MKE is looking for a new working student!

As we posted before one of our long time team members, Hannah Metz, will be off to nursing school this August.  Lucky for us we have Katie Mays, a life long horse gal and a Equine Science college graduate to help me train up the next generation of MKE team members.

Our barn works mainly out of Kirkwood, PA where we are lucky enough to train our eventing horses out in the Andrews Bridge hunt land.  We actively compete in Area II with horses of all ages and levels.  We also spend a few months in the winter working down south to give our horses a good healthy start to their seasons. Our working students handle all aspects of horse care and training- to me it's incredibly important for my riders/students/employees to really truly "know" the horses.  The actual program varies for each individual working student depending on if they come with or without a horse and what their personal goals are.

Requirements- Good character; honesty and reliability

Please contact me with any questions!  We will be starting trials right away and will be looking to have the position filled by August.

Shannon Thompson coming back to Principia Stables this TUESDAY!!

A few weeks ago MKE riders, owners and neighbors joined together for a very inspirational presentation on Sports Psychology.  Shannon Thompson was like bright light on what can sometimes be a bit of a dim subject!  Having grown up in the equestrian world she's been through many similar situations to what many of us face.  Adding to her personal experience as an equestrian she now has a degree in psychology and a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology.  Her practice and research has focused on the latest in performance enhancement; human thriving and high achievement.

The presentation was so informative and whats even better is that Shannon really grasped the audience and created as much interaction as the time could allow.  It became obvious that no matter the sport you're in or the level at which you are aspiring to work towards; we all could benefit from finding ways to help ourselves get through the good times AND the challenging times!  Learning about how we can help ourselves perform at our best and train through the more difficult areas of our sport was simply fascinating. It was inspirational for me to watch and listen to Shannon as she shared with us some of her methods that she uses to help athletes balance the need for excellence and enjoyment.

This coming Tuesday, May 19th, Shannon will be back in the area and has some individual and "paired" time slots available.  This is open to those that were able to attend the presentation and to any one that would just like to get some time in discussing the mental game of any type of athletic endeavor.  Shannon definitely works well with us equestrian types, however, she has spent much of her career working with athletes in many other fields.  In fact Shannon will soon be based out of an Olympic training facility to work hand in hand with those high caliber athletes.

If anyone is interested in a session with Shannon please email me at Molly@mkequestrian.com; private and semi private sessions available.  Location will be 350 Sproul Rd; Kirkwood, PA 17536

MKE's very own exceptional "Hannah Banana" off to become a NURSE!

Back in October of 2008 I met the most adorable and incredibly shy little girl;  6 and a half years later this little Hannah has grown into a remarkable young lady.  Hannah didn't start out as a regular student but instead immediately immersed herself into the day to day lifestyle of an active training program.

For me to write out and share all of the fabulous, scary, sad, exciting, crazy, tiring and life changing things that have happened in the last 6+ years, I would create a VERY long blog!  Hannah has stepped up the equestrian ladder with the help of some wonderful (albeit sometimes naughty!) ponies and horses.  I am so thankful to have gotten the chance to watch her learn and progress as well as partake in the process.  Beyond going from pony rider to FEI rider to race horse exercise rider to OTTB trainer Hannah has become an excellent care-giver to my horses in training for upper level eventing.

Hannah has a natural talent for nurturing.  If any of you have been around her in the barn you'll notice  how all of the horses are so happy and comforted as she takes care of them.  Her love and kindness to all of the horses will be GREATLY missed; however, all of us here at MKE are so excited for her to take her next step in her life.  Hannah is off to college in August with plans of getting her CNA to work in the hospital.  I think anyone getting Hannah as their nurse will be exceptionally lucky.  I haven't met many people as caring and kind as this young lady.  

Below are a few moments in time over the last 6 + years- please share your photos and memories that you have of Hannah... time for a really big scrap book!

Last but not least a very special thank you to Pattie, Hannah's awesome mom, for all that you have made possible for Hannah ... and for the fabulous photos!! 

