Tara Davis rides again

Even in the middle of all the activity of Champs West there was one competitor that all moms talked about. It was Tara Davis. She is a Dressage competitor from Mid Cal region. Her mom Fiona Davis was walking around the Champs grounds with a news paper that carried an article about Tara. It read "Tara rides again". Here is a link to it in San Mateo Journal.

Tara Davis from Moon Valley Pony Club - Middle California Region

Tara was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago. She has had a treaments since then. She is feeling better now and is able to ride. She did a great job on the Mid Cal team.

I didn't get to talk to her. But I thought you should atleast read the article that was published.

Her mom and dad are very happy she is doing well. She is going to go through with the last part of her treament after the championships. Good luck Tara!

Fiona Davis - Tara's mom

Elise True

Elise true is the stable manager for 2 teams. She lives in Oakland and is in Briones Valley Pony Club. She has 1 dog. Elise doesnt have her own horse and she competes in Eventing. She likes to hang out with her friends and go to the beach. She likes that in Pony Club there is always oppurtunity and that it's very structured and how everyone is held to the same rules

Maya Mathur

Name: Maya Mathur

Favorite foods: Japanese udon soup, plain yogurt, applesauce, vegetable things, certain cookies
 

Looking forward to in Championships: For one thing, it will be my first mounted rally as a non-SM. Whoa...

 

About my horse: My horse, Zero Gravity, is a wonderful 14 y/o Hanoverian gelding and ex-show hunter. I do clicker training with him; he now plays "fetch" better than my dog. When he's not doing dressage, he enjoys herding cows on the trail, being ridden without a bridle, and using his hooves to splash in/break water troughs.

 

Hobbies: Making Halloween props and costumes, hiking around, jumping over things on foot, attempting to bake
 

Pets: Yep -- two African Grey parrots, two dogs, a snake, and three chickens.

Funny story: Once, at the beginning of an airplane flight, an attendant offered me water, holding up a large plastic jug to demonstrate. Instead of being normal and waiting for him to pour some into a cup, I for some reason accepted the jug. After some reflection on the incident, I of course realized my antisocial behavior. Unable to bury the enormous bottle of water in the seat back pocket, I then spent the rest of the flight with all the nearby people trying not to stare at the monstrosity rolling around on the floor in front of my feet.

Gretchen Koenen

Gretchen is also from my club. She is very nice and anything but shy.

Name: Gretchen Koenen

Favorite Foods: My favorite foods would have to be pizza and ice cream of course!

Like about Pony Club: I love the organization called pony club because of the friends you meet and the responsibility that it teaches you.

Looking forward to in Championships: I am looking forward to having a ton of fun and see some of my friends that I don't get to see very often!

About my horse:I have two horses, Happy was my first pony who taught me everything I know and continues to keep a smile on my face. I lease a horse named Roxy who has taught me the "ropes" of three day eventing. Last month we took home 10th place at the event at Rebecca Farms competing Training level!

Hobbies: I love shopping and since I am a very outgoing person, I love hanging out with my friends outside of the horse world.

Pets: Yes, I have my horses and my cat Tabitha.

Funny story: A funny story about myself would have to be, well there are too many to name!

Kenzie Amack

Kenzie is from my club - Bay Hills. She is a total superstar. For the eventing rally, she rode both her horses, Robin in Prelim and Lol in Training. She was tied in first place in Prelim. This week she got her C3 Dressage and B traditional rating. She is always giving her horse to anyone who needs in Pony club.
Best of all, I love the chickens in her house.

Name: Kenzie Amack

Favorite foods: Ceaser salad and ice cream

Like about Pony Club:  how it allows kids of all age groups get together and have fun with horses

Not like about Pony club: how stressful it can be at times(ex: national ratings)

Looking forward to at the championships: I'm looking forward to competing, having fun with my teammates and meeting new people

About Lol: My horse Lol has an interesting personality. She takes her job seriously and is a blast to ride. She also loves to eat dirt and watermelon rinds.

