This weekend has been a flurry of activity. The 4H State Show has arrived to the showing circuit. In addition to the horse show, there was also a contest for equine artistic expression, which included writing, photography, drawing, etc. 4H members have been scrabbling to finish their entries and turn them in on time. Parents and students cross their fingers that their hard work will result in good an outcome.

Though three of our four 4H members had ridden in the 4H District Show, none were able to continue on to the 4H State Show. The one remaining rider, Gabrielle Navarro (Me), was the only one able to go since she was competing in dressage. (Only one at the show, don’t I feel special?) After several close calls in the warm up ring, we were finally called up into the dressage arena. Though Cisco has yet to grasp the mindset to remain focused even with brand new things around him, like most young horses, he tried his best and we are all proud of him.

The end result for the dressage is a 51 in Intro A, along with a ninth place ribbon (out of 16), and an improved 52.5 for Intro B. Not bad for his second time showing in dressage!

As for the artistic expression side of things, the Castle Clovers 4H club had three first time artists and a first time writer. We all did quite well. I (Gabrielle Navarro) received a sixth out of eight for Senior Drawing, along with first place out of ten for the Senior Short Story division (Which luckily for the contestants next year, means I can no longer enter this division.)
Alexis Hartman received fifth out of sixteen in the Junior Drawing. Emma Allen followed close behind with an eighth in the same division.

Keep an eye out for us next year!

Written by Gabrielle Navarro

PS Here is a link to Gabby's award winning short story: http://randomness224.deviantart.com/art/A-Mere-Legend-4H-NC-State-Win-129543558

Castle Farm had thirteen campers this year! The riders were split into three groups based on their riding ability. This year the beginner group consisted of Taleigha Phillips (Schuyler), Allie Powell (Jett), and Emily Powell (Gypsy). The intermediate group consisted of Katelyn McFetridge (Gypsy), Camille Sullivan (Cisco), Zoe Downey (Solie), Katherine Zinn (Schuyler), and Grace DiNardo (Patti). The advanced group consisted of Dominique Major (Sandi), Elena Freedman-Scott (Jett), Gabrielle Navarro (Cisco), Katie Powell (Solie), and Rachel Beard (Clyde).

The theme for camp this year was the Olympics. Riders split into five teams and chose a country to ride for.

Riding for the Bahamas: Elena, Katherine, and Emily
Riding for the UK: Katie, Camille, and Taleigha
Riding for Turkey: Rachel, Allie, Zoe
Riding for Italy: Dominique and Katelyn
Riding for Cuba: Gabby and Grace

All week the campers worked hard on their events in order to prepare for the Olympic Games that were held on the last day of camp. Wednesday, we took a break from all the hard training and spent the day playing pony games and swimming with Sandi, Patti, Cisco, and Schuyler in the pond. Everyone had a blast!

Final results from Castle Farm’s first Olympic Games:
Italy – Gold
Bahamas, UK – Silver
Turkey, Cuba – Bronze

Special thanks to our judges/counselors: Heather King (Ireland), Amanda Guffey (Jamaica), Heather Mercer (Zimbabwe), Jordyn Dunson (Egypt), and Emma Allen (Venezuela)!

(written by Amanda Guffey)

Castle Farm had a great time at this past weekend's show at Fenridge
Farm. This is a wonderful farm that recently ran a schooling HT, but
this weekend's show was much more relaxed with dressage tests only and
then open schooling of their very nice cross country course. The
weather was hot, but not unbearable and at least it wasn't raining =).
Heather King rode Patti in Beginner Novice test A where they scored a
36.3% which put them 1st out of 6. Heather and Patti also rode Novice
test A, scoring a 35.5% which put them 2nd. Heather also rode
Cassidy in Training 1 with a score of 65.2% and Training 2 with a score
of 69.3, both scores earning her and Cassidy the 1st place ribbon!
Ashley Godfrey rode Clyde in Novice test A, scoring a 33% which put them
1st out of 2. Dominique Major rode Sandi in Intro A, scoring a 61.5%,
and Intro B, scoring a 63.5%, and earning 2nd place out of 4 in both
classes! After Castle Farm had finished racking up the blue and red
ribbons we all tacked up for some fun on the cross country course.
Since Heather had two horses, she rode Cassidy first and then came back
to the course a second time with Patti. Dominique and Sandi looked very
well together jumping very confidently and even doing a small, spur of
the moment course, with ease. Ashley and Cldye also had a good time
with Clyde gaining more confidence and experience and only having one
minor "spooky" moment on their mini course. This was Cassidy's first
time schooling cross country jumps away from home and after gaining
some confidence over the frist couple of jumps she really began to
enjoy and understand her new job and went on to do very well over
Heather's mini cross country course. When Heather tackled the course a
2nd time with Patti they easily soared over most of the beginner novice
and novice jumps, and even some training level jumps which Patti had no
problem with! All in all it was a great day with all of the horses
behaving like horse show pro's and all of the riders having a great
time. Oh and winning all 1st and 2nd place ribbons in dressage, which
is not always easy, wasn't too bad either =)

