School Horses

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON January 30th:

First, Glitz is 3 weeks old & going strong! Many of you have seen the photos of her on facebook and several of you have also made the trip down to see her. If you haven't yet come to visit, it's worth the drive -- who knew that a baby calf could be so cute & cuddly?

Second, welcome to new Seven Oaks students: Shannon & Jan & Michelle. We hope to see their smiling faces often in the future.

Third, 2012 Dressage Extravaganza show dates are on our show page. Also, some possible "away" shows are: Yarra Yarra April 29, ASH June 4, Osierlea June 23-24, Yarra Yarra July 1, PBEC July 5-8, Coastal Classic July 27-29, Yarra Yarra Aug 4-5, ASH Aug 13, Osierlea Aug 25-27, Yarra Yarra Sep 9. I'll post all the dates on the calendar page, as well. Let us know if you think you are interested in any of the "away" shows. As always, we will go to a show if enough people "vote" for that show. Of course, we're also fine with only showing at our own shows, if that's what the majority of you prefer. Last year was really a blast! (And, our judges are nice and our prizes are great!)

We are going to add to the voicemail the name of the trainer who will be at RV each day. This won't be a guarantee...you know us and we sometimes make last minute changes, so the voicemail may say one person and you may find another person when you arrive for your lesson. However, we will do our best to keep the voicemail as accurate as possible. We understand that teaching and training can be quite personal; whenever possible, we want you to ride with the trainer who works best for you. So, feel free to change your ride times and days to suit your choice of trainer. Remember, voicemail (not cell phones and not email) is always the best way to make changes and/or requests for lessons.

The horses are really enjoying the great weather and it's allowed us to sneak in some unexpected training.

Sebastian has been fantastic for Patsy to ride. Cooper and Barbara look ready to show FEI. Pat and Calypso continue to be awesome, of course, as do Patsy and Karl. Largo and Frankie are flying change machines, and Eric and Jiggs are close behind. Rosie and Meg are almost solid at second level and Prince has put on so much muscle that he's a different horse. Joe is riding Clark regularly and they look amazing together.

Jeremy and Amigo are working almost exclusively with Carrie. Russell, Pony-boy and Kevin all get full time with Pamela. Kindle and Logan are getting extra training from Mary. Berry, Wiley & Ollie are getting extra training from Mary & Caitlin both. All of this means that our school horses are in great shape and eager to show off for you.

All in all, we're very excited about 2012.

This weather continues to be amazing, so enjoy it and we'll see you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON January 10th:

Happy New Year to everyone!

First of all, check out the pictures (thanks, Holly & Nick) on the gallery page of "Glitz," our rescue calf. We found her in the middle of the street, last week, and went door-to-door to find her owner. It turned out the her mom abandoned her and the owner was going to just "let her die." Oops -- you all know us! Well, the owner said that if we wanted to try & keep her alive, we could have her. So far, so good. And, yes, we all know that she's going to grow up to be a cow, not a cute little baby with big eyes & soft fur, but there it is. She can join the ever-growing group of Seven Oaks' rescued things...

Second, welcome to several new students: Eve, Mey, Mary, Mike, Juliet, Jean, Jeannette & Laurie! We hope to see their smiling faces often in the future.

Third, congrats!!! to Marilyn Cantey on her century ride at our show in October. It is now formally recognized by the Dressage Foundation and a photo is on their website. We're proud that she accomplished this amazing feat at our show.

Then, some sad news: two CDS members and well-known former dressage judges have recently died: Peter Lert & Liz Searle. Both of them were local and horse-show friends of Seven Oaks, so we are sorry to say good-bye.

Okay, the championship jacket logo has now been approved and the order for all of the jackets has been placed! Finally...we'll keep you posted on production times.

This weather has been amazing, so enjoy it (even while doing rain-dances for California's sake) and we'll see you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON December 20th:

Pictures from our championship show are now up, on the "shows" page. If you aren't on there, it's only because I ran out of time. Please send me your favorite picture and I'll add you. Check your email--I'll forward everyone the link to the photos that Joe took. Also, if you weren't able to stick around for the awards ceremony, please take a photo of yourself with your horse & neck ribbon and send it to me--I'd love to add those pictures, as well.

