Leaping Frog Farm

08/15/2024

A life full of love, joy, so much fun and lots of freedom was what Waffles needed and that is just what he got. He loved life and lived it to the fullest! I’ve never met a bunny who could get out of every cage, expen, and then run and herd chickens and graze with them. If he let you pick him up and snuggle him he loved you. He will surely be missed on the farm 💔 Videos in comments

08/14/2024

When your eyes are bigger than your stomach 😂

08/10/2024

We have one last minute opening in our August 19-22 Farm camp for kiddos 6-12 years old ☀️ 🐐 🐴 🐰 🐓

08/09/2024

Our final day of NYA camp this week! Wow how this week has flown by! We made pool noodle horses, spent some time just snuggling on the animals in the barn, watched a chicken movie while eating brownies, and made bracelets with our favorite LFF animals’ names on them. Campers took home their “Teddy hoof art” and their folders from the week with their learning worksheets and quizzes! I forgot to take pictures and these are the only ones I got today.

What a great group of campers we had this week, super eager to learn and so kind and compassionate to the animals!

Huge Thank you to Miss KB for all your help this week! We are so lucky to have her and her amazing daughters and family as part of our farm family! From coordinating crafts, to driving the bus, we couldn’t have done it without her!

Through the hard work and the fun of putting on camp, if you see through that to the bigger picture- it is teaching the next generation to be kind towards animals and each other. Compassion 💗 Kindness 💗 Responsibility 🙌 Life Skills 🙌

There is room for one more camper in our last camp of the season Aug 19-22!

On another note-
We’ll be at the Topsham fair with alchemy acres 🎉 all weekend presenting about kids and miniature horses and confidence!

08/09/2024

Day 4 of Farm camp was Goat Day !!! 🐐 🐐 🐐 🐐 🐐 Campers did goat yoga and games, learned about goats and more about ponies and did two fun crafts!

08/07/2024

This young porcupine has made himself right at home here on the farm and has been our mascot all week 😆

08/07/2024

Chicken day was a great success on day 3 of farm camp! NYA Campers learned about chicken breeds and eggs, chicken history, purpose and care, did some chicken “training” and an obstacle course, enjoyed a chicken craft, and did an egg on a spoon race. We made our own “grain mix” too!

08/07/2024

More pictures from yesterday! 🐴 🐰 🐓

08/06/2024

Day 2 of NYA farm camp! Bunny day!! 🐰

08/05/2024

Thank you for helping us kick off our first day of our second week of NYA camp Becca and Ryan and Alchemy Acres!! We had so much fun with Taffy, Luna, and Mac! 💗 🦄

08/04/2024

Make Them Carry Their Saddle

A father of a darling girl and I were talking last week and he said that he wanted his daughter to ride more and not have to do the work part of the catching, grooming, and saddling. I smiled as I explained.

Riding horses is a combination of strength, timing, and balance. Kids in this country are physically weak (unless they are actively involved with weight training and physical conditioning 4+ times a week.)

When you walk out to the field, you are clearing your stress from being under fluorescent lights all day; feeling the sun soak into your bones. As your body moves on uneven surfaces, it strengthens your legs and core.

When you groom your horse (especially currying), you are toning your arms and stabilizing your core.

When you carry your saddle, your arms, chest, and back are doing isolated strengthening work.

Being near horses, calms and makes you tune into the splendor of these empathetic animals.

When you ride at a posting trot, it’s equivalent to a slow jog calorie burn wise.

After a lesson, the riders are physically tired and mentally quiet and balanced.

Horses feel your heart beat and mirror your emotions back.

Riding large and somewhat unpredictable animals makes you resilient and pushes your expectations.

Working with horses is so much more than learning how to ride.

So parents, make your children carry their saddles. Don’t do the hard parts for them, as long term it actually hurts them. To advance with their riding, they must get stronger. You can help by doing the high parts.

I love having you all at the farm, and am so grateful to get to share these fascinating animals with you.

Hannah Campbell Zapletal

08/01/2024

This awesome little girl had her second ride on Teddy yesterday. She’s already been through a session of pony club, a week of camp, and has formed a connection with the pony (and this particular chicken “Buck Buck”). A good time was had by all!!

07/29/2024

Boomer is going to be looking for his new home at the end of August. Looking for a very special home for him where he can be an emotional support animal because he is sweet as can be! Has been in camps with kids all summer, has been to birthday parties and nursing homes. 💗 His demeanor is so calm and sweet for his age and he is an expert snuggler. We so biosecurity for the whole herd every year and everything is negative. He will be wethered before he goes.

