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 ~

early mornings

Early morning is my favorite time on the farm. As the sun starts to rise over the treeline, images appear that you don't get to see during the day. Here's the new indoor arena-- just built-- the horses that are shadowed are in the pasture across from the barn.

Yesterday, 2 hens, a tom and their new family came out for the first time this year.

I counted 28 babies. We also have moose in the area this year. You can always tell when moose have come through- as they take the fence with them.. dragging it into the woods or across the pasture for the length of the fence. We did see one day- 2 older moose and a calf grazing in the swamp.

A very short post today-- there's lots to do.. new photo's of horses in training and finish mowing a large field down the road. Somedays it seems I ride my tractor more than my horses. It's lucky I love my tractor as much as I love my horses !

Enjoy the day ~