Turk’s Southwind Stables

Sorry one and all if you follow this blog, we’ve been busy with horseshows, lessons, training etc. I must say, my “bunch” are sure diehards! We went to the Fingerlakes Equestrians Show yesterday in Tburg and it rained all day and poured alot of the day! However, everyone, and I mean everyone, remained positive, had fun and did well. Chance Vancleef Jr, and his horse Junior were reserve champion for the game classes and also finished first in showmanship, his VERY FIRST time out!!!! Aden VanCleef also did really well, winning the walk/trot polebending with his horse Simi, who has obviously done this before!!! Jenna and Jada Gooch again had another great show with Cruiser and Harley. I believe Jada and Harley will show at the lope for the next show! Macy Covert and Lilly did well in Leadline again, they are moving up to walk/trot soon. And Jenna McDonald used Sandy for all her classes all day and they were awesome. And finally, Kiersten Hendrix used her aunt Gail’s horse, JR ( a 3 year old, at his first show!)for all the pleasure and game classes in the older walk/trot division, and won the pleasure and equitation classes! (JR was trained here this spring). I think Aunt Gail has some confidence in this nice gelding now!!!!

Jaimee is still doing the hunter shows with both Buster and Sandy, as well as taking Sandy to the NYS Haflinger Association fun show in June. She did well, and they attempted all the game classes as well, earning a couple blue ribbons. We also both did the wheelbarrow race, and couldn’t compete with big guys with little kids in the wheelbarrow!!! But we had a great time!!!!

Summer is starting and camp will be here before you know it. The week of July 20th, from 9-3 daily we will have lots of riding, crafts, learning about horses and just basic fresh air fun! Come join us! Ages 7 and up!!!

Sandy and Jaimee getting warmed up for english pleasure

Happy Camper, Dorothy, during camp 2008

Filed under: Uncategorized on June 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

A TRUE STORY”
I know this sounds stupid, but after the last few days, I am an even stronger believer in fate. I’m sure there is some superior being up there, but don’t know who or why, but his/her name is certainly fate.I have wanted a mule since I was a teenager, they have always fascinated me. I have been sort of looking around this spring to see if any came for sale, and have found some that I “could live with”, but nothing special. And, not having sold Diesel yet the point was moot anyway……I have spent most of the winter trying to sell Diesel, the best western pleasure horse I have ever had and had no luck. Then, wham, he’s sold about 2 weeks ago and it happened so fast I didn’t really get time to think about missing him. I put the money in the care of Ed, who can prevent me from letting it burn a hole in my pocket. I never really told Florence, my best friend, I was looking, but had asked her advice on a couple that I found. I’m not sure I remember how it happened, but she said I should look at the mules her good friend, Cindy, had down south, and Cindy emailed me pix of a paint yearling mule, and she is beautiful.I spent the next few hours showing the pix to Ed to try to get him interested and couldn’t get much of a response, as he thought I was just trying to find a way to spend some of my money…I emailed Cindy back and asked a few questions in my quest to see if I could sway my ever reluctant husband, who is POSITIVE that Florence and I are always cooking up schemes that sometimes don’t go as planned……Cindy emailed me back the mule’s name; Chrome Molly. WELL, did things change then. The more he heard her name, the more he said her name, the more he looked at the pictures he finally budged and Chrome got a “ticket” to NY!!!!Now, some of you may ask, why did the name change Ed’s mind? For those of you don’t know, most every animal here that Ed has had to name, has a name from the automotive or train industry. We have dogs named Diesel, Turbo, Dually, and Coach (after a style of race car like the one Ed is building, there’s another story)…..We have horses named Lehigh Valley, Cruiser, Bentley, a cat named hub and one named axle. and so on……OK, some of you still don’t get it, as I didn’t at first either, so here come’s the punch line…….Chrome Moly is a type of steel that is durable, and many times “chromed” used to make gun barrels, machine parts and CAR parts….so, “Chrome’s” name is a take on that word as a Molly is also a mare mule and Chrome happens to have chrome (what some horse people call white markings). Get it now? So, we have a new member of the family who happens to fit Ed’s car part naming game, who is also exactly what I was looking for…..FATE…….I WILL NEVER STOP BELIEVING IN FATE. I read once if you dont’ believe in fate, or don’t have a dream you might as well give up. I am a big believer that someday I will get rewarded for working like a dog, never giving up, (even though I feel like I’m going backwards most of the time) and always trying to dream and have FAITH in something……. Everybody out there, keep believing in yourself!!! Keep dreaming…..

