Victoria Day weekend

EastWind Pony Club news



Natasha passed her D2 test at the D Rally at the Rideau Carleton Raceway on the weekend!

Congratulations, Natasha and Coconut!



We spent the weekend (Saturday through Monday) at the Raceway with 50+ other eager Pony Club kids and their horses/ponies. D Rally is a working rally.


That means that the participants are completely responsible for all the work in the barn, grooming and tacking up their horse or pony, as well as being on time for lessons and other events. The stalls and other areas have to be spotless - there's a stable management competition - and a helpful parent costs the team marks.


Parents are only allowed in the stables at certain hours - and only to see what their children have done, not to clean stalls or tack. Each team has a helper to assist the team with tacking up and mounting.


Natasha was on a team with members from Ottawa Valley Hunt (OVH) (Abby, Rosemary and Katie) and their helper, Sarah, from United Counties Pony Club. Their team placed 10th in the stable management competition.

Sarah swept out the tack stall. All of the equipment, feed, tack and even the sawhorse had labels that identified the team, and horse and rider.


On Saturday, we met the rest of the team, set up the stalls, tack stall, and feed area. The Pony Clubbers were all divided into lesson groups for riding and stable management. I taught stable management classes on Saturday and Sunday, and tested stable management on Sunday, then the riding portion of the D level tests on Monday. It was a busy weekend.


The food was catered by the Raceway and was plentiful and tasty. We slept in our sleeping bags in a room in the Raceway and by the time lights went out at 10 pm, almost everyone was ready to sleep.


Natasha and I had a great time overall - and Natasha says she'd like to go back next year as a helper. Maybe we'll have a whole team at Rally next year!


Serge brought Coconut down in the trailer and then took the truck home. I had the car at Rally so that it was easier to get from the barns to the other areas. Mom brought the truck back on Monday and helped us tear down and pack up the Rally stuff. Thanks, Mom!


While we were away from the farm, Laura, Linda and Mom stepped in and did morning and evening chores as well as entertained the dogs and cat. Thank you very much!

We couldn't have gone to Rally without your help!



Dreamscape Acres news

Allie went home Sunday morning. She and Classy had a romantic few days and we hope that she caught. Classy's next "date" will be in June when we breed Hey You.


Aggie the cow ended up in the round pen after she demonstrated her agility and escaped from both the big field in the racetrack and from Delilah's paddock on Monday. Darn cow!







Drifter managed to pull the bottom wire off the fence in his paddock Sunday evening, shorting out the fence. Mom, Laura and Linda worked long into the night on Sunday (in the dark) fixing the fence so that they could turn the power back on. Drifter thought that he should be the stallion in charge even though he's a gelding. Silly boy!

Spook and Drifter slept comfortably in the sunshine on Monday.


Delilah, Dreamer, Nikki, Kane and Malachi had conversations around the hay in their paddock right behind Drifter as he napped.


Beauty and Breezy spent a lot of time outside on Monday in the sunshine. The hot wire around the riding ring is now electric again to ensure that Beauty doesn't graze her way out under the fence. She's rather fond of fresh green grass. Breezy keeps trying whatever Beauty eats, but she's not convinced that grass and hay are really food. Mom's milk is still much better!






Time for a nap!


The chicks are fledging now. Their adult feathers are starting to come in. Lori adopted all of the chicks and once they're fully fledged, she'll take them home to her new farm in Brinston.




Glenna says that Finnigan (now called Steel) and Tira are doing well and that both of them are happy and healthy in their new home. Thanks for the update, Glenna!


Mom posted on Full Circles for shredded paper and hopes to pick up a number of bags of shredded paper from various people this week. Every little bit helps save us some money on bedding. Thanks, Mom!

EastWind Pony Club news

We held a meeting of the EastWind Pony Club last Sunday (Mother's Day) at Dreamscape Acres. Everyone turned up, although Sam and Alex were late because they had family obligations earlier in the day.

