FCS Newsletter

As you all know, we are in the middle of a busy show season and having a blast! Lots of ribbons, so much fun. It's nice to know our hard work in the winter payed off so well in the ring. I think I need to get everyone up to speed on all the news!!!

Most Important News!

Most important and exciting...Lyle and Karen are parents to a little girl, Amelia June Voltner. Do you believe 8lbs 7oz!!!! Way to go! I can hardly wait to meet her.

I wonder if Amelia has met the kitties, chickens, alpacas, dogs or Auzzie yet? I wonder what Auzzie thinks of all the commotion about little Amelia? Another great Mother/Daughter duo for future championships!

Moving

Pat and Clark, with Watson and Stoney, are moving to Regina in the next 6 weeks. We will miss her terribly!!!

Lindsey and Keely are now baching it in a new apartment in Edmonton. I'm sure there is enough room in the apartment for sleepovers with Mom and Dad! We'll be looking forward to seeing her come back for visits!

Leslie's New Baby!

In case Leslie hasn't let you know yet...SYMPH HAS HAD A VERY CUTE COLT!!!! Ask to see the photos, Remy's doing very cute foal stuff and she has the pics to prove it! He's by Brinkmann's wonderful new stallion, Regardez. Look for him in 3 years, he's a winner.

Magpie's training is coming along so well...he's headed to the Amberlea show for his First Level debut. Go Les go!!! Leslie is doing her normal, wonderful training on Donna Gent's beautiful 3yr old, Volterra. Watch for Terra and Les at the Canadian Warmblood auction in October.

Les has also been riding Oslo, Lucy Zillenger's Dutch gelding for the last two weeks of July.

This and That at Flying Colours

Hanna has had colic surgery this month. Dr. Herbers informed me there has been a rash of colic problems in the province this month. He thinks the change in the weather may be issue. Hanna is on speedy recovery mode. It's hard to tell by looking at her she has even had surgery. She looks wonderful. Cindy will be back in the saddle very soon!

Katie and Zepher have put together quite the partnership. They are on the list to head to the Amberlea show in August. I so proud of the hard work both of them have put in the last two months. Katie and Zeph will be competing at Training Level. If all goes well with Hanna, look out for this mother/daughter pair in the race for the cooler!

Some sad colic news. We lost Citrene to colic last week. Our condolences to Cindy and all the Valgardson's on their loss of their wonderful mare.

Lindsey and Paddy have done sooooo well this season. Consistently over 60% at Grand Prix!!!! Such dedication and hard work! Linds will now use all the lessons Paddy has taught her to bring along her new horse, Edel. With Paddy heading into retirement this winter, Edel will be headed into full training. If all things go well, Edel will show at Third level next season.

Barb and Kori are getting things sorted out very well. At work Barb wears the coach/mentor hat and at the stable she hands it over to Lindsey. The system seems to be working! The two of them have seen to make ultimate mother/daughter partnership work. Barb and Kori rode their first test last weekend at the schooling show. They tried to bribe the judge with little basket of goodies. Ask them what was in the basket!!!???? Bribe or no bribe, I'm sure they are the team to beat for the cooler!

Monty and Streudel have been such good boys all season. Carol has been putting together some great early morning training sessions and just keeps getting better and better each ride!

Looking forward to the rest of the show season, great results, getting better each show!

Carol and Claire still have their sights set on the mother/daughter championship.

We just have to work out the logistics of lead line dressage tests! Look out, they are going to be hard to beat.

Ann and Pauline are another great mother/daughter partnership at FCS. Pauline is doing a super job of training Luke and Ann gets to ride all that great training. Luke is being a super horse and adapting to both riders with grace and style!

Unfortunately, Amberlea is out for this pair but maybe Provincials in Olds? Ann had a super test this weekend at the schooling show. Watch out for this combination the run for the cooler!!!

Jamie has graduated from Engineering at U of A this year and she is engaged to be married in October!!!!! Congrats to everyone!! I wonder if the wedding cake will be carrot cake so Rico can have a piece as well!

Jen and Marilyn are another of our mother/daughter partnerships. Jen aced her first Third Level show at Amberlea, on Mascotte, in May. Great rides all weekend and great marks. Scottie is, at this time, being vet checked, for a sale at Lisa and Daytona's stable, as a 4' jumper. Good work Jen at fine tuning his flat work so he made the jumping look so easy! Marilyn and Annie did super at their first schooling show last weekend and are headed to Amberlea in August. Another combo vying for the coveted cooler!

Eileen Poole, Meadowview Trakehners, has set up for Jennifer to be able to ride one of her great Trakehners. Jen will still be in school, U of A, full time and she will be in full training as well with her new horse. It's always great to see a good rider on a good horse with good training.

Congratulations to Patti Pugh on her purchase of MeMe. MeMe (Wait for Me) is the 3 year old daughter of Sprout by Warkanson. Patti and MeMe should be back at FCS this winter. It will be great to have her back and riding again! Wanda is also looking at a new horse. Hopefully we will see both of them this winter.

