Fall 2014 Begins!

So as always the beginning of the semester has been a whirlwind at the Equestrian Center! Lessons started on September 1^st (yes we have school on Labor day, but get the Wed. before Thanksgiving off) and from all accounts have been going well. The hunter seat coaches adopted the motto, “Stirrup free September” so all riders that are able have been riding without stirrups. Those that are not quite ready for that have been in 2 point for extended periods to get their legs deep and secure. Dressage has done some no stirrup work on and off the lunge finding muscles that these riders had forgotten about. Western riders have had equally demanding lessons with Carla and Lindsey.

Last weekend Matt did a teaching marathon for the IEA boot camp. Hunter seat riders volunteered to get the horses ready and on Sunday we held an IHSA style show with a beach themed draw table. Ride-Like-A-Knight started up on Sept 8. The program has a couple of new horses that are being eased into the program, Nora a Norwegian Fjord and Cooper an adorable paint pony. Riding Council has had its first general meeting with info on work study, what to wear, TH volunteering, plans for our 5k in Oct, team tryouts, the eventing club, up-coming western shows and a reminder from Peggy to do well in all things academic.

So this weekend is tryouts for IHSA, IDA and the hunter seat show team. Next weekend RLAK heads to Special Olympics in Raleigh, we have our first western shows of the year and a few students are going to Pinehurst to work the dressage shows at the Harness Track. 

Equestrian Program Reviews - Ride-Like-A-Knight Therapeutic Horsemanship Program

Brooke Ellington and Hallie Myers reported on the Ride-Like-A-Knight Therapeutic Horsemanship program from 2012 - 2013. Their report included Special Olympics, horse updates, instructor mentoring and the benefits of volunteering in the RLAK program. Click here to read the report.

RLAK joins Amazon Smile Program

When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate to the St. Andrews Ride Like A Knight Therapeutic Horsemanship Program. Support our program that provides therapeutic horsemanship opportunities to almost 100 riders spanning a wide age range with a variety of disabilities for 7 nearby Carolina counties. Every time you shop will provide donations that will support horse care, equipment, supplies, training and continuing education. Shop AmazonSmile today to support the St Andrews Ride Like A Knight Therapeutic Horsemanship Program. 

Ride-Like-A-Knight Supported by The Scottish Pilot Club

Article from The Laurinburg Exchange

The Scottish Pilot Club of Laurinburg recently donated helmets to the Therapeutic Horsemanship Program at St. Andrew’s University, Ride-Like-A-Knight.
The program provides hands-on learning experience for St. Andrew’s students who wish to prepare for a career in Therapeutic Horsemanship. The center gives participants with a wide-range of disabilities in the St. Andrew’s community and surrounding areas the opportunity to participate in horseback riding activities. The Scottish Pilot Club is a volunteer service organization that focuses on helping people with brain-related disorders.

http://www.laurinburgexchange.com/news/news_local_features/2831529/Knight-riders-gifted-with-new-helmets

Where did you go this weekend?

It has been a busy couple of weeks at SAU Equestrian. We had trailers, vans, horses and people heading every which way last weekend. Liz was the first to head out with the 2 horse trailer containing Red Ted and Quinn and Special Olympics coach Brooke Ellington to the Special Olympics at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. They met up with Josh Dazey who showed Quinn in the halter class earning 2^nd place and bringing home the blue ribbon with Red Ted in Western Horsemanship. Josh did all the grooming and preparation of Quinn for the halter class competing against horses that were groomed by the handler’s “team”.

Kelsi and Rob left next with the 6 horse trailer and a handful of students for Camden, SC. The weekend turned out to have many teachable moments as well as some nice ribbons for the students. Brianna Harrison was Reserve Champion in the Adult Equitation and Grace Wadford Champion in Pre Child/Adult Equitation. Rob showed his project horse, Charlie, at his 4^th horse show and was very pleased with his progress. Social Media Intern Kirsten Farley will be posting more about this show in a new series “On the Road with St. Andrews Equestrian”.

Next to hit the road was Matt and riders headed for the IHSA invitational Tournament of Champions at Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA. This show was a great tune up for the IHSA hunter seat team and ended with a 5^th place, one of our highest placings at TOC in our history.

Sunday, 7 students made the drive to the Harness Track in Pinehurst to work the dressage show. They served as scribes, stewards, bit checkers, and handed out tests and prizes. Their boss for the day was Event Manager, Sue Smithson, and each one reported enjoying their day and learning more about dressage.

This weekend we have the first home shows of the year, IHSA Western. Saturday at 1:00 and Sunday at 10:00

Team Tryouts are this Friday and Saturday!

Team tryouts are this weekend! Coaches are planning show like conditions to see how well everyone does in a competitive setting. In addition to riding, students are also required to participate in the running of the program. These are some of the requirements. 

