News

September 2009

Aspelund Ridge Dressage is presenting a Young Horse Symposium with FEI judge and trainer, Christoph Hess. The clinic will October 19-20 (Mon-Tues) and will feature eight horses from a four year old in the first year of training up to an eight year old aiming for the Pan Am Trials. This is an excellent opportunity to see the FEI Young Horse Program at work with an expert on the system. As well as two days of clinic, there will be a Monday evening lecture with video from the days rides to review. Please see the attached auditor registration form and rider list for more information.

Rider List

Auditor Registration

January 2009

Happy New Year to everyone from Aspleund Ridge!  Winter training is in full swing after the holidays.  Just before Christmas Sheri and Emily attended the Lisa Wilcox Symposium put on by Flying Colours Stables.  It was an amazing experience with lots of learning over the two days.  We are looking forward to another clinic with her this spring.  Sheri will be running an Applause Dressage clinic with kur guru Karen Robinson again in early March.  Contact Sheri if you are interested in attending.  Congratulations to Lindsay Senko on the purchase of Fiadora!  We know that you will enjoy this lovely young mare over the coming year.  Fiadora will be staying in training with Sheri to be started this winter.  Best wishes to everyone for a happy and successful 2009!

November 2008

Winter appears to be arriving now and clipping season has arrived!  It is time to settle in to some serious training and set the goals for next year.  

I have just returned from the annual Young Dressage Horse Trainer's Symposium at Hassler Dressage in Maryland.  This is my third year attending this exciting invitational event.  This year the three days of instruction were conducted by Scott Hassler, USEF Young Horse Coach and Ingo Pape, one of Germany's top breeders and young horse trainers.  Young Horse Trainers from across North America had the opportunity to learn from two of the best in the business as well as a chance to network and learn from each other.  This event is put on each year by Hassler Dressage and Harmony Sporthorses.  They accept a few new applicants each year as well as inviting the alumni from the year before.  This year Scott informed us that over the four years it has been running they have turned down over 500 applications!!  It is very exciting to be a part of this elite group.

We have just learned that De Niro has been chosed as the Hanoverian Stallion of the Year.  De Niro is the sire of Donarweiss - Dante's daddy!  De Niro has been a successful Grand Prix competitor, winning the 2001 German Championships for the professional riders and the 2003 German Dressage Derby.  He has sired 22 approved sons and 99 States Premium daughters.  Lots to live up to Dante!

Sheri and several students just returned from an Albrecht Heidemann clinic held at Double W Ranches in Bluffton.  It was a great two days and the girls learned lots and also impressed Albrecht with their progress.  Way to go team!!  Everyone heads back up there at the end of the month for the Gillian Sutherland clinic.  Thanks to the Wierzbas for hosting these clinics in their gorgeous facility and to Christina Seidel for organizing them.

September 2008

It has been a very busy but very successful couple of months for Aspelund Ridge.  

In August I attended the Amberlea Summer Show with Regala and Venice.  They both were wonderful.  Venice ended up as the First Level Open Champion with scores over 70%.  Reggie acted like an old pro at only her second show.  She ended up scoring 67% in a Training level test in front of FEI O judge Axel Steiner and placed third in the Canadian Performance Futurity with excellent comments on her quality of walk and potential.

Two weeks later I was back up to Amberlea for the Gold Rush Show with four horses.  Encore made her Second level debut quite successfully with scores in the low 60s.  Waverly was a star winning four out of five Third level classes scoring in the high 60s and really wowing people!  I rode DVF Chisholm (aka Lucky) for his owner Arlene MacKenzie and we tried Second level for the first time.  He was awesome - steady as can be and scoring into the high 60s as well.  He ended up as the Reserve Champion and was almost champion by the narrowest of margins.  I also rode Rhumba for her owner Jean Duckering.  Rhumba was impossible to beat all weekend - she competed in five tests and placed first every time with scores over 70% every single time!!  What a good girl she was and how she pleased her owner with her First Level Championship.

