Mini Tornado raises the roof at LAEC

I’m not accusing anyone of anything, but I’ve been at the Center for nearly twenty years and it wasn’t until Kris showed up that the roof of the barn blew off. Coincidence? Hmmmm...

Volunteering at The Event Derby is fun!

Kudos to Camille and Carolyn for their diligent volunteer work at the last Event Derby.

To see the whole article about it, go to LAExaminer and learn more about volunteering. Plus earn me a penny every time you click! Hey, sign up to be a subscriber and you won't miss a single word! Next time there'll be pictures, I swear...

Keep in mind that they'll need more volunteers for the next Derby, the first weekend of May. For those of us who celebrate the Kentucky Derby, it's a bit of a conflict but a wee bit of a mint julep might make it better....

Sapphire Profile: Ceilidh

Sire: Aspro (TB)
Dam: Toy Ploy (TB)

Official Name: Another Toy (grey mare)

Born: January 1992

Barn Name: Ceilidh (Kay-Lay = Gaelic for "a party / gathering"), aka: The White Queen, Big Mama, Energizer Bunny, and Walking Accident

Career 1: "Race Horse"

*Ceilidh raced in her home state of Louisiana. She had an amazing 21 starts from May 1994 thru August 1995 (that's a LOT of racing for those not into the sport, most trainers don't race horses this hard and it took it's toll as her performance flagged) The fact that she didn't break down is a miracle and testament to her nature.

Winnings: 1 first, 4 seconds, 2 thirds
Total Earned: $10,641





Career 2: "Hunter"

Competed "Green" Horse divisions and "Adult Amateur" divisions

*Carolyn's leaving out a few details here in Ceilidh's story. She came to Carolyn's hunter barn a bit of a freak, leaving a trail of broken cross-ties in her wake. Clippers were a big no-no to Ceilidh as was touching her face, ears or looking at her cross-eyed. It took a lot of patience on the part of both owner and the barn manager at her first barn to get her over a lot of issues.


Career 3: "Eventing"

I bought Ceilidh in December of 1996. She was to be my A/O Hunter. As you can see above, we never quite made that goal. The judges thought we had too much "personality" to put it politely, and we thought it was just plan ol' boring! So, the big switch to Eventing.

After "clinic-ing" just once, we entered our first competition - The Event Derby at Flintridge, at the exciting level of "Intro Beginner Novice". She won the class handily on her dressage score of 33.5.

She never looked back. After 20 "starts" with placings no lower than 6th in 16 of those events, she climbed all the way to have 4 Preliminary's under her belt, there seemed no stopping her. She gave her all for her "mommy" and was the "catch-ride-queen / loaner" for our barn when other horses came up injured -- all this on an undiagnosed muscle disorder known as EPSM (equine polysaccharide storage myopothy).

However, Ceilidh had other plans. She decided that she was a cat. And being a cat, she had nine lives. Back in November of 2005, it looked like she used the last of them when she had a horrible accident of her own devising. Being creative, she pretty much chewed up her right hind and lost a good portion of her medial long collateral ligament. No one, including myself thought that she'd ever make it back. But you can't keep the energizer bunny down. *** hello! Aunt Marla told you all along she'd make it back just fine... more importantly Ceilidh knew and that's what really counts.

Proving everyone wrong, with her heart-of-gold and amazing work-ethic, she healed with the clear go ahead that we could compete again. But the lay-up and injury spawned new problems of their own. Just when you thought she was out for the count, she bounces back and is ready to go again.

It's been a rough four years, but things are looking up. She looking for fences and is eager to gallop. Here's to a sparkling 2009!

Hobbies: Near fatal accidents, Ruling/Running the barn, putting the "smack-down" on naughty horses.


** I hate to edit entries that Sapphirians are kind enough to send but I feel compelled, as Ceilidh's Aunt Marla, to add in a few details Carolyn humbly left out.

As a hunter, Ceilidh was a positive SPAZ at shows. I personally watched her drop about 100 pounds at a hunter show in Bakersfield by doing nothing but spinning in her stall all day. Granted, it was Bakersfield and there wasn't much else to do but still. It was only through Carolyn's patience and Michelle's ingenuity that they finally got her to become the calm, show professional that she is but beware, the inner spaz does show through from time to time.

