Hi All,
It has been a while since I have written a blog! I can say things have been very busy and I just didn't have a chance to even think about writing. In September things actually slowed down. At first I thought it could get busy with all the kids back in school but it slowed a little and I went on a search for a part time job. In the middle of the month I got hired at a local law office and have been working there two days a week. It's a nice experience and allows me to go off the property once in a while :)
Things picked up a bit in October and towards the middle we had about 20 clients for riding lessons which was fantastic to see. We went through a spurt of bad weather, so things slowed again. The first week of November I spent a lot of time working on the Christkindel Fair which was a total success! I should have a separate blog just for that, but I'll go into some detail here. What we did, was host a fair with Artisans and Crafts, as well as Pony Rides. We did this on November 12, and we had a pretty good turnout! It was steady all day. Midnight and Sunny were great, despite all the commotion. We had approximately 20 tables set up. It will hopefully be an annual event for MRS :)
I have to say, this winter has been amazing as far as the weather goes. We have had no amount of snow and temperatures have been mild. People usually get busy around Christmas time, but we rode right up until then. I decided to give the horses a break in January because I have some other projects on the go at the moment. Either way, the horses had about 6 weeks off which they enjoyed. Sunny and Midnight actually went down the road at the end of November and have been spending the winter at a huge farm with about 12 other horses. They seem to like it a lot and I go down to visit. It's a great temporary home. Thank you Faith and Sheldon for this opportunity! The two "smaller" babies will be coming back to MRS in the next month or so.
Now it's February and the time is just flying! I decided to start lessons again because the weather has been decent. Occasionally the wind picks up and it makes it tough in our indoor arena, as the tarp slams against the structure and it makes quite a bit of noise! So as I'm writing the horses are just getting back into the swing of things. The response has been great though. We have approximately 10 students already back at it. That is really great to see.
March Break Camps are also being planned now, I am looking forward to having them this year! It will give children an opportunity to spend some time around horses, but we will also be focusing on a lot of theory, which is not normally covered in regular riding lessons.
Otherwise things are going pretty good! The horses have luckily all stayed healthy and happy, that is always the only thing one can ask for. We have some big plans for this coming Summer. I will reveal them right now!
Firstly, we are going to build an outdoor ring again! Yay! We have not had an outdoor ring complete with fencing in approximately 8-9 years. The plan is to fence it all again and put a few loads of sand down. I am beyond excited for this, since we have been spending a lot of time riding indoors all these years. Mind you the indoor still is the best thing about MRS ;) It allows us to ride in the winter! This will also help me do more lessons!
Secondly, we will be using the old barn again! This is also exciting for me because when we first moved here, there were 13 horses literally all over our property. The past 8 years, we have just kept them in the new barn. So we will be renovating the old barn and putting some fencing up around it. So essentially we will have a trail riding barn and a lesson/boarding barn. This is pretty exciting! Having these changes will allow the business to expand and we will be able to have more horses here.
These are the two main updates! It took some time to get it figured out and it will take even more time for the plans to come and be put together, however I am excited for a big summer at MRS. Here is hoping that you guys will be equally as excited to come for trails, birthday parties, camps and of course, lessons at MRS.
Cheers,
Livia
Friday, February 10, 2012
Friday, September 16, 2011
Sunshine
I'm ready to finally write about Mr Sunshine. Sunshine comes with a looong history.
Sunny, as we call him, now resides happily at MRS. When you walk through the barn, more times than enough, he will be standing in his stall with his friendly face hanging out. He has the kindest look you will ever find, despite his long head and very apparent ears. He would be my idea of an autistic kid. For someone who does not know him, they would never understand him on the inside. He is so quiet, if he were to be kept alone, you would never know he was there. There is rarely a peep coming from that horse. He is just as happy as they come.
Sunshine's happiness most likely has a lot to do with his past. Here, I will explain the parts of his story that I do know.
Silver Sun Shine was born in Michigan in May of 1996. He is a Standardbred, born to race. Sure enough, he landed in Montreal as a racehorse and eventually found his way to Nova Scotia. I'm sure, he has multiple owners in his life time. From what I know, he was owned by an older gentleman who still did some racing up until a few years ago. He was then given to a sweet lady to take care of for the rest of his life.
Sometimes happy endings aren't so happy. Every so often, people reach a point in their life where they are not able to take care of horses any more. If that ever happened to us, we do what is best for the horse. In Sunshine's case, he ended up going on a lease to a young girl and her parents(of course after references).
Things do not always turn out as well as one would hope. Unfortunately the sweet owner(whom I quite like) did not get so lucky.
In February, I had put an ad out that I was looking for a safe trail horse to help start my business. A lady replied to me saying that her friend was looking to rehome her horse and that he should be suitable for me. He would be a Standardbred and at first I thought, no way. At this point, I was struggling to find horses, so I said okay, I would come see him, not knowing what to expect.
I had made arrangements with the owner, met up with her in Truro and off we went. Needless to say, it was not what I expected, nor what the owner expected. Apparently she had not seen him over the winter and assumed that he looked good and they took good care of him on his lease. Unfortunately, that is not always the case and it just broke my heart, the immediate sight. Two skinny, edgy looking horses standing in a foot of snow outside. You could see from a mile away that they were clearly malnourished. As we went closer, the owner just could not believe the sight, and these two horses were crying for attention.
I have always been blessed to see decent looking horses. Never in my life have I seen anything like this in person. I took one look and told the owner that these horses need help. I was furious and she was in tears. At this point the property owner was not even home and we just went in and spent some time with the horses. The other was an older Standardbred who looked a little better than Sunny, but was also clearly the dominant one. Truro is very windy and all I remember was freezing my rear end off. Here were these horses who had hair longer than most people's hair hanging off them, but what use would it be when it was all dead?
