FebHappings 01

Our fields are still covered in snow, but it is melting daily so if we don't get another cold spell we should be relatively snow free in another month, which is really good for us, since our elevation is about 3000 feet. All the horses wintered well, with a large number starting spring a little overweight which is not good. Once the green grass comes it is hard to keep their weight in check, especially the ponies. Cocoa is back in the field and seems to look sound, but we will not know until we start riding, Monty is still in the paddock and getting grain twice daily, trying to get his weight back. We are giving him some herbal medication for his liver as the vet indicated it is slightly enlarged. Lorne is going to snow blow the riding rings, so if all goes well we can start conditioning the horses soon. When horses are out in big fields, always running around, it sure makes the job a lot easier. We purchased a used hot walker which will help us out greatly, especially when cooling them out after being schooled.

Teneka and Hailey are getting larger daily. Teneka is due sometime in March, so we will bring her into a paddock at the beginning of the month so we can monitor her. Right now she looks like an "egg on legs". I took some pictures yesterday and will put them up on the site shortly. When we bought Teneka we were told that she might be bred as when the previous owners came home one day she had gotten out and was visiting a stallion down the road. Well we had her checked and sure enough she was in foal. The stallion is a chestnut quarterhorse so we will have an arab/quarter X baby. Hailey was bred to a Dutch warmblood stallion from Saskatchewan called Novalis. He has been constantly in the ribbons since Lisa Carlson started showing him last year at Spruce Meadows and the Royal. He is now at West Palm Beach, Florida being ridden by Olympic rider Laura Kraut. As you can imagine Angie is quite excited about this baby. Lucifer and Austin are now almost 3 and are ready to start getting some training. Angie is taking Lucifer to Robin Hahn's barn in Lumby to get him started. Robin does an excellent job, and it is so important to start a youngster correctly. He will get a couple of months of basic training and then have time off. With a young warmblood one has to take it slowly. Austin is going to Stephanie Fitchett. Quarterhorses can get worked a lot younger, so once he is started we can continue to ride him and train him.

With spring just around the corner we are busy planning. Once again we have to do a lot of fencing. Our old rails are 12 years old now and getting very brittle. Once the horses realize they can chew them, they really go to town. Each year we buy 500 replacement rails. The ones we buy now are treated and should last longer. Lorne will be busy building new gates and hopefully will get around to building a jump trailer, so we don't have to carry them in and out of the rings everytime we harrow.

We purchased a couple of new (to us) vehicles. We bought a SUV so I have more room for groceries and for airport pickups as the car just wasn't doing it. There just wasn't enough room for luggage. Our feed truck needed replacing desperately as it is no longer road worthy because of the rust. We are still going to keep it for the staff to drive when feeding, as some of them are still in the learning process and I don't care if it gets a few more dents.

We will be looking for a few more horses for our program, so if you know of any good school horses, let me know. We especially need a few 14 to 14.2 hand ponies and a few large more advanced horses.

I have not yet selected my staff for the upcoming season. A lot of last years staff have indicated they want to return and I have quite a few new resumes. If there is a special staff member that you really enjoyed or did not enjoy, e-mail me with your comments as that really helps with my selection.

With the early registration discount deadline rapidly approaching, registrations are coming in daily. We still have room in all our sessions, but a few prime weeks are nearing capacity. If you require a special week, we recommend you register soon to avoid disappointment.

No updates on wedding date for Angie and Mike, but they are having a vacation in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) and are leaving on February 21st. Angie should be well rested and ready to start riding upon return.

Keep up the correspondence, as I like to hear what everyone is up to. Don't stress if you don't get a response as I will get to it sooner or later. Talk to you all again soon.

Hilda