Well, it is Christmas day today. A few more days and it will be another year behind us. I was cleaning yesterday and found an old "wish list". Usually, when I wake up, I get a cup of coffee and make lists for the day-- everything that needs to be done, and everything that I want to do (sometimes my goals are one in the same, mostly they clash). One morning I must have made this list of long term wishes and goals. I think the list is 5 or 6 years old. As one day blends into another-- and so it goes with weeks and months, then years--- I forget to take stock in my accomplishments. I am happy to say--- I can check every "wish" off on that list.. amazing !!! The things we can achieve without ever actually noticing until we sit down and look back with a list to remind us.

This morning I woke up thinking I may go for a ride-- but, here's where my needs and have-to's collide. On top of all our beautiful winter snow, it rained for a day and night.. we still have plenty of snow, but the ditch along side my driveway is packed with heavy compressed hard snow banks.. so that the water from my little spring is running out onto the driveway and freezing into rivers of ice. Technically-- this is not my job as my driveway is a town road (how handy is that?) But I know the town crew will never attend to it-- so I must dig out the snow and get the water flowing in the right places. I have quite a few springs on my land. I often joke with people -- this is why they call my town Springfield, because there is a spring in every field. I am not sure where this actual spring is, but there is an old lead pipe-- which as far as I can tell from finding pieces of that lead pipe when I had ditches dug for various improvements-- that spring fed the barnyard in several locations. It started out as an eternal wet muddy spot which has over the years evolved into a 2 tiered gold fish pond with a small waterfall. Here is what it looks like now, in the summer. When the water lilies are in bloom it is very beautiful.

My grand-son, Patrick, is working a badge for cub scouts-- he has to learn about horses. He has been coming on Saturdays to get acquainted with leading, grooming, how to put on a halter, how to tack up etc. Now he is up to riding the horse. Here he is on my horse Keri-Orla, navigating around cones in the indoor. He is planning to trade work around the farm for payment for the lessons. He's an excellent worker and at first he was looking forward to helping pick up poop more than he was the riding. He might have changed his priorities now, he enjoys the riding.

I received an e-mail from the couple who purchased Teena's Avis Jane a few weeks back-- they report she settled into her new surroundings like she belonged there.. which is great to hear.

They are riding her with a bitless bridle and a treeless western saddle, lots of tack changes for Avis.. she and Shelley's husband are doing great and having fun. Shelley rides Avis's son, The Sojourner.

I also heard from the family who chose OYY TigerHawk-- in TN. They have not sent photo's yet but apparently their son is enjoying Tiger and no hives !!

Last week, I started riding OYY Nimue-- no photo's of that, because I am always the one behind the camera. She is such an awesome little mare... forward and unbelievably comfortable at the trot. Someone missed out on an outstanding horse-- because I don't think I will part with her now !! She's the perfect size for me-- I have come to love the smaller horses... and she moves incredibly. I have 2 saddles-- one , a wintec Isabella dressage, one a wintec 2000 I think it is. Both with changeable gullets. I had to change the gullet for Nimue... and even though the wintec company claims this is an easy job-- it is more like wrestling a weanling greased pig. When the saddle fits the horse perfectly.. and you settle your butt into the seat and feel like -- AHHHH !! this feels so good---- everything seems right with the universe !

Enjoy the day-- and I hope all your wish lists come to fruition for you too !!

The latest news from Top O' The Hill Farm is snow and more snow. It's been several years since we have had appreciable snow at this time of year. The last few years in Vermont, the ground has been bare until February or even March, which is far from the norm-- when in the past, snow starts on Halloween and keeps up until spring (when we have the opportunity to enjoy Vermont's fifth season-- MUD).

This most recent storm dumped quite a bit of powdery snow on the farm over the weekend. Sunday late in the afternoon I went out and moved some of it. Early Monday morning, back out to finish up. Because we have riders coming for lessons, many of them handicapped-- I have to do a better job than I usually would, clearing away parking space and the short road up to the riding arena. I have a super snow blower which runs off the PTO of the tractor-- that makes my job a LOT easier and faster. But what I dislike the most of course is the hand work that is necessary after most of the big stuff is cleared away. Shoveling the gates out so they open both ways is almost the worst of it-- shoveling roofs is at the top of the list for my "I HATE to do this job" !! Some times the sun comes out and all the snow slides off (leaving big piles of snow which will freeze into place in front of doorways if you don't move them immediately)-- other times.. depending on the type of snowfall and the temperatures, the snow gets a crust of ice which adheres the thick blanket of snow to the metal roof. It has to be shoveled off. You do get a glorious view from atop a roof however-- and it does burn calories.

