Horses For Haiti Gymkhana

Pictures (from the Trail Riders grounds in Williams lake)

The Williams Lake Trail Riders are holding a Benefit Gymkhana at the Eagleview Equestrian Center, February 7th, 2:00pm. Entries by donation-12 and under $10.00 minimum, 13 and over 20.00 minimum.

Dinner after, by donation! There will be traditional and some fun events planned. What a great way to help the people of Haiti, with the added benefit of having fun in February! with your horse!! 

Jarvis Anderson Clinic at the Brant Ranch (Pritchard)

Jarvis Andderson will be conducting a reining clinic this April, at the Brandt Ranch In Pritchard.

You can read about Jarvis Anderson and his program at his website:

 http://www.jarvis-anderson.com/

You can also view a number of clips of him training and showing on his web site. Here is one YouTube Clip of him showing "Dun Its Legacy" last year at the "Big Sky Derby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHGqLXGuS04&feature=player_embedded

Taken from the web site:

Jarvis has a lifelong involvement in showing reining horses. Jarvis first entered the show ring on a reining horse at the age of six, and from there his love of the sport and competition only grew. Jarvis showed horses as a youth and non pro until he was 19 years old earning nearly $20,000.

In 2001, Jarvis gave up his non pro status and went to Purcell, Oklahoma and train horses under NRHA hall of fame inductee, Doug Milholland.

After a year, Jarvis returned home to continue training horses with his Father Jaydee Anderson. Jaydee has been training horses 25+ years. Jarvis gives praise to Jaydee for the knowledge and experienced he has gained, and gives credit to his mother Janis, for his over all love of horses.

At this point registration is only open to our WCRA Kamloops chapter members. Registration for everyone else will be on a first come first served basis, starting in February. I will post information here as soon as it is available!

AMANDA SELF CLINIC THIS WEEKEND!!

PICTURE: Amanda and "Marv", FreeSTYLING at WCRA's "West Coast Classic 2005 "

Amanda is holding a 2 day clinic this weekend at the Trail Riders Arena in Williams Lake.

There are a couple of spots still available!!

Contact Katy Kosinski at  250 398 6101, the cost is $150 for two days.

Plans are in the works for a follow up clinic in  February, if there is enough interest...

Eagle View Equestrian Center Upcoming Schedule

Here is the upcoming schedule of events at the Eagleview Equestrian Center. http://www.eagleviewequine.com/ As I understand it, the "Cow Clinic" and Connected Riding Clinic are both full, but they are open to auditors.

Feb 13, 2010	Sat	1:00 PM		BCBRA Barrel Race
Feb 14, 2010	Sun	1:00 PM		Club Fun Day
Feb 21, 2010	Sun	1:00 PM		Gymkhana
Feb 27, 2010	Sat	1:00 PM		BCBRA Barrel Race
Feb 28, 2010	Sun	1:00 PM		Buckle Series Cattle Sorting
Mar 20, 2010	Sat	9:00 AM		James Allan Cow Clinic		2 day clinic $150 including lunches Call Lana (250-989-8998) or Lori (250-392-2584) to register.
May 7, 2010	Fri	9:00 AM		Sue Falkner-March Connected Groundwork & Riding Clinic May 7, 8 & 9		3 day clinic working on Connected ground work/riding, Centered Riding and TTEAM work. Riders: $350/each $100 deposit required (limit 12); Participating Auditors: $150/each $50 deposit required (limit 12).

Jim Anderson Reining Clinic Info

Val Smith and Dan Corfe are  hosting a series of Jim Anderson Reining sessions this season at Mattway Farms. 

Looking for something to do one weekend? Check it out! Riders need a current 2010 Horse Council membership to participate. Cost is 120.00 for a semi private (2 person) 1 1/2 hour lesson.  All levels of horses and riders are welcome. 

Jim Anderson Reining Sessions

March. 20-21, 2010
April. 3-4, 2010
May. 15-16, 2010
June. 12-13, 2010
July. 10-11, 2010
Aug. 14-15, 2010
Sept. NO CLINIC
Oct. 16-17, 2010
Nov. 13-14, 2010
Dec. 11-12, 2010

Mattway Farms
4674 Bates Road, Abbotsford, B.C.

More information contact Val Smith at:  twistn_gal@hotmail.com   or call:
HOME: 604-852-4646

CELL 604-557-8515 

Billy Cook Pro Reining Saddle For Sale!!

16inch quarter horse bars, Billy Cook Pro Reiner...light oil

 I'd like to see 1200.00 o.b.o.

