Hello to all Hilda’s Happenings followers!

With just a few weeks until summer camp opening, I thought I would update everyone to the goings on at Aspengrove.

We have been very busy getting all the horses conditioned especially as we have not had a great spring. We have had a late snowfall, lots of rain and wind, basically not too many nice days. We have Angie and Danielle riding. as well as a new rider from Cherryville, Natasha and whoever I can get to do some schooling. Amanda, who has been my stable hand all winter and spring rides as well, whenever she can get some time in as at the moment we have a lot of horses in the paddocks and pony field as the grass is just to lush for a lot of horses and we are worried about them foundering. According to our vet there are many horses foundering this year because of the wet spring and the lushness of the pasture. Peanut is still not doing too well but we keep trimming him every 2 – 3 weeks and with all the herbs he is getting, we can just hope that he will recover, but certainly won’t be at camp this year. I had Bloozie in a grass paddock that had been eaten down to almost nothing and that was even too much as she also foundered on us, but not as bad as Peanut so hopefully she might recover by camp time. This has me so paranoid that the rest of the ponies are not getting any grass at all. My problem is I always feel sorry for them as they love grass so much.

Erica is going to teach again this year and we have a new instructor Darcy. Darcy attended camp our first year in business (1991) and now is back to teach. She has done lots of training, teaching and showing and will be an asset to our summer camp. Ali is coming back as barn manager, Andrea who has just finished her first year at Olds College is going to be the stable management teacher. Kristen is returning to do the evening activities and Katie is returning to be part of the barn staff for the 2nd half of the summer. The rest of the staff are new this year, with a lot them returning campers. Amanda will also join the barn staff to help run the barn. Angie has decided to take the summer off but will be back to help out if any of the instructors need some time off to go to shows. She is also planning to teach some of the staff during the evenings. Alisha will not be joining our staff this year. I have just hired a new kitchen assistant, Roberta will be joining us to keep everyone happy and fed well. Big news, Alisha got engaged to Terry and they are now expecting a baby. Congratulations on both the engagement and the new addition to our family.

Horses…As usual we have a lot of new horses to choose from for our camps. I even have a few leases and they are working out wonderfully as we are putting a lot of schooling on them. I will get some pictures of them shortly. New horses…Shaun and Sam - thoroughbreds, Kee – quarter horse cross, Joe – morgan/quarter horse, Shanna – Arab, Smokey – quarterhorse/andulusian. I am also very sad to report that we lost the battle with Shahon and his laminitis, Tamin with her cushings disease and Richard, our new purchase last year had a liver malfunction. It is always very difficult when we lose horses.

Other horse news. The pony Irish, which was purchased last fall and has been in the Jenny Craig field and not losing any weight, is in foal. She is now bagging up and should have the baby sometime when the summer camps start. I must say I am not too thrilled, as now we cannot use her but it is always a treat to have a foal around for the campers. We are not sure who the stallion is, as the woman I bought her from had a variety of 2 year old ungelded horses, who, when I approached her about this, thought that was not a problem.

We are now totally full for the summer camps. We seem to fill up more quickly each year. If you want to be put on the wait list, just email, as sometimes things come up and plans change.

I would also like to update you on what is happening with the sale of Aspengrove. I have not yet formally put it up for sale, just a couple of ads in horse magazines. Lorne and I have been very busy trying to do some renos to the house and are almost done, so should be listing it soon. Much to everyone’s disappointment, I have decided that I am going to retire this year, even if Aspengrove does not sell. I am planning to sell all the horses at the end of the summer camp season and stay here and perhaps do some boarding, clinics, seminars, workshops etc until the property sells. Therefore, I guess the good news for some of you who have been wanting to purchase Aspengrove horses, is that all the horses will be for sale. I have not yet decided how I am going to handle this as I want to make sure all the horses go to the best homes possible. A thought has been, a silent online auction but nothing is a sure thing so far. So if there are any horses that you want to purchase let me know by email. I will get some prices up on my web site soon and then see how things go. I hope to do so DVD’s on all the horses sometime during the summer camp season as well.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has written with all the positive input on my retirement. I am certainly going to miss all the campers and their enthusiasm but there comes a time. I am still hoping that someone will buy the place and continue with the camps as there is certainly a need for riding camps. New school horses can always be purchased and then Aspengrove can continue. That is what I wish for.

See you all in a few weeks

Hilda