Second Chance Farm's Riding Academy

Summer is here!!!

2010-06-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!!!

We have been very busy so far this summer, and HOT! It has been in the upper 90's and over 100 for the last 2 weeks or so. Lucky for us, it is supposed to drop off to the upper 80's this week, YAY!!! The girls have been very busy working hard on the farm every afternoon. They are learning lots about just how much more goes into running an operation than teaching lessons. Although, I think their favorite new skill has been driving the mule around the farm. Their driving leaves a little to be desired however. Last week Lisa and I both rode in the Verne Batchelder clinic. I work with him twice a month, but this was the first time Lisa has ridden with him. She did a great job and learned alot from him. As always, I got my tail kicked but he was thrilled with Moose and we worked on lots of new fun stuff. We also took all the horses (Including Moose, biggest miracle of all!) on a trail ride through the foundation the other day. It was a much needed reprive from the hot arena for everyone. Saturday Paisley and Gingersnap and Isabelle and Sutter went cross country schooling. Isabelle rode great and is getting tougher all the time....and Paisley and Gingersnap wowed us all. We had no idea that pony could jump that well, or that Paisley was that confident...wow. All in all we have had a great start to the summer. Looking forward to all the other activities comming up. Stay tuned!!! B

Everyone is having fun painting jumps!! (Including Hailey!)

Moose and I fine tune our shoulder-in with Verne

Lisa and William looking great working with Verne

Yes the sign said 108 when we went to the Verne Clinic!!!

Paisley and Gingersnap XC Schooling!!!

Isabelle and Sutter XC schooling!!

FenRidge Farm Horse Trials!!

2010-05-31T05:58:00.000-07:00

Isabelle and Sutter, Alexa and William, and Allyson and Clover all rode in the maiden HT at FenRidge yesterday. Overall it was a great day and everyone learned alot...including some world geography ;)!!! Allyson had an overall much improved weekend from the last show, and it paid off with a 3rd place finnish in a large class!! Way to go!!! Alexa had a great weekend too with some awesome riding. She showed great confidence, especially for her first time cross country and her dressage is much improved. Isabelle had an awesome dressage and foot perfect show jumping round, unfortunately Sutter had some serious separation anxiety on XC having to leave his buddys behind and had a meltdown. But Isabelle handled it like a rockstar and we learned alot about how to request to schedule his rides....next time will be awesome for sure!!! Thanks to everyone for the help and the entertainment haha....if nothing else, we know how to have a good time :-)

I have been looking at the calendar of events for the rest of the year to start to plan out our schedule. My plan right now is to not compete over the summer, and spend that going XC schooling at some different places and then in August we will start back up again. Here is the plan of horse trials we will be going to so let me know which ones you are interested in doing so I can put you on the list:

8/21: Foxtrack Horse Trials (Southern Pines)

9/18: Hillcrest Farm Horse Trials (Mocksville)

10/17: FenRidge Farm Horse Trials (Mebane)

10/31: Five County Horse Trials (Zebulon)

11/13: TTC Horse Trials (Mocksville)

11/21: CHP Starter Trials (Raeford)

Here are a few pictures from yesterday:

Isabelle and Sutterby Good

Alexa Pollat and Willy Nilly

Allyson Salas and The Blonde Bomb

Big Changes!!!

2010-05-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!!
Big changes are happening here. Due to some changes in Briana's personal life the riding program is moving to her farm, Second Chance, effective June 1, 2010. While we are very sad to be leaving Fleet of Foot we are also very excited to be moving in this new direction with our lives and the program. Everything will remain the same for the students so no worries there guys. We will just be at a new location. The physical address is 169 Talbert Road, West End, NC 27376. We will be just 5 miles from the traffic circle in Pinehurst and are centrally located within Moore County. We hope this change will be a positive change for everyone and look forward to what the rest of the year has to offer. Happy riding. B

MacNair's CT, April 18th!