We hope that everyone has a great holiday and a wonderful new year!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON December 2nd:

THANKS to all of you for making this a great year and for allowing us a short but exciting vacation. Italy was fantastic! We ate too much, drank too much, and spent a lot of time in Venice & Rome, as well a few days in Florence and a few days in a small, medieval village in Tuscany. I'll try to get photos on the Seven Oaks facebook page soon. (Soon being a relative term...)

It was great to return and find everyone, human and equine, healthy, sound and happy. All of us, trainers, working students and clients, function together as a team and we're really happy to have such a great team! We have returned with renewed enthusiasm for the 2012 year.

So, a few new students: please welcome Julia, Natalie & Gudrun to the barn. Also, welcome back to Katrina and, she hopes, Elizabeth--nice to see both of you again.

We are actively looking for another school horse, preferably over 15 hands and on the stocky side, so let us know if you hear of anything.

As for shows, we will (of course) have a monthly Seven Oaks Dressage Extravaganza at Rancho Viejo. We'll be announcing those dates in early 2012, as soon as we have the CDS/USEF calendars available, so that we can try not to have too many shows of our own that conflict with other shows. As you all know, everyone chose to show at our shows in 2011, but we're happy to go to some away shows in 2012. We'll send everyone a list of likely away shows and you can pick which ones sound interesting to you.

Well, enjoy the great weather and come to the barn as often as you can, in between storms.

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON October 25th:

First of all, congrats!!! to Alicia Gianotti and Teddy of Switzerland and formerly of Seven Oaks. They just won the reserve championship (out of 19 competitors!) for eastern Switzerland for their division! Wow! We are very proud of them and proud to say that they started their dressage career here in California with Seven Oaks.

One more new student: please welcome Valeria to the barn.

The final Seven Oaks Dressage Extravaganza of 2011 was this past Sunday -- we had a fantastic time and thank you for supporting us and coming to our shows! The final results are up on the "shows" page. We won't have photos up until our photographers process them, we Carrie & I return from our vacation, and I have time to crop & re-size them. So, please be patient. I will make sure that everyone has access to the original photos. Email me once the photos are up & I'll email you whichever original sizes you would like.

We will pick 2012 dates once the CDS/USDF/USEF calendars for 2012 are up, to make sure that we don't choose dates that conflict with some of the more popular local shows.

Then, for those of you that have been trailering in from other barns (Dee White's barn, Springdown, the horse park, PVTC, Webb, Shamrock, Stanford, PV pastures and the various east bay locations), if your barn is planning on having a show, please share that date with me and I'll try to avoid it whenever possible.

Also, we may cut back to six shows instead of seven, so let us know if there's one month that's better or worse for all of you. We'll try very hard to accomodate as many people as possible.

For the Seven Oaks folks, we are going to offer several "away" shows in 2012, but it's entirely up to you whether or not we go. Once the CDS omnibus comes out, take a look at various shows and let us know which ones interest you. As always, we will choose the shows by popular choice--if enough students want to go, we'll go as a barn. Otherwise, you are always welcome to go to shows on your own; if we can work out a way to come & coach you, we will.

In the meantime, business is booming at both locations, so we are once again looking for a few school horses. We probably won't be ready to purchase until the spring, but you never know -- if the right horse comes along, we wouldn't want to miss out. So keep your eyes & ears open for us. Our two most recent purchases, Jeremy & Amigo, are going to be trainer projects over the winter, in an effort to get them more dressage-oriented and move them up out of 1st-2nd level work to 3rd-4th level work. We're also going to try to get Kindle & Logan ready for more showing next summer. And, of course, Ponyboy and Russell should be ready to show. I'm giving lessons on Russell already, which is very exciting! (Ponyboy needs to be less of a pony before he becomes a reliable schoolmaster...)

Well, I think that's all the news that available.

We'll see you at the barn.

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON October 20th:

More new students: please welcome Jourdan, Claire & Norah to the barn. As always, any time you see an unfamiliar face, introduce yourself and make her/him feel at home (at barn?). Thanks!

So, we have our final 2011 Dressage Extravaganza coming up in two days. The show will start at 8am and finish around 5:30 or 6pm, depending on the timing of the awards ceremony at the end of the day. We would love to have everyone come and cheer the competitors on! Also, as more than 3/4 of the competitors are from locations other than Rancho Viejo and barns other than Seven Oaks, it's a chance to meet some new horsey folks.

