Xenophon wins HIgh Point of Show

Xenophon, the 6 year old PRE stallion owner by Sandra Werner of Alachua Florida was awarded the neck sashfor the highest scoring horse at the ERAHC andalusian and Lusitano show in Lexington, Virginia. The 17.1 hand stallion won the large class of Dressage Suitability horses, and also was Reserve Champion in the Sport horse Stallions in hand class, and the Spanish Stallion class. I am currently compiling on a freestyle for him for first level to debut at the dressage show in Tampa in November. We are very proud of 'Bear' as this was his first big show- traveling almost 14 hours to Lexington and showing in a pretty electric atmosphere for the stallion by Gaucho III.

Captive Melody and Sydnie Costello Invited to Finals

After only 1 year of training, Captive Melody is heading to the US Dressage Finals in the First Level Freestyle. Sydnie Costello, owner and rider, was invited to ride in the Open Freestyle competition even though she is technically a Young Rider. The rule states that she cannot ride in the AA division as she is not old enough, so she is competing with the Open riders (most of them professionals). It's going to be a great experience for her to compete at Nationals, as she is aspiring to do the Young Rider Prix St. George soon. Sydnie is a Sophomore at UF and has two more years to compete in the Young Riders program.

Mirror Image bound for US Dressage Finals

Evelyn Cudd's 6 year old Canadian Sport Horse gelding, Mirror Image is bound for Kentucky for the USDF Dressage Finals after just completing his very first year of being a show horse!
The 16.3 hand gelding is looking very proud of himself in the schooling arena at the USDF/GAIG Region 3 Championships in Wellington, FL.  His 4th place finish in the First Level Musical Freestyle earned him the invitation to the finals.

Rodeo 13th in Nation for USDF Grand Prix Freestyle

The year end standings are in for the USDF Horse of the Year. Rodeo is ranked 13th in the standings for the Grand Prix Kur- with a 73.5 percent average.  The 17.2 hand gelding has his 'off' days too (like any horse) but the freestyle is one of his favorite tests.

Nan Troutman's Un Ami wins Region 3 Freestyle

Sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words. Un Ami after winning the Fourth Level Freestyle with a 76%.

Karel paragliding over Sunrise Farms Sport Horses

http://youtu.be/vt1dDQyM8MA

Un Ami wins FEI High Score in US Debut at Grand Oaks

Un Ami, a 13 year old KWPN gelding by Hero X Bianca (Weltmeyer) made his debut last weekend at the wet and stormy show at Grand Oaks Equestrian Center in Weirsdale, Florida. He was 1st in the Prix St George both days and won the FEI high score award. The gelding was selected in for Nan Troutman, who has been riding her own Winston Sir in the lower levels and training with me for a year. When Nan sent me to the Netherlands in April the request was to find her a horse to show and WIN at the FEI level. DONE!

Morgan Horse's make their Pas de Deux Debut!

Karen and I rode her two bay Morgan horses, Capri and Murphy, on Saturday at the Canterbury Schooling dressage show in a second level Pas de Deux that we practiced on foot for 15 minutes. It is a work in progress but will be a lot of fun with some polish. This is what Karen had to say about the experience.

"It was great fun! We practiced for about 15 minutes during our warm-up. Because it was a schooling show, we wore head phones so Shelley could direct me the whole time. So that we kept the gaits with the music tempo, she made several spontaneous changes along the way which was fun. I had one brain fart and went off course that resulted in a near crash. Bianca videoed the event and as usual, review of my riding was extremely humbling (those damn reins are always too long and my hands are all over the place!). Fortunately, the lighting in that arena is poor, so you couldn’t see any more detail! Not only did Shelley coach me on where to go during the ride but, as a true teacher, kept reminding me to “sit up straight”,” keep your heels down”, ”don’t move your upper body”, “keep your hands quiet”, “shorten your reins” during the test. The results was “the test from Hell”! While we are all used to these comments during our lessons, it was somewhat unnerving during a test. No really, it was FUN!  She is definitely the “Queen of Multi-tasking” , capable of riding a test she just made up the day before, coaching my riding, figuring out changes spontaneously and at the same time making her horse look a whole lot better than mine!   We are actually going to practice and refine it before doing it for competition next time.

I highly recommend the experience!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34WtgXzyvz8&sns=em