This message is from: Arthur and Carol Rivoire <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hello Everybody from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia -
We had a great day yesterday with our horses, and I have to share it.
A riding school in our village was holding a Dressage & Jumping show. We
decided to attend with Saskia (Briggen daughter) and Saakje (Ohlson-Junior
daughter). Because of Saskia's incredible temperament, and Saakje's
incredible movement, we'd picked these two to keep for BDF.
Here in Nova Scotia, we do almost no showing. What shows there are occur
in mid summer when we're busy with our Driving Vacation guests. So, this
little show five minutes from the farm was too good an opportunity to pass by.
It was decided that our barn manager, Jaimie would ride Saskia, and our new
Norwegian intern, Kristine, would ride Saakje in the musical "Pas de Deux"
class (costumes optional). Well, we had a lot of fun dreaming up the
costumes, and probably got a bit carried away with the season.
I had some old felt batwings on headbands stored in the attic. That
started it all. There were just enough - four of them, two for each horse,
and two for the girls. Then we added black turtlenecks and black tights.
Next we found huge red lined black satin capes. Then the horses' bridles
were decorated with maroon and gold ribbon with swinging tassles. But, the
crowning touch, so to speak, is all due to Kristine. She said, "In Norway,
sometimes for shows we cut the mane like a dragon . . . in zigzags. I was
fairly horrified, and made her try it out on a broodmare that wasn't to be
shown. --- I had to admit, it looked GREAT!
In fact, the whole turnout looked smashing, and the girls' black lipstick
was a nice touch.
So, these two four-year-olds that hadn't been off the farm since they
arrived as yearlings went to their first show. Saakje was ridden in a Walk
Trot Test by Samantha White, age 13, one of our apprentices. It was a big
class, 10 - 12, and she got a 3rd. --- Kristine rode Saskia in a Training
Level Test and took 1st place.
Then Jaimie and Kristine did their "Pas de Deux" to Shostakovich. They
were truly mirror-image, and did all the required movements. -- Since I'm
not much into dressage showing, I'd asked the organizer exactly what we
should do in addition to the "required movements". She'd told me to do
what's required and creatively fill in the rest of the six minute time
allotment.
Our "creativity" was what did us in - prize-wize. The girls entered side
by side to the booming music, then did their required movement. Finishing
that, and coming from opposite directions they turned in at B and E,
meeting head to head at X. At that point, SIMULTANEOUSLY they dropped
their reins and stirrups, and stood up on the backs of the horses, raising
their caped arms in a salute to the audience. Next, they slid off the
haunches of their horses, raised their arms to the audience again, and in
UNISON, crawled under the horses' bellies, stopping underneath to grin at
the audience. They finished the routine by smartly stepping to the
haunches of the horses and giving their final salute to the judge.
The whole thing went beautifully. Those 4 yr. olds never budged as the
girls stood on their backs in the middle of the indoor, which by the way,
they'd never been in before, or any other indoor.
Both horses were completely on the bit through the whole routine. Both
were forward and regular, and the "pas de deux" was truly mirror-image.
However, when the prizes were handed out, they were last. The girls were
disappointed. Jaimie said, "We got robbed", but I was so ecstatic over
the horses' behavior that nothing could dim that pleasure.
They were the only Fjords there, and except for one Warmblood owned by a
good dressage rider, they were by far, the best moving (forward, rhythmic
and regular), best behaved horses at the show. They were also, with the
exception of the WB, the only horses that had any semblance at all of
bending in the corners and around the circles. -- Additionally, our
Fjords were (with exception of WB), the ONLY horses at the show that were
on the bit, and ours were consistently on the bit.
I tell you, this little outing did a lot for me. I hardly ever go anywhere
with our Fjords. We stay on the farm and just compare one Fjord to
another. I guess that's a good thing, because, as a result, our standards
have become pretty high. This was so evident yesterday. Things that we'd
consider totally unacceptable here at BDF, apparently, are OK in other
situatiions. Many of these horses were rushing around the dressage ring,
heads in the air avoiding the bit, and bent totally out of shape in the
corners. -- At BDF, we don't let our youngest apprentices ride like that,
and the name of the game here is CONTACT, as past Beginner Driving Vacation
guests can attest.
Anyway, I'm proud as punch of our two 4 yr. old girls. They looked great,
and performed the best. And, by the way, these two young mares are also
lovely driving horses.
I guess I'd better get myself out more in the future, so that I can truly
appreciate what we've got, and how terrific these horses are. Arthur is
always telling me I'm too critical, and lots of our clients tell us the
horse they got from us is "much better than you said, Carol."
Best Regards, Carol Rivoire
Carol and Arthur Rivoire
Beaver Dam Farm Fjords II
R.R. 7 Pomquet
Antigonish County
Nova Scotia
B2G 2L4
902 386 2304
http://www.beaverdamfarm.com
