|
IN THE NEWS
Fox Heath USEF "B" Rated
Horse Show!
The popular Fox Heath rated show will be
Sunday, August 8th, 2010. An exciting schedule is planned and is
available in our Prize List. Please note that the
judge in Ring 2 will not be Cheryl Francis (as is listed in the Prize
List). The Ring 2 judge will be Creigh Duncan.
Click
here for a copy of the August 8th Prize List.
“At
the Jump” NEWS from Fox Heath Riders
at the Vermont Summer Festival
7/5/2010 A hot day is forecast for the entire
northeastern part of the country.
Fox Heath is represented by Raz, Izzy, Jimmy, and Lyra at this
year’s festival. We all left Fox
Heath early in the day to avoid the heat.
Mrs. Harris gave us a warm sendoff with her best wishes.
Arrived in Vermont in about five hours.
There was little traffic, likely because of the holiday. The stalls were ready for the horses
and everyone made the trip without problems. The day was closed with some walking
and eating of grass. Important
Extra: In honor of Sue M. there
was a communal singing of the “Pop Tart” song.
7/6/2010 Once again the heat is on. On Tuesdays you may use the actual show
rings for schooling. Something new
this year was that the “fancy” show jumps were in the rings so the horses
got a better look at everything.
The show seems to have a good turnout. We are in the furthest stalls from the
show rings. Bad, because of the
amount of walking. Good, because
there is much less traffic. All
the horses schooled very well.
Lyra just marched around – Jimmy was a little hot but was not
bothered by all the activity – Izzy looked at some things and then
settled into a smooth gait – Raz didn’t care, did his jumps and then had
a carrot.
7/7/2010 OK, it’s going to be hot today. Making sure that the horses get all the
water they want and a couple of baths.
“Schooling Hunter” is an all day division here so that the
professionals may school the horses for their clients. This results in very big classes (50 –
70 horses). Izzy and Lyra both did
the 3’ Schooling Hunter and went very well, but did not place. Jimmy did the 2’6” Schooling Hunter and
got a 5th. Raz went
with the non-professionals in the New England Adult Hunter and got two 1sts
in the over fences in a good size class (about 20). This resulted in Raz being Champion and
getting another carrot.
7/8/2010 BTW – due to popular
request (one) we will try to get some photos up on the web. Today was a schooling day. Everybody (and their horses) had some
“hot button” things to work on.
Lyra actually went in the Schooling Hunter Division – but with the
express reason of working on her pace, trying to make it nice and
steady. Izzy practiced going to
the middle of the jump and staying on line until the end of the ring. Jimmy was slow and acting “strange”, we
thought he might have colic, but it ended up that he is fine, maybe a gas
bubble. Raz tried to practice his
special “dropping of his shoulder” move and we worked hard to convince
him not to do it. It was hard to
tell who won the discussion.
7/9/2010 The day started with
Izzy going against some big guns in Adult Amateur. These are serious people with their
horses. Izzy placed 3rd
and 5th, so we were very proud. The Raz was in Modified Adult Hunter
and came away with a 4th and 7th over fences. Jimmy was in the same division
(pointing out the staying power of the rider) and placed 2nd
and 6th over fences and 5th in the flat. Lyra was worked on the flat and held
for another day.
7/10/2010 The big, big NEWS of
the day is that Izzy got a 1st over fences in Adult
Amateur. Simply put, they nailed
everything! Izzy also got a 6th
over fences and finished with a 7th in the flat class. Extra carrots for everybody!!!
7/11/2010 Checkout time. At the end of each week you must settle
your account and get new numbers.
While doing the checkout we found that Lyra had gotten a 5th
in Schooling Hunter. How about
that!? When classes are as big as
some of the ones here it may take a day for the final tabulation. Lyra’s 5th brings the total
number of Fox Heath ribbons to 17.
7/12/2010 Today is a day to rest, heal, and do laundry. Riders and horses are all tired from
the week of hot weather. The
horses will be grazed and walked on a lead to stretch them out. Lots of activity as people leave and
new barns come in. The show had to
set up some additional stalls for the new-comers.
7/13/2010 Today is schooling in the actual show rings. If you don’t like to school then this
is not your favorite time. You
just have to be careful. Fox
Heath’s team had a very good week of competition so we are considering
moving things around to try different horses in different divisions. Heck, what could go wrong? Moving up at this show is a challenge
but we are thinking about it. Wish
us luck.
7/14/2010 …and then the rains came.
OK, if you and/or your horse don’t like water then this is not the
place for you. However, the show
must go on and we had a very nice day.
Lyra started out in the ever-huge Schooling Hunter division and
came away with two very nice ribbons; a 3rd and a7th. The division ran all day with an open
card. Raz decided to go ahead and
test the lake (otherwise known as the ring) and the footing for safety
with a very deliberate pace. Raz
ended up being converted to a white horse. With the knowledge gained from Raz’s
efforts, Jimmy entered the same pond and got 2nd, 2nd
and 4th! Jimmy tied for
Reserve Champion but lost the tie-breaker. BTW – Jimmy ended up just as white as
Raz. The footing in the rings is
crushed limestone that makes a very white paint which is very, very hard
to get off your tack and boots.
