The Porcupine Hill Chronicle
August - September 2000 Archive
September 29:
The Schedule has been updated.
September 27:
Our clinic with Albrecht Heidemann was a great success.  All the riders appear to have enjoyed their lessons, and the stabling all worked out (huge sigh of relief on my part). 
Now we will concentrate on the finishing touches (the windows are going in today!) in the new barn, and getting ready to move the permanent residents into their new stalls.  Theconstruction has been greatly facilitated by a number of individuals.  I would like to thank particularly Brian McCann of McCann Farm Automation, Dave and Chris of Masey Construction, John Jensen and, of course, Larry Good.  I understand our electrician may show up at some point :-).  Sally, Amanda, Jeff, Kate and Keith have also made significant contributions to the effort, and I hope they all know how grateful I am for their help and support.  We are tentatively planning a "barn-warming" open house for the Thanksgiving weekend ... watch this space for details and then feel free to drop by and tour the new facilities ...
Congratulations to Raymonde on her purchase of "Careless Lover", a 5 year old chestnut ASB gelding.  The only difficulty is that he is called "Larry" as a stable name.  So we will either have to start calling him "Darrell", or start calling Larry something else ... you see how confusing it could get?
Congratulations to all Canadian athletes competing at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.  Just getting there is an achievement - and these people deserve our pride and honour.  I do hope that the recent events will prompt our government into a re-evaluation of the sports funding system in Canada.   Most amateur sports in this country are woefully underfunded.  Similarly, I hope that some corporations will be evaluating their contributions to amateur sport at all levels.  Our top athletes needs corporate sponsorship as well as government support, and we are all ready to add value to the image and advertising campaigns of corporate Canada.  THIS SPACE FOR RENT!
Book Series of the Week is the Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind.  Rollicking fantasy, dragons, magic, humour, suspense and lots of action.  Fun.
Horse of the Week is Taliesan, who continues to impress me with his character and talent.  He got a run for his money this week, however, since I schooled Kayleigh on Sunday, and found her quick to learn, agreeable and talented.  She has really nice gaits to sit, and is brightly forward yet very sane and manageable.  Sally has really done some nice work in starting her calmly and sensibly.
Have a good week, and enjoy this brilliant fall weather!
September 20:
I spent last weekend in Virginia, near Roanoke, conducting an Adult Camp with my mum, Sue Rothgeb.  We drove down, enjoying a rare chance to visit along the way, and arrived at Fancy Hill Farm to meet up with the 16 "campers" who would be our students for the next three days.  Well, let me tell you, you couldn't ask to meet a nicer bunch of people!  So for three days we taught lessons and worked with a dedicated group of riders - and that was very rewarding!   I saw some really nice horses, and hopefully was able to help the riders I taught come a bit ahead with their riding skills and knowledge.  It was a great experience.   Many thanks to Laura Nelson and all the other members of the SWVADA group who made me feel so welcome, and who worked so hard in their lessons!  Special thanks to Jan for the wonderful meals, including the care package for the trip home!
The new barn is almost ready.  The crew at home spent long hours on the weekend to get so much of the work done - I was awed when I got home - all the stall are up, all the doors are hung, the mats are in the stalls and the exterior doors are on.  We are still waiting for windows, and Larry will finish all the welding next weekend.  Then we will just have some cosmetic work to complete, and hopefully we move our own horses in the first weekend in October.  There are some new pictures here.
The reason everyone worked so hard last weekend was so that we could offer participants in the Albrecht Heidemann clinic some stabling ... the clinic began yesteday and continues today.  The juniors in particular appear to have improved greatly, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.
Hope you all have a great week.
September 12:
The barn building project is proceeding nicely, although I still have anxiety about making it in time for the Heidemann Clinic.   Pictures updated.
Some of you know my husband Adam.  He's a pretty cool guy.  He also has his own website, and is mildly offended that I don't usually publish a link to his site.  However, this time he has outdone himself, and published some very funny stuff on his page.  So here is the link.  Don't take it too seriously :-).