We are very sorry to say goodbye to Mijo, who will be leaving us to find a new home at the end of this month. We know that Pat will miss him the most of all, but the rest of us who know him and have enjoyed riding him are also feeling sad. Pat will continue to ride and compete her other horse, Calypso, but she has found that she just doesn't have the time to do justice to two horses. We know Mijo will be happy with his new mom (or dad).

We are also very sorry to say goodbye to Kay, who is taking a leave of absense from work to concentrate on college. We wish her well and hope she returns to ride next year's crop of 3-year-olds, as well the many babies that she has been riding this past summer. Thanks to Tina, who has also been helping out with young horse duty!

All of the other Seven Oaks horses are doing well. If you want to watch a few of them go, come to the show to see Cooper at FEI, Largo at 4th, Eric & Jigss at 3rd, Sebastian at Tr and Alex & Clark at Intro. And, of course, many of the Seven Oaks school horses will also be showing at the show. At home, the 3-year-olds have all walked & trotted off leash, so they are now back in their pastures until the spring. As for the other "babies," Annabelle and Eli are amazing to work with, Russell is very sweet and easy to ride, and Ponyboy continues to a pony, for better or worse. (You all know that I LOVE ponies, with all their tricks, so he is my new favorite.)

In other news, we are busy getting the final bits of the old paint at SJB replaced with the new grey color. The hay barn is actually being used for hay (lots of it). We have several new "toys" to play with, including a new mobile watering system (not a water truck, sigh...). And, of course, we are now a 4-Prius family down at SJB.

Enjoy the great weather while it lasts and remember that the coming rain always goes away again.

We'll see you at the barn.

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON September 28th:

I have results from the show last weekend on the "shows" page, as well as a list of horses and riders who are qualified for the championship show. Please check my work and let me know if I've made any mistakes...

We have a few more new students, so please welcome Bridgett and Tris to the barn, as well as Becca (we hope she returns from New Jersey often to ride with us!). I know I keep reminding everyone, but I'm really bad at remembering about introductions, so I'm hoping that all of you will introduce yourself to anyone who doesn't look familiar and make her / him feel welcome at our barn.

We're happy to say that all 3 of the three-year-olds are trotting off leash and behaving like grown-up horses! We plan to keep working them for another month, then give them all the winter off. I know that I've been slow in getting good pictures up -- I'm sorry. We are just always so busy that it's hard for someone to stop what they are doing & just take photos at the exact moment that the babies are working. If you want to get a good look at one or more of them, just ask and we'll tell you what days & times they'll be in the arena. Of course, the two-year-olds are just walking around with tack and trotting in hand...

It's been an unusual year for Seven Oaks' showing. Between new, young horses, odd scheduling, and the success of our in-house shows, we haven't had much interest in away shows. Here it is, almost October, and we realized that we none of us have been to any shows recognized by the typical organizations. While we don't mind, it does mean that we haven't been able to show off properly :-)... So, start looking at the Omnibus when it comes out next year and let us know if you seen any shows that tickle your fancy. We're quite happy to just keep going to our own shows, but it is nice to go to other people's barns, as well.

Okay, stay cool, enjoy the rest of the good weather, and we'll see you at the barn.

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON September 12th:

I'm really sorry to be late with the news, everyone.

First of all, I posted results for the August show. I know that I still need to get up pictures from the last few shows--I promise that I won't forget, it just takes me a while to sit down at the computer and get non-urgent items processed. I do have a few from August that are up now...

I'll be mailing high-points, prizes and ribbons to those of you who left the showgrounds before you get your goodies. I'll also be emailing everyone with preliminary standings for the championship show and year-end trophies. So far, we have perpetual trophies for several categories, including:

Adult amateur over 50

Adult amateur under 50

Junior

Arabian/part-Arabian horse

Ranch horse

You get the idea... If you want to sponsor a trophy, let us know and we'll tell you how to go about it.

I have a few new pictures up, so look on the gallery page for:

Joe & Kindle, Sonia & Russell, Anson & Balou, Olga & Jasper, Sonia & Logan, Ann & Nemo, Olga & Russell, Sonia & Jeremy, Kay & Kindle, Barbara & Cooper, Mary & Cooper, Patsy & Sebastian and Patsy & Karl.

Look on the homebreds page for new photos of:

Griffin & Ginnie & Daria, on the lunge and under saddle. (Sorry, the pictures of Daria under saddle were fuzzy, so I'm not posting them.)