This is Arc'o Chrome Molly

Now for another addition to the clan. Jackie, aka, CC Trendy Chick, was graciously given to me for a long term lease to use for lessons by Lisa Williams of Lyons, NY. She is rusty and a bit spooky, but is doing well since she has had quite a few years off. She has however been on a short trail ride, and she was wonderful, so she’s gonna do that easily. Dorothy is working on her ring work at the walk/jog and we are teaching her to neckrein so that maybe she can do some western lessons, as she’s got a cute jog and lope. Of course, her trot and canter are beautiful.  Thanks, Lisa, we’ll keep her at work and take good care of her. She is a sweetie

Jackie

 An old friend, Louise, and her husband Ralph recently returned here to restart their riding careers. After some horse accidents, Louise was very scared, afraid to ride her own horses and enjoy an activity that both she and Ralph longed to share together. Well, after some very long sessions of just sitting on a horse and relaxing, Louise overcame some big fears, and she and Ralph are enjoying their horses. Good luck in the future both of you!! You did a great job!

Lousie and Reno

Until, next time!

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 1st, 2009 | No Comments »

Geez, where have I been? I haven’t updated this site in so long, sorry to any who are “regular” readers.  Below is pictured “The Kid”, one of my OTTB’s after a pretty succesful small trail ride. He is working out well, and hoping to add him to the lesson string before long. I’m also using LV for lessons, and he’s pretty happy being used. Everybody needs a job. Below is also a picture of LV and I.

I’ve been pretty busy the last two months with training horses and with the crappy New York weather it sure is hard to stay motivated. Again the last two days have had windchills in the 20’s. It’s April 12th, when will it end!!!!????

I’ve got a saddlebred, a Dun, a Red Dun, an APHA and an AQHA horse all in training right now, so I’m busy. Not to mention keeping the OTTB’s going and the lesson horses going. And I wonder why I don’t have time for Diesel, my own gelding. Somebody needs to buy him as he’s a great horse and really needs to go to someone who can spend some time with him. Along with the lesson program, Jaimee and I are busy. The red dun mare is for sale, so if anybody’s interested, there’s a picture of her below.

I guess Jaimee is planning on having at least one week of summer camp this year, so contact me if anybody’s interested.

We got a nice AQHA mare given to us to use for lessons, I’ll go pick her up tomorrow and get her going for the lesson program, or for a kid to lease here  and ride.

Everyone is starting to plan their show season, Jaimee is headed to Stoneybrook sunday for our first hunter show of the year, with Buster and Sandy, hopefully I can get those videos transferred to youtube without my computer having a snit.

Well, until next time, keep thinking positive thoughts and get those horses ready for the season! If you need help, you know where I am.

Filed under: Uncategorized on April 12th, 2009 | No Comments »

Jaimee and I are going to sneak away next weekend to “get away” and go to the Horse World Expo in Harrisburg, PA. Ok, so it’s not Equine Affaire, but it’ll work to get us out of town for a couple days! Ed’s going to hold down the fort!

Here are a couple more of the “new” things at Southwind. First is Sandy, AKA Sandy Beaches, AKA Ophelia, a registered Haflinger mare that we’re using for lessons and Jaimee has big show plans for her in 2009.  Sorry, the picture is somewhat dark. The sun doesn’t shine in NY in the winter!!

Sandy and Jaimee during a leisure moment

Next up is “Lilly”, the Covert’s new pony. Macy is a little leery of the pony, so we’ve been finding people to ride her, this is Dalton, she’s 4 1/2, and she had a ball today trotting around on that pony, we couldn’t get her off!! What a seat that kid has, she was so close to falling off so many times and yet she stuck like glue!

