At least I can say that the time that has been spent not blogging has been filled with various horse activities.
Winter has been and continues to be an epic pain. Hopefully warm weather is on it's way and here to stay.....The horses just started back into serious work about two weeks ago and are slowly building back up into a routine. Ozzy and Toasty are enjoying daily hacks to the polo field and doing lots and lots of walking up hills to regain their fitness. Toasty has finally "detoxed" and all of the track junk is out of his system, he no longer sweats and smells like chemicals :) The downside to this is he looks like a pregnant mare, 17h and all flab....spring grass and lots and lots of trot sets will do this boy some good. Ozzy's soundness for 25 is excellent, he may have a few shows to get out to this season. Toasty will be enjoying another week or so of ponying on trails and then will hit the lunge line, side rein work and then maybe in 3-4 weeks go for his first ride! Stevie started out hot as a bottle rocket (I think we talked about this before?) but is coming around. We have ventured to the indoor a couple of times and did some jumping around. Overall, I'm super pleased with his progress, rather, where we are starting back, it's not too far behind where we left off, so that means his basics are pretty solid, go us! Jolie is much the same, good and solid. She's probably done the least amount of anyone in the barn as of yet, but it's like we never had off time. I am super excited for a show season with her. She's finally mature and growing up, definitely ready to get out and win. BamBam is coming along fantastically, schooling little mock xc fences, going on short gallops, and jumping like a pro. Unfortunately he's a little green on the flat compared to how far ahead his jumping is, so that needs to balance out. He is officially for sale and has had a few people scope him out as an upper level event horse. Have some people on the burners to check him out, and ads going live within the next week....he's ready to move on to his permanent home :) Our boarder Amy's new horse Journey has settled in well and is officially joining our training program for a couple of months before summer. He's proving to be quite an easy project, super safe and reliable which is exactly what we like to see. Also waiting on the back burner a little is our client Valley, he's young, only four and just off the track this past fall, also newly gelded. With my youngsters, consistency is key so I'm waiting until the weather gets a little more stable so I can have the time and consistency to really allow him to flourish. The let down time is also ideal, he didn't have many starts but I'm sure he's had just as much junk added to his system as the rest of them did, so the detox is helpful.... We are keeping busy and starting to put together a show schedule. There is a combined test coming up in April that we are looking to head to, it will depend on who is still around when the time comes as to who will go, but that is probably our first start to the seas
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Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy February...
It's been a long time since the last barn update, but things just got a little crazy, we have had many new additions to the barn and lots going on, I will do my best to do a quick fill in.... The Christmas Party was a blast, thanks to everyone who joined us - It was great to get everyone in one spot for food, music, and good company! We were even joined by Tesla and Ryker (Optimist Eventing/Throughbred Chronicles). It was nice to have Tesla back for the week for lots of riding, it was like old times having a good and reliable set of hands on the ground to help out as well as a capable rider to help get through my enormous list of horses in work! Since New Years, we have welcomed a few horses into the barn, our new boarder Maggie and her horse Isabelle, Amy and her horse Dixie (they came back in December, I don't remember if I mentioned them or not) and my new sale/lease project Raf's Society Girl who is Jolies sort of half sister. We have a new client arriving this coming week with her OTTB Val's Honor for training, and just two days ago we welcomed Gentle Journey, another OTTB that will be Amy's new horse. An old friend of mine has sent her daughters horse to me to be sold as well, that is Weasley our broke, broke, broke 3'6" horse. He is available for sale, as well as Amy's horse Dixie.... Most of the ponies have been enjoying a nice vacation. With the business of the New Year, getting things in order, scheduling vet, farrier and dentist appointments, travelling to teach and so on it's been hard to fit everything in! Anyway, from here on out I promise to keep everyone a LOT more updated on all the fun things going on at Thunder Crest! Firstly, thanks to all that came out on the sortof rainy Sunday evening to join our Christmas party. It was a ton of fun, great food and people and I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Love you all and hope you have a great great holiday :) Sunny finished his initial breaking, allowing his "mom" to hop on and give it a go. It was quite successful and Lee (mom) was SO happy to finally get on her last homebred Morgan. If anyone is interested Sunny is for sale, he is broke walk/trot, basically voice command on the lunge and has good basics in place. He has a great brain, is super quiet and eager and willing to learn. Mona and Arkie have had some interest and even with the holiday coming up, we have a few people coming out to look at them both....and also a potential buyer for Mona (stay tuned to her blog for more information)....