Sunny's neck was inverted, no muscle. His shoulders, you could cut into his bones with a butterknife. When I looked at him from behind, you could see nothing but a spine and hips. I took one look at the owner and said "I'm so sorry, but I don't have any idea what I would do with a horse like this". I explained to her, that I needed something that could look good for a business, and something that would be in shape. However, I wanted nothing more, than to help this lady and the horse of course. She ensured me that Sunny would be a great horse and that she had brought one back who was starved previously within six months. I just knew that I could not afford to invest into a horse that would be a lawn ornament for most of the year.
Once the leasor came home, I felt like screaming at her. She was one of the most ignorant ladies I had ever known. She might not have known much about horses as they were her daughter's thing, but she should have been far more educated. In her mind, the horses looked great. The owner didn't have strength to say a word to her. Standing there for half an hour, I explained to her that these horses were malnourished and she better get her rear in gear and feed them some grain---and today! Luckily she listened and I told her how much, starting slow. If this had happened on our property, she would have heard some other unpleasant words.
It broke my heart to see that horse and I did not want to leave. On the 2 hour drive home, I did nothing but cry.
The following days, I spent some time talking to the owner. She would arrange to get a vet in to see him, to make sure that he would even make it. The vet could not get out for another week at least, and every day I just sat at home and wondered if that horse was still alive. It was one of the most horrible feelings I have ever endured. It was incredibly sad. Eventually, I heard word that the vet was there. He had mentioned that the biggest problem was that the horses were dehydrated. If there hadn't been the amount of snow in Truro, these horses would have died from dehydration. Of course horses will not eat if they are thirsty, thus one thing led to another. Either way, Sunny was healthy enough that with much TLC, he would most likely be okay in the long run.
The owner convinced me to take him. She helped me as much as possible, knowing it would cost me a lot to get him back in shape. I am thankful for all of her help. She felt incredibly guilty and just wanted him out of that place. It took me forever to find someone with a horse trailer and approximately two weeks later, my friend and I were on the road to pick him up.
March 17th, I will never forget this day. It was messy, with melted snow as we arrived at the property. We parked the trailer and I wrapped Sunny's leg. The horse was ever so confused as to what was going on. All I wanted was to leave as fast as possible. The owner met up with me, gave me a bag full of blankets(which I appreciated SO much) and some of his other things. The leasor, I ignored her the whole time I was there. I could not help but be so angry at her. The most heartbreaking part was leaving Sunny's buddy behind. He was his best friend for a 18 months or longer. Surprisingly, Sunny did not look back once and literally ran on the trailer. I had been worried that he might not load, but it's funny how things work.
His buddy was unfortunately really upset and we heard that for a while :( The good news is that the provincial vet had been sent out by the regular vet, to go check on him, so I am hoping he is okay now. That old, sweet horse.
The trip home was long, but you would not hear a sound from Mr Sunshine, despite his nerves. He came home a little worried, but walked into the barn and immediately drank a whole bucket of water. My father came to see him after we arrived and the look on his face just made me feel like I had just done the worst mistake of my life. I knew there were chances that horse was not going to make it. One of my mistakes was that when I saw him, there was a lot of snow and I never got to take a good look at his legs. They were and still are quite a mess(from racing a lot). My father was really worried that he might not be able to be used again at all. Below are some pictures of Sunny's arrival. Please don't look too hard, it's a rough sight :(
That night, I blanketed him, and left him with a giant pile of hay overnight. Sunny spent weeks standing in his stall wearing this blanket so nobody would dare see his terrible shape, just doing nothing but eating hay. Slowly I had started feeding him fat and fibre grain, but as much as one likes to feed them 24/7, you have to be careful with their sensitive stomachs. You would not hear a peep out of that horse, he just stood like a saint and literally just ate. He refused to go outside, all he wanted was just to eat. He did not scarf his hay, but took his time and generally always looked like he just appreciated everything. For the first two months, he just stood around, ate and occasionally played in the indoor. He never did go outside in his paddock often as I think his feet were quite sore. It took a while for the farrier to come out and when he did, I was very concerned. I certainly got a lecture about horse legs and feet that day. Sunshine's feet are permanently messed up due to his crooked legs. This could be conformation or racing related(probably both). Regardless he just trimmed him and took a lot off his feet. I'm quite sure Sunny was a lot happier after this day.
Above and below- March 28th
Above: April 27 and below is one from April 4th, about 3 weeks after he arrived
Slowly I began to take him on walks in the indoor and occasionally around the yard. This horse really had no muscle on him whatsoever. Every single one of his discs in his back was sticking out as far as they could. I did not think I would ever be able to put a saddle on that back with a spine that excessive, sticking out.
On May 16th, exactly two months after we got him, I put a saddle on him and took one of my intermediate kids on a pony ride, for a trial, as I felt too big to sit on him. At this point, he had already looked like a different horse and I was anxious to see if he would even still be ride-able. That horse was incredibly happy, just to be useful. He had gotten back some energy and really came to life.
Top and below: First ride with Austin on May 16th
Since then, Sunny came back slowly and started going on some trail rides. He knows his job is walk only and he certainly appreciates doing just that. His hind legs are weak, as they have been severely pinfired in the past. Essentially, that is a cruel, painful way to de-nerve a horse's legs, so they do not feel pain after an injury. It is seen in race horses and as sad as it is, it is worth it to them, so the horse can have a longer career.
Sunny has been living with this for a number of years I am sure, so we keep his work load reasonable. He surely still enjoys playing in the indoor and gets very playful at times. His old habits of sticking his neck out into the hallway and tapping the floor at supper time have all returned, so I would say he is a happy camper.
