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Showing posts from September, 2012

A Long Awaited Arrival

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Three years ago, I made a big mistake. I used the neighbor's White Galloway (beef) semen on one of my Holstein cows (they keep their semen in our tank). I named the heifer that was born Britney Spears, for her signature song "Oops I did it again" since I used all of their semen. Today, Britney had her calf, and although she is only 1/4 White Galloway, she looks purebred and is a pretty little thing. I call her Little Brit and am so glad Britney had a heifer. Sometimes mistakes aren't the worst thing (although I felt terrible when I realized what I had done!)

Last set of Tyrone Farm photos

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Here are the last of the photos...

More Photos from Tyrone Farm

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It really is a beautiful place to ride...

Tyrone Farm Judged Pleasure Ride

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Last Saturday (September 15th), I went with my friend Megan and her horse Cocoa to the Tyrone Farm Judged Pleasure Ride in Pomfret. They host a series of three judged pleasure rides every year, this was the last one for the season. You are judged on how well your horse handles four obstacles, and then ride a marked trail of nine miles. Tyrone Farm is an absolutely beautiful place to ride, and I thought the obstacles and mileage would be good training and conditioning for Secret. The day started with a rain shower, but cleared up to be perfect riding weather. The four obstacles at this ride were: opening a rope gate, backing a serpentine, cantering a circle and halting on command, and dismounting, trot out and back and then remount. The fourth obstacle was easy for us, the other three presented a bit of a challenge and gave us some homework. On the nine mile ride, we walked for a little, and then did quite a bit of trotting, with some cantering thrown in. Secret was a bit fe

Massachusetts Horse magazine

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The October/November issue of Massachusetts Horse magazine is online! There are lots of great articles inside, check it out today.

Horse Camping in Rhode Island Part Two

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Hurricane Isaac, who at that point was a tropical storm was blowing into the Northeast Saturday night. Megan’s husband had called while we were riding Saturday afternoon to tell us about the two tornados in New York City and to tell us to take shelter. Megan told him it was nice out and we were still on the horses! We were sitting under the pop up tent, at one of the picnic tables provided by Arcadia finishing dinner when it began downpouring. During one of the breaks in the rain, we all ran and threw horses more hay and went to bed. I was testing out my new Thermarest sleep pad that I was taking to Peru. I definitely need a second pillow before Peru, I didn’t get much sleep. When I got up at 6 to feed the horses, they weren’t very wet and seemed happy. I crawled back into my sleeping bag for a bit longer. After we ate breakfast, we saddled up for another ride. Contrary to the thoughts of the entire group, Secret was bouncing out of ride camp. Esther looked at her and said

Horse Camping in Rhode Island Part

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Last weekend, I went with my friend Megan to the Arcadia Management area in Escoheag, RI to meet two of our other friends and their horses for a weekend camping trip. I took Secret, since she is wearing shoes and the trails there can be rocky. It was her first camping trip, so I was uncertain how it would all go, but was looking forward to a weekend away. The best thing for me about going horse camping was not running around from one thing to another. My schedule lately has been intense, and it was fun to have a couple of quiet days and the opportunity to spend hours in the saddle and sit and talk with friends afterwards. Our friend Esther, who was there with her husband Jim, says that as much as she loves competitive trail rides, that the pleasure rides bring an entire relaxing element. We arrived at the campground around 11 AM on Saturday, and set up the paddocks for the horses. I assumed Secret has seen electric fence at some point in her life, and she was great. She munc

Sunrise on the farm

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One of the things I love best about feeding calves in the morning is watching the sunrise. There are always brilliant colors in the sky. Last Wednesday, the sun was a bold red coming up through the trees. I especially love the morning fog as it clings to the hills surrounding the farm, and the quiet beauty of the trees. The trees will be changing colors soon, and as much as I love the fall foliage colors, I will truly miss being surrounded by green. Another of my favorite things, listening to the sound of the wind ripple through the corn, is already disappearing as everyday more corn gets chopped and taken back to the silo. The cows will eat well this winter, and I will be able to ride in those fields again, but I will miss the gentle ripple of corn stalks against each other as we are riding alongside a field.