“Working to preserve and encourage
equine activities in the Town of Pepperell”
MAY/ JUNE 2015
PHOAʼS ANNUAL MEETING, 4/13
SUMMARY OF THE MINUTES
President Sharon Ofenstein called the
meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. There were no
minutes from the last general meeting, held
in September 2014.
(The January general
meeting was canceled due to bad weather.)
Treasurer Randy Prozeller gave a financial
report, stating that PHOA has $6,026 in its
checking account. One educational grant of
$75 had been given to member Robin Hebert,
Pepperell’s Animal Health Inspector, to
reimburse her for a course in equine rescue
techniques. PHOA had also bought a digital
projector for use of speakers at meetings.
Upcoming Activities
Fourth of July Parade and PBA Band
Concert Program:
PHOA members are
encouraged to participate
in both events.
Sharon will try to locate the horse costumes
used in a previous parade. At the band
concert, PHOA members serve ice cream in
exchange for publicity and a donation from
the PBA.
Fall Trail Ride: We should start to explore
other possible locations for the start and
finish of its annual October trail ride, since
the availability of the usual location and
nearby properties may be in question.
Sharon also opined that PHOA should network
with other nearby horse groups, such as the
Hollis Area Equestrians, the Hazel Grove
Agricultural Association in Groton, and the
Littleton Horse Owners Association. Since
there is no equine organization in Townsend,
horse owners in that area might be interested
in PHOA activities.
Finally, Sharon encouraged members to
suggest possible speaker topics for general
meetings, and to send in articles and photos
for publication in the PHOA newsletter.
VP Judy Lorimer spoke about ongoing plans
to create a rail trail along the Squannacook
River in Townsend. The stone-dust trail would
eventually extend down to Groton and out to
Ashby, and horses would be welcome. PHOA
will continue to support this effort.
Annual Elections
Our new officers and BOD members:
President: Judy Lorimer
Vice President:
Deb Hamilton
Secretary: Sharon Ofenstein
Treasurer: Randy Prozeller
BOD: (2 year term)K erry Parker ; ( K a r e n
Amiot
and Janet Marantz
are
serving the second year of their
present terms).
“Mule Talk”
PHOA was delighted to welcome featured
speaker Nancie Jarvis, who talked about
mules as riding animals. Nancie lives north of
Keene, NH, and has owned horses for 45
years. Ten years ago her husband said he’d
like a mule to trail ride. Several months later
they bought their saddle mule Katie and
embarked on a new, exciting journey of long
ear ownership.
Mules are sired by a male donkey and born of
a female horse. The product of a stallion and
a female donkey is called a hinny. The mule is
an example of a true hybrid in the animal
kingdom, mixing two distinct species with
different chromosome structures to achieve a
unique—if sterile—offspring.
Donkeys have remained virtually unchanged
since the beginning of history. They still look
the same as they did in biblical times.
Donkeys have desirable traits that they can
pass onto their mule offspring. For example,
donkeys are accustomed to desert-like
conditions; they have large ears for cooling,
and hard upright hooves. They don’t need as
much food or water as horses, so are “easy
keepers.” Finally, they tend to have a longer
productive working life average life of 30-50
years. A mule may live 30-40 years,
compared to a horse’s average life span of
25-30 years.
One of the most exciting aspects of mule
ownership today is the ability to breed a truly
“custom-made mule” by choosing a sire or
dam for color and/or conformation from the
vast array of horse breeds available. A wide
range of attractive, useful mules have been
bred from assorted horse/donkey
combinations, from draft-type mules to gaited
riding mules to mules capable of dressage
and jumping. There are several breed
registrations for donkeys and mules, and
numerous regional clubs that focus on mules.
Nancie’s mule Katie is a typical-sized saddle
mule, so most of her equipment is interchangeable with that of Nancie’s horse.
However, mules must have a mule saddle,
which uses a special tree, designed to
accommodate a mule’s build.
