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April 25th Update:

We rolled back into East Aurora this morning a few days later than we had expected and went right to work on the farm. We lost two days on what was supposed to be a very short trip to bring the RV back from Florida while the alternator was replaced. Another half day was lost when we had a tire blow out on I95 (exciting), and had to wait for AAA service. And yet another day was lost voluntarily when we detoured to explore Cape Hatteras and the outer banks of North Carolina.

But we're back now! The day started off with a very horsey feel when we ran into Griffin dressed in all her barn clothes at breakfast. After saying "hello" to Griffin, we came back to Longacres and went to work. Check this link for pictures we took this morning. Tom finished cleaning up the lumber from the old "Peppermint Lounge" outhouse that we knocked down with the tractor last fall. We'll hav it all cleaned up this week and then we'll put up a landscaping fence for a more modern commode just down the trail.

Meghan helped Tom drag trees and brush with the tractor after we cleared a bunch of stuff with the chain saw for the new sand ring. We're making lots of progress and hope to have the big bulldozer in next week to level the new ring. (Don't expect an olympic size ring! It will be about the size of the typical indoor ring - good enough to exercise horses in wet weather.)

Joel and Meghan worked together upgrading the pasture fence and repairing electric fencing so we'll be ready to bring horses in next week. We also worked hooking up the water pipes for the pasture troughs.

In between all the construction and repair work Meghan was on the phone as usual arranging horse trucking, answering students questions, and planning another visit to look at "Chesney" tomorrow - if all goes well, she does hope to buy this horse. A busy day, and it's only half over!

April 24 Update:

Hello again,

Click this link for lots of pictures we took this afternoon. The horse is "Chesney", a 13 year old thoroughbred gelding that we're seriously considering buying. We'll tell you more if the deal goes through.

Want a great horse farm?

All today's pictures were taken at the farm in Nunda, NY where we looked at Chesney. The farm is gorgeous and it is for sale. If you know anyone who wants to retire to the dream private horse farm, we can put you in touch with the owner who is eager to sell. Everything on the farm is custom built and all the best of the best in materials and finish. The pictures speak for themselves. Nunda is just south of Rochester. An amazing farm!

Happy Birthday to Staci, who was the very first student to sign up for the 2009 season, over a year in advance. Have a great birthday, Staci!

We may have a vacancy opening up in mother-daughter week, which has been full since last fall. Call us if you are interested. Another spot might open from July 12 to 24th, but if so,it may fill immediately. There are always a few changes at this time of year.

April 13 Update, evening:

We will be traveling for most of the coming week. We will check our phone messages every other day and we get our email immediately on our phones, so email is the best way to contact us. We will not be updating this page, but we might post a few messages on our "Road Trip" page. Check that page a few times during the next week if you really need a small Longacres "fix"!

Meghan had a long meeting with her right hand guy on buildings & grounds work this afternoon. Joel's Maintenance Service will again be a big part of the Longacres team this year! He is starting work this week on repairs and upgrades to the horse pastures. We'll be bringing in our first horses very soon.

April 13th Update:

Hello everyone,

We're sending out a Longacres "Welcome" to Katie V. from New Jersey, an 11 year old first time Longacres student who is joining us for the first Pro-Clinic week in June. That first early bird session is now half full which is very good for us. We've had a little flurry of registrations this past week!

Meghan and I just got in from clearing another tree off one of the power line horse trails. Click this link for a YouTube video showing Tom & Meghan hard at work in the woods. Let the record show that Tom offered to help drag the logs off the trail after they were cut, but Meghan said, "NO! I started this job and I'm finishing it!" She can be rather determined when she starts a job. We thought some of you coming to Longacres for the first time this year might enjoy seeing Tom and Meghan "in action" around the farm!

April 12 Update:

Click this link for an album of pictures Meghan took yesterday when she was looking at "Lightning". Lightning is a 7 year old Pinto-Arab bay gelding. He reminds us a little bit of a bay colored version of Merlin. We have made an offer to buy this horse, but one other person is also interested, so we won't know for a few days whether we will get him. We hope so!

The New Trails:

We're already doing some more work on the new trails we cut out of the woods last fall. There is more to making new horse trails than simply hacking a new opening through the woods. There are lots of issues to be resolved in providing safe footing on the trails before they're used by horses and riders.

Several of the new trails will be ready to go right when we open for our first session in June. But we need to do more work on the "Maple Grove Loop" trail that branches off the old powerline trails. There are two wet spots on "Maple Grove" that will get swampy in anything but perfectly dry weather. We will need to put in a few drainage ditches and some gravel. This trail also had quite a few small saplings that were cut down to clear the trail. Even tiny stumps left where there were small trees can be dangerous to horse's feet and legs. We will have to put in quite a few hours carefully trimming these stumps before we open this loop trail to horses. We will get it done before the end of the summer, but maybe not by our first week.

April 11, 10PM:

A Longacres "Welcome" to Petra S. from Florida who has tentatively reserved a spot for the full month of July. Petra is 13 and it will be her first time at Longacres. If all the arrangements are finalized for Petra, Longacres will be full from Mother-Daughter week right through the month of July. We'll only have a few spots in the August session and several vacancies in the early June and Lazy Days of August weeks. We are very grateful in this recession year that so many of you are signing up at Longacres. It has taken longer this year! Usually we are full almost a year in advance, but not many new families were ready to mail in checks last fall!

April 11, 9PM:

Wow - we are getting to the busy time of year. Meghan spent much of the day out negotiating horse purchases and meeting with the vet. Buying horses is more complicated than you might think! Meghan first spends time getting to know horses she is considering. Number one quality we're looking for is for a horse to be cooperative and easy to handle. Then we look for good gaits and training. Then soundness and other possible health issues. Then the details of a purchase agreement - how much money? When do we have to take possession? And any special side deals, such as the owner's right for first choice as a winter horse lease. It all keeps Meghan very busy at this time of year.

After I wrote this morning's update I went back out to work preparing the new sand ring. We've decided to go ahead at least with phase one, including site work, landscaping, tree work around the sides of the ring, and bulldozing to level the ring. Then if the money situation looks ok closer to June, we'll add the sand. If we don't think we can afford to do the whole job this year, we'll finish everything else and add the sand next spring for 2010.

(Don't tell Meghan, but I also did quite a lot of heavy chain saw work cutting some big logs that have fallen along the bank and were sticking out into what will be the edge of the sand ring. She is correct in being concerned that someone my age should probably not be working with a chain saw in awkward, cramped situations. But it is so satisfying! I know I shouldn't, though. When a big tree branch starts to split near the end of a cut, I don't jump out of the way as far or as quickly as I did - oh, let me see - 40 years ago???!!?)

April 11 Update:

A new Sand Ring?

I spent the morning surveying the best layout for the sand practice ring we're considering adding this spring. If we build it, it will be right over between the present "Hilltop" practice ring and the woods. It will take a bit of bulldozing and a lot of sand.

Longacres has always been mostly a grass ring farm. We have always liked the look and feel of horses on natural grass turf. But sometimes wet weather keeps us from doing anything more than very basic jumping on the grass rings. We've always thought that even a modest size sand ring would be a nice addition to our facilities. Last fall we put it in the "optional" part of the 2009 maintenance and construction budget. We're still thinking about it. Want to sponsor a sand ring??

Friends of Longacres contributions are likely to be sparse this year, so we won't hold our breath. But if someone would like to be the sponsor of all or part of the cost of this project, it could be named after you - or not - or we'll name it after a horse, and you pick the name! It looks like it is going to be about a $3000 project.

Meghan just got home from taking a second look at one of the horses she wants to buy. And she is meeting the vet to take a look at another horse late this afternoon. Busy, busy, busy!

April 9th, late evening:

Check this link for some pictures from the "Horsemen's Party" tonight. We had a good turnout for a two phase party. Lots of people from the Summer Series shows. Thanks to Quakerfield Stables for bringing so many young kids to the beginning half of the party. They had a great time and really added to the good spirit of the night!

Then it became a grownups party of lots of riding instructors and barn owners after the kids left and - well, it is still going on as Tom sits at home posting on the website! Have a great time, guys!

April 9th Update:

First - Don't forget tonight's "Horseman's Happy Hour" informal get together at Riley's Cafe in East Aurora at 7PM. Kids are welcome to join trainers and stable owners in this pre-season social for the Summer Series show people. Quite a good group has already said they're coming.

Click this link if you're one of our nature loving readers. I took a few nice pictures of the contrasting spring flowers and lingering patches of snow this morning. Pretty.

Will there always be a Morning Paper?

The main thought on my mind today is the state of the newspaper industry as it struggles to survive the double whammy of a tight economy and the explosion of internet information. I have always been a serious newspaper person. I start my day reading a good paper pretty much cover to cover every day of the year over breakfast, missing only a few special days like horse show days when there is just no way to find the time. It' my routine; it's how I keep in touch with the world.

There's only one problem. Newspapers are becoming an endangered species. Even the icons of the news industry like the New York Times Company have serious financial troubles. Big city papers are folding up around the country. It may not be long until nearly all news comes over the internet.

I'm lucky, in a way. We have a pretty good paper here in Buffalo. Who'd think that depressed Buffalo, New York would have a strong and well done newspaper? I know a bit about papers around the country, since Meghan and I travel several times a year in our RV and I still do my breakfast paper routine everywhere when we're on the road. I can tell you that there are more crummy superficial papers around the country than good ones. How do we happen to have a pretty good paper in Buffalo? The Buffalo News is wholly owned by Warren Buffet - enough said.

But even the News with its monopoly in a one paper town is hurting. Part of my morning routine over the years has included browsing the classified ads for horses, farm machinery, construction equipment, snowmobile parts and other "boy toys". (The classified's are the last section I browse just before heading home to work and the real world.) Lately, there has been almost nothing in the classified's. No used tractor stuff this morning :( What was very recently a 10 or 12 page section of the paper is now often only 4 or 5 pages, and sometimes there is nothing at all for sale in one of my favorite catagories. No wonder newspapers are in financial trouble! Meghan used to get most of her horse buying leads from the classified ads, but now she finds most new horses online or through friends referrals.

Of course one of the most dramatic examples of the whammy on newspapers is the way summer camp advertising is done. Fifteen or twenty years ago anyone looking for a quality summer camp in America knew what to do. They bought a copy of the Sunday New York Times and looked in the back of the Magazine section where there were a dozen pages or more of camp ads during the spring months. It was the camp supermarket of America. Not anymore. Last time I looked a year or two ago, the Times was lucky to have a few scattered camp ads. Longacres hasn't bought a Times ad for more than fifteen years. Back in the 1980's we spent more than $15,000 a year buying those Times Magazine ads, and $15,000 was REAL money back then.

Now summer camps are almost wholly dependent on internet advertising. No wonder newspapers are hurting.

The internet is a much more efficient and cost effective way for Longacres to hook up with new students than newspaper ads could ever have dreamed to be. Website promotion works very well for us. Dozens of people will be reading these words in my blog today, even though my topics sometimes have very little to do with horses and riding. But there are a lot of you out there who check in almost every day just out of curiousity. Yes, the internet makes everyone an "author". Used to be that people bought the morning paper to get their favorite columnist. Now your "columns" are numbered in the millions with special interest online forums, newsgroups, Facebook and Yahoo "groups", and on and on.

Yes, the internet is more diverse and more efficient for finding many kinds of information. And great for marketing special interest services. But I still like the feeling of a wrinkled morning paper in my hands while I have my breakfast quiet time. I even have a good feeling after breakfast as I wash just a bit of grey newsprint ink off my hands! I'll be sorry if we lose most of the regional newspapers in the country and are left with a few megapapers like USA Today. I can see it coming. It will be a loss.

April 8 Update:

Very short update today folks! Click this link for pictures of yet another possible horse. His name is Shimcharoo, he is a TB gelding, has tons and tons (!!) of experience with Dressage, Stadium Jumping, and Cross Country. But beyond all of that he is full of personality and then some! : )

(Meghan doing update today)

April 7 Update:

Tom spent part of the day writing contracts for staff. Meghan had a more fun day, driving to another meeting with Gary the new jump builder and looking at another possible new horse. Click this link to see some pictures of the new horse. He's a nice looking part Arab bay. I will post a link to a YouTube video of this horse later tonight.

Wait - here is the YouTube link - salehorse

April 6 Update: Scroll down a paragraph for info about the Horseman's Happy Hour

April 6 Update:

Click this link for a photo album of some of the pictures Meghan has taken during the past ten days as she looked at new horses we might buy. We'll soon know if any of them will be at Longacres this summer.

And here's a "Longacres Welcome" to Jessica and Katie from Colorado. They are sisters who will both be joining us in June for the two Pro-Clinic weeks, along with Kellie, Ruby, and Diana. We still have several spots left open for those June weeks, so let us know if you're interested. The horses are all especially fresh and eager in June, and the grass is green and lush, so it is a fine time to be at Longacres!

Camp Horror Stories?

I was doing a Google search this evening on summer camp information and I stumbled upon a New York City based discussion forum about childhood memories. The Google listing indicated that Longacres appeared a couple of times somewhere in the discussion thread. I thought I would browse through the discussion to see how Longacres happened to be mentioned.

Well, after reading the first couple of posts I realized that most of them were telling "horror stories" of their childhood experiences! I want to tell you that I was on pins and needles as I read about all these people being traumatized by awful summer camp experiences. I kept reading and dreading hearing about how Longacres had spoiled someone's youth!

Thankfully, the anvil never dropped. Two of the people writing about their childhood camp experiences did mention that they had been to Longacres, but they had nothing bad to say. Most of the bad stories were about experiences in big camps where people had been hazed or bullied. Goes to show the odd things that come up in Google searches!

Announcing: Horseman's Happy Hour

Thursday, April 9th, 7 to 8:30 PM

Riley's in East Aurora

Can you come? All western New York horse people and Summer Series riders invited to an informal get together to meet & greet the folks you haven't seen since last summer. Say "Hi" to your friends, or "glare" at your enemies! Trade the winter's gossip! It'll be fun. A chance to ask questions or give suggestions for this year's Summer Series shows! Check in next week to make sure Riley's will be the place. They have a light food menu. Kid's are welcome, especially the first hour. (Last time we arranged one of these "Horseman's Happy Hours", a few hardy souls closed the place down at 3 AM!)

Sunday, April 5th Update:

HI everyone,

It's getting to the time of year when we begin posting Longacres informal pictures more frequently. Click this link for some nature shots from near the main house on the farm I took this afternoon. Nice day!

And pretty wierd weather for the beginning of April. It's like a yo-yo here in western New York after a generally very nice month of March that let us get way ahead with much of our outdoor spring clean up around the farm. One day we have summer like temperature and bright sun. Then heavy rain and some snow. A nice day today and a %$*&(#$ winter storm watch for a freak snow storm that might bring 6 to 12 inches at Longacres tomorrow and Tuesday.

The picture album has a nice picture of another 8 year old gelding we're going to take a look at this week. Check him out.

And we send out a Longacres "Hello" to Alex from Connecticut who is signing up for the month of August. Alex is 13 and has ridden quite a bit and has show experience. In fact she has to miss the first couple of days of the August session because she has plans to show in the HITS show in Saugerties that week. She's about the same age and has about the same riding experience as Andrea, Ofelia, Laura, and most of the other girls signed up for the August session. We should have a very fun group all here together for our longest session of the summer.

We also send out a "Hello" to Katie and to Petra, 2 more new girls who are thinking about coming to Longacres this summer.

Saturday, April 4th:

Some days are hard work and some days the work is just plain fun. Yesterday was one of those days for Meghan. She had a long meeting with jump building carpenter, Gary Husted, in the afternoon hashing over plans for a variety of new jumps he will build this spring. We're planning a light house jump for the biggest project and a bunch more schooling stands and a couple of fresh new jumps for the Beginner Show Ring.

Then after dinner Meghan had a long and fun talk with Katie who is considering joining this year's staff as one of our instructors. They are really hitting it off well and hoping to finalize plans soon.

Days like this are very rewarding!

Spread the word if you live in western New York about the "Horsemen's Happy Hour" get together next Thursday. We're looking forward to seeing many old friends.

Wednesday April 2:

It looks like we're in for another grand spring day with temperature rising into the 60's for the first time this spring. We'll be working on the pasture fence today getting ready to bring horses in for the summer. We're headed out of town for one week from April 15 to 21, and then will likely bring in horses as soon as we return.

Wednesday night: - Meghan did a mini road trip today spreading posters for the Summer Series shows and checking out one more horse she is considering.

Tom did an extensive pre-season maintenance on the tractor. I will be spending probably 150 hours in the tractor seat over the next four months or so - we have a lot of grass to mow!

Monday, March 31st:

Another nice spring day at Longacres! Meghan is off on a road trip looking at some new horses. She travels quite a few miles every spring finding a few good deals on horses to add to the Longacres herd.

Tom spent the morning in the woods making plans for some improvements to the trails and surveying a better routing for one of our electric lines that serves the bunks. It was a pleasant way to spend a nice sunny morning.

Tonight we have a meeting with Katie who is interested in an instructor job with us. That's our Update for today.

Tom the Tractor Mechanic:

With the recession keeping cost control in our minds, I canceled a scheduled maintenance visit from the Kubota tractor dealer to repair a hydraulic control valve. Sure enough, with only one skinned knuckle and a broken blood vessel in my wrist, I managed to do the repair myself and save the farm $350. Good for Longacres - not so good for the tractor mechanics and their families. This is just one more little example of how cost cutting spirals through the economy.

Tuition Payments Arriving:

Thanks to those of you who sent your April tuition payments early. They were beginning to come in over the weekend. They are all due Wednesday. Reminder.

Video Games:

I am not much of a video game person. I have dabbled in Playstation and Xbox stuff over the years since I am undeniably a computer and video geek. But I am too impatient to get into figuring out complicated game plots and playing a video concole game for hour after hour. ( I do plead guilty to the occasional guilty pleasure of renting a game and blowing stuff up or crashing into other vehicles on screen!) But I just get bored with video games very quickly. But I do have a PS3 that I got mostly because it has a built in Blu-ray player.

So last week when I was sick in bed for several days, I thought about video games to occupy my time. I read a positive review in the morning paper of a game called "Flower" that you could download online for $9.95. That's right, "Flower". The description said that all you do in the game is float around pretty landscapes and that as you pass by, all kinds of lovely flowers open up and the landscape comes alive. That's all.

SO with nothing better to do I decided to invest 10 bucks to see what it was all about. And it is amazing. I highly recommend "Flower" if you want to kill a few hours in meaningless but peaceful activity. Give it a try. But there's nothing to blow up or crash and bash - well, maybe a little, but that would be giving something away!

Meghan is planning some road trips to look at new horses this week; we're meeting with Katie tomorrow night about an instructor's position; we got a message today from former Longacres student, Mary M., that she might be available for an instructor's job this summer. Lots is going on. (Snow here today, but warm spring days return by mid week!)

March 28 Update:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA!!!!

(tomorrow)

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Laura,

HAPPY BITHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!

Laura will be in her fifth year at Longacres this summer and has one of our horses (Rocky) home with her in New Jersey for the winter. Laura will be a CIT this summer, taking the first steps towards hopefully many years more at Longacres as a teacher and trainer after her days as a "camper" are over. Hope you have a GREAT b-day tomorrow, Laura!

It is a grand spring day here at the farm. The sun is bright and the wild flowers are just beginning to open on the trails in the woods. And we're beginning to be able to enjoy it! After a really crummy week of stomach flu at Longacres, Tom is back to about 80% energy level and planning to work outside today. Meghan claims to be at 78% - I don't think so as I look at her, but she is always the "optimist"!

Speaking of working outside, we'd like to thank Casey who has volunteered to come over and help with spring clean up. We'll call you when we have a general work day out on the trails or moving the jumps, Casey - thanks so much for the offer. David from Quakerfield has volunteered to bring a couple of people over to help ride and condition the horses when they start coming in from their winter homes. Of course David is already doing that for us in a way; Brownie, Merlin, Ginger, and Brody are all spending the winter at Quakerfield either leased out to riders there or in the lesson program.

A Little Longacres "Victory" - or "Farm Life 501":

From time to time we tell you little stories about life on the farm that you might not think about often. One that has kept us occupied off and on over the years and especially this past year, is our negotiations with the electric company over their power lines that run through our farm and that serve our house.

The electric company has several lines on the Longacres farm. One is a high voltage transmission line. We don't see it much because the poles are spread out and you don't often look up in the sky and notice the wires. We even name a section of our horse trails "the Power Line Trails", for the series of trails meandering through the woods near the main powerline. We go through a little pushing and shoving match with the electric company right of way forrestry division once every five or six years when they send a crew through to trim trees that are growing too close to the wires. They have a right to do that. But the easiest way for them to do it is to send in big machines like giant lawn mowers that rip the trees near the wires to shreds. So far, we have always convinced them to spend more money and send a trimming crew in to hand cut only the trees and branches that threaten the wires, leaving our wooded trails mostly undisturbed. There has been a reasonable guy in charge of this work in recent years and we have had a good working relationship. But there have been times when we have had to threaten lawyers, state senators, and ask the company if they really want the publicity of having torn up the lovely, wholesome horse trails on a kids summer riding camp? Longacres has prevailed for a number of years, but ultimately the electric company does have a maintenance easement and could really mess up the "powerline trail section".

Which brings us to this year's "electric company problems". We have a nine hundred foot electric line serving the office and main house at Longacres. Two winters ago one of the power poles on this line snapped and had to be replaced. Our records going back more than 50 years indicated, but did not prove, that this 900 foot powerline was owned by the electric company and that fixing and repairing it was their responsibility. THEY said, "There is no written proof that our company owns the powerline, so that means it is a private line and fixing it is your problem, Tom." So we paid over $1000 for the emergency repair under protest.

And Tom submitted several letters over the past two years explaining our position that when the big powerline was put in, the electric company had agreed to maintain this 900 foot line to our office. Nothing happened until last fall when I finally threatened a lawsuit and Public Service Commission hearings on the problem. The electric company finally assigned their surveying department to come out and do a thorough surveying job of where the various lines were in preparation for hearings or legal action.

Well, guess what? Tom's memories from many years ago turned out to be right, and then some. When the big powerline was built across Longacres land almost 40 years ago, a surveying and/or construction mistake was made and not one, but two different sections of that big powerline were built trespassing on Longacres land with no easements. GOTCHA!!!!!!!

Suddenly everyone from the NYSEG right of way and engineering departments is all buddy-buddy. Our 900 foot electric supply line is being formally taken over by NYSEG along with admissions of trespass.

None of you coming to Longacres are likely to see any evidence of all these background negotiations. But we thought you might be interested in some of the things that have to be done in a business like ours to protect our trails and woodlands, and to keep the power flowing to our website computers! Girls, are you SURE you want to own your own horse farm some day?????

March 27, 8 PM:

Hi again,

Meghan summoned her strength today and I drove her WAAAAY out in the country - where we took a chance and bought Storm. He is from a farm where things have been a little tight this winter and he is thin. But we see good things in this gelding, and we think that after putting some meat back on his bones he is going to be a nice horse. He reminds us of Ho-ho when we first got him several years ago. Horatio also needed a lot of conditioning, and we all know how great he turned out to be after a couple of years! If Storm turns out to be half what Horatio has been, we will be happy. Actually Storm may be more of a Bobert kind of horse. He has a kind attitude and seems like he is adaptable to a variety of riders.

Storm will be one of the very first horses brought to Longacres next month to share our fresh spring grass with Diesel and Boo as we fatten him up and begin his English training. He is staying with Britani, his present owner, for a few more weeks until he comes here after we open our barn for the spring.

Storm is like many horses we buy to add to the Longacres herd. We tend to look for horses not at show stables or dealers, but way, way out in the country. We like horses that have lived with families on small farms with lots of dogs, kids, tractors, and other interesting things in their lives. It makes them adaptable. Britani has done a nice job handling and caring for Storm. He's very tolerant and easy to work with.

When I say we found him WAAY out in the country, I mean it - we drove an hour and a half down into southwestern New York Amish country. There were buggies and draft horse teams flying all over the highways and byways near where we found Storm. It was quite an interesting road trip!

His back story is that he used to do some little jumps and a bit of English riding with a previous owner five or six years ago, but he has been a western trail horse and family pet for the past five years. We like to find horses with this kind of background. They usually make an easy transition to the hunter-jumper life at Longacres. Storm will get training at Longacres in May and will be ready for trails, flat work, and light jumping by the time our season begins. We'll enjoy watching him learn as the summer progresses!

Click this link for a few pictures taken of him just this afternoon (imagine him with a few more pounds on him!). Also, scroll down the page to find the link for pictures taken of him before when he had more weight on him.

March 26, 8PM:

Hi again,

Meghan lives - - - barely. She was sick all night last night, but began keeping liquids and a little food down this morning. I wrote to someone who sent her "get well wishes" that she looks like she was run over by a truck today, and that's not far off. But already tonight she is a little stronger.

Meghan learned from watching me when I was so sick at the beginning of the week. I didn't want to eat for two days and it slowed me from regaining strength. So she forced herself to eat and drink today and that seems to have helped her. A lot of bland stuff like lemonade, lemon ice, and apple sauce has gone down in this house today! We're getting well.

And Thanks SO MUCH to all of you who called or wrote "get well" wishes. First to Leslie Anne for the link to the funny pony jumping video - how can you not be cheered up watching this?

Also to Michelle K, Emily,

Griffin, Ofelia, Uncle Billy, Heather, Rhiannon, and anyone I might have forgotten.

And while I am plugging video's, watch this one sent in by David Laks over at Quakerfield. For those of you new to Longacres this year, it is mostly taken at Quakerfield and other Summer Series shows in our area and you will meet many of the people in the video at shows when you come to Longacres this summer.

And we have some horse news. We thought Storm was sold before we could buy him - he is the gelding we were looking at two weeks ago. But the new buyer did not come up with the money, so we are going to try to drive to see him and perhaps buy him tomorrow afternoon. Wish us luck.

March 25th Update:

Ah, just when we thought we might have "escaped",

You know how I said in my last post that, "I wouldn't wish my stomach flu bug on my worst enemy?" Well, I did manage to pass it on to my best friend. Meghan was absolutely fine right through lunch today, taking care of me as I continued getting my appetite and my strength back. And then, WHAM! This bug hits like a ton of bricks. One minute you are bouncing around feeling fine, and the next you are doubled over with your body trying to turn itself inside out.

The only good thing I can tell Meghan is that the worst - I mean WORST like you wouldn't believe - is over in 24 hours. I just finished adjusting the heat and carrying piles of spare towels and blankets around to try to make Meghan more comfortable. She is in for a miserable night. I know.

If you send in a "feel better soon" email, I will print it out and put it next to Meghan's pillow. She won't be in any position to enjoy them overnight, but it will make her feel better when she starts to get a little better sometime tomorrow.

Meghan and I are fortunate to be full partners both in Longacres and in life. We are both pretty strong and if one of us is knocked down for a few days the other is here to help and to keep things going. We'll make it through this week, but we'll not want another one like it anytime soon! Stay well - NO FLUS!

March 23rd Update:

Hello again,

Sorry we haven't posted for a couple of days. Your official website update guy has been laid low by a nasty stomach flu thing. Ugh! If you ever need to lose a quick 6 pounds, I highly recommend this particular bug - but I wouldn't want to wish it on my worst enemies.

But I'm feeling much better today and we plan to do some updates to the horse shows webpage this afternoon. Check back later at this link and you can see the prize list for our Summer Series shows.

March 20th Update:

We are working today updating the Summer Series horse shows website. Go to this link to see the new page taking shape. Our own Alexa, riding Sha-Bang, is the "cover girl" for the Summer Series promotions this year! Nice picture, Alexa!

Our show schedule is now set except for one more show to be arranged in June.

March 19th Update:

Hello again,

We're moving steadily forward making plans for the summer and cleaning up around the farm. I spent a bit of time outside raking leaves. We don't usually get to that kind of work until late in April, but we're having unusually nice weather for March. We won't complain.

Meghan is hard at work sending out your enrollment packets and account statements. If this is your first year at Longacres, you're in for a treat. Meghan puts a lot of time into formatting and printing personalized cover pages for everyone's info packet. Those of you returning from last year will see your own pictures on your packet. If you weren't here last season, you will get to see Alexa jumping Sha-Bang.

Cheryl P., our Longacres "Jack of all Trades", worked for us today doing accounting and preparing the horse shows newsletter. Cheryl does our food service, is one of the horse show entry secretaries, and helps Meghan with office work. A truly valuable part of the Longacres crew!