Nobody ever thought that horse would be of any use again, except the owner. It took me a while to be convinced, but his recovery was incredibly quick, considering the shape he was in. It was unreal, how happy, quiet and easy his return was. It just took time. Sunny will now stay at MRS and continue doing some beginner lessons and trails in the summer. That horse has incredible strength, but sometimes worries. He has learned that he and I have gone through this journey together and has quite an emotional attachment to me. Due to this bond, I now am not emotionally able to let him go. He has grown with me as well as the clients. There is not one person that does not appreciate his quirky character. Most of all, his kind eye. People cannot believe how kind this horse is when they step near him and see how much love his heart contains. There is not a single person who brushes him that does not feel, how much this horse appreciates the care. He is definitely one of a kind and will always be waiting for you to come to MRS to meet him.
Above: June 9th, happy and round as a barrel :) Good boy Sunshine !
Below: July 13th
More pictures to follow soon :)
Sunny, as we call him, now resides happily at MRS. When you walk through the barn, more times than enough, he will be standing in his stall with his friendly face hanging out. He has the kindest look you will ever find, despite his long head and very apparent ears. He would be my idea of an autistic kid. For someone who does not know him, they would never understand him on the inside. He is so quiet, if he were to be kept alone, you would never know he was there. There is rarely a peep coming from that horse. He is just as happy as they come.
Sunshine's happiness most likely has a lot to do with his past. Here, I will explain the parts of his story that I do know.
Silver Sun Shine was born in Michigan in May of 1996. He is a Standardbred, born to race. Sure enough, he landed in Montreal as a racehorse and eventually found his way to Nova Scotia. I'm sure, he has multiple owners in his life time. From what I know, he was owned by an older gentleman who still did some racing up until a few years ago. He was then given to a sweet lady to take care of for the rest of his life.
Sometimes happy endings aren't so happy. Every so often, people reach a point in their life where they are not able to take care of horses any more. If that ever happened to us, we do what is best for the horse. In Sunshine's case, he ended up going on a lease to a young girl and her parents(of course after references).
Things do not always turn out as well as one would hope. Unfortunately the sweet owner(whom I quite like) did not get so lucky.
In February, I had put an ad out that I was looking for a safe trail horse to help start my business. A lady replied to me saying that her friend was looking to rehome her horse and that he should be suitable for me. He would be a Standardbred and at first I thought, no way. At this point, I was struggling to find horses, so I said okay, I would come see him, not knowing what to expect.
I had made arrangements with the owner, met up with her in Truro and off we went. Needless to say, it was not what I expected, nor what the owner expected. Apparently she had not seen him over the winter and assumed that he looked good and they took good care of him on his lease. Unfortunately, that is not always the case and it just broke my heart, the immediate sight. Two skinny, edgy looking horses standing in a foot of snow outside. You could see from a mile away that they were clearly malnourished. As we went closer, the owner just could not believe the sight, and these two horses were crying for attention.
I have always been blessed to see decent looking horses. Never in my life have I seen anything like this in person. I took one look and told the owner that these horses need help. I was furious and she was in tears. At this point the property owner was not even home and we just went in and spent some time with the horses. The other was an older Standardbred who looked a little better than Sunny, but was also clearly the dominant one. Truro is very windy and all I remember was freezing my rear end off. Here were these horses who had hair longer than most people's hair hanging off them, but what use would it be when it was all dead?
Sunny's neck was inverted, no muscle. His shoulders, you could cut into his bones with a butterknife. When I looked at him from behind, you could see nothing but a spine and hips. I took one look at the owner and said "I'm so sorry, but I don't have any idea what I would do with a horse like this". I explained to her, that I needed something that could look good for a business, and something that would be in shape. However, I wanted nothing more, than to help this lady and the horse of course. She ensured me that Sunny would be a great horse and that she had brought one back who was starved previously within six months. I just knew that I could not afford to invest into a horse that would be a lawn ornament for most of the year.
Once the leasor came home, I felt like screaming at her. She was one of the most ignorant ladies I had ever known. She might not have known much about horses as they were her daughter's thing, but she should have been far more educated. In her mind, the horses looked great. The owner didn't have strength to say a word to her. Standing there for half an hour, I explained to her that these horses were malnourished and she better get her rear in gear and feed them some grain---and today! Luckily she listened and I told her how much, starting slow. If this had happened on our property, she would have heard some other unpleasant words.
It broke my heart to see that horse and I did not want to leave. On the 2 hour drive home, I did nothing but cry.
The following days, I spent some time talking to the owner. She would arrange to get a vet in to see him, to make sure that he would even make it. The vet could not get out for another week at least, and every day I just sat at home and wondered if that horse was still alive. It was one of the most horrible feelings I have ever endured. It was incredibly sad. Eventually, I heard word that the vet was there. He had mentioned that the biggest problem was that the horses were dehydrated. If there hadn't been the amount of snow in Truro, these horses would have died from dehydration. Of course horses will not eat if they are thirsty, thus one thing led to another. Either way, Sunny was healthy enough that with much TLC, he would most likely be okay in the long run.
The owner convinced me to take him. She helped me as much as possible, knowing it would cost me a lot to get him back in shape. I am thankful for all of her help. She felt incredibly guilty and just wanted him out of that place. It took me forever to find someone with a horse trailer and approximately two weeks later, my friend and I were on the road to pick him up.
March 17th, I will never forget this day. It was messy, with melted snow as we arrived at the property. We parked the trailer and I wrapped Sunny's leg. The horse was ever so confused as to what was going on. All I wanted was to leave as fast as possible. The owner met up with me, gave me a bag full of blankets(which I appreciated SO much) and some of his other things. The leasor, I ignored her the whole time I was there. I could not help but be so angry at her. The most heartbreaking part was leaving Sunny's buddy behind. He was his best friend for a 18 months or longer. Surprisingly, Sunny did not look back once and literally ran on the trailer. I had been worried that he might not load, but it's funny how things work.
His buddy was unfortunately really upset and we heard that for a while :( The good news is that the provincial vet had been sent out by the regular vet, to go check on him, so I am hoping he is okay now. That old, sweet horse.
