[Archived] The Stable “View” December 2016 Issue
Wow! The dust has settled, the debriefing has occurred and all is quiet at Stable View. Yer, right!
Things now are never quiet at Stable View. As soon at the cleaning up was complete we were all on to the next event[s] at Stable View (Dressage and Jumping). But, what is probably of interest to you is the debriefing…
We should have had longer grass.
We should water more.
We need a watering system for the Outdoor Arenas.
We should not run 150 horses through three Disciplines on one day
We need an additional [but different style] food vendor
The lines were long at the Office
Our Wi-Fi was at times “weak”.
We were light on “cover”.
We needed more jumps in Warm Up.
Our Streaming was not up to the standard that we expected.
Yes, we are hard on ourselves!
Having said that, the only way that you get from where we were to where we are today is by pushing, responding and being accountable. No matter that we “hoped” for 15 Advanced level horses and finished up with 35! No matter that we “hoped” that someone might bring two horses. One Rider brought five. We did not think that it would be dry for two weeks in a row with 80 degree temperatures right the way through September – every shower and downpour circumnavigated Stable View during this time! We did not plan for over 250 horses to come to Stable View during Aikens “down time”. Having written all of this down, having discussed these issues (and many more) we realize that as we get closer to the big league that we need to be better planners, we need a more robust infrastructure and we need better IT.
It was though a great couple of days. Some people came across three States to get to SV. We had some of the best Riders in the World at SV. These competitors tested some of the best course designers in the World (Mark Phillips and Richard Jeffery). The jumps were…….intimidating (Eric Bull). The Announcer was brilliant, informative, and knowledgeable (Chris Pinnell). The Arenas were soft, firm, perfect, whatever you wanted them to be (Nick Attwood), Our Volunteers were the best….just as you would expect them to be – they are Stable View Volunteers!
What’s next? The South East Hunter Trials are close by, and then we have January. Enjoy the down time!!
Regards Barry and Cyndy
Advanced Horse Trials-Results
The inaugural Advanced Oktoberfest Horse Trials has come to an end and we were lucky to have the beautiful weather that we did. The event hosted not only an Advanced division but multiple divisions from the Beginner Novice to Preliminary level.
In the Advanced, Allison Springer with her longtime partner Arthur took the lead with an impressive 27.70. Phillip Dutton and Boyd were close behind with Clayton Fredericks not too far behind them. Show Jumping however changed the leader board quite drastically, with Phillip and Boyd taking the top four spots and Doug Payne moving up from 11th to 5th with Vandiver. After XC the top five stayed the same with Joe Meyer moving from 8thto the 6th place spot.
Thank you Lynsey Ekema for the wonderful picture of Phillip Dutton through the water.
Four Preliminary divisions were held on Saturday as well. Doug Payne led from start to finish in Preliminary-A with Flagmount’s Mischief. In Preliminary-B Clayton Fredricks on FE Vindus moved from 4th to 1st after showjumping and kept the lead to win the division. A double clear show jumping and xc helped Kimberly Keeton, DVM move up to first from being tied for 6th with her mount Keysoe. Carson Richards held the lead from start to finish in the JRYR Open Prelim division on Sandhills Brillare.
Three Training level divisions were held on Sunday. Werner Geven moved up from 2nd to 1st with his clear jumping efforts on L’Avventura. Hugh Wrigley kept the lead from start to finish with Master the Moment in the Training Rider division. Carter McInnis made a very impressive jump from 6th to 1st on Double Nine’s Domino in the Training JRYR division!
The Novice Horse division was filled with many local favorites such as Annie Goodwin, Doug Payne, Elly Schobel, Kate Brown, Kylie Cahoon, Pippa Moon and Jessica Shultz. But it was Erin Flynn Mobley who took home the blue. Cheyenne Gardner took home the win in the JRYR Novice division on Big League Romance and Anne Wilson kept the lead from start to finish with Call Me Waylon in the Novice Rider Division.
