One month, many milestones
Good things come in threes - isn't that how the saying goes? It seems to be true for us because February brought three very good things to Lupine Farm. Emily's childhood riding instructor and friend, Ivy Rasco, offered the loan of a mascot for the farm and for democratic campaigning. That mascot is named Petunia and we love her! How do you say no to the unsolicited offer of a donkey?? Bill jokes that she has her HEE, but she is still working on her HAW. Since she is only three, we're sure she'll get the HEE HAW down pat, and we're excited to learn to drive her, too. February also found Emily behind the wheel of her very first TRUCK! A 2006 3/4 ton, it is Lupine Farm Green and has already been nicknamed "The Green Monster" to go along with Big Papi and our New England theme. That big engine was put to the test as we rounded out our great month of good additions when we went to retrieve our newest boarders (they are 2, but we're counting them as a package deal for our 3 good things theme), Kenzie and George. These lovely geldings are talented and BIG. We are so happy to have them and their owners, too, of course. Welcome to Shalegh, Aaron, and Denise. March arrived yesterday and both rings are snow free for the time being - not convinced we are snow free for good though. Mudseason has arrived early and daylight savings is just around the corner. Looking forward to another new arrival this month in the form of Olivia's horse, Noah. Daylight savings time is a mere two weeks away and you can feel the excitement in the air as people start to dust off their riding gear. Six week lesson packages start April 12th and summer camps are filling up quickly. Be sure to reserve your space soon. Happy March to you all!
February is upon us - let's click our heels and jump to April!
We have had a pleasant winter of semi-hibernation out in the barn at Lupine Farm, but we are out there at least twice a day and there have been a few hearty souls riding all along no matter what mother nature throws at us. The horses love to play in the powder almost as much as our skiing friends do. The days are slowly getting longer (light until 5:15 now!) and a few changes are around the corner. We're excited to welcome three new boarders in the next month and we've started filling in the spring and summer calendar as well. Check it out and come over any time you're ready to get your horse fix again!
Happy New Year - Welcome 2010!
Hopefully the advent of the new year brought new hope and promise of good things to come to everybody! It will be a year of milestones for me with my 30th birthday and my wedding in May and September respectively, and it will be a year of more growth and fun at Lupine Farm. I'm looking forward to time with the horses, gardens, camps, lessons,and shows and learning from each experience along the way. Hope to share the fun with as many of you as possible. For today, I am enjoying a little reflection and recharging in front of the fire as a snowstorm blows outside the window. As important as moments with your horses and your otherwise busy lives will be in 2010, don't forget some moments of quiet set aside for yourself which are very important, too! May this new year bring health, wealth, love, and happiness (and HORSES!) to you all.
Happy Holidays!
October and November passed in a flurry of orange leaves, trail rides, jumping lessons in the big ring, and unseasonably warm weather (for which we were thankful!!). We had a fabulous photo shoot of the farm with Deb of Unbridled Photography in early October and some of her work will be displayed on this site very soon. Memphis moved away to his new home in Sanford, Roux started work under saddle and has been a super star, and the rest of the gang marches happily along. Turnout rugs, breaking ice in buckets, and a lovely blanket of snow are the newest order as of early December, so we're preparing ourselves for another snowy winter season. November was a very busy month with a big number of regular lesson riders, and we'll see who sticks around for the winter and who leaves us for the call of the ski hills. Either way, we'll be here to greet you when you're ready to ride again - be it through the fluffy snow or after the spring sun melts it all away again. In the meantime, happy happy holidays to all. Thank you for a wonderful inaugural season in 2009 - we couldn't have asked for anything better!
The new ring with beautiful jumps made by Bray Anderson of Moon Run Farm
Roux's second time out
Transition time - goodbye show season, hello fall fuzzies!
We just pulled in from our final horse show of our inaugural season as Lupine Farm - and what a season it was! BIG congratulations to Ali Cole and Fiona for their 5th place finish in the Downeast Walk Trot Poles Medal Final out of a crowded field of 13 competitors! We'll be seeing more of this pair in years to come. Bugsy went up for the ride and took home two big 5ths in the Easy Does It Classics out of fields of 19 - thank you to Brooke Austin of Lucky Clover Farm for the catch ride.
Belated congratulations from last week's LF competitors at the September Stonewall Show. Lindsay and Bugsy got nice ribbons in the Easy Does It Division and finished their season with a win in the flat. Sky re-joined and hopped on Bugsy for some very competitive walk-trot classes bringing home a 4th in walk-trot pleasure. Ali and Fiona had two nice rides at that show as well.