Last week, OYY Rosalee left with her new owners to Floralake Curlies in Canada. Florence and Oscar Martin chose Rosalee to start up their pony breeding program. Rosalee is out of Biscuit, a wonderful extreme pony with great curly bloodlines and my cremello stallion, Classic Dreams Cherokee Storm. Biscuit, so far, has given me all curly fillies. She has been outcrossed twice, once with a fabulous sport pony and once with a beautiful black Morgan pony sized stud. Each of these curly fillies are still here on the farm and doing great with their training. Rosalee is a yearling palomino with a friendly eager disposition. If she's anything like her sisters, she'll be easy to train and it will fun to see her offspring when the time arrives for that. This photo is of Rosalee in October- I wish I had gotten one of her as she left for Canada.

The horses are getting their work out in the ring and on the trail.. figuring out their balance and way of going through deep snow. It's warm in the woods and really makes an enjoyable ride. OYY Cosette, a 2 year old out of Anniva M and Lynn Downer's WCC Benjamin, is being ground driven and I can tell she is looking forward to being ridden. I can't wait either-- she is a really super little horse and I know she's going to be awesome to ride. While I did get quite a few smooth coats from Benjamin-- I can't complain one iota about the quality of his offspring. All the horses born from him are approaching 3 years old now, so we are excited about getting them all under saddle. All of his have great style and super legs and feet-- intelligent and easy to get along with. Here's Cosette coming up the driveway after working around obstacles down in the big arena.

Yesterday, my outdoor wood boiler was FINALLY hooked up. It's zero degrees outside, and the house is snug and cozy-- so far.. so good. All the hot water and heat I want and no oil to buy. I have plenty of wood- as I am always cleaning out fencerows and clearing more land. My eventual plan is to have heat in the tack room, office, workshop and maybe even a waiting room for the parents/caregivers of our riders during lesson time. Next year !! I had the underground insulated pipe laid to the barn as well as the house.. so it's ready. I am still ruminating on some kind of idea to stay warm holding horses while the farrier is here. That's a cold and boring chore-- I think I'd rather shovel a roof.

enjoy the day ~

Yesterday was one of those wonderful snowy sunny days. It started out with snow and hail.. but the sky cleared and it was truly "frabjous" . My orchids are blooming again... very beautiful. I always feel rather special when the orchids choose to bloom since they are such an exotic flower-- and mine rarely take a break-- but in truth, orchids are an easy flowering plant to care for. In the center of each bloom is an angel. I mentioned on a previous post that even though we have snow.. we are still riding and working horses. OYY Wassee is ridden almost every day now, and he does not mind a little snow at all. Wassee has been sold, but he is being boarded here until spring.

And on Saturday, my daughter took OYY Yemaya out for a quick ride in the big ring... whenever I snap a photo of Zoe and Yemaya together, they are both always smiling. Yemaya is a joy to ride, as Zoe says-- what a difference to ride a well trained horse after a lot of young green horses.

Saturday, 78 round bales were delivered and stacked in the barnyard. They are plastic wrapped so they don't have to be under cover. Looks like a big pile of marshmallows.

I also had to replace one of my frost-free hydrants... so rather than struggle with frozen ground and digging-- I had an excavator come in... 3 scoops and the hole was open for the new hydrant to go in. How handy is that?? Makes me wish for such a machine for myself. Along with lessons with the therapeutic riding program from 8:00 to 2:00... it made for a very busy day. Sunday was the day for relaxing a bit and quiet !

The past few weeks, I had the inspiration to re-do my web site. This is a BIG project and on-going... as you know, change one thing on a page and the entire site has to be altered. I added some new photo's, made pages for some broodmares that were previously not on the list, updated information and checked and re-checked all my links. Check it out !!
www.vermontel.net/~top

My 4 year old grand-son again.. he is turning out to be quite the little horseman. Pictured with the very handsome OYY Hendrix. This photo was taken yesterday.

Off to start another new day-- Enjoy yours ~

Once again I have fallen behind in my posts-- certainly not because there is no news.. as there is always something going on here on the farm. We spent the last few weeks de-worming horses. We finally got our first hard frost and I like to de-worm right after that. This was late for us- the pansies were still blooming up until after Thanksgiving !

Saturday was spent preparing for our first big snow storm. Weathermen work up such an anticipatory enthusiasm when there is a "nor'easter" looming on the weatherboard. They must get a commission on grocery sales as incentive-- the more they talk up a storm, increasing potential inches into feet, the grocery stores are full of distressed shoppers.

