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GAIG/USDF

September 18-21, 2008 – In spite of having no power the week of Regionals, after spending the 2008 show season preparing for this exciting weekend, it ended in yet another triumphant competition for Dancing Horse Farm. As expected, the championship classes were very competitive and everyone rode well and the final results show the hard work everyone put in to prepare for these Regional Championships.

Lindsay and Orion tied for 8th in the GAIG/USDF Second Level Open Championship and also placed 6th in the GAIG/USDF First Level Open Championship. Not only were Lindsay and Orion successful in their championship classes they also received Reserve Champion for Second Level Open for the weekend.

Jen and Lisalotte DHF placed 3rd in their GAIG/USDF First Level Musical Freestyle due to a few moments of tension from Lisa. Gary Rockwell, the FEI Olympic (or “O”) judge at E had Jen and Lisa in first place with a 73.125%, but unfortunately the score from Sandra Hotz, the national Senior (or “S”) judge at C, didn’t agree. The 13 percentage point difference between the two judges’ scores gave Jen and Lisa a combined score just below the score earned by the Reserve Champion rider, a sweet teenage girl riding a fantastically adorable pony.

Amber and American Baroque (Daiquiri) had a very successful ending to a very busy weekend. Being a bride’s maid in a wedding and competing in a Regional Championship all in one weekend is not an easy task. In her last competition year as a Junior/Young Rider, Amber finished the season very well by placing 13th out of 40 in her GAIG/USDF Training Level JR/YR Championship. Now, Amber gets to look forward to competing against Jen, Lindsay and all the other professionals from here on out…oh boy, what fun!

One of Jen’s Columbus clinic students, Mayme Hausman and her horse Legend III, came out at the top of their game in the GAIG/USDF Training Level AA Championship, coming in 12th out of 40 competitors with one of their most relaxed and fluid tests of the year.

We are all very proud of the way DHF was represented at our Regional Championships and look forward to taking many more students and horses next year. We have decided that for next year’s Regionals, we will head to the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, VA, October 22-25, 2009, for the Region 1 Championships, instead of our Region 2 Championships at Lamplight Equestrian Center outside of Chicago, IL. We enjoyed competing at the beautiful Lamplight facility last year but the ~10 hour drive through midweek Chicago traffic was pretty stressful, whereas the fantastic VA Horse Center is both an incredible facility and an easy 8 hour drive through the beautiful country side. Jen and Lenny spent a lot of time competing at the VA Horse Center while living in Maryland and look forward to a return trip with a great group of horses and students.

Ohio Dressage Society USDF

August 11, 2008 – Dancing Horse Farm has done it again! Everyone did an amazing job at the Ohio Dressage Society USDF show this weekend! Our Eventing instructor, Lindsay riding her Hanoverian, Orion, came home with all blues, even though this was her first time to ever compete at 2nd level! She successfully bested the top trainers at the show in the open division in First Level 4 and Second Level 4 both days, earning her the High Score award on Sunday for Second through Fourth Levels! Her scores were in the low 70s in every class except for her first time out at Second level where she decided to add a halt, rein back into the test, in a very logical place BTW, but hey, they still got a 66%!

Lindsay is now qualified for Region 1 Championships at both First and Second levels in just two weekends of showing! A very impressive show record for a die-hard event rider!

My little horse, Lisalotte, just blew me away with her show presence this weekend. We managed to go all weekend without getting a score below 70.5%! That’s a first for me! This weekend was our First level Musical Freestyle (MFS) debut (the music is from Austin Powers and The Incredibles) and she did a super job! Although, I wasn’t entirely sure that we were going to make it back to the working trot from our very forward lengthened canter both days, but we managed to pull it off and got very high marks for that canter lengthening each time =) We also got a 74.8% at Training 4, which I believe, is the highest score I’ve ever received in a non-musical freestyle class. So…Lisalotte won all of her classes except for the First 4 test on Sunday where Lindsay and Orion squeaked past us by something like a tenth of a percentage point =) I’m thrilled to have one of my students beat me!

6 year old Lisalotte is now qualified for Regionals at Training, First and First MFS-just like her big sister Lydia when she was only 5 years old!

Halley and Finn did an amazing job this weekend, too. Since this was only Halley’s second show in two years, she worked through some early show nerves to earn the highest scores she’d ever received at a recognized show! I am very proud to say that Halley got a 66% on her First 4 test.

