Tuesdays with Boo

Mike & Ben are READY to get back to work.

I was so delighted to see everyone at the Open House for our spring lesson programs. Having everyone enjoying the farm and being together after this long, long winter, made my week. It is such a joy to stand at the barn door to greet old and new friends.

I don't need the ground hog to tell me that spring is on its way. Seeing all those bright and shining faces, eager to get on a horse, ushers in spring for me!

It has been many years since I have been this excited about the coming season and all the fantastic things that are happening at Touchstone, Pony Farm and Horse Power. We are truly 'on a roll' and 'on the move'. With such great staff, horses and the facility upgrades, it is a pleasure indeed to show people around.

Two weeks ago, we had a terrific group of folks who gathered to learn how to start their own programs for therapeutic riding. Being able to inspire them with what our team has accomplished over 42 years was moving indeed. How did I get so blessed to be surrounded by such a great team...and so much for look forward to in life.

I hope you are as energized as I am...and will come soon to visit to share the energy of the farm and the birth of springtime. Until then, stay well and know that the farm gates are always open for YOU!

With a hug and a big smile,

Boo

Tuesdays with Boo

We love our strong fences!

The sun is shining. The snow is leaving. Spring is here (on the calendar at least!). It is such a please to stay connected while we wait for spring weather and the return of YOU, our beloved lesson students of all ages, abilities and walks of life…and then YOU, our Pony Farmers and Day Campers this summer.

I truly don’t know when I have been more jazzed about the happenings at the farm. Between the beautiful horses, safely corralled by our new fencing, and the ring surfaces prepared especially for riding and driving fun, and our terrific staff, board and supporters, I feel so very blessed.

Someone asked me just yesterday to envision my dream job and life. I said, without a moment’s hesitation, that I already had both. My dreams have come true. I wake up every day to eagerly get back to making Touchstone, home of Pony Farm and Horse Power, thrive and bloom. Having you all as ‘farm family & friends’ sure makes the magic happen for me!!!

Ian on the AT

Alec on the slopes in CO

Speaking of magic, I had some at Disney World with Jamee and my two granddaughters…What a time we had, followed with a delightful trip down to the start of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia with son Ian who has begun his life’s adventure of a 2,000 plus hike to Maine, with its own blend of “Trail Magic”.

Then, to visit Ella in her glorious NYC Park Avenue apartment, living the exciting life in the Big Apple, only return home to see the pictures of Alec who has been out West skiing. Who could ask for anything better???

May magic be winging its way to you, bringing goodness and light into your life. Also, may the road lead you to the gates of Touchstone Farm. The Welcome mat is always out and magic is happening indeed!

Hugs,

Boo

Tuesdays with Boo

[Editor's note: Boo submitted this post in plenty of time for Tuesday. Her editor dropped the ball.]

Gretta and Annie greet the audience
after participating in an EAGALA session

It was my great pleasure to welcome top leaders in the field of Equine Facilitated Mental Health and Learning to the farm this past weekend. We had the three major international organizations, three universities and five researchers represented, not to mention people from major therapeutic facilities across the US.


The programming, research and therapy models presented were fascinating. I was so proud that this happened at good old Pony Farm, Horse Power and Touchstone Farm!

Best of all, we had five Pony Farm camp alumnae with us in key roles. We relished their delicious presentations on research for PTSD, Equine Wellness and Business Models for Sustainability.

Leslie McCullough (second from right) debriefs after a
demo of equine facilitated psychotherapy.

Seeing these beloved campers all grown up into professional, capable and smart women making a difference in the lives of people and horses was especially thrilling for me!  Just so you don’t think that the spirit of camp was missing, we even playing a rip roaring game of spoons!

Now, I am off to Disney World with my daughter Jamee and Morgan & Megan, my two granddaughters. Everyone says that 8 and 10 is the perfect age for Disney.

Gretzki is ready to demo EMDR
on horseback.

I will be sending some fun pictures to Facebook of our time together. I will also send some news from the road when I take my son Ian to Georgia where he is starting to hike the Appalachian Trail. Lots of fun family happenings.