Hannah and Mistletoe 

Hannah and Ben leased kindly from Dr. Anderson

Hannah and her DWB mare Zhen practicing for their first FEI competition

Hannah and Zhen jumping around the Fair Hill CIC *

Hannah and her OTTB, Mason, at one of his first outings.

Hannah leading the "cool-out" at one of Sabrina's FEI events

Hannah keeping the Aiken '14 barn in proper order :)

Hannah is good at many things, but she is incredible with the horses and their "pre" show nerves.  All the horses love hang out time with Hannah.... as do the riders!

MK Equestrian's current sales this year.. congrats to all and best of luck in 2015

I'd like to congratulate the new owners of the following horses... I can't believe it's just March and so much has already happened this year!  I am so thankful for the opportunity to have had these horses in my program and truly look forward to seeing them flourish in the years to come.






Cute As A Bug aka Cricket is now a resident of West Deptford, NJ.  As a 16th birthday present for Carly Dyal, Cricket moved to NJ just before our trek to Aiken.  Luckily it looks as if Carly and Cricket are really enjoying the beginning of their year even if it's been pretty white!

Beaujeste aka Beau has been a long time friend of MKE and just recently came back into our program after spending some years competing with his breeders and now former owners, Robin Hill Farm.  Beau is in great hands now training with Susie Beale and his NEW rider Olivia "Livy" Hayes. They are currently spending some warm time getting to know each other here in Aiken but then will move back to Radnor, PA.

ZOOM ZOOM this horse has only been with us a short while but he has quickly gotten a piece of our hearts.  Zoom seems pretty good at capturing hearts as he's already found his new owner, LouAnn Wulf.  LouAnn is no stranger to event horses and now runs a great teaching program in Davenport, Iowa.






Please contact us if you're looking or if you would like to place a horse with us for training, sales, competing. molly@mkequestrian.com

MK's Concord Dawn wins at Sporting Days

This last weekend I rode our new horse MK's Concord Dawn in the BN division at sporting days.  We are extremely excited about the possible future with this young TB horse by Smart Guy by Smarten.  He has a wonderful attitude and fabulous athletic ability.  I look forward to going over a for more courses with him before we leave Aiken this spring... which is just in a few weeks time!

2015 bringing some exciting new things to MK Equestrian!

Here in Aiken MK Equestrian is keeping plenty busy!  We have had a great first month full of horsey related activities.  LOTS of horse shoppers this year, which is great as we have a wonderful selection of horses for sale.  In the next few days I'll be posting about some exciting new homes for various MKE horses.  

We have also gotten to do quite a bit of cross country schooling and competing even though it's only February!  MKE is lucky to have the help of Hannah Metz and Katie Mays; it truly takes tough, determined, and fiesty ladies to keep up with a schedule like ours!  Last weekend we took the BIG boys to Pine Top and rode over Derek DiGrazia's new Pine Top courses and I am more than ever excited and proud of the horses and students I have.  There was some very good success in ribbons with Camilla Grover-Dodge finishing in 1st and 3rd - a great prep for her first Preliminary outing next weekend!  Puttin on the Ritz, owned by the Klavans family, finished a strong 2nd in his Preliminary which will lead him into his first Intermediate of the year.  I'm also extremely proud to have gotten The Diesel Boy around his first Intermediate of 2015 which seemed almost like an Advanced track!  I had one rider steering issue; other than that he was rock solid.  Bristol Indian jumped a double clear in the BIG SJ of Intermediate and I learned an extremely valuable lesson about xc riding on Sunday... I'm so lucky to have such a smart horse like this one and can't wait for the rest of our xc together.  

VERY IMPORTANT NEWS!!!!

www.mkequestrian.com is officially launched and with that my email has been changed to molly@mkequestrian.com

 

Please make note of this as my old email address will only work for a short while longer.  

Pictures, videos and more NEWS coming soon!

`Molly and the MKE south team 

DZL Syndicate Shares available!

