PASCAL MARTIN DRESSAGE CLINIC
Let me start this off with a big "THANK YOU" to the Spacecoast Arabian Horse Club! Thanks to the youth scholarship, I was able to ride my Arabian mare NA Dajania (Regal) in the Pascal Martin clinic. Pascal is a wonderful instructor! He was very observant, and was able to pin-point the areas Regal and I needed to work on within minutes. Regal and I loved his view on training, which emphasized lightness and balance (and I must say that Regal is very particular!). During my lesson, I learned many "tools" for improving balance and collection. It was a wonderful experience, and the lessons that I learned as a rider were invaluable.
The instruction was fabulous and the facility (Kingswood Stables) was wonderful; however, there was one other reason why I will never forget my ride. As I was packing my tack into the trailer, my mom and I received a phone call from my friend and mentor, Kathrine. Inka, a beautiful, jet-black Tennessee Walker, had passed away. For two years my family and I had managed Kickshaw Stables, Inka's home. At first, I was slightly intimidated by the tall, powerfully built mare. However, as my confidence grew, I soon realized how special she was. She was, and still is, one of the greatest horses I have ever known. Regal and I rode in Honor of Inka, and I believe that Inka's spirit must have somehow been with us on that day.
Once again, I cannot thank Spacecoast Arabian Horse Club enough for this wonderful opportunity!
-- Breanna Anderson
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The two-day dressage clinic was, without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable events our club has sponsored in our 31 years of shows, etc. Kingswood Stables is a lovely facility and it was well-groomed as always. The following riders benefited from Pascal’s years of experience:
Nancy Peterson and her Appendix-bred gelding “Doc”; Kristin Schreiner and Joni McClure’s Dutch Warmblood gelding Julian; Morgan Lott and Winter Prince, her beautiful chestnut paint; Kristin Schreiner and her own young Hanoverian, Grant; Breanna Anderson and her lovely bay Arabian mare NA Dajania; Robin Masek riding Music is My Best, her Paint gelding; Christie Slayton and her bay Hanoverian, Brighton; Amanda Provencal and Zoey, her Thoroughbred mare.
Sunday’s riders included :
Nancy Peterson and “Doc”; Kristin Schreiner on Julian; Samantha Crum on her Arabian mare Cinnamonspenny; Kristin Schreiner on Grant; Laine Henry on her true Arabian gentleman, Classic Action; Delaney Metzger on her Thoroughbred gelding Praise; Deanna Metzger on her Arabian Gelding Roany; Sue Metzger on her recently gelded Espresso a lovely “true” black Arabian; Katy Bissinger, our newest Spacecoast member, riding her lovely grey mare, Faith and Amanda Provencal on her Thoroughbred mare, Zoey.
Just remembered that Pascal also gave a jumping lesson on Saturday during the lunch break to one of the Kingswood boarders, By Sunday at noon, everyone was happy, especially Pascal and the riders, to take a break and enjoy a Picnic with Pascal. in the air conditioned lounge. The dining table was loaded with wonderful food including homemade lasagna (with or without meat), macaroni and cheese, pizza (2 kinds) and all sorts of salads, watermelon etc. Kristin had baked Macadamia nut squares and there was also a tray of brownies. Naturally, we all ate too much and were looking for a place to curl up and take a nap. Later in the day, when I left, Kristin was sound asleep in the lounge.
Many thanks to Joe and Joni McClure and their barn manager, Donna, for making us feel so welcome. This was Kristin’s second time managing a clinic for us. She doesn’t miss a trick and her enthusiasm is very contagious. Right now, she’s already planning another Pascal Martin clinic for us. What did we do before she moved here??
2007 DRESSAGE SERIES
The dates for our 2007 dressage series have been chosen:
- Sunday, January 14, 2007
- Sunday, February 11, 2007
- Sunday, March 11, 2007
Details will be discussed at the next few meetings.
YOUTH GROUP
One topic we'll be discussing at our October 3 meeting is the effort to bring back what had been, a few years ago, a successful Youth Group. We now have 16 Youth members and that should be enough to stimulate some interesting activities.
Our previous youth group attended the Region 12 Youth Jamboree two, or maybe three years in a row in Asheville, NC. Yours truly attended with them twice. The Asheville facility is very suitable for this type of event. The location has changed. I believe they hold it in North Georgia now, a bit closer to Florida. It’s a fun event and they do try to keep the costs down for theYouth.
Please try to come to Tuesday night’s meeting, especially if you have kids who might enjoy going next year.
2006 CHRISTMAS PARTY
This year's party will be held on Saturday, December 9 at Austin's California Bistro, 925 E. New Haven Ave. in Historic Downtown Melbourne. More details to follow in the next several weeks.
MEMBER BIOGRAPHY: DAN REGAN
I have had the chance to meet some of you and some I have not yet met. But allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dan Regan and I am one of your newer members. I have recently moved to the Orlando area from Charlotte, NC. I travel quite a bit and have been unable to attend many of your meetings but am hoping to get to more this year. Following Edna's lead of "tell us about yourself" I would offer the following:
I am 61 years old and have been involved with Arabians since 1989. My involvement began quite by chance. I was looking for a birthday gift that would enable my daughter and me to spend some quality time together. I settled on riding lessons. I found an ad in the paper and signed up. That turned out to be Marti Price's farm in Charlotte. My daughter eventually got married, had children and lost interest in horses. I, however, was hooked. Marti and I showed my Western Pleasure horse, affectionately known as "Al The Wonder Horse", all over the Carolinas and Virginia for the next 15 years.
