Dun-Pikin Farm

Kate, the horse, came to Dun-Pikin 4 or 5 years ago now. She came to be Katie’s personal riding horse. Kate, the horse, was actually given her barn name “Kate” shortly after she was born. She has a fancy registered name but for the life of me I can’t remember what it is. Kate’s mother was once Katie’s horse, Zelda. Katie was there when Kate was born. She took care of her as a foal and was the first to get on her back a few years later. Katie had a strong bond with Kate.

Kate was eventually sold and Katie lost track of her for years until one day Katie wrote something about Kate’s mother Zelda on a blog she had. Kate’s owner saw it and the name Detente mentioned, along with her barn name Zelda. She contacted Katie and together they confirmed. She did in fact have Katie’s Kate. Katie was over the moon to have found Kate and even more so when eventually her owner asked Katie if she would have any interest in buying her. She had spent many years eventing at the preliminary level. She was then retired and used as a broodmare. Kate’s owner decided her broodmare days were over too and wanted to find her a good home. Katie jumped at the chance. All she had to do was convince her husband. Eventually she wore him down. They hooked up the trailer and went all the way to Indiana to pick her up.

Kate was retired from eventing, and from being a broodmare. When she arrived at Dun-Pikin Katie had decided she was going to try trail riding. Kate and Katie hit the trails along with Shine and Anna and Megan and Arlo. They had a lot of good times until Katie’s doctor suggested she not ride anymore because of a traumatic brain injury she had several years ago. A fall could be very serious for her. So once again Kate was retired. No worries though, Kate has now found a new career. Kate has now become a lesson horse.

I’ll admit I was a bit nervous about it at first. Not because of her personality or behavior. She’s a real sweetheart. She’s just BIG, very BIG. It’s a long way down if a student should fall but … what do I know. During summer camp the first thing I heard every morning was “can I ride Kate?” She is now the horse everyone wants to ride. Who knows maybe you’ll get a chance to ride our newest lesson horse when you Come Ride With Us!

Cindy 🐴

Today it hit me. I realized when I pulled into the barn this morning it was still dark, I mean really dark. It seems it was only a week ago that when I started my day at this exact time, dawn had already arrived. When thinking about it, it occurred to me I heard the marching band practicing in the parking lot, sports practices are happening in the morning at the high school and our Fun Day week that happens the last week before school starts is already next week. Summer is just about over. Yikes! Where did the time go?

Things will be changing around the barn. My young summer help will be back at school. The horse care will primarily be my responsibility again. I’m a little tired already thinking about it. It will be fine I know, but I have to admit I’ve gotten a bit spoiled hearing “I’ll get that water bucket for you Miss Cindy. I’ll push that wheelbarrow into the barn. We’ll bring in a load of hay.” Yup I’m gonna miss them for sure. After all, I’m not getting any younger.

Despite the heat, it won’t be long and the horses winter coats will begin to come in. The shorter days will begin to trigger that. As the days get shorter there will be the same amount of work but less daylight hours to get things done. Time is marching on. Today when I was mowing, I came upon a branch that had come down in the last storm. Right away I noticed all the clusters of acorns on the branch. There were so many, I’m fairly sure the extra weight of all those acorns caused it to break off from the tree. Hmmm… I’m wondering if all those acorns are some kind of forecast for the winter to come?

For now it’s 93 degrees with a real feel of 103 degrees outside. I suppose I need to be figuring out how to survive August before I worry about what winter might bring. I'm hoping September will bring more moderate fall-like weather – the best kind of weather for you to Come Ride With Us!

Cindy 🐴

This is a picture you won’t see very often. A picture of Buffy in a stall. Tonight at feeding time Buffy choked. Choke in a horse /donkey is an obstruction in the esophagus. Maybe she ate too quickly, or maybe she took too big of a bite, but when I came back to pick up her dish and bring the hay Buffy was definitely choking.

She was making a terrible gagging sound and had saliva coming out of her nose and mouth. Horses can’t vomit so everything has to go down. The biggest worry is damage to the esophagus and the possibility of aspiration pneumonia. Choke can be very serious. Unfortunately this is not the first time Buffy has had issues with choke. We’ve already been wetting her food. We’ve also been careful to keep up with her dental care. Both are considered helpful in preventing choking issues.

