I hope all my students and their families had a wonderful holiday season! I'd just like to post a couple of reminders now that winter weather has truely arrived. Students need insulated footwear. regular summer paddock boots , even with heavy socks will not prevent feet from getting very cold , especially my younger students. Also insulated gloves are a must as well. Layering clothing is another good idea. tights, then Thermal underwear then finally jeans or winter riding pants are a good idea. Same on the top. Lots of layer. rather than just a heavy coat. If you choose to use foot or hand warmers, especially with children, please remember not to put them directy against the skin. There are ski mittens and glove that have little pockeets to place these warmers in. Another chice would be to put a light weight glove then the warmer, then finally a winter glove on top.

Also a reminder that when temps are below 24 degrees we will be closed for lessons. If school is canceled due to weather, we will also be closed for safety reasons. If the temps are warmer than 24 degrees, but you feel it is too cold for you or your child to ride, please feel free to call and cancel. Evryone has a different tolerance to the cold.

We will be closing on Feruary 15th and reopen on April 1st so that we can give our very hard working horses a rest.

our show schedule and our camp schedule will be posted in the next 2 weeks. We will first register students that are currently registered in our lessonn program. We will then send out packets to all our studenets from last season. Finally we will open up our registration to the general public for any remaining camp spots.

We have two new additions to our horses this year. A little APHA buckskin tobiano weanling filly named "Albany" The other is a 3 year old filly who was born here but has been owned by another party for the past 3 year. She is now back with us and will be sdoing lessons and showing in the spring She is a dark bay tobiano filly named "Belle"

We also have some soon to be additions First Heather, one of our instructors is expecting a baby in July. Congratulations Heather!!! We also will be addiing two more foals in the spring of 2013. Hopin for an Invitation owned by Brittany Banda and Poco Smokey Sunshine owned by Susan Favaloro will be expecting foals in March 2013

It's starting to get cold out again so here are suggestions to help keep you warm during your lesson

gloves are a must this time of year. You can go to tack stores for winter riding gloves, or just use a lighter weight ski glove. No mittens though only gloves. Please make sure there is a grip on the palm and finders so reins won't slip. I noticed quite a few gloves at Walmart both in children's and adult sizes last weekend.

Second warm boots. A nice insulated hicking boot or a snow boot that has a heal and not too big a toe, so that your foot can still fit comfortabley in the stirrup.

Hand warmers and toe warmers are a great idea this time of year. Especially for the little ones, I suggest putting on a very light weight glove then a heavier (ski or insulated gove) on top and putting the handwarmer between the two. This keeps the handwarmer from burning the skin.

For the head, where most of our heat is lost, I suggest a winter cozy helmet cover. State line tack www.statelinetack.com has them on sale right now for only $8.99. This cover is made from lycra and polar fleece and slips right over your helmet and has a section that goes around and protects the neck as well.

If you are searching for a tall insulated riding boot boot, this one isn't overly pretty to look at, but it is very warm, waterproof and durable. It is for also available from State Line Tack catalouge. Women's sizes 6-10 $49.95 DAFNA Blizzard winter boot. For those of you that have shopped for a tall insulated riding boot, you know this is a bargain. Dress in layers, thermal under wear, my favorite is underamour, but they can get pricey. turtleneck shirts with sweter or jerzey and of course a nice puffy winter coat that doesn't cost so much as it will be getting very dirty at the bar, Old navy has puff coats on sale both children and adults this week.

See you all soon at lessons. Stay warm :) 

It was a bit rainy to start the day, but eneded up just fine for the rest of the day. Everybody did amazing!! A lot of personal bests.

Rowan Hanson/ Harlan Dutch Lilly 14-18 day end champion

Casey snow/Harlan Dutch Lilly (yongest rider in her division) 4th all around day end

Allison Cvinar Harlan Duth Lilly w/tday end champion (only her second show ever !)

Amanda Bonaventura/ Julie Sunshine day end 3rd all around

Abbey Anderson/ Zip N Trix w/t 4th day end all around

Audrey Thronson/Zip N Trix w/t Many personla bests!

Cooper Thronson leadline reserve champion day end

 You all did amazing riding and showed great sportmanship. You took excellent care of your horses throughout the day as well. Congratulations all!!!!

We are finishing up our regular show season this October. We will be starting to compete  judged pleasure rides at the end of this month. Our last gymkhana show will be on October 2 at Oakrise Farm in goffstown NH. Hope all our riders from leadline on up can make it.

