Moonshine at Indian Rock

This is Moonshine, a lovely mustang.

These less-than-awesome photos show her in the new barn at Indian Rock nature preserve. They don't do her justice, of course. She's very pretty, and she's kinda nice. I met her today. She let me say hello and only sort of tried to eat my notebook.

She's the new horse at the preserve and is proudly owned by Lola Boss, the daughter of director Jon Guglietta. He bought the horse for her as a birthday present (wow, thanks, Dad!) and they're using at the Environmental Learning Centers to teach kids about farm animals and driving a horse pulling a wagon.

Lola, who has been helping run the Environmental Learning Centers for quite some time now, is Moonshine's primary trainer.

Moonshine, who is four and arrived in town last fall, isn't any ordinary horse.

First of all, she's a mustang, which isn't that common in Connecticut.

She hails from Nevada and is one of those round-up horses that the government collects and sells at auction. A brand on her neck shows that. A UConn student bought her in 2007 and started the training process and now she's got a happy home in Bristol.

She's living off the largess of the community -- in a barn built with materials donated by the Roberts Foundation, built by Team ESPN. She wears tack provided by a fund at the Main Street Community Foundation.

In return, she's a good natured, smart horse who will no doubt offer a lot of children a rare chance to get to know her and learn about horses.

By the way, she's barefoot, since mustangs have strong legs and hooves and have no need of horseshoes.

I wrote about Moonshine and her escapades for Friday's edition of The Bristol Press, so hopefully you can see the story at www.bristolpress.com.

South Side School Kids to Benefit from Program at Indian Rock

A nice collaboration between the Environmental Learning Centers of Connecticut (that's the Barnes Nature Center and Indian Rock Nature Preserve, among other holdings) and the city school district is providing what looks like will be a great program for South Side School children.

For $10 to $20 a week, depending on income, parents of South Side children in grades first through fifth can enroll their kids in the program. For that, the kids get three extra hours of education and recreation under the supervision of some school teachers, retired teachers and the fine educational staff at Indian Rock.

I think kids should be able to go home after school and decompress, but a lot of children don't have that chance. This program offers them a way to be in a cool outdoor environment (Indian Rock) doing some educational activities two days a week and at the school for that time two other days. That sure beats all-indoor daycare programs -- education and fresh air, too.

Mostly, it's paid by a state grant, but parents do pay a small share.

Part of the reason they got the grant was the large number of children at the school who qualify for free and reduced lunches. It seems like a good investment to me.

I wrote about this program, which starts tomorrow, for Tuesday's Bristol Press. See details in the paper or online at http://www.bristolpress.com/.

By the way, if you didn't recognize it, that's Indian Rock in the picture, courtesy of the Environmental Learning Center's website: www.elcct.org.