March at FTS

We are aiming for once monthly updates, as all our regular updates can be found on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/firtreestud (you do not need to be a member of Facebook to see our page).

This month has continued our aim of getting as many of our clients to try something new this year, with many giving Dressage Anywhere ago for the first time. Alison and Krista both did their first ever dressage tests at the end of February and scored a well deserved 59%, they are now working towards going out for their first competition soon.

Sarah & Gary who own the lovely Florian and Mac have been working with us whilst the two horses are on short term training livery, to kick start their competition season. All four of them have improved tremendously and we are very proud of all their hard work.

Along side going to Port Royal, Sarah competed in her first Dressage Anywhere and came 2nd in their very full class!

We have also had another Liz Harris Equine Therapist clinic day, and we have some big plans for the summer months, so please keep looking back for exciting opportunities coming soon! 

Equestrian Life Magazine

FTS's New Years Resolutions has made it into this months (Feb North) EQUESTRIAN LIFE MAGAZINE.

 

Well done to all our clients! We will hopefully be back out again on the 23rd Feb. See you then! 

FTS New Years Resolutions!

Happy New Year to all our clients and friends!
Sorry for the delay in writing, the first two weeks of January so far have been none stop for all at FTS.

Over the Christmas period we teamed up with our clients to ponder our new years resolutions, and we have decided to run monthly competition outings. This allows our clients to start their 2013 off with a bang with our first dressage outing the 6th January.
On these outings the whole FTS team accompanies our clients to an event to offer support and training, with the aim of developing the horse and rider combinations we are already working with.

On the 6th Jan we all went to Port Royal EEC for  Dressage classes of all levels. This competiton allowed some of our clients to kick start their new year. All combinations were urged to try something new, ranging from the first competition in 10 years to trying a novice test for the first time.
 Through the day, 14 tests for FTS clients were ridden!!

Everyone had a fabulous day, with all horse and rider combinations performing beautifully. Results varied with rosettes right through the scale from 1st to 6th place. Sam & Summer even traveled all the way from Whitby for their fabulous score of 72% and 1st place.

This will be a monthly event run for our clients and we will keep you posted with their progresses!  Well done every one!!

Fir Tree Stud in HORSE Magazine

Fir Tree Stud were featured in the November issue of Horse and Hound's sister magazine HORSE.
Andrew and Marchje's recent sucess in California was published in their News update section.

 

Other news from this month featured on our facebook page include:

Yard visit to Bishop Burton's Olympic masterclass, Sam and Summer the Friesian's dressage success and also the count down to the next Mark van de Donk clinic on the 1st and 2nd of December.

For those who are interested in the Mark dressage clinics, we will be allowing spectators on either day for just £5. If any one is interested please email us to book a slot.

  

Dulcie qualifies for British Dressage Regional Finals!

Dulcie Smith and Robbie V (who train with Janice at FTS) have qualified for the British Dressage Regional Finals (East of England) this February at Bishop Burton.
Dulcie and Robbie have qualified in spectacular fashion coming 1st in their BD test today at Port Royal with 67%.
Everyone at FTS are very proud of the pair and all of the hard work Dulcie (who is only 17) has put in this year, WELL DONE!

Andrew & Marchje travel to America!

As you all know, Marchje & her owner have moved to America this August. After 18 days of quarantine, Andrew traveled over to join them for 21 days of intensive training and fittening work in heats exceeding 40C for the INTERNATIONAL FRIESIAN SHOW HORSE ASSOCIATION WORLD FRIESIAN SHOW 2012, in California, USA.
The show was held over 5 days, competing against some of the best Friesians on that side of the world.
We are extremely proud to say Marchje and Andrew have won the following awards:
WORLD CHAMPION IN HAND MARE
RESERVE WORLD CHAMPION DRESSAGE
& 3 TOP 5 DRESSAGE AWARDS.

Although we are sad to see Marchje go, we are very proud of all her acheivements since coming to FTS.
Marchje came to us in late 2010 as a broodmare and has gone away a horse that has achieved the following:

Competing British Dressage Elementary
FHAGBI Ridden Champion 2011
FHAGBI In Hand Reserve Champion 2012
FHAGBI Ridden Champion 2012
FHAGBI Reserve Supreme Champion 2012
IFSHA World In Hand Mare Champion 2012
IFSHA World Reserve Champion Dressage 2012
IFSHA Top 5 Dressage award.

We wish her the best of luck for the future!

September update

It has been a busy last few weeks, hence the lack of updates!
We have had several new horses come, including the delightful Romeo, a 16.1hh Irish Sports Horse, on training for his owners Alison and Flo.

After a few weeks training, they went to their first ever dressage competition and came 1st! A really big well done to them, and we hope to see them at a few more competitions this winter.

We have also seen the arrival of Echo, another Irish Sports Horse for schooling, and he is progressing very nicely under saddle.

Along with this, we have seen some of our training clients go from strength to strength, with several first rosettes for our first timers!

Andrew has also gone to America for a month with Marchje the Friesian mare we have had on training livery, more details of their adventures to follow soon!

If you would like to keep more up to date with our activities please see our facebook www.facebook.com/firtreestud