Golden Getaway

Clearly 2 busy weeks of showing at Sonoma Horse Park was not enough, we just had to go out for more!  In our mind, shows are like potato chips, you can’t stick to just one (or 2, or 3, or 4….).  We decided to make a weekend getaway over to Sacramento for Rudy Leone’s beautiful Golden State Horse Show.  Off we went with Peter and Nickel in tow for the $25,000 Jennifer Marlborough Memorial Grand Prix.  It was a beautiful weekend, the sun was shining, but not too hot, the grass field was perfect for jumping on and the competition was fierce.  Our boys, still new to their partnership with FCF Pro Chelsea, showed everyone yet again how wonderful they are.  It was another tough course, this time set by 1996 Olympic designer Linda Allen.  Once again, fence heights towered up to a 1.50m and widths over 2m, but it was not an issue for our powerhouse boys.  First went Peter, who bounded over the rails with room to spare, only meeting with a little trouble when they came in a bit too fast for a very tight combination.   Peter’s solid effort landed him in 10^th place, a great result in a competitive class.  Nickel was up next, learning from the mistake with Peter, they slowed their pace and were rewarded with a flawless clean round.  Yay!  The jump-off was an exciting one, with round after round clocking in faster than the previous.  Last to go: Nickel and Chelsea were met with some hard luck and what can sometimes happen after a busy day jumping on grass: torn up turf.  When making the 2^nd to last turn, Nickel’s left hind hoof caught in a hole, causing a massive slip and majorly lost time.  They were able to regain composure however, battle on and finish in 5^th place!!  The ultimate competitor, Nickel never gives up, what an amazing horse he is.  After the class, we quickly loaded up and hit the road back home.  A great end to a great day.  This gypsy-like life is a busy one, but we wouldn’t trade it for a thing!  Coming up next on the FCF calender: Beach Party June 6-9 and Sonoma June 12-16, let us know if you'd like to attend!

P.S. A quick little thank you to Katie Janousek and George for their help over the weekend in getting our 2 boys ready and warmed-up for their classes.

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.

Horse and Hound (Sonoma Week 1)

Better late than never right?  This blog was supposed to have been written last week but... it never quite made it on screen.  My bad!  But here it is now: Rewind to Week 1!

This week was show full of "firsts" in many ways.  Not only did we have lots of winners and Champions, but we had "first times" in the jumper ring, "first shows" for new partnerships, and "first times" in new divisions.  We also had a new shipment of sales horses arrive from Mexico to top it all off!

Let's start in the jumper ring, where 2 of our "firsts" occurred.  Horse and Hound was the debut of Phoenix Williams and her boy Flying Solo in the jumper ring, and what a great debut they had.  Never missing a beat, the duo flew around to top ribbons in the 0.70m and 0.80m jumpers.  Nicely done Phoenix!  Our 2nd "first" was the pairing of Shallin Ris and one of our newly arrived sales horses, Coppacabana.  Their first ride together was tuesday, and by sunday they were 5th in the $1,500 Child/AA Classic!  I'd say this was the start of something special, but that's just my humble opinion!  Check out one of their rides, and remember, this wonderful girl is for sale (the horse, not Shallin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_LmvFdiON8
Another new sales horse, Nickel, joined Peter on the FCF Grand Prix roster.  The chestnut twosome held down 2 top 12 placings in the Equine Insurance Grand Prix with FCF pro Chelsea Jones.  Not bad for 2 horses that have each been in CA for less than a month!!  Lastly (but definitely not least) Lynne Lancaster enjoyed a "first" of her own.  After several months of campaigning, we are happy to announce that Lynne and her girl Cielo have officially been named to the 2013 Norcal 1.10m Spruce Meadows team!!!  We are so proud of you, Lynne and wish you and Cielo the best of luck at Spruce Meadows!!!

