Busy day at Spirit Field, no lessons, but lot of work done...

Not only heat, but thunderstorm took down 5 trees in our small field. We were so lucky that nothing important has been damaged. 
Thank you Naomi, Ilana, Mira, Narushka and new volunteer Erica!
Even when we do not have lessons there is so many things to be done, from feeding and mucking, to exercise horses, cleaning tack...
Thank you, Boris, for cleaning the field of fallen trees :)

No Therapeutic riding lessons this week end

No therapeutic Riding Lessons Friday and Saturday - 
When meteorologists use terms like "extreme heat" or "excessive heat," they mean more than just discomfort from hot weather. What they describe is a level of high temperatures and high humidity that is potentially dangerous, one from which people should seek relief as soon as possible. - 
Regular maintenance work for volunteers willing to help Friday at 5 PM and Saturday at 8.30 AM
Take care and stay cool. 
:) ♥

Summary of the week

It is end of the nice cool week, first one of the Four week Summer class.
It was nice, fun and inspirational, like always, even some members of the volunteer crew were out of the town.
Tuesday, Melissa and Darcy was not able to make it and compete at the Show, but Naomi, Ilana on Charlie and Lucinda did it. Ilana and Lucinda surprised all of us with great performance, even Lucinda 6 of 8 last weeks were out of the work. They got two ribbons and we are proud of both of them.

Naomi and Charlie had first Show and even they did not get any ribbons, they presented great talent for show jumping, what did not impress so much judges at the Hunter Pleasure Class, but was great experience for Naomi and me...

Good news!

Thank you Fairfax county Police !

Good news

Good news, we had an horse ophthalmologist for second opinion about Infinity's eye, and she came with statement that Infinity has vision, at her right eye, not 100% but significant, so we are back in the battle and therapy, but not talking about taking eye out.

New class session - Ready to go !

Tomorrow we start with new group of riders for next four weeks.
It finishes at 07/20.

Looking forward to seeing you all  assigned volunteers, as we do have 8 riders at Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...

Also there are some individual lessons Friday.

Forgot Saturday lessons,which go as usual, whenever weather permits :)

Please follow Blog and/or FB  to se daily updates.

In case of rain, we will be able to tack in stalls and bring horses indoor. Lessons will be cancelled only in case of severe warning announced by Fairfax county.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Morning at the field with horses?

Message for volunteers who have too much time AM hours...you have the unique opportunity to spend extra time with Spirit herd, and help mucking the field to our AM Crew. Contact me if you are interested in, and will give you schedule and/or contact with Don or Cline. Thank you in advance!
Dada

Some thoughts

Balance in 2 point position:
Push your heels down in the stirrups. In order to be able to balance with your bottom out of the saddle, you need to have pressure holding your legs down. Hold the stirrups on the ball of your foot with your toes pointed up. You don't need to push your heels down as far as they will go and have your foot completely vertical. You only need to have your toes pointed up a little and your heels angled down.

2
Roll your knees onto the saddle. Your calves don't need to be squeezing the saddle because it could upset the horse as well as disturb your seat. In order to prepare to go up into 2-point position and to be able to hold it, you need to have a strong grip from your knees up to your thighs. Once your knees are rolled securely onto the saddle grip, but not extremely tight, continue this hold through your upper leg.



Read more: How to Ride a Horse in a 2-Point Position | eHow.comhttp://www.ehow.com/how_4489545_ride-horse-2point-position.html#ixzz1yeqz3m00

Argument against theory of "holding yourself on horse with your lower part of legs"

In case my verbal skills are not good enough.
And this...

Let us consider the effect of a bad seat on a horse. If your weight is on your buttocks, your legs forward, and you are balancing yourself with the reins, the horse's reaction will be as follows: he will hollow his back away from the discomfort your seat is causing, throw his head in the air and arc his neck, hold his breath, and retract his ribcage from contact with your legs (becoming flat-sided). In motion, sitting still in this situation becomes extremely difficult, and the rider will grip with his legs and balance on the reins, which will bring even more tension to the horse.

Now we will consider the effects of a well-developed classical seat. Since the rider has become responsible for his own weight, the horse's back will lift up, his ribcage will expand, he will round his neck and bring his nose to the vertical, and breathe regularly and deeply. This set of reflexes stem from the fact that the horse is seeking contact with the rider, rather than avoiding it. Maintaining your position and sitting to the horse's movement will become an easier task, which will leave you to concentrate on refining your contact (seat, legs, and hands) with the horse, which will lead to an even happier and more responsive horse.

Do you see the comparison between the last two paragraphs? In short, stress causes more stress, and relaxation causes more relaxation! If you take care of your seat, the horse will take care of his head!

http://www.yourhorsecare.com/articles/general-interest/on-the-bit

Welcome, Madeleine Grace !

