We are happy to honor one of the best lesson horses ever as Willy celebrates his 30th birthday this week.

Born in South Dakota, and originally named and registered as Dakota’s Diamond Sam, the Quarter Horse who stole the hearts of many a Knollwood Kid came to the farm as a three -year old.  Legendary horse dealer Gary Lohman thought Willy had the brain to make a wonderful lesson horse, and he was right, as usual.

Side note, Gary’s brother Mike is also a great horseman, and has found many of our current lesson horses for us.  Brinkley, Forest, Pony Frank, Tony, Fred, Sparky, and Picasso all came to us through Mike’s great eye for horses. He and his family operate Southwind Ranch in Eagle where they teach, train, and sell horses.

 

Back to Willy’s story …

From the beginning, it was evident that Willy would be a big player in the Knollwood lesson program. Willy and his perfect jog trot with the consistent rhythm of a metronome has taught countless, and we mean countless, riders to post. Even the most timid riders feel they can ride when they encounter Willy’s calm personality. He’s a big golden confidence builder.

 

In his younger days, Willy was the fastest horse in the pasture. Over the years, he may have slowed down a bit physically, but he still maintains his sense of humor in his stall and in the arena. While enjoying the box stall life with his fellow senior citizen Brinkley, Willy enjoys ‘escaping’ from his stall while it’s being cleaned or bedded. Of course, he trots to his slip stall where he enjoys his senior feed every day while kids brush and tack him for lessons.

Oh yes, he’s still teaching lessons, and would go insane if he didn’t have a job to do. Willy is still a master of tiny tot lessons and of walk and trot bareback lessons. He does occasionally get caught up in the moment and canter a few strides if other horses in a group lesson are doing the same.

Few horses have the sense of humor of this one. Over the years, he’s been dressed up as a witch, a nerd, a scarecrow, and even as a pommel horse for gymnasts. As usual, he takes it all in stride with a sigh.

 

Willy fears only one thing in the world, and it’s aerosol spray. He’s terrified of fly spray and can hear it from across any arena. His kids have learned to spray a towel out of his ear shot, of course, and wipe it all over Willy to keep him comfortable  during fly season.

 

These days, he’s a member of our ‘Entitled Old Gelding Club,’ and enjoys whatever he wants. He loves the sun on his back outside, as well as his cushy box stall next to his friend Brinkley at night. Of course, Willy’s stall also happens to be next to the feed room, so he begs every evening for some extra goodies to help him through the night. Every night.

We’re celebrating Willy’s birthday on Saturday, May 5. Please stop by and tell him what he’s meant to you and to wish him a Happy Birthday.  He’s truly one in a million and we are so fortunate to have known a soul like his.

 

In celebration of his three decades, Willy would appreciate gifts of carrots and apples. He is a health nut, and doesn’t eat candy, but really loves a good carrot.

 

Happy Birthday, Willy!

Team Knollwood has started its annual food drive for the Food Pantry of Waukesha County, and we’re looking for members who want to become Olympians.

Let’s back up a little bit …

Our youth group, the Knollwood Knockouts, has a tradition of giving back to neighbors in need. We support the Honor Flight, breast cancer research, the American Heart Association, Saddlebred Rescue, and others.

 

Our biggest annual charitable event, the Knollwood Olympics, is coming up on May 19, and we are looking for Olympians to join our teams. To be a Knollwood Olympian, ask your friends, family, or neighbors to donate food kits in your name. Each food kit consists of one:

Can of vegetables

Can of fruit

Boxed potato

Package of gravy

Box of cereal

Can of soup

Boxed dessert

Box of Jello

Put these items in a bag with your name and day that you ride in the Food Pantry bins in the show barn lounge. When you have a minimum of five bags donated, you’re a Knollwood Olympian! (Of course, you can collect as many food kits as you’d like, as the pantry runs short of food after school ends. The team that collects the most food kits is the winner and will receive a special prize.)

If you have donors who are too busy to shop, they can write checks out to ‘The Food Pantry of Waukesha County.’ A food kit is equivalent to $15, and the checks are tax deductible. We’ll send all the checks in after the event.

Qualifying food kits must be in by May 12th, so we can set rosters and the team captains can get to work on the competition plan!

We’ll have a team for each day of the week, and you’ll join the team of your riding day. Helpers will serve as Olympians and team captains who will assign events to team members. Rosters will hold a maximum of 10 team members, so get your food kits in soon to join the fun.

