same place as one I posted last week on a normal sunny fall day. All the fall foliage is out in the picture I took this morning, but there is snow everywhere, which makes for quite an interesting contrast. In fact, right after taking the picture I turned to Meghan and said, “This is one of those great moments to be alive!” We do love the fact that after a grueling season of long days and endless responsibility, we have some time in our off season to sit back and appreciate the beauty around us outdoors. This morning was one of those moments when life seemed very worth while.

 

And the French Toast Champion is:

Remember how we have been occasionally searching all during our fall travels for the “Best French Toast in North America”? Well, we’ve given our coveted French Toast Award to the Buffalo Zach’s Cafe in Roscoe, NY. Who would have thought? We had very, very good servings at the fancy Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario early in our trip. And almost as good at a local restaurant in Kenora, Ontario. And again, very good at the “Griddle” Diner in Shelby, Montana. The most expensive French Toast we’ve ever had in our life was at the gorgeous Lake Louise Lodge near Banff, Alberta. But it had a very bland, disappointing taste. Incredible view from the dining room, but not great French Toast. Then yesterday, on our way home along NY Rte #17 from visiting my mother in Connecticut, we stopped at a small café in Roscoe, just down the street from the better known “Roscoe Diner”. We’d only planned for a light snack and cup of tea for Meghan. But we saw French Toast with Maple Syrup on their menu and said, “Why not?” Good thing we tried it. Outstanding – we give them the nod for “Best French Toast in North America, based on our slightly limited sampling efforts!

 

Check in on the “Meet the Horses” page over the next couple of days. We are working on adding pictures and descriptions of the three new horses we bought this year. It takes more time than you’d think. Meghan sat down to collect pictures of Chesney, Lincoln, and Tux this morning. It took her a couple of hours just to go through the 12,000 or so pictures we saved from the summer!

 

Thursday, October 15^th, 11PM Update:

Winter is coming!

We’re back at Longacres after a quick three day trip to visit my mother in Connecticut. She’s going to put her house on the market pretty soon, so we are not only enjoying visiting her, but starting to clear a life time of memories out of the house. Amazing how much a family accumulates when they bring up two kids and live in the same house more than fifty years! Almost everything in the house holds memories, but if you already have WAY too much “STUFF” in your own house, what one or two things do you take from the family homestead just because of sentimental value? Our car came home heavily laden with way more stuff than I had planned! Where to put it all?

 

Horse News:

Some good news – Ginger has been a little lame since camp, but is getting better and Staci is hopeful that she can start riding her in lessons soon. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the good progress will continue, Staci – keep us informed; you’re doing a great job caring for Ginger.

 

Horatio has been a little off after his last shoeing, and Laura is trying to figure that out. Chesney is being WONDERFUL, according to Sharon. She is bonding really well with this horse. We can’t wait to see what he’s like after a whole winter of good training from Sharon and Laura!

 

We just got an email from Emily who has Quantum for the winter. She says he is really getting along well at Lehman Stables and that he really perks up when they have their jumping lesson. Don’t we all know that?!? Good job, Emily.

 

Camp Enrollments:

We came home pleased to find the official enrollments for Claudia and Sophie in the mail and we welcome them to the Longacres family. Kellie also sent word that she is definitely coming for the August session which she enjoyed so much last summer. That brings us to within two of being full for August

 

There was also a phone message from two new girls interested in coming to Longacres for the first time. They are interested in coming together for one of the July two week sessions. We need to confirm the dates with a couple of last year’s riders who sent in deposits for July to see if we have space for both of the new girls. We might have only one spot in the second July session and we’re not sure if they can come the first two weeks of July or not – that’s when we know we still have space. Depending on how this works out, we might have only two spots left for CIT’s 14 or older in the second July session. Longacres is filling up fast now that we are listed on the Google sponsored ads.

 

Quiz Answer:

Nobody got the correct answer to the most recent “quiz” that I posted two weeks ago while we were out west. The truck in the picture is a Mercedes “Unimog” – it is a heavy duty off road truck quite common in Europe but used only here and there by industry and municipalities in the U.S. I’ve always wanted one for Longacres!

 

Meghan’s Revenge:

I promised to tell you this story a few days ago. Here’s the deal – whenever two people like Meghan and I who have a significant age difference live and work together, there is going to be some kidding around. It is not uncommon if I happen to lag behind a few steps in the mall or if I breathe just a little heavily climbing a stairway for Meghan to call back affectionately, “Come on, old man!”

 

Sometimes I just grin and take it. Other times I get her back by exaggerating an old man’s shuffling walk as we go into a restaurant or something. But last week I tried just the opposite. We were walking into a darkened movie theater and I was a step or two ahead. I thought to myself, “Instead of teasing Meghan with the old man shuffle, I’ll reach down into my reserve stock of emergency energy and jog across the theater aisle and up the far side steps to our seats as the previews play on screen just as though I were a young teenager.” Which I proceeded to do – I can still be quite light on my feet if it’s not very far!

 

All was going well as I jogged past the bottom row of seats in the dark theater while rather smugly imagining how Meghan would be impressed and how in a moment when she caught up she would have to ask where I got the energy all of a sudden. What I did not notice in that dark theater was the black steel railing that came out about two feet beyond the bottom step on the far side of the auditorium. Imagine Tom jogging in the dark trying especially hard to show off a little and look young and energetic. Imagine him taking an especially vigorous final step as he jumps up onto the stairway at the end of the aisle. Imagine the heavy “THUD” as he crashes into the nearly invisible steel railing between the aisle and that first step!!

 

Fortunately, the theater had just turned down the lights, and not too many people saw what happened to me. But as I was wincing in pain holding my temporarily crushed arm to my bruised chest, I did hear one lady sitting a row up go to her companion, “Eeeeeewwww, did you see that?”

 

I limped to my seat determined not to try to show off how young I could act for some time to come! (Meghan acted very concerned for me, but it was not hard to imagine a secret part of her silently thinking, “serves him right! Maybe he’ll just walk like a normal person for a while now.”)

 

On the way out of the theater I didn’t have to fake the “old man shuffle”!

 

 

Monday, October 12^th, 10PM:

Social Networking:

We are still amazed (and just a tiny bit uneasy) at how much information flows through Facebook links. But, hey, it’s the 21^st century and I guess we have to go along with technology or get out of the way! We will continue to use our own website for most of our communication with you all, but Meghan does have a Facebook page and we do see the posts her “friends” put up.

 

And it is very nice to see how much our summer students keep in touch with one another all year round. Laura just wrote today that a big group in the new York – New Jersey area are making plans to get together the weekend of November 8^th. Get in touch with Laura if you’re interested. Sorry we won’t be able to make it, Laura. We will be out west at that time on the second phase of our fall RV adventures. But let us know if we can do anything to help you organize something fun.

 

I don’t know if we’ll have any updates the next few days while we travel to visit my mother in Connecticut. We’ll be back at Longacres on Friday.

 

We do have a link to a nice YouTube video that was sent to us by Dr. Leslie Anne. It’s especially for our adult riders this time! So, girls, this is for you, Meri, Laura, Anne Catherine, Renee, Christien, Kay, Diana, Sharon, Martha, Debra, and anyone all adult readers of our blog!

