Monday, June 28, 2010

Syndication!

A common topic of conversation around the Eventing Campfire has been Syndication. Syndication in racehorses has been a huge way for the average joe to gamble at a the dream of being involved in something great.. We see it every year during the "race to the Triple Crown" the stories of horse that was to small, to slow, to fat and a small town group of people that believed in that little horse and it became a champion. I really believe if we could make it affordable and uncomplicated for people to get involved in Eventing they would. If we could show them that they could be a part of "the dream and story" that all of us die hards live everyday we could grow and become what the racing industry is today.

With that in mind I created( well i scripted and my amazing web designer and marketing extraordinaire Carol Hill designed) a Simple easy to follow "Guide to Owning an Event Horse".

At first I thought I should keep this for just myself and possible owners/sponsors of mine ( competitive nature kicking in).. but then I realized that is such a short sighted vision. If people got excited by realizing they could own a part of one of Philips horses and 2 parts of one of Karen's horses and half of one of Bucks( pretty much guaranteeing themselves a horse at WEG'S) then maybe they would decide to get involved in some of the up and coming horses and riders as well ( hopefully a horse of mine and some of my piers)..

So I am making an effort to send this Brochure out to the masses. I must make it clear this is an first time attempt at this so there are flaws and it definitely needs improvement but everything has gotta start somewhere! So please if you are a rider and in need of a horse to get you to your goals think outside the box and get creative, show your supporters they can really get involved... and if you are a patron and a lover of the sport know you really can be on the team with your riding idol or help make that small town horse/rider or struggling professional that you love and support get to there goal of being the best they can for a small contribution.

Check out my stab at it http://www.sineadhalpin.com/images/SyndicationBrochure_web.pdf

Thanks and as always any feedback is greatly appreciated and ideas so we can keep Eventing on the path to bigger and better things!
sinead

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Its been forever!

It has been forever since I have put out a little update on S.H.E!!
Well horses as usual have been up and down..

Tate is doing pretty well. We had a little setback and seems like maybe we discounted some pain he had in his foot thinking it was due to his original injury but after another MRI he has some deep bruising in his foot... good news is that long term that is much less of an issue than what we thought the injury was.. bad news we had to back off and tildrin the foot and now he is swimming 4 times a week! check him out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOniQ7QQcJQ
He will start back up trotting in July and will aim for competing in the end of Aug.This unfortunately puts us a bit close for Blenheim but Mark is thinking he would like to take a group to Boukelo in Holland in October so that would suit perfect.

Alvin has had some bitting issues.. I have rarely had a horse that was strong and spooky at the same time.. He is learning so much so fast sometimes he has little lapses of judgment and decides he is a racehorse again! It is a nervous thing for him, he grabs the bit when he is a bit worried. In the end I do think he will be easy as pie to ride but right now sometimes he is too busy pulling to listen.. hence I have expanded my bit knowledge and am attending a schooling show locally that will let me run xc as many times as I want (AWESOME!) so I am trying a few different ones. I do think with the events being wicked expensive this is a great thing. Events with resilient footing should hold these little mix and match events. Obviously as a Professional you try and prepare your horses as much as possible before attending an event but sometimes pressure situations(shows) intensify issues that maybe were not such a big deal at home. Unfortunately then you are most likely a few hundred in and have not represented a horse well when referring to its record. These little events are financially affordable and where as they carry no points it really allows the riders to test the waters( hopefully not literally) without causing to much trauma for the horse, the owner and the checkbook!

Rocket Man who was going to be a dressage horse in aiken and then a jumper when we returned to NJ has gone back to his roots and is now Eventing again!! I ran him at a prelim at Plantation and he was great!... well a bit tough on the flat but jumped an easy clear in the SJ and was a blast xc ... His original issues eventing were having troubles judging the drops into water.. he would fall .. at the intermediate level.. I have gone back and started a lot of ground work with him and got him knowledgeable enough so that he lets me rope him ( me on the ground eliminating rider influence and a dip in the water if it went wrong :) ) into big drops into water... he seems to have gained heaps of confidence and I have learned a lot about the style he needs to jump well into the water.. so hopefully we stay dry!! he will be headed to Maryland in a few weeks

The babies are going well and headed to some schooling shows and are def. keeping me on my toes and every now and then on my butt !!:) xc schooling but all part of the game

The open house/clinic at Hart Farm went really well. I had a great time getting to know some new people in the area and had a great turnout. There were 5 groups filled so we went from 8 till 5:30 I really enjoy teaching clinics its fun to watch unfamiliar horses and riders. Its always interesting to get in and try to not only build there confidence by showing them they can do something maybe they didn't think they could, but also hopefully give them a new and different perspective on there relationship with their horse.

So on the horizon in Maryland H/T then off to Chicago to teach a young rider clinic, then back for jersey Horse park, Millbrook so on and so forth!

I will keep this more updated! promise
xx