Tom Dvorak had an amazing show at Devon this fall.

Sadie (Westside Lady), Busy (Beamarchais) were both at PSG and Inter One. Marks over 70%!!! They both will be amazing Grand Prix horses next year. Fortissimo, at Fourth Level, also had marks over 70%. Tom's student, Leah Wilson aboard her 10 yr old gelding Dostoevsky (Ivan), at won the Young Riders championship. Tom is a great rider, trainer and coach.

And we had the opportunity to train again with Tom at Flying Colours Stables October 29 and 30, 2004. Tom is at FCS 5-6 times/year. His clinics here are an incredible opportunity for all of us. His training methods are clear and correct. His coaching is succinct and supportive. As the day to day coach of most of the riders in these clinics, having Tom as a coaching resource is invaluable. To be able to improve my coaching, training, and riding skills helps me keep everyone, horses and riders, at Flying Colours, working at their very best.

We had 10 horse/rider combinations in the clinic. From training level horses to Grand Prix. We watched Tom hop on Sheri Dumonceaux's Grand Prix gelding, Kadans, and work his passage/piaffe exercises. Kadans has just arrived back in Alberta after being with Tom for seven years. Sheri is going to have sooooo much fun with Kadans. Talented and well trained. She tells me she knows how lucky she is!!!!

All of the FCS horses have had a wonderful time this fall. As soon as the championships were over we took a deep breath and cheered, then set our sights on moving our horses up to the next level. Sooooo much fun!! Grace, Edel, Monty, Fargo, Zepher and Gucci all worked and improved under Tom's educated eye. Tom had his favorite clinic ride on Streudel and commented on how he could understand the 70% marks he had received this year. Sanna Hodgson rode Betty and Bob Bauman's Dutch Warmblood stallion, Pandoer. Julie rode her Kadans filly Lily. Lily has just had a Pandoer baby this year and on one afternoon we had Kadans, Lily, and Pandoer in the ring at the same time, one warming up, one working, and one cooling down. A successful Canadian breeding program!

Tom is back December 17 and 18 (Friday and Saturday). Watch the website for the schedule.

November 5, 6, and 7, 2004

Grace and I with Paul Belasik at Teradan Farms, Calgary

This was my second clinic with Paul and I was looking forward to riding. This would be Grace's first trip off the farm alone. She is a gregarious, sociable animal. I wondered how she would do without her friends. She was great, a little unconfident, compared to how she is at home, but she coped very well.

Paul has written several books and has an interesting classical bent on training. His website is www.paulbelasik.com This would be a great weekend for my riding improvement and some coaching insights. Paul is very clear in his descriptions and enthusiastic about getting his concepts understood. Grace and I came away with lots of things to fine tune. Thanks Paul! And thanks Joey at Teradan for hosting and organizing this clinic series. www.halfsteps.ca

The weekend was not all fun and games; I went down to work as well. Trish Mrawkwa, Cathy Chalak and I were the course conductors for a Equine Canada Coach One and Coach Two exam at Willowgrove Stables. Congratulations to all candidates that worked very hard to meet the requirements. All of us in the equine community will benefit by having you involved in the coaching program. Watch the FCS website for details on the Coaching Update program for 2005.

The road to World Cup in Las Vegas!!!

Here’s a link to Leslie Reid and Mark’s winning Freestyle from the Royal.

www.equiman.com

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2004
News Archive:

April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December