Fall Events

Fall is off to a running start up at Ashford Farm.  Lessons are in full swing, the eventing season is busy, and there are some great Pace events coming up soon!

The camp reunion is on Saturday, October 22.  I sent out emails last week and permission slips and info should be on the websites for Ashford and New Meadow.  I hope everyone can make it, it’s always a great show and the bus ride is a fun time to catch up with your friends from camp!

Lots of the girls from New Meadow are leasing horses or have bought a horse of their own!  Here are a few!

Congratulations to Kaleigh Apostolico on her purchase of "Big John". They make a great pair already!

Congrats to Brooke Madonna and her daughter, Logan Boyle, on the purchase of "Big Chief". He is so lucky to have 2 great moms!

Logan and Chiefy

Courtney is leasing Whodat this year!

Bella Sanstead is leasing Buster Brown!

Tobie Perkins and Gigi are hitting the dressage world by storm this year!

There are a couple more new pairs at Ashford this Fall, I will take more pictures and post them in my next blog for you guys SOON!  I would love to hear from some of the girls that I don’t get to see all year long.  Send me a pic or two of you and your favorite horse and let me know how your riding is going!  Take care everybody!

-Kulpie

Isn't Lucy the cutest!?!

Camp 2011 – What a GREAT summer!

Well, the summer of 2011 was an amazing success!

We did everything!  Horse shows, EVENTING, Clinics, trails, gymkhanas, scavenger hunts, GIANT slip n’ slides, hiking at Humpback Rocks, Skate town USA, lessons, swimming HORSES in the Pond, canoeing at Sherando Lake, BBQs, Karaoke, Miss New Meadow pagaent, movie nights in the hayloft, TUCK shop, walking the piggies, playing with the BUNNIES….. the list goes on and on.

Thank you girls for helping us make such fantastic memories!  We hope that each and every one of you will treasure them forever and help us make more in the years to come.

A lot of our New Meadow girls have bought horses or are leasing them this year.  Keep an eye out for pictures of them in my next Blog and to see what they are up to!  Let us know if you are doing something great this year and send me pics of you riding to Kulpie at newmeadowfarm@msn.com.

Pay attention in school this year…. remember, you have to make it through the schoolyear and get back to another great summer at New Meadow for 2012!!!!!!

Until next time,

Kulpie

Swimming with Swans

Best Slip n'Slide EVER

Swimmin' in the pond!

Lucy and her soccer playing Piggy friends!

A little Congo line dancing at the Black Tie Dinner

After our awesome water balloon fight...

Virginia Horse Center Cross-Country Schooling Day

Bucks County Memorial Day Paperchase

Only about 3 weeks until camp starts!  I know we’re getting super excited, hope all of you are too!  I’ll be heading down to New Meadow on June 13th with some helpers to get everything all set up for you guys to arrive.  I mailed out the Camp Info letter, so make sure to print that out…. it should answer any of your questions, but if you have any more, give me a call or email at newmeadowfarm@msn.com.

A frequently asked question has been: “If  my child is taking the van to camp, should we ship their belongings to New Meadow?”  The answer is “YES!”, there will only be room for a small bag on the van because a LOT of you are going down on it!  UPS will deliver all of your things straight to camp and we’ll put them in your bunks to wait your arrival.

Also, make sure all of your forms are handed in, you can’t ride if we’re missing the Health or Liability form!  AGH!  So make sure that doesn’t happen to you!

Today was Memorial Day, and a HUGE group of us up in Philadelphia went to a paperchase at the Bucks County Horse Park.  It was hot out, but lots of wooded trails kept our horses relatively cool.  And the jumps were phenomenal!  What a great place to school.  No action shots, but here are a few shots of the crew that went!

Natalie relaxing with Molloy

Julia Lockman on Whodat

Linda Brown with Clint Black

Jess Warmington and Bert

Me and Boz!

Deb and Mr.B

Alex & Sampson, Andrea & Hurley, Kelly & Skippy, and Maddie & Rasputin

Kulpie & Boz and Megan & Mr. Big

New Meadow Summer Events

Hello there everybody!  I have been hard at work for the past few months putting together a list of all of the horse shows, events, and things to do in VA during camp this summer.  Here is a list of what is going on so far!

JUNE

19th: First Day of Camp! YAY!

20-14th: Roanoke Valley Horse Show – Grand Prix on Friday night!

