So much!

I had a great trip to California and then it's been non-stop since I got back! My California girls, Rosella and Jestine made the big trek across the country and arrived (with healthy horses!) this last Thursday. Welcome ladies!

The babies at the race farm have been all in full work getting ready for their future racing careers at their respective track. This has been a great conditioning work-out for me, usually a good 6 horses every morning getting a full gallop.

Charly has been going great, lots of work for us prepping for his first Intermediate run this coming weekend at Groton House in Hamilton, Mass.

I posted a picture of my new "Maryland" family as well as a picture of the Chesapeake Bay at Sunset.

First win of the season!

Charly brought home the blue this last weekend competing Preliminary at the Waredaca HT! A lovely consistent dressage test (with an 8 on his reinback..this used to be a huge issue!) gave him a second place start with a 29.6 then he gave me a double clean show jumping round and a great smooth cross country. Have I said lately how much I love this horse! :)

We had a lengthy period between this show and his last so that we could bring his fitness level way up, it looks like he's fit and ready to go!

Memorial Day East Coast style

The begining of my memorial day weekend started off at the site of the preakness, the Pimlico Race track. One of my cow-workers had her debute race ride at a real track, she did great, however, if anyone is interested in seeing one of the big three races, I would advise the Derby or the Belmont.

I have come to realize that I'm a big fan of being a spectator at the "Point to Point" hunt meets. Secretly, one day, I'd like to be a participant, but for now an on-looker is working just fine! On Saturday, my current home town, Fair Hill, MD, held their own hunt meet and did it up in style. Imagine a big county fair, but instead of watching racing on a dirt oval track; it's all held on turf and has hudle fences and timber fences. The closest thing to riding cross country and racing at the same time!

My other big east coast adventure for the holiday weekend...a trip to the big city of Philladelphia. Anyone remember the soup nazi in Seinfeld? I was taken to Philly by a local and shown where the REAL cheese steaks are sold. This place is truely a site to see! The line (at all times, day and night) wraps around the building and they have specific rules about how to order your sandwich (so that the line stays moving at a very fast clip). They suggest, on the instructions, that you actually practice in line, if you mess up they hold the right to move you to the end of the line! Luckily I practiced, fellow line standers doing the same, messed up twice, but put out a good order by the time I was at the window. :)

A fancy new mare !!!

Congratulations to Maddy Barney and the Barney family on their new family member. This combo sounds like they are going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come....watch out! :)

Shephard Ranch HT

Shephard Ranch has opened it's entries...remember to send them in ;)

Alyssa B. NOVICE
Alyssa H. NOVICE
Lauren B. NOVICE
Kelcey C. NOVICE
John M. BNovice
Amy F. BNovice

Keep in touch with each other, re lodging and hauling.

Ahh Spring in California :)

What a trip! Life sometimes works out perfectly and this last weekend was a prime example. My monthly Havarah clinic in California happened to occur simultaneously with DGBAR's last big event, MOTHER"S DAY :), and a Fresno trip by one of my long time event friends from So Cal. Oh and not to forget about all the perfect weather we had! Most of the group were able to take between 2 to 4 lessons, everyone improving with great strides from the first day to the last; I really believe that the clinic situation will end up working in everyone's favor, I think having a few days of lessons back to back really let's you understand and feel what we're trying to acheive. SO far I think it's working! DG Bar put on a fantastic show, and it was a great way to re-connect with horse riding friends from all of California. LOTS of fun!

April in California

I honestly have never been so excited to return home to California as I was for this trip. I was soooo looking forward to sunshine and warmth! The east coast is continuing to be COLD and windy, rainy and snowy...I can't complain b/c it is also plush green and beatiful, all I'm saying is I need some sun!

