A very successful, and fun day...........

.................. was enjoyed  by all  on Saturday, Oct 16th at our 2nd Pumpkins and Ponies Fundraising event!

Saddle Pals Therapeutic Riding program and Blue Fountain Farm teamed up to put this event on to raise funds for the students of the program. People showed up from everywhere to support us and enjoy the day with us! 

The weather gods were with us, as we had a marvelous day for our event, and it rained the following day.  We started our day  out with a flag presentation by the American Legion Color Guard.........

......and then the classes for the Therapeutic riders started.  The riders, and their volunteer helpers, all did a great job!

The participants all seemed to have a great time.........

and they enjoyed the medals they won, as well as the support of the crowds!

It's great to see the rapport that develops between the students, the horses, and the volunteers - it really is a team effort, and everyone did their best!

We had several demos presented - including help from the Empire Carriage Co to remove the trail obstacles from the arena with their great pulling team of a Percheron and a mule.........

as well as a presentation by Leslie Ann Webb of her PMU horses, Sam and Oscar............ (Sam, the horse she is riding, is about 18.2 Hands!!)........

We were also privileged to have Joe Kasza, dressed in his native Hungarian attire .......

and his beautiful Lipizzan team, show us how the cone obstacles are driven in a combined driving competition...............

Rock 'n Horse Ranch showed off their talented minis.........

and Ricky Nicolazzi - our neighbor from across the street - wowed everyone with his reining demo.............

Of course, one of my favorite parts of this event is the costumes, worn by all - younger, older, human, equine - even canine.................

There was a live auction of "Painted Ponies" (small statues painted by the Saddle Pals students),  a great Silent Auction with many wonderful items donated, as well as a huge raffle.  A lot of  time and effort went into putting this event on, and thanks are due to everyone who had a part in this busy, and heart-warming  day - from all the people who donated items for the auctions and raffles, the people who donated money to the cause, the volunteers who come out every week to help the students and their horses, the staff and helpers at BFF for all work getting the facilities ready for this day, and mostly to the few behind the scenes people who really did the lion's share of the work. 

For anyone who might be interested in finding out more about Saddle Pals, or who might want to volunteer their time to helping such a worthy cause, you can contact UCP , or the director of our Grass Valley program, Jane de'Zell for more information.  I took quite a few photos during the day, and they can all be seen at my photo site.  

Halloween is still around the corner - so..........BEWARE!!  Ever get that feeling that someone is watching you?

Happy Halloween!!

   

Finally.....News (or Olds?) from our October Dressage Show!

OK, you're wondering why I have a horse and rider in Western attire to start this post about our dressage show at the beginning of October??  Well, if you happened to read a few posts ago, we offered, for the first time, Western Dressage classes (also called Cowboy Dressage) at our schooling show on October 3rd.  The whole show was a great success, and the Western classes were an added highlight to that successful day.  We had more entries, both English and Western, than we could handle for the day, so I would say that we're probably looking at holding 2 shows in the spring - one for English and one for Western!

Our riders all turned out in their finest, and their hours of practice and study showed!

A pat on the neck for a job well done!

 A great halt at "A"............

First time with a new partner......

It was great to see our Western entrants on forward moving horses - horses who carried their heads above their withers, and who went well with a soft contact on their mouths.   

I suppose a job well done deserves a little reward?!

And, that pesky itch needs to be scratched.............

I have uploaded to my photo web site images from this event, so I hope you have time to peruse some of them - especially if you were an entrant in the show.  I couldn't "shoot" everyone, but I did get a lot of shots that day.

I also want to thank all the wonderful volunteers who offered their time to help put this event on - I couldn't have done it with out you - especially our great manager, Carter Chess!  Our judge, Alexis Katz, did a fabulous job, was very happy to take on the new "challenge" of the Western classes, and was a cheerful presence throughout a loooong day. 

Thank you to all of you!!

I would like to extend my best wishes for a speedy recovery to Eitan Beth Halachmy, who is recovering from a medical issue suffered at the World Equestrian Games last month, and who was the originator of "Cowboy Dressage".  To see a heartwarming video of Eitan and Debbie (with whom I was in contact about Cowboy Dressage before our show), click here .

In closing, it seems that the Western horses decided that it was way too much work to do this dressage thing, but they were good sports, and made their moms very happy - and I'm sure they'll enjoy doing it again in the spring!

More Pumpkins and Ponies.......