 

Sunday, October 11^th, 9PM:

It was a nice day at Longacres, though a bit chilly. More so tonight with possible record cold for this date in East Aurora. That’s why Meghan and I spent the morning winterizing the various water pipes that serve Longacres. We did part of the job before we left on our trip a few weeks ago, but today was the careful work making sure there is very little water left in any pipes. We had to carry an air compressor around and blow compressed air through some of the pipes that don’t drain well on their own. The more careful we are with this work in the fall, the fewer split pipes need to be repaired next spring.

 

We’re headed to Connecticut Tuesday and Wednesday to visit my mother and hopefully to meet Sophie and her mom and watch her ride.

 

Ruby is returning to Longacres for what I think is her fourth year next summer – she started very young! She’s been thinking about which session to come for and it looks like it will be mother – daughter week and then returning for the August session. With Ruby choosing the August session, we only have a couple of spots left for that session and at least four people we know have been thinking about signing up then. Don’t wait too long!

 

There are plenty of spots left in all the June sessions and in the first two weeks of July. Often those fill early, but this year the longer session in August and the second half of July have filled first.

 

Poor Ginger is still not fully sound after being vanned to New Jersey after camp ended. Staci has been wonderful about caring for her, but we are all worried about Ginger’s lack of progress. We’ll update the Ginger report soon after we talk more with Staci and her mom this week.

 

More news tomorrow – don’t miss the little story on “Meghan’s Revenge!”

 

Sunday, October 11^th, 10AM:

Peak foliage time is getting closer! Check this link for a big picture I took this morning on top of Mill Road hill. Peak is only a few days away. More Longacres news later – we are about to go down to the bathrooms and scrub out the toilets, empty all the water with sponges, and put in anti-freeze. Oh, the fun of owning a farm and resort! Temperatures will be below freezing tonight and snow is expected several nights later this week. Not great early October weather! Hopefully we will get a nice Indian summer soon.

 

Saturday, October 10^th Update:

Just in time - - -

for the fall foliage, that is! We planned our three week break in fall vacation travels to coincide with the best autumn foliage at Longacres. We were afraid that we might have missed some of the peak colors, but when we got home and drove into town for breakfast Wednesday morning there was still a lot of green on the trees. It’s running a little late this year. Lucky for us! And in just one day, a lot changed. By Thursday morning many of the maples were showing more color, and now on the weekend, we’re getting close to peak foliage. Just a few more days probably.

 

Check this link for a few pictures from around Longacres this week. There are also a few pictures I took from the plane on the way home showing cool clouds! And some of Diesel in his muddy pasture next door, pleased to be getting brushed a bit with a curry comb. And some of a grand old Maple tree next to the ridgeline trails where a huge branch broke off in the most recent windstorm the other day. It’s sad when a great old growth tree comes down. I was almost going to title this update “death in the forest”, but that’s a bit dramatic for a fall day. And it is till a very impressive tree even after losing one of the main branches. The central tree is still up and probably well over 100’ tall. Much of Longacres forest is second growth after being logged perhaps 90 to 100 years ago. But the row of trees along ridgeline trail near the old junior barn is well over 100 years old and there are some great cherry, maple, and oak trees there. We lost another huge old tree this fall, the big Willow tree down on the old archery field near the big creek. There’s a picture of that in today’s photo album as well. We may need to hold a “tree cutting & moving party” to get rid of that!

 

Longacres Fall Reunions?

We are going to be doing some more traveling at the end of this month and during November before returning to Longacres after Thanksgiving to settle in for the winter. We plan to be in the Dallas, Texas area sometime near the 14^th and 15^th of November and hope to see some of you while we are there. Kellie has Ebony and Tux with her there, and Peyton, Maggie, Destiny, Kim, and others live in the area. Let us know if you’re interested in getting together for a Pizza or something.

 

We are also visiting my mother in Darien, Connecticut next week and if some of you New York – Connecticut – New Jersey folks would like to stop by for a get together, let us know. Ofelia lives In New York, and many more are close by. It’s short notice, but I thought I’d mention the possibility.

 

We were hoping that this month would include mostly small maintenance jobs around the farm tidying up and finishing the remodeling of bathrooms for the office and other similar projects. But as we looked around, we are now considering a complete rebuild of the foundations and flooring for Esseress bunk. We’ll let you know if we move ahead with that, but it is one of the oldest buildings on the farm and has been getting a little creaky recently. We don’t want to tear it down completely because it has so much Longacres “history” to it!

 

PS: Here’s a Longacres “Welcome” to Sophie from new Canaan, CT, who is our newest Longacres student. Sophie is coming for the 4 week session in July so she’ll get to know Longacres horses well during her stay. We look forward to getting to know Sophie, too! We may get to see her ride when we visit my mother in Connecticut this coming week.

 

Thursday, October 8^th, 11PM:

This should be a long update since it’s been a busy day, but we’re pretty tired, so maybe some of today’s news will have to wait. We had LOTS of people interaction! We went in to town for a Pasquale’s dinner, and as we came through the door, there were Griffin and her family. We all laughed and traded gossip. Then Meghan and I sat down for dinner by ourselves. Not five minutes later, in walks Uncle Billy, fresh from riding his horse at his barn. So he joined us. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised – Pasquale’s is almost like an extension of Longacres.

 

Now that the Google advertising is running, we’re getting calls or emails from new people almost every day. Meghan spoke with Claudia’s dad who is sending in her application for one of the July sessions. Claudia is a friend of Stephanie from New Jersey, and found out about Longacres from her. We also send out a Longacres “Hello” to Sophie from Connecticut, who has been to a good general camp for the past few years, but she wants to spend all her time riding. Think Longacres is the right place for her? We hope so!

 

With Claudia’s enrollment, the July 11 to 25 two week session is now nearly full. We have a couple of spots for younger girls 10 to 12, and two spots for CIT’s age 14 or older. The August 3 ½ week session is also almost full, with three spots left, but four or more girls from last year interested in those three spots. First come, first served.

 

We have plenty of space in the first two weeks of July and in the June sessions.

 

We also went across the street this afternoon and visited Diesel. He is pretty muddy! It has been a rainy week and the people who are taking care of Diesel are just finishing another pasture and walk in shed, so their horses should get a chance to get out of the mud soon. Diesel has never been much of a “Romeo”, since he was not high on the totem pole of power in the Longacres pasture. That was true at first when he got to his winter home across the street. The two horses already there were Tequila (a mare), and Apache, he gelding “boyfriend”. At first, Tequila chased Diesel away every time he tried to join their group. Diesel was the new boy and the outcast. But slowly he began to grow on Tequila. Sometime over the past few weeks, Tequila dumped Apache and took on Diesel as her new “boyfriend”. And when she came in season, she flirted with Diesel BIGTIME!! They are now inseparable!

 

Meghan spent the day in the office and talking with the guys on our crew about various jobs around the farm. Tom spent the day in the tractor mowing all the grass, which really needed it since we’ve been gone for much of the past month. But I got everything down by the barn mowed and looking good. I mowed most of the trails and will do galloping field and the Old Junior Barn trails tomorrow if it doesn’t rain.

 

At dinner I told Griffin how during the summer I always look forward to watching all you guys ride after I finish mowing, since the horses look so good on the fresh green grass. And how today when I finally finished just before dinner, I felt like some of you should be down at the barn tacking up for evening ride and how nice you’d look coming up the hill on the neatly mowed field. I missed you all when I realized that I’ll have to wait eight more months for that!

