Beckey Downing first set her heart on a national championship when she was nine years old. When 2016 started, she felt this would be the year, and she had good reason. After three years, her gelding, Remington W, was coming along nicely under both her as an adult amateur and also her trainer, Joelle Roberts of Temecula. With the Arabian Sport Horse Nationals returning to Nampa, Idaho, the stars seemed to be perfectly aligned this year.

Until the morning of Jan. 13.

Downing, of Anza, received a 6:30 a.m. phone call from Roberts that Remington W was found bleeding severely from his nostrils and clearly in stress.

“We had, and still have, no idea what happened to him,” said Downing, who sped to Roberts’s Delacreme Equestrian facilities at Galway Downs with trailer in tow. “He was ataxic and his right pupil was completely blown.”

They took the horse to the San Luis Rey Equine Hospital in Bonsall, where the equine medical team of Dr. Nick Huggons, Dr. Lindsey Porubovich and consulting internist Dr. Rob Franklin used new CT scanning equipment to diagnose skull fractures that had eluded X-ray diagnosis.

Ruth Shirkey and Wyleigh Princess were one of many champions crowned on the final day of competition at the Great American/USDF Region 7 & CDS Championship Show Sept. 29-Oct. 2 at the L.A. Equestrian Center.

Terri Miller photo

BURBANK — Among the many smiling faces seen during awards ceremonies for 29 championship divisions on the final day of the 49th Annual California Dressage Society (CDS) Annual Championship Show and Great American Insurance Group/United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Region 7 Championships held Sept. 29-Oct. 2 was Ruth Shirkey of San Jose.

With her U.S.-bred Hanoverian mare Wyleigh Princess, Shirkey was capping off a tremendous weekend by taking home the Two-Tone Malone Trophy for the $1,000 CDS Horse of the Year in the Second Level Adult Amateur division with an overall score of 68.256%. But the special partnership she now has with her horse almost never happened at all save for one crucial decision.

“My favorite story is that I purchased Wyleigh Princess in utero, and I was really hoping for a black colt,” Shirkey remembered. “When she was born, her breeder called and said, ‘The good news is that the foal is black. The bad news is that it’s a filly.’ She said that if I didn’t want her, to just let them know because they actually really wanted to keep her. So I thought about it for a day and decided I still wanted her, primarily because I really, really wanted a foal by Weltmeyer. So of course in hindsight it was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

SACRAMENTO — The standing-room only event kicked off with a special presentation for Style of Riding Sponsored by Shady Lane Farm. Congratulations to Maggie Kehring on her Junior Style of Riding Award and Patricia Warner on her Amateur Style of Riding Award. Thank you to the Archers and Shady Lane Farm for their continued sponsorship of the Style of Riding Awards!

Next was an incredible opening act from the California Cowgirls, an impressive drill team from Rancho Murieta, CA. Following the California Cowgirls was the Doreen Irwin Singers Choir and the Presentation of Colors by SGT Joel Campos, SSG Gary McCorkle, SPC Phillip Spaur, and SPC Nicole Coyle. Thank you so much to all of them for making the National Anthem so special to begin the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Sacramento Presented by Lasher’s Elk Grove Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram.

Patrick Flaherty clinches first and second in the Level 2 with Shiney Smart Sparks.

HRRC courtesy photo

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The 2016 Las Vegas High Roller Reining Classic, is in its ninth, fabulous year at the South Point Event Center, Hotel and Casino. The fourth largest NRHA show in the world, this year’s HRRC ran from Friday, September 9th through Saturday, September 17th, and still draws riders and horses globally from Reining’s finest pools of talent, nearly a decade after its creation.

“There are so many levels to our wonderful sport of Reining,” says Amanda Brumley, show producer. “The High Roller Reining Classic has always been our favorite venue for including the people who love this game, from the Short Stirrup kids to the Non-Pros; from the Million Dollar NRHA professionals to teenagers and their grandparents. This show provides a challenge for everyone.”