Spirit Team greets new baby -Madeleine Grace, and congratulation to the whole family, esspecially to mom Kathy, our Chairman of Fundraising Committee.

Beat wishes, and all blessings to Grace!

Thunderstorms

See this! Sorry, please, stay at home dry and safe. 
I will feed horses and see you tomorrow.

Heat advisory days

Horses had a bath today and yesterday...thank you to all who helped :). Our friends were fresh and happy, even during the heat advisory days...
I used the no lessons days to sort tack room (never ending project :)
Hoping for the good weather tomorrow and lessons , starting at 6...

SPIRIT at the air!

This evening at 6 PM you were able to watch the Dr Libby Show with long and nice story about Spirit, our Mission, Vision, riders, volunteers, families...and horses. 
You have a chance to see it again this Saturday at 10.30 AM (if you do not work at the field at that time :( )
If you know skilled person with right equipment to record it and put it on DVD, let me know, please!
Show will be in the air, again,  at Chanel 10 , Saturday 10:30 AM
Thank you Maryanne for great work and helping to present Spirit to the Washington Metropolitan area!


PS -No lessons tomorrow, Thursday. Hoping for better weather Friday PM and Sat AM. See you!

Heat advisory today and tomorrow

Dear all
just came from field and do not feel well on 97 degrees.

It is heat advisory for today and tomorrow. As we do not have prepaid classes until 06/25, I believe that is wise to skip riding.
We shall feed and bath horses sometime between 5-7 PM and wait for better condition to ride.
Hope you agree.
Take care and stay cool
Dada

Show and Summer 4 weeks class

Hello to all,
I hope that you are well happy that school is over, and that you deal well with temperature outside this days
It is hot, but Spirit program is going on.
Our Summer 4 Weeks Class starts next Monday 06/25.
Classes are full and there are several people still on waiting list .
Good news - our small warm up ring and fields around have some nice shade and condition for lessons is not too bad at all.
New Class schedule has been posted
See you at Monday!

Show at the Frying Pan Farm Park
Para equestrian riders have their class at the 

2012 Frying Pan Farm Park
Summer Series Horse Show

The first one is at 06/26, and I believe that is the good opportunity for our riders,  Melisa and Darcy to present their riding skills, if they want to.

Melissa would ride Infinity and Darcy would ride Glory

Follow the Blog of FB and see more :)

Riders have to have on:

Black show helmet, solid color polo, belt, tan riding pants, and either tall boots or paddock boots

HERE you can find official info about the show.

THIS is link for on line registration form. 

There are 3 more shows in this season, so contact me if you would like to show in any of next ones. 

I am looking forward to hearing from you. 

Best wishes, 

Dada

Silver for Spirit - Online Fundraiser.

Silver for Spirit - Online Fundraiser.Kerry Molina, a Facebook Friend of Spirit and local Silpada jewelry vendor, has generously offered to donate 15% of all her orders from now until Thursday, June 28th to Spirit.  To view her jewelry or place an order, go to kerryc627@yahoo.com or call her at 703-928-2291. Tell your friends and family too.  When you email/call, just let Kerry know that you are calling for Spirit. 

You can also visit Kerry at her webpage at www.facebook.com and search for Kerry Christiano Molina.

Thank you!

Thank you, Mark!

For special friend, skilled worker, generous supporter, and special volunteer, Mark who did so much for Spirit at the field and in the ring - THANK YOU, MARK!
Spirit belongs to you, too, now and in the future.
Good luck and looking forward to seeing you again sometime :) 

News, and this and that....

Now, some news. 

Infinity is probably totally blind on her right eye. That is the veterinarian wording. 

All medication and good treatment helped her to avoid inflammation for a long time, but lost of her vision was avoidable. 

She is n the period of transition and training how to live in this condition. 

As you know she was always at the bottom of the social leather, and it caused lot of stress on her (which is possible trigger of inflammation and deterioration of her vision)

Trying to help her I created separated, safe space for her, and she seems to be very happy to be able to munch her hay quietly , without and interruption.

:)

At this moment, fence between her and rest of her herd has been made of electric fence stripe, and it works fine. 

You will easily find entrance at the barn wall between her and Charlie's stall. 

Please, keep them divided like that. 

Things to think about:

Hay in the feeder in Infinity's space is not all eatable. 

Feel free to use dry, but rotten hay from both metal feeders as source of minimal bedding we use in summer months. 

Infinity needs fresh, eatable hay from the storage or plastic feeder. She need 2-3 hay rack of hay 3 times a day. Please, assure that whoever is there in AM give her that hay in her metal feeder. 

