News
TVDCTA
is the Tennessee Valley Dressage And Combined Training
Association
April
Dressage Schooling Show Set
The
first TVDCTA show of the year will be on Saturday, April 10th, at Steel
Prize Stables in Madison, AL. The judge will be Leslie O'Neal Olsen.
Closing date for the show is April 2.
Leslie
Olsen is a USEF R-rated judge, as well as a USDF Silver & Bronze Medalist.
She is the owner of Willowbrook
Equestrian Center in Villa Rica,
Georgia.
Entry
forms and the prize list are on
the web and in the latest newsletter.
TVDCTA
Thanks deciBel Research!!!
Thanks
to deciBel Research for allowing
TVDCTA to use their wonderful Conference Room for our monthly meeting and
sharing their soft drinks with us. The room has a great conference table
and media screen for posting the agenda and items of interest as the meeting
unfolds. They also have great ovens that keep our pizzas warm until we are
ready to eat. Thank you Sally Colocho for setting up this venue for
us -- more of you need to RSVP and plan to come to the meeting on March 16 when
we gather again.
March
TVDCTA Meeting Notice
The
February meeting of TVDCTA will be held on Tuesday, March 16th at 7pm at deciBel
Research in Huntsville. There will be pizza at the meeting and
the club is providing drinks.
Decibel
Research is located at 325
Bob Heath Drive in Huntsville in Research Park. Please be on time, as Sally
Colocho must let us into the building for the meeting.
Directions:
From Huntsville, take I-565 west, then go north on Research Park Blvd.
(255). Take the Old Madison Pike exit and turn right (towards Bridge
Street Station). Turn right on Voyager Way, just past Bridge Street
Station. Proceed to Explorer Blvd (about 1/4 mile) and turn left.
Then turn left onto Bob Heath Drive (about 1/2 mile). You can also
use the "directions
to our office" link provided at Decibel's web site.
For
more information, please contact Sonja
Hinds, (256) 217-0740,
sonjahinds57@msn.com.
Debbie
Hill
Scores Wins At Region 1 Championships
Debbie Hill and River Side
Lady finished out their 2009 competitive year in October at the Great
American Insurance Group/USDF Region 1 Dressage Championships in Lexington,
Virgina. Debbie chose to compete at
these particular championships, rather than Region 3 in south Florida, because
of the closer proximity.
River Side Lady won the championship
for Second Level, Third Level, and Second Level Freestyle.
She also rode Legenderry, who took fourth place in the First Level
championships.
See
the results here.

TVDCTA
Annual Awards Banquet
The
TVDCTA 2009 Awards Banquet was held on January
16, 2010 at Sonja and Robert Hinds' house in Harvest. The event was
a covered dish affair, although the club provided London broil and baked ham,
along with drinks, etc.
Twenty-four
members and spouses attended. Door prizes were donated by Horsin'
Around, Garvin's Feed, and Maysville Feed. TVDCTA thanks them
for their generosity!
The
barn owners were awarded gift certificates in gratitude for allowing us to
conduct the year's schooling shows at their beautiful barns. A big thanks
goes out to Cotton Meadows Farm, Flint Ridge Farms, Steel Prize Stables, and
Red Horse Ridge.
The
following members received awards:
Intro A & B JR.
1st Samantha Webb, LOU 68.39%
2nd Patton Short, MADE YOU LOOK 61.5%
3rd Reagan Short, JUNO IS TOPS 57.83%
Intro A&B AA
1st Jean Coshow SILVERSTONE 61.5%
Training Jr.
1st Patton Short, MADE YOU LOOK 68.39%
2nd Patton Short, CLASSIC ACT 63.98%
3rd Erin Downy, BETHANY 63.33%
Training AA
1st Jean Coshow, SILVERSTONE 62.27%
2nd Patsy Gray, GABRIELLA 60.85%
3rd Sonja Rich, PEKCO 56.8%
First Level JR.
