Windham County 4-H fair 2025

July 30, 2025 Anna Leave a comment

On Thursday evening Amanda and Quinn went to set up at the 2025 Windham 4-H Fair. Quinn is now aged out of 4-H but still stays involved and helping out.

Friday afternoon Amanda and Quinn drove the goats over to the fair and checked them in. Amanda brought 6 goats. Amanda was also the super intendant for the goat show this year.

Maternal sisters Porsche and Apple Fritter

Amanda stayed at the fairgrounds in a tent next to the goat barn and her leader Bailey’s camper.

Saturday morning brought the goat show. Amanda had asked Melissa Ferguson, a 4-H leader in Hartford County and fellow goat breeder at White Birch Acres to be the judge for the goat show. The goat program in Windham County is very small and most of the goats at the fair were ours. Amanda was the single senior goat showman, and as such won her class. Carolina was best senior doe in show and Kipu, our recorded grade yearling, was best junior doe in show. The goat show concluded with a crash course in goat showmanship lead by Melissa, sharing most of our goats with other 4-Hers learning about goats and how to show them.

Saturday afternoon brought horse showmanship in hand. There are not enough horse kids in Windham county to warrant a full blown horse show (nor are there funds for the insurance required),but there was a small in hand horse show and Amanda brought Mojo to participate. He did great, except in the last class when he spooked or got too excited and tore away from Amanda. We think he may have gotten stung by something, there were ground wasps around. Amanda earned a reserve showman in horses.

Saturday afternoon after the horse show Amanda tried foxhunting with the amateur radio group that had set up the activity at the fair. She also participated in the obstacle course and the Battle of the Barns.

Sunday morning brought Premier showmanship. Amanda earned a spot due to being the Goat senior showman. Premier is a competition where all of the species showmen show ALL of the species. So there were 7 kids showing dairy cows, beef cows, rabbits, goats, sheep, working steer and horses. The best overall showman wins premier showmanship.

Amanda did her best, but had some challenging animals in a few of the events. Overall, she had fun and it was a good experience.

Sunday afternoon brought the Award Ceremony. Amanda found out that she had won Premier! She was so excited, but had not expected it with having a few more challenging animals to deal with. Overall, it was a fun, good time, tiring, and exhausting weekend.

endurance, horse, kids

THE BESTEST PONY EVER

July 23, 2025 Rob 2 Comments

This post is in memory of Hedgehog Hollows American Eagle aka Huey 4/7/2001-7/23/2025.

In May 2013, we moved into our current house. Amanda turned 3. A good friend told us about a Dartmoor farm in MD that was downsizing and had some ponies for sale. One of those ponies was Hedgehog Hollow’s American Eagle, aka, Huey. Huey was a stallion until 9 years old when he was gelded. His name appears in a significant portion of the American Dartmoor registry, in particular because he had a grey son that was also used as a breeding stallion (grey is a legal but less common color in Dartmoors). June 10, 2013, Quinn and Rob picked up Huey in Maryland and brought him home, designated as Amanda’s pony, because 3 is totally an appropriate age to get your first pony in this family.

Huey was the epitome of a pony. All attitude, boss of the herd, a saint at times and a terror at others. He did everything over the years and Amanda grew up with him. He was a Pony Club mount, show pony, games pony, lesson pony, trail horse, driving pony, and endurance mount. He let us know early on he was not the pony for teaching up downers and you’d better have a concept of inside leg to outside hand or he was taking YOU for a spin. Rarely did he pop into a canter without some sort of antics, usually a little crow hop. He tolerated arena work, but loved trail riding. Amanda is most proud of the 19 limited distance endurance competitions she and Huey completed together to break 500 LD miles.

We retired Huey in 2023. Last winter Huey struggled. A few mild colics, refusal to eat consistently, we did a round of gastro guard and sucralfate for an ulcer flare. He seemed to perk up this spring when the grass came in, but then started losing weight. A LOT of weight. He stopped eating grain. He started getting cold and shaking in rainy cool weather, even with a sheet on. We did blood work and treated him for potential tickborne illness, but he continued to decline. Based on his blood work and continued decline, our vet believes he had cancer. We decided to not let him suffer and end things on a good day. This morning he had all the carrots he wanted and we let him out in the yard where the grass is plentiful. The sun was shining and we told him he was the best pony a girl could ever have. Amanda stayed with him until he was gone. We will miss that pony.

fitness, health, hiking, hiking, marriage

Hiking in Vermont

July 14, 2025 Anna Leave a comment

Rob and I drove to Vermont yesterday to drop off Amanda at camp. She’s a junior camp counselor this summer for two separate weeks and each week requires two 8 hour round trips to VT. So we decided to take a detour and go for a hike while we were up there in beautiful Vermont.

