The Porcupine Hill Chronicle

 Archive 2006

• The excitement of the week is that I have acquired a new horse for myself! Please meet "Hamilton", who is known as "Archie", a 6 year old, 16.3hh bay Thoroughbred gelding (Kentucky warmblood, anyone?).  He has the sweetest temperament, and great movement, and I am really excited to begin work with him.  He looks so much like Maxwell, I just had to buy him.  Of course, his name is reminiscent of Maxwell's also, being named after my very good friend Ross, and the great Victorian physicist William Rowan Hamilton (you will all, of course, remember that Max is named after my friend Ross and the great physicist James Clerk Maxwell).  So, here are a few early pictures:

• He will look better after he gets some muscle and weight on, and I'll be sure to keep the pictures up to date as he develops!  
• Congratulations to Kerri and Sandra L., who, with their horses Pumpernickel, Freskoe, and Fandango garnered year end awards from the Ottawa Dressage Group - Kerri won Reserve Champion Junior 1st Level with Pumpernickel and placed fourth in the division with Freskoe, and Sandra was Champion AA in Third Level.  Well done!
• Our famous annual Porcupine Hill Christmas Party will be December 23rd at the farm, so if you are in the neighbourhood, be sure to drop in to say hello.
• I am off to New Mexico to visit Cille and my grandmother Nadine tomorrow, so I hope you all have a great week and stay warm!

• Congratulations to Anne D. on her purchase of "Jackson" - good luck to you and your daughter with him!
• Some pictures of our new improvements:

• All our construction has been done by Walnut Hill Farm, the business of Zach's dad, Julian.  I can't say enough about how happy we are with the work and would highly recommend Julian to anyone with a project!

• Had a blast at the Royal this year. Congratulations to all the dressage competitors and to the riders in the Quadrille.
• We have room starting in December for a couple of horses in training, so if you are thinking of moving your horse ahead a bit this year, give us a call and let's see what we can do for you!
• Welcome to Sandra P., a new student who is working with our Professor Emeritus of dressage, Maxwell, for the next little while.  Sandra and Max are doing really well together, and the old boy is very happy to have one more student of dressage.
• This is our new kitty - he has many, many toes, even more than Toed, and is completely psychotic, as far as we can tell.  We call him Harley:

• We also have three new kittens in the barn - we call them Peaches, Digit (who also has extra toes!) and Leggs.  They are pretty lazy, but quite decorative:

• And, since I am doing pictures today, here is a pic of Diesel, Ruth's new puppy:

• Hope everyone is doing well, and that you are ready for winter - its coming soon, I think!

• October has been a busy month for us, with lots of coming and going, and some exciting new capital improvements.  Our storage facility is almost complete, the new wall of mirrors goes up soon, and our improved manure handling system is working wonderfully.  Thanks Julian, and all the drivers and machine operators at Ken Miller Excavating.
• A huge thanks also to Stewart Allen for refurbishing the "new" tractor and manure spreader, and to Winston Capron for delivering both!
• We said good-bye this month to Pumpernickel, the darling black pony that took Kerry to several championships and many personal bests.  "Nicky" joins the team at Pinecrest Farm, and will hopefully guide many more young riders to their own successes.
• We also bid (temporary) adieu to Liz and Winston, who have returned to the Kingston area for the winter.  Good luck, Liz, come back soon!
• On October 21, Aliy and Carney were married in a lovely ceremony in Toronto.  Afterwards we all enjoyed a fantastic dinner at "Seasons" in Oakville.  I hope you will join me in wishing these two young people a great partnership and all the best.
• The sales page is updated again.  Let me say a few words about "Presley".  If you are looking for an outstanding prospect, this is the one.  He has a sweet temperament, great movement and is a quick learner.  He is fancy, with a ton of ring presence, and would suit an amateur or professional.
• Best wishes to Judi and Pete, who are moving to Nova Scotia this month, and are expecting a baby in the next few months.  Good luck and best wishes for your new situation.
• If you are a science fiction fan, try the books of Adam Roberts: On, The Snow, Stone, and others.  These are some of the most interesting, innovative and thought-provoking novels I have ever read.  
• I am off to the Royal next week, to see the show, visit friends and shop!  Looking forward to seeing the Canadian League World Cup Final, as well as the other horse show classes, and visiting the llamas.  If you are in the market for a horse trailer, please stop by at the Royal and visit with Marsha and Dave, at Maple Lane Equestrian Trailers, or visit their website.  Maybe I'll see you there!

