Famous Brat!

A Scotsgrove birthday that had a surprise in store- with Brat giving her best for the camera and resulting in this picture getting on the news the other day!

Happy 10th Birthday Sarah!

Hunter Pace

Thank you ALL for a wonderful Pace! It takes a cast of thousands to put this on and make it successful, and you did! We had 107 riders, some went more than once, so more rounds!

Jan has just posted all results on the Western Carolinas Hunter Pace site, but all our kids went Trail Rider division as none of the horses were fit to go Field Hunter, and most horses had to go twice!  Her photos will be posted in a day or two!

(photo by Emi McGee)

The winners of the Trail Rider Division were Abby and Sarah B., posting a time just 45 seconds off the average of the middle half of the entrants' times. A four man team from Holly Springs Stables stood second, just 2 seconds behind them! Caitlyn and Gwen were forth! And Katie, Sidney and Simran were sixth place!

Middle Tyger Ruritans meet the 2nd Tues of the month for a dinner meeting and would love to host ALL our volunteers as a Thank you! Please RSVP to me so that we have enough food!  I would love to see and thank each of you again! We have some heroes - it is a LONG day, and Kathy baked 200 cookies for the lunch!  You are definitely the greatest barn family in the world!

~Leslie

Hunter Pace

Dear Barn Family,

While I had hoped to make lesson horses available for no charge for our hunter pace, I find that some are going to need shoes, and many are going to need extra grain and electrolytes to do what we are going to ask them to do on Sept 11. Most are going twice round the course- that's 16 miles total!

So for both our pace and those of you going up to the Green Creek Hunter Pace, there will have to be a $10 charge for horse use. I trust that is not enough to inconvenience anyone and that we will all be able to turn out for one or the other!  

Thank you for your understanding! 

Leslie

Hunter Pace Flyer

The First Pace on the Western Carolinas' Hunter Pace Circuit!

Middle Tyger Ruritans' Hunter Pace

to benefit

Southeastern Children's Home Therapy Riding

September 11 (Saturday)                       9am to 2pm ride times

September 18 (Rain Date)

Organizers: Bob and Leslie Scott          864-877-9392

We would like to welcome you to Scotsgrove for this event. Trails are through the woods, fields, and orchards, with some cross country jumps, and NO water crossings. Lunch is included! There will be a prize for the best Field Hunter preformance by a member of the hunt!

For directions please see the website's direction page: here!

Parking will be in a paddock. Please do not drive behind the barn as there is a septic system!

Entry fee is $30.00 for riders (includes lunch!) and lunch for non-riders is $6.00

Our day at the Zoo!

Last Saturday dawned with overcast skies, muggy temperatures, but without the heat that has been plaguing the Upstate recently. Luckily it seemed the rain that was forecast was going to hold out on us. We were greeted into the Zoo by the "howling monkeys" and set up our booth right across from their cage. We were sure they were amused by this new entertainment.
After setting up, we had a brief half hour to eat some breakfast, change outfits, rehearse what we were going to say, and wait patiently for our backup crew to arrive. At 10 the gates opened and at first we were discouraged that no one was filing through and then one family trickled through. They gave us the heads up, they had skipped the first booths, it was crazy, lines backed up for 30 minutes, brace yourselves! And soon after we were slammed with people!
It was amazing the amount of people that came through! Most were there for the zoo or the free ice cream or both, and some stayed and expressed interest in our barn which was awesome. My sis and I fell into the routine of bringing people in and getting people to talk to us. It was a lot of fun. Soon our reserves arrived! Emi, her boyfriend, and Sydney decked out in tie-dyes from camp and ready for anything. We handed them a stack of brochures and set them off to enjoy the zoo, bombard people with brochures, and in general let people know about us. Our second reserve team, Sabine and Becca, arrived a bit later and proceeded to make a sign for us and help supply us with food and extra hands. Ah, the awesomeness of the barn family at work!
By 11:45 over 4,000 people had shown up for the event, and the sticker/report card/free ice cream fell through. So we lured people in with our awesome pony stickers and just being awesome in general. It thankfully came to a steady, but not crazy, stream of people by lunch time and we were really able to get to know some of our guests.
By 3 things tapered to a close as admission was being charged again, so we broke camp early and started heading back to the truck. (This time with a hand cart and not our huge truck!) Just as we started heading back home the clouds opened up and the rain started to pour! Just in time.
All in all, the zoo was a blast and hopefully we'll see some new riders come of it. And if you entered the raffle, Leslie should be letting the winners know sometime this week!