The trip home was long, but you would not hear a sound from Mr Sunshine, despite his nerves. He came home a little worried, but walked into the barn and immediately drank a whole bucket of water. My father came to see him after we arrived and the look on his face just made me feel like I had just done the worst mistake of my life. I knew there were chances that horse was not going to make it. One of my mistakes was that when I saw him, there was a lot of snow and I never got to take a good look at his legs. They were and still are quite a mess(from racing a lot). My father was really worried that he might not be able to be used again at all. Below are some pictures of Sunny's arrival. Please don't look too hard, it's a rough sight :(
That night, I blanketed him, and left him with a giant pile of hay overnight. Sunny spent weeks standing in his stall wearing this blanket so nobody would dare see his terrible shape, just doing nothing but eating hay. Slowly I had started feeding him fat and fibre grain, but as much as one likes to feed them 24/7, you have to be careful with their sensitive stomachs. You would not hear a peep out of that horse, he just stood like a saint and literally just ate. He refused to go outside, all he wanted was just to eat. He did not scarf his hay, but took his time and generally always looked like he just appreciated everything. For the first two months, he just stood around, ate and occasionally played in the indoor. He never did go outside in his paddock often as I think his feet were quite sore. It took a while for the farrier to come out and when he did, I was very concerned. I certainly got a lecture about horse legs and feet that day. Sunshine's feet are permanently messed up due to his crooked legs. This could be conformation or racing related(probably both). Regardless he just trimmed him and took a lot off his feet. I'm quite sure Sunny was a lot happier after this day.
Slowly I began to take him on walks in the indoor and occasionally around the yard. This horse really had no muscle on him whatsoever. Every single one of his discs in his back was sticking out as far as they could. I did not think I would ever be able to put a saddle on that back with a spine that excessive, sticking out.
On May 16th, exactly two months after we got him, I put a saddle on him and took one of my intermediate kids on a pony ride, for a trial, as I felt too big to sit on him. At this point, he had already looked like a different horse and I was anxious to see if he would even still be ride-able. That horse was incredibly happy, just to be useful. He had gotten back some energy and really came to life.
Since then, Sunny came back slowly and started going on some trail rides. He knows his job is walk only and he certainly appreciates doing just that. His hind legs are weak, as they have been severely pinfired in the past. Essentially, that is a cruel, painful way to de-nerve a horse's legs, so they do not feel pain after an injury. It is seen in race horses and as sad as it is, it is worth it to them, so the horse can have a longer career.
Sunny has been living with this for a number of years I am sure, so we keep his work load reasonable. He surely still enjoys playing in the indoor and gets very playful at times. His old habits of sticking his neck out into the hallway and tapping the floor at supper time have all returned, so I would say he is a happy camper.
Nobody ever thought that horse would be of any use again, except the owner. It took me a while to be convinced, but his recovery was incredibly quick, considering the shape he was in. It was unreal, how happy, quiet and easy his return was. It just took time. Sunny will now stay at MRS and continue doing some beginner lessons and trails in the summer. That horse has incredible strength, but sometimes worries. He has learned that he and I have gone through this journey together and has quite an emotional attachment to me. Due to this bond, I now am not emotionally able to let him go. He has grown with me as well as the clients. There is not one person that does not appreciate his quirky character. Most of all, his kind eye. People cannot believe how kind this horse is when they step near him and see how much love his heart contains. There is not a single person who brushes him that does not feel, how much this horse appreciates the care. He is definitely one of a kind and will always be waiting for you to come to MRS to meet him.
Below: July 13th
More pictures to follow soon :)
August at MRS
August was a busy month at MRS! We did twice as well as in July, so I guess that is a good sign :) The horses, at this point were all going really well. Everyone had gotten used to the trail rides. Every horse at MRS has his/her job and at this point settled in well doing their work. Midnight and Cheyenne became fantastic trail horses rather quickly. Sunshine definitely turned himself around and started doing really well on trails with children. To this day, he doesn't overly appreciate water, but will go through if myself or Kendra leads him. He is a neat little horse.
Megan one of my advanced students half leased Manny for the summer, so her and her mom Kirsten were seen around the barn quite often. It was a lot of fun this month, there was literally always someone around. The horses enjoyed the attention, especially Harie and Karissa, who are the first to be seen when walking into our barn :)
Tammy, another one of my regulars started at the beginning of this month. She is a whole lot of fun and I enjoy teaching her. It's amazing how much people appreciate the horses, even when they are middle aged and have never sat on one! They really do enjoy it and look forward to coming each week. It gives them something to look forward to, and it makes me feel like my job was well done. At the end of the month, her son also started and he is having a blast too.
We had a few trails this month, with people from all over Canada and even parts of Europe. Frequently I got clients who have lived in Liverpool and since left, but were back to visit. They seem to come every year, so I will have a lot of repeat customers next summer, I hope. Most of these were kids of all ages.
On August 10th, we did a Princess Pony Party. Basically, I dressed Sunshine up for a fun day at MRS. He was an awesome horse, and ironically enough, nobody would have guessed that he would be in any pictures a few months prior to the event. He did a great job! My great friend and photographer Brittany Wentzell, from Wentzell Photography, came out and shot the event. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast.
We also had a day camp on the 12th. This was also a lot of fun for the kids and made a few hours go by really quickly. They learned all about stable management and of course got to go for a ride too.
August was really great. The weather improved so much, the clients were great and the horses were consistent as ever. As far as me, I was pretty exhausted at this point, from the warm(ish) weather. It drains a person quite a bit, running around 24/7. I was looking forward to the fall and the cooler weather :)
Livia
Megan one of my advanced students half leased Manny for the summer, so her and her mom Kirsten were seen around the barn quite often. It was a lot of fun this month, there was literally always someone around. The horses enjoyed the attention, especially Harie and Karissa, who are the first to be seen when walking into our barn :)
Tammy, another one of my regulars started at the beginning of this month. She is a whole lot of fun and I enjoy teaching her. It's amazing how much people appreciate the horses, even when they are middle aged and have never sat on one! They really do enjoy it and look forward to coming each week. It gives them something to look forward to, and it makes me feel like my job was well done. At the end of the month, her son also started and he is having a blast too.
