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In This Issue...
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This year is almost over….
 WOW!!! What a fantastic year! And it is almost over…. How was your year? Why not send a reply email and update us on your latest news? We love keeping in touch and knowing what all our special guests, friends and newsletters subscribers are up to. And for Yarrabin?? As we take a moment or two to reflect (sitting on the verandahs here with the sound of happy children and tweeting birds in the background, smelling the fresh air, and enjoying a quiet beer or two!), 2006 has been in incredible year for Yarrabin, our family, our team, and our horses and animals. We’ve had to endure some tough times - the fourth year of drought in a row, bushfires only 5 km from our paradise, the passing of some special horses, and the moving on of some equally special staff. But we have gone from strength to strength in so many other ways, and weathered the storm so-to-speak. We have been blessed with many very special guests (some returning having experienced Yarrabin as children), our theme weekends (like Adults Only, Riders Weekends, and the Yarrabin Cup) have proved popular, Kids Camps are full (except 9 to 13 Dec), Annie’s “Active Horsemanship” workshops are a blast, the horses are happy and healthy, the Yarrabin crew just love what they do (and we love them and their enthusiasm!), and our family are all enjoying life and being part of Yarrabin (and growing up waaay too quickly!!). Leadership & Horses (our leadership program) is gaining momentum, as is our new business “Yarrabin Corporate Development.” We even had a visit from a couple of blokes known as “the Flood Brothers!” They are Laurie and Warren Keane shown putting out the towel to break the drought. And believe it or not, we did actually have 2 inches of rain just as they left!!!! We are trying to bring them back every month now!!. We have a few new things planned for 2007 (but are planning as far out as 2008 already!) – see later for “Dates For Your Diary.” So enjoy this read (and also the hardcopy Summer newsletter if you are on that distribution), enjoy life, and stay in touch!!
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Annie’s Horse Tip for November – the Benefits of Hanging Out With Horses!
 She’s back!!! After a short break, Annie is back on the horses after her minor setback. And also back with some riding and horse tips for you. If you have a specific question or problem, email Annie and she will get back to you! Here’s the November tip: “Being with horses is not dissimilar to many other life situations. If you want calm, you need to be calm and to stay calm. If you have children, you’ll already know this! To get them to be calm, you are better off staying calm yourself. Screaming at them to stop screaming really doesn’t work, does it? Well, it is the same with horses. Horses respond to energy, so if you are screaming, “Stop! Stop! Stop,” the horse is likely to fun faster and faster! If you want them to slow down, or to calm down, then you yourself have to stay calm. How many times have I seen screaming children on horses as the horse get faster and faster. I end up calmly and clearly telling them to quieten down. Works a treat!! Working with horses is often an exercise in you remaining in control of your emotions and your body. That self-control can be handy in many life situations as well! Happy trails….”
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Dates for your Diaries : )
 Our new website will have a link with all our special dates and activities for you to enjoy. But in the meantime, here are some key dates for your diary! Five Day Kids Camps in Dec/Jan commence on Saturday 9th December (all pretty full, but email to ask the latest availability). Mon 15 to Fri 19 Jan 07 - Our special “Cowgirl Adventure Camp” for 15 to 17 year old girls. Rockley Rodeo Weekend Fri 2 to Sun 4 Feb (note change of date). Orange Horse Auction Sales Mon 2 Feb (join Annie and have fun watching or bidding for horses!). Mon 5 to Wed 28 Feb Working Bee for rooms and kitchen. Fri 2 to Sun 4 Mar - Day Ride Weekend – ride to the O’Connell Pub on the Sunday. Mon 5 to Fri 9 Mar - Active Horsemanship Workshop with Annie – guaranteed to improve your riding! Fri 9 to Sun 11 March - Adults Only Weekend (or “Kid Free” if you prefer!). Mon 19 to Fri 23 March - Leadership & Horses Workshop – innovative leadership development for individuals and teams. Monday 2 Apr – Orange Horse Auction Sale. Fri 6 to Sun 22 April – NSW Easter school holidays. Fri 11 to Sun 13 May – Special Mothers Day Weekend.
That’s all for now. Til we see you again, enjoy life, relax, smile and return to Yarrabin as soon as you can!! Happy trails!!! Annie, Graeme with Jessica, Harry, Jack, Will and all our wonderful team!! PS Please keep forwarding these ezines to all your friends and family so we can get to our 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year!!! Many thanks!!
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When we happily grabbed the reins of Yarrabin in 2000, we always had plans to bring Yarrabin back to its heyday – with Kids Camps, school groups, theme weekends, loads more farm animals – but also to do some more cerebral workshops and development programs. Our website has managed to keep up with us – but we are working hard on it now! So here’s your chance to have an input to the future website of Yarrabin. Let us know what you like, what you would change, what would you like to see, even let us know other sites that look and work well. Looking forward to your comments!
Our planning has progressed significantly for our “Renovation Month” in February 2007. The priority will be to the rooms, and to the kitchen. But of course there’ll plenty of other things to do if you would like to join us. We’ll throw in all the meals and accommodation, and Annie will take you for an afternoon ride before we have a few beers on the verandah. The dates are from Monday 5th to Wednesday 28th February. Let us know what dates suit and what skills you could bring.
Thanks for everyone for their interest, excitement and enthusiasm to be part of the workshops run by our good friend and mentor, Ariana Strozzi. Ariana is a phenomenal coach – of horse riding and of people. She also runs those innovative Leadership & Horses workshops in the USA and is world famous! We had suggested that she may be coming to Yarrabin in March 2007. However, her schedule has filled up, and she won’t be able to join us. But the good news is that she is still VERY keen to come out to Australia. Stay tuned and we will let you know the dates.
Who watched the Melbourne Cup on 7th November? What a great day. Not as great as the Yarrabin Cup though! We ran a few races up the old Willow Paddock (now called “Lightening Ridge”) and have a few new champion horses and jockeys. (No, it wasn’t just one big flat out race. It was all very controlled by ability!) We’d like to offer our public congratulations to all those who took part, and to the race winners. They were John Sneddon on Duke, Jack on Snuggles, Jessica on Monty, Trishy on Buster, and Jo on Prince. James Lang also received an encouragement award for his ever first canter after learning to ride that morning!! (the pic shows John, James, Jack and Jessica) The fastest horse at Yarrabin has been confirmed as Monty (but Sultan is still up there with a chance!). Join in 2007 for our next Yarrabin Cup. The dates are Friday 3rd November to Sunday 5th November.
Life, especially at this time of year, can be pretty full on! So we have put our heads together to give you our top ten techniques to relax: 
Well, well, well. No winners of a complimentary horse ride for our October Puzzle! So we have decided to run the same puzzle again. Grab your friends and family, and see if you can brainstorm 2 correct answers….. Here are the puzzles: What appears once in every corner but twice in every room? Puzzle two (from Graham Willis): I looked under the table and saw a hand completely detached from an arm. I looked across the table and could see the man sitting there had all his fingers and thumbs in the right places...oh and his hands were attached to his arms. I was sure the hand under the table was his. I stood up and punched him really hard...why?