1st. Erin Downy, BETHANY 54.7%
First Level AA
1st Lindsay Jones, HANDSOME 64.68%
2nd Sonja Hinds, ARLO 60.90%
Second Level AA
1st Debi Gilbert, PRINCE BASHIR 63.58%
From Sonja Hinds:
We want to remind you that the requirements to receive an award at the end of the year
are very minimal. We would love to see many many more receive awards. We will
add the requirements to the web site and also print a reminder on entry forms.
We
also want to let everyone know that you do not have to receive an award to join
us at the dinner. It is a fun time for friends and fellowship. We
have some incredible cooks in our club!
We
have a wonderful place for our meetings (see February notice, above).
Please come and bring your ideas to the club. This will be the best year
ever!
Flint
Ridge Farm/TVDCTA Halloween Weekend Show
Flint
Ridge Farm, in conjunction with TVDCTA, hosted a Halloween Weekend Show and
Clinic from October 30 through November 1. The judge and clinician was Janet "Dolly" Hannon, "S".
Among
Jr./YR riders, Patton Short and Samantha Webb posted outstanding
scores. Short had a 68.58% in winning the Training Level Test 2 class,while
Webb had a 68.50% in winning the Intro A class. Short, who competed
on both Classie Act and Made You Look, also had two additional scores of 68% or
better in the Training Level Test 1 class. Kristin Anderson also
had a very good score of 36.5 while winning the USEA Beginning Novice B
class.
Ashley
Hayes on City Slicker scored a 69.54% in winning the Second Level, Test 3
class for Adult Amateur.
In
the Open division classes, Andrea Pappano bettered 70% twice. She
scored a 70.36% in winning her Training Level, Test 2 class, then followed up
with a 70.84% in First Level, Test 2.
Results
are posted here.
September
TVDCTA
Schooling Show
The
early fall TVDCTA Schooling Show was held on September 12th at Red Horse Ridge in
Brownsboro, AL, with Nina Warren, "L", as the judge.
Show
results are at this link.
Virginia
Moon Earns USDF Silver Medal
Riding
her mare, Broadstone Star (Lucy), Virgina Moon earned her USDF
Silver medal this past March.
Here is
the account in her own words…
“Riding
my mare, Broadstone Star (Lucy), I earned the first score at
Murfreesboro in September 2008 at the Arabian and Open Dressage show. Then
I got the second score on March 14, 2009 at Poplar Place in Hamilton, GA.
“It
was on my 50th birthday, no less. Cindy Latham took us all out and
treated us to a Thai Dinner which is what I requested for my birthday. Cathy
Zappe and her daughter were there as well as Cindy and her daughter, Lindsay
Waite Jones. Cathy surprised me with a lovely crystal rocking horse
for my birthday. I suppose one has to turn 50 sooner or later, and that
was the perfect celebration for me. I have since retired Lucy and am now
leasing the Andalusian gelding Gibraltar from Uwe Meigel and his wife Ellinwood.
I hope to do some freestyles with Gibby and earn as many of the scores
I need for the freestyle bars given by USDF.
“They
say "It Takes A Village" and I have certainly had one. Many
Thanks to my instructors over the years including Judith Fiorentino, Debbie
Hill and Cathy Zappe. We are so fortunate to have them in our
area. Also my steady clinicians through the last ten years - Eugene
Abello, Brian MacMahon and Wolfgang Scherzer. Their combined efforts
certainly helped me understand this journey we call Dressage and I am forever
grateful.”
August
Show at Steel Prize Stables
from
Judith Fiorentino
Is
it too late to say that we all had a good time and the TVDCTA ring looks
just lovely set up in the upper arena! Leslie O’Neal Olsen was the
R judge and she did a very good job with her scribes and her riders.
Her comments were well received and everyone commented that they enjoyed riding
for her. Even better, the scribes said they enjoyed their job and
would do it again!
It was a hot day and we had hoses out for the competitors and horses and a
picture of the spraying off process was included in an earlier issue of the
Newsletter. It just takes the writer longer to get her fingers on the
keyboard.
We would like to thank all the participants and volunteers who worked so well
during the show and we look forward to the shows coming up and the ones we
shall plan for next year.