Yes, Albrecht Heidemann will be back at the farm on September 19 and 20 to work with area Young Riders and Juniors.  I believe auditors are welcome.  I'll try to publish a schedule if I get one.
I leave for Virginia on Wednesday to conduct a three day adult dressage camp with members of the Southwest Virginia Dressage Association.  Mum and I will take a tag-team approach to teaching, which should prove both useful and entertaining.  I am looking forward to the trip and working with these riders, who Mum says are a group with great spirit and determination, and a real sense of fun.
I'd like to welcome Joanne Sherwood and Dana-Mae Grainger to our barn.  Joanne and her horse "Nautical" are schooling Medium Level, and looking forward to showing next year.  Dana-Mae brought her chestnut and white Paint gelding "Levis" to further their dressage training with a view towards the Basic levels in 2001.  I hope they will both enjoy boarding and training at Porcupine Hill!
Congratulations to our friend and neighbour Sheryl Bullard on the occasion of her marriage!  Great party!
Aaron got off to school on September 4th, complete with new(ish) car and all his other stuff.  He looked a bit lost at first, but has since settled in and seems to be enjoying Frosh week.  I gather he started classes yesterday.  I know he'll do very well.
Since Aaron left for school, our friend Dan Reid has been filling in on the weekend stable detail.  Dan is a promising rower who this summer won races in Mexico, as well as medals at Schoolboy and Henley.  We are delighted that he has joined the weekend crew.
Hope everyone has a great week ... update on Tuesday, hopefully!
August 28:
We finally have a building permit, and construction can begin on the new barn.  At last.   That's a big load off my mind.
The CET clinic (August 24-26) with Christilot Boylen was great.  We had Young Horses on Thursday evening, and lessons Thursday, friday and Saturday at The Hill.  All the lessons were very interesting to watch.  We enjoyed welcoming a number of horses and riders to the farm for the clinic, even though it meant that Max, Waverley, Sam and Tuck went for a sleep-over at Alton's ... they had a good time!
I personally had two great lessons on Bear, and presented Taliesan with the other young horses.  As usual, my lessons were succinct, pointed and tremendously useful :-).  Tali was a very well behaved young horse, and I received some encouraging comments.
There will be a 10% price reduction to anyone who comes and buys Kayleigh and takes her away before Wednesday, August 30th.  :-)
I finished up my show season at Palgrave with entries in the Regional Championships.  Bear was quite good at some things, and finished up in the top half of his classes.  Max, in his brief return to the ring at Grand Prix was a bit rusty, but had got back in the groove by Sunday for the GPF, where he scored a nice 64%.  No, he's not coming out of "retirement", but he is still qualified for the "Final" at the Royal, and we will honour our committment to the World Cup League organizers if Max finishes with enough points to be included in the final.  So our tour at Palgrave was just a refresher :-).
Here's a nice picture of "our gang" taken at our barn BBQ at Kate's house.
Have a great week.
August 14:
Ok, yes, I have been on holiday :-).  A glorious almost two weeks of holiday.  So, the website is a little out of date.  Here's the news to catch up:
We have continued to add improvements and alterations to our facility.   Early this month, we built an outdoor wash stall and put an interlock patio outside the tack room, with a roof overhang that should eliminate the problem of the snow falling off the roof of the barn right in front of the tack room door.  Pictures may be seen here.
The construction of the barn is not going so well.  The township, in it's wisdom, decided to grant the Building Inspector a vacation in August, but failed to provide a deputy, so we don't even have a building permit yet!  We do, however, have all the arrangements in place, and will break ground as soon as all the bureaucratic bull is cleared up.  Here is the first picture of the new "barn".
Kate has been riding Nantucket lately, since Gary is laid up with an injury ... here are some pictures of Kate on Tuck.   Pictures of Santana next week!
Bear has been going extremely well.  Adam captured some nice moments recently, and I have put them here.
Carlisle is growing up (daily, it seems), and I have posted some new pictures here.