Look on the schoolhorse page for photos of:

Jeremy,Russell, Kindle.

We have a few more new students: please welcome Tai & Bridgett to the barn and welcome Jillian back to the barn.

My brain is full, I'll try to add more news soon.

See you at the barn.

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON August 20th, 2011:

Tomorrow is our next dressage show and ride times are posted on the "shows" page of the website. If you aren't going to compete, we would love for you to come and be the cheering section for everyone! We have a lot of fun at these shows (and a lot of food!).

Some very exciting news: Ginny has a new "mom": Ann! Ginny is one of our three-year-olds, by Gavilan (the Hanoverian) out of Molly (the Welsh cob). Ginny will stay in training at Seven Oaks and Ann expects to start riding her next summer. In the meantime, Ann and Ginny can bond over many sessions of currying and treats. Ann has been riding school horses here for quite some time now; prior to that, Ann has been a horse owner and competitor. We hope that you'll see Ann and Ginny at shows in the coming years. Congrats! to both of them.

All of the three-year-olds have now been backed and will soon be trotting under saddle. Once that happens, they will go back out in pasture until the spring of the four-year-old year. The two-year-olds have worn tack and been lunged at the walk, so their training is done until next spring. As you know, we took a hiatus from breeding for a few years, so we have nothing younger than two right now. I want to breed Molly (the Welsh cob broodmare) to a Welsh cob stallion next year, so we may have a weanling in the spring of 2013. How cute will a Welsh foal be !?!

Say a temporary good-bye to Kristie, who rides at both RV and SJB (and works at SJB)--she will be at an artist's retreat in New Mexico for a few months. We'll miss her, but she promises to return in December. Also, welcome to Stephanie, a new student at RV, as well as Katie, a returning student at SJB.

We hope to see you tomorrow at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON August 1st, 2011:

We have several new students, so please welcome Wes, Maha, Anaya, Deb and Audrey. As always, if you see an unfamiliar face, introduce yourself...and make them feel at home (at barn?).

Our two newest working students, Kristie and Sonia, are spending overnights in the guest house, which is close to being finished. We are going to try to make it available, on an as-needed basis, to students who want to ride two days in a row without having to drive back and forth from home. Ask us if you're interested and we'll give you details.

It's taken me a few weeks, but I have posted the results (including high-point winners) from the July show on the shows page. I now have the pictures from the June show, but I haven't gone through them yet, so I'll try to get them posted before the August show :-)

Also, I know that I am behind with current pictures for many of the new horses, but I am working to get them, so look for pictures soon for Amigo, Clark, Russell, Cooper and Jeremy. We plan to have Amigo at Rancho Viejo sometime next month, as we getting too busy to accomodate all of the new students with our current horse population. At SJB, Balou is enjoying a much-deserved month off, but he'll go back to work when Amigo leaves, so we should be well-horsed at both locations.

Lots of birthdays this month, so check out the calendar page.

We'll see you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON July 14th, 2011:

We have a new school horse, "Amigo." He's a 16 hand TB who has shown through second level. We're spending a little bit of time with at SJB, just to teach him to speak dressage with our accent, then he'll join the crew at RV. We've moved Berry down to SJB and Jeremy up to RV, and that seems to be going well. (Apologies to their fans at their former locations..) We still seem to have more students than horses, but we are full at SJB right now, so we can't buy another horse until we build a few more paddocks. That's actually in the works, as crazy as it sounds.

Also, many of you have now noticed that Joe's horse, Meg, is at RV. Joe has very patiently waited for his baby horse to be old enough to ride, then educated enough for him to ride, and now experienced enough for him to ride at a public barn. We're proud of both of them, although Meg's SJB fans miss her.

All of the babies are doing their best to move up to the next level. Annabelle & Eli assure us that they are both ready to go to shows (we're going to wait a while longer). The 3-year-olds have now all been backed, but aren't yet off leash. The 2-year-olds have very proudly learned to wear tack and stand by the mounting block. Russell & Ponyboy, the babies that we didn't breed, are doing as well as the babies that grew up here, so we're proud of them, as well.

