Sioux Munyon of Lakeside and friends take her team for a driving demonstration, one of many during the Valley Center Day of the Horse Feb. 13 at Star Valley Park.

VC Vaquero photo

VALLEY CENTER — The Valley Center Vaqueros Equine Education Foundation, along with Armstrong Feed in Valley Center, sponsored the community’s Third Annual Day of the Horse Feb. 13, putting on display the area’s vibrant, diverse equestrian world.

“We’re a group of equestrians who all have different interests and disciplines, so the Day of the Horse is a way to embrace that and share it with the general public,” said Julie Picot, a 30-year equestrianne who moved to Valley Center in 2004. “We have members who are into driving, and others are into cowboy challenges or drill team or dressage. We kind of showcase that diversity at the Day of the Horse, and its important for the community to come together.”

Open Champion
Horse: Designed With Shine
Rider: Riccardo Nicolazzi
Owner: Julie Ridgeway
note: co-champion

John O’Hara photo

RANCHO MURIETA — With warm weather and lots of qualification points at hand, the West Coast Reining Horse Association Affiliate 1 and Affiliare 2 shows on Feb. 4-7 attracted a competitive field to the year’s first big reining.

“The show was very well attended, and you could sense the excitement in the exhibitors,” said Michael Silva, WCRHA President. “For many of us, this was our first opportunity to show our horses since mid-October of last year. And, for many members, this was the first opportunity to perform with a new horse of theirs.”

In the past two years, some WCRHA members gave this first show of the year a the nickname: “Reining in the Rain,” because of weather that hit the event. This year, however, featured cool mornings and abundant sunshine that provided warm days for early February.

“I saw many of our members in short sleeves in the afternoon warmth,” said Silva. “Everyone was enjoying the fantastic weather after a rather rainy January.”

He said he believes the warm weather led to a very relaxed atmosphere for this first show of the year.

Bridget Vice shows Serenity ER in a costume class during the Jan. SCHAA Show held at the L.A. Equestrian Center.

Laurie Taylor/TMA photo

BURBANK — While Southern California weather took a desert-like reprieve from mid-winter storms, the Southern California Half-Arabian Association had its own desert-like rehearsal as its new show slot in late January gave participants a chance to warm-up for February’s Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show.

The 2016 SCHAA Arabian and Half-Arabian Horse Show had changes both to its venue and its calendar, moving to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center on Jan. 22-24. Previously, the competition was held at Galway Downs in Temecula in May, on the weekend prior to the Region 1 Championship Show in Del Mar.

“When these dates came open for us, we really scrambled quickly and pulled this show together,” said Kay Kelley, who is in her fourth year as Show Manager of this event. “It worked out great for us. It filled a spot for people to get ready for Scottsdale, and to get ready for the show season. It’s a great facility and the people are exceptionally nice to work with.”

With a split-second $350,000 HITS Grand Prix win at Thermal Feb. 7, Chris Platt and Edesa’s Basantos wrapped up a week of wealthy winnings.

ESI photo

THERMAL — The crowd that gathered to witness the $350,000 HITS Thermal Grand Prix on Sunday of Desert Circuit Week III was in store for a spectacular display of equestrian sport. An electric atmosphere combined with supremely talented exhibitors, made for an excellent day for this top-dollar class with an exceptional ending.
Thirty talented riders descended upon HITS Desert Horse Park’s Grand Prix Stadium to test the 16-jumping effort course set by Portugal course designer Bernardo Cabral, which included tight, rollback turns, challenging bending lines and combinations that tested the navigational skill of both horse and rider.

Many big names filled the Order of Go, including Olympic Gold Medalist and five-time World Cup finalist, Will Simpson of Westlake Village and Olympian and World Cup Finals champion Rich Fellers and Flexible, owned by Harry and Mollie Champion. It would be Los Angeles equestrian Chris Pratt, who has won over $150,000 in Week III of the HITS Desert Circuit alone, and owner Eddy Sepul’s stunning Dutch Warmblood gelding, Edesa’s Basantos, who would take home the well-deserved victory.