I picked up most of the "debris" from the lawn and around the barn-- stray pieces of firewood, any tools left out, the last lawn chair remaining out, coiled up all the hoses so I could find them again in case of heavy snowfall. Got out all the tub heaters and plugged them in. it's been fairly warm to date so I have not needed them. Right now-- this is 6 tubs with heaters-- so the old electric meter is a-whirrin' ! The horses surely love those heaters and I do too.

Sunday-- Teena's Avis Jane (ABC HB-60) left for her new home. She will join her 5 year old curly son (The Sojourner) to be a trail horse. Avis is a very special mare -- beautiful and in addition, out of Teena ~ pretty nearly the BEST horse in the world. OYY TigerHawk was scheduled to leave for TN on the next day, Monday but due to the impending storm, the haulers wanted to skeedaddle out of New England all together, quickly. They were anxious about the prospect of any amount of winter precipitation. They pushed up the their schedule and picked Tiger up at 1:30 Monday morning. By then, the snow was falling rather heavily-- Tiger walked out of the barn, sniffed the ramp and walked right on in to his little slant stall. What a great little horse! After his sale, Tiger stayed a few weeks with us in order to learn some neck reining. I made a short video before he left which you can view here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcpl6ozOks

Now that the snow is here, I love the look of it. Around this time of year - when the first snow arrives late as it did this year -- I get spoiled and accustomed to the bare ground. I begin to wish the snow would never happen.. but when you wake up to that beautiful first covering, it is so beautiful- you want it to stay. The aspect of plowing and shoveling is not so appealing, but the scenery is gorgeous. Even when the snow is deep, we can still ride and we have the indoor for lessons and other training if we need to use it.

I had to take a walk around the fenceline to shake the snow off the hemlocks that are near the fence in my new areas I finished this fall, which are in the woods. Very beautiful ~ However, I quickly realized that I should have put my hood up before I started .. snow down the neck is not fun.

Enjoy the day ~

Many people have asked me why I have chosen to use the letters OYY as my breeding prefix on all my horses. For the years that I have been breeding curly horses, I have always thought to have a prefix-- mainly so that the horses that are registered would fall together in the stud books and be easy to track. I could never decide what to use, especially since the registries only allow you so many letters in a registered name. Well, at the risk of becoming overly philosophical in my ramblings.. the mystery will now be revealed !! :)

I have 10 delightful grand-children and not really wanting to be called a "grand-mother" I decided they could all call me "Ya-Ya"-- which is greek (going with my heritage) for grand-mother. However, the word Ya-Ya goes deeper than just another word for Grand-mother.

The journey to wisdom is much like a flower in bloom, its beauty changing and evolving through the unfolding of each petal. The full bloom of womanhood, in all of its strength and power, is referred to as "Yaya" in at least two ancient cultures and traditions. In ancient Greek, "Yaya" simply meant "woman." Today, Greek grandmothers are called "Yaya," likely because they have achieved womanhood. In an Afro-Caribbean religious sect, found mostly in Brazil and the Congo, the word "Yaya" refers to a woman who has gone through a religious initiation. It means "Mother" or "Mama Priestess." In both cultural traditions, the word "Yaya" represents the highest form of woman, achieved only through initiation, experience and longevity. It represents the journey to womanhood. And as I am sure-- like all other of us female "baby-boomers" - we do not revel in getting older.. but must appreciate the richness which comes to us as we reach our age of "blooming". It certainly is a kind of bittersweet celebration.

There is a word from the language of Yoruba, a large ethnic nation in Africa whose dialect is also called Yoruba, -- Oyaya (pronounced Oh-ya-ya). It is a noun-- the meaning of which is -- A feeling of great pleasure or happiness or JOY; the expression of such feeling ; a source of pleasure or satisfaction. What a perfect word for my endeavor of breeding Curlies and navigating through life. Very fitting that I am a Ya-Ya, and that I feel that JOY.

Of course one can feel happiness and not neccesarily feel joy.. To me-- they are two different and distinct emotions. Happiness is seemingly dependent upon favorable conditions and situations, while JOY is happiness permanently captured. To me, there is only one real goal in life-- and that is to be JOYOUS and have joy in everything that I do. In simpler more plain-spoken terms-- I always say.. if you are not having fun, what's the point?

My life is filled with joy, I celebrate every day living with genuine joy. I appreciate the sweetness of choosing to be happy, attracting miracles daily- smiling warms my heart and I delight in laughing out loud and watching my Dreams come true.

A few of my favorite "joyous" quotes --

"Joy is the feeling of grinning inside"

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy " (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Or in the infamous words of Lewis Carroll -- "O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy."