We've all been going over the horse show question mark for this summer and the answer seems to "not yet." We have spouse issues, new horse issues, jump-from-2nd-to-3rd-level issues and, sigh..., prudent spending issues. There's nothing bad, fortunately, just an unusual combination of factors that means that we aren't going to any shows as a group this season. Everyone seems pretty happy to show at the Dressage Extravaganzas, which have better prizes and lower prices (and, we think, better judging) than other shows. However, we do miss seeing our friends at other barns, whom we really only ever see when we go to "away" shows. Hey, you guys, send us an email and tell us how you're doing!

For our own Seven Oaks family, we're really thrilled with how happy everyone seems to be--good people, good horses, we're all having fun together.

Okay, come to the show and spectate, if you aren't already planning to compete. It should be a great time for everyone.

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON June 28, 2011:

Carrie & I are back from vacation (Yellowstone, lots of wildlife!) and I have posted the results of the June show. As soon as I get pictures (thanks, Joe!!! and others) and have time to organize them, I'l post pix as well. The show was great--thanks to all of you for supporting us.

We expect the July show to be about as big as the April show, so we may have to start and end at times that are a bit earlier & later than our usual relaxed 9:30 to 4:30 schedule. I'll do my best to accomodate everyone's requests, but remember that someone has to ride at 8 in the morning and 6 in the evening...

We have so many new students lately that I'm having trouble keeping you up to date. Some of these may be repeats, but please welcome: Archer, Sandy, Stacey, Reneit, Laura, Sara and Kristen. Most of our new students will be at RV, but a few keep adding to the SJB crowd. As always, please introduce yourself to any unfamiliar faces and make them feel at home (at barn?).

Also, please visit "Prince," Beatriz' new horse, who is now at Rancho Viejo in the stall-paddock next to Rosie. Hawk is in the RV pasture and has made friends with Eddie's pony. Soon, I'll have new photos of Kindle, Jeremy & Russell on the school horse page, so check those out, as well.

Well, sorry about today's rain, but the rest of the week is supposed to be great weather and July 4th should be a good day to ride.

See you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON June 3rd, 2011:

Okay, it's taken a long time to finally post the pictures from the April 2011 Dressage Extravaganza, but -- in my defense -- it's taken me over 4 hours to download, crop, re-size and upload all of these great shots! Thanks again to Joe Pallas for his amazing work as show photographer.

Also, the article about Rosie, Calypso & Kevin has been accepted by the Welsh Pony & Cob Society Magazine. When it comes out, we'll try to get a few extra copies & bring them out to the barn.

Things are looking pretty good for the June Dressage Extravaganza. The most recent confirmed case of EHV-1 was at a closed barn where one of the original cases showed up, so the CDFA has not revised their biosafety recommendations. We're still going to wait another 10 days to confirm, but we are expecting to be able to hold the show and allow outside horses to attend. Thanks to all of you for your support, your feedback, and your patience. If the show goes on, it is already over half full with tentative entries, so be sure to email me if you are planning on coming, so I can arrange for space.

Many of you have asked about Carlton, our 2-year-old "puppy." He has recovered from a recent case of gastroenteritis, thanks! We suspect that Carlton swallowed a dead bird, whole, and the bird's sharp beak ripped up those delicate canine innards.

Our newest horses in training, Cooper & Prince, are doing really well, as is Jeremy, our newest school horse.

The 3-year-olds, Daria, Griffin & Ginnie, are doing really well and are about to be backed by Kay, our fearless young working student. We worked with full siblings (Zoe & Eli; we still own Eli) of two of them and we thought they have so much promise as dressage and were so much fun to be around that we are planning on keeping their sister/brother (Daria/Griffin). The third 3-year-old, Ginnie, is spoken for and will most likely have a new "mom" in Ann. That only leaves the two 2-year-olds, so let us know if you are considering the purchase (adoption?) of a baby horse. Of course, to the right home, we would consider selling any of our babies, but you'll have to put up with some very long faces...

Anyway, we're having fun working with all of the remaining homebreds and we look forward to bringing them to shows over the next few years.

We also have to decide if we want to breed our remaining mare, Molly, back to Gavilan or to a Welsh cob stallion. If any of you have a strong feeling about this, you can talk to Pamela.

There isn't any other news that I can think of, but you can always send me some & I'll post it here.