You will see how happy and calm she is in this setting. 

Regarding her grooming, tacking and managing any how, please be aware that you have to approach her ALWAYS from the LEFT side, and whatever you do around her follow by calm, constant voice, so she can learn to pay attention on it. 

No kids, guests, visitors at her field any time. 

It is responsibility of each of us, adult activist to prevent any accident, and keep Spirit field safe place for all.

Feel free to approach any newcomer with smile and question "How can I help you?" and go from there to direct guests to the info box at the fence if they are interesting about program, and make clear that no one can enter the field or interact with horses beside assigned volunteers and instructors. 

During the regular grooming and tacking procedure, if there is no experienced volunteers, better leave Infinity alone, until I come. 

Thank you in advance if you will take my suggestions seriously. 

About Veronica, she can enter the field even without me, but I will make clear that she is responsible for her guests, together with anyone adult activist.

Also, I am sure that you recognized how much we are lucky to have Veronica with us, so her lessons are very important for the whole Spirit Program. 

I will try to keep you posted about her schedule. 

Thank you for keeping our field, horses and whole program nicer, better and stronger with your help and hard work in program activities. 

Sorry for long post and hope to seeing you soon. 

Wish you the great week, with love, 

Dada

Nice lesson and great social time + TRACTOR at Spirit Field soon

Thank you all who spent evening tonight at the Spirit picnic area after lesson. Snack (subs and cookies), soft drink and fresh water, sharing funny and touching stories and chatting about horses...all after great ride tonight.
What a joy!
And great news for the end -
Thanks to special friends of Spirit, no more pushing role bales into feeders. And we will be able to load truck with the best compost you can imagine!

• John Deere 3020 Tractor
• Diesel - 4 cyl / 270 ci / 65 HP / ~55 HP drawbar
• 2 wheel drive
• Wide front wheels
• Rear and belly PTO
• Includes JD 148 front loader 
-  will come soon at our field!!!

Thank you - Singhal & Company, Inc. (SCi) - Catalyst for Success !
Thank you Sam for helping us find the right tractor, and delivering it to our field!

This afternoon...

Oops, no thunderstorms , but my face is still swollen and do not want to scare anyone...
For tomorrow, if it not get worse, I will come and do lessons as scheduled, but be ready that look different :(

An Invitation for all

Invitation for riders, volunteers, families, friends...tomorrow after lessons gathering and sharing some nice time at the concert at the Park. Great opportunity to spend a nice evening in good Spirit...and at the same time we will celebrate retirement of Mr Bill, Looking forward to seeing you there

No lessons today, Tuesday 06/12

Bad weather and thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon, and I n addition I have kind a bad allergy case...so sorry, no lessons today
Take care and stay dry
Dada

Tomorrow

Lessons this Sat as scheduled...see you at the barn

Between two classes

Summer 4 week class (only one this year) starts Monday 06/25
During next few weeks of June, we will keep regular activities for volunteers, and lessons for riders at days and time they use in class .
Please, note that the annual pass for usage of Equestrian facility at the Park should be renewed, or you can purchase day pass at the Equestrian Office for your individual lessons.
Please, contact me to confirm your lesson for the week ahead.

Volunteers, please, be sure that we have info about your availability for the Summer.
Thank you and wish you a great Summer time!
Dada

Monday make up

Tomorrow, Monday we do make up for canceled lesson of Monday, last week, for riders who did not come.

Congratulation to all riders at NVTRP Show!

Thank you to the crew of Spirit Team who made it happen :)

Bad weather and no lessons today

Dear riders, and volunteers,
there is the bad thunderstorm ahead of our area, and better be safe and dry than wet and sorry.
No lessons today.
Stay at home, and I am looking forward to seeing you next Friday :)!

Plans for June

Dear riders, volunteers,
first, thank you for another great session. All Spring classes finished yesterday, and the next serial of classes will start after three weeks, June/25th.

Sorry, this year we have only one Summer 4 week class.

For those who want to stay at Spirit Program in this three weeks, as we talked, you can keep your day and time to ride, just have to confirm it for each week ahead by e-mail (sorry , phone calls are not enough).
I will update names of confirmed riders at the schedule at the Blog.

Thank you, and wish you a great Summer.
Dada

Additional Info about the Show

       Riders should arrive at Frying Pan Park no later than 10:45 AM on Saturday.  


On arrival, you should register with the show secretary inside the main arena building, and then meet the Spirit staff, volunteers and riders at the warm up ring (small outdoor ring outside the end of the main arena, where we usually hold evening lessons in good weather).  


This ring is where the trail course will be set up and ridden.  The course will be posted at or near the ring, and a copy will also be provided to each rider on registration.  


Thanks, and please let us know if you need any additional information.