 

The Olympic Events

Team captains will assign members to some of the following events based on their interest, age, and schedules. Olympians will be competing in these events:

 

 

The Helmet Toss

Weather permitting, as this is an outdoor event only, one member of each team will try to toss a size large riding helmet as far as possible. Why outside only? We’ve seen some pretty wild tosses, and fear for the ceiling fans and the light fixtures in the arena!

 

 

The Dance Off

Each team will pick a song and choreograph a dance using the barn prop of their choice. Previous props have included muck buckets, brooms, coolers, crops, and ribbons. The event is judged by an esteemed guest, and bribery is often attempted. Trust us, this one is well worth watching!

 

 

The Blanket Race

Picture this: Seven horse sheets with three Olympians in each one, Unfortunately, only the one in front can see where they’re going as the back two are crouching down inside the sheet. Yup, line seven of these creatures up at the gate of the little outside ring, and send them out for a lap around the arena. Usually, the team that stays upright, or gets up the quickest wins. It’s another great event for the spectators.

 

Hop, Skip, and Wrap

This event features two Knollwood Olympians, one leg wrap, and a lot of hopping - fast hopping.

 

 

The Blind Buggy Race

Weather permitting, this event is held in the big outdoor ring as it has a warning track.

Two Olympians are blindfolded, and each are given a shaft of a jog cart. The sighted Olympian is seated in the cart and must direct their blindfolded teammates through an obstacle course using only their voice. The sand track comes in really handy as the blindfolded runners know they’re lost if they don’t feel the grass under their feet. In previous years, we’ve lost blindfolded contestants, had drivers try to direct their blindfolded helpers with hand signals, and, well, hit the fence. It’s a classic.

 

 

Be The Horse

Take four Knollwood Olympians and make each of them act as one of a horse’s legs. These fearless foursomes will act as a horse and complete all five gaits around the arena. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen four horse crazy kids try to be a racking horse. It’s good.

 

Depending on team sizes, we may swap out an event to bring back the garbage relay which goes all the way from the arena to the garage to the big outdoor ring and back to the arena.

We’re always open to new events, so please bring your ideas to Ann or Nancy.

 

We’ll finish the evening with a celebration cook out, so everyone can hang out with barn friends and rehash the memories of the events. We’ll also load up the trailer with all the food kits!

Food feast coordinators Nicole and Kristen will assign each Knollwood Olympian a food item to bring to the picnic.

We hope you can join us for our biggest charitable event of the year. Admission to watch is one food kit (or a $15 per person donation) supporting the team of your choice. Remember, prizes are awarded for the team with the most food kits, so please write the day of the week you’d like to support on the bag.

 

Thank you for helping us help our neighbors in need.

Last weekend, Team Knollwood traveled to Gurnee, Illinois for the first show of the season put on by the Illinois American Saddlebred Pleasure Horse Association. Held at the beautiful, weatherproof Fields & Fences Equestrian Center, the sold out show kept everyone toasty and dry through a most unspringlike weekend.

We had a great time with our barn friends, both human and equine, and enjoyed the chance to catch up with horse show friends after a long off season. We created many great memories and have some great stories to share!

 

Knollwood in Numbers

For the first time, both the show and school barns competed at an IASPHA show! With an early season show moving out of the area, Scott and Carol took advantage of the nice show in our ‘neighborhood,’ and brought eight show horses to Gurnee.

We had so many horses that we didn’t all fit in the traditional Knollwood stabling area. With the show horses living in temporary stalls, we enjoyed Knollwood East and West at this show.

Eight show horses, three ‘B’ horses, and close to 20 academy riders made for a fun, full weekend.

Geronimo Rises Again

Horses dream of owners like Susan.  She respects her horses and takes responsibility for their comfort wherever they are in their careers. She uses expensive, sometimes experimental treatments in her attempts to keep the boys comfortable as they age. If they can no longer show, she makes every effort to make them pasture sound so they can enjoy the sun on their backs as retired gentlemen.

Geronimo and Susan forged a bond through several show seasons before he injured himself a while back. After trips to Kentucky for treatment, it looked like he might finally be pasture sound.  Geronimo had other plans, however. He started looking really good, so he started jogging and kept progressing.

Susan and Geronimo showed again this weekend and we couldn’t tell who was happier, Susan or SA Denmark’s Geronimo. This team finished their reunion weekend with a Reserve Championship in the Adult Country Pleasure division.

