2023 Newsletter
President’s Greeting by Linda Schmidt:
Happy New Year! This newsletter will indicate that Eddy Farm is back to normal. Lessons are going forward, equestrian partnerships with CSAC have resumed, and the Middlebury College Team conLnues be based at Eddy Farm and held a spring “Fun Show” for team members as well as Farm students. This fall, the Team held a very successful interscholastic horse show on a beautiful Saturday. The August Memorial Event rounded out the summer activity for the students riding at the Farm before returning to school. We want to thank the student volunteers who helped put it all together. It honors the founder of this farm, Doris Eddy. Many riders from the surrounding area came to participate in a challenging yet fun day of competition. Eddy Farm continued our association with the Green Mountain Hounds. They held a number of meets using Eddy Farm as a base and riding the surrounding fields. It is thrilling to see the riders and horses going across the fields following the hounds in full cry! The annual Eddy Farm Egg Hunt resumed this spring and was once again a great success. Lots of families came to search for eggs, enjoy pony rides and color eggs. Lastly, we also held our Halloween Barn. The Farm, horses, and horse handlers were all decked out in various costumes with lots of candy to hand out. We finally had a beautiful warm day with lots of community members partaking in the fun. We are thrilled to have awarded the first recipient of the Emily Leeds Scholarship, providing the student more lessons and time spent at the farm. The Farm has new students, new horses, and new boarders to bring new energy, new challenges and new ways to explore and enjoy life. We continue our mission to give life to this beautiful Farm and to the horses it supports. We want to continue to serve our community by being a good steward of the land and the people it supports. Please come to visit and see the progress we have made over the years and to enjoy the bucolic atmosphere Eddy Farm has to offer.
In Memory of friends of The Eddy Farm:
Tom Duclos died December 14, 2021 following a long illness, at the age of 77. He worked for the University of Vermont for many years before working his own farm with his wife, Lisa Thompson, for 39 years in custom farm work and raising sheep, turkeys, pigs and beef cattle. It was the custom farming that brought him to Eddy Farm in the early 1980’s haying the yearly hay crop for the farm. This continued through the year he died, and Lisa has conLnued to carry on this service. Tom’s knowledge and skills included more than custom haying for Eddy Farm. Tom and Lisa were professionals in pasture nutrient management, settng fence posts and stringing fencing, fixing frozen water pipes, and fixing machinery. Tom loved sharing food, laughter and a good story. Eddy Farm will miss him.
Kathleen “Kate” Kaster died October 14, 2022 at the age of 80. Kate was a lover of all animals, from dogs, cats, goats and above all, horses. It was this love of horses that brought her to Eddy Farm to share with Doris Eddy the love of Arabian horses. Kate rode with Doris and had horses of her own. She would teach riding to students in the front yard of her home on her ponies. Kate was also dedicated to serving others, and horses became her method of helping troubled youth during her work for the Counseling Service of Addison County. She became a founding member of the Equestrian Partnerships for Children, bringing her patients together with the healing influence of horses. When this program needed to find a new farm to sponsor this therapeutic program, Kate was instrumental in Eddy Farm becoming the farm of choice. Kate was a very special person and will be missed.
Betty Bird died November 23, 2022 at the age of 80. Betty and her wife Susan Bass came to Eddy Farm in 2011 with their horses Rock Star and Elegant. Both horses and owners enjoyed the Eddy Farm environment and have contributed to the wellbeing of the farm. Betty was a very special woman, being totally blind, but able to ride her horse in the arena and out through the fields with the assistance of radios and bells and horses to lead the way. It was inspiring to see her sitting so tall in the saddle and thoroughly enjoying the ride. As time went on, Betty’s health declined but not her love for Rock Star. Her kindness and generosity will be missed.
The Eddy Farm had to say goodbye to some beloved horses this year. We are grateful for all the lessons they taught us and the love they gave.
The Return of the Easter Egg Hunt!
The Eddy Farm held our annual Easter Egg Hunt after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. The event was clearly greatly missed by the community, as we had a remarkable turn out! Hundreds of kids turned out to hunt for the nearly 6000 (!!) Easter Eggs hidden in the cross-country course. There was a spectacular assortment of baked goods made by Sarah Wood, and we raffled off a beautiful horse painting donated by local artist Rebecca Kinkead.
Halloween Barn finally, a beautiful day!
We held our third Halloween costume barn and finally got a day without pouring rain. 18 horses and their humans dressed up as Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West, Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, clowns, soccer balls, bats, skeletons and more. Pumpkins were donated by Litte Billy’s Pumpkin Patch for painting, and Sarah Wood made a fantastic selection of spooky treats for a bake sale!
Wish List/Projects to do list:
Outdoor sand arena -New south meadow shed -Arena grain room renovation - Farm house foundation and bathroom renovation - Shop rebuild - Repair lower stable doors and walls - New tack room in arena - Repair and replace lower stable hayloft doors - Removal of creek pasture shed - Pasture management- rotational grazing, sacrifice areas - Upgrade water lines - and more!
The South Meadow shed was lost in the wind storm of Christmas 2022. We hope to rebuild soon, as the horses rely on this to take cover from the elements.
Book Review by Board Member Barbara Greenewalt: “Horse” by Geraldine Brooks
Having joined the board of the Eddy Farm and starting to take lessons, I have become curious about all things equine. When a friend said she was reading Horse by Geraldine Brooks, I thought I should too. I borrowed a copy from the library and found a story that begins with a horse portrait in a junk pile and goes on to meld 1850‘s and Civil War Era horse racing and breeding, horse portraiture and modern museum research in horse anatomy, physiology, and evoluLon. Slavery and its tragic consequences, both in the past and carried on to this day, are also part of this novel. A good book inspires further learning, so I watched the movie Seabiscuit to see more horse racing. I came away appreciating the skill, strength, and courage of the jockey. I also saw how knowledge and concern for a horse’s behavior and special quirks factors into racing success. The documentary “Palio” shows a race in Sienna, Italy which is, simply put, “pazzo". People will do crazy things to see who has the fastest horse. If you come to the Eddy Farm you might start to see why. Every time I canter in my lessons, it’s a thrill. If I see a horse running in one of the pastures, I can’t take my eyes away. That power and beauty, you could write a book about it!
Middlebury College Equestrian Team Show
On October 8, the Eddy Farm hosted the Middlebury College Equestrian Team’s first home show since before the pandemic. The team has hosted regularly since 1994, and this was the first show at the Eddy Farm! More than 80 riders from ten schools throughout New England came to participate. Schools in attendance were: Bates College (ME), Castleton University (VT), Colby-Sawyer College (NH), Middlebury College, Northeastern University (MA), Norwich University (VT), University of Maine, University of New England (ME), University of New Hampshire, and University of Vermont. There were 107 rides on the flat and over fences. A fleet of 23 horses made it possible, most of them Eddy Farm horses plus a few leased from friends of the farm. All the horses performed brilliantly in a rigorous style of competition where competetors ride unknown horses in classes without any warm-up. The weather cooperated and we set up an amazing jump course in the lower ring (also used for flat classes). Many of the coaches expressed that it was the most beautiful show location in the region! In addition to bringing together New England schools, a number of community members, college friends, and faculty enjoyed coming to the farm and being a part of the day.
