Category Archives: kids

Assateague 2014

The last week of September, we took our travel trailer for a family vacation to Assateague National Park, an island in Maryland.  Anna and I had been before in the late 90s, and we thought the kids would enjoy the wild ponies, bird watching, and beaches.  We were right.  As part of the home school curriculum, the kids did some bird watching lessons in preparation for the trip.  My parents rented a Class C motor home and joined us and my brother and his family also came.  We had 3 camping spots in a row for the week.  The mosquitoes were brutal the first couple of days, but it got better through the week.

The kids LOVED playing on the beach.  The water was definitely cool, and an hour was about the maximum they could handle.  Through the week, the waves on the ocean side got stronger and only Alex was big enough to handle them.  However, the bay side of the island was much more protected and the cousins were able to play there daily.

We had a campfire most evenings.  The kids made some camp bread (that didn’t turn out too well – but they had fun) and smores.  Mostly, they enjoyed hanging out and telling ghost stories.

We did a couple of walks to look at birds.  And of course, the ponies who would walk right into camp.

I couldn’t pass an opportunity to take a look at the hooves of the wild ponies.

There were sleepovers in our trailer, and in Grandma and Grandpa’s camper.  And there was just hanging out and playing together.

Lyme Hunter Pace 2014

Anna, Alex,  and Vicki rode Dakota,  Nike, and Devil in the Lune Hunter Pace today.  King has been lame this week so we sat out.
It was 8.9 miles of gorgeous trails and fun jumps. The kids got to do a few jumps and everyone had fun. Vicki has been logging more time in the saddle and did much better at this one compared to the pace in June.
They didn’t place overall, but they did win the Don Siluk Memorial award that is sponsored by Mystic Pony Club.  It is an award specifically designed for pony clubbers and a parent/guardian. The kids are looking forward to a trip to The Paddock to redeem the gift certificate.

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Before the start

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After the finish

Introducing Nike!

To celebrate Labor Day, we took the kids to Mystic Valley Hunt Club for a lesson with Maureen Pach.  The second reason for our trip was to pick up Nike.  Nike is joining our farm on a long term lease.  As you can see from the pictures, he and Devil will make a great pair in pictures.  Nike is a seasoned school horse and will help Alex advance in the arena work while Dakota continues training with Anna. In the pictures,  Alex is on Devil and Vicki is on Nike (they switched for part of the lesson).  You know it’s a good pony when the owner and 2 of his previous riders come to see him off to his new home!

WGHA Hunter Pace #3

What does 12 miles in 2:35 on a gorgeous Sunday get you?  1st place in the Trailblazer division for me and 1st place in the Junior division for Alex.  Today was our 3rd hunter pace of the summer and it was a fabulous day.  King and Dakota were rock stars, as usual.

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Alex is getting into the hunter paces and decided that we needed to match (I agreed).  So, we wore our khaki breeches, blue farm shirts, matching Mystic Pony Club saddle pads, matching pommel bags, and even our protective vests match.  While we aren’t setting any record speeds, I require the protective vests to instill good habits for the future when I expect he will want to jump a lot more than now.

 

 

Alex has also started to figure out it’s not always bad that there are not a lot of boys at the horse events…

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WGHA Hunter Pace #2

Today was the second WGHA Hunter Pace.  Since we sold Calli, and Vicki didn’t handle the distance very well last time, this one was me (Rob) on King and Alex on Dakota.  We did the 10.3 miles in 2:10.  That was good enough for me to get 2nd in the Trailblazer division and Alex to get 1st in the Junior division.

Alex got to choose his prize for winning the Junior division; he chose a new chair.  Once he got home, he immediately set it up in the yard and shared the umbrella space with Amanda.

Our first family hunter pace

20140601_101514Today Alex, Vicki, Anna, and I (Rob) rode in our first family hunter pace.  It was put on by the West Greenwich Horseman’s Association (WGHA) at Arcadia in RI.  For those not familiar with hunter pacing, it is a long trail ride with optional jumps along the way.  This one had 3 different divisions: Hunters (fastest group with lots of cantering), Hilltoppers (walk/trot with some cantering), and Trailblazers (walk/trot).  We entered Trailblazers, but did some cantering early on with lots of walking towards the end.

