Posts

Showing posts from September, 2010

Wow!

Image
The horse community is an extremely generous place! Are you coming to the 2nd Annual Fun In The Forest Trail Ride on October 16th to benefit First Descents? Its being held at the Silvermine Campground in Natchaug State Forest. The prizes alone might be worth the trip. I might even ride so that I can win one :) Here is the list of donated prizes to date: ~ Equine Monitors sent a heart monitor, six hats and two shirts ~ Chaplin Farms is donating apples for lunch ~ Long Riders Gear donated three $10 gift certificates and coupons for all riders ~ HorseLoverz sent two halters, a fleece cooler and $5 off coupons for all riders ~ Farmvet sent four bottles of show sheen and four hats ~ Slypner Gear sent a gift card ~ US Rider sent two insulated totes and two regular totes ~ Best Shot Pet Products sent a shampoo, conditioner and revitalizing spray set ~ Griffinbrook sent a gift card ~ Deb's Special Treasures is sending two horse carvings ~ Farnam sent a really nice small gift bag ~ Rid

Top Ten Reasons To....

Attend the 2nd Annual Fun In The Forest Trail Ride! A benefit for First Descents www.firstdescents.org/ Saturday, October 16, 2010 at Natchaug State Forest in Eastford 10. Cool prizes - halters, gift cards, show sheen... 9. Fall foliage in Connecticut is beautiful! 8. Have you galloped on the airline trail? Its a blast! 7. Lunch is on us! 6. Chance to win a really cool First Descents wrist band. 5. Peaceful trails and good friends. 4. The only trail ride in Connecticut with a scavenger hunt. 3. Miles of trails - make your ride longer or shorter. 2. Did we mention the prizes? Shirts, hats, a Eurofit shirt... 1. Ride and raise money for a great cause, First Descents! For more information email Stacey at stearnsiejr at yahoo dot com

VERDA 30

Image
The Vermont Equine Riding and Driving Association (VERDA) hosted a 30 mile competitive trail ride (CTR) on Saturday, September 18th. I entered John and we rode up with my friend Megan and her son Burnie and their horses. The VERDA ride is held in Springfield, Vermont and we had plenty of room to set up temporary paddocks for the horses. We vetted in and then had a potluck dinner with a bunch of the other riders. Saturday morning arrived and we waited around for a long time. Several local horses came in that morning and we had to wait for them to vet in. I was a bundle of pure nerves at this point, part of it anticipation, part of it actual nervousness and part of it the urge to get out on the trail already. Patience is not always my strong suit. I decided to ride alone at this CTR. At the first two CTR's, I rode with Megan and Burnie but John gets so competitive with Megan's horse, Minnie, that I ended up fighting with him a lot. At the NEATO ride in August I rode with a

More Pictures From First Descents

Image

Pictures From First Descents

Image

My Week at First Descents

Image
I attended First Descents Camp 44 (a whitewater kayaking camp for young adult cancer survivors) in Glacier National Park from July 4-10th. This was my second year at First Descents and although my schedule was really busy, I decided to make time and go again. That was the best decision I have made this year. Several of my fellow campers and staff from First Descents Camp 32 last year were also attending Camp 44. There were many new faces to meet and laugh with again. At camp we all get a nickname, mine is Giddy Up. It is amazing that you can spend a week with people and become such close friends, without ever knowing their real names! The week started again on Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. We learned (or practiced) the wet exit, an essential skill if you happen to be upside down in a whitewater kayak. I also practiced a couple of t-rescues. I like the t-rescue better. When your kayak flips upside down, if you bang your boat and wait, another boat may come up to you

Foxhunt!

Image
On Saturday, I trucked John over to Tyrone Farm in Pomfret for their Introduction to Foxhunting clinic with Tanheath Hunt Club. When I pulled into the driveway the place looked like a ghost town. No one was there. Registration was supposed to start at 8:30 and I pulled in the driveway at 8:28. The last time I attended an event at Tyrone Farm I got there at 8:35 and the place was a zoo. I was slightly perturbed that I woke up early on my day off and then they cancelled and did not even tell me (pre-registration is required for all of their events). I waited a few minutes and a few horse trailers pulled in from Rhode Island. They were there for the foxhunt too. Yippee, we're hunting, just running late. After coffee and a discussion with the hunt members about the history, rules, dress code etc of hunting, we unloaded our horses and tacked up. Warm up in the trailer area was pretty low key. Anne checked everyone's tack for safety and then we broke into two groups and hea