One of the odd things about the tight economy is that even though jobs are a little hard to find this year, some of our junior counselors are having a hard time pinning down dates when they are available to help at Longacres. Maybe the economy makes family summer plans uncertain.

But we have lots of job applications from horse loving young people new to Longacres. And we are turning to some of those new job applicants to fill our final open positions on the barn staff. We've had a couple of long talks on the phone with Destiny O. from Texas. As a matter of fact, Meghan is talking to her right now and has been for over an hour, I think!

March 17th Update:

Hi again,

It was an outside work day for Tom and an office day for Meghan. We both thank you for sending us some emails, especially the very nice one from Deb!

Click this link for some pictures of Tom clearing trails on the Powerline trail system. They were blocked in five different places and it took a lot of chain saw work. I had planned to only do the first of the five problem areas today, but it was a great day out and I just kept going. Then I crashed for the rest of the afternoon to recover!

Meghan is working on your enrollment packets and we remind you that you'll be getting your final bill for the April payment in a few days. The balance of your tuition is due on April 1st. Sorry :(

March 16th Update:

Hello,

Click this link for some pictures taken around the farm over the weekend and today. One picture is of Kellie and some friends. We like it when you guys send us pictures of yourselves not in barn clothes!

We did a pretty thorough inspection of the farm today in warm, sunny weather. All the maintenance we did last fall really is paying off now. The farm is in good shape and we have not nearly as much to do to get ready for YOU as we do many spring seasons. We were especially worried about the dining hall since a rather good size tree branch fell on the roof during one of our big storms this winter. But there is no damage at all, except for perhaps a loose shingle or two. It must have made a heck of a "thump" when it hit the roof!

We picked up loose twigs and tree branches on the trails as we walked through the farm and checked the bunks (good condition). I figure I'm up to about 250 "bend over" cycles of the thousand I estimated I would make by the time the farm is all cleaned up.

We've had fun corresponding this week with the "Colorado girls" who may be coming during the June Clinic weeks when Kellie is here and Ruby and Diana for the second week. That's the core of a good group.

March 14th Update:

Hello again,

Sorry for no update for two days. We took off for a quick day and a half trip out of town. And just like the last two times we were out of town, new inquiries came in while no one was here! We should be traveling all the time, LOL! A big Longacres "Hello" to the girls from Colorado. We hope one of our sessions works out for you.

Spring seems to finally really be here in Western New York. We've had our last snowmobile ride and put the machines away. It's time to take out the ATV and tractors to do maintenance around the farm. We'll be busy during the next few days with chain saws clearing trails.

The farm looks really good, thanks to all the extra work Meghan and her crew did last fall. We could probably open in a week or two if we had to!

Meghan will be meeting with our carpenters planning the new "Light House" jump and driving to look at one of our new horse prospects during the next few days.

March 10 Update:

Meghan has been busy searching for new horses. Click this link to see a few pictures of a 13 year old gelding she is considering. He has jumped at 4H shows and done lots of trail riding. He's spent most of his life with the same family and is a "country" horse, which is the kind we like.

I think I wrote the other day that I might have to bend over 1000 times this spring picking up trash and fallen tree branches after the winter snow melts. Maybe more than that! I kept track today as I cleaned up the office driveway and the parking area near the barn. 104 times I bent down and stood up with twigs and branches. Don't worry, I won't bore you with these details for long. As a matter of fact, I don't want to know!

March 9 Update:

We've been busy this week, even while having fun with some of the final chances for me to "play in the snow" before true spring arrives. I've traded emails this week with Alexa (who is getting closer to finalizing her plans for when she can work at Longacres. She will be an important part of our staff while she is here!) Also with Kellie, who is returning for her third year at Longacres after making a big break through in her riding skills last summer. I really am looking forward to helping Kellie do exciting things this summer!

And, yes, I am having fun snowmobiling. It is one of few ways I really indulge myself during the year. When I was younger I was a pretty adventurous rider. As you know, I showed "show jumpers" in the horse world, and I carried on the same spirit when I rode snowmobiles in the winter. Now that I'm a senior citizen, I am a little more cautious, but I do have fun on the snow.

Check the picture below which Meghan took of me jumping my snowmobile about a year ago. Then click this link to see a YouTube clip of a friend of mine on the yellow snowmobile and me on the black snowmobile playing in snow drifts a week ago.

THEN, click this link to see a YouTube clip showing what to me is a stunningly beautiful video of the grace and beauty that can be found with snowmobiles and nature in winter. I dream of being able to ride as well as the guy in the video. I have gotten to know the guy who made the video a little bit. I like to make video's and I wouldn't mind having the filming and editing talent of the guy who made the "Breathe" video! Hope you enjoy it. The video's will give you a bit of an idea of why I have so much fun with my winter snow machine hobby.

March 8 Update:

HI everyone,

We took a few pictures around the farm yesterday as almost all the snow had melted and we walked around to see how much work faces us this spring. Check this link.

Meghan worked all day yesterday starting to get your final enrollment packets ready. We have lots of office work this time of year. More fun for Meghan was beginning the search for new horses! We plan to buy two new horses and make arrangements to take four or five in on summer training for our "send your horse to camp" program. If you know anyone with a nice horse who wants to have it shown and cared for this summer, have them give us a call.

Meghan has about six different websites she checks at this time of year to find horses and she bought a handfull of local papers yesterday. But mostly she uses the internet. Also, people in our area know we look for new horses and they call us. We'll keep you posted when she finds something interesting

March 6th Update - The Economy & Longacres:

Dear Friends of Longacres,

Whether you are a parent, an adult student coming to Longacres, or a 12 year old horse lover, you are aware that our country is in the midst of a very troubled economy. We think it is good for families to talk about this. It is especially good for all of you coming to Longacres to appreciate the fact that you are fortunate to be able to enjoy your love of horses and a horse vacation in these difficult times.

We'd like to take a little time tonight to reassure you all that Longacres is on solid financial footing and is very well positioned to continue to thrive during the recession. We don't want to brag - or to tempt fate by sounding over confident - but we do want you to know that Longacres is on solid ground. Here are some reasons why.

1) Because we are embarking on our 71st season, we are fortunate to have no debt. All our land and facilities are long since paid for. And the improvements we've made in recent years have been paid for as we did them - no loans = no interest.

2) And we have made many recent improvements! Longacres just last year completed an ambitious five year plan of improvements and re-investment. We rebuilt our dining hall & lodge from the ground up, put a new roof on our barn, repainted all our big buildings, built some of the finest jumps anywhere, and rebuilt roads, bridges, retaining walls, and all sorts of other infrastructure. The place is in good shape! We can live for a few years with a tighter maintenance budget since we've fixed so much recently. Good timing.

3) We have other investments and income sources including rental units, income from Tom's boating book, and cash reserves. In fact we have never relied on Longacres as our main source of income; Longacres is a labor of love for us after being in the family for 71 years. We do not have to scrimp on the Longacres budget to support our personal expenses. Breaking "even" at the end of a season is a perfectly satisfactory outcome.

So, has the recession had an impact on Longacres? Indeed it has. In the fall of 2008 we were coming off the best three year period in Longacres history. For the past two seasons we were full with a waiting list nearly a year in advance. Early enrollment for 2009 was in full swing last fall when the economic crisis began to unfold in earnest. Many of our loyal customers quickly signed up early and we were more than half full. Then in October inquiries and enrollments came to a screeching halt for almost two months. We fully expected to have numerous cancellations as the news kept getting worse on the economy.

But then the calls and inquiry emails started coming in again and enrollment checks arrived in the mail.

Out of some forty 2009 enrollments we have had four cancellations. We average 1 or 2 in a normal year, so we figure a couple of the 2009 cancellations are due to the economy.

We are now full or one away from full for the popular month of July. We're more than half full for August. Mother - Daughter week now has one space open due to a cancellation. Our June 1st Adult Week is more than half full. If not one more enrollment came in this season, we would do just fine. (And we expect more last minute enrollments than usual with the uncertain economy.)

So we feel good about Longacres for 2009! Humble for our good fortune. But confident that we are in a position to ride out the recession. We wanted to share with you some of the details of how we're coping. We hope it helps you feel confident that we'll be able to give you a first class riding experience when you join us this summer!

- Tom & Meghan

March 5th Update:

Hi everyone,

We should take little trips more often! When we went to Florida for a week last month, several new students inquired and a couple enrolled. We just got back from a quick two day snowmobiling vacation in Canada and two adults signed up for adult week while we were there. A big Longacres "Welcome" to Renee and to Laura! Meghan was quite a sight sitting in the motel lobby explaining the Longacres riding system on the phone to customers! And the two who signed up aren't the only prospects that came in on the trip. We also had a message from an old student, Kim S, who rode here as a teenager and is also interested in coming back this year for adult week. So that's three good prospects in two days. And we weren't even here at the farm working.

The great thing or terrible thing, depending on your point of view, about the internet is that you can "work" anytime, anyplace. Don't worry, though. We took plenty of time to have fun in the snow.

And what a difference 500 miles makes. We left the Canadian north woods this morning with four feet of snow on the ground and snow squalls during our final snowmobile ride. When we pulled in to the Longacres driveway tonight it felt like summer had arrived. Almost all our snow is gone - we haven't seen bare ground around our place for many weeks. We may get out tomorrow and start clearing some of the fallen tree limbs on the horse trails. Spring is coming closer.

March 1st Update:

Meghan has been busy this week organizing the schedule of guest instructors for our various clinics during the summer and lining up judges for all the horse shows we help manage. Things have been going smoothly, though she still has to contact a few people. And last night she told me, "Tom, tomorrow is March 1st. Do you know what we have to do in March? - - - Start looking for horses to buy!"

Sure enough, it is now only about six weeks until we'll have horses at the barn and we usually buy two horses each year as some of our older friends reach retirement age. It is, indeed, that time of year!

We are taking a quick trip to Canada for just a couple of days this week to snowmobile before spring really arrives and all the snow melts. It was 33 degrees below zero last night where we're going! (New Liskeard, Ontario) It will be slightly warmer when we get there - even I am not nuts enough to go out and play when it is -33 degrees!

We are also beginning to organize the "Summer Series Horse Shows" page for the new season. You can keep track of our progress at this horse shows link. Let me know if you find links on the new "Horse Shows" page that don't work or go to the wrong place. We just moved the page to a different server and most of the pictures on the page do not work yet. We'll work on that during the week.

February 26th Update:

Check out the picture Meghan took of me playing in the snow on my birthday - just scroll up a few inches. It was fun!

We had no new inquiries for a few days last week, but this has been a busy few days for new Longacres prospects. Thanks to those of you who are writing in.

We are in the middle of another warm spell and the ice is going out on all the little creeks that flow through the farm. We see bare ground and some green grass, so spring can't be too far off. Oh, we know there will be another little blast of winter before the snows really are gone for the season, but we are beginning to think about fixing fences, painting jumps, and bringing the horses back from their winter homes.

The horse show schedule is nearly complete and it looks like an exciting summer!

Keep your emails and letters coming. We enjoy hearing from you all!

February 23 Update:

We're doing more work on the Jumps page this week and will post another video of the big field jumps. This is a fun job!

Happy Birthday to Kellie's mom, Kay, who is a "mother - daughter week" veteran of several summers.

And a Longacres "welcome" to 10 year old Sophie who is from the Albany area. She's coming the first two week session, is used to barn work and helping at her stable. She does walk-trot-canter, does X-rails and shows once a month. A bunch of Sophie's friends were heading to Florida when they were all off school this week, but Sophie chose to stay and have more "barn time"!!!!! Our kind of girl!

February 21 Update:

Hello again,

We did another update to the Longacres Jumps page. Go to the "Tour" link and get to the jumps page from there. We've posted more pictures of the Beginner Show Ring and the Hill Top practice area.

Show News:

Longacres is pleased to confirm Northfield Farms as a Summer Series show host on Saturday, June 27th. And the show season will open at the High Time Stables Summer Series show on May 30th and 31st. Surprised? Pony Club is not running a show this year, but may have one again on this date next year. Leigh is keeping the date "warm" for them!

February 20th Update:

Hi everyone,

Meghan and I have been working on the website this week. If you'd like to help out, take the new "Tour" of Longacres. It's a more organized way for new students to explore our website and get a good idea of what Longacres is all about. When we first posted this page two weeks ago, it took you some places where it was confusing to find your way back to the "Tour". We're slowly fixing those dead ends and adding more information. We'll be putting up new pictures and information every day over the weekend. Tonight we're adding a lot more to our "Longacres Jumps" page!

But try it out and imagine yourself as someone finding out about Longacres for the first time. Can you follow all the links? Can you find your way back? Does it answer the questions you think you would have if you were visiting for the first time?

We'd love to hear any suggestions or of any bad links. Thanks for your help!

Nobody yet figured out who Tom is standing with in the Beach Frolicking album. Do you know who it is?

February 19th:

Our phone is out!

We're in the middle of a snow and wind event here at Longacres and our phone is out of order until mid day tomorrow. We are getting our email, so you can reach us that way.

I got an email from a Gleeful Peyton, asking when the "Tom frolicking on the beach" pictures will be posted. I can just see Peyton laughing at me now! I will try to post the pictures at this link before it gets too late tonight. Laugh your hearts out!

I will also post Peyton's message below, since it has news of interest to all her friends from Longacres. Following Peyton's email I will post one from the girl who has Zaney for the winter. Zaney sounds like she's doing really well at her winter home.

Meghan really enjoyed her birthday yesterday and thanks those of you who sent in Birthday greetings. Meghan did a little work in the morning, but mostly did take the day "off". Her birthday treats were mostly related to food and eating. The scale was not kind to either of us this morning - LOL!

Tom's birthday is next Tuesday. He will be celebrating by snowmobiling, possibly here, possibly in the Adirondacks at Old Forge. I'm not sure if we will tell you how old I am, but we cannot afford enough candles for an accurate celebration. But do visit the "frolicking on the beach" picture album to see that I am not completely over the hill yet.

Here's the email messages:

"hey tom, hey meghan!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGHAN!!!!!!!!! HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!

so, i REALLY want to see those pictures of Tom "frolicking" in the surf. haha I haven't had a really good laugh in a while, and I think that's exactly what I need. So post those pictures!!!

I have a new friend at school this year, her name is Rachel, and she has three horses at her house. So as you can imagine, I have been spending lots of time with her. And because she lives closer than my barn, it's certainly easier to get to.

Speaking of closer, I went to a farm yesterday in search of some pony time. They have lots of horses, sheep, goats, and other farm animals. But I was really excited when they said they needed a rider who could lead children on trail rides. Of course, you know me, I LOVE trail rides so they said that I could get school volunteer hours for it if i do end up working there. I am super excited because I get those stupid mandatory volunteer hours done doing something that i love.

How are things with you guys?

Anywho, I am off to go have lunch with my mom :]

Have a great day!!!

<3 peyton"

Following is Emily's message about Zaney:

"Just felt like letting you know how Zanzibar's doing!

I've showed her twice, and the competition was tough, so we didn't place well overall, but Zanzibar was great! In some of our better classes we got a 2nd, a 3rd and a 4th and a few 5ths, She got all of her strides she sometimes gets her lead changes and never touched a rail- and she absolutely loves it!

We've also been working up on jump heights and we just had a solid 2'9" and 3' lesson the other day and Zanzibar flew over everything! She was so excited about it and wasn't even sweaty in the tiniest bit, she still has quite the stomach though that she just can't get rid of haha.

Also, thanks for sending her papers they were really helpful!

-Emily"

February 18th:

Happy Birthday, Meghan!

Yup - it's Meghan's birthday, and "no", she won't tell! She gets to plan her day just as she pleases from dawn until dusk. She will probably include a nice meal as one of her treats! And knowing Meghan's neurotic work ethic and the fact that we just returned to Longacres today after a week's vacation, she will probably spend part of her day working on Longacres mail and emails that have piled up while we were away. That's Meghan.

Fire in the Sky:

I had my own treat tonight on my first night back in the cold of western New York winter. I certainly enjoyed being down in sunny Florida for a week, but most of you know that I also enjoy snowmobiling here in cold western New York.

Well, we had a thaw and some very warm days here while I was away, but winter is back. I took my snowmobile out on the trails for a short spin tonight. I enjoy snowmobiling partly for the fun and excitement of riding fast over hill & dale and through the woods on a powerful machine. I did that tonight. But I also enjoy the sport because it gets me outdoors in the winter surrounded by the beauty of nature.

I was headed west onto the trail system at about 9:45 this evening looking up at all the stars in the clear night air. Suddenly there was a bright light as a flaming meteorite streaked across the sky headed west away from me. Perhaps you've seen one of the video clips on the national news programs this week showing the big meteorite that fell in Texas the other day. This one was not quite that big or bright, but it was one of the best I've ever seen, with a flaming tail very similar to the one in Texas. It was an exciting experience to see it fall! I will treat it as a special early birthday present to me from mother nature. My birthday is next week, just 6 days after Meghan's.

By the way, you have a "treat" (???#$%?) in store soon. I was in a goofy mood on the beach two days ago in Florida. Meghan took a few pictures of me "frolicking" in the surf. I will post them just so you all can have a good laugh! Check back soon!

February 7 Update:

Hi again - We're headed out of town for a one week trip. If you need to get in touch with us, email is the best way. We get that right away on our phones. We'll also check phone messages, but only every few days.

We're having a giant melt down of our heavy snow pack today and the next few days. It's amazing how much snow melted in just one warm day! We may have to travel north if we want to ride our snowmobiles when we come back in town in a week. The warm weather is giving us a "hint" that spring and horse activities are not so far away.

We will post a few updates while we're traveling at the "Road Trip" page.

February 6th Update:

Hello again. Longacres sends out another "Welcome" message, this time to Heather M. from Pennsylvania . Heather has taken the final spot for teens in the month of July. Heather is 14, has jumping experience similar to many other Longacres riders, and has done lots of 4H shows. She's looking forward to new and different challenges, and that's what Longacres is all about, for sure!

Our only vacancies in July are now one or two spots for riders age 10 to 12 during the June 28 to July 12th session, since we did have one cancellation during that session. For riders over age 12, our only openings are now in the July 29th to August 22nd session and in the special pre and post season weeks. Mother - Daughter week at the end of June is also full.

With the uncertain economic times, another cancellation or two is always possible, so we will accept new girls on a wait list if we don't have space for your first choice session. Just give us a call.

Tonight is another of those "I see the moon and the moon sees me and the moon sees the one that I want to see" nights here at Longacres. Crystal clear sky's and bright moon on all the snow. A still night and gorgeous outside. If it's clear where you are, go out and take a look. We'll be seeing the same thing!

February 5th Update:

What a small world! Meghan and I have been busy riding "iron horses" - our snowmobiles - this week. Today while out on the snowmobile trails we met two different people from the horse business. The wife of the president of our snowmobile club is a rider and horse owner, and at a restaurant where we had dinner, we sat next to a family that runs an Arabian farm near Longacres. They know lots of the same horse people that we do.

Back at the farm this evening, Meghan is busy answering Longacres phone calls. If you left us a message today, we're trying to get back to you this evening, and if it gets too late, we'll call you in the morning.

We are now full for mother daughter week, have one (maybe two) spots for the June 28th two week session, and we're full for the July 12th two week session. We have four spots for the July 29th session. We should be full for the mid summer sessions very soon. Then we'll have openings only in the special pre-season weeks or in the "Lazy Days" week at the end of the summer.

February 4th Update:

Meghan had one of those conversations today where she felt afterwards that she had "just clicked" with these people. She feels very good about welcoming Ariela and her mom, Rosa as the latest members of the Longacres family. Ariela will be joining us for the July 12th session filling the final CIT spot. She'll be riding and showing with us and doing some Counselor in Training things, along with Laura, who has been at Longacres for years! Ariela has been riding for many years, and seriously for the past two and often helping around her barn. She fits right in with the big group of Longacres riders who are 2'3" to 2'6" jumpers NOW and who'd like to try MORE! She sounds like another good, down to earth, Longacres kind of horse woman. Welcome to Longacres, Ariela!

Hi Def YouTube!

YouTube is finally allowing us to upload HD video in a far superior quality to what was available when we first started putting some of our horses online a couple of years ago. We will soon begin posting some new video - watch for the links!

February 3 Update:

Well, my choice of Arizona in the Superbowl was wrong, but they put up a valient fight. Good game!

We send out a big Longacres welcome to Morven W. from Long Island who is signing up for the month of August, including the big shows here at Longacres and at Erie County Fair. Turns out her family knows a couple of former Longacres riders from a few years ago at their stable in Long Island.

Morven has been riding for 4 years or so, and got some of her training in England. She will be 13 this summer and should fit in very well with our other girls coming for the August session. Morven jumps 2' to 2'6" now which is what many of our riders do. Glad to have you "on the team", Morven!

We're pleased to say "HI and Thanks" to lots of you who have written us in recent days. We're thinking about you and about Longacres for 2009 every day. Thanks to Peyton's mom, Key; Morven's mom, Fiona; Mandy; Carly; Heather; Uncle Billy; Jaclyn; Rachael; Shannon; Karina; Amy & Griffin S.; Rhiannon, and lots of new families who are interested for all your correspondence the past two weeks!

February 1st, 1PM:

Arizona 37 - Pittsburgh 20

This prediction is based on sentimental rooting for the underdog. I have not nor will I bet one dime!

Meghan and I have spent a busy week continuing our work on putting together a good staff for the summer and corresponding now with more than a dozen serious prospects for new Longacres students. Google is being very good to us, continuing to provide good prospects during this tough economy.

Today also brings us one of the few above freezing days of the new year. We're enjoying it!

January 29th Update:

Lots of you seem to be finding us on the internet. We've had a bunch of new inquiries this week. We hope you new folks all like the website and the look and feel of Longacres!

Meghan and I just got home from a three day snowmobiling vacation in northern Ontario. Apparently there was no need to go north to have snow. We just got home this evening and spent half an hour shoveling through the snow drift at the end of our driveway just so we could get in off the street. Tomorrow I will have fun with the snowblowers.

If you're interested in our snowmobiling trip pictures, visit this link.

January 26, More Show News:

Welcome "Skibbereen Farms"!

We are working hard at making the arrangements for the 2009 Summer Series horse shows. We are proud to announce that "Skibbereen Farms" in Orchard Park has joined this year's series and will be hosting the final show in the Series on Sunday, August 9th, the week before the Awards Party and Derby Day. We look forward to working with Chrissy and her crew - they know what they're doing!

We also expect to confirm a date for Northfield Farms within a week.

January 26, Monday, 2PM:

Meghan and Tom are off for a couple of days again this week on a snowmobile ride. This is the time of year when we can do a few things like this for ourselves and have winter "fun" before May & June arrive with Summer "fun"! We'll be checking our email, but probably won't get our phone messages until the end of the week.

Just for fun we may post a few snowmobiling pics on our "traveling" website at this link. See you later this week!

We have an all new webpage showing off our Longacres horse jumps. We'll be adding to it over the coming weeks. Check it out at this link.

January 25th, 8PM:

So, Meghan's night-mare. She woke me up this morning very upset still, because she had only just really woken up. Her dream had been one of those all night long deals where she would half wake up and sort of know she had been dreaming, but then fall back into the dream again just like it was her reality. So, those of you who know Meghan and how organized and thorough she is in all her preparations for Longacres every year, get ready to laugh!

Her dream was that the regular summer season at Longacres on June 28 was only two days away. And - you know how illogical dreams are - Meghan had somehow been thinking it was still April for the whole month of June. Never mind that we have students for all the various special weeks the whole month of June. Somehow they just never came to Longacres since Meghan didn't call and remind them.

So here we were with just two days until our June 28th students arrived, and NOTHING was ready! The dining hall still had the winter shutters on the windows and none of the kitchen stuff had been put in service, there was no food in the pantry, all the bunks were still boarded up, none of the plumbing was tested and working, the electric wires to the cabins were still down from winter storms, all the horses were still out at their winter homes all over the country, the jumps hadn't been painted, there was no hay or feed at the barn, and on and on and on! Those of you who know Meghan can just imagine her panic!

So Meghan spent the whole night half way waking up and then dreaming again about how she could get the barn opened in two days. And wondering where all our June students went and why they never called. And dreaming about calling people who were boarding our horses for the winter and giving them one day notice to send the horse back to us instead of the one month she always gives them!

I guess the point of posting this story is to share with you all the fact that Meghan's worst night mare is not being well prepared and planning ahead. (She spent much of today organizing stuff!!!!)

January 25th Update:

Hi everyone,

Quakerfield Stables Summer Series show is now confirmed for 6 months from TODAY, Saturday, July 25th. Noreen and her crew have been great partners in the Summer Series and we look forward to showing at their farm again this season! More news on Series show dates will be coming during the next week or two. We will be advertising the Series heavily this year to help make it the very most fun and most successful ever.

Night-Mare in Meghan's Head!

We have another little human interest story today. You'll have to check back in this evening after I have time to write it up. It's about Meghan's all night night-mare last night! Those of you who know Meghan will laugh at what she dreamed about. Those of you new o Longacres this year will find it to be an insight on how we "try" to run Longacres. Stay tuned.

January 24th Update:

Hasty Hills Farm will once again be part of the South Towns Summer Series

We're very pleased to announce that Hasty Hills Farm is confirmed as one of the 2009 South Towns Summer Series shows. Their show will be on the weekend of July 11th, with the main show Saturday, and possibly the jumper show on Friday night, the 10th. We'll post details as soon as they are confirmed.

It is very fitting that Hasty Hills once again joins Longacres as part of a summer horse show series in Western New York. Longacres and Hasty Hills were both in a show series together even before there was a South Towns Summer Series. Both farms were part of the old "Buffalo Summer Series" back when the Buffalo Saddle & Bridle Club and Bechtel Stables were the other members.

Longacres also is ready to confirm that the Awards Party will definitely be held on Saturday evening, August 15th, rain or shine. People seemed to like the way we ran the Awards Party last summer as a "Barn Party", with video, bands, and other displays all in and around our barn. We'll do that and more again this year.

Saturday afternoon and evening, August 15th, will be a full fledged "Horse Fair" at Longacres with every horse business and stable in Western New York invited to set up a display in the barn.

The 39th Annual Longacres Jumper Derby will also be held on Saturday, August 15th, with every effort made this year to run the event on that date unless much better weather is available the day before. You all know the problems we had with weather last summer!

January 22, 10PM:

A Longacres "Welcome" goes out to Madison G. from New Jersey who has confirmed her enrollment for the July 12 to 26th session. Glad to have you as part of our team, Madison! (Let me know if I didn't spell your first name right!)

Madison got our last space that session for a younger rider. We now have only one spot left that session and it must be for a rider 13 or over.

January 22, later:

Hi again. Two posts in one day! We are working hard this week to nail down some of the dates for 2009 Summer Series horse shows. We're pleased that some new stables are interested in being part of the series this year, but we're waiting first to hear from all the stables that took part last year. There will be news on dates coming soon! Go to this link for our "Horse Shows" page.

January 22, Thursday:

Welcome to Tracey E. who is now confirmed as a new Longacres rider and a CIT for the first July session. Tracey is 15 and hails from near Ottawa in Canada. She and Meghan had a good talk on the phone at the beginning of the week! She has been riding for years and rides at a barn where she pitches in to help out all the time. Tracey is at a mostly "hunter barn" but she is anxious to try jumpers. She is looking forward to trying lots of different horses. Sounds like a perfect new Longacres rider to me!

Tuition Payments & Vacancies

Today is the deadline for making your first tuition payments. We have heard from all but two of you. Meghan has been very good about sending out "Thank you notes" and confirming receipt of your payments, so if you have NOT heard back from her, please get in touch right away to make sure your reservation is being held. We are down to one spot left for a 10 to 12 year old and one for a 13 & up student in July and we expect those spots to be gone in the coming two weeks, as we are trading correspondence with half a dozen new families who seem seriously interested.

We still have four spots open in August, so we'll likely have space in that session for at least the next month. We also have space in the June Pro-Clinic weeks and in Lazy Days week. Mother - Daughter week has been wait list only since last fall.

January 21st, Wednesday Update:

Hey everyone,

Meghan and I had a fun, but shortened, snowmobiling vacation. Mine broke :( - we're back at Longacres and we were pleased to have several new inquiries about 2009 sessions. Here's a Longacres "hello" to Madison and to Heather. We hope it works out for both of you to be with us this summer!