Requirements for Team Members

• All team members must volunteer for TH with the RLAK program
• Team members are expected to work at ALL home shows hunter seat, dressage and western
• Team members are expected to participate in team practices
• Team members are expected to do some kind of aerobic training 2x a week and strength training 2x a week. Yoga and Pilates are great for riders! The western team currently has four times schedules during the week to run!
• Team members are responsible for the appearance of the horses at horse shows

Good luck to everyone trying out for IHSA, IDA and the C show team this weekend!

RLAK Show, Alumni Weekend, and Open House

The RLAK horse show was a hit for all concerned this Saturday. Four members of the dressage team started off the show with a drill team ride to the theme from Indiana Jones. The horses were great and the riders put on a good display for the audience. The RLAK show followed with all riders winning a blue ribbon for completing the obstacle course set in the covered arena. Kate Sorgenfrei serving as judge and announcer awarded blue ribbons “for sitting in the middle”, “keeping heels down”, “2-point position” and a myriad of other accomplishments demonstrated by the riders. The RLAK community was well represented covering the ages of around 5 to 55.


Alumni weekend was in full swing on campus and many folks came back to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. Pebbles, Peggy and I enjoyed visiting with the class of 2003 (plus a few from 2002). At lunch time ten of them set off on a guided trail ride of the Equestrian Center followed by 3 more on Peggy’s golf cart. With a couple of exceptions many of these folks have not been on a horse in many years so it was really fun to see them warming up in the covered arena before heading out with Carla and Andrew as their escorts.

Once the trail ride had departed the participants of Open House arrived to talk about the program, meet the staff and tour the facility. Lots of great questions were asked and we enjoyed meeting these future students and their families.

In other news our colleague Heather Wile Lee had her baby this weekend. Baby Jase is doing well but Heather suffered complications following delivery and is now in ICU at Moore Regional Hospital. Her husband Philip and both their families are with her at the hospital staying at the Clara McQueen house in Pinehurst. We are keeping Heather, Philip, Jase and the families in our prayers and hoping for a complete recovery.

The ANRC competed for the National Championship this weekend finishing in 6th place. I'll have more information on that in a later post.

Volunteers and Instructors at the RLAK Show

The Drill Team; Bridget on Corky, Kristen on Jake, Elizabethe on Chico and Claire on Windsong

Special and his rider with Morgan, and Spenser



Big John with is rider and Hallie, Megan and Stephanie



Before the Alumni trail rider

Enjoying the facility!

Alumni, ANRC, and RLAK Show

Meg Donahue, Frank Bria, Jennifer James & Howard Morrison were the National Championship team winning riders in 2002. Debbie White and Peggy McElveen coached. The gray horse on the left is Peter and the liver chestnut 3rd from left is JC both of who are retired at the Equestrian Center.

This weekend is Alumni weekend. We are excited to welcome the class of 2003 back to campus. The photo is of the 2002 ANRC National Championship team, many of who will be here this weekend. Click here for the schedule of Alumni events. These events include the annual Ride-Like-A-Knight horse show which starts at 10:30 on Saturday with demonstrations by the equestrain team followed by classes for participants in the program.  

Josh Dazey, Red Ted and Philip Radford at the 2012 RLAK show.

Meanwhile this year's ANRC team is competing in Baltimore at the 2013 National Championships in both the Open and Novice divisions. Good luck to all our riders, coaches and horses.

Don’t forget to support the 2013 Nationals teams by eating at Jersey Mikes in Lbg. tomorrow between 4 & 9 p.m. or shopping at our online store .

Spring Stuff!

With the end of the semester looming we are busy wrapping up classes, practicing our teams for Nationals and enjoying the traditional end of semester activities. Yesterday the RLAK club held their spring picnic. Everyone enjoyed great food, fun games and an opportunity to let loose before the start of a busy academic week.


Riders on all of the intercollegiate teams are busy with practices. The ANRC team leaves on Wednesday for the drive to Baltimore for their National Championships. Coach Kelsi Peterson will be traveling with five riders. Kim Graves, Katie Hansen, Abigail Skillman, Alexandra Fullerton and Keli van den Heuvel will be representing St. Andrews at this four phase equitation competition. They will be competing in the written test, program ride, cross country course and medal course all phases are judged on equitation apart from the written test of course which is judged on knowledge of horse care including basic veterinary care. Good luck to these riders, their horses and Coach Peterson.

We are still busy with fund raising. Our Queensboro store sends a commission on every item of clothing sold and this Friday from 4 – 9 p.m. Jersey Mikes in Laurinburg will be contributing 15% of all proceeds to the Equestrian Team. Please support these stores if you can.

TH Seniors & Ice-Cream!

