Tag: horse

The Ferrari of Ponies

On By careofmonIn Lifestyle2 Comments

Last night I was so blessed to be able to get a lesson with one of my best friends on her amazing intermediate event horse. I have been riding since January 2007, and I have had a few leases, but have mostly ridden school horses, or horses that belong to the barn for lessons. School horses have taught me sooooo much. They can be frustrating to work with because they will really make you work for everything, but I  think they are very rewarding too.

My friend’s horse is an OTTB, or off-track thoroughbred. He wasn’t meant for the racetrack but he is a brilliant event horse, especially the cross country phase. We did a dressage lesson in the indoor arena, and it was so fun. His level of training is so much higher than the school horses, so I really just got to ride instead of spending the whole time trying to work through issues brought on by too many bouncy little kids 🙂 Riding him is kinda like leaving the 1988 Honda Civic to ride in a ferrari. He’s perfect. Someday when she retires him from competing, I know he will be the best eventing/dressage school master.

She took a few pics, they are blurry but I actually kinda like how the blurriness softens the pictures. IMG_2016 IMG_2017

It was the kind of night when you drive home smiling the whole time, like nothing could bother you after that. That’s the good stuff. Happy Friday!

Signature 2

 

Spotted: Foxhunt in the town forest!

On By careofmonIn LifestyleLeave a comment

This morning my fiancé took our dalmatian, Mizpah, for a trail run at the town forest in Groton, MA. Old Northbridge Hounds were also there for a hunt! I guess all the hounds were ahead of the horses and swarmed Mizpah, she must have felt like the belle of the ball. They were called back to the master and the hunt went down a different path. In the past, my fiancé and Mizpah were actually on the same path as the hunt and little Mizpah walked right next to the horses like she was in the pack before coming back.

I am attaching a few pictures from my fiancé. He said there were probably ~20 horses today. Everyone is wearing their informal hunt attire, formal hunt attire doesn’t start until October. I know of 3 hunt clubs in Massachusetts- Old Northbridge is in Concord, Myopia is up on the north shore in Hamilton, and Norfolk Hunt Club is in Dover. They do hunts usually on Tues/Sat and also hunter paces that some people from my barn go to with their horses. All of them are drag hunting clubs. That means there is no fox, they drag the scent through the woods for the hounds to follow. There is usually some sort of reception afterwards like a tea or luncheon.

A really fun way to learn more about fox hunting is to read Rita Mae Brown’s fox hunting mysteries. I absolutely love them. It took me a little bit to get used to the fact that the animals all have dialogue in her books, but now I like it ha. Here is her website: Rita Mae Brown Books She also writes books about cats…..

Here are links to the Massachusetts Hunt Clubs:

Old Northbridge Hounds

Myopia Hunt

Norfolk Hunt

If I had my own horse, I would definitely want to get involved in a hunt club. They are great social groups and its great exercise for all species involved 🙂 Maybe someday when I have extra money…soooo probably not until retirement!!!

Here is the older picture from last year of Mizpah, the blur between some horses. It must have been later in the fall because they are wearing formal attire!

FullSizeRender-2

Hope everyone had a fabulous Tuesday! I think this week’s Prep Craze is going to be quilted vests because I just got a really nice navy one from J. Crew Factory, 35% off- Free Shipping! Gotta find ways to get those fall essentials without ruining your budget right!? Stay tuned!

Signature 2

 

Barn wedding weekend & Great LLBean Story

On By careofmonIn LifestyleLeave a comment

Today I definitely had a case of the Mondays ha. I had an amazing weekend as a bridesmaid for one of my best friend’s weddings. She got married at her family’s horse farm. She came in to the ceremony next to the family’s beautiful antique farm house on a carriage pulled by a chestnut morgan with her father and met her groom under a trellis in front of a beautiful old oak tree. Her child, aka her horse, was in a paddock nearby for pics afterward, absolutely stunning. The reception was down in the cross country field under a tent. The decorations and lighting were magnificent. The food was delicious and we drank Veuve Cliquot out of the bottle and our favorite Barefoot chardonnay while we danced all night long. It was truly a magical night and I was so happy to be a part of it. Work this morning was a harsh reality after living in a fairytale all weekend 🙂

This morning I heard a great story about one of my favorite companies, LLBean. Leon Gorman passed away on September 3rd. I was actually up in Freeport that weekend! Leon was the grandson of the founder L.L. Bean and served as CEO from 1967-2001. He was on the board as chairman after that until 2013, and then served as chairman emeritus until he passed away at 80 years old. By all accounts, he was an amazing man and is credited with much of the success LLBean now has. The flagship store in Freeport is open 24 hours/day and closed on Sunday for 4 hours so that everyone could go to Leon Gorman’s memorial service. The doors don’t even have locks so they draped a rope through the handles of the doors. The flagship store only closed 2 other times, when JFK was assassinated, and when L.L. Bean himself passed away. I just thought it was so nice that the company realized that celebrating Leon’s life was more important than any sale they would make that morning. Truly, I have often thought I would love to work for LLBean when I retire, because its such a great company.

You can read the story about the store closing here: LLBean remembers Leon Gorman

Here are some pics of the amazing wedding 🙂

Veuve cliquot for the head table, so good
Veuve cliquot for the head table, so good
The centerpieces were beautiful fresh flowers in horse show trophy cups. Metallic sandals were the bridesmaid shoe of choice- here are some of our Jack Rogers taking a break while we danced!
The centerpieces were beautiful fresh flowers in horse show trophy cups. Metallic sandals were the bridesmaid shoe of choice- here are some of our Jack Rogers taking a break while we danced!
My fiancé sent this as a snapchat, ha, too funny, but honestly, the tent was stunning.
My fiancé sent this as a snapchat, ha, too funny, but honestly, the tent was stunning.

It was truly a magical weekend with all my best friends from the barn, so nice to see so many of the riders dressed up and dancing together. I hope you all had lovely weekends too! Its starting to get cooler and darker earlier, we have to soak up whats left of the nice weather here in New England!

Signature 2