Also, here's a "Happy Birthday" greeting to Regan from Maryland!

In case you're interested in seeing how we take our winter "play time", here's the link to some pictures from our Ontario snowmobiling trip at this link.

January 19th, Monday Update:

Hi everyone,

Meghan and I will be on a snowmobile ride for the next few days up in Canada. Several of you are about to send in new enrollment forms, and we'll confirm those as soon as we get home to the farm at the end of the week. We probably will get our email while we travel, but not phone messages. Bear with us while we have some winter fun.

Speaking of Canada, here's a Longacres "hello" to Tracey from the Ottawa area. Tracey is considering our CIT program for one of the July sessions.

Click this link for some fun pictures from this morning. The scene will be "sort of" familiar to Longacres regulars! It's Kone King in the winter with a LOT of snow! They just closed for a long mid winter break, but will open again in February. They will be in full swing for regular Longacres "ice cream breaks" this summer.

January 18, Sunday Update:

Tuition Reminder:

Here's a quick reminder that your January 40% tuition payment was due on the 15th and we extended the payment due date until this coming Thursday, January 22nd. We have heard from all but half a dozen of you. Just give us a call to let us know you are still coming to Longacres. We will be to the point of turning people away for the July sessions in another week or two, so if anyone has changed their plans and is not going to use their reservation, we need to know now. So far only one out of the 31 early enrollees has changed summer plans. Thank you!

January 17 Update:

It sure is winter here now! Which is the way we like it at Longacres. If we are going to live in a northern "lake effect snow" climate, when it's winter, we want it to be real winter.

We have had no problems kicking up rocks with the big snowblower lately. The driveways are frozen solid with packed snow. The trees are all covered with beautiful snow lumplets. The creeks and waterfalls are all frozen up. We're supposed to get a warm-up all the way to the mid 20's for the next few days, but winter will stick around for the forseeable future.

Special greetings to Julia and her friends who are thinking about coming to Longacres and bringing their own horses. They are event riders, so I am sure they'd enjoy our banks, Pulverman, and log jumps!

Incidentally, we are now getting nearly full for the whole month of July. Just scattered spots available, depending on your age. We have two CIT spots open for teens June 28 to July 12th, and one spot for a student age 12 or under in both July sessions. We have more spots available in early June and in the August session.

January 16th Update:

We don't often get to just sit down socially and have fun getting to know parents of our camp students. We do gradually get pretty well acquainted with families that come to Longacres over a period of years. So we enjoyed spending some time with Laura's whole family when they visited over New Years and went to Pasquale's with us and Uncle Billy. And tonight we went out to dinner with Griffin's parents, Mike and Amy. We had a good time (even though all four of us froze going to and from the restaurant in near zero degree weather on a Friday night!). We wish that more of you all lived near by so we could see you more often!

One person we almost saw recently but missed was Casey's mom, Debbie. And Meghan was mad we weren't home! Debbie just got a diesel pickup truck EXACTLY like the one Meghan wants for her next truck. Debbie stopped by to show Meghan the other day and left a note. Meghan is eager for a rain check.

We've had lots of nice messages lately, including long, descriptive "my life updates" from Kellie in Texas!

And here's a link to the website for the stable where Deb, Sydney, and Sam are keeping Star for the winter. See if you can find Star's picture there:

Star's Stable

ALSO: Yes, it is very cold here at Longacres this week! It is going down to just below zero tonight. Someone wrote today and asked us if we are really getting two feet of snow today? Well, they so so in some places, but we think we've had more like 14" here at the farm today. But it's still coming down strong, so who knows?

January 15, Thursday:

Happy Birthday to Robin L. who was the first to jump our big water jump in quite a few years. Quite a triumph this past summer!

Also, click this link for a few "studies in icicles" from around the farm today.

January 14th Update:

Happy Birthday Debra! Most of our birthday greetings go out to our kids, but as a mom who also comes as a student to our mother daughter and other adult weeks, we're pleased to wish Debra H. a fine birthday!

Meghan and I had a nice ride on our snowmobiles on this near zero degree day here in Western New York. Only hints of frost bite! We had fun.

It is getting really cold tonight, so we went out back and lit an auxilary heater to keep the basement pipes from freezing. Also moved some of our machinery inside so we can get it started during the next couple of days to plow snow. That's farm life 101 for the day!

January 12th:

Hello again,

We're trying to make a good list of birthdays still, so forgive us if we don't have yours on our list. Here's a happy belated birthday to Maggie from Texas!

A heads up that the first regular tuition payment is due Thursday. If you are just getting it in the mail now, don't worry about it. We were a little late sending out statements of account and we aren't going to worry about it if you are a few days late getting the checks to us. We'll reset the payment deadline a week back until the 22nd as a courtesy.

If you are curious about how we spend our spare time up here in cold western New York in the winter, Meghan and I both enjoy snowmobiling. As a matter of fact, I maintain a website that updates snowmobilers with the latest trail conditions. If you want to see how I spend some of my winter time, check the trails website at this link.

January 11th:

Hi everyone,

For today's update we'll print a letter from one of our winter horse homes. Emily is boarding "Zany" near Rochester. Here's her letter:

My name's Emily and I'm doing the free loan with Zanzibar this year out at Lehmans. I'm doing a project for school about Zanzibar and I wanted to know if you have any information on her from before Longacres bought her. I saw you purchased her as a brood mare, and was curious if you knew anything about that, ex. if she has any foals, or just pictures of her when she was younger.

Zanzibar's doing great, she's so energetic all the time, she's the biggest sweetheart! She's trained so well and I'm so happy to have her back this year. I'm also planning on showing her later in January and in February, and she's doing excellent with her jumping, she clears 3' singles effortlessly (not 3' courses though, we haven't tried those) and never seems to get tired of it! She even gets excited when I turn her towards a jump!

So any information on her past would be extremely helpful for my project!

Thanks,

Emily

January 8th:

A belated "Happy Birthday" to Rhiannon, who is now officially a teenager! Thanks for your notes, Rhiannon, and we hope you had a great trip.

AND - TADA - Welcome to Carly R. and her horse, "Gold", who will both be at Longacres for the last half of the season. Carly is our first to enroll after New Years. She is a friend of Laura's. We're actually having a very busy week corresponding with new families. Six other girls are seriously considering signing up for 2009 sessions at the moment. If most of them do sign up, we'll be getting close to full in most regular camp sessions. We will soon be down to having vacancies only in pre-camp weeks and Lazy Days week. Not bad, considering the state of the economy.

January 6th Update:

Hi all,

If you didn't check in yesterday, scroll down and read the news about changes and schedule for this year's Erie County Fair horse show. It's one of the big events of the year for Longacres and usually the "Grand Finale" of the summer for us. We like the changes and think it will make for a better fair experience for most western New York riders.

Other news is that we are suddenly very busy answering questions about the Longacres riding program from new students. Interest from new families has varied a lot over the past four months. We had a big early enrollment before the economy crashed. Then nobody did ANYTHING about summer camp for a month or more! Then in November we had a very normal fall enrollment, signing up four first time students. Then new inquiries dried up again over the Christmas Holidays, but that is not unusual.

Now, after the holidays, we suddenly are trading messages with seven new riders all interested in signing up for Longacres sessions next summer. It is good to learn that there are still horse lovers out there who are in a position to sign up for riding camp this year!

January 5th Update:

HORSE SHOW

NEWS!

As long rumored, there will be some major changes to the "America's Fair" Hunter - Jumper horse show in August. I have spoken both with the fair office and with horse show manager, Jason Gates, today and I can confirm the following:

The 2009 Hunter Jumper show at the fair will be an "Open" show and will not be a USEF member show.

The show will have as much as possible the same "look & feel" as always. Brian Flynn will return as one of the judges and as course designer. We will have the same jumps as in the past. Show manager Jason Gates says, "We'll do everything we can to offer an "A" show experience without the "A" show costs."

The show will run on the same Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday schedule as always (August 18, 19, 20th). The USEF exclusive classes such as Small Junior Hunter, Large Junior, Amatuer Owner, Medal, etc will not be offered since there would be no way to count them for USEF points or qualifying. But there will be similar Open classes for all level riders. All other classes from previous America's Fair Hunter Jumper shows will be offered. Many new classes will be added, including Long Stirrup and other lower level classes for juniors and adults. Pony Hunter will be offered, but not separate Small, Medium, and Large pony divisions.

The Jumper divisions have been one of the strengths of this show over the years, and they will all return nearly unchanged. There will be at least two exciting additions to the Jumper division!

Both will be in the popular 2'6" to 2'9" specification. One will be a "Gambler's Choice" event, which offers exciting choices for the riders and a good spectator event.

The second new Jumper event is a "Team Jumping" event. It is being done so nearly the same as the event we host at the Longacres Derby every year, that many will think it was my idea or copied from our Longacres event. But, actually, Jason Gates had already written up this idea and the details before talking with me! Talk about coincidence!

The Team Jumping will be a $500 event and will use the best three scores out of a four person team. Just as at the Longacres Derby, a team may include three or four riders with the best three scores to count.

NOTE: The Longacres Jumper Derby will be held on Saturday, August 15th, just four days prior to the America's Fair show. Longacres will host a nearly identical Team Jumping event at 2'6" to 2'9" with a $1000 payout. With TWO team jumping events in the same week, it might bring out more jumping teams. Our event bombed out last summer with the rain, but in 2007 we had eight teams! Longacres will do whatever we can to help promote the jumping events at the Fair.

How Will all this change your experience at Erie County Fair?

For many of us, going to the Hunter - Jumper show at the 2009 America's Fair will seem just the same as always. Nearly all the classes we enjoyed in the past will be offered, and quite a few new classes that will appeal to local riders. And the really GOOD NEWS is that it will cost us less. Stall fees will be nearly the same, and you will still be required to pay the Agricultural Society membership fee of $18 per owner. Entry Fees will be much the same as in the past. But that's it. No USEF non-member fees, no drug testing fees, no fees to stewards for measuring horses. For the great majority of us who have always loved this horse show, the change is a huge improvement with big $aving$.

The BAD NEWS: We have always had a few stables at this show that do show the regular USEF and PHA circuits. Since there will be no points opportunities at this "Open" show, some of those trainers will not come. I believe we will gain more horses than we will lose, but we will not see a few familiar faces. Also, a few trainers have expressed concern that the quality of the show experience will go down the drain if it is an "Open", unrecognized show. I have assurances from Jason and the show management that everything possible will be done to offer the same professional show experience we've always enjoyed at "America's Fair" in Hamburg. I have participated in this County Fair horse show for 41 straight years without missing a year. Nobody else in Western New York has been there as long. You can bet that I will be there doing what I can to help keep this a successful show with first class showing conditions.

I hope that most of you in the Western New York horse world will join me in welcoming this change as an opportunity to build something that is even better for most of us who show Hunters & Jumpers in our area. With a nod of regret to the few who may choose to go somewhere else that week in August, Longacres looks forward to an exciting new beginning on August 18th to 20th, 2009!!

January 2nd Update:

It was nice to hear from Carly today that she can definitely work at Longacres as a counselor and instructor from June 28 through August 2nd. Carly was wonderful as a junior counselor last summer, and for all her summers as a Longacres student before that. We only wish she was available for the full season, but we are glad to have her for the full month of July when we have most of our younger students. Carly is very good with them.

We are also starting to talk with area horse people and lining up guest instructors, who are an important part of the Longacres teaching plan.

Heads Up - Partial Tuition Payment is due January 15th: Meghan is working this week sending out account statements. 40% of your 2009 tuition is due on January 15th. (minus your deposit) The remaining 60% is due April 1st.

January 1, 2009:

Happy New Year!

We send out our thanks to Roseanne and Larry for hosting a great New Year's Eve party for many of the Orchard Park and surrounding area horse people. Most of the same crew that was at the Bennett's last year. A good crew!

Happy Birthday today to Leslie H. from Pennsylvania and her horse, "Max". (Leslie's birthday, just plain greetings to "Max"!)

Keep watching the website. We're going to be putting up several new pages and reorganizing others this week. The feature will be a special page of nice pictures of all the unique jumps at Longacres. Coming soon!

December 31, Wednesday:

Hi everyone! Sorry for no updates the past couple of days. We were enjoying a visit from my mother, who lives in Connecticut and came to Longacres for Christmas. We are now back at work on taking carte of Longacres and preparing for next year. Click this link for some pictures from yesterday.

I took the day to get some outdoor work done before winter returned (today!). The pictures show me using a special hook I made in the shop on the end of a 20' section of pipe to clean out a plugged up drain pipe. Then I used the tractor to repair a major washout on the horse trail behind Pegasus bunk. The floods this week put a big hole in the trail. But it is good as new now! Good thing I finished yesterday - we have 10" of new snow now.

A Longacres "hello" to Shelley and Taylor, new girls who are thinking about coming to Longacres. They sent us a good email and we sent them back some pictures of our jumps that are not on the website. Also a "hello" to Jamie who is interested in a counselor job for the summer, if we have any space after first considering our fine Junior Counselors from 2008! We always start to get busy with Longacres inquiries right after Christmas. We're glad that even in this tough economy, people are interested in Longacres!

December 27, 5PM:

Laura and her family are all visiting Longacres today. We just got back from Quakerfield where Laura rode Brody in the arena with David Laks & Calvin. Laura did some nice jumping courses on Brody, and she also visited with Merlin, Brownie, and Ginger. She and Meghan are right now off visiting Diesel in the next town over.

Laura and her family are spending several days here in western New York. We're all going to the traditional Longacres dinner at Pasquale's in a few minutes, with Uncle Billy also planning to join us there.

Lots of pictures will be posted at this link later tonight! Thanks to all of you who have sent us Christmas greetings over the past few days!

Christmas Day:

Peace and Happiness be with all of our online friends! We'll pass on a little glimpse of how our own Christmas here at Longacres was both a very frugal one, and at the same time as lavish as we could hope to enjoy.

We knew that we should be frugal with all the uncertainty in the 2009 economy. And yet we have had a good year and have what we need (more than we need, as is true of most Longacres families!).

So we chose to be very frugal when we went out shopping for each other this past month. But to celebrate and be grateful for what we have, we went through some of the things we did buy over the course of the past year, including computer and camera upgrades we bought for Longacres. Anything kind of cool and fun that we bought in 2008 was fair game. We wrapped all that stuff up and put it under the tree with the few new gifts we purchased. Often we just wrapped up the box, or the instruction manual. We spent our Christmas giving thanks for the good things in our lives and for the fact that we really do have all we need. And we had a big pile under the tree, even if most of it wasn't really brand new still! Happy Holidays!

- Tom & Meghan

Christmas Eve Day:

In case I don't get to post again this evening, "Happy Holidays, Ho-Ho-Ho", and all that! Seriously, we wish you all the very best in this season and hope your Christmas is merry.

In these times of economic uncertainty, it is good to stop and think about what's really important in life. There are far worse things than having to cut back on luxuries, take fewer trips, or even pass up riding camp for the year. Things have gone very well for us at Longacres the past several seasons, and we do not mind tightening our belts a bit if that's what it will take to get past this recession. We are healthy. We have a good group of returning riders and their families that we really like. We are looking forward to the challenges of 2009.

And now:

Farm Life 101 - gravel roads and snow

What's really on my mind this morning is sloppy, wet slush in the driveway. In a way it is a nice change of pace after the near blizzard the other day to have soaring temperatures and a pleasant day to finish shopping. But what a mess!

We have long gravel roads at Longacres. If we were very rich, maybe some of them would be paved so our Rolls Royce and Ferrari wouldn't get dusty. But we're not rich and we have no Ferrari's. And we like the look of gravel roads in the good weather months.

The problem with 900 foot gravel driveways in winter is that when you have cycles of freezing and thawing weather as we do this week, any kind of snow removal equipment digs into the gravel sometimes, picks up stones, and makes a mess. If we had our choice, once winter and snow arrive, the snow would stay and temperature would stay below freezing.

We have good snow removal stuff; a commercial walk behind Gravely snowblower to clear the garage hill and tight nooks and corners. And a six foot snowblower on the big Kubota tractor. It is actually fun to clear snow once the driveways freeze up and are properly prepared.

Preparing a driveway for winter, you ask? Well, the first time we get snow and temperature below freezing, I take the big tractor out, but I do not try to blow or plow the snow off the driveway. Instead, I pack it down by back dragging the bucket and then driving back and forth in and out of the drive to pack the snow. This "seals" the driveway and keeps all the pebbles and rocks from kicking up and getting slammed around or jamming the snowblowers.

Then when a fresh snow falls, the equipment glides over the packed snow base and it's easy to remove the fresh stuff. So long as it stays cold, all is well.

Then you get a day like today with light rain and temperature in the mid 40's. All that lovely white winter snow turns to grey gloppy slush. I was able to use the snowblower to throw a lot of it off the drive this morning, but if I try it again this afternoon, I know I'll just be kicking up big rocks and making a mess.

In a week or ten days when real winter returns, I'll have to start all over, grooming my driveway to prepare for smooth snow removal again. Betcha this is something you "city slickers" haven't had to deal with!

Life at Longacres, Christmas, 2008

Monday, December 22nd:

Hi everyone! Hope you're finishing all your holiday shopping in time. I have some cute picture to share with you at this link.

As you all know, Meghan is a work-a-holic and is nearly always on the go with Longacres organizing or her many other year round projects. She is also a neat-nik, and when she's not doing office work or something around the farm, she's picking up (after me?) and putting everything in it's place.

Because she works so hard, the two of us do eat out pretty often. We cook a few times a week, but we often eat on the run. Meghan's kitchen is usually her downstairs office where she addressed bills, writes checks, or catches up on her mail.

But once a year, the "domestic urge" comes out in Meghan. - Big Time! She is a baking fanatic around Christmas time, when she makes cookies by the hundreds and puts together assortments for many of the people in the neighborhood who help us out one way or another year round. Uncle Billy is always first on the list, with Joel a close second. And Tom does gain back a few of the pounds he worked so hard to lose last summer! Enjoy the pictures of Meghan with her apron on in full blown baking mode!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This link!

Sunday, Dec. 21st:

We have a great new addition to the "peppermint Patti tributes" on Patti's page at this link. The picture and letter come from a former Longacres rider who is almost as well known in Longacres history as Patti herself. Joetta sent us the picture which shows her jumping Patti about 3'9" when Joetta was just about 3'9" tall herself! It is a cool picture. Joetta went on to win many jumper classes on Patti when she was older. Joetta was memorable in many ways!

We also want to send out our holiday greetings and a big "Thank you" to Becky and Jaime at Hasty Hills Farm. They invited us to their annual Christmas party which was last night. We've been going for years and it is always a good party, but this was one of the best ever. There was a great mix of "old" timers who show up every year and give the Hasty Hills party a sense of continuity. But there were many new faces and lots of interesting young people. Again, one of the best Hasty Hills parties ever!

We saw Jaclyn at the party - she has grown about two inches just since we last saw her in August! One of the interesting things about running a summer camp program is that just when we get to know one of you really well and have a solid image of you in our minds, you go and grow up and change so much!

Friday, December 19th:

Hi everyone,

We're getting a pretty heavy snow right now, but not the full scale winter storm that seemed possible with yesterday's forecast. I'm a little disappointed because I stayed up late last night putting the winter snowblower on the small tractor and making sure the snow equipment on the big tractor was in order. Boy, oh boy, I was ready to dig us out from a blizzard!

In fact, we did have near blizzard conditions for a little while this morning while we were driving home for a meeting with Taylor about jobs next summer. Poor Taylor had to wait a while when we were late because of the blowing snow.

But it was worth the wait for the meeting. Taylor does plan to be working at Longacres for a second season this summer, and she'll likely be more involved in the horse and riding part of our program than she was last year. Taylor worked last year mostly with Meghan painting jumps, getting ready for shows, and working around Longacres behind the scenes. But in our meeting today we found out that Taylor has quite a bit of experience working with youth groups, and actually has way more experience with horses and riding than we knew about. Her job at Longacres last summer did not involve teaching riding or working with all of you around the barn most of the time. So we didn't know that she actually has had several years of riding lessons and lots of other experience. In fact, she's working all winter at a nearby stable right now caring for their horses.

We also heard from Alexa yesterday and she is talking with her parents about when she will be available to work at Longacres next summer. So slowly things are falling into place for our 2009 staff.

We've had more tributes to Patti come in from Uncle Billy, Alexa, Laura, Kellie, Jess Nash, and others. We've posted them on Patti's "Meet the Horses" page.

Thursday, Dec. 18th:

It took me a few weeks to announce that Peppermint Patti is gone. I needed a little time to choose my words. Somehow it seemed very fitting that the end came and then the time to make this kind of announcement arrived at the end of the year around the holidays. Patti was a central part of the Longacres experience for many years, and her passing from our scene to other green pastures is a watershed moment in time.

I am not surprised that there is an outpouring of emotion and great memories coming in from all over the country as former Longacres students and staff remember this great horse. That we are in the holiday season is fitting - it is a time to remember old friends and touch base with our past. The following message came in just this morning from Ali Kirst. Ali was a Longacres camper, then counselor, and then riding director for more than ten years of her life. As Ali will tell you, she was here at the very beginning of Patti's incredible career and saw her become what she did over time. She is exactly the kind of person I was hoping to hear from when we posted the announcement of Patti's death the other day. Just like Peppermint Patti, Ali Kirst has a permanent place in the history of Longacres. I hope you enjoy reading Ali's letter as much as I did this morning:

Hi Tom

Just so happened I was scrolling through your website and saw that PepPat is gone. As an "older" alumni, I remember the first year that she came. I remember her being lunged in the front of the barn while a saddle was put on her for the first time. Correct me if I am wrong, but didnt she come from Laura Hayes?? (Yes - TSK)

She turned out to be an amazing horse and I will always feel fortunate that I was able to ride her and watch her turn out to be that way.

I am glad she has taken her place among the Longacres greats... Tip Off, York, and China Heart. Wasn't Deamon buried there also? (Deamon deserved it, but died up in Canada and was buried there - TSK)

I think of Camp often and you can count me in for your big reunion in 2013. (75th anniversary Diamond Jubilee for Longacres! - TSK)

I would love to hear from you and would love even more to come for a visit sometime soon!!!

Fondly yours,

Ali Kirst

Tuesday, late evening:

Many thanks to all of you who have called or written kind words about Patti. We have posted many of the first wave of comments and pictures on Patti's "Meet the Horses" page here.

Tuesday, December 17th:

Hello everyone,

I am sure you have read the announcement about Patti being put down. It can't help but be sad news to anyone who has been at Longacres or shown with us in the past almost quarter of a century. But we prefer to spend this holiday season remembering the great experiences we had for so many years with this fine horse, and the many fine riders who showed and won with her. We invite you to write and share your memories. We'll post them on her permanent spot in the "Meet the Horses" page.

Sunday, December 14th:

Hello everyone,

We spent the afternoon doing more work organizing pictures on the computers. We're going to start getting back in the habit of frequently changing the pictures at the top of this page. Today's addition is a nice shot of Annie "the novelist" working with Tux early in the summer. More pictures of "Tuxedo" at this link. Meghan was busy today answering emails she owed a few of you. We also traded emails with Carly about counselor jobs. We're making progress on plans for the 2009 staff. Meghan also traded phone messages with Taylor about senior counselor jobs.

We had a big warm-up today and most of the snow melted. You can see the green grass on the show field again!

We're working on updating our computer system, some of which is ancient! We have been doing our photo and video work on a four year old Apple Powerbook which we just this month updated to a new Macbook Pro. Much faster at everything!

The Powerbook is still in great condition and will become Meghan's primary computer in her office. Our other two computers are ten year old Dell desktop systems that work, but are less and less reliable. We have moved almost all our work to the Apple systems. The only thing we're still doing on the old Dell computers is updating this webpage. (The rest of the website is being updated on the Apple systems - it is an odd incompatibility that keeps us using the old Windows computers for this one page. We'll update the page so it works with the new computers soon.)

We have an excellent backup system with copies of all our most important files kept on six different external hard drives. But we have to write new "backup rules" now that Meghan is getting my hand-me-down computer and I'm using the new Apple. And break old habits! Hopefully we won't goof and over write any files while we get used to the new systems!

Saturday, December 13th:

Happy Holidays to all!

Click this link to see us cutting and bringing in our tree! We had to look all over the farm this year since we had taken the trees that were easy to find the past few winters. Meghan used it as an excuse to ride her snowmobile all over the farm this morning looking for the very best shape. We take it as a point of pride to cut our own tree every year someplace on the farm. (We are conservation aware - we trim brush around little baby trees and watch them grow over the years!)

Speaking of snowmobiles, click this link to watch Tom playing with his "early Xmas present", the replacement for his old snowmobile which broke down at the end of last winter. It is a NICE Xmas present! Meghan's snowmobile is a tool we use for work around the camp. Tom's snowmobile is definitely a toy that we pay for personally. In ther middle of the video of Tom playing, you can also see Meghan driving her sled as she takes a break from looking for trees to take video of Tom playing.

Friday, December 12th:

Hello,

Meghan and I always chuckle when someone asks what we do with all our "free time" during the winter. It is true that we get to take some vacations and have a bit slower schedule than we do for the April through September season of 18 hour days. But we do have lots to do organizing for next season and many other things.

The past few days we've been putting in a lot of time updating the "Meet the Horses" page on the website. It's not done, but you can check our progress at this link. We've got pictures and albums now for Diesel, Boo, and many of the training and sale horses from last summer.

You can do us a favor. Check the pictures and albums and let us know if any of them are linked with the wrong picture for the wrong horse. Mistakes like that creep in when we're doing this kind of website updates!

And when we start this kind of computer project, it always leads to other things. We are reorganizing our VAST photo files. We have something like 20,000 pictures on our computer system at the moment. We're making sure there are good backups of everything and then deleting some that are unimportant. But there's the problem. What Tom might think is a not so important picture may turn out to be one that Meghan made a special point of taking and saving. That just happened today while we were looking for pictures of "Starfire" jumping. Meghan was sure she took some, and Tom may have deleted them in the process of "computer house keeping". Fortunately, we do have backups on 6 external hard disks. Now Meghan just has to browse through 20,000 pictures on those disks! (Actually, they can be sorted by date, so it should not be so hard.)

Wednesday, December 11:

Hi everyone,

Sorry for no updates in two days. We've been slaving away at the computers choosing pictures for a major update of the "Meet the Horses" page. It should be posted tomorrow and will have new pictures of all the new horses from this past summer. Coming soon!

Monday, December 8th:

Hello. Thanks to Sanna, Griffin's family, Not-so-little-Michelle, Andrea, and Alex (FRIEND of Brownie!!) for their messages this week. Sorry I haven't updated over the weekend, but I feel it has been my "duty" to patrol the farm over the weekend by snowmobile just to make sure everything is OK. The fact that I got my big Christmas present early and now have my new snowmobile has nothing to do with the obligation to go back and forth and back and forth around the trails making sure everything is in good order!

We are still not sure if we will do an overnight reunion here on New Year's eve. Several of you are interested. We will make a final decision on December 15th next week about the overnight part. We will definitely be here ourselves and will be happy to have any visitors who want a tour of Longacres in the snow, if there is snow! Keep in touch.

Friday, December 5th, 12:50 AM:

Hi everyone! We're back at the farm after our three week RV trip. It's snowing nice big flakes outside, so we should be running around the farm on snowmobiles in a day or two. We're here now to answer your phone calls and emails. Looking forward to hearing from you all!

Saturday, November 15th:

- Tom & Meghan Kranz

Friday Night, Late:

Well, as the YouTube description says, "If you have a deck on your house that's 40' above a slate bottom creek, and you have rotten pumpkins left over from Halloween, "What would YOU do?"

We thought about holding a "Pumpkin Bombing Party" for friends of Longacres who live nearby, but everyone was busy with various Halloween parties. You guys missed it!

Friday, Nov. 14th:

Check back later tonight! We're going out to dinner with Uncle Billy in a few minutes, but when I get home I'm going to post a very cool video. It will be up late tonight if you are, or you can see it tomorrow morning!

Thursday, Nov. 13:

Well, there has been a flood of news from all of you this week! Best thing for me to do is just post a bunch of your emails. Also, after a lull because of the rough economy, we are again getting enrollments for next year. This is the week of the North Carolina girls, with Jamie Signing up last week, and Meghan having a great talk with Natasha tonight. Below are some of your messages from the past two days. (I am handing out LOTS of Diesel Brownie points!)

