We have a new boarder, Urik is his name...he is a Friesian who is here for training and to be sold.



He is a gentle giant!
He's only 3 years old, and knows nothing, but he is a fast learner!



Soon he'll go under saddle



Can't help but to check if he can jump!



He is getting used to bit and bridle very fast.

Decided to go to the Whidbey schooling show again.
This time we did not have the time to go to Bellingham.
We got there late Friday night and cooked dinner in the dark. It froze hard overnight and woke up to frozen water hoses!
This time we knew Training starts first and we did our warm up and had nice tests.



Jenny and Dagjeir getting ready to do their test



They got their best score all season for the dressage and were standing in first place!



Pan Tau warming up



Pan Tau in his test

The cross country face again Jenny went first, and I was able to see most of their ride.
She did great, until they came into the infield and she looked too late for her next jump and got a terrible line to the open W jump and Dagjeir refused.
She got a better line and they went over. Too bad, because she was leading the class!
Pan Tau's turn, and the minute we went on course something was not right.
He tossed his head, did not listen to my aids and I felt totally out of control!
This is just not like him?!!!



Pan Tau over the log-ditch-log combo
I was thinking at the jumps to come, and decided to stop.
I have never had to do this on course ever before....but I'm glad I did.
I put him back in his corral, and went to see others ride, came back a half hour later, to find a horse had gotten loose, gone to Pan Tau's corral and picked a fight with him, and Pan Tau got his leg badly scraped
over the boards!



Since it was right over his tendon and quite bruised, I did not ride anymore, neither the next day!

In the mean time Jenny was getting ready for stadium.
She had a great round and finished 3rd.









Jenny and Dagjeir over the final triple combination.
The next day Jenny had a cross country lesson with Linda Chatfield again. And this time I took pictures since I could not ride.



They schooled the trakhener some more,





They got to jump the prelim sod houses



This prelim fence has a nasty little down hill dip in front of it



Training bench



Prelim coop



The W where she had her bad line on course



on their way to the water drop





bounce to the water





Prelim drop into the water
It was a great way for us to finish the season, Jenny from having never done ANY eventing, or any showing of any kind for that matter of fact, to finish at Training.
And for Pan Tau who has very few shows under his belt.
We are very excited for next year!
In the mean time Pan Tau's leg has healed, and he will be fine.

My niece on my brother's side is visiting from France.



We went to the beach and found this gorgeous cedar stump, and hauled it home to make a skinny jump in the pasture.



In return we go on trail rides!
Chloe hasn't ridden much at all, but Dagjeir is very good to her!

We went to a schooling show with Pan Tau and Dagjeir and moved up to training level.
It was on Whidbey island, close to home!
We left on the 10am ferry and drove to Bellingham to Sunset park to school the jumps there first.
We don't have many Training level or Prelim jumps at home, and no water, so any occasion we get to school those we "jump" at.



Jenny and Dagjeir warming up



Jenny's first corner!



It was a beautiful day!



Jenny over the skinny



Pan Tau



Warming up.



Going over the skinny

We had a great day, then grazed the horses and loaded them back up to go to Whidbey.
We got there just in time to walk our course in the dark, sure sign that summer is over!
The next day all 3 phases of the competition was done in one day.
We were first in the dressage ring, and hadn't seen the schedule prior, so we were late and had no time for warm up.
Still, our horses did well, but we would have done much better if we would have known.

Next was the fun part, cross country.
It was very helpful to have practiced the corner jump and the water the previous day.
Jenny went first and her only trouble was at the trakhener, she came around the corner too fast and didn't balance Dagjeir enough and they had a refusal.
The rest of the course they did great.
Pan Tau was awesome, obedient, and willing, it was like a walk in the park for him.
The stadium went well too. We had a friend taking pictures!



Jenny and Dagjeir on course



Over the Whidbey island pirate ship!



Pan Tau over the pirate ship



And the final triple combination
Pan Tau ended up 3rd and Dagjeir 4th.



