Sweet River Farm Whately, MA

11/10/2024

According to the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest longitudinal study in history, people who did more chores during their childhood tend to be happier and healthier as adults. Visit the blog to learn how we seamlessly integrate joyful, purposeful work into our daily rhythms at Green Meadow.
https://www.gmws.org/blog-news/moving-day-for-a-chicken-family/

11/09/2024

At the Equine Affaire PATH international booth today! Stop by and say hello. Better Living building booth 744!

11/09/2024

Do you struggle with depression? Anxiety? The impacts of trauma? Sign up for the next Therapeutic Skills group starting in December. Run by LICSW and PATH certified instructor, Annie Sexauer, who has years of experience with equine assisted psychotherapy. Spending time with the horses will help release tension and practice skills that can be applied in all areas of your life. Insurance accepted with a co-pay for each session.

10/25/2024

Hmmmm… sounds like a good one! Get ready!

If you're planning ahead for No-Stirrup November, this exercise is seriously underrated (and can involve a rubber duck 🐥):

Toe touches without stirrups. Basic, right?

But oh so challenging when you explain to students that their leg SHOULD NOT MOVE. As a matter of fact, their leg position should look identical to their in-stirrup leg position, and they should be able to touch both toes (and/or the horse's poll and croup) without any change.

Are you feeling the burn yet?? There are three levels to this challenge:

🥉 Halt
🥈 Walk
🥇 Sitting trot/jog

You can do this with diving rings on the rider's toes, or - our personal favorite - place a rubber duck on each student’s left toe and ask them to move it to their right toe, and vice versa. Get some reps in if you have a lot of ducks. 😈

10/15/2024

Beautiful double rainbow over the farm during the Pony Pals Rainbow Riders’ lesson yesterday!

10/12/2024

Finished up this Saturday session with a fall themed obstacle course: a bridge of flowers, pumpkin patch, and witch’s cauldron! So proud of all these students and all that they learned in this session!

10/01/2024

Pony pals showing great team work to untack Rosie. They did it all without grown up assistance!

09/28/2024

The unmounted portion of our lessons is as important as the mounted portion and we try to make it just as much fun!! Stations were set up outside the ring this morning so that Barn Rats could work on pony parts, horse colors, tack basics and more while they waiting to work on their posting trot and steering in the ring!

09/14/2024

Another fun Saturday morning with the Barn Rats! They cleaned bridles and put them back together! A beautiful balloon was spotted over the farm!

09/07/2024

A great Saturday of Barn Rats and Pony Pals! It was wonderful to have a full barn all morning. And so many kids had parents with horse backgrounds who helped out and enjoyed the horses. It was a great day on the farm!

09/06/2024

The harvest has begun! How are pumpkins related to horses? Well… horse manure compost grows the best pumpkins! So we have leaned into this and now grow an eclectic crop each year.

08/20/2024

Looking to have some horse time in your life? We are seeking volunteers for the fall to do barn chores, grooming and horse massage, as well as help out in our therapeutic and beginner lessons. Reach out today if you are interested!

08/19/2024

I’m convinced that 11 and 12 year olds (specifically 6th graders) are simply incredible and that everyone needs a few to keep their barn running. Due to illness, we needed some help with barn chores today. Our wonderful community stepped up! Alas, none of the adults who volunteered were familiar with our chore routine. So I appointed the rising 6th graders as chore shift leaders, much to some of their parents’ surprise. Coming in to feed tonight, I am not a bit surprised that everything was done immaculately, correctly, and even some big non-essential chores were completed. Proud moment. This is why I love what I do!

08/16/2024

That’s a wrap on summer camp! Finished the summer strong with amazing braid jobs for our final demonstration by this crew. 6 weeks of summer camp, 44 hardworking campers, amazing staff, the best ponies and decent weather made for a great season. We are taking a few weeks at a slower pace, but are excited to see many of you returning after Labor Day for our fall programs!

08/14/2024

Today was flat work day and we worked on ring figures. Fun in the afternoon with bareback rides, hobby horse pairs class, pony Pictionary and popsicles!