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!

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!

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 :)

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.

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 ....

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!

Go Havarah!

I am so proud of my Havareim! At our last show we had an incredible dressage day withmulti ple ririders (including Havarah's Charly!) in first place. Amy Fox pulled through to win her novice division, congrats! The weekend wasn't all glory, on Friday evening Barbara George had a freak incident (a horse ran her over) and had to spend the rest of the day in the hospital. Luckily Barbara is a very healthy young lady and is well on her way to full recovery.

Our weekend after Woodside we took a group out to Ram Tap and what an impressive group it was! My horse Mark, Lauren's horse Ranger, Christina's horse Griffen, and Debbie with Cimarrom had their debut Preliminary schooling. They were all super stars! I also had the pleasure of working with a few "new comers" to our group and the eventing scene. Sonja Beffort, Cheryl Gentzler and Betsy Lumbe are three ladies that are going to be non stop fun...look out!

6 weeks

Wow! I can't believe it, Charly, Mark and myself have now been residents of Clovis for over a month :) It has been awhile since this blog has been up-dated, so I have lots of fun things to talk about!

July was a training month for the whole Havarah group to prepare for the busy fall schedule that is just about to start. In that month we have been working on our horses basics, including straigthtness for some and obedience for others as well as lots of gymnastic work on the flat and over fences in the ring and on the XC course. I can see and feel a huge improvement in all of the Havarah horses.

This August Havarah is traveling to Woodside and Shephard Ranch Horse Trials. I hope to have Charly qualified for his one star at the end of the month and from there we will do a few more horse trials and then an international level horse trials that will prepare him for the CCI at Galway Downs in November.

Congratulations to Debbie Davis, she is currently number one in national standings for Sr. Training Riders!!!! My Junior training girls have all been having a very successful season, Christina and Heidi will both be working towards Training Championships at Ram Tap and Lauren Billys is in prepartation to move up to Preliminary! I am very proud of all three, this year has been a real stepping stone for them.

I am off for the evening session of rides...
FYI I have a new email address with comcast, it is mollyrosin@comcast.net

Up-coming shows

FUN IN THE SUN, HERE WE COME!
July 1st XC schooling at Connie Arthurs - elementary through intro to Prelim available
July 6th, Brian Sabo clinic at Sport Equine in Clovis
July 9th-10th COMBINED TEST at Chocolate Horse Farms in Santa Rosa (Charly and Mark)
--- entries due on the 4th, if anyone wants a ride I will have two slots open and need a groom----
July 16-17th XC schooling at Woodside
August 12-14th WOODSIDE HORSE TRIALS (Mark Training & Charly Prelim)
August 26-28th SHEPHARD RANCH HORSE TRIALS (Mark Prelim & Rockmill BN)
September 16-18th COPPER MEADOWS (Mark Prelim & Charly Prelim)
September 29- Oct 1st) TWIN RIVERS (Charly Prelim)

*** for entries and event info go to www.eventingusa.com (under Omnibus, Area VI)

Shephard Ranch Horse Trials

The Havarah group had a blast this last weekend in Santa Ynez; I love having such a fun group to be with at the shows. Many thanks to the parents for all of their help, we had a super cute hang-out area that was always stocked with great food...who could ask for more!!! Robert Metzger quickly became our official team photographer and soon I will have some photos of the weekend to share with everyone; props to him, they are very impressive :) As for the end all placings, we had two wins this weekend, congratulations to Debbie Davis and also to Makers Mark (my training level horse) :) ... GO HAVARAH! I am very proud of how well everyone rode this last weekend, we definately have a group to watch out for. Congrats to the rest of my competitors, Lauren Billys, Jestine Burch (2), Kelsey Collins, Rebecca Davis and Alyssa Billys.

PICTURES :)

HEY check out www.capturedmomentphoto.com ; if you go under "equestrian" and then to Copper Meadows - June 2005 you can find all of the Havarah riders! Charly is number 33 and Mark is number 85; everyone's name is next to the numbers so it should be pretty easy to figure out.
FYI I am changing the settings on this blog so that everyoe can post comments even if you are not a registered user....

Copper MeadoCopper Meadows results...

Wow, I can't believe it is already Thursday night! The last 10 days have gone by so quickly and so much has happened. First and foremost I am very proud of Charly who with-in two weeks of the Woodside event put in a great performance at Copper. This horse is such a quick learner:) I am not going to say that he didn't try to balk on the XC course BUT he did keep going when I asked him to. We had one spot in front of a difficult narrow to down bank combo that he started to act barn sour so I spent some time on a circle and then we were off and better than ever. On Sunday Charly then proved that he is still a killer show jumper as he put in a double clear round that would make his entire family proud!

The rest of the Havarah team made me proud with great riding and terrific sportsmanship...Christina and Griffen won the Jr Training on their dressage score, Debbie finished 2nd with the Stallion Cimmaron, Lauren was well up their in Jr Training with some terrific rides, and Dr Davis put in his inaugural Preliminary ride on his trusty mount Faluut....oh yes and my fantastic little horse Makers Mark was great too!