When I sign off every day on my blog with the words "enjoy the day" this is my message and wish for all of you who visit here.

Enjoy the day ~~ May it truly be frabjous ~~

Well, as Winnie the Pooh would say.. it was a blustery day in the Hundred Acre wood.. the wind howled all day on the top of my hill and it really seemed like winter is on its way. We managed to get in a short trail ride and work a few horses, bundled in our winter riding outfits.

OYY Buster brown is just a yearling- born last year in October out of our wonderful mare Sudie Bee and Mead's Chocolate Chip. Up until now, he has not done much except the very basics.. but now he is in harness and ground driving. He is catching on fast-- and proud of himself. He's a handsome smart young fellow- and is going to make a super driving horse. He has driving in his genes, inherited from his grand-mother Teena. Buster has a full sister who also drove and now is making a super riding horse for a family in Massachusetts.
I am pretty pleased with Chip offspring as far as trainability and disposition-- and anything from my favorite "Teena" bloodlines is a winner. Even though it was VERY cold I got lots of nice photo's- which are now on the web site, http://www.vermontel.net/~top/born%202006.htm

It's so great when the breeding game results in so many intelligent honest willing horses with so much potential.

Wednesday, while I was working-- I heard the train whistle blowing .. so I knew that Thursday would bring rain-- and rain it did.. nasty and cold. However- the silver lining in that Miserable Thursday was a beautiful colt born in the morning out of Zoe's Day Dream (barn name Reverie) and Classic Dream's Cherokee Storm, my cremello stallion. This is Stormy's fifth foal and they are all impressive, with fabulous personalities and mellow dispositions. The new guy is called OYY Hendrix. He is Reverie's third foal, first colt. The first is OYY Lickity Split, sired by Frostfire's Tadpole and she is in NH being trained and ridden by a young woman now in college. (Lickity is featured in a previous blog entry). The second filly is OYY Olympia, sired by Lynn Downer's WCC Benjamin. This filly I am keeping- a beautiful very sound and correct black curly filly. Little Hendrix is not so little.. as you can see from the photo's. He's a very dark rich caramel palomino with 2 blue eyes right now.. we'll see if they stay blue. What a cutie !! He'll be registered in the ICHO. Reverie is registered in both the ICHO and the ABC. Stormy has a number in the ABC, but his offspring cannot be registered in the ABC anymore as he is 1/2. It's a shame that there are some truly good horses out there that are not eligible for the ABC registry anymore-- but that's a topic for another day !!

Enjoy the day ~

Some of the people who come and purchase a Curly from Top O' The Hill Farm are truly "dream" buyers. One such person is Laurie from New Hampshire. She came and tried out OYY Pyewacket, a nice drafty mare who was born here at the farm out of Teena (my very much loved grade mare) and Dream Maker, a chestnut stallion who was also born here (out of one of our *star* mares, BG Dream Curl and Colonel's Reuben). Pyewacket was at first a "keeper".. and she foaled out 2 very nice fillies, both curly and well conformed. I realized Pyewacket was going to mature to be a larger horse than I like to ride- so I put her up for sale. I could not have asked for a better home for her. Laurie and Pye hit it off immediately.. and Laurie has e-mailed me over the course of her time with Pye-- she and Pye are true "soul-mates".. so Laurie reports. They ride out together alone safely or sometimes with friends. Laurie has done a super job coaching Pywacket to excel and mature in her skills. Quoting Laurie from her e-mail in which she sent this photo-- "we spend a lot of time discussing the events of the world on the ground as well as when I’m riding her." What a great team they make. By co-incidence, Laurie also purchased a maternal sister of Pyewacket's.. My Filly Delphia. Delphia is out of Teena also and Colonel's Pasqualie Kid. She is a smooth coated Curly mare born while I was vacationing in PA. When my daughter called me on my cell phone to say she was born , I was on the road very near Philadelphia-- hence the name. I had sold Delphia as a youngster, and she was subsequently sold to Laurie later in life. Laurie has e-mailed she loves Delphia-- but she and Pye have that something special. Laurie has done great things with Delphia. I am so happy these horses have found such a fabulous home.

Sunday, yesterday, my grand-son had his first ride on our special little Curly pony OYY Arcus. Arcus is a long 2 year old, beautiful silver bay out of a nice also silver bay grade pony (a super little riding pony) and Mead's Chocolate Chip. Arcus started driving when he was a yearling and took it up like he was born for it. This past summer, he drove some more and has gone out on the road some . What a great little guy-- sweet and willing. He's still too young for saddle training, but my grand-son is a little 4 year old peanut... not too much to bear on the back and joints. They make a cute pair !!