Sometimes the choke will resolve on its own. Thankfully, that was the case with Buffy today. Usually if it doesn’t, choke requires a vet visit to flush the obstruction out through a nasal tube down the nose. Believe me when I say it looks quite unpleasant. Today we and Buffy dodged a bullet.

When we realized Buffy was in trouble we brought her in to watch her. Katie came out to keep an eye on her while I finished feeding. By the time I was done, Buffy had recovered. She was busy nosing around looking for any dinner Marley may have dropped. Yup, Buffy was back doing what she does best … EATING!

It seems there’s never a dull moment at Dun-Pikin. On the farm we thrive on the ordinary, normal and routine. Excitement usually means something is wrong.

BTW, I know Buffy is cute as a button and it is tempting to want to feed her treats. Please leave the feeding to us as we have to be careful what she eats. Give her a scratch though, when you Come Ride With Us!

Cindy 🐴

Equine therapy is powerful, life-changing work—but nobody said our therapy horses couldn’t have a little fun while doing it!

We love partnering with Bay Area Counseling & Consultation, LLC, who use our horses as equine partners in their practice. As you can see, Shine takes his job very seriously... tongue out and all!
Sometimes the best healing starts with a good smile. Whether they’re offering quiet support or making us laugh, these horses sure know how to brighten a day.

Come Ride With Us!

Cindy 🐴

Today was our last day of summer camp for the season. In 2 weeks we’ll have a week of Fun Days to round out our summer fun season. We were blessed to have all of our camps full. Because our camps filled so quickly, we decided to add a week of Fun Days. Fun Days will be similar to our camp days except participants can come for just one day or two days or the whole week.

None of this could happen without our great staff and volunteers. A big shout out to Layla, Aleta, and Roxanne who worked in the ring. Katie who led all the learning activities and Carol who came up with all of our crafts. We also had a great group of junior counselors who did whatever was asked of them, mostly with a smile. Thank you Kiley, Ember, Bella and Stella. Camp would never have gone as smoothly without them. Me … I kept myself busy doing a little bit of everything.

Well, gotta go. Pony party on the farm in the morning. One of the many ways you can Come Ride With Us!

Cindy 🐴

Traces of the Past: Saying Goodbye to Grandfather's Stable

Here is a bit of nostalgia. Brings a tear to my eye when I read it. Back ‘in the day’ when Rick and I were starting our farming adventures he kept an online journal very much like my Dun-Pikin ramblings here on Facebook. Somewhere out there in internet land you can still find them. I pulled this particular tidbit because my recent post about my grandfather’s mules drew a lot of attention.

When we moved onto the farm in 1982 there were several buildings which were on their last legs. All of them were of similar construction – heavy framing and simple board siding. Most were painted red. Here is Rick’s journal entry about the old stable where my grandfather kept his two mules in the early 1900’s and its final demise just before the turn of the next century. He writes:
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2/1/97
I spent the day today beating a 75-year-old with a crow-bar -- a 75-year-old building that is. As sad as it is to see it go, it was actually kind of fun tearing down the old, dilapidated stable that threatened to fall down on its own with every puff of wind. The stable was built back when Grandfather Ellison first purchased this farm and cleared the land some 75 years ago.He used it to house the two mules he used to work the farm. It is really amazing to think that he worked probably 20+ acres of ground with just those two mules!

When I cleaned out the stable before tearing it down, I filled about 10 large feed bags with old harness and mule tack. I had a strange feeling I was being watched as I stuffed all those old leather and wooden parts away. Cindy and I have often wondered what old 'Farmer John' would think of what we are doing with the place these days. We hope he’d be pleased.

Part of the charm of farming in the footsteps of your ancestors is walking the same ground, using the same tools and living in the same house as those that lived before. We planned our plantings the first year we farmed using notes kept by Cindy's grandmother. We learned to plow using the same old tractor 'Farmer John' used. We built our first manure heated hotbed with the collective knowledge of those living relatives who could recall how it's done and used the same sash that had been used on the farm for decades. When we lived in the farmhouse we would often get a faint whiff of pipe smoke even though no-one had smoked a pipe in the house since grandfather passed away.

