We had a great weekend at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, TX this past weekend. Our results were as follows...
Jenna & Gran Casso GAIG/UDSF First Level Freestyle Reserve Champion SWDC First Level Freestyle Reserve Champion GAIG/UDS First Level Open - 8th Jenna & Willo Her highest scores yet at 1st level Won her first time out at 2nd level 1st level qualifying score for 2012 Champs Celine & Abaris Dressage Equitation Champion SWDC 2nd Level Jr/YR - 4th Katie & Bardo HDS Autumn Classic Third Level AA High Point Champion GAIG/UDDF Third Level AA - 4th SWDC Third Level AA - 5th Marcia & Gusty Third Level Test 2 - 1st
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I'm very excited to share that Warendof and I will be traveling to Chesapeake City, Maryland to train with Jessica Jo Tate this month. Tomorrow afternoon I will drive Waren up to Pilot Point, TX where he will spend the night before being loaded on the big rig to head to the east coast. He should arrive Wednesday sometime and JJ will work with him for a few days before I arrive on 10/10. Waren is schooling very well at home and is working towards the Prix St. Georges. His pirouettes, tempis and overall level of collection are getting much better but we definitely need some polishing and an understanding of how to get more expression. I will try to keep this blog updated about our progress!
Jenna and Willo, owned by Dawn Dugan, were first level champions at both the San Antonio I & II shows this past weekend at the Rose Palace! Willo showed significant improvement in this level and is training 2nd level at home.
Jenna's student, Joy Alexander and Horton did super at their first recognized show together! They won 3 of their 4 classes and scored up to 67%! This super combination was also on the winning team for the Ride For the Cure team on Alida's Alliance. Their team raised over $8,000 for the Susan G. Kohman Foundation! Great job guys!! This marks the "official" last show of the year since the USDF year ends Sept. 30. However, we still have championships in November:) Well, this summer has been totally brutal. Record highs, over 70 days over 100 degrees and we tied the all time record of 112 degrees. We've been starting earlier and finishing earlier so we can retreat to the AC during the hottest part of the day. Luckily, our horses have been handling everything quite well. The stallions have enjoyed being in their stalls under the fans all day.
In mid June, we attended the HDS Summer Show. Martin was scheduled to ride Waren but an injury earlier in the week put him out for the show and I rode Waren instead. We showed 4-1 both days and did quite well! Gran Casso competed in the FEI Five Year Old Class and scored a 7.0 which unfortunately wasn't high enough to help him be in the top 15. They wanted to see a little more development, which of course, will come with time. The heat started to get to Gran Casso by Sunday and we didn't have our best freestyle performance. Sadly on June 24, we lost our beautiful Freestyle filly and full sister to Freedance, Freestar. It was quite sudden and we still don't know what happened but we miss our beautiful filly. Gran Casso has had a fairly light summer, just going to three times a week work since I felt he was getting a little sour at the June show. He is back to his happy, confident self and is schooling extremely well. I feel like his canter work has really progressed since earlier this summer and he is really starting to sit. The simple changes are so much better and we've even started playing with flying changes. Waren has also been schooling well and I feel as if he has made a ton of progress in the last few months. I think I'm really starting to get the feeling of where he needs to be and how active he needs to be for the FEI work. His tempis and pirouettes are getting better and with a little more polishing, I hope to have him out at PSG soon. Louie spent mid April through mid July with Daniel Bedoya to learn to jump. He has a lot of talent over fences and looks to be a very careful jumper. He is back in dressage training for the time being and we hope to get him out in the show ring with Martin this fall. His gaits continue to impress us with his effortless uphill balance. Freedance has been worked very lightly this summer. I've been on him in the round pen a few times and he's been very good. Already walk trot canter, he is very intelligent and once the weather cools off a little more, we will being more serious work to prepare him for next years four year old classes. Martin has also been long lining him which is proving to be a very valuable thing for a young horse to learn. When you take them to the arena the first time, you actually have some steering! We are excited about the coming fall. Jenna will be competing on Willo in the San Antonio Fall Dressage shows and we are still debating about taking a few horses to Tyler at the end of September. We are doing clinics with Charles de Kunffy, Jerem First off, Happy Birthday to Glorianna! She is a year old today and nearly 15 hands already!