Rob scouted out some trails around our route and we settled on the Chases Mountain trail in Middlesex, VT. We hiked around 6 miles and 1500 feet of elevation in 3 hours and 30 minutes. I’m a slow hiker…Rob gets lots of rest time waiting for me. It was warm and humid. We were soaked in sweat. Another hiker reported seeing a mama bear and 4 cubs, but we didn’t see any bears. Maybe we should carry bear spray. We got home and I had a 90 sleep score last night. All good.

We have been talking a lot lately about what we enjoy, the future, and what we should continue doing. We constantly debate the size of our goat herd, fitness goals, wanting to ride the horses more and compete, and having some more white space in our schedule. Hobbies should be fun and not feel like work. Stay tuned as we find the right answers.

endurance, horse, kids

Firecracker Endurance Ride 2025

July 12, 2025 Anna 1 Comment

Last weekend we went to the Maine Firecracker Endurance Ride. We drove up to Waterford, ME on Friday and rode 30 miles on Saturday. I put on my big girl panties and rode SA Fiona, Amanda rode JJ and Alex rode Mojo in the 30 LD. Rob crewed for us and Quinn was at home working an internship and farm sitting for us. We have been struggling to find time to condition the horses, but we wanted to get out there and go to a ride, so we took the horses and rode one day at a sensible pace.

Last year we sold our travel trailer and extra truck as both had major mechanical issues(truck) and water damage(travel trailer), so we had to rough it with some tent camping. We survived. I miss having AC after the ride though.

The vet in was uneventful and we had backpacking meals for dinner. The horses were a little unsettled with all the fireworks going on, but things settled down in ride camp around the 10 pm mark. Surprisingly, Mojo was the most upset and was pacing his pen a bit. The mares were pretty chill. Luckily we had decided to put Mojo in the hard panels we brought.

On Saturday morning the first loop was about 13 miles. We managed to get to the hold in just over two hours. We were overjoyed to find 12 shoes still on the horses. The mares have been playing musical charades with their shoes, and maybe the smaller shorter shoes we are trying are the answer. Quick, let’s knock on some wood…Mojo, still in aluminum wedges up front and loaded up on Adequan looked good even after his week in Maryland. He’s 19 this year.

The mid ride vet check was good. Everyone passed! Great fun!

Next, we did just over 16 miles back to camp. We slowed down a tad to account for the footing and the horses getting a little tired. Got back to camp and vetted through. Still 12 shoes! 3 completions. I’ll take that for the win. All spring we have been dealing with shoes coming off almost every ride on the mares. Maybe we finally have the right answer.

We all had fun and to finish is to win, so there you go. I even stayed on the whole ride!

A lot of the pictures in this post were purchased by us and taken by the ride photographer Wanda Clowater. Thank you Wanda!

endurance, horse, kids

Old Dominion Endurance Clinic

July 2, 2025 Rob Leave a comment

At 0300 on Wednesday, June 25th, Rob and Amanda pulled out of the driveway with Mojo on the trailer headed to Maryland for a week. The Old Dominion Equestrian Endurance Organization has been putting on Junior/Young Rider clinics for quite a few years. We wanted the kids to participate in 2023, but the scheduling just didn’t work out. This year, it fit perfectly on the calendar and Amanda was able to attend.

With temperatures in the mid-90s on Wednesday, the 0300 departure was intended to get Mojo to the camp with minimal heat stress and get past New York city before rush hour. 6 hours and 45 minutes later, with only a single stop, we arrived at the Carroll County Equestrian Center in Mt Airy, MD. The facility includes 2 outdoor arenas and a pavilion. Horses camped endurance style in electric fencing and portable corrals. Some adults stayed on-site in LQ trailers and tents. The youth and some parents (including Rob) slept in air conditioned cabins at the nearby Ramblin’ Pines campground.

Hand grazing after 7 hours on the trailer

The clinic was 5 days of mounted work with about 3 hours in the saddle each morning. The camp director, Teri Carroll, assembled clinicians from both the local area and some who flew in to participate. There were 9 girls from 11 to 19 years old and a few adults who participated. All the youth had some amount of experience in the sport, but 2 have already done 100 mile rides. The mounted time included posture work, a ground handling session, centered riding, cavaletti work, yoga/stretching on and off horse, and some short trails.

Afternoons included “classroom sessions” under the pavilion learning about centered riding, body work, vet cards, nutrition, personal goals, a farrier presentation, and more. It was a diverse schedule with a lot of topics packed into 5 days of time. Sometimes the kids ran out of steam.

One day was spent at the Double C Farm mountain trail obstacle course.

There were tons of corporate sponsors for the event. Each day included a different (human) electrolyte company to keep everyone hydrated. The group got samples of various products and there was definitely some product testing happening. Due to the heat throughout the week, there were also quite a few water fights.