See you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON May 26, 2011:

Very exciting: congrats!!! to Pat Campbell on the success of her horse, Metalico, shown by Carrie to the highest median score in the USA for Andalusians/Lusitanos! Congrats also to the high-point winners at our May Dressage Extravaganza: Kathleen, Kristie & Jillian. Also, look for an article about Seven Oaks and Welsh cob dressage horses in the next Welsh Pony & Cob Society magazine, featuring Dianne & Rosie. While we all ride for the love of horses, it's quite a nice bonus to keep adding all these "titles" to our list of accomplishments. Yes, I'm patting all of us on the back and I probably shouldn't, but we're so proud of our students' and their horses' successes: over the years, we've had national and state horse of the year awards at almost every level, as well as multiple students winning USDF medals, perpetual trophies, all-breeds awards and generally showing off their talent alongside their charm. If I do say so myself... Anyway, good job!, all of you, and keep up the good work!

Okay, on to barn business:

First of all, please welcome new students to the barn: Sara, Stacey, Sandy, Caresse and Norma, as well as new horses: Jeremy, Prince and Cooper. (Yes, I know that grammar on that one lacked something...)

Next, let me thank all of you for being so patient with our saftey/biohazard protocols for EHV-1. If all goes well, we expect barns and venues in California to go back to SOP as of June 1st. We're very sorry that we had to close the show to outside horses last weekend--we missed all of you! By now, those of you that requested refunds will have received them; for those of you that asked me to forward your entries & fees to our next show, that has also been taken care of. Cross your fingers that our next show is a "go"!

As you know, business has been growing a lot lately, and we've been looking for a few more school horses. We did find one horse, "Jeremy", and we'll try to have pictures of him up on our school horse page soon. Once news about EHV-1 was released, we closed the barn, so we aren't currently searching for a second horse. Jeremy (formerly "Silver") has been a wonderful addition to the program--although he has never done dressage before, he seems to love it, so expect to see him at shows when we all start showing again.

Speaking of shows, between the wet winter, the difficult (for many people) winter, the new horse purchases and now the EHV-1 outbreak, no one is geared up for "away" shows. Most of you have expressed interest in showing at the Dressage Extravaganzas, so we'll make room for everyone at those shows. As for Osierlea, Midsummer Night, Pebble Beach & Coastal Classic, we'll have to play it by ear. As always, if enough people want to go, we'll organize it. However, we completely understand if you all decide to sit out the expensive 3-star shows this season, hone your skills at the inexpensive & low-key home shows, and wait until 2012 for anything more formal.

Beatriz' new horse, Prince, is doing really well, as is Barbara's new horse, Cooper. Our newest working students, Olga and Kristie, are both enjoying getting to know the horses and people at SJB. Our newest riding school students seem to be having fun in our program. So, enjoy the good weather and come to ride.

See you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON May 3, 2011:

Some really fun stuff: Helen & Jiggs are getting reliable flying changes and will debut at 3rd level later this month. Voyager, Eric & Kevin are close behind... Barbara & Cooper are schooling all the 4th level/PSG work and will show that off soon. Beatriz has been coming down to take lessons on Prince and plans to bring him to RV in mid June. Kathryn and Kathleen have been showing Intro successfully on a few different horses and they have now added scribing to their list of talents. Elizabeth will debut on Berry at Intro level in May and Britta plans to show Berry, as well, probably at training or first level.

We heard from Lisa that Alicia and Teddy are also doing well, showing off their dressage skills in their home country. Check the gallery for a recent photo of them, all dressed up and ready to go!

Also, business has been so good that we are actively looking to purchase two more horses. As much as Pamela prefers ponies (say that fast, 3 times!), we really need another "Balou" and another "Butters," so we're looking for a 15 to 15.2 hand qh or halflinger or such, at least 10 years old but preferably not older than 15, sound, sweet, pretty would be nice...you get the idea -- we want the perfect couple of horses! oh, well...Keep your eyes & ears open, please.

Annabelle and Eli are coming along beautifully under saddle. Daria, Ginnie & Griffin have started to lunge in tack and side reins, and we plan to back them soon. Esme & Justin are trying very hard to be as grown up as their siblings, walking down to the arena in saddles & bridles, being very brave about "mardi gras" and not stepping on any toes (so far). So far, we have no plans to sell any of them--the more we work with them, the more we like them. Sorry...

The same goes, of course, for Russell and Ponyboy. Although they are both (technically) trained to ride under saddle,we are teaching them to long-line, so that we can improve their future as dressage school horses before we put them back to work. We really love both of them, and we have Dianne & Rosie to thank for our addiction to Welsh cobs.

