Nantucket Clinic

I just spent Monday and Tuesday on the glorious island of Nantucket. Meghan Perry, a Nantucket resident and horse trainer, did a fantastic job organizing the clinic and I can't thank her enough. I really enjoy giving clinics, its so rewarding to help riders find a piece of information that could help them with the break-through they've been waiting for or help give a horse "the step in the right direction" that it needs to progress.

I believe I will be back in Nantucket in a few weeks to re-unite with these riders and I hope this next time to grab a few photos of the horses on the island!

Syndication shares available!!!

I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason. A few months ago a horse came in for training and to be sold that has ended up being my new buddy. Sempre Fino aka "Sam" is a special horse, a 9 year old TB that was brave enough to take his amateur owner to Intermediate and talented enough to go much further with a professional. Sam took the sidelines for much of '08 and part of '09 while his current owner pursued her academics. Sam has only been with me for a few months and has shown great promise for the future, I really believe he is a rising star. Sam is brave, scopey, agile, and a type A personality! All traits that I feel like could help lead Sam to a career as a 4 star horse.

Since Sam has only been back to competition for a month + and his owner is leaving for graduate school we have the opportunity to syndicate this horse at a very affordable price. This is a unique opportunity for people to become immediately involved in a horse and rider's upper level career. When Havarah's Charly was purchased he was a young horse and took several years to develop into an Advanced level competitor. Sam is ready... NOW! There is a strong possibility (with the help of a few new owners!) Sam and I could be competing at the Plantation CIC ** in September and the Fair Hill CCI ** in October. This would then lead us to the Advanced level in 2010 competing in CIC ***'s and CCI ***'s. Rolex Kentucky CCI **** in April of 2011!!!

Havarah's Charly's syndicate was put together by a group of people who wanted to support me in my quest to be part of the USET and I hope to put together another group with the same intentions. I have a plan of how this can be done without being a financial bur-don on anyone. If you or anyone you know are interested please contact me for details on joining the Sempre Fino syndicate.

East and West lots of smiles!

The weekend of June 20th and 21st produced many happy Havarah riders both of the east coast and west coast.

Out in California Cheryl Gentzler made her way back into eventing competition with a lovely dressage and faultless jumping to finish 5th at Shephard Ranch. John Marshall did quite well also with a 2nd place finish as Alyssa Hatai and Kelcey Collins were also proud finishers of the event. Thank you Chris Scarlett for watching over and being such a good coach for these guys!

Out in Maryland Beaugeste finished 4th at Waredaca's challenging starter trials. Beau is really just a beginner at this sport but man does he love it!

Bromont CCI ***

As many of you knew, Charly and I were training for the Bromont CCI ***. Charly's training and fitness were foot perfect until a bad step on a gallop changed our plans. Charly sustained some soft tissue injury and needs a little while to rest so that he can go back to being the amazing eventer that he is.

Plantation Day 2 Success!

Another day of sunshine and happy ponies at Plantation Horse Trials in Pennsylvania. It was really a lovely treat to have all the horses owners at the event, Beaujeste and The Red Baron are very lucky horses! The Red Baron finished his second training level HT in second place and is continuing his happy go lucky way of competing. All horses should learn to be as relaxed as this guy. Rudy's QH side is loved by all! Beaujeste competed in his first beginner novice and was a star. This pony is a very exciting prospect and any vertically challanged person would be lucky to have him! At 14.2 he is mightier than most :)

Barb Strang competed her horse Guinness, to a third place finish in the Novice division... adding no penalties to their dressage score. Last but not least Hannah Metz competed in her first beginner novice and has come a long way in a very short time.
Good job by all!

Sucess at Plantation Horse Trials

This last week has been pretty wet, dreary and all around gloomy.... so today's event at Plantation with sunshine and lovely horses was a great change of pace!

I had the pleasure of riding Sempro Fino, Charlotte Freeman's 9 year old TB gelding. Sam has had a leisurely year and this was his second competition back this year. I'm pretty excited about this horses future and today he showed a tremendous amount of improvement in his training. This horse has a great amount of talent and I hope to either find him a rider/owner to dedicate their time to him or find a way to keep him in my barn. Sam jumped clean and used today as a learning experience to prepare himself for his future grand plans.

