Far Gone Farm News....

July

July looks to be another month of "more of the same" for FGF - the same bragging that is! Erin Glavin, Cassidy Horodeczny, and Michael Pastula all attended the Paragon schooling show on July 8 and all three came home with a blue ribbon! Erin Glavin and FGF's own "Rizz" started the day in the walk/trot division with three seconds and a first - Erin's first-ever blue ribbon! Woohoo kiddo! Cassidy and Michael followed suit in the crosspoles division where each brought back a first place amongst a myriad of other ribbons - none lower than fourth. Cassidy was riding her steady boy "Aspen" while Michael rode his family's trusty boy "Dutch". Wow guys - what a day!

   

 

June

Three of the FGF Fly Fillies attended the first Stoney Ridge Dressage Schooling Show of the year......And three lovely Fly Fillies have BIG Silly Grins on their faces!!!!

Darlene riding Dezi and Carol riding Othello started our day with a HUGE bang with two stunning tests in Intro B. They finished 3rd and 5th respectively in a rather big class. Allison started Rocket's show career off with a very nice (and always entertaining) Training Level Test 1.

But it got better........

Darlene and Dezi turned in an unbelievable effort in Training Level 1 and finished second! And if that wasn't enough, Carol and Othello finished third in Intro. Test A! Holy Cow!!!!

Allison finished the day with a fantastic Training Level 2 test on Rocket (despite a small buck of glee towards the end!) It's going to take a long time to wipe the smile off of Allison's face - she is exceptionally proud of her two students today! Way to go ladies!! (And good job to you too, Rocket). Pictures of our great day follow:

   

____________

Far Gone Farm has the season's first shows under its belt and they have been great! Many FGF riders went to the Palmyra Firefighters Benefit show at the Lenawee County Fairgrounds - pretty cool when you can combine horsey fun AND help a good cause! Cassidy Horodeczny and Mckenna Erkfritz both rode their first-ever Dressage tests and received two seconds and two fourths with fantastic comments from the judge! Carol Strong finally got her beautiful boy Othello into the Dressage ring and finished third while Darlene Reichard and Kim Hammer gave strong performances in the Equitation and Pleasure classes. This was also Darlenes first show with her new boy, Dezi. Allison is quite pleased with how all our young "greenie" horses are progressing!

 

May

Far Gone Farm is happy to announce the birth of Fallon FGF who arrived two days late, but was definitely worth the wait! Fallon is another HUGE chestnut colt and joins older brother Sonnentag FGF on the growing list of Sporthorse prospects bred and raised on the farm. Fallon is a Trakehner by Feuertanzer and is out of our lovely TB mare, Cover of Day.

Far Gone Farm attended the fist schooling show of the season and it was most certainly a successful outing for us. We were led by Carol Strong and her handsome young Thoroughbred Othello who brought home three first places and one second. Wahoo! Erin Glavin attended her first-ever hunter schooling show on our own Rizz and earned a handful of ribbons - and even jumped for the first time (albeit accidently!) Cassidy Horodeczny and the ever handsome Aspen came home with at least one third place amongst numerous others and Mckenna Erkfritz took her new mare Madison to her first-ever show and was spectacular. Madison behaved like a seasoned pro. Good job guys!

Next up is the Combined Test at Copper Creek in Williamston followed by the Waterloo Hunter Pace the following day. We like to stay busy!

 

April

Spring is here (kind of) and we have four more horses to welcome: First is Othello, a gorgeous 16.2 hand Thoroughbred proudly owned by Carol Strong; second is Danny, a black/bay Thoroughbred owned by Wendy Holmes (this one was a loooong time coming!); Darlene Reichard welcomed the addition of Dezi, a QH gelding to her family, and last but not least we welcome Bos, a QH mare owned by Renae Nickerson. Wow - they multiply like rabbits around here!

Congratulations go out to our own Duke, Allison's Belgian/Paint cross on his second place finish at the Cobblestone Combined Test. Duke performed his first-ever Beginner Novice test with ease and jumped like a true pro. Allison couldn't be happier with her "Dukey!" Hopefully this is the beginning of another successful show season for Duke and the rest of the Far Gone Farm family!

Far Gone Farm is also anxiously awaiting the arrival of it's second foal, due April 27. This will be a product of FGF's lovely TB broodmare, Cover of Day (Daisy) and the wonderful stallion Feuertanzer. If Daisy's current size is any indication, this baby is going to be BIG!!!

 

January

Happy New Year to Everyone!!! We hope that this year will be even more successful than the last - pretty tough considering everyone did so well! The first order of business is to welcome our newest boarder, Madison, owned by Mckenna Erkfritz. Madison is a chestnut Bashkir Curly cross that is sure to keep Mckenna busy. We would also like to welcome Gold Cappuccino, a 3 year old Thoroughbred that Allison bought from the track in November. More recently we welcomed Lady, a lovely Morgan mare purchased by Gerry Manwaring. Gerry is more accustomed to handling Percherons but we are confident she'll get used to the "little one!"  We are very excited to see what the newest members of our family can do!

Allison would like to extend her thanks to her uncle, Charles Mickelson, for helping her so much over the New Year's holiday. His assistance was invaluable. We can't wait for him to visit again - we've got more for him to do!

We are eagerly awaiting the beginning of a new season of showing. Far Gone Farm hopes to host more shows this year and make many improvements around the farm. As always, the help and support from our boarders is what makes this place work. We hope that everyone has a happy, healthy, and horsey New Year!

October

Wow! Our first show was a HUGE success!!! Many thanks go out to our boarders and students for showing such great enthusiasm and helping us to get the job done. FGF students performed brilliantly and certainly served notice that this farm turns out riders not to be reckoned with!

CONGRATULATIONS to Darlene Reichard and Alana Pastula!!!

Darlene and her handsome boy Tank won Reserve Champion Novice Rider at the Stoney Ridge Farm Schooling Show Series!!! They worked very hard for this honor and are now looking forward to a fabulous first season of Eventing next year!

Alana and the fabulous Dutch won Grand Champion Walk/Trot at the Paragon Farm Schooling Series!!! Alana braved a very cold morning and WON all FOUR of her classes at the last Paragon show of the season, securing her Champion title. Way to go, kiddo!

In addition to Alana, Darlene and Allison attended the last Paragon Farm show. Darlene proved her riding skills once again and came home with two thirds and two fourths. Allison rode her young (but BIG) boy Duke in his first-ever jumping show and he bravely jumped everything cleanly. Gangly, yet clean. Aren't babies fun?

We will be ending the season at Sandi Spear's new farm, Centaur Equestrian Center, for a Combined Test. We can't wait to see everyone before we begin our winter "hibernation!"

September

Far Gone Farm keeps turning out winners! Mckenna Erkfritz and Cassidy Horodeczny attended the Misty Meadows Fun Show and kept a stranglehold on the top two spots all morning. Mckenna, in her very first show, came home with three first places ribbons and one second - pretty impressive for her first time out! Cassidy and her handsome boy Aspen brought home a third, two seconds, and a first after enduring a tough week with an unexpected vet call for Aspen. These two young ladies are pretty tough and certainly got the job done today!!! Thanks go out to Amy Riske of Misty Meadows for putting on such a nice show. Pics of our success today are below.