Contact Dawnna Monks for more information:

 EMAIL:dawnna01@hotmail.com

Western Saddle for Sale

Western Rawhide Saddle 1,000.00

Full quarter horse bars, round skirt,double brass rigging,basket weave pattern, Smooth seat,Quality silver conchos front center and back. Wide wooden stirrups, with metal on the outside, and leather lined. Comes with wide back cinch, custom leather saddle bags, and heavy leather tapedaros. 15 inch seat, sheep skin lined. Extremely well made heavy saddle. In excellent condition. Used on a stocky Quarter Horse. Comfortable ride!

Contact Bella at 250-593-9331

Email:isabella.macquarrie@sd27.bc.ca

Reining/Western Pleasure Clinic

Here is a chance to get geared up for the spring!

 Reining trainer, Carmen Texeira will be holding a Reining/WP clinic APRIL 17/18th. The clinic will take place at The Texeira Stables, in Salmon Arm.  You can contact Leslie at 250-307-4757 for more information. 

"Having ridden with the legendary Bob Grimshaw for over 10 years before spending 1 1/2 as an assistant trainer to 2 Time World Champion (AQHA, NRCHA) Jason Grimshaw in Texas, where she showed & trained both reiners & working cowhorses, Carmen has now established herself as an accomplished trainer & coach here in BC for riders & horses of all skill levels."

You can read more about Carmen and her program at her website

http://www.texstables.com/index.html

FIRST ANNUAL AGM

We are having our first annual AGM on Wednesday, January 27th, at 6:00 pm at the Red Rock Cafe in 100 Mile. We will hold elections of new officers and our agenda will focus on our upcoming fundraiser, the 100 Mile Horse Bazaar, on a showing and training venue (as well as a schedule), and discussion of hosting a show as well as potential clinics in the upcoming season.  We look forward to everyone coming out so that we have lots of member input into the future direction of the club. Please plan to have dinner as well, as it will cover the cost of holding our meeting in the Red Rock!

Happy New Year-A Look Back, and Looking Forward...

Picture Top: Graham and "Crimson Fire"

Picture Middle: Randy and some of his fans!

Picture Bottom: Dawnna doing what she does best...

WOW! It's 2010, and what a year we had in 09! We're up and running again, our thoughts looking towards our goals for the new year, and all we hope to accomplish.

Congratulations to some of our members for some memorable accomplishments in 2009, notably,

1)Dawnna Monks on achieving her goals of competing and winning in numerous disciplines, including reining, barrels, gymkanah, WP-is there anything you CAN't do, Dawnna!!

2) Mandy Pincott- for competing and winning second in the 3 year old Non Pro Snaffle Bit Class at the Canadian Supreme in Working Cow Horse

3) Graham Alwood-for competing in the Open Trainer level 3 year old class at "Reining in the Sun" on client horse, "Crimson Fire".

4) Kim MacDonad- on the completion of her indoor arena

5) Elli Meinhart- on completing an internship with professional reining trainer, Todd Bergen

6) Randy Brodoway- on being named "Horse Person of the Year" by BC Horse council. As well, our own past president of the WCRA, Sharon Hall was also named "Bob James Award" winner, in recognition of her volunteer contributions to the horse industry. To have 2 of our WCRA members both winning prestigious awards from BC Horse Council is truly outstanding! CONGRATULATIONS!!

4) All other members that took the chance to join our club, and take the first step in learning about the exciting discipline of reining, and achieving your own personal riding goals

Click the link to read about Randy's accomplishment!

http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_cariboo/100milefreepress/sports/78281522.html

Prince George Reining Horse Association Fall Slide and Futurity

(PICTURE Amanda Self-Taken from the PGRHA website)

Here is the link to Prince George's 3rd reining show, August 7-9, 2009. Entries are due July 20th. This show is the weekend after the Reininin The Sun Show in Armsrtrong. I know Ellie is planning to go...Anyone else?. It would be a good show to go watch, as they have 2 NRHA 3 year old futurity classes, as well as open and non pro futurities,  Exciting! The link is 

http://www.pgrha.com/2009_PGRHA_Fall_Slide___Futurity_Entry_Form_Pkg.pdf

Schools' Out!!

(PICTURE_ Phil and Bella on a practice run on the Similkameen River, May, 09) 

Hey everyone.

As of Friday I'm on summer vacation! Yeah! However, I don't have internet access at home, so for the next 2 months, I will probably post less frequently on this blog. I usually go to The Fish On Pub or the "Moose" for free internet access to check e mails, etc, at least once a week. Phil and I are participating in a canoe trip down the Big Salmon/Yukon rivers from July 13, until July 24/25, and then I'll be heading down to Sherri's in Princeton to get ready for "Reininin the Sun" reining show in Armstrong July 31-August 2nd. We should be around for the month of August. If anyone would like me to post/address anything specific on the blog over the summer, let me know (by e mail or phone). I will continue to send out blog updates to members on a regular basis. Have a great summer everyone!-get out and enjoy the great outdoors, and don't forget to take the opportunity to participate in (or just watch) the great reining shows, our WCRA West Coast Classic, in Chilliwack (July 17-19) and Armstrong!

