|
Well, the Spruce Hollow Newsletter “Committee”...haha ..is back from sabbatical. Can you believe “they” have not taken the time to put together a Newsletter since last summer?!? What kind of “Committee” can get away with that anyway?!? SO much has happened since last summer that you might as well pour yourself a cup of tea, put your feet up by the fire and relax and enjoy the read.
Show Season 2008 was a big success for all horse/rider combinations at Spruce Hollow and just this weekend we await the GMEC Banquet which was rescheduled for January 24/09 due to inclement weather in November. While we may not know what awards...if any...... will be coming back to our Barn, we do know that fun was had by all; everyone learned new things and Spruce Hollow Ville is the place to be at Supper time!
There are many new faces at Spruce Hollow this winter.. both human and horse so let’s start at the beginning and see if we can be sure that we don’t miss anyone! New to the Barn last summer was Patricia...yes, she’s the human.. and Shadow along with her little filly Abbie. Shadow and Abbie are Paints and it has been great watching Abbie grow from the 3 week old Baby that came in August to the 5 month old Big Girl she is now.
Spruce Hollow Fall Roundup was a great success again this year with over 70 horse/rider combinations participating. While we made every effort to eliminate the need for the Ambulance, Chelsea managed to fall off Lincoln in the Sit a Buck class and was hauled away by the EMT’s. She was checked out but in the end nothing was broken... with the exception of her relationship with her Mother, Cindy who had trained diligently for the Jack Benny Class and ended up missing it. Such a good Mother to give up her show debut to accompany her daughter in the ambulance!! At Spruce Hollow the horses might come first... but the kids are a close second!!!
Of course Fall at Spruce Hollow meant back to School for the kids but this Fall also saw some horses go to their own homes. Ken and Terri took Maple and Roxie to their new barn at home; which, by the way, was supposed to be done a couple of years ago. If you look back a Newsletter or two you’ll see that Ken and Terri brought Maple and Pixie to Spruce Hollow for a “couple of months”, while they built their barn. Two years later it was sad to see them go but the good news was that Pixie stayed behind and Ken and Terri still came to visit!! Myrna took Nash home for his Winter layoff just after the show but we haven’t let her enjoy her time off much. We’ve convinced the self declared “fine weather rider” to come back no later than March 1/09!
In early October Big Sam brought Scout home from Fredericton to Spruce Hollow and in the same trip Janet brought her One Hot Krymsun filly, Charly, home. Snap sort of thought that having a little sister might give him some down time.. but no... he’s still working, getting ready for the ’09 Season.....poor Snap... he now spends his days looking across the hall at the filly willing her to grow quickly so Janet can ride her and allow him to fill his days with pasture turnout and “bed rest complete with the remote control”.
 November was when we welcomed Claudia Nason to Spruce Hollow. Claudia came by one day looking to see what might be for sale. She was looking for something to trail ride... something she could game with and maybe try her hand at Cattle Penning. Knowing all of this, Shandi recommended one of her Quarter Horse yearlings, Eddie. Now Claudia was really looking for something at least partially trained, something she could start to ride right away.. until she actually met Eddie. Suffice it to say that it was love at first sight. Claudia was even supposed to go look at another horse after Eddie but called and canceled. The bay roan gelding became hers and she is now busy this winter and you’ll find her all bundled up against the cold in the indoor lunging the almost 2 yr old preparing him, with some help from Shandi, to get him started in March. Welcome Claudia! We are always pleased when a Spruce Hollow horse gets sold to someone who keeps him/her at the Barn. Eddie’s been there since he was just a 4 month old stud colt and it would be really hard to see him go somewhere else!
In November, we also hosted our second Krista Downey Clinic. Krista specializes... well at least to us she does... in helping riders with their equitation and improving horse and rider communication. This adds real value to the riders who compete in Horsemanship and Western Riding but it helps all of us improve in whatever discipline we choose. It was a long day for Krista who taught from about 9:00am to 7:00pm but she never lost sight of her goals and kept her focus from the first lesson of the day to the last one in the evening.
November was also the month when Spruce Hollow made it’s first real appearance at the MQHA banquet in Amherst. Congratulations to Taylor Arsenault and her Mare Gracie for being Reserve Champions in the Walk/Trot Division and to Jessica Meisner and her big gelding William for their work in being Reserve Champion Novice Youth Hunter Under Saddle. Shandi also rode the big horse to Champion Junior Horse in Hunter Under Saddle. Janet Stevens and the Big Yellow Horse (aka Snap) won a Championship in Novice Amateur Showmanship, were Reserve Champions in Western Horsemanship and Equitation and were High Point All Around in the Novice Amateur division of the MQHA. Thanks to Shandi for taking the Big Yellow Horse in Senior Western Pleasure and earning him a Reserve Championship in that division as well.