The beginning of September saw dad and I taking Sovereign to the CWHBA stallion licensing in Olds.  Sovereign performed wonderfully and impressed the judges and the crowd.  He is now officially licensed for the CWHBA.  The judges loved his swing and elasticity and he had many scores of 8.  At the end of September we headed out once again to the RPSI licensing.  This was at the gorgeous Bri Mel Farms near Okotoks.  Sovereign was even better than the last one and showed the judge all his wonderful movement and temperament.  He jumped beautifully as well.  He had all scores of 7 and 8 and received his RPSI license.  So we will be standing him next year for limited breedings as he begins his competitive career.  We have plans to show him in the FEI 4 year old division next year and then next fall head down to Oklahoma for the 30 day stallion test.  The Sandro Hit line continues to make headlines.  At the recent Dressage at Devon Breed show the stallion Starlight by Sandro Hit won the Stallion Championship, the Mature Horse Championship and the Grand Championship of the show!  We are sure excited to have one of these incredible horses.

The middle of Septemer was also the Parkland Dressage Festival which I was busy organizing once again.  It was a wonderful show with excellent judging and riding.  The weather even behaved itself except for one day!  My students had a very successful show:  Emily and Tali were the FEI Junior Reserve Champs at Nationals & Regionals and the Champs at Provincials.  Emily and Monty were the FEI Children Champs at Nats and Regs and the Reserve Champs at Provs.  Carlie Ringland had some successful tests with Toby in the Children division and ended up placing Third in the Nat and Regs.  Alyssa Brewer and Tony had some ups and downs but the ups were excellent scores in the high 60s.  Isabelle Forsstrom and Wanja had a solid showing at Third Level amongst a very strong Open class.  Congratulations to all of you!!

The last weekend of Sept Dad and I packed up our "little boys" and headed to the CWHBA North Show.  Bogart and Dante both had their first show experience and were wonderful.  Bogart won the Yearling class and behaved like a much more mature horse.  The judge loved his swing and he scored a 9!  Dante placed fourth in the Open Foal class from a stong class of 11 foals.  He trotted around without ever breaking stride and really impressed people.  His scores were all 7s and 8s.  We were very pleased with our boys and are sure looking forward to getting them going in the future.  Their sires both continue to do amazing things down South.  Donarweiss has continued to win at PSG and I1 and is now preparing to head to Flordia for the winter.  Bugatti was recently at Dressage at Devon and scoring in the high 60s at PSG/I1.

July 2008

How times flies!  It has been ages since my last update and now the summer is already half over.  It has been a busy winter and spring at Aspelund Ridge. 

At the end of June TC presented us with a gorgeous, healthy colt by Donarweiss.  “Dante” is growing quickly and we are very impressed with his movement and conformation.  Donarweiss is a De Niro/Hohenstein stallion in the US who is currently competing with Chris Hickey at PSG and consistently scoring over 70%.  What an exciting young prospect Dante is!

Bogart, our colt from last year out of Contessa and by Bugatti continues to grow and impress.  He is such a compact guy with fantastic light and uphill movement.  His sire, Bugatti Hilltop is also showing with Chris Hickey and has solid scores in the high 60s at PSG and I1.  We are very excited for Bogart to grow up and start his dressage career!

In May I began the show season with the Amberlea spring show.  Farrah was a star!  She won the First Level Open championship with scores up to 66%.  She behaved like an old pro at only her second big show.  Waverly made her very successful debut at Third level with solid scores in the 60s.  Regala also attended her first ever show and despite some nerves placed third in her classes with quiet tests.

In June I attended the Claresholm Dressage Show with nine students (needless to say I decided that there was no time for me to ride so I didn’t take any horses!).  Everyone had a successful show.  For several it was their first time out with a new horse or at a new level.  Some highlights were Alyssa Brewer and Tonfleur were the Training level Junior Champions and Emily Anderson and Talisman won the FEI Championship. 

The end of June took us to Anderson Ranch for the CA/ADA Summer Show.  This one I left the students behind and just took Venice and Matteus for their first show of the year.  Matteus made his debut at Second level and I couldn’t be happier with him.  His trot work has improved leaps and bounds in the past few months and he now has an amazing extension!  He had some good scores and really worked hard the whole weekend.  Venice also had a good weekend.  She was the First level Open Reserve Champion and had a 72% on one of her tests.  I am very excited to be taking both of the horses to the Gillian Sutherland clinic in August.  Gillian has been a huge help this spring with Matteus and Waverly – every clinic is a huge learning experience.

