aroundthebarn

The Greater Moncton Equestrian Club hosted it's Annual Holiday Dinner and Dance on Saturday November 18th. It was held at the Moncton Lions Senior Citizens Centre on St George St. The doors opened at 6 p.m. and everyone quickly found their tables. Once everyone was settled our hosted for the evening, in the form of Linda Hooper who despite being a little under the weather, started off the ceremony. Once again, the staff of the Lions Centre did an amazing job of cooking up and serving a wonderful turkey dinner and dessert. This year, the GMEC decided on adding an extra air of festivity in the form of a Yankee Swap. With almost everyone in participation, it took the better part of an hour to get all the presents unwrapped and the swapping done! There were a few very popular gifts that made their way around the room! Congratulations to all who won not only division in the GMEC circuit, but in all equine avenues.

October 2005

Our condolences go out to the Laffoley family on the passing of Dignified Alibi. Astra, as she was fondly known, was put to rest on a dreary Wednesday morning, following a lengthy illness. She was a spirited but gentle 8-year-old Quarter Horse mare that was doted upon by her two young owners; Emma and Rebecca. She was a special horse who found a special home for the last 2 ½ years. The Laffoleys would like to extend their thanks to Dr. Jessica Harvey Chapel and Dr. Randy Hayward for reassuring us that Astra is now in a better place. Also, very heartfelt thanks to everyone at Ashton Ridge for their help and concern, in particular Roberta who crushed literally thousands of pills and kept a special eye on Astra and never once complained; Jodi who helped us through the highs and the lows, and Niki who made sure that the shows Astra and Emma got to this past summer were wonderful. Astra will be sadly missed by all.

Everyone at the barn is wishing a "Speedy Recovery" to Ann Murray. Ann is now resting comfortably at home after a brief stay at the hospital following surgery. We hope to see her back in the saddle soon!

The Cavalier Riding Club had its final week of lessons and have wrapped up their year, once again, by holding their Annual Banquet at the Pine Glen Community Center. There was a good turnout and we hope to see some familiar faces next Spring when lessons start up again!

September 2005

This past weekend was the last show on the GMEC circuit; the Spruce Hollow Corral Horse Show. It went off without a hitch on Saturday. The day started off cool but sunny after the rain, the horses were fresh and the turnout was good. Congratulations to all who participated. A big Thank You goes out to the Spruce Hollow Corral show committee for putting on a great show. It was great way to end the 2005 show season.

The day after the show, Kara, Diane and Susanne all went out to participate in a group trail ride, hosted by Robb Connors. They left the barn early in the morning, and only arrived after supper. They all had a great time and hope to do it again someday soon.

Dr. Randy Hayward once again made a visit to the farm with a fresh new batch of students. Half the class made it out this week, next week we'll have the other half of the class, and they got their hands dirty with cleaning out the barns. They also got some hands-on experience on leading horses and finding specific parts of their anatomy. Thank you goes out to Chantalle for once again being there to help them, and Roberta, out.

There is a Drill Team clinic held on October 15th and 16th at the Princess Louise Show Park in Sussex. Ruth Fowler will be the clinician. Our fellow Rockin' Riders will make it out and even Ann Murray will take her horse, Fancy out for the clinic. It will be a great reunion as Kara, Diane and Ann all know Ruth and took lessons with her before she moved out West. A great job by Linda Clark and Ann Murray for putting it all together. We hope everyone has a great time!

The next item on the list is the Holiday Dinner and Dance for the GMEC show circuit. A Yankee swap and the year end awards will also be presented at the Dinner and Dance. It will be held on Saturday, November 19th at the Lions Senior Centre on St George St. We hope to see everyone there!

Our deepest condolences goes out to Stan and Donna Barnett on the loss of their wife and mother. Doreen Barnett was a gentle soul who used to love to come out and feed Skip as many carrots as possible while being groomed by either Stan or Donna. She was felled by another bout with cancer but fought on until even her spirit couldn't carry on any longer and peacefully passed away with her loving daughter, Donna, by her side. Her sweet face and kind words will be sadly missed by all.

August 2005

August is now upon us and with it comes a heat wave. With the temperature hovering in the high twenties and low thirties, plus humidity, everyone is trying to get things done either early in the day or later in the evening in an effort to stay cool.

"It is with great sadness that I am writing to let all who knew our beloved pony Missy - Little Miss Goody Two Shoes- was laid to rest on June 20th.

