Saturday, November 25, 2006
Giving thanks...
Holidays are fabulous, good food and good friends... what more could you want? This Thanksgiving to me brought sadness as well as great happiness. For the first time in my life I felt extremely homesick; Turkey day just isnt the same without my mom and all her FABulous food...! The homesickness was eased by realizing how much I have to be thankfull for; a good part of that is due to all of the wonderful people I have come across on my journey. My roomate is a great friend and has been here through so much, always being able to spin everything to the optimistic side....thanks girl! My bosses and co-workers are such knowledgeable yet light hearted people...they all make each day worthy of waking up before dark... THANKS crew! Of course there's the boot camp leader who I've realize isn't as tough as he may sometimes seem; but more just completely eager to see me and my horses do our best than I could ever hope for out of any coach....Thanks Mr D! Leading from that are the two fabulous four legged creatures that I am so blessed to go visit on a daily basis and have given me their all for this whole trip...Marky Mark and Chucky you rock!!! We then have our teams that help keep my great horses going, and have really taken us Cali girls under their wings and helped us in many ways...so much thanks to Chuck, Kathy and Vance, you are all amazing! If there wasn't a wagging tail greeting me at every possible moment, what would I constantly have to look forward to??? THANKS WIGGLE MONSTER! Then there's my team back home...the MINYAN owners, you have stuck by my side with so many big decisions with Charly this year...so MUCH thanks, I hope him and I can keep smiles on all of your faces for years to come! Then there are all of the HAVARAH equestrian group riders, vets, farriers, parents and family members who have dealt with a less than easy travel schedule on my part and kept up with great effort in my absence and been available on all of my visits.. YOU are all truely ROCKSTARS!!! VerY, VerY thankful for the group of friends I have been fortunate enough over the years to meet, and lucky enough that as large as the miles apart we may get, the visits we get are always as great as ever. Without this last person my life would never have been the same; always supportive, always available for advice (never mind the day or time), and the best rolemodel a daughter could ever ask for...I love you and thank you so much .... mama you're the best! TO ALL thank you so much for all of your help, you are all fabulous!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The fabulous sights...
I've been meaning to catch up everyone on the ways of the east coast world for awhile now, so here's my best shot.
The commumity of horse people is like nothing you could imagine, or at least it is completely different than anything I've ever been around. Everyone somehow knows of everyone, in some shape or form. There is an Irish Pub that is totally dedicated to the racing community, quiantly named "The Whip". On Sunday just as some would go and watch a soccer game, us girls went and watched the famous "Pennsylvania Horse Cup"; a horse from my work was ridden (and finished 2nd) in the youth race, and 3 horses from Asia's work were ridden in the real races, one in the actual "Cup" race. The cup race is 4 miles long and was finished in 8 and half minutes, you do the math, it's fast... oh ya the timber fences are outrageously huge.... Green grass and rolling hills, many fancy ladies in funny hats wearing breeches and boots or the men often seen in tall boots and vests on, a very different fashion statement than home! The horses get grain morning and evening, some places they recieve 3 feedings of grain... hay is just a filler. The woods have hack trails, filled wih various log jumps; the fields have mowed edges for "gallops", and the farms have jumps in all the fence lines.
Charly is currently found out in a big pasture trying to be the top dog, mainly everyone really is into eating and could care less; he has basically sucomb to this idea that he should enjoy vacation. His last outing wasn't his best of the year on paper, only due to a error in judgement on my part in XC, but a fabulous showing by him that he does have what it takes to be a great eventing horse. His dressage had improved from the previous one star by three points, this put him in second by just a hair... the rain came again and the steeplechase had to be removed, but we were left with a long and fairly difficult XC course; Charly came out of the start box like an animal I hadn't yet met! I guess the steeplechase from Morven left an impression on him :) Charly felt like a racing machine and was so on, I was having the time of my life. Unfortunately my watch decided to fog up and I couldn't read it until 2/3 of the way through! I knew that on all the gallop parts I would need to boogie; there were a lot of gate crossings with sharp turns in them, there were also 3 waters; with all of those places needing a bit of a balancing I was pretty sure to need some flying time... I was right, when my watch finally came to I put the petal down and asked for even more speed, Charly was right there and very happy to give it to me (that was at over 7 minutes into the course!), however then we had two very big and wide tables on a turn; he flew over the first and we just couldn't get back to the second... I couldn't believe it was happening, trying to not let it get to me we quickly made a half circle to this huge table and flew on; Charly was amazing I just couldn't be disapointed, I was sooooo excited about him and his ability AND desire to run fast for a long course and handle all the technical questions. He is such a great horse. Sunday was no exeption, he put in one of his fabulous clear rounds that had everyone's jaw dropped. Without our, or mine, XC penalty he would have won the CCI *, instead he finished 6th... still a very great accomplishment.
Malibu has become a stellar eventing horse as well; his last event was at Waredaca, training level with cross country been timed at 470 mpm... Malibu finished 20 seconds early... I'm soooo proud of him! Even more exciting, after getting a tour of the country Malibu will return home to eat Sanger grass and have the love and admiration of not one but 3 riders... he'll be in complete heaven with cookies and carrots from Betsy, Jestine and Val... however I made him promise to give them all fun and enjoyable rides so that he deserves all his treats!
Mark, my fiesty little bay TB, is also enjoying some vacation time in pasture. He will be starting back up in December and is currenlty looking for a partial owner, or owners to help get him out into the limelight this next year. Mark needed a few months to grow up; with some hacks in the woods and a few starter trials this horse should be better than ever and ready for some winning rounds.
With the horses on vacation I'll be hopping on a plane and getting to visit my Havarah group back in Cali...we've got a busy week filled with lessons and then finishing off the west coast season with the Ram Tap HT. Then I'll head back east and pack up out of the little Jethro place and head to the next destination of this tour.
Til next time....
The commumity of horse people is like nothing you could imagine, or at least it is completely different than anything I've ever been around. Everyone somehow knows of everyone, in some shape or form. There is an Irish Pub that is totally dedicated to the racing community, quiantly named "The Whip". On Sunday just as some would go and watch a soccer game, us girls went and watched the famous "Pennsylvania Horse Cup"; a horse from my work was ridden (and finished 2nd) in the youth race, and 3 horses from Asia's work were ridden in the real races, one in the actual "Cup" race. The cup race is 4 miles long and was finished in 8 and half minutes, you do the math, it's fast... oh ya the timber fences are outrageously huge.... Green grass and rolling hills, many fancy ladies in funny hats wearing breeches and boots or the men often seen in tall boots and vests on, a very different fashion statement than home! The horses get grain morning and evening, some places they recieve 3 feedings of grain... hay is just a filler. The woods have hack trails, filled wih various log jumps; the fields have mowed edges for "gallops", and the farms have jumps in all the fence lines.