Arcus is getting his winter curls now.. in the summer he is sleek and a gorgeous dappled fellow. He will make a fantastic little show pony. Can't you just see him in a pony hunter class?

Enjoy the day ~

More news from owners of horses born here at Top O' The Hill Farm. Top O' The Hill Farm used to also breed Suffolk Punch draft horses-- another super breed of fairly rare horses. Suffolks are the only breed of draft horse that was bred exclusively for farm work-- a somewhat smaller draft, thrifty, sound and intelligent with dispositions similar to the Curly horse. The breed dates from the sixteenth century but all animals alive today trace their male lines back to one stallion, a horse called Crisp's Horse of Ufford, who was foaled in 1768. On occasion, I crossed the Suffolks and the Curlies.. every foal was a winner !

One lovely colt was born from Colonel's Pasqualie Kid (ABC 463) and Tassie, a registered 3/4 Suffolk Punch mare. I named him Ollie. His dam, Tassie, is pictured at the left with a full blood Suffolk colt (Tassie's Snow Prince). Ollie's newborn photo is below.

Ollie remained at the farm for some time-- through training and ultimately became one of my daughter's favorite mounts. She and he did some rough trail rides and became quite an awesome team. Ollie went anywhere Zoe asked him to. They did many Judged Pleasure rides together and one open show. Ollie won lots of ribbons. The time came for Ollie to be sold-- Zoe was at an age where she didn't have so much time to ride and Ollie was depressed. A woman from Vermont came to look at him and it was love at first mount !! Kathy had had an accident involving a horse and sported a bad ankle, hadn't ridden in awhile. Well she and Ollie became the team that Ollie and Zoe had once been. Kathy has visited often to relate happy proud stories of her and Ollie's rides together. They go out for long 5 hour trail rides in tough mountainous country-- Kathy always feeling safe with her new life-long friend. Recently she mailed a photo of her and Ollie taken by a professional photographer. Ollie is 15 years old now. Don't we hope all our Curlies find homes like this one?

Tassie is the dam to another Curly mare registered name- Good Golly Miss Molly-- a maternal sister to Ollie. Molly was bred to Mead's Chocolate Chip and gave birth to the mare in a past blog posting-- A Kurlee Dream.. who has also found her new owner in Maine, Laurice Lee. You can read all about her on the October 18th post. These Curlies are just plain super horses !! And the Suffolk Punch/Curly cross resulted in some really nice offspring.

Enjoy the day ~

Since this video feature is now available.. I had to give it a try. This is my lovely Finn, a quick drive this past week. He did his little turn in the ring and went out on the road for a bit.

What a great little guy !!

I came across some trivia today that surprised me.. in light of the fact that I have spent numerous hours building fence and trekking up and down small mountains with tools and wire. A person can burn 450 calories in an hour of fence building.. so why am I still so chubby?? Add to that-- 4 calories burned each minute of grooming and saddling a horse, 8 calories a minute riding at a trot.... add up my day and I should be a mere shadow. It might be that large bowl of ice cream I eat every night... and the snacks I bring along in the woods for nourishment. What a disappointment--

My favorite little pony stud-- OYY Finnegan - (one of my favorites anyway) went out for a drive on the road-- what a great little horse. I am so anxious to see his foals- it will be a wait, but worth it. This is my trainer Lisa driving-- I am always behind the camera.

Just about all the horses are home from pasture. We moved a few girls around. I like to move the horses form time to time.. mix them up, confuses them for a bit- and they don't get so reliant on the same pasture mates or the same area all the time.

All the foals are weaned-- my lovely Ceda was the last foal of the season and she is in the youngster pasture making friends with the other weanlings. She's such a perfect little filly !! She will grow up and be bred to Finn. What an awesome little pony that will be.

Enjoy the day~

Seems as though I always start my blog entries with-- time flies. The days are running together here with so much to do all the time.. and again-- it's been awhile since my last post.

Woke up to a gorgeous sunrise.. but as they say-- red sky in the morning is a sailor's warning. We had a beautiful fall day and no rain but it must be near. When I can hear the train whistle here at the farm, it usually means it will rain within 24 hours. I am not sure why, perhaps the air is heavier and the sound travels more easily.. but it's the only time I hear that whistle here on the hill.

It is foliage season in Vermont. Even though I get a tad nervous over the advent of winter, fall is an inspiring time of the year. I have been lots of places in the country- and I find anywhere that where the leaves don't change-- I really miss it. I like the changing scenery- even when the trees are bare, when one looks out over the mountain there is still colors and differing textures, the natural shape each variety of tree takes as it grows - the color of the bark... The wonderful thing is- it changes. Springtime, the buds of each type of tree is a different shade of green or red. And you get 4 seasons every year of a changing vista.

