Alyssa Sullivan and CF Sambucca winners in First Level!

I am pleased to congratulate Krowchuk Dressage student Alyssa Sullivan on her latest wins in the show ring! Alyssa has been working hard over the last six months with the goal of moving up to First Level. Well, the hard work has paid off as Alyssa rode her mare CF Sambucca to 1st place in both of her First Level tests on Saturday! I am very pleased with the progress that Alyssa has made in such a short time, she is one of the most dedicated riders that I have ever taught. Alyssa has been riding with me for almost 4 years now and has developed a wonderful seat, as evidenced by the Judge’s comment on how lovely her seat is. The move up to First Level is not such an easy jump, but you made it look much easier Alyssa!!!! Keep working hard and Second Level will be doable this year!

Congratulate Alyssa and Sammi by leaving a Comment below!

Chris Krowchuk and Alyssa Sullivan with CF Sambucca, USDF Dressage show winners!

Fresh on the heals of their first GDCTA Dressage schooling show at Rising Fawn Equestrian Center in Ballground Georgia, Krowchuk Dressage student Alyssa Sullivan and her grey Purebred Arabian mare CF Sambucca take home 3 Blues and 2 Reds from their first USDF rated GDCTA Dressage show at Poplar Place Farm in Hamilton Georgia. Alyssa also accomplished a new personal high score of 65% from an S judge. Way to go Alyssa, we are all very proud of you!

Alyssa Sullivan exemplifies the dedication and perseverance expected from the Krowchuk Dressage lesson and training program. Alyssa started riding in lesson with Chris 3 years ago at the young age of 11 and has become a remarkeable study, demonstrating advanced comprehension beyond her years of not only the “how” of Classical Dressage but the “why” and “when” as well. It really was not a surprise to us that she would experience success in the show ring, it was just a matter of when. This spring Chris decided she was ready to show and confidently guided her toward that goal.

Alyssa rides, shows, and owns a Krowchuk trained and Chatuge Farms bred mare that is without a doubt the most popular school horse in the Krowchuk Dressage program. Sammi (CF Sambucca) is the school horse of first choice for raw beginners, lunge line lessons, and more advanced riders who need to learn the lateral exercises. Her ultra comfortable gaits also make her the school horse of choice for teaching the sitting trot and the canter. Sammi has taught many children and adults how to ride and it is wonderful that she can go from a kind, forgiving and safe school horse to a flashy show horse without batting an eyelash.

Alyssa Sullivan on CF Sambucca

Alyssa is a talented young rider that has been schooling with me for three years now, since she was 11 or 12. Before entering my program, Alyssa was over-faced at a show by a previous trainer and as a result lost desire to show.

About three years ago I started training CF Sambucca for Dee Bruce of Chatuge Farms. At first we never thought Sammi would make much of a dressage horse, her gaits were quite flat. Soon enough though this little mare started to surprise me. She picked up leg yield very quickly and within weeks was correctly leg yielding the entire width of a 20×40m arena. Shoulder In also came quick and easy to Sammi, as did travers / renvers, half pass, full pass and turn on the haunches. Sammi soon became one of my favorite school horses. With her excellent mind and kind demeanor she has taught numerous children and adults how to ride. She has also helped to teach more experienced riders how to ride the laterals. With her relatively flat gaits she is smooth and easy to sit.

Then about two years ago Alyssa decided she wished to own Sammi. Or is it the other way around?

Always willing to share her horse with others, Alyssa is a wonderful child that works very hard on her riding. Still I kept hinting that she might wish to get out and show Sammi. Finally this spring I felt she was ready and just needed the final push to get out there, so I told her out of the blue one day… “oh, by the way I entered you and Sammi in next months GDCTA schooling show at Rising Fawn in Ball Ground Georgia”.

So we set to work tidying a few things up and working on a few of the weak areas that needed to be addressed. Sammi is the type of horse who will only do slightly less than you ask and never ever more. So we needed to “motivate” her a little.

Although Alyssa finished just out of the ribbons at her first show, showing Intro A and B, she did break 60% on both tests first time out and I am proud of her accomplishment and how well Sammi the school horse took care of her.

Thank you Alyssa for all your hard work, and for the use of Sammi the school mistress for all my beginners! And thank you also to Alyssa’s parents who have been uber supportive and dedicated to driving Alyssa to the barn on a regular basis. You are raising a great child.

Alyssa, now that you are hooked on showing I expect I will see great things from you in the future!

2006 USDF Pas de Deux National Award Champions!

Big congratulations to Krowchuk Dressage students; Donna Barnes on her Black Purebred Arabian gelding Serr Rafiq and Debi Gilbert on her Black Anglo-Arabian gelding Prince Bashir! This wonderful team won the 2006 USDF (United States Dressage Federation) Pas de Deux National Level Award, besting teams of all breeds. Once again, good solid basics, hard work and determination has proven that the Arabian breed is quite capable in open all breed competition!

Susanne Lauda and Beau at Conyers GA

I just returned from the 2006 GAHA Summer Classic AHA / USEF show that was held at the Olympic park in Conyers (Atlanta burbs!) Georgia. Man it was HOT! Now I know why they call it Hotlanata!

We took 4 horses in total to this show, all bred by Delana Bruce of Chatuge Farms Arabian Sport Horses and they all shone bringing home ribbons and championships and wonderful memories!