From Alexa:

I want Brownies!!!  O Brownie Points ("pea brain") I'll take that too!!!!!!

    You guys never got to see me ride Diesel during break between normal camp and lazy days.  He's a good boy although I had some trouble putting the bridle on.  He just stood there probably laughing hysterically if he could.  I guess I'm a short and pea brained.

Sooo... how many brownie points did I earn??

Alexa (who wishes it was summer again) Its 199 Days till Longacres opens for the 2009 season!!!

From Laura:

Hey!!

Now, I know that you guys don't do basketball, and probably aren't very interested in it, but I MADE THE TEAM!!!! This will probably take away from my riding, but you know I love horses more than an orange ball. That's why I go to horse camp. See you guys "soon".

Laura

PS: DIESEL DIESEL DIESEL DIESEL!!!

does that count for brownie points?

Hi Tom and Meghan!  

We wanted to share this funny story with you. 

Last night we went to have a nice ride with Justin.  But we had a little trouble convincing Justin it would be fun for him!  Bonnie had been by in the morning and had a fun ride that ended with a great walk around the barn property while the sun came up.   Then Justin spent a great part of the day turned out with his buddies who all played and rolled in the mud!!!   So, by the time we we arrived in the evening for Heather to ride, he was very very muddy, he managed to cover every part of his new blanket with mud, and he was a bit pooped.  

Justin politely stood still while we cleaned him up, put on his boots, and accepted the saddle.   But when it came time for the bridle he protested (politely but diligently).  swooshing his head around and picking up his nose...  (I would compare the way he was acting to a child who was told to take his medicine   tongue.gif ¨.) 

Any - we both had to laugh when during one of his protesting movements, he took a step forward, and leaned his head into his halter which happened to be hanging on the wall in front of him........   " no no no, I don't want to go into the ring, I want to go out for grass, or back into my stall.  Not the ring - your putting on the wrong headgear" 

We're having a great time with Justin!!   He's such a character and is so well loved by everyone at Legacy.   All the girls who work there say how sweet he is and how much they like him.  We'd love to have you come visit!

Thanks Again,

Heather and Bonnie

Dear Tom,

Alright, I can't believe I am about to write this email, but emotions do really take the best of you. OK, so let me start off by saying, when I first met Diesel, I was afraid of him. I thought he was a rather interesting horse, but I wasn't judgmental, I just pet him every once in awhile, because I had no particular feelings toward him, other than the fact that he's big. Now, as I see all the pictures you've been posting, he's slowly growing on me. The pictures of you "driving him" showed that he was a very sweet horse, and he knew that he was big, so he was trying to hone in his bigness for you. I can't believe how much I've changed, but with all the pictures and Laura's constant persuading......... (drum roll please)...... I now think that Diesel is an innocent little monster (monster = cute, friendly monster like Laura said) and I have a new feeling towards him. I've outgrown my fear and I've come to respect Diesel, and I believe like you said, he'll be a great horse with some more training. I understand why you like him so much.

I thought that you'd like to know my perspective on him has changed, and I know how you feel. This is a completely ramble-ish email, but I just thought I'd let you know.

Emily

 I saw the pictures of Diesel and he is soooo cute! He is more like a HUGE teddy bear (or teddy horse as I should say)...Except I miss Zany more because she is my little emo pony that always gives everyone the "evil eye" and she kicked my hand when I was trying to pick her feet. But I love her anyways. That's all for now I need to go do my homework! haha rhiannon g.

Dear Tom and Meghan,

       That sounds great!  I am excited for this year at Longacres.  Anyway, I thought you might enjoy some the descriptions of Diesel you asked for on the website.  Maybe you will enjoy this little story I can recount for you:

So Laura and I were once on a buddy trail ride; I was on Merlin and she was on Diesel.  We were doing some walk and trot around the Galloping Field, and while trotting, I suppose Diesel "decided he wanted a little grass."  He looked like he almost fell on his knees and onto the ground, and, while Laura was frantically trying to get his VERY LARGE head and neck from the ground, he seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit(although he appeared to be on his knees).  Diesel was obedient though, and brought his head up for Laura.  We thought it was pretty funny, but we decided to walk the rest of the trail ride in order to limit Diesels "urges."  Ha ha.... :)  Send greetings to the "Gentle Giant(aka Diesel)" for me!

Ofelia

Tuesday, Nov. 11th:

Hey Laura - thanks for commenting on Diesel in your note - even though you called him "the Monster" - which he is, of course, in a good way like you said!!!! We visited Diesel at his winter home this morning while we were out driving around. He remembered us when we drove up next to his pasture and walked right up to us. I went in the pasture and gave him the scratch behind his ears that he loves. Click this link for pictures from this morning. I did say "hello" to him for you, Laura.

You regular readers know that I really like Diesel - you will get special Brownie Points if you write in with comments about my favorite "big boy"!!

- Tom Kranz

Monday, Evening:

Hi everyone. And thanks for so many of you writing to us recently - we're not so lonely anymore! New messages came in from Jaclyn, Laura, Ofelia, Martha, Jenn's dad, Don, Hannah, and Annie. Especially Annie!

It's been a while since we've had one of Annie's "novels" in our inbox. Annie is a fine writer and I especially liked today's volume. Here it is, I think you'll enjoy hearing about the "New" Bremmie!

" Hello!

First, is that SNOW on the ground?!

Secondly, I thought you would be interested to know that bremmy has changed colors, quite surprisingly! Her reddish bay color is no more! We shaved her whole body, and now shes buckskin! We all like this color much better, and her lack of inches of fur, it makes her look much fancier. It also made her head look smaller!!! We are all having a mini obsession over this newly revamped bremmstrahlung. I'm thinking about keeping her clipped all year. its so interesting, but instead of trying to attach pictures I'll just send a link to my online album.

anniehankins.myphotoalbum.com

Anyway, we went to the finals of a jumper show yesterday, the same series we showed in during the summer (around the time of the Derby maybe?) Bremmy was absolutly fantastic!! We havn't done courses like that in a while, & it felt good! We were one second off optimum time in our first 2'6 class. But we ended up with third. The people that got 1st and 2nd were over 4 seconds from optimum time, but they were under and i was over. We misunderstood the judging behind optimum time, but it was a great course and thats what mattered to us! We got reserve champion for the day, and season in the 2'6 division. We also got champion for the day and season in the 3 foot division! Bremmy was a super star :] She learned the whistle que by the jump off in the 3 foot class and lept into action! She was being careful in her jump, but willing me to take turns and head to the jumps at crazy angles, she knew where she was going (it was the same course for all 6 classes, except for the jump off)!!  Meanwhile, i got lost twice...that was really upsetting. I also got lost last weekend in my medal class, on the LAST jump.Yesterday, I went to the wrong last jump in the 2'6 jump off, and skipped, then circled to the third jump in the first 3 foot class. None the less i was extremley pleased with how bremmy behaved, she loves it.

Brem really has improved so much, even from the summer. I guess my tone has done a complete 180 from last winter. Carlos asked me yesterday if Jumpers were my favorite, because he knew they were bremmys. I had to tell him that "no, i realy do love equitation, but its definitely more enjoyable to do jumpers on a horse that loves it then equitation on a horse that isn't having fun." I guess it doesn't matter what we do, as long as we're giving it our all and having fun, & Bremmy puts her heart into the jumpers so its hard not to have fun. This fall has started off in a much better place. Kerry is always there and has givin me so many opportunities to ride different horses, do more things, and meet new people. I dont need to find the perfect horse, I've got one that still has tricks up her sleeve and trainers to help me get where i need :] Its refreshing to say that!

Annie

the novelist :]"

Monday, Nov. 10th:

Click here - enough said!

Sunday, Nov. 9th:

Click this link for some pictures from Toronto last night. They came out pretty well for being taken indoors!

Saturday night, 3AM:

I know, I know, what nut updates websites at 3AM? But Meghan and I just got home from the Toronto horse show where we had a great time and I'm not particularly tired at the moment. We will post a number of pictures from the show tomorrow. It was terrific, and we got some good ideas for Longacres while we were there.

Also we had a phone message when we returned tonight that there might be a home for Boo. We'll keep our fingers crossed!

Friday night, late:

The video will be posted very soon! Enjoy a light hearted moment in Longacres history!

Meghan and I are off to Toronto tomorrow morning to spend a day at the Royal Winter Fair horse show. It's always fun and part of our "continuing education" in the horse business.

Thanks to Alexa and Griffin for writing us this week and helping to keep us from being too lonely for summer.

Good news - it looks like we are getting a new full season student for next season. Details to come later.

Click this link for a few pictures from today around the farm.

Below: Today's Video Clip

Friday, Nov. 7th:

Coming: A cute video of a Longacres "historic event" later today!

Wednesday, Nov. 5th:

Regardless of your politics, it is an interesting year. We have a front row seat to history being made.

Here at Longacres Indian Summer continues with another perfect day. I had a long flight with my model airplane on the way to breakfast. We'll be doing stone and cement work at the old pond dam this afternoon, trying to take best advantage of the final good weather days of the season.

Joel finished priming the new barn porch posts yesterday and Tom spent some time with the weed trimmer getting all the grass under the fences and next to the barn trimmed up so it will grow in evenly next spring. The place is looking very good!

Thank you Kelly and thank you Jaclyn for the nice emails. It's good to hear from you. We have not been getting so many messages from Longacres riders lately, so hearing from both of you cheered us up. November is quite a while after the end of the 2008 season and well before the 2009 season - it is the time of year when we get the fewest messages from our friends and customers. So if you DO write us this month, we read your messages at least twice (twice for EACH of us!!). Keep the news coming!

Monday, 11PM:

Here's a Longacres "Welcome" to new student, Jamie S. from North Carolina. Jamie is a 14 year old rider who will be with us for the first July session. She's got good riding and jumping experience and should fit right into our group. Meghan and I both had a chance to talk with Jamie on the phone last week and look forward to having her here next summer. Jamie's enrollment is the first official sign-up since the economy took such a beating last month. It's good to know that there are still horse loving girls out there who are in a position to sign up for horse camp!!!! Way to go, Jamie!

As of now, we have 24 returning students from this year and five riders coming to Longacres for the first time in 2009. Most sessions are about 75% full, with a wait list for Mother - Daughter week and just two spots for the second half of July. We were almost full in all sessions at this time last year, but this is not bad considering the tough times out there and the caution that all of us must take in making our plans.

Below is the YouTube link for "Tom & Meghan's Tractor Work Day"

Monday, Nov. 3rd:

If you're over 18, be sure to vote tomorrow. Whatever your choice, voting is a great privilege and a duty. If you're not an adult yet, think about how you'd vote if you were old enough, and why.

Here at Longacres we're having our "Indian Summer" this week. Just wonderful weather the next few days! We worked outside much of the day, some on our trails projects and some on drainage and landscaping near the main bathroom building below the dining hall. We're doing lots and lots of work on drainage, roads, trails, and other infrastructure here at the farm this fall.

Every other year, we treat ourselves to a long RV trip out west after the summer show season. This year was our year to stay home and work, and we sure have! Later tonight we'll post a YouTube video of some of our work projects today, including some nice shots of tractor work. We dedicate the video to Sebastian, Ofelia's younger brother. He likes it when we have video of machines doing gnarly work!

Toronto?

Meghan and I go to the Royal Winter Fair horse show in Toronto almost every fall. We'll be there this Saturday night, November 8th, in case any of you are there. We'd love to say "hello". We know that some of you from this area go to the big show in Syracuse, also. We'll post the dates if some of you are getting together there.

New Year's Reunion:

Laura is thinking about coming all the way from New Jersey for our New Year's reunion, and "not-so-little Michelle" is also interested. If several of you plan on coming from a distance, we might make this a two night deal instead of just one. Let us know who is interested!

Sunday, Nov. 2nd:

Hi everyone! It was nice to hear from you, Michelle, and we hope you can come to the New Year's reunion. We will confirm the date soon, but likely it will include arriving at Longacres mid-day on December 30th, staying overnight, and leaving on New Year's Eve. We'll hope we have snow so we can give you all snowmobile rides around the farm. We'll visit some of our horses that are wintering near here, and maybe we can hitch up Diesel and have him pull us around on a sled or toboggan.

Note to Parents: We are doing some website updates that will include much more information about visiting Longacres and the East Aurora area during the summer. If any of you are interested in writing short "reviews" of your favorite local restaurants, places to visit, or motels and hotels or Bed & Breakfasts, please send them in. We want to have some better information for first time families visiting their Longacres students.

Click this link for some new pictures from this morning.

Saturday, November 1st:

It was a quiet day at Longacres. We took a lazy Saturday morning, but then drove the truck over to the building supply store to pick up drain pipe and gravel. Joel put in a good half day installing new drainage near the bathrooms so if we have another wet summer, we won't see standing water in that area. Meghan caught up on house work which all gets postponed during the summer.

Me? What else, more work on new horse trails! We'll take a video of a tour of the trails soon and post it on YouTube.

There was very little wind today after quite a windy week, so I took advantage of the conditions and flew one of my model airplanes. Good fun! Then we were off to a movie. It was a pretty relaxing day.

We miss having the horses here, but yesterday we drove around and took a few pictures of Diesel and Boo at their winter homes. Click this link for some of the pics which I'll try to post later tonight.

Thursday, Oct. 29, late PM:

Meghan and I enjoyed a nice visit with my mother in Connecticut the past couple of days, but we're back at the farm tonight. We've got some good weather coming during the next week, so I'll be back out on the tractor with the chain saw building horse trails. Nights are getting cold here, though!

Watch our news posts for details about the possible New Years reunion at Longacres. Let us know if you might be interested in spending a night at Longacres between Christmas and New Years. We'd visit a few of our horses stabled close by and explore Longacres in the snow (hopefully a white Christmas!)

Monday, Oct. 27, 7PM:

Meghan's "Bummerfied"! That's her word for her sorrow this evening when she normally would have been on her way to the barn to care for the horses. But then she remembered that there are no horsies down at the barn - they've left for other winter stabling so we can turn off the water pumps and winterize our barn. We had a long run this fall caring for the horses and really getting to know our two new 2008 additions to the herd, Diesel and Boo. It was a good time.

Tom cleared lots more trail this afternoon. We're putting out an invitation for any of you to visit us the day before New Years, especially if there's snow. If there is, we'll give you all snowmobile rides around the farm and show you all the new trails. One of the trails I cleared today overlooks a beautiful waterfall with a cave under it that you rarely see walking around the camp. You get a great view of it from this new trail that loops around behind the old junior barn.

Tom & Meghan are visiting family Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and we won't be updating the website until we return Thursday night. "Unupdateless-ness" run rampant!

See you all soon!

Sunday, Oct. 26, 9PM:

Show Results: Congratulations to some Longacres students who had good success this weekend showing at home. Griffin S. won a 2nd, 3rd, and two 4th's at BTRC in Buffalo. Laura F. has Rocky at home in the New York City/New Jersey area, and she had many wins in this weekend's show. She got five firsts and numerous other ribbons, including a Champion and three Reserve Championships!! Nice going, Laura!

- - - More Trail Work! I promise not to tear up all the Longacres forests making my new trails. But I am on a roll taking advantage of the last of this year's good weather for working outside around the farm. I went back out on the tractor after dinner and squeezed in just a bit more trail work before dark. I finished the main loop over by the old Junior Barn. I almost nearly got the big tractor stuck down in the gulley where it might have spent the whole winter! But I managed to crawl it out in four wheel drive with the differential locked. I almost had to go get the other tractor and have Meghan drive one or perhaps the ATV to tow me out!

We are almost done with trail building for next year. We have just a little more to clear by a secondary loop next to the old Junior Barn, and we are going to clear an existing trail next to Dark Stranger cabin that has become overgrown and abandoned. That will do it. We'll have almost 40% more trail available for general trail riding than we had last summer.

Sunday, Oct. 26th:

Yeah! I finished the "unexplored wilderness trail" today! Fall of 2008 is becoming the year of trail building. In addition to the new "wilderness loop" trail, we're working on a whole new series of trails near the old junior barn/isolation barn. I just mapped out a new loop there this morning.

Meghan has learned the art of surveying and gets a kick out of it. I think I posted a picture of her a few days ago with surveyors tape and tools when she was helping me lay out the wilderness trail. She has a good sense of how to weave a trail through the trees without having to cut any larger trees.

We do want to certify to all of our "green" friends that no large trees were harmed during the creation of our new trail systems this fall. (Lots of thorn shrubs were harmed, but they got their revenge on me during the "fight"!)

More snow is due to fall at the farm this week. We'll report if any of it sticks, though we will be away visiting Tom's mother in Connecticut on Tuesday and Wednesday when snow is most likely.

Saturday, Oct. 25, 3PM:

Hi everyone. Meghan and I went to visit Quantum and Becka this morning at a show held at Brookfield Farms. Click this link for numerous pictures of Becka and some of her friends! Becka got a 6th in the Medal class and 2nd and 3rd in two jumper classes. In case you are wondering, Becka is very fond of Quantum and we're likely to see her now and then during the summer. She does a very nice job with "Q"!

I am becoming something of a "hard body" - at least as much as is possible for an old guy, as I throw logs ad brush around every day this week! I finished another two hundred feet of trail through heavy brush yesterday. I've got just one more session and about a hundred feet to go until I get to my "Golden Spike" spot where one end of my new trail meets the other.

Monday should be our last day of having horses at our barn this fall. We're moving our few remaining horses to be boarded at Anne's (who has had many Longacres horses over the years), and Mary's (we take her horses for training every summer). Meghan and I have had a lot of fun caring for horses much longer this fall than most years. We'll miss them after we close our barn for the winter this week. The timing is good since they are expecting a good chance of heavy lake effect snopw this week!

Wednesday, 10PM:

Here's a Longacres "Hello" to Gretchen S. and her daughter, and to Chelsea R., both of whom inquired about 2009 sessions this evening. We look forward to talking with you folks and answering your questions about Longacres. In these uncertain times for the economy, we're pleased to still be getting new inquiries for next summer!

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 6PM:

I am pretty beat up! This is the third day in a row of wielding chain saws and weed trimmers as I work my way through thickets of vines and thorn bushes cutting out new horse trails. I cleared about 500 feet of brand new trail today through heavy brush and many small trees. This new trail will loop off the "powerline trails" way over on the far loop trail that goes through the apple trees and the swampy area. It will be a new loop through land that we have never used before - pure wild forest and brush. Dozens of deer make their year round homes in this dense woods. Because this wooded area is so dense, we've seldom even walked through it. It's almost like an unexplored wilderness!

And way out in the farthest corner I found a sudden opening with a shaded clearing where the pine trees and scrub apple give way to a stand of tall Maples and Oaks. It is really pretty.

So, I have accomplished a LOT of work in the past couple of days. I feel good about that, even though every joint in my old body aches and I can barely move!!!! When I get going outside on this kind of project and the chainsaw is in my hands, I forget sometimes how old I am. After I come back inside and lay down to rest, I remember!!!!!!

Click this link for a couple of pictures taken on the new trail.

Wednesday, 8AM:

Meghan just called me from the barn where she is feeding to report that big fluffy snowflakes are falling, and that the horses are frisky and looking gorgeous as they snort and prance around waiting for their morning grain! One of the good moments in having horses on the farm.

Tuesday, Oct. 21. Noon:

Happy belated birthdays to Katie and Griffin! We think of you guys all the time since you came out to visit us two weeks ago. We hope you both had fun birthdays.

It's a dull, wet day here at the farm. The first snow of the season fell an hour ago as Meghan and I were walking some of the new trails. We hope to add another half mile or more of new trail by the time you guys come back to ride with us next summer. Click this link for a few pictures from this morning, some of the trails and some of Tom playing with his fire pump which he is carefully restoring for display in the "Longacres history museum".

Monday, 10AM:

Well, we know it is about time to close our barn for the winter when the forecast calls for snow flurries possible the next two nights! Indeed, with no winterized water at the barn, we'll have to place Patti, Boo, and Diesel at another barn beginning next week. We have a couple of prospects for affordable board, but no one to really adopt them for the winter the way we usually place our horses :(

Here's a Longacres "Hello" to Catherine and Mackenzie - Mackenzie is considering coming to Longacres from western Canada next summer. She still has to work out things like how to bring her own jumper 2000 miles so she can show with us! Good luck, Mackenzie, we hope things work out.

Around the farm today we're doing the final few projects outdoors like replacing barn porch posts before we hunker down for the long western New York winter. I'll be doing the final grass cutting, and then we may spend a few days laying in a supply of firewood for Meghan's downstairs office. One thing we have in abundance here at Longacres is firewood!

We hope your families are all doing as well as can be expected with your investments and the more cautious economy. Things are still looking generally pretty good here in western New York. We went to Galleria Mall Saturday and had to park farther out than ever before with long lines for the restaurants. But we are in an unusual situation in the Buffalo area; we have been a depressed area for a long time and our part of the country never had a big increase in real estate value like so much of the east and west coast saw. There was never an economic "bubble" here at all, so there is none to burst. I know that's not true for all of you.

Sunday, 4PM:

Below is the YouTube link showing Diesel "driving" - see the story lower on this page written by Diesel, himself!

Sunday, Oct. 19th, 2PM:

We had the coldest night of the fall season and there was more than "frost on the pumpkins"! It was COLD last night. But the horses were feeling fine when we fed this morning. It was a windless night and the sun was bright on their growing winter coats when Meghan fed, so they were happy.

Meghan and I took a little drive after breakfast (and after Tom flying model planes!). We went out the other side of town and looked at all the new windmills being erected on the ridges to our east. They look impressive on a nice fall day.

Then we returned to the farm and took a slow ATV ride through the trails making plans for more improvements to the trails for next year. The new gravel on the muddy trails behind Pegasus cabin is settling in and it will make for a much nicer ride from the barn to the trail system, especially in wet weather.

We also did some filling and grading of low spots and places where water collects along the barn drive and down in front of the barn. We also admired Joel's work on repairing some of the posts on the barn porch that had been rotting out underground so that the roof sagged a bit in a few places. We repaired two a couple of years ago and Joel is doing two posts this fall. That's four repaired posts done and only 76 more to go! That's one of the prices of being an old established riding school - stuff wears out and needs to be fixed.

Click this link for a few pictures from today.

Do remember to think about who might want to give Patti a winter home - she may be the last horse with no home, if we place Diesel and Boo with stables that have talked with Meghan the past few days. We have only ten days before we must close the barn for the season.

Friday, 10PM:

Diesel Says:

Hi everyone! Tom and Meghan have been "testing" me the past few days. Seems that they didn't quite believe that i know how to be driven in harness. Well, it has been a couple of years, but how hard does Tom think it is for a sensible horse like me to stop and go? Duh!

I think he posted pictures yesterday showing him walking proudly behind me showing off. Honestly, now, who was out in front? Who do you think REALLY know what they were doing in those pictures?

I thought I settled the question of knowing how to drive yesterday, but No-o-o-o-o-o, Tom wanted to play more games today. I saw him coming in the pasture gate, and I'll admit, I do like people and sociability, so I trotted down the pasture to meet him and lowered my head to let him slip the halter on. He gets a kick out of me doing that, but why wouldn't a sensible horse stick his nose down into the halter? Who wants to have their ears all beat up and crushed while some clumsy human stands on tip-toe to get a halter headstall on?

Well, Tom and I walked out the gate and into the barn. I kinda knew we were going to be doing more of the driving experiments, since Tom and Meghan were so whoopy-doo thrilled after I showed them my talents yesterday. So I wondered what kind of wagon or cart they might have for me to pull around today, and where they might get a draft horse harness on short notice.

You would NOT believe what Tom had sittin in the barn aisle when I walked in the barn door. A DOG SLED! I kid you not! This tiny little varnished wood sled dog thing right out of the Alaskan wilderness. Mind you, even though I have been spoiled this fall, with almost no work and lots of feed and hay and grass, and - - well, yes, I have a bit of a belly and some flab - - - I DO weigh over 2000 pounds and I CAN pull a pretty heavy load!

I thought that this dog sled thing was just one of Tom's jokes and he would show me the real cart or buggy in a moment. And where was my new harness?

Surprise number two: Tom puts me on the cross ties and comes back in a minute carrying a bunch of little ropes and a piece of old green canvass torn off the tarp covering the sawdust bedding pile. I turned my head to try to figure out what on earth he was doing. Well, Tom starts tearing up this grungy piece of canvas and tying various ropes to it. Then he puts the silly little dog sled in the barn aisle right behind me. I'm beginning to guess what's about to happen. Sure enough, Tom slips the canvas over my head so one piece is across my back and another wide piece of canvas is around my chest like a breast plate. A poor man's harness, if you will; a VERY poor man's harness! A decent piece of rope for me to pull against would have worked a lot better in my opinion, but Tom & Meghan pay the feed bills, so I kept my mouth shut. I didn't even snicker - nicker - whatever. And I think Tom had his heart in the right place. He didn't want rope cutting into my massive, rippling chest muscles, so he was at least trying. But I was beginning to figure that this project might end with some humor. Sure enough, Meghan shows up with a video camera, and I HOPE they got tape of what happened next.

Tom was patient, I'll give him that. First he led me out of the barn and kept stopping me and starting again. He led me all around the little ring by the barn with that dopey little dog sled following behind. I THINK he was worried that I might spook when the sled was following me. Is he nuts? A 2000 pound Belgian draft horse spook when a 25 pound spindly dog sled is behind me? Not like I haven't pulled REAL sleds and carts before!

So finally he gets all ready and his courage gets built up for the big event. He climbs onto the wimpy little dog sled, gives the reins a little shake and says, "Walk, Diesel." This I can do, though I have my doubts about how long this contraption of ropes and old grungy canvas will hold together!

Just like yesterday, Tom and Meghan practically wet their pants with excitement seeing that I can do what any decent draft horse does. I pull when I'm asked and I stop when I'm asked, even though I feel like an octopus is attacking me with all those little ropes and pieces of canvas rubbing against my sides and legs. Calling the "contraption" a harness would be very charitable. And sure enough, not ten seconds into our pulling demonstration, I hear this long, slow "ri-i-i-i-p" as the grungy canvas tears in half. Well, OK - I stop and just stand there waiting for these friendly humans to admit that they are very bogus harness makers! They are all excited again just because I stop and patiently wait for them to do something. What else did they expect me to do? Frak out or something? Don't they know my personality by now? It takes a lot to bother me very much!

I realize that they have taken a few pictures, and maybe you will find them at this link, if Tom isn't too embarrassed to post them. But in this case, I think maybe a thousand words are better than the picture. I KNOW that Tom is too embarrassed to post the video, but maybe Meghan will sneak into the computer room and put it on YouTube later tonight.

- Diesel

Thursday, midnight:

Sorry I didn't get the update earlier for you. But you'll have it when you log in on Friday. Click this link for the new Diesel pictures. I know, I know, we may be overdoing the Diesel stories, but I am having a lot of fun with him and I continue to be impressed with this horse.

When we bought Diesel this spring we were told that he had been trained to drive more than two years ago. We weren't sure just how much training he had or what he could do. So we just did our thing all summer working on his basic riding training and starting him jumping. We pretty much forgot that he was supposed to be a driving horse.

Well, Anne Handy came over to look at him today to see if she might be able to give him a home over the winter. Anne has had many Longacres horses for the winters over the years, including Patti. And - - she has a driving horse of her own (Hannibal). So she was more than a little curious about what Diesel might remember of his experiences two or more years ago in harness.

So just to see if he had any idea at all of how to behave in a driving situation, I put a long lead rope on one side of his halter and a longe line on the other, walked back behind him, gave the reins a little shake, and said, "walk". - - - And he walked - - and turned - - and stopped - - and backed- - and trotted; ALL with nothing but a halter and two ropes! He couldn't have behaved any better if he had just come out of a harness training program. We are definitely going to get a harness and have some fun next summer. We probably won't have a fancy varnished show carriage, but we'll figure out something that he can pull.

The fact that I have been doing a lot of ground work with Diesel the past few weeks probably helped him remember his driving training. If Meghan and I have time tomorrow we'll take a little video of him being "driven" and post it on YouTube.

Enjoy the pictures as much as Meghan and I enjoyed the surprise of finding out how well Diesel behaved when we long lined him!

Thursday, 6PM:

We had an exciting afternoon! We tried something new and it went better than we could have hoped. Pictures and story to come later tonight!

Thursday, Oct. 16th, noon:

Click this link for a few pictures from this morning. It poured rain here overnight - perhaps the most rain we've had right here at Longacres all summer and fall. The pictures are mostly of the creeks pouring water over the new road crossings that Joel has spent so much time improving this fall. His work is paying off - no damage at all from this big rain event.

