2009/2010 Schedule Fall,Winter, early Spring
November 6th |
Joy teach clinic at Sherifmuir Farm, Harvard, MA |
__________________________________________________________
Summer/Fall 2009 News
Still
Point Dressag
e had a very successful and educational spring, summer,
and fall. The spring started off with Joy being a demonstration
rider
on Wixen at the NEDA Spring Fling Symposium with Christoph Hess.
Christoph is head of the training department of the German National
Equestrian Federation and a world renowned “I” judge, so his word could
be trusted! He is a firm believer in the classical principles and
based all his lessons on the training scale, which worked with each and
every horse. Mr. Hess had Joy ride Wixen in a very forward,
almost medium, gait through a
ll the trot work,
especially
emphasizing
to
keep this quality of swing and
impulsion in the
lateral work so that
the collection would remain dynamic and loose. Canter work was
started in a two point and Christoph used the medium canter
both on a
twenty meter circle and the long sides,
sometime with the reins in one
hand, to help open up Wixen’s canter stride. Christoph was very
complimentary about Wixen’s character and training to date and once she
had performed his exercises, classified her work as “top class”.
The effects of the clinic have be
en lasting and Joy hopes to have an
opportunity to work with Mr. Hess again.
Both Joy on Wixen and Joy’s working student, Lilly Joseph, on Prime Time, owned by Susan Woodhouse, rounded out the fall by riding in CVDA’s Kathy Mann Memorial
clinic taught by Tuny Page. Tuny has a long history of success
both in eventing and dressage, recently winning the US Freestyle
Championship and representing the US at the FEI World Cup Finals in
2006, where she was the highest placed American with her “Wild
One”. So, another opinion to take seriously! Tuny placed
huge emphasis on rider position, being a stickler that the rider sit
square and truly ride from her center. She was strict with both
Joy and Lilly that the horses were 100% properly bent on bending lines,
totally straight on straight lines, and ALWAYS in self carriage.
This was a great clinic to end the season with and set the
standards for schooling during the winter.
Joy
was able to make the trip down to MA to work with her trainer Kathy
Connelly several times over the summer. Kathy is excited about
Wixen’s ability for collected work and piaffe in particular.
Joy and Kathy worked her on the longlines to develop her ability,
strength, and understanding of this. Kathy is a master at keeping
the horses happy as they learn the skills for FEI and Joy will continue
with her guidance as Wixen develops.
Joy’s plan to take 2009 off from competing Wixen has proven a good choice. As a six year old, Wixen is still very happy in her work and is now confirmed in her flying changes and has developed much needed strength for the collection of Third/Fourth Level. They plan to continue the gradual strengthening process through the winter and resume competing in 2010.
Speaking of competing, Still Point students had a wonderful season! Susan Boardman brought out her f
our
year old mare, Floriana (Fabuleux), bred by Eliza Rutherford of Foxwood
Farm Hanoverians, for her debut at GMHA. She won her Training
Level class and marched around the showgrounds like a champion. Susan’s older
horse, Pavarotti, who is being leased by another of Joy’s students,
Rachel Markells Webber, earned Rachel her USDF Silver Medal with
good scores at Fourth Level and Prix St. George. Rachel did a
beautiful job showing Pavi in their first season together and plans to compete at Intermediare 1 and do an Intermediare Freestyle for
2010.
Congratulations to student Marty Young Stratton and her horse Notre
Nean Valjean for their outstanding first season at Prix St.
George. They started the season with a win a
t Dressage at
Saratoga and earned scores for their USDF Silver Medal at GMHA and
Vermont Dressage Days. To continue in the Medal winning, Jennifer
Tousignant and her mare Palatene, who Jenn imported from Holland as a
two year old, earned both t
heir Second and Third Level scores to earn Jenn her USDF Bronze Medal. Joy’s working student, Lilly Joseph,
who had great success competing
Ashley Chase’s Bold Tobit at Second Level this summer, has taken over Palatene’s reins while Jenn takes time
out to have a baby. Congratulations to Jenn on both counts!
Congratulations also to Eve Whittenberg 
who earned her final Third
Level scores for her Bronze Medal with her long time partner,
“Blue”. Joy started teaching this pair when Eve was learning to
put Blue on the bit, so it’s especially exciting to see how far they
have come together. Meg Wyatt had a very
successful first season with her new horse, “Nickodemus”, bringing home
high scores and wins at First Level from GMHA and King Oak, a good
beginning to what is proving to be a wonderful partnership! Lilly
Jospeh also piloted Zoe William’s, Fahrenheit, a four year old stallion, to the Champlain Valley Schooling
Series Champion a
t Training Level and garnered high scores and wins at
Vermont Dressage Days. This will be a pair to watch for next year
as well.
There are many Still Point students who are training at home and this is just as important
as competing.
The relationship with our horses is really what
it’s all about.
Remember, take time out to have fun.
And relax.
_______________________________________
Spring/Summer 2009 News
Joy and Wixen winning at GMHA Dressage Days, July '08
Joy
and Wixen have been selected to be Second Level demo riders in the NEDA
Spring Fling with Christoph Hess. After a long winter training on
her own, Joy is very excited to get three days of intensive training
with Mr. Hess and to audit the symposium. She plans to take 2009
off from competition with Wixen and, if all goes well, to bring her
back out at Fourth Level in 2010. This symposium should be a good
building block towards that goal.