Our endurance riding friend Sonja drove from 2 hours away to come for a short visit.

There are tons more photos from the whole clinic on the Old Dominion Equestrian Endurance Organization Facebook page. While Amanda learned a lot through the week, her number 1 goal was to make new friends in the endurance community. Goal met.

I hope next year more youth will participate in this great opportunity.

goats

Nutmeg Classic 2025

May 13, 2025 Anna Leave a comment

On Saturday, Rob, Anna and Amanda attended the Connecticut Dairy Goat Association’s Nutmeg Classic ADGA show. It was a cool rainy kind of day and it poured for four days in the week leading up to the show making show prep a little difficult. Chili got a tick bite that swelled up and required treatment and everything was wet. But we persevered and loaded up 4 milkers, two dry yearlings and 4 baby doelings.

Amanda did showmanship and placed third in a large class. She is continuing to make progress on fitting her goat better and better. Amanda has been working hard on Porsche’s udder and back leg sensitivity and has started to be able to touch and move her rear legs. The judge touching the udder is still a work in progress. Amanda has used clicker training to reward Porsche for behaving and it is working.

There were two rings, and recorded grade goats were right before lamanchas in both. The judges were Ed Jodlowski in ring 1 and Will Pearson in ring 2.

Chili, our Recorded Grade, Lucky 4-leaf E Red Hot Chili, placed first in ring 1 and was Grand Champion and Best of breed. She was placed first for her mammary, her udder is definitely her strongest asset. It is glued on, very symmetric and milks down really well. In ring 2, Chili went Reserve. Unfortunately, though, grades didn’t have the numbers for sanctioning. Her clip job was a hack job as we didn’t think we would be able to bring her, but then her bug bite got better. Note to self, clip with a #4 or 5 next time and do it all at one time. Chili still knows how to shine.

We brought two 2 year old lamancha milkers. Sawfish AS Porsche, a 2 year old second freshener, and Sawfish QS Ferrari, a 2 year old FF Phaylene daughter. They both did well, Ferrari was third and Porsche sixth in ring 1 and Porsche went second, first udder in her class and then Reserve in ring 2 (she had filled more by this time). Ferrari was 4th in her class in ring 2. Ferrari was commended on her udder structure, nice fore udder and symmetry.

Carolina, our (forever pending) champion doe, Majenli LK Carolina, went into both rings as a champion challenger and placed second each time.

For juniors, we brought two dry yearlings, and four kids under 3 months. Kipu and Tiramisu, both Chili daughters, showed first in the recorded grade classes. Kipu was VERY naughty. In the line up in ring 2 she was so naughty Rob had to step in after she knocked Amanda to the ground. But, she won grand champion in both rings. Unfortunately not sanctioned due to low numbers, but she looked fantastic. Tiramisu was cold and unhappy being away from her friends, and was not walking well in the ring. She placed second to an older February kid. Note to self, maybe work with the kids a little bit before taking them to a show, and do not ignore the dry yearlings all winter.

In the junior lamancha classes we brought Sawfish Chrysi, Carolina’s dry yearling daughter from last year and Creme Brule, Apple Fritter, and Bon Bon. Bon Bon was the youngest at only 5 weeks old. Chrysi was very naughty as well and did not cooperate at all, constantly trying to free her head and jump. She placed third in the dry yearling class. No pictures of the littles because we were all in the ring with them. Apple Fritter placed first in ring 1 and C.B placed first in ring 2. Bon Bon was third and fourth respectively.

Overall, we were happy with the outcome of the show. I think we need to work on timing our udder show fill better and do more work with the wild and unruly ones. We came home with some ribbons and some home work to do.

goats

Kidding is DONE!

April 28, 2025 Anna Leave a comment

Last Tuesday our last goat to kid went into labor. It was Sawfish QS Bali. Bali is a really cute loudly colored black and white yearling doe. I found her a little warm and uncomfortable on Tuesday afternoon, pawing lightly and panting slightly, so I moved her into our kidding stall in the barn. I left to get a few things at Tractor Supply and a few other errands and told Amanda to keep an eye on her.

Before I got to TSC, I got a text that Bali had discharge. By the time I was checking out, there was a doe on the ground. When I got home (Tractor Supply is 4 miles away), Bali delivered another doe. Double pink! And quick nose n’ toes deliveries. I’ll take that any day from a yearling! Rob was also home (I did not just leave Amanda to handle Bali) and Q had come home from school just in time to deliver baby number 1. Baby number 1, the chocolate sundgau was named Chocolate Truffle and weighed 8 pounds. Baby number two is a broken black and tan doeling with the cutest head. She has been named Eclaire and weighed 7.8 pounds.