We had a few trails this month, with people from all over Canada and even parts of Europe. Frequently I got clients who have lived in Liverpool and since left, but were back to visit. They seem to come every year, so I will have a lot of repeat customers next summer, I hope. Most of these were kids of all ages.
On August 10th, we did a Princess Pony Party. Basically, I dressed Sunshine up for a fun day at MRS. He was an awesome horse, and ironically enough, nobody would have guessed that he would be in any pictures a few months prior to the event. He did a great job! My great friend and photographer Brittany Wentzell, from Wentzell Photography, came out and shot the event. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast.
We also had a day camp on the 12th. This was also a lot of fun for the kids and made a few hours go by really quickly. They learned all about stable management and of course got to go for a ride too.
August was really great. The weather improved so much, the clients were great and the horses were consistent as ever. As far as me, I was pretty exhausted at this point, from the warm(ish) weather. It drains a person quite a bit, running around 24/7. I was looking forward to the fall and the cooler weather :)
Livia
Sunday, August 28, 2011
July at MRS
July started off fairly slow here. Everyone was just getting out of school and getting ready to go camping it seems. This summer, a lot of people went camping. Tourists were nowhere to be seen. I blame that on the weather as well. It just didn't seem like summer was ever going to come. I just had my regular lessons for the first week or so. It really didn't pick up until the middle to the end of the month. I met some great people from Ontario who originally grew up here on the South Shore. There were two separate families who came to do pony rides for their kids. Each of the mom's used to ride and they both got the itch to have lessons. I ended up doing some lessons with them as well. We had a lot of fun at MRS the last week of July.
I was also incredibly lucky to meet a family from Bermuda. Their girl took some lessons here throughout a week. It was interesting to learn that keeping horses in Bermuda was almost impossible- due to lack of space and of course, money. It literally costs a fortune as they have to import everything. I don't think I could imagine having to live there without horses ;) However, I am now very keen on visiting Bermuda, it sounds like a great place. After Elsa's last lesson, she handed me a DVD. Her father had done a huge research project on Humpback Whales in Bermuda, as well as the Maritimes. After I watched the amazing piece, I felt so lucky to have had the chance to meet all these people. The best part is that they will all come back next year and I'm hoping to see them again!
I also had an opportunity this year to work with Groupon. They are a huge advertising company that anyone can subscribe to. They have a daily deal that gets e-mailed to your address and you have the option to buy it. So we had our website and a pony ride deal on for two days. I basically did it just to get the name out in the Halifax area and to raise some awareness. It went pretty well, and I sold a few. Over the course of the
summer I have had some of those already and will have the rest in the fall.
Recently, MRS was featured in the local newspaper the Advance. Kelly came out in late July and did an interview with me on the farm. I told her about my daily routines at MRS, about our services and what I do here. The article was featured on a entire page and definitely brought in some business. The link is also posted on the Medway River Stables Facebook page.
Things seemed to pick up quite quickly in the last week of July and that gave me some positive energy toward August. That was really the month to look forward to and I will document it much further in detail! Happy Reading :)
I was also incredibly lucky to meet a family from Bermuda. Their girl took some lessons here throughout a week. It was interesting to learn that keeping horses in Bermuda was almost impossible- due to lack of space and of course, money. It literally costs a fortune as they have to import everything. I don't think I could imagine having to live there without horses ;) However, I am now very keen on visiting Bermuda, it sounds like a great place. After Elsa's last lesson, she handed me a DVD. Her father had done a huge research project on Humpback Whales in Bermuda, as well as the Maritimes. After I watched the amazing piece, I felt so lucky to have had the chance to meet all these people. The best part is that they will all come back next year and I'm hoping to see them again!
I also had an opportunity this year to work with Groupon. They are a huge advertising company that anyone can subscribe to. They have a daily deal that gets e-mailed to your address and you have the option to buy it. So we had our website and a pony ride deal on for two days. I basically did it just to get the name out in the Halifax area and to raise some awareness. It went pretty well, and I sold a few. Over the course of the
summer I have had some of those already and will have the rest in the fall.
Recently, MRS was featured in the local newspaper the Advance. Kelly came out in late July and did an interview with me on the farm. I told her about my daily routines at MRS, about our services and what I do here. The article was featured on a entire page and definitely brought in some business. The link is also posted on the Medway River Stables Facebook page.
Things seemed to pick up quite quickly in the last week of July and that gave me some positive energy toward August. That was really the month to look forward to and I will document it much further in detail! Happy Reading :)
Monday, August 22, 2011
Spring at MRS
Spring is always a great season. The season where people get excited for better weather, to graduate university, start summer sports and much more. At MRS, it was all about spending money and taking risks. By April, I had three horses, one of which was out of commission. Sunny's job was just to eat for the following few months. Midnight was in training to be a great trail mount. Until Easter weekend, there was not much going on due to terrible weather. It literally rained through April and it was cold. Easter weekend, however was fabulous. At that point I had only done a handful of trail rides. One of these was my chiropractor and her kids. They had a blast. It was one of those experiences that happened at the beginning, so you always remember it.
On Easter Sunday, my friend Brittany and her husband Matthew came out for a trail ride. That was the first warm weekend we had all year and we most definitely had a great time. Mind you, I walk these trails on foot, so I was pretty beat after the hour. I was not used to the heat and at that point really didn't know if I could make it through this summer (lol).