So far, the May 15th show is about 2/3 full. If you are thinking about showing, be sure to email Pamela and let her know to save you a spot. Remember, you are competing for some pretty juicy prizes, so polish your tack and refine your geometry and win some loot!

Okay, that's all I've got, let me know if you have any news you want me to print in these pages.

See you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON Apr 18, 2011:

Congratulations to Beatriz on her purchase of "Prince," a 16.2 hand 6-year-old warmblood with a very impressive show record. (His former mommy, Donna, scored as high as 80% in standard dressage classes at 3-star shows.) Prince will be at SJB for a short time, then expect to see him at RV with Beatriz and at shows later this season.

We'll get a picture of him on the website soon, we hope!

I have a few pix from the April show, so check the "shows" page. Please, if you have any good pix from the show that you can send me, send them on and I'll publish them. Let me know who is in the photo, if possible. Thanks!

We have a few more new students, so please introduce yourself to Caresse and Norma and welcome them to the barn. Also, we've been moving horses around, so keep a lookout for the horses that you like to ride--they may change locations soon.

Remember to keep your calendar free for our May show -- it should be a lot of fun.

See you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON Apr 15, 2011:

Congratulations to our high-point winners from the first 2011 Dressage Extravaganza:

Dorothy Wise & Harmony in Motion, high point adult amateur, 80%

Sarah Yoffe-Sharp & Geoffrey, high point junior, 76.25%

Joan McLaren & Shiloh, high point open, 79.13%.

Go to the "shows" page to get complete results for the show.

In some very sad news, we would like to express our sympathy to Holly, who recently lost her mother, and Jeff, who recently lost his father. Our thoughts are with both of them.

The happy news is that winter is gone, we are firmly settled into the good weather of the spring and summer, all of the horses and humans are healthy and ready to go back to the serious fun of dressage.

We'll see you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON Apr 7, 2011:

We're very excited about the first 2011 Seven Oaks Dressage Extravaganza! Keep checking the
"shows" page of our website for constantly changing ride times. Even if you aren't showing at this show, come to spectate---it should be a fun, if long day. We'll start at 9am and finish up around 6:30. There will be an all-day potluck, so bring something to share or just come & eat, bring something next time--we always seem to have lots of extra food.

Okay, general barn news comes next. As you know, we have a lot of new students, so please remember to say "hello" and introduce yourself to any unfamiliar faces. We have been so busy that we are expanding our teaching hours at Rancho Viejo. If you would prefer to ride at a time of day that currently isn't on our schedule, just ask Pamela. Remember, all it took was one student wanting to ride Monday mornings, and we now have a full schedule all day long on most Mondays. We are also looking in to bringing up one more horse to RV, so feel free to "vote" for your favorite: Ollie, Logan, Butters or Jasper.

Yes, it's raining today, but the rain is mostly over, so you should also start thinking about which shows you want to attend. We hope that many of you will show in the Dressage Extravaganza shows at RV (boy, I wish we had come up with a shorter name for those!). We will certainly go as a group to the Coastal Classic; we assume that many people will also want to do a few one-day shows at ASH as well. The Osierlea shows are another good prospect. The one-day show at Pebble could be fun. The 4-day show at Pebble has always been lots of fun, but it's very expensive, so it's quite likely that this may be the year that many people skip that show.

We wanted to let everyone know that Stanley has moved on to a hunter-jumper career at a new barn. While we'll miss him, we think that he'll be happier in his new home -- he just never really learned to love the dressage thing. Well, one size rarely fits all..

We hope to see you this Sunday!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON Mar 15th, 2011:

The rainy season is coming closer to a finish, for which we are all grateful. For all sorts of reasons, it's been a rough time recently, and we are looking forward to a much brighter spring and summer.

I'm trying to play with Facebook and I've set up a page for Seven Oaks. When you have the time, please check it out and give me feedback. I don't expect to change the content often, but we'll see how it goes. Right now, I'm still in the "I don't know how to use this program!" phase.

Our first "Dressage Extravaganza" of 2011 is on Sunday, April 10th. I'll be sending out an email with more details in a few weeks, but I'm reminding everyone to try and save the date. If this year's shows are anything like last year's, expect a great time, whether you compete or just spectate.

We have been so busy that we are hiring (again!) and we have a possible new staff member starting out on Monday, Mar 21st: "Olga." She'll be based in SJB, so the RV folks won't meet her often, but -- as always -- please make her feel welcome when you do meet her.

