News Letter December 2007

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you! Great fun was had by all at the Christmas games and later on at the party on the evening on the 8^th of December. It was nice to be able to see everyone in more of a social setting (and you know that odor that we have all grown so fond of).

For 2008 we will be offering a musical ride class on Monday evenings with Marli Taylor. This will be a regular class that you can sign up for.

We would also like to welcome Connie McNamee to our coaching team. Connie has been coaching, riding and training horses for many years and will be coaching here and taking members who wish to show on the Schooling Circuit to the horse shows this summer. Connie will be taking on Tuesday nights with a schooling jumping class, a flat class and a beginner jumping class. Welcome Connie.

Daniel Kehres will continue to coach Dressage lessons on Thursday evenings and Darlene on Saturday afternoons. Tara Piepers is coaching on Saturday mornings and Marli Taylor will continue coaching on Monday and Wednesday nights.

A January 2008 schedule of available classes is attached, please review which classes you think you’d like to join and contact Darlene by e-mail or phone with your choices. You can reach her by E-mail at Darlene@pinecrestfarm.com, by cell at 613-227-4751 or here at the farm at 613-269-4748, after 4pm on Monday to Thursday and all day on Saturday.

To all parents of riding minors can you please confirm with Darlene that we have all of your up-to-date phone numbers. I would ask that if you are dropping off your child for riding and if you are going to be somewhere other than home that you let us know how to reach you while your child is at the barn. We have an excellent safety record here at Pinecrest Farm, and we want to make sure that we can reach you should your child fall and require medical assistance.

This is important because as you probably know all riders will fall off their horse at some point no matter how advanced you are or how well you know your horse. There are many reasons why you might fall off: you lose your balance, the horse sees something scary and spooks or if you have asked your horse for something that he does not understand and therefore does something different.

It is important for everyone to remember that the horse is a “prey” animal and is always on the lookout for dangerous situations in which they may have to flee. You have probably been in the arena when a horse has spooked at something and all of the others have spooked also. This is a natural reaction for the horse, as soon as they sense danger they react by fleeing, jumping to the side or planting.

Our next clinic that is coming up is our “Safety Around Horses” clinic on January the 22^nd at 7pm in the clinic room. This clinic is for all parents and riding members and is free of charge. Topics covered will be tacking and untacking, horse behavior, horse language, how to handle a horse safely, horses in paddocks, and other useful things to watch for while around horses. I highly recommend that all riders and parents attend the clinic if able.

Starting January the 3^rd we are proud to present our “RIDE” (Riders, Individual, Development, Effectiveness) program, this is how it will work: ballots will be kept in the arena and used by every coach. When a rider has one of those “got it” moments of achievement the coach will fill out a ballot for that rider listing what the achievement was for. At the end of the lesson the rider will place his or her ballot in the ballot box on the bulletin board. The ballots will need to be in by the 25^th of each month and a draw will take place at the end of the month with the winner receiving a half hour private with the coach of their choice. The winner will have his or her name posted on the Pinecrest website with a description of his or her achievement.

You also have the chance to be the star of our monthly photo contest starting in 2008. Please submit no more than 2 photos per month by the 25^th of each month. Please submit your photos to both Michelle at michelle@pinecrestfarm.com and Darlene at Darlene@pinecrstfarm.com. The owner of the chosen photo will have their photo displayed on the Pinecrest Farm Website and receive a half hour private with the coach of their choice. The draw will take place at the end of each month.

We are very excited this year to have a very active Schooling and Trillium Team, what a busy summer we will have. We will be hosting our Trillium Show Team meeting on February the 5^th at 7 pm and our Schooling Show Team meeting will be on February the 7^th at 7 pm. Please note that these meetings are for you to find out if you are interested in showing horses. We will cover how it works and what’s expected of you. We are always looking for volunteers who would like to help with some form of the showing experience, please see Darlene or myself if you are interested.

We also have spots for volunteers who may like to spend lesson evenings helping Darlene with the tacking up, grooming, and feeding of the horses. And on that note I am looking for each and every horse to have a winter clean up, they need to have their manes pulled and feathers trimmed. Please see Darlene, Michelle or Tara if you would like to take on one of the beasties.

We are so pleased to announce the purchase of Talis, a very well trained horse who has had lots of show experience. He will be available to ride as soon as he is in shape. We have also purchased Austin, a solid large pony who is nice, quiet and great on the trails; he is also in training but will soon be joining the school. So I’m out of room and really need to focus on selling Carpenter. Carpenter is now priced at $1,500. I really would like this horse to go to a good home if you know of anyone who is looking. He is very quiet on the flat and loves people immensely.

Also for sale is “Ice Storm” or Skip as you may know him. Grace and Duke are both available for half lease should any of you be interested please see me or Marli.

January is the biggest month for horse purchases! We have four large ponies that we know of now that are really nice. If you are thinking of purchasing a horse or pony now would be the time to talk to us as we are heading out to see what is available for the 2008 season. For those of you who may not know, we do offer a service or finding the right horse or pony for you for a commission of 10%. This in an invaluable service as we do the leg work and will only take you to the ones that we think are suitable for you and what you want to do.

With the good weather and deep snow comes hacking, one of the most fun enjoyable experiences one can have on horseback. For those of you who do not know the trails we have a map that you can take with you so that you can plan out your route. Our trails are also open to you for walking and cross country skiing if you don’t mind the odd pile of you-know-what.

Mark your calendars for the February 16^th Fun show. There will be jumping and flat classes to enter for beginner and intermediate riders, everyone interested can participate or volunteer to help. You can sign up with Darlene.

Also in February are the new Equine Canada Rider Levels, we will be running Rider Level I and II on February the 24^th. Rider I and II are the equivalent of the old Rider Level I. The Rider Level program is run by Equine Canada to teach riders important fundamentals in horse care, including; bandaging, stable management as well as riding and jumping, this programs goal is to produce well rounded horse people.

Specifically the Rider level I and II cover the proper way to groom, handle, tack-up, the anatomy of the horse, colors of horses, hooves, mounting a horse, riding positions, riding aids and riding exercises, Darlene will tell you if you are ready for the Rider level one or both. Testing for the two levels will be on March 23^rd. Upon successful completion of the course the Rider will receive a certificate, issued by the Ontario Equestrian Federation.

Coming up in March is our March Break camp from the 11^th to 13^th and on March the 30^th we will have a video clinic with lunch provided. This is a great tool to actually see yourself riding and “see” what your coach is working on with you.

Please let Darlene or I know if there is anything that we can do for you to make your riding experience more pleasant.

Happy riding,

Michelle Williams