Three Beginner Novice divisions closed out the weekend. Dawn Johnson held onto the lead with Chesterfield Pilot on the BN Rider division as well as Ashlyn Hemelgarn on Path Finder in the JRYR BN division. Laurie Wettstone moved up from 2nd to 1st in the Open BN on Peter Pan.
Congratulations and thank you to all the riders that came out and made it such a wonderful weekend! Hope to see you at the next horse trials in January!
Pavilion Update-Breaking Ground
By: Barry Olliff
First there has been no breaking ground! Due to design defects from yours truly we have reordered the downstairs of the Pavilion. Gone is the Tunnel – some of the Riders didn’t like it and in comes a Pub! The new plans will take time to reorder as there are new structural and new environmental issues to deal with. Positioning a Pub downstairs has implications for the kitchen, traffic flows and toilets. Also, we are going to step it up a notch. We are going to go for LEED Gold status. Marissa is writing about this later in the Stable View. Otherwise the building remains the same with one adjustment – the Bleachers as proposed have become two Decks. I hope to present more progress next time.
LEED
The idea of Sustainability and ‘green’ initiatives have increased in popularity over the years. Facilities that implement environmentally friendly strategies will become leaders in the industry by setting the standard for excellence. At Stable View we hope to achieve this standard of excellence by initiating “green” projects such as becoming LEED Gold certified.
Projects pursuing LEED certification earn points across several areas that address sustainability issues. Based on the number of points achieved, a project then receives one of four LEED rating levels: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. We are striving for the new Pavilion to achieve a Gold rating.
LEED-certified buildings are resource efficient, use less water and energy as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As an added bonus, they save money.
A LEED campus and multiple building certification is available for several buildings on a single site. Another goal for Stable View would be to have the entire Stable View property LEED certified. The idea is to have not just one ‘green’ building at Stable View, but for the green initiative and ideas to be across the entire property.
Featured Sponsor-GGT Footing
By: Cynthia Keating
GGT-Footing ™ is proud to sponsor local Aiken Equestrian venues as well as other venues throughout the country. As a national account manager for GGT-Footing ™ living in Aiken, I try and support as many local farms as possible. This arrangement has turned out to be very beneficial to us as the facilities chosen, such as Stable View is a great representation of how good footing should look and perform.
In conjunction with Attwood equestrian Surfaces who has engineered and installed the footing at Stable View, we are very fortunate to have such a wonderful showplace for our footing blend. GGT Footing is the equestrian division of Polysols, INC. Primarily a textile manufacturing facility. We have been selling into the United States from our parent company in Germany for ten years, then we opened a plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina in the spring of 2009. Now offering a full line of Arena textile additives, specialty groomers, stall padding, arena butterfly matting systems and many more offerings.
Physical Benefits: Many studies have been done to show the benefits of high quality footing with good cushion and rebound energy. We have seen the differences in stride and lameness appearance on horses ridden on grass in the dead of summer where most fields are compacted hard and are not necessarily kept in great condition. When lunging in particular on a harder surface you can see the stabbing effect on the hind limbs that goes away when they are ridden or lunged on a textile surface. The lesser impact of the horse’s joints and ligaments is shown when the horse moves to a high performance GGT Footing arena where it has been properly maintained… Great sand is a key factor. Better footing creates less vet bills!
GGT-Footing can help optimize your horse’s performance. The extensions in dressage and the takeoff and landing from jumping are proven to be show a more athletic performance. Less shear or slippage helps a horse feel more stable as the footing does not give way underneath them. Our arena builders use laser guided equipment from the base up so the footing is level and uniform throughout. GGT footing uses the highest quality nonwoven geotextile available as well as the highest quality polyester fiber, with a high tensile strength and UV rating. This assures that your arena footing will last longer and not break down.
Ease of Maintenance and long-lasting quality
Once installed properly, GGT FOOTING is maintained through watering the materials to keep them bound together, as well as conditioning with GGT Footing arena conditioner designed to work with our textiles.