Charly is currently found out in a big pasture trying to be the top dog, mainly everyone really is into eating and could care less; he has basically sucomb to this idea that he should enjoy vacation. His last outing wasn't his best of the year on paper, only due to a error in judgement on my part in XC, but a fabulous showing by him that he does have what it takes to be a great eventing horse. His dressage had improved from the previous one star by three points, this put him in second by just a hair... the rain came again and the steeplechase had to be removed, but we were left with a long and fairly difficult XC course; Charly came out of the start box like an animal I hadn't yet met! I guess the steeplechase from Morven left an impression on him :) Charly felt like a racing machine and was so on, I was having the time of my life. Unfortunately my watch decided to fog up and I couldn't read it until 2/3 of the way through! I knew that on all the gallop parts I would need to boogie; there were a lot of gate crossings with sharp turns in them, there were also 3 waters; with all of those places needing a bit of a balancing I was pretty sure to need some flying time... I was right, when my watch finally came to I put the petal down and asked for even more speed, Charly was right there and very happy to give it to me (that was at over 7 minutes into the course!), however then we had two very big and wide tables on a turn; he flew over the first and we just couldn't get back to the second... I couldn't believe it was happening, trying to not let it get to me we quickly made a half circle to this huge table and flew on; Charly was amazing I just couldn't be disapointed, I was sooooo excited about him and his ability AND desire to run fast for a long course and handle all the technical questions. He is such a great horse. Sunday was no exeption, he put in one of his fabulous clear rounds that had everyone's jaw dropped. Without our, or mine, XC penalty he would have won the CCI *, instead he finished 6th... still a very great accomplishment.
Malibu has become a stellar eventing horse as well; his last event was at Waredaca, training level with cross country been timed at 470 mpm... Malibu finished 20 seconds early... I'm soooo proud of him! Even more exciting, after getting a tour of the country Malibu will return home to eat Sanger grass and have the love and admiration of not one but 3 riders... he'll be in complete heaven with cookies and carrots from Betsy, Jestine and Val... however I made him promise to give them all fun and enjoyable rides so that he deserves all his treats!
Mark, my fiesty little bay TB, is also enjoying some vacation time in pasture. He will be starting back up in December and is currenlty looking for a partial owner, or owners to help get him out into the limelight this next year. Mark needed a few months to grow up; with some hacks in the woods and a few starter trials this horse should be better than ever and ready for some winning rounds.
With the horses on vacation I'll be hopping on a plane and getting to visit my Havarah group back in Cali...we've got a busy week filled with lessons and then finishing off the west coast season with the Ram Tap HT. Then I'll head back east and pack up out of the little Jethro place and head to the next destination of this tour.
Til next time....
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Charly's AEC photos...
I also have an album of photos that I can send to you....if you want them then send me an email request :)
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Morven Park
On Wednesday morning as we drove into Morven Park to get Charly his in barn inspection and prep him for his afternoon "jog" (official soundness inspection) I realized that I had once before been here. This was the location that I had tried out my young rider horse, Sweet William. William was owned by man named Colonel Wimert who happens to have a practice field at Morven named after him and that is where I first jumped William....
Anyhow that aside Morven is a great event with a fabulous real steeplechase course and tons of crazy things on the XC course. Soon I'll post pictures of a few of the XC combinations that I photographed.
Charly again improved himself from one dressage test to the next; he recieved all 8's on his trot work, the canter in my oppionion was SOOO much better than before, but the judge thought he was a bit low in the poll, but he was a bit lazy into his halts. The above was good enough to put him into second place in the dressage phase..I was super proud of him and he apparently was as well and by his next hand walk he seemed to have instictively known what was next...he was now acting like superman and ready to take on the world!
Unfortunately the weather changed and dropped from 80 to 50 and started raining, basically never stopping. Saturday became a game of riding smart versus chasing the clock; the steeplechase track was so wet that your path was chosen by finding the road less traveled instead of the fastest line; This was a whole new game for Charly and even with the icky footing conditions and the pooring rain making it terribly hard to see he finished B with time to spare.
I came off of B so proud of Charly but still feeling very unsure about the conditions I was about to send the two of us out in; I saw Danny and a smile on his face, that was enough to know we had done a good job, and feeling a bit confused about my path at that moment I trotted off to finish C. The whole way knowing that something was missed, knowing that somehow I missed C1 but not realizing where I had gone wrong. A long ten minutes later I passed back by my "team" and was told that I missed C1...the day, the weekend, was over. I could have tried to finish, but with the footing as bad as it was we didn't feel that Charly needed to have that go, there are other days, this was obviously not meant to be ours.
There was a lot of mud and mess to clean up before we could pack up and head back home. A long day of disapointment.
Currently I have a call into the Midsouth CCI * event organizer to try to get Charly signed up for that. He's fit, doing great and really should for his education have a full one star. The Midsouth one star is held at the Kentucky Horse Park in two weeks, October 18-22nd.
Anyhow that aside Morven is a great event with a fabulous real steeplechase course and tons of crazy things on the XC course. Soon I'll post pictures of a few of the XC combinations that I photographed.
Charly again improved himself from one dressage test to the next; he recieved all 8's on his trot work, the canter in my oppionion was SOOO much better than before, but the judge thought he was a bit low in the poll, but he was a bit lazy into his halts. The above was good enough to put him into second place in the dressage phase..I was super proud of him and he apparently was as well and by his next hand walk he seemed to have instictively known what was next...he was now acting like superman and ready to take on the world!
Unfortunately the weather changed and dropped from 80 to 50 and started raining, basically never stopping. Saturday became a game of riding smart versus chasing the clock; the steeplechase track was so wet that your path was chosen by finding the road less traveled instead of the fastest line; This was a whole new game for Charly and even with the icky footing conditions and the pooring rain making it terribly hard to see he finished B with time to spare.
I came off of B so proud of Charly but still feeling very unsure about the conditions I was about to send the two of us out in; I saw Danny and a smile on his face, that was enough to know we had done a good job, and feeling a bit confused about my path at that moment I trotted off to finish C. The whole way knowing that something was missed, knowing that somehow I missed C1 but not realizing where I had gone wrong. A long ten minutes later I passed back by my "team" and was told that I missed C1...the day, the weekend, was over. I could have tried to finish, but with the footing as bad as it was we didn't feel that Charly needed to have that go, there are other days, this was obviously not meant to be ours.
There was a lot of mud and mess to clean up before we could pack up and head back home. A long day of disapointment.
Currently I have a call into the Midsouth CCI * event organizer to try to get Charly signed up for that. He's fit, doing great and really should for his education have a full one star. The Midsouth one star is held at the Kentucky Horse Park in two weeks, October 18-22nd.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Life is a highway....
I heard that song today, on the way to the barn of course, and I couldn't help but smile. I was a very lucky girl this last weekend and had a fabulous showing with the Minyan's horse, Havarah Charly; he had a very deserving win in the OP division of the AEC's. I'm getting a few days of the celebrity feel, I have a call to return tomorrow to the 4th reporter that I've been interviewed by so far... wow :) I think back to all the traveling to horse shows, lessons, clinics and even the daily trecks to the barn for the past 18 years and it's funny to me that the reporters are so intrigued that I came all the way from California. I think one of them should add up all the traveling us Californian's do on a routine basis! Basically what I'm saying is that my life has been a highway and I'd have to say that although bumpy at times I wouldn't have wished for any other trek.
