Annaharvey Newsletter - May 2010

Hi there, well we feel summer has certainly arrived with long balmy days of sunshine, the crops bursting out of the ground, the amazing colours of the trees changing in shade as each week progresses, and the foals bounding around in the paddocks! Yes we are talking about Ireland, believe it or not – after the last few summers of endless rain we were beginning to think the sun would never shine again, but now we are all unconcerned about the volcanic ash or the price of air fares as we are convinced we are going to have a long hot summer – so watch this space!!

We have had a very busy spring with a good number of Hunter Trials and only last week we had a One Day Event which was a great day – the weather was great, the entries were good and all went very successfully – Sam and Aaron have put a huge effort into the Cross Country course and it was looking super on the day, and of course the ground conditions were very good too so the competitors were happy.

Last weekend the Bog Trotters Riding Club had their show which was well supported locally and everyone had a good time– particularly Evelyn who rode Rachael’s horse Aussie, in the dressage and won her class – Henry was also very pleased as it is his pet project at the moment – getting Aussie fit and competing, so Ev is being schooled on a daily basis despite the fact that Aussie is huge and she is tiny on top of him!

We had 6 mares to foal this spring and 4 have foaled safely which is a great relief – 4 colts what’s more, so that is a real bonus – Sam has been breeding the mares with a view to the riding school replacements, so he is happy with what they are producing. We only have 2 thoroughbred mares now, as Top Girl had to be put down in the winter, we were really sorry about it as she has served us well producing 2 top racing horses and fillies that subsequently produced winners themselves – one of them is a horse called Montana Slim which is doing well at the moment. Only one of the thoroughbred mares is in foal to a thoroughbred stallion this year and has still to foal – Aaron now owns her so hopefully she will be lucky for him. We have a foaling alarm which has proved to be invaluable to us – this goes around their middles like a girth and has an aerial on it so when the mare lies down to foal the alarm goes off – beside our bed I might add – don’t quite know how that came to happen, but anyway, it does mean Henry is on hand in case of any problems.

It is always so amazing to see how quickly the foals become independent – born in the small hours of the morning, by daylight they are scampering around the paddock and driving their mothers mad with worry in case they get into any trouble!

Sam and Aisling and Maeve are away this week on holidays, Aisling won’t feel it now till she is back in work, the year has just flown and Maeve is a real little person now, with loads of personality – she spends all her time out in the yard with one or other of her parents, which is no trouble at the moment as she is still confined to her buggy, but heaven help them when she gets walking as she is very independent minded and they will spend a good deal of time wondering where she is! She looks so like Sam when he was little – he carries her around and she looks just like a "mini me" The other 2 girls are great – Kate will be starting playschool in September and will be well able for it, while Lucy is striving hard to keep up with or preferably ahead of her sister which is a trait she has very definitely inherited from her father!

Rachael is working hard at her business in Bunclody which is doing very well – she will be attending Bloom in the phoenix park in early June which should be a good exercise in promoting Annaharvey Farm Foods.

We are looking forward to the coming weeks with lots more events to take place, and lots of visitors for riding, so we will be busy, and also have to start planning for the autumn.

We have started doing Sunday morning ride outs which are popular – 10.30 –12.00 for the Happy Hackers, and 12.00 – 1.30 a Cross Country run and the cost is very reasonable – so we are looking forward to that developing with time.

That’s all the news for now, hope the summer is good for everyone,
Best regards,
Lynda and family





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