Havarah Equestrian had a substantial showing at this April Ram Tap, 10 riders; Even better was that all ten were GOOD riders with GOOD horses. I was super pleased with all the horses behaviors and all the riding talent that we had. I like to think that each event has it's purpose and this events purpose was to go out there and truely ride your horses not just compete them. One day everyone will be at the point where truely riding your horse makes you extremely competitive...this of course is the big goal :)

As much praise as I'd like to give you all for that I also want to pass along that I was really not super pleased with some of the horsemanship I saw back at the barn. Even though we are bringing horses together from multiple places when we're at horse shows the Havarah group needs to behave as one "team" and the horses are part of that. They all need to have a feeding schedule, fed at the same time; morning chores should be done as a team so the barn is complete as well as the evening chores. The horses did come up to the show ring looking put together, but back at the barn they had sweat stains, dirty stalls, and large messes in front of their houses...I really don't like being the un-happy trainer, but not taking good care of your horses is the quickest way to making me frustrated...let's make sure that Shephard Ranch in June is a different story! :)

The May clinic is in planning stages, if you don't have a training schedule for the next month contact me ASAP.

Make sure to look at your photos at Ed's website... pictures are worth 1,000 words!

It's lumber time :)

Yesterday was Charly's favorite day of the year; it was the day that he got to "see lumber" again. This is apparently the east coast terminology for jump schooling. Actually I think it's a steeplechase phrase, but I thought it was cute.

Charly didn't miss a beat he's completely on his game and is looking in good form for his first competition at Morven Park in four weeks. To follow right along with how the rest of our winter work has gone, the jump school was slow in pace and huge in learning. Most of the jumping was done from the walk and I was amazed to find some amazingly minute details in my ways of riding to a fence that need a bit of fine tuning. Luckily I have Mark who requires the perfect ride even at 18" so that I get myself fine tuned in the next few weeks!~

Thursday will be our first day of trot sets out at Fair Hill. For the next few weeks Charly will have two days a week of trot sets and then a gallop the week before Morven.

Warrington back in California

March 9th, 10th, and 11th Danny Warrington will be working with Havarah at El Enchanto Stables and Ram Tap. This is a great prep for April Ram Tap, if you haven't signed up yet email Molly ASAP otherwise go watch! El Enchanto, Sue Rice's new facility is Saturday and Ram Tap 8-4 on Sunday.

FVE up-date

So remember Foothill View Equestrian out in Madera...it is still there but new and improved operation status has changed it to FVE GOATS! Check out my mom's new kids, they're so cute! These things have more toys than they know what to do with, stop by and play some time...

GO John!

John and his super handsome Cutamo canter around the SJ course to take home the blue in the Sr. Beg Novice division. Not a bad way to START his Combined Training career!

Every girl needs a little...

DISCO in her life :)

Rollin rollin rollin...

On Friday night the 23rd at 10:00pm EST I made to my home in Elkton! Although I have no desire to do it again in the close proximity, it was a very, very cool trip. Just watching the countryside change as I drove east was amazing, New Mexico deserves it's name the "Enchanted State" and AZ doesn't get enough credit for how beatiful Flagstaff is. Tennessee might have been a favorite of mine....lots of trees :)

I took some pictures from the "drivers view" so that you could see a bit of what my road trip looked like... California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia and home to Maryland...

The big trip

Blair has a new horse :)

Congradulations Blair! Blair and Willy are one of the Havarah hot new items...now living at Silver Rose Ranch Willy promises to get Blair hooked on eventing as the two become real Havarah rockstars!

Western half of the United States...

California to MD; 2800 miles!

Monday the 18th was the D day; departure was delayed due to wiring issues...errr and late packing on my part! 1:50 pm finally on the road.
This left me in Needles, Ca for my first overnight stay, but before I got there I had my hopefully scariest moment of the trip. The "needs fuel desparetely" light had come on in the middle of the desert with no fuel in sight. 33 miles Bubba had to drive on pure hope of diesel, so when I finally came across the "Oasis" (this isn't even sarcasm, they actually named this station that) I was happy to pay OVER $3.00 a gallon so Bubba could carry me along to a hotel!

