Mac's first horse show!

About a year ago, I found a horse listed on Craigslist for $200. The ad said he was a decent height, so I asked Kristen and Krystal to go with me to look at him. I thought he might be a great, quick sale project. When we got to the farm, we met Mac. He was several hundred pounds underweight, his legs were being eaten away by bugs, and his feet were in bad shape.

The woman who owned him had rescued him a few months prior. She said he had been so skinny, he couldn't get up enough strength to get in the trailer. Several men had to lift him in. She thought she could use him as a trail horse for her husband, but she said Mac reared and they were afraid to use him.

He seemed sweet in the field and he trotted sound, so I told her we would be back for him that weekend. Kristen brought a "cocktail" for Mac when we went to get him since his owner said he probably had only been in a trailer twice in his whole life. He loaded fairly quietly and on we went.

The first few months of Mac's training were tough. You couldn't get a saddle or girth on him in crossties...we had to take him to the outdoor to get him tacked up. It would also take him about 30 minutes to get on him. He was petrified to let me mount and if someone held his face to steady him, his front feet would leave the ground. We spent months teaching him mounting was OK and how to stand nicely at the mounting block.

After that, Mac was easy to train. He learned basic collection and his basic three gates rather quickly. He was even easier to start over fences. I think all the groundwork made him trust again.

After a year of training, corrective farrier work, and a daily dose of weight builder, Mac is now officially a Fairy Tale Farm lesson horse. After all he had been through is his eight years, I couldn't let his future be unknown. Mac will never be an A circuit hunter (did I mention he's toed out in the back?) but he sure loves crossrails!

Kaitlin's student, Catie, has a great bond with Mac. They really, really like each other and Catie has done great things for Mac's confidence. Catie took Mac to his first horse show ever this weekend and I couldn't have been prouder. Mac and Catie took the day in stride and they walked away with a red ribbon. I can't wait to watch these two tackle the crossrail division this summer.

Camp and Horse shows!

Hello everyone,
Listed below are the FTF events list for the summer including all horse shows and camps. Please feel free to e-mail me with shows that you are interested in attending and camp weeks you may want to register for! We will have a max on how many campers we can take so let me know as soon as you can if you would like your child to have a spot.


June
Sat, 19th Combined Test (Trinity Farm)

July
Mon, 5th-Fri, 9th Camp
Fri 23rd-Sun 25th Equus Classic (Delaware Fairgrounds)
Sat 31-Aug 1st New Vocations (Delaware Fairgrounds)

August
Sun, 15th Limerick Lane (Hilliard, OH)
Mon, 2nd-Friday, 6th Camp
Sat, 28th Fairy Tale Farm Schooling Show

September
Fri 3rd-Sun 5th Showtime Labor Day Classic (Delaware Fairgrounds)
Sat,25th-Sun, 26th Limerick Lane (Hilliard, OH)


October
Fri 1st-Sun 3rd Showtime Fall Classic (Delaware Fairgrounds)
Sat, 9th Foxtail Farm (Ostrander)
Sat, 16th Fairy Tale Farm Schooling Show

November
Sat, 20th-Sun, 21st Limerick Lane (Hilliard)

-Meghan

Welcome to the FTF blog!

Hi FTF clients! In lieu of our newsletters, we thought it might be easier to share barn happenings with a blog! So, welcome!

The summer is finally upon us and that means riding in the outdoor, more trail rides, horse shows, and camp! Here are a few things you can do to make your equine friend more comfortable this summer:
1. Use a good flyspray every time you groom your horse and before and after every ride. We recommend Pyrahna. It's inexpensive and it outlasts many of the other brands. It's a good idea to write your name on your bottle and to keep your bottle in your tack trunk. Flyspray is notorious for disappearing in the summer months. Also, remember never to spray it in your horses face. To apply to the face, just spray a bit in your hands and gently rub it over the length of their face and ears.
2. Buy a fly mask with ears. It will keep your horse comfortable when they are in turnout.
3. Always check your horses water bucket. We water four times a day, but a horse can quickly finish off a full bucket. If your horse only has one bucket and you are concerned about their water intake, purchase another bucket and we will be happy to install it for you.
4. Buy your horse a fan for his stall. We will install it for you. Please purchase a good quality box fan.
5. Use 20% of your ride time for cool down. If you work your horse for an hour, allow at least 12 minutes for cool down time. Let your horse catch his breath and regain normal body temperature by letting him walk on a long rein at his own pace.
6. ALWAYS clean all saddle, girth, and bridle marks. This doesn't always mean a bath or hosing your horse down. You can use a wet sponge if your horse is minimally sweaty. Always use a scraper to remove excess water.
7. If you go on a trail ride, take a moment to check your horses legs, underbelly, and tail for ticks.
7. Take care of yourself too :) There are always bottles of water in the mini fridge in the tack room for our clients.




Summer barn notes
As you have all probably noticed, we are very full right now! We have fourteen horses and one coming in this weekend. We also are bursting at the seems with lessons. Here are some summer rules/reminders that we ask you to abide by to keep our small farm running well during the busy summer months.
1. Please clean up after yourselves. This includes throwing away all of your garbage (there are four garbage cans in the barn and a small Dumpster by the parking area), cleaning your horses area in the aisle (including picking up your horses poop in the aisle, sweeping the area you used, etc), putting away all of your tack, sweeping/removing manure from the wash stall after use, and keeping your horses door neat and uncluttered (aka halter, fly masks, etc should be neatly hung.)
2. Each stall in the barn is allowed one tack trunk. There is to be nothing kept on top of, in front of or behind any trunk. We have been lax on this up until now but with as many boarders as we have, it's only fair that every boarder is able to have enough room to keep their trunk in the barn.
3. Please limit your use of the wash stall to 10 minutes (unless you need to soak a foot). A bath should take no longer than this.
4. No one is permitted to open the back of the large Dumpster. It is VERY hard to get shut again and FTF pays a hefty fee to the Dumpster company if the door is left open.
5. We ask that no one except for management go into the hayloft. With the large front door open and the hay doors open, having people in the hayloft poses a safety risk. We will put a chain on the stairs as a reminder.
6. For all lesson students; please leave yourself at least a half hour after your lesson to cool down your horse and sponge/hose them down. Sweat marks on any of the lesson horses will not be tolerated.
7. The only place you may wash your horse is the wash stall. Please do not wash your horse in the arena or outside. The only exception to this rule is Oliver. He may be sponged in his stall or washed in front of the pastures. (We ask this to avoid flooding were there aren't drains.)
8. Lastly, only management is permitted to feed hay and grain and to use bedding.




Show and camp schedule coming soon!
See you out at the barn!
-Meghan