Charly and I have been hard at work at 2 things; XC toughness and throughness in the dressage. Both came together in a great way last weekend; Charly seemed to know how big of an event this was and boldly paraded around the edge of the dressage court past BOTH judges and as we powered down center line and saw Loris Henry herself at the C box I smiled and knew I better ride the test of my life if we were to have any chance at a top placing. The test finished with a lengthen trot across the diaganol then up center line, Charly put in the ultimate of lengthen trots that literally gave me goosebumps and the biggest smile to our final halt...I knew that no matter what anyone thought Charly gave it his best and truely performed.
The cross country course was big and extremely well decorated and designed, it was a sight to see. One of the jumps had a running faucet filling the top of a big table another set of jumps looked like the back drop to a high class wedding. In the morning I headed out to watch the water complex, 21 ABC and 22 ABC, it wasn't riding well however I did get the good news that the 1st place horse had 2 time faults. Charly warmed up perfectly, never getting a bad spot, although we only jumped 4 fences, vertical twice the oxer and then a very extreme angle over a solid roll top. Charly's final minutes were precisely planned out by Danny and kept me totally calm and cool, in fact I was excited I felt just like I was heading out for a race. And that's pretty much exactly what Charly thought it was, he went like gangbusters, luckily he isn't a runaway in any fashion! However he was the strongest he's ever been and I didn't get the stride I wanted for the water complex and for sure gave everyone a scare when I left out a stride in 2 separate spots on that last water... Charly got iced twice that day, a few nice easy strolls and a heavy poultice.
The show jumping was so pretty, the fences looked like things you'd see at a Grand Prix. Many flat cups and lots of related distances, it was set for rails to fall. The morning was a bit hectic as we planned for 2 minutes a horse and they must have run at 1 and a half... nonetheless everyone grouped together got Charly all set up and we were on our way. Again he was so good in warm up, Danny again did a fabulous job getting us perfectly prepped for the ring, he did his best to give Charly a pre round rub, but twinkle toes wouldn't do it...by the looks of our pictures he wasn't going to touch a thing!!! Some how I actually managed to enjoy the ride, I truely went in there feeling just as I would in a lesson, determined to not mess up!
If I haven't made it clear, myself and many others are completely 100% in love with this horse; Charly hasnt lost his character, his fancy tail nor his sharp knees but he has definately gained a competitive spirit!
Charly and I have been hard at work at 2 things; XC toughness and throughness in the dressage. Both came together in a great way last weekend; Charly seemed to know how big of an event this was and boldly paraded around the edge of the dressage court past BOTH judges and as we powered down center line and saw Loris Henry herself at the C box I smiled and knew I better ride the test of my life if we were to have any chance at a top placing. The test finished with a lengthen trot across the diaganol then up center line, Charly put in the ultimate of lengthen trots that literally gave me goosebumps and the biggest smile to our final halt...I knew that no matter what anyone thought Charly gave it his best and truely performed.
The cross country course was big and extremely well decorated and designed, it was a sight to see. One of the jumps had a running faucet filling the top of a big table another set of jumps looked like the back drop to a high class wedding. In the morning I headed out to watch the water complex, 21 ABC and 22 ABC, it wasn't riding well however I did get the good news that the 1st place horse had 2 time faults. Charly warmed up perfectly, never getting a bad spot, although we only jumped 4 fences, vertical twice the oxer and then a very extreme angle over a solid roll top. Charly's final minutes were precisely planned out by Danny and kept me totally calm and cool, in fact I was excited I felt just like I was heading out for a race. And that's pretty much exactly what Charly thought it was, he went like gangbusters, luckily he isn't a runaway in any fashion! However he was the strongest he's ever been and I didn't get the stride I wanted for the water complex and for sure gave everyone a scare when I left out a stride in 2 separate spots on that last water... Charly got iced twice that day, a few nice easy strolls and a heavy poultice.
The show jumping was so pretty, the fences looked like things you'd see at a Grand Prix. Many flat cups and lots of related distances, it was set for rails to fall. The morning was a bit hectic as we planned for 2 minutes a horse and they must have run at 1 and a half... nonetheless everyone grouped together got Charly all set up and we were on our way. Again he was so good in warm up, Danny again did a fabulous job getting us perfectly prepped for the ring, he did his best to give Charly a pre round rub, but twinkle toes wouldn't do it...by the looks of our pictures he wasn't going to touch a thing!!! Some how I actually managed to enjoy the ride, I truely went in there feeling just as I would in a lesson, determined to not mess up!
If I haven't made it clear, myself and many others are completely 100% in love with this horse; Charly hasnt lost his character, his fancy tail nor his sharp knees but he has definately gained a competitive spirit!
Friday, September 08, 2006
Delaware Park
So have I told any of you yet that I now ride race horses? I'm not talkin the kind that are "too slow" or "wouldn't run in company" and especially not "needing of layup"; I'm talking the real deal. OK so the honest truth is that it's a beginning of a seriously fun way to spend the hours of 4am to noon on a daily basis and try to earn enough money to care for my up-coming super star Mr Marky Mark.
The farm I work for is called "Break Away Farm", owned and operated by two of the coolest people I've meet since I've been here, Wendy and Travis. So far I've done gallops on grass lanes, hacks through the woods, and gallops on the neighboring sand oval track. Tomorrow is the big day, my first "breeze"... I'll be sure to let you know how it all goes. SO far I've stayed on, despite the valiant effort of my very first mount who immediately tried to un-load me...as far as I'm concerned we've been going pretty fast so I think after tomorrow I might have a whole new idea of what fast is :)
Today I accompanied a horse to Delware Park to recieve his gate card and a tatoo...all firsts for me, did you know a horse had to pass a test to be able to participate in a race? This guy not only passed but had a super fast work time, Monday's his race, very first one ever, he's little and squirly.
Sunday is the big day for the three at home, Malibu was the star ride of the day, I'm quite excited for him this weekend. Charly is behaving, but him and I are definitely due for our gallop and cross country run, we feel it's been too long! Mark is most likely going to be only doing the combined test phases, but his progress is really coming along. I think this horse needs to be syndicated out like Charly and stay around for the long haul, he's showing tremendous talent.
Our friend and newest roomate, Meg, arrived yesterday and is a welcome addition to the team. A happy smiling face always does wonders for the atmosphere.
The farm I work for is called "Break Away Farm", owned and operated by two of the coolest people I've meet since I've been here, Wendy and Travis. So far I've done gallops on grass lanes, hacks through the woods, and gallops on the neighboring sand oval track. Tomorrow is the big day, my first "breeze"... I'll be sure to let you know how it all goes. SO far I've stayed on, despite the valiant effort of my very first mount who immediately tried to un-load me...as far as I'm concerned we've been going pretty fast so I think after tomorrow I might have a whole new idea of what fast is :)
Today I accompanied a horse to Delware Park to recieve his gate card and a tatoo...all firsts for me, did you know a horse had to pass a test to be able to participate in a race? This guy not only passed but had a super fast work time, Monday's his race, very first one ever, he's little and squirly.
Sunday is the big day for the three at home, Malibu was the star ride of the day, I'm quite excited for him this weekend. Charly is behaving, but him and I are definitely due for our gallop and cross country run, we feel it's been too long! Mark is most likely going to be only doing the combined test phases, but his progress is really coming along. I think this horse needs to be syndicated out like Charly and stay around for the long haul, he's showing tremendous talent.
