We're expanding the services offered at the farm to include western riding instruction and training. I'm in the process of putting together a press release for next week's local papers to get the word out.
There's not a lot of western instructors and trainers up this way so I'm hoping that will make a little bit of difference and get some business our way. We have a lot to offer here at Diamond G, I just need to find a way to get people to know we're here and what we can offer.
Lessons will be available to riders of all experience levels, from beginner to advanced. I hope that we can reach some of the local trail riders with our lesson program because I think that training in proper horsemanship serves two purposes for them (1) it helps keep them safer and (2) time spent is much more enjoyable when horse and rider are in sync. I know that I can offer a great deal of help to those interested in showing. Our lessons will help riders improve their show placings by focusing on specific areas such as equitation, trail, showmanship/halter, ring management, etc. We will be offering private, semi-private, and group lessons at Diamond G. For those who can't trailer into the farm or would like to work at their own farm, I will also travel to their farm to teach lessons.
I'm real excited about the training package we're putting together. The package will run monthly and will consist of board, 4-6 training sessions per week, and a weekly lesson with the owner riding the horse. Pricing hasn't been set for this quite yet but it will likely be in the $500-$600/mo range. That'll be (on average) 22 hours of training time, 4 hours of lesson time. Base board here is $350 so each hour of training will work out to be only $6-8/hr - a heck of a bargain when you do the math. If people don't want to board out at our farm, I will also offer hourly training rates.
I've had a few calls and emails about taking lessons on schooling horses. At this point we don't have that capability but its also something under consideration.
Check out the Diamond G Farm website, I've made some updates to it over the past few weeks and will continue to update it over the next few with details on the lesson and training programs.
Ran across an interesting horse related video rental program ... sort of like netflix for horse people. It's called BarnSweetBarn - for $10/mo you can have one video out at a time . You add videos to your queue and as soon as you return the one you have, they send out the next one to you - up to five videos per month.
Well I guess that's about all for now. I'll try and be better about writing more frequently. Let me leave you with this thought ...
"The Warrior "stands outside the fire," as it were.
Never part of the group, not unwelcome, but not welcome, either.
He serves as a constant reminder of the evil in the world,
so his presence is most uncomfortable.
The Warrior is never accepted outside of his clan,
and sometimes not even within.
The Warrior faces a world that is unforgiving and unaccepting,
not with anger or bitterness or resentment,
but with the calm powerful knowledge that he is as God made him:
strong, bold, unflinching in the face of danger,
longing for the fight which may never come.
And through it all, he STANDS."
Steve Collins
Never part of the group, not unwelcome, but not welcome, either.
He serves as a constant reminder of the evil in the world,
so his presence is most uncomfortable.
The Warrior is never accepted outside of his clan,
and sometimes not even within.
The Warrior faces a world that is unforgiving and unaccepting,
not with anger or bitterness or resentment,
but with the calm powerful knowledge that he is as God made him:
strong, bold, unflinching in the face of danger,
longing for the fight which may never come.
And through it all, he STANDS."
Steve Collins
