Schooling photos!

Lots of photos from yesterday!

Ryan and Ruben had their fourth ride together (2nd at True Prospects) and their bond is really growing!































As with Ruben, Avebury & Ryan had ride #4 and really are getting along well. There was quite a bit of traffic in the ring and Dillon settled beautifully and really enjoyed having another school off the farm.










































Keegan had 2 lovely rides with Bounce & Deb. Hopefully, we haven't worn her out in her first week here on the farm.



















Sara was putting the finishing touches on her dressage test with Smart (aka Tasker) for Plantation this weekend. She's running in the Open Intermediate division and we will be trekking over to spectate and shoot some photos.













Wyatt is really starting to come along. Of course, I could not be more pleased as he is a highlight in my day. :)














Atreo is also really coming along nicely.

So the other day....

I blogged about what a wonderful thing it was to have 7 perfect rides in one day. Well, that was a real highlight that seemed to be as good as it could get, right? Oh I was so wrong! LOL

_8_ horses decided to step up to the plate yesterday and all of them were wonderful. Perhaps not quite as perfect as the previous 7, but 8 wonderful rides seems to make a day pretty special, don't you think?

Jump school for Ruben & Avebury!

Avebury & Ruben went over to True Prospects Farm (Phillip Dutton's barn) to have a jump school with Ryan today.

Ruben Videos - 9/12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP8wrurJCcc
9/13 Flat - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdkTlO5n11k
9/13 Jump - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTqGpnL-PK0

Ruben was a star!!!! This was his first jump schooling with Ryan and only their third ride together...





































































Avebury (Dillon) was also very, very good. He is focused intently on his jumping and really performed nicely. He is quite powerful when he comes off the ground and had a good time with his new buddy Ryan. :)

Avebury Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMD0_vzFi4g

Fair Hill with Kitty and another busy day on the farm!

So Kitty and I did our first event together today. We had a blast! She is a rock star for the jumping phases and while dressage could use a bit of improvement on the communication front, the overall result was just AWESOME. We finished tied for 3rd in our division and have 2 weeks to practice for our next competition. :)






























Congratulations are also in order for our working student Sara and her Welsh Cob cross Frank - they won their division! It was Frank's first outing and he is just 4 years old!!! Yay!



We had a new working student join us today from Peterboro, Ontario. Keegan will be with us for a few months and did a wonderful job with Bounce on her first riding experience here on the farm. Kudos go out to her longtime trainer Eddo Hoekstra for teaching her such excellent basics.



Ryan came at the end of the day and had lovely rides on both Ruben and Dillon. We head over to True Prospect Farm tomorrow (schedule permitting) with both horses for some off the farm experience.

So we're really getting into new technology

No, we're not quite up to Twitter and tweeting about all the things that happen each day on the farm...but Watermark Farm now has a Fan Page on Facebook. There was a handy widget that allowed me to add the club link onto the blog! Just look to the right and it is easy to become a Fan!

Updates will not just be restricted to our website & the blog!

Enjoy!

It's weaning time!

That time of year has arrived again! It almost makes me wonder - where did August go?

However, the foals are thriving and quickly crossing over into pest status with their mothers all of the time. So, this morning, we led the grateful ladies to their respective 'new' locations and there was not a peep from any of them!

The plaintive whinnies from the boys are another story. As their calls go unanswered, the noisiness will pass quickly and then they will settle into their new routine of solo status. Cousin Dolce (who has been on her own since July) is standing in her stall looking at them wondering what all the fuss is about!

The 2006 fillies have moved to the big barn for more intense handling before they go off for the start of their undersaddle training at Sport Horse Training, Inc. The lower barn seems quite full (we are maximum capacity), so suddenly there are lots of new chestnut faces amongst the usual occupants...a nice change as the Waldaire fillies are so very, very lovely.

So here are the first of the photos - all of the girls are by Wally and it is so awesome to be so close to starting them!!! :)

Wylie WF







Wilona WF












Waterlily WF (Millie)

Some new footage is going up!