Because I am not so prompt about posting often- this is old news now but an offspring from the farm has just had her first show on October 7. This is a mare the new owner has called A Kurlee Dream. She is out of Good Golly Miss Molly.. a palomino mare born from a Suffolk Punch mare and a palomino stud born here named Keep On Dreamin' . Kurlee Dream's sire is Mead's chocolate Chip- who once again-- has proven his foals are awesome!! The owner, Laurice, had some help coming up with the horse's name-- Kur means musical freestyle-- which is one of Laurice's dream's to ride musical freestyle. "Lee" is her last name... and of course- the horse is a Curly so it fits so well. Laurice actually chose to add the Dream before she even knew that the horse was from my farm's "Dream" bloodlines (foundation mare, Dream Curl, and her son is Laurice's mare's sire)

As Laurice reports-- "There was stiff competition among the riders doing the same tests, which were USDF Introductory Tests A & B. On test A they scored 63.50 which was good enough to earn Rachel a second place ribbon out of the 4 riders. On Test B they scored 64.76 which was good enough to earn them a third place ribbon out of six riders! We were all thrilled! " Here are some photo's Laurice sent to me of Kurlee Dream and her rider Rachel at the show.

Good going Laurice, Rachel and Kurlee Dream.. it's so true that Curlies can make your dreams come true !

Enjoy your day !!

It's been a long time since my past post. Time is flying by.. getting ready for winter. There are more apples on the old trees than usual and the old timers say-- the more apples, the tougher the winter. Well, I am adding more to the wood pile in preparation just in case.

Horses are continuing to be worked-- ridden on the trail, road and in the ring.. a few are driven several times a week. The Doctor of Dreams, a 2 year old stud colt out of my old mare Dream Curl and Lynn Downer's (of Homefire Curlies) stud, Benjamin. He was here on lease and I got a very nice foal crop from him-- all very trainable and great disposition. This big stud colt-- barn name, Sigmund, will be ground driven until he's ready to ride-- then he'll have a few mares of his own.

I am still working on fencing 42 acres of woods across the street. I have about half of it done so far. You become pretty intimate with the land when you are running fence.. first deciding where the line will go, then running the fence, back a few times with insulators, then clearing all the brush, trees, etc.. walking it more than several times before you are done. There are a few springs for water and even though we have had incredibly dry weather-- the water is running cold and clear.

In one area where I am fencing, there is a bold grouse who follows me back and forth-- friendly and curious- as male grouse can be. I have named him Jose and it just makes my day when he comes out for a "chat" !

Walking through the woods, I see many LARGE moose prints. We have seen several-- and a few times come out to find moose have taken fence down. We've met a few on the trail-- with no reaction. There seems to be more wildlife than normal this year. Plentiful deer- who enjoy my new seedings tremendously.. turkey flocks that number into the 60's at times. The weather has been crazy all summer-- one day cold, next-- blistering hot, then humid beyond bearable. It's been very dry-- although we had a big rain last night. Another of the old timer's sayings.. it can't snow until the ponds are full. At this rate, it's going to be quite a awhile-- I can wait. I am hoping for a long enjoyable Indian summer.

Enjoy your day ~

Yesterday morning, around 5 am, we got to experience the lunar eclipse. It went pretty quickly but was neat to see. It was the second total lunar eclipse of this year.

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a fairly local woman who was in the process of purchasing a Curly gelding from the Barre area. She was interested in finding a barn that did some short term boarding and training. When she contacted me, she was unaware that the horse she was trying to purchase was born here. Michelle is this horse's fourth owner.. hopefully his last. He is here now and picking up his past training quickly. He is the handsome Golden Dream and it has been fun to see him after 11 or so years since he was originally sold. As I say on my web site .. every horse has its destiny-- and Golden Dream traveled a circuitous path to return "home". I think Michelle is going to be happy with this guy and I feel he has found his "destiny" at last.

During this week, the younger geldings- 3 and 4 year olds-- were out on the trail a couple of times getting exposure to dirt roads and brush, maybe a stream crossing here and there. Tiger went out on the day the town trucks were watering down the dirt roads, which they do at this time of year to keep the dust down. This was his first time out and the trucks did not even slow down... Tiger was a champ-- no reaction what-so-ever !!

The little 11.2 hand curly pony gelding, OYY Arcus, started up his training again. It's been since summer/fall of 2006 that he has been hitched to a cart but he remembered his training and went trotting in circles in the big ring like he never had any time off. What a good looking pony !!

