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VIDEO – Barcelona RH Schooling in Florida
River House sent three young Hanoverians to compete at the FEI level at the Florida Dressage Concours at Fox Lea Farm in Venice, FL last weekend (February 26-27). Each one came home with a blue ribbon and a sweet score. Nora rode her 9 y.o. Farleight (Florestan/Lemon Tree) to a win in his qualifier for the USEF National Developing Horse Championships with a 67.647%. Farleight also took second in his second Intermediare I ever with a 66.842%. Jeanie let Nora show her special 8 y.o. boy Wilde Card (Weltmeyer/Akut), AKA Wilber, in his first Prix St. Georges ever and he won with a 67.105% – the highest PSG score of the show! And the third blue ribbon went to 9 y.o. Just Livingston (Loerke/Walttzertraum) – owned and trained by Caroline Stearns – he put in an impressive Intermediare I test with Nora to win with a score of 68.421%.
Way to go River House – bringing home the blues with Hanoverians!
River House has just been informed that EMC Bahai has won the 2010 Englar Friedlaender award, which is given by the American Hanoverian Society to the mare with the highest Mare Performance Test score in the country. Bahai scored a 7.25 on jumping, an overall 8 on her gaits, and a 9 on rideability – giving her an overall score of 8.08.
River House was also pleased to find that Bretone was once again the All Breeds Champion in the Grand Prix Freestyle. He has been the champion in this category for three straight years – with season averages well over 70%!
EMC Bahai - Highest MPT Score in the Nation
River House’s 23rd annual Hanoverian Inspection took place on Sunday, 25 July 2010. Despite some runway problems in Milwaukee, which prevented two of the AHS delegates from attending, the 2010 Inspection ran rather smoothly! Fortunately, it only takes one judge for the show to go on and one judge, Gerd Zuther, was able to attend. His wife Yvonne, stepped in to assist in recording the scores. The five River House foals were very cute and showed off well, although I (Nora) must admit that Rue Baby was the star! Of course, I am not biased, or anything like that. We also presented three of our mares for the Studbook inspection: Mandolin (Maronjo/Argentan/Matcho x, better known as Emma’s ‘Mandy’), Bette Davis RH (Bretone/Weltmeyer/Lord Udo xx), and Bahai (Baroncelli/Rotspon/Matcho x). All three easily passed and were accepted into the Main Studbook. Bahai was the Reserve Champion Hanoverian Mare for this in-hand inspection of the mares, while Eliza Rutherford’s lovely Royal Corazon (Royal Prince/Donnerhall) was Champion. Valerie McCloskey’s Thoroughbred mare, On April’s Dawn, was named Champion Non-Hanoverian Mare. Judge Gerd Zuther congratulated all of the breeders on the exceptional quality of the mares, as well as the foals, presented at this inspection site. I also chose to present Bahai in the Mare Performance Test. The MPT consists of free jumping and an under saddle test in which both the gaits under saddle and rideability are scored. Bahai did exceptionally well, receiving an overall score of more then “8″ and receiving a “9″ on rideability! Again, Gerd complimented the breeders and riders of the mares for their overall quality, preparedness, and presentation at the Mare Performance Test. These scores make her an Elite Mare Candidate. All she would have to do to receive the title Elite Mare is have a foal… I’m thinking embryo transfer. I am very proud of the little Bahoodles! Below are some photos from the inspection, including the food at the Saturday night Inspection party! Here’s a link to EMC Bahai free jumping: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP8OAK8oOrI
The CVDA Kathy Connelly clinic went really well last weekend. Farleight was a good boy and worked very hard. Kathy long-lined him a little bit, which was really helpful. With the long-lines, she worked on making him accept the half-halt. Under saddle, we mostly worked on the carriage and getting him forward from a light leg. She was very positive and Nora hopes to find the time to get Farleight down to MA to learn more about using the long-lines this month. But, it’s going to have to wait until after the Brentina Cup with Tony. Below are some pictures that Barbara Handelman took at the clinic and generously shared.
With their scores from this spring in Florida, Nora and Tony (the elite Hanoverian stallion Bretone) have received an invitation to the Brentina Cup. This competition is for young adults and involves riding two modified versions of the grand prix (the Brentina Cup test and the Young Adult Grand Prix test) at the Festival of Champions. Tony and Nora will be heading to the USET headquarters in Gladstone, NJ in early August for this event.
Tony and Nora also just returned from a Developing Rider Clinic with Debbie Macdonald at the same venue. Debbie was a fabulous instructor and had many good things to say about Nora and Tony. Nora is looking forward to working with Debbie again before the Brentina Cup.
