BR January Newsletter
Welcome to 2022!
We hope that you all had a happy and safe New Year!
Mother Daughter Registration
Registration for Mother-Daughter Weekends will open on Wednesday, January 19th, 2022, at 10 am Eastern Standard Time.
Dates for 2022 Mother Daughter Weekends are:
- MD #1 – June 16th – 18th (Thurs – Sat)
- MD #2 – June 23rd – 25th (Thurs – Sat)
- MD #3 – August 20th – August 22nd (Sat-Mon)
To make sure you are prepared for registration to go live at 10 am, log into the registration site before Wednesday to ensure you have access, everyone’s profile in the household is set up with age and gender, and you have read the directions. This will make registration day easier.
These weekends fill up very quickly, and they are first-come, first-served. The registration system is automatic and timestamps all applications.
I will do my very best to answer your questions via phone and email on registration day but there is only one of me and one phone line. Email is probably the best way to contact me on the day of registration. If you would like a call back please be sure to include the best phone number to reach you. Please be patient and kind!
Mother-Daughter Memories
Meet Chris and Gigi! Chris was a BR girl herself growing up, and now her daughter Gigi is too. They have attended 9 Mother-Daughter retreats!
“We started attending MD in 2013 when Gillian was 6 years old, and we’ve gone every year since. We have many favorite memories, but one that really stands out for both of us happened last year. At the end of one of our mornings of riding, we were joining our mother and daughter riding groups together to take photos. One of our counselors indulged us and filmed us trotting around the ring together in a Dakota pair! Gillian was so excited to ride together in the same ring AND do a cool move at a trot! 😄 It’s so special to share those memories together over so many years and build upon them each year!”
What Happens During Mother-Daughter?
Day 1
- 4:30 – 5:30pm Check-in (Please call if you will be arriving late
- 6:00pm Welcome to camp
- 6:25pm Flag & Dinner at the Outback
- 7:15pm Safety orientation at the Barn
- 8:00pm Night Activity
- Treat Store and S’mores for some
Day 2
- 7:00am Coffee available in the Dining Hall
- 8:00am Flag and Breakfast
- 9:00am Barn activities w/ your riding group
- 45 Min Mounted lesson
- 30 Min Vaulting lesson
- 30 Min Ground lesson, small animals or barn chores
- 12:15pm Lunch
- 1:00pm Rest Hour
- 2:00pm – 4:30pm Activities & Trail Rides
- 2:45pm – 4:45pm Treat Store is Open
- 5:55pm Flag Ceremony for everyone
- 6:00pm Dinner
- 7:30pm Night Activity
- Treat Store and S’mores for some
Day 3
- 7:00am Coffee available in the Dining Hall
- 8:00am Flag and Breakfast
- 9:00am Barn activities w/ your riding group
- 12:15pm Picnic Lunch
- 1:00pm Rest Hour
- 2:00pm – 4:30pm Activities & Trail Rides • Treat Store open for check-out 2:45pm
- 5:25pm Flag Ceremony
- 5:30pm Dinner
- 6:00pm Luggage Loading
Horse Talk
Hay is for Horses!
Another way to keep horses warm is to feed them hay. Heat is produced through the digestion of feed and can be useful in helping a horse maintain body temperature in cold winter weather. The greatest amount of heat is released when microbes in the gut digest high-fiber feed such as hay.
High-fiber feeds produce more heat during digestion than low-fiber feeds. Thus, the digestion of hay will result in the release of more heat than low-fiber grains, such as corn and barley. Although oats are a low-fiber grain, they will produce more heat during digestion, compared with other grains, due to their fibrous outer hull.
“Energy needs are increased during cold weather, and grains certainly can be fed to horses to help meet this need,” says equine specialist Carrie Hammer. “However, the bottom line is if you want to help your horse produce body heat, feed him more hay.”
Reminders and Updates
Registration Update
- Sessions 1, 2, 5, and 6 are full!
- If you are still interested in these sessions, the waitlists are open!
- The 5% off tuition discount ends on January 31st.
Reminders
- Our office hours are 9:00 am to 4:30 pm Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
- If you are interested in hosting a private alumni weekend, please contact Maddie in the office.
Camper Corner
DIY Lucky Horseshoe
Start the New Year by inviting good luck into your home with a lucky horseshoe! See if you can get your hands on an actual horseshoe, if not, we’ve got a pattern to make one out of foam board. Either way, it makes a beautiful decor item with lots of positive energy !
Supplies
- A horseshoe OR foam board to make one
- The pattern below for foam board horseshoe
- Craft knife (for foam board)
- Brown craft string
- Hot glue gun
- Other items to decorate your horseshoe with. Ribbon, buttons, wire, beads, artificial flowers, gems, paint, etc.
Instructions
- To make foam horseshoes trace our pattern onto foam board and cut it out. Lightly sand edges if needed to help remove rough paper sticking out.
- You can wrap your foam horseshoe with a variety of things. We found that this type of twine is the easiest to work with. The rounded ends of the horseshoe must be covered with small pieces before wrapping. Keep your twine close together. We used hot glue to hold the twine at the ends. Decorate as desired!
- For one of the metal horseshoes, we painted it with chalkboard paint and then used a chalk marker to decorate it. For our gold-dipped horseshoe, we used gold nail polish. Our teal horseshoe was spray-painted, and we used embroidery thread to make a tassel and some wire and beads to adorn it.
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