Like many in Southern California, Jennifer Rose of Templeton grew up with dreams of riding in the Rose Parade. It’s only fitting that in 2004 when she acquired her first Haflinger — an unbroken, 4-year-old, mare named, aptly, “Rosie” — that it set forth a course that will land her in the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day 2010.

Rose learned in late July that she is part of a nine-horse, 14-person Haflinger parade entry selected by parade officials to be among 18 equestrian units in the “Granddaddy of All Parades.”

“Dreams really do come true,” says Rose, who waited three long months between application and the word of her acceptance into the parade. “The secret is to never give up on them.”

She’ll be driving Native Rosie in a two-part tandem cart with her sister, Crystal Chapman, of Atascadero, riding in the back half of the cart. Joining them will be Dr. Jennifer Wells, a chiropractor in Norco and Diamond Bar, with her 13-year-old stallion, Malachi, in her four-wheeled Bird-In-Hand Flyer from Pennsylvania — along with her passenger and fellow carriage driving friend, Karen Poly, a Los Angeles Zoo Keeper from Tujunga.

Last year, Dr. Wells, who had been parading down Sixth Street in Norco for four years at local events, jumped at the chance to participate in the 2009 Rose Parade. The experience was thrilling–not to mention a great promotional opportunity for the breed with which she has fallen in love.

“We thought it’d be a fun and exciting adventure to share our beautiful horses with the rest of the world,” said Dr. Wells.

The Haflinger (pronounced “HOFF-linger”) is a versatile semi-draft pony horse from Austria–more specifically, the village of Hafling in the Austrian Etschlander Mountains. The combination of its lively, kind expression with large eyes, wide nostrils and small, mobile ears endear them to many who see them for the first time–often in parades.

Rose Parade dream starts with application process

Dr. Wells’s idea of an entry in the 2010 Rose Parade was shared with Victoria da Roza of Walnut Creek, leading to an entrance application last April.

“We all had to fill out a long, specific application, including the years and dates and names of parades we had participated in,” said Wells, who serves the team as an unofficial “co-Marshall” alongside the official Marshall, da Roza. “We had to include pictures of the exact costume and harness or tack
that we would be using in the parade with the specific carriage and horse, as well.”

Sadly, several of Dr. Wells’s fellow Haflinger owners who had showed interest in participating did not get costumes and pictures in time for the application and were excluded. She had purchased her costume well in advance from an online source in Germany. Her husband, Norco farrier Roland Schmitz, will use his grandfather’s hat from Austria.

Schmitz will drive a Carriage Machine Road Cart with his 13-year-old gelding, Wyatt. Riding the Wells’s 7-year-old gelding, Menchaca Wylde will be dressage trainer Lisa Everett of Santa Rosa Valley.

DaRoza will ride her antique surrey that was recently painted with green, yellow, Edelweiss flowers and an Austrian coat of arms behind her pair of mares, Larissa and Meg. Denny Krulik will be her passenger. Outwalkers will include DaRoza’s daughter, Sarah Hawkins from Vacaville, Brandon Billings from Concord, and Laural Roaldson of Walnut Creek.

The other couple driving a pair will be Tom and Connie Hodgson of Martinez, who own Fancy Ferriage by Horse & Carriage. Their adult children, Luke and Hannah Hodgson, will accompany them as they drive a Linzer Wagonette pulled by their team of geldings, Whiz Kid and Woody. Marjorie Puckett of San Island, Wash., who will be 70 years young by the time she rides her gelding, Marico, down the parade, completes the unit.

“When we heard that we were accepted, we were thrilled!” said Dr. Wells. “But that is when the hard work began.”

‘Granddaddy of all Logistics’

Planning a Rose Parade unit is an immense task — for the participants, their supporters and a small army of both volunteers and paid professionals. Further, the organization behind the entire parade might be the “Granddaddy of all Logistics.”

A September meeting at the Tournament of Roses House in Pasadena impressed the Haflinger group with the scope of the magnificent project.