THERMAL — Three top-fives in the first four days.
Not a bad start to the 2016 show season for Susie Hutchison, the Temecula-based trainer who enjoyed strong performances in a pair of events during Week I of the HITS Desert Circuit.

THERMAL — A new year dawned at the HITS Desert Circuit, and both open and amateur jumpers looked sharp with the start of the big winter series.
The $15,000 UltrOZ™ Jumper class on Saturday and the $10,000 Junior/A-O Jumper Classic on Sunday at Desert Circuit I gave an indication of the intensity and competitiveness these riders have for their unfolding 2016 seasons.

In the $15,000 UltrOZ™ Jumper class, 19 entries navigated the 14-fence course by Olaf Petersen, Jr., and seven advanced to the shortened jump-off where Jill Prieto of Petaluma and Carlton Cafe, owned by Freestyling Farms, claimed the $4,500 prize in a fault-free 39.114 seconds. Susie Hutchison and SIG Firecracker, owned by SIG International, took second in 40.145 — her third top-three finish of the first week, after winning first- and second-place in the $5,000 Brook Ledge Open Welcome on Wednesday.

TULSA, Okla. — If there is a place that tests hopes and dreams, it’s the U.S. National Arabian and Half-Arabian National Championship Show. Competition is keen, and it can separate owners and riders from best-laid expectations. It also can confirm hunches, like those of several California exhibitors who returned home from the Oct. 23-31 event at the Tulsa Expo Square with National Championships.

One of them was Shannon Chudzicki, an amateur from Norco who earned her first U.S. National title in a performance class, riding her Arsenal BV to the Purebred Hunter Pleasure AOTR Maturity Championship.

“It was a very exciting moment,” said Chudzicki, who has the 4-year-old gelding in training with Cynthia Burkman. “He’s turned out to be an amazing horse — he’s progressed a lot because of all the training that’s gone into him.”

TULSA, Okla. — Not all of the Arabian Horse Association’s top honors in Tulsa came with red roses.

TDNAHA President Theresa Oakley (left) and Treasurer Mimi Gaffey are presented a $500 award for the group’s first-place recognition for Club Excellence by AHA President Cynthia Richardson.

Howard Schlatzberg photo

After dust had settled from the 2015 U.S. Nationals a few weeks earlier, the AHA honored winners of its annual Club Excellence Award program on Nov. 21 during the President’s Banquet at the AHA Convention. Although the limelight may have been dimmer than the lights of the big show, the underlying importance wasn’t, as the nation’s most active local associations received praise for their innovations and energy in building momentum for the venerable breed.

That’s what dressage enthusiasts call the Spooktacular Halloween Dressage Show, which came to the Del Mar Horsepark Oct. 31-Nov. 1. Show founder Lisa Blaufess began the event in 2013, looking to start a competitive, triple-rated Dressage show that focused on tons of fun and also gave back to a breast cancer non-profit to help make a difference in women’s’ lives.

BURBANK — And when it reins, man it pours.
Six Days, 86 classes, fantastic prizes, high-stepping parties, costumes, contests and family fun — there was something for everyone at the 22nd Annual Challenge Horse Show presented by the California Reining Horse Association Oct. 19-25 at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

Home to the Southwest Regional National Reining Horse Association Affiliate Finals, the Challenge Show also hosted futurities, derbies, a ” No Wimpy Cowboys” NRHA Non Pro Maturity, the CRHA Reiner of the Year Finals, the Gatolotto Memorial, USA Junior and Young Rider qualifiers, plus a full slate of rookie, green-as-grass and youth classes. The event drew top reiners from California, Arizona and the Southwest, some traveling from as far Illinois and Montana. The Challenge offered a sweep of fantastic prizes including seven trophy saddles, a horse trailer sponsored by All American Trailers, silver buckles to winners and reserve, and a myriad of Bronze Trophies including the John Varble and Top Dun memorial Award, the Rebecca Goss Boo-Yaah, Kaweah Nic and Topsail Cody Memorials. With the level of competition high, and the stakes huge, more than 300 horses competed for payouts of over $90.000.