Our friend and newest roomate, Meg, arrived yesterday and is a welcome addition to the team. A happy smiling face always does wonders for the atmosphere.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Cali August clinic
I just got home from a fabulous 5 day trip to Havarah's home town... Many thanks to all the ranch owners for allowing me to continue to teach at their properties and all the work they put into them making a great learning environment. THANK YOU (Al and Laurel George, Carol Patterson, Val and Jeff, and Bill and Margaret Burton)
I will be back to coach at the November Ram Tap... make sure to have that on your calendars. Also I will be still in charge of the volunteers for the October Ram Tap, help is needed Friday the 20th and Sunday the 22nd. I would LOVE everyone that is competing in November to volunteer in October, this will help you in many ways and get you a Ram Tap buck so we can XC school!
Remember to use your friends for help while I'm gone. Our team should be a great asset to you, help someone and then have them help you... video taping is a FABulous way to improve as well.
Keep in touch!
I will be back to coach at the November Ram Tap... make sure to have that on your calendars. Also I will be still in charge of the volunteers for the October Ram Tap, help is needed Friday the 20th and Sunday the 22nd. I would LOVE everyone that is competing in November to volunteer in October, this will help you in many ways and get you a Ram Tap buck so we can XC school!
Remember to use your friends for help while I'm gone. Our team should be a great asset to you, help someone and then have them help you... video taping is a FABulous way to improve as well.
Keep in touch!
The Havarah Rockstar
I figured everyone would be happy to know that Quigley has settled in well to his job as the ribbon holder.
Lessons learned...
If you get a chance to talk to Jestine you'll hear that a 'few' things are slightly different back east. One of the differences is the application of poultice, as Danny would say, we're all too cheap and don't use enough. At the Wayne HT in July I had a poulticing lesson, and Rosella kindly captured the moment :)
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Charly the wonder horse
Blue is apparently Charly's favorite color, and I'm currently a big fan of his, so I'll write today in blue in Charly's honor! Millbrook HT, in up state New York, was a huge fancy event with the who of the who and a truely challenging championship course. Lots of terrain, very green grass and even the colorfully decorated fences didn't stop us a bit! We were 10 seconds under the time (even with a trot down the man from snowy river hill!)... no penalties added onto our dressage score moved us from 3rd on Friday, 2nd on Saturday to 1st on Sunday... I am so extremely proud of our boy! You can look up the stats on www.millbrookhorsetrials.com and on that site you can find the photographer who will hopefully at some point get the pictues up, because they are super cool.
Today we did a cross country school (I took Malibu and Mark, although Mark got an educational trip from Danny not me on this one) at a facility named Unicorn. This place is owned by DuPont family... lots of history around this state! Malibu prepped for his up-coming weekend where he'll do his first training level event... he's pretty bright eyed and busy tailed just thinking about it :) Rosella and her big boy Lance will also be heading to Waradeca with us and tackling the Sr Training level class.
I continue to learn more and more EVERY day, and I think I continue to realize that us California girls do more and more things differently EVERY day! I'm coming home for a visit the 24th - 28th of August. A short stint of fun for my best friends Baccalorette and Bridal shower but otherwise I hope to see all of you for lots of lessons and catch up time!
Today we did a cross country school (I took Malibu and Mark, although Mark got an educational trip from Danny not me on this one) at a facility named Unicorn. This place is owned by DuPont family... lots of history around this state! Malibu prepped for his up-coming weekend where he'll do his first training level event... he's pretty bright eyed and busy tailed just thinking about it :) Rosella and her big boy Lance will also be heading to Waradeca with us and tackling the Sr Training level class.
I continue to learn more and more EVERY day, and I think I continue to realize that us California girls do more and more things differently EVERY day! I'm coming home for a visit the 24th - 28th of August. A short stint of fun for my best friends Baccalorette and Bridal shower but otherwise I hope to see all of you for lots of lessons and catch up time!
Monday, July 24, 2006
That's right I said "Jethro"
WE HAVE A HOME :) the best part is so does Mr Quigles!!!! Our new home away from home is a quaint little apartment in a three plex that is adjacent to a playground, on a street named "Jethro" and seems to have many "Jethro's" that hang out on their front porches, AND it has a lovely back yard that hopefully one day will have a fence for our handsome pup.
This has been a truely stellar week, in addition to the home find, we also found a great "beach" that is truely just down the road, a fun little crab house hang-out, discovered that we have talents outside of riding (WAKEBOARDING :) ), and the ponies had an incredibly diverse week with a cross country school on Tuesday a dressage show on Saturday and a light gallop on Sunday (of course a bit of training in-between!)
Rosella and Asia have both quickly aquainted themselves with the roads, I myself continue to just be shoffered around by one of them... and admittedly am a bit nervous about when that ends! This place is confusing, no square blocks like where I grew up at!!!
So at the end of my first complete week of re-riding on Charly I can honestly say he's a changed man (and most definitely for the better). First of all you can rest your hand on his head, way cool; secondly if you correctly put a spur in his side (I say correctly b/c I still have a bad habit of not doing correctly, but I'm working on it...) he not only moves away, but he jumps away while asking how high, thirdly the horse is now more forward thinking that I on the cross country course...so I'm ALSO working on fixing that, fourthly the man can freakin RUN... yes you guessed it I am ALSO working on keeping up with that!!!! :) I am happy to report that it is not only me that has things to work on, he isn't perfect (yet) (I suppose if I had given Danny another two weeks of fixing him he might have been), Charles (aka Chuck or Chuck-A-Doodle as I foundly call him) needs to work on a rounder frame in his gallop, best described as more like a TB less like a fancy show jumper...hehehe So basically he has one huge lesson left and I have many... :) The real test is how quick of a learner am I really...Charly had four months, I only have a few more weeks....then we are off to Millbrook, NY for our first outing back out. I know lots of you have been anxiously awaiting a schedule; I'm going to list what I know of so far, however the schedule for Charly and I will be more complete after our first run at Millbrook.
August 6th- "OLNEY HT" - Malibu and Molly/Lance and Molly/Gem Lion and Asia
August 11-13th- "MILLBROOK HT"- Discover the Power and Danny AND Charly and Molly
August 19-20th- "WAREDECA HT"-Makers Mark, Malibu, Charly with Molly ; Gem and NZ Swag with Asia; Lance and Rosella .... plus Danny's entire crew
September shows will be decided here shortly but I think it will be as follows...
September 9-10th- "SENECA VALLEY HT"-
September 20-24th- "AEC's"-
Well I'm off to give it a shot at being domestic...We've got to make this house on Jethro a home
This has been a truely stellar week, in addition to the home find, we also found a great "beach" that is truely just down the road, a fun little crab house hang-out, discovered that we have talents outside of riding (WAKEBOARDING :) ), and the ponies had an incredibly diverse week with a cross country school on Tuesday a dressage show on Saturday and a light gallop on Sunday (of course a bit of training in-between!)