It's official!  Leto "The Diesel Boy" has open shares available in in the DZL Syndicate.  I am so excited that this locally bred and trained horse has shown such great promise; it IS possible to breed, train and compete US horses!



There is more information about our syndicate on my website, please don't hesitate to email with any questions or to pass this link along to anyone you think might be a good fit for our group!



http://www.mkequestrian.com/dzl_syndicate/index.html

2015 about to kick off at Pine Top Horse Trials!

In just about 36 hours I'll be starting my first event of 2015 with THE DREAM TEAM.  That's right, a few of the best horses a girl could ask to work with, some of the most fabulous girls to attend to these special horses every need, an amazing coach and YES even my husband.

I couldn't be happier with our pre-season preparations. The beginning of January was well spent in the indoor working on some flat work basics and then the last half was here in Aiken getting the horses out and about- getting fit!  We had a great XC school at the amazing GIBBES Farm and today we were put on point at Phillip's southern training facility.

I expect as things go that I'll come out of Pine Top with even a longer list of things that I want to polish and finesse... after all that's what us professional riders do... strive for better!

I promise to fill this blog with lots of pictures and videos in the very near future.  For now I'd like to share a link to a blog I wrote for Eventing Nation.  This is an important time in my life and although this is a HUGE decision I've made, I am feeling great about it.

http://eventingnation.com/home/why-i-made-the-choice-to-syndicate/


Thanks for following along with our adventures!
`Molly

MKE working student bragging rights....

Twas only a few months ago we were wondering who it was and what kind of person we would have as our next working student.

As luck would have it we got Miss Katie Mays.  This girl ticks off a lot of boxes.
1. She's from NY so PA cold is NOTHING!
2. As of today she's an official college graduate with a 3.91 GPA - finished within only 3 years!
      --- Meaning I'm not holding her up from her studies AND she's used to expedited learning :)
3. Her and Hannah Metz get each other- an absolute must as they work and live together hand in hand
4. She smiles, she laughs, she jests; all while grooming, sweeping, walking, organizing, prepping, etc
5. Last but definitely not least she's a lovely rider and true learner of the horse.

Here's a picture of her giving Kynynmont's Cassidy a nice ride out on the Andrew's Bridge Paperchase (Cassidy is for sale, but hands off of Katie!)

Masterel ... my french bred OTTB

Masterel is a 5 year old OTTB that is french bred and was quite successful overseas, but lucky for us didnt enjoy the racing lifestyle as much here on US soil.  With the help of Dr. Arensburg's keen eye and Denis Glaccum's eagerness to see  some good OTTB's into good event horses Masterel landed a home here with us at MK Equestrian.

We have had this horse for a year and I am incredibly excited to let 2015 be his true start in the eventing world.  I feel it's important for the OTTB's to settle after they finish their first career.  Masterel spent 2014 learning about hacking out, tagging along to low stress fun adventures, figuring out this whole "dressage" stuff and quite enjoying himself showing off over fences- he's quite the natural.

This video is of Masterel at a dressage lesson with Silva Martin on quite a cold day in November.

VIDEO of Rio- winter schooling

Kynynmont's Rio
Connemara/TB/Clydesdale cross
2004 Bay Gelding 16.2H

Competed up to Novice level in eventing.  GREAT on trails, could be a wonderful fox hunter.  This horse is lovely to work with on the ground and so much fun to ride.

Currently based in Kirkwood, PA until January 21st.

Other horses available for sale; contact us to see what we have!
molly@mollyrosin.com

Cute as a Bug- VIDEO :)

"Cricket" is a 10 year old dark bay/black TB gelding that we have offered for sale.  I have competed Cricket at Beginner Novice and Novice level events and his owner has also competed him at jumper shows.  As you will see in the video Cricket is flashy on the flat and is quite a nice jumper.  This horse will excel in dressage, jumpers or eventing.

