March 19, 2001:
There is LOTS of news since my last update!
Many congratulations going out to Jeff and Amanda on the impending arrival of their first child.  Amanda managed to keep this a secret for QUITE a while, but we are all gearing up to become "aunties" in july.
Costa Rica was extremely nice.  The weather was perfect, the resort was fabulous, and ADAM even rode a horse!  The best parts were feeding the squirrels, being warm, the birds, walking on the beach, Carlos diving at the waterfall and that guy with the tattoos.  I'd go back.  The people were very friendly, it's a very beautiful country, and the wildlife is pretty spectacular.
Kate and Ryn took care of the homestead while we were gone and did a great job - everything was ship-shape when we got home.   The only sad thing was that while we were away, our old Corgi "Madigan" became quite feeble, and Kate and Ryn made the decision to have him euthanized.  We had sort of expected this, as Maddie was nearly 16 years old.  He was a great dog:

maddie.jpg (14544 bytes)

Madigan, Jan. 2001
We will be hosting Christilot Boylen again April 1 & 2 when she returns to Canada to work with the FEI riders and the Developing Horses.  Sessions at Porcupine Hill will take place Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.  Sessions at Franklands will take place Sunday morning and Monday afternoon.  Auditors are welcome at both venues.
I will riding Taliesan and I will also present a young mare for her owner.  This new mare is a wonderful young Canadian bred Hannoverian with fantastic movement and a tremendous attitude. I am hoping that I will get the opportunity to bring "Mickey" out to a few shows, so if you don't see her in April, look for us at the may show at York!  Tali is going extremely well also, and I very excited about riding and showing these two extraordinary horses ths year.
I hate to tell tell you all that I QUIT SMOKING!   I am feeling rather smugly proud of myself.  And!  I haven't chewed anyone's head off (recently).
Thank you SO MUCH to my wonderful clients and boarders who got together and gave me a wonderful Christmas present: some additional mirrors for the arena! They are HERE!  They will be installed before the clinic.  We were able to get enough to widen the mirrors at the end of each long wall, as well as put in 3 mirrors on centre line!
The Schedule is updated (Thanks Kleine :-) ).
You will see that the schedule includes something called a Bagfest.   This is a recently coined term that describes the opportunity for friends to get together and see if they can ride their way out of a wet paper bag.  Several friends are making their way to my stable on or around All Fool's Eve (appropriate date, eh?) for this purpose.  We will ride and critique and video and eat and drink ... should be LOTS of fun.  Report at 11. 
Have a great week!
February 12, 2001:
My apologies for the lack of up to date information on this page lately.  Aside for the fact that not much has been happening, as we all attempt to cope with a Canadian winter, I have been pretty busy with Dressage Canada work, and some personal business.  But I'm happy to have the opportunity to update you now.
All the boarders are doing pretty well, except for Raymonde, who cracked her knee cap and has been grounded for the last two weeks (she's OK, but has to stay off it for a few more weeks!).  But this has given Christel a chance to ride Sombre a bit, which has been fun and interesting for Christel, as Plato has been off with an allergy for a few days. Joanne and "Naughty" are doing extremely well, and showed some much improved work this past weekend, with big, expressive extentions and good collection.  Dana-Mae and Levis are making huge imprevements almost daily, and hope to enter some competitions in the summer.   Louisa is riding again, and she and Waverley are doing some valuable work on the basics at the moment as they both get fit.  Sam and Amanda are focussing on suppling exercises and a little bit of work towards the Basic 3/4 tests in the summer.  Kate and Santana are starting to get some real, solid work lately.  Robyn and Kirby are playing with a few baby lateral steps and concentrating on obedience.  Robyn is also riding Kayleigh a few times each week and is doing a wonderful job with this lovely mare.  Lynda and Gulliver were showing off some piaffe steps yesterday.  Sally has been riding Max, keeping him fit and learning alot from him in the process.  Max is also giving some lessons to a few other people, and enjoying his retirement.  Bear and I are working in the snaffle towards improved collection, self-carriage and engagement.  Talisan is great, and is now doing some great transitions, a bit of lengthening and some really good lateral work.  We are all looking forward to seeing Christie again towards the end of March.
My other students are also working very hard towards the 2001 show season, and I have to particularly thank the group at Phantom for being such good students.  Carolyn and her Selle-Francais mare Lauren are progressing beautifully, Sandra and Falcon are coming ahead each time I am there, and Renee and Casey are both learning to focus and concentrate!  It's great fun teaching there.
I had a cool opportunity on January 21 to work with a group of Pony Club athletes on developing their freestyles.  We met at Kemptville College and spent an energetic afternoon looking at videos and finding musical solutions that matched horse and rider.  I will be back with this group in Kingston on February 18th.
I will be heading out for a week's holidays on March 1st - this year Adam and I are going to Costa Rica for our holiday in the sun.  Pictures will be featured on Adam's website.
Hope you have a great week. 
January 8, 2001:
Hope everyone had a great holiday!  We had a very busy time, but it was good to see many friends and family over the Christmas break.  We are back on schedule now, working hard towards a successful show season in 2001.  Wishing you the very best for the new year!
Congratulations to Judy L., from Lansing, Michigan on her purchase of Nantucket.  I hope you have many great rides with "Tuck", and hopefully we will see you at some shows in Detroit or Lansing!
We have 2 spaces available at the barn now for board and training, long or short term.  Let me know if you are interested.
Here is the promised picture of Kate's new puppy "Lamont" (just for you Matthew!).   He's pretty cute - not like a Corgi, of course, but pretty cute.
Have a great week!