 

More Esseress Remodeling:

We put a new roof on Esseress bunk last year. And this week we may start a new Esseress remodeling project. The floor has been getting old (it IS old – over 60 years old!), and it has a few soft spots with patches. So Joel is looking at it with us tomorrow and we may tear out the old floor and put in new foundation posts and a brand new floor over the winter. We’ll keep you posted.

 

Wednesday, October 7^th, 8PM Update:

We’ve been back at Longacres from our three week vacation for less than 24 hours, but we’ve gotten a lot done. Check this link for the pictures Michelle sent us of Merlin being her buddy.

 

We got a message from Petra that she wants to come for the August session and that she can if she gets good grades at the end of her quarter in school next week. Good luck, Petra – study hard! If Petra gets those grades, we’ll have only two spots left for the August session. We also heard from Stephanie who is coming in July and bringing a friend who will be at Longacres for the first time. “Hi, Stephanie’s friend!”

 

We have tons of maintenance stuff to finish around the farm and much has been done. The front door to the office shuts properly now, the guest bathroom for the office is FINALLY civilized after being really crummy for years, the roof is repaired at Pixie – Oakwood guest cabin, and much more. We’re getting some sun tomorrow and I plan to finish the final mowing of the show fields with my tractor. (I’ve missed my tractor the past three weeks!)

 

Some big news is that counselor Katie is giving serious thought to working in the horse world some more, even though she sort of thought she should get a “big girl’s job”. Let me see, be responsible and start a career in an office job, or work doing what you love? Hmmmn.

 

More tomorrow. We’re glad to be back at Longacres1

 

Tuesday, October 6^th, 10PM:

We’re Back!

Here we are back at Longacres again, and it’s good to be home! We had an entertaining dinner with Uncle Billy at the mall after he picked us up from the airport. And we just spent two hours opening mail - lots of bills and business stuff, but lots of interesting stuff from all of YOU! Thanks!

 

Here’s a Longacres “Welcome” to “Pij”, the first adult to sign up for the 2010 adult week. We hope most of the adults from this year return again – we had a fun group who all worked well together. We should have plenty of adults this year for that June week and for Mother – Daughter week. I just had a series of interviews the past two days with a writer for “Equine Journal”, who is writing an article about summer camp riding opportunities that are also open to adults. The article should give good publicity to the Longacres opportunities for “mature” riders! – haha

 

We also send out a “Hello” to Kat, a teenager from Bancroft, Ontario who is very interested in the two week sessions in July next summer. We waited to start our advertising for new students until the first of October, giving all our 2009 students the month of September to make their plans. This week we began our regular Google advertising campaign to attract new students, and the calls and inquiries are coming in.

 

And we’re getting formal enrollments from more of last year’s students – Katie V. enrolled again, and we got the official word that Carly R. will be a Junior Counselor on the staff for most of next summer!! We also heard from Ruby & Diana – lots of people making plans for 2010.

 

Thanks to Kellie and Michelle who both wrote us tonight and made us feel like we had a special “welcome home” from some of our favorite Longacres people. Tomorrow we’ll post some pictures including two that Michelle sent us showing informals of Merlin, who is spending the winter with Michelle!!!!!

 

Monday, October 5^th, 9AM:

Wild West Justice!

We did enjoy the return trip through the mountains on Amtrak yesterday, and we just missed some excitement and a funny (?) story. It all happened about an hour before we got on and the whole train was gossiping about it.

 

You meet many interesting people on a train ride, and some not so interesting, but very few who are actually obnoxious. Sunday near the Colorado – Utah line there was an incident with a couple of jerks.

 

(Skip this story, younger campers!)

A couple of people apparently got on the train already pretty drunk and they proceeded to get more so, were smoking and wouldn’t stop, were loud and obnoxious, and dared anyone to do anything about it. They told some of the people sitting nearby, “What are they going to do? There’s not another stop on this train for hours.”

 

Well, the train crew walked through the nearby cars and told the other passengers, “Stay calm, and keep your cameras out – there’s going to be some entertainment soon!” Sure enough, 20 minutes later the train began to slow down way out in the middle of nowhere. The train came to a stop at a highway crossing where four sheriff’s cars with flashing lights were waiting. The train crew had radio’d ahead for backup. The sheriff’s deputies came on the train and removed the naughty passengers.

 

The next part of the story comes second hand from people we met who had heard it from a conductor, so I can’t promise there is no exaggeration. But we were told that the Sheriff’s told the two people they removed from the train, “The nearest jail is over an hour’s drive from here. Would you like us to let you go with a warning?” So they released the two people right there on the spot, and told them, “The nearest town is about two miles walk that way.” And left them.

 

The train crew then pointed out the “town” to the other passengers as the train passed through a minute later. It was a cross road with three houses – 70 miles from the nearest real town! It was going to be a very long day for those naughty train passengers with plenty of time to sober up!

 

Fall is arriving:

All across the country it looks like the fine warm early fall weather is coming to an end. We had great weather for most of our trip west the past three weeks, but it’s going to be very cold in the west next week and rather wet and dreary for the first few days that we’re back at Longacres this week. We’re hoping to enjoy some great fall foliage weather while we are home working the next few weeks! But we may have to wait a few days. We’ll post some pictures of Longacres in the fall Wednesday. Also, please send us pictures of Longacres horses at their winter homes with some of you. We’d like to post a little album of Longacres horses at their “winter homes”!

 

We’ll be home tomorrow night having dinner with our friend, “Uncle Billy”. We look forward to being back in Western New York from our travels.

 

 

 

Saturday, October 3, 9PM Update:

As Good as I had Hoped?

Better! And so often that’s not the case when you finally get to do something you’ve wanted to do all your life. It’s only human to hope for too much if you wait a long time to do something you’re really looking forward to.

 

That’s me and my train ride through the Rocky Mountains. Regular readers know that I like trains to begin with, and for years I’ve wanted to take a train ride through the Rocky’s, but never had the chance. Today we did it, leaving Denver’s Union Station on the “California Zephyr” and riding west through the mountains for seven hours to Grand Junction. We’re staying overnight here and taking the train back to Denver tomorrow morning. I took pictures, of course (you know me!). But pictures don’t do an experience like this justice. You just can’t appreciate the depth of the canyons or the height of the mountains from a two dimensional picture. But there are a few at this link.

 

All I can say is that if you ever have a chance to take this train trip, don’t pass it up. You don’t have to like trains, although that sure helps. It’s an incredible way to see the mountains from a new perspective.

 

We’ll be home at Longacres in a couple of days and going to work on many fall projects. Thanks to Staci for sending in the first “horse descriptions” from a 2009 student. We’ll definitely include them, Staci!

 

Friday, October 2^nd noon Update:

Only three more days!

Until we’re home and back at work for a while at Longacres. We’re relaxing in the Denver area today and taking a train ride through the mountains on Amtrak just for fun tomorrow and Sunday. Then flying home.

 

I’m recharged and eager to get home and do things around the farm and on the website. Meghan says she could easily keep traveling and out of touch with the world for a while longer. But then, she works more hours than I do during the summer, so it’s not surprising that it would take her longer to relax her brain at the end of the season. She’ll get another chance soon ; on these once every two years trips out west, we always fly home from Denver or Salt Lake City to catch up on work and finish closing Longacres for the season and then return later in October to do some more traveling for both business and pleasure.

