Polestar Farms

Just when most of you are sensing that the summer is winding down, we here at Polestar are just hitting our groove! We have the upcoming French Creek Derby here this weekend. And if you are interested in coming, well get in line. Apparently there has been a wait list for quite a while. Im not running the show, but Heidi Hanson is and she tells me that her husband has started to hide her phone in the refrigerator or other difficult to find places. I suggest that she get a really really good ring tone, so that at least she can enjoy the noise for half a moment.

The jaw dropping news from me and Mark is that we went on “Vacation”. Ive had someone drop their sandwhich when I told them this, but yes, it is true. We took a real 3 day vacation. The WS watched movies every night with the dogs, snuggled with the cats, rode my horses while we went off and bombed around amazing mountain biking trails.  We went to Mountain Bike Oregon in Oakridge OR. If you dont know it, you havent been reading enough mtn biking magazines…. its mecca. But anyway, the motto for MBO is Bikes, Buses, Beers. And that perfectly describes it. Buses allow you to have up to 3 hours of downhill singletrack. Technical, dirty and awesome! We are hooked and will be back there next year. I fell in love with the Diamondback 29er… and you must see this video: Diamondback. At least watch to 2:48, and you realize that these guys are the eventers of the bike world. Ouch!

Its off to mow, paint and rake. Thanks VERY much to my amazing group of working students. Shauna, Annika, Marissa and Lucinda are the most eager and helpful group yet. I would not be here in front of the computer without you, Id be outside doing it all myself. Thanks bunches!

After a few weeks break, its time for an update. We have completed YR Benefit HT at Lincoln Creek, took names, and came home with ribbons and an overly sensitive nausea button. My students did AWESOME…. without me. I have to say that everyone not only tolerated the my malady with grace and a few chuckles. But they also didnt fall apart and make me feel too guilty for lying on the couch of my horse trailer, green in pallor, while they ran around the fun XC course. But the story begins on Friday when we all marched out to our xc course walk. In retrospect, I am horrified by the “course walk” that I gave them. First of all, I lumped groups together and gave a “simul-walk” in an attempt to spare my leaden legs from multiple miles. And that should have been their first inkling that Meika was not her usual perky, athletic self. I remember looking at a small novice oxer, and thinking that if anyone had any problems with this fence, I sure hope they speak up because I sure couldnt think of anything useful to say! My brain was flatlined.  As the course walk progressed, Im sure that I saw Hank run off to join another trainer in hopes that he might learn something practical that day. Near the end of the course, BN and N had to run over a giant lump. I thought that this was one of the highlights of the entire course! Its not often that lower level courses present an interesting challenge like that, mandatory flags at the top and no jump. How fun! Like a roller coaster! Had my brain been engaged and not being eaten by a virus, I would have recognized the wide open mouths and the shocked grimaces on the BN riders! Im sure I told them something like “Just kick! It’ll turn out alright!” and assumed that they all would, as I continued to the next fence… alone.

Well, thankfully, they all did make it over that lump flawlessly, but thanks to their horses, not the awesome coaching they received. I only heard that they all made it over that fence, because by Saturday I was useless. Despite that, as you can tell by the photos, great results were had. Hank went clear on XC and SJ for the first time….. ever! Holly, photographer, got 2nd in the training division, Marissa rode in her first event ever and had a great time in all 3 phases. Out of the ribbons, but motivated for next time. Annika, 3rd, Susan 7th, and Mary and Gail both completed out of the ribbons. Lear wore a snarly face for most of the weekend and was finally able to school the SJ and XC at the end of the day. He got first place.

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!

While I would love to tell you all about how Inavale went for Polestar Peeps, I am saddened to tell you that the more important news is that we lost one of our dear horses last week. Erica Temple recently bought a new horse, Frasier, the perfect horse for her to to go have fun on. Yet, she has barely had a chance to get to know him before tragedy struck on Thursday morning. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason why they colic, and we do our best to make sure that they are safe from risks in all aspects of their lives. And still awful things happen. I loved having Frasier here in the barn, even if it was for a few short months. He had a phenomenal jump and work ethic that he kept hidden from us on most days, hidden behind his laid-back Spicoli mask. He definitely was inclined to order pizza in the middle of a dressage lesson, rather than do another shoulder in! Im saddened to say that I d0nt even have a photo of him to show you all how beautiful he was. Erica and I had a good laugh that it turns out that she bought the one horse who would most teach her how to sit UP and RIDE! Frasier had a decent buck in him and he could whip it out anytime he thought you were not paying attention or if you were causing him to work too hard… or tipping forward as it turns out. Despite the fact that he rarely had his pencil sharpened and ready for class, he could cause me to gasp and laugh when I jumped him. I loved his HUGE jump and I dreamed of watching Erica master  his balance to feel it too.

No matter how long you own them, it hurts to see them leave us. RIP little buckaroo, may you romp through the fields with Max and my other beloved horses. Our dreams are dashed too early, we miss you.

Hi again,

Hi my peeps!!

Here is a short primer on how to best utilize the amazing power of the USEA website. You need to know these very important things in order to enter an event, and also this will prevent me from repeating myself to all of yall. The entries are due fast and furious this time of year, so you have plenty of opportunity to practice your skills!