Now Halley & Finn have only one more score to get to be qualified for Regionals!

She also debuted her amazing new MFS to Canadian Brass and got a 68% for her first of the required two MFS qualifying scores! Halley and Finn put in the most consistent rides I’ve ever seen them ride on Sunday.

Needless to say, I was floating in the clouds by the end of the show, I was so proud of everyone, people and horses alike!

We are off to Meadow Lake in Lexington, KY, in two weeks to get the last of Halley’s qualifying scores, more MFS practice for little Lisalotte, and two more 2nd level scores for Lindsay and Orion to make them eligible for USDF Horse of the Year awards at 2nd, since they’re on a fantastically successful role. Hopefully we will be getting videos from our freestyle rides up on the site in the next month or so.

– Jennifer

Gemwood Horse Trial

July 28, 2008 – Lindsay took Orion for his first horse trial since moving from Rhode Island in April. They went Open Training Level at the Gemwood Horse Trial this past weekend at Twin Towers and won it on their dressage score of 30! No surprise that they would earn a very low dressage score after the scores they received at the Paxton show, but wow, to win the entire horse trial with no other penalties is fantastic!

Orion was SOOO happy to be running and jumping again! While I warmed them up for dressage, Orion kept craning his neck to gaze longingly at the cross country course =) In fact, when they came around the short side at “C” during their dressage test, it looked like he was calculating that he could easily clear that silly little white dressage fence and then be free to run and jump the much more exciting obstacles scattered about in the grassy meadow just beyond! Talk about the grass being greener on the other side of the fence! He is taking this dressage stuff in stride as long as he gets to run and jump at some point during the week.

We are once again very proud. To be able to say that our Eventing instructor is the winning Open Training Level rider is quite a statement.

Way to go Lindsay and Orion!

– Jennifer

Paxton Farm Cincinnati Dressage Classic

June 29, 2008 – I’m so proud, that I just have to share with you about the success of our Youth Team at the Region 2 Youth Team Championships last weekend at Paxton’s. Some of you have probably already seen me floating around the barn beaming about our team’s success, and you may have had to stand around and listen to me go on and on about it as well…sorry, but I’m just so very proud of our girls. So, I wanted to share this wonderful information with the rest of you who might not have heard about it yet.

Last weekend, our Dancing Horse Farm Youth Team won the Region 2 Youth Team Championship at the Paxton Farm Cincinnati Summer Dressage Classic. The DHF team was comprised of Amber Adcock riding both her Appaloosa gelding American Baroque and Wendy Hyland’s American Paint Horse Association pony gelding, Captain Gus. Amber was also named Individual Champion of Youth Division A with a high score of 74%! Our other team member was Sarah Wheeler who rode one of Dancing Horse Farm’s pinto lesson pony mares named Snickerdoodle DHF. Sarah successfully raised her scores by 6 points throughout the show and since this was Sarah’s first recognized show and Snickerdoodle’s first show ever, this feat represents a huge accomplishment! Sarah and Snickerdoodle also earned sixth place overall in the inaugural National Pony Cup junior division. The entire DHF family is incredibly proud of the accomplishments of our very talented young riders. What a fantastic way to begin the show season!

We appeared to be the smallest team, with only two riders, but our little team had the biggest overall percentage for both divisions with a 65% average! We surmise that we probably also had the least expensive horses on a team since we had a little ranch pony from Texas, my little lesson pony who was just a trail pony before I bought her, and a lovely, but not expensive, Appaloosa. This is just proof that the cost of the horse doesn’t necessarily determine its success in the show arena and that hard work and determination do count for a lot We were certainly the only team who didn’t get the memo that we should have had matching team apparel designed for each member, but that didn’t stop our girls from going out there and putting in their very best efforts in the show arena. Certainly, next year, we will have very nice matching team shirts and cool stall decorations! Since this was Amber’s last year to be on a youth team (the age limit is 21) we are excitedly looking toward next year and will be actively looking for new team members so we can go back to defend our title =)

DHF clients also had many other successes at this show, as well. The highlights are that DHF’s eventing instructor and Assistant Barn Manager, Lindsay Lechner, won the First Level Open Championship title for earning the highest percentage in a first level test for the weekend. And Lisalotte and I earned the coveted and rare score of “10” for our entry in a Training level test judged by “S” judge Michael Poulin. Everybody involved had a great time and successes both in and out of the show arena.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible. Your support is greatly appreciated.

– Jennifer