Fun On The Trails

Are you ready to hit the trails? We have a fun filled weekend planned for the 28th, 29th, and 30th here at Van Bert Farms. We have the clinic planned for Friday and the ACTHA ride on Saturday and the just for fun ride on Sunday with a cook out sponsored by Van Bert Farms. Some really neat, fun things going on here. If you don't want to enter the competition, just come out and enjoy watching and talking with other horse enthusiast. It is open to all breeds and we look forward to seeing you right here this weekend.

The Things We Learn Because Of Necessity

My office windows face the inside of our barn. Because I have to spend so much time in the office, it is nice that I can at least look out periodically and catch someone getting on a horse and making a couple of rounds in the barn before heading out to the riding ring. Today, I watched as my Dad (who is 74 years old), get on his horse. I remember the days when "the boys", (since I have three boys who seem to always be into something, they are referred to as "the boys"), would be getting on their horses and they would do this flying mount thing. I would run out of the office and tell them, "if I can't get on that horse that way, then nobody is going to buy it until you teach them to stand still when you get on." My dad would agree, but even though he was better at it....he was never as good as I would like to have seen. They were not being slack in their training, it just came so easy to them, that they didn't even think about it. Much like teaching a horse to back. Such a little thing, that takes about 15 minutes to teach properly, but I have seen many horse show classes lost because the horse didn't back or backed poorly. Foundation is a must and backing and having a horse stand quietly while mounting is a couple of those things that sometimes get overlooked. Back to my story... Dad is having a time with his knees these days. He is going to therapy a couple of times a week and is getting better, and once he gets on his horse he does fine, but getting there has been difficult lately and he has been using a mounting block. As I watched from the window, I saw him bring the mounting block out and place it in front of the horse. He then stood on the block and motioned for Blue On Black to come over to him. Blue moved his butt very easy and quietly over to him and stood while Dad mounted, got his stirrups and ask him to step off. Now, why did he just now start teaching all of his horses (and my mother's personal horse) to move over to a mounting block and stand still while mounting?....because he is just now needing the horse to do this.

If you are interested in teaching your horse some of the fundamental things such as this, come join us on May 28th. Check out the schedule of events we are having here and make plans to attend....give us a call or email us. vera@vanbertfarms.com or 606-663-9070

Flood of 2010

Tennessee and Kentucky got their share of rain this week. We experienced one of the worst floods this area has had in many years. Not quiet what we considered the "100 year flood" , which was a few years ago, but close. However, I am sure Nashville will tell you something different. Such a terrible sight to see with the waters up over houses and cars. We are thankful for the warnings and glad we took heed. We moved all the horses to high ground before the rains came. This is a two day task and something we try not to do because we do not have very much high ground, you never know if the weather man knows what he is talking about, and we have mares that are ready to have babies. Three mares had their foals while in the small lots and of course 2 of them were in with the ones that we thought would wait a few days, but they decided to come early. The good thing is everything went well and moms and babies are fine. Now, all we have to do is get all the trash out of the fields and off the fences, repair them and get everything ready for our Clinic, ACTHA ride and Fun Trail Ride, that we are hosting on the 28th,29th, and 30th of this month. If you would like more info on the things going on here and how you can participate, be sure and check out the menu button we have for our trail rides on the front of the www.vanbertfarms.com web page. Call us today and make plans to attend. The first 15 people to sign up for the ACTHA ride, will be given the chance to win a weekend at the Gorgeous Horse Cottage that overlooks Van Bert Farms. Check out the ACTHA site at www.actha.us It's easy to enter the ride and you will have fun in this competition. If you are interested in the clinic, or the Fun Trail ride that will benefit United Mountain Horse, call or email me. 606-663-9070 or vera@vanbertfarms.com or verapatterson@gmail.com Looking forward to hearing from all of you.