Bam has started under saddle, check out his blog on The Thoroughbred Chronicles for more information on that! Toasty is boring as ever, his blog is short but spreads some light on him.... Jolie, Oz and Steve-o are enjoying quiet time, trail riding and light work, but nothing interesting from them.... As for the breeding farm, three more sale mares (in foal) from Spendthrift Farm The weather has been quite mild and thus it has been rather muddy yet great riding weather. All of the horses are enjoying light work, unfortunately all in the arena due to hunting season still going on! The evaluation ride of the new horse Dixie was great. He is far from finished but safe enough for anyone to ride. I think he will be a great next step up or a good challenge for a more advanced rider to teach him new concepts that he may have missed along the way. I have also been in the process of breaking a horse at a local barn called Starwatch Farm, owned by Lee and Lee Rockwell (that isn't a typo, both husband and wife are named Lee :D ) Her horse is a 6 year old morgan standing at 16 hands. I think I have mentioned him before but he is officially backed and has started walk trotting. We have been lucky with the weather and its always gorgeous every time out on mr. Sunny. This is Sunny, backed for the first time (you can see me in the shadow!) Tada! liftoff :)
He's a very good boy and after a little more work will be available for sale. If you would like contact info for Lee, please get in touch with me and I can send you in her direction. Please serious inquiries only The past couple of weeks has been extremely busy, a poor excuse for lack of blogging but the truth all the same..
Last weekend we welcomed our new boarder Kellie and her horse Harley. Harley is a Percheron Morgan cross and I about 15 she's very sweet and is a super trail horse, we love having her fluffy little self around. We also welcomed our new lesson pony named ricki to our barn. Ricki is a 25 year old quarter horse that is an absolute dream, he's done a little bit of everything from reining to short stirrup and still remains the same steady eddy that my little sister grew up learning to ride on about eight years ago. We are very lucky to have him as a new addition to the lesson program. Speaking of new additions to the lesson program, yesterday we welcomed another new boarder which will also be used in our lesson program. Dixie Red is his name and he is eight years old. Bred to be a runner he was breeders cup nominated but never quite made it even close. He is a quiet sweet boy and his owner Amy is excited to be at put barn for the numerous riding opportunities and to get help in furthering her and her horses abilities together in lessons with me. With this we would also like to mention our stalls are filling up fast and have only a limited number of full board and training spot available. Contact kait to come out and take a look or to reserve your stall, they won't last long!! Well I am realizing I tend to update Facebook more than my regular blog, my apologies!! It as been almost a month since we have sold Patch, as a sidenote! I realized that I had not posted about that here. He was purchased by a girl in Maine that plans to do the hunters with him. It was remarked by the vet that had done the prepurchase that he was "the best behaved two year old he has dealt with" and he was not new to his vetting job :) We have not heard much from the buyers end, but we know he arrived at his new home safe and sound. As per our Boston trip, on day one I purchased our new boy "Bam" - a 2007 16h Bay Gelding. He was very very very under weight but seems to have all the right pieces I would look for in a new prospect. Photo is compliments of CANTER New England :) He's a sweet heart and settling in well to his new routine..... Upon signing the bill of sale, I met another trainer that was pressing me to look at her horse. Only coming with the intent to buy one horse and having fulfilled my want, I was not really willing to go look but I was dropped off at the barn anyway....This horse was too expensive for me, but all together nice... Meet Coast to Coast, a 17h Ch. Gelding, a 2006 model Photo from the CANTER New England site.... Well, on my way up the next day with the trailer (see I did NOT have full intent to buy!) I got a call from the chestnut's owner...she made me an offer I could not refuse! So home I went with a full trailer..... Both are settling in well and enjoying some turnout and being ponied on trails. They are super to deal with, and already are standing quiet for grooming, clipping, mane pulling, the works. They do really need the down time, but it is SO tempting to just hop right on!!! They will be available for sale in the spring once they have begun their retraining. On another note, Arctiz has had many people out to try him but nothing more than that, yet. He is still available and needs to find a new home!!! He is priced to sell, hes a nice horse and a fantastically easy keeper. He is just waiting to find his person!!!!