Nickel de Marsey going clean in the Grand Prix

Now on to the Hunters:  Another first, actually 2 firsts, happened for Miss Emma Price and her handsome boy Newsflash.  Not only was it her first show with Newsflash, but her first show on a horse, having made the move from the pony ring.  Newsflash started the week by winning 3 classes and the Reserve Championship in the Training Hunters with Chelsea, and ended the week with top ribbons with Emma in the Pre-Childrens hunters.  The first show for this duo was a success, and we can't wait to see what the future has in store for this team!  Ann Kottler's Scotch and Soda joined in on the the fun in the Beginning Hunters, winning all the over fences and placing 2nd in the under saddle, leaving him Champion of the division.  We just love this horse. Finally, Mystery Date, our 4 yr old wonder girl (left for dead in a field, rescued, rehabbed and re-training to be a hunter/jumper) made her debut in the hunter ring with Debbie Van Horn.  Showing what an angel she is, she quietly jumped around the Cross-rail division in a fashion belying her age.  So sweet.

Now, on a side note, we have one last topic to mention: sales!  We had 4 new arrivals from Mexico: Nickel, Coppacabana, Chipre, and D'artagnan.  Now we've talked about Nickel and Coppacabana, but let's chat about D'artagnan.  He's 7, 16.2hh, Argentinian and very cool.  Great technique, big stride and bold attitude make him an ideal young jumper/possible equitation horse.  Videos to follow shortly.  I'd like to talk about Chipre, but too late, he's sold!  This week was a good one for our sales business, 3 horses went to new homes and happy new owners.  Congratulations to Ronnie Freeman on the purchase of Chipre and Diesel, and congratulations to Diane Yeager and Shannon Jones on the purchase of Chicago 83.  Ok all, look forward to a new blog about week 2 in a few days!

Good Luck in your new home, Chicago!

Starr Vaughn Recap

Hi all, thought you'd love a full recount of our fabulous week at Starr Vaughn!  It truly was a great week full of top ribbons, fabulous horses, gorgeous facility and fun company.  This event was held at a favourite of ours: Leone Equestrians.  The footing was great, the rings beautiful, jumps and courses amazing (Heiko Wahlers flown in from Germany) and lovely sunshine helped to make our week even better.  For the easiest (and possibly least winded) description of the week I thought I'd do it by horse!

1. Bacantos:  This amazing boy had a super and somewhat easy week.  Only competing in 2 classes, he definitely made them count.  The winner of a 1.35m class and an 8th place finish in the Open Welcome, he wowed the crowd with his unbelievable talent.  Check out a couple of his rounds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5UbWT5b2OI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaVMUX2OurE

2. Cochese:  Starr Vaughn was the first outing of the year for our fearless leaders mighty steed.  And what a start it was, with 2 wins and a 2nd place finish in their division, the dynamic duo were Champion.  This amazing horse is quite the force to be reckoned with.

3.  Peter Pan:  First off, welcome to our newest FCF member, Peter Pan!  Fresh of the truck from Florida, Peter is stepping into the role of our resident Grand Prix horse and FCF rider Chelsea Jones' #1 boy.  He sure showed us what a boy he is too, walking into the ring and winning the 1.30m class, placing 3rd in the Open Welcome (missing the win by 3/10ths of a second and 2nd by 1/10th of a second), and 5th in the $20,000 Grand Prix!!  Prior to this week, Chelsea had only ridden Peter 1 time!!  Big things can be expected from this duo.

Welcome Peter!

4.  Cielo:  We love this girl.  She never lets us down, producing 2 wins out on the grass field, high placings in the Adult Amateur jumpers and a 4th place in the ever-difficult Spruce Meadows qualifier.  We are so lucky to have this mare in our barn and cannot wait for the final Spruce Qualifier.  Go Lynne and Cielo!!!

5.  Chicago 83:  One of the loveliest horses to come through our sales program.  This man is everything you could want and more.  Handsome, scopey, beautifully broke and sweet as all get out, anyone would be lucky to have a horse like this.  He earned a 2nd and 3rd in his warm up classes and jumped a  gorgeous clean round in the Open Welcome.  Looking for an incredible jumper? This is it.

6.  Journey:  Another one that never lets us down.  He was a double Champion at this show, earning the first one with Chelsea in the Low Hunters and the 2nd with owner Sharon Mackenzie in the Modified Ch/AA Hunters.  Mr. Journey competed in the USHJA Hunter Derby, as well, with Chelsea, where an unlucky rail over one of the higher options unfortunately kept them out of contention, but redemption was theirs when they returned for the handy and earned the highest score of the night (87!).  This show marked Sharon's return to the 3' Adult hunters, and what a return it was when they walked in and won!  Way to go Sharon and Journey!