“They explained every detail of every portion of the parade — it was amazing,” Dr. Wells said. “The committee members and chair members have every little detail imaginable and all scenarios worked out to make it a safe, secure and memorable experience for all involved.”

‘Donate toward our dream’

One detail still being worked out for the Haflinger unit is confronting the cost of the opportunity.

“Traveling costs, stabling costs, entry fees, floral costs — the list goes on and on,” said Dr. Wells, whose unit also will put together a five-minute musical performance for the Dec. 29 Equestfest at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. “We have been asking for donations from fellow Haflinger enthusiasts, horse enthusiasts, carriage driving friends, horse clubs and organizations, friends, and even my patients to donate toward our dream to be in the parade.”

Many have come through Kim Spann of Wingspann Farm, a premier Haflinger importer and breeder in Oregon. In 2006, Dr. Wells purchased Malachi from Spann, who is a frontline supporter of the Haflinger breed and member of H.O.P.E. (Haflinger Owners Promotional Enterprises).

Other donors include the Western Haflinger Association, Marie Wyatt (co-founder of California Haflingers, a free networking online group of Haflinger enthusiasts), and others who have donated from $1 to $100. Dr. Wells says the group still has a ways to go to reach a goal of $3,000 in the “New Year’s Haflinger Fund” by December.

Those interested in donating to the group can make checks payable to “New Year’s Haflinger Fund” and send them to: Victoria da Roza, 888 Castle Rock Road, Walnut Creek, CA 94598.

For more information on the Hallinger breed, visit: http://www.haflingerhorse.com

RENO, Nev. — One could say Zane Davis and Reymanator terminated the competition at the National Reined Cow Horse Association’s Snaffle Bit Futurity with their 5.5-point margin of victory–652.5 composite score–to win the NRCHA’s premiere event in the Open division.

In true reined cow horse fashion, the 2009 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Championship came down to the cow work. As a matter of fact, it came down to the very last run in the cow work. The in-arena action at the Reno Livestock Events Center brought the crowd to the edge of its seat Oct. 4 to conclude two weeks of competition from Sept. 20-Oct. 4.

RENO, Nev. — National Reined Cow Horse Association recognized the best of the industry at its annual NRCHA Hall of Fame banquet on Oct. 1 at Silver Legacy Resort Casino during the 2009 Snaffle Bit Futurity. The evening included the induction ceremony for new members of the NRCHA Hall of Fame and Hall of Merit, in addition to presenting Snaffle Bit Futurity Awards and the Vaquero Award to Jimmy Flores, Sr. of Perris, Calif. 2009 NRCHA honorees included:

Ted Robinson, Hall of Fame 2009

Ted Robinson of Oak View, Calif., holds the distinction of being the winningest NRCHA rider of all time. He has won the prestigious NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity a record seven times and has also taken the NRCHA World’s Greatest Horseman title twice.

DEL MAR — Two weeks of hunter/jumper competition at the Del Mar International ended with riders named Rich–Rich Fellers and Richard Spooner–winning the two highlight Grand Prix events at Del Mar Farigrounds for the Oct. 14-25 show.

For Del Mar International I from Oct. 14-18, Fellers of Wilsonville, Ore., and his mount Flexible were in familar territory while competing in the $50,000 Del Mar International World Cup Qualifying Grand Prix presented by Antares. Fellers and Flexible, a 13-year-old Irish-bred stallion owned by Harry and Mollie Chapman, previously came close to winning the 2008 FEI World Cup Jumping Finals in Goteborg, Sweden, so their Oct. 17 victory at Del Mar International puts them in early contention to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals.

In a four-horse jump-off, Fellers and Flexible rode clear and the fastest in 38.78 seconds to win the $50,000 Del Mar International World Cup Qualifying Grand Prix. Second-place finisher John Pearce rode clean aboard Chianto, owned by Forest View Farm Inc., in 40.05 seconds.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The 7th annual Scottsdale Classic Futurity and Quarter Horse Show continued to draw thousands of entries and especially remained popular to reiners, show officials said of the Oct. 1-7 show held at WestWorld.