Lauren Billys rode in her second prelim event and did a spectacular job. I've been training Lauren for many years now and it's very rewarding to guide her along her way to becoming a solid competitor at the upper levels. Lauren and Ballingowan Ginger were in first after dressage and only added a few time faults to their score to finish a respectable 4th place. WAY TO GO GIRL!!!

Last but not least, Havarah Equestrian's newest rider, Katelyn Jackson, did a superb job in the Novice class. Wiesel and Katelyn took the novice lead with a steady dressage test and faultless jumping rounds. Katelyn is getting ready to start taking eventing pretty seriously and I'm thinking this rider will be one to watch out for!

This and that...

Photo credit to JC Kinnamon

Charly and I have our final qualifications for the CCI *** and are preparing for this big task at Bromont (Canada) in June. It will be the biggest challene that either Charly or I have ever faced and both of us are in total fitness bootcamp for the next few weeks!

I spent a few days in California teaching a clinic at Stanford University and at Eden Ranch in Sanger, Ca. California is fabulous in the spring time, as long as you have on sun-screen... ooops. I really enjoy the trips I get to take to the west coast, teaching is definitely a favorite part of my equestrian life. It's really a great feeling to be able to help people "learn" and feel how to better their riding and their horses.

I've also really enjoyed being able to help some youngsters come to the east coast and get a small "taste" of the differences from coast to coast. This summer Lauren Billys will be coming out to compete her mare and get a bit of work experience in a few different equestrian businesses.

Day 1 Jersey Fresh CIC ***

Charly and I were lucky enough to not get poured on during our warm up and I think Charly really appreciated the dry ground in the indoor when we did our test!

Last night I slept in my horse trailer and have never heard such hard rain, I woke up twice to downpours... it supposedly rained two inches, sounded like six! Mark Phillips and I talked on Wed evening and agreed that for Charly it would be best to do a condensed warm up as the footing was sure to be super sloppy. All worked out to plan, Charly had a long hand walk in the morning and a good walk hack with a 20+ min warm up. Mark said Charly looked the best that he's ever seen and all the US selectors that saw our ride agreed. We received a bit of a disappointing score of a 56, however, Couragous Comet received a 50 and he's a dressage king! Our score has us placed in 7th place, a place I'm quite happy to be in with this outstanding group.

Since we've moved up to Advanced this was our first test where we didn't have any oops moments; I'm thrilled to feel like we are now really riding at this level. I know our canter work has to continue to improve, I need to get Charly stronger in his collected canter so that he can maintain a better quality throughout the test. However, I finally got a really nice AND submissive medium canter and two clean changes :)

I got to walk around the cross country today with my coach, Boyd Martin, and we were both very impressed with the design and questions. Tomorrow we'll go out again and make a plan for Saturday. Cross your fingers that the rain goes away!

Havarah Twitter!

We are trying out this Twitter feed for keeping everyone updated at the events live, while it's going one. If you have an account already it's pretty simple. Just go to this link:

http://twitter.com/havarahEquine


Click on the follow button and turn on your device updates if you'd like to get updates sent to your phone.

If you don't already have an account I would imagine you could still click on the above link and create one. It's a pretty simple process. I would suggest adding your phone if you'd like to get text updates. The updates will be short and sweet.

I'll be updating this weekend except of course when I'm riding. Bryce will probably do some updates as I'm riding. We'll twitter the times when I'm going in advance so you can stay tuned to the twitter feed at those times but we'll also try to include some other observations and goings on backside in the stall area and at the event in general.

Stay tuned and please email me if you have any further questions or just comment here on my blog.

P.S. - The search function on Twitter is not working for some reason so if your having any issues finding my twitter page please use the link I provided above.

Fair Hill starter trials

The Fair Hill starter trials were a great success! Beaugeste had his first event and was a very good pony, he thinks this sport might actually keep him entertained for awhile! I have big hopes for this big pony, he has enough character to fill an entire trailer and is brave enough to stand up to any task. This horse has an exciting future ahead of him. It was really nice that his owner, Lauren Lenfest, was able to come witness Beau's first outing.

Hannah Metz also had her first event and finished on her dressage score receiving 4th place! Hannah has improved by leaps and bounds and seems to be pretty hooked into this sport :)

Christine, Barb and Mary; all pretty seasoned eventers, had a fun and educational day. All taking away some good pointers for how to improve upon their competition. I am a big fan of these one day events, it's a great low key way to help you become a better competitor.