Getting a
saddle that fits the back is just the top part of
a two-part challenge, though. The bottom
half of an adult mule is truly pear-shaped, so
breeching or a crupper is often used to keep
the saddle in place on hills. Once Nancie
obtained the proper saddle for Katie, she
found her to be a real treat to ride. With a
shorter neck and large ears, Katie feels very
“upright,” but her gait is very smooth. It is
quite easy to maintain a balanced seat while
riding her. Katie has logged more than 500
miles in the New England Horse and Trail
mileage program, and occasionally Nancie will
take her to a mule and donkey show.
However, Katie’s specialty is obstacle
courses and trail challenges. Nancie said
that she is not as fast as most horses
competing in the same activities, but she is
very accurate. Nancie also finds it interesting
to see how Katie perceives the creative
challenges that the course designers have
thought up to outfox the horse and riders;
she is rarely afraid of anything. Altogether,
Nancie reported, Katie the Mule is truly a lot
of fun to ride.
---------------------
Newly elected president Judy Lorimer
adjourned the meeting at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon K. Ofenstein, Secretary
Note: These minutes were summarized, but
the complete text can be obtained by
contacting Secretary Sharon Ofenstein
([email protected]) or President Judy
Lorimer ([email protected])
SUMMER MEMBERSHIP MEETING
THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 7 P.M.
We will have a special location for our summer
membership meeting! The meeting will be at
Maple Meadowʼs indoor arena, so we can have
a live “demo” horse. Our speaker is Janice
Perry, who will speak on acupuncture for
horses. I had acupuncture done on my
endurance/ competitive mare back when she
was having significant hip and stifle problems.
She had 4 or 5 treatments; a short time later
we traveled all the way to Canada for a 3-day
100-mile competitive ride and she won her
division and was high score 1/2 Arab, so the
acupuncture was obviously effective. Come to
the meeting and find out more about this
ancient Chinese medical practice! Janice will
bring her horse to illustrate her presentation.
MEMBER NEWS
At the New England Horse and Trail award
ceremony on May 9th, in Barre, Mass, PHOA
members and horses earned several awards
during the 2014 ride season: Janet Marantzʼs
Foxtrotter Markerʼs Copy earned his 1,000-mile
embroidered sheet, and Deb Hamilton rode
him on several rides last year.
Kathy
Mercurioʼs Appaloosa mare Moon earned her
250-mile plaque, and Kathy has less than 100
miles to go to earn her 1,000-mile award. Judy
Lorimerʼs Standardbred mare We Be Flyinʼ (Sweet
Pea) reached the 2,500-mile mark. Nancie Jarvis,
our speaker at the Annual Meeting, earned her
1,000-mile award. If you enjoy trail riding, NEHT
offers affiliated rides all over New England, with
recognition every 250 miles for horses and every
500
for riders. Check them out at
www.nehorseandtrailcom.
MEMBER NEWS, CONTINUED
“Deb Hamilton sent an article and some
wonderful pictures of her trip to Ecuador!
She
wrote, “My sister Judith and I went to Ecuador out to
a lovely area in the Andes near the town of Otavalo. We stayed at a very nice hotel, Casa Mojanda. My
sister went to relax - after all, at 80 she can't ride like
she used to, but I went for the horseback riding.
They have Peruvian Pasos and Arabian crosses. It
was marvelous that Judith did get to ride - on a nice
little Paso called Amen. She rode him four years
ago the last time we were down there and since she
comfortable to ride. Jut sit back, drop your heels
and enjoy. Two of the rides I went on, we really
moved out - one of the guides wanted to gallop, and
the 2nd time, we watched thunderstorms going over
the hills behind us and in the valleys 3 thousand feet
below and wanted to make it back before the
downpour hit us. We made it back dry - only a few
raindrops, but it was close.”
“As you can tell from the pictures, the views were
spectacular. It is gorgeous country. There's a lot of
contrast - new houses going up as vacation homes
right next to fields being plowed by oxen and
wooden plows. I think they farm pretty much all year
- fabulous produce and fruit of all varieties. Needless to say, the food is fantastic! Otavalo is a
bustling town - big crafts and food market every day,
with an added livestock market on Saturday. We
loved it and both want to go back.”
remembered him being so smooth, she decided to
try again. And loved him all over again (we tried to
figure out if we could bring him back - would the
airline have noticed a horse cross tied in the center
aisle?).”
