HTNS2008 Awards
President's Report 2008
First of all, I would like to congratulate the winners of the competitions and the year-end awards! Well done. Wow~ another year come and almost gone. I hope this message finds everyone and their animals well.
With the combined dates of "Maritime Eventing" there is a pretty full schedule of Horse Trials competitions and clinics. Three of those Horse Trials were held in Nova Scotia in 2008 - Central Nova, Hobby Horse and Ben Eoin. Applewood was sorely missed from the calendar this year. Ben Eoin is rebuilt on a new site – new ring, new stabling, new jumps. Horse & Pony Magazine did a feature in their April 2008 issue and more recent pictures are up on their website: Eastern Eventers.ns. This spring Hobby Horse's Pre-Training and Training divisions were largely replaced with new portable jumps and in large part over a whole new track. Many thanks to Mike Gallagher for his guidance and hands-on help at both Ben Eoin and Hobby Horse.
Divisions held were from Entry to Training level. Hobby Horse offers a Preliminary level course, but unfortunately did not have entries this year for that division. We did see an increase in the number of entries in the Training Division. Hopefully that trend will continue and more Pre-Training competitors will move up and the Training riders will move up to Preliminary and so on. It would be wonderful to see more riders move up and we need to encourage and support this, but how? By providing progressive courses and by education – of riders and coaches.
To start addressing the question of progressive courses, all cross-country courses across Canada will have to be designed and built by certified Course Designers/Builders; or existing courses approved by certified officials in the near future. A very special clinic on Practical Course Building and Design, one of the first of these intiatives, was held in N.S. this October, organized by Canadian Eventing and hosted at Hobby Horse. The clinicians were internationally recognized Course Builders, Canada's very own Jay Hambly and Laurie Rowan, fresh from the Bejing Olympics where they assisted the Course Designer Micheal Etherington-Smith. See the article and picture in Horse Life and Eventing E-News.
Another very important initiative being undertaken as mandated by the FEI International Safety Forum is a clinic series for coaches and riders on correct cross-riding technique. These clinics are being conducted by Peter Gray, a renowned international rider, and former CET 3 Day coach. Peter offers a wealth of experience and it is hoped that the regions across Canada may be able to take advantage of his expertise. Some clinics were held in the West and Ontario in 2008. A clinic for the Maritime region is being discussed at the moment and will be announced once details can be finalized.
Continuing to wear one of my other hats, as Athlete Development representative for N.S., I am planning another clinic with NCCP Level III coach and Olympic 3 Day rider, Ian Roberts. Ian has been to the Maritimes twice now, and I have received great reviews on his clinics, so, we want him back! He has seen many of the riders and horses at each of his previous clinics, and it is good to have some consistency on that front. The ever-popular cross-country schooling sessions will also continue to be organized.
Other items stemming from the Safety Committee are revisions to the Rules, in particular, the one- time fall rule, excessive refusals etc. The Rules are available on the Equine Canada website and revisions are highlighted. HTNS makes every attempt to post these changes and advise the membership, but ultimately, the responsibility is on the coaches and riders to be aware of the Rules. Please refer to our own webpage every now and then as well as to the other provinces, in particular, N.B. & P.E.I. to stay abreast of what is going on in other provinces.
For a written report on the FEI International Safety Forum held in Copenhagen, Denmark early in 2008, you are invited to read Canada's representative, Jo Young's, report on Eventing E-News or you may also go to the FEI web site – www.horsesport.org – Eventing – Safety. There is also an interesting article on this subject on www.foshayfarmseventing.com written by Dr. Rob Stevenson.
Eventing E – News should be coming to all members' inboxes. If you aren't receiving it or wish to not receive it, please let the EC Eventing office know your wishes.
If anyone has pictures from the Horse Trials, we would love to see some for inclusion in Horse Life and Horse Sport magazine from Equine Canada, and for our website. A fund-raising idea is to have a 2010 calendar made featuring local riders and horses - anyone willing to take on that project? The November Horse Sport magazine featured a photo taken at Hobby Horse Horse Trials by Valley photographer Patrick Foote. I have heard that Horse Sport is featuring an article on Dr. Rob Stevenson and Foshay Farms Eventing in December's issue.
One last item : The Annual General Meeting date will be Feb. 1st, 2009, time to be announced, but plan on early afternoon. A meeting place is yet to be determined, but it will most likely be in the HRM area. PLEASE mark your calendars for this Sunday afternoon. Your voices need to be heard!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!'
Respectfully submitted,
Kim Elliott-Foster
President, HTNS
HTNS AWARD WINNERS 2008
Any inquiries about the results can be sent to Lori Ansems.
| Horse | Rider | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| SILVER LEVEL COMPETITIONS | |||
| Training | |||
| Champion | Merlot | Andy Wadowski | |
| Reserve | Just Do It | Carolyn MacDonald | |
| BRONZE LEVEL COMPETITIONS | |||
| Pre Training - Senior | |||
| Champion | Amadeus | Danielle Semel | |
| Reserve | Laura Jacquard | Nishmiran | |
| Pre Training - Junior | |||
| Champion | Kolumb | Kara Wilson | |
| Reserve | T.G.I.F. | Mary-Beth Kehoe | |
| Entry - Senior | |||
| Champion | P D Sa’Fira | Dawn Golding | |
| Entry - Junior | |||
| Champion | Stitch 'N' Time | Lianna Jacquard | |