News, Events & Clinics

Alison on Cedar Crest Bewitched

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An exceptional few days jumping for Cedar Crest horses with great results in every class!

Friday, August 1st

Pony Jumpers: Alison Lindsay and Cedar Crest Bewitched 2nd place

Children's Jumper Low: Alison LIndsay and Purple Mor 3rd place

Saturday, August 2nd

Pony Jumpers: Alison Lindsay and Cedar Crest Bewitched 1st place

Children's Jumper Low: Alison Lindsay and Purple Mor 1st place

Level 4: Paul Lindsay and Polka 1st place

Paul Lindsay and Flagmount Cliff 3rd place

Sunday, August 3rd

Modified Amateur Jumper: Stacey Mahoney and Flagmount Cliff 2nd place

Children's Jumper Low: Alison Lindsay and Purple Mor Reserve Champion

 

 

Alison Lindsay and Joanne Blackmore were again our representatives at this beautiful horse trial, featuring a challenging cross-country course designed by Capt. Mark Phillips. The event turned into a combined test when the stadium jumping had to be cancelled on the final day due to a violent thunder storm. Jo and Gerry McNamara's Irish Joker finished out of the ribbons after one stop on cross-country but Alison Lindsay and Cedar Crest Bewitched captured 3rd place after an exhilirating ride over the course.

 

Our two representatives at this event, which was the first for both horse and rider combinations, performed creditably well: 

 Alison Lindsay riding Cedar Crest Bewitched in Novice Division A:                            4th place

 Joanne Blackmore riding Gerry McNamara's Irish Joker in Novice Division C:        2nd place

Helen Van der Voort and her imported Andalusian stallion, Jaqueton, are beginning to make their mark at First Level scoring two second placings in the Adult Amateur division at the Kasson Ridge Recognized Dressage Show on July 12th and 13th.  Under the tutelage of Cedar Crest instructor, Wendy Brooke B.H.S.I.I., Helen and Jaq are gaining in confidence with every outing.

Blonde Redhead vocalist, Kazu Makino, won both her classes at the recent Crosswinds Equestrian Center jumper show on Cedar Crest's irrepressible chestnut gelding, Paddy's Boy.  Kazu and her partner, Amedeo Pace, have now left for a tour of Finland, Norway and Italy with the band.

It's been a great year for Spain - their soccer team won the European Football Championships for the first time in 44 years; Rafael Nadal won Wimbledon and a group from Cedar Crest Farm tackled and overcame the highest trail ride in Europe when they crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains near Granada in June. Gerry first rode in the area in 1970 and decided to take her family and some friends back to the area for a vacation in honor of her 50th birthday.

The adventure was organized by Mitch and Sabine Duran of Caminoverde and the team of intrepid riders comprised Gerry, Paul and Alison Lindsay; Deb West and Melanie Peters, both from New York City; Ted Ambrosini from Los Angeles and Heather and Symon Baker from Scotland. The latter was a non-rider but his input was invaluable whether it was shopping in the local stores, entertaining the children or helping fix a twisted horse-shoe.

The group jetted in from various points on the compass and met up in the enchanted city of Granada where, after tours of the Alhambra Palace and adjacent gardens, they were escorted to Trevelez, the highest village in Spain. Named for it's three "barrios" - low, middle and high - Trevelez tumbles down the side of the mountains like a handful of scattered sugar cubes. The lower part of the town boasts a few more shops and snow-cured ham factories than during Gerry's first visit but the rest remains unchanged with animals still inhabiting the lower regions of the houses, the narrow streets more suited to four-footed traffic than the four-wheeled variety, and the townsfolk remaining guarded and watchful, the consequence of centuries of isolation.

On day one we were introduced to our horses by Sabine. Mainly pure-bred Andalusians, they were sturdy, fit, comfortable and reliable and over the following six days' of strenuous climbing up and down precipitous trails we came to appreciate their willing personalities. For all of us, escaping from the pressures of daily life, it was a treat to relax on the back of a good horse and enjoy the magnificent scenery. The mountainsides were covered in a tapestry of flowers and the scents of Spanish broom and wild rosemary filled the air. Each day's ride included a magnificent picnic lunch and ended up at a different, rustic inn where we were able to relax and enjoy the apres-ride. There was always plenty to talk about - Gerry's descent over the side of a cliff when Maris was startled by some shepherd dogs; Alison's foot being squashed by an oblivious Napoleon Lopez; Heather's bravery in tackling, and completing, the ride with a foot only recently broken by a horse in Scotland; Deb's kindness in lending Heather her riding boots and getting blisters from her spare pair; Paul's good humor throughout considering he can never be persuaded to go on a trail ride at home and Ted's ability to stop anyone passing him whenever there was a chance to gallop. Melanie had so many adventures worthy of discussion that she needs a separate paragraph...