“The trails are wonderful - not overly
challenging except for the long uphills at the
beginning - the horses definitely worked up a sweat
getting up the four rises before it leveled out and
came back down. The rides were 2-3 hours long. You ride among the many farms that are up there,
either on dirt/grass or on the side of cobblestone
roads. Some of the trails are the old Inca highways. You meet up with families taking the livestock up to
the pastures for grazing. We even went past a (now
defunct) bullring. I love the Pasoʼs gaits - so
Above -- the town of Otavalo
MEMBER NEWS, CONTINUED
Sharon Ofenstein recently returned from Aiken, SC,
and sent the following article: “For the fourth time in
five years, I was fortunate enough to spend a month
or so in Aiken, SC, away from the New England
winter, training and competing in eventing. This
equine sport resembles a triathlon, with each horse
and rider team having to ride a dressage test, a
show-jumping test, and a cross-country jumping test
to obtain a composite score.) My goal for this trip to
Aiken was for my horse Donelan and me to improve
enough to compete at the level of Beginner Novice
at the Full Gallop Horse Trials II, a nationally
recognized show held outside Aiken on the last
weekend in March. My hope was that I could then
continue at this level once I returned home. As I
explained in the PHOA newsletter last year, I
consider the term “Beginner Novice” to be
completely bogus. Jumps can be 2ʼ 7” inches high
and 2ʼ 9” wide, and can include drops, ditches,
banks, and water crossings. I had the same hope of
moving up to BN when I left Aiken last year, and
things didnʼt progress well at all. But this year was
going to be THE YEAR.
part in the dressage and show-jumping lessons that
Alison offered that week as part of camp. We also
tagged along with the camp group when it went to
practice cross-country jumping at Jumping Branch, a
nearby event facility. In addition, I rode in a “twophase” event at Alisonʼs barn, in which each horse
and rider performed a dressage test and a showjumping test. That Sunday I competed at the Full
Gallop Horse Trials I at the unrecognized level of
“Starter”—locally known as “Tadpole” . The
competition wasnʼt strong, but Donelan and I had an
excellent dressage score, and we jumped “doubleclear” (i.e., in show jumping and cross country) to
win our division. Still, to be considered a “tadpole”
However, for a while it seemed as if my husband
Randy and I would never get to Aiken. We had to
delay our departure twice, once due to a blizzard
here, and once due to ice and snow in the midSouth. We finally left on February 24. We took three
days to drive down to Aiken, to make it easier on
Donelan (and on us!). The first two days were
beautiful, but we awoke the morning of the third day
in Lexington VA to swirling snow. After much
agonizing, Randy and I decided to push on. We
quickly drove out of the snow and into beautiful
weather after the storm had moved on eastward.
at age 66 was a bit depressing.
The following week there was no camp. Alison and
two of her working students were preparing to
compete at a nationally recognized event in
Augusta, GA. However, several of us were able to
take dressage and show-jumping lessons from her,
and to accompany her on cross-country practice
sessions. Alison also held her weekly two-phase
event, at which I moved up to “Advanced
Elementary” (woo-hoo!).
At the end of a long dayʼs drive, we dropped
Donelan and our trailer at the winter quarters of
Alison Eastman-Lawler, a Hollis NH trainer who
offers several week-long event camps there. We
then drove up to Aiken, where we settled into the
historic downtown cottage that we had rented. It
was long on charm, but quite short on hot water and
internet connectivity. We were, however, fairly close
to the golf club where Randy would spend much of
his time while I was riding.
Alisonʼs “Adult Camp” began the next day. We were
a diverse group, ranging from the 15-year-old
brother of one of the working students, to a Vermont
woman who took up eventing herself after carting
her daughter around to ride at big events for years.