I was down at the barn a quite a bit today (my day off) going over all the preparations with Joanie and Jane of Saddle Pals for our big weekend coming up, and all I can say is - WOW!  There's a lot to do to get ready for The Saddle Pals Fundraising event, (this Saturday, Oct 16th) and the usual suspects are pitching in and really doing a lot of work.  We're getting the facilities ready, and the volunteers from Saddle Pals have been organizing the upcoming day, from figuring out where all the extra horses are going to go, to getting the riders ready for their big day, to finalizing the items that have been donated for the silent auction and raffles.  Again, I have to say..... WOW!  I was able to view a couple of the great auction items today, and took a couple of snap shots of them.  The first is a very special watercolor and chalk original of our own Blue Fountain Farm Courtyard, done by Martha Payne........

I have to say, it's a real honor to have someone with Martha's obvious talent create such a lovely image of our barnyard!

We also have a wonderful piece of garden art from Deborah Bridge of Sacred Stone.........looks pretty good right here in my own courtyard - hmmmmmmmmm??

And, now for a bit of shameless self promotion ....... several weeks ago, along with the Saddle Pals students and several other adults, (including my friend artist Leslie Ann Webb) I was given a small statue of a pony to paint as part of the "Painted Ponies" project.  These ponies are to be auctioned off on Saturday.   All of the  Saddle Pals students have already painted their ponies (I was lucky enough to get a preview of their work today) as have the other adults.  But me?  Nooooooooo!  As per normal, just as I did in high school, I've waited until the eleventh hour to paint my statue.  But, I finally got it done tonight!  I decided to paint my dear, departed "Jozsef", and  decoupage some of his kids on him.  I then braided a "breast collar" with some of the hairs taken from his tail before he was buried.  Here are a couple of images of the finished product........ 

    

  

Remember, the entire proceeds from the sale of all of these items, the art, the ponies, the other wonderful items donated by businesses and individuals all over the county, goes directly to the Saddle Pals Therapeutic Riding Program, so come out and bid on some of the wide range of items offered!

P.S. - I know many of you are waiting for news of the recent dressage show, and for the photos that I took that day to be put up on my photo web site, and it will happen soon.  But, I had a malfunction with my Lightroom program this week, and lost over 4 hours worth of segregating and selecting images out of the 1300 shots I took that day.  The images are still on my hard drive, but all the work I did trying to organize them was lost, so I need to start all over again.  I promise it will get done as soon as our big event this weekend is done.  In the meantime, set your calendars to be at Blue Fountain Farm on this Saturday, the 16th, for a very special day! 

Pumpkins and Ponies Fundraiser!!

 We host a lot of events here at Blue Fountain Farm, but I have to say that this is by far the most important event of the year - our 2nd Annual Saddle Pals Therapeutic Riding Program Fundraiser - "Pumpkins and Ponies" - Saturday October 16th!

Last year was a great success, especially considering it was the first time that Saddle Pals and BFF  had organized such a huge undertaking, and we're sure that this year will be even better!  We are planning on record breaking crowds showing up to support this worthy program (whose State Funding has been cut) and to help the riders who so benefit from their time with these special horses and volunteers.

There will be classes for the Saddle Pals members, as well as costume contests open to outside horses and riders.  We will also be having special exhibitions between the classes, to include world class riders and drivers, such as Ricky Nicolazzi on his champion reining horse (showing us the fabulous slides and spins performed in Reining competition), and Joe Kasza with his gorgeous matched team of Lipizzans driving an intricate obstacle course such as would be done in Combined Driving competition. 

There will be live music, plenty of food and beverages, and our BFF Farmer's Market will be open as well.  

   

It's always fun for me to see the interaction between the Saddle Pals riders, the horses and the volunteers, since they regularly meet here at BFF on Mondays, which is my day off.  I don't find much time to visit with them, so   spending this fun-filled day with them is a treat for me.  It will be fun to see Rhea and Beaver once again pulled out of mothballs to participate in this event.  Rhea is my 36 yr old Lipizzan mare and her "Husband" Lil' Beaver is a 39ish yr old POA, and they have been retired from active duty for many years.  They are inseparable, (I did my first post in this blog on them - see April's blog).  I know they had a great time getting all the attention they got last year when they came out of retirement to help out. Beav is in the first photo of this post, and Rhea is showing how tired she is in the photo above.

Even the adults have a great time, as witnessed below........

And it's a great place for lil cowboys to strut their stuff as well.....

I think this Pirate Pony's smile says it all..........

By far the most important way that YOU can help is to come out for a fun day and support the Silent Auction and Raffle portion of this event.   Last year fabulous items were donated by many individuals and businesses, and I hear the list of offerings for this year is awesome - actually there's a rumor it's even better than last year!  I am donating a new photo image on canvas - 2' X 3' - which has never before been seen........ 

You can click here to open a flyer which has the directions to Blue Fountain Farm, the start time, the classes, and more info  that will be of help to you in making us your destination on Saturday the 16th for a fun day for a worthy cause.  Help us support Saddle Pals Therapeutic Riding Program!    THANKS!!

Bye 

See you there!!!!!