Virginia Appaloosa Horse Club

Just a few more days until we see you at the Trail Ride – the obstacles are in place, the maps are printed and the BBQ guy cometh! Looks like it will be hot, but a little cool down compared to this weeks heat wave. We suggest you come early to ride (first riders out at 9am) then relax, shop the bargains at the silent auction and tack trailer, visit the SPCA booth, eat BBQ and we’ll hope the ice cream truck will pay us a visit in the afternoon (we’re trying!). We may not be able to team pen in the afternoon if its too hot for the cattle to be run around, but they will be penning on friday night, if anybody would like to come in early and camp the night before. Andora Farm is just past Luck Stone on the right coming from Fredericksburg on Rt 3, and a couple of miles on the left, past Rt 29 if coming from Culpeper. Remember to bring your horses registration papers if you’d like to be eligible to be entered in a breed division, and of course coggins. See you there!

We’re busy getting ready for the Trail Ride, hope everyone is enjoying their horses as summer rolls in. We wanted to add the times for the ride: Registration will begin at 8:00 am. First horse out will be at 9:00 am with the last horse out at 12:00 noon. You may continued to register up until last horse out time. Reminder that everyone MUST have a coggins, under 18 must wear a helmet and everyone is to HAVE FUN!

2010 Trail Ride Flyer
Release and Waiver of Liability 2010
entry form trail ride-2010
virginia-appaloosa-horse-club-trail-rules 2010

Our Annual Judged/Non-Judged Trail Ride this year will be on Saturday June 26th. This year’s ride will be at Andora Farm in Culpeper VA, on Route 3. It is the home of Tom Seay who is the host of RFD-TV’s “Best of America by Horseback” and Tom has been featured several times in The Free Lance Star for his ride across America. The ride will consist of 10 obstacles placed around the 300 acre farm, to test you and your horses skill. You may ride the obstacles or just come out and enjoy the day with your horse and friends. There will be BBQ available for purchase, team penning demonstrations and practice, and a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. All breeds are welcome and there will several divisions for ages, breeds. We look forward to seeing you there!
The High Point Virginia Bred Appaloosa has an added cash award of $100, Reserve – $50 – sponsored by the Virginia Horse Industry Board.

Thank you to the Virginia Horse Industry Board for their grant to the VaApHC to promote the Virginia Bred Appaloosa! This program will offer cash awards to members who promote and show their Va Born Appaloosa. Our program is for any age App and we offer many divisions for participation – from Sporthorse to Trail horse. The Rules and Forms for nominating your App are under the Forms Tab. Join us, sign up, and have fun promoting those Va Bred Spots!

Now that the weather is improving and we are dusting off our saddles to enjoy some riding, why not keep track of your time riding by signing up for the Saddle Log? If you show or just enjoy a ride in the back yard, its a great way to track your progress and earn time for year end awards! We have an App saddle log (of course) and new for our members that ride other breeds (there are other breeds?) we have a saddle log program for the non-appaloosa rider. The forms are under the Form Tab, sign up, send it in to Jackie and start tracking those hours!

Spring is finally here and the fields are turning green. Hope you all are enjoying some time in the saddle in between rain drops. Thank you to all of you who came out and participated in the clinic – it was a great day and everyone seem to learn and enjoy the Bakers. They were interesting, knowledgable and fun! You can see the pictures under the Photo tab – scroll down to “online photo album”
Thanks to the Virginia Horse Industry Board and their grant to VaApHC, we have a new Virginia Bred Appaloosa Horse Program. We should soon be getting all the forms and rules on this site so any of you with Virginia Bred Appaloosas can join and earn CASH awards for showing and promoting your Va-App!
We will be meeting up with Tom Seay at his farm to get ready for our Judged Trail ride, which will be on June 26th this year. Mark your calendars – we have fun day planned. Also for April there will be a board meeting, if you have any agenda items for your board with newsletter to follow, for any newsletter additions you’d like to see.
Don’t forget our new FACEBOOK page. Become a fan and you can keep up with happenings with members and other Appaloosa enthusiasts from all over.

The weather is looking better and the clinic is just around the corner! What are those Judges really thinking?? Find out – There is still time to sign up to ride, or you may watch and learn and pay-at-the-door. The clinic begins at 9 am on March 13th. The address for Rose Haven Equestrian Center is 8736 Lawyers Road in Spotsylvania, VA. Bring your own chair. There will be hot dogs and snacks provided by the 4-H club for lunch. If you’d like to ride and get the most out of the clinic, please contact Sharon at 540-972-8568, there will be stalls available for the day, if needed, at an additional $10 for the day. Don’t miss this great learning opportunity. More information in the previous post

The VaApHC is sponsoring a Clinic “From the Judges Perspective” to be given by Baker Performance Horses of Salem Virginia. Mike and Shannon Baker are carded judges with ApHC and Mike judged at the World show in 2009. He holds judging cards in several breeds – APHC, AHA, USEF, AQHA (reining) to name a few and has judged the world or National shows for all cards held. The clinic will be held at Rose Haven Equestrian Center in Spotsylvania on March 13th. Let Mike and Shannon help you get ready for the upcoming show season by giving you the tools to give a winning performance in Western Pleasure, Hunter under Saddle or Equitation/horsemanship. Cost is $85 (VaApHC members $75). Auditors are also welcome at $35. Call 540-972-8568 for more information or email dobermom11@msn.com.

We will be attending the Kelly’s Ford Equestrian Center’s Community and Tack Swap on Saturday February 27th. If you are able to donate items or help at our table, or just want to shop, come on down! We will have membership registration forms, flyers for our upcoming events and Tack. The equestrian Center’s indoor ring is heated and there will be carriage rides, refreshments and face painting. We look forward to seeing you there. More information by following the link: http://www.innatkellysford.com/pdfs/TACK%20SWAP%20FEB%2027.pdf

It was a very successful and fun banquet! The Lodge was very cozy, the food was great and all the appetizers and desserts had us grazing until we were stuffed! We got to meet some new members and visit with familiar faces. The election results will be updated on the Board page soon. Most officers stayed in their positions with the addition of Deb and Kathy replacing end of term board positions. For our Awards: For Regional Awards: High point Speed Events went to John Gillies, Reserve was Brenda Gillies. High Point in Pleasure Events went to Sharon Fiel. Open Show Award High Point went to Sharon Fiel and “Tripn to Paradise”. In our Saddle Log Program: Kathy Coviello and Sharon Fiel went over 100 hours for Top Hours Awards.
See the pictures under the Photo tab. Our FACEBOOK page also has photos.