November and December 2011
We have been enjoying balmy weather extending well into December and we are enjoying every minute of it!! Gina has been busy conducting clinics and is always grateful when she travels to Arizona for a few days! Gina worked together with Christine Peters to present a funding submission for dressage to "Own the Podium." We are optimistic at the future of dressage in Canada, there is an excellent plan in place and we can help to target the athletes toward the major games with the help of the funding supplied by this group. Thanks so much to Christine for putting all the thoughts together and having a well organized presentation!
It has been a year full of ups and downs. There is a wonderful staff at Franklands Farm, with Kelsey, Shelley, Kaylee, Whitney, Bill and Mark. The new arena footing is spectacular, horses were bought, several horses found great new owners, we won a team silver Pan Am medal, got rid of some pain, and lost a very special old friend "Caesar." We look forward to 2012 and all it brings our way.
October 2011
October was a very successful month for our Pan Am Dressage team in Guadalajara, Mexico. Gina was there as Chef d'Equipe to the team where they all achieved their personal top scores and won the team silver medal!! It was a great success since it means that Canada can now be represented in London in 2012 at the Olympic Games. The pressure was on for the team to achieve a medal so we could secure a berth for the Olympics. Everyone rode so well and went on to produce even better scores for the individual competition ending up 4th, 5th and 7th overall!!. Mexico was fantastic and there were absolutely no problems thanks to the hard work done logistically by Christine Peters at the Equine Canada office and Kerri MacGregor the Chef d'Mission for the equestrian.Here is a picture of the team with their horses and grooms as well as the support staff, Gina, Dr. Alan Manning and Markus Gribbe.
A photo of the silver medal, although the color looks gold in the photo, is also pictured. Congratulations to all the Riders, Grooms, Horses, Owners and Support staff for making this possible!
Franklands Farm was very well taken care of in Gina's absence by the competent staff, and all the horses are doing great. Jennifer Parks is here for the winter from Edmonton with 2 horses at Franklands and 2 horses at Porcupine Hill! We also have a 3 year old PRE stallion, "Nero" , owned by Lynne Moorhead, to start into the program so it is always fun to work with the youngsters.
The Royal Winter Fair is just around the corner which is always a busy time for Faith and Bill. Gina will attend meetings there for the Dressage Canada Board and the Athlete's Council. The Pan Am Team will be presented the night of the freestyle so it will be a gala event at the dressage reception. Just before the Royal starts, Faith is travelling to Halifax where Ingrid Klimke will be giving a symposium. Faith will travel back to Toronto with Ingrid for a couple of days before Ingrid has to return to Germany to receive the highest honour from the German federation for her contribution to sport in Germany. Congratulations Ingrid!!
We are getting ready for winter but in the meantime we are enjoying some nice balmy November weather!!
August & September 2011
Summer is over and fall is upon us! We had a super summer with the grandchildren's riding program and ended it in a TGIF show at Centaur Riding School. We had lots of fun at Shirley Guertin's facility and it is great to get the children out with other children their age. Emily Dexter left for Nova Scotia after several years as a working student and employee so we wish her well in her new ventures. Shelley McArthur finished her Masters in Chemistry at Queens University and came back to Franklands for a full time job so it is great to have Shelley living in Brockville. Kelsey, Whitney and Kaylee are staying on as well so we have a great staff of competent people.
Gina has been busy with the logistics of the Pan Am Games as Chef d'Équipe and will be travelling to training camp in Newburgh, NY before flying to Mexico in October for the Games. The team is shaping up very well and we hope to bring home a medal for Canada so we can get to the Olympics in 2012!! Canada's technical Leader, Markus Gribbe, came through Brockville for a day to see several horses from the Ottawa/Montreal area so Franklands Farm and Liz Steacie's Porcupine Hill hosted the sessions with him.
We sold 3 horses in August and September, Nairobi, Phantom and Cortez all found new owners and are happily getting accustomed to their new surroundings! We congratulate the new owners and wish them all the best with their new partners!
Sharon Merkel-Beattie is here for 6 weeks from Edmonton with her Grand Prix mare "Essence of Glory" to train and ride the CDI's at Saugerties, NY as well as Devon, PA.
Next update will be after the Pan Ams so will keep you posted! Good Luck to our Team!! Go Canada!!
July 2011
We had great results at the CDI Palgrave July 15 – 17. Gina rode The Firelight Group's Royal Flush in the FEI 6 year old classes and had good scores both days. He was nervous the first day and tense in the canter work and scored 71.6. He settled for the second day and had a good score of 76. Kelsey rode The Firelight Group's Danbury in the FEI 5 yr. old classes and had 2 very good rides scoring 73.6 and 78. Royal Flush and Danbury are two lovely young horses that are developing very well for the future.
Gina organized a silent auction at the show with several items from the Dressage Team trunks that are in good condition but need to be replaced. This raised over 1,100.00 so it will be put to good use for the future teams. Gina has now a online auction going with many team blankets. Click here for the auction. It is easy to bid and it will stay open until August 20th so check it out and own a part of history!! These blankets are in excellent condition. There will also be a live auction of blankets and a few other items at the two Pan Am Trials at Orangeville Fair grounds August 5 – 7, and the final trial at Palgrave August 19 – 21. Make sure you get out to the trials, see all the team horses and bid on a blanket!!
