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.

Remma has grown!

Grandma Olga when the twins were still tiny! New photos soon.

Millhouse the riding cat.

I can't believe that 4months have past since I last wrote to the blog! It gets very frustrating waiting on dial up or suddenly finding that you have been disconnected in the middle of a post.

But that sounds like I'm just making excuses!

As you can see from the photo Remma has really grown. He's seven months now and is a wonderful dog. He's taken over Millhouse's job of being the "greeter " when we are home, but happily travels everywhere with me, whether I'm on foot, on a horse or driving the truck.

Millhouse really doesn't mind losing his job as it gives him more time to ride!

I always think of November as my month off. The horses and I all need a break after the busy season. But the weather has stayed so nice this month that lessons have been going on although hunting season always curtails our riding on the trails. And because being a new grandmother has taken up some of my time, a lot of my thoughts and a huge amount of my love, the season hasn't been as busy for the horses as usual.

I now need to start planning next summers programs and any input on what you would like is greatfully received. I am thinking of offering more TTEAM Days and perhaps adding some for dogs as well as horses. Comments?

I have also added a program called Animal Connections this fall. So far it has only been offered as a two hour program but I would like to expand it into one or two days. I will be writing up more about it in the programs section of the website.

But what would you all like? Let me know and we can custom design a program just for your group.

Births and Deaths...that's life

Remma

Remma with his mom Sophie

BEAR

BEAR

It is with great sadness that I write about the death of my dear friend Bear. He was 14 years old, a good age for a big dog, but not enough years to enjoy the company of such a special creature.

It is such aprivilege to have been able to spend years with such a gentle, loyal and happy companion.

This year has been so full of death and birth...so full of life. From the death of the last of the elder horses last November to the birth of Sefia, the passing of Cleo and Bear to the birth of the twins and now the arrival of a new young dog with whom I hope to share many years.

Introducing Remma... he is an 11 week old Maremma Sheepdog. The Universe is so generous. Bear and I used to play Maremma Dog ( he was big and white ). Maremma's have always been a favourite breed of mine and Bear would happily jump around with me as I sang out maremma dog, maremma dog!

So after an unsucessful search for a rescue dog,I googled in Maremma sheepdog, and the first of something like 34,000 hits came up as Maremma puppiies only 3 hrs, away. Divine intervention??

It"s not always about horses!

Sorry for the long delay, but my server was being a pain, and I wasn't able to access my blog site for a few weeks. Ah, the joys of dial up. Or is it the woes of dial up?

But the BIG news...my grandbabies were born!!! ( See, its not always about horses!). Anna Margaret Frosst and Alexander Murray Frosst were born on July 4th. They are both absolutely beautiful! Because they were premature they will be in the IWK for awhile but both are doing well and I can't wait for them to be at home so that I can go and start spoiling them rotten! Well, isn't that what grandparents are supposed to do? I am so proud of my beautiful daughter Nella and her wonderful husband Ian. Congratulations to them both.

The top photo is of Alexander, the bottom one of Anna.

It is the most amazing and emotional experience when your baby has babies. Just incredible.