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Although the warm air and rain are helping melt the snow, the sheets of ice on the arena roof have been reluctant to fully fall off today. This is our biggest hazard. Imagine the ice chunks and sheets falling next to a horse you are riding as it hits the ground and sounds like a cannon.  Need I say more…

We also have 20 horses in the stalls that have been locked up and hand walked up until the snow began to melt off the roofs of the massive arena, the huge old barn and the 2 stables. Imagine it sounds like it is pouring rain on the stable roof and it is just the snow melting and flowing down walls, hitting metal roofs and otherwise making a runoff mess with nowhere to go.  Need I say more…

On top of that, who you know as polite, happy, cooperative school horses have been transformed into nervous nillies or pent up beasts from another planet. Somehow our efforts have failed in explaining to the horses the many reasons they cannot go out side and play in the snow…

Overall we have much to be thankful for despite the hardship this weather event has had on our business. The many Boarders, students, staff, fans and friends that were able to help out did so. We are very grateful to them and all of our supporters who understand the dangerous mess we have with 39 horses during an unprecedented snow event. The forecasters all said “light snow.”  Thank goodness they did not say heavy snow…huh?

Thanks again for your patience as we help our furry friends and staff survive these 2-weeks of yuck!

Kind Regards,

The ELS Herd

The driveway down the hill and into the lobby is so slick it is dangerous to walk on.

The snow is not off the arena roof yet and poses a significant danger while  riding when it slides off suddenly. The horses have been locked up over a week and they are restless. We would like to schedule makeup lessons as soon as this melts.  This will help our staff, horses and business recover from this historic snow event.  Thanks for helping us out!

Happy Valentine’s Day! We are CLOSED today!

The arena will remain closed until the majority of snow/ice slides off the arena roof. We are supposed to warm up–lol–and hope to have the arena clear. It is quite scary for horses to be in the arena with tons of snow sliding and crashing to the ground.  Our parking lot is a lumpy ice pit and hard to get in and out of. We hope to get that useable by the weekend..

Thanks to all the students who are scheduling makeup lessons next week during the School District Mid-Winter Break week. This helps everyone!

Cheers and stay safe out there!

The ELS Herd

Wednesday February 12, 2019

Here We Go Again!  

In the interest of safety for humans and horses, we have canceled lessons today. We are hoping to be open tomorrow (Thursday).

Many folks do not realize the safety issues that are present with horses at a Farm.  The accumulative amount of snow on the pathways in and out of the stables lends itself to slipping and sliding for humans and horses; add steel horse shoes and the risk goes up.  Our stabled horses have been locked up for over a week now and hand walked in the arena. Frisky is an understatement. I have to say, though, the Herd is doing well thanks to all the Helpers who have come walk the horses with me daily. The horses have been amazing with only a few that took awhile to adapt to the indoor living.

The most substantial risk is the volume of snow melting on the roof of our huge arena. This will start sliding off today (we hope) in sheets of heavy ice/snow mix and startle horses if they are in the arena. So no hand walking or riding until that process finishes.

Driving here is clear on the roads, but the slushy, slippery mess is in the parking lot and hard to get back out to the road.

Lastly, this unprecedented weather event is not past yet. The staff, horses and I would appreciate students making up any lessons they can during school breaks, other days of the week, etc. We still need to pay bills, feed horses and keep staff employed. Any help is welcome. Thanks to all our wonderful Boarder Community and all the students and their families who have and still are helping out financially and physically. 

Best Regards,

The ELS Herd!