Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Four Winds Farm - SmartPak's Barn of the Month




....back in late winter, while grieving over the loss of my Mom and trying to accept the finality of it all, I tried to divert my attention by writing a story about the barn where Valie and I had spent the last 2 years.  As I began to do some research for the story as well as conduct several interviews of the owner/trainer, my instructor and one of the boarders, I was pleasantly surprised to find that writing was very therapeutic and with every key stroke, I found that I was at the beginning of a return to emotional normalcy.

I wrote the story with the hope that it would be chosen for SmartPak's "Barn of the Month" feature and within one day of submission, I received an email from them stating that they had chosen my story for the March edition of said feature.  Now, as to why it took so long to insert it here in my blog; well, the truth is that other than career related tasks, many of my personal projects had taken back seats while I continued to struggle with so much loss and what-seemed-to-be-the-never-ending-chaos-of-my-life!

Oh well, enough said about the hows and whys and onto my story about Four Winds Farm!     

*this is how the post would have begun if I had posted it back in March of this year:

Please allow me to announce that the barn where Valie and I have been boarding for 2 years, Four Winds Farm in North Oxford, MA, a Hunter/Jumper stable, owned by Jamie Blash/Arseneault, was chosen to be SmartPak's Barn of the Month for March 2012.  I invite my readers and anyone else who happens along to read about a very special barn and the very special people and horses within!

 - Please visit the below captioned link to read about my experiences (and Valie's too) at Four Winds Farm:
http://blog.smartpakequine.com/2012/02/barn-of-the-month-four-winds-farm/.