It's a gray, dreary day at Longacres, and after we do some light maintenace work around the farm to clean up from the rain, we might just take the afternoon off and go to a movie! After we show Diesel to Anne, of course! Horse stuff comes first. We do ask you all at home to sit for a few minutes sometime this week and see if you can think of a stable near you that might want Patti, Boo, or Diesel for the winter (if Anne doesn't take him). We are getting close to the time we have to close our barn for the winter, and something has to be done with these few remaining horses.

"What is it?" contest winner is Griffin & her dad Mike. They correctly identified the "What is it?" picture as a water pump, even though it looks a lot like some kind of motor. To be more specific, it is a high pressure three cylinder fire truck pump. It is significant to the history of Longacres because if it weren't for this particular pump, we would have no dining lodge building at Longacres!

Back in the late 1970's and early 1980's Longacres owned a fully operational fire truck that we had purchased surplus from our local fire department. We used it to water horse show rings and to clean out the old swimming pond. During the middle of the night one spring, my phone rang and a neighbor told me our dining hall was on fire, with flames pouring out the windows. (we had rented the dining hall to a girl scout troop for the weekend before the summer season, and the refrigerator they used overheated after they left, starting the fire)

I called the fire department, and then remembered that I had been testing our own fire truck as part of spring maintenace that day and that it was full of water. I ran out, jumped in the truck, and drove down to the dining hall. I began pumping water and was fighting the fire for a full eight minutes before the real fire department arrived and they took over.

The fire marshalls who inspected the building after the fire was out told me that from the charring on the dining hall ceiling they could tell that we would have lost the whole building if I had got there just two minutes later.

As it was, we lost the separate wing of the building that once housed the kitchen. It was burned out completely. For those of you from the present, I'll explain that the small storage room between the dish room and the driveway used to be much larger and once housed a large kitchen. The part of our dining hall that is now the kitchen was just additional seating area for dining use back then.

When we eventually junked the fire truck we saved the fire pump as an important relic from the history of Longacres!

Wednesday, 8PM:

Today's pictures are now posted at this link. I hope I have explained them well enough so that you can visualize where the new trails will be next summer. These "new", or recently revived trails will add quite a bit of new riding area and will let you get to the old hunt course without going out on the road at all.

Wednesday, Oct. 15, 3PM:

(Today's pics here )

Another fine day at Longacres and Meghan and I just got back to the house after spending two hours out on the trails just enjoying the farm and making some plans for next year. If you've been reading this space the past few days, you know that I've been out working on the existing trails filling in muddy spots and trimming the brush back.

But yesterday and today I worked on trails that will be new to most of you. Shelly, Mandy, and Lillian probably have ridden them, but they have been closed for the past couple of years because of a washed out creek crossing that made them hard to get to. They run from the old hunt course down to what we sometimes call the "Old Junior Barn", or the "Quarantine Barn". Meghan and I have figured out a new way to access these trails that will open up a whole new trail loop next summer and give you access to the old hunt course without riding on the road. Click this link for pictures from today, including a tour of the new set of trails. (The pictures won't be posted until mid evening.)

Speaking of pictures, I think we should be able to come up with a few for tonight. We only took 700 pictures today! OK, about half of them were of Tom flying his model airplane, since the camera was set on high speed and Meghan often took 20 in a row to try to get one good one!

You will see pictures in today's album of that Old Junior Barn. We only use it occasionally now as an isolation or quarantine barn if we have a sick horse. But it has a lot of history from the early days at Longacres. It was the only barn we had back then and all the horses were kept outdoors in pipe stalls, which you will also see in the pictures. It has an upstairs hay loft, and you can - - well, imagine some of the stories that loft could tell if it could talk!

Anyway, we are sentimental about that barn and we're considering moving it to a more convenient spot on the farm and refurbishing it to use as a maintenance equipment barn, something that we could use now. It will require partially dismantling the building and moving it about 1/4 mile. Quite a project, but something we're likely to do in the spring.

Tuesday, 10 PM:

I just got back to the house after spending some time at the barn in the full moonlight. I went into the pasture and said "hello" to my buddy, Diesel. He wasn't as eager for human company as he usually is - he was still pretty fixated on his evening ration of hay! But he looked great in the moonlight with his very clean long mane (thanks Griffin and Katie!).

Patti and Boo were also enjoying eating.

It was a nice surprise to come back to the house after enjoying the moon to find an email from Leslie Anne with an appropriate poem:

Dear Tom and Meghan,

A poem for you:

Through the woods, down the path, down the bridle path.

Aglow from the brilliant moon.

Leaves red in the night, leaves orange in the light

of the brilliant, brilliant moon.

Out the gate, to the pasture, the grasses sprawl wide.

Shimmery, silvery dew

I am lost in the rays, that call me away

to that brilliant, brilliant moon.

Back to the path, through the woods to the stables,

the beams light the windows and stalls

And there they stand guard as they stare through the bars

at the brilliant, brilliant moon.

Lost in the rays, that call them away

to that brilliant, brilliant moon.

Warmly,

Leslie

(Leslie Ann McCulloch)

- - And a nice message from Laura and Rocky:

Rocky and I jumped 3 feet! I asked my trainer how high the warm-up jump was (it looked bigger than the 2' 9" ones in the jumper ring) and she replied that it was "just over 3 feet" with a shrug, like it was no big deal. Now, I know that isn't as impressive as Leslie and Max's 3' 6", but I'm getting there! We got a champion in jumpers, a reserve in working hunter (2' 6") and actually didn't do so well in the green hunters. She knew we weren't green. I got two firsts, a bunch of seconds, two thirds, a fourth, and a fifth!

We do have a few pictures from around the farm today at this link. Between working and hiking the trails with my camera, I spent quite a bit of time in the woods today. Because I am a bit of a photographer, I sometimes become fixated on capturing everything on film. I'll sometimes rush back to the house to get a camera if I see a beautiful scene around the farm. But most of today was a mellow and more subtle fall day with an intermittent light rain. It was still unusually warm and we had more wind than in recent days, so the leaves were coming off the trees like snow flakes when a gust of wind came up.

So I tried to forget photography most of the time. I spent a period of time just sitting in the woods on my tractor and watching the falling leaves. It was a good time.

We had some possibly very good news tonight about a home for Diesel. Anne Handy has been a friend of Longacres for many years. She has experience with driving horses, owning a draft horse mix, "Hannibal", that she sent to Longacres a few years ago. We taught him to jump that summer. Anne has also sent her horse, Sady, to Longacres, and she has taken Longacres horses before. She is coming to look at Diesel day after tomorrow and might board him for us right next to Hannibal. Everyone cross your fingers that this will work out - it would be a great place for Diesel to winter!

Tuesday, Oct. 14:

OK - everyone's rich again. You can resume sending in 2009 deposits! Seriously, it was nice to see the big stock market rally yesterday, but I am sure we are in for a long and bumpy ride as the economy readjusts. We've continued to have new inquiries about our remaining spots for next year, but no one has sent in a deposit for a couple of weeks. I don't blame you - I would wait a while to see if things settle down a bit before I committed to a sizable expenditure like summer camp!

One of our uploads failed a couple of weeks ago and we've just fixed it. If you want to see what a "Mud Race" is all about, click this link. Meghan and I used to spend a lot of our time in the spring and fall managing these events. We visited this one near Ithaca recently to see old friends.

We're still busy around the farm this week clearing and improving trails, and working on replacing some weak posts on the barn porch. Meghan is also working hard trying to find places to board Diesel, Patti, and Boo when we close our barn in two weeks. (Anyone have a barn nearby with open stalls and inexpensive board?)

Monday, Oct. 13th, 8PM:

Another fine day in western New York! Joel worked all weekend repairing part of the carriage house cottage roof (pictures here). Tom spent most of the afternoon moving gravel into the woods to get rid of the chronic mud holes on the horse trail behind Pegasus and clearing brush along the other trails. Meghan worked putting ads in the papers and calling around to various farms trying to find homes for Diesel, Patti, and Boo.

We do thank all of you out there who have tried to help us find homes for the horses. We had nine horses with no winter home at the end of the summer and we're down to only three left homeless, so we are making progress - and we owe a lot to our friends who have helped get the word out!

There is a perfect full moon out tonight, so after dark Meghan and I drove down to the barn and spent a little time just watching the horses munch in the moonlight. It reminded us so much of the summer when Meghan and I often spent time with some of you during moonlight rides. We remember Kelly and Ruby and many others riding and even jumping in the moonlight!

As we were leaving the barn and had just turned on the car lights, we saw a deer on the show field. As he crossed in front of us we saw that he was a large stag with impressive antlers. (And we saw a fx at the barn last night - quite the wildlife this week!)

Then before heading back to the house, I surprised Meghan with a stop at Kone King, since we were already reminiscing about the summer. (She had a Butter Finger Twister!)

We've got one more quite warm day before true fall weather returns later in the week.

News: Leslie and Max have a new trainer and she jumped 3'6" recently. Way to go, Leslie.

We're going to begin rotating new pictures at the top of this page, and today's "Meghan choice picture" is of Boo and Amanda at Erie County Fair.

Sunday, 9PM:

We wish today would never end. It's been so nice out that we had a long list of stuff we wish we still had time to do after the sun went down! Fortunately tomorrow is still going to be a fine warm day so I can get the work done grading and improving the horse trail behind Pegasus, finish what might be the final trimming of the grass around the farm this fall, (fly my model plane again! - thanks, Derrick!) and so much more fun stuff. I just asked Meghan what she planned for tomorrow, and she says she's starting very early and feeding the horses when the sun comes up because there is a very special atmosphere in the pasture at sunrise. Then she's going to "boogey around the farm on the ATV" (her words), and make time to visit the bench by the creek - maybe even with a book!

This kind of fall makes you feel very grateful to be living and working and playing on a horse farm!

Sunday, Oct. 12th, 1PM:

Thanks again to Griffin, Katie, and the rest of you who came out to help with the horses and ride yesterday. The picture album is now posted at this link and the YouTube video is posted below.

We don't know if an "Indian Summer" has to be in November, but whatever this grand fall weather is called, we'll take it! The fall foliage is getting close to peak and it is in the 70's today and tomorrow. Just a grand time of year. I wish these days could be 20 hours long, since I have lots of things I like doing in these conditions. I'm getting my model airplane flying sessions in almost every morning and evening when the wind gets light. I've mowed nearly every inch of grass on the farm and we're been out improving the trails. Meghan and I get in at least one short foliage viewing drive every day. Life is good!

Horse Still Need Homes:

We do not have homes for Patti, Diesel, or Boo yet. The prospects we had last week have not worked out, so if you know anyone who might like one of these good horses as a trail horse, general riding horse, lesson horse, or just as a pasture buddy for your horse, call us! We have to close our barn in three weeks when it starts to freeze regularly, and we'll have to begin paying board on any of the horses left with no home. If you would consider taking one or two to your farm at a low board to help us out, that might work, too.

Saturday, Oct. 11th, 6PM:

We had a great time at the
Give Diesel a Bath Party" today! Some of the regulars from the area who might have come went to the Genessee Steeplechase races instead, but we had a fine time with Griffin, Katie, Uncle Billy, Katie's mom, Griffin's mom, a new girl interested in exercising the horses named Lauren, and her friend Margie. There were lots of hands to help bath horses and plenty of help to exercise them!

Griffin and Katie were especially helpful during the Diesel bath! (We all got wet!)

We'll post many pictures at this link a little later this evening and we'll be adding a YouTube link for the video we took. The horses were great. Boo had a little stubborn streak in the middle of the ride but Lauren got him over it and Katie did very well on him at the end. Griffin also did a good job when she got on him at the start of the ride. Katie and Griffin both rode Diesel - wait till you see the pictures and video!

Thursday, 10PM:

"What is It?" - Click this link for a few pictures I took today. Three of them are of an "object" that's been at Longacres for some time off in a corner. Do you know what it is? It had a significant part in the history of Longacres at one time. Show your dad or a guy friend the picture and see if he has any ideas - or NOT if you're a mechanical chick!

"Great Pumpkin Party?"

Anyone interested in a "Great Pumpkin Bombing Party"? A few years back we hosted a pre-Holloween Party at Longacres for our western New York friends and horse show people. Everyone brings a pumpkin or two and the grand finale of the party is the "Pumpkin Bombing Contest" - you throw your pumpkin off the 40' tall deck outside our office room down onto the slate creek bed. We have a target and a prize for the most accurate throw, the most disgusting noise upon impact, and prizes for the smallest, biggest, and cutest pumpkins! We're thinking of Thursday or Friday evening, October 16th or 17th. Anyone interested? All Summer Series people and friends of Longacres welcome!

Thursday, 3PM:

Join us for the "Give Diesel a Bath Party" at 1PM this Saturday!

It's supposed to be sunny and in the mid 70's Saturday, so Meghan and I are planning to give Diesel a bath and play with him some after lunch. If any of our western New York friends want to stop by and help, you're invited. Wear something you don't mind getting wet!

If you'd like to ride while you're here, we'd be glad to have Boo get some exercise, (or Patti) so bring your saddle or use one of ours. Longacres is beautiful at this time of the fall, so feel free to take a walk or bring a picnic lunch.

Thursday, noon:

Meghan always checks the horses over in pasture when she feeds to make sure none have any new cuts or problems. They seem to like the attention! This morning after haying they were all contentedly munching so Meghan walked to the end of the fence where Boo was in his usual all alone spot. She was going over him first as he ate, when suddenly she heard, "CLUMP, CLUMP, CLUMP", and turned to see Diesel trotting up. He was jealous that Boo was getting attention and actually left his hay pile to come over and push Boo out of the way so that Meghan would pay attention to him.

Meghan checked Diesel out and he was then happy to go back to munching hay. Then she went back to finish checking Boo and they weren't disturbed again - - - Patti is much more independant and was very content to just eat while Meghan paid attention to the other horses.

It's a lovely fall day here at Longacres. We went for a short drive after breakfast out east of town to an area where a massive windmill farm is being built. Wow! They are doing serious work! There were huge trucks with oversize loads of windmill blades moving all over and cranes everyplace. They are interesting things to watch and I'm glad they will be close by for occasional little drives. But I'm just as happy that they are not in our back yard!

Tuesday, 10PM:

Canteen refund checks for "Lazy Days" week are at the post office. Thanks again for your patience!

Meghan spent the day doing the accounting and writing checks, slowed down briefly by a computer glitch. But we have good backups, so no real problem. (Our Data Tech Department (Tom!), keeps six external hard drives with backups of all our files and pictures. Some connected to our network and others in different locations.)

Tom spent the day working on improving the drainage and spreading new gravel on the trail behind Pegasus bunk where it crosses the creek and goes up towards the power line trails. On a dry summer this is good, dry trail. But in a wet summer like we just had, it is very muddy as you all knw=ow. It will now be much better next year!

Tuesday, Oct. 8, 10AM:

We are going to do our little bit to stimulate the economy today - we're finally going to get the refund checks in the mail to the ten families who have been so patient about getting their refunds of left over spending money from "Lazy Days" week. We are very embarrassed about the long delay. Meghan, Cheryl, and Ashley worked hard on spending money accounting this summer and rarely took more than three or four days after each session to enter the various expenses and send out refunds.

But when we finished the season at the end of August we were tired, and the challenge of finding winter homes for nearly half our horses faced us. So we procrastinated on your refunds for that final session. Today we have set aside everything else and the checks will be mailed by midnight tonight - we will report when it is done! Thanks again for being patient about our slovenly efforts! If you have forgottan that you have some money coming back to you, go out and spend it to boost the economy!

Monday, midnight:

Below is the informal video Meghan and I took of our time at the barn today. Be sure to watch all the way through to the final few minutes where Diesel follows Tom like a puppy with no halter on!

Monday, 9PM:

HI again,

We're still working on the YouTube film from today. You will like seeing Meghan taking care of the horses and Tom playing with Diesel. Diesel started following Tom around even after we took his halter and lead rope off. He even broke into a trot following Tom with no halter on! Very cute.

We did get the picture albums from yesterday and today properly loaded. Yesterday's is at this link. Today's is at this link. Enjoy. The video will be late tonight or tomorrow morning.

Monday, Oct. 6th, 11AM:

We've had a lot of correspondence the past day or two. We got a long letter from Mike and Hannah about Horatio's new home. Thanks, Mike, and we hope you're feeling better Hannah! This morning I got a very nice message from Robyn, who rode Quantum so well this summer.

And a Longacres "Hello" goes out to Liz, Joey & Maddy, Jamie,Margo, Tabitha & Tabitha's friend, all of whom have been talking with us this past week about 2009 sessions at Longacres. We hope Longacres works out for you guys! You all sound like properly horse loving people who would fit in here.

This morning we stopped by at Quakerfield to visit Merlin, Brownie, Ginger, and Brody. They all look fat and happy at their winter home. We had a good talk with Amber and Diane, and they told us how the horses were doing. Brody is being ridden by Cassidy, who really likes him and does a good job with him!

We've got some small pictures from Quakerfield and will post them at this link later today. We're also going to take some video of Meghan feeding, and hopefully I'll have time to get that up on YouTube by tonight! It was cold here this morning, the traditional late fall "Frost on the Pumpkins" kind of morning! The horses in pasture were VERY glad to see Meghan with their morning feed as they warmed up in the bright sunshine!

Sunday, Oct. 5th, 10 PM:

I REALLY like Diesel! I had some free time today, so I decided to go down to the barn alone and work with the big guy for a bit. This is an amazing animal! He so likes people and attention and so wants to please.

I went out in the pasture and he walked up to meet me as I carried his halter and a lead rope. Many horses don't want to be caught unless it's feeding time. No such problem with "big boy". I reached out with the halter and he seems to know how big he is and that no normal person could reach up to put the halter over his ears if he is standing tall. He bent his great big head down and actually burrowed his nose into the noseband of the halter. I was fumbling a little with the head stall, but he kept his head down until I managed to get it over his ears.

He was filthy from rolling and lying down in pasture the past week while he has been out all the time. I spent about half an hour crawling all around his massive legs and standing on the mounting ladder to curry his back and rump. He thoroughly enjoyed the attention. I got most all of the caked on mud and dirt off, but he really needs a bath - which he may get in another day or two when it warms up a bit. There was about a quarter of an inch of dirt all over the concrete floor at the front of the barn when I was done!

I took him out to the lawn and played around leading him and stopping him. This is where his eagerness to please really shows up. He's one of the few horses I've worked with that trots the instant you break into a jog yourself, with no extra encouragement. And he is so gentle and careful of people (not that he didn't step on a few Longacres riders last summer!). When I was trotting him on a lead, if I stopped and said, Whoa, he instantly comes to a dead stop. Meghan came down later and laughed when I showed her. We'll take some video in a few days and post it.

Then I did some longing. He has been lounged to the right before - he is pretty OK with that. But he doesn't understand what's expected when you try to get him going to the left. He gets frustrated and just stops and looks at me and gets a littel scared of the lounge whip if I try to use it to move him left. Going clockwise is fine.

I am really looking forward to finishing this fine animal's training next summer. All he needs is some very consistant riding and training, so he knows what we want from him.

I know that many of you found him to be very hard work to ride last summer. It's not because he is lazy or bad or the slightest bit mean. He just doesn't know what we want him to do a lot of the time.

I had fun today. This is a great animal. Thanks to Hannah, Amanda, Rachael, and the others who did like him and took extra time to work with him and train him this past summer. Your work is already paying off and we'll finish it in 2009!

- Tom (Diesel admirer!)

Sunday, October 5th, noon:

If the "Sky is Falling", it hasn't hit the ground yet!

Wow! What a week to be traveling out of the country up in Canada! (We had a great time.) But we were constantly listening to CNN and watching the evening news about the economy.

After listening to some of the politicians and many of the commentators, we wondered if there would be any economy at all in the United States when we returned. Would all our remaining horses have to stay at Longacres all winter? Would half of you who are already signed up for 2009 have emailed and told us you had to withdraw your reservation for next summer? Would new customer prospects have dried up completely? Well, no.

Instead, when we got to the US border two nights ago and could check our email and phone messages, we found nothing but good news. Thanks to several of YOU helping spread the word, we have prospects for winter homes for every horse but Patti. No one has yet told us they need to cancel a 2009 reservation (though we know that still might happen). Best of all, we have had SIX new serious inquiries about 2009 sessions from brand new prospects!

Yesterday as we drove through Syracuse we stopped at the large Carousel Mall. We could barely find a parking spot and it was jammed with shoppers. Many of them carrying shopping bags with purchases. Maybe money is really about to dry up and people are just out spending the last of what they've got before the big crash. But our first impressions after watching the US economy supposedly disintegrate while we traveled the past 9 days are that most of us are still going about our lives managing to do the things we like to do. More carefully, hopefully, but still living and enjoying life.

So if the "Sky is Falling", really, it hasn't hit the ground yet!

Or, as Meghan said as we walked the crowded Syracuse mall after answered all our new email camp inquiries, "Depression, my a$$!"

We are at the farm and available to answer any messages or questions from all of our readers. We will have many updates in the next few days. Click this link later this afternoon for some pictures taken around the farm today!

(PS - We do not mean to make light of financial hardships and sacrifices that some will certainly endure - but many of you are doing well so far, we are glad to report!)

Sunday, Oct. 5, 3PM:

There is lots more news to report from Longacres, so check back frequently this week. Besides the good news that we had six new families inquire about Longacres this past week, we are very encouraged about next year's staff. We had some very good counselors and instructors this past summer, but we also had some turnover and a few other issues with staff that were disruptive during a part of the season.

We're already making arrangements for what we think will be an excellent 2009 staff that has a lot of continuity from this year. Experience at Longacres is very useful! Cheryl will be back for her third year running our food service. She is doing more and more for Meghan outside of her position feeding us. She's been doing more and more of our office work, handles customer relations things like giving rides to the airport, and this year she took over the job of head horse show secretary. A VERY useful person at Longacres! Joel's Maintenance Service started doing just that kind of work for Meghan two years ago, but each season he's getting more involved in other aspects of our operation and is now feeding and looking out for the horses along with all his other work. He'll be back for a third year.

We're pretty sure that Ashley will return to her multifaceted job of secretary, "horse show mom", and all around booster of morale. It will be her third year.

Taylor Murphy will return in an expanded role. She did mostly behind the scenes work this year painting jumps, helping with repairs, and anything else where she was needed. Taylor got to know many of you pretty well towards the end of the summer, and we like her attitude. She is going to be working more directly with all of you as a counselor and another responsible adult on the staff in addition to all her behind the scenes work.

Three of our best Counselors in Training from 2008, Alexa, Hannah, and Carly, have all expressed an interest in returning as regular counselors and they were each outstanding. Each of them spent a good part of this past summer at Longacres, kept their cool, had great work ethic, and were NICE! We will be offering all three jobs - we just have to work out the details.

Shelly, Mandy, and Lillian were also outstanding, of course, and would be welcomed back at Longacres, but we don't know if they are going to be available. We'll make them offers.

So, you can see that we already have a good line on a very strong staff for 2009. We feel good about this.

Thursday, late evening:

Click this link for a small picture album. Meghan and I are not extreme environmentalists, but we do appreciate the lovely surroundings at Longacres and we from time to time give each other small presents representing the grace and beauty of nature. Often it's something like an especially clean and symmetrical acorn. This afternoon Meghan handed me the Maple leaf in the photo album, an early example of the great things to come in the woods very soon now!

Bobert:

JoAnne and Meghan have come to know each other quite well during the trial period for Diesel and the arrangements for her taking Bobert. JoAnne is becoming a regular addict to the website (Hi, JoAnne!) Now she's considering taking a second Longacres horse to help us out and give her another horse to ride with her family over the winter. JoAnne and Meghan were joking earlier this evening about Bobert not being one of the most fancy show horses at Longacres, but JoAnne was defending Bobert for his fine character and how safe he is. So, JoAnne, we found a couple of pictures we took of Bobert this summer when he WAS being a fine show horse with Stephanie in the saddle. Check out his ribbons at this link!

Diesel Gets Re-aquainted!

Try this link later tonight for a simple YouTube video of Diesel the first time we turned him back out with his friends after he had been away for a week at JoAnne's. He was having fun!

Thursday, Sept. 25th:

Lots of news today:

Noreen and Amber from Quakerfield stopped by this morning and we all had a nice visit. They are taking Brownie and they already have Merlin and Ginger, so Quakerfield is fast becoming "Longacres West"! They do a fine job with their students and we're glad to have our horses with them.

More news from Quakerfield is that Noreen's fine 12 year old gelding, "Cavanaugh Classic" (Calvin) is for sale. Noreen has done everything with this fine animal but now is concentrating on an up and coming new horse. Longacres can vouch for Calvin - we've known him for years. He will not be inexpensive, but if you know someone in the market for a first class show horse that can go anywhere and do it all, give us a call or contact Quakerfield directly. Tell them you heard about Calvin on the Longacres website.

Meghan and Tom are headed up to Canada for a short week's vacation. We will check our answering machine every day and will try to get email every couple of days. But we might not get back to you for two days if you try to reach us. We will update the website a couple of times at this link.

It is the old "Roadtrip" file we use when we're traveling.

Bobert is doing well with JoAnne, the Sheriff lady who tried Diesel. She is thinking of taking a second Longacres horse. She really liked Brownie, but we had already promised him to Quakerfield. So she's thinking about Boo and Brody. Pretty soon we'll be down to just Diesel and Patti left at Longacres!

Wednesday, Sept. 24:

Click this link if you want to see the aftermath of a serious model airplane crash - boo-hoo! It should all glue back together.

The horses are doing fine and we thank all of you who are helping spread the word trying to find homes for Boo, Brody, Brownie, Patti, and Diesel. A couple of friends of Longacres in our area are counting up their hay supply to see if they can give a home to one of our left overs. Two girls who used to take Brownie in the winter many years ago are coming tonight to look at Boo and Brody. Things are looking up!

Joel is doing a great job on the decorative stone walls on the sides of the creek crossing we've been working on this week. It should look very nice for you all next summer when you walk from the dining hall to the barn.

We drained the summer water system on the farm today. Once upon a time that job took a full day. We've added lots of new drain valves and now we can do it all in about an hour. The fun part will always be the same - taking every last drop of water out of the toilets with little paper cups and sponges! But it has to be done so the winter freeze doesn't break the pipes and toilets. During the next two weeks we have to put all the winter shutters up on the dining hall windows and lock all the buildings. The barn will be the last building shut up for the season, since we expect to have horses here until the end of October!

Tuesday, sept. 23, 1PM:

Click this link for a pot pouri album of fine fall day pictures taken around Longacres this morning. Supply your own captions and let me know if you can identify most of the pictures.

Below is the e-mail from Justin!

Hi Tom and Meghan!  

I'm loving my new winter home this year.   Bonnie and Heather are taking such good care of me here, making sure I get a visit every day, I'm fed well, my stall is clean and I have the latest fashion in my outerwear.  I've made lots of friends who like to give me treats as they walk by, and new friends to swoosh my tail at in the field. 

I have these girls completely fooled into thinking I needed a rest for a few weeks, and I've been giving them all sorts of things to test them with and see just how much they will do for me.........

First I wasn't allowed to play with the other horses until this mean lady came and stuck me with a needle (I made lots of faces at her for that!).   Bonnie kept hanging out with me in the pasture - but she doesn't swish her tail like the other horses so it just wasnt' the same.   She also went with me for rides around the grounds so I could get to know the area better, I liked that alot - especially the big green field where I can run, and over by the pear tree's where the girls pick pears for me. 

A bug flew into my eye and it hurt so much I had to keep my eye shut and it watered alot.   Heather noticed it right away and got some special gel that Bonnie put into my eye a couple times a day (she kept muttering something about one eyed willie, I tried to tell her my name is Justin but she doesn't speak horse very well).   Even though I gave Bonnie a difficlut time about it, the gel felt good and made me feel much better.

Last week my foot started to hurt, alot.   A nice man came and took my shoe off and lots of goo came off with it.  Bonnie was out of town, but Heather came by every day to gently soak my hoof in nice warm water and put a nice lotion on to help me feel better.   Then she put a diaper on my hoof and closed it up with ducktape!!!     Although I liked the attention I got, the other horses made fun of me for my diaper/ducktape shoe.  The other girls at the barn helped out too when Heather wasn't around - making sure I didn't take my 'diaper' off and keeping me from getting my foot dirty the way I like it.  