Fall brings time for trail rides, fun rides, and lessons in our soon to be finished big ring - just waiting for the rails on the fence to arrive. This is a great time of year to consider leasing one of our lesson horses to make the most of the lovely autumn days ahead with lots and lots of riding. You can also use a lease to start to build a relationship with a horse through fall and winter, so you'll be ready to go as a duo when next summer's show season rolls around more quickly than you'd imagine.
The food pantry garden is overflowing with bounty in this harvest season. Thank you to all of you who have volunteered.
Happy apple picking, pumpkin carving, crisp sunny days, and all things fall in Maine to you!
September will bring...our finished big ring!
August has been very busy at Lupine Farm (but when hasn't been?!) As we wrap up with our final week of summer camp tomorrow, it looks like the contractors will also be wrapping up with all of their work on our brand new 100x200 sand and stone dust arena! As soon as the fence company can come install the fence they have been saving for us for a year, we're going to be big time! In addition to the ring, there is a new entrance to the farm from the Cushnoc Road that runs along the ring and back onto the farm driveway for ease with trailers and parking.
Two new horses are at the farm now. Fiona is a chestnut TB mare who is a lovely new addition to the lesson program. Chippy is a gentle giant roan paint with looks, talent, and personality to spare. He is on loan from our farrier, and he happens to be for sale. We are hoping somebody who stays at the farm will want to buy him so he can stick around and stay part of the family!
We went to the Stonewall Stables hunter show with Bugsy and Ivy. Congratulations to Lindsay and Bugsy for their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place ribbons in the Easy Does It Division as well as some nice ribbons on the flat. Ali took Bugsy in Walk-Trot poles to earn some more points, too. Both Emily and Ivy made a guest appearance in the show ring together after most of a season away and Ivy showed off her hunter talents placing well in big classes of Special Hunters and winning her second Hunter Pleasure Championship class of the year! Ivy is still looking for a new home. Please be in touch if you are interested.
September will find us luxuriating in our new wide open spaces and attending horse shows at Stonewall Stables in Nobleboro and in Skowhegan for the DownEast Medal Finals. Congratulations to Ali Cole for qualifying for the finals in the Walk-Trot Poles division.
In other news, the food pantry garden is producing mightily, and we have had over 5 straight day of sun!
Life is good at the farm. Thank you to everybody who is a part of it.
Happy campers!
Chipper and Abby
Fiona and Alli
Ivy and Hannah
Is it really mid-July already?!
Sky and Prism in walk-trot at their first horse show.
Time is flying at Lupine Farm these days. Lots of lessons with both new and returning riders, a successful inaugural "Ladies' Week," four horses competed at Highview on the 11th, and we're gearing up for another week of camp that begins tomorrow morning (July 20th!). Big congratulations to all of the horse and rider teams from Highview - Sky and Prism had their very first show ever with a massive 14 person walk-trot division; Julia and Bugsy took on the Easy Does It division with style; Ali and Daisy continued working on their lovely partnership in walk-trot poles; Julia and Ivy cleaned up in the Hunter Pleasure classes; and Sarah got in nice rides on both Daisy and Bugsy despite an early morning finger injury! We had a caravan of cars, very helpful families, bright sun, and best of all, we all had FUN. Beyond that, the gardens are flourishing despite all of the June rain and deliveries to the Food Pantry will begin shortly for the early season veggies. More horse shows, lessons, guest lessons with Bray Anderson, camps, and good times planned throughout the summer. Come join the fun!
Pam, Ann, and Sophie on their mounts at Ladies Week!
Ali and Daisy - patiently waiting their turn.
Ann and Bugsy pose for the camera.
June = horse show, new additions, and rain!
Congratulations to Ali and Daisy on a very successful first horse show at the Downeast show in Skowhegan in the Walk-Trot Poles Division! (and a big thank you to Lindsay for the stellar braid job in the rain!). Kudos to Mr. Me Either as well for a first trip out in Easy Does It that brought home a few nice ribbons. Also, a big Lupine Farm welcome to Sarah and her horse Ace, Hannah and her horse Ivy, and Sky with her pony Tonka. We are happy to have all of you join the ranks. Week one of horse camp is drawing to a close, and plans are gearing up for more horse shows, additional camps, and a Ladies' Week just around the corner. Let's hope July brings some good old fashioned summer SUN. Thankfully, our lovely finished ring has proven to be brilliantly waterproof which means the rain hasn't stopped us a bit - just given us cause to clean tack! Happy riding to all!