This year’s show was up in entries, particularly the Youth group. Encouraged by last year’s Tournament and the new National Arabian Reining Horse Association sponsorship, over 60 youth signed up in 2016. Youth classes ran mornings Saturday and Sunday the first weekend. The kick-off on Friday night was the NARHA Youth Tournament of Champions Bowling and Draw Party, sponsored by NARHA Corporate Sponsor, Markel Insurance, upstairs at the South Point Bowling Center. A great turn-out added even more fun to the gathering. The NARHA Team Tournament of Champions ended on Sunday with awards for both the teams and the individual competitors. The Gold Medal Team winners each won $500 in Scholarship money. The 5-member, Olympic-style team included Custom Spook (Smart Spook x Custom Spinderella) with Luca Fappani; Cashen Big Chex (Big Chex To Cash x Doc Will See You Now) and Adrianna Adams; VLQ Friendly Fire (Forelocks Petja x Polka Jane), a purebred Arabian, and Siena Kruger; Miss Trashy Lady (Trashadeous x Miss Glenda Joe) with Sophia Polumbo, and MK Check Please (Chic Please x Devils Dry Divanita) with McKenna Bein. Custom Spook carried Luca Fappani to the individual Gold Medal and $1,000 scholarship. “I’m grateful Pat Warren leased Custom Spook to me,” says Luca, a seventh grader attending the Sonoran Trails Middle School in Cave Creek. “Custom Spook is so talented and well broke. I’m showing him at Congress in October. My mom’s horse, Premier Diamond (Like A Diamond x Sexy Chexy Nic), is awesome too. He’s the first horse I ever showed and he taught me and made me the rider I am today.” Luca, though enjoying showing horses does not want to be a trainer. “I’d like to go to the University of Southern California and study to be an Orthopedic Surgeon.”

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Wrapping up their 2016 California season with the Fall Series in San Juan Capistrano, Blenheim EquiSports congratulated the Leading Hunter Riders with awards presented by Romfh Equestrian Apparel.

Three times was a charm for professional hunter rider Nick Haness, amateur-owner rider Lindsay Maxwell and adult rider Tonia Cook Looker. Collecting the most points throughout the season, Haness, Maxwell and Looker earned the Leading Rider Award in their divisions in the spring, summer and fall.

After numerous placings in the professional hunter sections on Maxwell’s Kingston, Enzo and Quinn during the Blenheim EquiSports Fall Series, Haness secured a hat trick with his third Romfh Leading Hunter Rider Title of the 2016 season.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A lovely weekend at the Kentucky Classic CDE played host to the 2016 USEF Pony Driving National Championships. Held Oct. 6-9 at the Kentucky Horse Park, the championships crowned two  National Champions, including Leslie Berndl of Newcastle.

Driving Sweetwater’s Zorah Belle, Berndl began their quest for a national title with a lovely dressage test to win the phase with a score of 53.69 from the Ground Jury of Anne-Marie Turbe (FRA), Elimar Thunert (GER), and Kail Palmer-Miller (USA). Berndl boldly drove Teressa Kandianis’ 2004 Norwegian Fjord mare in the marathon phase, having the fastest times in four of the seven obstacles designed by Richard Nicoll (USA). They won the phase and added 86.19 penalties to their score. Despite the fact that less than three points separated first and second place, Berndl and Sweetwater’s Zorah Belle kept their cool in the cones phase to have a double-clear round and earn the USEF Single Pony Driving National Championship title with a final score of
139.88.

Ping Pong and Julie Flettner, CIC1* champs

Sherry Stewart photo

WOODSIDE — Mary Burke and Prince William added another winning chapter to a bio that the 13-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred has compiled over their 10-year partnership, as the Ellensburg, Wash., duo secured the CIC3* win in true copybook fashion at the Woodside International.

Riding in reverse order of standing, overnight CIC3* leader Frankie Thieriot Stutes of Occidental and the Chatwin Group’s Chatwin were last to start. The pair confidently jumped clear in only their second CIC3*, adding 7.6 time penalties to drop them to second place on a final score of 49.4.

Both the CIC3* and Advanced divisions were designated Adequan USEA Gold Cup Qualifiers; Riders who complete a qualifying event earn the opportunity to compete at the 2017 USEA Eventing Championships to be held in Tryon, N.C. In the Advanced division, a small field of lady owner-riders spiritedly competed. Helen Bouscaren and her experienced Thoroughbred partner, Ben, held the overnight lead despite two rails down in the show jumping (53.4

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In my clinics I run into a lot of horses that are fairly advanced but often they have got a hole in them. And the common problem and the common fix are going to be the same and it’s the neck. Often times these horses have an attitude in certain places. Every now and then they decide to rebel, to defy you. And what area of the horse shows defiance first? The neck! If it stiffens up, it’s the first signal that you are about to go for a ride that you’re not asking for.

So, before you can have what you want in terms of performance, you have to have the neck. Defiance is caused by an attitude, and an attitude can happen with horses just like people. But it’s got to be like someone in the military, if you have an attitude you’d better keep it to yourself, and that’s the way I feel about a horse. They all have different mindsets, but if they have an “attitude,” let’s overcome it by insisting that we get respect from them.

I do get young horses to train from age 15 months and older in order to prepare them for carrying a rider. Depending on the breeding and future goals, these youngsters  typically get started around the ages of 2 to 3 years. Physically, you want to ensure the knees are closed prior to having them carry a rider – your  vet can determine this for you.  Additionally, their bones and muscles are not strong enough to carry weight for extended periods of time until they are the age of 3 or 4,  so workouts need to be carefully designed for their age and physicality.