Rest assured however that I will return in plenty of time to come to NYC to meet up with current campers, new campers and alumnae on Saturday March 22. I can’t wait to see everyone and catch up with news.

So much to tell about the farm…and so eager to hear all your news…Let’s stay in touch. Plan to come visit the farm…The Welcome mat is always out for YOU!

Boo

Holiday Message from Boo

Dear Pony Farm, Horse Power, Riding/Driving Lessons …. Touchstone Family, All,

Winter & Terri decorate
our Christmas tree
in the Lodge.

It is with true joy and happiness in my heart that I write this holiday greeting to you. I cannot remember when I have been as excited about celebrating the holidays or welcoming in a New Year. I sincerely wish that you, too, are enjoying this special time of year. May you be filled with health, surrounded by friends and family who love you!

What a thrilling year we have had at Touchstone Farm. We have accomplished what we set out to do…combine all the best of the new with the best of the old. The combining of the three businesses into one stronger, better ‘not for profit’ organization has proven so right and good. With a fabulous board, committed staff, terrific horses, improved facilities, and a great mission and vision, we are on our way!!! The future is bright, indeed.

All our rings, beautifully rebuilt this year,
are a joy to ride in for lessons and shows.

So many of you have helped with this re-invention of ourselves. With time, talent, treasure, love, support and input, together we are stronger than ever! How can I ever thank you!

We so hope you will plan to come visit so we can enjoy the farm together. Come for a sleigh ride, a walk, a cup of tea, a rocking chair by the fire. The welcome mat is always out.

We have so many fun and exciting events planned for 2013. I can’t wait for it to begin!

Gruffy our gentle Clydesdale was a
"big" addition to Horse Power in 2012.

In the meantime, I am delighted to have all four of my kids and two grandchildren gathering for Christmas. My parents always used to say that their best present was when we came home. I know completely how they feel. No gift is better than being together. We will surely miss my Dad but I know he is smiling down from Above and loving us. Mom will be able to come in her wheelchair to enjoy yummy food, holiday decorations which she loves, and being together.

I feel blessed beyond measure with all that I have, not the least of which is my renewed great health. What a difference to be able to breathe, day after day! A true Modern Day Miracle happened to me.

Pony Farm 2012
was one of the
best camp summers yet!

As the sleighs are ready for snow, the ponies get fuzzy, the Yule Log is burning brightly and snow predicted, I send out my most heart-felt hugs to you and yours. I can’t wait to welcome you and sit a spell to chat. As the song says, “You light up my life.” Indeed, I am most grateful for your friendship and our shared memories. Let’s make some new ones in 2013!!!

With love and a big smile,

Come drive with us!

Boo

Can You Help Us on Giving Tuesday?

Getting ready to ride
 in Horse Power

Have you heard about Giving Tuesday, the nonprofit world's answer to Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Tuesday, November 27 is Giving Tuesday, a day on which supporters are encouraged to make donations to nonprofit organizations whose work they value.

You may know us best for Pony Farm summer camp or our riding lessons, and may not be aware that Touchstone Farm is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. We have programs for both able-bodied individuals and those with physical, emotional, or cognitive challenges.

If you are in a giving mood on Giving Tuesday, your donation to Touchstone Farm will help fund programs such as:

• Horse Power, our therapeutic riding and driving program for individuals facing physical, cognitive, emotional, behavioral and learning challenges.
• Barnyard Buddies, our summer day camp for children in  grades K – 5 and for children and adults with specials needs.

Punch on parade
during Barnyard Buddies
summer day camp

Your donations help us keep these programs affordable for the participants. For example, we maintain a scholarship fund for Barnyard Buddies so that we can offer reduced or waived tuition to those who cannot afford the regular fee.

Your donations also defray the enormous costs of caring for the wonderful horses and farm animals who are essential to these programs. Horses such as Gretsky, Roxy, Annie, and Socks, whom you may know from Pony Farm or riding or carriage driving lessons, are also specialists in therapeutic riding. We owe it to these terrific animals to give them the best possible care, and that care is expensive.