Needless to say - Bonnie and Heather passed my test - So now - I'm looking forward to getting back into the ring and taking them for rides around the grounds.  

Oh - I've made lots of new friends here at the barn too..     I see Amy and Annette just about every day and they love to keep my stall clean and give me my favorite foods and treats too!   Donna, Betsy and Mary are around alot to see some of my other buddies around here and always stop to say 'Hi' and have treats to share with me.   In the field I've made good friends with Jag, who's retired now, but he tells me he used to compete in shows around the world and has been called a 'world champion'.   I think he might be bragging a bit, but I like him anyway, he's fun to hang out with around the hay in the field and does a great job swooshing flies off my face without poking my eye's out.   Squirt Gun, Prince, and Doodles are a few of my other pasture buddies too.  

I'll ask Bonnie or Heather to take my picture in my new place so that I can send it to you soon.   

Hope all is going well at Longacres and your not missing me too much!

- Justin 

Tuesday, Sept. 23rd, noon:

Hi Girls and Boys! Wow! Fall is a fine time to be alive and living on a horse farm. And this fall is a great one so far at Longacres. We're in the middle of a long string of cool nights and warm, sunny days. It should be a good year for fall foliage, and we're just starting to get some color in the trees here at Longacres. If any of you want to stop by some evening or weekend and take a walk through all our trails, you're very welcome. If we're here, we'll join you. Meghan is at the barn with Joel, the farrier, trimming the horses we have left.

And THANK YOU! - Many of you have been making calls and putting us in touch with possible winter homes for our remaining horses. We had Bobert leave yesterday with JoAnne who had been trying Diesel. Patti might have a home with a guy who wants to just trail ride, and we have inquiries about Boo and Brody from both local people and stables that Ofelia and Laura put us in touch with. Plus Griffin's family has some ideas. Thanks to all of you! In the meantime, we are really enjoying having the horses here during this fine fall weather. I am especially enjoying having Diesel back for the fall - he is such a joy to have around. I took video of him running out into the pasture when he first returned to Longacres yesterday. We was so glad to be greeting his old pasture buddies. He jumped and bucked a bit - it will be on YouTube later tonight.

Justin' s Message!

Tonight I will also post a long letter we got from Justin, the horse. No kidding. It is hilarious and heart warming at the same time!

Mr. Skunk:

Longacres critters come out of the woods after you all go home at the end of the season, and Joel and I have been watching a very bold skunk forage for food near our jobsite pouring the new concrete over the culvert pipes. I'll try to get some pictures for you - try this link later today.

Monday, Sept. 22nd:

Hi Griffin!

Griffin lives right in East Aurora, and she has offered to help exercise horses also. Thanks, Griffin! Now all we have to do is fit everyone's schedules together and maybe we can have some alumni horse days at Longacres this fall. In the meantime,

EVERYONE THINK ABOUT Winter Horse Homes!

$50 Reward for a Winter Home!

Longacres still has six horses to place at adoptive "winter homes". It is time for us to start thinking outside the box. Put your thinking caps on and let us know if you have any ideas about what to do to find homes for some very nice horses for the winter! Just for fun, we'll offer $50 Rewards if anyone puts us in contact with a stable or individual that takes one of our remaining horses, or we'll give the reward to you if you take one yourself. $50 does not go far towards caring for a horse, but it's the idea that counts - just something new to encourage you to help spread the word that some of your good horse friends at Longacres have no place to stay this winter.

We have been feeling pretty sad about that recently, until we spoke with the owner of another horse camp that usually sends all their horses out to winter homes just like we do. They have 19 horses left with no homes right now! So it is not just us. The tough times in the national and local economies are really hurting the kind of people who usualy borrow our horses for the winter.

And I am not sure that things will get much better next year. We may be in for a few years when there are more horses available than people who want to lease them for a season. So give us your ideas. We already have good relationships with several nice show and lesson barns that take a few of our horses every year. Quakerfield and Lehman Farms are two in western New York that take our horses regularly. We would be glad to send horses much farther away if your stable is interested. Thanks to Laura and Ofelia who are both trying to talk their stables into taking one or two horses from Longacres. That's the kind of help we need!

And if you want to sponsor a Longacres horse that we have to actually pay someone to board for the winter, let us know. The horses would be very grateful! We're thinking we may have to board two to four, which will be costly for Longacres.

Sunday, September 21st:

Sorry for "updateless-ness" for three days! We worked hard around the farm on Friday and then took a trip to visit some old friends from the truck racing business today. We're back and hard at work here tonight!

Sadly, Diesel is coming back tomorrow. Sadly only because it seemed like he had a perfect winter home - we'll be very glad to see him again. Jo-Anne really liked him and tried him for more than a week. He just is still a bit too green to handel the work load she needs from a horse.

Quakerfield is likely to take one or more of our horses additionally. They already have Merlin who is PERFECT for them, and they have been trying out Ginger, who is also fitting into the Quakerfield lesson program very well. They may try out Brody and Boo this week.

Tonight is "Jaclyn Night"!!!!! Usually we are very good about responding to emails and other messages from all of you, but I just realized that I never responded to Jaclyn's generous offer of coming over to exercise the horses left at the barn. She wrote last week and told me she could do that. Thanks, Jaclyn! Let me know if you have a buddy who can come with you to keep you company and we'd love to have you work some of the horses. (Don't the rest of you from all over the country wish YOU were close enough to just drive around the corner and ride your Longacres horse friends in the off season?) Anyway, I declare September 21st to be "Jaclyn Day" to make up for me forgetting to write her back last week. We love you, Jaclyn!

Click this link if you're interested in seeing some pictures I took today at a truck race. I used to manage these events every weekend during the spring and fall until I retired from that business two years ago!

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2PM:

It's a lovely, cool fall day at Longacres! Click this link for some pictures of Meghan feeding this morning and Tom mowing the show field. This is a good time for anyone interested in Longacres for next summer to pay us a visit - the farm always looks good in the fall before we close everything down for the harsh western New York winter months.

We are still unsure whether Diesel will stay at his winter home. JoAnne loves him and said he did well at their first Sheriff's mounted division session. One of the tests for Sheriff's horses is that they have to walk up to a huge 6 foot ball without spooking. Diesel walked right up the first time, stuck out his nose as if to say, "What's this? Huh - OK, cool!" Yesterday JoAnne's 6 year old daughter was riding Diesel around the arena bareback while she waited for her school bus in the morning.

But he has not completely been accepted by the mounted division. For one thing, they are not sure Diesel exactly "fits" the image of a sheriff's horse (we respectfully disagree!!!) For another thing - well, you're supposed to be able to mount your sheriff's horse from the ground - JoAnne is still working on that!

There was a big response to my blog entry about the moon the other night! Thanks to Martha, Leslie Anne McCulloch, Mike, Susan & Olivia, Sanna, Danita, Bethany Scarlotta's mom, Kathy, and maybe a few more that Meghan talked to. It was a nice thought. I particularly liked Leslie Anne's image of the moon as a "ghostly galleon"! Click this link for the nice message and poem she sent in.

Wednesday, Sept. 17th:

Click this link for more pictures of various projects we worked on at Longacres today. It's "infrastructure" day at Longacres, with lots of work on the new concrete bridge over the small creek crossing and clearing way for a new circular driveway at the office making it easier for deliveries and guests.

The Economy and Longacres

We are aware of the momentous events taking place in the financial world. We're working on a story about what this will all mean to Longacres. In a nutshell, we are hopeful that not too many Longacres families work in the investment banking and high finance worlds! We hope you all weather these unsettled times and are able to continue to support your horse activities.

Here at Longacres we are very glad that we have just finished a five year plan of major maintenance , reconstruction , investment in our facilities, our jumps, and our great string of horses. We are also glad that we are pretty conservative in doing business and that we've been able to do all the work over the past five years paying as we went and have no debt at all. It puts us in a very good position to ride out any tough economic times.

The immediate impact of the weak economy has so far been mild at Longacres. Last year at this time our traditional July and August camp sessions were about 90% full. We are about 75% full for those sessions next year right now, and we are actually ahead of last year's rate of early enrollment for our pre and post season special sessions. We know things could change for the worse if the country goes into a full scale depression, but we are cautiously optimistic about the future.

Tuesday, 10:30 PM:

Click this link to see a few pictures taken down at the pasture in the moonlight a few minutes ago. Those of you into photography will recognize the challenges of trying to use flash at long distances or very high ISO numbers! But the pics will give you an idea of the beauty of the night and the moon!

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 9PM:

When I was a child at Longacres (half a century ago!!), we used to sing a song on camp fire night and I still remember some of the words. Maybe you know them?

"I see the moon

And the moon sees me

And the moon sees the one

That I want to see - - - "

I thought of those lyrics tonight as Meghan and I drove up from the barn under a brilliant harvest moon. We were thinking about some of the lovely moonlight rides Meghan and I shared with some of you this past summer, especially Kelly, Ruby, and the rest of you younger kids from our first session.

If any of you are checking the website tonight and get this message, go outside for just a moment and look up at that moon which sees us and will see you, too! Write in and tell me if you have a chance to share our Longacres Harvest Moon tonight. I am going outside again at 10:15 and looking up at that moon, and it will be joyful to hear that one or more of you shared the moment with me even if it is from hundreds or even thousands of miles away from Longacres, but very close in spirit.

I don't know how many of you will be checking in tonight - in the summer hundreds of you read this website every night, but vastly fewer at this time of year. Greetings if you are thinking of us!

Monday, 11PM:

Hi Andrea - you should be in BED! But I did an extra "update-ism" just for you, updating the picture file at this link with captions and new pictures. The new pictures show Joel's work on the concrete forms for the new creek crossing. Tomorrow is supposed to be a great day - are you going riding?

Monday, September 15, 11AM:

What a difference a day makes! It was quite warm and a bit too humid yesterday, but the passage of what was left of tropical storm "Ike" last night has brought us much cooler fall like weather. "Ike" also gave us a taste of his fierce winds with gale force winds blasting through our Longacres trees for a few hours late last night. There were hundreds of small tree branches down just in the driveway to our main house this morning and thousands in the woods. It would have been much worse, but for the fact that Mother Nature sent us her tree trimming crew in the form of two very strong wind storms last winter that took out most of our weak trees and rotten tree branches.

We're about to take an ATV ride through all the trails to inspect for storm damage and we'll post some pictures later at this link.

The horses survived the storm fine, though they were all pleased to see Meghan when she showed up to feed this morning!

Canteen Refunds: We owe most of you who were at Lazy Days week small refunds on your spending money accounts and we mean to get those out to you in the next few days now that we are caught up to date on many other Longacres book keeping jobs. We mailed in our federal and state tax returns for the past fiscal year this morning. That's a load off our backs!

We are also pretty well caught up on confirming 2009 enrollment requests. If any of you out there sent in a request and have not heard from Meghan in the past two weeks, call us - we think we've spoken to all of you.

We are full for mother - daughter week and we are full for students older than 12 for the July 12 to 26th session. We do have two spots available that session for girls age 12 and under. All other sessions have two or three spots still available.

More to come tomorrow!

Sunday, 8PM:

It was a warm and humid but pleasant day at Longacres even though the remnants of "Ike" are passing close to our north in Canada as I write. We've had a good, soaking rain the past few days so our grass will be really shooting up the next week. I'll be busy on the mower!

You all know that we've still got lots of horses that need winter homes. What is ironic is that the first three we found homes for since the end of our season were the three that are usually hardest to place, ShaBang, Quantum, and Diesel. The horses that still need homes are some of our most calm and versatile. Brody, Boo, Bobert, Brownie, and Patti are still looking to be adopted for the winter by someone.

Sunday, Sept. 14th:

So far so good - Diesel is trying to put his best (big) foot forward during his trial at his possible winter home with sheriff's lieutenant, JoAnne. She gave us an update and told us he was perfect in the trailer on his way home with her. They groomed him, put "show sheen" on, and played with braiding his mane. They tell us he is easier to handle than some of their mini horses! He is a good guy. He did get in a little mischief this morning knocking over a temporary fence while he tried to get at some especially yummy hay. I hope they forgive him for that - he DOES like his food! We'll put together a little picture album and video tribute to Diesel in the next day or so.

It is very early in the year, but we are beginning to think about who will be counselors next year. We had our ups and downs with staff this past summer, losing one instructor a little earlier than expected because of a death in the family, another when Jenn got mono, and another who simply wasn't a good fit at Longacres. But the bright side of our 2008 staff experience is that we had truly outstanding Counselors in Training and junior counselors. We have a deep pool of talent to choose from in promoting 2008 junior counselors to 2009 senior counselors. Hannah, Carly, Alexa, and Shelly have all shown some interest and would all be superb. We'll soon be holding preliminary discussions to see which of them may be available next year. We'd be proud to have any or all of them on the 2009 staff! And we have other excellent prospects who might or might not be available next summer. It will be an interesting job putting together next season's staff, but however it turns out, we think it will be a strong group.

Saturday, 6PM:

This has been a great day at Longacres, but a very sad one at the same time. We do think we have found a very appropriate home for Diesel, and he left a few minutes ago for a week's trial. We can't imagine a better use for Diesel than as a "good will ambassador" for a County Sheriff's mounted division officer! They do all sorts of special events where there are crowds and people come up to them and pet the horses. Diesel will love it, as all Longacres regulars know!

But it is hard saying "goodbye" to him even for a few months. I deeply respect and care about horses like Brownie (greatest pony in the world), Merlin (perhaps the most versatile and talented Longacres horse), Patti (greatest all time record as a show jumper of all Longacres jumpers, and there have been many!), Quantum (what more can be said about THIS great jumper!!!!!), and more of them. But something about Diesel has really grabbed me this summer. Most 2008 students know how much joy I got watching him each time he learned something new. And the past few weeks when we've had half a dozen horses left here from the summer, there's not a day that goes by that I don't visit the barn and say "hi, Big Boy"!!!! This is one horse I will enjoy visiting during the winter.

I find myself almost hoping that the Sheriff's officer doesn't like him after all and sends him back so we can enjoy him a while longer this fall!

Click this link for some more Diesel "goodbye" pictures, which will be posted later this evening!

- a sad Tom, already missing Diesel!

Saturday, Sept. 13th:

Some of our horses have new "loves". We visited Becka and Quantum last night and she definitely has fallen for him in a big way. It is now confirmed that Quantum will be staying with Becka for the winter at Brookfield, one of the nicest new stables in western New York. Really nice place! Becka is a very soft rider and a good fit for Quantum. She will be working him on the flat six days a week and will take jumping lessons with a good trainer twice a week. Just about the perfect work load to keep Quantum in good shape for next summer!

And this afternoon we had visitors from another stable. They came first to look at Bobert, but when they got here they all fell in love with Diesel. They all road him and the first thing each one said when they climbed up the stump and got on was, "Whoa!!!!!" Diesel was great both with adults and with little kids. If they take him for the winter he will be both a farm pet and he will work in a Sheriff's mounted patrol - we think he will like that!

Click this link for a few informal pictures from today

Friday, Sept. 12th Update:

6 Horses Still NEED Winter Homes!

Help!

Do you know anyone who might be interested in a free horse loan for the winter? Spread the word at your stable or consider taking one of our remaining guys to keep your horse company! Brownie, Brody, Bobert, Boo (all the "B's"), Patti, and Diesel are still here at the farm with no winter home prospects.

This is the first time in 25 years that we've had horses with no homes for the winter by the middle of September. It is an interesting insight on the state of the economy in western New York. More upscale families that own their own horses are generally doing fine and certainly are keeping their horses. But the middle class families who often take advantage of our offer of a "free" horse loan for the winter have largely vanished from the horse world in our part of New York. We have now spent almost three times as much advertising for "winter horse homes" as last year, but few people even call for information. One family that considered taking a horse talked with us and said flat out that not putting the money into taking a horse for the winter would pay for Christmas and a vacation for the family. They couldn't afford both.

So pass the word. These are some of our best horses left. If we don't find loan homes for them, we'll be looking for opportunities to board the remaining horses someplace during November through mid April. So if you know a stable with lots of pasture and even just run in shelter so the horses can live mostly outside over the winter, let us know. Cost is a factor, obviously, if we have to pay to board four to six horses!

In the meantime, we are enjoying having them here at the farm during this nice fall weather. Every week the "pecking order" changes a little. Brownie has taken charge this week and gets his choice of hay piles over everyone but Brody. Nice Boo is near the bottom of the hierarchy. Bobert has taken to sharing his grain pile with two or three small sparrows!!!! We'll try to get a picture of that for you.

Thursday, Sept. 11, Update:

Welcome to Staci! We're confirming the enrollment requests of new first time Longacres students for the 2009 season this week. We'd especially like to recognize Staci from New Jersey who sent in her 2009 deposit last April, and is perhaps the first person to ever sign up for Longacres that far in advance. We hope that we are everything you're looking forward to, Staci! Staci is 12 and will be here for two weeks in July.

Working on Jumps Already!

Joel and Meghan were busy checking out each and every jump stand when they were put away last week. They set aside 18 of our old stands that had loose or worn "feet" which made some of the jumps uneven or wobbly. This week Joel made new foot pieces for all 18 of these jumps and we'll have them repaired to like new condition before winter sets in. We'll begin next season with all our present jumps in great shape AND we plan to build many more new jumps next spring. We're ordering 20 new jump rails this week so they'll be able to dry out over the winter and be ready for paint in the spring.

"What Goes Up Must Come Down - Eventually!"

or

"It's All Derrick's Fault!"

We're talking about model airplanes here. For two years radio control model planes were a big time part of my life and my main hobby outside of Longacres work. But I set them aside about a year ago after busting up one of my favorite planes in a hard crash.

Fast forward to this year when one of our favorite students, Danita, brought her brother to our special "Lazy Days" week. Turns out Derrick is really interested in radio control planes. So I figured it would be nice to get one of my old slow beginner planes out of storage, charge up the batteries, and give Derrick a flying demonstration while he was at Longacres in August. Just one flight, of course, and then put the plane away in the attic again.

Well, that's not what happened. I got hooked again! That's why what happened yesterday and today is "Derrick's fault".

Not only did I begin practicing with and flying my old beginner plane, but I got out all the broken parts of my high performance plane and glued them back together. Then I began flying that for more practice and THEN I went to my favorite Hobby Shop and bought a really, really fast high performance plane (brushless Stryker, if any of you readers follow this stuff).

I was doing pretty well flying all three planes. I did have one "hard landing" with the new plane. And flying the old high performance plane is tricky since it weighs about half again what it should with all the Epoxy glue and tape repairs I've had to make over two years of learning to fly through the school of hard knocks. It is like a brick to get going and barely flies if I am careful. So it is not surprising that I made a turn too wide up near the small show ring and the plane went into a clump of trees in a neighbor's back yard.

When I found it, it was WAY up in the top of a tree, and caught firmly in a cradle of branches. Click this link for pictures of some of our efforts to get the plane out of the tree. Usually I can get a model plane out of a tree pretty easily with one trick or another. But it took me about five hours of effort, some with Meghan's help driving the tractor high lift. And Joel helped for 2 and a half more hours. It was finally Joel who set up high enough ladders and got a 25' extension pole and was able to knock the plane out of the tree.

First I used a bow and arrow with a bow fishing line attached. That's a good way to get planes out of trees usually. You shoot the arrow up over a branch near the stuck airplane and it pulls a heavy fishing line behind the arrow so you can shake the branches causing the plane to fall back to the ground. But the plane was stuck so high in this tree that I could barely reach it with the bow and arrow. So we got the tractor high lift and Meghan picked me up in the air about fifteen feet and I tried with the bow and arrow again. I got close several times and we shook the tree branches like a storm would - but the plane was stuck tight. Then we tried throwing apples at the plane! No kidding, and I hit it twice. But it was stuck tight. Then I got mad and tried shooting arrows with no fishing line at the plane, thinking that if I got a direct hit, it would surely knock it down. Well, I "wounded" it, all right, but the plane stayed in the tree with an arrow stuck sticking out of the fusilage. Finally Joel brought tall ladders from the shop and he was able to get about half way up the tree and standing on the top of the ladder (dangerous!) he reached out with three pieces of plastic pipe he fastened together and was able to move the plane slightly, just as it got too fark to work safely. We gave up for the night, and then Joel brought a lighter, longer plastic pipe from home today and he was able to finally knock my plane out of the tree.

By this time, between myself, Meghan, and Joel, we had invested enough valuable labor time for me to just go out and buy a new plane and leave this one in Norm's tree over the winter as a decoration. So much for sensible time budgeting!

Other Real Work

We have done some real work this week. We're concentrating on our farm roads and drainage after enduring quite a wet season. At least we know where all the mud puddles form! We have the spot where the main camp road crosses the little creek between the dining hall and cabins all torn up as we prepare to pour concrete over the drain culverts. And every morning after breakfast I'm driving to the building supply place in town and bringing home a truckload of gravel to fill in a new drainage area next to the office driveway. As usual, quite a bit of our annual budget is spent "under ground".

AND just for Fun!

Meghan and I did do something this week just for fun. We drove all the way to Wooster, Ohio to see one of our favorite country music groups at the Wayne County Fair. (The Oakridge Boys) We also had a chance to see the Budweiser 8 horse hitch - we think our Diesel is just as gorgeous as the Bud Clydsdales!

Wednesday, September 10th:

It's been a busy day at Longacres as we finished up our 2008 accounting and dropped our tax info off at the accountant's office. Phew!

Click this link for a single picture of Tom working on road drainage. I got that done and then planned to spend 10 minutes flying my model airplane - - - that turned into an all day job trying to get the plane out of a tree top:( - boo hoo - it's still up in the tree tonight.

Welcome to Andrea who sent in her 2009 enrollment today! We've got a great group planning to be here for the second half of the summer and the big shows! We've got a few more spots open in August if YOU are interested.

Tomorrow we're beginning to work on the creek crossing down near the big creek on the road from the cabins to the dining hall. Lots of concrete forms to build and cement and stone to lay down. This has been a big year for bridges, road building, and landscaping at Longacres. More to come.

Sunday, Sept. 7th:

A quiet day at Longacres and, yes, Meghan slept well last night after I took her out for Pizza and a glass of wine to celebrate getting ALL the jumps put away neatly in the barn in just one long day! We're still working this afternoon on accounting, since our taxes are due at the end of next week. But we're watching some football, playing with my new model plane (which I crashed for the first time this morning!), and other things to relax a bit. We even picked up a Sunday Times on the way home from breakfast to relax with over the next day or two. We don't even think about trying to read the Times during the summer!

Taylor is working today doing a really good clean up of the barn, cleaning all the bridles and bits, and other stuff to put Longacres "to bed" for the off season.

Brownie is getting a head start of his own preparing for winter. He's already growing in his winter coat! Meghan tells me he has a cute little patch of white hair coming in over his left eye.

We have the mattresses in the bunks all stacked on one bed to keep them out of reach of the mice, and the the mattress cover sheets are collected for the laundry. There's lots to do, but we're enjoying the more relaxed schedule of the fall.

Saturday, 7PM:

Wow! When Meghan puts her mind to a job, it gets done! Click this link to see our nearly empty show field - Meghan is still at the barn with Joel and Taylor as I write this. She will sleep well tonight.

Saturday, September 6, 1PM:

Meghan is working HARD today, along with her good regular team of Taylor and Joel. Click this link for some pictures from this morning.

Meghan has a really good system. I am always amazed that with just a few good helpers she can get all our jumps put away in one weekend. In fact, she may be nearly done by the end of today. And it's a rather dreary, overcast day at Longacres - but good for heavy work, I guess.

I guess. You see, I am banished from the barn for this project. Meghan always has considered me too old and frail for this job, and especially so since my "false alarm" health scare a couple of weeks ago. So I am not supposed to show up at the barn today except to take pictures for the Blog.

But I have tricked Meghan and I'm getting some good exercise behind her back! I'm starting a project to improve drainage along the driveway to the office and it requires a 12" deep ditch across the road for a new drain pipe. It's hard digging since I have to cut through gravel that has been packed down for 60 years from vehicle traffic. Every time I drive down to the barn or back to innocently take pictures of Meghan and her crew working, I stop and take 10 or 12 good swings with my pick axe on the ditch project. I know that she'll figure out what I'm up to soon, but in the meantime I'm having fun digging up the driveway!

We'd like to send out a Longacres welcome to Shaina, a friend of Alexa's who has just signed up for "Lazy Days" 2009. We're glad to have you as part of the Longacres family, Shaina, and we liked you note with the enrollment.

Meghan wants me to report that Bobert has a nice home for the winter with a family that has been working on his stable for two weeks getting ready for him, and has collected some toys for his stall. After Bobert leaves, we'll have only Brownie, Brody, Boo, Patti, and Diesel left here waiting to be adopted for the winter. Just in case we do not find homes for all of them we're beginning to look at the possibility of keeping our barn open all winter this year, or at least through Christmas. We'd probably put up a little extra fence around the back of the barn and partition off about 40' at the back of the barn so the horses could run in and out as they pleased for shelter but live mostly in pasture. But we prefer to find everyone a good "winter horse home" so they get daily personal attention from some loving family.

Friday, Sept. 5, 3PM:

Click this link for some pictures from today around the farm. The horses we still have at Longacres are all looking very good. We're heading out to have dinner with Uncle Billy this evening and then getting early to bed so we'll have energy for the big project of putting away the jumps for the winter tomorrow and Sunday.

Thursday evening, 9PM:

"It's Like Riding a Bicycle" update - It's been two days now since I jumped Quantum - my thigh muscles are still pretty sore! How long does this last, guys?

Thursday, September 4, 4PM Update:

Hi again,

We've had some pleasant days this week and are beginning to feel well rested after the summer action! And we're getting busy again. We do relax for a while every morning and then enjoy taking care of the horses that still don't have homes for the winter. Pass the word if you know anyone who might like Brody, Boo, Brownie, Patti, Bobert, or Diesel. They are all getting lots of rest and LOTS of feed. Except for Patti and Bobert, they are looking fat as little pigs (BIG pig in Diesel's case!)

We're still working to keep the farm mowed and trimmed, so if you are interested in stopping by to look at Longacres, you're very welcome. I even mowed inside the pasture today so that the healthy grasses would grow in better after I cut down some of the weeds.

Meghan and her crew are working this weekend to take down the big jump course and put the jumps away in the barn for the winter. We'll be working from about 9 AM on Saturday and again on Sunday. Feel free to stop by and give us a hand if you like! Or just stop by to say "goodbye" to the Longacres jumps until next year.

We continue to hear from returning and new students daily and we're getting our confirmation messages out this week for those of you who have reserved 2009 sessions.

Mother - Daughter week is full for 2009 and we now have only one spot in the July 12 to July 26 session, available for a student age 9 to 12. We have no space left for older teens in that session.

Most other sessions have several spots still open. Some of our "regulars" have told us they plan to attend next year, but have not sent in registrations. We are not counting any of those folks in our formal 2009 roster yet.

I have been taking time most days to fly my model airplanes. Derrick may be interested to know that I have had two major crashes, involving a LOT of Epoxy glue! I have successfully flown the new and very fast Brushless Stryker five or six times being very careful. No crashes with that one YET!

Joel has spent most of the week doing concrete and stone work on the old swimming hole bridge and dam. It is looking much better and should now last for many more years even if we get a major flood. We'll publish a list of some of our other maintenance projects for the fall as soon as Meghan and I can face writing the list - it is pretty scary how much we plan to try to get done.

September is also the end of our accounting year and Meghan and Cheryl are busy with book keeping and tax records so our accountant can file tax returns at the end of next week. We're also reviewing our website and planning on some changes here and there, as well as finishing this year's new "Meet the Horses" page.

Lots to do. But plenty of time to do most of it now that the farm is closing down for the fall.

Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, Midnight:

"It's like riding a bicycle!"

OK, here's how it started out this afternoon. We were making arrangements for Quantum to leave for a week's trial with Becka, who may give him a winter home if she gets along with him. (I think she will!)

It will be the first time Quantum has ever spent the winter with someone who is not a regular Longacres rider. We are happy for Becka and we think she's a good rider for Quantum - but we were feeling a little sad about Quantum leaving. And it got me thinking. In the almost 8 years I've owned this great horse, I've never once been on his back. I don't ride much anymore and when I do it's usually a casual walk on a trail or a very specific and controlled training exercise or demonstration. I haven't jumped a real fence in almost 15 years.

So, I said, "Why don't you hop on, Tom, and have Meghan take a picture for the website. Which I did. Click this link. Then use your back button to return here.