While the parents and other associate members (volunteers) discussed T-shirts, logos, and colours, as well as planned the program for the next little while, the members worked on their first badge: Equine Arts and Crafts. Miella, Sam and Alex all completed the Equine Arts and Crafts badge. Natasha helped the younger members and our members-in-training (Michael and Shayleen - both a couple of years too young for Pony Club, but eager to become members) when they needed a hand with cutting or glueing.

Our T-shirts will be royal blue with the EastWind Pony Club logo on the back in pink and blue. Once we have a T-shirt completed, we'll post a picture.

Susan provided Mylar to make the stencils and Jennifer (Miella's mom) volunteered her stencil burner to cut the stencils. We plan to use spray fabric paint from Michael's (the arts and crafts store) to make our T-shirts since we don't have enough members to warrant paying a set-up charge and buying a minimum order of shirts yet.

We'd thought about going for a ride, but the weather was a bit uncooperative.

Our branch is participating in the "Ride for 75" as part of Canadian Pony Club's 75th anniversary celebrations. All of the riding that all of our members and associate members (volunteers) do outside of a riding ring or arena counts towards the total for our club. That means that if you ride around the track, on the trails or on the road, it all counts. If you practice outside in an unfenced area in preparation for a cross country competition, that counts, too!

Please send a note to our DC, Susan (sneakypony@yahoo.com) with your riding kilometres regularly so that we can add them to the total.

If we send in at least 100 km ridden by our members and associates, the branch will receive a certificate. The top 10 branches in Canada are listed on the Canadian Pony Club website and updated regularly. The branch with the highest total kilometres ridden will be announced at the banquet and will receive a special award.

Since the other branches started accumulating their kilometres last summer, it's unlikely that we'll make it to the top, but we might as well have fun trying!

By participating in the Ride for 75, members can earn a special badge commemorating the 75th anniversary of Pony Club in Canada.

Natasha and Coconut are off this weekend to compete in the St. Lawrence-Ottawa Valley D Rally and Testing. I'm going as a chaperone, instructor and tester. I have really good memories of the D Rally when it was held at Maxville Fairgrounds when I was a member, so I'm really looking forward to this one. Rally is now held at the Rideau Carleton Raceway, so it'll be a new experience for both of us.

Natasha is on a team with three riders from Ottawa Valley Hunt Pony Club. There are stable management competitions, riding lessons, stable management lessons, and on Monday, testing. Natasha plans to do her D2 test - as it's her first year in Pony Club, she can chose the level for her first test. She did really well on the written portion of the tests.

Time flies!

Beauty's baby, Breezy, is now two weeks old! She's happy, healthy, and growing - and those are good things.

Beauty and Breezy go out in the round pen regularly now and Breezy loves to canter along behind her mom. Her legs are so long that she still looks awkward when she canters, but she can really move. Jasper often helps herd Breezy into the round pen (and back to the stall at night) so she doesn't wander too far.

Breezy's full name is Call Me a Dreamer. The "Call Me" comes from her sire, Call Me Starmaker, and "Dreamer" comes from Beauty's full name, Beautiful Dreamer. Since she doesn't have any spots, we can't register her with the International Spotted Horse registry. If mom finds the money to have Beauty DNA tested to see if she's part or all Newfoundland Pony, we may be able to eventually register Breezy as a part Newfoundland. Time will tell - and Breezy may darken up to be a liver chestnut bay or roan out and develop a lovely lacy pattern.

Classy is having a great month. Delilah came into season last Sunday, so we turned Classy and Delilah out in the riding ring so that he could breed her when she was ready. We saw two successful breedings on Sunday, and Delilah was receptive to Classy's attentions until Wednesday.

Another mare, Allie, is here to be bred by Classy, too. Spot gets to tease her every day to see if she's ready to be pasture bred in the riding ring. She's interested in Spot, but not ready yet.

In June, we'll breed Hey You to Classy and then Lori plans to bring Little Girl to breed to Classy in July. Lucky Classy!

Natasha attended a Hunter Clinic at Rosewood Stables and did quite well. It was the first time that we'd taken Coconut off property and he was super! Here's a video of one of her jumping rounds:

Natasha cleaned all her tack, bathed Coconut, and put on her show clothes for the clinic. Don't they look handsome together?