Summer has arrived along with lots of growth in the pastures!  We believe strongly in daily turnout ~no matter what the weather.  The horses need to get out of their stalls and be a horse!  Our pastures do not look like golf courses but they are safe and fun for the horses.  We offer night turnout and day turnout.  Below are some of pictures of turnout last night.  Pretty happy horses!

Grandaughter Calista showing The Roger's beloved "Cash" some love after he gave her a super fun trail ride.  He is purebred Shire that has a heart of gold.  

     Janet Foy was once again at Rockin K for a clinic.  We had 26 rides over the three days she was here~ Lots of great learning experiences!!!  Janet is a dynamic coach/trainer and as well as bringing her 5* Judge smarts to the party.  For those of you that are not familiar with what a FEI 5* judge is~they are pretty darn rare!  There are only 4 in the US and two of those are retired.  There are 33 5* judges in the world.  They are the judges that are approved to judge the World Cup competition, Pan American Games and the Olympics.  Extremely high standards and approval by their peers make this a pretty elite group!  We are proud to have Janet represent the USA!  
     Janet was joined by her husband Mike here for the clinic.  While we were doing horsey stuff Mike and my husband, Jack got to play!  They enjoyed fishing to great success on Lake Erie.  They went with four other friends and limited out with 57lbs of Walleye.  Great on the grill one night!  We froze some to fly home with the Foys as well.
      We also enjoyed a dinner party here at our home for all the Rockin K family along with the riders from the clinic.  Really a beautiful evening and great food!  Please join us in October when Janet comes back for a Fall clinic.  
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Summer is here and with it brings night turnout at Rockin K Ranch!  Pictured here are Jenny Smalley's four beautiful boys enjoying their outside salad bar!  Weather has been so bizarre with hot then cold temps.  Last week we had 90 degree days and with the wet ground from rains our pastures all shot up.  Our hay field is ready to make as soon as we get 4 days with no rain predicted.  Weather stations have not been very accurate lately.  Makes a farmers life a big expensive guessing game!  In the meantime, we are mowing pastures and all the lanes and trails before they all become jungles~  Gotta love Mother Nature.

Heidi on L'Aristo (aka Leonard)  with proud owner Arielle Brodkey.  ~
Leonard has been working very well for his mom, Arielle, and myself.  We are preparing a Musical Freestyle test for him.  If you have never seen a freestyle please check some out on youtube.  They can be quite fun at shows.  The horse and rider do the required movements for the level of test they are showing to music.  They are judged on Harmony, artistic value, and quality of movements.  USDF Musical Freestyles start at Training level thru 4th level.  FEI Freestyles have Intermediary and Grand Prix freestyles.  Grand Prix Freestyles are in the Olympic Dressage tests.  Fun to watch the horse dance to the music!  
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Vicki Ferrara and Vicky Ridge enjoying their beautiful boys on a gorgeous day!  Sure would be nice for weather to stay like this!  Our trails meander through the woods.  We have three different trail areas.  The Beach Property is area of 50 acres that is a mix of woods and meadows.  King Arthurs Woods are a heavily wooded area named by our sons, Jake and Jarrod when they were riding ponies and pretending to be Brave Knights!  The Island property is named for the island of woods that sits across a dam between our duck swamp and a pond.  Jack has a lot of fun providing and maintaining nesting duck boxes.  We are also blessed to have many songbirds around the farm.  Blue birds are plentiful along with Orioles, Grossbeaks, Finch, chickadees etc.  Love hearing them at first light and until dark!  

The farm is really starting to green up.  Grass is growing and there is lots of mowing and planting to do.  I love flowers and have a vegetable garden so I have lots of work to get done around riding.  I would not have it any other way.  As I always say, It beats going to the gym!  

Jack and I walk a few miles every morning with the "Pack".  The dogs have full liberty of the farm but for some reason they really love their morning walk with us.  We check fences and horses and they all check out what critters may have crossed through the property.  Gracie Mae (white and brown dog to the right of picture) is a PBGV (fancy French rabbit dog)  she will come across a smell and bellow out a howl which brings the rest of the pack to back her up in case it really is something.  Occasionally there is a slow enough squirrel that makes a bad decision to run in front of the pack.  Doesn't end well for the squirrel. This picture is one of the many lanes that we walk and ride on around the farm.  The lanes lead to different sets of trails we have throughout the farm.  Our Rockin K ladies love to ride here!  

While in Florida I got to spend some time with my good friends Janet and Mike Foy.  Here we are at the Freestyles at Global.  One of the few that Janet was not judging!  Sitting next to Janet is such a blast at a show.  She is gives a running commentary of what is going on in the ride.  It is such valuable knowledge.  As a 5* FEI judge she really doesn't miss a thing!  Janet has just returned from jugging the World Cup in Paris.
Janet has been such a wonderful mentor for me in Dressage.  Janet started out as a Rodeo Queen so we both have cowgirl in our backgrounds.   I met Janet 9 years ago in Houston where I rented a barn to train for a couple months in the winter.  My horses were both young and I didn't need to show...just ride in warmer climate.  My son, Jake and his family live in Houston so he suggested I come there...what a fun time we had!  I had just purchased Dolce and we were both very much a work in progress!  Dolce was an inexperienced gangly guy.  I had him really moving very nicely ~ for a hunter!  "EEK! " Janet yelled at my first ride with her...."Why are you riding him in a hunter frame?!"  And so it began....Lessons with Janet.  She and I went to the Houston Rodeo together that week and have been friends ever since.  Janet now comes to Rockin K twice a year to do Clinics.  

Two of our retirees enjoying the spring greens! Jan Hatch's, Leo and Ominous , owned by Jill Zuk are buddies in our retirement area.