Hello – and happy New year to All!!

1. The new Centaur Mug features a picture of Dark Velvet with her foal Fiera. If you were at the Dec 21 Horse Show, you likely have yours already. If not, they are on the pink dresser in tack room or on table in Lounge entrance – please take one, they are for you!!
    
2. RIDER LEVELS in 2020 – Exams for Rider levels 2 through 4 are planned for Friday June 26. Interested RL 1 candidates will be examined during their lesson times on an earlier date. Please sign the posted sheet in tack room, and take an information sheet. The Rider levels are an excellent way to measure the improvements made by the riders. They set excellent goals, and help develop an all-round equestrian. There are links at the end of this newsletter with more information.

   To make sure that our students do well in these exams we will be teaching preparation courses for the Stable Management and the Practical Horse Knowledge sections of the exams. The riding portion is done during regular lessons. The linked document “RL1 to 4 information” describes the whole process – dates, times, costs, what you need, descriptions of the levels.

   PREPARATION COURSES: A series of 16 prep courses (8 for RL 1 & 2) + (8 for RL 3 & 4). Riders are invited to attend all 16 classes if they wish, or the RL1/2 series or RL3/4 series. (Best rates are for those taking all 16 classes – this comes out to around $10 per class)
    

3. NEXT IN-HOUSE HORSE SHOW – will happen on Easter Monday
    
4. Exciting News for riders wishing to compete in Schooling Dressage and Hunter horse shows for 2020. Our OESS circuit is now part of the OADG show award circuit. This means that competing at 3 schooling shows, at 2 different venues, will qualify you for OADG year-end awards. This part is the same as previous years – the difference is that now Riverview (the other stable holding OESS horse shows) is now part of this show circuit. So now, our students who participate in any OESS show can also be eligible for OADG year-end awards. All you need extra is an OADG membership. At the OESS shows there are classes for almost all levels. There are walk-trot divisions, cross-rail courses divisions. All our in-house horse show graduates can compete here! (Why is this so exciting? The OADG puts on the absolute best year-end banquet with loads of prizes and trophies and awards)
    
5. Calendar of Events is updated to include many many many horse shows. Also included are the Study Prep classes for the RL exams. Print off a copy so you have all those dates handy, as well as all further Quiet Days.

Rider Level Information:

• – RL1 to 4 Information
• – Sign-up Study Group
• – Rider Level Exam Sign-up

1. TOM DVORAK, Olympian, will be at Centaur this coming Friday to teach some lucky riders. The day starts at 9:15 and will end at 4:30. All are welcome to attend – we ask that cell phones be turned off and that spectators enter and leave the arena between lessons. You can also observe from the Lounge.

   Line-up is: 9:00 Ava & Meadow; 9:45 Katy and Rocky; 10:30 Danica and Cocoa?; 11:15 Audrey. Lunch. 1:15 Louise Palmer; 2:00 Danika & Mandy; 2:45 Katy & Feyra; 3:30 Claire & Bobby
    

2. FALL SUN-DAYS – All kinds of extra activities are planned for Sundays. CLICK HERE for details. The sign-up sheet will be in the barn, and you can also send me an email to sign up. Some of the activities offered: Hacking, Musical Ride, Free Longeing, Free-Jumping, Intro to Longeing, Jumping lessons – all real fun stuff. Cost is minimal to FREE. See attachment to see if you qualify for free lessons!
    
3. NOVEMBER 8 – GOAL SETTING MEETING. 6:00. Will be held either at Shirley’s house or in the Lounge – we will finalize place closer to date. PURPOSE: to answer questions and to guide our students. Some common questions asked are: how to progress within our lesson system, when ready to canter, when ready to jump, when ready to enter competitions, when ready to attempt the Rider level exams. So, bring your questions – we would like to address all these matters. Depending on numbers who attend, there might be a possibility of having a one-on-one with your or your child’s coach.
    
4. QUIET DAYS – these dates are now noted on the weekly schedule sheets, the attached Calendar of Events, and on our website. To see description of what a Quiet day is – go see our FAQ on page 2.
    
5. IN-HOUSE HORSE SHOW with a Christmas Theme… will be held on Saturday December 21. There will be classes for everyone … and ribbons to be won!
    

Hello All,

Here is the First Draft of the New Session. Now is the time to let me know if the proposed time/day/class size works for you.

