Pony Farm Blog

FOUNDER’S BLOG…

WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

On behalf of all the farm staff and the horses, I want to wish each and every one of YOU a most joyous, healthy and happy NEW YEAR. 2009 promises to be a great one here at Pony Farm. We want to have you share it with us!!!! We send all our best wishes to you and your family in hopes that you had a great Holiday season together.

We miss seeing you for camp or lessons. The farm is kind of empty without people all around. The horses and ponies are all so fat and furry. They are not the least bit concerned about the bad weather we have been having. They seem to be happily enjoying their vacation from being ridden. Each January they get the whole month off to just relax and rejuvenate their spirits and bodies. They work so hard the rest of the year that we like to give them this treat. We give them extra yummy food and lots of good warm blankets on the really cold days. I know they appreciate it.

Before we give you more horse news, we would like to tell you about several important upcoming events….First of all, we will be hosting the PONY FARM SUMMER CAMP OPEN HOUSE on SUNDAY, JANUARY 4^TH from 1 to 4PM. If you are interested in either our summer residential camp or our NEW summer Day Camp, we hope you will join us!!! We want to tell you all about the ways that we have fun with horses and ponies in the summer months.

The PONY FARM SUMMER CAMP is for girls ages 8 to 14, with a Counselor In Training Program for girls 15 to 17. We have one, two, three and four week options. Girls from all over this country and the world come to stay with us. They live in the lodge and, for the first time ever, this summer will also be living in the beautiful old farmhouse which used to be the Stage Coach Stop between Montreal and Boston. With the lodge and the farm house as ‘home away from home’ and 60 horses & ponies to enjoy, everyone has a great time….Take a good look at our website and see the new slideshow all about summer residential camp!!! Imagine YOU being in the pictures…swimming with the horses, going in a horse show, on a pony camping trip or an all day picinic drive or ride. We do it all!!!

This summer we will be officially beginning a PONY FARM SUMMER DAY CAMP as well. This will be for kids 4 to 10 years old. Day Camp will have its own headquarters out in front of the indoor arena. With their own little four horse barn, Clubhouse in the Caboose, riding ring and picnic lunch area, it will be a dream come true for local kids who want to ride and enjoy the farm in the summer months. The campers will enjoy the farm animals….goats, miniature horses, lambs, chickens, ducks, banty’s and miniature donkey. They will also get to swim in the pool, grow flowers and vegetables in the gardens, and enjoy the many trails, woods and fields around the farm. We don’t want YOU to be a stranger here in the summer!!!!

For kids that are not interested in either sleep away or day camp but want to come and ride, we will also offer riding lessons in a series for YOU!!!! We have had a big call for this from our lesson programs and feel it is very easily accomplished with a new riding ring and the use of the indoor arena. Adding the trails and dirt roads right out our ‘back door’, we can offer a full set of lessons when day camp is not in session. We hope you will keep us in mind as you begin planning your summertime fun!

Another new and exciting thing that we will be doing this year is that we will offer a variety of Riding, Driving and Horsemanship Clinics with great teachers from all over New England. We think there is a real need for this. I am going to be on the top of the list for each of them. I love to learn….as do the rest of the staff. All of the instructors are most eager to keep up their own riding and working to improve each and every horse. Keep reading this Blog for upcoming details about this. We will be beginning our monthly series in February, after the horses’ get their well deserved rest.

In preparation for the coming of Spring lessons and camp, as well as the exciting new clinics, we are getting some good training time in on the newer horses and ponies. The two stars of this training program are Ben and Jerry. Despite their rocky early life, they are truly in love with people. They adore working and being handled. They are going so well in harness too. We are about to do the last two steps of the tire drag and the PVC pipes to get them ready to really put to a training cart. They look most handsome. I am thrilled needless to say…I can’t wait to give you a drive in the lovely new Wagonette with Ben and Jerry in a beautiful new pair harness. That is my New Year’s promise to myself is driving them as a pair all over the countryside with lots of friends and lots of delectable picnic lunches….What fun that will be. I hope you will join me with Ben and Jerry in 2009!

Bonnie and Clyde are also getting some good schooling. Heather Wile, a long time lesson student then teacher, and camper and then counselor, is home from her last year at college. She has been riding both of them nearly every day. They are jumping like little troopers. It is such fun to see how much they, too, love the attention. Heather and the rest of the training crew have also been working on our lovely big new horse called Brooks. He is a steel gray Canadian Thoroughbred cross who is coming 4. He is about 17 hands tall and is a lovely mover. He too is so willing and eager to please. We are getting him ready for spring lessons and summer camp.

In addition to these bigger horses, we have been working on the “MIGHTY MINIS”! They are learning to lunge and trot round and round with a rider on them. Both of my Granddaughters, Morgan and Megan, have been riding them every day of their vacation, sometimes twice a day! They have learned how to post and just giggle as they zoom around. Their little western saddles fit both the girls and the minis. What a great site to warm a Grandmother’s heart….sure makes all the work totally worth it.

We will soon be getting Jazz, the pinto mini mother, going under saddle and driving the pony carts. She is so quiet and gentle that I know it will be easy to do. I can’t wait until we can also drive her baby, “Pizazz”….He, too, is such a little love that he will come to it easily. Won’t they be adorable as a driving pair!!! With Ben and Jerry, Bonnie and Clyde, and Jazz and Pizazz all driving as pairs, it will be quite something around here.

Speaking of other fun “horsey news”, we think that Willie, our newest horse that has been donated to Horse Power is pretty terrific too. He is a great big black horse who used to be a Caisson horse who pulled the caskets of important soldiers in Arlington Cemetery. Willie was one of the eight horse hitch which pulled President Regan’s casket to his final resting place. We are so excited to have him as part of our horse family. He is not only very beautiful and proud, but he is going to be a terrific Vaulting horse in addition to driving horse. He will do lots of good work at Horse Power, our therapeutic riding program….but he loves trail riding and all day picnic rides, too. He is a man of many talents…and handsome, to boot!!!

We are also eagerly looking for a few more horses and ponies to buy toward the end of winter so we have some fun new ones for both lessons and camp….We love our troopers but it is always good to get some new fresh faces to add to the farm family.

Speaking of adding to the farm, soon we will be adding two bottle baby lambs and a baby miniature donkey to our small animal family. We will get our chickens and ducks back once the weather gets warmer….Having lots of eggs and fun baby chicks for everyone to enjoy. We also are really excited to be starting our vegetable and flower seedlings for the gardens. We are thinking about having a small Farm Stand here at Pony Farm so that we can share our produce with our friends and neighbors….I am really excited about that project. I guess I am an eternal farmer and lover of all that is ‘farms’….goats, sheep, veggies, eggs, and even bunnies, all furry and cuddly.

Mostly, however, I love having people come to enjoy the farm….Seeing our boarders lavish their love on their horses, and the farm staff and students and campers pour out their hearts to the horses, makes my heart glad again and again. I surely am in the right ‘job’…a good life’s work for sure. Now…all we need is you. I do hope you will hurry up and come to visit. I also hope that we see you lots and lots in 2009, making the farm complete.

Until then, stay healthy and happy, knowing that you are welcome here anytime.

Have a great NEW YEAR…..

Most warmly, Boo McDaniel