 

Check this link for a few pictures of me with trains – trains ate cool – remember that!!!!!

 

Don’t worry, you will get to see lots more horse pictures and horse news very soon! As soon as we’re back at Longacres next week, I’m going to work updating the “Meet the Horses” page with profiles and pictures of Chesney, Lincoln, and Tux along with new descriptions written by Katie, Destiny, and hopefully many of you. Start thinking about writing little paragraphs about your favorite Longacres horses! We’re also going to add video files to many of the meet the horses pages this year.

 

Thursday, October 1^st, 9PM Update:

Two updates in one day!

Well, we are experiencing “culture shock” after spending the day in the greater Denver metro area after traveling more than 4500 miles through very sparsely populated country over the previous two and a half weeks! Feels sort of the way we did when we used to spend 6 to 8 weeks on a small island in the Bahamas in the spring before camp season and then fly back to Florida and suddenly see CARS again!

 

In fact, we’re parked next to one of the biggest malls in the country where we are about to have dinner. (Flat Iron Crossing)

 

As I reported this morning, we like getting messages from all of you about your winter life and your riding experiences. We especially like video, and thanks to Micayla for sending us her Facebook link and links to her latest riding video’s. Micayla visited Longacres with her family last summer, then sent us all treats, and has now signed up for a July session next summer. Try the link and see if it works – you might have to get “friended” by Micayla first.

 

Thursday, October 1^st, 9AM Update:

Hello everyone,

There’s a neat little story today that connects our western motorhome travels this fall back to Longacres in a kind of “Circle of life” way! If you’ve been keeping up with our updates, you know that we traveled last week in Banff and Jasper Rocky Mountain parks in western Canada. Well, yesterday we got the following email from Sharon and Laura. It was interesting to note that Laura’s first exposure to horses and riding turns out to have been right where we were in Banff National Park some years ago! Look where it has taken Laura. All the way from being a little kid (little?) on a trail ride for the first time to being one of our star riders at the Fair winning the Gambler’s Choice on Quantum and then anchoring the Team Jumping event with clear rounds on Horatio! A nice way to connect Meghan and I’s travels this fall back to Longacres. Following is Sharon’s wonderfully complete update on how the horses (especially Chesney) are doing!

 

From Sharon (and Laura)

All is well with both horses and riders! (summary)

 

Enjoying the update on your travels and Laura really enjoyed the mention of Jerry.  Not sure if we ever talked about the trip we took a few years back (during the big fires in Glacier National Park) that

would be right up your alley.  We took Amtrak to Glacier , hiked (Laura's first ever backpacking trip) and then wandered up Banff and Jasper by car.  We had been in the wilderness so long that we were

horrified by Banff being so touristy (Note from Tom – We don’t like the town of Banff either) and went on a 3-day horseback riding trip with a guide.  Laura first real exposure and the beginning of this expensive hobby we all enjoy!

 

Seeing a bear is very cool - and speaking from experience it is WAY better to see one from a car than when you are hiking!

Horse update:

 

We have been laughing like crazy at how different their personalities are - we decided that Hoho is a puppy ("Dad said he never wanted a dog more than 40 pounds and now we have one over a thousand!") while Chesney is a cat - perfectly happy and affectionate when he is ready to be, then he is done and it is time to eat hay or go look

over the fence. Laura says that he and I are a good match because I don't actually like horses that much and he doesn't actually people that much..... (in my defense - i like horse plenty - just not

compared to teenaged girls!)

 

Ho-ho transitioned beautifully - Fran says that Laura looks better on him consistently than she ever looked on Rocky and that she looked pretty good on Rocky.  The thinking is that when Carly is back and back in shape they will be together in a

semi-private.

 

Chesney did great while he was in the isolation pasture and I rode him in there several times.  When he moved into the barn he was spastic for about a week - charged me out of his stall, awful in the cross ties, almost impossible to mount, feeling like he was ready to explode out from under me in the ring.  We are through all that now and he is being lovely.  The biggest difference was when we changed the gullet in my saddle so that it really fits him now.  The got rid of almost all the mounted and mounting issues.  Was actually able to leave him on the cross ties last weekend when i walked to the end of the aisle to get a pitch fork (he has an annoying habit of pooping in the crossties - every time!).

 

I have been doing an exercise with him that Katy taught me to work on flexibility and bend. I take a piece of carrot and trace it along his side so he has to reach back to eat it.  We alternate sides and then hold the piece between his front legs.  He has gotten quite cooperative and is not trying to break the rules of the game by turning himself toward me or grabbing.  I made a big sign for his stall (treats in bucket only) so that no one is training him to beg.  He is doing well with contact, is dropping his head a lot and basically we continue to work well together.  I think he is really thinking about our exercises too.  

 

The other day we had been doing a series of figure eights, serpentines and trotting poles and were done for the day.  I was letting him wander around on a loose rein and not once, but twice he turned away from the gate and walked over the center of the trotting poles! I have NEVER seen that.  Also discovered that he lunges himself.  We have a round pen that we use to free lunge.  I brought him in it one day not knowing what he would do - i had literally barely closed the gate behind him when he started cantering the ring.  He then calmed down some and i was able to lunge him with basically just my voice (this worked well tracking left, not as well right) I was literally holding the lunge whip behind my back for a large portion of the exercise.  Guess he had been lunged before!  Fran wants to move him to a softer bit -so that will be the experiment for this week.

 

Both Ofelia and Alexa have been down to visit and ride Chesney.  We were hoping for Katy this past weekend but didn't quite work.  Take care and safe travels

 

Sharon

 

PS – Thursday:

OMG - we tried a hunting snaffle on him yesterday and he was FABULOUS!  Kept saying "should I put my head down like this? -okay!" - we actually did a cross rail course (6 fences) at a relaxed happy trot.  So we are trying a French link tonight.....

 

Sharon

 

Tom’s Note:

GREAT horse update, Sharon! Keep them coming now and then. And to everyone else who has Longacres horses for the winter, wee really like getting through reports andstories like Sharon’s telling us what you’re doing with the horsies!

- Tom & Meghan

 

We were glad to hear that Drisana is interested in coming back to Longacres for the first two weeks in July. We hope more of the great crew that were here together for that session in 2009 return for 2010!

 

We heard from Griffin’s mom, Amy, that the leaves back at Longacres are really turning now – perfect timing for Meghan and I who are flying back to East Aurora from Denver Tuesday just so we can enjoy the wonderful October foliage of western New York while we get some work done at Longacres. (Unfortunately, western New York is experiencing a very rainy period right now after a wonderful month of September. We haven’t had real rain anytime on our trip out west. Guess that will change for at least a few days.) I had a dream that you and Mike were in, Amy. I’ll tell you about it over dinner when we get back!

 

Hey, Peyton; thanks for the link to the train video. I know how great trains look going through snow. But you are teasing me, since I could not watch the video on my iPhone while we were traveling. I should be able to see it when I get to post this update someplace with Wifi later today. Thanks for thinking of me.

