Clover Ledge Farm

Isaac Royal Farm in Dover-Foxcroft, ME puts on two USDF rated dressage shows each summer. We did the first one....read about it here. The second one was the same weekend as the Maine Event (which I obviously wanted to do because MHA put the STB division in....plus DUH! I could qualify for a year end award! LOL) But because IR is a two day show, I was able to do the Maine Event on Saturday and then the IR show on Sunday.

Well, my mare was tired. So tired. I mean, yes we only did one in-hand class and three riding classes at the Maine Event the day before. But still, we left the house at 7:15 AM and arrived home at 5PM. Our classes were spaced waaaay out, so it was a long hot day.

And while the Maine Event was only 30 minutes from the house, the IR show was 3 hours and 10 minutes away! Big difference! So I was up at 4AM on Sunday, loaded her at 5:30 AM, and we arrived at a little before 9AM. Our ride times were 10:29 for Training 2 and 11:15 for Training 4.

Dreamy warmed up so …

I had a great time at the Maine Horse Association (MHA) Maine Event Horse Show this past Saturday. When I originally asked the MHA about adding a STB division to their shows this year, I was only thinking one show. Rick added the division for us at the Downeast (click here) which is a big double judged "A" rated show here in Maine.

Here we are at the Maine Event....

To my surprise, he also added it to the Maine Event show, which is a smaller one-day "C" rated show. This meant that the STB division was now eligible for year end awards! Yeah! For it to count, you need to show three times in your division. Since the Downeast counted as two shows, being double judged, the Maine Event was the third show! :) :) :) MHA ROCKS!

The day was perfect, weather wise. It was raining when I fed horses at 5AM and I was a bit worried. I was going to show rain or shine, but it is much better in the shine! LOL! By the time I headed out at 7:15 AM, the rain was gone and the sk…

This is a great article I stumbled across while searching for something else entirely. What a neat farm. And the sainted rescuers say that STB folks are cruel. RIGHT..... :P

So, here is my trusty horse trailer.

But I decided to buy a new one.....whaddya think???? :D

http://www.equinemotorcoach.com/index.html

So, my farrier came out and was able to make Reva's hooves look MUCH better.

Here was her near fore before:

And here is the same hoof after he trimmed her:


Off fore:



Both fores:


Hinds:

Normally her usual stance on the crossties is every single leg is splayed out in a different direction. Oh boy. But after he trimmed her, she was standing perfectly SQUARE on the ties.

Yes, my farrier is a ROCKSTAR. :D

I feel a lot better about improving her hooves. I mean, I knew they would be better by the time I wanted to really start her under saddle, but the different in just one trim was just awesome. No hoof, no horse, right?! :D

On another Reva note, she got her own blanket and bridle yesterday! :) I dropped off my winter blankets to be cleaned at a feed store, which was only a few miles from a REALLY awesome tack store called Double G. There was no way I could pass up an opportunity to browse in a tack shop without a child (my son was visiting his Grammie, my mom, for a few days and came ba…

Here is some information about the Standardbred Performance Society and how we came into being. :)

Having been a member of my state's Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization (SPHO) for a few years, I started becoming dissatisfied with many things. Without going into detail here (trust me it is better if I do not....) I was specifically unhappy with the lack if support for those of us showing our STBs and for the anti-racing sentiment among members. It was always like I was blamed for "bragging" whenever I posted anything on the forum about how Dreamy did at a show. I wanted to make sure that others out there KNEW that STBs could be used for more than just pleasure and trail. I wanted to make sure that when someone found the site/forum, they KNEW there were successful show horses out there.

While the pleasure angle is a great way to promote the breed, and they are certainly great "backyard" and family horses, the next step in promotion really needed to be co…

I was contacted about a STB article for the Bangor Daily News. I cannot believe he said I worked at Fryeburg! DUH! I said Sacopee like 3 times and even spelled it. I like the piece so-so. I really wanted him to focus on the HORSES, not me and my horse. I talked a lot about the breed in general, about our new org., and about the UMaine program. It is too bad in my opinion that he chose to focus on ME. Oh well. I understand a "human interest story" makes it more interesting, but it was kind of weird the way he made me sound so FORCEFUL. Like I would smack someone if they insinuated a horse should go to a glue factory? UMMM....never said a thing about a glue factory....and actually I am more pro slaughter anyway. Some of the quotes are things that I did not say. LOL! I said something like that, but he did direct quotes that were not really direct quotes. Oh well......good publicity for the breed is always good thing I suppose.