TUESDAY I set out ready to drive and hopefully get myself out of California... just to get a call from the trailers owner saying I was going to wear out the bolts unless I found someone to get the air compressor to work. SOoooooooooo Flagstaff, AZ turned out to be a great place to get RV help. Some nice boys at a shop called "Bubba's" rigged up a fuse for me and then enjoyed watching me back up the "Big Rig" to get out of their forest filled RV shop. Hmmmph. Oh and so this fuse is supposed to be removed each evening so it doesn't run out the battery, well I continue to get shocked upon removing and re-entering this fuse, so next time you see me if all my hair is standing on end you'll know why!
Sleep location... Santa Rosa, NM

WEDNESDAY a fairly uneventful day; lots of driving. I did however think that Bubba and his Pegasus deserved a bath after their 7+ month hibernation. This bath took place in NM and apparently the truck washers there don't have the sense of urgency that the Ca washers do...
sleep local; Sallisaw, OK

Any ideas on the fuse issue, feel free to call!

Feb Ram Tap results

For Havarah's first show of the year I thought our group did a remarkable job. Dressage and show jumping seemed to be our strengths this time out; which shows just how much work everyone has put in because it used to be that the central valley could jump clean but never be placed after the first phase.

After dressage we had two leaders; Rosella hunter leading the Sr. Training group and Cheryl Gentzler leading the Sr. Beg Novice class. In a close second was Laurel George followed by John Marshall in third. Alyssa Hatai was also in third in her Jr. Beg Novice class. In fact it was even noted by one of the dressage judges that our entire group appeared very "prepared" for the day.

Our group of riders looked very safe and well mounted for cross country, however we still have some cobwebs to clean up :) Clean rounds by John Marshall and Alyssa Hatai ....

Sunday was the day that really made me smile; In Sr. Beg Novice we had 3 riders go and 1 in Jr. Beg Novice; everyone produced not only double clear rounds but also rounds that were smooth, accurate and overall very polished. John brought home the blue ribbon and Alyssa grabbed second place from the Jr's.

A few chose to retire from the weekend and I'd like to note that this takes tremendous horsemanship to know when it just isn't your weekend, don't worry I know all of you will have your blue show as well!

February California trip

Saturday @ Riverland Farms

9:00 Rosella

10:00 Maddy
********** Sienna ride

11:00 Louise
Clara

12:00 Sharon W. ?

12:45 John

1:30 Val
Laurel w/ Dior

2:30 Blair w/ Aruba
Alyssa H

3:30 Cheryl
Laurel w/ Caleb

Blair and "Ce Simple" @ Davis's... 5pm?




Sunday @ El Enchanto
Sue Rice's Facility

9:00 Christy
Cheryl

10:00 John
Laurel w/ Caleb

11:00 Meghan G

11:45 Clara
Laurel w/ Dior
Val

12:45 Maddy
Alyssa H

2:00 Kelcey
Jestine

3:00 Rosella
Jessi

Monday - all day horse shopping, bay area; Lauren, Amy, Alyssa, Blair?, parents?
Tuesday - all day horse shopping, Irvine; Lauren, Amy
Wednesday
7:30 am John @ Silver Rose
8:15 Megan G?
9:00 Rosella
**** Val aat Riverland Ranch?
****Jestine at Riverland Ranch?
6:00 PM Cheryl @ Silver Rose

THURSDAY RAM TAP
1:30 Cheryl & Christy
2:30 Rosella & Meghan G?
3:15 John & Laurel
4:15 Jestine & Alyssa H
***** Please ride up to the warm-up with your partner, less stress the better :)

Friday- Sunday Coaching at Ram Tap;
Rosella - Training
Meghan - Training ?
Jestine - Novice
Laurel - BN
John - BN
Cheryl - BN
Christy - BN
Alyssa H - BN


Sunday XC schooling after show (around 2:00 pm, KIT)
Val?
Maddy
Kelcey
Amy- horse try outs?
Lauren- horse try outs?
Blair- horse try outs?