Please email me if you're interested in scheduling a time to try out Cricket to see if he could be a good fit for you!

molly@mollyrosin.com

Fair Hill Re-cap and slideshow

Fair Hill is one of the most amazing events I've ever been to.  We work years to get horses prepared for this event, or any event of this level and sometimes at the end of the day, timing is either on or off.  Benny really loved the atmosphere and all of the attention, big shows are definitely his thing!  I learned that Benny has the heart that it takes to be a top horse,  and I'm extremely eager to get out on our next FEI course.  Fair Hill wasn't our weekend in the end- but I know a lot more about Benny and what we need for brilliance in 2015.

In the meantime enjoy Benny's photo book!  Thank you to Pattie for the great photos :)

Cross country times are up!

The CCI 2* starts at 8:30am and Benny and I leave the box at 10:18.

This course is one that requires a fit horse, skilled rider and a brave partnership. I can't wait to give it a try!

For up dates and pictures be sure to 'like' my Facebook page.
Hope to see many of you at Fair Hill!

Morven Park Intermediate

This last weekend was totally the "Benny show" as all the other horses had the weekend off of competition while I was at Morven Park with Benny.  I have to say as much as I love competing multiple horses and I think that it really helps you fine tune your skills to get out on course more- it was great to really schedule each day around what was best for Benny.

Our dressage is still a work in progress, but he seems to enjoy it and I know that one day soon we will have a pretty solid test.  The show jumping proved quite difficult for many horses; it was set out on a grass hill so whilst trying to be careful horses also had to manage the terrain and slippery footing.  Benny shined in this phase and put out a double clean.  Saturday night Leesburg, VA received a welcome amount of rain, which made the early going pretty slippery in some spots. Benny seemed just right on point and totally un-phased by the ground.  It was like he just galloped above it... a remarkable feeling!  I couldn't be happier with how each jump and combination rode.  Phillip, my coach, gives very clear guidance of how a combination will effect the horses and what you should do to help them out.  It's not often that us NON Phillip Dutton's can replicate these rides, but this time I feel Benny and I truly hit the mark.

We have our sights set on the CCI 2 star at Fair Hill - we aren't there yet, but I'm starting to get a bit excited! Until then we will be focusing on keeping Benny relaxed and happy - anyone that knows him will understand why this is so important!  Our dressage, jumping and conditioning will all be heavily concentrated as well, as long as he stays happy the rest is icing on the cake!

Best.Event.Ever... even better than last year!

Most of my younger years of eventing were spent in California and at that time I would have day dreams about galloping across golf courses because their grass looked like it was made for horse hooves.  We were actually told specifically at the Pebble Beach course that it was a $100 fine per horse hoof on the turf!  This last weekend I was living the dream.  Bright green grass, rolling hills, fun HUGE jumps and I was sitting on three great horses.



Above is a video clip of Puttin on the Ritz at the first combination on his 2* course, the angled houses. This horse was foot perfect that day- I mis read how to ride a combination late on course and so we got a run by penalty there.  As far as I'm concerned he has no idea that he didnt win, as he did in my eyes. That was a great ride.  I feel like I'm back flying across the land on a smart and scopey horse that likes to have fun- just like it was in the Charly days.  Soon I'll have the whole video- so check back in :)

The Diesel Boy came to Plantation ready to dominate- then I sort of mis handled his dressage warm up and created a wild child instead of a fancy obedient one.  Lesson learned!  He ended up with clean jump rounds across a tough 1 star track, I am so amazed at how far this boy has come.  Bristol Indian was my last dressage ride and he put in a real solid effort, I love that this horse is the same in the arena as in the show ring- we will keep doing our homework and will just keep remembering that turtle and the hare story.  :)  This guy was a blast to show jump and although a little sleepy like on cross country he was extremely honest.  Next time I'm going to practice finding the gas pedal.



