We deeply mourn the loss of Tia Maria, a wonderful horse who taught so many of us to ride. She was Darlene's partner and friend for 15 years. RIP sweet girl.

JHW Tia Maria April 20, 1988 - May 4, 2011

Quotes and pics from our Facebook friends:

"virtue shall be bound into the hair of thy forelock...." good girl tia maria... xo

Beautiful, brainy, and the best babysitter ever...Tia Maria. Thanks for taking such good care of our little ones. We, and they, will miss you always.

...There just aren't enough individuals of any species in the world like Tia. Kind, proud, elegant, and patient. This world has lost an angel that was called home. God speed Tia Maria.

Check out our Octoberfest ad. We are so proud of you all! Great job, girls!   (click for larger picture)

We had a lot of snow this January. The horses don't seem to mind, though.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Shannon had the best Christmas ever! And she had it at Dar-Col because her big present was Prince! And it was a surprise! Shannon and Prince were very happy, and Prince fit well into Shannon's extended family! Congratulations, Shannon! We look forward to seeing you and Prince in the show ring in 2011!

Dar-col riders competed in the Taylor River Winter Tournament this month. Megan riding Jelly (two wins!) and Hailey riding Tia both came out on top! Shannon rode her first competitive pattern! Way to go girls! We are so proud of you!

Dar-col riders competed in the Octoberfest Horse Show in Springfield, Massachusetts. Performances were awesome!! Thursday, Rachael and Rev got second in Morgan Pleasure Junior Exhibitor. Friday, Rachael and Penny rode in Junior Exhibitor Hack and took first place! Friday night, Jian and Tony took tenth in the New England Medal! This was a tough competition in a class that took over 1 1/2 hours with a killer pattern. Saturday, Rachael and Penny took first in the Hack Championship. And Shannon took a clean sweep in the Academy WT Final Classes! Lisa won second in Adult Academy WTC Pleasure and won the Adult Academy WTC Equitation on Rev. Kath got third on Beamer Adult Academy WTC Equitation. Congratulations everyone! We are so proud of you all!

Dar-col riders competed in two shows this month! We enjoyed one beautiful day at the Hopkinton Fair at the beginning of the month. Then at the end of the month was a challenging four days at the Deerfield Fair. The weather wasn't the best, but our teams performed beautifully.

We had a fun three-day camp this year! The weather was fine, and the kids and the horses enjoyed their time together. The horses especially enjoyed the grooming contest during which they were thoroughly pampered! The kids especially enjoyed the riding, of course!

Dar-Col Stable riders excelled in this year's New Hampshire Jubilee at Deerfield Fairgrounds! Our riders had outstanding rides, and the results were all blue and red!

Dar-Col will be holding a new camp in August.
Here is the information:
Tuesday August 17 - Wednesday August 18 - Thursday August 19
9:00 am to 3:00 pm
cost $200.00

Dar-Col Stable riders again came out on top !!!! Twin State Saddlebred was our second show with the new teams and the results are great!

Jian Haenel age 14 Bedford, NH, teamed with Strictly Adventure, were crowned the American Saddlebred Country Pleasure Champions for the second show in a row.
Jian was also Res Champion in Saddleseat Equitation.

Rachael Lowney age 16 Bedford, NH was Res Champion Pleasure Equitation riding Hurricane's The Dance. This same team won the Pleasure Equitation at NH Horse and Trail in May.

Kayla Clark age 8 of Westford, MA made her debut ride in a suit on A Step Above to be second in Walk Trot Equitation and Walk Trot Pleasure

Shannon Lambert age 11 Bedford, NH won the Academy Walk Trot Equitation and Pleasure on A Step Above

Victoria Durrett age 15 Londonderry, NH won The Academy Walk Trot Canter Equitation on Starmakers Moon Trap and was second in the Academy Pleasure

Kathryn Conway of Litchfield, NH had her debut Adult Academy rides on Hurricanes The Dance. This was a very large class and the team placed 4th and 5th.

Congratulations to our riders who rode in the New Hampshire Horse and Trail Show at the Deerfield Fairgrounds! We were in the ribbons, especially Saturday and Sunday! Everyone got quite wet and muddy with all of that rain, but Tony, Oscar, Rev and Jelly persisted and were good sports through it all. Sunday was sunny, cold and windy, but they seemed to like that. Our championships that day went really well: two championships and two reserve championships!

Congratulation to all of our riders for a fun and successful tournament season!