He's going to be an easy horse to start under saddle and will make an adorable mount. His dam, who is a grade chunky pony is a FUN little pony to ride-- very comfortable forward gaits. She has had a few Curly foals for us- all of them smart and trainable. nothing cuter than a Curly pony !!

Enjoy the day ~

Up until yesterday, we have been working with a light sweatshirt.. lovely and cool although unlike traditional August weather. All of sudden-- BOOM-- unbelievable heat and killer humidity. I have been erecting a high tensile fence in part of a 42 acre wood, some of it very steep.. well seemingly steep when one has to walk back and forth with tools. It's pretty cool in the woods. It's finally done-- and 5 horses are enjoying themselves exploring. it's nice to get those animals off the fields for re-growth. These are horses that are not being worked with anyway.

I always love hearing news from the people who have purchased horses from me. In the Weare/New Boston area of New Hampshire, there are 2 families who amongst them- have 4 Curly horses from Top O' The Hill Farm. In the small pony club there, Frog Rock Pony Club, there are now 4 Curlies making a great impression. This is the greatest advertisement for our Curly horses-- seeing them perform and excel. The owners report that the club is impressed with the Curlies, who rarely refuse a jump and are such willing partners. There are 21 members in the group, so the Curly horse riders make up a good percentage !!

The first -- a gelding, sold the the Makowieki family some years ago as a youngster. He is registered as Twelve Crows. They call him Merlin. He is a handsome horse and they have done so much with him over the years. The owners write that Merlin especially likes the water obstacles.

The Makowieki family recently added another Curly to their "herd"--

OYY Mercedes, who was sold as a 2 year. She was driving when she left here and they are working with her under saddle.

The Ray family of Weare, NH-- daughters Sam and Sarah -- also members of Frog Rock, have 2 Curlies as well. Sam purchased a weanling filly, Lickity Split, as a project horse. She has raised and trained Lickity herself and now rides her as a 3 year old. She's done a super job.

Sam's sister, Sarah, owns and rides Lejonhud Daffodil, a smooth coated Curly.

This is one of my favorite photo's She's a beautiful horse and suits Sarah perfectly.

Recently, the Ray girls and the Makowieki girls got together for a trail ride.

Mercedes did not make the photo. Top O' The Hill Farm is proud of the girls and horses.. they have all done a great job with their horses !!

Enjoy the day ~

Time is just flying by.. almost the first day of school and also time to start weaning foals. An old-timer's advice.. wean on the full moon and the foals and Moms will whinney less for each other. I have also read that weaning should take place at the dark of the moon..I like to do it at the full moon-so we try to plan our separations for then. We also plan so more than one foal is weaned, that way each foal has a buddy. Makes it a little less traumatic.

In a previous blog entry, I mentioned Teasel Obi-- our grand very extreme Curly gelding-- was at my daughter's houes- going out on very rough trail every day. He was there about a month.. and we made a switch. Our beautiful buckskin pinto mare with 2 gorgeous blue eyes-- Teena's Avis Jane-- has gone to live with Zoe and is now being ridden on the trails every evening-- getting lots of miles. Teasel is an outstanding trail gelding, but now he's back at the farm so he can work on his abilities in the ring. He built up a lot of muscle on the trail...and the ring work will finish him off.

Avis has been a farm favorite since birth. She has been in the show ring and ridden lots of fun trails. Here she is headed out for her "new" home, ready for new experiences.

Avis's maternal sister, Sudie Bee, is one of our best therapy horses, we use her in the wheelchair grooming program. Another daughter, Tippateena, is an outstanding driving horse and bred for a 2008 foal. When we drive Tippy, she wears her mother's harness!! Teena's last foal, a filly who resembles her Mom-- OYY Fiona -- is a 2 year old and doing great in harness. She's the daughter that looks most like Mom. Avis has had a few foals.. one which sold at the Equine Affaire in West Springfield, MA to a great farm in MA. That woman moved and sold most of her horses and I received an e-mail recently from his new owner. She's very pleased with him.. we named him The Sojourner. She sent a photo of him dressed for Halloween.

It's always so great to hear news of the farm offspring. This is a very special "family" of horses, headed up by the matriarch- Teena -- who was a grade mare of unknown heritage. She did it all.. ride, drive, pulling logs in the woods. She had many foals-- all of them super-- most of them drive as well as ride. We have many daughters of Teena's still on the farm, and have sold children and grand-children of hers. Teena was euthanized last fall.. as far as we could figure she was at somewhere in the vicinity of 32- and unfortunately had no more teeth. She was healthy but it was increasingly difficult to feed her in the winter. We made up a "soup" for her- but it froze before she could eat it and she detested being separated from the other mares. A very sad day-- there is now a beautiful garden where she was buried. We'll certainly never forget this special mare. She was definitely one of those one in a million horses.