Dalton on Lilly

And last, but not least, is Whitney, Dalton’s older sister who, along with her mom, has been riding here about two months. She started out on Buster and then Buster had a back injury so she had to try other horses. But today, Buster returned to his normal work load and Whitney was thrilled. We are thrilled too, as we were worried about his back as he’s pretty valuable around here! But, HE’S BACK!!!!

Buster and Whitney after a nice ride

Filed under: Uncategorized on February 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Everybody needs friends, and I have certainly learned alot from all my friends, as well as got their support and tried to support them as best as I could/can.  Florence Riley and I met when she was looking to buy a draft horse, and bought her first one from us, a grey gelding named Turk. We became fast friends and I learned so much from her as well as had the pleasure/honor to travel across the country to many mule shows. She had a very succesful quarter horse hunter show history, but mules are her first love. She has many mules on her property who are living out their lives on her farm because she feels that they deserve it after long, sometimes hard lives. She also still has a couple show mules and still shows when money allows. I learned so much from her, she found me my first AQHA hunter, Elliott, you’ve all heard of him from me. She took me and lead me by the hand to my first big hunter and AQHA shows and I owe her alot. thanks, Florence!

Okay, then we move to Kristina Sherwood-Dresser. She came here to board her horse for the winter and we became great buddies. We helped each other out, she travelled to some draft horse shows with us, what one of us didn’t know, the other one did, and we had fun at alot of shows. Kristina showed “Almost a Dreamer” in english flat events and some over fences and learned from me to show western. I showed “A Penny Investment” at the time, and the mares were great buddies as well. Something I will never forget from our show days was Barq’s Rootbeer and the commercials at the time had a byline of “Gotta Barq’s Momma?” and that was said alot by us.  Thanks for the good times, Kristina! (Kristina is currently raising children and on hiatus!)

Dave Phillips, what can I say, a great friend and mentor. He travelled here many times and gave lots of lessons to Jaimee since mother/daughter lessons DON’T WORK.  Kristina and I took lessons to to make it worth his while to drive from the metropolis of Penn Yan.   We are known to talk on the phone for hours and he taught me the meaning of professionalism, and if you are not going to put your best into an endeavor, then don’t waste your time.  His attention to detail and wanting to instill professionalism in everybody is hard to miss. Thanks Dave! Oh, and he was even brave enough to go to a couple horse shows with Kristina and I and Jaimee! YIKES!

Two other great horse influences of my life who helped me get to the Quarter Horse Congress twice, whom I don’t have pictures of;  Tim Jedra and Pat Coakley.  Tim helped Florence with my first and second year of bigger AQHA shows and I appreciate the good times we had. He is a fun guy, yet knowledgeable and tough when he needs to be. Pat, oh my god, what fun we had at Lake Placid on those silly treasure hunts (devised by Florence to drive us crazy)! Linda Wendt, Lisa Williams, Pat and I, crammed into somebody’s truck and wildly driving around Lake Placid, getting sidetracked at times, laughing so hard the entire time we could hardly breathe. However, Pat insisted on doing your best in the showring, no excuses, you get what you give out and I enjoyed every minute!

Jane Marie Law, I don’t think she knows how much she helped me out. Gave me confidence in being able to teach and train and do it full time. She taught me little nuances of dressage. Let me ride her wonderful Lucio, an Andalusuian gelding. Taught me so much about religion, life, feelings, dressage, dragged me to dressage shows, helped ALOT, she has no idea the influence she has on me. Thanks!