 

Speaking of pictures & video’s, Dr. Leslie McCulloch is the only one to take a stab at the “quiz” from a few days ago asking you to identify the “toy” truck Tom’s sitting in. Close, but not the answer. It is a tough one – show the picture to your dads or other friends with truck knowledge. The guy who owned it was amazed when Tom walked up and knew what it was!

 

Thanks also to Diana & Ruby and Rhiannon for their emails. Hope you enjoyed your late birthday party, Ruby!

 

Did you scroll to the top of the page and see yourself in the new “Picture of the Month”, Ofelia?

 

 

 

Tuesday, September 29^th, 10AM Update:

Yellowstone on fire & Wolves! & a “quiz”

But first, a quick explanation of what’s going on in case you just Googled “horse camps” or “riding camps”, and you came to the Longacres website to find out about a riding camp for next summer. You’ve come to the right place! It may seem as you read the past few updates as though you’ve accidentally found a family vacation blog. But it’s just Meghan and I keeping in touch with the “Longacres family” as we take a little needed rest and recuperation time after a great 2009 summer riding camp season. We need to rest our bodies and minds after working 18 hour days from mid April until early September.

 

But we are keeping in touch with Longacres business and plans for the 2010 season as we travel this month. Helpers back at the office in East Aurora are opening and tabulating enrollment applications as they come in and we answer your emails almost every day. (Phone messages are a little harder. Thanks to “Pij” for all her patience as she and Meghan played phone tag back and forth about eight times before finally having a great conversation about the 2010 Adult Week! Pij is a lady vet who recently got back into horses and very recently into hunt seat. She has her own horse and wants to really learn and ride different horses. She told Meghan that if she comes to Longacres next June, there are no “if’s, and’s, or but’s – she is doing pond riding, which she saw our girls do on YoiuTube, and she wants to do that for sure!!!! Sounds very much like a Longacres kind of person. The long conversation with Meghan took place while we were driving the RV into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Montana, and the cell service kept cutting them off. But Meghan enjoyed the talk!)

 

We send out birthday greetings two days late to Stephanie R., and today is a birthday for both “Not-so-little Michelle”, and Lydia. Happy birthday to all three of you guys!

 

Now about that headline! There is a big fire in Yellowstone Park this week, and several important roads were closed. We could only tour the very southwestern section of the park without making a 250 mile detour to see Meghan’s favorite section of the park, Lamar Valley. We were sad, because Meghan really loves wolves, and the best place to see them is along the Lamar River valley. We’ve seen wolves there before through our telescope and binoculars, so we were sorry not to be going there today. But we told ourselves we’d have a relaxed drive through the small portion of the park open to us today and head south towards Colorado.

 

Imagine our surprise when not five minutes inside the park we saw a group of cars stopped next to the Madison River looking across at two grey shapes trotting along the opposite bank. Sure looked like you-know-whats! I drove several hundred feet past the group of gawkers and pulled over hoping that the you-know-whats would keep trotting up the river bank. As I parked, I grabbed for my camera while Meghan jumped out and ran down to the edge of the river just in time to see two grey wolves trotting briskly up the opposite bank away from the big group of people, but right towards Meghan. Sure enough, they passed right by Meghan just across the stream not 200 feet from her! They seemed not to have a care in the world. We’ve been to Yellowstone six times in the past dozen years and only seen wolves at great distances after waiting for hours. Here we were with our best wolf sighting ever, completely by accident. Life works out well sometimes! Meghan’s day, week, and month were made in those few moments!

 

Note on enrollments: More have come in for the August session, and it will be full soon. There is still plenty of space in all our June sessions and in the July two week sessions. This is just the opposite of what happens most years, when those two week sessions in July fill first. Keeping you all informed!

 

Check this link for a few more pictures.

 

We are in Rock Springs, Wyoming tonight, with great weather that is going to turn very cold by Wednesday. We’re heading southeast to keep from freezing at night! We have some business to take care of in Denver late this week before we fly home to Longacres for a few weeks in October to finish closing up the farm and making more plans for 2010.

 

PS – The Quiz:

We were driving south in Yellowstone today, came around a bend, and there it was! A toy that Tom has wanted for almost 40 years. We pulled over immediately and made friends with Bob and Kitty, owners of this “toy” and several more like it. Tom & Bob have a lot in common! They are also horse people who like draft horses. YOU are the Longacres Blog Trivia King or Queen of the month if you can identify the “toy” in the pictures at this link!

 

Sunday, September 27^th, 2PM Update:

We saw a bear, we saw a bear!!!

OK, not right up close while we were hiking or anything like that, but crossing the road right in front of us as we drove through a national forest in Montana. We’d like to think it was a young grizzly because of the color and the way he was walking, but we know the odds are he was a brown phase black bear. Exciting, still! We’re driving through southern Montana today heading for Yellowstone Park tomorrow. Meghan hopes to camp in Galatin National Forest tonight.

 

Good news on the horse front. After four weeks of Staci giving her great special care, Ginger has a clean bill of health and Staci has finally begun to ride her after letting her swollen leg get better the past month. Thanks for the great work, Staci – we hope Ginger is fine for the rest of the year.

 

Next time I’m near Wifi, I’ll upload a couple of pictures we took at Spruce Meadows of two of their Pulverman jumps. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a Pulverman anyplace but at Longacres. We got some good ideas for new ways to decorate and maintain our Pulverman at Longacres.

 

Saturday, September 26^th, 9AM Update:

WOW!

That’s the first word that comes to mind after our stop at Spruce Meadow Farm in Calgary, Alberta yesterday!!! This was one of the most important business stops on our trip. We knew we would learn useful things about jump design at Canada’s premier horse show facility, but we weren’t prepared for the magnificence of this place. Google it and check their website or check a few of our pictures at this link. We took hundreds and will post more later on our trip.

 

We had a great talk with Brittany Reed, Spruce Meadow’s Senior Decorating Foreman of Silk Flower Decoration. Just the fact that someone with that title would be on full time staff tells you a bit about the attention to detail required at this facility. Meghan and Brittany shared some laughs about the challenges they face setting up and decorating elaborate jump courses. (Longacres on a bit smaller scale!) Meghan was talking about our annual budget of about $600 for new silk flowers every year and how she rotates the previous year’s flowers that have faded just a little to the back part of the field or to the middle of flower arrangements around jumps, while putting the brand new flowers in the most visible positions. Brittany laughed and said, “Yes, we have the same issues here!” Only difference is that Brittany’s last silk flower order was for $11,000! Just one order. She then showed us around several of the semi trailers filled with artificial flower displays that are used for decorating the jumper courses in the International Ring. Simply amazing. We learned good new ideas for flower display techniques, as well as lots of new ideas for jumps.

 

This one stop on our Canadian tour paid for our whole trip and then some in educational value, which was our goal. If you ever have the chance to go, jump at it!

 

If you’re following the personal parts of our adventure, we spent a couple of days in Banff and Jasper parks in the Canadian Rockies, one of the most beautiful places on earth. And, you can call me “Mr. Mountaneer” now, if you please! I am not a big hiker or camper, even though I do love the outdoors and wild scenery. I just prefer it from roadside most of the time. But I do admire serious hikers ands outdoors people, as many of our customers are. Laura’s dad, Jerry, is a big time hiker and back packer, the whole nine yards, as are some of our other customers.

 

Back to me; I have often considered walking part way up some of the mountains we pass through during our many road trips. But I always say, “Nah – maybe next time.”