Faith's grandchildren were busy at Saddlewood Riding Camp for the month of July. It has been a great experience for them and they have made many friends at this wonderful camp. In August the children have daily lessons on the ponies here so it is a busy time.
The North American Junior/Young Rider Championships in Lexington Kentucky were a great success for the Canadian riders! Congratulations to all those who did so well competing for Canada! We are especially proud of Emily Fownes who was a member of the Silver Medal Young Riders team from BC/Quebec with Frappuccino!! Emily was also awarded a prize for the best turnout so that was just great.
Emily Dexter rode Faith's pony Daylight in the Prix St Georges and Intermediare 1 at the Ottawa show July 27 – 28. Emily can be proud of her time spent at Franklands and the work she has done with Daylight and the grandchildren. Emily is leaving us in August to return to school at home in Nova Scotia.
We also want to congratulate Diane Bourgouin on her purchase of Kristal Farms "Harley." We are excited to see this pair develop their relationship under the guidance of Marie Josee Delisle in Quebec. Kristal Farm had four lovely foals this year so watch their website for the new videos of these youngsters.
We all look forward to the trials for the Pan Am Games; August will be an exciting month for all the disciplines to decide on their teams.
June 2011
Gina is the Chef d’Equipe for the Pan Am Dressage Team in Guadalajara, Mexico this October. One of her tasks is to organize the team trunks so she spent a day going through everything and it was decided that some of the stuff could be sold at auction to fundraise for future games. There will be lots of great stuff to buy so watch for notices where the fundraising will happen. probably at the team trials that will be held in August or possibly some of will be offered online.
We will keep you posted. Good Luck to all those trying to qualify for the team, watch the Leaderboard on the Equine Canada/Dressage website to see how things are shaping up.
May 2011
Show season has begun and we started off with 3 in a row. CDI* Bromont was just great. It is so good to see what Quebec is doing to upgrade this lovely venue. The footing is superior and the grounds are going to be developed even further. Gina rode Royal Flush to excellent results in the FEI 6 yr old classes. They scored 73% and 76% so were off to a good start for the season. Kelsey rode Danbury to 6 wins in the First Level tests and won the Championship in the Open division. Brenna Ortynsky came from Calgary with “Email” (aka Tess) to Franklands hoping to score some qualifying results for the Young Riders division so she is working hard at that. Brenna had some very good results for her first year at this level!
The next show was a Gold show in Ottawa. Well it rained....and rained some more for 3 days solid so we were very busy making sure the stalls stayed dry not to mention the horses and ourselves. The show committee was very helpful and it is always a nightmare when this happens at such a venue and with such great organization. Kelsey won all the first level classes with Danbury and won the Open First Level Championship again! Danbury is proving to be a real show horse in every respect, no matter what he is presented with he just carries on! Great! Gina scratched Royal Flush and just rode him around the show grounds since the ring was really mucky where he was to compete. Royal Flush was castrated in January and is doing really well but there was no reason to ask him to do a test in the mud and rain. Brenna had very good tests again and is improving steadily. Lisa McLeod rode Barrister in her first show with him and had very good rides at third level. She got her feet wet, literally, so she knows how he behaves at shows and can build on that for the future.
Royal Flush in Bromont.
Gina was busy directly after the Ottawa show with the Dressage Canada Board at a Strategic Planning session in Ottawa for 2 days. Marcus Gribbe, Canada’s new Technical Leader, attended a part of the session and then went teaching at a few stables in the Ottawa area on his way to Palgrave horse show. It was great to have him visit Franklands and help Gina with Royal Flush, as well as Kelsey with Danbury. We are proud of our youngsters!
Our next show took us to Palgrave, again a Gold show. Royal Flush stayed home, but Danbury again won all the Open First Level classes and the Championship. A hat trick so to speak! Brenna and Tess did well again and were very close to getting a qualifying score but will have a chance to try again in Calgary at the end of June. Lisa was able to get into a few classes with Barrister and performed better than the show in Ottawa with more entries to compete against.
Whew! That takes us into June where we have a bit of a break.
January – April 2011
We would like to congratulate Ilene Boorman on her purchase of Flower! This was a very good match and we look forward to hearing how they progress together in the future.
Winter finally ended and Spring arrived which is one of the best times of year at Franklands. All the lilac bushes come into bloom and it is so great to open up the arena windows and use the outdoor riding arena. The horses and ponies love the grass of course so when the paddocks are free of mud they are very happy to go and graze.
Gina was very busy with weekend clinics and enjoys the continuity with all of her students at several venues. Windhaven in Edmonton, Trakehner Glen in Calgary, Anne Schwab organizes Montreal, Laurie Neufeld and Hilary Versavel organize Winnipeg and Scottsdale is a special favourite in the winter organized by Wendy Riddell.
We always look forward to backing the lovely youngsters that are bred by Kristal Farm in Ste Justine de Newton, Quebec. Watch their website for updates on the upcoming foals and the youngsters. www.kristalfarm.com
