This Saturday, August 14 is the TTouch for Dogs workshop. There are still a few spaces left. Why not bring your dog and join us for a day filled with both fun and learning. Perhaps you have the worlds best dog ...find ways to create an even deeper bond or ways of giving back to your best friend. Or perhaps your dog is a bit of a nightmare ( but you love him anyway!). You will discover many ways of helping all types of behavioral issues. Hope to see you there. We start up at 10 am and finish about 3pm.

On Saturday, August 21, I will be teaching a TTEAM for Horses Day. You are welcome to bring your own horse or work with one of the Icelandics. You will learn to improve your communication with your horse, understand balance at a deeper level, improve your handling skills, learn the TTouches to best help your horse, and much, much more.

Anna meeting mother Osk.

A Personal note:

As most of you know I am a totally ga ga grandmother! ( Thats what they call me now,ga ga) So it was really great fun to have them down this way for a few days and introduce them to the ponies. (Sorry Icelandics, I know I'm supposed to call you horses!)

Anna seems to be a natural animal lover and took to them right away. Alex is a little more cautious.

At the Farm:

Last weekends workshop went well despite a downpour of rain! The next workshop,August 7th-8th is a Special Weekend ( see WWW.mandalariding.com for details.). There are only one or two spaces left, so book now if you are interested.

Harriet has been able to come down on a more regular basis so the riding of the young horses is really coming along. Skotti, whose special person is Emily, is going like a pro and becoming a wonderful horse for Emily. He has been going out on the trails with Harriet for quite a while, but today was the first time Emily rode him out. We met them on our ride and Skotti looked wonderful and acted as though meeting horses tolting through the woods was an everyday occurrence!

Galsi has now been ridden five or six times and loves to go out on the trails alone with Harriet. He's sure not herd bound! Actually none of the Icelandics are. He takes water, mud, overhanging tree branches, and fallen logs all in stride, and is a wonderful natural tolter!

The roof goes on!

Summer and its busy schedule are upon us and too much time has passed since the last blog entry. The big news is that I am now on high speed internet so all of this should become much faster/easier. Please note that that also means my email address has changed. It is now olgacomeau@mandalariding.com
At the Farm:
This weekend will be the first Riding Weekend in July and we are hoping the weather will cooperate. The horses have found these weeks of high heat and humidity hard but being the troopers they are they have soldiered on and really enjoy the cool washdowns after each ride! they spend a lot of time in the shade of their shelter making it much more used in summer than winter.
Numbers are down as Heather has been able to take her three Icelandics home. I bet they are enjoying the cooler shore air! And the two Fiords, Captain and Lucy, have gone home for the summer, but will be returning to spend the winter at Mandala. They too live nearer the Bay so are escaping the heat.
There are two TTouch Clincs scheduled for August, one for dogs on the 14th. and one for horses on the 21st. Visit the website http://www.mandalariding.com/ for more details.
There are also a couple of spaces left in the Special Weekend on August 7&8.

The house/stable is having a new steel roof put on this month. So far it looks amazing. I am looking forward to a warm, cozy winter.

Despite the construction the gardens are managing to look quite lovely and colourful.

Spring has arrived...or is it summer?

Summer seems to have come early this year. In all the many years I have lived at Mandala I don't remember having leaves coming out in April! Maybe the Icelandics will be shed out before the end of June this year.
Riding/ lessons are in full swing now and this weekend will be the first two workshops. Saturday, May 1st. TTEAM for Horses and Sunday, May 2nd. TTEAM for Dogs. Both still have some spaces left so if you are interested call right away.
The May 22-23 Riding Weekend is fully booked but the rest of the summer workshops still have openings.There are only a couple of the popular Full Moon Rides scheduled for this year so if thats what you're interested in, book early.
The Therapeutic Riding program is starting up again the first week of may. We still need volunteers. Sessions are being held on Wednesday at 4:30 and 6:30; Every second Thursday at 9am ( starting May 6th.)and every second Friday at 10:30 ( starting May 7th.) Volunteers find this very rewarding and great exercise! Call me at 665-2101 or e-mail me at olgacomeau@mandalariding.com
if you can help us out. I am also looking for sponsers for a couple of the participants.

On Friday evening May 21st. Mandala is hosting a talk, dvd presentation of the King's- Kikima Grannies. Betsy Baillie, a long time friend of Mandala, is very involved with this group of 28 Grandmothers and Grandothers in Kings Co. who are supporting 28 Grandmothers in Kikima Village in Kenya with their 60 orphaned grandchildren who have lost their parents to HIV/Aids.
They have done some wonderful things and Betsy talks about this with great passion and knowledge.
Here at Mandala we are doing our small bit by collecting "previously loved jewellery" for their next fund raising sale. Join us on Friday, May 21st. at 6pm. Bring your favorite vegetarian dish to share at the Pot Luck and some of your previously loved jewellery or a small cash donation
and be inspired by Betsy's impassioned presentation on behalf of the King's -Kikima Grannies.
Everyone welcome.

Remma has grown again and loves to go snow shoeing on the trails at Mandala with me.

Check out the website at http://www.mandalariding.com/ , the NEW CALENDAR is posted! I look forward to hearing from you all...book early, its going to be a busy season!

Life and Death Continue

Life goes on and time passes. For awhile life seemed to stand still with the death of my step father, Ben Hamilton, on January 6, 2010. He was 99 years old and had been in my life since I was 15 and very close to me since my mother's death in 1988. His death has left a big gap in my life, but I am starting to realize that time is passing, the summer season is approaching and that I need to get back to work.
We still have two feet of snow here on the North Mountain and the weather is cold, so regular riding is going to be on hold for a month or two longer. But my website is screaming for its updated calendar, so I am hoping to have it posted by the end of the month.
Once again I would appreciate any input in what you all would like to see happening this year and if you let me know in the next couple of weeks I can organize a program around that. This includes dates that would work best for you.
I am planning many more TTEAM workshops this year, really going in depth into the ground work and of course some work with the young horses.
Remma has been pushing for me to do more dog work this year, so I will be organizing some TT for dogs too, and some "living with your dog" classes as well.
Another plan that I have is to write some booklets on a variety of topics ( suggestions welcomed) and have them for sale here and through the website, www.mandalariding.com These would be able to be collected and inserted into a binder.
I also have plans for a Mandala Calendar for sale in time for christmas next year.