Dunkin the donkey
and friend

We are grateful to you and all of our supporters for everything you contribute to Touchstone Farm -- time, money, and good wishes. We thank you for all that you do for us.

If you would like to donate today, or anytime, click here to be taken to our online donations form.

Again, we can't say it often enough: thank you. Together, we can do great work.

Night Moves

Fall at Touchstone Farm brings cool, crisp days that are perfect for horseback riding. It also brings the fall crop of Instructor Training Candidates (ITCs) in the Horse Power Instructor Training Program (HPITS).

The OC: But I digress ...

The ITCs attend a three-month course of intensive training to be therapeutic riding instructors. ITCs who complete the course and pass the PATH Intl. certification requirements are eligible for PATH Intl. Instructor Certification at the Registered level.

The HPITS curriculum covers everything from lesson planning to horse selection, to the complexities of physical and mental disabilities, to the business of running a therapeutic riding program. A unique aspect of the program at Touchstone Farm is the emphasis on the instructor’s horsemanship, including the instructor’s own riding skills.

The Homestead: Home away from
home for the ITCs

ITCs have long days that begin with barn chores and often end with evening lectures and homework. They live onsite, at the Homestead, and are completely immersed in the life of the farm during their stay.

I love having ITCs on the farm. They are without exception interesting, engaging, fun horse people. Plus, their presence means that I always have someone to ride with on the weekends.

It’s because of HPITS that I got to participate in one of Roxy’s great roaming adventures. (You were wondering when I would get to that, weren’t you?)

Last October, I often rode on weekend afternoons with Gina, an ITC from Texas. One Saturday night, we went out to dinner after our ride. We returned to the farm around 9 PM. Just before the entrance to the farm, a large, dark shape loomed at the roadside and then stepped into the road.

Roxy, loose and nearly invisible on the dark country road.

Roxy: "What? I was hungry."

She should have been safely in the Garden paddock, which is tucked between the entrance to the farm and the river. This year, a grant enabled the farm to rebuild Garden and many of the other paddocks with fences and gates worthy of Fort Knox. Last summer, though, Garden was in rough shape, and the barn staff did what they could to keep it secure.

The paddock was plenty secure for Annie and Velvet, but for Roxy, not so much. This wasn’t the first time she’d gotten out. She had found a spot against a slope where she could climb over the electric fence without getting much of a zap. Once loose, she roamed in search of good eats.

Gina and I drove up to the barn, where Gina grabbed a halter. We returned to the farm entrance and called for Roxy. No surprise, she didn’t answer. We didn’t have flashlights, and the car’s headlights didn’t illuminate much. A bright moon was shining, but it was impossible to see in the shadows.

Pausing to think like our quarry, we returned to the barn for a bucket and some grain. Back at the farm entrance, Gina stepped from the car and rattled the grain bucket.

Cloppity, cloppity, Roxy instantly trotted out from the shadows at the river’s edge and plunged her head into the bucket. I clipped on her halter, took the bucket from Gina, and led Roxy back to the barn. In the moonlight, I could see the other horses in Garden and Kennel paddocks rush to the fences to follow our progress.

Gina met us at the barn and we put Roxy in her stall. Roxy was gracious about being busted, although the hay in her stall may have had something to do with that. We shut out the lights and went our separate ways for the night, grateful that we had caught Roxy before she met with disaster.

Rebuilt paddocks: Oh, how I love
those sturdy fences!

After this adventure, the farm staff moved Roxy and her turnout buddies to the OC, a multi-acre pasture with enough grass to keep even Roxy inside. Now Roxy resides in the Front paddock, which has the advantage of being in the center of farm activity. Surrounded by staff, riders, and other horses, Roxy stays put, although she is still the first one at the gate come suppertime.

I can’t drive by the Garden paddock without thinking of that night with Roxy and Gina. It makes me smile, but Garden's sturdy new fence makes me smile even more.

See you around the farm.

Kathy McDonald
Rider and Volunteer at Touchstone Farm

Izzy the Trusty

Last week while Roxy was camping on the trail with the Pony Farm campers, I got to ride another Touchstone Farm lesson horse, Izzy.