23-25: Pony Club Mega Rally @ VA Horse Center

25th: Competitive Trail Ride @ VA Horse Center

25th: BREA Combined Test & Dressage Show @ GHPEC (Roanoke)

26th: Great Beginnings @ Hunters Edge

28th & 29th: House Mountain @ VA Horse Center (hunters/jumpers)

JULY

1 & 2nd: VAHSA Summer Show @ VA Horse Center

2nd: Cedar Creek Combined Test & Horse Trials (vahorsetrials)

2nd & 3rd: Vaulting Competition @ VA Horse Center

4th: Elk Run Horse Show (hunters/jumpers)

9th: Hunter’s Edge Horse Show

10th: Plain Dealing Farm Schooling Show (vahorsetrials)

10th: Roanoke Valley Pony Club Show @GHPEC (Roanoke)

12th & 13th: House Mountain show @ VA Horse Center (hunters/jumpers)

15th – 17th: Dressage @ Lexington (VA Horse Center)

16th: PARENT’S DAY! Last day of camp for the 4 weekers

17th: First Day of 3 week session!

20th – 24th: Rockbridge County Fair Show @ VA Horse Center

23rd: Wavertree Hall Jumping Derby (vahorsetrials)

23rd: Keezlenutten Farm Jumper Show

23rd: Ride with Pride show @ Cedar Creek

29th: GHPEC Evening Show

30th: Kemper Knoll Great Beginnings & SWVHJA show

*Mill Creek Horse Show: Date TBA*

AUGUST

6th: BREA Combined Test & Dressage show @ GHPEC (Roanoke)

6th: Last day of camp for the 3 weekers

7th: First day of camp for the 1 week session!!!

10-12th: Lexington National “AA” horse show @ VA Horse Center

13th: Last day of Camp 2011

***** Clinics with Steuart Pittman (eventing/ XC), Aude Bosserman (dressage), and the trip to visit Secretariat’s farm “The Meadow” : TBA*****

Virginia Horse Trials

The Ashford Farm eventing team headed down to Virginia for the 4th year in a row to compete in the Virginia Starter Horse Trials at the VA Horse Center.  The event is hosted by Brian and Penny Ross, who also run many of the horse trials and combined trainings that we attend during the summer at camp!  Despite a bit of cold weather, everybody had a great weekend!  On Saturday, the crew headed to the horse center early in the morning to school the cross country course.  Megan took Galen along so that she could help the girls school on horseback!  Lucky her!  After schooling, the group headed back to New Meadow for a dressage clinic with Aude to prep for the next day.

Kaleigh & Spud and Natalie & Molloy competed in the Novice horse trial.  Sarah & Guinness and Claudia & Oliver competed in the Beginner Novice horse trial.  And  Alexa & Rollo competed in the Elementary combined test, but had the chance to school cross country on Saturday with the other girls!

Sunday morning, New Meadow woke up with snow on the ground!  It was a very early morning at the horse center for Alexa, Claudia, and Sarah.  They were finished with the competition by 10:00 am!  Kaleigh and Natalie competed a little later on and did very well, despite a bit of a run-in on the cross country course, which if you know them you can ask them about!

All in all, it was another successful Springtime event at the VA Horse Trials.  It’s a great warm-up for all the spring events closer to home in the Philadelphia area.

Until next time!

-Jessica

Claudia schooling Oliver Cross Country

Kaleigh showing us her old lady "hunt seat"

That's more like it Kaleigh!

Natalie & Molloy jumping a trakehner jump cross country

The Whole Crew after schooling day!

Getting ready for the dressage ring! Alexa & Rollo, Sarah & Guinness, Claudia & Oliver (from left).

Claudia taking a bit of a big spot.... yes, she made it!

Sarah & Guinness jumping around in Stadium!

Natalie & Kaleigh all ready for dressage, it was crazy pants day!

Natalie & Molloy say "Whew! The hard part is over!"

There's trouble! Jane & Megan Canavan!

Springtime in Paris

La Tour Eiffel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonjour!

So a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to Paris and represent New Meadow Camp at a few camp fairs.  I visited the American School of Paris, the Lycee International de St. Germain en Laye, and a place called Eurosites near the Champs Elysees.  I met a lot of friendly and interesting people and hopefully we will get a few of them to come to New Meadow this summer!  It would really be wonderful to have kids from all different cultures at camp.

