Angie is very busy giving lessons, training and conditioning the horses, getting them ready for the camps. She gets overwhelmed at times are she has so many to work. Jessie has been helping out as well as a few others from town. Yes, Jessie is back from New Zealand and will be teaching here again this summer. We were keeping the horses on one side of the property to let the grass grow and yesterday we let them in the nice green field. They just keep eating and eating, thought they would never quit. I am not worried like I used to be as they do this every year and no one gets sick. I left the fat ponies on the other side, where the grass is still minimal.

Yesterday morning I heard the dogs barking so looked through the window to check it out and saw a coyote. Rudy and Hershey ran down to the bottom of the field, but didn't know what to do when the coyote did not run. They just stopped and stared at each other, waiting for someone to make a move. Finally Hershey thought she might want to chase him. The coyote then turned and put the run on her. I though she was fast but the coyote caught up to her and I was anticipating a fight, but the coyote just gave her a couple of nips in the rear end and turned and walked away, with Hershey running up to the house as fast as possible. Rudy knows just to keep his distance and nothing ever happens. If they run he runs after them, but if they don't he just watches and waits. The same thing happened to Barkley last week. I was watching from the bedroom in the early morning and the coyote was right on him and I though he would be history, but the coyote just walked away and Barkley actually went after him, with me yelling out the window. Couldn't believe it, after all the stories about coyotes killing little dogs and cats. Maybe there are just too many rodents here and they are not too hungry. I always see them hunting in the fields.

I have everyone asking about the minis. Well Moose and Lolita just go wherever they want as they can get through all the fences. Tamara, however just stays in her pen, as she has not figured out that she too is small. We are almost finished the modifications in the tack up area and will re-fence so we can contain them all, as they are getting too much green grass and are getting quite obese. I am also worried they may founder, but they do look cute just hanging out.

Our last guinea pig died, so I picked up a couple from an ad in the paper. Got a real cute one with long hair who is going to have a litter any day now. Haven't named her, so we will have a naming contest in the summer. I also picked up a hedgehog that lives in the barn stall with the rabbits. They are very interesting to watch. I let him out most days and Rudy guards him the whole time. I always know where he is as Rudy is always there. He doesn't travel too far, prefers to sleep in the day. If all works out time wise I hope to pick up and lamb and maybe a pygmy goat, hope to have a sort of petting zoo for the students.

The cabin is almost completed. I had this one built a little bigger so it can hold 6 students and has a dividing wall with room for 2 more with a separate entrance. This can be for more staff or if we ever get any boys to register.

We are almost filled to capacity this summer with room only near the beginning and end of the summer. I was amazed how quickly we filled up, even with the expansion and room for an additional 6 students per week. Looks like we are doing something right, as word of mouth seems to be our best form of advertising. I also would like to thank the staff that work very hard in making our program the success it is. We are getting more students from the United States, thanks to the Internet; even have a student flying in from Paris this year.

I talked Lorne (the new man in my life) to quit his job out of town and work closer, so I will have a mans help around here again. As you will notice a lot has been done already. Just finished re-fencing , again! Seems like that is something we are always doing. Each year we replace approximately 500 rails. We are now using treated ones so hopefully they will not rot and get brittle with age as the old ones. Once the horses notice they can chew them easily, they just have a ball. I have threatened them with the removal of their front teeth, but they know I am just bluffing.

We are having a Women's Weekend Getaway this weekend. Lucie, a repeat customer, who has a wholesale jewelry business, is bringing up some silver to sell along with our t-shirts. There will be chains, rings, pendants and some earrings, mostly horsy, and will be affordable.

I am in the process of hiring a special person to do our filming this year, so the videos that we have for sale should be more professional than the ones from previous years, which I have done. We also are planning some new evening activities. Will let you know about those once we get them together.

Well must run now. Time to feed the horses we have in captivity in the paddock area. Hope to update this in a couple of weeks.

Keep e-mailing, as I like to hear what everyone is doing.

Hilda

It's 7:00 in the morning, just having my second cup of coffee and thought I had better update my Hilda’s Happenings as that seems to be looked at the most, as all want to keep updated on the goings on around here.