We have had some good news regarding two of our past sale horses this summer.  Rafia who was sold to Beth Hacking last June has been winning championships at every hunter show she attends this year.  Beth couldn’t be happier with her lovely mare.  Wartann was sold to Kelly Brouwer early this spring just lightly started and has now been to two horse trials.  Kelly was thrilled with “Dubs” as he jumps everything and placed each time out.

Next up for us is the Amberlea Summer Show where Regala will compete in the Canadian Performance Futurity.  We are also aiming for the CWHBA and RPSI stallion licensings with Sovereign this fall.

OCTOBER 2007

We have just had exciting news about Sovereign Hit’s bloodlines.  A Sandro Hit/Donnerhall son became the 2007 licensing champion at the Hanoverian Stallion licensing in Verden, Germany on October 27. The dark bay colt went on to sell in the auction for the top price of 700 000 euros!  Click here for pictures and more information.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Fall has arrived and winter is just around the corner.  We are busy at the farm getting everything set for winter time.  The shop/barn is up and the inside work on it has begun.  The shop and AgPro Consulting office should be ready to go this winter.  The barn will be left to be finished next spring.  The horses are all getting fuzzy and Tessa tells me that she is more than ready to wean Bogart!  We have found a weaning partner for him with one of my student’s lone foal so Bogey will have to wait until the end of November for him to be ready to come here. 

Picture: Furry and ready for winter!

The Parkland Dressage Festival was fantastic!  We had amazing weather and a wonderful show.  Everything ran incredibly smoothly, the Gala evening was a huge hit with the riders, sponsors and a large public attendance.  The Youth Nationals were a success – great riding and very happy competitors with a lot of loot thanks to all the great sponsorship.  All of Sheri’s students had some great rides.  Encore had some nice First level classes and was Reserve Champion in the FEI Five year old class. 

After the show wrapped up, Sheri took a nice long vacation to Spain and forgot about horses for a little while.  Now back and completely refreshed, it is time to get serious about winter training.  It will be an exciting few months with all the great horses in the barn.  Matteus and Venice will be back in competition to see who can get a solid Third level ready first!  Waverly will be training for Third/Fourth level.  Encore will be working towards Second/Third level.  Farrah will be preparing for the FEI Five Year olds and Regala for the FEI Four Year olds.  Nicky has had to retire from the show ring to continue his breeding career but his daughter, Rainy will be taking the Palomino spot and training for the dressage ring next year.  Sovereign will be moving in shortly to begin his ground work and backing.  He is full of himself and ready for some work!

JULY/AUGUST

What a busy summer it has been!!  July started off with Sheri teaching clinics in Rocky Mountain House for a riding camp and in Benalto and Red Deer for the Central Area Pony Clubs.  Bogart continued to grow and thrive – he is quite a character and sure needs a weaning mate for this fall!!  Tessa was bred to Rousseau but has come up open and will be left for rebreeding next year.  TC was rebred to Donarweiss as we did not have a foal from that cross this year.  The five year old Warmblood/Arab cross mare Swansea went to a pony club rider in Sundre for a couple of months of jumping schooling – she loves it and just can’t get enough. 

On August 1 Sheri, Isabelle and Jean Duckering headed up to Amberlea Meadows for their Summer Show with two trailers and six horses!!  What a busy five days that was.  Waverly (owned by Alisa Harris and bred by Aspelund Ridge) was the star of the group at her first show since last season.  She was the First Level Open Champion with Sheri and had a score of 73% in one of her tests.  Farrah (owned and bred by Aspelund Ridge) attended her first national show and by the time day five rolled around was pretty much an old hand at it all.  She placed third in the Four Year Old Performance Futurity class.  Encore (owned by Krista Aasman and bred by Aspelund Ridge) competed in First level and the FEI 5 Year Old Futurity winning the class with 74.4.  It was a great weekend for our old broodmare Maggie – she was the dam of Waverly and Encore and the grand dam of Farrah.  Thank you to Isabelle, Jean and Lori for all their hard work over the weekend to keep a very busy schedule doable!