We have changed the dates for our Halloween party/show. We are scheduling it for Saturday October 15th with a rain date of Sunday the 16th. If the forecast happens to be for rain both days, we'll just stick with the 15th. This show is a fund raiser for the MA Hospital School. We fund a scholarship in my son's name. He graduated from this very unique school. They offer opportunities for MA children with serious illnesses that can be found nowhere else. We will be charging $5 per class for each rider. There will be ribbons for all riders and day end awards for the highest point earners in leadline, w/t and w/t/c. Mike and I will as usual be serving a fantastic lunch. I will be sending out e-mail invites to all my students by Monday October 3rd. We will also be having raffles for some great items. 100% of the money raised will be going to the scholarship fund. All donations are tax deductable, so if anyone works for a company that would like to make a corporate donation we would so appreciate any extra funding for this schoarship fund.

So far the races we have planned are

Dash race

Barrel race

Carrot race

And of course our ever popular non rider leadline barrel race, where our students and other competitors get to leadline around a parent, friend, family member in a barrel race. More information on all of this will follow.

The lunch is free to all. Please ask friends and family members to come join you  and cheer on the competitors and enjoy a wonderful home cooked meal. We will be serving soups, chowders, hot dogs and hamburgers as well as many wondefu;l deserts. Looking forward to seeing everyone !!

We didn't get to kick off our pinto season this year until August. It was a GREAT show though. It was so nice seeing friends again. Brittany and her beautigul breeding stock mare, Hopin for an Invitation did their first pinto show ever and they started off with a bang. Brittany and Hope  ended up high point breeding stock for the weekend. Casey and Harlans Storm Jet both started their w/t under saddle career at pinto. they too did amazing. Casey and Jet won many firsts, seconds and third places throughout the weekend. Dolly and I had a good weekend as well, as we won open high point for the weekend. Fun time and we are so looking forward to the September show!

Another great show!! We had a wonderful time at the last pinto show in new england for 2011. Brittany Banda and her BS mare Hopin For an Invitation won Weekend reserve champion Breeding stock open. Casey Snow on Harlans Storm Jet in only her second show won reserve champion w/t 11 and under. Direct Doll with Susan riding won high point open. The dog races were a lot of fun. Dream Spirit Farm had two competitors Cody Snow in the medium dog division and Skyler Favaloro in the little dog division. Neither dog won but they had a wonderful time running laps around the outdoor arena in Oneco CT. Casey looked great as Astrid from Hhow To Train Your Dragon along with Jet , dressed as her dragon in the costume class. Can't wait until next year. Pictures will follow shortly

We have our last gymkhana show at Oakrise farm in Nh on October 2.

Our Halloween party/fundraiser (for MA Hospital School) is scheduled for Saturday October 15th with a rain date of Sunday October 16.

Remeber the weather is very changeable this time of year. Please bring a jacket and gloves with you to your lesson, just in case. Also if we are experiencing t-storms at the time of your lesson, the lesson will be postponed until the following week.

1. Please no shorts or capris to ride in. You can get very painful saddle burns or worse yet when riding huntseat your skin can be trapped in the stirrup leather causing painful bruising and cuts.

2. Bring water. Stay hydrated. Please no sodas or sugary drinks. Not only will you get the saddle and bridle sticky and stained, you will actually make yourself thirstier.

3. If you feel it is too hot to ride, don't worry about canceling a lesson. So long as you give me a fair amount of notice 3hours minimum for me. 5 hours minimum for Brittany or Heather. They have to travel a distance to get here. A reminder though, if you cancel without enough notice or a are a no show , you wil be charged for your lesson time. Remember we need to bring in the horses and get them ready.

Thank you to all who have signed up for our summer riding camp program. All sessions are now filled. Myself and our staff are very excited to start this years program. We'll see you all in a few weeks.

I'm looking for an adult (20 + yrs old), who would like to intern with me to get their MA riding instructors license. I need someone ASAP, Need to be reliable and self motivated. Must like working with kids and have good communication skills. Show experience is not required, but you must have riding experience. I would prefer someone with experience doing gymkhana, barrels or pony club. I'm looking for someone who wants a long term position. We have a list of clients waiting for lesson times to open up. We also run summer camp for 4 wks.  35 hours/wk. Please e-mail me at dreamspiritfarm@yahoo.com for more details if interested.

To all my students planning on competing Memorial Day weekend at Oakrise Farm Gymkhana and NHNBHA, please let me know. I need to make sure how many people intend on going. If we do not have 4 or more students riding, we will cancel that weekend. I also need to make sure I have enough trailers for horses if I need to haul more than 3 horses.

Summer camp is just about filled. I have one opening left iin week 1 and one spot left in week three. Remeber I can not reserve a spot for a student until I recieve a deposit and alll paper work filled out. Thanks