Long over-due up date

My favorite news I get to deliver to you is about Charly's tail... For
all of you that don't know, I love tails, no doubt about it. Charly has
a great one, therefore all the more fun to spend time making it the best
it can possibly be! So this winter (from the day after his last horse
show in
October) I let the top part of the tail grow out; usually I had it
clipped up so it would look neat and show off his handsome rear end....
NOW it is even better :) After it grew out I decided that I would have
Charly looking "proper" which means that his tail needs to be pulled and
not clipped, sounds funny, I know, but it's a big difference and it is a
definite time envolved plan. The pulling makes it look as if Charly
naturally has a perfectly shaped tail (at the top) instead of the whole
world knowing that it has been clipped to give the illusion of it being
"cute".... so now he is "proper" and believe me he likes to show off his
tail; he's conceited and I'm ok with that :)

Another cool topic is the fact that on the east coast there is truely
winter "training" time; on the west coast as soon as the holidays are
over you need to be getting fit b/c your first show is just a few weeks
away. Our first show isn't until April (schedule to follow). As I
stated before for Charly to be as competitive in Intermediate as he was
at Prelim we have to make him longitudinally more supple and that will
make his canter more active and light. All of January Charly has been
learning to be forward while stretching while being soft "like butter"
in your hands... he looks so happy and limber it's unreal... I'm very
excited! I've been lucky to have Danny around to help me out with his
Charly times, because Charly will always be Charly!

On Tuesday Danny was riding Charly while I was on Mark (did I mention
yet that it is time for Mark to get sold :(... ) The ride had finished
and we were on the way back to the barn when out came the super scary
BAG....Charly thought it was EVIL... proceeding to do some very quick
footwork, nearly un-glueing Danny (which is unheard of) therefore being
a very bad idea on Charly's part. Needless to say with Danny's "super
horseman" talented lik ways soon our boy was standing on top of the
scary BAG; it was impressive and should have been video taped!

Below is a tentative 2007 schedule for Charly; our plan is to get myself
and the boy out at Prelim to start out super confident and BECOME
precise before moving up to Intermediate. Perfect it at the lower level
to lessen the stress on Charly...

March 31-April 1 Morven Park - Preliminary

April 20-22nd Fair Hill (MD) - Preliminary

June 2-3rd Waredaca - INTERMEDIATE :)

July 12-15th MAUI JIM CIC ** (Wayne, Ill) Two Star CIC - no steeplecase

August 9-12th Millbrook (NY) INTERMEDIATE

September 9-12th Seneca Valley INTERMEDIATE (unless he goes to the
AEC's)

September 12-16th American Eventing Championships, Wayne, Ill (if
qualified)

October ----- CCI ** .... at the time of planning this schedule, Radnor
was our end destination, however the very next day Radnor gave notice of
terminating their event; supposedly there is a new 2 star at the
Virginia Horse Park... I believe it is the 24th-28th of October.

Charly and I always welcome vistors (he really welcomes them if they
come with anything edible for him, and him only); We'd especially love
to see you guys at some of his "parties"... I think that's what he
thinks the shows are. If you are interested let me know and I'll help
figure out which ones would be best for you and where and when to fly
into.

Chiropractic opportunity

On my last visit to California I had a fortunate opportunity to meet and use Michael Agrella's chiropractic skills. Michael has agreed to come back to the area during our Havarah clinics to help keep the horses and people well alligned. His next visit will be Saturday the 10th of Feb at Riverland Farms in Sanger.

I asked Michael to give us a bit of his background...

" About me, I have 8 years experience with humans and 5
years exp with horses, dogs, and cats (I have even
adjusted a ferret...once!). Chiropractic is my
passion, and my life. For undergraduate studies, I
went to UC Davis, and studied Biology. My
professional license and certification is from Life
Chiropractic College West, and is called "Doctor of
chiropractic", or chiropractor. I am also licensed by
the AVCA- the American Veterinary Chiropractic
Association (which is a separate one year post
graduate degree program).
Chiropractic for humans and animals covers a very
broad spectrum as far as benefits, uses, and
treatments."

At that visit a few of us humans had adjustments and I believe at least 4 horses were treated. All of us had nothing but great things to say afterwards.

Anyways just thought I'd share this with you, if you are interested let me know so that I can arrange your lesson time with a work-out from Michael to follow.