The arena groomer helps to keep the products thoroughly mixed. The frequency of performing these maintenance tasks will depend on a variety of factors. A few major influencing factors include weather conditions, amount of traffic through the arena, and personal preference. Arenas that are used by many riders all day would need to be groomed more often than one that has two riders every other day. Likewise, an outdoor arena in a geographical location with high rainfall patterns would not need as much watering to reach the ideal moisture levels for optimum performance.
All of our products are made from pre-consumer recycled Geotextiles and fibers, so they are free of harmful bacteria and wastes. GGT Footing materials are 100% high quality polyester and do not contain any fiberglass or other fillers that are on the market today. Since polyester is extremely durable, our products will not break down and have been proven to be long-lasting. There are 20-year-old GGT -Footing arenas in Europe that are still holding up to the test of time. We believe in giving back to the equestrian community that has helped us grow significantly in the past ten years.
Featured Volunteer-Bob Alexander
By: Robert Alexander
My name is Robert Alexander and my wife and I hail from Frederick, Maryland. We have a little horse farm on Route 302 out towards Wagener. If you know where Rt 304 and Rt 4 split, we’re about two more miles further out on 302. We bought that place in 2004 and started fixing it up. In 2007, my wife said the place was far enough along to live there and that she was retiring from her job and moving down. So, for the next five years, she was here in Aiken and I visited as often as I could.
Fortunately, I had taken a little training as a farrier (I’m not a real farrier, just learned enough to shoe my own horses), and I would come down on about five week intervals to take care of her horses’ feet and do chores around the house and farm. Then, on New Year’s Eve, 2012, I moved here full time.You probably know my wife, Betty Alexander. My usual claim to fame is to say that I’m her husband and then most people know who I am. She has two horses and loves to ride side-saddle and go fox hunting, usually with Aiken Hounds.
I’m fully retired from federal civil service and spend my time taking care of our farm and messing with my horses. I love to volunteer at Stable View. It’s a top notch facility and offers great opportunities to be inspired by top riders, some local some from far away. I hope to compete there one day on my young four-year old Quarter horse. He’s a registered Quarter horse but has a lot of thoroughbred in him. He is very forward, so we are a work in progress. My goal is to be an old guy doing Open Novice horse trials all over at many venues.
I also have a 10 year old mare, Idlehour Barefoot, who is my “hunt horse”. But I also hope to eventually compete her at Stable View. I love the Wednesday night jumpers (Under the Stars) and have been there on her a few times already.
I also have a little western horse – 15 hands – who has a lot of cow in him. I enjoy just riding western on him and going to various western events, especially if we get a change to move cows around. We don’t have any formal training, such as in reining or cutting, but we’ve done some Ranch Sorting at Eddie Braxton’s place in Edgefield.
One of my most fun things is to ride with other guy friends on Wednesday mornings, in Hitchcock Woods. We’ve been doing this faithfully for three years now. When we started up, we decided we needed a name, so we got talking about the Little Rascals in Our Gang comedies. We came up with He Man Woman Haters’ club. That got us into trouble so we changed it to He Men Horsemen. However, our senior member is Larry Byers and he changed it to The Wednesday Morning Gentleman’s Riding Club. I guess that’s where we are now, but I still think we are He -Men Horsemen
So, that’s me. Not much to shout about but I love to keep busy taking care of the farm and messing with my horses. It’s a far cry from my previous, working life and I’m hoping and praying for good health so I can live and contribute to Aiken doings for some years.
SV opened its doors to Hurricane Mathew Evacuees
Shortly after our Advanced Horse Trials finished, we began receiving calls from mostly the Charleston area from people who needed to evacuate for hurricane Mathew. Many of them were calling to evacuate whole farms, families, clients and more. All accommodations and all but a few stalls were booked within days. The farm was quite busy with many of them getting in some last minute practice before Dressage Regionals. They were a fun, friendly and enthusiastic group and we hope to see many of them again in the future…hopefully not due to a hurricane!
