January 2023

Happy (Belated) New Years Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season and is now getting back into the regular swing of things.  Here I am, working to prevent the January blahs by planning ahead to the 2023 riding season.  And finally (& hopefully) I am starting this newsletter as I have planned for many years now.  My planning and follow through have quite the gap! But here we are!  I am hoping that this can be a monthly newsletter to help keep everyone in the loop with the goings-on here at the barn, on the ranch and in our lives. 

So what do I have for you guys now?  Well although winter is our downtime, that doesn't mean its boring around here.  Life is always busy when caring for animals in the cold weather.  Between blanketing, making sure everyone is eating and keeping all our hydrants and water troughs (& machinery) from freezing, we are rarely bored.  This winter, I have switched up the horses feeding programs a bit and transitioned everyone onto a slow feed, free choice hay.  What does this mean?  Well in practicalities, it means the horses have access to hay 24/7 in a large hay net.  At the moment, this is still a trial, however there are a few advantages to this system.  1) It means I (or someone else) doesn't have to be here to feed them 3X/day at the exact times they need it, freeing up my time a little bit.  2) It means they are eating closer to their natural design.  Horses are grazers, meant to take in small amounts of food often (read, all the time) and this should help keep their guts happy and healthy. 3) It means we aren't taking horses away from their food at lesson time.  Their bellies are always full and therefor they should be happier to come work at all times throughout the day.  Like I mentioned, we are still in trial mode but am happy with what I'm seeing so far.

We also have 2 new horses that have moved in this winter.  Sedona lives with Mouse & Mooana and Brewski, who lives with Keno & Stryker.  They are both boarder horses so you may see their humans around.  We also have a "new" barn cat, Harry who you may have seen around this summer a bit.  He's a very friendly dude who's made the white barn his new home.  Our other cats, Coal, Kitten and Lady Marmalade are still out and about keeping us mouse free and taking snuggles as payment.

I have been working on a barn library which is now set up in the tack room.  I  have a collection of horse books that students can sign out in the sign out book to take home and read, return when done.  There's a mix of everything out there from young reader novels and series, to basic introduction to horses and then some more in-depth training books.  So please feel free to take and look and sign something out.  FYI, the Thoroughbred books were my absolute fav when I was a kid.  Sadly they went through the flood but are mostly intact and shouldn't go to waste sitting in my basement.

Most of you have all heard from me via text now but we are heading into our winter/early spring programing.  We started yesterday with some advanced stable management classes and will do another next weekend.  In Feb, we will be running advanced groundwork & some stable management (when Mother Nature gets in our way).  Then starting in March, the advanced students will slowly begin to get back in the saddles, while the intermediate students start their stable management classes & basic groundwork.  Around the end of March, we will be holding a few stable management classes for our little novice riders.  By April, the intermediate students will get back in the saddle while the little kids start up with some review and groundwork.  

For those of you that haven't heard my schpeal before, we have a few things to take into consideration come spring, when we start getting back into riding.  1) We are out of practice.  Having had a few months away from the barn, it often takes us a little time to remember the rules and how to "be aware" around horses, this is where the groundwork comes into play. 2) Our horses have also had a few months off.  The barnyard is quite icy most of the winter and although they live out 24/7 they haven't left the paddock or used their brains in a few months.  They also need time to get tuned back in to the program and working from the mental aspect of things 3) The horses have had a few months off.  Their bodies are not fit for what they were up to in the summer/fall.  Did you know both horses and humans lose fitness quicker than we gain it?!  And, although we primarily think of cardiovascular fitness (think how you feel going for a run/gym for the first time after Christmas holidays) one of the biggest concerns is actually our horses' soft connective tisssue; tendons and ligaments. If horses' go back to work too fast, these are the structure that are at risk, and can take months/a year of rehab.  Its just not worth it.  And lastly 4) although riding is the most thrilling part (for most), having horses, having a relationship with your horse goes way beyond just the time spent in the saddle.  One thing I've been pondering over the last few months is; when did you last spend time with your horse without asking them to "do" something?  ....So we do stable management and groundwork to help all of us get back into the right mindset and riding shape and learn more about our equine partners in this sport of ours.

Lastly, if anyone wants to take sometime this winter to meet up and sit down and chat about what comes next in this riding journey for yourself or your child please let me know.  I am happy to set up some private goal planning sessions.  Sometimes, especially if you don't come from a horsey background, its nice to just chat and see what are some things that you/your child can learn.  Where can this be headed?  Bigger picture and smaller picture kind of things.  You/your kid wants to learn to jump, lease, show, trail ride, go to a clinic? What are the pre-requisites I'm looking for before we start doing that for example.  So please, if this might interest you, reach out and we'll set something up.

As I mentioned there are some fee increases coming this year.  I am still working out the exact details and will post, share and update everyone when I have an exact answer.  Life is getting crazy expensive.  Keep in mind, there will be some paddock picking jobs as well as some assistant jobs available this season for those who are big enough to help out.  As well there is some funding available through some BC sport organizations (I'd have to do a little digging for exact details but am happy to help).

Thanks for taking the time to read my very first newsletter! I'll be back next month with some more news and events.  Ta ta for now!

Jennifer & all the ponies