~Gwen

Updates from Leslie

Hello all!

A lot of updates from Ms. Leslie. So not to keep you waiting. Let's dive in!

First up: Our Hunter Pace and the Ruritan Club

Our Hunter Pace is September 11 with a rain date of September 18. This is a fundraiser for the SE Children's Home therapy riding program that we have hosted for nearly 10 years. We've put it on through the auspices of our Ruritan Club, which like Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis is a civic organization with local clubs that do good works in their communities.  Middle Tyger Ruritan has a long, proud history, but typical of many such organizations, membership is down and members are aging out. Currently, there are not enough healthy enough Ruritans to put on the Pace.
So, 1. I am going to lean on the best barn family in the world to help, and offer a cut rate entry for riders whose parent(s), siblings volunteer while they ride, but 2. I am going to solicit membership in the Middle Tyger Ruritans.  It takes one dinner meeting a month on second Tuesdays, which would be a fun social time for us! Dues are $25 per quarter. Meals are cooked by members and reimbursed by the club, or BBQ is picked up by a club member and reimbursed.  We have a clubhouse and ballfield, and income from a bingo hall which we use to award three to four college scholarships. We also serve meals at Greer Soup Kitchen, help families referred to us by Holly Springs Fire and Rescue or Middle Tyger Fire and Rescue. We can take on other projects that interest members, and kids are not charged dues and can use the activities for Beta Club credit at school!  So rather than just count on you to help pull off this fundraiser, it seems a fun idea to see more of everybody and socialize!  Second Tuesdays at 7, done by 8:30 pm. 

Bob, Laurie, Junior and I, with help from neighbors with permission to ride on the farm, groom about 8 miles of trails, and mark the route with surveyors' tape. Last year we had 119 riders. We need help keeping the parking organized and under control, taking entries, serving the lunch, timing the teams ( this is not a race but the FieldHunters Division is trying to match a time around the course), and doing the half way point 3 min break and beverages.  You will see Engllish, Western, saddle seat and endurance saddles, and all kinds of horses!

 

On another note: Tricks' hunting bridle has not yet shown up. Any help anyone can offer would be much appreciated!

 

On to horse-y news!

August 21 there is a Dressage and CT in Aiken at Jumping Branch Farm. Dressage test $22, CT $45, trailering/coaching $50, horse use $30. I have to raise rates for going out to pay for all the replacement labor at home! Talk to me if you are interested!

Tot asked if Green Creek could hunt here in late August and I have suggesting Aug 28. That is a Saturday so I would like to prioritize riders who have not been able to hunt because they are in school on Thursday and otherwise occupied on Sunday! Please talk to me if you are interested in hunting!

I hope to do our schooling show in October and a three phase for just us in November, but looking at this and thinking about human limits, we'll see!  Paradise Farm in Aiken has a schooling event Oct 23, Jumping Branch a schooling event Nov 20, and Hickory Top is the first weekend in Dec. I would love to see riders who have been to Hickory Top a couple times move up to Paradise Farm and leave horses for new riders at Hickory Top!   

Whee!  Life isn't dull!
Love, Leslie

Sounds like it's going to be a whirlwind of a year! Also let us know if you have any barn announcements. Email Gwen at scotsgrovestables@gmail.com to get your story posted! We're open to guest bloggers as well!


All for now!
Gwen

Stephanie Kaneps Clinic + more updates from Leslie

 Hi All!

Mrs. Kaneps, who ran a big show stable in MN for 35 years, doing the A circuit shows, is coming Tuesday June 29 to teach. Campers in Camp 2 will work with her at 9 am while I teach the weekly lesson. If anyone else wants to ride with Stephanie, please call me and we'll set up other groups. The cost is $35 to noncampers.  You need to be able to canter, and jump about 2 feet.

 ~Leslie

Tomorrow and Thursday Leslie is taking a full trailer up to walk hounds. Demand was so high she had to go both days! Parents please remember to sign release forms when you drop off riders. The release form is good for the entire season.

There is also a Harmon Hopeful Schooling Show on Saturday and Leslie has a trailer going. Class entries aren't too expensive, but a grounds fee and trailering fee is tacked on to the price. Please CALL Leslie if you want to go and she'll work you in!

~Gwen