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Babies! June 2008.
Spring '08 sees the birth of our first foals! James the Fell pony and
Josie's Filly (unnamed) can be seen on our new YOUNGSTOCK page! Click
the link on the top bar to see pictures and read more about them.
Mercury and
Lauren! November 2007.
I would like to announce the recent acquisition of an
absolutely
phenomenal breeding pair, Lunesdale
Mercury and Lune
Valley
Lauren! These ponies herald the end of Ambleside Farm's
long and
rather frustrating search for quality breeding ponies. They are more
than I could have dreamed of asking for! A
huge thank you goes out to Melissa Kreuzer of DreamHayven
Farm for
parting with her beautiful and carefully-chosen imported ponies. This
transfer of ownership was a difficult but much-considered decision made
jointly by both farms involved. The changes in
plan
and direction that DreamHayven Farm recently underwent amazingly
coincided perfectly with Ambleside (formerly
Gig-on-the-Fell) Farm's decision to move from primarily training ponies
into breeding as well, with
fortunate results for both farms.
While I know that Melissa will miss
Mercury and Lauren, I am so happy that myself and my family were able
to provide a new home
for them where they will continue to be used and enjoyed to their
potential. I hope that I can continue the good work Melissa has
begun with these ponies and that the public transition will not be an
obstacle to their roles as breeding ponies and Fell Pony ambassadors.
Lauren and Mercury will be
arriving around Thanksgiving and will be LOVED here at Ambleside Farm
as our Foundation Ponies.
Plum
Creek CDE
Spring, 2007
Midnightvalley Poppy: 3rd Place
Training Pony
Huh,
well...every pony has her off days :-)
Poppy and I did kind of
terrible at this show, but had a great time anyhow! It was extremely
bittersweet, however, in that this was the last show that Poppy and I
will likely ever participate in together. I have never cried so much
over the sale of a horse as I did for Poppy. She is terribly, terribly
missed and is possibly the only intentional sale of a horse that I
continue to regret. And we didn't even get to end on a smashingly good
performance....
Plum
Creek CDE October 13-15th,
2006
Midnightvalley Poppy: 2nd Place
Training Pony
I can't possibly rave
about this event
more! It was our first
full-blown CDE and Poppy was amazing. What
was particularly difficult for us at this event was, ironically,
school.
I had class early Friday and even Thursday night, so Poppy and I didn't
get
any practice time in before the event. However, although this
definitely
played to our detriment in dressage (the first time I got to drive her
:-p), the conditioning that my mother had done in my absence and the
warming up that Dwain had done before I arrived really showed--Poppy
was responsive and happy in harness! The marathon was the tightest I'd
ever driven and we had some very (VERY) close calls in amongst the
trees and such. It was a challenge, but Poppy, Dwain and I had a blast!
In
fact, the marathon was still the event in which we performed the best:
with some expert gatoring, we came in with a double zero! Cones was
quite fantastic as well, with Poppy and I putting on some steam. For
some reason I had it in my head that we would need to hurry to make our
time, so I pretty much let Poppy do her big marathon trot the entire
time. Despite this, we had only two balls down and we were both
exhilarated. To our amusement, I later was going over results with
Dwain when he pointed out that I had made the fastest time of ANY
(cross divisions!) of
the other competitors. HINT HINT: Slow down and shoot for accuracy!
Next time...
All in all, this was
more fun I could have
even asked for--and a
much-appreciated break from schoolwork and classes!
ADT at
Covenant Ranch (North Texas
Whips) May 6th, 2006
MidnightValley Poppy: 3rd place
Training Pony
No
elaborate write-up on Poppy's (very
successful!) second event. Needless to say, we had a blast, the weather
was beautiful, and the company excellent! :-) I was very proud of our
third place against the present competition and Poppy's behavior was
much improved since our debut. Also of note was our clinic on Sunday!
Under the instruction of a respectable judge/instructor, we worked with
Poppy's head-tossing issues with surprisingly positive results. I am
looking forward to this summer, as I will be able to put more miles on
Poppy in harness as well as spend time refining our art. It was a
splendid weekend all in all.