Another Opportunity for Doug Mills Clinic in 100 Mile!

(Pictures-Doug Mills in action, taken from Doug's web site)

Our Sliders member, John McCarville, will be hosting another opportunity to participate in a Doug Mills, Level 1 Clinic. The clinic will be Friday evening, July 3rd, Saturday, July 4th & Sunday, July 5th.  The clinic will be at John's place 5655 Canim Hendrix Lake Road. Phone John at 250-395-2633 for details.  The fee is $300.00 and this includes a DVD which captures all of the steps taught in the clinic.  Doug will not be doing the clinic as he is still out of commission from the injury he got last month. One of his trainers will be here. Arrangements will be made for campers if necessary and board may be arranged for a couple of horses as well.

It is important that we get lots of participation in these types of clinics if we want to attract top level people in the industry into our area! Thanks John, for providing this opportunity!

Meeting??

So we've been trying to find a good time to have a meeting, and with everyone's busy schedules, it's been difficult! Here are 2 tenative dates and times. Please e mail me or post your preference here under the comments, and we will try to acommodate as many people as possible. At this meeting, we will have some introductions, and go over our finances, so far, as well as set direction for the club as a group. It is important that we have as many members as possible represented so we have a good barometer of what people are thinking and wanting in this club. I'll look forward to hearing from you, as to when you could be available...

Tenative meeting dates-please state your preference

1) Tuesday, June 30th A&W meeting room 7:00pm

2) Wednesday July 1st A&W meeting room 9:00am (note this is a holiday, so we thought people might not be working, and could get on with the rest of their day...)

Riverslide 2009

PICTURES

1. Bob Hall-our past WCRA president-stopping his gorgeous stud!

2. Tiffany Vaughan riding a pretty circle

3. Bella MacQuarrie and "Jewel" riding the large fast

4. Sherri Thomson and Topper stop-notice Topper sticking out his tongue at the competition!!

5. Sherri Thomson stopping hard with Nikki

6. Casandra Jakubiec and "Cowboy" on their circle

7.Austin Selouf and "Marv"on their run down-How does he find the reins in all that mane??!!

8. Amanda Self going into her spin

9. Lisa Coulter and her gelding spinning hard!

NOTE -Sorry Dawnna and Mandy, we didn't get any shots of you here!! Casandra's friend, Mike, was taking pics on his new camera, and these are all compliments of him...Thanks, Mike! 

It was a great weekend in Kamloops, and the Thomson River Chapter put on an excellent show-100 Mile Sliders were well represented with Dawnna, Tiffany, Mandy and myself all marking some respectable scores in the mid to high 60's. (except for that zero score I got-apparently it's a lot harder to count to 4 than I thought....!!). We saw some awesome runs at the open level, and I think the highest score of the weekend was a 71-1/2. Sherri had a great weekend overall winning high point open horse with her gelding, Topper. Well done everyone! 

2 Amazing Reining Clinics at the Cardinal Ranch

(Pictures)

Top-Jack's spur-a great example of a reining spur on a boot!! (see post on "spurs"

Middle-Legendary Horseman, Jack Brainard

Bottom-Million Dollar NRHA rider/trainer, Craig Johnson)

The Cardinal Ranch, (http://www.cardinalranch.com/#) located just outside of Valemont (1 hr west of Jasper) is hosting 2 awesome reining clinic opportunities:

1. August 28-31st, the legendary Jack Brainard will be conducting an Advanced Horsemanship/Reining Clinic.

"Jack Brainard is in his eighties, and his list of accomplishments are impressive, but most impressive is that he still rides many of the world champion horses today.  We are told that if some of the best in the world still come to Jack if they are having problems with lead changes.  (We are also told he still rides the colts too!)

   In 1966, Jack organized the National Reining Horse Association, and served as one of the original directors! You can read more about Jack on his website:

http://www.jackbrainard.com/index.html

Cost is: Riders 1,000.00 for 4 days

Auditors (was unclear but)-either 3, or 400.00 for 4 days, or 75/day

2. September 5-7, million dollar NRHA rider and trainer Craig Johnson will be conducting a "Fundamentals of Reining" clinic. 

A little bit about Craig...

Craig Johnson's special brand of reining excellence combines total precision with lightning maneuvers. His is a unique style that has been well rewarded in the arena.