2010-04-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
Today was over all great day. At the very least a learning experience for all! We took 5 (Yes, 5 haha) horses and students to MacNair's CT in Raleigh, NC for a day of first's. Alexa rode William, Taylor rode Sam, Paisley rode Sutter, Isabelle rode Dominic and Allyson rode Clover. Everyone did the maiden combined test. This was a first for everyone, because none of them have shown over fences before and it was Allyson's first show ever with us. The day was busy to say the least and a huge thank you must go out to our army of assistants!!! Thank you everyone, we couldn't do it without you guys.
Alexa finnished 4th out of a huge group of juniors, Isabelle was just out of the ribbons in the same divison. This was her first time showing Dominic and her first time jumping....a big accomplishment for her! Paisley was also just out of the ribbons in her very large divison as well. A great placing overall considering Sutter felt he needed everyone to remember that he really is an upper level horse still during her dressage test. He is determined to teach Paisley all about relaxation in dressage. :-) Their jumping was spot on perfect however!!! Taylor had a wonderful learning experience about course learning at an unfortunate time but was riding like a rockstar and I was SO proud of her and everything she did. Allyson had a great round on Clover and was also riding brilliantly, but Clover got a bit too happy over one of the fences. Oh well, there is always next time. All in all everyone rode wonderfully and have all learned sooooooo much.
There has to be something said about the incredible team effort that went into this operation today. We had all 5 riders going within minutes of each other in different rings, and everything ran like a well oiled machine. We even managed to get to the show early, which has to be a miracle of mass proportions!!! The team work and sense of unity among everyone makes me so proud to call these riders "mine". They are truly a great group and as hard as I ride them sometimes I'm lucky I have them as my students. A huge thanks has to go to everyone else that was there to lend a hand as well. Parents, grandparents, aunt, uncles, and friends alike. This truly is a team operation and everyone is amazing. Thanks again everyone. Can't wait to do it all again ;)
Congrats to everyone!!!! B

Paisley and Sutter

Taylor and Sam

Allyson and Clover

Alexa and William

Isabelle and Dominic

Team "Fleet of Foot"

Photos from Antares!!

2010-03-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the promised photos from Antares Dressage Show on March 20, 2010. Enjoy :-)

Taylor Stack warming up "Sam I Am"

Alexa Pollat riding "Willy Nily"

Isabelle Martinez riding "The Blonde Bomb"

Taylor

Alexa

Isabelle

Isabelle, Briana, Taylor, and Alexa

Isabelle and Clover

Alexa and William

Taylor and Sam

Great job guys!!!!

2010-03-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Things are getting geared up here for the spring competition season. We were all set to compete at MacNair's last weekend but they cancelled last minute due to wet pastures. So we quickly regrouped and decided to go to Antares Dressage Show. Alexa, Taylor, and Isabelle all worked hard this week to get ready and their hard work really paid off. They looked awesome and rode even better. Taylor and Sam finnished in 3rd, Isabelle and Clover finnished in 4th and Alexa and William finnished in 5th. I was so proud of all of them. We have lots on the calendar comming up. We have some xc and sj schooling trips in the works and our next competition will be MacNair's on April 18. Stay tuned for more updates and photos from this weekend and a bareback lesson.

Fix-A-Test

2010-02-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, after rescheduling it 4 (yes 4) times we FINALLY held our fix-a-test. It was fantastic too. Everyone rode so well. It wasn't as big as it initally was, but that's to be expected after rescheduling so many times. The weather was beautiful and sunny. Nanci Lindroth judged for us and really helped everyone learn alot about test riding. I think everyone is geared up and ready to start the spring season off with a bang!
Results:
Intro A:
1) Taylor Stack riding Sam I Am
2) Isabelle Martinez ridng The Blonde Bomb
3) Maddy Lehman riding Dominic
4) Linn Owen riding Sutterby Good

Intro B:
1) Esther Fuller riding Twix
2) Gina Martinez riding Twix

Training Level 1:
1) Paisley Latham riding Sutterby Good
2) Alexa Pollat riding Willy Nilly
3) Paisley Latham riding Sam I Am

Most Improved Score: Alexa Pollat

Congratulations everyone!!! And thank you to everyone who helped out to make the day go so well!!!! Our next event is going to be MacNair's D&CT on March 14th. Happy riding everyone!!!