Pan Tau and Dagjeir both in the ribbons

The next day we had a cross country lesson with Linda Chatfield and jumped the ditches and did the Prelim water jumps. So much fun!

Donida Farms: After driving to Montana twice in one summer, competing at Donida Farms in Auburn, WA felt like we were right in our own backyards! After an amazing summer of schooling & competitions, we were feeling very confident about Donida, and knew it would give us another chance to practice what we'd been learning.

On Friday we experienced some crowded warm-up arenas for dressage. This sometimes adds another element to Amrita's preparation with Pan Tau, though he is usually so well behaved, nobody ever guesses that he is a stallion. This time, however, Amrita decided to cut her warm-up a bit short and opted for a relaxing walk while they waited for their turn to ride their test. Dagjeir, on the other hand, seemed as relaxed and happy as ever.

The crowds didn't seem to phase him much, and in our warm-up he behaved as well as he does at home. With so many competitions under his belt, he has turned him into a seasoned pro! When it came time for our test, the judge's scribe had taken a quick break, so the judge allowed us to circle the arena as many times as we pleased. By the time she rang the bell which signaled us to start, Dagjeir was as cool as a cucumber.

We earned our best score so far at a competition. Amrita & Pan Tau were up soon after. Pan Tau showed a lot of improvement overall, but particularly in obedience and acceptance of the bridle. The judge had some nice comments, and it turned out to be a very nice dressage test.

It's very rewarding to see Pan Tau enjoying his work and developing a more muscled top-line. Dagjeir a 36, Pan Tau 48. To our great delight, we had some visitors on Saturday for cross country. My dad Richard, younger brother Dale, and nephew Simon, made a surprise visit. . .and our friends Bill & Monica, and Cathy Leddy of Cascade Gold Akhal-Tekes, showed up soon after. We were thrilled!

We made good use of our team, and didn't waste time putting them to work. Simon helped by grooming the horses...while Dad and Dale tied my pinney when I geared up for my ride. Then we doled out the cameras and assigned stations for everyone along the course. We weren't going to miss out on some great photo opts! As usual, cross country was a blast. . .and it was exciting to know we had friends and family cheering us on at every turn.

Both horses jumped clear, but we each had time faults for going past the optimum time. The speed for our course was set at 400 mpm, rather than the usual 350 mpm for Novice level. When we initially walked our course, we didn't factor in the faster time, so of course, when we rode it, we didn't factor it in then either. When we should have been making up time by galloping the long stretches in the beginning, we were staying at a steady 350 mpm canter. It came back to bite us in the end, and proved that even on our wiry Akhal-Tekes. . .we can get still get time faults!

After our cross country rides, we volunteered to jump judge for the Beginner Novice division. Monica, Bill, Cathy, Dad, Dale, and Simon decided to come, too. Amrita was stationed on jump 11, and I was assigned the ditch, which was number 13.

Simon, who is 10 years old, proved to be a natural at jump-judging, and was radioing the competitors like he'd been doing it his whole life! The course proved to be a challenge for many in Beginner Novice, and we didn't see much action because the first four or five riders had already been eliminated in the beginning of the course! Unfortunately, we had our chance to call off a few of them ourselves.

We wished them better luck at their next competition! Our cheering squad had to depart on Saturday afternoon, so it was back to the two of us for stadium jumping on Sunday. This time, however, we were in for a fun challenge. The stadium jumping at Donida was set up in their large out-door arena. There is enough room between the jumps for picking up a fast pace, so they assigned each level an optimum time, just like in cross country. We noticed a lot of people getting time faults, in addition to jump penalties for rails down, refusals, etc. Amrita and I vowed not to get time faults in stadium to go with our time faults in cross country!

We really enjoyed the challenge of having to go fast for stadium, and it turned out to be a very fun course. We both made the time. . .but we each had a rail down. Pan Tau knocked a rail when Amrita cut a corner a bit too sharply, and Dagjeir knocked a rail on the last jump, which is very unlike him.

