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!

The Red Baron wins his first ON

It was a red hot day at the Wednesday Sporting Days event in Aiken, SC but my ride and my students ride was well worth the day in the sun! Rudy aka The Red Baron completed his first novice level event, scoring a 29.0 in dressage and jumping lovely clear rounds in show jumping and cross country. This little guy is quite the character and has been a joy to have in the barn. He'll do one more novice while he is here in Aiken and then he will return to Port Deposit in April. At that point we'll do another novice if he needs the experience but at this rate we might see him in the training class at Fair Hill!

John Nunn came over to compete his lovely young horse, Smile Like you Mean It. John, the owner of our favorite tack store, Bit of Britain, is a life long horseman that is just getting "back in the tack" after a bit of a hiatus. Smiley is one of the loveliest off the track TB's that I've seen and John has done a great job giving Smiley the time and education that he needs to learn that eventing is supposed to be a calmer more peaceful sport than racing :) Today Smiley didnt show any tension or nervousness in the dressage and very safely jumped all his jumps. John has a novice at Southern Pines and then will be back in Md. Smiley, John and I had a great time together here in Aiken and I'm excited for our continued efforts back at home.

Pine Top Advanced Horse Trials

"I survived 2009 Advanced Horse Trials at Pine Top!"
That's what the T-shirts say and that's how I feel! Thomson, Georgia had an incredible amount of rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Luckily the sand ground held up to these storms remarkably well and the show management made some safe choices about how to proceed with the running of the event.

Advanced did dressage and show jumping on Friday; This was the first ever dressage test for both Charly and I with flying changes, I think both of us were anxious to see how that worked out and both happy to have the first one out of the way! It was truly pouring rain during our show jumping but that didn't stop Charly from sailing through the air over each of the fences, it did have me a bit apprehensive about making the inside turns so we incurred a few time faults but no jump faults.

I rode an Intermediate horse on Saturday, Toast of Manhatten (owned by Liz Patrick of Waters Edge Farm) and he had to deal with even more rain than Charly did. This horse has improved by leaps and bounds and was a bit shorted on Saturday for his dressage efforts but he'll be out again at Southern Pines to show off some of his new skills. Manhatten is the true meaning of a "mudder" he cantered around his show jumping course in the downpour without any studs and didn't miss a beat. Manhatten didn't get to run cross country as the management decided that only Advanced would go on Sunday after a horrible storm throughout Saturday evening.

Charly and I headed out for our first ever Advanced cross country in yet again another downpour. There were some really big fences and a few definite advanced questions, Charly was so smart about all of it, he hasn't forgotten a thing from last season. The courses footing actually held up quite well, there was just standing water on about 70% of the course. I've never been hunting in Ireland but I suppose this is a bit what it's like. My main objective for the weekend was to give both Charly and myself confidence at this level and gives us a good place to start out for the rest of our endeavors. Despite the weather I think we did just that. :)

United States Equestrian Team Developing Rider's Training Session week 1

Being put on the developing riders list for 2009 was exciting in itself but partaking in the experience was really a dream come true. Everyone always asks what my goals are, in reality I've always just wanted to become better than I was the day before, the competition before and train my current horse with more style than the last one. Then there is always that peep of conversation my dad and I had when I was 8 years old.... My dad always said that one day I'd be good enough to ride for the USET, my dad was a very smart man!

Captain Mark Phillips was the coach for the entire week, he trained the "Training List" riders and the "Developing Riders list". Our first session was at Paradise Farm in Aiken, SC. This day was focused to fine tuning your cross country position, aids, and mental strength! This was Charly's first go at some cross country schooling exercises for the year so I was a bit apprehensive as to how he'd behave, I was very pleasantly surprised and had a fantastic school.

The rest of the sessions were held at Three Runs Plantation, a new equestrian housing development in Aiken, SC. Three Runs really treated us well, the footing was phenomenal, everyone was very friendly, and they held a great brunch for the riders and spectators.

