Stillwater Farm

http://www.stillwaterfarmva.com

Dear Friends,

I received an email from my friends, Cynthia and Mike at Stillwater Farm, and it appears that they are doing some liquidation (closing....BLAH!) Cynthia is having a major sale, and I invite you to see her inventory below:

Stillwater Farm is closing it's doors to move onto bigger and better things. Total Farm Liquidation on Equipment & Supplies. EVERYTHING Must Go by end of May. All reasonable CASH offers will be considered, some photos and more info available through email. I haven't even listed everything, so if you're looking for a particular item, let me know.

-2003 John Deere 460 Tractor w/ front-end loader $20K
all attachments (to include bush hog, grader blade, 2 bale spears, post hole digger)
-2003 Mid-Atlantic 4H Stock Trailer $6,400
-2003 Kawaski Mule 4x4 w/ dump bed $5500
-2002 Ford F-250 Crew Cab Diesel 88K miles (matches trailer) $15K
-4 round bale feeders $150ea
-large black tack trunk $150
-Oster Clipmaster $200
-face clippers $20
-2 custom wood mounting blocks $50ea
-tons of turnout blankets (various weights and sizes and conditions) $20-100ea
-several sleazies $20/ea
-tons of halters $5ea
-lunge line and whip $20
-couple coolers around size 72-78 $35ea
-several nice quality leather girths $15-25ea
-1 pair full leather chaps, 1 pair arait half chaps size small/tall $35ea
-4 leather bridles with snaffle bits&reins $40-75ea
-several standing/running martingales $15ea
-several white and colored english saddle pads $10/ea
-15 box fans for stalls $5/ea
-16 saddle racks $7/ea
-15-20 flat back feeder buckets, some fence feeders, and heated water stall buckets
vary from $5ea-$20ea
-50 & 100 foot water hoses and reels $50-100/ea
-several muck buckets and apple picker pitchforks $10/ea
-100 gallon water troughs $40ea heaters available
-tarps in all sizes $10-40ea
-9 cases of horse treats $20ea
- english and western seat savers (GREAT for trail riding) $20/ea
-20 gallon water storage tank for trailer $30
-several pair of shipping boots $25/ea
-1 small barn frig $25
- 4 sets of crossties or trailer ties $10ea
-measuring stick in hands w/ level $20
-2 wheel barrows $40-75
-several fly masks $5/ea

plus more photos/equipment available, just let me know what you're looking for..........

Phone: 540-439-6489 Email: stillwaterfarms@aol.com

Web site: www.stillwaterfarmva.com
Cynthia Still
7261 Covingtons Corner Rd
Bealton, VA 22712
H-540-439-6489
C-540-270-3967www.stillwaterfarmva.com

P.S. From Susan...Cynthia sent me photos, so if you'd like to write me, I can provide you with you them as well.

Best wish to Cynthia and Mike

You gotta love Alpacas!

I had the pleasure of photographing my first Alapaca shoot at Whitestone Farm a week ago, and they are beautiful, curious creatures! For more information please contact Kristen Pruitt at Whitestone Farm

A New Link (to the Author of "My Daughter Grew Up With Horses"

I'm pleased to post this link to Tracy who wrote the essay "Because My Daughter Grew Up With Horses"
The Horse Diary

It's Only Appropriate that on this day I publish these words, spoken so eloquently by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Let us never forget him...let us never forget his words...


"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. *We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only."* We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.



And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Text within asterisks was added on 3/31/06. Credit Randy Mayeux for bringing the omissions to my attention.

¹ Amos 5:24 (rendered precisely in The American Standard Version of the Holy Bible)

² Isaiah 40:4-5 (King James Version of the Holy Bible). Quotation marks are excluded from part of this moment in the text because King's rendering of Isaiah 40:4 does not precisely follow the KJV version from which he quotes (e.g., "hill" and "mountain" are reversed in the KJV). King's rendering of Isaiah 40:5, however, is precisely quoted from the KJV.

³ At: http://www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/free_at_last_from.htm

Video Source: Linked directly to: http://www.earthstation1.com/

Also in this database: Martin Luther King, Jr: A Time to Break Silence

External Link: http://www.mlkmemorial.org/

External Link: http://www.thekingcenter.org/

A Valuable Lesson...

Dear Friends,

You may remember a while ago, I added a post entitled "My Daughter Grew Up With Horses" which was forwarded to me by a friend; the author was unknown. I received an e-mail today from the author who asked me to take the post down, saying that it was an essay she wrote for her daughter, that it was copyrighted and that I did not have permission to use it. I immediately sent an apology and have taken down the post.

I understand why she would be upset, and I've added this post for two reasons. One, if you would like to share someone's work on your website or blog, please go above and beyond to find the author or creator to get permission and two, to reiterate for me, personally, how hurtful it is to find that the photographs here or on my website have been taken without my permission.

Again, my apologies to the author.

FASL Black Tie & Boots Gala Photos are Up!

To view and purchase photos from this event, please visit talbotphotoart. Don't forget, a percentage of photo sales goes to the FASL! Shown here, the evenings' entertainment, The Wil Gravatt Band. I have to say that if I wasn't a fan of this band and style of music before, I sincerely am now. They were absolutely fabulous, and I've fallen in love! For more on Wil and his band, and to hear tracks, please visit their website at wilgravatt.com I guarantee you'll become a fan too!

AIRC Team Photos are Up!

Photo shown here...Summerduck Run Farm riders (yes, I'd know them anywhere!)
Click on the title above to go to "Shows" or visit www.talbotphotoart.com/shows.html

Coming Soon! AIRC Finals

March 9, 2008

Photography 101 To Flash or Not (NOT!!!!)

I've no photos to attach to this post, but I think it's a very important message to relay regardless.

I look forward to Spring and Hunter/and new adventures: Jumper and Dressage competitions because they're outside. For my "Up and Coming Photographer" friends (Janie and Tia and Tayloe...you ride so you know) and for family and friends of riders who use a flash when attending indoor shows or events, and I've seen you do it, do us all a great favor: Please don't. Maybe your daughter or son's mount has become acclimated to the flash, other horses and ponies have not. You never know how a participant's best friend will react.

As much as I would love to flash indoors (and this is part of being a professional equestrian photographer and how I make a living), if I don't do it...you shouldn't either...it's not worth the potential consequences. Get it? Got it? Good!

All the best,

Susan and Aladdin (who was spooked when my cell phone light went on and he's still acting "iffy" a week later)

Guess Who's Getting Hitched?!!!

I'm so very pleased to announce here at "It's Time To Ride!" that Tara Lane and Will Kinnamon are getting married this October! Many of you know Tara who owns Virginia Horse Imports and shows her beautiful ponies at many of the Hunter Shows in our neighborhood!

Now Will is not YET a horsey person, but it's my guess that he will be! You may have seen the three of us at Hazelwild this past weekend where we got these photos (and many more that even Tara and Will haven't seen...so I've got to make this post short so I can get them to the happy couple!). Tara grew up riding at Hazelwild; the vest she is wearing actually belonged to Ms. Morrison and was given to Tara when Ms. Morrison left this world to go her big beautiful equestrian farm in Heaven...

Back to photos, and thank you so much to Will and Tara for inviting me to shoot, not only their engagement photos, but the BIG day in October. I have grown very fond of them, and I'm honored to be a part of the celebration! Congratulations to you both, with much love from Susan and Aladdin.