When we studied the pictures later on, we discovered that I was landing in the saddle, rather than landing in my heels, and the pressure must have caused his back end to drop down just enough to nick that last rail. Poor Dagjer--It must have been embarrassing for him to knock a rail because I was plopping in the saddle!

Once again, thank goodness we had photos so we could study our rides. The good news was that my rail in stadium wasn't enough to bring me down in the placings, and I finished in 6th. Amrita and Pan Tau finished 11th. As it turned out, Donida Farms was our last Novice competition with Dagjeir and Pan Tau. When we got home, we decided we would move up to Training Level at our new event. We have been schooling Training and Preliminary, so we felt confident that it was time to be progressive and move on!

Dagjeir dressage 36 cross country 9.6 time faults, stadium 4 total 49.60, 6th place
Pan Tau dressage 48 cross country 9.6 time faults, stadium 4 totoal 61.60 11th place

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SPECIAL JULY 2009 UPDATE!
- Jenny and Dagjeir get 10th place at Rebecca Farm
- Whidbey Island Horse Trials
- Heron Park Clinic, Montana
- Photo shoot Turkmen style

The Olympic Experience
Event Camp with David and Karen O'Conner, Amy Tryon, and Cathy Wieschhoff

We arrived at Rebecca farm in good time, settled the horses in and set up camp before dark. The next morning we all met and got our schedule for the week. We all got handed a Pareli rope halter, rope, neck rope and carrot stick. Karen and David showed us in a crash course how to use them, then how to apply it to our riding. In the mornings we would show up in rope halters, ion the afternoon we would ride and apply the technique on the horses. And we had many lectures, some from Max, The O'Connor's lead groom. We took in so much information, and were so busy all day long, we barely had time to take notes, but we did digilently.

Line up of horses, Pan Tau is 2nd to last.



Working on yields after having done them "Parelli" style in the moring.

Jenny and Dagjeir waiting for Tick Maynard and his young horse to comply. We would be split in 4 groups everyday, and the teachers roteted groups every lesson, 2 lessons a day of 2 hours.

We did a lot of pole work, ground work and in the end a little cross country jumping. Since we were both always riding at the same time, we have very few pictures.

Some ditch work

And stadium

We learned a lot, and are excited to come back in a month to compete, hardly any of the jumps were out, can't wait to see what it will look like! We only schooled on e of the waters, the one that had natural water..all the others on course will be dead!

My name is Megan and I've been riding horses since I was 7 years old and competed in hunter/jumper on my Appy/QH mare Nutmeg. When I was about 10, I saw the surreal, shimmering picture of Kambar in a breed book and I was hooked on Akhal Tekes! Aside from their glistening coats and exotic looks, I was also interested in them due to their incredible athletic ability in jumping and dressage. I've spent many hours looking up Teke photos and information on the net and the dream of owning an Akhal Teke (or several) once I've finished my Optometry degree keeps me going through tough exam periods. My first opportunity to ride a Teke came in June 2009 at Amrita Ibold's Sweetwater Farm on San Juan Island.

I've followed Amrita's horses and news on her website for years and always meant to contact her due to her close proximity to my home on Vancouver Island, B.C. I finally emailed her this summer and she graciously invited me to visit her horses and go for a ride. After taking the Sidney, B.C. ferry to Friday Harbor and making stops at the Whale Museum, Winery and Roche Harbor, I arrived at Amrita's beautiful farm and was greeted by dogs Sarah and Charlie. We went to see the horses and I met the boys first and then the girls. Amrita's horses are all purebred Tekes and all are gorgeous and extremely friendly and gentle horses.

My favorite, due to her lovely color and sweet temperament, was Altyn Gush, "Gullie", who is a 3-year-old mare bred by Amrita. After giving the girls some scratches and attention, we said goodnight and went for dinner at Mi Casita in Friday Harbor and then drove to catch a beautiful sunset at Lime Kiln Point Park.

