April 13 – Vickie Argals Dressage Clinic
Everyone spruced up their horses for this day as the excitement of having my dressage coach from Flying Colours Stables come to Wainwright spurred all to action! We did it right with a wine and cheese the night before on the first warm evening of the spring followed by a wonderful day of dressage. I think the younger riders were a bit starstruck, but enjoyed Vickie’s positive teaching style while the adults can’t wait for her to come back! I had my best ride to date on Chino and Gideon is proving himself more each ride. Looking forward to showing these horses this summer!

April 5 – Amberlea Indoor Jumper Show II
Another early morning heading out into an unexpected snowy travelling disaster. It was a slow trip to and from the show, but Bailey can sure beat the clock in the jumper ring! She loves to jump and I’m very excited to work with her more throughout the summer.
Sherry / Bailey 2’6” Clear Round – Clear round with 2nd fastest time.
2’9” Welcome Jumper – One rail in the jump-off with a time of 41 seconds.
2’9” Speed – Only 2 seconds behind the winner of the class, but again one rail.

March 29 – Amberlea Indoor Hunter Show II
Huge learning curve for the girls – each show develops not only our riding ability, but our character! All three girls enjoyed the improvement in their first division as the horses were quite consistent and steady. Second divisions were a little rough – but that is why they call them schooling shows, right?! Bailey was good – I just don’t think that flying changes are necessary all the way down the seven stride line of a hunter round!
Shelby/Buddy 3rd – 18” Hunter Equitation
5th – Hunter under saddle
Chelsey/Khaly 5th – 18” Hunter Equitation
3rd – 18” Hunter Stake
Jenalyn/Kacee 6th – 2’0” Novice Horse Hunter Equitation
Sherry/Bailey 6th – 2’0” Novice Horse Hunter Stake

March 25-27 – Easter Camp
Another great camp – brimming with excited riders. Equitation wars, paper mache horses, and the favorite drill teams were all aspects of this year’s camp. We had a great group of riders – it was wonderful to see their improvement over the short time. Our finale consisted of handling the horses throughout trail obstacles, riding an equitation pattern and riding a pattern to music.

March 16 – Kim Eremko Horsemanship Clinic II
Kim returned to push our horses to the next level. We continued with bending exercises throughout some patterns in the morning then moved onto putting together a basic showmanship pattern. Trail was great as we laced 2-3 obstacles together adding in walk, jog, lope transitions. Bob was my horse for the day, whom I may add to the show horse list as my western horse at the open shows – he was a star!

February 24 – Amberlea Dressage Schooling Show I
A very exciting show as it carries a lot of firsts! First time out for Gideon and Chino, first dressage show for Chelsey and first time back in the show ring in a long time for Kjirsten. Also I think we will carry the late night cheesecake tradition on into many more shows!

Chelsey / Khaly 4th Walk/Trot A – 65.23%
B – 54.76%
Kjirsten / Tukk Walk/Trot A – 57.63%
B – 60.78%
Jenalyn / Chino 2nd Walk/Trot A – 69.53%
1st B – 73.33%
Sherry / Gideon 1st Walk/Trot A – 73.81%
2nd B – 72.38%
2nd Training Test 1 – 64.35%
1st 2 – 63.57%
Sherry / Chino 1st Training Test 1 – 64.78%
2 – 57.14%
High Point Junior Walk/Trot – Jenalyn / Chino
High Point Senior Walk/Trot – Sherry / Gideon
High Point Senior Training Level – Sherry / Gideon

February 17 – Kim Eremko Horsemanship Clinic I
Our clinics are in full swing here this year as well. Kim began with flexing exercises as we isolated each section of our horse and were able to carry the bend with our leg. Then we moved to showmanship after lunch focusing on safe handling of our horses on the ground. In trail we negotiated obstacles such as the walk poles, back through, object carry, box, bridge and the gate. Thanks Kim for a great day!

February 16 – Amberlea Indoor Hunter Show I
Show season has begun – every year we seem to load the horse trailer up a bit earlier and head down the road to see if our winter’s work has paid off. The girls braved their first jumping show and came out with big smiles and the gumption to work harder for the next one! And, of course, I brought Bailey and Kacee along to test their legs over the full courses. Unfortunately we’re a bit rusty and need to get back to the arena for some more practice!!

Shelby / Buddy 3rd – 18” Hunter Stake
Chelsey / Khaly 6th – 18” Hunter Equitation