Robyn Weaver and Azrael are a new partnership at the Preliminary level and wow were they put to the test with the jump rounds this weekend.  In a way only Robyn could she took "Kevin" from being totally overwhelmed and nervous in the beginning of the show jump course to being confident and proud of himself.  This was amazing to watch and the confidence carried over to their foot perfect cross country course.  This pair dominated at training level this year and I'm so proud of them for tackling these BIGGER questions and figuring out a bit more about the game every time out.

RIDE TIMES for Plantation CIC September 18-21st

Here is a link to the overall schedule for the weekend and below are MK Equestrian's ride times.... come and visit!

http://plantationfieldhorsetrials.com/cms2/eventdocs/ps/SepProvisionalSchedule.pdf

Thursday:
2:02 Puttin on the Ritz- CIC 2 star dressage

Friday
8:41 The Diesel Boy - CIC 1 star dressage
9:38 Robyn Weaver - Preliminary dressage
1:38 Erin Nolan - CIC 1 star dressage
4:25 Bristol Indian - CIC 1 star dressage

Saturday
7:36 The Diesel Boy - SJ
8:38 Erin Nolan - SJ
9:20 Bristol Indian - SJ
10:08 Robyn Weaver - SJ then XC
2:44 Putitn on the Ritz - SJ
2-4pm CIC 1 star xc - Erin, Bristol and Leto

Sunday
8:15- 11am CIC 2 star xc - Puttin on the Ritz

How does MKE prepare for the biggest events of the fall....?

We keep busy!

This up-coming weekend is an event I've been preparing for and waiting for pretty much all season.  The best event ever.... Plantation Field!!!!  I'm absolutely beyond excited as I'll have 3 horses competing in FEI classes, pretty much a life long dream to have the ride on 3 great horses at a great event with wonderful people around me.  I've got it set up right where I want it-- well hopefully!  I did loose my stupendous coach to the WEGS and 2 other huge events over seas, so preparation was unfortunately more on my own that I'd love.  But I kept his voice in my head every time I jumped and this next weekend we'll see how that worked!

I don't think it's very healthy to agonize over small details for too long so my weeks preparing for big events like this I like life to be normal. Which for me means busy.

Last event was every bit that and added to it I'd like to say we all had a pretty great time :)  On Saturday I rode Masterel in his first BN event to a 2nd place finish.  Masterel is a horse that Denis Glacuum and I picked up as an OTTB project about 8-9 months ago.  I believe firmly in letting the initial months of non race track life be nothing but relaxing good stuff... and that's what we did.  Masterel went to Aiken and learned how to hack, step over solid logs and has been attempting to toughen up and be a pasture pony (at least for a few hours every day!).  This summer his training has really stepped up and I am beyond thrilled with the horse we have.  Masterel is one of the most independent horses I've ever trained; he absolutely loves his training time and mostly his time out on the xc course.  His gallop stride just takes him right in stride to his jumps and gives you an amazing feeling.  This is all in due thanks to the vets of Equine Veterinary Care who saw him and forwarded on his information to us.  Dr. Arensburg has a good eye!

At fair hill we finally got rain, we got wet and we loved it :)  Sarah Dawson and her horse proved that they have been great pupils and finished novice like it was elementary with no help by me (time conflicts!) Bri Beiler and her "camp" horse were 2nd after dressage and just had a few xc slipping problems but finished like the true champs they are and last but not least Vanessa Stolzfus and her new addition Teddy Sarco completed their first event to bring home a 3rd place ribbon!  Thank you so much to Ryan Woods and his crew for the great training on Teddy!

As if that wasn't enough fun we did it all over again starting at 4am on Sunday, but this time at Seneca Valley PC horse trials.

I rode Kynymont's Rio at his first Novice and Cute as a Bug also in novice.  Both of these horses are with me as sales horses learning the ropes as we go.  Both horses were phenomenal, I couldn't have asked them to be better.  Dr. Steve Berkowitz set down the grill/camera/thermometer for the day and enjoyed himself a near perfect Novice event on Zoomalong.  In my mind it was perfect, I think Steve would agree as well.  Steve has worked hard all season on getting him and the Zoom-ster to be in harmony on the flat and over fences.  This they were.  Smooth dressage - in 3rd, clean and PERFECT sj to move to 2nd, faultless cross country with just too big of turns incurring some time faults to give away the red ribbon.  I know they'll dominate next time, so watch out!

