Time is just running through our fingers… we can’t grasp it and have a hold on it! Oh boy… The weather is just wonderful, so we spend our days outside, doing yard work, fixing things and of course riding…. I will be back soon with a more thorough update and hopefully with some pictures as to what we are really up to 
Another week!
NO WAY!!!!
I can’t believe this! I haven’t posted a thing in two weeks? Get out? Shame on me! I guess it’s just been the same ol’ same ol’…. the weather has been NICE, NICE, NICE and Florida at its finest! And really… other than riding all day long and having foal watch during the night, not much is going on….. Spring has Sprung around here and doing the yard work and mowing the first weeds has been on the daily agenda, but again, nothing out of the ordinary. I hate when life’s boring like this…. that’s how we get older before we know it…so let’s change it!
Jewel and Vinny
Lutz with his new halter
Another weekend clinic at Cambridge Star Farm
once again a bunch of enthusiastic riders found their way to our Farm to enjoy another weekend of riding instruction. Saturday, we had Florida weather at it’s FINEST. The first tan lines where being built and everybody had a lot of fun, improving stops and roll moves and doing great flying lead changes – the mechanical cow was in full swing as well and way too quickly it was evening. After a short debate what would be for dinner, we decided to stay home and barbecue instead of running into town into a crowded restaurant. So we sat outside, Patrick cooked every body’s steaks on the grill and we had lots of covered dishes to share and of course enough beer for the whole troop (THANKS TAMMY!) – Sunday morning was a bit of a chilly start – AND WET! Well actually it didn’t start to rain till we were coming home from breakfast…. then it started to pour. Some people left, however most people were here to ride, ride, ride and that’s what we ended up doing after waiting the rain out … so we watched the last months video and after a little bit later start, were getting warmed up in the saddle… the weather however wasn’t nearly as nice as the day before. It was overcast and VERY windy and cold. So we did a lot of group session riding, so nobody had to sit around for too long and getting chilled…. we started to run out of horsepower before we started to run out of people power – THAT was fun and I love it – thank y’all for coming. We had fun once again
having dinner at home
Of course, one of the Thoroughbred mares foaled the Wednesday night before the clinic and Snooker couldn’t wait and foaled Friday night when everybody was pulling in and settling in with their horses…. in the mean time Jewel and one other Thoroughbred mare had their foals as well and we are in the full swing of foaling season… sleepless nights, and busy days are on our daily schedule
Patrick and "Lutz"
of course we can’t forget to mention….
…that in the middle of having all this company, we had also the Leon Harrel Cutting Clinic going on. That was pretty exciting….
oh LOOK - I'm eating again
Over this past Valentine’s weekend, 10 cutting enthusiasts gathered to benefit from a weekend with texas based trainer/instructor and Hall of Fame Cutter, Leon Harrel. The clinic was held as a benefit to raise money for one of the Florida directors, Al McDonald, who has suffered a severe stroke last September. Leon Harrel, a long time friend of Al McDonald, has agreed to trade his training center in Springfield TX for a weekend to have fun with the Florida Cutters at the Lady Lake Equestrian Center. In Springfield, TX, Leon specializes in personalized training and coaching for horse and rider – so everybody came to the clinic with high hopes and great expectations – and nobody got disappointed!
taking a break
Leon’s focus is on developing each rider’s highest potential through superior horsemanship and by the second day every participant and every horse has greatly improved.
OK - we can do this!
Not only was Leon Harrel’s fee being donated to the “Al McDonald recovery fund”, but also the rental of the facility was being waved and donated back to the pot. Local Trainer and former President of the FCHA, Ted Sokol Jr, was supporting the cause by bringing his trusted Turnback horse ‘Otis’ for Leon and being there to help where help was needed to make things run smoothly.
The culprits – Leon, Ted, Jeannie, Sandy and the beneficiary Al
"the crew"
Checked with the Chef
Ok – I checked with Chef Patrick and we had STRAWBERRIES and CREAM for dessert and we had a Thymian Risotto as a main dish to go with the Cordon Blue’s… sounds yummy? YOU BET!
not too many cooks in the kitchen....
Grand Finally
Ok – the two cooks (Franz and Patrick) spent have the afternoon preparing a fabulous dinner for Bonnie, Rick (our neighbors), Myrtha, Vreni and me (it’s already been so long, I just had to think for a minute what we had!) – we had BAKED BRIE for appetizer – one of my favorites and one of Patrick’s specialties. Then we sat down to home made Cordon Blue’s (Franz’s Specialty) with… mmhh… I think I just had Cordon Blue and don’t remember what we had to go with that! Ooops, I better check with the cook! Of course we had Salad to go with that and for dessert I was so full, again, I don’t remember… I will post that tomorrow. I just remember the Brie, the Gordon Blue’s and the great company all the way around that made the evening so special!
looks like we're all pretty full....
the two in the kitchen
FINALLY – I couldn’t log on…
So… finally after trying and trying, I am ready for bed ha, ha, ha – well, I’m still way behind! Things kinda happen quick lately. Vreni and I had a great time. We actually got to take off for a couple of days and even though the weather was windy and rather on the brisk side, we had fun and eating shrimp, drinking Margherita und watching the dolphins out in the water!
it's always beautiful
We had a fun time at Madeira Beach and enjoyed their “RiverWalk” -
isn't it like Vacation?
Tampa Bay
… actually this is right before going over the Sunshine Skyway. We first took the scenic route down to Long Boat Key, but stayed overnight on the mainland. Again we spoiled ourselves with lots of seafood. Then we headed on up toward Madeira Beach, where we had a nice little hotel directly on the beach (sunset) – the next morning we were looking for the Honeymoon Islands and after we finally found them, were a little bit disappointed. I guess we expected a bit more, having to look for them for so long. So after that excursion we stopped by at Tarpon Springs at their Sponge Dock…. again, first ending up in a State Park, cause we weren’t sure what we were looking for – but we found it and had fun eating “Greek” for lunch, before we started home.
Franz and Myrtha were also arriving when we pulled in, and Patrick who stayed home alone and got stuck with all the work, was the only one that hasn’t had anything to eat yet. So off we went to a local Sportsbar for MORE food… phew… we had a great time. Even though nobody could get convinced to participate in the local karaoke. After a great meal (bigger for some than others) we went to Cold Stone for icecream to top everything off…
Yum!