Hannah's First XC school!

Hannah has been a student of mine since October of '08; All of her hard work paid off at her first cross country school this last Tuesday. Congrats Hannah and thank you for all the help so far this year!

Fair Hill XC schooling and starter trial

I will be at Fair Hill on the 28th for anyone interested in cross country schooling.

Also I will be at the Fair Hill starter trial beginning of May if anyone is interested in coaching.

Good Luck!

California!

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May 11th and 12th in Palo Alto, Ca at Stanford University.
Email Meg Finn tallyhofarms@comcast.net
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May 13th and 14th in the Central Valley (Fresno, Clovis, Sanger).
Email Molly Rosin molly@mollyrosin.com

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Havarah students looking great in California!

Photo credits to Dr. Liz Bracken DVM and Billie Gentzler





Lauren Billiys finished 2nd at Twin Rivers in Paso Robles, Ca in the Training level. At Ram Tap in Fresno, Ca Val Burch rode in the Sr. Beginner Novice (qualifying for Area VI's championships!!), Jestine Burch-Butts putting a very polished ride, and Alyssa Hatai finishing her very first event with her lovely new young horse from the east coast... John Marshall also rode in this event with some pictures in an earlier blog, winning the sr beginner novice and qualifying for championships!

** Salt Water Spa **

Charly received tremendous care all weekend from his sponsors, The Fair Hill Therapy Center ( www.fairhilletc.com ). After a great run on Fair Hill's Advanced cross country track Charly had a well deserved Salt Spa treatment on Sunday night and Monday morning. Charly is a horse of a lifetime and it's exciting for me to have this great group of people to help me keep Charly in the best shape possible. Charly also began his Aqua tred training this morning; I'm really excited about being able to use this as a work-out back-up when the ground gets too hard for gallops this summer. Many thanks to Bruce and Amy Jackson and all the staff at the Fair Hill Therapy Center for all their generosity!

The Spring Fair Hill

Photo credits to Steve Berkowitz and Nestor Torres





This last weekend I competed Havarah's Charly and The Red Baron at the Spring Fair Hill event in Elkton, Md. The Red Baron is quickly becoming quite the crowd pleaser at these events; he completed his first training level this last weekend and had one of the largest fan clubs around. "Rudy" is a pleasure to train, compete and apparently watch! Rudy handled the increased height and technicality with complete ease, I'm very proud of this guy :)

Havarah's Charly and myself completed our third Advanced event and seem to be on a good track to our spring three day events. I feel like I know what I need to work on in order to produce some better scores in the dressage phase and I feel like Charly and I are really becoming a good team in the jumping phases. I trust Charly more than ever and if he could talk I think he would say the same.

This weekend was especially great as I was able to share it with many of our friends from the East Coast. Many thanks to Ann de Matteo, John, Bryce, Rosella, Nial, Moureen, Jane, Chuck, Steve B., Vance, Claire, Bruce, Amy, Traci, Caroline, Nestor, Christie, Becky, Connie, Hannah, Pattie and all the rest of our cheer squad!

Fair Hill Equine Therapy Center *New Sponsor*

Havarah's Charly and myself are proud to have a new sponsor added onto our team!

Taking care of an Advanced level event horse is much like keeping a human athlete at the top of their game; to keep them at their best it is important to do preventitive therapy and every once in awhile injuries occur and it's important to treat them immediately.

The "Fair Hill Equine Therapy Center" is a state of the art facility with equipment that helps to keep sport horses at their peak and help them return to competition after an injury. http://www.fairhilletc.com/

I plan to use cold saltwater spa with Charly as an after work-out therapy. I have grown quite used to the standard ice boots and knee tubs but after having Charly use the saltwater spa today, I don't think anything will quite be the same! This spa is able to reach temperatures far lower than normal ice water and the salt water is helpful in reducing any inflammation that could have occurred from the work-out.

One of the best attributes of this therapy center is the highly trained staff that is there handling the horses. I was extremely impressed with the methodical and effective handling that Charly received today, I definitely would feel at ease leaving any horse there for a length of time.

This Friday evening the Therapy Center will be hosting an open house for all of us to learn more about the different therapy equipment that they have to offer. Please visit the site and if you are in the Elkton, Md area come over for a visit!