Rosella and Asia have both quickly aquainted themselves with the roads, I myself continue to just be shoffered around by one of them... and admittedly am a bit nervous about when that ends! This place is confusing, no square blocks like where I grew up at!!!
So at the end of my first complete week of re-riding on Charly I can honestly say he's a changed man (and most definitely for the better). First of all you can rest your hand on his head, way cool; secondly if you correctly put a spur in his side (I say correctly b/c I still have a bad habit of not doing correctly, but I'm working on it...) he not only moves away, but he jumps away while asking how high, thirdly the horse is now more forward thinking that I on the cross country course...so I'm ALSO working on fixing that, fourthly the man can freakin RUN... yes you guessed it I am ALSO working on keeping up with that!!!! :) I am happy to report that it is not only me that has things to work on, he isn't perfect (yet) (I suppose if I had given Danny another two weeks of fixing him he might have been), Charles (aka Chuck or Chuck-A-Doodle as I foundly call him) needs to work on a rounder frame in his gallop, best described as more like a TB less like a fancy show jumper...hehehe So basically he has one huge lesson left and I have many... :) The real test is how quick of a learner am I really...Charly had four months, I only have a few more weeks....then we are off to Millbrook, NY for our first outing back out. I know lots of you have been anxiously awaiting a schedule; I'm going to list what I know of so far, however the schedule for Charly and I will be more complete after our first run at Millbrook.
August 6th- "OLNEY HT" - Malibu and Molly/Lance and Molly/Gem Lion and Asia
August 11-13th- "MILLBROOK HT"- Discover the Power and Danny AND Charly and Molly
August 19-20th- "WAREDECA HT"-Makers Mark, Malibu, Charly with Molly ; Gem and NZ Swag with Asia; Lance and Rosella .... plus Danny's entire crew
September shows will be decided here shortly but I think it will be as follows...
September 9-10th- "SENECA VALLEY HT"-
September 20-24th- "AEC's"-
Well I'm off to give it a shot at being domestic...We've got to make this house on Jethro a home
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
East coast travel...COMPLETE!
A week ago, the fourth of July, us three girls(Asia, Rosella and myself), four horses (Swag, Lance, Malibu and Mark) and a dog(Mr. Quigles of course!) set off on a long adventure. The night before dragged on a bit long as we tried to organize four months worth of anything you could need for any type of weather; and to top it all off we were doing last minute rig re-configuration. Luckily Rosella seems to be a super handy type of a girl and stayed calm through 2 hours of wiring work, in the end we had lights, brakes and turn signals...
The first leg of the trip was supposed to be 15 hours, ending us in Wyoming at a fair grounds for a night of rest. Lesson number one of horse road travel, always add lots of time to map quest estimations (apparently they don't understand that we have to stop and water horses and feed the trucks). So this trip actually took 20 hours which meant that we weren't asleep til 4am the next day... needless to say we were exhausted.
The second leg was originally going to be 17 hours and take us all the way to our destination of the Wayne Maui Jim horse trials in Illinois. Being quick learners we new that 17 hours was a far off hope and we (Asia) found a really quaint nice place in Atlantic, Iowa. The land of corn fields. SO a shorter trip that day, but it was either driving or sleeping, we learned lesson number 2... if you aren't needing to watch the road take a nap. Oh yes, lesson number 3... always take a Verizon phone if you want any service after you leave California until you get back into more civilized states... my Sprint phone finally started working in Illinois.
One more day of driving and we made it to the show grounds. The best news of all is that we stepped out of the truck and un loaded happy, alert, and healthy ponies. We quickly got to work setting up a little camping community with my long lost buddy Heather Morris who was at the show with her Texas barn mates. I of course couldn't let myself catch up on sleep or even try to just chill; the next morning started off super early with 4 horses on my list to braid all needing to be finished by 7am. Well worth it when I watched our handsome horse Charly parade around the warm-up looking like a million bucks.
The show grounds was immaculate, GREEN grass and perfect weather made it the perfect way to lay over. Charly flew around cross country coming in 25 seconds under the time... I think the boy can run! The next day he jumped beatifully and finished his first CIC *. Not only does he seem to really enjoy the sport he also seems to be much more mature than the Charly that left California.
The final leg of the trip started at 3am Monday morning and we arrived into the ponies new home away from home at 6 pm that night. The horses have a great big barn to live in and lots of green grass in the big fields for turn-outs.
As for us girls, we still have a hotel. I hope to be bringing news of a cute apartment or cottage in the next post! If not I might have to be looking into a flight home for Mr. Wiggles... anyone ever flew a dog before?
Off to bed... I'm still trying to catch up!
The first leg of the trip was supposed to be 15 hours, ending us in Wyoming at a fair grounds for a night of rest. Lesson number one of horse road travel, always add lots of time to map quest estimations (apparently they don't understand that we have to stop and water horses and feed the trucks). So this trip actually took 20 hours which meant that we weren't asleep til 4am the next day... needless to say we were exhausted.
The second leg was originally going to be 17 hours and take us all the way to our destination of the Wayne Maui Jim horse trials in Illinois. Being quick learners we new that 17 hours was a far off hope and we (Asia) found a really quaint nice place in Atlantic, Iowa. The land of corn fields. SO a shorter trip that day, but it was either driving or sleeping, we learned lesson number 2... if you aren't needing to watch the road take a nap. Oh yes, lesson number 3... always take a Verizon phone if you want any service after you leave California until you get back into more civilized states... my Sprint phone finally started working in Illinois.
One more day of driving and we made it to the show grounds. The best news of all is that we stepped out of the truck and un loaded happy, alert, and healthy ponies. We quickly got to work setting up a little camping community with my long lost buddy Heather Morris who was at the show with her Texas barn mates. I of course couldn't let myself catch up on sleep or even try to just chill; the next morning started off super early with 4 horses on my list to braid all needing to be finished by 7am. Well worth it when I watched our handsome horse Charly parade around the warm-up looking like a million bucks.
The show grounds was immaculate, GREEN grass and perfect weather made it the perfect way to lay over. Charly flew around cross country coming in 25 seconds under the time... I think the boy can run! The next day he jumped beatifully and finished his first CIC *. Not only does he seem to really enjoy the sport he also seems to be much more mature than the Charly that left California.
The final leg of the trip started at 3am Monday morning and we arrived into the ponies new home away from home at 6 pm that night. The horses have a great big barn to live in and lots of green grass in the big fields for turn-outs.
As for us girls, we still have a hotel. I hope to be bringing news of a cute apartment or cottage in the next post! If not I might have to be looking into a flight home for Mr. Wiggles... anyone ever flew a dog before?
Off to bed... I'm still trying to catch up!
Monday, June 26, 2006
THE TRIP planning begins :)
Charly has continued to impress us all with his success out on the east coast; his record now includes a 1st at the Virginia Horse Park, a 2nd at Waredeca and a 2nd just this last weekend at the Groton House Horse Trials. This last weekend was a big test for Charly, his first weekend of competing in wet difficult weather... as his finish can prove he handled it great!
