Get a few cousins together and you never know what will happen.

Yar Matey!
Papa and Uncle Doug instruct Andrew on the fine art of sailing. Sailers go way back on the Smith side of our family. In fact we have cousins that grew up on ships in the South Pacific. It was a beautiful day of sailing out of St. Andrew's Marina into the Gulf of Mexico.This was the start of a really fun family reunion.

Aww aren't they cute?

I call this post New Do's.

Nicoletti's Visit!!! That's always fun. We did a lot of swimming, visited Universal and rode horses. Of course excessive eating was part of the plan

It's Official:

Ligoretto is part of the family now. (We call him Retto for short.)

Barn News: Ashley and Jig place 3rd novice in their first show and the kitties turn 1. One month that is.

Let the summer begin!

News from the Hill:
Nermal and Abby are 2 weeks old. Their eyes are open and they are starting to motor around.


Ashley and Jiggy are having a good time together. She likes him because he powers forward. (She calls him powerhouse.) He likes her because she doesn't hold him back.

The bears have crossed the bridge to the webelo side! It's been a fun year in scouting. Check out the Den 5 blog to see some things they have done.

Yes the boys are still here on the hill. Adam and Austin are actually spending a lot of time studying for their tests. Adam seems to be enjoying his personal training course but it involves a lot of anatomy and physiology memorization. Lets just say I am learning the names of muscles I am pretty sure I dont have. Austin is having his last push toward finals and then he plans to sleep and eat for a week. So you see not too picturesque but they are still around.

Barn news:
Just 9 days old and already they complain about having their pictures taken! (just like all these mancuso kids) Ashley and Jiggy go preliminary level! XC schooling went so well at novice that they jumped to training level and then prelim. Amazing how calm I was but you know they just look so solid that I wasnt worried.

Barn scenes from yesterday morning:


Jack and Andrew become kitty sitters while I freshen up the kitty crib. They had fun coming up with names like Dr. Doolittle and Feedo. So far Ash has vetoed their choices. We will keep you posted.

Ashley has decided to start preparing for her C2 rating in Pony Club. For those of you that arent familiar with PC this is a building block toward an A level. The ratings are based on knowledge, responsibility and the riders ability to understand first what is going on with their ride and second how to improve it. Pony Club is not about competition, it is about knowledge and responsibility. Ultimately the club strives to turn riders into trainers. I am proud of Ash for tackling this new challenge.

Combined training rally was at Rocking Horse on Sat and Sun. Ash and Phanny were on a scramble team with girls from around the state. The nice thing about scrambling is making new friends. Also the pair had their best cross country run. Beautiful! My job this rally was to coach 5 riders ages 7-9. That was really fun.
They were very cute and so brave. I told them near the end that the rider with the most elegant salute to the judge would get a piece of bubble gum. If only I had a movie camera of those salutes! Let's just say they all got gum.

The new kid on the block is checking out his digs. His name in Denmark was Ligoretto. (If anyone knows what that means you can let me know.) His English Mom (Lisa) calls him "Gettin Jiggy With It" which is a reference to Irish dancing. We call him Jiggy and are very excited to have him living at Lucky Trail Stable. ps: Phanny likes him too!

Misty Morning Star: That is what Ashley and I named this little fellow that early morning when he found the strength to stand. It is a pretty good story how we came to know him. His Mama (Misty) was purchased as a 2 year old over the phone. When she arrived she was ill. Ashley and I helped with her care. One morning she was lying down, her owner out of town and she seemed in pain. Next thing we see is this little fellow on the ground. Wow, even the vet didnt see this coming. Apparently Misty wasnt prepared either because she ignored him. The vet told us that if he stood in the first hours he maybe could survive. 6 days later Ashley and I were still camped out at the barn feeding him warm cow milk on the hour. I woke Ash and we walked over to the stall to see him standing on his own for the first time. It was a moment to remember.

His name was changed to Shadow because of his habit of following people around looking for the baby bottle full of milk. Even now as a big 4 year old he will follow and nuzzle you. Only now he is looking for carrots.

Adam and Aiden
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