The Mendip Stud - February Newsletter 2006

Stables in Barn

Student Vets in the Breeding Barn

In this newsletter:

          • Welcome to new readers.
 • Clinics at the Mendip Stud.  

          • Our Charity of choice:  The National Foaling Bank

          • Stud news:  What’s going on here and general news.

          • Chairman’s letter – this month -  David Lloyd Chairman of W.E.S.

          • Trainer profile – This month  -  Ilan Rosenberg

          • From the Bench -  the Judges corner – this months article by Adam Heaton

          • Lou’s Larder – a recipe from Lou  - and if you didn’t know she was a good cook, look at my figure J - or perhaps not !

          • Website only  - ‘Folk on the Farm’  -  some pics from last month.

          • Caption competition - win a saddle pad.

A warm welcome to the following new readers – 

Wendy Portbury             Wiltshire                        Fatma Al Mualla     U.A.E.

Linda Kennard                Essex                            Abbey Jeeves         Norfolk

Anne Todd                       Bath                               Roman Perdan       Slovenia

Linda Carroll                    Wales                            Jennifer McInnis    Scotland

Stephanie Macdonald   Worc’s

Please send in details of anyone else whom you think might like to receive the newsletter – you can subscribe online     - thanks.

Clinics update.

General clinics:

All our Saturday clinics are proving to be very popular with most spots taken well in advance. Please be sure to book early to avoid disappointment. Shane and Lee’s dates are as follows:

Pleasure Clinics

David Dellin clinics both here and at Oakridge Quarter Horses have been very well received with clinics all but sold out. Please see the website for availability.  (If you are interested please let us know as soon as possible). We have also had considerable interest for spectator tickets and would ask those who are planning to attend as spectators to let us know in advance by filling in the request form on the website so we can get the catering right – especially those with vegetarian requirements.

Sophie Lerebour will be here later in the year following the European Championships and the World Equestrian Games.

Reining Clinics

We are pleased to announce two weekend clinics with top European reiner Ilan Rosenberg  - you can read more about Ilan and his achievements in the trainer profile below.

Dates for Ilan are as follows:

Saturday May 20^th & Sunday May 21^st                                         

Saturday July 8^th   & Sunday July 9^th

These clinics will be popular and places will be available on a first come first serve basis. Please fill in the request form on the training page of our website or contact Lou directly on 01934 751258 or 07866 444739. The cost per day will be £125 including lunch. Spectators £10 per day including lunch. There will be a bring a bottle buffet (£10) a ticket on the evenings of the 20th May and 8^th of July – tickets for both the spectator and the buffet can be requested through the office or online.

We will be able to give dates for a Doug Allen reining clinic in next month’s newsletter.

National Foaling Bank

This year we have selected the National Foaling Bank our ‘Charity of Choice’. Donations for hot drinks and lunches and profits from specific fund raising events will go to the National Foaling Bank.

A little about who they are and what they do.

National Foaling Bank
(Vardon Trust)

Founded by Miss Johanna E. Vardon, MBE

Back in 1965 Miss Johanna E. Vardon started a friendly little service, unaware that it would grow over the years into one of the most appreciated services in the United Kingdom's Equine Breeding Community. To date, the National Foaling Bank has received over 50,000 calls for advice and assistance with foaling, breeding, and adoption services.   Remarkably, this operation has been run for over three decades on a "shoestring" budget at great personal cost, financially and physically, especially during the foaling season.

Services

The purpose of the National Foaling Bank has grown to include the following and more:

          • Adoption service for orphan foals, matching them to suitable foster mares that have lost their own foals

          • Advice on difficult foaling cases, including savage mares, problem foaling mares (haemolytic, cancer, twining, etc)

          • Advice about foals that require 24 hour nursing

          • Purpose built facilities for specialised foal care

          • 24 hour telephone / fax support

Sponsorship Needed 

Membership will help ensure that practical help is always available night and day.   Any member can telephone at any time without having the slightest conscience!   What other organisation or society to which you have ever financially contributed offers such a service?   A sympathetic ear in your hour of need can be a lifesaver. The membership fee is £20.00 per year if you are a Hunter or Pony breeder, or £30.00 per year if you are a Thoroughbred breeder or a Veterinarian.  