Leo has been sold into a lesson program in Troy, NY - he left on Monday and has been used in the program all week. The instructor has fallen in LOVE with him and we get phone calls daily about how well he fits in and what a good boy he is for them! Congrats to Placid Hill Stables on their new purchase! Lessons are still up and going for us, and we are becoming busier than ever. We are still accepting new students and also have a handful of horses available for lease so be sure to contact us about that :) Stay warm, and stay tuned! Whoever said travelling is not part of the business definitely has it wrong!!!
We will start with last Saturday the Thoroughbreds For All event at Fair Hill....Tesla came down and we loaded up the trailer and made our way to Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland...We had Ann Jamieson's horse Leo on board along with Cin's horse Arctiz (as featured on The Thoroughbred Chronicles). Both boys were so well behaved and despite Leo's plain brown wrapper and Arkie's green ness both were quick favorites with lines to try each. It was an amazing experience and a great, great time. We really hope to participate again in future events. Fair Hill is a beautiful facility and everyone there was so kind and gracious! Tesla and I both got to participate in a "clinic" on how to be an exercise rider, basically on each of the OTTB's we brought. There was a ton of useful information and definitely helped make connections of why some stuff plain works off the track and other stuff just doesn't. It was fun to see each of the horses reactions to the short stirrups and bridged reins as we all went for a breeze around the arena....that was more fun than I can even begin to tell you!! Five o'clock rolled around and we were off to Dover Saddlery (I have never been!!!) and then at 6:45 we made the long trip back home.... Next day I was then off to Troy to judge a small horse show for a friend of mine. I met a bunch of people, horses and again everyone was super great. I even got to see Stevie's brother and his new owner. It was neat to see the similarities and differences...she definitely got the bigger orangutan, as Steve is quite a bit braver, but I think only a high jump could separate who's more athletic ;) So then came Sandy.....we actually did not get hit bad, did not lose power and have gotten more rain during the summer storms we had. Whew, that was a relief as I had troughs of water filled in my empty stalls just in case!!!! This week has gotten even busier with the publicity we got from the two horses at Fair Hill, now everyone wants to try them out. We have people coming today and Saturday so far, but that is after nonstop emails and phone calls since Monday...... So Boston, you might ask? Well Suffolk Downs ended it's meet yesterday, so I am off to go see what's left before trainers head on down to Florida. There is also another horse I am going to look at, an OTTB that has been in a lesson program for some time and is now starting to be not as useful to them, we will see what sorts of "problems" he's got and keep an eye out for new prospects but it's very possible we will be welcoming more horses to the farm in the near future. Until I get another five minutes to blog, adios! Here are some updated videos of some of our horses.... Steve has been working on his flatwork, and every day is getting better and better. This video is from a couple of days ago. Since then, he has gotten even better and is incorporating nice, relaxed lateral work in, and having better and better transitions.... In addition we are cantering courses with poles and doing our lead changes....he is awfully excitable but I am looking forward to when we can start putting courses together and actually jumping, he is going to be very very cool... Patch is also coming a long way....see him here: Patch is still for sale and priced to sell.