07/27/2024

Besties 💗

07/26/2024

Today was our last day of camp with this crew from NYA and to say we had a great week would be an understatement! We had so much fun and learned a bunch too! Today was “everything day” 😆 for lack of a better name and we got to visit with all the animals and reviewed some of what we learned this week. We had the absolute perfect Maine summer weather today! We had a birthday girl today and I think she had a great day! We made a silkie chicken craft, did our goat quiz, made bracelets, had ice cream, watermelon and cucumbers (cucs from the garden) and did the slip n slide. I hope these kiddos come back and visit us again because I miss them already!

07/25/2024

I’d say day 4 of farm camp with NYA was a hit! It was goat day!! 🐐 🐐 🐐 🐐 🐐 🐓 🐎 🐰 🐉

07/25/2024

It isn’t all about the riding with horses.

When kids at camp asked me this morning if we were going to be riding, and I replied no, some were disappointed. They’re kids, and ponies are for riding right?! As a parent of a horse crazy kid, you want them to start riding as soon as possible right? Sure! But what if we started with groundwork lessons first? Learn lots of things about the horse from the ground up and eventually when there’s connection between horse and kiddo, and they have some knowledge about the care and behavior and thinking of this 800 lb animal, then and only then do they get to swing their leg over and sit in the saddle. It’s a little different but maybe doing it this way has some added value and maybe some added safety.

We want our kiddos to be confident horsekids in which the kid has some knowledge of care and horse skills and feels connection on the ground with the horse so that riding is secondary. I think it is safer this way. And as they start riding when the time is right they will still want to continue to learn about horse care, management, nutrition, anatomy, tack… I know lots of lesson barns that do incorporate these things into their lessons! Thats so great. They all should.

Today (and yesterday) we learned to lead ponies at the walk and halt. We learned about how they are prey animals and what their body language means and what their different vocalizations mean (donkeys braying was a favorite). We learned about the different brushes and why we use them and we learned what ponies eat. The kids loved it! I don’t think anyone left feeling sad that they didn’t get to ride today.

Let’s teach this generation compassion, responsibility, respect and patience for the incredible animal, the horse. When they’re grown ups, either in the equestrian world or just in general maybe they will be kind equestrians/kind riders. Or just kind people in general. The horse owes us absolutely nothing, does not need to allow us to lead them around and sit on their backs and tell them what to do. But somehow they do. And they make us better humans at the same time.

So I challenge kids to learn as much as they can and soak it all in, using the very safest of equines so they have a safe and positive first equine experience at their young age. Where they go from here; if they decide to take riding lessons or not, I feel like they’re already off to a good start becoming empathetic and caring individuals and that, that means the world to me.
💗

07/25/2024

Day 3 of farm camp with NYA campers was a blast! It was Chicken (and horses continued) Day!! Tomorrow is Goat Day!! 💗

07/24/2024

Thank you KB for this super fun game idea! We are definitely including the egg and spoon race on chicken day into all our camp weeks! “Hot dog” the hen approves! 🥚 🍳

07/23/2024

Day 2 of this weeks camp was so much fun! Today was horse day!!! 🤩 As always Rebecca brings the fun times with her magical minis (and donkey 🫏)!! Tomorrow is chicken day!!!!

07/23/2024

Volume up! 😆 Rise and shine! It might be pouring out but animals still need to be tended to! 🐔
Crow a little louder Cuckoo, I don’t think they heard you 3 towns over! 😬

07/22/2024

Our first day of NYA camp was a great one! Today was “bunny day”and we toured the farm, learned all things bunny, did a cute bunny craft, and took a bunny quiz! Thank you so much Mrs. KB!! Looking forward to tomorrow which is going to be awesome as it is “horse day”! 🐴

07/21/2024

07/19/2024

There didn’t seem to be any first lesson jitters with this cutie! 🥰 After completing a session of Pony Club (all unmounted horsemanship) this spring, this little lady had her first ride on Teddy today! The giggles were the best because she’s a pro at “Teddy says” and I couldn’t get her out! 😂

07/18/2024

Week one of farm camp is complete!
I will miss these kiddos so much!

Campers learned all about 🐐 🐰 🐉 🐓 🐣 🐴 🫏 !!

Some of the highlights included water play 💦 because it was a million degrees and humid the whole week 🥵, a pirate chicken game that the kids made up themselves 🏴‍☠️ 🤣, a visit from Rebecca and her minis Taffy and Mac and Cheeto the donkey 🫏 (thank you Alchemy Acres!), goat yoga (Thank you Kelly), listening to Teddys heartbeat (Thank you Dr. Joanna from Hill and Harbor Vet) crafting, fake tattoos and beautiful fairy hair (thank you Laurie from Portland Fairy Hair) and of course popsicles, 🍉 ,🍦 were a big hit too!

Thank you parents for trusting me with your amazing kiddos! 💗

On to hosting NYA for farm camp next week!
Happy summer!! ☀️

07/16/2024

07/16/2024

Waffles

He thinks he owns the place 😆 🧇

07/15/2024

Boomer showing off his moves 😆