Hi Everyone, Sundance here!

First of all, we really miss our Knollwood Kids of all ages. We’re being well taken care of, and enjoying plenty of extra recess when we’re not keeping up on our studies, but it gets pretty lonely around here without our students.  Plus, some of my co-workers are running out of creative ways to spend their time, and are eating far too much.  Fred has taken to sleeping in the round bale with his pony friend.  They even refuse to come in on some days so they can enjoy the outside buffet alone!

Ann, Brenda, and Nancy are in the barn every day taking care of us.  We’re getting spa treatments from the grownups, and shedding season is going pretty well. I bet the helpers aren’t missing THAT part of spring so much! Brinkley would like to say that he really misses his conversations and spa treatments from his good friend Addison.

Oh, and thanks to customers who have been leaving treat bags hanging on the front door.  We're currently enjoying horse cookies from our good friend Bubbles.  She even wrote us a letter!!

Klem misses his Tuesday Amigos, and is afraid his acting skills may be suffering without his weekly photo shoots.

Mark has yet to realize that anything is different.

 

 

The show horses are working every day, and have even been enjoying the great outdoors on nice days.  The arena screen door has been open a couple of days, a thought that gives me pause. Those sunlight spots on the arena footing can be downright terrifying.

 

I’ve been hearing all about projects going on around the barn.

Parker is washing a lot of winter coats over in the show barn, and trunks are being cleaned and prepared for the 2020 show season.

In the school barn, all the academy show bridles are clean and ready to go, rental saddles have been deep cleaned and conditioned,  the stirrup wall has been reorganized and is now arranged alphabetically by first name, and the box stall cubbies are being reshuffled next.

 

Celebrations

Did you know my birthday is coming up on the 24^th of this month?

 

And did you know that Hugo turns 13 the next day?

 

 

I reviewed the Knockout membership list, and found out that a lot of Knollwood Kids have birthdays this month, too!

Happy Birthday to:

Helen on April 4

Madelyn R on April 9

Jilly on April 11

Richie and Emme on April 17

Cecilia on April 22

Elaine on April 28

 

 

 

We’re always happy to help you celebrate even if you can’t be at the barn. Just contact my agent, Ann, and she can arrange to have a birthday video sent to you!

 

 

 

 

Great thanks to everyone who has donated to our feed bill during this difficult time.  Our staff here have let us know how much you've been donating, and we're humbled by your generosity. The most impressive thing to us is that no one asked you to donate, you started the program up yourselves. We can't possibly thank you enough, but we'll sure try!

You all know how much we love to work, and it’s been really hard on us not seeing all of you. The most important thing is that you all stay safe at home so we can get back together as soon as possible. We can’t wait for lessons and shows to begin again!

If you'd like to donate to our unemployment fund by check, you can send it directly to our friends at Merton Feed. Please note that it's for the Knollwood lesson horses.

 

 

Merton Feed

N71 W28312 Mill Street

Merton, WI 53056

If you prefer to donate with a credit card, please call the mill at 262-538-1250.  Please mention that you're donating to the best lesson horses in the world.

Side note, they have the best chickens in the world, and they sponsored our show concession stand last year!

 

 

 

 

We’re going to start doing some Facebook Live broadcasts, and some Zoom meetings.  Again, please let Ann, my agent know if you have any specific topics you’d like to discuss. Otherwise, I’ll run the show!

 

 

 

 

Finally, don’t forget to order your #Knollwoodstrong shirts here.  All proceeds from these snazzy Team Knollwood shirts benefit the school horse unemployment program.

We want to have a huge orange cheering section at every show we go to, so please show your support of the best lesson horses in the world by outfitting every Knollwood fan.

 

 

 

Sundance signing off.

We miss you more than you know, and can't wait to see you all soon.

Till then, stay safe and #Knollwoodstrong

We know staying at home can get a little tedious, so we've come up with a way to brighten those 'safer at home' days.  To remind you of bright days at Knollwood, we've worked with our friends at Wild Impact Marketing and designed these sunny, bright orange Knollwood shirts. They're made out of athletic fabric, so they're perfect for at-home workouts or riding your favorite horses when this has all passed. 

