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April 2005

Greetings everyone!

You might want to get comfy, grab a cup of coffee or a drink, and turn off the phones. This is an awfully long newsletter with many important announcements and details. Please, read through carefully as there are several date and rule changes that may affect you!

Hopefully by now everyone has received the mailing that was recently sent out. This mailing contained the prize lists and entry forms for the April/May show, the July show and the September show. There will be no other mailings of entry forms or prize lists for these shows. Additional forms and prize lists will be available on the web site and we will send email reminders as shows approach and entries are due. The entry form and prize list for Dressage in the Sierra will come out in a separate mailing prior to the big show.

April/May Show Update

After sending out the mailings, it was brought to our attention that FEI Freestyle was not listed on the prize list as a class offered. This class will be available. The prize list has been corrected on the web page. If you would like to enter in this class, you can either download a new prize list off the web site or write "FEI Freestyle" under class description.

This show will be a 2 day show and volunteers are needed. Please contact Lou Christensen 972-5408 if you are interested in volunteering at the show on either day.

Finally, thank you so much to Lou and Mary Anne Christensen who have once again, volunteered to manage an SNC show. They have put a tremendous amount of time and hard work into the chapter. In the past couple of years, Lou and Mary Anne have managed the vast majority of our shows and as much as we love them, we would also love to see some of our other members step up and help out with the show management responsibilities. The July and Septembers shows are both in need of show managers. Please consider volunteering for one of these shows. We need your help!

Rule Changes

There is a new SNC rule this year that will be strictly enforced. Incomplete entry forms and entry forms without payment or copies of cards will no longer be accepted - no exceptions. Riders who submit incomplete forms will not have rides scheduled until the forms are corrected and complete with copies and payment.

To be accepted, entry forms MUST be filled out completely including all signatures, payment and copies of cards. In order to avoid delays, please be sure all areas of the form are signed and filled out. Remember that "trainer" is the person responsible for the horse at the show which in the majority of cases, is the rider. Be sure to include copies of your CDS card (and USDF card when appropriate) as well as your payment.

CDS has also instructed all chapters to include an additional piece of text (regarding rules) on the entry forms. To view this, please go to the following link. The correction has been made to the entry forms posted on the web site.

Junior Benefit Tack Sale

There will be a tack sale to benefit the Junior Membership of SNC at our first show on April 30th and May 1st. We are looking for tack items for donation. All horse related items, tack and clothing (riding) are welcome. Please be sure the items are clean prior to dropping them off. Items can be brought to the April 15th meeting at Susan's house or arrangements can be made by contacting the Christensens at 972-5408 or Cindy Hoonhout at 853-0302.

Junior Volunteers are needed for the Tack Sale. Please call Mary Anne 972-5408 if you can help out.

Notice: There will no longer be food concessions at the shows! Water and sodas will continue to be available for a small fee. Please plan to bring snacks and food with you.

March Meeting Highlights/April Meeting Agenda

We had a great turn out at the March meeting and covered quite a bit. Thank you to everyone who came and for the input! The next chapter meeting will be on Friday April 15th at Susan's house at 6:30pm. Joan Wright will be presenting a Scribe Training Session. Come to the meeting and learn how to scribe! In addition, we will be discussing several other important topics including:

• Awards Dinner wrap up of details.
• End of the year awards. It has been proposed that we change the awards we give out at the end of the year. We will be discussing several different ideas for awards as well as costs.
• Volunteer Awards. We will be considering volunteers to be awarded as well as reporting forms. The actual awards will not go out until the awards dinner.
• 2006 show dates. Show dates for 2006 must be submitted to CDS by May 15th.
• Dates for next chapter meetings.
• Clinician Ideas for future clinics; Jen is working on a freestyle clinic with Diane Kernoodle.
• Clinic "rules" for chapter sponsored clinics.
• Show Management. We need volunteers for this position. We will be looking at ways to encourage members to volunteer for this position.
• Open forum

Awards Dinner

The awards dinner will be on Sunday May 22nd at 4:30pm at Carolyn Graebener's house. Invitations will be coming out in the next month. There will be a Silent Auction again this year with proceeds going to the chapter. If you have an item or items you would like to donate to the Silent Auction, please contact Susan Ward at sw4horses@sbcglobal.net or at 853-4175.

Amateur Clinic Winner

A huge congratulations to Tamara Peterson who was chosen to attend the Amateur clinic this year with Rachel Saavedra. The clinic will be held May 26-29 at Yarra Yarra in Pleasanton. We hope you have a great time and would love to hear about your experience when you get back!!

