This evening, I needed to trim some of our horses. Vicki has been asking for me to teach her to trim Devil, so I let her work on him. She attempted his right front hoof. I helped. She decided it was a lot harder than it looked when I did the work. But she wants…
Our first endurance ride is in 2 weeks. Tomorrow was planned for a good 15ish miles as our last prep ride. Was. This evening when the horses came in, it was discovered that Misti had a little cut on her shoulder. 6 staples and $260 later, I now have a horse that needs 10 days…
As the endurance training continues, the rides get longer. Today, Anna (on Dakota) and I (on Mistique) knocked out 20 miles in Pachaug. There were no amazing discoveries or insights. No real challenges (other than a couple of new trails we tried that went to nowhere). Because it was the longest ride any of us…
If you aren’t interested in the endurance training discussion, go ahead and jump to the end for the pony pictures. First, through the support from her original breeder and others, we now have a registered Part-Shagya Arabian (and a slight correction to her name spelling). The North American Shagya Association has transferred Mistique Lady’s registration…
This morning the weather was wonderful: mid 70s with a light breeze through the forest. Anna and I took Dakota and Mystique out for some training miles. One of the absolute best things about our farm is the direct access to Pachaug State Forest. On Friday evening, we did 6.8 miles. It was hotter, humid,…
Back in early July, I posted about my excursion into the world of glue-on shoes. Here is the original post in case you missed it: https://thesawyerfarms.com/shoes-on-my-horses/. So, it’s time for a followup. Most of the blog posts I have seen are about how great and wonderful everything is and how rewarding the experience was. This…
Yes, it’s true. There are now front shoes on Mystique, Dakota, and King. I know, I know. You are thinking, “but Rob is a barefoot trimmer!” So I guess now, I am a farrier, and not just a barefoot trimmer. But before everyone gets all “I knew it wouldn’t work” let me explain. Last year,…
As some of you may have seen Anna’s Facebook post on Friday, we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. We didn’t go out to dinner or do anything special. We are saving our celebration for later this year. Anna and I have decided to ride in a Limited Distance (LD) Endurance race in October. The one…
Today was the first hunter pace of the year. It was 9.4 miles and we finished in 1:38. This year we moved up 1 division to the Hilltoppers, which is supposed to be mostly trotting, with some canter and some walking. We did that, but apparently our horses trot too fast or too much because…
It’s been 2 weeks since I posted. It’s not that there hasn’t been anything going on, but rather, we have been so busy I’ve been too tired to sit down and write. On May 16th, we had the CT State 4-H Horse Show. 6 kids from our club, the Barnyard Buddies, attended and had a…