Gratuitous Abbot shot - farm dog extraordinaire!
happy campers
Nap time in the play pen!
Many Hands Make Light Work
On a sunny Friday morning, the troops gathered to plant the food pantry garden in very short order! Two raised beds and a large garden area later, we have the beginnings of what we hope will be a bountiful harvest for the community at the Vassalboro Food Station. The list of what we planted includes: tomatoes, broccoli, pumpkins, squash, beets, turnips, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, onions, lettuce, basil, cabbage, zucchini, and a few other treats as well. A big thank you to generous donations from Johnny's Seeds and FedCo, to Cindy Ferland of the Food Station for writing a grant for the garden, to Art and Linda Kingdon for envisioning this project last year and keeping it going, and to all of the helping hands who got it planted! Be in touch for opportunities to help with watering, weeding, and the harvest.
New Ring! Guest Instructors!
After literally months of waiting, hoping, and riders being good sports about riding in makeshift places, Lupine Farm is thrilled to announce that the first of two sand arenas was finished at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, 2009! This "small ring" is 60x100, and it is absolutely well worth the wait. Come over and go for a spin - your horse will have happy feet! The larger 100x200 arena has a projected finish date of July 2009.
Now that we have a legitimate place to ride, the gears can start turning. Starting in June, there will be visits from guest instructors for Lupine Farm riders as well as formal clinics for anyone in the area who is interested. Bray Anderson from
Moon Run Farm in North Berwick, Maine will be coming on a monthly or bi-monthly basis for lessons in hunt seat on the flat and over fences. Keep checking the calendar or check in with Emily directly for dates and times!
April showers bring...new horses!
It has been a busy spring so far at Lupine Farm. The brilliant weather has provided lots of time and inspiration for riding, de-fuzzing, long overdue tack cleaning, rock picking, tub scrubbing, and just shaking off the cobwebs and enjoying the outdoors. Memphis and Bugsy arrived in April to bring our equine numbers to nine! They are pictured below,and you can read more about them on the our horses page. New students are signing up on a regular basis, summer clinic and show plans are taking shape, and (fingers crossed) it looks like at least one of the two rings will be finished by the end of May! By mid-summer we will hopefully have both a 100x200 sand arena and a 70x100 schooling ring. That will definitely be cause for celebration.
In garden news, we have been working to reclaim the massive asparagus bed, and the food pantry garden is tilled and ready to go. Volunteers are gearing up for a new season of growing and providing fresh produce to appreciative community members. We are still looking for somebody to manage that effort, so be in touch if that person might be you!
Let there be hay!
A big thank you to all friends of the farm who pitched in for some serious hay stacking in the early spring sunshine! Some photos that capture the day are posted below. (including the happy customers munching hay and the happy helpers out for a quick ride as a thank you for hard work!)
Spring is just around the corner!
Believe it or not, this picture was taken at 5 p.m. in February. There was enough light for riding until after 5:30, and in one more week we get Daylight Savings! We celebrate little victories regarding winter riding in Maine. Papi seemed to enjoy coming out of hibernation to start slowly gearing up for another competitive summer season. I know I did! Come join the fun. Some early evening weeknight lesson slots available starting in March.
Snowy Smiles.
It's a family affair. Ann has been riding Prism all fall and wanted to share the fun that she's been having with her sister, Carol, pictured here. They all braved the cold snap for redemption of a Christmas present and a very successful first lesson!
Horse Show Fun
Emily and Paparazzi (competing as "Alert the Media") finished their Amateur Adult career as the 2008 Amateur Adult Hunter Champions in the Maine Horse Association. They also brought home 4th place in the Modified Adult Medal Finals held on a very rainy day at Pineland Farms on September 28th!
A big thank you to Bray Anderson of Moon Run Farm for the coaching and support that made the season such a success and such a fabulous, fun journey. Thanks also to Jim, Libby, and Lindsay for braving the rain at finals all the way through the last fence cleared!
Emily and Papi are looking forward to relaxing with trails, lessons, and perhaps a beach ride or two before the snow flies.
Our newest arrival!
Madeline's Secret, "Roux", arrived on the afternoon of November 16th! She is a 3 year old thoroughbred filly fresh off the track from New York. A fabulous law school graduation gift (Thank you, I.L.!), Roux is well loved and settling in nicely already for a winter of making horse friends and growing into her long, lanky body. Roux's arrival makes the grand total of horses at Lupine Farm a lucky number SEVEN. The old saying appears to be true: "If you build it, they will come!"
Roux meeting her new big brother, Paparazzi.