 Hey! Did you go to the Moncton Santa Claus Parade in November? The beautiful Belgian Team that pulled the XL96 float with Terri and Ang were none other than Spruce Hollow’s very own Mike and Pat! Jeremy and the Team brought the float to a first place finish in their category in the parade. The success of the cool evening parade came after a very successful summer of pulls for the Belgian Team. Congratulations to Jeremy and “the boys”.... They represent Spruce Hollow well when they leave the farm but they are also a fixture at the farm because we so appreciate looking out in the pastures and seeing the three of them out there. They are huge and beautiful and kind and Spruce Hollow wouldn’t be the same without them.
While for most people December symbolizes Christmas... and really it does to all of us at Spruce Hollow too.... but this particular December saw Kate and Cindy Fitzsimmons come back to the barn with a beautiful black filly named Ellie. Ellie is a half sister to Louie and came from Krista and Dean Shipley in Amherst. It’s great to see them back at the Barn and to see them working the young filly. Also in December, and for the 4th Christmas in a row someone’s dreams came true when they received a horse from the guy in the red suit. Zaheera Deanth was surprised to come out one day and see the cutest Grey Welsh Cob, Beauty, standing in a stall... a gift from her husband Kevin.
New to the Barn in January is Price... a rather tall bay gelding owned by Casandra Bart; a 16 year old girl who came to us from Ammon Stables. There are also a couple of new riders at the Barn who are leasing some of Spruce Hollow’s finest. Cara is leasing William because Jessica is off to UNB in Fredericton and Morgan is leasing Destiny. Michelle and Kyla are leasing Casino and Kyla has become Shandi’s right hand chore girl a few mornings a week. Oh yeah... Kyla is 4 years old...and yes... she has the horse bug bad!
Christmas season has come and gone and we managed to ring in a Happy New Year! Hope you did too! Construction of the addition to the Barn is well underway and we should see horses inhabiting the new stalls within a couple of weeks. We are spoiled to death now because we no longer have to walk outside to get to the arena. The chore folks are enjoying the larger sawdust room and I hear that the new feed room is a hit as well. Speaking of chore folks, if you’re looking for a part time job with horses please give Shandi a call or send her an email. With 37 Equine mouths to feed and clean out 24/7 there is never a shortage of work to do!
Gail and Willie have sent the Spruce Hollow Show Committee off to a weekend retreat at an undisclosed location. They haven’t been seen or heard from for several hours but we take comfort in the fact that they are all adults and will look out for each other... all getting home safely and in time to get to work on Monday morning! Thank you Gail and Willie from the Show Committee!!
We’re hoping that the current snap of cold weather will blow off soon and we can get back to some serious riding. I shouldn’t make it sound like we’ve been off for weeks... it’s only been a couple of days but it doesn’t seem to take long to be missing it! There’s lots to do ..especially for Mikayla who has started to lease Cooper... the 3 year old gelding that Shandi started last year. She is enjoying him very much and you can expect to see them next year at some MQHA shows in the Walk/Trot classes. Everyone in the Barn is making plans for Show Season ’09 but at this point we’re not ready to put those plans in print. There is the GMEC show circuit, the NBEA shows, the Appaloosa Breed Circuit and the MQHA along with the Maine Quarter Horse circuit, Regionals and the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio. It is keeping Shandi busy discussing plans and helping all the horse/rider combinations get ready for whichever circuit or combination they decide to strut their stuff in. All the horses are looking good. The winter feed schedule at Spruce Hollow agrees with all of them... from the young fillies to the aged geldings and mares... everyone is taking winter in stride and I’m sure when the time comes to start getting serious about shedding the heavy winter coats all the horses will gleam like the summer sun once again.
So Happy New Year to all our readers, supporters, parents and those of you who have not yet taken the drive down the Lutes Road. Please monitor the website, especially the Events tab on the Home Page of www.SpruceHollow.ca. Plans have started for our Annual Derek Hanscome Clinic in April and I’m sure Krista Downey will be back once more before Show Season. If you are interested in participating in our Clinics please call Shandi and she’ll put your name on the list. But don’t wait until you have a reason to come and see us as anyone is welcome to come and see our furry friends at any time. You’ll probably even get a tour of the new addition to the Barn...The committee has heard rumors that the new section will be called “Snap Alley”.... I’m not sure... but you never know..... You’ll have to come and see it to believe it!!
|
