Main

Navigation

Archive | Summer Horse Camp

The blog for Road’s End Farm, a summer horsemanship camp for girls who love caring for and riding horses. Blog posts contain year-round updates for the horse farm in rural, Chesterfield, NH.

By on March 14, 2017 in Horse Camp Off-Season, Summer Horse Camp

As we hunker down during this massive snow storm, the wood stoves are burning hot and the horses are certainly getting extra food for both breakfast and dinner. Their winter coats are still fluffy, and we will not shed them until much further into spring. While we wait for the wind to die down and the snow to stop falling, all the humans and indoor animals are trying to stay by the wood stoves to keep warm. We will give the horses extra grain, hay, and love tonight, as the blustering winds are not pleasant for any animal. Stay warm!!

 

By on March 9, 2017 in Horse Camp Off-Season, Summer Horse Camp

We are spending a good amount of our time cleaning up the farm before the ground unfreezes and becomes too soft for the tractors. We are cleaning brush out of Peacock Park, the pines in Wheelocks, and in the trees next to the Cape Cod House. Similar to work duty during summer camp, we haul the brush onto the trailer, drive to the bonfire, dump the load, and begin again! Doing brush is one of our favorite jobs. In line with the philosophies here, we love getting our hands dirty and doing some springtime cleaning of the farm.

By on March 8, 2017 in Summer Horse Camp

With the new stable almost complete, one of our last steps is to move the tack into the tack rooms. While it may sound difficult, moving over 50 saddles is actually the easiest part of the work. In contrast, measuring out the saddle racks in our new tack rooms and making sure each is in the right place is the hardest part. During morning tacking up times, we may have to arrange the set up a bit differently this year, something we will experiment with during our first few sessions of Camp. With our horses still in the same field and ready to be ridden, the campers, counselors, instructors, and other staff will be adjusting to a new barn location.

By on March 7, 2017 in Horse Camp Off-Season, Summer Horse Camp

At the end of a dirt road in rural New Hampshire, a herd of horses run free and eagerly anticipate the arrival of young girls from all over the world. Throughout 2017 summer camp, girls will arrive at Road’s End Farm to take care of and ride horses, swim in Lake Spofford, play games, create in arts & crafts, and immerse themselves in farm life. The horseback riding camp at the end of Jackson Hill Road will bring echoes of laughter to the wilderness in New Hampshire. Embracing New England farm life and embracing each other, all members of the Road’s End Farm family will contribute to the future of this farm and practice kindness as a guiding philosophy.

By on March 6, 2017 in Summer Horse Camp, Summer Horsemanship Camp

With the weather changing so drastically, the horses were a bit chilly during this late February/March cold snap. We had a few days where the nights went into the negative temperatures, and the days didn’t warm up much past 20. We fed our horses a bit more hay, grain, and were careful to make sure they drank enough water before it froze over. The ground is not muddy, rather it has a hard top and the horses are looking a little more clean – now that they cannot roll in the mud :). We are loading up the porches with wood and making sure we have enough to burn to keep inside the farm house and the cape house warm. Alicia will be cutting, loading, and unloading fire wood all day – one of her favorite jobs. Alvin, Simon, and Daisy will be lounging by the fires. We should take a lesson from the wise animals here – snoozing in the sunlight or by the wood stoves are what Mondays are for. Happy March!

UA-29131560-1