Sonoma Week 2 (HMI Equestrian Challenge)

Ok, again I’m a little delayed in getting this out but yet again: better late than never right??  Here’s the full review of Sonoma Week 2 other wise known as HMI Equestrian Challenge.

The first few days, also called the “Open Days” went very smoothly for our FCF Professionals.  This week was a little busier than the last, but we managed to keep the show horses, as well as our regular home schedule, going without too many hiccups.  Newsflash stepped up to the 3’ Schooling hunters this week, with beautiful rounds and top ribbons.  Boardwalk and Journey joined our hunter roster for the week, this being Boardwalk’s first time ever in the hunter ring.  Our former jumper showed he loved his new job and put in solid ribbon-winning rounds and Journey, ever the showman, was the winner of every single class and the Championship in the Small Hunter division.  Good boys!  Our jumpers were not to be out-done of course: Nickel, Peter and Coppacabana all put up clean round efforts in the GP ring, with Nickel coming out on top as winner in the highly competitive 1.40m class on Thursday.

Coppacabana and Shallin Ris

 The weekend brought on an even busier schedule as the Jr/Am classes got started up in both arenas.  This week, Emma Price was joined by Claire Daniels over in the Pre-Childrens hunters.  The girls rode beautifully, improving each round and being rewarded with top scores and ribbons. The girls even gave them the 1-2 punch in the Equitation on the flat, with Claire emerging as winner and Emma following hot on her heels in 2^nd.  Our girls definitely showed us how it’s done!  Putting in some blue-ribbon winning trips of her own was little miss Lila Gamble and her adorable pony, Bonjour.  Lila started her year with several wins and a Reserve Championship in the Short Stirrup 10 and under.  Showing off her new-found skills at lead changes, Lila proved that a move up to the medium pony division is not too far away for her.  Sharon Mackenzie also put in beautiful rounds in the hunter ring, starting in the Low Adult Am hunters and ending the week in the 3’ Adult Am hunters.  A long-time goal of Sharon’s has been to move up to this division and we are so proud to say mission accomplished!  Over in the jumpers, Phoenix Williams and Annmarie Mede were having some fun of their own.  This week was Phoenix’s 2^nd time showing the in the jumper divisions and she made it look as if she’d been doing it all along!  Her and Flying Solo literally flew around the ring to their first ever jumper-ring win and the Reserve Championship in the 0.70m jumpers.  Way to go Phoenix!  For Annmarie, this was the start to her show year, and her and Shamus looked as if they’d never missed a beat.  They clocked around the 0.95m and 1.00m jumpers putting in clean round after clean round and receiving ribbon after ribbon. So fun!

Weekend fun continued over in the GP ring for Nickel, Peter and Coppacabana.  Last week, Shallin Ris had the opportunity to ride the beautiful Coppacabana, and since it was so successful, we continued that partnership this week!  The duo tried their hand at the 1.15m early in the week with fantastic results and on the weekend, decided to make a go of some prize-money.  Sticking with the $1,500 Child/AA Classic, they put in a beautiful double clean effort and were rewarded with a 4^th place finish, 1 placing higher than the previous week!  Nice work!  The highlight event: the $25,000 CVC Shavings Grand Prix proved to be quite a course set by designer Jerry Dougherty.  With fences clocking in at 1.50m in height and over 2m in width, it was an impressive class.  Our boys, Nickel and Peter, put in valiant efforts, especially since neither had been in CA for even a month yet, but a clean round to secure a jump-off eluded them.  Still, since the class was won by a single clear, Peter’s solid round left him in 6^th and Nickel just out of the ribbons.  They are such fantastic horses and we are so lucky to have them.

Peter (Charmeur Van De Begijnakker)

Nickel de Marsey

 It was an incredible 2 weeks at Sonoma Horse Park.  Thank you to all our customers, grooms, show managers, show crew and most of all, our horses for making it a wonderful experience.