Monday February 9, 2009                                                          Read Prior Newsletters Here

Welcome to the new Friendly Trails weekly Newsletter!

So far we won’t have any fancy format, just lots of information in one Email. We will try to begin with announcements that are for everyone (Trailblazers, Sponsors, Owners) and get more specific to the Friendly Trails Holistic Horse Care Cooperative further down the list. If you are part of the Co-op, you will need to read the whole thing! Please encourage the children to also read the newsletter, either here in your inbox, or on the clipboard at the barn. Thank you for your careful attention to our News and Notes!

Alane’s words of horse training wisdom for the week:

“WALKING CONDITIONS THE MUSCLES, TROTTING CONDITIONS THE WIND, AND A GOOD GALLOP CONDITIONS THE MIND AND SPIRIT.”

“ROUNDNESS CREATES ROUNDNESS…The round circle creates a round frame, the round frame makes a round circle possible.”

FRIENDLY TRAILS MINI CAMP: Instead of regular lessons during ski week, we will be holding a President’s Day Mini Camp on February 16th. Please arrive by 10am and pick up by 1:30pm. Early drop off may be arranged. Bring a big, big lunch, warm clothes, rain pants and coat, helmet, boots, warm socks, an extra pair of warm socks, water bottle. Parents welcome to stay and participate, as always. Sponsors and Owners also invited to Mini Camp…practice your mentoring, get great help with chores, and stay after to ride…This is an all day event for sponsors and owners…pickup at 4:30pm. Curriculum will include: barn management/chores, grooming, yoga, tricks, horse training, obstacle course, speaking horse—lots of fun camp curricula—important learning for all of our levels of students. RSVP to Alane by Wednesday, Feb. 11th.

FRIENDLY TRAILS EVENT: HOOF TRIMMING CLINIC MARCH 7TH, 9:30am-4:30pm, with Master Horseman and Farrier, Lynn Seeley. Lynn has been trimming horses for more than 60 years and has learned from some of the best horse trainers and hoof care experts in the land. For many years he has dedicated his life to improving the hoof health of our equine friends. He holds clinics and coaches privately as well as trims hundreds of lucky horses. All horse owners (present or near future) need to attend this clinic and learn to trim their horses! Your horse will feel better, move better, and love you more when you start trimming those hooves weekly. For NON-HORSE OWNERS, this clinic is fascinating to audit. You will attend the lecture, observe a dissection of a cadaver hoof and leg, actually touching the tendons and other parts of the structure that makes the horse able to move—the support system, and learn the hows and whys of hoof care. This is a not to be missed event…not really appropriate for children under 10 as most of them will be bored with the long talking. $150/family to attend fully, and trim a hoof of your own. $50/adult to audit. Children may accompany the adult or pay for themselves. RSVP on the sign-up sheet on the Friendly Trails fridge.

Great horses available for adoption, sponsorship, lease: Please tell you friends and spread the word. Friendly Trails is proud to be home to a great many wonderful horses whom we have rescued and rehabilitated from the depths of despair. Now they are fully alive and enjoying their work. However, some of these wonderful creatures need more love and support, or a family of their own. We congratulate Cheyenne, Blackberry, Taylor, and Annie on all finding new families of their own this winter. These four horses, all originally rescued, have unique and strong personalities and temperaments. Each of them also needs a sponsor. While Cheyenne is well established with her sponsor, eventually Elise will get her very own rescue horse, and Cheyenne will need a new best human friend. Blackberry, Taylor and Annie are all just about ready for sponsors of their own. Mack, our miracle pony, is longing for his very own family to adopt him at Friendly Trails. He tells us he isn’t ready to go out into the great big world, but wishes he had a child of his own to love. Nico is trying to adopt Cicera, and we are hopeful that will happen so that they can raise a foal together, and if the right person came along, Cicera would also love a sponsor. Andvari is rather lonely these days: Lauren graduated to Baroux (lucky Baroux) and Maddie has taken a break from Friendly Trails. So, there is one great little Icelandic Horse needing his very own sponsor (or two) and he says he would love one of them to be an adult this time around! Andvari will be taking a couple months of vacation soon at Comet’s pasture, and Comet will return home to again be sponsored by Camille. In a few months, he could also enjoy a second sponsor. The Dougherty’s sweet Arabians, Furioso and Sachet, also have room for a sponsor each. Finally, our dear, dear friend Happy is also open to taking care of a sponsor, assuming it’s just the right person or family.