Enjoy the good weather and the extra hour of daylight.

We'll see you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON FEB 19th, 2011:

First of all, we have some very sad news to report. Many of you have already received our emails or spoken with us in person, but we wanted to make sure that everyone knows about Carrie's parents, Jerry & Donna:

Carrie's father, Jerry, was close to 90 and had been diagnosed with Lymphoma & Leukemia.  He was unable to tolerate the chemo; without chemo, his doctors predicted a very limited future.  He was in a lot of pain and was unable to eat and drink.  He discussed with us going into hospice care, but was unwilling to leave Donna, his wife of 65 years.  Donna was also in failing health and unable to care for herself.  Both of them were adamant that they did not want home health care and did not want to go into nursing homes.   In the end, they took their lives on Valentine's Day.  They had a great life and they lived and died on their own terms.  Selfishly, we wish that we could have enjoyed their company and their love for many more years, but we do understand and respect their choice.

We don't want to end ont that sad note, so other news items are: we have more new students to welcome. Please introduce yourselves to Danica and Lehanne when you get a chance.

We are also in the middle of searching for a new horse for Beatriz, so feel free to forward any information about any likely candidates. She's looking for a horse comparable to Voyager in age, size, talent & training...

We'll see you at the barn when the rain stops.

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON FEB 1ST, 2011:

First of all, we are happy to report that Barbara's new horse, Cooper, is a super-star! He has joined the Seven Oaks program happily and is a new barn favorite. Also, Eli & Annabelle are solidly under saddle (yes, we know, we need to get under-saddle photos of them up, we're just slow about this stuff!). Russell, our newest future FEI dressage school horses, is learning about lunging the Seven Oaks way, as well as how to navigate those orange cones.

Please welcome our newest students: Anna T, Debbie L, Britta, Barbara B, Grace, Ann F, Jac, and Kristie. We hope they all love dressage the Seven Oaks way as much as we do! As always, please introduce yourself to any new faces and make them feel welcome.

After the fun and success of the "Seven Oaks Dressage Extravaganza" schooling shows in 2010, we are committed to 7 shows in 2011, including a championship show in October. If you aren't on our show email list, contact Pamela and ask to be placed on it. We have lots of new sponsors, which means lots of new prizes, and several barns have already contacted us to let us know that they plan to bring students. This schooling show series is a great way to get started in dressage shows in a very friendly and low-key manner. Our two rules are (as always): stay safe and have fun. Please check our calendar page for dates and our horse show page for information--come and join us for some fun sundays!

See you at the barn!

ENTERED BY PAMELA ON JAN 2ND, 2011:

Happy new year! We hope that everyone had a great holiday week and is looking forward to 2011.

Carrie & I want to take this opportunity to once again thank all of our loyal customers, friends and staff. We work very hard to make Seven Oaks Farm a wonderful place to be, for humans and equines, and we really appreciate how wonderful all of you make the farm for us. Dressage is more than a career for us and a hobby for you, it's a passion and a way of life. Thank you for sharing our passion and our life with us!

Okay, on to business. We have the 2011 calendar up, with "away" show dates as well as our in-house show dates. Take a look at them and, when you have time, let us know what shows interest you and what shows won't work out with your schedule and/or pocketbook. Remember that we will be happy to move school horses from SJB to RV for a few days, if you normally ride an SJB horse and want to show him at the in-house shows. We will also take as many of your own horses from SJB to RV as we can--if necessary, we'll hire a shipper to help out.

We've organized several additional sponsors for the 2011 shows and we are looking at some fun Seven Oaks theme merchandise as well, so the prizes should be worth your while! As always, we'll work to make these shows a blast, so come to spectate if you aren't in the mood to ride.

As with most businesses the past few years, we have felt the effects of the economy. We have room to expand our training business at RV (we are pretty full at SJB!) and room to expand the school horse business at both locations. We truly believe that there are many horsepeople out there who would be riding with us if they knew we existed. To that end, we are experimenting with some new advertising. However, our best advertising has always been word of mouth, so we would be very grateful if you would mention us to any of your horsey friends. Let us know when you refer someone and, if they come to ride, we'll give you a free ride at one of our shows, or a free lesson, or a free t-shirt, or whatever.

Okay, stay as dry as you can, summer will be here before you know it.

See you at the barn!

School Horses