"Ears" to you........

Is she cute or what??  This young doe came for a little visit today.  At first she was pretty timid..........

but then  her curiosity got the better of her, and she came right up to me.........

She even let me touch her..........

She seems to think she's one of the cows, and there was no mom around anywhere. 

When the cows moved off, so did she.  I hope she comes back tomorrow!

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!