Catching up!

A big shout out of Thank You! to the Brandywine Driving Association for organizing such a nice group for Anne's Long Lining Clinic yesterday! So many nice horses and ponies and people! It was a treat to share what we know and make new friends!

If you enjoyed your long lining session with Anne or would like to bring a horse to learn how to long line, please contact Anne. Long Lining Lessons are $50. 

On the catch up list, videos are still be added of some of our Sales Horses. If you are looking for new footage of a particular horse and can not find it, please email one of us and let us know who you would like to see. 

Call to action!

It's no secret that our farm has been around for a long time. Mom and Dad have been in the horse business since the dark ages. Yeah, really - they have! You know - pre cell phone, pre iPad, pre Internet and Facebook, or when video cameras sat on your shoulder and weighed 40 pounds.

With all of that in mind, I went after getting a large fan base for our Facebook page with determination and gusto! Now Facebook is changing their policy and distribution of information and we have fans dropping out like stones tossed in the Muddy Run. :( So if you have "Liked" the farm on Facebook, please like, comment or share a post or two in the coming days. Otherwise (as per a FB notification), the news, photos and videos from our farm will be appearing less and less frequently on your news feed!

We have several videos uploading to Youtube at the moment - but it you can't wait that long, they are posted on my page (if you're a friend, you can see them) and being loaded to the farm page as well.

Spring is struggling to really bust out here in our little corner of paradise! But yesterday I deemed the outdoor as useable and opened the drains the rest of the way! Check out FB for updated daylight images in a few hours! We might be riding outside today! :)

Some reflections at the start of March

So March is here. Finally. Frigid February can just be filed away and forgotten, I think. It was brutal but we have survived for the most part.

Now that we've talked about the weather that's behind us, you might be wondering what has me inside the house typing away - well, you guessed it - it's some more bad weather! Ah well, this too shall pass! It will be warm and I'll complain about the bugs soon enough!

A balmy 12*

In a spurt of "why not!" a few weeks ago, I got the itch to do some local schooling shows and get some mileage in the new tests (see below for links). So I had the privilege of showing Daylily WF (aka Stella) yesterday for Mom. Big thanks to the awesome crew up at Straight Forward Dressage for putting on such an organized and friendly competition! Stella was a rockstar and it will be fun to have her in the show string this year! She got a 65 in First Level 2 and 64 in First Level 3 with some green horse bobbles. She is also a real credit to her trainer (Mom) and her ancestors - a responsible and obedient show horse from the moment she stepped off the trailer! Proven genetics at work - lots of good upper level horses with a strong desire to do what is asked of them! What a treat it is to bring another one of our horses out and have them settle in and do their job with no drama! Love the WF horses!

That also brings up another important detail - there are new USDF/USEF tests! You can find them HERE and the FEI test are HERE. You can also download the app and have them on your phone, so they are handy when you are in the ring training too.

My training tips of the week:

1. Have a sense of humor in all your rides. The horses are just as tired of the weather as you are! ;)
2. Laughter makes everything better. When in doubt - giggle!
3. It is a great time of year to practice riding figures and exercises out of the tests. Even if it is just at the walk! Ride the patterns and get comfortable with the order of the movements.

~Happy Riding!~

**New* New* New* Lots of New Prospects!**

Big opportunities ahead! 

***New Positions Available!!***

- 2 stall openings available March 1st for Full Board ($1150 each, includes Light Training package)

- 1 Light Training & 1 Full Training Package with Ellie 

- 3 Light Training Packages with Anne 

- 2 Working Student Positions available March 1st - offsite housing only! Please send resume to info@watermark-farm.net and read this article first. 

- 1 Groom Position available. Please contact Ellie@watermark-farm.net for full details. 

Link to full description of Services Offered. 

Congratulations!

A big shout out of CONGRATULATIONS to Susan Sisco and Jedi G. on Wilona WF winning the Hack today and was Hopeful Hunter Champion at Progressive Show Jumping in Aiken, SC.

Wilona WF
(Waldaire - Adamant - Volturno)

1/2 Price Lessons this weekend!

With Anne!!!

That's right! You can work with a FEI trainer with boatloads of experience of sitting at "C" for just...

Private $50
Semi Private $32.50
Group of 3 or more $25 per person
On a schoolmaster $62.50 (private) $45 (semi) $32.50 (group of 3)

Contact Anne@watermark-farm.net to schedule your lesson!

YIKES! There is trouble afoot!!!

Ok, from time to time, I do a post that is more from my heart than a strictly news/event/result/brag type of thing. This would be one of those, so if that isn’t of interest, please just continue on with your perusing of blogs or other media sources...

We are offering a few of our horses at drastically reduced prices. This is from no fault of their own - merely buyers who committed to purchasing “as soon as funds were available after January 1st” and have broken off contact with us. Which is just poor manners - but I digress. We need to reduce inventory - especially those horses who prefer to jump over fences rather than stay inside a 20x60m arena full time. These are very nice, talented, athletic animals who do not want to do dressage 365 days a year. They are wasted in a dressage stable*** but have good fundamentals and a solid beginning of over fences training at a minimum. 

So, gather your ethics and contact Anne Rawle (anne@watermark-farm.net) or on her cell (484) 880-0779 and start a dialogue about which horse might suit your hunter, jumper or eventing needs. Further information, show results, etc available by request as they are not all young horses with no records. 

***

For the record, I can not jump due to a car accident that happened in 2010. I had had some vague hopes that things would get better with time and carefully conditioning - but it is not. Hence the shift in 2011 away from eventing, fox hunting, show the babies, etc - it’s not because I am chicken (which I have also heard through the gossip mill) but because I can not tolerate the pain that comes from my body weight being on both feet on the landing of a jump or rambunctious green bean hopping around. So it’s not for a lack of appreciation of a good jumping creature - I just am not able to do that anymore and walk after dismounting. So why keep squandering talented horses? The time to find them new riders and owners is NOW. 

We have bred enough over fences talent and scope so as to have excellent uphill canters and powerful hindquarters in our horses for one tempi changes, full pirouettes, piaffe and passage - which sometimes manifests in a horse that prefers to jump for a lifestyle vs. just doing flat work. It makes them happy and relaxed...so we are trying to honor their preferences and suitability as riding stock by finding matching training situations.

Brrrrrr! Baby it's cold out there!

Due to sub-freezing temperatures, all lessons are postponed until tomorrow. Please contact Ellie or Anne to reschedule.

As an early heads up - Monday is looking equally unpleasant, so we will shuffle the week's lessons to be sure everyone gets their riding time in!

In the meantime THINK SPRING! smile emoticon

 

It's time for our "Share the Love" Sales Event! Buy now and SAVE!!

Just in time for Valentine’s Day!
It’s time to stock up during our “Share the Love Event”! January 26th-February 13th
Over the years, we've loved every minute of having offspring by these stallions (and their sires) to train, compete and love. It is time to reduce our in-stock inventory of frozen semen and 'share the love' of a WF sired horse with more riders!

Buy 2 Doses, Get 1 Free
Adamant - $900 (3 doses total per customer/limited quantity available)
Again and Again - $900 (3 doses total per customer/limited quantity available)
Avebury WF - $600 (3 doses total)
Dressage Royal - $1700 (3 doses total)
Showtime WF - $400 (3 doses total)
Waldaire - $800 (3 doses total)
Wizard WF - $600 (3 doses total)

Our limited LFG contracts are available on Buy One Contract, get 50% off the Second contract. Restrictions apply, please see the website -www.watermark-farm.net/stallions.html for all contracts and details.

Heads up on our upcoming Will You Be My Valentine? Contest! Entries open in just 1 week!