Though entries were traditionally high in many classes, the biggest numbers were seen in reining, both for the National Reining Horse Association and American Quarter Horse Association classes. The Scottsdale Classic once again hosted the NRHA Southwest Affiliate Finals in which the Top 4 finishers in each Affiliate Class earned the right to compete at the upcoming NRHA Affiliate Championships in Oklahoma City.

Many Californians attended the show, especially to compete in the NRHA Southwest Regional Affiliate Finals.

Johnette Burman of Hemet rode Valentine Dreamin, owned by Wendy Anderson, to win the Open Affiliate Finals. The reserve championship was won by Tom Foran of Santa Paula aboard Gunball Machine, owned by Copus Performance Horses, Inc.

POMONA — The Los Angeles County Fair hosted four horse shows during the run of the annual fair Sept. 8-Oct. 1. One of them, the International Draft Horse, Mule and Pleasure Driving Show continued a Los Angeles area tradition of attracting both riders and spectators who come for both the horse show and fair.

Teams of 2,000-pound draft horses, mules and pleasure driving horses ruled the Fairplex’s outdoor arena for the five-day show held Sept. 30-Oct. 4. The show, which has been a part of the L.A. County Fair for more than 25 years, drew participants from the farming and rural communities of Montana, Idaho and Utah as well as California, where draft horses are still used on the farm for tasks such as plowing, pulling large loads and hauling carts through fields and vineyards to gathering crops at harvesting time.

Competitive classes at the Fair had the six major breeds–Belgian, Clydesdale, Percheron, Friesian, Shire and Suffolk–participating in challenging feats depictive of their work back home. Divisions for pulling country surreys, carts, carriages and other rigs while facing obstacle courses were included for these gentle giants.

Continuing in a Series
This time, we continue discussing Exercise No. 3: Moving the Ribcage and briefly introduce Exercise No. 4: Hip Control. In the next few installments, Les Vogt takes you through exercises of his Five Easy Pieces. When you’ve mastered them, you should be able to put any part of your horse’s body where you want it, without resistance.

The Brace Rein
Remember how you used your rein to move the horse’s shoulders? First making light contact for the bend, then lifting your hand and moving it over to direct the shoulders?

HARRISBURG, Penn. — The four team members from California’s Zone 10 might have traveled the farthest to get to the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s National Junior Jumper Championships, but the reward made it worthwhile for the junior riders. Lucy Davis, Saer Coulter, Paris Sellon and Karl Cook came from California with the intention of winning, and with anchor rider Davis turning in a clear-and-fast ride in the jump-off, they took home the title in this prestigious Prix de States team competition Oct. 9.

The riders from Zone 10 were always in contention for the title, but the combined team of riders from Zones 1 and 8 were in the lead after the initial round.

For Zone 10, Coulter riding Chalan went around the track fault free, while Davis on True Love and Cook aboard Notories Utopia each had a rail down. Sellon riding Troyes had two rails down and two time faults in their first round, and were the ride that was not counted.

GAINSVILLE, Texas — At the 2007 National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity, Shining Spark made history as the first NRCHA $2 Million sire when his offspring won enough during the event to propel him past that milestone. Two years later, his talented progeny did it again, and he became the association’s first $3 Million Sire before any other horse could reach the $2 Million mark.

Of the 19 Shining Spark offspring that competed in the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity in 2009, 13 made their way to the various finals and earned $233,558 in the process. The total earnings of his foals at the event were $246,640.

Also, at the 2008 National Reining Horse Futurity, a Shining Spark daughter, Shining N Sassy, won the Open and $175,000. Those earnings helped push Shining Spark over the $3 Million Mark in NRHA offspring earnings. At that event, 11 of the Open Finalists were by “Shiner” or out of one of his daughters.