Tag Archives: Kids

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2021 4H Ct State Horse show

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This morning Rob and I loaded up Amanda and Huey to go to the UCONN 4H Tolland Agricultural Center for the annual CT State Horse Show. Amanda mostly wanted to go for the costume class. She loves to dress up that pony. But, I made her sign up for some walk trot classes too, and everyone has to do a showmanship class.

We had a discussion about whether she was staying with walk trot or doing walk trot canter classes. Considering Huey’s potential antics in a ring full of cantering horses, I lobbied we give Amanda a “glory year” and have her just stick with walk trot. We do not ride in the ring a lot and Amanda spent last week at 4H camp, leaving her a little tired still.

Saturday night Amanda and I washed Huey, first with Dawn soap (because he was filthy from all the rain lately), then with Zephyrs Garden Calm and Clean shampoo. That shampoo smells amazing!

Huey was great for warm up and Amanda did just fine at showmanship. The most hilarious moment was when Amanda forgot she was not supposed to move Huey’s legs like with a goat. She reached back and picked up his out of place foot and moved it into place. He tolerated it too! I guess she has been practicing with her goats a lot…

The walk trot classes went great. Amanda has matured as a rider and controls Huey better these days. He can be a challenging pony at times. Huey was a little bit impatient standing, hated the bugs and wanted to eat grass, but Amanda had no major issues. She got a first in Equitation, a second in Pleasure and a third in Discipline. She did win Walk Trot Champion overall. Time to move up next year!

We had a short break while WTC classes were going on after that and then we dressed Huey for the costume class. Amanda was a dragon rider atop her fire breathing dragon. We did buy the wings and viking helmet off Amazon, but the rest of the outfit was stuff we had laying around that we altered and put together. A sleazy, a rump rug, some felt from another project, some green cotton fabric, a sword and some additional things from previous Halloween costumes. Huey is such a good sport for allowing us to do this. They won the costume class.

Good half day at the show today, next year Amanda wants to show Huey driving as well, so that would be a longer day.

Meanwhile, at home, the teens took care of chores and did a long ride of 13 miles on Amira and Eli. They elected not to show and to spend time conditioning the horses instead

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Family Fitness

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Sunday morning long runs with Rusty are one of my guilty pleasures. This morning, I knew a couple of different groups were getting together, but I decided to stay home and run in Pachaug. Alex has a desire to run a half marathon, so we decided I would come by the house and pick him up for a couple of miles before I finished. When Amanda heard that, she immediately declared she was going with us. So, after the first 11.5 miles, I swung into the house and and Alex, Amanda, and Mack joined Rusty and I for another 2 miles.

Mack went swimming (as in, up to his neck swimming) 3 times in 2 miles.

Along the way, Amanda said “I need to do more running to improve my stamina.” I replied “OK, what are you training for?” Amanda’s reply “Triathlons.”

Later in the afternoon, the whole family went out for a short trail ride. It was a great day.

  • Rusty enjoying his run
  • Alex waiting on us to catch up
  • Amanda running on the trails
  • Mack swimming. Rusty wading.
  • Amanda running on the trails
horse, kids

Horse sledding

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This afternoon the kids and I (Anna) decided to try sledding behind King. After some initial testing I decided he didn’t care about the sled behind him and since the kids didn’t have the strength to hold on I tied the ropes to the sled. Probably not the safest venture but the ropes were tied on with very breakable baling twine. The kids had a blast!!! They wore their helmets as did I of course. Next we need some plastic skis and a tow rope…

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TV incentive programs

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The kids get a limited amount of tv each day. They have seen Anna and I use the indoor bike trainer in the basement and watch tv while riding. So, they took Anna’s bike off and negotiated for tv time while biking. We agreed.