And apparently I operate a barn and started &quo…

On the Bit, a fellow blogger, has bestowed yet another award to me! Thanks OTB!

In accordance with the award rules I have to let you all know who gave me this award, 10 things about me you didn’t know before, and pass it along to 10 other blogs. That is tough to do, because I am not sure I read 10 blogs. :( But let's try it.

What don't you know about me? Hmmmm....

1. I am short. Like only 5 feet tall short. People think I am younger than I actually am (born in 1979...) which is sort of funny. :) By now the gray hair is pretty evident, so it is even more funny to me when someone thinks I am a high school age kid. I mean, c'mon people! I TEACH high school kids! LOL!

2. I am a night owl and HATE getting up in the morning. Seriously. HATE IT. :P

3. My barn colors are maroon and silver. But sometimes they are navy blue too. Or even forest green. It all depends on the colors the store has in stock! :P

4. I named my barn when I was in fifth grade. :) I had a fri…

AareneX asked in a comment about chastetree berry and why I feed it to my horses. :) SO I thought perhaps an entire post should be dedicated to it.


Back in early 2000, my mare Sparky was diagnosed with Cushing's disease. I did not want to put her on Pergolide, so I asked my vet about other alternatives. He recommended Evitex (which was then called Hormonise). I purchased it through Emerald Valley and loved the product (I still buy Wind for Dreamy's COPD). It really helped lessen Sparky's symptoms and she ate the Evitex on her evening grain with no problem. Basically it is an aqueous infusion of the chastetree berry.

Chastetree berry restores balance and function to the female reproductive system by stimulating the natural production of progesterone. It also acts upon the pituitary gland, reducing the production of certain hormones and increasing the production of others, which is why it is recommended for Cushing's horses.

When I decided to become a stay at home …

I know I do not often write about my wonderful 27 yo Morgan mare, but she is doing great. She is living the life of luxury as my retired horse. She gets plenty of hay, her senior grain, and lots of turnout. I brush her and keep her trimmed up, because even though she may no longer show, she still deserves it.

I took some pictures today and I am really pleased with how she looks. There have been times in the past when she has not looked "good" to me, but right now I am pleased with her body condition. Of course, having owned her now for over 16 years, I remember a much younger horse, so to me, she looks OLD. She has grayed out so much over her body, especially her face. :( But she is young at heart and still gives me the evil mare face each morning. So I know she is feeling good. :)

There is nothing quite like your first horse. <3 :)

Reva is still doing great! She is no longer in heat and much happier. :) I am going to add the chastetree berry that I give to Dreamy and Sparky to her grain as well. I think it will help her quite a bit.

Funny thing....I gave her a round black rubber feed pan for her grain. I have a ton of them around the barn, as I use them to grain horses outside and to give Sunday night bran mashes in the winter. I was trying to be "frugal" and not purchase her a grain bucket that hooks in the corner.....yet. :) Well, she kept getting it behind her hooves, stepping on it all the time. No big deal. Then she started getting it outside of her stall by morning. Again, not a big deal.

Well, the night before last I think she was trying out for the Grain Pan Throwing Olympics, because she threw it up OVER the seven foot wall between her and Dreamy. It was in Dreamy's stall in the morning, so I am pretty sure she was winging it around. LOL! I forget what it is like to have a thre…

This past weekend was a huge milestone for many reasons. I competed in Dover-Foxcroft, ME in a two day USDF dressage show, doing both Training 2 and Training 4 each day.

Friday night we got a call that hay was going to be ready the following day. UH OH! This summer's weather has been SO SO SO rainy here in Maine that it was absolutely foolish for me to NOT get hay. But that posed a problem....how was I going to get hay AND show??