(written by Ashley Godfrey)

Sunday June 7th, 2009 Castle Farm made the short road trip to MacNair's
Country Acres. After a slight debacle with a trailer and a ditch (maybe
Heather isn't so crazy for getting to shows so early ), we were all ready to
get showing. First up, Maiden combined training. Jordyn Dunson continues
to work to calm Jett in dressage (53% after dressage, 7 out of 8) and they
boldly jumped everything, only pulling one rail (51% after jumping, one rail,
6 out of 8). Heather Mercer and Sandi continue to work hard at their dressage
(61% after dressage, 6 out of 8), but are pros in jumping and significantly
rose in the rankings (39% after jumping, double clear, 3 out of 8). Good
job girls! Next up, Beginner Novice combined training. Heather King and
Patti made the move up from Maiden in this show. After turning in a solid
dressage performance (63.16% after dressage, 4 out of 8), Patti demonstrated
her love of jumping, making it through effortlessly (36.8% after jumping,
double clear, 3 out of 8). Ashley Godfrey and Clyde put on a strong
dressage performance (62.64% after dressage, 1 out of 7), and Clyde mastered
all the scary jumps with no trouble (41.3% after jumping, one rail, 3 out of
7). Jessica Sawyer and Gypsy turned in their best dressage test to date
(54.74% after dressage, 5 out of 7), and got through the twisty jump course
(49.8% after jumping, one rail, 4 out of 7). We are all convinced that
those jumps were a bit bigger than Beginner Novice height, so we were all
the more impressed with how the horses handled themselves! Then it was time
for the dressage only rides. Heather King and Cassidy continue to impress
the judges (Training 1- 66.09%, 1st out of 6) and Training 2 - 63.93%, 1st
out of 9), and Cassidy did great schooling over the stadium jumps.
Hopefully she will start combined training soon! Last but certainly not
least, Gabrielle Navarro and Cisco (aka The Energizer Bunny) made their
dressage debut. They put in two solid dressage performances (Intro A - 56%,
3 out of 6 and Intro B -52%, 6 out of 9), and we look forward to seeing
their partnership grow in the future!

(written by Jessica Sawyer)

Castle Farm returned to Fenridge Farm for their first Horse Trial, Combined Training, and Dressage Show of the year. This was Patti’s first horse trial (with rider Heather King) and she won her first time out! This was also Dominique and Sandi’s first Combined Training together, and they did great for their first time out!

Here are the results for the day:

Heather King and Patti - Hopeful Rider division (Beg. Novice A dressage, Beg. Novice stadium, and Maiden XC) - 42.6 after dressage, no faults stadium or XC, finished on dressage score 1st out of 5 overall.

Heather King and Cassie - Beginner Novice A dressage only: 33.7, finished 1st out of 4 / Training Level 2: 68.2 %, finished 1st out of 3

Ashley Godfrey and Clyde - Maiden HT - 38% after dressage (Intro A), 12 stadium faults (time), no XC faults, was 2nd out of 7 after dressage, finished overall 4th out of 7

Dominique Major and Sandi - Maiden CT - 36.5% after dressage, no stadium faults, finished on dressage score 2nd out of 5 overall.

The Castle Clovers 4H group also sold Ice Pops and Horse Treats to raise money for Solie’s hock injections. They did GREAT and plan on selling at future shows! The weather was perfect and we can’t wait to return in June for their Dressage Show and XC Schooling!

(written by Amanda Guffey)

Castle Farm had three horse and rider teams competing in the Wake County 4H Horse Show this weekend at the Hunt Horse Complex in Raleigh. Emma Allen rode Schuyler, Alexis Hartman rode Gypsy, and Katie Powell made her show debut on Cisco. Here are the results from the show:

Emma Allen and Schuyler - 3 firsts, 2 seconds and 3 thirds.

Alexis Hartman and Gypsy - 3 firsts, 1 second, 2 thirds, 2 fourths and a fifth.

Katie Powell and Cisco - 2 firsts, 2 seconds, a third and a fourth.

To top things off, Katie Powell and Cisco won Reserve Champion, and Emma Allen and Schuyler won Champion for their divisions.

Despite the weather, everyone had a great time and Castle Farm is very proud of our horses and riders! Keep an eye out for another 4H member, Gabrielle Navarro, at the State 4H Show in July!

(written by Amanda Guffey)