Horse Highlight – Duke

By Dan Roark [Author’s note: For those who read this post before I changed the picture, I had pictures of Sierra in Duke’s folder and accidently posted those. When you go through 600 pictures at the same time of all the horses, one can get confused. My apologies.] A 2009 model quarter horse, Duke was […]
Chisholm Challenge – Events Explained

By Dan Roark I’ll begin with the American Quarter Horse Association events for those who would like to view the Monday (1/8) events before the Chisholm Challenge events on Tuesday (1/9) and Wednesday (1/10), and those who may simply be interested. AQHA Events: Showmanship – designed to judge the showmanship skills of the exhibitors. Judges […]
Volunteer Highlight – Rider/Volunteers

By Dan Roark It takes all different types of volunteers to help a nonprofit such as New Hope operate on a day to day basis in addition to those on staff. The different types will present themselves in the course of the volunteer highlights over the next few months. But the group of volunteers I […]
Horse Highlight – Beau

By Dan Roark Beau is a 1998 model palomino appendix gelding. Upon retiring from his former career as a jumper, Beau transitioned to a soft retirement as a lesson horse at New Hope in 2016. Beau is a gentle soul, who is easily led and is comfortable with either English and Western saddles. Beau’s best […]
Chisholm Challenge – The Events

By Dan Roark The New Hope family hopes everyone had a heartfelt and sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner with family. With Thanksgiving week behind us, things are picking back up – including the blog. I took a pause while writing this and went to the store. I automatically started to turn toward New Hope. Even our vehicles […]
Tonya – A New Hope Thanksgiving Story

By Dan Roark I had the good pleasure last Saturday morning of taking pictures to document Tonya actually getting on and riding a horse. Something she could only dream of for the last eighteen years. Which is, considering the timing, a wonderful Thanksgiving story and I am fortunate enough to share it with you. I […]
Horse Highlight – Tommy

By Dan Roark I like to call Tommy the gentle giant. Tommy is a blonde, Belgian draft horse, vintage 2003, who came to New Hope via a kill pen. It’s sad that some people can’t see that a horse can do other things, even if it can no longer do what it did previously, which […]
Congratulations to New Hope Instructor, Susan Altshuler

By Dan Roark Cyndy and I drove out to Texas Rose Horse Park in Tyler on Sunday to see Susan Altshuler, New Hope Instructor, in the second day of the jumping competition. Susan takes riding lessons at StoryBook Sport Horses. She was one of several riders representing StoryBook. Watching jumping competitions gives you an excellent […]
Chisholm Challenge – The Story

By Dan Roark The 2024 Chisholm Challenge, January 8-10, will be the 20th Anniversary of Chisholm Challenge. Since the beginning, the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo has donated the John Justin Arena and other amenities in support of Chisholm Challenge (CC). The support of CC by the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo was […]
Chisholm Challenge and the New Hope News Blog

By Dan Roark After a week of rain and a week of illness and out of town trips, things have settled back into regularity this week in the little universe we call New Hope. For the riders who are going to be competing at Chisholm Challenge in January, lessons are being geared toward conditioning, horse […]