7/15/2010 Raz and Jimmy are taking a walk today after working hard in
the mud yesterday. Lyra entered
the Over Fences portion of Schooling Hunter (this division runs over
multiple days). Lyra scored a 3rd
place ribbon in a class of 67, against the professionals! Izzy went well in the Low Hunter (about
3’3”). He had lots of jump and
easily cleared the rails.
Competition is intense at this level and he did not pin. However, we were all happy with the way
he handled the course.
7/16/2010 OK, one thing we learned today was that this week is the
biggest week of the six week show, with the biggest classes. It was a very exciting day! Izzy went into NAL Classic. The way this works is that the division
starts with two over fences courses, with scores being assigned. Then the top fifteen horses are “called
back” for another, more complicated course, which is scored. Ribbons are then awarded to the top
eight horses with the best scores.
First, Izzy made it into the “call back” round which was very
exciting. He then placed 7th
with total points for a ribbon.
Izzy then got to participate in the Victory Gallop where all the
horses and riders get to show off their hard-earned ribbons. What a thrill! We will get pictures online of Izzy’s
victory lap. Next to shine was
Raz. Remember all the water a few
days ago? (Raz is not a lover of
water on the ground.) Well the
very same ring had pretty much dried out and the courses where very
similar to the “lake” day. This
time Raz was much more comfortable and did his thing, coming away with 3rd,
3rd, and 5th.
Raz was much happier not to be swimming. In another ring, Lyra pranced away with
a 5th. Raz and Lyra both
competed in the 2’6” division, which had a total of 140 horses. Fortunately, the division was split
into thirds resulting in classes of “only” a few dozen.
7/17/2010 One more time for Izzy.
This time he went in the M&S Classic. The idea is the same as the NAL Classic
– but moved up another notch. You
will have a long wait if you expect to see someone drop a rail in this
Classic. Izzy was solid in the first
two over fences AND made it to the “call back” round. He then turned in one of his best
rounds of the week. However, when
all the points were totaled he was not pinned. It didn’t matter at all, we were very
pleased with him. Yes, our riders
and horses are all getting tired and the heat has not helped. However, we have had a heck of a
run. We thank Mrs. Harris for
getting us ready for this exciting challenge.
Results
as of Thursday night, July 17th.
Fox Heath Thursday Horse Show Series
Once again Fox
Heath is hosting the very popular Thursday Horse Show Series. These
horse shows are held each Thursday during the summer. The format of
these shows provides an ideal schooling environment and allows for a
great deal of fun! The shows run from June 24th to August 12th.
Click here for the Prize List for the
Thursday Horse Shows.
|
Summer Day Camp!
The Fox Heath Equitation
Day Camp provides an excellent horse mastership program for beginner,
intermediate, and advanced junior riders from age 5 to 18. The camp
program is designed to simulate both the responsibilities and
pleasures of horse ownership. Many campers describe their time
at our camp as 'the best summer that they have ever had'.
Session dates:
June 21 - July 2; July 5 - July
16; July 19 - July 30; August 2 -
August 13
Click
here for the camp application.
Click on the "Summer
Day Camp" button for more details.
|
|
Dear Fox
Heath Boarders and Riders,
Dick and I are very
excited to announce that in April Nancy McClure will be joining the Fox
Heath team in the capacity of stable manager and assistant trainer.
Please click here for a summary of Nancy's
background and experience. Please join us in welcoming
Nancy to Fox Heath.
Sincerely,
Claire and Dick Harris
These
pictures are of Nancy during her more "lofty" days -
Fox Heath Calendar of Events:
Please click on "Schedule" to see the
events currently planned for Fox Heath riders and boarders.
Fox Heath riders had a super showing at
the AHS Awards Banquet!
Click here for more pictures
from the AHS Banquet.
Remember when it was cold? The
very popular Fox Heath Christmas Horse Show in December.
Click here for more pictures
from the Christmas Show.
Fox Heath
was well represented at the 2009 Vermont Summer Festival by three of our
horses.
Lyra’s Compass, Rubico (Izzy), and Raspoetin V (Raz) carried the Fox
Heath colors this year.
Fox Heath is being represented by four horses at the 2010
Vermont Summer Festival.
Izzy, Raz, Jimmy, and Lyra will try their best to make us proud!
"Rubico
" (Izzy) had a particularly successful time at Devon, with a 7th in
the Stake
class and a 6th in the Fox Hunter class. "Team Rubico" is
shown above:
Tad Coffin - Tad Coffin Performance Saddles; Shelley Hobson - Izzy's mom;
Terry Stephens - rider; Claire Harris - trainer; and (of course) Izzy -
horse.
Fox Heath is now an authorized
distributor of McCauley's Feed and Supplements!
McCauley's feed and supplements offer an outstanding
combination of performance and price.
These excellent products are now available directly from Fox
Heath. For further information,
or to place an order, contact Claire Harris at 215-598-7792.
McCauley's offers proven
formulas in pelleted and textured forms for horses at all stages of life.
These formulas are designed to deliver optimal nutrition for all breeds
and disciplines. The McCauley's® line includes feeds for
breeding, growing, performance, show and nutritionally-challenged horses.
Click here to go to McCauley's web
site.
|