You rock, Sharon!

7. Scotch and Soda:  Barn favourite Scottie was added to the roster at the last minute, just for a little off-campus fun with Chelsea.  Our horses tend to get quite bored (not so different from us) when in one place for too long, so owner Ann Kottler made the decision to send her boy for a field trip with the rest of the crew.  What a fun week this horse had too!  Showing he hasn't lost his edge, he walked in to his division and dominated, winning 4 classes and placing 2nd in the other.  Winner winner chicken dinner!!

8.  Conamour:  Giana Roberge and the wonderful Conamour joined us for a day of fun in the Open Welcome.  Always the busy bee, Giana managed to escape on Thursday, hauling in that afternoon to show.  She and Conamour had a great day, jumping a gorgeous round in the challenging and competitive Welcome, meeting with some hard luck when the slightest of rubs tipped 1 rail out of the cups on the 2nd to last jump.  Have no fear, they will undoubtedly get 'em next time!!

Ok, so clearly I lied about the long-winded part, my apologies!  There was just so much great stuff to report!!!  I will try super hard to keep it short and sweet next time, promise!

Rewind: Capital City

Ok, so sorry for the delays in getting new blogs ups.  I may have been a little eager with the "easy to update while on the road!"  While it is true: it's easy to update, the part where I sit down at the end of a hard day of horse showing and write something... a little more difficult.  So lets rewind a little bit and talk about a fun weekend at Rancho Murieta.  2 things brought us here for our weekend getaway: a $10,000 GP and our quest for Spruce Team points.

Bacantos and Cielo (possibly the cutest horse couple ever) made the trip for what proved to be a good, maybe not great weekend.  Saturday brought some highs and lows, not too low, but kinda low.  First of all, we decided that with 2 horses, we would cut costs and do our own grooming.  This, to be honest, is not as bad as people think.  In this day and age, its so rare that we spend quality time with our trusty steeds outside of the arena.  Do not forget people: we started riding purely because we loved horses, why not spend more time with them?

Chelsea and Dusty: Grooms Extraordinaire!

We started out with a bang with Lynne Lancaster and Cielo winning their first class and a high ribbon in their second, a good prep for the Spruce Qualifier the following day.  Now it was on to the GP for Bacantos.  All was going well, he was jumping approximately 2 feet over the jumps, as is his flashy style.  Unfortunately, small disaster struck when making the turn to the double out of the corner near the end of the course.  A wet spot in the footing caused Bacantos to slip hard behind while making the turn, making the distance to the oxer coming in very long.  They made a valiant effort to go forward and meet the oxer correctly, which they did, but the forward ride caused the distance inside the double to become extremely short.  Bacantos tried his absolute best to slow down and rock back for the vertical but the barest of rubs had the top rail coming down to the ground.  They finished up beautifully but sadly the 1 rail kept them out of the ribbons this time around.

Now for sunday.  The dreaded Spruce Qualifier.  This class has proved to be a pressure cooker in the past, with multiple horse and rider combinations vying for the coveted points needed in order to make the teams travelling north this summer.  Lynne and Cielo had a strong showing, going clean in the first round and advancing to the jumpoff.  In true fashion, the duo had the fastest time, but like their barnmates, 1 slight touch of a rail left them with 4 faults.  They did, however, finish in 6th place, giving them much needed points.  Bacantos had no classes on sunday, instead enjoying a beautiful trail ride to the river.  This is such a treat for our horses, they spend so much time in the arena, it's so refreshing to be able to let them enjoy the great outdoors once in a while.

Perfect Sunday morning

Alright, think that's enough (perhaps too much) for one night.  A full Starr Vaughn report will be up soon, promise!  Until then: keep calm and gallop on!!