The trip from Florida to New Hampshire was hard on Farleight, but he still managed to qualify and receive an invitation to the Developing Horse Championships in Illinois later this month. Nora is very proud of him, but she has decided not to take him to the championships this year. She is worried that the 18+ hour drive and the stress of the high performance competition may just be too much for him this year. So, they’re going to stay home and focus on training and maybe go to the Region 8 PSG Championships. Perhaps they can do the Developing Horse Grand Prix next year?!
Nora and Farleight will be heading to CVDA’s Kathy Mann Memorial Clinic to ride with Kathy Connelly next weekend – which should be exciting and helpful. Nora has also been taking Farleight and Tony to get help from Pam Goodrich whenever time permits.
Bahai – Nora’s petite, but lovely mare – won several ribbons showing in the level I, II, and III jumpers at HITS Ocala this spring. Lately, she has been focusing more on her dressage and has been giving solid performances in the FEI 6 year old classes and at third level. Nora hopes to continue training her towards the Prix St. Georges next year, as well as continuing to develop her remarkable jumping ability.
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- Tony in his stall at USET Headquarters (Gladstone, NJ)
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- Suma Bear guarding Tony’s stall at USET Headquarters
Mijou (Matcho X / Argentan) and Gleucksfee (Glorieux) both had beautiful baby boys this week!
On June 18th, Mijou had a big, black colt by Bretone. He is very elegant and is definitely a stallion prospect, given that Mijou already has one approved son. We have yet to come up with a good, stud-worthy “B” name!
Gleucksfee had a gigantic colt on the 22nd of June. He is chestnut like his sire, Werbellin (Weltmeyer / Legat / Lantan). He is very strong and attractive. Nora hopes that he will grow up to be her first big time jumper, given the superb talent of both his parents over fences. We might call him “Williston” or “Will Scarlet” and, obviously, “Willy” for short, but we’re still undecided.
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- Mijou’s and Tony’s little stallion prospect
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- Mijou’s and Tony’s handsome black colt
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- Nora’s new jumper prospect!
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- Nice butt! Doesn’t he look like he could jump the moon?
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- The Official Foal Chaser
On May 20th, Bette Davis (Bretone/Weltmeyer) was the first to foal – giving us a beautiful bay, but sure to grey, filly by Maronjo. She’s tall, strong and full of energy. We’re still trying to settle on a name – currently ‘Moshi’ and ‘Miata’ are the front runners.
Rue Facile (Rubinstein/Rescator), Nora’s fabulous retired FEI competitor, had a lovely Bretone filly on May 30th. Officially we are calling this little cutey ‘Bedelia’, but she is affectionately known as ‘Rue Baby Rue Baby Rue Baby….’ She is already showing that she has inherited an aptitude for passage from her two talented parents, as well as a giant set of ears from Rue!
Weltfee (Weltmeyer/Lord Udo) foaled just after Rue on May 31st. She has a very handsome Bretone colt that we are calling ‘Bogart’. He has a lovely neck and confirmation for dressage. The Weltfee/Bretone cross continues to produce wonderful dressage prospects.
Mijou (Matcho/Argentan) and Gluecksfee (Glorieux/) are still waiting patiently for their foals.
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- Am I a Miata or a Moshi?
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- Miata/Moshi showing off her lovely physique
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- Rue LOVES her baby!
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- Rue Baby, Bedelia, has her mama’s GIANT ears!
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- Bogart prepares for his close up
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- Bogart flexes his future FEI neck
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- Mijou looks about ready to pop
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- Gluecksfee, AKA FiFi, awaits her Werbellin baby
Copy and paste these URLs into your browser to view a few of Nora’s many many pictures!
http://picasaweb.google.com/nabatchelder/RiverHouseSouth#
http://picasaweb.google.com/nabatchelder/MoreFromFlorida#
http://picasaweb.google.com/nabatchelder/Montana#
Make sure you click ‘read more’ below if you want to see something exceptionally cute!
Are we proud of Emma Batchelder!! Soon after the Haitian earthquake, she and a surgical team from Dartmouth Medical Center were on a Partners In Health jet loaded with supplies. After arriving in the Dominican Republic, they and their gear went overland to Port-au- Prince, where they spent nearly two weeks serving the disaster victims. Emma is a post-op and critical care nurse. She and her fellow nurses had to improvise due to lack of the equipment they are used to, as well as making decisions and performing procedures that they might not do in a stateside setting. She will remain forever touched by the faith, resilience and gratitude of the Haitian people in the face of such excruciating horror. Thank you Emma for representing us and thank you for those who kept watch on the New Hampshire farm, allowing Emma to go: Lisa, Teresa and Jason.