Notes About the Schedule:

• Saturday is rather full, and the week evenings are rather empty. This would be a good time for the more advanced Saturday students to take the next step and move to a week evening into more advanced lessons with the more advanced coaches. Let me know if this is a possibility for you.
• Quiet Days – have not yet been decided.
• First choice for spaces are for those registered for entire year. So if a new student comes along who will be a year-long student, and you are not, you could be bumped into a different time spot.
• Mini-Equestrian classes are held on Saturdays at 12:00.
• Drop-in lessons are Monday evenings 6:15. Prices for fully registered students will remain at $25 per lesson, but for all others, price will be raised to $57 per lesson effective September 1.

Coaches:
Monday & Weds evenings – Monica
Tuesday eve & Weds, Fri am – Shirley
Tues am, Thursday eve – Danika
Saturday morning – Katy & Anna
Saturday afternoon – Kai

For those whose names appear at the bottom of the pages under “I haven’t heard from”, please let me know your plans.

HORSES FOR LEASE
Leasing opportunities for Centaur students. If you are capable of tacking up by yourself, safely, remembering to tighten your girth, and can do this by yourself, you are now ready to lease. Leasing is available by the day, or by the month. The right horse for your level will be assigned to you, of course taking into consideration your choice of horse. Leases can be done on Monday through Friday evenings, around lesson times when bad weather, and Sundays.

RUSSELL FAIR
We are taking Jewell to the Russell Fair on Friday Sept 6, Sat Sept 7 and Sunday Sept 7. Would anyone be available to give Jewell a tail wash & good cleaning on the previous Thursday evening? And if anyone is available to help on these days, please let me know. Friday is supposed to be the BIG day with 1400 school kids. So far, volunteering are Mackenzie (Friday), Tami & Ava (when?), Laurie (when?). If that has changed, please let me know. That day’s Friday lesson will either be postponed, or it will be a quiet day.

OE COACH / INSTRUCTOR EXAMS
Held on Sept 15. I am still looking for two RL6 (ish) riders to be test riders in the morning. So far test riders are:

a) For the Instructor exam in the pm: Teagan, Danica and Erica

b) For the Coach exam in the morning: Kai, (2 more needed, must be able to jump safely from a canter)

DAYCAMP SEASON IS OVER
We held a very successful Daycamp season with lots and lots of happy riders. This year’s team was fabulous, both in-barn and teaching – so thank you to all who made the 2019 summer such a success! This year’s summer crew included: Kai, Katy, Milena, Rowan, Lily, Katie, Erica, and Anna.

Hello All,

Centaur has been invited to bring our “dog & pony show” to the Russell Fair on Sept 6, 7, 8. The organizers of the fair were impressed with our presentation at the Mayor’s Expo at City Hall, and thus extended the invitation. And me being me, of course had to make it bigger, so I got the bright idea that on the Friday we could try and put on a Rookie Rider program. They are expecting over 1400 schoolkids on the Friday. So you guessed it…help will be needed for this. It looks like OE and maybe EC will also help. If you think you can be available, especially for the Friday, please let me know. The other 2 days will also require some help, but there won’t be any Rookie Rider, just us, our booth, and Jewell (who is the real reason we were asked!)

DAXL was a star at his first off-property show. There were a lot of firsts – first time travelling in a trailer being one of them. He was such a good boy. No fuss, walked onto the trailer like he has always done that, was calm at the show. Danika could feel him not being his confident self, but it was hard to see from the spectator’s point of view. He did three tests, and had the 3 highest scores of the entire 2-day show, 6% higher than the next in one of his classes. Wanting to give him a good first experience, and feeling his uncertainty, Danika did the right thing and rode him conservatively – aiming for clean tests. He attracted a lot of attention and many compliments…but just wait until they see him when he goes like he does at home! So proud of Danika and Daxl. When Daxl was born I posted on FB that Daxl was going to be Danika’s future star. We had sold all of Princess’ other babies, and they were all stunning. So I thought we should keep at least one. Daxl is still for sale, however, but for a decent price. But anyone wanting their own future star, Decibelle, his full sister, is in the field waiting for an owner. She is still priced under 10k, so NOW is the time for you to invest … and she just might be just as nice as her big brother.

OE Prep Course is being held here on Friday July 26. I will need 6 horses and 5 riders. 1 rider can be at RL 1 or higher. Other 3 riders need to be RL 3 to 4. I will also need 1 horse and rider at RL 6-8. These riders and horses will be the “guinea pigs” for the instructors and coaches being prepared for their Coaching exams. If you are interested, let me know.