After a paralysis in May 2003 we nursed her back to health and she lived a peaceful life, roaming the property as she pleased for the next year and a half, before she was felled by another attack. Missy was known by all, she taught many a young rider in lessons and was also a regular in the Therapeutic Riding Program. My daughter Nicole began riding Missy at the tender age of 10, here at this farm with Linda Clark, then known as Horizon Farms. When we purchased the farm in 1998, Missy came with it. Life is full of many wonderful surprises.

"All horses deserve, at least once in their lives, to be loved by a little girl" - Author Unknown

Missy was fortunate to be loved by many little girls. We will miss her dearly. Our thanks go out to Dr. Randy Hayward in helping us say goodbye to an old friend on that warm June day."

Spring Brook Stables had its annual horse show on August 13th and Saturday started off with some rain in the morning but that didn't deter the number of horse and riders who made it out to the show. In both days, the English and Western classes were of a good size and had a great turnout.

Emma rode Diane's horse Cassy in the junior classes and Diane showed in the senior classes and they both did very well. Lyndsay got on and rode Kola English while Kara rode him Western on Sunday. Julie and her horse Slick were there as well and had a great day, she even tried her hand at reining, while Kara competed once more in some of the Western Horse trial classes. All in all everyone was pleased with their horse's performance.

Thanks to Michelle Cox on hosting another great show.

The GMEC fun show was held down in Albert on August 20th. Shelby was on a new mount, Ready Steady Go, who she's been riding for Melody Arsenault and she had a great day in both the showmanship classes and the ridden classes. Emma and Astra made their way down there and had some great rides, and Julie with Slick also made an appearance.

The canteen was hosted by the Cavalier Riding Club and that had a great turnout too. A big thanks goes out to Keith and Wilma Williams, Mark and Niki, and Margie for all their hard work by getting and preparing the food for the canteen and thanks to Peggy Davis and her mother who offered the canteen and showed everyone how things were done!

It's another boy! Congratulations to Landon on getting his first pony! "Mr. T" is a 12 hh Welsh pony gelding that's, you guessed it, grey (is there any other color?). Roberta first spied Teddy at the Carmaz Stables Horse Show and just couldn't get him out of her mind. When she saw him again at the Spring Brook Stables show, she and Jim just couldn't resist and decided to get him. He's just what they were looking for as a first pony; quiet, easy to lead and work around. They went and picked him up on Saturday and he's settling in nicely. It'll be a while yet before Landon can get on and ride him, but for now he's quite intrigued with his new "toy". A big Thank You goes out to Colleen Carroll-Nisbett for bringing Teddy to our attention.

The lesson horses are on a 2 week vacation, giving them a well deserved break from the summer heat. Regular lessons will commence again back on September 5th.

The next show on the GMEC circuit is Spruce Hollow Corral, held on September 25th. This is the last show of the season and hope to see many out there.

Some of the boarders will be going out to a trail ride hosted by Robb Connors. Details on that to follow.

July 2005

Welcome Home Lyndsay! Lyndsay Greenwood is back from her Summer job where she was out in Northern Ontario for 6 weeks planting trees. She says it was quite the experience but she's glad to be home. Quick to get in the thick of things, her second day back, she was out at the farm helping to put hay in.

The Carmaz Stables horse show went on this past weekend. Despite being overcast, the temperature was still warm enough to keep everyone reasonably comfortable and the rain held off until later Saturday evening. There was quite a spectacular turnout, not only for English, but for Western as well. Kara and Kola made their way out to the show on Saturday and had a good day with some great placing. Perhaps at the next show Lyndsay, who's back from her 6 week hiatus from out in the boondocks planting trees, will decide to hop on and show Kola in the English classes.

The next show on the list is Spring Brook Stables in August and we hope to see another big turnout.

The farm had some visitors today in the form of a group from the Angus MacDonald Centre. There were eleven people in total with each of them having their own chaperone. Every year either Mark or Chantalle goes out to the Angus MacDonald Centre to do a presentation for the Cavalier Riding Club. Last year the Centre asked if it would be possible for the Club to bring out a horse or pony, but they had to content themselves with pictures and a video instead.

Well if you can't bring the mountain to Mohammed. . . so this year the Centre asked if they could make a trip out to the farm instead. So at 9:30am they pulled in to the parking lot and made their way to the barn to see some horses up close and personal. After showing them around the farm a bit, everyone went up to the arena to see a demonstration on grooming, tacking, mounting and riding a horse. A big Thank You goes out to Shani and Alana who helped bring out Captain and the saddle and also to Alana who was our "guinea pig" for the riding demonstration. A thank you also goes out to Chantalle for doing the presentation for the Club.

