The first horse show of the season always comes before we feel we are really ready. Without an indoor arena, it is difficult to condition the show horses for an April show. Believe me, I rode Ate’ in the rain on more than one occasion!

Ron and I and Andy loaded up Sterling, his stallion, Majestic, and the new boy on the block, Ate’ [whose barn name is Ferrari] and headed two and a half hours south, to the Monterey Bay. Monterey is a BEAUTIFUL setting for a horse show, although I must say the fairgrounds are apparently NOT in the best part of town. We unloaded the horses during the matinee performance on Wednesday afternoon, and then decided to watch a few classes, before unloading the truck and trailer. At the end of the afternoon performance, we went out to the street where the truck was parked and heard our truck alarm going off. I thought Blu must have hit the alarm button accidentally, but then we saw two black fellas scamper away and then suspiciously fiddle with getting into another vehicle, and then drive off. We looked to see if the truck had been broken into, and sure enough, near the passenger side door handle there was a big indentation and hole where it looked like they tried to jimmy the lock! Good thing we came out when we did!!!

We heard that later in the week, Oregon exhibitor, Laurel Nelson, had her purse stolen, and we wonder if it was by the same people?!?

The Friesian division was one of the very largest of the show, with 7 and 8 per class! Since the Friesians have gotten so much more popular, this division has really gotten tough, with many high quality horses vying for the blue.

Our beloved Black Sterling has struggled with several health issues, and we decided to let him rest and just turn him out, after the Santa Barbara competition last year. Well, our mascot, Sterling, is BACK, and better than ever!!! Sterling went in the Open English Pleasure and the Open English Pleasure Championship and readily won both competitions, beating horses representing 3 different breeds. I cannot tell you how happy we are to see our 12 yr old Pike X Oege STER gelding trotting away with the first place honors, happy and ears up, enjoying being shown. Sterling is the horse that started the saddleseat Friesian phenomenon on the west coast five years ago.

It was this horse show in Monterey exactly 5 yrs ago that I first showed Sterling, and they only offered ONE class for him to compete in. But the crowds, and show management, fell in love with this magnificent horse, and slowly added more classes, and more saddlebred trainers decided to get into the groove, and show Friesians saddleseat!

This winter we acquired a very special Anton son, the 5 yr old Ate’, who was broke to ride and brought to stardom on the east coast by one of the most well respected saddlehorse trainers of our time, Melissa Moore. This horse is one hot tamale, and he wears the bridle perfectly, he LOVES what he does, and he shows off. Ate’ won his first class, the Friesian Under Saddle Open, and we were ecstatic!! On the east coast, most Friesian classes do not call for the canter, so this has been a new thing for Ate’.
In the next class that evening, under the bright [and scary!] lights, the Friesian Under Saddle Limit horse class seemed to resemble a Road Horse Under Saddle class….lots of BIG black horses going at speed!!! Ate’ performed well, his trot is just spectacular, but when it came to the canter,oh boy, hold on to your hat!! Good thing the other Friesians are well tempered, I literally had to run into the butt of another horse to stop when they called for the walk. Ate’ ended up Reserve Champion in that class. In the Friesian Stake, Ate’ had that signature floaty gorgeous high stepping trot and was light in the bridle. We had gotten up early every morning to practice cantering, but when it came to the class, I was 3 horses deep and far from the rail when the canter was called for, and unfortunately Ate’ got the wrong lead right in front of the Judge. He actually missed his lead the other direction as well, and we still ended up 3rd out of 8, so I was thrilled with that!!

Another high point was a horse sold by BSF’s not long ago, Arend, shown by well known saddlehorse exhibitor, Laurel Nelson. Arend was Reserve Grand Champion Friesian Under Saddle, exemplifying that not only do OUR horses win, the horses we SELL are excelling and winning!!!!

And then there are always those competitors at a horse show that like to take the fun out of the sport and look for conflict. Through the grapevine, we heard that a Saddlebred trainer had their undies in a bundle over our horses being announced by different names than what they are registered as [i.e.: We have shown Black Sterling under that name for the last 5 years; his FPS registered name is ‘Ewout v.d.’ Yuck!!!]. As soon as we heard this rumor, we immediately went to the horse show office and asked the steward to look at our entry blank….she did, and ruled that we entered our horses according to the current USA Equestrian rules, thus if anyone wanted to take their criticism of us any farther, it would be considered harassment.

Little did the trouble maker know that I actually entered all our horses under the registered names, and only REQUESTED they be announced by the names we call them. The new IFSHA/USA Equestrian rules call for horses to be shown under the registered names, so I guess to NOT be a target of criticism in the future; we will have to show Sterling under the horrible name, “Ewout V.D.”and  Majestic’s registered name is ‘Up’t fan Panhueys. Brother, who came up with these rules?!? I can’t even pronounce these names; I KNOW the announcer is going to have difficulty! It is a shame that people in the exciting world of horses and competition, will always look for ways to bring those that are happy and successful down. This seems to be especially true if you are female, and even remotely attractive.

But all in all, we came home with our minds filled with what we have to work on before the next show and tickled pink at winning 3 classes at the Monterey Springfest Show. And I proudly hung up 3 hard earned medallions from the Monterey Springfest Horse Show.