One of our special fundraising events will be a lecture by Joanna Vardon M.B.E. tickets will be £10.00 for adults and £5.00 for children under 14. We’ll announce dates and times on the website in March.

Stud News

We are proud to have been awarded the Breeders Quality Mark by the British Equestrian Federation. We are the first Quarter Horse and Appaloosa Stud to have gained this award. Many congratulations to the whole team here who worked so hard in attaining this recognition. Thanks also to Jan Rogers of BEF and Chris Hewlett of Haddon Training for their help and guidance over the last year. The information below is taken from the B.E.F. website. 

"The Breeders' Quality Mark (BQM) is a quality mark awarded by British Breeding, the breeding division of the British Equestian Federation, to studs demonstrating best practice in stud management"

“The “Breeders’ Quality Mark” (BQM) has been launched in recognition of British breeders who are working to the highest standards of practice and record keeping. The BQM will enable breeders to promote their skill, add validity to breeding data produced by these breeders, boost the confidence of the horse buying public and increase the marketability of the horses and ponies produced. The aim is to improve the quality and integrity of the information recorded by studs and artificial insemination centres in Great Britain, and allow national comparison.

In order to do this the BQM will encourage breeders to adopt best practice in respect of the recording of information relevant to their breeding programmes and establish systems to ensure that nationally comparable information has integrity and is statistically sound. The scheme is not concerned with the quality of the animals on the stud as this is the province of the Breed Societies and Stud Books. Both studs and artificial insemination centres will be eligible for the award, and will be assessed not only on the integrity and statistical soundness of the information recorded relevant to their breeding programmes but also on the establishments compliance with legislation, regulation and best practice”

_____________________________________

Other News

The new arena was christened last week and will be available for clinics and customers from the 18^th  onwards.

Two new clinics for Shane Borland have been arranged for the 1^st and 15^th of April – places have been taken up quickly and only a few spots remain – give Lou a call on 01934 751258  to book what’s left.

We are delighted to announce that Ilan Rosenberg  (see trainer profile below) will be holding two weekend long reining clinics one  May and the other in July  – dates and details can be found on the website along with all the other activities going on in the next six months.

In March we will be installing our solarium and drying facility  - equines only  J  - this will be a coin operated equine solarium near to the wash bays in the main barn.

Don Fechner and the Western Boot and Saddles Company will be here on the weekend of the 6^th and 7^th May with a large selection of tack and clothing. Thanks are also due to Don for providing the prize in the caption competition this month.

There are only a couple of rooms left in the farmhouse for the Dave Dellin weekend on the 6^th and 7^th May  - please contact Lou if you need to book or need a list of alternative accommodation nearby.

This Month’s society/association letter

David Lloyd – W.E.S. Chairman

Hi, to all readers of the Mendip Stud Newsletter.

The Western Equestrian Society  [WES] was formed in 1985 to promote quality western riding in the UK for all breeds of horses. We are now very close to 1000 members and of course still growing. I find it very encouraging that more and more equine experts recognise the benefits of western training.

We offer a large range of shows for all standards of horse and rider, novice, amateur and open. We arrange 40 shows per year in all parts of the UK. Other events will include clinics and two of these are large group three-day clinics. These are very popular; on offer also is our judge’s seminar, open to non-judges also. This is popular as you can learn what judges are looking for in a class and our show management seminars create big interest bringing in new people to help run shows.

The Championship show held in August is our biggest show and open riders must qualify to compete in the main open classes.

By looking at our website www.wes-uk.com you can see show results, lists of shows and clinics, approved instructors, area reps and much more !

My thanks to John and Lou for inviting me to write to this newsletter.

David Lloyd.

Trainer profile   -   Ilan Rosenberg

Ilan Rosenberg is undoubtedly the most successful Israeli rider in the country’s short history, although his many reining titles have all been achieved in Europe. Ilan was born to British parents who immigrated to Israel.