A big Thank You goes out to Michelle Cox on letting Niki ride her horse Apollo. Niki's already been out there a few times, trying him out and figuring his buttons, and she's glad to be back in the saddle.

Congratulations to the following riders for successfully completing their Rider I:

Thank you to Ann Murray for coming out and testing the girls.

June 2005

Congratulations to the Kara, Diane and the rest of the Rocking Riders Team on winning the Drill Team Competition at the second annual show held in Sussex. They were the last team of 3 to go down at the Princess Louise Show Park and got a little wet in the rain while waiting for their turn. Despite some flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder, all the horses performed well, making the judges decision that much harder to make. Congratulations to all who showed and we hope to see the same sort of turnout next year.

Congratulations to Shani Murray on the lease of her first horse! Shani's been taking lessons with us for a while and has now progressed to leasing 'Tip The Bar' from Julie Williams. We hope she enjoys coming out to ride with the rest of us and we know she'll learn a lot from Tip.

This past weekend was the Horse Show hosted by the Paint Club. It's the second show on the GMEC circuit and was again held down at the Albert Fairgrounds. Emma Laffoley and her horse Astra, who went down with Jill Maynard, showed her first show of the season and did well in her classes.

Congratulations to Susanne on getting a new dog. He's an eight week old German Sheppard puppy named Bandit.

This Sunday was the first cattle penning run, and we have a new cattle penner, Susanne Breau, with her horse Tess. Neither had ever cattle penned but Susanne was talked into joining a team with Kara and Diane. For a first time cattle penning team, they managed to get 3 cows in the pen. Kara and Diane, who are also on a team with Robb Connors, also had a great run and getting their cows in. The day threatened rain and it may have splattered a bit but it didn't last long and everyone had a great time.

May 2005

We would like to welcome some newcomers to the barn..... no not horses, but cats, Tiggs and Jackson. Both are jet black and were given to us by a high-school friend of Rob's who is moving to China to teach. He wanted to find a good home for his babies before he departed. They caused quite a stir the day they arrived, first for their deep black colour, and then for their sizes. Tiggs is a modest 14 lbs and Jackson tips the scales at 22lbs! If anyone asks, just say he has a thyroid problem ;-) Hopefully with all the wide open spaces his waistline will slim down and Jim's nickname of "Fat Albert" won't stick. Anyway, for now they are getting used to being around horses again!

The first outing of the season was to Twelve Pines Horse Show hosted by Shelly Smith. Once again she opened up her facility to the public for a training show and those with new horses were quick to take advantage of this great opportunity. Kara brought out her horse Kola, and Emma brought Astra as well. Both have been taking lessons all winter with Linda Clark, with great results. Jillian Maynard and Melody Arsenault brought out their new mounts to show in both English and Western, a few new riders from Shandi's barn also made it out and Shawna Rinzler-Johnson brought out her new 3 year old gelding for the flat classes and cross rails. Since she had also brought her other horse Toby, Shelby Wilson was asked if she wanted to show and so rode Toby in the flat classes and cross rails as well. Everyone was pleased with the performance of their horses and are now ready to do the rest of the show circuit!

The first show on the GMEC circuit kicked off last weekend down in Albert with the rain holding off for the Western show on Saturday (the same can't be said for the English on Sunday where it poured buckets!) There were a few new faces and horses that we hope to keep seeing in the circuit. Only one boarder, Kara, made it out to the show and she was extremely pleased with Kola's performance and they both placed very well in all of their classes. Once again, a big Thank-You goes out to Peggy Davis for putting on another great show, that could only have been improved with better weather for Sunday.

The next show on the list the Paint Show coming up on June 4th and again we have some boarders who'll be loading up for the quick trip down to Albert. Let's all hope the waether will improve for the weekend. . .

April 2005

Our deepest condolences goes out to Susanne on the loss of her beloved dog, Buddy. He was an energetic 3 year old Rottweiler/Husky mix that was Susanne's constant companion at the barn. He kept her company when she rode alone and also helped her and Tess polish their cattle penning skills in the ring. We never knew who enjoyed the activity more, Buddy or Tess. He will be sadly missed by all.

This past weekend was the first GMEC gathering of the year at the Pine Glen Community Centre! It started at 6:30pm with a silent auction and plenty of goodie's to eat! It was a great way to see people in a non-show environment (less competition, except for the silent auction!) and to catch up with familiar faces after those long winter months.

Dr Hayward is bringing some of his braver, large animal students out to the farm on Saturday to give them a real taste of vet life. He will be showing them how to give horse their annual shots and nasals, take some x-rays and some dentistry.