Havarah excitement back home in California!

It appears that many of my original Havarah students in California were out making me proud at the Ram Tap horse trials.

Our group was represented by Val Burch, Jestine Burch-Butts, Alyssa Hatai and John Marshall. From the sounds of it everyone had a great time, rode well and even brought home some nice ribbons! GO TEAM!! :)

Personal congratulations to John Marshall and his fabulous horse Cutamo on a win in the senior beginner novice.

Plantation Field Spring Horse Trials

I thought after enduring many wet and muddy days at horse trials this winter I had done my time; Yet again we had to bring out the trusty Dubarry boots and sludge through the mud. The gound was so wet that all the rigs had to be towed into and out of the parking lot!

The Red Baron competed in the open novice division as well as John Nunn and his horse Smiley. Both of the horses were saints and dealt with the conditions very well; Smiley pulled off both front shoes and still looked very elegant out there. John has been working diligently with this lovely TB, I'm quite proud of this combination. The Red Baron was hoping to use this weekend at novice as a preparation for his first training level next weekend at Fair Hill, but due to the deep going I decided to scratch from the jumping phases of the event. John and I both love riding at Plantation so we were both disappointed to not be able to take these young horses around this event. Rudy's owner and I were in agreement that the negative chances were too high to take the risk.

Next time!

End of winter '08

After a great weekend in North Carolina at the gorgeous "Fork" facility I am home in Maryland and re-capping some of the great moments I had this last winter. It was wonderful for me to once again have a barn of horses in training, something I realize that I had really missed while I was earning my keep as an exercise rider at the track. I wouldn't give back any of the time I've spent with the racehorses; I feel like that has helped me in so many ways as a rider. However, I am excited to push forward and once again have an event horse and rider training and selling operation. I think having multiple horses to jump and compete really hones your skills and helps you become much more at ease on course.

Over the winter I was fortunate enough to work with Boyd and Silva Martin who are both fantastic riders. Watching them compete and school horses has been very beneficial for me. I think it's important to place yourself around riders and programs that you believe in and that will encourage you to strive for better out of yourself. I was also around Phillip Dutton and his program a substantial amount and am just amazed at the amount of product this business produces in such a short time; I definitely have high regards to Phillip and all that he has created.

I was also part of the developing riders program which I firmly believe helped me raise my standards to a whole new level. Captain Mark Phillips has trained many of America's best riders and I am very proud to be one of his current pupils. Whenever under Mark's guidance I felt not only the need to be great but the ability to find that path... Mark is a great coach and gives you the tools you need to find your way. This program is also great as it is helping those of us out that are on our way to the top instead of just the current team members being recognized. The Aiken Horse has some good articles and pictures of the developing riders, you can find them online at www.theaikenhorse.com

Facility and support groups- definite must haves. Peter Barry built a lovely facility in Aiken that gave the horses true comfort which I think was vital to Charly's happiness! Peter also employs a fabulous rider/manager (Colleen) who was great to be around and work with day in and day out. Yoga yoga yoga. I definitely need to find a yoga facility and get onto a program here in Baltimore! It's amazing how you can take body awareness in a workout class and apply it to yourself while you are on a horse, I'm a total fan.

My last weekend down south was spent at The Fork with Charly competing in the Advanced division. I had a great warm up and really felt ready to go in an ride a powerful and accurate test; we achieved this at the trot scoring mainly 8's with a nine and a seven and then had not as great of canter work... All in all I still thought this was our best advanced test to date (only the third one) and we scored a 32 with change which put us tied for 5th place out of a challenging field of great combinations. The cross country was designed by Mark Phillips and had nearly all the same combinations on it as the three star, which made it a challenging course for Charly and I. Having said that I took three long routes, incurring some time faults but had the greatest feeling on course having a brave and honest true advanced competitor. Charly came off of the course really well and on Sunday morning put in a super show jumping round. The show jump course had been proving a difficult one to make the time and keep all the rails up; it was the first time on a show jump course that I really trusted Charly to send him really forward on the open sides knowing he'd come back in time to make a tight turn to a huge fence. It was thrilling to say the least! We ended up in 6th place behind famous pairs such as Stephen Bradly and Brandenburg's Joshua and Phillip Dutton with Connaught. I still can't believe I was in the same class as these super stars!