Happy holidays from all of us at VHAT. We are so grateful to the churches, rotary groups, foundations and generous individuals who have opened up their wallets to help VHAT move forward with its dream of extending the benefits of riding and horse-assisted therapy to more people in the central Vermont community. Volunteers are contacting VHAT weekly asking to be part of the effort, and our volunteer Board and executive director have now raised enough money to create an after-school program for students with special needs for the spring of 2010. Pease Farm hosted a pilot program for able-bodied and special needs students in middle and high school last spring, and made a DVD that captures their excitement and commitment to improving their physical and mental partnership with horses.

Our next wish is to fund a summer daycamp for students with autism, and maybe you can help. One of the nicest alternatives to buying "stuff" at holiday times is to make a donation to a worthy cause in your friend or relative's name instead. Could you help light up a child's face, or spark a teenager's sense of responsibility by going to our Donation page to make a safe secure donation with PayPal? We thank all of you for your support and wish you happiness and health in the New Year.

Welcome to VHAT's new blog space. I am a bit clumsy in this cyber-world but I do want to welcome everyone to the world of horses and healing we offer through VHAT at Pease Farm Stable in Middlesex, VT. If you come to our barn, you will find we are a friendly, family-oriented, dog-and-kid-and-fun loving place, and I hope the blog will have that same atmosphere of kindness and respect for all.

In addition to the regular Pease Farm lesson program, we did a wonderful after-school teens program this spring and we have had three successful camps for kids and teens this summer, as you can tell from our photo gallery. The fourth and final camp starts 8-30-09 and our weekend clinic for adults will be held Sept. 19-20 (sorry, this year's is full.) The parade for the 4th of July was fun--we had eight riders and horses, including my grand-daughter Isabella, age 6.

My to-do list:
I would like to get an email list of everyone associated with Pease Farm and VHAT, so I can start sending the winter newsletter electronically as well as by snail mail. Would anyone like to be in charge of gathering these email addresses and making them into a list for VHAT to use? It might involve calling some people to get their email address.
Pease Farm's new instructor Chrissy Rohan has offered to do a clinic this fall on tack maintenance, grooming and clipping. A show of hands: how many people would attend a clinic like this, probably on a weekend? There would be a fee involved, but we are trying to keep it reasonable. What other clinics would you like us to have? How about one for Alexander work or yoga, the systems of body awareness we use in Centered Riding? Would you like a jumping clinic with Chrissy? A groundwork clinic with Susan Mitchell, Pease Farm's barn manager and a Level 1 Centered Riding instructor?

Please think of this space as your own personal stall at the barn and use it to share information, ideas and insights about riding, healing, and horses. Riding is a sport and a partnership like no other. It both requires and rewards a high level of awareness and clear intent--let's share both problems we are having in our riding, and victories we have achieved. Happy blogging! Sarah Seidman