Hobbies:  Some hobbies outside of horses include running x-country, reading, and spending time with family and friends.

Pets:  I have a lot of pets. We own 4 dogs, 10 chickens, 4 horses, and 2 cats.

Funny Story:  A funny story about me is when I was about ten I was running late to ride my horse. So I shoved on my paddock boots without checking to make sure there was nothing inside. At that time they were pretty big on me, so I didn't feel that there was something near the toe of one of my boots until I was halfway done with my ride. Being naive I decided to ignore it and assumed it was my oversized sock. Half an hour later when I went to take off my boots I looked inside. There at the toe of one of them sat a little mouse who was surprisingly still alive. We let him go out into the field far away from my house. I've never forgotten to check my boots since.

Natasha Jenson

Natasha is from my PonyClub. She is really sweet and very quiet. She helped pull my pony's mane before the Dressage rally.

My name is Natasha Jensen
 My favorite foods are Italian and Japanese.
 One of my favorite things about pony club is how the kids learn how to be independent and manage their time.  I'm looking forward to getting to know people from other pony clubs and of course to compete.
My horse, Tango is 22 years old but he doesn't know it. Especially when he is running cross country.
 Outside of riding, I do photography and I love spending time with my friends.
 I have two tortie cats, Mimi and Delilah, and a thoroughbred, Bentley.

Sally Phillips - Games Organizer

Sally Phillips is one of organizers for Games discipline.

 

Martha Klinger (DC of PVPC) and Sally Phillips are busy sharing out these tasks right now:

• making (with help from friends), borrowing, searching, finding the VERY long list of equipment needed for 21 games played on 5 lanes - we get something done everyday to chip away at the list 
• schedules, programs, team lists, prizes, stabling charts, name tags - all have to be organized and communicated 
• volunteers - many of them - have to be solicited, we have approx 30 people helping to put on games  including 10 lane judges, 2 line judges, starter, and 5 other pairs of eyes watching games to make sure the action is fairly and accurately scored. 
• equipment crew - our top notch equipment crew is undergoing training to allow them to switch out equipment at the speed of light between games to keep the show rolling 
• hospitality - we are gearing up to house and keep our judges, TDs, HM judges fed, watered and housed

Sally Phillips Eventing

Here is what she says about herself.

 

Why do you like pony club?
Because it offers many lesson for life, and teaches its members to be good equestrians (not just good riders), to work as a team, to overcome hurdles, to give back, and to have FUN!

What is your favorite thing to do in a pony club meeting? 

Hands down XC

What do you have special planned for your discipline?
It is first champs experience for most of our games players, and often the first mounted champs discipline due to the lower age/rating qualifying criteria - we want them to be safe (games can be hectic with 5 teams of 4/5 competing at once), feel successful, and that all their hard work practicing paid off. We want them to enjoy their champs experience and come back from more in future years including the other disciplines

What are your hobbies outside of horses?
Triathlon - races of all distances short and very long (ironman and longer)

Do you have pets?
Yes 2 huskies and 2 cats - all rescues

What is a funny story about you?
I was a member of the Vine pony club in England growing up - I recently happened to check them out on their web site and noticed a contemporary of mine from that era is now the DC, and living at the same farm as her parents - we used to have lots of pc rallies there. Generations change everything, and yet they change nothing :)

Sally's daughters Sammy and Maxy playing games.

Katrina Deane - The Ultimate Organizer

Here is one person that you should know. I heard Katrina was one of the people who worked on bringing the Champs to MidCal. 

Here is what she says about herself.(She's not very chatty though. So, if you know Katrina let everybody know about her in the comments.)

Why do you like pony club?
    I like to see families getting outdoors and enjoying horses together.

What do you not like about pony club?
    What is there not to like?

What is your favorite thing to do in a pony club meeting?
    Organize something!

What do you have special planned for the championships?
    Dinner for everyone on Saturday night, followed by the Opening Ceremony, and prizes for everyone..

What are your hobbies outside of horses?
    I like road trips, camping and hiking.