When I wiped my sweaty dusty brow this afternoon, I wiped away dust that had fallen from the rafters of that old barn. Perhaps 75 years ago old farmer John tossed a fork of hay up there and the dust settled finally to the ground today when the old stable came tumbling down. We hope to build another farm building with what we can salvage from the weathered and dusty pieces.

Rick

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And that’s the way it was. And honestly the wood from the old building was so rotten we never could build anything from it. When you visit Dun-Pikin make note of the location of the sawdust pile in front of the old pony shed. That is where the old stable stood. Stand in the shadow of history when you Come Ride With Us!

Cindy🐴

🌧Wet Wednesday🌧

Well, it was supposed to be wet, and it was wet to start. First order of business this wet morning was making a decision on whether camp would be possible with the predicted weather. We made the decision to cancel and reschedule for a different day. That, of course, is the easy part. Then we have to get our ducks in a row and notify our camp families of the reschedule.

The humidity today was off the charts, and it was raining so we finished up the morning chores, and I headed home for a little A/C and an unscheduled break. It stopped raining soon after which made me question our decision, but a noontime rain shower and the off and on threatening skies made it a very iffy weather day. Things never dried out, but the sun did come out, a breeze picked up and we took the hint and put out a fresh hay round in the bottom gelding field at evening feeding time.

After a crab cake dinner, an ice cream cone for dessert and a couple hours without my shoes on I got this nagging feeling that I should go back to the barn and get a few things done. Camp returns tomorrow and the forecast is hot and humid with no rain, so I got a head start on the morning chores by cleaning a few stalls and organizing things. This took care of that nagging ‘guilt’ for not working all day. It was dark by the time I got home and started typing this. So, it was a sunup to sundown day.

Wet Wednesday today, Torrid Thursday tomorrow. Check the skies and Come Ride With Us!

💩Embracing the "Whole Horse" Experience💩

Today reality set in for our campers. The first day we spent going over rules, discussing safety, riding and getting to know one another. On day 2 camp really begins.

We have 8 campers in total which are divided into 2 riding groups. While 1 group rides, the other group does a chore and then has a learning activity. Yesterday they just did their learning activity. Today we added the chore. Some were excited, others not so much. Some chatted happily while we worked, others complained, but everyone worked.

One of the kids told me point blank her parents paid for her to come to camp to have fun, not to pick up p**p. I told her we are trying to give everyone the “whole” horse experience, and p**p is a BIG part of it. I'm not sure she was convinced but she helped get the job done.

I know probably none of these kids will ever own a horse. Probably some will never even return to the barn. I still think it’s important though to show them what’s involved with keeping horses. I also think there’s nothing wrong with teaching them that a little hard work never hurt anyone. After all, having a good work ethic is an important life skill. Picking up manure, scrubbing water troughs, cleaning tack, organizing and cleaning brushes and keeping the barn aisleway swept and raked are a few of the chores they’re responsible for this week.

We are so proud of the effort everyone put in today. They proved that they could rise to a challenge!

Rise to the challenge, Come Ride With Us!

Cindy 🐴

I’m tired tonight, really tired. Everything aches, especially my feet. Today was the first day of our third summer camp and I’ll admit I was not excited about it when I woke up this morning. Beside getting things ready to greet our campers every morning, everything we do every day still needs to get done too. I suppose I’m just getting too old for summer camp.

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed until I walked into the barn and saw this. This is why we do what we do. Watching the kids interact with the horses makes it all worthwhile. Some are very hesitant at first, but it usually doesn’t take long and before you know it there are hugs all around.

There are a lot of things we hope the kids take away from camp this week. Of course we want to teach them to ride. We also want them to develop confidence, learn some new skills, make some new friends and most of all have fun. The horses make having fun easy. No experience is needed. We provide that!

If you have a young’n with a hankerin’ for horses, look us up and Come Ride With Us!

Cindy 🐴

‘Twas the night before camp, and all through the house,
There was hustle and bustle and things piled about!
There were last-minute projects and craft tags to cut,
And water bottles prepped for the morning jump-start.
With snacks packed and games planned before we’re a’bed,
“I’m getting so tired,” as Katie just said!
So I’ll make this real short as we wrap up our prep:
Eight lucky campers will soon grace our step!
We'll ride, learn, and play for a week that's top-notch—
So grab up your boots and Come Ride With Us!

Cindy 🐴