But this Blog entry is only about one (the others have or will have their own entries!

CF Beau Navar.

Co-owners Susan Zevenbergen and Suzanne Lauda arrived at the park Friday morning expecting to see their class start around 8:30. Third class in, show starts at 8am, sounds about right! Nope! Apparently they decided to start the Sport Horse Under Saddle classes earlier than the main ring classes and they missed their class by seconds.

The show management was nice enough to find a class for them to go into without extra fees – which they then went on to win!

Kudos to the GAHA show committee for doing the “right thing”!

I showed Beau in PB SHIH Geldings later that afternoon and he scored an 87, which earned him a 3rd place in a very large 18 horse class.

Beau then captured the PB SHUS Open Championship later that evening in a tough class of 8 horses with Suzanne Lauda in the irons!

On Saturday and Sunday Suzanne and Beau competed First Level winning two more Blues and their first Second Level test bringing home yet another Blue!

Congratulations to Beau, Susan and Suzanne for a great show!

CF Mojezeh at Conyers GA

The conversation went something like this…

Dee: I would like to take my stallion Mojezeh to the Arabian show at the Olympic horse park in Conyers (Georgia, home of the 1996 Olympics Equestrian events) on August 4th.

Chris: Cool! Which one is Mojezeh?

Dee: The 9 year old Chestnut.

Chris: uhmmm… Dee… he isn’t broke yet!

Dee: I know honey, but you have two weeks!

Chris: uhmmm (thinking to myself, she is either crazy or having a lot of fun with me, play along!!)

Dee: I have complete faith in your abilities!

Chris: Oh sure, two weeks will be no problem, he has a great mind! (Chuckle)

Dee: I thought you could show him in hand.

Chris: Sport Horse In Hand? I could do that and I think he would be competitive too!

Dee: Yes, In hand, what did you think I meant?

Chris: heh heh! See if Susan would like me to show Beau in hand as well! Oh, and JB too?

Dee: That is a good idea!

Chris: I didn’t bother renewing my USEF, USDF, and AHA cards this year since I had no idea if I would be showing with the move and all. So, it would be silly to spend that kind of membership renewal money on just one class, one horse.

Dee: I will ask Susan about Beau.

Chris: Cool! Let me know. I don’t have much time, I can work with the horses this Saturday when I come to teach my lessons. Teach them to stand up and walk / trot the triangle. Then we have next Saturday… yikes! That doesn’t give us much time, I will have to try and come out one weekday.

Dee: I am sure that you will do what you can honey.

So, that Saturday arrives and I head over to Dee’s for my regular lesson bunch. I start playing with Mojezeh, he picks everything up so fast and is such a humble well behaved stallion!

Chris: We should probably put his bridle on. Where is it?

Dee: Oh, I think I will have to buy him one, his face is so small and I don’t think any of those will fit him.

Chris: Well, which one have you had on him?

Dee: He has never worn a bridle!

Chris: Ohhh! (what the heck did I get myself into!, a 9 year old breeding stallion, never been bridled, YIKES!)

Dee: He will be fine honey, I trust in your ability.

Chris: hmmmm!

It is amazing how easy that old gentleman was to bridle, he actually seemed to enjoy it, like he had been waiting for this for years! I taught him how to stand up pretty quick and then I walked him around the triangle. He seemed to pick that up quite well, walking straight from and to the apex where the judge would be standing. then I would halt him again and stand him up once more. This was all going quite well and I thought perhaps there was a chance that I could get through this without looking like a fool!

Teaching Mojezeh to trot the triangle was a little more challenging. He was quite happy to walk thank you very much. I knew if I could get “electric” transitions and with his nicely uphill build we would score well. Since he had always been a breeding stallion and his owner is a single lady, his manners on the ground were important to her, for very obvious reasons! A hand whip was something to back away from! Once I taught him that I wasn’t going to actualy hurt him with that whip, he started to trot off quite nicely. Keeping up with him was going to be my next hurdle!

I worked with Mojezeh for perhaps 3 hours total, 3 sessions of about an hour and felt that we were ready to go!

Then I find out that Mojezeh, who has only been used as a breeding stallion to this point in his 9 year old life, has only left the farm once, yep, you guessed right, to breed mares! So, here we are, going to a show with a 9 year old breeding stallion who has only been in a trailer once in his life and what did he get as a reward for coming off at the other end? Mares!!! And where are we going? To a show where the mares will surely be lined up for him, with their makeup on and all!

Now I know that some of you might be hoping to read the gory details that quite likely should have occurred, however, Mojezeh was a perfect gentleman the whole time. He acted like he had been at a horse show all his life.

I thought I had a pretty good trip around the triangle with Mojezeh, not bad for his first time at a show etc. I knew that there were things we could do better, but I was ecstatic with what this grand old gent gave me. When I saw the score I just about cried!

Dressage judge Carol Bishop scored Mojezeh a 9 on everything! For a total of 90. He won his Stallions 4 and over class and took home the Reserve Championship.

Back at home, Mojezeh is continuing his saddle training. We hope to show him next year in Dressage. I have had my weight over his back, foot in stirrup etc. I think I will take the time though, before I swing my leg over. No point rushing this 9 year old now!