November news:
Gina had productive clinics in Edmonton and Calgary at the beginning of the month. Robert Dover was making his rounds in the Ottawa area so he came to Franklands to see the prospects here as well as several others from the area. Robert's positive approach as well has his dedication to a long term program was greatly appreciated. Gina rode Rhythmix, Shelley rode Royal Flush and Ruth rode Danbury and Harley.
In the same week we had Ingrid Klimke visit from Germany. Ingrid is giving an eventing symposium along with David O'Connor and George Morris in Newmarket. Ingrid visits with Faith while she is here and we are lucky to have her come to Franklands to see the horses. Gina, Kelsey, and Shelley went to Toronto for the first day of the symposium which concentrated on the dressage phase. Ingrid incorporates cavaletti alot into the dressage work so it is always interesting to see the horses improve with the use of the cavaletti's. Ingrid has a video and a book translated into english which is extremely well done. I would recommend it to anyone. I was fortunate to get her new DVD's which are not yet translated (early 2010 they should be ready). They show a very real and informative schooling of 4, 5 and 6 yr olds.
Albrecht is here again so Rhythmix, Dark Dandy and Watson will go for some help.
October
Gina had a good clinic with Albrecht and we are now working seriously towards the Grand Prix level with Rhythmix. Ashley presented Dark Dandy in the clinic and will take part in future sessions, working towards the Junior division next year. Liz Allum arrived with her horse Watson to experience the working student program at Franklands. Liz is working towards the Young Riders division next year.
We are very happy to know that Robert Dover will be Canada's technical coach/advisor for the next several years. He has proven himself time and again in the dressage world and we look forward to his help and expertise.
Gina has started the clinics again and she was happy to see that the group in Winnipeg is progressing well. Gina saw Shannon and Flambo which was great! They are both doing a super job!
September
Faith and Bill's grandchildren have been riding alot this summer and Shelley decided they were ready for a TGIF show at Centaur Riding School. Faline and Archie were super for the children and everyone came home with good memories and a ribbon! Thanks to Shelley, Emily and Kelsey for once again organizing such a great program for the children.
We welcome Ruth Crawford to Franklands. She comes to us from Liz Steacie and her years with Liz are certainly apparent.
Gina and Sharon went to 2 CDI's. Saugerties NY and Devon PA. Gina had good scores in the advanced division and Sharon rode Essence of Glory to her first CDI at Grand Prix with a very respectable 63%. Their freestyle was also well liked and she placed well in a strong field of competitors.
Sharon returned to Edmonton with Esa and look forward to next season and the WEG qualifiers.
July/August
We have had a successful show season and recently introduced two of Kristal Farms 4 year olds to the show atmosphere at Beaulieu Farm in Quebec. After 4 tests and a day of driving rain, "Royal Flush" was training level Champion and his stable mate "Harley" was Reserve training level Champion. Shelley rode both horses to scores in the 70's so we were thrilled with how they quickly settled into the show atmosphere. Shelley also rode Louise Miechowsky's "Zermatt" in the FEI 5 yr old classes and had some very encouraging comments from the judge. A super prospect for the future.
Gina has successfully shown Rhythmix at the advanced level and will be attending 2 CDI competitions in September, namely Saugerties,NY and Devon,PA. Sharon Merkel-Beattie is out from Edmonton with her Grand Prix mare Essence of Glory and plans to compete at the CDI's as well. Esa did 2 super tests as well at Beaulieu to gear up for the coming CDI's. We have had Gillian MacPhee here for a month with her 3rd level mare, Taygete and she also had a good showing at the Beaulieu Farm show.
Harley
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Royal Flush
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The Firelight Group wishes to congratulate Shannon Sluser on her purchase of Flamboyant. We will be keeping our eyes on this pair for the future. Shannon intends to come and train as often as she can to keep herself and Flambo headed in the right direction.
The summer has been a great time for Faith and Bill's grandchildren to enjoy the river as well as the ponies here for their riding lessons. They have all improved so much under the watchful eye of Shelley and Emily. It is really great to see them all develop their skills. Faith aquired a small horse, Archie, since the children are all growing so much. He has been a great addition to our group of Faline and Quel. Daylight has also been working well with the others, and is also jumping with Emily so we hope the children will graduate to her soon too.
Palgrave show had completely opposite weather conditions from Ottawa so we had a lovely 2 days. We did not ride the 3rd day and missed the rain! Congratulations to the show management for having a record number of entries - 290, and over 1000 rides in 6 rings! Lots going on! Frappuccino went in 2 more Grand Prix tests improving each ride. He really will do well at this level and it is nice to have all the movements there, now just to work on the flow from one thing to another. Rhythmix did his first show and was very good in the new small tour classes. The Prix St Georges flows better and the Inter 1 has lots of suppling exercises so it suits him well. We look forward to building on his scores of 64.7 at CDI Blainville in 2 weeks.
We had our first competition at Ottawa with Frappuccino, Raffles and Daylight. The weather was less than cooperative, windy, rainy and very cold. Frappuccino faired well in his first Grand Prix tests so we have something to build on! It was neat to remember that 5 years ago we did our first training level test at the same venue. Kaylee rode Raffles in the Young Riders tests and had 2 scores of 65% and a 63% in the Freestyle. It was great to see this pair do so well so we hope to build on that too and keep scoring as well or higher! Emily rode Daylight in the 4th level classes. Faith's pony is really a neat talent and will certainly go on to the Prix St Georges level.
We are glad to see the arrival of Spring with the daffodils and tulips beginning to come up. We look forward to the show season starting in May with several of the horses competing at different levels. We have updated our sales page with some videos so take a look at what we have to offer. Congratulations to Kristal Farm on the arrival of 2 foals with just one more to go. I'm sure Michele will have photos of her newest additions soon so keep watching on www.kristalfarm.com
Danbury (pictured) has arrived and settled into the routine at Franklands beautifully. We picked him up at the Toronto airport and had less than perfect driving conditions for the drive home but we made it safely through the snow and ice. January is usually cold and this year is certainly no exception. The arena heaters are running more than usual so we are able to keep the training up as planned.
Sharon Cuerrier has sold her horse Paris to an eventing home and has purchased a lovely mare "Madison" . She is getting used to this different kind of ride and hopes to be able to get to some dressage shows this summer with her.
Gina will especially enjoy her clinic in Arizona at the end of the month! Time to thaw out!