Well, my husband stayed home to do hay (he is a good guy about horses some of the time!) and I went to the show. That meant that I had to truck my horse ALONE. Now, this is not a big deal, because I have trucked her numerous times to my instructor's farm (20 minutes), the local show grounds (30 minutes), and the track (Scarborough Downs) to marshal (1 hour). Well......this was a little different. Getting to Isaac Royal Farm takes 3.5 hours and is 160 miles one way.......and 93 miles of it is on Interstate 95, the major highway in Maine.

GULP!!!

I …

Well, this week has been terrible for riding. I did have three EXCELLENT rides in a row, Friday, Saturday and Sunday over the holiday weekend. The weather was gorgeous and Dreamy was so fun to ride! I got some very balanced canter transitions in each direction, plus some of the best long and low trot yet! I tend to throw away the reins, losing the contact, so I have been really focusing on pushing her out to the bit and maintaining that steady connection.

She was so good on Sunday that I actually tried re-introducing cantering from the walk. She was perfect to the left, as usual. And to the right, she was actually quite good!!!! :D The first time was a little unbalanced, but the two subsequent tries were quite NICE! I wanted to keep going, but it had been an hour and I knew better than to push it. But she is becoming SO FUN to ride that I have to remember to get off! LOL! Hopefully, the weather was start cooperating and I can take a lesson again SOON! I HATE NOT HAVING WEE…

Reva in her new home!

She fell in love with C and loves to watch him ride his bike! (Yes, Mom, I am careful and he is never alone with her or is allowed in her stall. She is a GOOD horse, but I am super careful I promise!!!!!! Sorry readers, my mom gets a little nutty...in a good way...but she is not a horse person so she gets nervous!) :)

C wanted to take pics of Reva with HIS camera too! Look at her face! She loves him! Such a SWEETHEART mare.


I left her alone on Sunday night, to settle in and relax. Monday night I went out and groomed her for a while. She was perfect, except a little uncomfortable on her near flank and belly, because she is in rip roaring heat! :( She lifted her hind a few times, but I was firm and spoke sharply to her. I understand she is in heat, but she still needs to mind her manners. But for being in heat, other than the grooming thing, she has been a complete lady. Impeccable manners and obviously well cared for. :)


So, yeah, Reva is tall. She mea…

So, just how did I end up with another STB in my barn? :)

My friend H from SPHO-NJ periodically sends bulk emails to members when there is a horse who needs to be placed. This three year old filly came into my inbox around the beginning of June. I looked at her photos over and over, somehow feeling this horse had to be mine. I knew that someday I wanted to own another STB, preferably a 3 or 4 year old filly. Dreamy is a superb horse, but at 18 years old this year, I was starting to think about bringing a young horse along for the day when Dreamy needed to retire from competition.

I tried to forget about this gorgeous young filly. I admit I thought of her and would go back and look at her photos. It would be hard, but not impossible, to afford a third horse.

Then, lo and behold, my friend sent yet ANOTHER email about this filly. A month later she still needed a home. So I asked, "Alright, how much and do you think you could help me get her to Maine??"

So long story short…

So, I have some big news!

This lovely filly is now in my barn! Her name is Revenue Stream, and she is a 2006 Standardbred who arrived at my farm at 6PM on Sunday night from New Jersey!

Too tired to post more....I know, I know, how unfair! But seriously I need to sleep. I was so nervous about her shipping up from NJ that I did not say anything here or on FB. Superstitious, I think!

Dreamy and I have had a good week. She got Sunday off of course, after UNH. I rode her Monday and Tuesday, in the drizzle, but we trail rode instead of doing ring work. For one thing, the "ring" aka the field is a mess. Constant rain has made the footing pretty darn slick. I have great drainage, and Dreamy is not currently turned out on that field, but still the wetness was just too much. Plus, I did not want to rut up the field even just walking. So we hit the trail and had two really good rides actually. The footing on the discontinued town road was great. I was able to trot and canter her around the perimeter of one of the log landings down a ways from the house too. It is a great place to do trot and canter intervals. Her canter was excellent...I just got up off her back for the first lap, letting her settle into a XC like canter. Then the next time I sat up on the flat spot to really get her to rock back and "coffin" canter for me. It worked well …