• Our show season finished up nicely at the Ottawa Fall show.  Mikayla placed fifth with nice scores in the CDI PSG and Intermediaire 1 and a sixth place in the Freestyle.  Elvis was solid in the national show. Ariane and Dav finished fourth in the CDI PSG, with a super score, and a really good end to their first year of CDI competition.  
• Kerry and her new horse, "Fresco", a seven year old gelding by Lyne Joly's "Flower King", had a great first go in the junior First level, ending the show with a 2nd place and 65%.
• Shannon and Kressley also finished up well in the junior Training level, with a second place.  
• Aliy and her four year old gelding "Halston" (aka Shaq) had some really great scores and comments in the Open Training level, and Roberta and Adrianna also had good rides and placings in the AA Training Level.
• We greatly enjoyed (as we always do) the Friends of the Park show at the end of July.  Everyone had good rides.  Ruth and Sox were Reserve Champion in the Young Rider division, and Shannon and Kressley were Junior Training level Champion.  Mikayla was Reserve Champion in the FEI division.  Congratulations to Patrick and everyone at the Park who made our visit there so pleasant and fun.
• Huge congratulations to Madi C. on her purchase of Taliesan.  These two make a great pair, and we will be cheering for them next year in the FEI Junior/YR Division. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make this happen for Madi and Tali.
• Needless to say, I'll be keeping Mikayla now that Tali is sold and Elvis is returned to Karen for her to try her hand at the FEI levels.  Many thanks, Karen, for all the great times and the chance to ride your wonderful horse.
• The sales page is once again updated with several new horses for sale.  If you are interested in a nice dressage horse or pony, be sure to check it out.  I can't remember a time when we have had so many nice horses for sale here!  There's something for everyone, it seems. 
• Things on the farm are going really well these days, and we are currently in construction of some new storage space, and a few fix-ups to existing facilities as we prepare for winter.
• Special greetings to Keegan!  Thanks for your emails, I really enjoy them.  Keegan is a young man from Wisconsin who has big dreams and the determination to see them through.  He is building a website where he will tell you all about them - I'll post the link here as soon as it is ready.  Definitely one to watch!
• Ruth got a new puppy this fall - a very nice German Shorthair/Wirehair cross.  Even Tempi likes him!  "Diesel" is growing like a weed and has lots of fun playing with Grace and wrestling with Toed.
• Lots of travelling planned for the next while.  I leave in a few days for Virginia, where I'll be teaching a USDF Adult Camp ( and seeing lots of old friends and hopefully making a few new ones!).  Then we are all off to Oakville for Aliy and Carney's wedding.  The end of November Adam and I will go to New Mexico to visit my grandmother Nadine and Cille, and then next spring we are going to Paris for a holiday.  Wow! In between times I'll be to St. Lazare and Montreal's south shore lots for clinics, and maybe to Toronto for a few days before Christmas. 
• Aaron and Christyna will be moving to Toronto in October, and Carolyn and Drew (and Rocco) have moved to Kingston, where they are both attending St. Lawrence College.  Ruth has transferred to the Brockville campus of St. Lawrence for her second year, and continues to ride and train when she is not at school.  Everyone seems to be doing really well.
• It seems like the summer has come and gone so fast, and the cooler weather is once again upon us.  Thanks to everyone who made this show season such a great success, and here's to more good times next summer!

• Our show season is going very well - we have competed at 2 shows in Ottawa, Palgrave and Blainville so far, and we are all pleased with our results!
• Special congratulations going out to Roberta on the purchase of Adrianna, whom she competed to first, second and third place ribbons at Blainville, in the mare's first show!
• Kerry Houlahan has had an exciting year already! She has ridden very well in the first four shows, achieving scores up to 66% with her sport pony "Pumpernickel" in First Level.  Now Kerry will move to a horse, and has found a really super one that I will tell you all about next time!  But, sadly (for us) that means that "Nicky" is for sale ... so if you are looking for a wonderful first pony for a small rider, please be sure to check out Nicky on our sale page.
• The sale page has been updated, as I have decided to scale back my own riding somewhat, so both Mikayla and Taliesan are listed for sale.  These nice young confirmed FEI horses are genuine competitors, and sound, safe and ready to rock for you.
• Ruth and Socks have had mixed results, and narrowly missed qualifying for Young Riders, after only 2 months together.  this super mare and talented young rider will be back in the ring to gain experience together for the rest of the season.
• Elvis has been a star from the get-go, and has successfully begun his FEI career with good placings and scores in the national divisions of PSG and Intermediaire 1.  We'll finish off the year with a few more competitions, and then Karen will be back in saddle.
• Our big news this month is that Aaron and Christyna has official become engaged, and will be married in September 2007.  Wedding plans are already underway, and there is great excitement in the air.
• My Aunt Cille and cousin Sarah visited us for 10 days, and it was wonderful to see both of them and get the chance to show them a bit of our area.  This was a first trip to Canada for both, and we all had a great time touring around and visiting.
• Special word of congratulations to Scott Zurrer on his purchase of the IROC Z28 race car.  We all went out to the Shannonville Racetrack last week to watch Scott, Adam and Aaron run laps in the IROC and the STI - which they did with enormous glee, and considered it a great night of fun, even though both cars ended up "broken" by the end.  I guess it's just not a success if you don't end up with a broken car!  When they started eyeing up the X-type, however, I politely declined to allow them to "break" it!  Nothing seriously wrong on either car, and we'll be back at Shannonville on July 17th for another evening of fast cars and fun.
• Our next show will be the Friends of the Park show in Ottawa, so I hope to see you there!  Stay well and enjoy the summer weather. 