Our plan was that if Charly was doing well then I'd be heading east to ride him under the same conditions that he's been training under and compete out at the big shows with the big "players" of the east coast. IT'S TIME :)
My trip will start on July 3rd, leaving from Clovis and arriving in Illinois on Wednesday at the site of Charly's next competition. I'll be bringing back my other horse, Makers Mark and three other horses (and their owners/riders) will be joining for the trip as well. We'll stay and watch Danny ride Charly at the Maui Jim horse trials and then that Monday head to MD where we'll call home for the next few months.
Entries go in tomorrow for Charly's and mine first competition at Millbrook the second weekend of August. I'm so excited to get back in the tack!!!
So at the moment I'm super busy, and a bit overwelmed!!! trying to figure out how to pack for such a long visit.... AND the facility I'm currently staying at in Clovis was robbed, taking many important items, to me the most important being my laptop. Until that is either found or I replace it I am going to be using this email address, since the other one is accessible to whoever is borrowing my laptop, and un-accesible to me. So please use mollyrosin@hotmail.com ...thanks!
I have a terrific group of students here in California and I want to make sure that everyone gets the help they want/need. I plan on coming home roughly once a month for a 4-5 day period of teaching. Currently I'm thinking the first trip will be July 12th-16th... let me know how these dates work for all of you, and how many lessons you would like with in that time frame.
Please keep in touch and thank all of you for your support!
Our plan was that if Charly was doing well then I'd be heading east to ride him under the same conditions that he's been training under and compete out at the big shows with the big "players" of the east coast. IT'S TIME :)
My trip will start on July 3rd, leaving from Clovis and arriving in Illinois on Wednesday at the site of Charly's next competition. I'll be bringing back my other horse, Makers Mark and three other horses (and their owners/riders) will be joining for the trip as well. We'll stay and watch Danny ride Charly at the Maui Jim horse trials and then that Monday head to MD where we'll call home for the next few months.
Entries go in tomorrow for Charly's and mine first competition at Millbrook the second weekend of August. I'm so excited to get back in the tack!!!
So at the moment I'm super busy, and a bit overwelmed!!! trying to figure out how to pack for such a long visit.... AND the facility I'm currently staying at in Clovis was robbed, taking many important items, to me the most important being my laptop. Until that is either found or I replace it I am going to be using this email address, since the other one is accessible to whoever is borrowing my laptop, and un-accesible to me. So please use mollyrosin@hotmail.com ...thanks!
I have a terrific group of students here in California and I want to make sure that everyone gets the help they want/need. I plan on coming home roughly once a month for a 4-5 day period of teaching. Currently I'm thinking the first trip will be July 12th-16th... let me know how these dates work for all of you, and how many lessons you would like with in that time frame.
Please keep in touch and thank all of you for your support!
It's for real!
That's right the rumors are true! Betsy Lumbye's horse, Malibu, competed at his first Novice event at Shephard Ranch this last weekend with me; we not only won but finished on an incredible dressage score of 17.5!!!! We got a 10... so cool, well worth all the hours of dressage practice!
The rest of the horses and riders were stellar as well. My Makers Mark was a star in the dressage court and FUN on XC... I'm so proud of him! Meghan Dayka's young horse, Destination Houston, finished his first event and recieved a 4th place ribbon, what a great young prospect.
Alyssa Hatai and Tammie Hoffman also competed at the BN level, first event taking 6th and 5th place..way to go!!!
Kelcey Collins came back out with a great new look and went home with a third and Jestine Burch-Butts finished Sienna's first novice with lots of confidence ready to tackle more!
Meghan Geiluffe guided her fancy black mare around the training and finished with a lovely Sunday show jumping round, a pair to definitely watch out for.
Special thanks to John Marshall and Rosella who brought their horses for a Sunday school, you were both excellent help all weekend....THANK YOU!!!
The rest of the horses and riders were stellar as well. My Makers Mark was a star in the dressage court and FUN on XC... I'm so proud of him! Meghan Dayka's young horse, Destination Houston, finished his first event and recieved a 4th place ribbon, what a great young prospect.
Alyssa Hatai and Tammie Hoffman also competed at the BN level, first event taking 6th and 5th place..way to go!!!
Kelcey Collins came back out with a great new look and went home with a third and Jestine Burch-Butts finished Sienna's first novice with lots of confidence ready to tackle more!
Meghan Geiluffe guided her fancy black mare around the training and finished with a lovely Sunday show jumping round, a pair to definitely watch out for.
Special thanks to John Marshall and Rosella who brought their horses for a Sunday school, you were both excellent help all weekend....THANK YOU!!!
Monday, May 01, 2006
May 2006
May is looking like it's going to be super fun, super busy and SUPER hot!!!!
May 4th and 5th Danny Warrington Clinic
***clinic is full but we would love to have you audit, free of charge
May 6th SJ course work, contact Molly for details
May 7th Ram Tap XC schooling
May 10th MVC lessons
May 12th schooling show at Galway Downs
May 13th and 14th Galway Downs, combinded training event
May 15th-23rd --- Molly is traveling to the east coast to watch Charly at the Virgina Horse Park
May 24th MVC lessons
*******************************************************************************
HAVARAH camp, possibly at Connie Arthurs June 17th-19th
Stay tuned for details!
********************************************************************************
May 4th and 5th Danny Warrington Clinic
***clinic is full but we would love to have you audit, free of charge
May 6th SJ course work, contact Molly for details
May 7th Ram Tap XC schooling
May 10th MVC lessons
May 12th schooling show at Galway Downs
May 13th and 14th Galway Downs, combinded training event
May 15th-23rd --- Molly is traveling to the east coast to watch Charly at the Virgina Horse Park
May 24th MVC lessons
*******************************************************************************
HAVARAH camp, possibly at Connie Arthurs June 17th-19th
Stay tuned for details!
********************************************************************************
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
up-coming event info
If you are going to Galway and or Moorpark, it's time for entries.... www.useventing.com has an online omnibus. ALSO www.evententries.com is the best and easiest way to fill out entries, you'll wonder why you ever hand wrote entries after using this site a few times.
Galway goers.... I have a tack room reserved, so make sure to bring some bridle hooks and saddle racks, I might be looking for some grooming help that weekend.... any takers?
Moorpark riders; the pipe pens are fine IF your horse is friendly next door to others IF not then reserve a regular stall (these are VERY limited so enter now)
Galway goers.... I have a tack room reserved, so make sure to bring some bridle hooks and saddle racks, I might be looking for some grooming help that weekend.... any takers?
Moorpark riders; the pipe pens are fine IF your horse is friendly next door to others IF not then reserve a regular stall (these are VERY limited so enter now)
Makers Mark photos
Thanks Aunty Liz ----- Havarah's own super vet and great friend that is one of the best photographer's around!!!! I love these shots of Makers Mark at the Easter Ram Tap and thought I'd share them :)
Monday, April 10, 2006
XC schoolings
We lucked out and had terrific weather (and footing!!!) at Connie Arthur’s last weekend, I think I can speak for the group and say we all had a blast! I really like Connie’s for the nice introduction to XC in a calm relaxed environment. I would like to set up another trip over there and want to run a few dates by everyone and get feed-back as to what would work.
May 6-7
May 20-21
May 27-28 (this is also the weekend of Woodside)
June 17-18
AS for recognized horse trials we are planning on trips to
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Spring Break FUN...