Path International Region 3 Conference

Pebbles, Liz and ten students from St. Andrews attended the Region 3 conference in Hilton Head, SC this weekend. They were joined by 10 alumni who work in different areas of the therapeutic horsemanship industry. Sessions included information on managing not for profit businesses and creative lesson plans as well as lots of opportunities for networking. “I learned a lot,” said Megan White, “can’t wait to try some of this out with my lessons. It was also a lot of fun!”



Current students and Alumni at Region 3 conference

Just Another Weekend at the Barn!

February is going to be one of those busy months with shows and events happening at home and away. Take this weekend for example. We are hosting back to back western shows Saturday and Sunday at the Equestrian Center to help out our friends from NCSU who were planning to host but ran into difficulties. The Ride-Like-A-Knight Therapeutic Horsemanship program is hosting a PATH Int. Mentor Training Workshop led by Pebbles Turbeville and Sandy Webster. As if that was not enough for one weekend, the dressage team travel to Buckhorn Farm in Apex, NC to compete in an IDA show hosted by the NCSU dressage team. Social Media Kim Graves and myself will be working hard to report results from the two shows and share the experiences of the students participating in the TH workshop.

Suggestions Needed As We Document Our History

The History and Theory of Modern Riding class has documented the equestrian activities for Fall 2011 - Spring 2012. We plan to produce several PDF files to be printed and for online distribution. Topics covered are Hunter Seat, Western, Dressage, TH, Staff Changes, Internships, ANRC, Alumni News, and IHSA Nationals. This will become a regular annual series. We need a name for these documents! They will join last year's book "The History of the St. Andrews Equestrian Program 1969 - 2011" as part of our written record. Any & all suggestions welcome! Here are a couple of snippets from this year's work. Send ideas to Jackie at dwellejm@sapc.edu.

Hannah Firth researched recent Alums here is a paragraph from her paper.

The graduates from St. Andrews who actively participated in the equestrian program have found themselves highly successful in continuing their equestrian careers beyond graduation. Several students who majored in Therapeutic Horsemanship have moved from Laurinburg to pursue careers as therapeutic riding instructors such as Corey Krutsch, a graduate from 2009, who continues her job as a therapeutic riding instructor at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. Kate Sorgenfri, class of 2011, is currently located in Pittsboro, North Carolina and serves as therapeutic riding instructor and general lessons instructor at Heads Up! Therapeutic Riding Center. Another graduate of 2011, Fi Delfino finds herself as Pony Pals and Instructor Coordinator for HOPE-HOrses Helping PEople, Inc Therapeutic riding program in Archer, Florida. Delfino has also found success as the owner of High Hopes Equestrian Center, a training business.

Rachel McGarvey covered the Ride-Like-A-Knight Therapeutic Horsemanship Program this is the opening paragraph of her report.

The Mechanical Lift

In January 2012, Ride Like A Knight had a lift installed. The lift was purchased and installed through The Elizabeth Fund, a fund that was created to aid in supplying educational benefits to students and riders. The lift was purchased for two reasons. The first being that it allows the instructors in training a chance to be exposed to a lift, be educated on the use of the lift and learn how to train a horse to accept the lift before the students graduate from St. Andrews. The second reason Ride Like A Knight purchased the lift was to open up our program to more riders. Physically lifting people onto a horse can be a lot of strain on the instructors body, where using the lift to place them onto the horse provides a safe and easy way of doing this. The lift has added to the Ride Like A Knight program in education and in expanding the program.

Its the Weekend, we are going to be busy!

Open House this weekend is continuing to grow! We currently have 32 riders for hunter seat, 7 for western and 5 for dressage and the numbers are growing hour by hour! Total number of equestrian interested families visiting is around 70. Tonight we are having barn clean up to have the equestrian center looking its best. The coaches and faculty are looking forward to the dinner and reception tomorrow evening when they will get to meet and chat with future St. Androids and their families.

 

Sunday, Matt and Rob take the IHSA hunter seat team to compete at Duke for the third show this year. St Andrews currently leads the region by 18 points after 2 shows.

 

Regional Standings

1. St. Andrews University 86 
2. UNC-Chapel Hill 68
3. North Carolina State 64 
4. East Carolina University 62
5.  UNC-Charlotte 54
6.  UNC-Wilmington 45
7. Virginia Commonwealth 43 
8. Duke University 42
9. Coastal Carolina University 32

Sunday afternoon Liz and the TH club are holding a pumpkin carving party at the TH Barn. Should be lots of fun, looking forward to the pictures.

Introducing the Pony Up Campaign!

Ride-Like-A-Knight is planning a Therapeutic Driving program but needs your help!


Manly the mini, who is trained to drive, recently joined the program but we do not yet have a cart. A suitable cart costs $695 plus delivery and tax. We are looking for 120 people willing to donate $6.95 each to help us reach our goal of expanding the RLAK program. This will cover the cost of the cart, delivery to RLAK and tax.