We had a fairly successful show this past weekend at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy. This weekend was home to the first CDI competition ever in Region 9 and as always, the HDS and the volunteers did a fabulous job putting on this historic show! Martin and I loaded up Gran Casso and Warendorf and headed to Katy on Thursday after working a few training horses in the morning. Friday morning, Waren competed in Fourth level test 1 and scored a 60%, which I felt was a little low for how the ride felt. However, with this score, I now have my 2 fourth level scores towards my silver medal! Gran Casso had his 1-1 warm up class mid day and won the class with a 70%. Later in the day, Gran Casso and I rode our first five year old test of the year and scored a 7.5! I know he still has a lot of additional strength to build but I was really proud of him and very pleased that the judges liked him and felt he has a lot of potential! Saturday morning was an early start again with Waren at 4-1. He scored a 63.1% this time and won the class! The biggest bobble in the test was when his right to left flying change was two strides late and I had trouble then getting him active and prepared enough to really get a nice score on the collected canter circle. Still, I was very pleased with him. Gran Casso went later in the day showing 2-3. This was his first time out at second level and he scored a 64% which is a qualifying score! We finished the day with my first level freestyle on Gran. I have never had so much fun during a ride before! All the transitions were on target and there were no major mistakes. I really felt like I was dancing with my boy! Unfortunately the judge wasn't too crazy about my music (which the judge in Tyler loved!! I guess that's how it goes with freestyles!) but we still scored high enough to earn my second and final regional championship qualifying score. Sunday was tough for the boys, they were both very tired! Waren, however, scored a 63.7% at 4-1 which was his highest for the weekend, even with a big problem in one of the walk pirouettes. The first pirouette was an 8! The second, he stuck one of his hind legs and just couldn't get out of it and started backing up. Not good! Other than that, it was a nice forward test. Gran Casso was completely and utterly exhausted by his last 2-3 ride and unfortunately did not earn a qualifying score. Waren and I ended up Show II Fourth Level Open Reserve Champions!! All in all, it was a really great show. My goal with Waren was to have very forward, active tests and I think we achieved this. With Gran Casso, I wanted a pleasant, forward ride which we achieved until Sunday ;-) We had a pretty good showing this past weekend at the Texas Dressage Classic I&II in Tyler, TX. Martin competed on Warendorf and had a great show, earning his bronze medal, show I reserve champion 3rd open and show 2 champion 3rd open with a score of 65.9%!
Gran Casso showed well scoring a 67% on our first ever freestyle! He also scored a 77 and 80 in materiale and a 69% and 70% at first level test 1. He just needs one more freestyle score to qualify for championships. The HDS Spring Classic is coming up in a few weeks. I will be showing Warendorf at fourth level and Gran Casso at 2nd level, 1st level, 1st level freestyle and the FEI 5 year old test. The Spring Classic is a CDI this year so it should be especially fun! A big congrats to our talented junior rider Celine, who was named CTDS Jr/YR First Level Champion and Second Level Reserve Champion for 2010 on Abaris! Celine qualified for the 2011 National Dressage Seat Medal Finals!
Another year has come and gone. It was a really great 2010! Gran Casso competed in January and in March at first level and the USEF four year old tests. Early April, Martin & I hosted a Charles de Kunffy clnic at Royal Equus Farm. We had a great turnout and had some pretty amazing rides.
On April 15, we welcomed our first foal of the year, Santana by Sonntagskind out of EM Atlanta. Just a week later our second foal made his appearance, Florestern by Furst Klasse out of EMC Lugana. May 3 our last foal of the year arrived, Glorianna by Gran Casso out of Reigner. Warendorf and I competed at 4th level for the first time this past April and earned our first score towards our USDF Silver Medal. Feyock & Willo competed on the Concordia Team for the first time in June with great scores at the HDS Summer Show. We ended the summer in style with an impressive performance at the Black Star Sporthorse Breed Show series winning 6 reserve championships in the regular shows as well as taking Reserve Champion Colt (Freedance), Reserve Champion Filly (Jypsy Rose) and Champion Stallion (Gran Casso). Of course one of our biggest excitements for the year was bringing Martin Arnold to Texas and founding Concordia Dressage! We have been busy building our business over the last few months and have had such a wonderful time meeting more clients and horses. In September, Martin & I loaded up Gran Casso and headed to Lexington, KY for the World Equestrian Games. Since the ISR/OLD 10 Day Advanced Stallion Test was to start just a few days after the games, we decided it would be easiest to board Gran Casso in Lexington while we watched the games and then go straight to Batavia, OH. The WEG