Equine Affair – Ohio

Following up on her great reception by the audience at Equine Affaire in MA,Hollie has been invited to be a ‘featured presenter’ at Equine Affaire in Columbus, OH this Spring.  You can see more at the Equine Affaire website.  It’s a great recognition of Hollie’s skill as a teacher/presenter of riding.

Hollie’s Seminars at Equine Affaire – Nov. 11 & 12 in Springfield, MA

Hollie gave four presentaions at Equine Affire in Springfield, MA, two on Friday and two on Saturday. Over the course of the four sessions, she covered new ways of seeing equestrian (and rider) movement, with lots of unique slow-motion and other specialty video; systematic ways of learning to ride, using the training scale as a framework to understand everyday riding in any discipline; body position, using everything from a bowling ball to a stick figure to explain; and a discussion of the roots of riding, going back the ancient times, and how it affects riding today.

We have a few pictures on the photo page.

The Halloween Show Photos and Results!

Even though our Halloween Show was delayed for a week by an unseasonable snow storm, the weather for this show couldn’t have been better: perfect blue skies, and warm temperatures combined with great rides for a wonderful day. Plus, of course, the always-fun costume class. Photos are on-line now, as are the show results.

Halloween Show

Buddy & Hadley

There’s something a little ironic that one of my favorite costumes at yesterday’s Halloween Horse Show was Christmas themed.

The show was supposed to be last Sunday, the day before Halloween.  But as we all know, a huge Nor’Easter  decided to slam us with a considerable amount of snow.  Postponing the Halloween Show for a week was the only good choice.  (And really it was a good choice given yesterday’s stellar weather.)

The costume class is a “must have” at our annual Halloween Show and there were some really creative, fun, costumes.  (You should check out our website photos to get a full taste of the fun we had).   We had pirates, Shrek with Donkey, a horse turned into a fluffy, white sheep complete with a dog and Little Bo Peep (who was a teenaged boy).  And then there was our long time school horse, Buddy, dressed up with his rider, Hadley, as a Christmas Tree.  At this point in life, not much fazes Buddy.  He’s pretty much seen in all.  Having huge Christmas Stockings hanging off his body is just another day at the farm for him.  You just have to love these tolerant old school horses.

-Hollie McNeil, Owner/Trainer:Riding Right Farm, Author:40 Fundamentals of English Riding

Mother Nature Wins

Snow Covered Arena

All last week I could never find the time to blog. It was a crazy week of getting ready for our final show of the year, along with advance planning for my presentations at the Equine Affaire (on top of everything else I have on my schedule).  I was prioritizing.  That’s a good thing, or so they tell me.  Turns out that all of my crazy week was for nothing.

Notice the dressage arena photo.  This is where tests were to be ridden on Sunday morning at the very time I took this picture.  The snow covered footing, fencing and even the dressage letters will tell you that a show wasn’t going to happen yesterday.  It’s postponed for a week now.  In all the years of putting on shows here this is the first time we’ve ever postponed.  I do wonder if this next Sunday’s weather holds any more promise.  Mother Nature can be fickle this time of year.  In a flash it can all change from one extreme to the other.  Doesn’t make planning a horse show easy.  I know we always take our chances when we pencil in a show this late in the year.

Well, at least most of the crazy week planning and preparation are out of the way… and we’ll be keeping an eye on that forecast.

-Hollie McNeil, Owner/Trainer:Riding Right Farm, Author:40 Fundamentals of English Riding