Archive for September, 2009
Bella proves she is a winner, she was second in the 3 year old Materiale class at the Devon Dressage Show with a score of 71.5%, losing by only one tenth a percentage point. The judge Anne Gribbons commented that she showed an outstanding temperament and excellent obedience. I was very pleased with how she handled the atmosphere with the composure of a seasoned veteran.
Bella also took a fifth place, the highest placed filly in the 3 year old suitability class and was beaten by four outstanding stallions. She drew a large crowd in the warm up arena and received many compliments from the competition.
I watched a tire blow out on my horse trailer in the side mirror as we were driving North on Route 287 heading home from the NJ Horse Park. Limping along the shoulder I called Ryan Gaum who suggested calling 911. We were lucky to have the assistance of Patrolman Laporto and Roemmele who quickly solved the problem with a few phone calls. It turns out we did not have the correct tools, our spare was flat, and we realized we were in big trouble. Fortunately it was not raining, the horses had plenty of hay and it was late afternoon, several hours from sunset.
Luck was with us when one of the patrolmen called his friend Karl Bauer who lived nearby. Karl is an accomplished horse trainer who actually changed the tire and put us safely back on the road. A neighbor dropped by who had the correct size tools and a compressor to fill the flat tire. We are extremely lucky to have the fortune of meeting these generous individuals. The horses stayed on the trailer and our trip home was delayed by less than an hour. Thank you to everyone who helped us.
Last weekend we took a drive to the New Jersey Horse Park to compete in a Judged Trail Ride. We were lucky to stay with our friends Sandy and Ryan Gaum who live nearby.
This event was held at the New Jersey Horse Park on the cross country course with 15 stations where we were judged on how we accomplished the task at hand. Most of the stations were comprised of situations you may encounter on a trail ride such as jumping over a fallen tree, walking over a tarp, walking over a bridge that moves, dismounting and flagging your horse, roping a calf, walking by scary obstacles etc…. Nearly one hundred horses showed up for the annual event, including english and western riders.
I rode Black Gold, RJ’s 3 year old filly who has barely a month of training and she finished an astonishing fourth place! Nothing seemed to phase her as she tackled each obstacle and situation with patience and grace. Joa rode Brownie and Lauren rode Peadar who also performed very well.
This was such a fun event to take any horse to, I would encourage everyone to participate in a Judged Trail Ride with their horse to test their skills and training of their horse. It is also a wonderful experience for any horse to get out in an atmosphere with lots of activity.
bella, a three year old Dutch/Oldenburg mare, won her first dressage class with a score of 68%. She was tense and not quite her elastic self in the electric atmosphere of the NEDA Fall Festival of Dressage at Saugerties. Bella also watched the top jumpers compete in a nearby arena. After hanging out around the arenas she began to relax a bit and enjoyed the festivities. Bella was started by Rex Peterson and Cari Swanson 3 months ago and has progressed remarkably fast in her education. Bella is an outstanding young horse capable of excelling in dressage, eventing or jumping. Contact Cari to come try Bella at Windrock Farm.
Last weekend Joa was third in the open Training Level division at Town Hill Horse Trials, after placing 6th in dressage, Joa went on to jump a flawless show jumping round and a clean cross country round on Kestrel. Although Kestrel looked at a few fences on the cross country course– the log over the ditch and the water, Joa rode him beautifully around the course. All of the training and hard work has paid off with this team finishing the season in top form.
photo by Ken Regan Camera 5
The greatest race horse of modern times, Secretariat, has a new movie coming out next year. The film will depict the life story of Penny Chenery, owner of the racehorse Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in 1973. Diane Lane will portray Penny and as in all films, several horses have been cast to play Secretariat from a young foal to mature adult.
Lauren with Petey after a ride,this 12 year old ISH is a true gentleman, he jumps anything and is easy to ride. Photo by Scott Gorden at Windrock Farm
RJ is the magnificent steed ridden by Michael Lang, the organizer of the Woodstock Music Festival in Ang Lee’s new film “Taking Woodstock”. This film is the story of a family in NY State who were a part of making the festival happen in a small farming community. No one knew these 3 days would become a massive gathering of over half a million people who would congregate to celebrate music and peace. It was remarkable that there was little violence with such a mass of people at a time of tremendous turmoil.
RJ always makes an impression on screen and was even mentioned in the NY Times review of the film. Be sure to go out and enjoy this film about an amazing time in our history.