Curious Izzy in his shaggy
winter coat

Boo refers to Roxy, Annie, and the other longtime mainstays of the farm as “the old trusties.” Izzy joined the farm only this Spring, but he is well on his way to becoming a trusty. He works in both Horse Power and the Touchstone Farm riding lesson program. He's curious about his world, and inclined to give people and other horses the benefit of the doubt.

Izzy’s Thoroughbred heritage was immediately apparent as we prepared to ride. For starters, he is so tall that I couldn’t use the two-step mounting block in the indoor ring where we ride. We had to make a quick detour to the stairs outside the Tag ring so that I could climb aboard.

Though Roxy is my pony of choice, it’s really interesting, and illuminating, to test out my riding chops on a different horse. For the most part, my chops held up pretty well. I was particularly pleased to see how nimbly Izzy stepped to the right or the left when I gave him the cue for a leg yield. Getting Roxy to step sideways is a lot like nudging a Jersey barrier.

Roxy: "Whoa is overrated."

Izzy’s walk has a wonderful relaxed swing to it. With his long body and legs, he covers a lot of ground quickly. His expansive walk felt very different from Roxy’s straight-ahead, no frills gait.

Izzy is also very good at whoa, a cue Roxy sometimes thinks is optional. On the other hand, Roxy moves easily from walk to trot upon request, and I could not get Izzy into a trot. Just couldn’t do it. I think he and I need more practice with our upward transitions.

Despite the lack of trotting, Izzy was fun to ride. We rode until a group of campers and their horses came down to the indoor for their morning lesson. They were treated to the sight of me dismounting from tall Izzy. I did this with much grace – until I swung my right leg off and caught my half-chap on the extra-high cantle of his saddle. I could neither get back on nor swing my leg higher to clear the cantle. With as much control as I could muster, I slid/fell the long way down to the ground.

I wasn’t hurt, though I was fairly mortified. I suspect the campers enjoyed seeing a grown-up make such an embarrassing dismount.

Izzy’s reaction was the best, though. He stood still through the whole awkward dismount. He then turned his big head and looked down at me in quiet puzzlement. His question was so clear: “Why did you want to get off like THAT?”

A trusty for sure.

See you around the farm.

Kathy McDonald
Rider and Volunteer at Touchstone Farm

Packing a Little Punch

This week I’m giving you a break from my chatter about Roxy, my lesson horse at Touchstone Farm. Instead, I’m introducing you to another of my favorites at the farm, Punch, the smallest of the farm’s mini-horses.

Dare ya not to smile.

Punch’s height tops out around 30 inches (I’m being generous here). That makes him approximately the size of a modestly built sheep. I know this because he was standing next to one of the farm’s sheep in their paddock when I visited them on Sunday afternoon.

Boo guesses that Punch is about 21 years old, and he definitely has some years of seniority at the farm. Like most Touchstone Farm horses, he fills multiple roles.

Punch is your go-to guy if you are a quite small person who wants to ride. He’s also the horse to meet if you are small – or large – and are drawn to the magic of horses but are a little fearful of them, too. No one could be afraid of Punch.

I mean, just look at him. Are you not smiling at his round shaggy self?

I’ve seen a lot of Punch this summer because he is on the equine staff of Barnyard Buddies summer day camp. His camp responsibilities strike me as the job he was born for. He pulls Barnyard Buddies campers in a light carriage. He's available for meet-and-greets. He also makes an excellent live model for learning equine anatomy.

He's small but he's got all the essential parts.

Punch parties like it's 1999.

My point in talking about Punch is more than showing you cute pictures of a cute horse. I'm coming to understand the Touchstone Farm herd and realize it is much more than a collection of nice horses. These are working animals, and they have very specific abilities. The farm staff carefully selects and trains the right horses for roles only they can fill. That takes time and a lot of experience with horses.

Punch is aged and chubby and very small, but he is very valuable to the farm. He also has a fan club to rival Roxy's. After all, Roxy may be a wonderful lesson and therapeutic riding horse, but I can tell you right now that she wouldn't be caught dead in that tie.

See you around the farm.

Kathy McDonald
Rider and Volunteer at Touchstone Farm