THERMAL — The dust has settled from an ambitious 2018 HITS Desert Circuit, and the pinnacle prizes once again were pinned on Nayel Nassar, the 27-year-old Southern California-based rider who represents Egypt. Riding the 14-year-old Hannoverian Lordan, Nassar won HITS Coachella’s prestigious pair — the Longines $100,000 FEI on Feb. 11, and the AIG $1 Million Grand Prix March 18 — in a prodigious sweep for the record books.

“I’m really trying to preserve him as much as I can,” Nassar told reporters after the FEI win. “He’s had a couple of injuries and we have a long year ahead. I’m just stoked to have him and to have him come out so strong. He’s a trier and we know each other well, which helps with the little intricacies on course.”

In the AIG $1 Million, Nassar earned $350,000 for the win. Rowan Willis settled for runner-up with the 12-year-old Blue Movie, and in third was Paul O’Shea with Skara Glen’s Presence.
The top five was rounded out by Christian Heineking on NKH Caruso in fourth and Erynn Ballard with Fantast in fifth.

Anaheim Equestrian Center/
Rancho Del Rio Stables
1370 S. Sanderson Ave., Anaheim
(714) 535-3510
RanchoDelRioStable.com
Anaheim Equestrian Center’s mission is to offer support and training to every person interested in learning more about horses, and its staff strives for a partnership between people, horses, community and environment. It also provides a safe and fun environment for horses and people of all ages, where they can learn the skill and art of horsemanship. The center’s belief that a stable and equestrian center is a vital asset to its city in order to provide a much-needed balance to city life is apparent here. It is a learning center, similar to a school, privileged with a park-like setting with access to many miles of riding trails along the Santa Ana riverbed. The center has a 64 stall barn, 12’ x 12’ box stalls, and 12′ x 24′ full covered stalls for over 140 stalls from which to choose. Boarding includes tack locker, four lighted arenas, hot walker, full-size dressage court, round pen, and wash racks. An on-site tack and feed store provides free delivery to your stall (and is open to the public). The Anaheim Equestrian Center is home to many trainers of all disciplines.

TEMECULA – Always innovative, the Southern California Reined Cow Horse Association has some fresh changes to its show line-up in 2018, including more events in the middle of the year to free up competitors’ busy fall months, but the Green Acres Pot O Gold event is a familiar favorite.

The event was held at Casner’s Ranch March 16-18, and it included a full slate of NRCHA, AQHA and SCRCHA classes. Competitors who launched their season with success toward end-of-year qualifications included non-pros Ruth Noring on her Mister Olena Chic and Nancy Nyjordet aboard her Chickaroos Chance. Both ladies went home with multiple championships and some prize money.

The SCRCHA includes ranch riding and ranch trail classes in its line-up, and Robin Bond came away with multiple wins. Bond took the AQHA Open Ranch Riding on SE Montana, and AQHA Open Ranch Trail on Scott Free’s Zander.

The next SCRCHA event is May 18-20 at Casner’s Ranch.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — With a terrific line-up ahead, Blenheim EquiSports launched its 2018 campaign with the five-day SPring Classic I show at Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park March 21-25.
In the featured event, Jim Ifko and Un Diamant des Forets, owned by Eventyre Farms, topped the field in the $25,000 Markel Insurance 1.45m Jumper Classic. An enthusiastic crowd cheered on the competitors while enjoying BBQ sponsored by Bad to the Bone.

Completing the jump-off course fault-free in an impressive time of 38.514 seconds, he edged out the only other double-clear ride, Lane Clarke and McLord’s T.K.O, owned by Mickey Hayden, by nearly 3.5 seconds.
Course designer Catsy Cruz of Mexico built the 1.45m track on Blenheim’s Derby Field, which included a challenging triple combination, 6a,b,c, and later a double combination, 9a,b, that caused most of the faults on course.

“It was a challenging but fair course for the first week of the series,” Ifko said. “I really liked it. Un Diamant des Forets is a 10-year-old Selle Francais stallion in his second year at this level. We like this [Diamant De Semilly] breed a lot and are quite happy with the horses we have from that line.”

Eleven qualifiers remain in the Markel Insurance 1.45m Jumper Classic Series. This year’s Blenheim EquiSports Spring Series features the new FEI CSI 3* schedule, including three tours / Bronze, Silver, and Gold / that will culminate with the $80,000 1.50m Gold Tour Grand Prix. In addition, the Blenheim Spring Classic II will host Zone 10 North American Junior and Young Rider Trials.

The Wild Card Reining Challenge, produced by Brumley Management Group, LLC, takes place May 19-26 at South Point Arena and Equestrian Center in Las Vegas. The innovative reining’s design will feature a 4-year Old Futurity (with eligibility requirements), 4-year Old Stakes (no eligibility requirements), two slates of NRHA Ancillary divisions and NRHA Southwest Affiliate Qualifiers, two slates of National Arabian Reining Horse Association (NARHA) Divisions, a 4/5 Year Old NARHA Pre-Futurity, and Educational Seminars.