Besides the camp fairs, I was able to visit quite a few of the sites with 3 of my friends who tagged along for the trip!  We visited the Rodin Museum, the Eiffel Tower, the Luxembourg gardens, and the Musee Pompidou to name a few.  The hotel we stayed at was just off the Champs Elysees, so we had a fun time checking out the shops and sites there.  I at LOTS of French pastries…. Pain au Chocolat is my absolute favorite!  Mmmmmm  We also went out to eat every night and had a great time overall in Paris.  Enjoy the pictures below from my trip!

A bientot! (see you soon!)

-Jessica

The Luxembourg Gardens

Cherry Blossoms in the Luxembourg Gardens

Lady Liberty in the Luxembourg Gardens

Cool Window Display for Hermes

The Rodin Museum

Looking "cool" at the Eiffel Tower

TJ's French Cousin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musee Pompidou

View looking down from the top of the Pompidou

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Tour Eiffel from the Pompidou

L'Arc de Triomphe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

French Mounted Policemen

Mounted Police crossing the Champs Elysees

Is it Spring yet?!

So camp is a few months away, and we have been really busy in the meantime.  This winter was very rough up in Philadelphia at our other farm, Ashford.  Starting the week before Christmas until the end of February all of the rings were full of snow and ice, so riding was VERY limited, and when we were able to the horses were pretty excited!  THANK goodness the weather is getting warmer here, I know it’s a lot more enjoyable to ride Boz when the weather is warm and he’s been ridden more than once a week due to ice!

This coming weekend is the Virginia Horse Trials at the VA Horse center that we take a big group to every year.  This year, Megan and I are sitting out of the action, but 5 girls that ride at Ashford year round are heading down on Friday for the big weekend!  Megan, Caroline, and Bill will go with them and get them through the schooling day on Saturday, lesson with Aude Bosserman for dressage, and the actual competition on Sunday!  Natalie Badawy is taking Molloy, Kaleigh Apostolico on Spud, Sarah Katznelson on Guinness, Claudia Dykstra on Oliver, and Alexa Gartenberg on Rollo are this year’s competitors!  Think good thoughts for them this weekend!

This February I had some excitement myself.  Megan Canavan and I went to Ireland to foxhunt and ride cross country at Flower Hill in Portumna, Ireland.  It was fantastic!  We rode 3 or 4 times a day through the Irish countryside, jumping fun cross country obstacles in amazingly good weather!  Check out the pics below.  The horses are amazing over there and I would definitely recommend the trip.  We were able to foxhunt one day with Galway Co. Hunt and had an exciting ride, saw several foxes, and galloped through a bog!

I’m going to keep updating my blog with everything that is going on at Ashford and New Meadow, so check me out and let me know what you want to hear!

I love Ireland!

Flower Hill Equestrian Center

Megan and Peter Pan

A rainbow in Ireland

Charlie & Belleview, the best horses EVER!

The Water Obstacles

Me and Lady Lattee

 

Hello Spring!

Well, I have decided to come out of hibernation and FINALLY write a new blog!  Sorry it took me so long everybody, I know you were all waiting on the edges of your seats.

A LOT has been going on so far this Spring.  The Eventing Team at Ashford Farm competed in the VA Horse Trials at the Virginia Horse Center the last weekend of March.  Current and past campers and their instructors comprise the team:  Megan Canavan (Bill & Caroline’s daughter) on her huge TB appropriately named “Mr. Big”, Jess Kulp (your favorite counselor) rode her new horse “Brosnan”, Andrea Warmington (Caroline & Bill’s niece) rode Big Chief, Natalie Badaway on her lovely horse “Jim Beam”, Arianna Aaron on her horse the awesome jumper “Bobalou”, and Kaleigh Apostolico on the great Irish horse “Spud O’Leary”.

Ashford Event Team (Andrea & Chief, Kaleigh & Spud, Arianna & Bobalou, Natalie & James)

Everyone had a great weekend!  We did Cross Country schooling and a dressage Fix-A-Test on Saturday, and the competition was on Sunday.  A little bit of rain Sunday did nothing to dampen our spirits!  We had a lots of friends and family at the event to support us.  A big THANK YOU to our Fan Section: Caroline and Bill Canavan, Jane Canavan & Fritz, Bear, Anita Warmington, Patricia & Julie Forino, Mimi Redden & Alanna Salisbury, Maddie & Linda Brown, and Rebecca England.