The ride was 11.5 miles long and it took us 3:15.  Here are the top 10 things we learned on our first hunter pace.

10. Make sure all the bridles loaded in the trailer have reins (luckily a friend/trimming client lived across the street and we were able to borrow some).

9. Leather braided roping reins stretch a lot when Calli pulls hard.  They now reside in the trash.

8.  Dakota is a ROCK STAR!

7.  Alex is well conditioned for the time/distance.

6.  Vicki is not well conditioned for the time/distance.

5.  Vicki will get really tired and be ready to give up about 6.5 miles into the ride.

4.  Vicki doesn’t like GU gels and won’t eat them to get her some nutrition.

3.  Calli doesn’t like horses with bells trotting up behind her.

2.  Easily accessible snacks are needed for Vicki (and Anna) on a long trail ride.

1.  Despite over an hour of melting down, getting upset with her pony, and wanting to quit (in the middle of the woods), after some lunch and sugar, Vicki can start planning for the next hunter pace.

Alex and Vicki got ribbons for 5th place in the junior division.  Ribbons always make a kid happy.  The next Hunter Pace is in July.  Vicki plans to do more 2+ hour trail rides to get ready.

A Mother’s Day at the Games rally

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Sunday May 11 2014 was Mother’s Day. I spent the day at the Pony Club games rally with my kids. Well, sort of, because parents aren’t allowed in the horse management area. We arrived at 7.30 ish. That meant we left home around 6.45. The rally was at Mitchell farm in Salem, CT. We helped the kids set up the pop up tent and chairs for the day, left a cooler of food, a cooler of water, and helped get their tack room stuff and horse management kits. Their C rated pony club advisor for the day was Grace Perkins who volunteered (!!!) to head up the walk trot grasshopper games team Pony Pals. 5 kids 10 and under, and five ponies for a full day, ending with awards at 6 pm. After the briefing at 8.30 parents were banned from the horse area. The kids had jog outs to check for soundness and later a formal inspection for turn out of horse and rider. There were horse management judges asking questions and doing inspections. Then they played games against the other grasshopper team ” the runaways”. Throughout the day they killed dead time around the trailer, reading, eating and playing games ( board games). At six pm the day concluded with awards.  The Pony Pals came home with double blue ribbons, one for horse management and one for the riding portion. They were all exhausted. Rob volunteered for 4 hours on the field helping out with the games play.  I watched Amanda and spent money at the food truck,  while watching the games play and chatting with other parents. Amanda fell asleep in the afternoon.
Overall it was a good Mother’s day with great weather.

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Happy Birthday to Anna

Today was Anna’s birthday – she turned 28…

For her birthday, Vicki showed up at our bed side with a cup of coffee to help her wake up.  During the day, Vicki (our resident 8 year old baker) made the birthday cake.  She uses Anna’s tablet to find a recipe and only cooks from scratch.  Today, she baked a chocolate cake, made the icing including 2 colors, and decorated the cake.  She started decorating before the cake was completely cooled, which caused some collapsing, however, it was still a very good.

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Alex’s first 5k

Today was the inaugural Colonel Classic 5k in Ledyard.  Alex and I signed up and this was his first ever 5k.  The course wasn’t exactly flat and it was about 42F when we started.  Amanda came along for a ride in the stroller.  Alex still needs to grasp the concept of pacing, because he tended to sprint for a few seconds, then walk.  Eventually (around the 2 mile point), I gave up on convincing him to run a steady pace and we fell into a run/walk routine.  1:00 run, 30 sec walk.  That worked well for keeping him moving.  I also threatened that if he gave up, we would eat okra soup for lunch, but if he kept the 1:00/:30 routine, I would let him have Subway.  About 1/4 mile from the finish, his friend Jack (who was watching his Dad run) met us along the route and ran back to the finish with Alex.

Alex’s first 5k was a time of 42:14, which equates to a 13:37/mile pace.  Not too bad considering the hills.  Best of all, he said he actually had fun!