May was a stressful month. At this point, I was feeding three-four horses and the only business I had was the lessons I was teaching. I had about 6-8 regulars at that point. It was a financially difficult month and I got extremely lucky with Cheyenne, being able to lease her. It took a fair amount of time to get insurances sorted as well as all the registration paper work. Within the first week of May, I was all ready to go. As a Grand Opening we did $5 Pony Rides. This event was advertised on Facebook for a few weeks prior. I guesstimated 20 kids or so. Holy, was I wrong. At 11am sharp, cars piled in the driveway one at a time. Midnight and I walked four hours non stop and we ended up having 50 kids. It was an amazing day! Just the kind of day one needs when they're not sure if what they're doing is even going to work. It really gave me something to work with. From there, June came around and the weather got better as well.
By the middle of June, I was mostly teaching and promoting the business. I had printed 2500 brochures which were delivered to restaurants, shops and visitor centers all around the province. At this point, my friend Kirsten who is one of my regulars, was amazing. She helped me advertise around town and she is now one of my biggest fans! I adore her and her daughter. They have been fantastic supporters.
June also became a very expensive month. The vet came to do shots and teeth. It seemed like all that was happening was spending money. By then, it really hit me, what kind of business this is. Basically it requires a ton of work, a ton of responsibility and a lot of overhead costs. Those three points summarize this entire operation. Taking care of six horses is almost worse than kids(they're a 12 hr/day job), but nothing could ever make me turn back now. There are things we sacrifice as humans and to me, I wouldn't trade the sweat and tears for anything. My siblings have also been fantastic helpers around the barn and I wouldn't be able to do it without them.
April, May and June were by far difficult. With any business, it takes a long time for the word to spread and for things to get moving. I was looking forward to the summer. Sunny had his first ride on May 16th, so in the middle of June I had four horses ready to work and that's all that I could have asked for at this point :)
I was excited for July and low and behold, I met some of the best people ever!
On Easter Sunday, my friend Brittany and her husband Matthew came out for a trail ride. That was the first warm weekend we had all year and we most definitely had a great time. Mind you, I walk these trails on foot, so I was pretty beat after the hour. I was not used to the heat and at that point really didn't know if I could make it through this summer (lol).
May was a stressful month. At this point, I was feeding three-four horses and the only business I had was the lessons I was teaching. I had about 6-8 regulars at that point. It was a financially difficult month and I got extremely lucky with Cheyenne, being able to lease her. It took a fair amount of time to get insurances sorted as well as all the registration paper work. Within the first week of May, I was all ready to go. As a Grand Opening we did $5 Pony Rides. This event was advertised on Facebook for a few weeks prior. I guesstimated 20 kids or so. Holy, was I wrong. At 11am sharp, cars piled in the driveway one at a time. Midnight and I walked four hours non stop and we ended up having 50 kids. It was an amazing day! Just the kind of day one needs when they're not sure if what they're doing is even going to work. It really gave me something to work with. From there, June came around and the weather got better as well.
By the middle of June, I was mostly teaching and promoting the business. I had printed 2500 brochures which were delivered to restaurants, shops and visitor centers all around the province. At this point, my friend Kirsten who is one of my regulars, was amazing. She helped me advertise around town and she is now one of my biggest fans! I adore her and her daughter. They have been fantastic supporters.
June also became a very expensive month. The vet came to do shots and teeth. It seemed like all that was happening was spending money. By then, it really hit me, what kind of business this is. Basically it requires a ton of work, a ton of responsibility and a lot of overhead costs. Those three points summarize this entire operation. Taking care of six horses is almost worse than kids(they're a 12 hr/day job), but nothing could ever make me turn back now. There are things we sacrifice as humans and to me, I wouldn't trade the sweat and tears for anything. My siblings have also been fantastic helpers around the barn and I wouldn't be able to do it without them.
April, May and June were by far difficult. With any business, it takes a long time for the word to spread and for things to get moving. I was looking forward to the summer. Sunny had his first ride on May 16th, so in the middle of June I had four horses ready to work and that's all that I could have asked for at this point :)
I was excited for July and low and behold, I met some of the best people ever!
About MRS
Medway River Stables is located in Mill Village, Nova Scotia, on a 55 acre farm. This farm belongs to our family and had been the home of a busy, great trail riding business until 2003.
Medway River Stables opened in the spring of this year. It took some time to acquire all the right horses and to decide on the main focus. Starting this business entirely on my own, left me with only a few options. As an individual, I am only capable of doing so many things in a day, so I decided to begin with lessons and trail riding. Starting small is usually the best way to go, so last winter I leased a pony named Ella. With her and another horse, I was able to start some students over the winter. In February, once I had plans set in stone, I went on a search for a new lesson horse. This one would also be my first horse to join MRS as a business. Of course we have had Harie and Karissa(two warmbloods) here for many years.
In February, I went to the valley to see a horse named Manny. He would become my number one lesson horse. Manny is a cute, brilliant Thoroughbred/Morgan, with a lot of experience. He is a character and then some, but does his job well. At the end of February I took a trailer and went to pick him up for a trial. I knew he wouldn't go home again.
Next in line was Mr Sunshine. After acquiring Manny, I kept my search going for some trail horses, so I would have enough time to train them and get them in shape for May. I had gotten in touch with a sweet lady who was looking to rehome her Standardbred. This ended up being one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. Sunshine will get his own post, so be sure to look for it. He came to me completely starved to the bone. I had nooo idea what I had just gotten myself into, or whether or not it would work out. Two months later, he had the first ride with his favourite kid, Austin. Today, six months later he is happily doing some trail rides with kids, still building his muscle. I would have to say he has a nice beer belly on him now ;) Whoops, hay belly I mean.