Sunrise Ridge
Driving Trial March 20th,
2006
Midnightvalley
Poppy: 3rd place Training Novice
The morning
of the trial dawned clear and
slightly chilly. Poppy, who had spent the greater part of the previous
evening covering herself with hay, was given a cursory brush-over and
taken down to the trailer to clean up and hitch. The show atmosphere
worried her slightly and her reaction to this was to act bratty. I
wasn’t concerned, however, as I knew she was ready and was invigorated
by the idea of showing her at last. My buoyant spirits were ill-fated,
unfortunately, pierced cruelly by the news awaiting me at the trailer.
My mother kindly tried to break it to me with a cheerful, offhand air.
“Dwain might be a little
late,” she said
gently.
My ears pricked with a
sense of foreboding.
“Why?” I queried, trying not to sound as suspicious as I was. Dwain,
who had helped me start Poppy and who was also responsible for getting
us ready to show in the very first place, had assumed the role of
trainer and mentor and was scheduled to be my gator at this show.
“Well, they’re having
some car
troubles…accidentally put regular gas into their new diesel.” Still a
bit too airy for my liking.
“But they’ll be here,” I
said with a
certainty I no longer felt. Statement, not question. The word
equivalent to crossed fingers.
“Well, they will try.
They said they’d
drive all night if they had to….” She trailed off, face making a little
wince of anticipation.
She’d known since last
night! “They might
not make it! Why didn’t you warn me?” I said, sounding younger than my
years.
“I didn’t want to worry
you until I knew
for sure…they’ll probably make it in time. He’s going to try really
hard to be here for the marathon.” A beat. “Do you think you’ll be all
right with her even if it turns out that he can’t make it?
Noooo. “Yes,” I said,
glancing at the
tautly-muscled black form of Miss Poppy. True, I had not shown anything
taller than 36 inches at a carriage driving event in about two years
and had never had a marathon that was not safely enclosed in an arena,
but I was confident and…and my trainer might not be there! Car
troubles! What car would dare be trouble when Poppy’s first show was at
stake? If I may take a bit of writer’s license here, I will say that
despite the formidable dilemma I remained suberbly calm inside and out.
Poppy didn’t even pause
to notice that I
was being calm. She was looking everywhere, and was a handful to
harness. I decided to take her into the practice field and warm up
before dressage. After trotting some eights and working on walking
without being speedy, it was nearly our turn to enter the arena. Of
course there was a mix up with our bell. I heard the distant jingle and
we picked up a nice trot straight towards the arena when I heard
shouting from the sidelines: “Wait, that’s not your bell! Stop, don’t
go into the arena!” With visions of elimination and red flags hurtling
through my imagination’s eye, I reflexively asked for a quick stop,
whirling my gaze with desperation to the gatekeeper, who was waving me
on in, saying “Hurry, that was your bell, go!” Needless to say, Poppy
was mad at me and I was flustered (understatement). We entered the
arena crooked with Poppy wiggling along at an uneven trot. I could have
died. Things went downhill from there, with a stop that involved
unscheduled backing and crooked lines. I regret to say that I was so
disoriented after our clumsy stop that I went off pattern shortly after
and found it necessary to start from the halt again. We executed the
pattern decently after that, the one condemning factor being Poppy’s
head, which she tossed liberally. I exited in shame and humiliation.
An interesting fact is
that even after our
twilight zone dressage test we still had admirers. As we were standing
around waiting for our shot at the cones course, my family and I were
approached by all manner of fascinated people, and I was comforted that
perhaps despite our test we would still ambassador the breed. Better
yet, maybe we would redeem ourselves during the next two phases.
Whatever the case, I enjoyed discussing fell ponies with Poppy’s new
fan club.
The bell rang for us to
enter the cones
course. Poppy had never seen so many of those goofy orange things in
her life and lifted her knees high as she squirted through the start
set. Knowing Poppy’s inexperience and the complicated course, I took it
slow, aiming carefully and working on maintaining our impulsion through
the cones. After the first five sets, Poppy stopped looking and we
cruised through on our way to finish, feeling pretty peachy about
ourselves. Poppy then happened to look down again. She saw that she was
fast approaching two—what were those things? Cones??!!! What could
cones be doing in this field?! She wove sharply in her surprise. It was
too late to redirect, and we took out the hapless cone in a spectacular
way. It was our only fault, however, and we were both pleased. Best of
all we were informed that my trainer would make it in time to gator
(navigate) for me on the marathon. Hal-lelujah and a sigh of relief. I
really had had no clue how to run a marathon.