All inquiries can be make to Kait. As some of you may or may not know, I work outside of Thunder Crest as well. I just wanted to share some new from all over.... There was a mixed sale at Saratoga this past Tuesday, and those of you who follow me on facebook know I was preparing two weanlings for this sale. ... Meet Quiet Honor '12, sired by Frost Giant My very own personal sassy red-head. I unfortunately did not take any other photos other than of his parrot mouth, so this is how he started. At the end of our time working together, he was quite a bit larger, and by far way better mannered. He never quit the pooping six hundred times habit, and had moments of utter break down for no reason, but he was a good sweet boy that came from a kicking biting mess when you touched anything but his shoulder to a pocket pony that ground tied.... Now meet Day Trading '12 Obviously, there was a progression because I was not sure I could take this sun burnt coat of a horse and turn him into a saleable looking animal. There has been controversy over whether he is part mule, but rest assured he is a full NY bred by Freud. My darling boy was always fairly easy to work with but simply just looked and behaved better and better every day..... Quiet Honor sold for a mere $2700 at the sale (don't quote me, it was not more than that I know for sure) however, Day Trading sold for $33,000....which in an email from the owner we were informed that...... He sold for over two times the average for the entire sale The highest price for a Freud weanling by 65% Tenth highest weanling sale for the entire sale Second highest NY bred weanling of the entire sale Not too shabby.... In addition the owner of both of these horses commented: "The consignor...was quick to point out they thought my two weanlings were among the best prepared and mannered at the sale" Again, not too shabby for my first full sale prep.... I also do some riding for a friend of mine at Stoneleigh Farm - they were the owners of Stevie, and are the current owners of Pidge and Artie (seen on my sale page). Pidge is officially for sale and is proving to be a super little sport pony, she will be a great kids mount and is brave enough to go in any direction with her training. She would be a super pony hunter, or even a little Pony Club or eventing mount......check out her videos below.... IF you might be interested in Pidge or know of someone that might be intersted in her, pass along my info and I can get you in touch with the right people....
All of the horses and lessons just keep getting better and better. I can't wait for the day that I can spend all day every day at my own place, and that time will come, but until then I remain my same and busy self being here and there all of the time.
To start I will put the word out that our new boarder Ann is looking to share board or sell her horse Leo. Leo is a very nice little horse, he needs some finishing and fitness, but has a great attitude and is quick to learn. He is sound and well mannered - he stands about 16h and is 14 years old. Hunter paces and hacks out, might be a good opportunity for someone looking to learn on a nice and safe horse. We are also in the works of getting a trailer load of horses up to the Throughbreds For All event that is being put on by the Retired Racehorse Training Project, some are mine and in the barn, other are outside clients, but once I get all of that information sorted out I will be sure to share. Everyone that can should come out and show their support for the Thunder Crest team as well as the Thoroughbred Chronicle kids :D Ozzy is enjoying his semi-retirement with Jifte - both doing light hacks a few days a week. Oz will jump around on occasion but due to all of the youngsters, his saintly self takes the backseat and generally all I have time for at the end of the day (or energy for, for that matter!) is a bareback hack around the property. Both continue to be punks in the field and run the place like bosses....silly old men. Jolie and her lesson kids are blossoming - The one girl just started with us at the end of the summer and she is already trotting around on her own and doing courses of ground poles. It's a cute event that everyone loves to spot out. A few more lessons and she will be ready for the show ring and we are excited to get her there. Patch is continuing to be a laugh every time someone deals with him or even looks at him. He is not in a very intensive program, although he would like to be, that is clear. He is constantly trying to get everyones attention and thinks he is just so darn cute (which he is) when he runs after the cars and mowers as they pass his paddock. He is progressing a ton every day, and is still looking for a home, so keep the little boy in your mind if anyone is looking for a great little prospect. We have also welcomed Kate, Keith, Bonnie and Diesel for the past two weekends for some fall trail riding, 'tiz the season!!!! We have a |
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