March 2005

Well Spring has officially "sprung" but you wouldn't know it by the weather we've been having lately! From warmer days to feeling like it's winter again, the horses don't know whether to shed or not to shed. Regardless of what it's like outdoors, the farm remains pretty busy during this time of the year. Cavalier is preparing to start up again and everyone is getting their furry fuzzballs ready for the upcoming show season and clinics held by the GMEC circuit.

We would like to welcome a new Co-Op student that will be helping Roberta while learning as much as she can before going off to Veterinary school. Her name is Rebecca Roundell. She's a Grade 12 student who comes out to the farm 3 times a week to get her hands dirty in the equine part of animal husbandry. With some new horses coming and the warmer weather making the wee beasties a little frisky, "Action Ridge" might soon live up to its name again! Welcome to the farm, Rebecca and we hope you enjoy your time here.

Congratulations goes out to Chantalle Twohig on the purchase of her first horse "Ebonys Miss Poco", a 3 year old Quarter Horse mare from Bonny Shipley. Chantalle has been quietly looking for a few months when Bennett came to her attention. A big Thank You goes out first to Roberta for thinking of calling Shandi Mitton to find out if there were any horses for sale out at her place, to Shandi for being the first point of contact between Bonny and Chantalle and most of all, Thank You to Bonny for her patience with all the endless questions about Bennett and also for delivering her to the farm on that windy Wednesday night.

There was a little bit of rearranging of pastures in the last few days because there are 3 new horses taking up residence here at the farm. The first is a 3-year-old grey Quarter Horse mare named "Ebonys Miss Poco" or Bennett, as she is now known. The next horse is "Echos Leap of Faith", or Faith, a 5 year old Palomino Quarter Horse mare owned by Norma Sanders. Last but not least is "Madam Okie Leo", or Okie, who is owned by the Kenny sisters; Alicia and Shelby. Oakie is a 8 year old dark bay Quarter Horse mare. So much for not having any more mares on the property! Sorry Jim!

Some of the boarders are out getting both themselves and their horses ready for the Jeff Temple clinic hosted by the GMEC on April 30th out at Carmaz Stables.

Get your matching Polo wraps and dress shirts out because practices for the Drill Team Competition is in full swing. We can't wait to see the end results!

Congratulations goes out to Patricia Melanson, Maureen Mungall and Jessica Odell for their successful completion of their Rider Level 1. A special thank you goes out to Debbie Wilson for all of her help in getting the girls ready, to Roberta for getting the ball rolling and to Ann Murray who tested the girls. We hope to see them test for their Rider 2 soon!

February 2005

Everyone at the farm was sad to see Just Impressive Jack go on to a new home. He was adopted by Sylvette Theriault and her family and moved up to Lamèque Island. He will be able to frolic to his heart's content in 120 acres of prime pastureland and kick back on gentle rides with Sylvette and her son. Congratulations Sylvette, we hope you enjoy Jack as much as we did!

It's a boy!!!

Congratulations to both Niki and Mark on the birth of their son, Landon Cameron Stevens. He was born Feb 18th at the Moncton Hospital around 10:52pm weighing in at 8lbs and 91/2oz and 22 inches long. He's an adorable little baby (no, seriously, he's really cute!) with his daddy's dark hair but we'll have to wait to see if he'll have Niki's blue eyes or dark eyes like Mark. Roberta and Jim are proud new grandparents and can't wait to spoil him. Hope he'll like horses because Roberta probably has a pony already picked out for him!

January 2005

January is turning out to be an extremely cold and harsh winter. With 3 storms back to back and 90 cm of snow the majority of time is spent beating frozen buckets and plowing mounds of snow. Having said that, the timing could not have been better for the first annual “Winter is Fun” seminar put on by Donna Sears of AtlanticRider.com. This seminar is being held in Moncton at the Holiday Inn Express on Saturday Jan 29. Hopefully this will put an end to the winter blues and help us focus on the upcoming show season a mere 5 months away.

Although it has been quiet around the barn, Debbie Wilson is busy working with some of her students on getting their Rider 1 exam. Good luck to all those writing.

In other unrelated news, we have one of our boarders, Kathy Thompson who has had many of her scrapbooking layouts published in National magazines. Congrats Kathy and thanks for making half of our barn scrapbooking addicts.

In addition, the Cavalier Riding Club would like to thank Broadleaf Guest Ranch and Donna Sears of Upper Coverdale Stables for their generous donations to the club.