Letter from Tamara Peterson

March 14, 2005

Sierra Nevada Chapter of CDS
Board of Directors

Re: Adult Amateur Clinic

Thank you for selecting me to attend the Adult Amateur Clinic at Yarra Yarra.

I would like to take this opportunity to tell the board about my riding experience.

I am 44 years old and began riding horses in 1999. After taking lessons at Equest Training Center for approximately one year, I purchased my first horse, Casper. Casper was a cutting horse on a working ranch and although he has been a wonderful teacher, he was not suitable for dressage. My husband purchased a little quarter horse for me and we decided to keep Casper as a companion and trail horse. Consequently, we found that the Quarter horse we had purchased was more appropriately a cutting horse and, for that reason, sold him two years ago.

In November 2003 I purchased Diezel, an 8 year old Dutch Warmblood-Haflinger cross, that has been trained as a children's hunter jumper. Diezel and I began our dressage training and competing at training level in the beginning of 2004. We have been working very hard and are getting ready to start showing next month.

I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this clinic and believe that it will be very beneficial for both of us.

Sincerely,

Tamara Peterson

Attention Juniors- Clinic Opportunity with Donna Richardson!

Dear Junior:

I am pleased to announce the Sierra Nevada Chapter of the California Dressage Society (SNC-CDS) will be hosting a dressage clinic for junior members with "S" Dressage Judge Donna Richardson. The dates of the clinic will be July 13 and 14, 2005. The clinic will be held at Equest Training Center, 805 Washoe Dr. in Washoe Valley. There will be 8 riders who will participate both days (2 rides each).

Equest Training Center has graciously waived haul-in fees for this clinic and the SNC chapter is working on fully subsidizing every ride with the monies juniors raised last year. If you are interested in participating in this event, it is imperative that if you have not renewed your membership with CDS that you do so immediately and indicate the Sierra Nevada Chapter as your local affiliation. This is also true if you plan on showing this calendar year and want to be eligible for northern junior championships and SNC end- of -year awards.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience to reserve a riding slot for this wonderful opportunity. I can be reached at 775-972-5408 or at maryac@unr.edu.

Mary Anne Christensen, SNC Board of Directors Junior Membership

Piccolo School Therapeutic Riding Program Helmet Drive!

Our Chapter will be conducting a helmet drive on behalf of the Marvin Piccolo School Therapeutic Riding Program. Piccolo School is a Washoe County School that provides educational opportunities for special needs students ranging in age from 3 to 22. Part of their educational program includes therapeutic riding sessions. The School is currently in need of riding helmets (ASTM approved, SEI certified only please). New or used, it doesn't matter. If you would like to clear some space in your tack room, bring the helmet to the next Chapter meeting or call Karla Viola at (775) 853-2292 to make arrangements for collection.

Claes Bierenbroodspot Clinic A Huge Success!

By Jen Smith, SNC Director of Education

The first clinic in the SNC-CDS 2005 Educational Clinic Series consisted of a mounted clinic with Dutch trainer Claes Bierenbroodspot. Claes was the head instructor of the Dutch instructor riding school for years, and now holds clinics all over the U.S. when he is not helping clients select horses to purchase in Holland. (For more info about Claes, check out www.horsefind.com.) He speaks perfectly fluent English. Claes is experienced at teaching riders from training level to Grand Prix, and he focuses on making riding a relaxed and positive experience for both horse and rider. He especially emphasizes following the horse's movement at all times, as that is the only way to influence the horse (as opposed to bracing against the horse's movement, for example). Insisting that the horse respond to light aids is another focus, as is body position and the straightness of the horse. He was often heard telling riders to relax and enjoy - this is supposed to be fun! His method of instruction is very simple and straightforward, and he communicated well with all of the riders at all levels. Each and every horse/rider combination showed improvement by the end of the 50 minute lesson. Claes said that he was very impressed by the horses and riders, and he especially enjoyed that everyone was so open to learning, with no big egos getting in the way. (Makes you wonder what he deals with elsewhere....!) Even after teaching 10 lessons, Claes was very "up" at the end of each day - he says he gets energy from seeing people really improving and enjoying their horses, and especially the happy smiles at the end of the lesson. He's looking forward to coming back.

The clinic was held at Franktown Meadows, where management was extremely helpful, even allowing us to use their PA system, which really added to the clinic experience. Many auditors were able to watch and learn. Thank you to those who brought goodies to add to the refreshments which Jennifer provided, including Seana Adamson and Wendy Hayes.

There were 10 rides each day, and it worked out that 12 different chapter members were able to participate. Everyone gave Claes rave reviews and many said they couldn't wait to ride with him again.