Two NRHA Futurity Championships, a NRHA Derby title, two Superstakes wins, along with eight AQHA World Championships and six APHA World Titles are just some of the well-deserved laurels Johnson has earned.

Craig has also represented the United States in Jerez, Spain at the World Equestrian Games. The U.S. came home with the Gold Medals! Craig has been on three Gold Medal teams, brought home three individual Silver Medals and one Bronze Medal.

You can read more about Craig on his website:

http://www.craigjohnsonreining.com/

 

 

Intro To Reining Clinic

(Picture-Stud currently standing at Teixeira Stables)

Here is another great opportunity to participate in an introductory reining clinic with reining trainer, Carmen Texeira. The clinic will take place at The Texeira Stables, in Salmon Arm on June 27-28. You can contact Leslie at 250-307-4757 for more information. The clinic is being hosted by the Sun Reiners Reining Club. 

"Having ridden with the legendary Bob Grimshaw for over 10 years before spending 1 1/2 as an assistant trainer to 2 Time World Champion (AQHA, NRCHA) Jason Grimshaw in Texas, where she showed & trained both reiners & working cowhorses, Carmen has now established herself as an accomplished trainer & coach here in BC for riders & horses of all skill levels."

You can read more about Carmen and her program at her website

http://www.texstables.com/index.html

More show info -WCRA's West Coast Classic

Don't miss the deadline for entries into WCRA's West Coast Classic Show July 17-19th, at Chilliwack's beautiful Heritage Park. Entry deadline is coming up fast-June 15th!!

Here is the link to download entry forms, etc.

http://www.wcra.info/linkpages/2009wcc/entryform.pdf

This show has a full slate of WCRA beginner classes, and is part of the WCRA high point series. It is an NRHA approved show, as well as a NRHA affiliate series qualifier!

Spurs

Pictures-

1. Typical "wide" spur straps 
2. A thin band spur

3. A spur with a longer shank

4. A spur typically seen worn by reiners

I have been contemplating riding with spurs lately and was looking for some information. I have never felt I was an "educated" enough rider to wear spurs, but now, riding Jewel, I'm hoping I can get a better response from her, having been trained and rode with spurs. I hope I can use them properly, and not bump and bang my leg against her unintentionally when I ride....Once again, Lynda Smyth's forum was the place I found the answers I was looking for. I thought it might be useful information to share here...

Here is the original question(s) (actually posted by our WCRA president) and Lynda's response in part...to see the whole conversation, go to Lynda's forums.

What's the proper way to fit spurs on a boot? i.e., do they fit around the actual heel of the boot? or higher up, around the boot itself? Should it be snug enough to "grab" the boot, or should it be loose enough to allow some movement? Should the leather strap be tight across the instep?

There are different types and weights of Western spurs. It is the weight and the width of the band that determines how the spur is put on.

Wide bands are preferred in Reining circles. The wide band sits on the heel of your boot and yet high enough to touch the leather.

The spur is suppose to be loose not tight against your boot heel. This will allow the spur to fall back into place, if it gets moved around. The 'rolling up' action of the spur, causes it to push against the heel of your boot, and therefore stay on your heel.

Some cowboy boots have slanted heels. A wide band spur will not work properly on these boots, but you can tighten up the spur strap and have the spur sit on the boot leather, above the heel. 

Narrower banded spurs can be worn, slipped into the space where the heel meets the leather of your boot. If the spur is snug or not, you may still need to add rubber spur keepers, that wraps underneath your boot heel, to keep the spur in place.

These thin band spurs are very common because they usually have short shanks and mild rowels. Most of these require some type of 'under boot strap' to keep them in place.

The shank is the part of the spur that sticks out. Longer shanked spurs are for people with long legs. With the long shank, they don't have to wrap their legs quite as far under the horse's belly to reach it. Short shanked spurs are for shorter leg people and riders who want to move their leg a lot, without touching the horse with a spur.

Rowels are the rolling part at the end of the shank. Western spurs are meant to be used in a 'touch and then roll action' ... that's why there are rowels. A horse is far most likely to move away from a 'tickling' rolling rowel and far more likely to brace up against, a spur that just kicks him in the belly. 

There is a huge variety of rowel size and shape available. You can probably tell which ones are more mild than others, just by looking.

Spur straps are the strap that hold the spur in place. The wider 'cowboy' straps, are far more comfortable to wear than the thin type that cut into your foot.

I use the same set of spurs on each horse that I choose to wear them on. I sometimes cover my rowels with duck tape for the young'uns, until they get used to the sensation. 
I start to use spurs on a horse when I have to kick them, to get them to move off of my leg ... as in a leg yeild. I do not use my spurs in a kicking motion but rather in a rolling motion to tickle and irritate them.