VALENTINE’S DAY: Saturday, Feb. 14th is Valentine’s day. We will hold lessons that day at 10, 10:45 and 11:30. PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN OUR VALENTINE’S POTLUCK! Everyone still needs a lunch, but also please bring a Valentine’s TREAT to SHARE. It can be healthy or not! We’ll all be spending the special day with our sweeties, our equine true loves…J…in fact, you could bring your favorite horse(s) a yummy treat as well.

TRAIL COALITION MEETING: Saturday, February 14th, 1pm, Rochelle Edwards has coordinated our first official Friendly Trails Coalition meeting at the Dougherty’s home. Please RSVP to ROCHELLE (cced on this email). We will be working to re-gain ridge access from the ranch, and we need your help. This is so important to the teenagers, and coming teenagers!!

FRIENDLY TRAILS OFFERS A 24 HOUR HORSE CAMP FOR K-5TH GRADES AT DEVIL’S GULCH HORSE CAMP in Samuel P. Taylor Park. April 4-5, 2009! This is our favorite service opportunity. We will take 12 campers, offered first to students of the San Geronimo School, to spend Saturday morning through Sunday morning having their own horse and one-to-one counselor/mentor. All proceeds will be donated. This is a 100% volunteer effort to expose young children to our wonderful world and raise money to pay teacher salaries—every penny! Will you volunteer? Will your horse? We will need set-up crew on Friday the 3rd, drivers, horse care/ranch hand help, strong bodies, great organizers, cooks, shoppers, and break down crew on Sunday the 5th! We will take the counselors who want to on a ride and cookout campfire Friday evening after set up and another ride on Sunday. Any Friendly Trails Clients who so desire will camp out with us Friday night (but not counselors who need good rest for the next day.) Counselors will camp out Saturday night and ride on Sunday. Counselors/mentors must be 10 years old and able to hike long distances and still have fun! J Please contact Alane to sign up for volunteer shifts…community service hours available, and good karma guaranteed.

ASK JEFF: In past Friendly Trails Newsletters, we have had a column called ASK JEFF. Jeff was the wonderful, wise, old soul who was the foundation of Friendly Trails for many years before his passing. He personified/horsonified gentle leadership. In memoriam, we will bring the column back to life. Please feel free to submit any horse-y or rider or barn-related questions to ASK JEFF. We will do our best to find answers and dispense wise advice straight from the horse’s mouth. Questions read: Dear Jeff,…

NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS: If you have announcements, please drop an email to Alane by Thursday evening to be published in that weekend’s newsletter.

SKI WEEK YOUTH SPONSOR AND OWNER SHIFTS: Parent supervisors, we are hoping to offer barn hours from 1-5pm during the week off of school. Please email Alane if this isn’t workable for you. I plan to publish the ski week supervision hours/names on Wednesday this week. Anyone who will miss a day, please let Alane know ASAP. We will expect the whole crew—especially the horses will.

Friendly Trails Holistic Horse Care Cooperative:

First I have to admit that I cannot find the sheet on which I took notes this week to let you all know what is falling through the cracks: There were blankets not hung in right places, feed tubs not picked up, etc. I list below what I can remember. AND, I want to seriously acknowledge Miranda who works with and for me several hours each week. I asked her a few times to email me the things we noticed, and I received a list from her with notes for all of you. Wow! That’s some 13 year old…Hopefully she’ll be running the whole joint in 3-4 years! Thank you Miranda. In that vein, I’d like to encourage, and yes, beg all of you to drop me an email when you notice things that need correcting or information to disseminate. This is how everyone can learn. I taught the Wednesday girls about hanging blankets properly—and asked them to teach you! That said, here are Miranda’s and Alane’s items:

WEEKLY HORSE CARE CHART The first day you show up at the barn this week, please get a new weekly care chart, put the date at the top, and start logging your horse care!! Also, everyone please remember the co-op chart on a clipboard. If you can accomplish one of our weekly tasks, be sure to initial and date it on that week’s log—otherwise the Saturday crew has to do everything!! Parent supervisors, it is very important to check in with the youth on their individual logs every day. Adult owners and sponsors, you are also encouraged to grab one of those little half sheets to check your own progress on your horse’s basic care each week. Please try to help out with the weekly tasks, especially adults and parents. The youth do a whole lot of horse care for the whole herd, and your support/assistance is appreciated. We’re all one big herd!