Isabelle Martinez riding The Blonde Bomb

Linn Owen riding Sutterby Good

Alexa Pollat warming up Willy Nilly

Paisley Latham riding Sutterby Good

Maddy Lehman riding Dominic

Esther Fuller riding Twix

Paisley Latham riding Sam I Am

Gina Martinez riding Twix

Taylor Stack riding Sam I Am

Busy busy

2010-01-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!! We hope the year is off to a good start for everyone. We have been getting geared up for all the upcomming events. Everyone us riding so well. I can't wait to see everyone's hard work pay off. The fix-a-test is next weekend and we are so excited. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this time! I am going to update the pictures and the website very soon. I am having some computer problems at the moment but I will get it done very soon. Will have more updates after the show. Till' then, Briana

Happy Holidays!!!!

2009-12-31T06:10:00.000-08:00

First off, Hope everyone had an excellent Christmas and is going to have a wonderful New Year! Things have been pretty quiet at the farm lately. Seems like the weather has been steadily working against us. Rain, Rain, Rain.....we are under water. We had to reschedule the "Fix-A-Test" to January 30th because of all the rain. Which we were disapointed about for sure, but we know it will be great then. There have been some changes with the horses on the farm. Butterscotch went home to his family to retire. He was starting to have trouble seeing, which sadly is a common problem with appys. But we have gotten 2 new additions to the "line up." Shorty has joined the crew. He recently retired from steeplechasing, and is quite a goof ball to be around. He isn't doing much, but we are hoping to encorporate him into the program a little bit. And, we are so excited to have Sam join us. We have known Sam for years and years and he is a perfect addition to the program. Along with Sam, his owner Kim has also joined the crew at FOFF, so if you see her around be sure to say hello.
We have big plans and changes for the farm in 2010. So look out. We are very excited for 2010 and know it is going to be a great year for all of our students. Everyone is working so hard at their riding and I can't wait to see it all unfold over the year. See ya next year! ;) Briana

A weekend full of horseshows!

2009-12-08T04:25:00.000-08:00

So apparently I am a little behind on updating this. I guess that is what happens when life gets in the way. Novemeber 21st and 22nd were full of horse shows. On Saturday, Jessy and I took Sutter and Moose to Antares Dressage. Jessy had 2 great rides on Sutter, who she had only ridden for a few weeks, getting a 3rd place and a 5th place. The judge loved Sutter, and it was great for me to see him back in the ring enjoying himself. He still has the same tricks up his sleeve he used to pull with me, only at least he has toned them down a bit. Jessy is learning so much from him and I am really excited to see what happens with them in the future. Moose was a very good boy too. It was his first time out since before Hailey was born (In Feburary). It's been a while I know, but we took things back a few steps to sort out some training issues. I'm so glad we did because he was great. He had a little bit of a "Moose Moment" before we went in the ring, but he managed to pull it together and win his class with a 67%, Good boy!

Jessy and Sutter

Briana and Moose

On Sunday, Susan and I loaded up both trailers and went in opposite directions. She took Albert Earl to the schooling horse trial at CHP. Overall she was very pleased with him. He has come so far and I can't wait to see what he does in the future. I headed to MacNair's in Raleigh with Jessy on Clover, Alfre on William, and Casey on GingerSnap. These guys made me so proud that day. They all rode fantastic. First up was Alfre in the CT. This was her first time jumping William at a show and I thought it went great. She rode smart and put in a solid dressage test and a clean jumping round to finnish her division in 5th. Then Jessy rode Clover in Intro Test B. She finished in 3rd place and put in the best test I've ever seen her do on him. She is getting so much more comfortable in the ring and it is really paying off. She is now having to push him forward during the test instead of always trying to slow him down! Last was Casey, this was only her 3rd ride on GingerSnap, but they make quite a team together. It was also her first dressage test ever. She rode so great and finnished in 4th place. All in all it was a great weekend.

