Well, here’s some news, I didn’t even mention last week, can you believe it?? Raime moved to a new home on June 1. He has been teamed up with Sally from Kitwanga, who is going to practice her reining skills before her two year old is ready to be trained.

This move really sums up the reasons it is so important to have the right tools for the job. Sally knows that her reining skills aren’t advanced enough yet to bring Takoda along, and so she wants to learn them on a trained horse. She can learn feel, timing, body position and more, while riding a horse that is dependable and willing.

Once Takoda is old enough to ride and comes back from the trainer’s, then Sally will have built up the necessary skills to work with a younger horse. When you try to learn those skills on a young or green horse, it usually takes many times longer than when riding a trained horse, because you not only have a horse that doesn’t know the right answer, but you yourself doesn’t know when to tell the horse that he found the right answer!

For me, I was thrilled that Sally decided to take Raime for a one year lease. I felt terrible, leaving him sitting in the field, going to waste. I had hoped that my partner, Dan, would ride him, but he has other things on his agenda, and riding is not high on his list of priorities. I have my hands full with other horses (mainly Tori!) and so didn’t have time to spend carefully conditioning Raime back up again - and for what? I have already retired him for me from the show pen, so what would be the point of riding him regularly?

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

. This way, both Sally’s needs, my need’s and most importantly, Raime’s needs are all being met - it is truly a win-win situation!

On another note, last two weeks I spent talking about succumbing to the pressures of the show pen and promptly got to put the knowledge to good use. Riser, who now lives on Vancouver Island, has returned to the show pen with his teen rider Kayla. Kayla is new to showing and was understandably thrilled when she and Riser took firsts, seconds and thirds in their first show.

Then came their second foray into the competition arena - although it wasn’t a bad weekend, it was a disaster compared to the first show! Kayla finished the weekend in tears, totally disappointed. I was able to explain to her how important mental attitude is, and that if you are only going to show to win, then you might as well take up riding motorbikes or something that doesn’t involve another breathing, thinking animal.

I’ll talk a bit more about that next week as I think it is a really good topic for those of you who do show.

Till next week, happy riding! Oh, and if you are attending equestrian events in the area, please send me your write up so others can see what is happening out there! We’ll publish before and after your event - it’s great advertising coverage!
~ Kristi :)

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It was a fun filled weekend here in Houston for the Pleasant Valley Days on the May long weekend. The Pleasant Valley Horse Club would like to thank our wonderful sponsors for this year’s Pleasant Valley Days events and Little Britches Rodeo. The weekend was a great success, with contestants from as far away south as Quesnel and west to Terrace!

We started off with the team sorting Saturday and Sunday mornings, which was a blast. The weather was great for both these days. The jackpot gymkhana was very well attended, and kept the audience entertained. The Chariot and Chuckwagons were a big crowd pleaser, as they always are! Teams came from as far away as Chilliwack to compete on all three days.

The fun events on Sunday were a blast as well. There were five teams of three in the pony express race, and it was quite an ending with Katie Park and Teresa Galbraith racing neck & neck to the finish line. (Katie's team won this race!)

The Little Britches Rodeo was a huge success. The kids rode through the rain all day on Monday, and kept their smiles on their faces!!

The winners of the high point buckles in the Little Britches Rodeo were:
Junior D - Brittany Ewald
Junior C - Becky Dallaire
Junior B - Kelly Park
Junior A - Katie Park

The High Point Overall buckle winner was a tie this year between Brittany Ewald and Kelly Park. Congratulations to all the winners!

We even had some girls ( Kaleigh Allen, Chrisandra Hassell and Dayna Siddall) trying the steer riding, and they enjoyed it so much that they went up to Kispiox the following weekend and rode steers up there too!

The winner of the two tickets donated by Hawk Air (Smithers to Vancouver return) was Steve Sherman of Topley. The winners of the two sets of return tickets donated by Via Rail (Houston to Prince Rupert) were Esther Larson and Jason Hardy both of Houston. Way to go people!

Well, that's all for now. Hope to see you all out there next year!
Dawn Park signing off.

The Winners are as follows:
Saturday, May 18, 2002:
WCRA Beginner A (13 Entries)
1st - Royal Worbets, Pablos Fox Trot (69)
WCRA Beginner B (16 Entries)
1st - Carla Webb, Shade of Winner (68.5)
WCRA Youth (4 Entries)
1st - Isabella Kries, Sun of a Turbo (61.5)
WCRA Beginner NRHA (15 Entries)
1st - Cherri Foisy, Miss Otoes Leo San (69.5 )
WCRA Beginner Horse Open (15 Entries)
1st - Dan Morrison, Peppy Oak Chex (70)
WCRA Beginner Rider Open (15 Entries)
1st - Niki Loreth, MQH Cinder Que (68)

Sunday, May 19, 2002:
WCRA Open (6 Entries)
1st - Lynda Smith, My Favorite Time (68.5)
WCRA Ltd Open (8 Entries)
1st - Carl Woods, Genuine Jeepers (71)
WCRA Non-Pro (4 Entries)
1st - Geoff Vick, Tonkas First Twist
WCRA Ltd. Non-Pro (7 Entries)
1st - Bob Hall, Doc’s Kool Sailin (68.5)
WCRA Novice Horse Open (10 Entries)
1st - Carol Kneale, J.B. Jordan (69)
WCRA Novice Horse Non-Pro (7 Entries)
1st - Bob Hall, Docs Kool Sailin (68.5)
WCRA Rookie (8 Entries)
1st - Cherri Foisy, Miss Otoes Leo San (69.5)
Youth Free Style (1 Entry)
1st - Sharron Jackson, Colonel Mobility (63)
WCRA Free Style (2 Entries)
1st - Lynda Smith, J.B. Jordan (72)
Working Cow Horse Beginner Rider/Horse (7 Entries)
1st - Sherri Thomson, Genuine Jeepers (Dry 70.5 + Cow 69 = 139.5)
Working Cow Horse Open (4 Entries)
1st - Amanda Self, Happy (Dry 67.5 + Cow 73 = 140.5)

Special thanks to our sponsors, who without them this weekend would not of been possible: Quesnel & District Riding Club, Williams Lake Stock Horse Club, Regency Automotive, Overlander Hotel, Lakeside Motel, Lake Excavating, Trans Canada Credit Union, Beaver Valley Feeds, Davco Quarter Horses of 100 Mile House, Canadian Tire and Grassland Equipment for supplying the tractor to harrow the arena with.

As well, I would like to thank our silent auction sponsors: Crosina’s Western Wear, Total Pet, Barton Insurance, Johnston Meier Insurance, Cariboo Saddlery, Future Fashion & Rocking B Quarter Horses, Cariboo Custom Monogram, Home Hardware, Paradise Theater, Williams Lake Honda, Shoppers Drug Mart, Telus, Williams Lake Veterinarian Hospital, Williams Lake Animal Care Hospital, Merial, Bette Muren and Cariboo Feed.

Special thanks to all the volunteers that helped to make this show run so smoothly!

We look forward to seeing everybody next year in Williams Lake for the 2003 Wish Em Well Slide!

Northern BC Horse is sponsored by local businesses who support equine sports in our area including:

• Baerental Ranch
• Burns Lake Building Supplies
• Griffin Crick Ranch
• Hoskins Ford
• Northern Horse Supply
• Ridennoure Paint Horses
• The Tack Store

Do you have a horse or equipment to sell? Want to buy a horse or equipment? Check the Free Classified Ads.