ApHC Director Lynette Thompson passed along the good news about a recent collegiate signee. ApHC member and exhibitor Juliana Cook, from Farmington, Georgia, will participate as part of the Auburn University Equestrian Team. Congratulations Juliana!
The link below includes the full news release from the Auburn folks. I guess football isn’t the only thing they do well.
http://auburntigers.cstv.com/sports/w-equest/spec-rel/120110aaa.html
This is from Stephanie Hutcherson, Appaloosa Horse Club member, with a registered Appaloosa gelding named Touche Roman. I wanted to let you know that he (“Romeo”) was in a side saddle scene on the TV series Vampire Diaries on November 11, 2010. Romeo was also on the Vampire Diaries website for the previews of the show for almost a week before the show, and currently he can be seen on the website on their past episodes video. The episode is called Katrina.
You can see some photos that I took while on the shoot on my club’s sidesaddle website www.georgialadiesaside.com , both on the blog and on the past events page.
Romeo and I have been partners for almost twelve years, and I have to say he has been the best horse I’ve had in the over twenty-five years I have owned horses. We (Romeo and I) have competed in hunter/jumper, combined training, and dressage shows… in astride saddles and in sidesaddle. We have participated in the ACAAP program for many years, receiving Top Ten in Combined Training and Certificate of Achievements in combined training, over fences and dressage. We have also received many awards at the national and international levels in sidesaddle riding.
For pleasure we enjoy driving, trail rides, hunter paces and parades. We have competed in many parades in Georgia and Kentucky. Our most memorable parade was in a sidesaddle in the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. We also participate in sidesaddle demos throughout Georgia and also at the Kentucky Horse Park once a year. Romeo and I have also volunteered our time with Special Olympics riders and horse shows.
Back to the Vampire Diaries. I was contacted by the film production company who found me through our web site, and who were initially looking for a “side saddle consultant.” This role grew over the next few days as we got closer to the shoot date, to the point where they invited Romeo in for a role with a stunt double for the actress. When I was asked to include Romeo, I knew right away that my Appaloosa could handle it. It was an 18-hour day with the scene being shot at night. There were bright lights, ladders, fog machines, and people coming and going out of the dark woods with video equipment. Romeo did not spook once. He had to canter past “dead bodies” (actors, or course!), a stuffed wolf, and an overturned wagon. He also did many takes where he had to stand completely still as the actress ran away from him. Throughout it all, he delivered a perfect performance, and was quite popular with the cast and film crew.
He was and is the perfect “spokes-horse” for the Appaloosa breed: smart, calm, gentle, and versatile. And I’m so blessed to have him!
Stephanie Hutcherson
President
www.georgialadiesaside.com
Board of Directors
www.americansidesaddleassociation.org
Had to share this news item from ApHC judge and exhibitor Christy Wood:
I attended my first Ultimate Cowboy Trail Challenge on Nov 20 & 21 in Bishop, CA. This was going to be my stepping stone to start entering extreme cowboy racing so I went to scope it out. There were 60 riders to run on the qualifying round on Sat with 16 advancing to the finals on Sunday. The age divisions were 2 youth, 2 non-pro and Pro. We had to memorize 29 obstacles within two arenas and out as well. They gave us 9 minutes to complete the course. I did it in 5:45seconds. The end result was that I won the whole darn thing! What a blast! I won the Pro division, my horse,”Dollar” won Top horse, she was the highest point earner for both days, and I won the entire Ultimate Cowboy Trail Challenge and was handed a check for $1,000.00.
I will be joining the EXCR association in Jan and hope to ride in more races throughout the year. I will also be back on the Appy circuit and my goal is to be back at the Worlds in Oct. Please note that this is a solid bay mare, and when I had to give a short bio for the announcer at the challenge I had him say “Dollar is a registered Appaloosa mare which goes to show you that it is in the bloodlines that gets you down the trail, not the color on the butt.” I know our breed wants to be recognized for our color, but perhaps we need to give those solids, who we do allow on our trails and in our arenas, to take center stage once in a while. I own 2 solids and two colored Appaloosas, and they are all my breed of choice!
The annual holiday/Christmas open house at the Appaloosa Museum was this past Saturday. A larger-than-normal crowd of youngsters and their parents stopped by to visit with Santa, perch for a while atop the ever-patient Shadow shown here, decorate horse-shaped cookies and just play around. With the help of museum staff and board members as well as a great group of volunteers from the University of Idaho, everyone had a great time. And, the event made the front page of the local newspaper today (that’s harder to do than you might think).
There are a few more photos in the flicker album (menu at left).
We’ve had a few questions about whether the board has approved changes to the novice eligibility rule. The answer is yes. The language below will be included in the 2011 Official Handbook:
Rule 806.B
To be eligible to show in a novice class, a youth shall have less than a combined total of 20 points in each youth and novice youth class earned in ApHC and/or any other breed association-approved or –sponsored shows, excluding walk-trot, leadline, hunter in hand and halter as of January 1 of the current year. Novice points will be accrued to the youth’s record regardless of whether or not the youth is eligible to earn points as determined by the youth’s relationship to the owner of the horse. Once the 20-point total is reached, the youth will no longer be able to show in that novice class at the end of the calendar year.
Rule 806.C
Beginning January 1, 2011, in the event a youth wins a National or World title in any ApHC-sponsored show or in any other equine breed association in a class in which points earned in that class count toward determining the eligibility of the youth in any novice class, that youth will no longer be eligible to compete in that novice class at the end of the calendar year, however, that youth will continue to be eligible to compete in the other novice youth classes if otherwise eligible. Championship wins in walk-trot, leadline, hunter in hand and halter classes will not count toward determining novice eligibility.
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