Picture: The Maggie Gene

After Amberlea the plan to head south to Devonwood, OR and Spokane, WA was changed when Devonwood cancelled due to a case of EHV.  Garry and Sheri ended up leaving for Spokane only on Aug 14.  Sovereign Hit, Venice and Matteus headed out for the big trip.  Sovereign had a wonderfully educational week.  He showed in the breed show on Friday and was so in love with himself in the indoor mirrors that he didn’t show himself as he should have.  But there were lots of comments on him and good remarks from the judges.  He placed third in both the 2 yr old colts/geldings and the Hanoverian class.  There was a round pen available so we made good use of it and he now is lunging very nicely.  It was a great experience for him to get out amongst other horses in an exciting environment.  Matteus was wonderful again.  He had the high score of the dressage show with 73% on Sat and was Reserve Champion for Training level 1 point behind Venice.  Venice was a dream!  In the breed show she won her 4 yr and older mare class and the Dutch class.  She was Reserve Champion Mare and Reserve Grand Champion of the whole show.  First in the Materiale class with 90% - 10 for her walk.  Then on Sat she scored 71% in both Training tests for the Training championship.  On Sunday we tried our first FEI 5 Year Old class and despite being not quite as ready as she should have been she scored 80.2 with a 9 on her walk.  What an exciting mare!!

Picture: Venice – Champion Mare!

Once home from Spokane we begin ground breaking here at the farm for our new barn/shop building.  We hope to be done this fall.  We are now heavy into getting ready for the Parkland Dressage Festival.  Sheri is once again the organizer and this year has taken on the Youth Nationals in addition to the Provincials and Regionals.  Busy times for the next two weeks!

MAY/JUNE

With Isabelle Forsstrom starting work on April 30, Sheri and Garry left on May 1 for two weeks in BC.  Venice, Matteus and JR Nick Shoemaker were on board for two shows.  At the Southlands Spring Show things got off to a rocky start when Venice had a bad scare about the whole grounds, horses in the distance etc.  After spending four hours working with her the first day and three hours the second day I began to wonder what I had done bringing her so far for her first show!  However she pulled it together just in time and scored up to 72%.  She ended up Training level champion.  Matteus made his dressage debut with solid scores.  Nicky performed his first Second level tests well with scores around 60%.  At Thunderbird things continued to improve for Venice as she just kept getting better.  She was once again Training Champion with scores up to 73.9%.  Matteus also showed he had a learned a thing or two at Southlands and was not far behind her with 71%.  Nicky began to show signs of tiredness from the trip so took it easy this show.  Once back from BC we had two weeks until Amberlea.  The same three went along and Nicky was feeling better and also benefited from a saddle change – he scored a solid 62% in one test.  For Venice and Matteus the battle was on – if she scored a 72, he scored a 72.8.  They alternated 1st and 2nd for most of the classes and in the end he took the Championship with her the Reserve with scores up to 75% for both of them!! 

Picture: Matteus wins this time

Once home from Amberlea, Sheri had a short breather before heading to Chinook Country for the summer show.  She went as a coach as well as riding Justin for Teena Houle and Eisenberg for Lori Frank.  It was another successful weekend with Justin winning the reserve championship in Training and Eisenberg winning the championship in Second level.  The end of June was the Alberta Invitational Warmblood sale and this year Aspelund Ridge presented Rafia and Farrah.  Congratulations to Beth Hacking on the purchase of Rafia as a lovely hunter prospect. 

Picture: Rafia at auction

During the sale weekend Tessa also did her job and presented us with a lovely colt, Bogart by Hilltop Bugatti.  He is the image of his mother – not a speck of white on him.  The following week Sheri headed down to Anderson Ranch for the Calgary summer show.  There was a large number of students there and in addition she competed with Wanja (owned by Carina Forsstrom) and Eisenberg at Second level.  It was very successful for all – Lori Frank was the champion at First level and in the kur with scores over 70%.  Isabelle had her highest scores ever with Wanja.  Alyssa Brewer and Carlie Ringland both achieved their final necessary scores to qualify for the Youth Nationals.