(Go here for results)
June
TVDCTA Schooling Show
Despite
occasional rain, we were able to successfully complete the TVDCTA Dressage
Schooling Show at Steel
Prize Stables in Madison, Alabama, with judge Ann Genovese, "r".
There was a very heavy turnout for the competition and so additional rides were
held on Sunday morning.
The
Junior riders were outstanding at this show, with a very good competition in the
Training Level 1 and 2 classes, with many of the best riders in this area
competing. USDF Silver Medalist
Megan Zappe prevailed in both classes, but it took high
scores to turn the trick. Zappe hit a 70.44% in Training 1 and 71.43% in
Training 2, where Sarah
Williams (70%) and Danielle Bolte (68.22%) had excellent rides.
Erin
Downey on Bethany had two very good scores, winning Training 4 with
70.80% and then First Level 1 with 71.00%. In Sunday's competition, which
was geared towards combined training dressage tests, Alexis Pannell
performed well in winning the Beginning Novice classes.
Among
the adult riders, LeAnn Siefferman won two AA classes, including a
71.50%. Newcomer Marsha Laitinen performed very well with a 66.53%
winning Training 1, in addition to handling volunteer duties. Sue
Kirkpatrick had two very good First Level rides, including a 66.95%.
In Sunday's competition, Sandy Johnson had some very good rides,
including a 26.84% for Training Test B.
Candace
Wheeler, Cathy Zappe, Andrea
Pappano, and Theresa Simmons each won two classes among Open
division riders.
And
the new TVDCTA riding arena acquitted itself very well. Check out the photos
at the link below.

Scores
are now posted here. And a few
photos of the show are here.
Spring
TVDCTA Dressage and Combined Training Schooling Show
The
first TVDCTA show of the season was held on Saturday, April 11th at Cotton
Meadows Farm in Elkmont and featured both dressage and CT events. The judge was Nina Warren, "L".
We had originally scheduled Kirsten Moltmann as the judge, but had
to make a last minute change.
The
results are now posted here.
Megan
Zappe Earns USDF Silver Medal
TVDCTA
rider Megan Zappe recently completed the requirements for her USDF Silver Medal.
To qualify for the medal, Megan achieved two scores in Fourth Level and two
scores in Prix St. Georges at 60% or greater. Click here
to see the story.
Emily
Bragg Makes National Rankings
TVDCTA
rider Emily Bragg
has been racking up some very good scores this past year in Training Level,
scoring consistently in the 60% and higher range, with a median score of
63.913%.
The
American Quarter Horse Association has ranked Emily and her horse Dashing Away
Dan second in Training Level for JR/YR riders and fourth overall for Open
riders.
She
has also ranked 68 in the USDF JR/YR Award and 352 for the Dressage Horse of the
Year award.
Emily
manages to find time to train at Steel Prize Stables in between working and
attending college.

Riders
Honored at Annual TVDCTA Awards Banquet
The
annual TVDCTA Awards Banquet was held on January 17th at Jazz Factory
in downtown Huntsville. The banquet honored our outstanding riders for the
2008 competitive season with ribbons and other awards.
A good crowd was in attendance, including many family and friends.
All enjoyed a good meal and lively conversation.
Awards
were distributed for first, second, and third places according to the Year End
Award rules. First place winners
included JR/YR riders Patton Short, Michelle Miles, and Aubrey Torrez. Adult Amateur winners were Kathleen Tetzloff, Sonja Rich,
Lindsay Waite, Ashley Hayes, and Cindy Latham.
Open winners were Cathy Zappe and Debbie Hill (twice).
Paulette and Patrick Harrell were Volunteers of the Year.
Please
click here for a link to the list of all award
winners and some more photos.

Paulette
Harrell and her son
Patrick
were Volunteers of the Year
Check
out the previous award winners at the links below.
TVDCTA
2000 Year End Awards
TVDCTA
2001 Year End Awards
TVDCTA
2002 Year End Awards
TVDCTA
2003 Year End Awards
TVDCTA
2004 Year End Awards
TVDCTA
2005 Year End Awards
TVDCTA
2006 Year End Awards
TVDCTA
2007 Year End Awards
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