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It's safe to say we're all familiar with at least a few of these!

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The Standardbred Connection

A link to this magazine was posted in the Canadian Standardbred Network group on Facebook. It looks like a really interesting publication for Standardbred owners and fans. It features stories about Standardbreds doing things outside of Harness Racing.

This month: Endurance riding, going out with the hunt and touring the Big Apple are just a few of the activities that the Standardbreds in this edition are participating in. Check it out!

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Congrats to Calla Martin on winning the prize pack from Standardbred Canada on Saturday at the Mane Event in Red Deer, Alberta!

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Saskatchewan Equine Expo Day Two

DAY TWO - February 15, 2014 We all managed to survive Saturday at the expo which proved to be a long day indeed with two events. Compulsory (aka Dressage) and Jumping.

After a delicious exhibitor breakfast, we took the boys into the round pen for a little break from their stalls to let them stretch their legs a bit.  Through out the morning we had surprising number of people stop by to say hello to our ponies and learn about Standardardbreds! (The route from the trade show to the arena lead them straight through our shedrow - concerning for biosecurity, but wonderful for PR.) The Battle of the Breed events didn’t start until 3:00pm Saturday afternoon, so were were able to tour around the trade show and bit, and catch a couple of the clinics, and other events happening that day.

A rider, horse and border working as a team to move a herd of cows.

Jonathan Field!

No sleeping allowed in this trailer, human or equine. You will get get injured and you will die! (#meangirls anyone?)

This trailer had a surprisingly large closet in the bathroom. Large enough to fit at least one Kelly! ______________________________________

Saturday brought another set of confusing warm up situations. For dressage our warmup was more or less limited to a round pen (with 6 other horses), with a couple laps around the exterior of the arena immediately prior to your test. Not great for a sport horse coming from a cold barn. Despite this, Leo brought his A-game a pulled off a 59% basically going into the ring cold, and earned a solid 4th place.  Even though Leo elected to add a levade to the beginning of his test (“I appreciate he was on his hind end, but seriously.” - Charlene), Leo and Char rode their patterns very accurately, and dealt well with having their test in a ring 20 meters shorter than expected. (Those were some STEEP leg yields!)  Good boy Leo!

Charlene would like to send a big shout out to the lovely ladies who make up Leo’s fan club, she really appreciates your support! Although Leo’s ego was almost too big to fit in the trailer on the way home - the fangirls totally went to his head. <3 Leo sends his love and adoration.

Scooter and Kelly were next to shine - and thankfully were actually allowed a warmup in the ring, AND over fences. The warmup was a little concerning as none of the jumps were flagged, and there were jumps being jumped that weren’t part of the warmup. After surviving that - we’re relatively sure Charlene was more stressed watching than Kelly was riding - Kelly and Scooter walked out unscathed to wait for their turn. Unfortunately, there was a mishap outside the arena, and the Clydesdale team had a wreak in the barns, over turning their wagon and spooking the horses waiting to enter the ring. Poor Scooter was a little freaked out but Kelly was able to settle him and they pulled through to put in a great round!  With 560 points - and sitting in 6th, they decided to attempt the joker fence, worth 200 points. The joker fence was ~3’ high, and located right in front of the audience. The crowd cheered as our team approached the fence, and Scooter stopped about a stride out to have a look at all the people (the arena was PACKED). But Kelly, being a tried and true eventer decided it was over, under, or through! Half a stride out, Scooter took a couple walk steps and hurled himself, and Kelly, over the fence just BARELY tapping it with a hind foot. Sadly, it was enough to bring the top rail down and lost them 200 points. But the crowd LOVED the pair, and cheered for Scooter’s great show of heart! Later that night after taking Team Bromance for a walk (Leo and Scooter have attended a number of events together, both expo and competitions and are serious bros now) Charlene brought Jose out to stretch his legs, and give his mind a break. He ended up performing a few tricks and earning a fan club of his own. Just before tucking the boys into bed, Kelly and Charlene walked around the barns to hand out the left over cake, from the previous night’s festivities, to the other exhibitors and competitors. It was an awesome way to meet not only the members of the other teams, but the cow horse riders,  jumpers, heavy horse drivers, boarders, and horsemanship people as well. Finally, Team Standardbred was able to call an end to Day Two and retire to the hotel for some well deserved R & R. Bring on Day Three!

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Saskatchewan Equine Expo Day One

Day One Down! February 14, 2014

Whoa what a busy day! Thank goodness for Timmies - we were all a little caffeine dependant today.

Kelly and Charlene arrived at the barn just before eight, planning to ride as nothing was scheduled until 9:15am in the arena, but found out the arena actually was closing at 8:30. So the boys got to go for a quick walk instead.

Later this morning we took the boys into the round pen to give their brains something too do, Scooter learned how to pedestal! And Leo learned to bow while being ridden. One of the arena events ended, and Jose ended up doing a little show for the spectators as they stopped on their way back to the trade show.

After a couple cups of coffee, we got a kick ass surprise and were able to ride for 40 mins, before heading back to the hotel to crash for a quick nap, while Amanda and Judy hung out at the grounds and held down the fort.

Following another visit to Tim’s (Seriously, we should seek out sponsorship) we zipped back to the barn to get Kelly and Prime Time Scooter ready for the Barrels phase of Battle of the Breeds.

Team Standardbred is so proud of our Kelly Stasiuk and Prime Time Scooter! Following a bit of a confusing warm up situation (12 horses in a round pen just wasn’t working) they were 6th in out of 7 teams to go. The audience was great and WONDERFULLY supportive, the stands were LOUD and it was a very intimidating arena. Scooter went in and took his first 2 barrels well but got a little overwhelmed when being sent down to the far side for the last barrel. He backed up and unfortunately backed over the start line. Kelly handled him beautifully though and got him straightened down and around the final barrel before given ‘er back home.  Good kids!

Tomorrow afternoon Charlene Barry and Leo will be in compulsory test and tomorrow evening Kelly and Scooter are back in for jumping.

We’ve made a bunch of new friends - with really cool horses! have a great camaraderie going on and are learning every step of the way.

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Leo has discovered a new love - chocolate cake!

(From February 14, 2013)

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Here we go!

Amanda and I just loaded Leo with Jose and are on the road. Kelly and Scooter left a little earlier from Calgary and will meet us there. See you soon Saskatoon! -Charlene (From February 13, 2014)

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Busy Year Ahead

January 2014

Holy Hanna is 2014 chalking up to be one busy year for Team Standardbred. Thankfully, January appears to be quiet, and by quiet I mean lots of time for prepping for the events in February! February 8&9 - Our non-profit society is having a fundraising clinic at Maple Leaf Meadows just outside of Edmonton, Alberta. It’ll feature a trick training clinic and silent auction.  Jose will be making an appearance with his owner (& clinician) Amanda. 

Not even a week later, the whole team loads up to head on out to Saskatoon, SK for their Saskatchewan Equine Expo, and more specifically, Battle of the Breeds!

Following a couple weeks off, and more practice time, the team reunites at the end of April for the Mane Event in Red Deer, AB. This time we’ll be doing demos and answering questions and networking at the Canadian Standardbred Network trade show booth. 

During all of this we’ll be selling Purdy’s Milk Chocolate Bars to help us make our way around to bring these awesome horses to you! They’re $2.00 each and can ship of out both Edmonton and Calgary, AB. 

Obviously, this only takes us four months into the year, but we have a few more events whose details aren’t quite sorted out yet. Once we have something more concrete, we’ll be sure to update with all the lovely details.