He has been riding horses since age 6. Ilan’s earlier riding background varied from dressage and show jumping to Western Riding. He studied Western Riding in the USA for a number of years and has been training and competing professionally for  the past 22 years. Ilan’s life is totally devoted to his profession and his search for excellence as a trainer.

He is presently based in Schluesselfeld (Bavaria) which is just one hour’s drive north from the largest show arena in Europe at Kreuth. Ilan has won numerous championships throughout the last five years in Europe and has achieved the title of “The most successful rider of the year” in Germany in two separate disciplines. Ilan is married to Niki who manages his professional life and they have a young daughter age 5 called Zohar.

ILAN ROSENBERG    -   RECENT REINING TITLES :

► Limited Open Maturity Champion 2005 - Italy.

► European Champion Hackamore/ Snafflebit Reining Open 2004
► Futurity Champion DQHA (German Quarter Horse Association) 2004.
► Reserve Intermediate Open Champion 2003 in Italy.
► German Novice Horse Open Champion for the year 2001.
► German Limited Open Champion for the year 2001.
► Derby Open Champion 2000 Germany.

More pictures on the Ilan's bio page

From the bench ………

this months view in Judges corner -  Adam Heaton

(Holds N.R.H.A. and W.E.S. Judging cards)

View from a judge

As we head towards the show season, and the end of what seems like a long, dark winter, all our thoughts turn to competition and the highs and lows that showing can bring. Both competitors and judges have their good and bad days; it’s just a sad fact of life that it’s more noticeable when it’s the judge who’s having an off day!

Having a bad day as a judge though, should never be an excuse for taking a negative approach to judging, it’s easy to sit there and pull someone’s performance to pieces, but all judges have a responsibility to look for the good points in every performance. And that is why the result given by the judge can so often differ from that predicted by those in the saddle, or on the rail. The most commonly overheard saying at the end of the class must surely be on the lines of “Why did he/she win that class, didn’t the judge see how tight the rein was/how low the horses head was/how stiff the rider’s back was, etc, etc, etc.”

The answer, almost invariably would be yes, the judge did see the faults, but more importantly saw what was good about the performance. Even if you’re judging the worst horse in worst class at the worst show ever known to man, you should be looking to give credit for manoeuvres well performed, recognition for riding well executed and praise for anything positive that the rider can take away from that performance.

On most, if not all, occasions when I’ve been judging, there have been those who have asked me what I though of their performance. Not once have I been unable to give a positive comment. Well maybe once, but I’ll spare that particular rider’s blushes. Generally the advice I would give any competitor who seeks my opinion is “Take everything that was good about your performance, build on it until the next time you show, and you will improve.”

As a judge, I am looking for the positives, and as a competitor, you should too.

Lou’s Larder

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

As some of you may know Lou is a bit of a kitchen guru - After much persuasion I have finally managed to get Lou to put some of her recipes to paper……….

900g (2 lb) Butternut Squash

40g (1½ oz) Butter

350g (12 oz) Potatoes

1.2 litres (2 pints) Vegetable Stock

100ml (3½ fl oz) Single Cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 160°c/325°F/Gas Mark 3

Slice the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Place the 2 halves in a roasting dish and dot with half the butter. Roast in the oven for about an hour until it is soft and starting to brown.

Melt the rest of the butter in a large pan, add the potatoes and stock and simmer for around 20 minutes until they are tender.

Once the squash has cooled enough to be handled, scoop out the flesh and liquidise it together with the potato and stock mixture. Pour back into the saucepan, stir in the cream and season to taste.

You can toast some sunflower seeds in a dry frying pan until brown and use as a garnish.

Win a Saddle Pad - try our Caption Competition.

Send in your thoughts - Closing Date February 28th   - winner to be chosen by Shane Borland    - Prize: GVR Saddle Pad kindly donated the Western Boot and Saddle Company.    See their website at  www.bootsandsaddlescompany.co.uk  for your tack and clothing requirements.

Remember -- A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...
BUT a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"

The Mendip Stud
Tel: +44 (0)1934 751258              Bow Farm, A38 Badgworth, Somerset, UK, BS26 2QA              Mobile: +44 (0)7866 444739
info@themendipstud.com