Well, despite our
success in the cones
field, we were still very firmly in last place. I wasn’t concerned,
having not had any intentions of “playing to win” with my
green-as-grass pony, but that didn’t change the fact that I was seized
with the desire to cast my dressage notes into some handy inferno. With
the marathon looming ahead after lunch, I began to fret again. I had
never done a cross country type of course and how was I to navigate
without getting lost? It was too long to walk. And the obstacles! I
hadn’t gotten to walk any of them and they were complicated! I wouldn’t
even make it through A. I would crash. I would….
At last, I anxiously
walked the course with
my priceless trainer to ingrain in my head just where I’d be going for
each obstacle. There were a few tight corners that I was truly worried
about putting Poppy through. I still lacked a proper awareness of the
size of my buggy—it was so much larger than those of my miniatures! My
relief at the safe arrival of my trainer overwhelmed my doubts,
however, and as my nerves wore off I felt them replaced by a genuine
excitement for our turn to come.
Beginning the marathon
was the most
indescribably fantastic feeling. We set off at Poppy’s favorite trot
and headed for the first obstacle, one with a sharp right turn entrance
and a swooping downhill exit. I was at my most nervous, and Poppy at
her most interested. We swung in and though I held my breath as we
threaded ourselves through the very solid wooden pillars, we made it
with no bobbles. I was ecstatic. The rest of the marathon was as smooth
and invigorating as the start and we came through with wild success,
and right on time! Poppy passed the vet exam with no issues and was
lovingly walked and returned to her stall with hay and a good brushing.
She had the same content, pleased expression on her face that I can
guarantee was in residence on mine.
The marathon had been so
much fun that I
had completely forgotten about placing—after all, with our dressage
score I had ruled out the possibility of getting a ribbon. However, I
was very excited to see the marathon results—I was almost positive that
we had come in at optimum time and hadn’t had a single fault. When the
final scores were up, I was shocked to find that after our clean
marathon run we had been bumped up to third place. I was still
flabbergasted some time later when I was handed the ribbon. Poppy took
in all in stride, and admittedly looks quite good in yellow.
Spring
Fling Play Day
in Bowie
Daegn: 2nd
Traveler: 6th (despite having entered only
afternoon
classes :-) )
Traveller
and Daegn both came along to this show--I was interested to see who
would be the quicker of my two darlings. Traveller did not participate
in the morning events due an accident in the first class, so I gave him
the morning off and drove just Daegn. The show list consisted of speed
games much like a western riding playday but with carriages instead!
Daegn took an overall second in quite stiff competition (there were at
least seven minis) and proved his steady nature yet again by being even
more stable and reliable than Traveller. Traveller, however, was not to
be put down as a slowpoke. In the afternoon of barrel racing, pole
weaving, marathon obstacle, and "golf," Traveller, as if to make up for
being naughty, flashed along with the best time in each class he
entered. He wasn't driven the first half of the show, however, and
placed overall sixth.
ADT
at
the
Collin County Youth Barn
Daegn: 1st in
VSE division
Daegn's
first show was a Northeast Texas Whips show held at the Collin County
Youth Barn. We brought little Daegn with his huge eyes out to an ADT
(Arena Driving Trial) today and he surprised us all! I brought him with
the intentions of acclimating him to show activity. Although standing
still seemed to Daegn to be a waste of time, he behaved himself
politely and took things in stride. I warmed him up with all the big
buggies rolling past and steered him around the cars in the parking
lot, painted lines, flags, and the lot and Daegn didn't bat an ear. The
judge commented on his steady gaits during our dressage test and we got
an overall nice score (50-something...I will have to look up the exact
number), though we need to practice backing in a straight line and
walking on a loose rein. In the marathon section Daegn may as well have
been born to be a CDE pony! He took it so well and got the fastest
speed and no penalties. I took it slower on the cones course because we
hadn't practiced with them as close together, but we made a clean round
and were just barely over the target time. Overall, Daegn took home the
first prize in his division, best in cones and obstacles, second in
dressage when broken down. I was so proud of him!
copyright
Classy Hat Productions 2007