Everyone has to have and use your own lunge whip. The Friendly Trails Co-op will no longer provide lunge whips. Please remember to put your lunge whip away!! Others use it and break it if you don’t. Label it well with your thread. In fact, sponsors and owner, please label all your tack and whips and horse blankets with your colored thread!!

RE: BLANKETS: Many people are still folding them up or hanging two blankets on one rack or hanging them on fences where they will get wet. If you take a blanket off a horse, please just fold it along the spine line and hang it flat on the stall door blanket bar. If there is a dry blanket in your way, put it elsewhere! They won’t dry without air!!! If the blankets are soaked as they are likely to be this week, please hang them over the tops of the stall walls (but not on any wall adjacent to a non-Friendly Trails horse) so that the air can get in and the water will run off! I’m short, so if I can do it, you can too—it’s all in the toss. If the blanket is wet on the inside, the horse can’t wear it (CALL ALANE!) If the blanket is dry on the inside, the horse can wear it. Many horses have alternate blankets/sheets, and we can tell you where they are if you call Alane or the owner. No horse needs a blanket in the stalls this week, except: Mijo, Sachet, Zanita. The rain makes it warmer. If the temps drop, this will of course be different. If it is raining during the day, please blanket the horses going out. The following blankets are not currently waterproof: Taylor’s, Baroux’ teal heavier one, Annie’s green, Mijo’s dark blue with burgundy trim…don’t put them out in them if they won’t have shelter. If it is pouring and you have time, I like Happy to wear his. It is hanging in the arena stall closest to the treadmill. He’s probably fine, it’s for me. J

From Christine: Someone must have refilled Performance grain rather than Senior in the past couple of weeks as we have gone through all the Performance way too quickly and barely scratched the surface of the Senior supply!…please check carefully, and ask if you aren’t sure!

From Nicole: Please hang Blackberry’s blue blanket properly in the shelter in the pasture. It does no good to hang blankets on fences where they get torn and wet!! There is a blanket hook in Blackberry’s shelter. You hang the blanket from the chest straps on the blanket bar. This is also true of Annie’s blanket: Please hang it by the chest straps from the blanket bar in the outside stall.

Arena not being cleaned up correctly. Please see last week’s newsletter for instructions on Arena Clearing, or as always ask Alane. Monday PM crew didn’t put cones away properly. Tuesday PM crew didn’t put cones away properly. Friday PM crew didn’t put pvc ground poles away properly. Saturday PM crew did not put pvc ground poles away properly. Please, please, when you clear the arena, check all areas to make sure they are neat and clean.

Sachet did not get blanketed Friday. This falls to the person who had blankets, the team leader and the parent supervisor (as with all tasks left undone).

Molly and Miranda are setting up a team leader schedule. Each youth will have a day when she or he is one of two or three team leaders. The TLs will work together to plan how to distribute the responsibilities. They may rotate or cooperate. Less experienced kids will work as apprentices with a mentor until they are confident and competent enough to take it on solo.

Horse moving: please please look at the chart every time. It changes regularly! Tuesday AM horse movers: Baroux was in wrong stall. Last week Lady was in wrong stall on Tuesday. Monday PM team: Baroux was in wrong place.

LYNN SEELEY Hoof Trimming February 13-14. Please sign your horse up on the fridge. They need to be trimmed every 4-6 weeks if you aren’t trimming them yourselves! Soon you will all be trimming them and you will be able to skip lots of trims because Lynn will look at your horse’s hooves and say, great job, there’s nothing more for me to do here! Right, Steve R. and Arielle?

WE ARE A HERD IN PROGRESS, EVER PROGRESSING! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, THE MINDFULNESS, AND THE FUN!