was an amazing experience that we will never forget. To see dressage on the big stage was very special and someday I hope to be riding at that level! The 10 Day Advanced Stallion Test that took place from Octoer 7-17 was a great experience that I look forward to taking part in again with Freedance in 2012! We made lots of new friends and had a wonderful time. Gran Casso finished 2nd overall and was the highest scoring dressage stallion with no score less than 7.0. Soon after we returned to Texas, I rode Warendorf in a dressage demonstration at the Mallets & Merlot Charity Polo Match benefiting R.O.C.K. and the next weekend Martin rode Warendorf in a 3 day Charles de Kunffy clinic at Oakhaven Farm. A few days after that we loaded up for championships. I rode Gran Casso and Willo. Our student, Amy Denny competed her westphalian gelding, Feyock (also in training with us) at 1st level, Kate Hadden-Jackson competed her holsteiner gelding, Bardo, at 3rd level and Celine Haliouva-Haubold competed Abaris at 1st and 2nd level. We had a really great show. Gran Casso finished 6th in very competitive training level championships classes. Willo competed at 1st level for the first time with scores in the mid 60s, Katie earned her USDF Bronze Medal, Amy earned her first score towards her USDF Bronze Medal and Celine finished 6th in a huge 1st level junior championship class and earned her 2nd level scores towards her bronze. For USDF Awards, Gran Casso ended up 3rd in the 4/5 year old stallion materiale and Gran Casso, Freedance, and Jypsy Rose all ended up in the top 10 in their age/gender groups! USEF standings has Gran Casso as 48th/182 for Leading Dressage Breeding Sires which is pretty good considering he only had one offspring representing at only 3 shows (Jypsy Rose)! I was 25th in the leading dressage breeding breeder standings and 20th in dressage breeding owner standings! We are so excited about the upcoming year. In mid January, Freedance will be leaving our North location in Hutto for our training facility in Coupland to get started under saddle. It will be a big year for him as he prepares for his stallion inspections and also learns to ins and outs of collecting for the breeding season. He will hopefully be competing at training level during the year as well as materiale classes. Gran Casso has a big show year ahead of him competing in 1st level, 2nd level, 1st level freestyle, materiale and the FEI 5 year old test. We already have several mares booked to him and we look forward to seeing more of his spectacular foals! Ballagio (Louie) is in training with Martin and will be competing this coming spring at training level and hopefully the USEF Four year old test as well. Warendorf and our horse in training, Feyock (owned by Amy Denny) are working to come out at Prix St. Georges during the year. Both horses are also aimed at the 2012 Brentina Cup. We are expecting two foals next year. Dalliance is expecting a Freestyle foal in March and Reigner is expecting a Gran Casso foal in July. Lugana will be bred to Royal Hit in the early spring and Dalliance will be bred to Gran Casso. Reigner is for sale but if she hasn't sold, she will be bred to Freedance. We wish you a very Happy New Year from the staff here at Split Mesquite Farm & Concordia Dressage! -Jenna Stern, Martin Arnold, Karin & Bob Stern Tomorrow we are headed to Championships at Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, TX. We have a group of five and are all looking forward to a really great time. Jenna will be taking her 4 year old BWP Stallion Gran Casso to compete in championships classes at Training & 1st levels and also the open show at 1st level. Jenna's working student, Celine will be competing Abaris, 17 year old appendix QH gelding in championships classes at 1st level and also 2nd level in the open show. From Timber Ghost, Amy Denny will be showing her 13 year old westphalen gelding, Feyock in the open show at 1st level, Katie on Bardo, hanoverian gelding, will be showing 2nd & 3rd in the open show and Jenna will be competing Willo, 9 year old Hanoverian mare owned by Dawn Dugan in the open show at Training & First level.
All horses have been training well and we are looking forward to our first big group show! This will also be Martin's first dressage show to attend since relocating to Texas. We are looking forward to a really super weekend, please watch for updates! -Jenna Martin and I have just arrived from a very long drive from Illinois to central Texas. We will be around teaching for a few days and then on the road again Sunday for our trip to Lexington, KY for the World Equestrian Games and then onto Batavia, OH for the ISR/OLD 10 day stallion test with Gran Casso.
Congrats to Martin for great results at his last show in Illinois, the Region 2 USDF/DSHB Regional Championships! With Crown Prinz CEB (by Winterprinz) owned by Cathy Balance, Martin led this three year old gelding to a Reserve Champion colt in the open show and then later on was named Region 2 Reserve Champion Colt! Congrats to Martin and to this young horses' owner, Cathy Balance for their achievements. |
Concordia DressageHere you can find show results, clinic reports and basic happenings around the farm! Archives
April 2015
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