Last year my daughter and her husband and four children moved to Orlando. Shortly after that, my wife decided we were moving to Orlando. Al is now at Mike and Wanda Kuester's place, Summerset Farm, in Apopka and is busily teaching the grandkids how to ride. He will be 20 this August.
Other that introducing myself, the other reason for this note is to volunteer to be your delegate for this Year's National Convention. Over the years I have been the Region 12 Secretary and the Region 12 Futurity Director. I have been on the Region 12 Show Committee for several years and on the Region 12 Executive Committee as the delegate from North Carolina and have held numerous other Committee posts and jobs.Until very recently I was very active in Central Piedmont's AHA.
I have been advised that your delegate of last year is not planning to go to this year's Convention. If you are looking for someone to go to represent you, I would be proud to be that person. I do realize that this is not a "club funded" trip. As your delegate I would try to articulate your views and opinions at the Region 12 meeting (that is held at the Convention) and to vote your collective will on the Convention floor.
I will try to attend the July meeting to discuss this further. I should note that if I am wrong and you have another member that is eager to go I would willingly step aside to let another club member be the delegate.
See you at the next meeting.
MEET OUR BOARD MEMBERS: EDNA OWENS
From time to time, we've discussed starting a column to introduce our members but, other things kept getting in the way. We'll try to keep up with these "bios". Now that we're out there in cyber space, at least we don't have the space constrictions and expenses encountered when the newsletter had to be printed and mailed every month.
My name is Edna Owens and I'm currently club Treasurer, newsletter editor, membership chair and dressage secretary.
Born in Scotland in 1932, I grew up during World War 11. Like so many girls, I was "horse crazy" and used to save every newspaper clipping about horses. I learned to ride, taking lessons on Sunday mornings at a hack stable in Dundee, my home town. I had to wear my older brother's grey flannels with bicycle clips to keep them from catching in the stirrups. It was war time and clothing was rationed so, nobody was wasting clothing coupons on riding apparel! We rode alongside the River Tay on our right and the railroad on our left. Not the best area for lessons but, the horses were used to it and so, didn't spook.
My parents decided to return to the U.S. after losing my older brother, Richard after the infamous death march through Germany near the end of the War. He had been in the RAF and, when his plane went down in the North Sea off Norway, had been captured by the Germans and kept a prisoner for three years. He died six days after being liberated by the Allies.
We arrived in New York in early March, 1946 after a very rough voyage on the Gripsholm, a Swedish ship that had just been returned to service from being a hospital ship during the was. This was the first ship carrying U.S. citizens home after, in our case, seven years of being unable to leave Britain. It was quite an experience. The weather was horrible. The food was wonderful, especially the ice cream, but many unfortunates couldn't keep it down, including my mother and younger brother. I, fortunately, only suffered from one day of sea sickness. When we arrived in New York, the first thing I wanted was a pineapple ice cream soda! I can still remember how wonderful it tasted!
We bought a house on Long Island and lived there for three years. Every Wednesday the high school riding club drove to a stable at Hempstead State Park where we rented horses and spent an hour or so on the trails. I still have very happy memories of those rides. Our teacher was a former cavalry officer from Ft. Riley, Kansas. He was also our math teacher! He escorted our group to Madison Square Garden, the old one, where we watched in awe as riders from all over the world, in their military uniforms, jumped their beautiful and talented horses.
We moved to Florida in 1949 after I graduated high school. Then began a long hiatus from the horse world. I was unable to find any horse activity near home and was also busy attending St. Petersburg Junior College. After college, I entered into a very unsuitable marriage for about 18 months, ending in divorce.
In 1957, Jess and I married and moved to the Spacecoast. We're now about to reach our 49th anniversary! Although not a horse person, Jess built our barn, put up fences and did the heavy work necessary to keeping horses. He also helped clean stalls and, when I was out of town at Class A shows as dressage secretary, he took very good care of the horses.
My horse interests turned to Arabians after I purchased my first horse, Gold Dust Abi (Duster), a 3/4 Arabian gelding. He was a working cow horse from the Deseret Ranch west of Melbourne and I'd never ridden anything but English! I had to get used to his lightning fast moves. He was my only riding horse for 22 years. A few years later, I added Palacsinta to my barn – a Gazesel daughter in foal to straight Egyptian*Darrag. About seven months after foaling, in Oregon, we brought "Pali" and Happi Talk to Melbourne, " again in foal to *Darrag. By the following March, we owned two *Darrag fillies, the second named Nagda Wanisa. We waited until 1981 to breed Pali again – this time to Dac, June Houze's *Farazdac son, and got our third filly, Dacinta. These were my happy horse years. In 1974 I'd begun to research the formation of a local Arabian Horse Club and in January 1975 we held our first meeting with 25 people attending. The rest is history. The club has been in existence for over 30 years and we're still having fun. My horses have all gone to the happy hunting grounds, leaving a huge hole in my life, but I still find great satisfaction and enjoyment in my involvement with Spacecoast Arabian Horse Club and its members.
NEXT MEETING
Tuesday, October 3 at Bob Evans in Viera at 7:00pm. Dinner at 6:00 for those who wish to eat first. Don't forget to bring your white elephants to the next meeting. We've been having a lot of fun with this addition to our monthly gatherings! Read the current newsletter*
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