 

But the weather was just perfect Thursday and I saw a lovely mountain waterfall way up the side of one of the Rocky Mountains in Jasper Park. I stopped the car and said to Meghan, “Lets go for a walk.” She couldn’t believe her ears when I told her that I planned to hike “up”!

 

And, you know what? I made it to my goal, up to the timber line and the base of the vertical cliffs where we could look DOWN at the scenery instead of just up the way I usually do! You’ve got to look at a couple of the pictures of Meghan showing her glee at our accomplishment! Many of you would have skipped up this little foothill and back down in 45 minutes rather than the two hours or more it took me, but as far as I’m concerned, I now own the title of “Mr. Rocky Mountaineer”!!!!! You go, Tom!!!! Whooooo-hooooooo!!!!! A few pictures here.

 

We’ll post more Longacres info soon, and we’re actually looking forward to getting home and working on new things at the farm after our stop at Spruce Meadows! We’ll be back at Longacres in ten days when we fly home for a few weeks from Denver.

 

Thanks to Molly & Katie Vates for their update on Longacres riders. Stephanie is now riding at the same barn as Katie and they have a friend who is considering coming to Longacres next summer.

 

In the meantime, we have just a few more great Indian Summer days to enjoy in the Rocky’s and in Western Montana. The weather is bringing a big change next Tuesday, with snow and temperatures in the teens in the mountains around Yellowstone Park. We had planned a couple of days in Yellowstone next week, since we enjoy visiting that park every two years. We’re changing our schedule a bit to move through western Montana and Meghan’s favorite town of Missoula over this weekend so we can pass through Yellowstone in one day on Monday and just beat the snow and icy roads!

 

Monday, September 21^st, noon Update:

Making the “journey” is the whole point

People always ask Meghan and I where we’re going when we take our every other year trips west in the RV. When we answer, “West – no particular destination.”, they usually say, “Oh, that’s nice”, with a bit of a blank look. It’s hard for many people to fathom why we would want to spend weeks in an RV just driving with no particular place to go.

 

Most RV folks drive to a destination and spend a vacation there. Or perhaps they make a big loop with three or four extended stops along the way. We certainly understand that. Our style of road trip is not for everyone.

 

We do like seeing the sites along the way as the miles roll by, and we love finding little small town historical museums in out of the way spots. We enjoy seeing how people live in different parts of our country and Canada. We’re in Shelby, Montana today and just in the past two days we’ve seen notable differences between Montana Cattle country and wheat farming counties. And then there are the trains, which some of you know are a special interest to us. The BNSF (Burlington, Northern, & Santa Fe) is the main East – West railroad in the northern tier of states, and the mainline runs right next to our favorite northern highway, US #2. We take lots of train pictures as we travel.

 

But the things we see and do are only part of the story. The real point of our journeys is the very act of successfully making the journey. Dealing with broken windshields, finding places that can check our brakes, handling all the daily maintenance, pacing ourselves so we don’t get too tired, planning good spots to stop and watch the Sunday Night Football game on satellite TV – these are all part of the adventure.

 

One of the things Meghan enjoys most after a long summer, even after a great season like we’ve just finished in 2009, is the privacy of being out of phone contact and not having any daily deadlines. We do get email pretty often and we check the answering machine every few days. But we have no cell phone service at all for hours on end in places like the northern Great Plain of Montana. Pretty cool!

 

Only today did we decide to stop for a day or two this week and explore Calgary, Alberta. We had a good time getting to know something about Winnipeg last week, so we’ll spend a day exploring another Canadian City. And we’ll drive through part of the Canadian Rocky’s, which are more rugged than many of the mountains in the US.

 

But mostly, we’ll just drive, look out the window, and marvel at the vast spaces of the American West. I told someone just the other day that one of the things I like most about northern Montana is that vastness. It’s a bit like looking up on a starry night and realizing our tiny presence in the universe. Puts everything in persective!

 

Personal Digression:

Meghan is uneasy about some of the personal revelations I make in this blog. She knows that all our Longacres customers are regular readers, and she likes to keep our personal lives a bit private. She’s all for writing about horse news and commenting on the wilderness sites we see. I’m more of an extrovert and I like to think that the personal nature of this blog is part of what keeps people reading year round. With that preamble, I’d like to thank the staff at Northern Montana Hospital in Havre, Montana.

 

Now and then I experience a pinched nerve and some of the effects mimic stroke symptoms. I had one of those spells two days ago and the symptoms were nasty enough that I went to the emergency room. The care was outstanding! They got me in immediately, had wonderful nurses and a great doctor on duty in the ER. I was thoroughly tested, pronounced as “not having a stroke”, and released a very happy man. Happy ending.

 

The real point of this story, is that the possibility of medical emergencies is something that makes many people uneasy about traveling or vacationing in sparsely populated areas. Northern Montana is certainly one of those areas, with one of the lowest population densities in the USA. Many people live four or five hours drive from a major trauma hospital, and air ambulances are a vital part of the medical care system in this part of the country.

 

I was lucky. I felt ill in a town with a good hospital serving a wide part of north central Montana.

 

But Meghan and I try not to worry about medical emergencies, even though we’ve heard some scary stories from friends we’ve met on the road. (Or while boating.) Actually, driving an RV on unpopulated roads in the American west is not much of a challenge, compared to the seven years we spent not so long ago living on a boat in the Bahamas for two months of every spring. Our home every March & April for those years was the outer Cays of the Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas. We spent most of our time anchored near Great Guana Cay, permanent population of about 150. Many people living there in the winter are older than me (really!), and medical emergencies came up now and then. We were an hour boat ride from any doctor at all, at a small government clinic in Marsh Harbor. And people with real problems had to get air ambulances to fly to Palm Beach or Lauderdale in Florida.

 

Meghan had a scary allergic reaction to something her hands were exposed to out in the Bahamas, and she had to take the ferry boat to the Marsh Harbor clinic. She was very pleased with the care she got there, so I guess that’s evidence that people do find ways to take care of each other even in exotic locations.

 

Back at Longacres,

Kevin and Joel are making great progress on fall repairs around the farm. The weather has been wonderful in western New York, which has been a big help. All the left over hay from the show field has been taken away and we’ll be ready to work on the expansion of the sand ring when we get home in a couple of weeks. Keep the horse news coming – we do get our emails, even if a day late sometimes, and we love hearing from you all.

 

Yesterday was a big day for hearing from Alumni, some from MANY years ago! We heard from Tovah, Lizzie Bronson, and from Darbi. Darbi was a rider at Longacres 48 years ago (sorry, Darbi!), when her mom was also camp nurse. We were good friends and I still remember all the kids in her bunk. One of her friends, Susie, was one of my first girl friends! And both Darbi and I can still recite from memory Darbi’s Longacres “nickname”. Here goes – “Darbinsky January Toiletwater DobiDarbi Gillis O’Gill”. How’s that for a feat of memory from half a century ago at Longacres!

 

Check this link for a few Montana trip pictures. We had another great French toast breakfast at “The Griddle” in Shelby, Montana this morning!

 

 

Wednesday, September 16^th, 3PM Update:

SMASH! Adventure in the North Woods!

