Here are the totals to date for our Frostbite Series. One more show to go on March 29th!
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We've had a busy month of lessons, clinics and other fun activities, starting with lessons with our friend, Melissa Hunsberger. Riders navigated challenging grids and practiced balance and straightness, and all came away with new skills and improved riing.  Grids set up for lessons with Melissa. Jenn Hoffman of Autumn Charm Sport Horses joined us for another long-lining session on February 15th. The horses are really enjoying their work with Jenn, and it's been fun to see their progress from month to month. She will be back for another session on Friday, March 8th, and then again on Friday, April 5th. That same evening, we had our third Pizza & Movie Night at the barn, this time enjoying a screening of Dreamer. Our next Pizza & Movie Night will be on March 15th, and we'll be setting up a Facebook poll to determine what movie we'll be watching.  Little girls and kitties enjoyed the movies. On Presidents' Day, we held our second Riding Academy session of the year, and after a barn-wide scavenger hunt, we had a great time negotiating obstacle courses while riding bareback. We had a nice mix of beginner and experienced riders, and they all came away with newfound confidence.
Last Friday we held our second Frostbite Fun Show of our series, and we had two divisions of riders giving the games their all. This time, we started with Scramble, then the Magazine Race, Circular Scurry, Reverse Keyhole and finished with the Sack Race. Chandra hopped to the win, showing the youngsters how it's done! We had a tie for the high-point rider of the day, and our sudden-death game of Around the World. Teagan edged out Erin and took away the prize. All of the riders deserve recognition for being such great sports, cheering for the other riders and helping one another throughout the event. We wrapped up the month with a two-day clinic with Kim Walnes. Almost every participant was new to lessons with Kim, and they came away thrilled with all of the new information they received. We hope to set up another clinic with Kim in March, and we're looking at the weekend of March 16th and 17th. If you're interested in riding, please get in touch with Cindy for details.
 Phoebe and Scarlett looked lovely. The pony loved having help from Kim! Last Friday, we snuggled in for our second Pizza and Movie Night at the barn. We took a vote on what to watch, and "Wild Hearts Can't be Broken" was the winner. We ordered a sound bar for the TV, so for our next Movie Night on February 15th, we should have improved acoustics! Here's a photo of our intrepid gang of horse movie enthusiasts:  L to R: Anna, Sierra, Erin, Bea, Zoe, Elise, Kinsey, Tilda The following Monday, it was super cold, but we bundled up and held our Martin Luther King Day Riding Academy and had fun doing obstacle courses on horseback...bareback! Riders learned about using their leg and hand aids to navigate various challenges, and when we were finished, we warmed up with hot chocolate in the tack room. We also had a scavenger hunt and learned how to use the weight and height tape for measuring the ponies. Our next Riding Academy session is set for Presidents' Day, February 18th. Registration information is on the Events Page of our website, and a deposit is required to reserve your space. (Below see Zoe and Cheer and Teagan and Fynn trotting cavaletti bareback.) Friday evening we held our first Frostbite Fun Show of the season. The temperatures were not terrible brutal, but the competition was ferocious! Nine riders competed in five different games, including some new ones like Scramble, Book & Hook and Reverse Keyhole. The tried and true Circular Scurry and Ride & Run were in the mix as well. Here are the points after the first show. Teagan was high-point rider for January...congratulations, Teagan! (If you have difficulty viewing the document, please select web view vs. mobile view.) On Sunday, we attended our first away show of the year, traveling to Molasses Creek Farm for the Cross Road Winter Hunter Show. Anna and Brownie were Pleasure Champions and won one of her Equitation over fences classes. Sierra and Shorty were Pleasure Reserve Champions, and won Equitation on the flat and placed seventh in the Medal class. Erin and Truffles won lots of ribbons in both Pleasure and Equitation and were very happy with their first outing. Although our ponies were a little wild and wooly looking, we were very happy with their behavior and with the girls' riding. Here is a video of Anna and Brownie's winning ride in the Equitation division:  Erin and Truffles, Cindy, Anna and Brownie, Sierra and Shorty PC: Patrick Long Next up on our agenda is a Long-Lining Clinic with Jenn Hoffman this coming Friday, followed by a clinic with event rider Melissa Hunsberger the following Friday. Visit us on Facebook, and check our Events page regularly to stay up to date with what's happening at Harvest View!