The youth shirts have a BIG Knollwood logo on the front, and say #Knollwoodstrong down the back.

 

The misses fitted version features a small farm logo on the front, and #Knollwoodstrong running down the back.

 

Imagine Team Knollwood decked out in these beauties when horse show season 2020 starts!! 

 

Best of all? You can order the latest Woodwear from home through our website here for only $25.

 

 

We miss you, and the horses miss you. 

Please stay home so we can all get together sooner, and get back to doing what we all love.

 

 

Tradition.

Honor.

Passion.

#Knollwoodstrong

 

Hey guys!

 

Saturday circuit number two coming at you.  Now this circuit can be added to the first Saturday Circuit which can be found here, or can be utilized as a stand alone workout.  If doing as a stand alone, be sure to run through to circuit 3-5 times.  If adding to circuit one, we recommend doing each circuit 2-3 times.  As always, make sure you take some time to warm up before you begin and cool down once you're done to ensure your muscles are well protected and ready to rock and roll!

 

Exercise 1 - Split Jumps - 30 seconds on, 10 seconds rest, 4 reps

 

Split jumps are perhaps more evil than squat jumps, though equally as amazing of a cardio kick.  From a lunge position, in one fluid motion, jump directly up and swap legs coming down into another lunge and repeat!  Don't forget to breathe on this one guys!

 

Exercise 2 - High Plank to Low Plank - 30 seconds, 3 reps

 

Planks are amazing for your entire core.  Finding yourself in a high plank position, really drawing your navel in, come down onto your right elbow then left elbow, then push back up onto your right hand, then up onto your left hand.  Continue like this for the entire 30 seconds.  Make sure you change directions so for the next cycle you would go down onto your left elbow, then right, come up onto your left hand, then right; and so on!

 

Exercise 3 - High Knees - 60 Seconds on, 20 second rest for 3 reps

 

A classic cardio move, working your knees up toward your waist without letting your chest come forward will really make this a much more challenging workout.  Make sure you stand tall, chest lifted (just like when you're sitting on a horse) and begin to run in place bringing your knees as high as you can, as fast as you can, keep your core engaged.

 

 Exercise 4 - T Push Ups - 10 reps

 

A literal twist on an oldy but goody, the T Push Up involves doing a regular push up, but once you get back to the top of your push up, raise one arm toward the ceiling for a gentle twist, really focusing here on letting your back muscles contract you into the twist, rather than just swinging your arm around. Follow your hand with your eyes and it rotates, come back down to do another push up and twist to the other side!

 

 Exercise 5 - Lateral bounds - 60 Seconds on, 20 seconds rest for 3 reps

 

In a ready position, bound to the left or right, cradling the jump with a soft landing onto one foot, find your balance without lowering your other foot and bound back to the other side.  Continue this bounding back and forth from one foot to the other as fast as you can while maintaining good form of a high chest and bent knees as if you're in a partial squat.

 

Exercise 6 - High boat to low boat - 10 reps

 

Balancing on your tail bone, bend your knees and stretch your arms out straight at your shoulders.  Holding this position for a moment, stretch your legs out and lower them, along with lowering your back, as low as you can without falling or touching the ground.  Holding this position for a moment, using exclusively your core, come back up to your starting position and repeat.

 

Don't forget to cool down with some light stretching.

 

Happy Social Distancing Saddlebred Saturday

 

 

Greetings from a very quiet Knollwood.  While we certainly never want to get used to the silence, we are pivoting and learning how to survive it in the short term.  Knowing that the more everyone complies with social distancing the sooner we can get back to doing what we all love with our favorite people. That makes this temporary normal a little easier to take. This will end.

The quietness has given us more time to think, and we’re working on some terrific things for our grand reopening.  While people at home are cleaning closets and watching Tiger King (which we HIGHLY recommend), we’re working on some projects that we have always wanted to tackle but never had the chunks of time needed.  So, we’re actually grateful for the gift of time we’ve been given.

Here are our lessons learned for this week:

The World Goes On.

Spring is coming, and the trees are budding. With the warmish weather, the trees of Knollwood are starting to look really beautiful..

