Getting Busy

This week end the Ride-Like-A-Knight therapeutic riding program is hosting an instructor certification. Starting around lunch time today, Pebbles and the site visitor will be testing and evaluating candidates for the NARHA registered instructor certification. The TH students will be busy assisting with this event.

We have our first IHSA hunt seat show this week (Friday the 6th). As always there will be lots of schools competing in all divisions. We are having a work day today to get the facility looking its best. Katie Lavery is heading up the organization of horse preparation and Rachel Buckler and Megan Stiles are assisting her as part of their Equine Event Management Internship. The course will be set on Wednesday of this week with Thursday set aside for schooling of the participating horses.

The ANRC team was announced last week:
Kelsi Peterson - TeddyCaroline Taylor - FriscoLindsey Gates - PanchoAudrey Hayden - RomarioAlex Sonnenberg - PedroAlexis Stevenson - YorkRob Jacobs – Luke

These students will be working hard this semester to prepare for the competition to be held April 17 – 18 at SAPC.

Next weekend looks busy too! Sarah is holding an information session for students interested in working at summer camps this summer on Saturday evening & the IHSA western team head to Martin Community College for a show on Sunday.

SNOW!!!

Snow does not come to Laurinburg too often. We have about 2" here in Deercroft. School is closed for the day so we can all watch the ceremonies in Washington DC.

Leggs came home from NC State yesterday. He looks great but of course he has a long way to go following his colic surgery.

Jacksonville Week One

These are the results as reported on the SAPC website. Looks like everyone had a great time!

Two St. Andrews Presbyterian College equestrians won individual championships during the Jacksonville National Horse Show in Jacksonville, Fla., last week.

The St. Andrews equestrians also won four classes.

Gabby Grubic, a junior therapeutic horsemanship major from Alexandria, Ohio, rode her own horse (Streak) to win the Low Child/Adult Jumper Division. Morgan Worthington rode “Glenn” – a St. Andrews horse – to the reserve championship in Pre Adult Hunter Classic.

Rob Jacobs led the remaining St. Andrews riders by winning two classes – Adult Hunter Over Fences and Adult Hunter Under Saddle. He is a sophomore politics major from Temple Hills, Md. He rode two St. Andrews horses – “Romario” and “Romarion”.

Kelsi Peterson rode “Teddy” – a St. Andrews horse – to a first-place finish in Adult Hunter Over Fences. She is a senior psychology major from Colorado Springs, Colo.

Samantha Black rode “Glenn” to the final victory in a class for St. Andrews, winning Pre Adult Hunter Over Fences. She is a senior business equine management major from New Haven, Conn.

Other St. Andrews riders competed well in additional classes including:

Casey Curtis riding her own horse “Lara” second in Pre-Adult Hunter Over Fences. She is a freshman from Round Hill, Va.

Caroline Taylor on her own horse “Frisco”, third place in Adult Hunter Over Fences. She is a junior equine business management major from Vanceboro.

Betsy Kaplan on her own horse “Java”, third place in Hopeful Jumpers. She is a junior equine business management major from Hollis, N.H.

Alex Sonnenberg on her own horse “Pedro”, fifth place in Open Jumpers. She is a sophomore from Purcell, Va.

Spring Semester Begins!

School started yesterday it is great to have the students back after what seems like an extra long Christmas break. Riding lessons start tomorrow which is really early, but necessary to accommodate all the end of year championships in April.

I started teaching my first online class Tuesday - Stable Mgt One. It is the same as the classroom version just online. Online is a totally different teaching environment with different challenges and tons of attention to detail. All SAPC online classes are in an 8 week format with a company called Learning House so it will go a lot faster than in the classroom. In D2 Pebbles takes Principals and Concepts online - she is busy preparing it right now as well.

Our wonderful dressage horse, Leggs, had colic surgery last night at NC State. He had an intestinal displacement and a lot of gas. The prognosis right now appears to be pretty good. Please say a prayer for his speedy and uncomplicated recovery. He is such a wonderful horse and teacher for our program but had a really tough life before coming to SAPC.

FL Horse Changes

Luke and Profound decided that they would rather stay here and enjoy some more of the monsoon season. Romario and Glenn jumped at the chance to go further south for a couple of weeks.

Good luck to all riders, horses and coaches.

Florida

Lindsay, Kira and the group below leave for Florida on Tuesday Jan 6th. Good luck down there, hope its warm!

Caroline Taylor and Frisco
Betsy Kaplan and Java
Andrew Michael and Feeney
Kelsi Peterson and Teddy
Rob Jacobs and Luke
Casey Curtis and Clara
Morgan Worthington and Swash
Sam Black and Profound
Gabby Grubic and Streak
Alex Sonnenburg and Pedro

Staff Changes

Jenni Bensen has moved to Marietta , Georgia to go to chiropractic school. Dr. Jenni Bensen will graduate in 3 ½ years.

Megan Ellis has joined the staff as assistant stable manager. She will be helping Elissa and Sam take care of all the horses.

St. Andrews Equestrian Program 2009

Happy New Year!

A new blog for a new year