Ceilidh's injuries are much more creative and numerous than Carolyn admits. She left out the gnome wound gained somewhere along the course in Shepherd Ranch that sliced along her hoof. She contentedly bled like a stuck pig all the way back to her stall from the finish line (which is when we knew for certain she was a "cutter") and was very disappointed not to be able to finish the event by doing the show jumping. ("What? It's just a lousy four inch long, two inch deep gash along my hoof, I can still jump!")

Somewhere after that came the poisonous spider bite, the first of the "this horse will never jump again" injuries. Carolyn faithfully stayed by her horse's side and kept walking her since the vet said that would be the best thing. No matter that the leg was gruesomely huge and most owners (myself included) wouldn't be able to handle it. But Carolyn did and with her intense, never-say-die care Ceilidh made a full recovery.

Oh yeah, and then there was the hock infection that Carolyn ended up driving from Burbank to Somis (long before Ceilidh lived in Moorpark) nearly every day as well as working a 40 hour plus week as a music editor. That's about a 50 minute drive for one way those not familiar with the area. All just to go up and cheer up her horse who wasn't allowed to leave her stall.

One other tiny detail Carolyn left out was the whole reaction to her lay-up. "New problems of their own" doesn't quite cover it. Someone (usually Carolyn) had to go about elbow deep in Ceilidh's thigh (yes, insert her gloved hand in between skin and muscle and if you don't think it was weird/gross you aren't imagining this correctly) and clear out the old bandaging material and re-insert new stuff. I'm not even sure what it was all for but I'm not sure I could have done it. The best part was hearing Michelle scream like a girl when a blood clot about the size and consistency of a hot water bottle came splurting out.

The point is, Ceilidh owes a huge part of her miraculous recoveries to Carolyn's undying devotion. Not every horse is the Engergizer Bunny and not every injury is easily overcome, but I have learned a lot about how much difference an owner's care and devotion can make from this stalwart combination.

LA’s secret equestrian Shangri-La

Back in February, the Kool Kidz went to Hummingbird Nest Ranch. Tucked away in Simi Valley, an area best known for its Presidential library and steamy summer climate, Hummingbird Nest Ranch is a veritable paradise for both horse and rider.

Managed by my friend Angele Fogg, Hummingbird Nest Ranch boasts of a sand arena with state of the art footing, a derby grass field and a Grand Prix field with multiple size banks, 8’ and 12’ water jumps, table bank and double liver pools. It also has a grob. I have no idea what that means. If you do, please e-mail me and let me know. There are also miles of trails that link up to the sumptuous ranch setting.

But that’s just the beginning; the barns have individually heated stalls, fully equipped kitchens, spacious tack rooms and their own veterinary clinic. There’s even an air filtration system to rid the barns of pesky odors. Insider tip: I have it on good authority that even though their poo doesn't stink they still have flies so there you go.

At this time, the three barns have space available for boarders or a trainer looking to set up shop at a world-class equestrian location. (No, Michelle, you can't move there).

Private clinics with top of the line riders of all disciplines are offered at Hummingbird throughout the year. More recently, Hummingbird’s highly experienced staff has turned its attention to equine recovery and rehabilitation. They have a Eurociser, treadmill, Game Ready and Centurion at your equine therapist’s disposal to speed your horse’s recovery.

Hopefully there'll be another schooling in our future but in the meantime thanks to Angela for making everyone feel welcome!

Cross-Country Schooling at Twin Rivers Ranch

Thank God the Starbucks in Moorpark opens at 5am so we could get caffeinated up to get our horses ready in the pitch black for a 6am departure. Still, there isn’t enough Toffee Nut Latte in the world to make the frigid temperatures pleasant (and for future reference, Nahmi doesn’t get any latte at all – don’t ask). Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we got the ponies loaded up and only left twenty minutes late for the four and a half hour drive up to Twin Rivers in Paso Robles.

The drive up went smoothly (except for Nahmi’s issues with coffee – ha ha) but we were stunned when we pulled into Twin Rivers – there were so many trailers it looked like there was a show going on! It’s a tribute to how well Connie Baxter and her daughter, three-star eventer Andrea, run the place that the big crowd was no problem for them. It also shows how popular the events up at Twin Rivers are since it seemed like every eventing barn in So Cal was trying to squeeze in a schooling before they shut the course down for the show at the end of February.