Grace is doing well and Kirsten and I were also planning to try for the cooler. Unfortunately we lost Sully in June. There maybe another horse arriving shortly for Kirsten, we're working out the details. Keep your fingers crossed! He will be a great addition to FCS.

The winter is shaping up to be very exciting and rewarding.

Angie and Fargo, along with Walker, will be back. Fargo is eating up the PSG and Inter One ring this year. Walker aced his first show and was in third place, each test, Training Level Open class. Great results for a three year old!!!

Some of Lindsey's students from Rivendale will also be part of FCS this winter. We also will be welcoming some of Leslie's students.

Arena issues or Rain...isn't it Wonderful?

With the wonderful rain we have had this summer, damage to the arena roof have been very apparent!

All of us who have been dodging the steady stream of water from the ceiling and jumping the puddles in the footing are very happy about the repair!!!

The arena roof has been repaired last week. The screws were replaced on the metal sheeting. Unfortunately the leaks have made a mess of the insulation. Tentatively, August 6 and 7, Friday and Saturday, the insulators will be in the arena. They need 16 hours, with 2 trucks, to get the job done.

Most of us will be at Amberlea but if you would like to ride, hopefully the weather will allow rides in the outdoor for those two days.

Team Coaching at FCS

Flying Colours will have 4 great coaches available for all clients.

Certified coaches Angie, Lindsey, Leslie and I are the coaches in the training program here at FCS. We all work with the same basic ideals and training system. As a FCS client, you will have the advantage of using 4 coaches to fine tune your training. As coaches, we often exchange training thoughts and confer on coaching or riding problems we have encountered. Everyone benefits with us having a coaching knowledge pool!

The training system works with the input of regular clinics with Tom Dvorak.

Judging Update and Education Forum June 11-13

To quote the promo for this clinic...

"In an effort to make both updating and promotion more accessible across the country, there will be two clinics offered for updating ‘r’, Basic and Medium judges again this year. This will be a hands-on judging experience under the guidance one of Canada's FEI judges as well as valuable insight into dressage and judging basics."

Ok, so it sounds like a great clinic. I registered with EC and slotted the dates into my daytimer.

I’m in the middle of show season, very busy with my horse, my students, my farm. I knew this would be a valuable clinic but I’ll be pressed to find the time. A weekend away from my stable at this busy time is crazy, but I decided this opportunity to learn more about the view from “C” would be a must.

I started working my horses at the crack of dawn on Friday morning then shoved some clothes into a bag, jumped into the car and drove 4 hrs to Clairsholm.

To say I thoroughly enjoyed this clinic would be the understatement of the year!!! Joan Macartney, FEI “I” Judge was a delight. Her positive attitude and clear thoughts set the tone for the whole weekend.

EAADA members Jan Simmonds, Carina Christianson and I, along with judges from all over Western Canada, honed our eyes for the requirements and standards for each level. Joan quietly talked us through the maze of 5s, 6s, and 7s, and even a couple of 8s, for each test we judged.

This clinic was a 10 in so many ways-the educational value, organization of material, and expertise of the clinician.

Thanks to Dressage Canada and Lorraine Hill for organizing a great weekend.

Vickie Argals

Annoucement

PAADA is looking for volunteers for Provincials.

"As this is our primary activity and fundraiser for the year, we need the assistance of all members to make this show an outstanding success. Our show committee, and hardworking Show Chair, Sheri Bresee, have been actively organizing the many things that need to come together to pull off a large event like this.

1) Show volunteers...we need a large number of volunteers in positions such as scribes, runners (deliver score sheets to show office), gate keepers, judge and sponsor hosts, and drivers. This is a great chance to experience the excitement of a championship show from the inside.

2) Sponsor follow-up sponsorship is critical to being able to run any provincial-level dressage show. The show committee has taken on the task of contacting large industry sponsors. However, there are a number of additional local potential sponsors that need to be contacted. If you are a friendly, outgoing person who has some time to either call or visit a few local businesses, this is the role for you.

We are also asking that everyone give some thought to businesses or individuals you know who may be interested in sponsoring. Experience has shown that personal contact is the most important factor in securing sponsorship.

Please reply to Christina at cseidel@telusplanet.net or call (403) 843-6563 to let us know which of the above positions suits you best. If all members help out with either volunteering at the show or making sponsorship contacts, the relative load on everyone will be small, the show will be a great success, and well all have a lot of fun making this the best Provincials yet!"

The Provincials prize list is now posted on the PAADA website at www.albertadressage.com/paada/paprovincials.htm

Announcement from Cara Whitham

Hello everyone,

I thought that you might be interested to know that CBC is planning to give quite a lot of coverage to the dressage in Athens. They will not be airing it on their main channel but on their cable, which I think is called Country Canada? You could check their website or call the studio in Toronto. Following is their planned Telecast Schedule. Enjoy! Please pass the word to others that you think would like to see it.

Our planned TELECAST SCHEDULE is as follows;

• August 20th 8:00pm - 10:00pm
• August 21st 8:00pm - 12:00midnight
• August 23rd 8:00pm - 11:00pm
• August 25th 8:00pm - 11:00pm