2nd Annual Fun In The Forest Trail Ride

Image
Area Equestrians Gather To Raise Funds And Enjoy Local Trails The 2nd Annual Fun In The Forest Trail Ride will be held on October 16, 2010 at the Silvermine Horse Campground in Natchaug State Forest in Eastford, Connecticut. Last year our trail ride was a huge success, sixteen riders raisied over $750 for First Descents and many riders are returning this year. This year we are adding an optional scavenger hunt for riders. The trail ride is a benefit for First Descents (www.firstdescents.org). First Descents provides whitewater kayaking and other outdoor adventure experiences to promote emotional, psychological and physical healing for young adults with cancer. I attended First Descents in 2009 and 2010. Both of my camps were at Glacier National Park in Montana. Stay tuned and I will blog about this year's camp. All donations to First Descents are tax deductible, and the money raised at the trail ride is used by First Descents to send young adult cancer survivors to camp. H

One of my favorite things...bits

Image
I am a big fan of bits. As a 4-H kid, I loved studying the different bits and memorizing their names for the hippology (horse science) contest. It probably comes as no surprise that I have a wide variety of bits to use in my horse's mouths. I don't ride John regularly in his driving bit (the bit I used on the last competitive trail ride). It is a stronger bit than I would like to use (a medium twist with a Dr. Bristol) but I really like to stop too. So I use a stronger bit during competition and train with a milder bit in the hope that someday, we can compete in a milder bit. I usually ride in a smooth D-ring snaffle at home, but when I got back from Rhode Island all of my D-ring snaffles were on other bridles and I was feeling lazy. The Waterford bit was hanging on the wall and I love that bit. I think it looks cool (I call it the bubble bit - see the picture at the top of the post), its neat to hold, it just fascinates me. I bought the Waterford for Rose, never used it

The Elephant In The Room

I guess sooner or later I have to blog about my cancer update, so I might as well make it sooner. As I mentioned in the 411 post, I had my one year post chemotherapy scans in April. A scary prospect (actually I was very nervous) but everything was fine. Dr. A is off to research sickle cell anemia for the next four years so Dr. B will oversee my case with help from Andrea, my nurse practitioner. As Dr. A said, I am basically on autopilot. The first port removal surgery was scheduled for May. I was considering a 25 mile ride three days after they scheduled it, so cancelled it. Janeen (in charge of scheduling for Dr. W - my surgeon) scheduled the next one for the end of June. Three days before I left for Montana and my whitewater kayaking trip with First Descents. For awhile I thought I could pull that one off, but in the end, I didn't want to be the girl at camp who just had surgery. So I cancelled it again. I knew July was shot so I told Janeen I would call her back when I

Tweaking the CTR Training

Image
I was going to write a blog about cancer today and where I am at with it. But that just did not feel very inspiring! Instead, I will update you on the ups and downs of training a horse for Competitive Trail Riding and what John and I are currently working on. The first ride, Leverett in Massachusetts in May, was a blast. John loved it but he was very fast. Leverett is a good first ride because the trails are not too bad. There was a lot of dirt road and moderate hills. I rode him in his driving bit, a twisted Dr. Bristol. But he was very strong and ended up with minor bit rubs around the corners of his mouth and we lost half a point. We lost the other half point because he only pulsed down to 46 (he is supposed to pulse down to 44). Our score was 99 out of 100. The second ride was at Green Mountain Horse Association in Vermont in June. The ride covered a lot of mountainous terrain. John was still very strong and as we went careening down one mountainside, him with the bit be

Secret's First Horse Show

Image
I made so many "I will update more on this later" comments in my 411 blog, I am not sure where to start! I will start with something fun. I took Secret to the Tolland County 4-H Fair on August 8th for her first horse show. Other than trips to the trainer and one cowboy mounted shooting clinic with Tim (my younger brother and her owner), she had never been anywhere. Tim and his friend Alex came with me as grooms. Both boys are seniors in high school and were super helpful. I told them they could help me at a horse show anytime they wanted! Secret got off the trailer at the horse show and calmly started eating grass. I took her for a walk all over the ring we would be showing in and she took everything in stride. I was very surprised. Not knowing how she would behave, I got on very early to warm her up. She was fabulous in warmup. At one point during the day a loose horse ran up to her. Another time, a rider was dumped off of a pony right near us and she handled both

Lakota Book Drive

Thin Line Performance Saddle Pads has partnered with the Lakota Indians on a special project to bring back their rich history with horses. Read Thin Line's blog here: href="http://thinlineglobal.com/blog/" If this link doesn't work - copy and paste: http://thinlineglobal.com/blog/ and consider making some donations to the Lakota Book Drive!<a