The excitement level was running pretty high as we unloaded the horses and settled them in. The only veterans of the group were Nahmi on Simon, who used to live at Twin Rivers, and Nick on Buck. Midnight, Vinnie and Reese were all newbies, facing cross-country for the first time. Oddly, it was Simon who bellowed his head off the entire afternoon as everyone else settle in just fine.

It goes without saying that Buck was his usually show-stopping, spectacular self (ok, Nick was pretty good too) and the Nahmi/Simon combo offered a few hair-raising moments but other than that were stellar. But how did the “virgins” do? Here’s the shakedown:

• Reese -- SUPERSTAR! Ok, maybe being the mummy I tend to exaggerate but I couldn’t be happier. He even took me over a couple of fences on the second day and seemed much more in tune with the job now that he’s getting a handle on it.

• Vinnie – All things considered Vinnie held it together extremely well. His leap into the water is something that only Michelle, his mummy, could ride but other than that he seemed to learn quite a lot from his field trip as well.

• Midnight – John and Cathy have had this mare for a long time but have never asked her to do cross-country before. She seemed to take to her new job really well and quickly learned that jumping natural objects was a lot of fun.

• John – That’s right, John bravely went out on Angelino, his 20 plus Grand Prix dressage schoolmaster who’s been there, done that on elementary level cross-country jumps. On day two, John even abandoned his western saddle and tried out Cathy’s Antares. Hate to say it, but I think he’s hooked.

At the end of day one, we were all relaxing with gin & tonics and various snacks when there was a call for help. One of the horses who live on the property got cast but in a most unusual way; basically, the horse’s rump was sitting up on the top of the fence that divides the two stalls. John gave a mighty heave, with the rest of us basically serving as back up, and freed the stuck horse without any further ado.

Day Two was noticeably lower key. Maybe it was the early mornings catching up, adrenaline burn-out, or the disappointment of knowing that we’d be packing it up at the end of the day and returning to “real life” but even the other groups seemed quieter. Everything went really well and other than a couple of tough moments trying to get the horses loading back up (either Reese didn’t want to leave or he REALLY didn’t think he’d fit his bulky mass in the last stall of the trailer) the day couldn’t have been better. In fact, the whole weekend was about as perfect as it could possibly be. Thanks to one and all who made it such a memorable weekend.

Pictures and video montage to follow!

Sapphire Profile: Sparky

We're starting our profiles of Sapphire Eventers with Nahmi and her horse Sparky, arguably the very first official "Sapphirians"!

Sire: Sabotage (Holsteiner)

Dam: Marianas (TB)

Born Aug 1994

Official Name: The Scottsman

Barn Name: Sparky, The Sparkinator, and Mouthy Bas_ _ _ d. (Ok, I added that one because he eats everything)

So in owner Nahmi's own words.....

I bought Sparky Sept 2001, for my birthday, Happy Birthday to me. Yup that would have been right after 9-11-01.

I had just come into a little money, a windfall from the sale of my mom's house. The house I grew up in. Final remnant of my parent's divorce. i had planned to take a trip to Italy Sept 2001. We were scheduled to leave Sept 15th....needless to say, trip didn't happen.

I guess you could say that Sparky was my consolation.


Sparky had very little show experience before I got him. We worked our way up the levels catching lessons were we could. Sparky was amused and somewhat entertained by my early attempts to pilot him around a warm up arena.

Fortunately for us, Michelle moved back from the East coast about a year after I bought sparky.
She has helped us to continue to improve our partnership and now he has learned to tolerate my show nerves. Despite some health setbacks, we have worked up to toying with preliminary level. Long term goal to one day participate in a one star.


Sparky has a mischievous personality. He knows he is super handsome and likes to be the center of attention. If he feels he's not, he will put anything in his mouth to be it. He finds waving manure forks around in the barn aisle particularly effective. His favorite late night snack is a legwrap.

Holiday Celebrations at Sapphire Eventing

Happy Holidays from all of us at Sapphire Eventing!

We hope you had a safe and happy celebration and are ready for the exciting eventing season coming up in the New Year!

For a whole album of our little “family” celebration, click here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/94jalj_D4JcRAL07KRMkpw?feat=directlink