The next morning I arrived at the farm excited to ride. I met Amrita's friend Jenny, who is a Natural Horsemanship trainer and has been competing with Amrita's Teke gelding, Dagjeir. Amrita showed me her cottage which contains antique saddles and bridles as well as all sorts of Akhal Teke treasures. We chatted about the breed and got Dagjeir ready for me to ride in a lesson.

I started out in the arena with some flatwork and he was very smooth to ride and went on the bit nicely.

Then we jumped a cavellitti into and out of the arena before riding down the hill into the cross country field.

Amrita's created some beautiful natural jumps including lots of log jumps and a bank. We started by jumping up and down the 'baby' bank and then jumped some logs throughout the field.

Dagjeir was very good and made me feel confident despite the fact I've never done cross country and haven't jumped for five years! I was all smiles as we jumped around the cross country field, especially after clearing the bigger log jump!

Just as I thought the day couldn't get any better, Amrita offered to take me on a trail ride! I was surprised when she said I'd be riding Pan Tau, her Akhal Teke stallion, since I'd never ridden a stallion before. He was very sweet and fun to ride on the trail!

Amrita rode her gelding Ak Pashildi and the dogs joined us as we meandered through the woods and chatted about everything Teke. We trotted and cantered on some of the back roads and Pan Tau's huge trot was so ground-covering it felt like we were flying along the trail!

Back at the farm, I took lots of photos of all the horses and said my goodbyes. I can't wait for a few years down the road when I can start the search for my perfect Akhal Teke horse!

Thanks so much to Amrita for a wonderful experience with her gorgeous horses on her picturesque property! I will be returning later in the summer to watch the Whidbey Island Horse Trials and to spend some more quality time with the horses!

Report by Jeny:

In June we had some of our greatest adventures yet. We competed at Aspen Farms Horse Trials in Yelm, WA, on June 12, 13, and 14th. Neither of us had been to Aspen Farms before, so we were very excited to arrive on Thursday and get the "lay of the land." We were in for a pleasant surprise! All of the cross country jumps were new and beautifully designed. There was even a pirate ship with two big fir trees for masts, and wooden waves that lapped all the way around. The detail and construction was amazing, and Amrita got lots of great ideas for building new jumps at home. We took pictures while we walked our course so that we could remember what they looked like. Dressage took place in four well-groomed sand arenas, and there was a covered arena for warming up. The stadium jumping was set up in a grassy area surrounded by woods. There were a few trees on course, and lots of ferns, so it almost seemed like you were riding cross country.

The competition began on Friday with dressage. The entries were running a bit early, and unfortunately, Amrita and I were running a bit late. We got to the warm-up arena and discovered that Amrita was already "in the hole," which meant she was next in line to perform her test! Even though they only had a few minutes to warm up, Amrita and Pan Tau had one of their best dressage rides yet. Pan Tau was relaxed and responsive, and he never threw his head. . .Amrita was so pleased!

There was a few competitors between us, so I had plenty of time to get really nervous for the judge! I wasn't focusing enough on what I needed to do before entering the arena, so I only had time to make one lap in front of the judge's car before we started. Luckily for me, Dagjeir was more relaxed than last time--phew! Our test showed much improvement--I remembered to use my outside rein, and Dagjeir decided my nerves were something through which he might possibly survive. I have come a long way in such a short time, but too much tension is still effecting my scores, so I am going to have to learn how to relax!

Amrita and I had stadium jumping on the second day, instead of the third, since there were so many competitors. Unfortunately, I spent too much time chit-chatting during my course walk, and it came back to bite me during my ride! I went off course and jumped 6a and 6b after the third jump, instead of doing a switch-back to number 4. I realized what I had done immediately, but it was too late. The jump judge blew her whistle to let me know I was eliminated. I was devastated. . .but at least I know I'll never do that again! I put in a request to ride cross country, and much to my relief, it was granted. Not finishing my stadium course is one thing, but having to leave without cross-country would have been pure torture!

Amrita and Pan Tau had a beautiful stadium round. They jumped clear with no time faults, and Pan Tau was going steady and jumping round. Amrita was on Cloud 9. Finally she has a horse underneath her that is a true partner...what a good boy!