Again, dressage and show-jumping lessons, and
cross-country schooling sessions, formed the basis
of the program, along with the weekly two-phase. At
the latter, we moved up to—ta, dah—Beginner
Novice. But it wasnʼt a “three-phase,” because it
didnʼt include a cross-country jumping phase. That
test would come for us at the end of the next week:
the Full Gallop Horse Trials II.
Our delayed arrival caused me to miss Alisonʼs first
eventing camp, as well as a schooling event that I
had entered. However, her second camp ran the first
week in March. Donelan and I were able to take
Alison and several other of her students were also
competing at Full Gallop, so all of us worked
diligently during the week on our skills. I had already
jumped all but one of the Beginner Novice crosscountry jumps during our practice sessions at Full
Gallop. That one jump (fence #7) was in a pasture
not open for schooling. It had both a downhill
approach and landing—not my favorite combination.
The day before the event, Alison and several of us
went to Full Gallop to walk (i.e., study) the showjumping and cross-country courses. I finally had a
chance to see fence #7, and I didnʼt like it. It was on
a long downhill slope, where it would be easy for
Donelan to get up a head of steam. Take a Rolaids.
Or two.
The weather on the big day was perfect. My ride
times were late in the afternoon, so I was able to
bathe Donelan in the morning. At Full Gallop, we
warmed up quickly and well for dressage with
Alisonʼs help. However, we were then ahead of
schedule, and we had to hang out until our assigned
ride time.
This seriously interrupted our
concentration. Even so, I was quite dismayed to
find that our test was scored 15 points worse than
for the same test at Full Gallop three weeks
previously. I had to remind myself that my original
goal for Beginner Novice at Full Gallop was simply
to finish—and there were two more phases to go.
Two hours later we rode our show-jumping test.
Because riders were sent out onto the cross-country
course right after show jumping, we were instructed
to wear our cross-country gear for show-jumping.
Dressed in my hard protective helmet and vest
(required) and my inflatable soft vest (optional), I
looked like a teenage mutant ninja turtle. Again, we
warmed up well with Alisonʼs help, and again we had
a bit of a wait to ride. But we jumped around clean
and within the time limit—even over the faux steam
locomotive jump.
As I rode out to the start box on the cross-country
course, I again mentally reviewed the problems I
experienced when riding in the Starter division.
Donelan didnʼt like to be away from the other
horses, so I had trouble keeping him from bowing
out here and there from the ideal route. I was
determined to prevent this on the Beginner Novice
course. Leaving the start box at a canter, I was
mostly successful at this, and it was very comforting
to know that we had jumped everything several
times in practice. Except fence #7.
Cantering
happily through the #6 water complex, Donelan
reached the brow of the hill and saw “IT.” Panic.
Evasion. More evasion. I kept riding, though, and
once he got close enough to see that the jump was
harmless, he hopped over it easily. I was a little
surprised that we werenʼt penalized for a
disobedience; apparently Donelan had panicked so
far away from the jump that our gyrations didnʼt
count. On we went with no problems, over jumps,
down the drop, through another water complex, over
the ditch, and on to the finish (photo 3). Cue the
cymbals! We had jumped our first official Beginner
Novice division double-clear! Except, fence #7
hadnʼt finished with us yet. We had completed the
cross-country course one second slower than the
optimal time—easily attributable to our antics there
—and so were given a fraction of a penalty point to
finish in 7th place. Nevertheless, Donelan and I
were both still alive, ready and eager to tackle our
next Beginner Novice event back in New England.
Stay tuned…”
***********************************************************
Robin Hebert sent a brief writeup of her experience
with Emergency Horse Rescue - our grant program
enabled her to take part.
“It was a one day workshop offered by the
MSPCA at Nevens Farm on horse rescue. It
covered how to use the rescue sled and
equipment to mover a down horse. It covered
getting a horse that was down out of a horse
trailer, getting a down horse out of a stall, and
moving a horse that was trapped. In all
situations it was using the rescue sled and itʼs
equipment and we practiced moving “Lucky”, a
600 pound mannequin horse. Below is a
picture I got from their website but it is what we
did.