Brookside for an Evening

Bacantos soaring high

This past saturday night turned out to be a good one for FCF!  Heavy rain earlier in the week wreaked havoc on the Brookside footing, causing us to continually change our plans for competing.  Each morning was started with phone calls and updates on what was happening with the footing and schedule and each morning was a story of postponement.  The trusty Brookside managing staff opted to  hold off on jumper classes until saturday, ensuring safe and durable footing for us competitors.  The decision was made, we tossed our boys Bacantos and Conamour on the trailer and off we went saturday afternoon.  Now this was a first for both horses: neither had been to Brookside and neither had experienced walking off the trailer and directly into the show ring for a big class.  Upon our arrival, we got checked in, gave the boys a little tour of the warm-ups, tied them back up in the trailer and went to walk our course.  Originally, the $10,000 Jamie Alder Memorial Derby was meant to be a speed class.  Since the footing was good, but not yet great, management made the call in the name of safety to hold the class as regular return jump-off format.  This being done in the hopes of avoiding mass slippage while turning and burning, going for the win (which was fine by us!).  After walking the inviting 1.30m course, we ran back, threw our tack on and trotted out to the warm-up.  With our ever-fearless leader, Dusty, as designated jump-setter, Chelsea and Giana warmed their mounts up and headed to the ring.  Bacantos and Chelsea were up first, producing a beautiful clean round to return for the jump-off.  Not to be outdone, Giana and Conamour headed in and were clean themselves, ensuring they were the last to return in the jump-off.  Bacantos was a superstar, galloping to the jumps and making a fabulous turn that no one else dared.  Unfortunately, his style of jumping so impressively high over the fences is not the most efficient and it left him just short of the top 2 and in 3rd.  Conamour also jumped his heart out, not rubbing a single fence.  One navigation error left them with a 4 fault score and a 7th place finish.  After all this excitement, the boys meandered back to the trailer, got untacked, loaded back up and we all headed home.  Not bad for an evenings work!  We're so lucky to have such amazing horses.  Next up: Capital City Classic this coming weekend, hopefully we can recreate this wonderful experience (not to mention win a little money along the way!)

Good Boys!

How about a little recap?

Well, it's been a little while since our last newsletter, so we thought a recap of the last couple months was in order!  New jumps, horse shows, and horse sales appeared to be the theme to our winter.  After compiling our yearly show schedule, we realized the start to our season was fast approaching.  To help ensure we were all properly prepared, our fearless leader (Dusty) decided it was time for some new jumps.  She appeared one Monday afternoon with a trailer full of old show jumps in need of some cleaning up.  After much hard work (many thanks, Skyler Brittner!) we had a ring full of cool new standards, rails, planks, panels and gates.

Pretty right?

After the luxury of practicing over show ring courses, we were ready to begin our competition year.  FCF Professional Chelsea Jones kicked things off by travelling south to Mexico to lend a hand to FCF Sales business partner Antonio Maurer and compete in the beautiful Valle de Bravo horse show.  She had the opportunity to compete at all levels, from the 1.30m to the Grand Prix, on some incredible horses and was met with much success.  Check out some of her rides:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxVJqd0ggYo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvQCTo9egHQ
Upon her return, we headed over to Sacramento for the Northern Winter Classics.  Always a favorite, NWC is a great way to start the show season.  FCF horses jumped superb, winning Championships in the Performance Hunters, 1.15m and 1.20m divisions, as well as top placings in the Mini Prix.  With that under our belts, it was time to head down to Thermal!  2 weeks in the beautiful sunshine brought about some fantastic rides and ribbons in the 1.40m, 1.30m, 7/8 Yr Old and Low A/O classes.  What a great start to the year!
So now, that brings me to my last topic: horse sales!  It's been a great winter for sales/leases at FCF, not only outgoing, but incoming as well.  Congrats are in order to Garnett Farms and Willow Tree Stables on the the purchase of Hugo.  This is the 3rd FCF horse (Zappo, Magno LS) to head to the wonderful Willow Tree Stables in recent months.  We would also like to congratulate our clients for some in-barn purchases/leases: Giana Roberge + Conamour, Phoenix Williams + Flying Solo, Cheryl Daniels + Star Gazer, Emma Price + Andy, and Brittany Shehi + Remonta Galeon.  We look forward to seeing these new partnerships flourish in the upcoming show season!

Good luck in your new home Hugo!

Well, that about loosely covers the events of the last few months.  Now that we are up to date, we will continue to keep everyone in the know with our new blog!  Until next time: Keep Calm and Gallop On! :)