And... we're back!

After something of an extended summer vacation, the Course Brook Farm blog is back in action! As for the renegade post from March, if Karen wants to write about buying a horse trailer, she’s going to have to get through me first and I’m bigger than she is…

The most exciting piece of non-vehicular news around here is the fact that our October 8^th USEA-recognized horse trials are right around the corner. It seems like just yesterday that we were gathered around the back of the Gator, celebrating Erika’s birthday after the last competitor had gone home and eating cake with our fingers, but September is NEXT WEEK and that means horse show preparations are ramping up all over again. We’re offering BN-T levels again this year and entries are open now!

As the cross country course comes together over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting photos of some of the jumps, and maybe even a jump-by-jump course walk. The new footing in the large outdoor area that we added before last year’s horse trials is riding even better after wintering over, so no matter what the weatherman is calling for there will be good footing for dressage. Ozias has been building new stadium jumps, too. I can testify that the wings are incredibly fancy, and also incredibly heavy.

Also back and better than ever is volunteer coordinator, Janet Sinclair. You may remember her as the woman with the clipboard and purposeful walk if you volunteered at last year’s event. She’s basically a one-woman coordinating machine and thanks to her, all of last year’s volunteers were organized and deployed appropriately. I can attest to that since I was one. I can also attest to the awesomeness of the gift bags that Janet puts together for every volunteer.

If you’d like to come and volunteer, Janet has lots of jobs to fill, even for those who aren’t horsey. For instance, if you’re a kid who is planning on competing at the show, why not volunteer your parents? That will get them and their cameras away from the trailer on show day and maybe they’ll give you one of their free volunteer t-shirts when the day is over. That’s even better than a ribbon! If you want to volunteer yourself or a loved one, you can reach Janet at janetsinclair1@live.com. Operators are standing by.

That’s it for today. Stay tuned for photos, highlights of the boarders’ achievements through the summer show season, and some special guest bloggers in the coming weeks.

--Casy