We welcomed in the new year with a long-lining clinic with Jennifer Hoffman of Autumn Charm Sporthorses in York County. Jenn has been working with our horses for the past few months, and we are seeing nice improvements in their way of going...it feels good! Here is a video of her working with Delight last Friday:
We also have our annual Martin Luther King Riding Academy scheduled for Monday, January 21st. Information and registration forms are available on our Events page.  Riding Academy is fun for one and all! Lots of fall fun stuff is happening at Harvest View. This past weekend, we hosted our annual Halloween Fun Show and Costume class, and as always, the gang went above and beyond in the creativity department. Take a look at the great costumes.
We've had some outings to some new-to-us horse shows, the first one being a jumper show at EZGO Stables. We liked it so much that we're going back for an event derby this weekend. We also did jumpers at Windswept Stables in Oley, and we'll definitely add them to our list of must-go-to shows.
Well, technically, our 17th anniversary was yesterday, but December 1st marked our first full day of owning and operating Harvest View Stables, known at the time as Barkay Stables. It's been an adventure, and we've loved meeting so many wonderful people and horses along the way. Little Kish, a discarded Amish cart horse, moved in two weeks before we did. Rescued from slaughter, Kish became one of our most beloved lesson horses, learning to jump, and participating in shows, paper chases (his favorite) and even fox hunting and eventing.
Buccaneer joined us shortly after we got settled. A retired fox hunter, Buck is the horse who taught me to ride again after years away from the sport. We showed, did paper chases and fox hunted, and he was truly my first heart horse. He was a huge personality in the barn, and I miss him every day.
Since that time, so many great horses have touched our lives, but these were the two who started the journey with us. We look forward to many more years of doing the fun stuff with special horses and the people who love them!  Lux was a professional greeter. Stay tuned for photos and maybe even some video! Hi everyone! Here are the particulars regarding tomorrow's combined test. If you aren't riding, please feel free to come out and cheer for your friends. We can also use a few extra hands for jump crew, and possibly some readers for the dressage riders. (Readers are not permitted in official eventing competitions, but we allow them here, as we know many riders are first-timers and may have some nervousness about memorizing and riding their dressage tests.) Below is the current entry status. Just a reminder, entry forms and payment were due on Wednesday. There's a $10 late fee for those who are completing their entries after that time. For those viewing this post on a mobile device, please select website view to see the documents. Below are the ride times. Please walk your show jumping course as soon as you arrive, and before you get your horses/ponies ready. Warm up for both dressage and show jumping will be on the hill behind the indoor. Please jump all warm-up fences in the correct direction (red on right). Enter and exit the indoor via the gate behind where the horse trailer usually sits. In the indoor arena, because it's smaller than regulation, I will have cones set by the sides to indicate the letters. Please enter the arena when the rider before you has halted and saluted. You may trot around until the judge signals you to begin your test. After the dressage, please go take a few warm-up fences, then head directly to the outdoor arena to do your show jumping course. Please remember to have a great time! If you have questions, ask me or any of the volunteers. Thanks for playing! So many times this year I've said to myself, "Self, you must update the HVS blog." And then I'd get side-tracked with the business of running the farm. So here we are, well into autumn and looking toward winter, and I haven't done a single update. I do update our Facebook page with some regularity, especially the private group for our lesson students and boarders, so that's something, at least! We've had a fun summer of competitions and other fun at the barn, including lots of Riding Academy sessions, and one that included a sleepover!
One big new activity this year was our Event Team that was loosely based on Pony Club. We had four different levels of riders, and each month they participated in both mounted and unmounted meetings. Christina spearheaded the groups, and we had some really great sessions with lots of learning about the sport of eventing. Several of our participants volunteered as fence judges at some horse trials, which was a great way to get immersed in the sport! We held our ever-popular Halloween Fun Show this month, and as always, the costumes were just amazing. Every year our riders out-do themselves, and this year was no exception. Here are a few photos:
This weekend we'll hold our annual Last Hurrah Combined Test. Posted below is the current entry status! Looking forward to a fun weekend...bundle up, folks! Winter's nipping at our heels!
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AuthorCindy Gilbert is the owner/manager and head riding instructor at Harvest View Stables. Archives
January 2022
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