Updated November 28: PBJDressage in Photos 2009
November 28
We are having a great holiday weekend. The weather has been sunny to snowy and back to sunny. In less than 24 hours the arena has followed the weather being wide open, closed up tight, and now open again. Another sunny day is promised for tomorrow. Molly Xanthopoulos is coming for a clinic and she always brings good weather.
Holly and Ram are doing great and are working hard on the last little tweaks to be super stars at Prix St. Georges. Ram's loving his changes now and he rarely leaps through the air for no apparent reason. September is doing wonderful and I has already had his second clipping of the winter. He's a fuzz ball.
Holly and I are both riding Grace a bit. Give, give give. That is Grace's motto.
Rocky and Boden are now getting turned out on grass for an hour or so a day. Boden can't be on grass due to allergies and Rocky due to founder. But now that there is no grass to speak of, they are spending a bit of time on it. Boden's allergy shots are really working and he has grown his hair back. Incredible after three years of being nearly bald.
All other's are doing well. Check out the photo page - I've actually put new pictures up.!
October 22
I knew it had been awhile since I did a news update, but I had no idea it had been three months. To sum up the late summer and early fall - it has been great.
Grace returned home from Molly's after a summer lease and she is fit and happy - well as happy as Grace can be. I've ridden her some and Holly has ridden her a good bit more. We are trying to keep her going until I can decide if she should go back into retirement. The thing is, Grace has never been an easy ride and at 19 years of age, she is still not easy.
September and Ram have both been clipped for the fall. They are doing great and working hard. I think Holly is going to be ready to show Ram at Prix St. Georges very soon. It's exciting to see him settle in to his tempi changes.
Most all of the horses are having a go at being therapy horses for PBJ Connections. It is great for them to have a 2nd career helping kids and they really like the activities.
It is hard for us to call Hannah and Dia "the babies" any more as they are growing and maturing every day. Dia has fallen in love with September and has been trying to convince him to run away with her. Hannah has not yet discovered boys but if she keeps watching Dia, she will figure it out soon. And I can't forget to mention - Hannah is huge and promises to be one big gal when she finishes growing.
Happy July
We have had the greatest July weather I could hope for. It has been cool with a light breeze and energizing.
September is on a little brake from work while he heals from having a tooth extracted on July 1st. Update: Mr. Ber healed up fine and is back to work.
June 20th
It's a busy time at PBJDressage. Last weekend Holly and I showed at ODS. I scored my first 63% on September - beating our previous best score by about 7 percentage points. I am thrilled and feel that not only have I learned so much riding my wonderful horse September, but learned a good deal at the shows. I hope to take him out again a little later this year. Holly and Ram had a good show as well. This was Ram's first outing in a couple of years. They showed 4th-3 and despite a few unplanned airs above the ground, Ram scored very well. See the photo page for a couple of nice shots from the show.
Grace is leaving today to spend some time at Molly's where she will be ridden by a very nice young rider named Sammy. The two seem like they are going to get along well and I'm happy that Grace will have a job that will be fun and not too hard. Grace is 19 years old now, and she is strong and healthy and a little job will help keep her that way. Elliot, Grace's near constant companion enjoys his turn out with Hannah and Dia and I think he will shift his attention to them while Grace is away.
Speaking of Elliot, he has not had a good month. He coliced at the end of May - his first colic in the 20 plus years I have owned him. He recovered fine but it was scary to go through. Earlier this week he had another bad few moments when he fell and bumped his head. Elliot is very active and happy and it is tough seeing him become an elderly horse.
Here's one more photo of Mr. Ber because a web page can never have too much Ber!
I hope everyone has a great summer!
May 16th
Glenda and September went to their first show in three years and proved that third level is very hard but not impossible. Thanks to Suzette Dybiec for these photos.
May 10th, 2009
Hannah is a Year Old!
It's Mother's Day and sunny and a great day for it to be Hannah's first birthday. Hannah is almost 14 hands tall and has a lot of growing left to do. She had a photo shoot this morning and is off enjoying a wonderful afternoon in the sun eating grass with Dia, Grace and Elliot.
Here's Hannah singing happy birthday to herself:
Here's a photo of Dale and Hannah her first day here. She was three weeks old and skinny.
April 17th, 2009
Dia Turns a Year Old
Holly and Aimes held a surprise birthday party for Dia on Friday and invited all of her horse buddies. There were hats, balloons, and blue cupcakes.
March
Spring is here and we are celebrating. The trees are starting to bud up and the grass is turning green. We have closed two of our pastures to allow them to regrow. The horses are rotating through the large pasture and the sand paddocks and enjoying themselves.
Rocky has a history of founder so he can't have any spring or summer grass and Boden is allergic to grass - so the two of them are spending a lot of time together on the sand watching the other horses eating the green stuff.
Dia and Hannah are getting very big. They are approaching their first birthday and we will have a photo day to show how they have grown. Dia is coming in to her own and has been a very calm and gentle girl since December. I think she is showing us more of her personality. Hannah is a clown and is still of the mind that if she can do something, well, she should just do it. We have recently taught her to climb up a step, be sure to check a photo of her feat on the photo page. I think I have a trick horse in the making.
February
Twelve years ago, a very sick and pregnant dog walked up our driveway. We were a two dog family at the time with both dogs were trained to keep strays and trespassers away. But on this day instead of sending the dog on her way, they escorted her to us. Isabelle became a member of our family and gave birth to 4 healthy pups and then focused on her own healing. She has been my near constant companion for many years and has taken almost every trip to the barn with me, spent every moment while I was at work sitting under my desk laying on my feet, watched every silly TV program with me, and then followed me to bed where she again slept on my feet. Isabelle has gone to doggy heaven where I picture her being met by her best dog friend Pye. I know those of you who have visited our farm join us in wishing her a peaceful rest.
January
The snow, ice and cold have been the highlights of the month. From the middle of the month forward we have had several inches of snow, a few inches of ice and it has just piled on and on. We haven't been able to have a clinic here in several weeks due to the weather and we are all going to get a little rusty.
My birthday was also interrupted by the weather and I have yet to be able to fully celebrate it in the spoiled style of become used to.
September is living the life of a gentleman. He's only worked on days when I could stand the weather and find an ice free path to the arena. Mr. Ber is on a 5 time per year clipping schedule as he is the hairiest of all horses. I opted to scale back this winter since he wasn't getting worked much and he is now quite wooly and looks a bit like a porcupine. He has well earned his nickname of Mr. Fur.
Holly has been doing an A+ job keeping me sane this winter and has been giving me a break from feeding by picking up a morning or two during the week. Lucky Holly spent 10 days in Florida this month on a well deserved vacation.
Dia and Hannah are doing great. They are big and fun babies and are developing more an more of their own personalities.
Happy New Year
December 2008 was colder than any December in my recent memory. Quite a shock to the people's system. Ram and September were able to keep up with their training routine despite how much Holly and I hated it. The babies enjoyed the weather and were happy to play in the ice and cold.
And speaking of babies. Here's how the two of them brought in the new year.
