I think it is time that we updated our schooling schedule. I am going to make a new page for this website that specifically outlines all the schooling requirements/rules that are appreciated if followed. That way, everyone can easily access it and know clearly what is allowed and what things cost.

I know that the amount of time that I spend on that XC course is not reflected at all in the price that we charge for use of the course. And it will probably never be! But that is not important, because Mark and I love to provide a place that has quality jumps, a wide variety of them on excellent footing that is well maintained and cared for. The price for schooling is going to increase to $50 per horse to slightly reflect the amount of work that goes on out there. I know that we still have restricted hours and days that you can use the course, and if we had a separate entrance to just the schooling area that might be different. But as it stands, the barns are highly disrupted by arriving horses and so we need to keep the disruption to a minimum so that we can do our jobs here. Thanks for understanding!

I think we should all take a moment to acknowledge all of our friends in the east who did not catch Air Horse One out to Rebecca and are tortured by the weather out there. Not to rub it in, but today is a breezy 70 degree day. It is perfect spectating weather, as well as riding weather. My long suffering friend in Virginia just sent me an instant update to say that the heat index has risen to 106 from 105 this morning. My heart breaks for her. I think that all the east coast riders will go back and report that USEA needs to relocate to Montana.

The competition has been great this year! Dressage scores were very very tight and there were so many fancy, talented horses in all the (more…)

I am at the point of the summer (if you can call it that) where I am wondering why Im so tired all the time. Mark and I are convinced that the whole point of winter, is to make up for the long days in summer where we work late and hard. This year has been full of fewer projects than the past years, and its because the farm is finally maturing in itself. Despite that, I somehow find enough to do to fill the day. If the sun were not so bright at 8:45 pm, then maybe I would remember to go inside and feed ourselves!

Don Sachey came to Polestar again for a summer clinic, and we had a productive, fun time. There was lots of jumping on fantastic footing and everyone left with some really novel interesting instructions in their head. Don has a knack for finding new ways to explain old ideas. Havent we all heard to sit up tall in the saddle? Yet, somehow we still bend forward and influence our horse and jump quality in a negative way. Don had a great analogy  that really hit home for me. And since I dont have someone yelling at me every day to correct my position, I crave explanations that stick in my head that I can use in the future, and that work! He said to imagine that your hands are holding a limbo pole and you are about to limbo under it. This has the effect of tilting your hips so that they are under your shoulders, and it’s stable. If you just tell yourself to sit up straight, your hips are still not square underneath you and you will find yourself back to shoulders forward quite quickly. I get tired of looking at photos where my position is not as good as it should be, and Im thinking that the limbo analogy is going to help me. If you see me riding and Im tilting forward doing the trainer-on-a-green-horse ride, yell “LIMBO!” at me. I promise I wont yell back!