Three Debuts

Knollwood takes great pride in our lesson program, and this weekend was a special accomplishment for us when three of our experienced academy stars showed in the ‘A’ show division for the first time.

 

Emma has been an academy equitation star in the area for several years. With wins at all the major shows, she was ready to make the step up to a show horse.

 

She’s leasing Impressive Asset for the season to show in the equitation division, and she got off to an incredible start. Emma and Fergie won their equitation qualifier and performed a flawless pattern to win the championship as well.

Heather was one of the stars of 13 and under academy equitation last season, and is fortunate to have leased CH Fine By Me for this season. Heather and Tucker will be competing in the equitation division, and we’re looking forward to watching this charismatic team.

 

Tucker was a little under the weather the first day of the show, so Heather showed Panic while Tucker rested. On Sunday, Team Tucker made its debut, topping the field in the UPHA Challenge Cup qualifier.

 

Jordan has been a rock star in the academy division for the past few years. Known for her quiet horsemanship skills, Jordan is teamed with the expressive Tura Lura Lura this season.  These two made quite a splash this weekend winning all three of their classes at their first show.

Side note: Also known for her fashion sense, Jordan’s coat was a great reflection of her sense of style.

 

 

IASPHA Supports Academy

IASPHA is very friendly to the academy division, offering a full slate of age divisions and championships. Adult riders love this show because they have their own championship on Saturday afternoon, keeping the younger riders in their own division. Because of this, we had three adults competing at this show as well as five junior exhibitors on Saturday.

Our walk, trot, and canter riders did Knollwood proud in nice, deep classes on Saturday.  Highlights of Saturday afternoon were Rachel winning her classes on Heist, and McKailey’s wins on the one and only Baxter.

Sunday afternoon brought the always full and deep walk trot academy classes. With 11 riders in the 9-10 year old division and nine in the 8 and under classes, it was a testament to the strength of the  academy programs in the area.

The 10 and under equitation championship was split, and we’re happy to report that Mia won the older split, and Juliet was reserve champion of the second split.

We’re so proud of all our riders this weekend. From riders like Samara competing at only their second show to seasoned academy stars like McKailey and Mia, these ladies all rode to the best of their ability. Our riders are at many different points of their riding journey, and every one of them showed great poise and ambition in their rides.

Boys Rock!

Our two Knollwood boys had a great show to start the 2018 season.

Matthew turned in some strong rides in the equitation division, finishing reserve to Emma in the qualifier, and reserve to Heather in the Challenge Cup.

Fresh off the reserve national championship at only his second show in a suit, Richie and Tink picked up right where they left off. The dynamic duo won the walk and trot equitation championship, and perhaps more importantly, Richie didn’t grow out of his suit over the winter!

 

 

Hanna and Payton

Payton made the trip to show both Robert and Michael this weekend. Payton rode to a strong 4th in her Show Pleasure qualifier but couldn’t show back on Sunday due to a schedule conflict. She kindly asked Hanna to show Robert back, and Hanna’s horsemanship skills helped her show a new horse to a 3rd place championship ribbon.

Payton also got to show a gaited horse for the first time and earned a 2nd place in her pleasure qualifier. She came back Saturday night to win the championship, and cap off a wonderful horse show weekend.

 

 

We enjoyed our weekend at the IASPHA Spring Show. Great thanks to the show management for putting on a welcoming, friendly show with a relaxed schedule and great hospitality.

Best of all, everyone made it home safely after the spring ice storm on Saturday and Sunday!

Next up on the show calendar? Academy and show horses will be off to Woodstock, Illinois for the UPHA Chapter 10 Spring show on April 27-29. We can hardly wait to show again!

 So we're heading out to our first 2 shows this month, and things are staring to get busy. Let's take a few minutes to make sure you have all the great upcoming Knollwood events on your calendar.

May is going to be a good one!

Saturday, May 5

Shirt Orders Due!

At the banquet, we celebrated the start of Knollwood's 40th year with a tribute to Scott, the founder of the farm.  It's quite an accomplishment to keep a business going for 40 years, and to be as successful as Knollwood has been is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved. We're continuing the celebration with shirts and baseball hats commemorating the big anniversary.  Orders are due May 5, and you won't want to miss out on these collector items.

 

The Knockouts Street Clean Up

Join our award winning youth group at 1:00 for our spring neighborhood clean up. Teams of adults and kids will tidy up Oakwood and Nagawicka Roads for spring. It's a great way to earn your service hours  and to meet new friends at the same time.