I was amazed that 4 of us (all women) were
able to move this horse by this method. It was
very interesting and I wanted to take the course
because I know that Pepperell Fire Department
has a rescue sled and I felt that as Animal
Health Inspector and as a horse owner it would
be good to know how it works. I thank the
PHOA for allowing me to have that opportunity. Let me know if you have further questions. Thanks Robin
Monday. Edna Liberty, [email protected],
860-614-3817.
May 31 DERRY TRAIL RIDERS, Bear Brook
State Park, Allenstown, NH: 8/16 miles,
978-372-1986,[email protected].
June 6
Ride for Rescue, Live &
Let Live Farm, Chichester, NH
8/15 miles; Robin Susi
(603) 2262468 [email protected]
June 6 - Open House at Horse N
Hound Physical Therapyʼs New
Location at 288 South Merrimack Rd,
Hollis NH on Saturday June 6th 11am 3pm. Free Lecture on How Pet Owners
Can Help Their Pets Age without Pain
at 1pm. Come for fun, give-aways,
raffles and stroll the pastoral grounds
and view new canine gym, Under
Water Treadmill demonstrations, and
Equine Rehab Barn. call 603 816 4444
for more info, or www.hnhpt.com for
more info. June 7 - MSPCA at Nevins Farm, Horses
Helping Horses Ride:
Great Brook State Park, Carlisle, MA 8/16
miles (same loop) Julia Pesek (978) 687-7453
x6161 [email protected]
June 12 No Frills Pleasure Ride
GMHA, South Woodstock, VT
6 - 15 miles; [email protected]
www.gmhainc.org
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 16 - VERSATILITY CHALLENGE - Twin Pine
Farm, 34 Jewett St. Pepperell: 11 A.M. Course
walk 11:45; Event starts at Noon. More info and
entry form: [email protected]
May 17: Norfolk County 4-H, Borderland State
Park, 6/12/18 miles, (same loop) Easton, MA, Linda
Murray, [email protected].
May 23 - NEECA, WENDELL STATE FOREST: 5
o r 1 0 miles, Laurie Neely, 413-374 - 3 7 5 5
[email protected] www.neeca.org
MAY 23-25, NEATO WEEKEND, Natchaug State
Forest, Hampton, CT: 5/10/15 Sat/Sun, 5/10
June 13-14 Cross State Trail Ride,
Spring Weekend, Felton Field,
Barre, MA: 12/20 miles; camping.
Karen Readon (978) 363-2702
www.cstronline.com
[email protected]
Thursday, June 18, 7 P.M. PHOA
Summer Meeting, Maple Meadow
Farm: Equine Acupuncture,
presented by Janice Perry.
June 21
SMART , Milton Mills,
NH: 8/16 miles;Joyce Winchell
[email protected] (207)
636-3622
June 28
Bristol County Horsemen's Assoc.Borderland State Park,
Easton, MA. 6/12 miles ride , 6/12
miles drive (same loop); Rosie Terrien
[email protected]
www.bchaonline.org
June 28
Pemiquaney Riding
Club, Poker Ride Plymouth, NH:
8-9 miles;Cathy Day (603) 7869037 [email protected]
CLASSIFIED ADS
We have re-designed our Classified Ad section on
the website. Click on the Classified link at
phoa.info. Ads will also be published in the
newsletter.
Send all ads to me,
[email protected] or call 978-433-2384. Ads will
expire after 3 ISSUES (6 months) - call or e-mail
me to renew. Free to members,
$2.00 to nonmembers; make the check payable to PHOA and
send to PHOA Newsletter, c/o Judy Lorimer, 83
Groton St. Pepperell, MA 01463
APARTMENT FOR RENT: Clean bright
furnished apartment in private Pepperell home.
Please be a non smoker.
Parking, private
entrance,includes all utilities. $800.00 per
month. Property abuts conservation land with
lots of wonderful trails. Stall will be available as
well in June. Call Catherine at 978-985-8429.
(AUG)