News from the Southlands, June 2021
Executive Director’s Note
June brings more programs, more volunteers opportunities and even more celebration of all of the beautiful nature of Southlands.
Program wise: Our next horse show is Wednesday July 7th, a Wednesday afternoon jumper show& Sunday July 18th is our HVHJA show at Southlands. If you have not seen the posters around or read the email, Maddy Berg is offering Tiny Trotter lessons. This is a 20-25 minute mini lesson for children who want more than a Pony Ride but are not quite ready for a full half hour private lesson. These are fun, safe and a great introduction to the wonderful world of riding for kids aged 4.5-6. Southlands was also able to host The Little Feet Preschool for their annual outing, visit and pony rides. 16 children aged 4.5-6 joined us Friday June 18th. We were also joined by Maddy, Tara, Natalie & Emily as helpers. Thanks to the crew for helping out and making the kids school year!
We are also very excited to offer additional volunteer opportunities. We will be organizing weekend afternoon sessions that will cover: education in volunteer opportunities at the various horse shows we offer, cleaning and restaining wood work around the property, finishing touches on the many trails we have for riding and walking, as well as learning how to give pony rides and basic safe horse handling. There will be more information going out in an email and information will be posted on the board as leaders and dates are secured. We look forward to working with many of you, building our community, teaching some more Southlands history and sharing our fun activities with you. First up is our annual hay harvest. With the help of Daytop Samaritan Village volunteers 700+ bales of hay have been pulled in and in the next week or so we are expecting another 3000 bales! If you feel you need an upper body workout and want to volunteer to help put hay in please let us know asap.
FROM OUR TRAINERS
Summer is here! It’s a glorious time of year in the Hudson Valley. The Southlands Foundation has opened fully to the public for all to enjoy all the beauty that we have to offer here at the farm. The Mommy & Me program wrapped up last week, which was a great success. Now we’re very excited that the first week of Pony Camp began after a year hiatus. It’s going to be a busy and exciting season. All of these programs are so integral to what makes Southlands so special.
Jonathan and I have been quite busy teaching lots of lessons to our boarders and school horse clients. A couple of our young riders have expressed interest in finding outside horses for yearlong leases, so we’ve been shopping around for appropriate mounts. Stay tuned for new partnerships and a few more horse show dates in July and August. We’re thinking of doing an "away show" to Saratoga, NY if we have enough interest toward the end of July or August. Please talk to Jonathan and Michele if you would like to participate! We can be flexible and figure out what dates work best.
On another note, we’ve welcomed a new boarder this past month! Jana Martin and her horse Falcor have become new members of our TSF family. Falcor is a lovely big, grey warmblood gelding, with loads of horse show experience and Jana is his devoted owner, who has been a wonderful addition to our team!
On a personal note, Jonathan and I have recently purchased a home in nearby Staatsburg, NY. We’ll be living five minutes from TSF and couldn’t be happier to be living permanently in the Hudson Valley. Cheers to a wonderful summer of fun, good horsemanship and enjoying the delights of riding at The Southlands Foundation!
From The Board
A warm welcome to our first set of campers for this Summer! The barn is filled with our old friends and lots of new faces. We are heartened by the many expressions of gratitude and sheer pleasure from our new adult riders and our young riders and their parents. Skill-building and joy all mixed together.
Susie Williams and Michele Tugade have brought our Daytop program back in full force, regularly meeting with the wonderful men and women who derive so much pleasure and confidence working with our school horses. A big thank you to Daytop for their volunteer service at our special events and during hay harvest.
Thanks, too, to Sunflower Market who selected Southlands as their featured not-for-profit organization for their “Change for Change program in May. Sunflower Market is a natural foods market that shares with Southlands community values focused on respect for the land and the promotion of healthy well-being and environmental sustainability. Tatiana, Anna, Rio, Michele, Helen, Caro, Nicola & Olivia greeted customers and helped spread the word about our wonderful farm.
SAVE THE DATE
The Annual Membership Meeting will be held on Saturday July 24th followed by a potluck Summer Supper. Formal Notice and Proxies have been sent to those who have renewed their membership this year. Membership must be renewed by July 19th to participate in the voting of the Annual Meeting. Please call the office at 845-876-4662 x 201 for more information. Please plan to attend and get to know the Southlands community and hear about past information and plans for the future!