In April, I bought a pony named Midnight. She is a Morgan/Quarter Horse cross and is as mighty as a horse. In fact, she is borderline horse anyway, but she is the smallest I have. She came out of a field and knew nothing, but now she is a perfect trail and pony ride mount. In April, I had gotten two other horses for trials, but they unfortunately did not work out for different reasons. In this business, one has to find the most suitable and trustworthy horses out there. One of them was a total sweetheart and it broke my heart. After many tears and sleepless nights, I stumbled upon an ad. A lady was looking to lease her horse for a year due to personal reasons. I contacted her and the next day, I was able to go see the horse. Cheyenne is now my number one trail horse. This mare is fantastic and I could not be any happier with her. I will certainly say that I have had great luck with all the horses that have found me :)
These four horses have given me the opportunity to start something I did not think was feasible. With a little luck, and some great people, anything is possible. To this day( 4 months later) I have had next to no issues with any of these horses. They each have completely different personalities. Anyone who walks through our barn will tell you that. Each one has a heart of gold and I am fortunate to be able to work with them.
Now I will start this diary with some of the highlights from this spring! I will see if I can catch up to August :) Happy Reading!
Medway River Stables opened in the spring of this year. It took some time to acquire all the right horses and to decide on the main focus. Starting this business entirely on my own, left me with only a few options. As an individual, I am only capable of doing so many things in a day, so I decided to begin with lessons and trail riding. Starting small is usually the best way to go, so last winter I leased a pony named Ella. With her and another horse, I was able to start some students over the winter. In February, once I had plans set in stone, I went on a search for a new lesson horse. This one would also be my first horse to join MRS as a business. Of course we have had Harie and Karissa(two warmbloods) here for many years.
In February, I went to the valley to see a horse named Manny. He would become my number one lesson horse. Manny is a cute, brilliant Thoroughbred/Morgan, with a lot of experience. He is a character and then some, but does his job well. At the end of February I took a trailer and went to pick him up for a trial. I knew he wouldn't go home again.
Next in line was Mr Sunshine. After acquiring Manny, I kept my search going for some trail horses, so I would have enough time to train them and get them in shape for May. I had gotten in touch with a sweet lady who was looking to rehome her Standardbred. This ended up being one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. Sunshine will get his own post, so be sure to look for it. He came to me completely starved to the bone. I had nooo idea what I had just gotten myself into, or whether or not it would work out. Two months later, he had the first ride with his favourite kid, Austin. Today, six months later he is happily doing some trail rides with kids, still building his muscle. I would have to say he has a nice beer belly on him now ;) Whoops, hay belly I mean.
In April, I bought a pony named Midnight. She is a Morgan/Quarter Horse cross and is as mighty as a horse. In fact, she is borderline horse anyway, but she is the smallest I have. She came out of a field and knew nothing, but now she is a perfect trail and pony ride mount. In April, I had gotten two other horses for trials, but they unfortunately did not work out for different reasons. In this business, one has to find the most suitable and trustworthy horses out there. One of them was a total sweetheart and it broke my heart. After many tears and sleepless nights, I stumbled upon an ad. A lady was looking to lease her horse for a year due to personal reasons. I contacted her and the next day, I was able to go see the horse. Cheyenne is now my number one trail horse. This mare is fantastic and I could not be any happier with her. I will certainly say that I have had great luck with all the horses that have found me :)
These four horses have given me the opportunity to start something I did not think was feasible. With a little luck, and some great people, anything is possible. To this day( 4 months later) I have had next to no issues with any of these horses. They each have completely different personalities. Anyone who walks through our barn will tell you that. Each one has a heart of gold and I am fortunate to be able to work with them.
Now I will start this diary with some of the highlights from this spring! I will see if I can catch up to August :) Happy Reading!
About Me and My Goals
Hello All :)
For the longest time, I thought I would start writing a blog about MRS and how it all began. Then I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do it or if I had time or energy for it. As the summer went on, I have met some of the best people that I could ever work with. With this type of business, you get many clients through the door on a weekly basis and in order for me to remember everything, I decided to start this blog. This journey has been difficult but very exciting, so I figured I would share it with those who enjoy reading and learning. This blog is purely for my friends, family and clients, whom I have to thank for making this whole journey possible :)
A Little About Me
My name is Livia Mueri. I am 24 years old and recently graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie University. Since I was a little girl, I have been nothing but horse obsessed and spent every minute growing up at my grandparents' small stable in Switzerland. In 1998, I found out that my family and I would be moving to Canada. The Canada part didn't really matter to me. It was the "stable" and "farm" that would forever change my life. You see, life in Switzerland is like life in a big city. There is no room to move and pressure is always on. A farm life is something I could never have imagined at age 9, until we first came to Canada in 1996. After that trip, we could not wait to come back, so in 1999 our lives changed as we moved across the big pond. From this point on, my love for horses grew bigger every day. Being able to work with them personally and through the trail riding business opened my eyes in so many ways. I knew I would want to work with horses for the rest of my life.
As a 12 year old, I entered my first competitions on our aged trail horse Brandy. He was a good soul and at the age of 20 years still learned with me every day. He and I managed to complete our first cross rail courses, as well as small 2 ft classes. Sadly, Brandy was put down last Christmas at the age of approximately 32 and I still miss him every single day. From him, I moved up to our Dutch Warmblood, Harie who at this point came to Canada with us (a year later in 2000). At 13-14, we competed at the 3 foot jumper level throughout the province. At 15, we won the first 3ft6 course we ever did together at Loyal Hill. At 16, we won the first 3'9 course we ever entered at Red Bank. Harie taught me everything I knew and he is still with us today at the age of 22. He is now our schoolmaster and is teaching my sister all the same tricks as he taught me.
In 2003 I acquired Oskar, a horse we had sold as a 4 year old. He had been a seasoned 4'6 jumper and would become my new teacher. He and I competed at 4' level and schooled up to 4'3-4'6 at home. At our first show, we won the first ever 4' class I had entered. Unfortunately, at this point in life I had graduated high school and went off to University. Every weekend, I would be home doing barn work and schooling horses, but it became difficult to show horses, however I stayed committed to my four legged friends.