Tom and Meghan were enjoying a fine afternoon last Friday driving the RV north in Ontario after a great breakfast (see pictures). Life couldn’t have been better as we enjoyed the peaceful scenery while the miles passed by on this beautiful highway. Traffic was light, with a few late season campers and the occasional semi truck passing. Then it happened. As one of those semi’s passed us in the opposite direction there was a tremendous SMASH and Tom’s driver side windshield exploded into a crazy quilt of cracked glass.

 

To this day, we don’t know exactly what happened. We were both in shock for a couple of miles, Meghan trying to make sure that Tom was OK, and Tom trying to steer while looking through the smashed windshield. Don’t ask me why we didn’t pull right over to the side of the road, but we didn’t for a couple of miles. Shock does things like that to you. Either something fell off the tractor-trailer truck, or perhaps a large bird got confused by the two big vehicles passing and hit us. By the time we did pull over the truck was long gone and we will never know exactly what happened. See the pictures at this link. There was some white gristle like organic matter and a yellow goo around the impact point on the windshield. Thank goodness for safety glass which broke but didn’t shatter or let whatever it was come through and be the end of nice old Tom!

 

So there we were in the far north of Canada (near New Liskeard) with a broken RV windshield, far from home and familiar auto repair. We called our insurance company (kudo’s to State Farm who’s people handled this very well), and were assured the cost would be covered, but that they didn’t have a service network in Canada. And we found that RV windshields all come from one warehouse in Indiana, and it would be five to seven days to get one even if we were in the States. So we compared alternatives, most of them not attractive. We like Canada, but not for seven or eight days in one small town!

 

So we pushed and prodded the windshield and decided it might not fall out right away after all. And that just maybe after it was cleaned, Tom could see through it well enough to drive, at least a bit. So as a test, we drove on to New Liskeard. And the windshield held together. So we called the insurance company back after calculating where we might want to be in five days. To close a long story, we are meeting the windshield in Shelby, Montana in another couple of days and getting it repaired there. So long as no nit picky state trooper decides it’s unsafe for us to drive during the next two days. The Ontario Provincial Police have been good sports about it the past 1400 miles!

 

We are now almost 1800 miles into our trip and parked waiting for a train to come (what else?) in Rugby, North Dakota. We’ll be in Minot this evening and hopefully will find Wifi so we can post this update.

 

Other Stuff

Besides the windshield adventure, all is well. We’re enjoying great scenery. We had another attempt to find the best French toast two days ago, but it was not as good as Deerhurst last week! We explored Winnipeg, Manitoba yesterday. It was our first time there and it’s a nice city. The best scenery so far was in the small granite mountains of the Canadian Shield near Thunder Bay, Ontario. The North Woods in far northern Ontario were interesting in their own way, but not as dramatic scenery. We saw a cluster of blue buildings along highway #11 in the far north and a sign saying, “General Motors Very Cold Weather Research Facility” – a good place for that kind of work!

 

Check this link for picture Kellie sent us of Tux and Ebony getting used to their new home in Texas. Hope it is finally dry enough to ride this week, Kellie! (It poured last week in Texas.) Lunge those ponies a lot if they are too frisky. Natasha says her trainer is really beginning to like Zanee and she gets to show next week. Good luck in the show, Natasha!! And we’re hoping that Ginger’s sore foot is getting better so that Staci can ride soon – we’ll try to call you soon, Staci! Star and Lincoln are settling into their new home with Deb, Sam, and Sydney very well and we got Sydney’s camp enrollment for 2010! Brownie and Boo are doing very well at their home at Lehman stables, same place Quantum is happily spending the winter with Emily. And Laura and Sharon report that Horatio and Chesney are now out of the isolation barn so it is easier to get them worked.

 

Kevin and Joel are working days and evenings at Longacres doing fall maintenance and repairs while Tom & Meghan relax for these few weeks. Meghan is FINALLY feeling well rested after a few days of sleeping 8 and 9 hours at night plus some afternoon naps. She’s acting pretty peppy and says that when she looks in the mirror she feels ten years younger than she did just two weeks ago. It’s nice to see her feeling so relaxed after a long summer!

 

We’ll be in the American West for almost another eight weeks, excluding three weeks back at Longacres to enjoy the fall foliage and get some work done in October. So don’t be surprised if we pop up in YOUR neighborhood! We will likely announce a Longacres Reunion in Texas sometime in early November.

 

Friday, Sept. 11^th, 11AM Update:

Very Good French Toast!

We’re just finished with the first French Toast breakfast in our search for the best French Toast in North America. We cheated a little and stopped at a place we know from our snowmobiling trips in the winter. The Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville has a great restaurant and does a fine job with their French toast. They even serve it with real Maple syrup (the only way to go with French toast!) that is made right here on the grounds from their own Maple trees. Check the pictures here which show us saying “bye” to Diesel and then having breakfast this morning.

 

I give this morning’s French toast a 9 out of 10. Meghan liked it also, but she likes it on very thick homemade bread, so her rating is 8.8 – she would prefer thicker bread and a touch more vanilla in the recipe – picky, picky, picky. But that’s the kind of judgement we’re going to be trying to make as we criss cross North America in the coming weeks getting fat in the morning and starving ourselves the rest of the day to try to make up for it.

 

The rest of today is going to be very relaxing with several short driving stints and a hope of ending up tonight near New Liskard on our way to Kapuskasing before heading west towards Winnepeg.

 

Kellie sent lots of pictures and we’ll post some in a few days.

 

Thursday, September 10^th, 2PM Update:

Longacres is closed up for the season, though we’re busy remodeling and making repairs and improvements for next year. At least Kevin and Joel are busy. Meghan and I are finally taking a vacation! The RV is packed and we’re due to pull out the drive in fifteen or twenty minutes. We’ll be in Ontario passing through Toronto on our way north and west later this afternoon and sampling Ontario French Toast tomorrow morning at the Deerhurst restaurant in Huntsville. The next day we visit Kapuskasing (look it up!). And the next we’ll be in the middle of nowhere. And we don’t know where we’re going after that, except that we do plan to visit Winnipeg, a place we’ve never been.

 

Happy birthday today to Ruby!

 

And Happy birthday tomorrow to Kellie, you teenager!

 

We will get your emails as we travel and we can be reached by phone in any horse emergency.

 

Enrollment requests for 2010 will be honored in the order that they are postmarked if they come in while we’re traveling. The only session likely to fill completely in the near future is the August 3 ½ week session. The second two weeks in July will be full for teenagers soon, but we have space for girls 10 to 13 in the younger bunk. There is still plenty of space in the first two weeks of July and in all the June sessions.

 

We’ll update this page when we have access to Wifi while we travel, probably every two or three days.

 

Hope you’re all enjoying school – how about you, Alexa!??!?!

 

Wednesday, 11PM Update:

Hey, check this link for a few more pictures. A few of Tom doing tractor work at the barn and moving machinery for the winter. And – TaDa – Meghan finally gets some remodeling done on the really, really gross downstairs bathroom at the main house! Longacres regulars may have noticed that if a visitor asks to use our bathroom at the office in our house, we hem and haw and try to think of polite ways of saying, “Are you SURE you need to go right now?” Longacres regulars know that we take better care of the bathrooms you guys use down in the main camp than we do our own here at our house. Heck, the Port-o-potties are nicer than the bathroom in our own house. That’s what happens when you eat, sleep, and breath a small resort business like Longacres. You take care of business first and yourself second.