Cross country at Aspen Farms was amazing. Our course had 17 obstacles, and included the pirate ship, an up-bank and down-bank, a ditch-to-a-coop, and the water complex. We knew the water would be a challenge because it was dyed, and had an unnatural blue-green look to it that really spooked some of the horses. I was a bit nervous about the ditch-to-the-coop because I had never done that combination before. We were BOTH wondering about the pirate ship!! In addition to all this was some pressure that was mine alone--after being eliminated in stadium, the show office required that I get no refusals in cross country in order to be able to complete the whole course. If I got just one stop or run-out, I would be asked to leave. Darn--it was looking like I was going to have to grow a spine after all!

As it turned out, an un-assuming black coop on the back forty gave Dagjeir the jitters, but he jumped the pirate ship like he'd been sailing over galleys all his life. The ditch-to-the-coop was a breeze, and the fluorescent water did not turn his socks blue as I had at first suspected. We had a clear round with no time faults.

Except for some hesitation at the water, Amrita and Pan Tau galloped cross-country without missing a step. Pan Tau was his usual confident and courageous self, and Amrita reported that it was one of their best rides. They stayed at a steady 350 mpm pace, but had 0.4 penalties for being one second over the optimum time. For someone who was riding WITHOUT a stop watch on a fairly long course, she was certainly precise!!

Here are our results:
Amrita: 52.1 Dressage Penalties, Clear Stadium, 0.4 XC Penalties--12th Place
Jenny: 45.8 Dressage Penalties, Eliminated Stadium, Clear XC--TE

After competing at Aspen Farms, we went straight to Kalispell, Montana for the Olympic Experience Event Camp with David and Karen O'Conner, Amy Tryon, and Cathy Wieschhoff. After a fun but exhausting weekend, we decided to give ourselves some time to rest before heading out, so we stayed Sunday night at Aspen. We got up at 5:00 the next morning, loaded the horses, and were all ready to leave when we discovered that the truck battery was dead. (This was probably due to the fact that I spent too much time looking at my face in the illuminated visor mirror). Fortunately for us, there were some other campers getting ready to leave, too, and we were able get a jump. We hit the road and were on our way to Olympic Camp by 6AM.

I went with a friend to Nick Holmes-Smith Camp at Chase Creek, Canada.
I had a great time there with Pan Tau last year, and hoped to build on that experience.
Well, little did I know things would not work out that way.
The first day we started in the arena jumping a grid, and Pan Tau just wanted to rush. He was unpleasant to ride, and Nick was not impressed...
We moved on to the cross country field, and same thing, rushing to jumps, jumping poorly.


He wasn't listening to my aids, jumped hollow...
We jumped in the water, and when we went to jump out he somehow missed and we both fell.



Neither of us was hurt, and I had a talk with Nick about our poor performance. All we could think of is perhaps he's not paying attention bacause of breeding season, or hurting somewhere.

I must say our fall rattled me.
That night he had a warm hoof, I iced it, packed it, gave him bute.
The next day I gave him the day off, and iced it 3 more times.
The 3rd day of camp I rode again, if he would feel off I'd stop riding. I put my renegades boots on, and he felt good, jumped a little better, but I did not have my confidence back in him.









We rode half of the 2 hour lesson.
The last day we rode again, and this time I had my old horse back! He was obedient, enjoyed the jumping, we both had fun, things flowed.
I rode in the renegade boots again, but in the water they would fly off.
So I finished the lesson without them, and he was great.
Also the Renegade boots are far too slippery on the grass. As much as I like having my horses go barefoot, it doesn't mix with eventing.
As soon as we get home I'll put shoes on him.
Nick thought that the mares coming in heat may have taken his mind of his job while riding.



We can do a good job...

Stadium went well with no faults in jumping nor time.

Cross country goes by too fast..the most fun part of the weekend...we had a great ride trough the water, never missed a canter beat!
No faults on cross country either! And made it close to optimum time.