I can’t possibly do any posting about friends without adding/mentioning my number one friend, my husband, Ed. Without Ed none of this would be possible, I would have never met these other friends I mentioned. I would never, ever been able to do all this horse stuff without his support and encouragement. Who else would buy old tractors and trailers and fix them up so we could haul 6 draft horses all over the place to show? Who else would drive me to those shows and make sure we had a hitch wagon? He had a great time showing the drafts too, we both did, and that will always be a big horse memory. We even had some great wins!  Even with some of my stupid ideas, he’s still here supporting me.  I never thought I would own a real farm, much less with an indoor,  nice horse trailer, nice truck, nice horses and nice barn help (LOL)! He complains about fixing stuff that I break, but it gets done. His handyman skills save alot of time and money on our part and I owe him everything. So, here’s to my number one friend!!! Thanks, I love you!

Want to come join in the fun? Learn, travel, experience the horse world, whether showing, trail riding, or just hanging out? Give me a call, always looking for new friends!!!!

Filed under: Uncategorized on January 28th, 2009 | No Comments »

Marie on Shorty

Filed under: Uncategorized on January 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

Here's Harley and her kids, Jada, Tennessee, and Jenna

Filed under: Uncategorized on January 4th, 2009 | No Comments »

I really want to wish everyone a heartfelt Happy New Year! I am hoping, and I know, I am too optimistic, that the economy will make some positive changes, we will all be able to be more prosperous and able to do the things we want to do and be able to afford to enjoy ourselves. Summer is so short, I want to be able to get to some shows!! Here are a couple of 2009’s up and comings.  The top picture is Its Not a Dun Deal, a foundation AQHA gelding who is going to make a great kid’s horse as soon as he’s finished. Wonderful, easy jog that is smooth AND ground covering for trail rides. He’s got a lot of promise! (He is also for sale and VERY reasonably priced!)

Below “Danny” is pictured Gunsmoke, our new hunter prospect who would also like to get out to some shows! He is off the track, Argentina bred, a 4 year old gelding.  He is Jaimee’s project who is willing and friendly, seems to be a pretty good student, willing to try, sometimes too hard! But, we’ll see where they both go. 

To all my customers: Early January will be a little tough to schedule lessons/training with Jaimee as I will be laid up for a couple of weeks, please bear with me, schedule lessons ahead of time. Jaimee won’t be able to do last minute lessons, so please plan ahead, at least for the week of the 12th. I have enjoyed having this blogging website! I can let everyone know what’s going on all the time! Have a great 2009!!!! It’s not too early to set goals, think about your show plans and share with Jaimee and I what you’d like to do!

Filed under: Uncategorized on December 29th, 2008 | No Comments »

Well, I hope you all had a great Christmas Day!  Mine was very relaxing. I thought I’d take this time to introduce Nicole Wolohan. She’s been instrumental in keeping me up with a web presence, and decided to change my site to this blog site.  Nicole is the most persistent  learner when it comes to learning to ride. She’s been at it for two years and kept very small goals. She sticks with everything until she masters it, no matter how small. Leg position, posting, riding circles, everything has taken along time, but she(and I)can certainly see a big difference and be sure that she has mastered everything.   She has been on hunter paces and on trail rides, with her favorite mount, Red Sox, a thoroughbred gelding from Canada.   Sox has been at Southwind almost as long as Nicole, and has been a great addition to the lesson string. Sox has also attended a few horseshows with me riding.  At his first hunter show with me, he was reserve champion Special Hunter. A bold jumper, Sox can be the sweetest horse to ride, but will make one work for everything!  This is my “tribute” to Sox and Nicole, both an active part of the goings on at Southwind!   Shown above is Nicole on a hunter pace, and me, riding Sox in a Halloween show, complete with costume!  Come to Southwind and join the fun!

Filed under: Uncategorized on December 25th, 2008 | No Comments »

Well, 2008 is almost over, Christmas is about on us and the New Year is ready to start a new leaf in all our lives. Here at Southwind, Ed, Jaimee and I are looking forward to a succesful “horse” year. We have lots of up and coming young stock to show this year, we have some very talented riders that we hope will be able to show in 2009 also! 

Thanks so much to Nicole Wolohan to keeping up my website and changing to this new format that I’m still getting used to!!  So, keep in touch for news and happenings here at Southwind!

Filed under: Uncategorized on December 23rd, 2008 | 1 Comment »