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The wheels are too small to use the resistance, but as long as they are spinning the wheels, they can watch tv.

hunting, kids

Life lessons in the woods

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Today at work, I ended up with an unexpected open afternoon. Cold snap last night, bad weather coming tomorrow, first week of November, and Alex was out of school! I headed home at lunch and loaded my new (off Craigslist) 2 seater ladder stand in the truck to take Alex out for a hunt, his second with me this year. Earlier in the season, I had hunted a new property and found a promising area that I was saving for this new stand. However, when we got there, I was disappointed to find another stand in the same area. Ok, we can find a different spot on the property.
However, I also found a pile of apples and a corn feeder. While I am completely supportive of baiting, I limit my baiting to legal areas only. This bait pile is illegal. I’ll let the landowner know (because I know he didn’t put the pile out), but it gave me the chance to discuss with Alex the legal and ethical aspects of hunting.
It was disappointing that I won’t be hunting there anymore, but it was an excellent teaching opportunity for my young hunter wannabe.
I’m sure he will explain it to his sisters when we get home since they were both disappointed that they didn’t get to hunt this year.

horse, kids, Uncategorized

Ledyard Horse Show

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Yesterday we took the kids to the Ledyard Fair Horse Show. They showed in four classes, three beginner walk-trot classes and one polebending class. The kids and ponies did well, each earning a red ribbon for second place, Vicki and Devil in walk-trot pleasure and Alex and Precious for walk-trot command. They enjoyed the polebending and both cantered their horses to the finish. They got four ribbons each and had a good time. The horse show was fast and prompt for a change and we were home by 1 pm. More pictures below.

 

horse, kids, Uncategorized

Thoughts On A Week At Pony Club Camp

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Alex and Precious practicing an Intro dressage test.

This past week Alex and Vicki spent five days at Ayer Mountain Farm participating in Shetucket Valley Pony Club’s annual camp. They are part of Mystic Pony Club, but our club had been invited to join them at camp. The ponies stayed at camp all week, but Alex and Vicki came in the morning and went home at night. They had two riding lessons per day and chores and crafts in between. I (Anna) was there every day with Amanda helping out and watching over the kids. It has been an exhausting week, but it was a very rewarding time spent with the kids.

Alex and Vicki warming up for games.

The kids got to experience several different things during the week. Besides regular instruction twice a day they also tried fox hunting with hounds (in the walk-trot group), Alex got to jump cross-rails for the first time ever, Vicki cantered over ground poles, they both did pony club mounted games and they crossed the water on the cross country course. Alex even got to have a lesson with two other boys his age.  Amanda was quite the little trooper, hangin out all week and she got lots of attention from older and younger girls.

Amanda in the back of the Gator.

So what are my thoughts after spending a week at pony club camp?

Well, I believe Pony Club is good for the kids. It exposes them to other kids who also ride and gives them opportunities to do things with the horses they would not get to do otherwise. Horse kids are generally good-natured, hard-working kids. I wish there were more boys involved, but such is life with horses…in a few years Alex may come to appreciate being a boy among lots of girls.

As in any organization, volunteers make a difference. There are individuals out there that sacrifice their time for YOUR children. I wish more parents appreciated this fact, not just in Pony Club, but across the board in kids’ sports and recreational activities. Salute those energizer bunnies that make things happen.

I ‘ve decided I want to ride my horse more. I need to have some sort of goal with my riding. King is 18, but to be honest he isn’t really showing any signs of slowing down. Watching other people ride all week makes me want to ride too.

Being at camp all day made me exhausted and I want to get in better shape. Who wants to be walking around in breeches and a tucked in polo shirt and not be in shape? Besides it will make me a better rider (theoretically).

All in all, we had a great week at camp. The weather was good, the kids behaved, the ponies behaved, and nobody left in an ambulance (though one girl broke her arm and another fractured a rib). Below are some more pictures.

Alex playing games

Alex and Vicki exchanging the baton while playing games

 

 

 

dog, kids

The story of the pillowcase

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A long time ago in 2001 I made a pillowcase for Rob to have on the boat. It had pictures of us at our wedding, pictures of Baron and Daisy and other couple and family pictures. Well, the kids found it in my stack of sheets and proceeded to put the pillowcase on a pillow. They got upset about the dogs being gone and decided to sleep on the floor in Vicki’s room, Alex with his head on Baron’s picture and Vicki with her head on Daisy’s picture…it made me cry.