Mark worked with Charly and I a total of 4 times. After the cross country schooling we then proceeded to flat sessions; Mark really like Charly's presence and movement but thought that we could work a little on submissiveness! No more being a bully! I thought this was a fabulous idea and was really impressed with how much we got done in the couple of days. Charly and I ended our last session getting to do two show jump rounds. Mark had a course set up that was HUGE. The idea of the jump school was to be very accurate with how the horse was ridden to each jump, and to dare myself and the horse to get quite close to each fence so that he really had to give a good bascule over the top.

Mark will be coming back over to the US in March and Charly and I have been invited back to his next set of training sessions :)

Charly starts off 2009 with style!

Havarah's Charly is back at it! We competed at Pine Top in the Intermediate on Saturday, his first event of the season. Charly is normally pretty difficult to ride in the short court arenas, but this year he was so much better and more rideable. He scored a 28.3 which put him in the lead of a very impressive class. If Charly could smile he would have had a grin from ear to ear as he flew over each of the show jumps, I saw his picture and he was nearly to the top of the standards! Pine Top is a great place and I can't wait to go back at the end of the month and take Charly out on the XC. Charly has only just gotten back to jumping this year and I didn't want to push things taking him XC this weekend. Charly was withdrawn from the competition after SJ so that he will be fresh and ready for our week with the developing riders training sessions.

I had a second ride at Pine Top. A horse named Toast of Manhattan; This horse has come a long way in just the few weeks I've been riding him, I think he has a lot of un-tapped potential and am excited for his cross country run today :)

WEBSITE!!!

Just wanted to let you all know that I now have a website and would love for you all to check it out! I plan to keep it up-dated and would love for you to visit it often :)
Web design credits and thanks to Bryce Kinnamon!

www.mollyrosin.com

Aiken- week 2

Greetings from the south!

Charly and I are on our second week at "Maple Hill South"; this is the farm Charly and the other horses I have in training are staying at while we are in Aiken. Peter Barry and his family have out-done themselves with this facility and with their kindness having us here.

Last Friday Charly had his first jump school of the season, saying that he felt like he was king kong was an understatement. Usually when horses come off of a big three day event they either are a bit intimidated the next time they start up, or very proud of themselves. Charly was definitely confident in his ability! This week has been very exciting; Tuesday was the first day that Charly and I worked on our "changes", Charly thought this was a pretty cool new game and was very good with his hind end. (often horses change late behind, but luckily... so far at least, this doesn't seem to be a problem) We then had our second jump school on Wednesday and Charly and I were back in the game as the saying goes. He felt phenomenal, after not jumping him for awhile you forget the good feeling that he gives you over a fence. Both of these rides were very early in the morning and I felt like we were in some sort of movie as we set off on a trail ride before dawn to get over to our lesson site, interestingly enough Charly seemed to really enjoy his early morning workouts.

Charly has adapted to his routine here very well, he enjoys tormenting his young pasture friend, who luckily allows Charly to boss him around and thankfully doesn't give back any "hoof"! This weekend will be his first outing at a competition. We are going to "Pine Top" which is about an hour and a half from where we stay. Charly will definitely do dressage and then Boyd and I are going to discuss the course and decide what is best for Charly at that point. Next week we have a pretty full plate with the Developing riders training sessions. Cross country schooling with Mark Phillips on Wednesday, then dressage lessons and maybe a show jump lesson.

Aiken is an incredible place to be for anyone wanting to do horse stuff, and more horse stuff. Every week there are shows within 15 minutes to a couple hours away; cross country schoolings, derby's, dressage schooling shows, training sessions and regular events. I've been busy with the other rides in the barn which include a few young horses starting their eventing careers and an Intermediate event horse that is here to tune up his dressage and show jumping skills. The Red Baron is one of the young ones and he helped start off my season on a good note with a win at his first ever event :)

Hope you are all well and staying warm, come visit!