What does a fawn have to do with the farm?  Well, nothing really except that it lives here.  And its cute.  Really cute.

I happened to be taking a walk yesterday down by our stream.  All this rain has changed the way the stream finds its way through our property.  Its also washed out a road that makes getting to our hay fields physically impossible.  There’s a lot of damage that needs to be assessed and viewing it first hand seemed like a good idea.

That’s when I spotted (perhaps pun intended?) this little guy or gal.  I’ll use the “he” as gender neutral since I didn’t get close enough to make a positive ID.   He was sleeping in some tall grass.  My very slight knowledge of how this mother and baby deer thing works is that fawns have no smell yet and a mother deer can leave the baby behind to rest while she goes off to feed without too much worry that the baby will attract predators.   The baby also appeared to not have much fear yet of humans.  He didn’t jump and run.  More like calmly got up and staggered away.  His little legs were quite wobbly.  Reminded me a lot of a new born foal.  All legs and no stability.

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

First Show

Enjoy a short video of our Emma Durrant Memorial Dressage  and Combined Training Show, with a focus on a little riders’ first show experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cHxGSmPsP4&feature=youtu.be

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

Emma Durrant Show

In spite of it being monsoon season around here lately, we managed to pull off our annual Emma Durrant Memorial Show with grand results.

Given the weather forecast we opted early on in the week to switch our dressage tests to our indoor arena.  So many shows this wet spring season have had to deal with footing that was deep and sloppy.  The good fortune in having a 20×60 meter indoor arena is that putting on a dressage show inside is no problem.    Our spectators were looking for a little more viewing room but I think I’ll side on the part of our participants that the good footing was more important.

Our outdoor arena did actually dry out enough to make make it possible to use as  warm-up and for our jumping classes.  A few puddles here and there but all in all, nothing horrible.

The big awards of the day:  High Point goes to Pooh Bear and Maggie  Adams.  Reserve High Point goes to Jenna Wilbur and Jet.    Congrats to all and thanks for joining us.

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

Adventures

A nice relaxing trail ride is a wonderful concept but in my experience it is rarely that.

So often there is some incident that gets the adrenaline flowing.  Maybe its a deer that frightens the horses or a turkey takes flight (now there’s a scary sight if I ever saw one) just a few feet from where you are riding.  Perhaps its a downed tree that has blocked the trail and a bit of trail blazing is required, or the horse takes issue with crossing the stream or swampy part of the trail.  Whatever it is, there almost always seems to be something that comes along that turns “relaxing” into “exciting.”

The photo I captured for this blog is after a trail ride. We had a little adventure on the trail that required ducking for low branches and involved a bit of a spook.  Notice the branch attached to this rider’s shirt?   Funniest of all, he didn’t know the branch that he had ducked for was still partially attached to his shirt.

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

Getting A Face Lift

The weather certainly hasn’t helped move the project along any, but our outdoor arena is finally showing positive signs of improvement.

One of our early spring projects was to get some work done on our outdoor arena.   We had wanted to get some new drainage put in as a first step.  A farm built on clay means we are forever fighting the “pond syndrome,” as nothing ever sinks down through the earth.  Water either runs off or pools right where it is.  I suppose clay is good for something.  Pottery?   Too bad farming and pottery have so very little to do with each other.

After the drainage was updated it was supposed to be the simple project of getting in some new sand.  That’s when Mother Nature decided we needed some rain.  And more rain.  And more rain yet.   Really, there’s no sense in putting down expensive, screened and washed sand ($$$) when it’s just going to go on muck or worse yet, float away.

Finally, the new sand is there and now we just need to move stuff around a little bit more,  level it, and by Sunday’s show- we’ll be good to go!  Now if our next round of rain due shortly doesn’t wash it all away.

Perhaps I should study up on pottery.  Might be a good next career.

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