Alfre and William

Jessy and Clover

Casey and GingerSnap

We have our fix-a-test this weekend, hopefully the weather will hold off. We have gotten so much rain that we really need it to not rain this week so that everything can dry out some. Fingers crossed. Hopefully it will be a good show, we are pretty close right now to being full. Entrys close tomorrow. Everyone around here has been working very hard to get ready for this. I can't wait to see all their hard work pay off.
Happy Holidays!!
Briana

Fall Fun Day

2009-11-15T07:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had our "Fall Fun Day" at the farm and what a fun day it was indeed!!! I never could have imagined there would be so many children at the farm all at once. It was such a fun sight to watch all the kids playing together. We are really fortunate to have such an awesome group of children and parents as a part of FOFF. I think it is a pretty safe bet to say that everyone had a good time! The kids were so excited to ride and everyone was getting in line again and again to play the games. They participated in an apple bobbing race, a pair's ribbon race, and ride-a-buck. I think it is safe to say our students are off to a great start in their riding because we couldn't get them to loose their dollars....no matter how hard we tried!!! The weather couldn't have been better for the day, which was such a welcomed reprive after all the rain we had this week. For a while, I thought we were going to float away! Thanks so much to all the parents and other students who jumped in and helped us make sure things went smoothly. We couldn't have done it without you!!!! Here are a few of the pictures:

Logan during the egg and spoon race

Group 2 during the "On Foot" egg and spoon race

Emily bobbing for apples

Maddy headed for home with her apple

Emma during the egg and spoon race

Ally racing her dad, Matt

Joe inspecting his apple

Ally, Maddy, Casey, Emily, and Isabelle show off their dollars

Isabelle and Clover during the egg and spoon race

Thanks to Kelly for taking such awesome pictures for us!!!!!

On a different note: Our Fix-A-Test now has a date! It will be Decemeber 12th and the judge is Rebecca Blikslager "L". There is an entry form on the website (http://www.fleetoffootfarm.com/) This is going to be alot of fun and an amazing learning experience for everyone who participates. We are so excited to do this and look forward to offering it on a more regular basis with a variety of different judges in the future. We hope to see you there!!!

We will update next week after our crazy weekend of horseshows. On Saturday Susan is taking AlbertEarl to CHP for a schooling horse trial while Jessy and I take Moose and Sutter to Antares Dressage Show. Then, on Sunday we are taking a full load to MacNair's up in Raleigh. Jessy is showing Clover, Susan is showing Tank (It will be his first horse show!), Alfre is showing William in her first combined test on him, and Casey is showing GingerSnap in her very first dressage show, and I will be taking Twix to hangout for the experience. Whew....my head is spinning just thinking about that! It's going to be a busy busy busy weekend, but should be lots of fun. I'm excited to see everyone's hard work pay off!!!

Welcome, and lots of happenings :-)

2009-11-04T05:44:00.000-08:00

First of all, Welcome to our blog. Susan and I were discussing the other day about how we have so much going on with the students right now that we are running out of room on the website to get everything in there and give it the space that it deserves. So, we decided to start a blog to keep up with everything more and here it is....TADA. :-)
Last Saturday we took 2 horses to Antares Dressage Show. Alfre rode William in her first horse show with him. They did a fantastic job and I was so proud of them. She rode really well, and looked fantastic. She was the only junior in both of her very large classes and was unfortunately just out of the ribbons in both classes, but it was a great starting place for her and him. I'm confident they will be a team to beat in the very near future. I took Twix and let him hang out at the show some. Just to get some experience and see how he was going to be for the students. He was so relaxed and chilled, like he has done it all his life. I'm excited to see how this little horse progresses with the students. And of course there was Maple, our graded "steaks" winning racehorse who was at the show as well. :-)

(Jessy, Twix, and Maple....the racehorse)

(Alfre and Wily Nily)

In other happenings, Michelle has completed the introductory course, and is really getting more confident in her riding. Tatum, Logan, Erin, and Isabelle have almost finnished their introductory courses as well.

On November 14th, 2009 we are having a "Fun Day" at the farm for all the kids. We are going to eat pizza add snacks, as well as play horse mounted games for fun prizes, and give the kids a chance to play together on the playground. All the kids are invited to participate and are encouraged to bring a friend with them. It is going to be a fun day for everyone. If your interested in possibly signing your children up for riding lessons feel free to bring them out for a day of fun with other kids and the horses.

We have lots of other fun things on the calendar as well. We are going to a dressage show at Antares Dressage again on November 20th, as well as a Dressage and Combined Test at MacNair's in Raleigh on November 21st. Also, plans are in the works for a Dressage Fix-A-Test to be held at the farm, hopefully sometime in December. Check back soon for updates on that as soon as we know them.

Happy Riding,

Briana