The St. Andrews “Ride like a Knight” program offers therapeutic horsemanship for people with disabilities of all ages. Therapeutic horsemanship works to partner people and horses through activities. RLAK currently offers therapeutic riding, which emphasizes teaching riding skills to people with disabilities; recently the program has decided to branch out and work on building a therapeutic driving program. Therapeutic driving is an aspect of therapeutic horsemanship which allows the participant the ability to partner with a horse while riding or driving in a cart. Through therapeutic driving, those participants that may not be able to ride due to contraindications (aspects of their disability that make it unsafe for them to ride) will now be able to experience working with a horse in other ways than simply grooming or watching from the sidelines.

Benefits of Therapeutic Horsemanship

 

• Improved verbal and nonverbal communication
• Improvement in motor skills and spatial awareness
• Trunk and core improvement
• Improved balance and coordination
• Psychological well being
• Increased self esteem, self image, confidence, and responsibility
• Along with improvement in the overall quality of life

  

Please make checks out to RLAK and mail them attention Pebbles Turbeville, to 9167 Hasty Road, Laurinburg, NC 28352.

 

 

 

Weekend Activities

Coming up this weekend, Western Show on Saturday and Western Regionals on Sunday. Good luck to Coach Carla and all the Western Team!

Pebbles, Megan and several students are travelling to the NARHA Region 3 conference hosted by Misty Meadows Mitey Riders in Charlotte where several of them are presenting!

The dressage team is travelling to Pinehurst on Sunday for a show at Antares.

TH Visitor and Raleigh Indoors

Sandy Webster is here teaching classes and mentoring instructors in the Ride-Like-A-knight program. Sandy arrived late Wednesday evening and wraps up her visit Saturday with a morning clinic for dressage riders and some one on one time with NARHA Advanced Level candidates. Sandy’s achievements are very impressive!

Sandy Webster is a NARHA Master Instructor, CanTRA Coach, Canadian Equestrian Federation Level 2 Eventing and Dressage Coach. She is a NARHA Lead Faculty Evaluator for the Registered and Advanced levels of Instructor Certification and also an Accreditation Site visitor.
Sandy has attended 2 Paralympics and 3 World Championships as coach for the riders with disabilities. Of late, Sandy has been involved with several pilot projects involving the teaching and curriculum development for the Wounded Warriors and Veteran programs. She has a diverse background in many disciplines related to training horses, including racing, 3-day eventing, dressage, carriage driving and therapeutic riding. Sandy was the program director and executive director of CARD, a very large program in Toronto for 19 years. Sandy set out on a mission to help start up and growing programs the last 5 years as the Program Consultant of MANE, in Alabama, Shea Center in San Juan Capistrano and now at Giant Steps in Northern California. Sandy recently hosted and presented at multiple Region Conferences across the country on various topics related to therapeutic riding from horse training techniques, to volunteer management to developing program growth. Sandy is now consulting and conducting workshops full time in all aspects of therapeutic riding through her company “Gaits of Change”.

Also, this weekend we may have a record number of horses and riders attending the Raleigh Indoor “C” Show. Lindsey and Ashley with Dale’s help are shipping 16 horses to the show. Good luck to everyone attending!

November Happenings

Pebbles, Megan and four seniors just returned from the NARHA conference in Denver CO. From all accounts the conference was very educational for all attendees and allowed the seniors to make many contacts in the TH industry.

This weekend Jackie & Carla are taking 14 riders to the Averett IDA show on Saturday, Ashley and the IHSA team travel to UNC Wilmington on Sunday and Lindsey is taking a couple of rider to the hunter derby in Greensboro.

Next weekend is shaping up to be pretty busy as well with the SAPC IDA Show & Western Open House on Saturday and a Western IHSA show on Sunday.

First Ride - LIke - A - Knight Horse Show

This Saturday, April 17th, Ride - Like - A - Knight hosted its first horse show. The show was kicked off by a demonstration including jumping by Betsy Kaplan and her horse Tucker, Barrels by Kellie Garrabrant and her horse JJ, Vaulting with Big John and Heather Jackson and Kendall Fout as well as dressage with Greta Friesan and Leggs. Bailey also had a retirement ceremony, after 30 years service to the college and 14 years of service to the TH program he deserves it:) All riders performed a rail class and a trail class for judge Kellie Garrabrant with the guidance of announcer Mike Kryzsak (an alum working in the local school system). All the horses were the vision of perfection, receiving blue ribbons and metals for all riders they helped. Many families that had never been to the equestrian center where able to watch their children ride and enjoy the facility. Many thanks to all the volunteers and Megan Ellis who organized the event!

The ANRC team is at Sweet Briar College competing at the National Championships and those of us left at home are gearing up for IDA Nationals next week end.