Haflinger Highlights

The horses, trainers, riders and helpers for Deer Haven Farm all turned in stellar performances at this year’s AHR National Show.   Before I go any further, I want to thank the Diana, Stephanie and Tony (pictured to the right) for their months of hard work getting horses ready and Diana, Stephanie and Heather  for their ‘at the show’ dedication!  What a team!

We talk a lot about the versatility of our horses — at this show, we trotted horses into the ring to do just about everything!

Dressage

The 2 dressage days were big days for us.  The classic dressage training that Diana and Stephanie put our kids through really paid off.

On Wednesday, Open Dressage day, we rode 8 classes, winning 5 blue ribbons, 1 2^nd place and 1 6^th place!  Sierra, a  young mare Stephanie started this summer, turned out to be a real dressage star, earning the highest score of the day with a 70.95% in her Intro B class.  Sierra also rode in Intro A with a score of 70%!  Not bad for her second show ever!

 

Deer Haven Horses Show Up ‘Ready for Work’ at the 2005 AHR National Show, Post Many Wins

Standing from left to right: Stephanie Charles, Diana Charles, Heather Raw, Anthony Hedrick,

Seated:  Rachel King

Teddy, who we’ve come to just count on to win his classes, didn’t disappoint.  He won both of his Training Level classes with scores of  70% and 66,363%.  Though no prizes were awarded, Sierra earned High Point Champ for the day and Teddy Reserve High Point Champion!   Avanti also rode Training Level classes, earning a 1^st place with 69.583% and a 2^nd place with 63.846%.  Ace took a turn at two Training Level tests, bringing in a 3^rd place and a 6^th place with scores of 62.272% and 64.615%.  Go boys!

There was more dressage on Saturday exclusively for youth riders.  Stephanie rode Sierra to 2 more blue ribbons for Youth Intro A & B and a 2^nd place in Training Level Novice Horse.  That same morning, Sierra won 3^rd place in the Suitability for Dressage—Intro Level Horses class!  Teddy defended his winning record by winning both of his Training Level classes that day.  Watch out Teddy, Sierra’s gaining on you!  Sierra and Stephanie won High Point Youth Champion for their efforts in Saturday youth dressage.  Go girls!

All together, Stephanie rode in 9 dressage classes, winning 8 of them along with the High Point Youth Championship!  She’ll be a little hard to live with for awhile!

Hunter Division

Friday required a new set of skills as Teddy and Ace tackled a few Hunter Division classes.  We decided this would be a fun play day since our hunt seat training has been taking a back seat to our dressage this year. 

Teddy and Stephanie won their Youth Working Hunter Under Saddle class and earned two 3^rd places in Intermediate Hunter Under Saddle and Intermediate Hunter Equitation.  They received a 5^th place in Youth Working Hunter Equitation.

Diana and Ace received a 2^nd place in Adult Working Hunter Under Saddle and a 5^th place in Adult Working Hunter Equitation.

Good job everybody!  And they seemed to have fun doing it!

In-Hand

Most of the in-hand classes, including the futurity classes, were held on Thursday.  What a hectic day!  The full results of those classes are listed in the table below but there are a few highlights worth calling out.  The biggest win of ‘halter day’ belonged to our stallion, Avanti, who wound up wearing the 2005 National Grand Champion Pleasure Stallion ribbon!  We were absolutely thrilled!

We were equally proud of Avanti’s foals’ wins.  Shaylee won her Jr. Weanling Fillies Futurity class and competed in the Jr. Weaning All Sexes Futurity to receive Reserve Champion!  We were very proud when Arie placed 2^nd in his very large Jr. Weanling Colts/Geldings Futurity class.  Avanti’s 3 2005 foals competed in the Get of Sire class, winning 2^nd place.  A great start for a young stallion!

Bella (Aristrocrat TOF x Bailey TOF) placed 3^rd out of a field of 12 really nice horses in the Sport Horse In-Hand, Fillies 3 and under class. 

 

Needless to say, the Deer Haven crew is very happy with how our trip to the 2005 AHR National Show turned out!   Now we’re giving the horses (and the people) a few days off — then it’s off to winter schooling for the 2006 show season!  Hope to see you there!