Hello OOF Team!
We are so looking forward to welcoming you all back to the farm in the coming weeks after missing you all for so long!
BUT, to be completely candid, we are freaking out a little bit!
We admit that we did not expect to be locked down for quite so long. As a result of the lockdown extensions all of our late winter and spring programming must now be stacked on top of our already crazy summer schedule.
The only way we can hope to make this all work is by being completely transparent with our schedule and for you, our amazing clients, to help us by being flexible.
Below is a breakdown of our summer 2021 commitments. We are publishing this so that everyone is fully in the loop and aware of what we, as a team, are up against and why we do not have room to be particularly flexible ourselves. When not in lock down, we are usually running at full capacity, so there isn’t a lot of spare room in our summer schedule to begin with. The exceptional circumstances of this last year and a half will really be putting our strength and endurance to the test!
Current Summer 2021 Commitments Starting June 14th:
- Last Two Weeks of Winter Lesson Session (90 riders x 2 lessons)
- Winter/Spring Break Beginner Intro Lessons (25 riders x 3 extended 2 hour intro lessons)
- 8 Week Spring Lesson Session (210 bums in saddles/week!!!)
- 6 Weeks of Summer Day Camp (25 campers/week)
- 7 Weeks of Silver Series Horse Shows (26 horses shipped and stabled away from home for the duration and most of our teaching and barn staff away competing)
Usual daily tasks that still need to be done all summer long:
- Daily care of 100+ horses (including feeding turning in/out, mucking, farrier & vet care and appointments etc)
- Daily farm maintenance (fixing fences, cutting grass, moving manure, grading driveways, conditioning rings, vehicle and trailer maintenance etc)
- Answering phone calls and emails, website updates, business finances and everything else that goes with running a business
- Riding and training our own horses
- Receiving and loading 6000+ bales of hay into the barns, usually on the hottest, muggiest days of the summer (volunteers are SO appreciated for this!)
As you can see its going to be a wild ride!
Links & Instructions for Riders
Master Calendar
Please follow this link to our new 2021 Master Calendar, where you will see exactly how we have scheduled the months ahead to fit everything in.
Winter Make Up Lesson Sign Up Sheet
This is the link to a new google sheet where you can sign up for the winter make up lesson spots shown on the calendar (dates highlighted in dark green on the calendar).
Most winter session riders have 2 lessons to make up (except for the show team and a couple of part boarders – you know who you are).
We are running one set of the winter schedule weekend lessons this coming weekend on June 12th and 13th. So weekend winter riders should only have one more lesson to make up after that, which they can choose on the sign up sheet.
Each date/time has room for 6 riders and we are taking riders of all levels, you can pick any lesson with any instructor.
We will add more make up spots where we can once these spots are fully booked.
8 Week” Spring” Lesson Schedule
A few minor changes have been made to the “Tentative” Schedule that was sent out a few weeks back, so please read it over carefully.
Important: Many of our weekend “spring” lessons will to be postponed until later in the summer as all of our teaching staff will be away competing at horse shows. See the new 2021 Master Calendar to see which days we will be running weekend lessons for the “Spring” session (you will get the full 8 lessons, just not consecutively).
If this schedule no longer works for you please let us know right away. We will happily transfer your payment to the fall session if you prefer. But again, please let us know right away as we have lots of people on the waiting list for lessons.