Jenny riding by the judge



Jenny and Dagjeir had a clear cross country time and no time faults.









Jenny and Dagjeir jumped a clear stadium round, no time faults.

They finished on their dressage score of 43 and took 11th place, me and Pan Tau finished on our dressage score of 50.5 and finished 15th.

We went to our first horse trials of the year at Yelm, the NW Mother's Day Horse Trials.
This was Jenny's first competition ever besides having ridden in our local fair as a teenager.
We are both doing the Novice class. Since it is her first horse trial, and Pan Tau's 3rd.
We arrived on Thursday and rode around, our horses being settled in and obedient.
On Friday we didn't ride till 5 in the afternoon, we spend the day watching Amy Tryon doing her dressage test on her Olympic horses and had plenty of time to braid our horses.
Jenny did a fabulous job on the tails!



Warm up for our tests went great, horses were relaxed and going well.
Jenny was in first, and from where I was they looked great, but Jenny said Dagjeir was spooked by the large tractors in the woods along side the arena and the people shoveling gravel.
Since the first water complex had too much water in it, the course got changed, and gravel had to be brought in to cover the mud.
She got a score of 43 faults due to Dagjeir being tense.



Jenny going in at A



Jenny doing her serpentines.



20 meter canter circle



Pan Tau and I going around the outside of the arena, and he just wanted to take off! Behind the bushes is the crew working on footing shoveling gravel.



Still tense starting our test



Getting ready to go to trot



Canter 20 meter circle



Jenny and Dagjeir over jump 15 going to the water complex

We have been giving cross country classes at the farm.
We have a big response!



Jenny and Dagjeir going thru the shallow part of the seasonal pond...aiming for..the canoe!



Followed by Meagan



Robyn over the fruit stand



Candice thru the water over the canoe

Jenny is helping me to develop Pan Tau's top line and lower his head. In 3 days he's improved tremendously already.


She calls it "hill therapy".
Eventually he'll figure out it is easier to travel up hill with his head low. As soon as he does it...



He gets rewarded with a break.



And over poles on the ground.



The result has been a lower head carriage and stepping more under himself.
I am so relieved!

Jenny and Dagjeir did well.












We mostly rode back to back, so little chance for pictures




On the weekend we rode our dressage test for the judges and jumped courses and jumped the hunter pace course.
Since this year the instructor worked more on everyone's position rather than exposing the horses to jumps we don't have at home, Jenny only got to practice the water on her pace course.







We also jumped training jumps, the next level up, because eventually we'd like to move up that level.





We both got 6th place in the hunter pace course.



And thanks to Krista Davis we have some nice pictures of the event, she was the professional photographer there www.Equine-Reflections.com is her website.

Jenny and Dagjeir weathering the cold and wet.

We especially had fun looking at the future jumps, and took pictures so we can make some at home to practice

We came upon the "jump hatchery"...at least that's what we called it.

To give an idea what kind of dimensions, Jenny is 6 ft tall.

This one in particular I want to make at home, just smaller for now.

It was a bit of a scare picking her up, as the transporter guy let her slip out of his hands by the gas station where we met.
She went trotting off, good thing there was a lot of grass, no cars... I got a hold of her rope soon after that.
The rest of our trip was uneventful, the way I like it!

She is a bit skinny, but that's an easy fix.

She is smart, and introducing her to the herd the next day was easy, not too much running.

She has a gorgeous trot!

Jill's last day here! We decided to trailer to the beach.

Where we are allowed to ride is a park, and we have to go over the road from where we are trailered to the beach.

We lucked out with the weather, it didn't rain, and it got more and more sunny!

We actually had a little trouble finding acces to the beach due to the large stacks of logs whased up on the shore, but we found a spot the horses could walk over the log maze.

The view is spectacular...

Ak Pashildi had never been to the beach, and got over his fear of waves pretty fast.

We had a great time, it was hard to leave, but we had to make it home to give the horses a rest before the afternoon lessons.

Born to be a barn bum....

We can now put a saddle on and off with him standing free and calm.