The Wild Card Reining Challenge 4-year Old Futurity is designed to allow horses to develop more slowly as well as to provide a venue in which they can garner significant earnings without going head-to-head with more experienced equines. The 4-year Old Futurity benefits not only the horses, but breeders, owners and trainers. It also encourages longevity of the reining performance horse. The event dates provide approximately nine additional months of training for these horses. There’s ONLY ONE REQUIREMENT to be eligible to compete: Horses must be four years of age as of the start of the calendar year and cannot have been shown in any NRHA approved 3-year old futurity.

CORNING — The weather tricksters were at work during the first West Coast Reining Horse Association first affiliate show of the year held March 2-4 at the Equestrian Center at Rolling Hills Casino in Corning. California reiners don’t get to show in snowy weather too often, but the snow that was predicted on Warm Up day, thankfully, did not materialize. In fact, rainy weather held off during the show days and visited only during the night time hours, much to the relief of the exhibitors. A special, educational treat for the exhibitors was a talk on Osphos and its uses by Jessica Morris.

Judges Ollie Griffith and Pete McAlister judged a full range of NRHA Reining classes as well as a variety of AQHA approved Reining and Ranch Riding classes. Starting the show off on the first day was the Open slate. With a score of 73.5, Mike Boyle, showing Elizabeth McHugh’s Chics Dream, earned first place in the Open, closely followed by David Hanson on Stephanie Munzinger’s Aces High Whiz with a 72.5. With scores of 71.5, the top two placings in the Intermediate and Limited Open classes were shared between Ollie Galligan showing Margaret Daly’s Gunnachicya and Warwick Schiller showing his own Shine Spook Shine. Chics Love Chrome and rider/owner Patricia Eckhoff rode away with first place in the Primetime Open with a 71 score. Lavonne Sturgeon and her beloved California Shines won second with 68.5. Cody Rowe swept the Rookie Professional class by capturing three of the top four placings! He took first place honors with Larry Pearle’s Electric Kit with a winning score of 70.5. Cody, on Richard Boer’s Dreamin About Wimpy, tied for second with Kaity Sotomayor riding Julie Beach’s Spook N Cody with scores of 70. Finishing up the Open section was the AQHA Open Reining, featuring 17 entries. Chics Dream and Mike Boyle took the class. Ollie Galligan showing Gunnachicya tied for second with Martin Padilla, on Tobyann Faingold’s Spangled Desire.

Springtime is here. The weather should be getting better, the days are getting longer. So hopefully this gives us more time for playing with our horses. This month, I have a checklist for spring.

1)Coggin’s test. With showing and traveling coming up, it is a good time to renew your annual Coggin’s test. It is needed for some shows, travel across state lines and even at some boarding facilities.

2)Vaccines. This is a good time to get those spring vaccines done. You especially want to booster those diseases, like West Nile disease, that are spread by mosquitoes, as the mosquito population will be out soon. Remember your core vaccines: Eastern and Western Encephalitis, West Nile, tetanus, and rabies.

A 3-year-old gelding was brought to me to get started — a stud colt until a couple months prior to his arrival. He’d been shown in halter and had prodigious breeding, but he had begun to display deliberately aggressive behavior like biting, striking and kicking.

Temperament of stallions varies because of factors such as genetics and training, but because of their instincts as herd animals they require knowledgeable management by experienced handlers. Even though this colt had been gelded prior to coming to me, he was still exhibiting “stallion behavior.” It takes about 60 days for hormonal levels of testosterone to become insignificant for breeding; however, the behavior is brain-related, not merely hormonal, and it can become habitual. Stallion-like behavior can linger well after the hormonal effects of testosterone have diminished, that was the case with this gelding.

Jeana Boulos, Associate Broker
Shoemaker Realty
Valley Center
(760) 517-6316
MyValleyCenter.com
CalBRE #01923953
Jeana Boulos has been involved in the Valley Center Community for over 15 years. As a local, she has seen the community grow and evolve while realizing that it is critical we continue to help shape and guide the community while these changes are taking place. Jeana is a Broker Associate with Shoemaker Realty and enjoys helping new and experienced homeowners navigate the ins-and-outs of a real estate transaction as well as serving as a guide to the development of the community through her role as an elected member of the Valley Center Community Planning Group.

In the last couple of columns, we have covered a lot of detail. Here are some wrap-up notes to remember. (Find all “More With Les” columns at: http://bit.ly/HTmorewithles)

Teaching the horse to assume the stopping position
• Drive with the back legs, but keep front legs going
• Power comes from the loin
• To use the loin, back has to be round
• Neck has to be down for back to be round
• For the neck to be down it has to be soft!

How to create the ultimate collection is from the back to the front: Make the horse go and let them stop
Start at the walk: You want to stair-step up, and don’t be afraid to go back
Don’t make a big deal out of anything that you don’t want to be a big deal: If you go after a problem directly you will get the horse defensive