Being a polite and unassuming sort of person, Melanie generally found herself bringing up the rear on her handsome bay gelding, Aladin. As she had been allocated the most wayward horse of the group, she was offered a crop to keep him under control and looked like a smartly-dressed member of the Pony Club. Being at the back of the ride was fine except for two occasions every day. One was when it was necessary to stop on the side of a cliff whilst each horse took it in turns to drink. She always seemed to be left in a precarious location, preferably with some low branches to spice up the wait, whilst those ahead dithered and splashed about in the mountain stream. The second was at the end of each ride when she had to watch everyone else dismount and tie up their horse whilst she was left until last. Well, it had to be someone! There were also some really exciting moments - the most memorable being when we had to dismount from the horses and let them gallop up the steep trail ahead on their own. The idea was that they went one by one but once Paul released Oscuro, Melanie was unable to hold Aladin who pulled her off her feet as he took off in hot pursuit. Then, on the final day, with only two hours to go, she scored a 10 for artistic impression when Aladin burst out of the covered watering area in Trevelez and hurled her to her knees in front of two elderly gentlemen of the town who muttered and murmured but made no attempt to help the stricken senorita. Thank you Melanie for being such a good sport and we hope your subsequent trip to Paris proved to be less adventurous!

On the final evening in Pepe Alvarez's inn in Trevelez, we had a last memorable supper together with Sabine, Mitch and their three lovely daughters who are enjoying their new life in Spain having only moved there from the U.S.A last year. They are doing an admirable job in the face of the usual adversities presented by dealing with people, animals and government bureaucracy and we all wish them every success in their venture. Look for more information at www.caminoverde.co.uk.

Bou the rescued sparrow!

Like every other Saturday, my sister Julia and I had a lesson so I came into Skipper's stall to tack him up. I heard a cute little sound and guess what I found in the corner on the banks? An adorable baby House Sparrow who had fallen from his nest and could not fly. We decided to leave him where he was in case he found his mother. About an hour and a half later, after we had ridden, I came back to that stall and he was still there; apparently his mother could not do anything for him. Since we love animals and did not want to let him die, we took him home in a little yellow basket (that we had used to put in candy for CCF). He looked very hungry, I found worms but he wouldn't eat them so figured it would be better to give him bread soaked in milk and he seemed to enjoy it a lot.

I took him to New York City and got him a very big cage that I put on the terrace during the day and in my room at night. I tought him to fly in the country on weekends and he got better and better every day. Bou soon started to eat seeds and since he could not learn to rehabilitate by himself, we found a center and adopted two others who were the same age as ours. Soon after, since they were all ready to leave, we let them fly away together the first of June. Don't worry Paul, we released them far from Cedar Crest!

Claire in St. Ignatious Montana on her Medicine Hat gelding

Claire and I have just returned from a trip that took us to Montana and Idaho. Claire was bold enough to invite herself to come along while I worked shooting photos for my book, so I said sure, why not? We arrived in Missoula, MT and drove south to Victor where we stayed in a cabin on a ranch provided by a friend. Great cabin, but the pet peacock kept us up all night screaming.

Sleep or not, we had a heavy itinerary and found ourselves on our way to St. Ignacious the following day where we were to camp out (horses and all) with 150 other riders who had signed on for the 100th Anniversary National Bison Range Trail Ride. The range was sanctioned by Teddy Roosevelt in 1908, and it is on a Native American Indian reservation, land owned by the Salish-Kootenai tribes. It is open to the public exactly one day a year, and only for this ride.