Since 2003, we have only had our personal jumpers and the farm always seemed a bit empty without 13 horses. I have been determined since I started my Commerce degree, that I would want to start a business here on this farm again. It seemed unrealistic and not so feasible, for a young person to start this whole business on their own.
In 2009, a year before I graduated, I went on a student exchange to Finland. It was one of the best experiences in my life, but living without horses for 6 months became a major mental battle for me. The more I was away from them, the more determined I became to find a solution. At the time, tourism had also decreased immensely since 2003(and is still not much better), so my goals had quickly been erased by this. In Finland, my best friend was Roland, an Italian whom I could talk to about anything. He realized just how determined I was, and supported me the whole way through my ideas and plans. As I returned to finish my last year at Dal, I wrote a business plan for my Entrepreneurship class. Since I did not graduate until April and had no savings(or the belief), I decided to wait another year. This would determine if it was the right thing or the wrong thing to do. I worked at Trot In Time in Lunenburg for two consecutive summers and every day, I went home and debated if I should do this or not. My boss encouraged me every week and eventually I gained some belief.
Last winter, I had 4 months to debate with myself while recovering from a terrible lower back injury which left me crippled for months. My plans of riding all winter and working with some boarders shattered in November, before I really started. I managed to get through, and maybe those difficult times just reminded me that it would be worth it in the long run. At some point, I decided not to debate anymore and just throw my heart into it and here we are now. The paper work was all completed by May and at this point I had already acquired three of my four current horses.
I now invite you to join my journey(started in February)as I post about each of the horses and about daily life on a farm with a stable offering Lessons, Pony Rides, Trail Rides and Birthday Parties.
For the longest time, I thought I would start writing a blog about MRS and how it all began. Then I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do it or if I had time or energy for it. As the summer went on, I have met some of the best people that I could ever work with. With this type of business, you get many clients through the door on a weekly basis and in order for me to remember everything, I decided to start this blog. This journey has been difficult but very exciting, so I figured I would share it with those who enjoy reading and learning. This blog is purely for my friends, family and clients, whom I have to thank for making this whole journey possible :)
A Little About Me
My name is Livia Mueri. I am 24 years old and recently graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie University. Since I was a little girl, I have been nothing but horse obsessed and spent every minute growing up at my grandparents' small stable in Switzerland. In 1998, I found out that my family and I would be moving to Canada. The Canada part didn't really matter to me. It was the "stable" and "farm" that would forever change my life. You see, life in Switzerland is like life in a big city. There is no room to move and pressure is always on. A farm life is something I could never have imagined at age 9, until we first came to Canada in 1996. After that trip, we could not wait to come back, so in 1999 our lives changed as we moved across the big pond. From this point on, my love for horses grew bigger every day. Being able to work with them personally and through the trail riding business opened my eyes in so many ways. I knew I would want to work with horses for the rest of my life.
As a 12 year old, I entered my first competitions on our aged trail horse Brandy. He was a good soul and at the age of 20 years still learned with me every day. He and I managed to complete our first cross rail courses, as well as small 2 ft classes. Sadly, Brandy was put down last Christmas at the age of approximately 32 and I still miss him every single day. From him, I moved up to our Dutch Warmblood, Harie who at this point came to Canada with us (a year later in 2000). At 13-14, we competed at the 3 foot jumper level throughout the province. At 15, we won the first 3ft6 course we ever did together at Loyal Hill. At 16, we won the first 3'9 course we ever entered at Red Bank. Harie taught me everything I knew and he is still with us today at the age of 22. He is now our schoolmaster and is teaching my sister all the same tricks as he taught me.
In 2003 I acquired Oskar, a horse we had sold as a 4 year old. He had been a seasoned 4'6 jumper and would become my new teacher. He and I competed at 4' level and schooled up to 4'3-4'6 at home. At our first show, we won the first ever 4' class I had entered. Unfortunately, at this point in life I had graduated high school and went off to University. Every weekend, I would be home doing barn work and schooling horses, but it became difficult to show horses, however I stayed committed to my four legged friends.
Since 2003, we have only had our personal jumpers and the farm always seemed a bit empty without 13 horses. I have been determined since I started my Commerce degree, that I would want to start a business here on this farm again. It seemed unrealistic and not so feasible, for a young person to start this whole business on their own.
In 2009, a year before I graduated, I went on a student exchange to Finland. It was one of the best experiences in my life, but living without horses for 6 months became a major mental battle for me. The more I was away from them, the more determined I became to find a solution. At the time, tourism had also decreased immensely since 2003(and is still not much better), so my goals had quickly been erased by this. In Finland, my best friend was Roland, an Italian whom I could talk to about anything. He realized just how determined I was, and supported me the whole way through my ideas and plans. As I returned to finish my last year at Dal, I wrote a business plan for my Entrepreneurship class. Since I did not graduate until April and had no savings(or the belief), I decided to wait another year. This would determine if it was the right thing or the wrong thing to do. I worked at Trot In Time in Lunenburg for two consecutive summers and every day, I went home and debated if I should do this or not. My boss encouraged me every week and eventually I gained some belief.
Last winter, I had 4 months to debate with myself while recovering from a terrible lower back injury which left me crippled for months. My plans of riding all winter and working with some boarders shattered in November, before I really started. I managed to get through, and maybe those difficult times just reminded me that it would be worth it in the long run. At some point, I decided not to debate anymore and just throw my heart into it and here we are now. The paper work was all completed by May and at this point I had already acquired three of my four current horses.
I now invite you to join my journey(started in February)as I post about each of the horses and about daily life on a farm with a stable offering Lessons, Pony Rides, Trail Rides and Birthday Parties.
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