Everyone finished each stage of the event successfully (dressage, stadium, and XC) and no one fell off!! YAY!  That was always my dad’s way of being able to tell if I did well in an equestrian competition… I’m sure any non-horse savvy parents will appreciate that.  :)

Andrea & Chief going Cross-Country

Arianna & Bobalou gearing up for dressage.

Megan & Mr. Big finish up Cross-Country

Natalie & James in Stadium

Kulpie & Boz tired after Cross-Country

Kaleigh & Spud tackle the Stadium course

The week we all returned back to Pennsylvania from the Virginia show brought more excitement.  Caroline & Bill took Natalie Badaway and Jean Collins to Ireland for a horse buying expedition.  They rode some great Irish horses, toured the country, met some cute Irish Jack Russels (watch out TJ!), and found a great horse for Natalie…. “Malloy” will be joining her at camp this summer and you can ask him all about his trip across the pond.

"Malloy" & Mr. Bill

"Malloy" jumping.... he's excited for the New Meadow XC course!

This coming weekend is the Open House at New Meadow.  I am taking a big group of girls from Ashford and some new friends that I met at camp fairs over the winter for a whirlwind weekend trip to visit the camp.  We will ride a LOT, pet all the horses, and probably head to a camp favorite for dinner: CICI’s!!!!!!

I hope everyone will be coming back to camp again this summer.  We will have some new faces there this year, as well as a lot of familiar ones.  Have fun riding this Spring and keep in touch!  If you aren’t “friends” with New Meadow on Facebook already, check us out for lots of camp pictures. www.newmeadowcamp.com

Happy Riding!

Kulpie, TJ, & Boz

Kulpie on Brosnan and all the folks that came to support the Ashford Eventing Team

Dashing Through the Snow

We hope everyone has been keeping warm over the holidays.  As you can see, the snow doesn’t hold us back!  New Meadow got a record 28 inches of the white stuff a few weeks ago.  The horses seemed to have fun romping and galloping through the fields with and without riders on their backs!

We are going to be making some big updates on our Facebook page!  If you are not already a friend of New Meadow on Facebook, send me an invite and we can make you part of the family!

Upcoming events are the Maryland Horse World Expo in Timonium Maryland.  Caroline and Kulpie will be there all 4 days and would love to have some company.  The expo starts on Thursday January 21st and runs through Sunday January 24th.  Check out their website for more information and directions to the event: www.horseworldexpo.com There are going to be lots of interesting booths and clinicians, including Steuart Pittman who will be coming to New Meadow for the second year in a row this summer for an eventing clinic on July 7th and 8th.

In other news,  I bought a horse!  I can’t wait for everyone to meet Brosnan this summer!  He is a very handsome and sweet Thoroughbred gelding!  Here is a picture of us riding through the snow!

Do any of you have pictures of your snow riding adventures?  If so email them to me at: newmeadowfarm@msn.com or through Facebook!  I would love to put some on my next blog.

Until next time,

Kulpie

Happy November!!

Hello there campers!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and ate a LOT of great food.  I know I did!

I am very excited about the upcoming summer,  Steuart Pittman is coming to do another Eventing Clinic on July 7 & 8, 2010.  There is a link to a photo slideshow of last years clinic on the website: www.newmeadowcamp.com/pittman.  He took groups of 3 or 4 students at a time around our cross-country course, helping each camper individually and teaching them a lot about eventing, how to properly ride each element of our cross-country course, and body position for trotting/cantering/galloping outside of the ring.  You can learn more about Steuart and his wonderful Thoroughbred stallion Salute the Truth on his website: www.dodonfarm.com.

A few veteran campers have sent in their applications for the summer of 2010!

• Emily Flick and Elizabeth Flick  (who did a wonderful job riding Iceman & Clint in last weeks Combined Test at Ashford Farm)
• Emma MacDonald
• Vicki Holcomb

Campers at Middlebrook Hunt Trail Ride

We hope that everyone else is coming back as well and hope to hear from you soon!  And we are looking forward to meeting new campers as well.  Keep in touch with us, especially those of you who live far away.  Send us pictures and updates about your riding to newmeadowfarm@msn.com.

Until next month…

Kulpie