In April, Joy began
to haul down to MA to start up lessons again with Kathy Connelly and
will bring Kathy and Nancy Fischman’s horse, ZZ Top (Tolando/Chronos),
home to VT in May to her training program. “Z” spent the winter
in Florida with Kathy and Joy will bring him out at First Level for his
first season of competition as a five year old. It was a
productive winter and horses in training, Nebraska (Roemer) owned by
Candi Piscopo, Wonderment(Werbellin/Brentano II) owned by Claudia
Tarlov, and Wixen(Welser/Warkant) all made good progress. Joy
enjoyed teaching the clinics in MA at Scarlett Hill Farm, Apple Valley
Farm, and Sherifmuir Farm over the winter and looks forward to doing a
similar schedule next year. It was a great time to catch up with
old students and friends and to meet new horses and riders.
Joy and her students are very excited about the show season (and some sun and warmth!). If you would like coaching at any of the shows listed above or would like to stable with the group for fun and commradery, contact Joy at joycongdon@aol.com. Look for more news later this summer!
_____________________________________________________________________
The 2008 summer show season was a very successful one for Still Point Dressage. Joy and her own horse Wixen FFH(Welser/Warkant), a five year old Hanoverian mare bred by Foxwood Farm Hanoverians of Charlotte, VT, made their First Level Debut at June GMHA Dressage Days. They placed first in all three of their classes with three different judges and were high score First Level for Friday with a 69.5%. ZZ Top(Tolando/Chronos), a four year old Dutch gelding owned by Nancy Fischman and Kathy Connelly and in training with Joy, came to the show to get some mileage. He mastered the “Dust Bowl”, crossed the stream, and will be back to show his style in the competition rings next summer!
Congratulations also go to students Rachel Markels Webber for super scores and wins at Training Level with Albion, Jennifer Tousignanat with Pallatene at First Level, Ashley Chase and Tobit at First Level in their first recognized show, and Susan Boardman with Pavarotti at Grand Prix.
Joy and Wixen returned to repeat their success at the July GMHA Dressage Days, again winning their three classes with a 69.7%, a 73%, and garnering High Score First Level of the show with a 74.1%. Once more, the scores were from three separate judges and they all agreed that Wixen is on the right path. Judge Lisa Schmidt commented, “A pair to watch for the future! Horse and rider have great harmony and enjoy each other and the work.” Joy and Wixen were winner of the CVDA show season's High Score Championship and GMHA Open High Score Award.
Joy and Wixen qualified for the USDF Region 8 Championships, so they headed to Saugerties, NY for the large NEDA Fall Festival where the Championships are held in September. Only her third show of the season and her fourth show ever, Wixen was second in a large Open First Level class with a 68%, and placed fifth in the First Level Regional Championship of 25 horses with a 66.5%. She entered the Championship class right after one of the large plastic letters, complete with flower pot, blew over directly in front of her! Though not her very best tests of the season, Wixen handled the windy and electric atmosphere with great maturity. Joy plans to focus on Wixen’s training for 2009 and bring her back out once she is farther along. Wixen has shown very good talent for the upper level work, and now that she has had mileage in the show ring, time will go into more training and less showing.
Special congratulation go to Susan Boardman and her horse Pavarotti(Enrico Caruso), bred by Harriet King of Warren, VT. Susan earned the final two Grand Prix scores for her USDF Gold medal at the Pine Meadow Summer show in NY and the Mystic Valley Fall show in CT. Susan has had great success with Pavi since she bought him as a three year old, training him herself. Pavi, at 18, will now be leased by another of Joy’s students, Rachel Markels Webber, who will enjoy the benefits of riding and competing this wonderful FEI schoolmaster.
The fall brought good educational opportunities. Joy rode Wixen and Starbuck(Bucks Co-Star/Denmark’s Ruby Red), a four year old American Saddlebred owned by Susan Vine and Joan Blood, in a clinic with United States Combined Training Association Licensed Instructor, Jerry Schurink. The clinic, run by the Central Vermont Dressage Association, focused on gymnastic cavaletti exercises used to supple and strengthen the horse. Both horses showed good improvement and Joy went home with more training tools to use in her program.
The New England Dressage Association brought Debbie McDonald to MA for a 3-day symposium and Joy was able to audit all 3 days. The focus was on acceptance of the contact and Debbie used basic exercises and transitions to get the horses equal in the reins and honestly “through”; strictly emphasizing that timing, repetition, and consistency will always prove more successful than strength. NEDA and CVDA continue to provide outstanding educational events and Joy was happy to be able to take advantage of these clinics.
Just a reminder that all training should not happen in the arena! Joy and Wixen enjoyed the GMHA Fall Foliage ride in October in Woodstock, VT with student Robin Troy and husband Gordon on their horses Secret and Henry. There is nothing more beneficial for horse and rider than riding through the hills and fields of a beautiful countryside.
Joy, Robin and Gordon enjoy the trails at GMHA, Woodstock, VT
____________________________________________________________
Joy on Wixen FFH at the Frank Jespers Clinic in April 2008
