Sometimes our team just goes off on their own and wins buckles! Congratulations to Jennifer Willa Harden and Jo Jo on being the high point amateurs at a show in Portola Valley put on by the San Mateo County Horseman’s Association.
And a great big congrats to Kim Donlon and Dixie for winning Ranchers’ Choice at the LEDV Ladies’ Ride.
And this is the rockstar team that I’m sure has qualified for Houston with more points than any other from Clifford Horse Training. Although they can’t come with us, Dawn Poston and Fresno’s Plain Peppy (Fred) will be our inspiration in Oklahoma. Here, they compete in the 2017 World Show in Houston, Texas.
Congrats to Amy Dore and Rockin in the Sand (Ronni). They have qualified for the VRH World Show in Reining and Conformation. And a huge congratulations to Barbara Ditmore with her home bred Tesla Lanta Lena, who qualified in Open Ranch Riding and Open Trail. Barbara’s Genuinely Code Red also qualified in the same two events. We have some lovely horses at Carmel River Ranch!
Some of you have known that I have been looking for my next young versatility prospect, but I have kept my search pretty low-key until I found “the one.” Now, I am delighted to announce the purchase of Cee My Foolish Tangy from Lance and Tammy Johnston. Just as with Chase, my mom, Nancy Carrel, is my partner on this venture. Huge thanks, Nanny, for going halves with me. “Smalls” (Nanny is working on an alternative) is already an accomplished five-year-old reined cow horse with roping skills to boot. Under the expert guidance of trainer Lance and his wife Tammy, Smalls is right where I want him. The Johnstons also bred and raised Smalls, and they have been his only owner. I expect you will see him in the show pen by this summer.
I will be traveling to Australia at the end of the year for a clinic with the Legacy of Legends. Thank you to Carolyn Hunt for that opportunity! Anyway, I will be giving a Ranch Versatility clinic, and I was asked to write a short article about my philosophies. The publication is “Think Horsemanship” and the article appears on page 42 and 43, along with an advertisement featuring Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance.
Pretty proud of the Clifford Horse Training gang. We had three of the seven division champions this past weekend at the Beverly Sparrowk livestock GSVRHA show. Here are some of the highlights:
Jan Jeffers, Novice champion, and winner of trail and ranch riding.
Beverly Sparrowk, Limited champion and winner of reining and cutting.
Dawn Poston, advanced champion and winner of trail, ranch riding (score 80.5), cow horse (score 76.5), and reining. WOW! What a show for Dawn and Fred.
Kim Smoot, novice cutting champion (truly a great run) and fourth overall in that large and competitive division.
Peter Smoot, novice reining champion, with another great run.
Kelly Norwood Saunders, advanced cutting champion with the highest cutting score of the day, including open. Kelly was also third overall in advanced and tied for the trail win, losing only on a tie breaker
Kim Donlon, limited cow horse champion, with a whopping 75 and a high degree of difficulty.
Let me tell you, it filled me with pride to watch this team from the vantage point of a judge. You guys rocked it!!
Thank you to Kathy Torres for coaching when I couldn’t. Thank you Bev Sparrowk and team Wendy Kaufmann Sparrowk, Cori Vowell Stevenson for putting on an amazing show. It gets better and better every year.
Today Erin Corey (and her trusty pooch, Koda) made it official and fully purchased Eli (WR Elegant) from Isaac Carrel. I love the progress I have already seen. It’s going to be so fun watching this pair progress. Eli is a two-year-old, so Erin has lots of teaching to do.