I'm ready for some sun and fun....
Spring break is coming and we're in the midst of getting some exciting events put together;
we've invited Danny Warrington back for a clinic (call or write for details)
and I'm planning a schooling trip to either Connie's or Woodside...
ALSO remember that Ram Tap has their Easter Horse Trials, April 14th-16th ; Ram Tap schooling fee is up to $40 and if you volunteer you get a day of schooling for FREE... we need dressage scribes, ring stewards, sheet runners, show jumping timers, scribes, ring crew and a back gate person...
Spring break is coming and we're in the midst of getting some exciting events put together;
we've invited Danny Warrington back for a clinic (call or write for details)
and I'm planning a schooling trip to either Connie's or Woodside...
ALSO remember that Ram Tap has their Easter Horse Trials, April 14th-16th ; Ram Tap schooling fee is up to $40 and if you volunteer you get a day of schooling for FREE... we need dressage scribes, ring stewards, sheet runners, show jumping timers, scribes, ring crew and a back gate person...
Go MUDDERS!
Last weekend at Copper Meadows was an event of unusual sorts. First and foremost I want to send out gracious thanks to Carolyn Hoffos for being such a great organizer to make that event run under such difficult circumstances.
Secondly I'd like to be the first to say that having a day off in the middle of an event is a terrific way to gather thoughts, stay calm, have fun and most of all catch up on well needed sleep :) It's about as good as a daily siesta (sp?)
Our Havarah horses did great in the mud; Debbie Davis and her great stallion finished 1st in the Prelim rider division with a HUGE lead; Makers Mark was 2nd in the Open Prelim and both of the Sport Equine horses that Jim and Debbie rode did a spectacular job at their first events. Christina held her own with a 3rd place dressage ride and a terrific start to her first preliminary cross country ride...you go girl!
Secondly I'd like to be the first to say that having a day off in the middle of an event is a terrific way to gather thoughts, stay calm, have fun and most of all catch up on well needed sleep :) It's about as good as a daily siesta (sp?)
Our Havarah horses did great in the mud; Debbie Davis and her great stallion finished 1st in the Prelim rider division with a HUGE lead; Makers Mark was 2nd in the Open Prelim and both of the Sport Equine horses that Jim and Debbie rode did a spectacular job at their first events. Christina held her own with a 3rd place dressage ride and a terrific start to her first preliminary cross country ride...you go girl!
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Misc up-date
Ram Tap was a huge success! Makers Mark finished 3rd in his open prelim class, Havarah's Charly was great all three days missing out on a win from a green stop at the in to the coffin, Debbie and Cimarron had another successful Prelim outing finishing 5th and Meghan and Vinnie jumped around clean for a terrific start to their '06 season....
Twin Rivers Horse Trials is just around the corner; stay up-dated on their website; www.twinriversranch.us
Havarah is proud to welcome Danny Warrington back for a full 4 day clinic, all auditors welcome!
Twin Rivers Horse Trials is just around the corner; stay up-dated on their website; www.twinriversranch.us
Havarah is proud to welcome Danny Warrington back for a full 4 day clinic, all auditors welcome!
SUNDAY @ Ram Tap
8am Janelle Dunn –Private SJ
9am Jestine Burch-Butts & Betsy Lumbe - BN/N XC
10:30am Janelle Dunn –Private SJ
11:30am Meghan Perry –Private flat
12:30-1:00 BREAK
1:00pm Katie Slater, Ashley Crowles,
3:00pm Deanna & Tammie –elementary
4:30pm Julie & Meghan Perry novice/training XC
MONDAY
Sport Equine
7:30am – 2:00pm
Molly Rosin and horses
Silver Rose
3pm Lance
4pm Michelle
5pm Bianca
TUESDAY @ Ram Tap
8am Janelle Dunn w/ Merit & Molly Rosin w/ Charly
9:45 Barbara George w/Tikkun & Molly Rosin w/Rockmill
11:30 Janelle Dunn w/Tax? & Molly Rosin w/Mark
1:15-1:30 BREAK
1:30 Barbara George w/Aruba & Molly Rosin w/Smarty
Possible line work with Nick & Presley
Sport Equine
5pm Sienna & Colt
WEDNESDAY
AM @ Sport Equine
Silver Rose
1pm Meghan w/ Vinnie
2pm John w/Cutamo
3pm Rosella w/Lance
4pm Michelle
5pm Bianca & Blair
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
They're all ROCKSTARS
Our days at Twin Rivers were about as worthwhile as it gets. Havarah's Charly, Makers Mark, Rockmill, and Sienna all got two days worth of real cross country education. Most of them spent at least an hour on "the line" learning to really learn the cross country terrain and jumps on their own; which was absolutely super cool to watch. After they had completed these obstacles on their own it was amazing how calm and confident they were in themselves under tack.
The next clinic with Danny is at the end of the month and is filling up fast with outside riders (non Havarah's) so make sure to contact me quickly if you want a spot. See you all at Ram Tap this weekend; I still have volunteer spots available on Friday and Sunday.
The next clinic with Danny is at the end of the month and is filling up fast with outside riders (non Havarah's) so make sure to contact me quickly if you want a spot. See you all at Ram Tap this weekend; I still have volunteer spots available on Friday and Sunday.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
In full swing...
I wanted to post an up-date about the "Havarah Calendar" because we are now in complete full competition mode!
Feb-----
6th Lessons at Silver Rose
8th Lessons at Mountain View Corrals
12th and 13th Clinic at Twin Rivers with Danny Warrington ---call for details
**** Regular lessons on the 13th at Silver Rose will be rescheduled
15th Lessons at Silver Rose
17-19th RAM TAP HT --- VOLUNTEERS needed ---call for details
20th Lessons at Silver Rose
22nd Lessons at Mountain View Corrals
26th-28th possible Danny Warrington Clinic
March------
3-5th Twin Rivers HT
Lessons at Silver Rose will continue on Mondays, other days to be determined
Lessons at Mountain View Corrals will continue every other Wednesday
CONGRATULATIONS to Christina and Griffen for their first place finish at Galway in Junior Training and to Debbie for her third place finish in her FIRST preliminary competition...way to go rockstars!!!!!
Feb-----
6th Lessons at Silver Rose
8th Lessons at Mountain View Corrals
12th and 13th Clinic at Twin Rivers with Danny Warrington ---call for details
**** Regular lessons on the 13th at Silver Rose will be rescheduled
15th Lessons at Silver Rose
17-19th RAM TAP HT --- VOLUNTEERS needed ---call for details
20th Lessons at Silver Rose
22nd Lessons at Mountain View Corrals
26th-28th possible Danny Warrington Clinic
March------
3-5th Twin Rivers HT
Lessons at Silver Rose will continue on Mondays, other days to be determined
Lessons at Mountain View Corrals will continue every other Wednesday
CONGRATULATIONS to Christina and Griffen for their first place finish at Galway in Junior Training and to Debbie for her third place finish in her FIRST preliminary competition...way to go rockstars!!!!!
Monday, January 30, 2006
Movin' up the levels...