Well, there I was on the back of this great horse, and I said to myself, "You know what, Tom - this horse isn't meant to be an easy chair, he's a jumper. You once upon a time were pretty good at that jumping stuff. Maybe it has been 15 years since you jumped more than a cross rail, but how hard can it be?"

So we rode up the hill to the field, picked up a little canter and popped over a cross rail. Kinda fun! Meghan was following along with the camera,

"Just like Riding a Bicycle!"

That's what I told myself as I walked across the road to the big field, picked up another canter, and - - - - - -

Well, Click here, and here

And, do you know what? I wasn't half bad! My heels weren't down over the jump, and I got a little ahead of the motion for a couple of strides after the jump. But I felt my leads without looking as I approached the jumps, and I saw my spots clearly (riding conservatively for close spots four times and seeing the longer more forward distance to my last fence.) I was kind to the horse with my seat and hands and felt in good control. It was good to be on a horse again with wind in my face and feeling him reach under me and settle into the bit.

I really kind of think I could do this again if I set my mind to it! It helps that I'm in better physical condition than I've been for a few years. And it helps to have just watched 61 year old Ian Miller ride in the Olympics for Canada!

Oh, I don't think I could still show at five feet like I used to on China Heart, Yorke Springs, and Tip-Off. But I think maybe I could jump at 3'6" like we do around this part of the country these days. I felt fine jumping the 2'6" or so I did this afternoon and I thought of doing 3" or 3'6" which would not have felt any different on this fine horse. But he is missing a shoe, and I didn't want to send him over to Becka tonight foot sore.

Yes, I think I could get back into jumping 3'6" or so. But I doubt I will. Because I have this evil little competitive worm in the back of my brain, and "just competing" wasn't ever enough for me in the old days. I just might find myself riding beyond my current abilities, and that's not a good thing for an old body. Still, it is fun to have jumped again and fun to have felt like I could still get it done. Don't try to talk me into showing again - Meghan enjoyed watching me this afternoon, but she immediately reminded me how brittle "mature" bones are when you fall on them off a jumping horse! I get it, Meghan! But it sure was a fun afternoon.

Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, 10PM:

Hint:

"It's like riding a bicycle!"

An interesting update will come very late tonight or tomorrow morning. Check back later - you may enjoy it.

That said, Meghan and I drove home from the State Fair in Syracuse today in really lovely late summer weather. It was one of those days when it's just great to be alive and in the outdoors! We went to lunch on the porch of the Roycroft when we got home to East Aurora, and then did some horse business. And had some fun.

We are able to confirm that everyone who was a student this summer and who put in a deposit for 2009 will get the session you requested. Most sessions now have two to four spots left. We heard from Maggie, Michelle, Catherine, Rhiannon, Deb, Sydney, Sam, and several others in the past two days who were not sure until this week that they could return for 2009. Keep those enrollment messages coming!

First choice on 2009 sessions goes to this year's students until the end of this week. Then we will confirm the requests of first time students with the same priority as returning students. (Those of you who already sent in deposits to come to Longacres for the first time in 2009 ARE confirmed now.)

Remember - "It's like riding a bicycle!"

Friday, August 29, 1PM:

Hello everyone. Monday is September 1st and we will be confirming our early 2009 enrollments then. We will confirm the enrollments of students who have sent us their deposit checks over the summer, with preference given in the order that deposits arrived. As of today, Mother - Daughter week is full and most other sessions have between 2 and 4 vacancies. This counts only firm, paid deposits, and does not count any of the "the check is in the mail" messages we've been given. If everyone who has said they plan to sign up actually sends in a deposit, we will be full or nearly full in most sessions. We have some enrollments in all sessions, including the early Clinics in June and Lazy days, but those sessions have the most openings.

Several of you have switched your first choice of sessions since you sent in your deposit check. On Monday we will be confirming enrollments based on the last we heard from each of you. If you are in doubt, call us right away.

Wait List: We will soon have a wait list for at least some of our 2009 sessions. Last year several people did get a spot at Longacres after being on the wait list, and we expect that to happen again this year. It is a long time until the 2009 season and we are in a tight economy - some people will change their minds. Don't be discouraged if we are already full for your first choice session.

Horse News:

We are enjoying playing with our remaining horses now that we have "Tom & Meghan" horse care down to a routine. They're getting FAT with lots of feed and no work! We might have a home for Quantum. Becka has come out and ridden him for me and again with her trainer. Click this link for some Quantum pictures taken today at the barn.

Thursday, August 28, 3PM:

Today is ALMOST a total day of rest! Meghan and I had a very long, relaxing breakfast and then a drive in the country before coming home to do an hour of phone calls setting up some more horse arrangements. Now it's nap time! Then we're going out to a movie (where we will no doubt fall asleep!)

Repeating the story from last night, I feel fine. And in fact, I am getting through "Meghan's flu bug" quicker than she did. I am much better already today after an uncomfortable night. Meghan and I are really both very healthy people, but we get worn out by the end of our four month summer season and our resistance is lower.

We're planning to visit State Fair this weekend just to have some fun as tourists - no responsibilities at all!

Click this link for some pictures from this morning showing the horses getting fed in pasture and some "adorable" baby snakes we found in the hay pile. There were more than a dozen of them and it looked like they just recently hatched.

We hope you are all getting ready for a FUN school year! You are probably shopping this week for school. Write and tell us about your riding plans for the winter.

We are already getting inquiries about Longacres 2009 from new students, and some of them are asking to talk with experienced Longacres families. If you have time to take a call now and then, let us know. We don't publish phone numbers, but give them out on a limited basis if there is a serious inquiry from a new student.

Wednesday, August 27th, 10PM:

Tom is fine. But we had a scare and it kept us from our correspondence and a few horse appointments today. I had been taking care of Meghan during her flu, bringing her snacks and making her stay in bed as much as possible. Sure enough, I caught her bug last night. Just after I had an unexpected emergency wisdom tooth extraction yesterday afternoon - THAT was fun. And weakened by the onset of the flu bug, and the trauma of the tooth, and the cumulative stress of the summer, I woke up at five in the morning with a chest pain.

Out of an abundance of caution, we drove to the emergency room and spent all day today having needles poked in me, stress tests, every kind of cardiac test, and special X-rays and scans. After all that, I have a clean bill of health and a very sound heart. Best guess of the doctors is exactly what I expected - a tight chest because of all the stress from the tooth extraction and the exhaustion of the summer season. But better safe than sorry.

Thanks to some of our friends in the area who gave us advice on Cardiologists just in case. Glad we're not going to need them soon! I wouldn't even mention all this, except that several of our friends in the area were aware of my hospital trip and I did not want anyone hearing only half the story and worrying about me unnecessarily. I am fine (except for Meghan's crummy flu bug!)

Our apologies to those of you who we did not call back or meet for your horse appointments. Now you understand why.

Tuesday, August 26, 10PM:

Hi everyone,

First Meghan got the flu the day after our season ended (good timing!), then Tom went in to the dentist for a simple filling and ended up having a wisdom tooth extracted today. Ouch! Fortunately, Meghan is feeling quite a bit better now that Tom is out of commission for a day or two. We've been trading off expressing sympathy for one another!

We are rather having fun taking care of the horses all by ourselves this week. Slowly they are finding winter homes. Becka is coming tomorrow to try Quantum a second time, and may take him for the winter. She is a soft rider with good hands and would keep him at a very nice stable.

ShaBang left today to spend the winter with Sara, who Alexa met when she came to ride him the last day of our season.

We have Brownie, Bobert, Kingsley (who has a home and will leave in a few days), Quantum, Patti, Diesel, Boo, and Brody still here at the farm. It's funny to watch horses learn new routines. During our regular season, of course, we bring all the horses in from pasture to feed them and ride. But with just Meghan and I to take care of them all, we are feeding them in pasture and leaving them turned out all the time. We move quickly along the side of the pasture with a wheelbarrow of feed and put little piles just inside the fence. The first two days there was a lot of fighting between the horses as they challenged each other for the "best" piles of feed. But by tonight they were figuring out the new system and quickly found their own special pile of feed and quietly ate. The first horses to get to a pile were the more dominant ones. Patti, then Quantum and Brody, and very last was Diesel! Amazing that the biggest and strongest is the least aggressive.

We took the gate off between main and little pastures so the remaining horses can go back and forth as they please. The days and nights are cool this week and the horses seem very content. They are getting LOTS to eat!

August 25, 11AM:

ZZ-zzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzz

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - that's Meghan, anyway. I finally got her to bed at a reasonable hour and she slept in this morning. I brought her some breakfast just now and hope she'll stay in bed nursing her flu until later this afternoon.

We have several people coming to try horses as winter horse loans this afternoon, but generally this will be a very quiet day.

- Tom

August 24, 8PM:

Tomorrow - that's when maybe, just maybe, we'll have some rest! Peggy left first thing this morning. Thanks for staying the extra day to help Meghan with horsecare, Peggy. But then Tom and Meghan drove to Niagara Falls to manage a cheerleading event. We are special event managers part time when we're not running Longacres or managing horse shows.

Click this link for a couple of special "goodbye" pictures - goodbye to some things you won't see at Longacres next year. There are also a few cute pictures from the cheerleading event this afternoon.

Meghan is still sick with a flu like bug, but she's working away. I'm forcing her to go to bed early tonight and sleep most of the day tomorrow. We're hoping she'll feel well enough to take a vacation trip to the State Fair later in the week!

August 23, 6PM:

We're having a little Longacres sociability tonight after all. We're going out to dinner in an hour with Uncle Billy and Peggy and a sick, tired Meghan! Click this link for a few pictures.

August 23, 5PM:

A visit from Janie Graham! You know from occasional posts here and on our alumni page that we really enjoy hearing from former students from recently or long ago. I drove up to the barn this afternoon and Meghan was talking with a couple. Meghan yelled out as I walked up, "It's an alumni - Janie Graham."

And so it was, looking not much different than she did ^%%$&#@ years ago! I said, "Of course I remember you."

Janie said, "How could you remember from so long ago, you do not!"

And then I told her, "Your hair is almost exactly the same as it was back then." Which amazed her, but she and her husband confirmed that indeed, her hair now is much the same as it was in the 1970's - oops! - I guess that lets the cat out of the bag about how long ago Janie was here. We talked about her favorite horse, "Tarball", and other Longacres memories and sent her off on a walk through time.

At one point, Janie practically jumped up and down as we remembered some event, and said, "I was SO HAPPY here!" Well, that always does it for me. And perfect timing, too, as we just finished our 2008 season today with many sad farewells. It is really fitting to be so clearly reminded that what we do here at Longacres is often remembered and valued for a lifetime. Thank you for those words, Janie!

Janie and her husband now live in Ossining, NY, and were in the Buffalo area to drop her son off at college this weekend. Janie will try to find time to write up her impressions of her visit to Longacres.

August 23, 3PM:

We said an early "goodbye" to Derrick and Danita who had to leave before dinner yesterday. Then it was "farewell" to Deb, Sydney, and Sam who drove out after Kone King last night.

Now it's only Meghan, Peggy, about half the horses, and me left at Longacres! Meghan has had a constant stream of people in and out of the barn trucking horses to their winter homes, trying out horses they might want to board for the winter, and closing up the barn. Taylor is there now stripping stalls.

First to leave this morning was Jenn and Kate headed back to Montreal. Then it was David, then Carly, then Alexa, and finally Casey. Many tears were shed as everyone realized Longacres is done until 2009.

Casey, his mom Debbie, Jaclyn, her mom, Martha, and Peggy went for a trail this morning on their own horses. It was the first chance for Deb and Martha to see the "back side" of Longacres.

We have a dozen or so horses still in the pasture. Some of them, like Horatio and Rocky, have winter homes and are just waiting to be trucked to their winter riders - good Longacres riders like Hannah, Laura, and Sharon. But others have no winter home yet. If you know a stable looking for excellent school horses or a friend who's looking to lease a horse, have them call us. Quantum, Brody, Boo, Brownie, Bobert, Diesel, and perhaps one or two more still have no homes. We're finding that in this year's tight economy, families that would normally be interested in leasing a horse for the winter are often saying, "Gee, that money could pay for Christmas for the family instead". We need a few more die hard horse lovers.

You'd think Meghan and I would just be sleeping this afternoon. But actually, I feel very empty with nobody here who needs checking on, and no need to plan an evening ride or offer a trip to Kone King. It's more comfortable to keep busy than to sit around or take a nap. We've been cleaning up and organizing everything and planning fall maintenance projects. Joel just left for the building supply store to get sand and concrete to finish the stone work by the old pool dam. We have roofing repairs to do, more concrete work, and then we have to take down all the jumps and put them away for the winter. THAT is a depressing job! Maybe we'll make it more interesting this year by doing a time lapse movie showing the jumps disappear during the course of a long day!

Once again, thanks to our Lazy Days students for giving us a great final week of the 2008 season!

August 22, 11PM:

Thanks to the Bennett family for hosting a great pool party this evening after Kone King. Everyone had a grand time!

Some of our crew from this week are already on the road to home, and the rest are all leaving in the morning. By 1PM, nobody will be at Longacres but horses, Tom, Meghan, and Peggy for one more day.

Several of our local families are bringing their horses over tomorrow when they pick up the kids and going on a trail ride through our woods. It should be fun!

We may not post updates every day the next few days as we get some long overdue rest. On the other hand, I might just keep on updating daily - I am already feeling withdrawal symptoms! We will certainly be writing some longer articles commenting on the ups and downs of the 2008 season and letting you in on some of our new ideas for 2009.

And it is just 9 days until we formally accept enrollments for 2009. We have 23 paid deposits already. The requests for 2009 sessions are quite evenly spread out through the summer at this point, with some enrollment requests for each session, but a few spaces still left in most sessions. (Mother - Daughter week is sold out.) We'll keep you all updated.

Many thanks to all who contributed to a rewarding and successful 2008 Longacres Riding Camp. Thank you.

- Tom & Meghan

August 22, 5PM:

Goodbye, Danita and Derrick!

Our final show and our final rides of the 2008 season are done. Danita and Derrick's dad drove up to watch the show and brought the horse trailer to take their private horses home - so we had to say "goodbye" to these two fine students this afternoon. Deb, Sydney, and Sam are leaving late tonight after "Kone King", and the rest tomorrow morning. The horses are also beginning to leave for their winter homes. Jack left a few minutes ago.

Some of us are going over to Andrea's house for a pool party after dinner and Kone King while the rest pack their things for the trip home.

Even on the final night of Longacres 2008 season there's lots to do!

Click this link for about 150 pictures from today.

David won the "high Derby" on Quantum, with Kate also putting in a clean performance, but with a few time faults. Alexa had one rail down, as did Carly.

August 21, 9PM:

Tom, Carly, and Alexa are in charge tonight while Meghan and the adults head to town for "Ladies Night Out". I'm sure they'll have fun while getting home in time to be rested for the horse show tomorrow!

By the way, if you are reading this and planning to come to the show tomorrow, show clothes are "OUT" - it's wacky rding attire day at the fun show!! Anything goes! Decorate yourself with imagination; baling twine is a good theme!

Click this link for an album from this afternoon's clinic.

August 21, 2PM:

No pictures yet today - we're just enjoying working with a great group of people! Maybe tonight. Farley Bridgeman arrives for a special clinic in an hour.

August 21, 10 AM:

With the horse show tomorrow, today is the last full day of our 2008 season for riding lessons. We're in a panic because we have so many special horses we want various people to have a chance to ride and some unfinished business on what we'd like to teach. It's part of having such a fine group of students - it makes us want to give them all our best and more. I wish this group could suddenly, magically have another week suspended in time before they have to go home to school and work!!!!!!!!

August 20, 11PM:

When things are going well at Longacres, it's a very rewarding occupation. After building the fire for the smores party, I just sat for a half hour and enjoyed the good spirits and happy chatter and the charm of the fire on a cool, still night. I wasn't quite ready to call it a night when I left the girls, so after updating the website I drove down to the barn with my good camera and experimented with moon pictures. It was just pleasant to be out and about on a night like this, and playing with photography was icing on the cake for me.

Click this link for one of my better shots and try to imagine what it was like for the girls here tonight.

August 20, 10 PM:

Everyone is still down at the campfire circle roasting marshmellows and making "smores". Or at least eating chocolate and graham crackers like me!

Did I say already that this is a great group? Yes, I believe I did, but it bears repeating. Everyone is on the same page and trying to help each other all the time. The older kids are looking out for the youngest just the way they should. Our adults are acting like "kids going to horse camp" which is exactly what we want. A very good week.

Derrick and I went to fly one of my radio control planes this afternoon and he took a turn at the controls. I haven't been using my planes much lately even though it was my most avid hobby two summers ago. But I flew again tonight over the barn. Thanks, Derrick - - - you're getting me hooked again!

Tomorrow is Thursday, which means we have only two more full days of Longacres Riding Camp for 2008. We will miss it when it's over - especially this group!

August 20, 5PM:

Meghan just returned from taking pictures of the hunt course ride this afternoon. Some of her pictures are at this link. Enjoy.

August 20, 3PM:

Danita and the boys are leaving on a special trail to the hunt course in a few minutes. We're all taking time to "pose" for pictures over our favorite jumps this afternoon, so click this link a little later on to see us in action!

Leslie Anne McCullough and "Finis" visited this afternoon and it was nice to see her riding on our show field again. We showed her a bit of our trails also. Maybe we'll have a trail tour on Friday after the fun show for some of our visitors at the show.

August 20th, 8AM:

MY GOSH, IT'S WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!

This week is flying by, with only three days left in our season now. With three adult students, three young girls, and three teen boys, you'd think this would be a really tough group of students to work with. But it's been perhaps our favorite week of the entire season. The adults are all good friends of Longacres, the boys are wonderful, and the young girls - well, we just love the fresh enthusiasm for EVERYTHING that they bring to Longacres!

It was great fun giving the young girls and their moms the moonlight ride last night!

Linda Reading (Reading Thoroughbred Farm) visited us last night and she and I worked together teaching David on Knight and Kate on Eva. These young thoroughbreds are really getting it now! It's been fun for some of us to watch them relax and progress over the summer. At first they were simply hard work. But the reason we take in young horses for training every year is to give us the opportunity to see how a young horse responds to consistent training and slowly but steadily learn to be a real horse.

We have lots planned for our final three days. A short trip to town tonight for Pizza Hut and "KONE KING", then a smores party and bonfire, more jumping, maybe another moonlight ride for the older kids, the fun horse show on Friday, "girls night out" for the adults, and more.

Oh, the weather. You haven't heard me talk about the weather much this week. It's b-o-r-i-n-g! Just perfect every day. Maybe a little warm by Friday after last night's near record cold.

Friday Horse Show, 11AM:

We might add or change a class, but here's our tentative class list for the Friday show:

1) Partner lead line barrel racing!

2) Walk - trot equitation

3) Swat the can race

4) adult equitation on the flat

5) cross rails jumping

6) barrel racing

7) pole bending

8) Junior with an adult pair tandem hunter

9) Outside course eq. o.f. (open)

10) short course jumper class

11) pleasure horse

12) pairs class pleasure horse (walk - trot)

13) pairs class pleasure horse (W-T-C)

14) On & Off the horse obstacle run!

15) Side by side Trot Serpentine Sprint Eliminations!

16) Surprise!

17) Jumper Derby Redo - three heights, one class!

August 19, 7PM:

We've got wonderful weather this week! We were out with the horses and the riders all day with good jumping lessons and great trails. (Well, after a few trails got LOST finding their way back to the barn!)

Meghan held a party for the mom's and adults at the house during dinner. Tom went to dinner and took a few pictures - click this link. (Sam and Kate like their ice cream)

Later tonight the younger girls and their moms are going on a moonlight ride on the field. Kate, Sam, and Sydney should enjoy that so long as they dress very well - it is going to be in the 40's tonight.

David and Casey are doing very well working with Knight. They both really like his smooth gaits. David is riding him tonight for his owner who is planning to visit. Kate is getting her first chance to ride Eva, also.

August 18, 9PM:

Everyone is finishing up horse care right now and then heading up to the house to watch video we took of them all riding today. When we're done with that we'll watch some of the Olympic Team Jumping event that I recorded during dinner.

Click this link for more pictures from tonight.

David really likes Knight! He did a good job working with him tonight.

August 18, 2PM:

Everyone has had their first evaluation ride, five went out on trail, three had a small lesson in the show ring with Mary, and five were in my lesson on the field. Click this link for about 50 pictures from today.

My group worked on planning striding for offset lines of jumps and bending lines, as well as a "ten stride" turn to a jump. Kate, Alexa, Carly, David, and Casey all did very well!

August 18, 11AM:

Hi everyone. It's a very busy first day of a completely full week of riding camp, but I have a few minutes for this update while the horses eat before the first lesson. I'm headed down to the barn to teach a lesson in a few minutes. I'll be doing more teaching myself this week than last session, partly because we're less busy with planning for big horse shows this week than the last few weeks.

This is a really good group of enthusiastic Longacres people. Everyone has been here before and it was like greeting family when each carload arrived this morning. It's been a long time since we've had a "bad" group of students at Longacres, but this one is an especially "good" group! We'll post pictures this afternoon at this link.

Ashley is working in the office closing out spending money accounts for the last session, so if you have a refund coming, it will be mailed out soon, along with some of the stuff (lots) that you left behind.

More to come later.

August 18, 9AM:

We're under way with "Lazy Days" week, 2008! We officially begin the week at 9am. Casey arrived at 8:30, but he has a good excuse - his horse was dropped off last night and he needed to be here for horsecare - AND Casey is always helpful and welcome early at Longacres! Kate arrived at 8:59 and one half!!!!!! Not wanting to miss a second of Longacres!

August 17, 10 PM:

Welcome "Lazy Days" Riders!

We can't wait to see you all tomorrow morning. We should get in a morning ride and probably a couple more rides if we duck the scattered rain forecast. Then the rest of the week is clear sailing with fine riding weather every day!

We're posting a YouTube video of the Friday pond riding in a few minutes. Scroll up this page just a little for the link!

We'll have another update late tomorrow that should have pictures of everyone in Lazy Days.

August 17, 11AM:

Longacres Fun Show coming on Friday, August 22nd at 11AM. No points, lots of fun classes, come on out and "yahoo" just for the fun of it. This is our last event of the year before closing the barn the next day!

We'll have a couple of real over fences classes for both hunter and jumper, some game classes, several adult only classes for the mom's, pairs class and tandem hunter class!

THEN we'll have a redo of the Derby at multiple heights from beginner on up, all judged as one class, so if you missed the Derby or want to try the course again, come on out. The Derby will start not before 1PM. We have left over Medals from the team jumping last week and we'll give them away along with ribbons in the Derby event.

August 16, 7PM:

It looks like a week of nice riding weather for "Lazy Days" students. There's a chance of scattered rain Monday afternoon and evening, but then a long streak of great weather through the end of next week. The remnants of Hurricane "Fay" may impact us by next Saturday, but that's a long way off and the storm system may stay in the southeast. Looks like a good week!

August 16, 2PM:

Welcome Peggy! "Peggy Sue", our #1 adult camper, rider, substitute counselor, camp mom, buddy arrived for her week as a "Lazy Days" counselor and extra hand. She's always fun to have at Longacres and this is the second year in a row that Peggy has been at Longacres twice in one season. She is always available when we could use an extra cheerful set of hands and a good level head. Peggy will be riding with Carly and Alexa getting some of the horses ready for the younger kids who will be here this week.

This afternoon will feature a trail ride to condition some of the horses that weren't used during fair week. Then we're all going out to dinner together tonight, and then RELAXING time all day tomorrow, with maybe another informal trail ride.

Meghan and I will sleep late tomorrow, then maybe go over to the fair on the final day just for fun with no responsibilities!

The farm looks lovely for you folks coming in Monday.

A Tribute to the Butterflies!

Gina, we've thanked you before for all the work you put in painting the incredible Butterfly jump. Thanks also to Martha and Shannon who gave helping hands. You know how many people have complimented the gorgeous paint job - we've passed on many of the good comments.

But here's something you may not have been told. Meghan and I go out for breakfast most mornings early. But instead of turning left out our driveway to go to town the past two weeks, we turn right and go down to the barn entrance. We drive in the driveway and go part way back to the barn. Then we just stop - - - and sit there looking at your Butterfly Jump! We soak in the fact that Longacres really has such an incredible jump and then we turn around and go to breakfast.

AND - we repeat that ritual just before dark every day before turning in for the night. We're sad that we'll only have one more week to enjoy the Butterfly Jump and the rest of the Derby jump course before putting the jumps safely away for the winter.

One more nice Butterfly Jump story; Gary Husted did the wood work building the Sunburst and Butterly jumps. He dropped them off with us in early June unpainted. He stopped by today for the first time since they have been painted. He is amazed and pleased with the way they turned out!

Thanks, Gina!

August 16, Noon:

Goodbye!

Only a couple of girls are still waiting for their families to pick them up. Camp seems empty! But not for long - we'll be completely full again Monday morning for our final session of the 2008 season, Lazy Days.

We've already found a few things some of you have left behind - call us if you forgot something and we'll try to send it to you.

We are pleased that even some of our older girls who may be too busy to return to Longacres for a full session next year are thinking about us. Marta and Michelle both signed up for Lazy Days week, 2009 before they left today.

We are also enjoying having a quiet weekend to really do some clean up and manicuring of the farm before we begin our final week. We have been going, going, going non stop the past two weeks getting ready for the Derby and the Erie County Fair. We've been behind on routine maintenance. This yesterday and today Joel and I have been really working on mowing grass, trimming bushes, fixing pot holes in the roads, grooming the show ring sand, and more. The farm looks really good for our old friends arriving Monday! Can't wait to see you all. We'll post some of our clean-up pictures at this link later today.

August 15, 11PM:

Click this link for more pictures from this afternoon when we were doing "Pond Riding". Michelle and Maddy both were able to get their horses to jump into the pond!

As we approach midnight, it is truly the end of the 2008 regular season. Most sessions we would be enforcing "lights out" and curfew by now even on the final night of a session. But with all teenage girls this session, "forget it"! Meghan is down in one of the bunks chaperoning a last night cabin party. I doubt lights out or sleep will come anytime soon. Expect your kids to be tired when they get home tomorrow!

Although there are scattered bands of cloudy sky, it is mostly crisp, clear, and cool under the full moon with not a breath of wind - a fine night for the end of camp. (except for Lazy Days - we're not forgetting you guys!) Many of the girls enjoyed a fine moonlight ride.

August 15, 9:30 PM:

Robyn and Shelly just finished watching the last part of the video from the fair while everyone else has been on the big show field under the light of a nearly full moon. Maddy and Peyton were "clean" from dinner and Kone King and chose to stay that way, but everyone else rode in the moonlight. What a great final memory of Longacres 2008! We'll miss the girls from this session when they're all gone tomorrow.

All except Alexa and Carly who stay on as full junior counselors for Lazy Days week, along with Mary and Peggy as adult staff. We're looking forward to seeing a full crew of riders for next week's relaxed and hopefully fun and achievement filled week of riding. We know everyone who will be here next week either directly as former students or as the "mom" or "brother" of a former student. You are all friends and we welcome you back to Longacres on Monday!

Speaking of Junior Counselors, they are one of the real bright spots of our 2008 Longacres season. We have had several senior staff changes during this season, some planned in advance and some not. But our 2008 Junior Counselors and CIT's have been wonderful. We would love to have all of them back in more responsible positions next year, and several of them have already indicated an interest. We are off to a good start in planning the 2009 staff!

Speaking of 2009, click this link for updated information on 2009 enrollments. People have been shifting their session requests as their other family plans become more clear, and our early enrollment is now quite even across all sessions, which is good. Only the Mother - Daughter week will definitely be full on September 1st as of this writing. Nearly all sessions will be close, but there should be a few spots in most sessions.

August 15, 2PM:

OK - You knew this was coming - - -

If you're a regular reader of this blog or a frequent visitor to Longacres, you knew this moment would come sometime this summer. You've watched Tom nursing his flowers - you've seen him pre-occupied with the landscaping - - you've heard him talk about it now and then in a wistful way.

NO - we're not retiring and closing Longacres!

1 - Click here for a picture of the proud mom and daughter.

2 - Click here to get the idea of what we're really talking about.

3 - Then click here for the BIG event! No cheating - click here last!

August 15th, 8 AM Update:

Z-ZZZzzzzz! (Yawn)

August 14, 11PM:

Click this link for one more album of informal and jumping pictures from the fair today. Try this link for another possible album late tonight or tomorrow morning.