It's been awhile since my last entry. We've been busy, busy on the farm. No "dog days" here either- it's been a bit chilly in the mornings for the traditional dog days--- from July 3rd through the beginning of August. I used to think the term dog days came from the idea that is was so hot all dogs laid under the porch-- but the term "Dog Days" was coined by the ancient Romans, who called these days caniculares dies (days of the dogs) after Sirius (the "Dog Star"), the brightest star in the heavens besides the sun. Popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies". The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose just before or at the same time as sunrise, which is no longer true owing to precession of the equinoxes. The ancients sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that that star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

We devoted a week to making new video's of the horses in training. One of my favorites- OYY Nimue - (named after Merlin's love) - is under saddle and also drives beautifully. We are almost hoping she never sells so we can use her in the therapeutic riding program. She'll make a perfect pony sized mount for our riding center, and has an ideal personality for it. She is steady and, so far, "bomb-proof". She will make a perfect horse for our smaller riders.. although she's capable of carrying larger riders as well. I am pretty pleased with her.

The biggest news of late was our town of Springfield, VT won the vote to host the main Homer Simpson movie debut. The producers of the movie and TV show we here for the grand opening-along with many other movie stars. The town was full of festivities-- all Homer Simpson related. The big donut statue is in front of the local movie theater, this was an exciting time even for those of us who don't particularly care for Homer and his family.

enjoy the day ~

The past days on the farm have been somewhat hectic.. mowing lease pastures, moving horses to fresh ground, and continuing training have kept us all very busy.

OYY Wassee- a 3 year old gelding- is back under saddle after 2 months playing with his buddies. Seems the lay off did him good, as he went better than ever. One of the fun things about working with young horses here at Top O' The Hill Farm is; many of the horses we that are in training now are 3rd and 4th generation. Wassee is out of Lejonhud Daffodil, who was sold at 18 months old. Her new owners trained her to cart and under saddle. She came back here when those owners wanted to trade for a gelding. We rode and drove Daffodil until she was sold again, right after Wassee was weaned, to a family for a pony club horse. Daffodil is excelling in her new home. We got to use Daffodil quite a bit before she left- what a great little trail horse-- fun to ride with wonderful comfortable gaits. Daffodil is out of our Honeybee Gal and Colonel's Pasqualie Kid. Honeybee is an elderly broodmare now- we've never ridden her- but we did ride "Pasco"-- and not only did he sire many super riding horses, he himself was a forward comfortable mount. Honeybee's Dam is Buffalo Gal, from Fredell breeding. Honeybee's sire is Mel's Bathtub Gin, another old line Curly. My daughter used him quite a bit for 3 day camping trips- he was a champ at rough trail. My daughter was 12 or 13 at the time-- and "Tubby's" gaits were so smooth- other riders couldn't help but remark how comfy it looked to sit to his trot-- steady and ground covering. She also rode Pasco's dam- Little Pet, from the Bratcher/Fredell line -- and she was also a super smooth riding horse.

Wassee's sire is The Mighty Quinn-- who was born here and until his sale, was one of our favorite prospects under saddle. So much fun to ride and train-- with his willing attitude and talent for almost anything. Quinn had 3 offspring. We've had the opportunity now to train and ride 2 of them so far (the 3rd is still only 2 years old). Wassee has inherited lots of Quinn's attributes and will mature to be a sporty horse like his Dad. Quinn is out of our Lilly, who was also born and trained here. All of her foals have made wonderful riding mounts with vast talent and extremely comfortable gaits. We've done a lot with Lilly when she didn't have a foal by her side.. competing in many shows- western pleasure, all breed shows, dressage, etc. She's just a plain outstanding horse- for riding and breeding.

Here's a photo of Lilly with her trophy's.

Quinn's sire is Peacock's Banner- who was also a wonderful kind stud. My kids rode him often on the trail -- we also have had the chance to train and ride several of his offspring.

So all in all-- Wassee can't help but be a winner with his genetic make up. It's gratifying to be able to train and ride so many of the horses in a "family" and see how disposition and gaits are passed on through the generations. This is part of what makes breeding horses so addictive- working with the bloodlines and tracking the improvements made in the offspring. We are fortunate for the opportunity to train and ride/drive many of the growing foals before they leave the farm.

Enjoy the day ~