Congradulations to Christina, Lauren and Jestine! Christina finished 2nd in the Jr Training at Ram Tap's CT and she and Lauren both finished their very first Preliminary competitions; it's a huge move from Training to Preliminary and both of these girls are making great strides. ALSO Jestine has a brand new horse that is not only a new addition but inexperienced as well, and she had a terrific first horse show experience...this will be a pair to watch for :)
This coming week is the Pomona Equine Affair; this "convention" is held Thursday-Sunday and is a terrific venue for anyone that has any horse love in any discipline.
Charly, Mark, Cimarron, and Griffen are heading out in the Davis's new elite rig for a road trip to Galway....let's see if we all did our winter homework!
This coming week is the Pomona Equine Affair; this "convention" is held Thursday-Sunday and is a terrific venue for anyone that has any horse love in any discipline.
Charly, Mark, Cimarron, and Griffen are heading out in the Davis's new elite rig for a road trip to Galway....let's see if we all did our winter homework!
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Third times a charm
Today I was lucky enough to join some really good friends out on the golf course; hard to believe but as much as it appears that I eat, sleep and breath horses I do enjoy a few other activities! In all honesty I really think that I come up with some of the best training tactics for riding while doing completely non horse related things. Today is a prime example. My first attempt at tee-ing off this afternoon was a total success; this was much to my surprise as I haven't hit golf balls for at least two years and at that time I certainly wasn't a child superstar. Then as the holes went by I was fitting the saying "third times a charm" quite well. My first two tries to hit that silly white ball were always incredibly embarrassing, I would usually just miss altogether. Then low and behold on the third try I would hit it, and for the most part do a pretty decent job (ok for my level of golfing :) ) In a joking response, after all I had to try to defend this somehow, I admitted to knowing that if you don't get it done on the third try your day is over and you don't get any more play time. I said this in reference to cross country day; Everyone of us has been there, your horse stops at the ditch, you come around the second time and you just don't have all the pieces together and then low and behold on that third try you get that horse over the ditch witout any hesitations. So then we all gallop off wondering how come we couldn't do that the first time.
So today I pondered this question and presented it to myself for my actual golfing issues...the first attempt at hitting the ball I would almost always unbend my knees to early as I went to look up to see where the ball was going (after all whats the point in hitting it if you don't get to see the results!) This never worked well, it would always just top the ball of the tee and I'd look silly. Then the second attempt would involve about the same exept I think it was caused by my embarrassment over the first mess up. Always before the third try I'd review the few things I knew that I needed to be able to accomplish to actually make contact with the ball and get it up in the air. Low and behold that third shot worked!
SO for those of you that have contiued reading this far, you're probably wondering why I bother sharing about my sketchy golfing abilities; well as you would could probably have guessed I cut the golfing short to head back to the barn and get in some horsey time and during a lesson that afternoon I discovered a REAL correlation for this theory.
I've noticed the third times a charm rule in my students and hope to break this cycle. Think about some of your schools, how often do you get that great feel on your very first jump? How about your first canter transition? I personally challenge each one of you to do your mental homework BEFORE starting any pattern, transition or course...let's all try to be prepared the FIRST time and see if we can break the "third times a charm" curse that plagues us way too often..... We all need to dig down deep and give our horses the preparation they need in order for them to be able to perform for us. Let's remember this riding thing is a partnership and the horse's need us to prepare them properly so they can perform like the rockstars that they are. We've got a great talented group of horses and riders, let's show Area VI what's up!!!!
Good luck to our first set of competitors at the first show of 2006...hope to see everyone at Ram Tap cheering on!
So today I pondered this question and presented it to myself for my actual golfing issues...the first attempt at hitting the ball I would almost always unbend my knees to early as I went to look up to see where the ball was going (after all whats the point in hitting it if you don't get to see the results!) This never worked well, it would always just top the ball of the tee and I'd look silly. Then the second attempt would involve about the same exept I think it was caused by my embarrassment over the first mess up. Always before the third try I'd review the few things I knew that I needed to be able to accomplish to actually make contact with the ball and get it up in the air. Low and behold that third shot worked!
SO for those of you that have contiued reading this far, you're probably wondering why I bother sharing about my sketchy golfing abilities; well as you would could probably have guessed I cut the golfing short to head back to the barn and get in some horsey time and during a lesson that afternoon I discovered a REAL correlation for this theory.
I've noticed the third times a charm rule in my students and hope to break this cycle. Think about some of your schools, how often do you get that great feel on your very first jump? How about your first canter transition? I personally challenge each one of you to do your mental homework BEFORE starting any pattern, transition or course...let's all try to be prepared the FIRST time and see if we can break the "third times a charm" curse that plagues us way too often..... We all need to dig down deep and give our horses the preparation they need in order for them to be able to perform for us. Let's remember this riding thing is a partnership and the horse's need us to prepare them properly so they can perform like the rockstars that they are. We've got a great talented group of horses and riders, let's show Area VI what's up!!!!
Good luck to our first set of competitors at the first show of 2006...hope to see everyone at Ram Tap cheering on!
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Silver Rose lesson scheduling
Sunny skies in mid January gave us a great first day of lessons at Silver Rose! I am currently setting up lesson times and am hoping to be able to work with everyone's schedules. Monday's will definitely be a permanent lesson "day" out there, 4:30 is an elementary group and the rest of the time slots are still open so call to reserve your preferred time while it's still available :)
Currently I am also going out on the morning of the 19th and afternoon of the 21st....
Keep those ponies fat and happy :)
Currently I am also going out on the morning of the 19th and afternoon of the 21st....
Keep those ponies fat and happy :)
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Current use at Sport Equine
As of January 10th, 2006 until further notice...
Sport Equine will need to be used soley for the training of horses under the Davis's or my guidance. We hope this can be resolved soon... please call for details and any questions you may have.
Sport Equine will need to be used soley for the training of horses under the Davis's or my guidance. We hope this can be resolved soon... please call for details and any questions you may have.
Area VI Champion!
Congradulations Debbie and Cimarron! It's official she needs more shelf space in the trophy room :) I know I am going to need help remembering all of the exact winnings... let's see how I do ...
Debbie and Cimarron recieved the following for 2005;
Area VI Training horse of the year
Area VI Traing rider of the year
Area VI RIDER OF THE YEAR ---- that's for all levels!
USEA Training Adult Rider
USEA Training Horse of the year ....
Debbie and Cimarron recieved the following for 2005;
Area VI Training horse of the year
Area VI Traing rider of the year
Area VI RIDER OF THE YEAR ---- that's for all levels!
USEA Training Adult Rider
USEA Training Horse of the year ....
Galloping into 2006
The new year started off in a real wet way, but that luckily didn't keep us from enjoying a terrific clinic. On January 3rd and 4th the Havarah group held a private clinic with MD eventer and horseman, Danny Warrinton. On a personal level, Havarah's Charly and Makers Mark and their rider (me!) recieved some much needed advice on how to allow the gallop and how to smoothly cover ground getting from gallop fence to fence. I was able to watch the entire clinic and was excited to see all the improvement in ground manners, flatwork, tactfullness, and xc riding. It seemed like all who attended had a good time and learned a ton.... stay posted for more clinic oppurtunities!
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