We had a 4* eventer out yesterday and he had a ride on a few of our horses, so there will be lots of footage going up on You Tube in the next few weeks. The various webpages will also be getting some new images added.

Ryan rode Dillon (Avebury WF) first and it was like watching two long lost buddies reconnect...Dillon was so happy to go FORWARD and once they started jumping he had a horse version of a ear to ear grin. There is a small amount of video footage of the first 5 minutes of the ride here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNpXaqT9LA8

Unfortunately, I forgot to put a fresh memory card in the camera, so there are no still images. *sigh* It is always the little details, right?

Next up was Ruben WF. He is just returning to full time work, so it was a treat to watch such a tall person remind Roo that forward is the only thing to do. Roo has a super active hindleg and is going to be a lovely horse for someone in the near future. As mom was shooting away with the still camera, I remembered that I should check the images...whoops, No CF card! So she went in search of a camera and then we got lots of pictures of Roo. It was very humid, so he looks like he was working really(!) hard but in reality, it was more of a WTC type of ride.

Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNpXaqT9LA8

Oh well. We'll be doing this again in the near future, so more photos & video will follow in a few days.

It is a rare thing...and some photos

It is a really rare day that you have more than 3 horses be perfect in every possible way when you are riding. Yesterday was basically a dream come true. I had 7 to ride and each and every horse was perfect. They have all been super all week, so it is not a huge surprise that they were good...but I can't ever remember having all of them (and it is a bit out of the ordinary that I have 7 to do) and they are perfect. The day started with Tasker, then Tray, Artie, Lexy, Wyatt, Lacey and then Kitty to finish...I am still glowing. In the past, there have been days when a couple of them are really good, but like people, many horses can just get up on the wrong side of their stall, so being bossed around by a person isn't what they want to do. Yesterday certainly wasn't one of those days. I hope I can remember it for years to come as it really was a fantastic bunch of rides! The weather was perfect too, so this has been a super week!



On another front (and this is the more interesting tidbit), I am loving getting to jump more often. And the jumps are getting a bit bigger! My relationship with Kitty has reached a really good point and we really are having a blast together. :)









Sally is a fantastic instructor and Kitty is really my type of horse over fences, so today was a real blast! We have just a few more days until we get to romp around Fair Hill and I began to scheme with Sally about what event we should tackle after Flora Lea!






















Karin had another great lesson with Sally on Addie, so it has been a super week all around!

So no photos with this one...

Today was the first day we were without the working students...so a very sad but busy day. Of course, we wish Sara and Melissa the best back at school and look forward to having Sara fit some riding time in around her classes and Melissa on the occasional weekend to visit her buddy Artie.

All the sad bits aside - it was a really awesome day! The weather was perfect!!! A bit chilly first thing in the morning (needed a sweatshirt) and then the sun broke through the clouds and it got up to the mid-70's....blissful riding weather.

Perhaps the horses knew it was an extra special day too? As it is a Monday, it was day for stretching exercises and checking their obedience to the unilateral aids. Tray was the first up and just lovely - big, round gaits and lots of push from behind. Artie was next up and just a peach to ride. Lexy was third on the list due to the fact Wyatt was busy taking a nap...silly boy. In any case, she was really a treat and is quite supple for her size. As Wyatt had begrudgingly gotten up from his nap, he was the fourth horse (and I will admit) the highlight of the day. His canter is only getting better and for all the power in his trot, it is really getting soft and elastic... *sigh* Kitty was #5 and while she would have rather been out on Cross Country (again), she was a star also. Lacy was my last ride of the day and while it has been quite a while since I rode her, she is developing into one of the more straight forward horses I've ever had the pleasure of riding. There is no agenda, her balance is well established and for all she is 17 hands, you don't feel like you are on a BIG horse.

So for a tally on today, that is 2 Adamant offspring, 1 Again and Again, 1 Waldaire and a Weltmeyer....not too shabby for a Monday with ideal weather. :)