Bali did great and gave me 6 cups of colostrum. Sunday am she milked 10 cups. Her udder looks cute with teeny tiny teats though. They have been elongating each day. Bali has been upset about her babies being gone, but I think she is starting to get over it now and she is eating better than she did at first.

The kids are doing great. Due to the weather Saturday, they have stayed inside a little longer than most and are quite sociable at this point. A few of the kids are leaving this week, which will make room for Truffle and Eclaire to move to the baby barn permanently.

Bali was bred to Apollo and their planned pedigree is as follows: https://genetics.adga.org/PlannedPedigreePrint.aspx?SireNum=L002384545&DamNum=L002377682

Bali needs some calories, but is otherwise doing really well. I think the decision to breed her last fall was a good one.

So, now we have 6 doelings. Now we have to decide which 4 get to stay. Impossible task! If you’re interested in a doe kid, reach out. We are unlikely to decide until sometime in June, but if there is an awesome home available, we may be swayed earlier.

bees

Sawyer Apiary

April 27, 2025 Rob 1 Comment

In 2019, I (Rob) took a beekeeping class with the intention of getting bees that year. 6 years later, the apiary finally became a reality. I have been collecting equipment for a couple of months and today I picked up 4 packages of bees from Stonewall Apiary. A package is 3lb of bees, or about 10,000 bees. A typical hive will have up to 80,000 bees, but the number I hear most in New England is around 40,000. The picture shows a 5th hive on the stands which I have set up with the hopes of catching a swarm, or group of bees that left a previous hive. Up in the tree there is a smaller blue box which is a different swarm trap. If I get lucky, I’ll get some free bees.

In an average year, honey would be harvested twice (mid-summer and fall). However, when establishing new hives, a fall harvest is really the only option. So hopefully, I’ll be bottling honey this fall.

pigs

Spring planting

April 22, 2025 Rob Leave a comment

The farm is extremely busy in the spring with all the baby goats and projects deferred from winter. Today we planted some bacon seeds in the back pasture. They take about 4 months to fully develop.

goats

Ferrari’s kids

April 21, 2025 Anna Leave a comment

On April 3, her due date, Ferrari went into labor. I separated her into a kidding stall and about an hour into active labor things stalled. I called Rob for him to come home, because I was alone, and I needed to intervene. She was pushing and not making progress. When I tried to feel what was going on, there was nothing presenting. I gave her some additional calcium and kept watching her until Rob came home. We went in, and found her first kid upside down with only one foot presenting. We put in a call to our vet after trying to locate a head, but managed to snare a head with the kid puller before she called back. There was a lot of blood and we were concerned. We pulled the first kid, a 9 pound doe kid. A second, 9 pound buck kid, soon followed on his own. Again lots of blood. Babies were ok, but we were unsure about Ferrari, she seemed in shock. A uterine tear was high on our list of possible outcomes. We brought the babies inside and got some colostrum milked off, unsure if Ferrari was going to make it. She was eating and drinking, but very sore and kind of quiet.

Ferrari passed her placenta and we threw the book at her with some TLC and antibiotics, and she seems to be recovering. She milked 8 pounds on her first milk test, two weeks fresh, and her udder looks nice. Still working on putting some weight back on her.

The babies were named Bon Bon (doe) and Fudge (buck kid). This breeding combines our Phaylene line with our Carolina line, crossing Phaylene’s daughter with Carolina’s son. We look forward to seeing Bon Bon mature in our show string this year. She looks a lot like her grandmother, wide in the chest and rump, but longer and with more angularity in her rear legs and a more uphill build. Fudge is a broken sundgau with white on his poll and he will join Porsche’s black son Macaroon in our grow out pen this year and we might even use him on a yearling this fall.

Here’s a link to the kids pedigree: https://genetics.adga.org/PlannedPedigreePrint.aspx?SireNum=L002377681&DamNum=L002291974

With the nice weather, our other baby goats have been enjoying some time outside in the baby goat pen. Below is a video. Apple Fritter, Camellia’s daughter rules the roost. Wait for her to appear at the end of the video:

Next, and last to kid, is Bali. She is due this week. She was bred to Apollo. We are hoping for an easy delivery and a healthy mama and babies. Bali is carrying twins. Her yearling peanut gallery also wanted to be in the picture! Don’t worry, Bali was baby clipped after this picture. She turned into a yak this winter.

Sawyer Family Farm

Windham County 4-H fair 2025

THE BESTEST PONY EVER

Hiking in Vermont

Firecracker Endurance Ride 2025

Old Dominion Endurance Clinic

Nutmeg Classic 2025

Kidding is DONE!

Sawyer Apiary

Spring planting

Ferrari’s kids

The story of our lives with horses. And goats.

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The story of our lives with horses. And goats.