Jennifer is planning to schedule another clinic with Claes, this time on a private basis. It will be at Franktown again, probably in the indoor so we can use the PA system. Rides will be $140 each, including ring fee. At this point, Jennifer is hoping to bring him here on Memorial Day weekend for three days, Friday through Sunday, May 27-29. She has already discussed those dates with Claes and is just waiting for confirmation from him. If you are interested in riding in the clinic, please email Jennifer at jsmith@lionelsawyer.com, and she will keep you posted.

The next chapter-sponsored clinic will be a mounted freestyle clinic with Diane Kernoodle. Auditor participation will also be encouraged and will be free to chapter members. Jennifer is still working on those dates, which will probably be in June or July. The clinic will be limited to 8 riders, with preference given to those who (1) did not ride in the last clinic with Claes Bierenbroodspot and (2) have been active in volunteering for and being involved in chapter activities. We are always looking for ways to thank our volunteers and encourage more people to become active.

A Letter From Joan Wright

Joan Wright, our former Director of Shows has written an article giving some idea of what it takes to manage a show. Please take some time to read the article and keep in mind the tremendous amount of work and time that goes into managing a show.

For your information

We have had questions, complaints about the thankless job of scheduling of rides for our local shows over the years. We thought it would be helpful to let you know how the schedule is created and the priorities we use and do not use.

1. We do not schedule by level of difficulty. However, it is considered in these ways:
1. We try not to have the Fourth-FEI Level horses warming up with the USDF and Training Level horses–too hard for everyone in the warm up to keep out of each others’ way.
2. We try to schedule each rider’s rides by level of difficulty–they seem to prefer it.
3. We try not to schedule the upper level rides at the peak of the heat of the day or cold of the day, if temperature is an issue–too hard on the horses when working at those levels.
2. We do try to accommodate any written requests related to scheduling when to do so does not inconvenience unduly other riders or completely mess up the schedule. For example, if the only person who requests to ride first thing in the morning is Second Level rider, and it makes no difference otherwise which class we start with, we’ll start with the Second Level rides.
3. We do try to accommodate riders who are traveling long distance when we know they are coming from a long distance. For instance, when the Bishop riders enter, we try not to schedule them too early or too late in the day. (Unfortunately, last year’s riders from Star Valley did not get the benefit of this rule. No one knew where Star Valley was!!! (seven hours away) and they did not ask for midday times.)
4. Once we know the number of riders in each of the classes, we take the blocks of time that each class represents to set up a schedule. We do that by assigning the amount of time necessary to ride each particular test in the class and multiplying that times the number of entries in that class. We total that up to make sure the judge is not judging more than eight hours. If the judge has too many hours we have to go back and eliminate the rides that were received last and recalculate all of the class size times to get down to the "legal" limit. When we know the blocks of time involved, we must consider the breaks required in the morning, afternoon and lunch time, also, the fact that we can not split classes by inserting another classes’ rides into the middle of a class or by trailing one or two rides to a later time. (We used to be able to do this.) So, the large classes have to completed before or after lunch. We try not to split them with a break, but sometimes must. We consider any special time-of-day considerations when we block out the class order, if possible.
5. Once we lay out the blocks of time the classes take up and have a tentative schedule of class order, we have to address the position of each rider and horse in the class. We try not to schedule any rides closer than 45 minutes together, but never closer than 30 unless requested. We try not to schedule rides more than 2 hours apart, but sometimes must. (For example: lengthy delays between rides are nearly unavoidable when someone enters First 4 and Second 4 or "crosses levels" by entering Training 4 and First 1 or First 4 and Second 1. So, riders can control their own fate, a bit, by entering sequential classes in the same level.)
6. Once we have a tentative order based on horse and rider combinations, we have to cross check for riders on more than one horse and make sure that the time periods still work for them to get off and warm up another horse. This can result in a lot of adjustments. Then, believe it or not, we have to check for horses being ridden by more than one rider. Again, we adjust.
7. We also cross check to try to make sure that the riders that are competing against each other more than once are not always going into the class in the same order. For example: If the same four riders are in two classes, A, B, C and D, we would schedule them in the first class: ABCD and in the second class: BDAC. The reorder has to keep all the other time periods mentioned above in mind etc etc, This reordering can throw off a lot of time periods, but we think it is worth it so that some rider does not have to follow the latest European import riding two levels below its schooling, twice in the same show!!! Judges try not to let these things influence them, but they are human!! We are trying to give everyone a fair shake here!!!

So, now it’s scheduled. Now we wait for the scratches, try to fill in any waiting list, and wait for the phone to ring.

Classifieds

Albion Legend 5000 saddle....Black. Size 17 1/2. Excellent condition. Call Carolyn at 849-4399 or 315-0998 or e-mail carolyn@the-new-age.com. A picture of the saddle is available at this link.

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