 

Well, no more! An old friend, Kevin, is between jobs and a very talented guy. He’s doing a number of little projects for us now that the camp season is over and his first was remodeling poor Meghan’s bathroom. It’s still very simple by most people’s standards, but at least we can answer that “Can I use your bathroom?” request with a casual, “Sure, it’s just down that hall!”

 

PS – We head north and west in the RV around lunch time tomorrow. We’ll probably post another update in the morning, and then the updates may be every two or three days for a while.

 

Wednesday, Sept. 9^th, 8PM Update:

Happy Birthday, Martha!

 

Check this link for an album of pictures of Ginger at her winter home with Staci in New Jersey. Ginger got off the truck when she arrived from Longacres with a swollen ankle and we hope she is better soon. Staci wants to be a vet someday and is doing a GREAT job pampering and caring for Ginger!

 

(We are learning more about some of you guys than we ever dreamed we’d know from the Facebook posts that appear on Meghan’s new page!)

 

Anyone want a great deal on a “fixer upper” two horse trailer? Our neighbor has a two horse with a dressing room for sale cheap that was fancy in its day. It looks pretty good, but needs both sheet metal and steel frame work where the body meets the frame in front. For a handyman with these skills, this could be a great deal. I mean a GREAT deal! Call us if you’re interested.

 

Free Hay! Remember we have left over hay good for mulch or gardening for free. Call us.

 

Wednesday:

Free Hay Bales!

We use about 75 bales of hay every year decorating for the Derby horse show event. They get wet during the week so we can’t feed them to the horses. We give them away at this time of year to people who can use them for mulch or landscaping. Give us a call at 716-652-9495 if you’d like to stop by and pick up a few or a lot of them. We have about 50 left.

 

Wednesday, Sept. 9^th, 2PM Update:

There are Longacres Ponies in Texas!

Tux and Ebony arrived safely in Texas at Kellie’s farm after a three day trip around the country. We hope to have pictures to post soon.

 

Check this link for a few pictures from “Lonely Longacres” taken today as we close up for the winter. It’s a busy day here as we get ready to leave on a much needed R & R vacation. We are traveling far and wide, so don’t be surprised if we stop in to say, “hello”, to YOU during the next two months!

 

We’ll be keeping this blog updated regularly as we travel and we will be checking our email all the time, so if you need us it will be easy to get in touch.

 

The Great French Toast Search!

Meghan and I like to have little projects to give us things to do when we take road trips. One of this fall’s goals is to find the best French Toast breakfast in North America! We’re going to be in Canada for about ten days of this trip and we should have some good places to try as we travel there. Then we’ll try various chain restaurants as well as locally recommended places during the rest of our travels. Our first stop is someplace we’ve been before and their French Toast is hard to beat, both for taste and for presentation. It is the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario. You can check their website to see where we’ll be eating Friday morning.

 

Facebook Stalking:

We are pretty ignorant about Facebook and other modern networking places online. But we did sign Meghan up for a Facebook page (Meghan Kranz), just to see what it’s all about and so we could acknowledge Facebook messages. Wow, it is a very busy place for many of you! We have a lot of “friends” already, whatever that means. We do not plan to do much with our Facebook page, since it is enough work to maintain the Longacres website. But we’re there, and it is fun to see what you guys are doing from time to time. If you don’t want us to be able to “stalk” you on Facebook, don’t “friend” us. You are warned!

 

Monday, 10 PM Update:

Horse news!

Check this link for pictures of Zanee happily in North Carolina with a happy Natasha! The first of our 2009 long haul horses to arrive and get adjusted to her winter home. Hope Kellie’s arrive soon!

 

And all the horses may now have winter homes. An old friend of Longacres who took horses home about 12 years ago is planning to take Bobert. If this works out, then we are all set for the 2009 off season!

 

Monday, Sept. 7^th, 3PM Update:

. . . . as good once . . .

OK, as I write this afternoon’s post, I’m settling into bed for a late afternoon nap. I’m supposed to get up in two hours to go out to dinner with Meghan and uncle Billy, but there is serious doubt as to whether I’ll make it up out of bed anytime in the next 24 hours. And there will be no “lonely Longacres” picture album this afternoon, and I’ll explain why at the end of the update!

 

There’s a country song that includes the chorus line,

“I’m not as good as I once was

But I’m as good once as I ever was.”

 

The song is about bar fightin’, good lovin’, and other macho good ole boy stuff. My own concerns this afternoon with being “as good once as I ever was” are far less romantic. They’re all about doing farm work that I’ve been doing all my life. I began driving tractors and farm trucks and running power saws and chain saws when I was the same age as many of our riding students. And during considerable years of experience I got to be a pretty good tree man and chain saw operator. To this day I can use a notch and a couple of wedges and drop a big tree pretty much right where I want it. I enjoy using my smaller Stihl chain saw almost as much as my tractor. And I can still start and run the big .041 Farm Boss saw - - - at least if I only have to do it once!

 

And there’s the problem. It is really hard for me to hire someone to do chain saw work since I know I’m good at it. Usually it works out OK. Most of our chain saw jobs around the farm involve dropping one tree or cutting one up for brush. But this week I took on a project of clearing a 400 foot long path through heavy brush out on the trail system so I could bring in an excavator tomorrow and dig new drainage ditches to dry up a couple of wet spots on the new Maple Grove loop trails. I had planned to do a lot of the work with my tractor and get out only now and then to cut up trees or fallen logs in the way. I had planned to do most of that cutting with the small light chain saw. But once I got out in the woods this morning it was clear that there was going to be more chain saw work than expected. A LOT more!

 

And it soon became clear that the light duty chain saw was not up to the task. Out came the big Farm Boss saw. And it was fun using it to cut through the first big log like butter. And the second log. Remember, I feel like I’m “as good once (maybe even twice?) as I ever was” at many things.

 

Trouble is, there were maybe 250 logs and small trees that needed clearing today with the heavy duty chain saw. As I settle in for my therapeutic nap, there are still probably 200 left standing!

 

Oh, you wonder why we don’t have pictures to post this afternoon? As I reached out for a glass of Diet Coke Meghan poured for me when I came in from working, I found that I couldn’t pick it up with my throbbing right arm without using my left hand also. Don’t think I could lift the good camera today! Maybe tomorrow if I have recovered from my foolish efforts to be “as good as often as I ever was”.

 

Be well at home and write us when you have a chance!

 

Martha & Ofelia, how about that Quiz?

 

Sunday, Sept. 6^th, 9PM Update:

Quiz:

Can you tell me where this picture was taken? It shows Meghan REALLY enjoying a glass of wine as she winds down from the 2009 Longacres season! (She does really miss you all, but she is enjoying having no worries!)

 

Sunday, September 6^th, 6PM Update:

Wow, Longacres is Lonely!

We just got back to the farm from a quick trip to see my mother in Connecticut and a stop at the New York State Fair in Syracuse. Everyone is gone. EVERYONE! No people, no horses, no jumps, nothing. After we get a little rest tonight, we’ll post an album of “lonely Longacres” pictures tomorrow.

 

Zanzibar arrived safely in North Carolina and Natasha’s trainer likes her. They have great plans for more flat work for Zanee over the winter along with jumping.