Do you have pets?
    I have a wonderful black lab named Logan, and a cat named Harley.

What is a funny story about you.
    Like Ronda I have also been hit by a bird (but the bird survived). I had just had my hair highlighted at the hairdressers, my husband said the bird must have thought that the back of my head looked like some small striped creature that it was trying to swoop down on and fly off with!  I also lose my sunglasses a lot, but sometimes I just lose one lens and carry on wearing them without noticing, much to the hilarity of my two daughters.

Meet the HM organizer

 The HM organizer for Championships is Nicole Fisher.

She is really nice and lounged my pony when she was acting up at the Dressage rally. She also went on the International Tet Exchange a few years ago.

Here is what she says about herself.

      My name is Nichole Fisher
      I am the Tetrathlon Championships Organizer, Mid Cal Horse Management Organizer, and Santa Cruz County PC Jt-DC

     What I like about Pony Club is that it teaches independence, teamwork, leadership, and other life skills to be applied to horse care and "real-life"

     My favorite thing to do in Pony Club is to play with/mentor/teach the kids  

     My hobbies outside of Pony Club are travelling, going to the beach, pretending I'm a little kid, frolicking in the forrest

     My pets are 4 horses: Silver- my retired Paint eventer/broodmare, Tricky- TB off the track "project" horse, Dublin - 4 yo out of Silver, Paint x ISH, Kona - 3 yo out of Silver, Paint x Rhinelander

      A funny story about me: Hmmm.... I think there are too many to narrow it down to one.  Crazy people are drawn to me and will chat with me for hours, I've been accused of being an "alone dancer", I love dressing up for any occasion (not in dresses, I'm talking costume type dress up), I startle really easily...

     HM in Championships is hopefully going to be a really fun experience.  All of the discipline organizers are on the same page about making the whole experience fun and rewarding.  Even though this is going to be fun the HM expectations are a little higher and Champs than at regular regional rallies.  So hopefully everyone is working on getting rid of that dandruff NOW!

Get to know the MidCal RS

For my first spotlight we are going to meet Ronda the RS of MidCal. Drum roll please!

The parents in my club call her the fearless leader! I think that she is very funny and cool.

With out any more delay, meet Ronda and read her interesting story!

     My name is Ronda Davenport

• I am the Regional Supervisor of the middle California Region – home to 24 Pony Clubs and 4 Pony Club Riding Centers!
• My favorite thing to do in Pony Club is goof off with my MidCal members — water fights are great fun!
• My hobbies outside of Pony Club are eating chocolate and hiking, traveling and reading, baking sweets, camping and having fun.
• The people in my family are my husband Tom, daughters Kate and Emily
• My pets are new puppy Annie and cats Henry and George
• One funny and very tragic story of me (I have many) happened when I was five or six and was traveling in the backseat of the family station wagon.  I am one of seven kids, so we were piled in the back.  The windows were down as it was a hot summer day.  My Mom was driving along a country road.  Apparently a pheasant was flying perpendicular to the car.  The pheasant flew in the car window,  conked me in the head and died in my lap.  It was total chaos with feathers everywhere and me screaming — imagine getting hit in the head by a pheasant?!  My mom though had no idea what had happened so she swerved off to the side of the road to assess the situation.  With seven kids, there is always a situation.  It took us a moment to sort out that the pheasant had intersected the window at the exact perfect moment and hit me in the head.  Strange.  But strange things happen to me. 

 Didn't I say she is funny...

 

Welcome to Western Championships!

Hi this is Nila, your reporter for the Western Champs!

The 2010 USPC Western Champs are hosted by the MidCal Region.
They take place in Woodside Horse Park.
We have six fun disciplines, Quiz, Dressage, Eventing, Games, Tettrathalon, and Show Jumping. All of these happen in a period of ten days. This is the schedule.

You can find out about the funny, sad, and crazy events going on in the Champs by visiting my blog. Check in every day to learn about the competitors, organizers, and the Horsepark itself.

Have fun reading!