So as if this wasn't long enough... I want to let everyone know that I have a bed with linens on it and even a dresser (but the clothes still need to make it out my trailer!) Life here gets better every day, but I do miss all my friends over in the East Bay! Come visit!!!!

THE MOVE

Part one of the move is complete! All my house stuff is in boxes in my new apartment; the horses and I are on a mini vacation until Monday when real life will start again. This weekend the horses compete in the Copper Meadows Horse Trials, one of my favorite California events. FYI I might need to find a home for my favorite pal, Quigley, if anyone knows of a family that would give him lots of love please let me know. I think he has hunter qualities (with ducks) and that isn't a good thing for the barn I am going to be living at.

The New Woodside

last weekend the havarah group went to woodside and made a statement. we are definately a group that knows how to have a good time (hot dog anyone?) and look good doing it :) our horses are all coming along really well, dressage scores improving every show! debbie davis and her stallion, cimmaron, took home top honors in the sr. training division as they rode with grace and style as always. heidi steinman kept her fancy chestnut gelding focused throughout the entire weekend to finish 4th in jr training. rachael dwyer and kelcey collins both put in stellar rides but forgot to not race the clock on cross country day (time to move up, ehhh?). my cute bay, makers mark, was incredible in the dressage phase, a score of 27.5!!! mark was still a bit green on the xc course and recieved 20 faults for a refusal to leave him in seventh at the end of the weekend. dr davis did his usual best to keep everyone in smiles all weekend, even when he had a bit of hard luck in the sj arena (at the end of a beautiful round). meghan dayka was as always great in her dressage and smooth in the sj and is on her way to being a tough cross country machine :) last but not least our own handsome charly found a way to tell me that although he is amazingly talented, he needs some time to figure this whole xc thing out. after putting in a competitive fancy dressage test he was a bit too green out on the xc track and decided that he should wait for another day. luckily i was able to stay over after the event and take him on some great trail rides and then school him in the gallop on monday morning. his speed is in there, his love for jumping is un-mistakable, and his courage for being alone is on the way!

Dennis Callin Clinic

charly was in a dressage clinic today and wow did he step up to the plate and perform! dennis callin was impressed by charly's presence, looks, and attitude!!! in the clinic we worked on charly's attentiveness to my aids by working on shoulder-in, counter shoulder-in, haunches in, and half pass and lots of counter canter. charly is staying through over his topline and really wanting to work; what a great feeling!

Woodside Ride Times

HAVARAH'S CHARLY ....
FRIDAY DRESSAGE 9:42 AM
SATURDAY CROSS COUNTRY 9:36 AM
CROSS COUNTRY 12:54 PM (estimation)
moreHAVARAH riders to watch for...
Kelcey Collins..
Friday 1:30pm, Saturday 10:02am, Sunday 10:02am
Jim Davis...
Friday 10:48, Saturday 1:44, Sunday 9:34
Heidi Steinman...
Friday 11:56, Saturday 3:02, Sunday 10:52
Meghan Dayka
Friday 2:06, Saturday 11:04, Sunday 11:04
Rachael Dwyer...
Friday 3:06, Saturday 10:34, Sunday 10:34
Molly and Makers Mark
Friday 10:54, Saturday 1:46, Sunday 9:36

GO TEAM!!!!!!!!

gearing up for woodside

charly has quite the exciting week ahead of him. this sunday, the 22nd at 1:30 he is in a dressage clinic with dennis callin (we are hoping to get some good input on canter exercises). monday the 23rd he has his monthly show jumping lesson with brian sabo at 12:45, these are both happening at tassajara equestrian center in pleasanton. wednesday we will make sure to take an easy day and enjoy some time on a trail ride and then thursday he is off to woodside in palo alto for his second preliminary. ride times will be posted on www.horsepark.org; i will also post them on this website. i hope that everyone can come and watch this rising star in action :)

charly did it!

first time out onto a preliminary course ( a track that had a whole field of seasoned competitors on their toes) and charly did it with style! with charly aimed to do the cci * in november we went out this weekend with getting a qualifying round as our goal (one refusal or less XC) not only did we accomplish that but we also put in a beautiful dressage test that with out our green-ish time faults would have left us in first. charly is such a wonder horse....i actually recieved phone calls from trainers and fellow riders commenting on how incredible he is and that they are sure that they are going to be seeing us all the way into advanced :)

charly's galway prep

here we are 4 more days until charly's first preliminary run....we are so excited! the last two weeks we have been working on getting more "through" or "over his back" and charly has been really starting to look the part of the dressage horse. today he had a bit of spring fever and was quite excited, who can blame him, it was finally sunny! on monday we practiced some angled lines to simulate what we might find on the cross country course (as well as a canter in bounce) and he of course negotiated them like a pro! wednesday we will be practicing our dressage test and on thursday we will stop at brian sabo's for a final jump school. hope to see many of you this weekend at galway downs in temecula!

Lesson up-date

On May 7th I will not be teaching at FPC so the entire day is now open for lessons. What I need to know is if there are any people that need or want to school XC before Galway, if so we should do that on the 7th at Ram Tap.