Oh, and the lesson horses are shedding like crazy! Never fear, they’re enjoying spa treatments, and they’re looking fat and shiny.

Horses really miss their peeps.

If you can believe it, Klem is even more talkative in the stall, Dudley keeps giving all of us his slow blink, and even Joey is asking to be petted. They don’t understand why their world has shifted, they just want their humans back!

The show horses are missing their peeps, too. They're all looking fantastic, with their training routines ramping up for show season, whenever it may start.  These horses are  ready to get on the trailer!

Walking down the show barn aisle, we’re greeted with eager noses poking out looking for their riders. Heck, Tink even sent a selfie to Richie!

 

The pets of Knollwood are keeping us entertained. 

Hazel is doing great on some new thyroid medication, and has her old energy back. She’s enjoying walking the trails again with Carol, but misses all the kids at the barn.

Richmond and Holly have full run of the school barn during the day, and the results have been hilarious. Richmond has started riding lessons, and is looking forward to his first bareback ride soon. He’s also learning parts of the horse, and is identifying the parts by launching himself at the horse chart.

 

Most of all, we miss our customers.

We miss giving lessons, but we also miss the daily fun we have with everyone. Knollwood is about so much more than horses.  We miss hearing about kids’ sports schedules, achievements outside of the horse world, and horse show chat.  We miss the Tuesday parents enjoying wine while their kids ride, and we miss the kids' laughter in the barn.  We miss exchanging good books, hearing about vacations, and well, just joking around in the middle of the arena.

Some of our recent highlights have been customers driving by and stopping in the middle of Horseshoe Bend to have a conversation from a safe distance. It’s amazing who you meet in the road when you’re taking the recycling out to the curb!

 

 

This will end.

We’ll get through this.

And yes, we'll have quite a celebration when this is all over!

We’ve got this.

 

 

Tradition.

Honor.

Passion.

We Are Knollwood.

Knollwood Families and Students,

 

As we all know, these are unprecedented times.  Many of us are experiencing a pandemic for the first time in our lives and are just doing what we can to keep our families, friends, selves, and animals safe by following recommendations from experts.  This has put many people out of work, out of childcare, and out of their routines. 

 

Here at Knollwood we've done what we could to keep every sense of normalcy possible while being safe.  That did sadly mean closing our doors to our beloved customers who are the lifeblood of our community here at Knollwood.  While Knollwood is a strong business, there is no denying that horses don't eat less or require less care just because lessons aren't currently happening.... I mean we've all seen Klem right?  He's not dieting....  All joking aside, we had, had a few clients reach out early on to see if there is a way they might be able to help by "adopting" a school horse entirely on their own and out of the generosity of their own hearts. 

 

These amazing people had decided come together to donate to the Knollwood feed bill with Merton Feed and have made gracious contributions to care for the crew of the best school horses in the world.  This gesture has brought tears into the eyes of all of us who know what it means for hard working people to donate their money to ease the burden of these trying times on small businesses like Knollwood and truly speaks to what kind of community we are blessed to find ourselves in.  We hope to show our gratitude by offering special donor programming once our doors are open; more info to come on that!

 

Knollwood is more than just a barn.  It is more than just a place off the highway that is here to entertain your kids.  It is a family and we now feel that more than we ever have, though we always knew this to be true.  We are unspeakably grateful to the generosity of our clients that came up with this and are continuing to donate to the Knollwood feed bills with Merton Feed to take care of these amazing school horses.

 

If you would like to donate as well, please call Merton Feed at 262-538-1250, or send a check with a note on it for Knollwood to

Merton Feed Co
PO Box 465
Merton, WI. 53056

Special thanks to the following people who have already donated in support of our amazing horses and barn:

 

The Anderson-Penglase Family

The Ball Family

The Becker Family

Tammy Cull

The Dallen Family

The Looysen Family

The Rhode Family

Catherine and Claude Scher

The Schuh Family

Mary Steinhardt

The Traeger Family

Jane Wagner

The Wenzel Family

 

Tradition.

Honor.

Passion.

We Are Knollwood.