All of this excitement while keeping the CIC horses in condition in prepped for the best event ever--- takes an amazing support group of a very understanding husband and SUPER hard working head groom.

HERE WE GO....

Cute as a Bug- FOR SALE

Cute as a Bug finishing without any jumping penalties at his first recognized novice.  This guy has lots of ribbons and levels ahead of him.  Priced to sell, owner has too many horses and not enough time.

MKE gearing up for the fall season after a great summer

I knew that things had been rolling along at a quick pace here at MKE but I didn't realize that it was nearly 4 months ago since I really made a proper up date!

Here in Area II we are lucky to have an abundance of things to do with our horses.  Having said that I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't wait for your horse to have a problem (health or otherwise); you should choose times within the year to lighten up on their work loads.  "The dream team" aka Benny, Bristol and Leto all competed in the CCI at VA in May and after that had an "easier" month - no competitions just lots of flat work and hacks.  Then they competed at the New Jersey Horse Park, MD horse trials and Millbrook.  We are aiming at the CIC at Plantation in a few weeks so my game plan was to give them a few easier weeks after Millbrook then work on their conditioning and skill sets (jumping and dressage) as our Plantation prep- I felt we had done lots of competitions and should stay home with our heads focused with our fall goals ahead.  If Plantation goes well I'll be looking towards a CCI with Benny and a possibly move up with Bristol and Leto... fingers crossed!

At the barn theres been some exciting horse switching going around.  We found "Rissa" her dream home with a wonderful long time eventing supporter.  Rissa now lives in luscious Virginia and will get to do some jumping and show off her lovely dressage gaits.  My student, Vanessa, was doing some horse shopping this summer and I'm super excited to say that we have a wonderful chestnut Irish gelding in the barn named "Teddy Sarco".  Vanessa is one of the most interesting young ladies I've had the pleasure to work with so I very much so look forward to many adventures ahead!  We also have welcomed in Densey and Ron Juvonen who have brought over their group of hunt horses.  The Juvonens and their right hand man Goyo have brought a lot of joy to the farm and you'll most likely see them out hunting with Andrews Bridge as that's their true horse passion :)

At the moment we have 3 horses with us for sale; all very athletic and promising individuals.  More videos and pictures to follow on these guys- ranging from 15 hands to 16.3hands- let me know if you're in the market!

It feels weird to have taken a few weekends off of competing, something about being an eventer... we aren't allowed to miss anything!  I am so far very happy with the schedule; I feel like it's giving us time to really get things ready for our fall season.  This last Saturday I put on my first "Dressage Play Day" aka DPD as it'll be known from here forward.  This was an in-house fix a test of sorts - but was held for so many more reasons.  I made sure to make it as "show like" as possible; flowers, judge canopy, etc... and it worked!  Some horses were nervous at first and more than one rider forgot a movement, had a show panic, etc etc... but most of all they all got to practice a test they've never ridden and figure out how to make it even better for the second go round.  I had a great time watching MKE's lovely riders and equally nice horses.  I can't wait for more of these!

Probably the most exciting part of this summer came just about a month ago.  My two favorite boys have joined together and became a team.  HAVARAH"S CHARLY IS BACK!!!!!!  Charly has been hanging out around the barn for awhile now, just waiting for the right situation to come about and then it happened.  My husband decided it was time to utilize Charly's SKILLZ and learn some dressage.  He even rode in the DPD and it was a glorious sight, Charly is moving so well and with just a few weeks of dressage riding Bryce has really turned a corner.  Charly is still pretty young, '98 baby, but at this point in time we are going to keep him just strutting his stuff in the dressage arena so he can stay healthy and fancy for many years to come.

11 day countdown to the BEST.EVENT.EVER!  Can't wait :)