• Yes, we are alive and well at Porcupine Hill these days, and busier than ever, as you might have guessed!
• Our show season is just about to get under way, with our first outing being the Equivents Spring Dressage Festival in Ottawa.  Nine horses from the barn will be making the short trip to the nation's capital, along with a few more students from other barns.  Our show team this year is diverse, and I think I'm going to be very busy at competitions this season!
• Zach Ball and his new horse "Rohan" will make their debut in Training level, along with Aliy and Shaq.  Also making a later debut in Training Level will be Roberta Zurrer on Ariane Gauthier's four year old mare "Adrianna".
• Kerry Houlahan and "Pumpernickel" and Leslie Wilson and "Elphin Rory" will start at First Level.
• Chris Windover and "Finally" will show Second Level, and Sandra Lowenstein and "Fandango" will show Third Level.
• I'll be back in the Advanced Division with Mikayla, looking for scores to qualify for the Pan-Am Trials in 2007, and Christel Klocke and Plato will go Prix St. Georges also.  Ariane Gauthier and Deimos will be back this season in PSG and Intermediaire 1, also looking for scores to qualify for the Pan-Ams. 
• And now for the news:
• Ruth will show Fourth Level and Young Riders this year on White Socks, Judi Carter's beautiful imported Hannoverian mare.  This is an excellent combination, and both Ruth and I are extremely grateful to Judi for making this opportunity for Ruth.
• My "new" ride in the Advanced Division is the 7 year old Canadian Sport Horse "Elvis", who is owned by Karen (Capron) Allen.  Elvis is just outstanding, and we have great hopes for him this year.  We have travelled to Toronto twice over the winter to work with Team Coach Norbert van Laak, and are encouraged by our clinics and the work we have done with Elvis.  This gentle giant (he stands over 18hh!) is a talented and exciting horse.  My heartfelt thanks to Karen for allowing me to ride him, and for being part of such a terrific team.
• Taliesan will play around this year in the Grand Prix.  We are not quite ready to brave the CDI competition at this level, but look for us in the National competitions!
• Unfortunately, I had to retire my new mare "Bambi", and she is gone off to be a broodmare.  In her place, we have acquired the sport pony "Kressley", a four year old, 13.3hh palomino with chrome!  Shannon Davis will pilot Carson in his first shows this year.  Carson is for sale, so watch for him at the shows this year!

• In other news, Aaron is doing great at Queens, almost ready to defend his Master's in September.  He and Christyna will likely move to Toronto in the fall to take up careers and make a life for themselves.
• Carolyn continues to manage a Subway store, increasing sales every week, it seems, and is looking forward to more responsibilities as time goes on.  She is investigating the opportunity to attend school in Scotland, so there could be some exciting news there soon.
• Ruth is home from school and will remain in Brockville to finish her last year, and continue to ride and work here.
• My mum is busier than ever, judging and teaching, and is at the farm frequently to help me with my horses.
• We are also very pleased to welcome Tracey Hewitt to our staff roster as our regular Monday to Friday stable assistant, as well as Amanda Baker, for occasional weekends and relief work.
• Congratulations going out to Ron King and Renee Young on the birth of their daughter "Marlies" last month, and our fondest best wishes to Deb Trojan on her engagement.
• On the entertainment front, a few recommendations: the novels of Alistair Reynolds (Revelation Space, Absolution Gap), the fourth season of 24, and the second season of MI-5.  Still enjoying episodes of Top Gear, Jermey Clarkson's program from BBC, if only because he does seem to have a soft spot for Jaguars, even though he trashed the X-type in a recent newspaper article (my new X-type is fabulous!).  
• So life is good, and we are all looking forward to a busy and exciting summer.  I hope that you are also, and that I'll see some of you at the shows.