Claire is quite handy, so she set up the portable electric fencing for the horses and she set up the tent, as well. We had dinner, and after pulled pork sandwiches and cake for dessert we sat around the bonfire chatting with the locals. They were intrigued by Claire and loved her accent, although they were still skeptical she might be able to ride a horse! Little did they know; because the next morning Claire became the rockstar of the entire weekend when she performed some pretty amazing stunt manuevers on a, well, rather difficult Medicine Hat Paint gelding she was riding. From then on in, she was legendary. Hi ho, silver, no doubt.

Fast forward to Salmon, Idaho where we met up with a cowboy named Ward. He breeds paints and we spent the day there from pasture to pasture looking at all of the new babies. Claire swears she is going to take a little buckskin and her mom back to Cedar Crest. Ward made us dinner and told stories until late at night. He had some amazing Native American Indian artifacts at his ranch, and some tall tales to go with them.

We ended the trip back in Montana, this time in Corvallis, to see my friend, trainer/cowboy Chris Bohenek start a new 3 year old mare under saddle. She was an Arab/Oldenberg cross. His techniques for starting a horse are not your typical cowboy/horse whisperer ones. In fact, he is quite educated about the fundamentals of dressage and seat to hand riding. It was pretty interesting stuff, and although I have seen him in action before, there is always something to be learned.

I think we were both sad to get back home since we had such a great time. But the good news is that we represented the east coast and Cedar Crest quite well. No-one west of the Mississippi thinks that anyone east of the Mississippi can ride a horse, especially being from New York. And while I do not ride nearly as well as Claire, we did have one old cowboy remark under his breath, "Huh, well you two girls sure can ride..." I think he is still trying to figure that one out!

 

With the high cost of gas and so trying to keep the cost of travelling down for ourselves and our clients, we travelled to our local A rated series of shows at the HITS complex in Saugerties full of hope and expectation of a good summer of showing on their much vaunted new and improved footing. We are depressed at having to report that again this year the footing was so hard as to be potentially detrimental to the safety and welfare of the horses and so we reluctantly had to scratch all of our entries for this week. Many other riders seemed to be doing the same but again this year I have to question the efficacy of the USEF stewards who were noticable by their absence in the discussions and representations made to the show management about the footing.

The stewards have many tasks to perform but as at the same show in 2007 they seem to be oblivious to their duty in relation to the welfare of the horses competing at USEF rated shows. Having been involved in top national and international shows in other countries I do have to ask why these stewards are so clearly negligent in their duties? Both the stewards and the rated judges have a duty to the Federation, the show management and to the competitors to ensure that all aspects of the show meet the standards laid down in the rules both to the letter and the spirit of the law.

After all the complaints by USEF members in 2007 and assurances that the Federation would be taking steps to ensure that a AAA rated show would not offer substandard conditions, especially when they do so at a premium price, I have to ask why special interest was not paid to HITS Saugerties BEFORE the show started in order to ensure that there was not a repeat of last year?

As members we are obliged not to act in a way as to bring the Federation or the sport into disrepute. Why are event organizers not required to act in the same way?

All members should now complain to the Federation so that they have no choice but to live up to THEIR duties and reponsibilities. In the meantime, we are faced with the prospect of having to travel much further afield in order to compete with our horses this summer if we wish them to stay sound and happy in their work.

 

Alison Lindsay on Bewitched

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A number of riders from Cedar Crest took advantage of the opportunity to ride with one of Ireland's leading trainers, Grainne Sugars B.H.S.I., over the cross-country course at Fitch's Corners during the Memorial Day weekend. On the first day of the clinic, Blonde Redhead vocalist, Kazu Makino, shared a lesson on the old hand, Penny Sparkle, with Joanne Blackmore on our young homebred, Tom Cruz. Grainne concentrated on the requirement for control, balance and forward planning both in the initial flatwork and over some of the cross-country fences in keeping with the current and rightful concern in the sport to train responsible, disciplined riders.

Later in the weekend, our daughter Alison and her new pony, Cedar Crest Bewitched, joined a group of eight riders for a two-day session covering dressage, stadium and cross-country. Also gaining from this experience was amateur rider Gerry McNamara and his new purchase, Irish Joker. Again the first day of flatwork and stadium jumping set the scene for the cross-country session on day two by establishing the requirement to balance horses through turns, first to poles on the ground and subsequently to more complex fences. Horses and riders learned a great deal and ended the clinic much more confident about their chances of success when they set out across country at their first events of the season.