After the clean up, kick back with the Knockouts and enjoy the club meeting at 2:30. Our officers always have fun things planned, and this will be no exception!

 

The Big 30!

We'll be celebrating Willy's 30th birthday all day.

Officially known as Dakota's Diamond Sam, the one and only Willy will enjoy a day all about him. Please be sure to stop by and thank him for all his work, and to bring him a carrot for the day. We'll get more details out soon!

And he's already told us he's not ready to retire. He still enjoys his walk and trot classes with the occasional few cantering strides thrown in to see if we're paying attention.

Saturday, May 12

Moms Take Over!

Moms will take over the arena as we host the always popular Mother's Day  ride at 5:30. For only $45, the rider in your family can be their Mom's helper for a fun introductory group lesson. There's nothing better than knowing more than your mom about something, so this entertaining event is always a sell out. Get your reservation and payment in soon to avoid missing the fun!

 

Saturday, May 19

It's a big, big day!

We'll start with our Spring Open house running from 11 AM until 3 PM. Please tell your friends all about the free mini lessons, Forest painting, tours, and discounts to new riders signing up at the event.

If you're interested in being a tour guide or a pony painting helper, please let Nancy or Ann know! 

We kick off our biggest charitable event of the year at 6:00 with the opening ceremonies of the Knollwood Olympics. By popular demand, we've expanded the Helper Olympics to include any members of Team Knollwood who would like to collect food for the Food Pantry of Waukesha County. Olympians will collect a minimum of 5 food kits to participate in 'olympic' events while competing on teams based on the day of the week they ride.

Following the events, and while we tally the final donation count by team, all participants will enjoy a cookout. Prizes will be awarded to the teams who collects the most food for the pantry!

A food kit consists of:

canned vegetable

canned fruit

instant potato

packaged gravy

can of soup

box of jello

box of cereal

boxed dessert

For backers who don't have time to shop, Olympians can also accept donations in the form of checks made out to 'The Food Pantry of Waukesha County.' Donations are tax deductible.

Saturday, May 26

Madison Classic Academy Classes

The Madison Classic Horse Show has been growing in numbers and stature the last few years. It attracts some of the best barns in the country, and many travel a great distance to participate in this exhibitor friendly show.

The show was named the national show of the year for 2017, and this year will be even bigger and better.  

Academy classes will be held Saturday morning May 26, and we expect them to be some of the best competition of the season. Plan on joining us for a great morning of showing!

 

 

 

We're looking forward to all that's happening next month at Knollwood.

We hope you can join us!!

 

Knollwood is in full horse show prep mode with trunks double checked, tack cleaned 'til it squeaks and horses beautified with clippers and shampoo. It's almost time to leave for our first show of the season, the IASPHA Spring Show in Gurnee. The show is sold out and for the first time, our show horses will be joining the academy and 'B' horses for the show.

With so many horses making the trip, Team Knollwood will be making two trips with horses, and will be stabled in two separate areas. The academy and 'B' horses will be in their usual stalls with their traditional neighbors, Huntoon Stables and Country Meadow Farm. We can't wait to see them again!

The show horses will be stabled in temporary stalls just across from the best concession stand on the horse show circuit. Really. Be sure to check out Kevin's Catering, whose motto is, “If you don't eat, we'll both go hungry.”

The first show of the season has its own sense of excitement, but this one has some very special stories ready to unfold.

 

Three Knollwood Kids are making the transition from academy stars to the show horse world this weekend.

Emma, Heather, and Jordan will don their suits for the first time, and we can hardly wait!

 

Susan will be reunited with the one and only Geronimo this weekend. This grand gelding has made a remarkable recovery from some physical setbacks and is ready to hit the ring once again.

 

Richie and Tink are starting their 10-year-old year and are ready to make waves in the walk and trot equitation division again this year. These two have worked hard all winter, usually with Richie in a tee shirt no matter the weather, and they are ready to rock it.

 

We have nine walk, trot, and canter riders showing on Saturday afternoon, with Sofia and Lily making their cantering debuts. 

Sunday afternoon will showcase six of our walk and trot academy riders, and they are ready to show.

 

Add an aisle decorating contest, a pet class, nightly exhibitor parties, and it sounds like a memorable horse show weekend. Please stop by and watch! It's a short drive less than 10 miles south of the Wisconsin/Illinois border to Fields & Fences, and we'd love all the cheerleaders we can get!

 

 

Here's the schedule for the weekend. 

Hope to see you there!