The girls got home from the fair a little while ago in high spirits. Lots of bags of cotton candy and other goodies from the midway came with them! We'll have a late sleep-in tomorrow morning to get rested up from all the excitement of the week. Tomorrow will be a pretty laid back day with lots of chances to take short rides on different horses to have a chance to say "goodbye" to all our favorites until next year.

There was a bright near full moon out tonight. We considered a moonlight ride tonight, but it was quite late when we got home. We'll hope for a clear night tomorrow night and maybe have a short moonlight ride for those who never did one before.

Speaking of the moon, Meghan and I had 20 minutes of peace and enjoying mother nature's bounty after the girls went to bed. Much of the year, that's a regular part of each day and week - it is one of the fringe benefits of farm life. But we get so snowed under with work during the summer season that sometimes we take the beauty around us for granted for weeks at a time. Not tonight.

As we sat on the show field talking after dropping the girls at the barn we noticed the bright nearly full moon to our east, and two separate lightning storms well off to our west. I was quite a contrast. And so soon after this afternoon's unusual weather when it rained quite hard during our big jumping ride while the sun was still shining brightly on us!

August 14, 8PM:

We've begun our traditional season ending special events now that the fair horse show is done. We did some bigger than usual jumping and took nice pictures for this link. Now we're about to leave for a short but exciting last trip to the fair with no horses just to have fun.

Tomorrow we'll do some pond riding, some more special rides on horses that are a little above each riders normal limit, watch the video of the fair, then have a Pasquale's final dinner and final Kone King. Then this regular camp season will be over - - - but NOT for us! We have one more very fun week which we call "Lazy Days of August" for good reason. We just have fun this week. We get up a little later than regular camp, have some good lessons, some small intimate trail rides, a field trip or two, and much more. We can't wait to see our many good friends arriving on Monday - we know everyone who is coming except Danita's brother, Derek, and we have met him. It is going to be lots of fun next week!

August 14, 3PM:

We're in the middle of trucking horses back from the fair, so I'm taking a break to upload pictures. Click this link for about 130 pictures taken at the show today. We had a GOOOD Day! We set another all time record for the most ribbons won by Longacres at the fair. We broke last year's record of 66 by four ribbons, with 70 between all the girls.

Everyone who was so nervous the first two days of the show settled down today and rode their best. Christina who had a tough time jumping the first two days got on Merlin and won a 2nd and a 3rd jumping! Alexa on ShaBang WON a big jumper class!!!!!!!! Marta had a great day on both Karen and Merlin.

Amanda is one of my favorite stories from the whole second session and especially her fine job at the fair with "Boo". We bought Boo this spring with almost no jumping experience. Many riders had a hand in training Boo this summer, but Amanda really put the work into him leading up to the Derby and the fair. She had him completely relaxed and bending around his turns at the fair and winning ribbons almost every time out! Meghan is very proud of this horse and rider combination, since she chose the horse when we were horse shopping in the spring. Boo will be a valued member of the Longacres show team for many years, thanks in a big part to Amanda's good riding and training!

More news later.

Click this link later for pictures of us jumping bigger and our favorite jumps here at Longacres later this afternoon.

August 13, 6PM:

Bulliten: Marta wins Blue on Karen in under saddle class!

August 13, 3PM Update:

It has been a difficult show for all of us some of the time, and some of us more of the time. I am especially proud of Christina and Michelle who chose to try a very challenging show that includes difficult jumping. They have had some tough rides over fences. Fortunately they both have won ribbons and done very well in their flat classes.

We did not win a class today, but we did win lots of ribbons. In fact we are on pace to tie last year's all time record of 66 ribbons at the fair! Alexa was spoil sport enough to point out that the fair did not offer 7th and 8th place ribbons last year, and we have a few of those in this year's total. Boo, Alexa! But the girls are riding well and getting ribbons.

Click this link for a big album from today including pictures of most of the girls with the ribbons. Click this link for another album of jumping pictures from the jumper ring to be posted soon!

We finished a little early today and sent the girls out on the fair with the counselors to just have fun and forget any riding challenges for a few hours! Then we'll get to bed early and all be ready for a good final show day tomorrow.

Robyn has a shot at Training Jumper Champion - she is leading in points!

August 12, 10:30 PM:

Usually we do things all together as a group, but we're split into smaller sub groups this week. Some are staying overnight at the fair, some are taking showers and heading to bed early, and four were at the barn late cleaning up. Meghan and I had an urge for a "Micro Kone King" trip, so we piled Peyton, Carly, Christina, and Marta into the truck with us and headed out for a small group Kone King trip. Yummy!

Click this link for another album from Ashley's camera. Some pictures are from the fair today and quite a few should have been posted on Friday after the Awards Party. Enjoy.

August 12, 8 PM:

Meghan called from the fair and said that everyone is in good spirits and shrugging off some of the memories of riding problems from early in the day. We're all looking forward to doing our best tomorrow and Thursday.

I'm posting a few more pictures at this link of Maddy and Carly jumping back at the farm this evening. I have a new toy - a long telephoto lens, and I was playing with it at the barn while I watched Maddy schooling Jack and Carly on Ginger, her Derby winning mount! I was a good 100 feet away from both girls when I got the pictures of Carly on the Butterfly and Maddy doing the sequence of jumping pictures in the triple combination. Enjoy.

We got two more deposits for 2009 sessions in the mail today. A month ago it looked like the first few weeks of July would be full on September 1st, and then it looked like August would be full. But several girls have switched their first choice of 2009 sessions back and forth the past few weeks, and we now have quite an even 2009 enrollment, with all sessions about two thirds full. There will likely be a space or two in many sessions still on September 1st unless quite a few new deposits come in during the next two weeks. The only session that is truly full right now is the Mother - Daughter week in June. Click here for 2009 enrollment details.

August 12, 6PM Update:

I just got home from the fair, but Meghan is still there feeding the girls, horses, and organizing for tomorrow morning's show.

Click this link for some pictures from the fair today and this link for more to be posted later.

Robyn and Quantum were the big winners for Longacres today, taking first place in a very competitive jumper class at 2'9". They were FAST! Alexa on ShaBang and Amanda on Boo were also very good, with just one or two mistakes each, and figure to do really well tomorrow. Amanda got two 4th's in jumpers.

In the hunter ring we were a little nervous at the first day of this big show and there were mistakes. Most of the girls won ribbons in the 3rd to 6th range, and I am sure we will do better tomorrow. This is a big scary show with all the distractions of the fair.

When I got back to the farm I stopped at the barn to see how Shelly, Carly, Maddy, and Peyton were doing. They are not showing and they came back early to ride and take care of the horses. They rode this afternoon and may again tonight. But just when I drove in, they were all laughing and trying to untangle the bailing twine ball. They had been throwing it around and it slowly "accidentally on purpose" came undone and got wrapped around tree stumps, up in the branches of the pine tree, and probably all around people! It looked like fun, but they were having trouble getting it all out of the trees.

More news to come later tonight. Our big hope is that Robyn and Quantum can win the Training Jumper Championship after winning the first class.

August 11, 6PM:

Click this link for a few pictures of the girls setting up the stalls at the Erie Count Fair this afternoon. We just brought Maddy, Carly, and Peyton back to ride here at the farm and then we're headed back to the fair to practice for the show tomorrow. More later.

August 11, 2:13 PM:

We are about to pull out the driveway to go over to the fair. We'll update you later with first night schooling news!

August 10, 10PM:

We just finished a careful review of the Derby video as preparation for the Fair horse show. The girls all had a chance to see this video at the Awards Party the other night, but this was an ptional extra where we ran a lot of tape back in slow motion. The girls had the option of getting to bed early or coming up and watching tape. Hannah, Alexa, Carly, Robyn, and Shelly chose to review video and we learned a lot!

Now junior counselors Hannah, Carly, and Alexa are working downstairs with Meghan organizing horse medical records and filling out entry forms for the big show this week.

Above: Junior counselors Alexa, Carly, (then Meghan), and Hannah work together tonight doing the entries for the Erie County Fair. Get used to these faces. Some of these fine hard working junior counselors will be back as the core of our 2008 senior staff next year!

August 10, 12:30 Update:

Here's an interesting phenomena for you weather junkies who share my interest in unusual weather events. All morning a nearly stationary and very tight low pressure system has been hovering just to our northwest. Intense heavy rain has been falling along a very narrow band just 8 miles to our west. More than two inches came down in the past two hours and another inch may be still to come. There is widespread local flooding. Here at Longacres we've had only a few showers so far. We may still get the heavy rain, but maybe not. Fingers are crossed - we haven't really had any flooding here since early June.

August 10th, Noon:

It's a good day for our weekly "day of rest" for the girls and the horses. They slept in yesterday after the Derby and did get some rest. Then they rode all afternoon and evening. But we're all still tired in that deep down kind of way from all the emotion of putting on the Derby and the big awards party after. We have an off and on rain day today, which is good. It will promote a restful afternoon and evening.

We do have to finalize all our plans for another HUGE week coming up as many of us show at the Erie County Fair. We'll be up late tonight filling out entry forms. Then tomorrow after lunch we're off to the fair with nine horses, at least.

It is an odd session this month at Longacres for showing. We have several girls who love horses and riding but just aren't into the pressure of big shows. More are sitting out the fair this year than in any year in the past decade. That will make it quite nice for the eight girls who are showing. They'll have lots of help and we can really concentrate on getting good photo's and video of all of them, as well as preparing them well for their events.

But it presents us with a scheduling problem since we also owe a good riding experience to the girls who have chosen not to go to the fair show. We have three good junior counselors who are not showing themselves, so we will be able to staff Longacres back at the farm while we also coach the girls at the fair. Meghan and I will be flitting back and forth.

All of us will go to the fair tomorrow afternoon to set up the stabling and enjoy the excitement of the fair. Then we'll likely all spend a good part of Tuesday cheering on our riders during their first day of showing. Wednesday some will spend the whole day at Longacres and others may choose to watch the show half the day and ride at Longacres the other half.

I had a meeting with the girls this morning after horse care and told them to try to each pick some special project or goal that would make this week special for them, especially if they are part of the group choosing not to show. Maddy, for instance, will have exclusive use of Eva and Jack to train and ride for the week and Eva's owner, Linda Reading of Reading Thoroughbred Farms, will be coming every evening to give Maddy a private lesson on this young thoroughbred mare.

We're setting up time for Shelly to have some long semi private "buddy trails" at the end of the week before she goes back to Maryland. Peyton's special request was "lots of sleep in mornings!". Our other non-showers are thinking up good ideas and we'll try to work them in. We might book a good outside guest instructor for one of the days we're at the fair.

It's going to be an interesting week.

August 9th, 9PM:

Just in case almost 400 pictures from the past two days aren't enough for you guys at home, here at this link are a few more from this afternoon!

Today was "Emily and Hannah Day". These two very hard working junior counselors knocked themselves out helping to build the Derby course and help us run the Derbies. Neither of them officially rode in the Derby, so today we all worked to set the course up for them and they both rode Brody around the course. They both had clean rounds!!!!! The pictures at the above link include shots of Emily and Hannah doing some nice riding. We also scheduled both of them to ride nearly every hour today as a "thank you" for all their hard work the past week. Thanks again girls. You have been wonderful!

Click this link to go to the links for the five picture albums from the past couple of days!

August 9th, 1PM Update:

More good memories are coming back as I get to feeling a little more rested on this relaxing "post Derby" day. Meghan and I had breakfast, went to the barn to clean up some of the mess from the party, had a meeting with the girls about the Fair show next week, and then we took a half hour drive in the country. Very mentally refreshing.

I am going through the 2nd four hundred pictures from the past two days and getting ready to post another big batch at this link soon.

Amanda was another of our riders putting in an excellent performance yesterday on "Boo". We just bought Boo this spring and his training for english jumping has been progressing slowly but surely over the summer. He was always willing, but spent a lot of time looking around and not paying attention to where he is going. Amanda has been working hard with him and it really paid off at this show! He never won a class in the two days of the show, but he was solid and looked very willing, making only one small mistake in each class. Amanda is showing him at the fair next week and I expect some good results after he gets used to all the distractions at the fair.

Rachael also put in excellent rides on Justin and Zany. When Rachael really puts her mind to something, she is VERY competitive! Good riding.

More news later.

11AM, Saturday Update:

I am only slowly waking up and fully remembering everything that we've done in the past two days! We'll post full results of the Derby later, but I need to add another special credit to Carly for her outstanding performance. Carly is a third year Longacres student, has her own horse at home and is a good rider. But she had a small accident with her horse at home this spring and was pretty cautious about riding when she arrived at Longacres a few weeks ago. Not only has she gotten her boldness back; not only has she got a good fold and release; but she WON both of the first two Jumper Derbies yesterday on Ginger! Carly is one of the big Championship Cooler winners and I am very proud of her riding this entire summer as well as yesterday - Bravo!

8AM, Saturday, Aug. 9th:

We'll try to keep posting updates over the coming week, but we are shifting into an even higher speed if that is possible after "Derby Week". Today will be low key to rest up after the frantic pace of the two day Derby and the big party last night. We'll be doing casual trail rides and training our young horses. But then we go, go, go as we head to the "A" rated Erie County Fair show on Monday. We have a couple of girls who prefer not to show at this exciting, but stressful event. We'll try to work out a plan that will allow us to be in two places at once and balance the girls desire to be at the show to support their friends, while still getting in at least a reduced schedule of riding.

So forgive us if we don't update this website every day! We will post a few pictures and a quick report late at night when we can.

We'll get all caught up next weekend, and should be back to regular updates during the much more relaxed and well named "Lazy Days of August" clinic the following week.

We will post lots more pictures from the past two days today and tomorrow. See the links below. Only the first two work now.

11 PM, Friday, August 8th:

Well, the girls are all back in their cabins after a fine day of riding and earning awards at the Longacres Jumper Derby and Awards Party! Several hundred people joined us for the "Barn Dance" and party tonight after the show. It was a good time to let off steam and relax after the weeks of work preparing for this big annual event. The Longacres 2008 Summer Series of shows has now come to an end and we'll say "goodbye" to our summer show friends until next year. Next week for some of them who we will see again at the "A" rated Erie County Fair soon!

We'd like to share some of the images from the past two days of showing with you all at home. But where to start? We took almost 800 pictures the past two days! We'll soon upload some or many of them. Try these links. I'll post at least a few in the next hour, and many more tomorrow.

Link A

Link B

Link C

Link D

Link E

I'll close for tonight by telling you about a talk I had with the girls this afternoon. I don't know how many of them really "got it", but I meant it from the bottom of my heart. I had Meghan gather all our girls together near the end of the show this afternoon. And I asked them if they understood what a fine riding job they had done as a whole - as a group and as a team. I told them that many fancy show stables would be proud to field a team of even four riders who could do the kind of challenging jump course that we hold at the Longacres Derby. Here at Longacres, we aren't really a "show stable" - we're a kids summer camp. But a very special summer camp. Here at Longacres nearly all our students took part in the Derby and they did either respectably well or superbly well. There were other very fine riders, including professionals competing. Our girls not only "held their own", but kicked some serious butt! Shelly and Robyn were awesome, and Alexa on ShaBang rose to the occasion and put in great clean jumping rounds over the very difficult course. I was and am very proud of our riders. The progress this group has shown in the past two weeks is amazing!

8 AM Friday:

The weather has not been kind to the Derby this year but we are making the best of it. See details below. Come join us during the day today between 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM to see the jumping as we fit the classes in between rain storms.

The Awards Party in the barn with two bands will be from 6 to 9 this evening with Awards at about 7:30. Don't miss it!!!!

Thursday night Update, 10PM:

Click this link for pictures - there are LOTS of them, along with a bunch of pictures of the pretty Derby jump course!

The girls were in great spirits for the traditional Pasquale's dinner after the show and our trip to Kone King. We "adopted" a couple of riders from the Summer Series at Longacres today. Andrea spent the day with us, and rode Quantum in the High Derby after Robyn passed on that class. Andrea is in second place in the high Derby as of tonight, with more horses to go tomorrow! Andrea went to dinner and Kone King with us.

Robyn did very well on Quantum in the 2'9" class, and Shelly had a perfect double clear in the same 2'9" class.

Amanda and Rachael also had double clear rounds today in the Beginner and Puddle Jumper classes. Marta had a great ride, but 2 time faults in a heartbreaker! Maddy didn't feel well , but may ride tomorrow. The rest of the girls all rode well and either had one rail down or a refusal or two, but good, solid riding.

Longacres has also semi-adopted Summer Series jumper rider Bethany Scarlata, who is staying overnight with our girls tonight so she can be at the show first thing tomorrow.

ATTENTION ALL SUMMER SERIES PEOPLE:

Don't miss the "barn dance" and barn party tomorrow night along with the Awards Party. We have the bagpipe band AND "Little Louis Band" playing music along with all the awards!

Thursday, 1:30 pm Update:

Some GREAT riding! The girls rode very well, many of them in the rain this morning. They were careful but confident. Really good riding. We won't know until tomorrow for sure where everyone places, but they are in the hunt for good ribbons. Shelly has the leading time so far in the $1000 Junior Amatuer money class! More details later! We have more horses to go this afternoon.

Thursday, 6AM:

Scroll down past this horse show announcement for today's updates.

8 PM Wednesday: 

Derby Day - "The Both Days Solution"

Many of you have other commitments either Thursday or Friday. We are going to run the Derby classes both days, much as we did a few weeks ago for our August 25th - 26th shows.

We will run all five Derby Classes each day and keep the score cards open until the classes have been run Friday. You may ride either day or both days. Your best score will count for your ribbons or prize money in each class. Look at it as a two round competition with your best round to count. Call me if you have any questions on how this will work. (652-9495)

This way everyone who wants to come and ride the very nicely done Derby course can do so, either day - or both days (One entry fee covers both days if you come both - you do not have to come both.)

We will begin at 11AM on Thursday and again at 11AM Friday. We'll run through the classes in order, and we will take breaks if it rains. We will try to wait to hold the two highest classes until 4PM on Friday, but will not wait if rain is coming on the radar.

No party on Thursday night. All Awards and the Party from 6 to 9 PM Friday!

There will be only one change in class specifications. The "Team Jumping Event" at 2'9" will be a separate class and the team medals (if we have any teams besides Longacres!) will be awarded for that class, including a jump-off. Not a speed class as previously announced.

The $1000 2'9" class will be for the Individual medals and money. We WILL PAY the money regardless of number of entries.

Because of the likely poorer footing Friday, the High Derby will be limited to 3'6" and will not go higher in the Jump-off. We WILL PAY the $1000 in the high Derby regardless of number of entries.

Will this be fair? Will the conditions be the same both days? No - conditions always change during a class, sometimes dramatically if a sudden rain storm hits. If you come, you agree to take your chances on what the weather will be, especially if you plan to ride Friday. We will set the course as nearly the same as possible each day.

The AWARDS PARTY will be Friday between 6 and 9PM. We WILL have a band. We WILL have the Gordon Highlanders! If it is too wet to have the party up on the field, we will have a heck of a barn party down on the porch and inside the barn! In fact, "Barn Party" sounds very good to me!

Thursday, 6AM:

At 6 AM a line of strong thunderstorms is passing just to our south - we're getting only a light shower, and then clearing for at least several hours, so conditions still may be quite good for the start of today's show at 11 AM. Our girls are all quite excited about getting two chances to show between today and tomorrow, and hoping we'll have enough breaks in the weather to ride rain free.

We're all sorry that some of the drama and excitement of the 39th annual Longacres Jumper Derby will be diluted by spreading it over two days. But we are looking forward to a rip-roaring barn party and awards ceremony tomorrow night!!!!!

Wednesday, August 6, 10 PM:

Final 2008 Points Standings - click here

The top four in each division get trophies at the Party - If you see someone listed who might not know they are getting a trophy, pass the word!

Many, many thanks to the Bennett family, Andrea, Greg, and Gina for all their support of the Summer Series! This thank you is especially to Gina for her tireless and excellent work painting the Butterfly jump for the Derby. Whether or not she knew how big a job it would be when she volunteered, I don't know. But she persevered and the result is incredible. Wait until you see it in person! Click this link to see a few pictures taken tonight before we add the other two stands tomorrow! What a great "Friend of Longacres"!

- Tom & Meghan

Wednesday, August 6, 8AM:

We know that many of you out there are frustrated by the back and forth changes on which day is "more likely" for the final Derby Day show and Awards Party. Some would prefer to stick to planned dates and then just do the shows or cancel them completely. We understand.

The only ones more frustrated by this summer of unsettled weather and changed horse show dates than you readers (exhibitors and parents), would be those of us trying to put on the shows for you. It has been the summer from hell for managing horse shows! More than once, Meghan and I have thrown up our hands and been tempted to just cancel the next show completely and wait for show days later in the summer.

But we haven't. We have a big group of riders who come from all over the country to show with us every week. And many other followers of the Longacres Summer Series enjoy showing as much as possible. So we watch the weather and we improvise. And we try to change our schedule ahead of time so you won't often go to a show associated with us and get rained out and have made the drive for nothing.

We are proud that we were able to plan a series of nine shows this summer and we ran nine shows, not counting Derby Day. On three of those nine show days, we changed the date (and once the location for the June Quakerfield make-up show). But we had good weather on the changed days, and we ran a horse show.

Now we're down to the very last event of the 2008 Summer Series and Mother Nature is frowning on us again. We will make a decision tonight on the "least bad" of several poor options. We will have a 2008 Derby and we will give out many great, well earned Championship Awards. And we will breath a sigh of relief when this summer is all over!

And then - we will immediately start making plans to subject ourselves to the same torture all over again in 2009. Dates for the Longacres show days for 2009 are already posted and three new stables have already requested to be included in our Summer Series schedule next year. For better or worse, and in good weather and bad, we will be back!

Tuesday, 8:30 PM:

Alexa and Hannah were teaching the two lessons this evening and concentrated on flat work to save the horses jumping for the final practice tomorrow and then the Derby.

Which day is the Derby you ask? I wish I knew. A decision for Thursday will be made about 8 PM tomorrow night. The weather Thursday is looking even better now. But we'd dearly love to go on Friday when all the bands can come! The decision tomorrow night will be based on what we know about Friday's weather. If the rain on Friday is predicted to be scattered and not widespread, we may take our chances and go on Friday, rain or shine. Stay tuned until tomorrow.

Our weather luck is pretty good at the moment - strong thunderstorms are passing by both to the north and south of us as I write! Only a few drops here. But I expect we will get wet later tonight. Tomorow's weather still looks great for most of the day.

Meghan is out working with Joel in the dark decorating the jump course. Our favorite camper mom of the month, Gina Bennett, is down in the dark painting the last of the Butterfly jump stands. Everyone available is pitching in!

My picture album of the day will be posted very soon now at this link.

Tuesday, Aug. 5th, 7PM:

We'll have some nice pictures from today at this link around 9 PM. The girls had a great practice for the Derby this morning, and then took an hour off for fooling around at the creek during a hot afternoon. They were in very good spirits at dinner! They're getting on the horses now for a relaxing after dinner ride. We have one more day of good weather tomorrow to get in plenty of riding and practice for the big show. Then the weather gets very unsettled for the end of the week which is what makes our planning so hard for the next few days. We will not be making a decision on the day for the show until tomorrow night.

If you're curious about weather, go to the Buffalo area weather radar right now. Strong to severe thunderstorms are passing all around us, including to the north of Buffalo and just a few miles south of us just before dinner. They are producing flash flood conditions just to our east. Because of "lake shadowing" which I have written about in this space, we've seen only a few drops here at Longacres. It didn't bother our riding at all or our guests who visited to school for the show this afternoon.

Tuesday, 11AM:

The girls are practicing the more difficult parts of the Derby course this morning. Marta on Ebony and Carly on Ginger had especially good training rides. Marta looks like a possible ribbon or cooler winner! We post more comments after everyone has a chance to ride this morning.

Hannah arrived and dove right into working with Meghan on the jumps. You are great, Hannah!

Tuesday, August 5, 10AM:

OK, I must admit I am a bit of a computer geek. Normally I enjoy scouring through all the formulas on a spread sheet to find out why it's not working. But not when I'm also supposed to be setting up the Derby course, teaching the girls to ride it, and arranging alternative plans in case of bad weather at the end of this week. Still, we think we now have the points totals all correct at this link. We will go through and list the order for "Horse of the Year" later today - you can do it yourself by reading through all the division totals.

Monday, August 4th, midnight:

We're still up tweaking a balky computer file to make sure the horse show points are accurate when we post them - which we hope will be soon. Some of the girls were up at the hosue with us late watching the video from Saturday's show. Everyone has now seen themselves ride at that show.

Monday, 11PM:

Final Season Championship points for the show series will be posted at this link in a few minutes. Also click this link for a few pictures from tonight down at the show field.

Monday, Aug. 4th, 7PM:

Meghan and Emily have done a superhuman job of putting up most of the Derby course in one day! Everyone helped for an hour after lunch, but it was mostly Emily and Meghan. We have a full time outside maintenance worker doing nothing but repainting and touching up the jumps all week. The course is looking very good already.

To give you an idea of how much Longacres has put into new jumps this year alone, we have the course set up with four more jumps than last summer. Last summer we had to borrow jumps from Quakerfield to finish the course. This year we have about 12 jumps left over for practice and spares!

We are also reaping a reward for putting up with a very rainy wet summer. The field was pretty brown at this time last year. Not this week - it is bright green and a lovely backdrop for all the colorful jumps.

Our girls all practiced triple combination jumps this morning trying to make final decisions on which horses they will ride and what height they will jump in the Derby. We will make the final decision after seeking each girl's input. Everyone will have a chance to participate if they like. We are putting a four person team in the New York State Junior Amatuer Team Jumping Championships, including Alexa, Robyn, Shelly, and one more rider still to be designated.

More news later.

Monday, 8AM:

Hannah's Coming! - We spoke with Hannah on the phone last night, and she'll be here early tomorrow morning to help with Derby week - can't wait to see her again!

Sunday, 10:30 PM:

PS - Meghan just got back to the house after holding surprise cabin parties with FOOD and whip cream (to eat AND to rub on your friends faces!). She tells me everyone is in excellent spirits and ready for the new week. Two girls who had a little spat last night have made up and were laughing and joking together after exchanging apologies. All is good!

Sunday, 10 PM:

The day of rest was wonderful for everyone! The girls actually cheered when we announced four hours of free time after dinner for showers and then an early curfew.

Meghan and I did go out to dinner ourselves, but we're not really very good at just relaxing during the summer. When we got home about 7:30 I started mowing the show field and worked with the tractor headlights until just a few minutes ago. Now I'm uploading all Marta's pictures telling the story of a "day off" at Longacres with Sleep In and Town Day thrown in.

Meghan has been gone now for two hours making some changes in the work list to account for our two new junior counselors here this week, with the arrival of Emily yesterday and Hannah in another day. She is also having a staff meeting to get Robyn into the list of responsibilities, since she has taken on the position of CIT for the final two weeks. We offered Robyn a CIT spot last winter based on her outstanding work ethic and the good things she did here the past two summers as a student. She chose to come just as a student for most of this summer so she could concentrate on her riding, but today she came to us and said she wanted to have the CIT experience the final two weeks. We're glad.

There will be lots of stories this week about Derby Day preparations.

Star and Merlin!

Below: Various Links to other Longacres information

"Welcome Horse Lovers" - click here

Links: HORSE LOAN INFORMATION CLICK HERE

To General Info Longacres Page - Rates, Schedule, Facilities, Typical Day and Much More!

Lots of Pictures!

Year 2009 Newsletters

 Year 2008 Newsletters

Year 2007 Newsletters

Year 2006 Newsletters

Year 2005 Newsletters

Year 2004 Newsletters OR Year 2003 Newsletters OR Year 2002 Newsletters OR Year 2001 Newsletters OR Year 2000 Newsletters - MANY photo's and all the news from last six summers at Longacres! A good way to get a feeling for what we are like! (Plus further down this page)

Longacres; 1529 Mill Road; East Aurora, NY 14052 716-652-9495 www.longacres.com

Contacting Tom Kranz by e-mail: Tom's Email

DOWNLOADABLE REGISTRATION FORM: signup.htm References: Click Here!

Alumni page - click here

Index of more facts & articles about Longacres - Click to Read

Above - On the Show Field with ECF show ribbons!

General information about the 2007 schedule and rates is now posted.

2007 Rates & Schedules