CONGRATULATIONS to Danika whose mare Velvet had her first foal: a filly. She was born at 8:15 Monday July 8. Danika is still looking for a name – the name must start with an “F”. Sire’s name is For Romance, Dam – Dark Velvet. Any ideas welcome – and if you can make up a nice name using the parent’s names that’s even better!

Hello,

Please CLICK HERE for the SUMMER SESSION SCHEDULE, for July and August. There are lessons every day of those 2 months, except for Quiet Days.
 

• IF YOU WANT TO RIDE – extra or once in a while – email Shirley and she will find you a suitable spot. Danika is also teaching some privates on some Sundays, as well as week day mornings.
• MINI-EQUESTRIANS are being held on Saturday’s at 12:00.
• TWO DROP-IN’S ARE OFFERED – Monday at 6:00, and Wednesday at 6:00.
• NOTE THE QUIET DAYS listed at the bottom of each day page and on the Events page of our
  website.
• OE COACHING EVALUATIONS: Those interested in being evaluated and certified as Instructors or Coaches, OE will be here on July 26th and September 15th for this purpose. Not many applicants are accepted for each day, so apply now:
  – July 26 – Prep Course
  – September 15 -Evaluation
• OUR NEW WEBSITE is full of useful information. I would like to draw your attention to the FAQ page found in the Lessons section: FAQs2019.pdf
• OESS / ESD PRIZE LIST AND ENTRY FORMS can be found here and on the Horse Shows page of our website – our first show is on July 21st:

  – Entry Form
  – Prize List

Hello All,

Just a reminder to riders that this Saturday is a quiet day. And welcome to OUR FIRST HORSE SHOW of 2019 THIS COMING SUNDAY. Some of our riders will be participating: Zoe and Red, Ava and Meadow, Katy with Rocky and Feyra, Danika and Daxl. Come cheer them on!

IT’S NOW TIME TO REGISTER FOR THE SUMMER SESSION. CLICK HERE to view the price list. Basically, you need to let me know your plans, show intent by sending a $100 booking fee (which is later deducted from the cost of lessons), let me know what are the good days and the bad days for riding, and the earliest arrival time on week evenings.

Our OPEN HOUSE LAST SATURDAY was a huge success. We didn’t count how many people attended; however, over 75 free rides through the Obstacle Course were taken by young children. The barn was busy with all the brushing and grooming with Anna in charge. Laurie and Nicole drove the gator around all day giving farm tours, Melinda organized the drawing contest, Claire and Mimi manned the information table, giving out the loot bags and the raffle, Tami, Chantal & Laurie kept the Obstacle Course riders organized. The Centaur Staff were all in full force helping with the brushing, the barn tours, the lessons/riding demos, the obstacle course – Erica, Marianne, Anne-Sophie, Dominique, Katy, Sophie, Katie, Milena. Monica did barn tours, Caroline and Kai led their students through their riding demos. Then ZAK’s Graincart – Zoe, Ava & Katy – fed us at the canteen, with all proceeds going towards their competition fund. And everyone, including Lilly helped out the day before getting ready … THANK YOU all! You can see videos and tons of photos on the CRS FB page, taken by Reekie.

If you are downtown THIS FRIDAY come and see us, and Jewell, at City hall. Yes, we are taking Jewell out on the town. We are attending the Mayor’s Rural Expo, and Jewell wants to tag along. We will be the booth with the cute bay pony!

Hello All,

1) Daycamps are filling up… Registration form can be found on the Daycamps page of our website – please note the changes in weeks.

2) There are a few spaces for lessons – Monday evening 6:15 with Monica, Thursday 6:30 with Danika, and Weds Drop-in 6:45 – with Monica. Send me an email to book! See the Lessons page of our website for the Application form and price list.

3) OPEN HOUSE on HORSE DAY – Mark this date on your calendar – Saturday, June 1. We will be holding an Open House at the farm from 9:00 to 3:00. There will be riding to watch, horses being fed, farm and barn tours, our famous and popular Obstacle Course, FOOD, prizes to be won! The perfect day to bring out your family & friends for a visit. Demonstrations will be provided by the Saturday riders!! They are busy putting together routines to show off their skills! ALSO, we will be welcoming Equestrian Canada (EC) who will do a live coverage of Horse Day, which is being celebrated across Canada.

4) Jewell Goes To Town – Jewell will be going to City Hall on Friday June 7 to participate in the Mayor’s Rural Expo. We will accompany her, of course, but if anyone wants to come and help set up a booth, and generally talk to all of Jewell’s fans, you are most welcome. Jewell will also need to be beautified the day before to get her hair and nails done, so again, all help welcome. But at the very least, if you are downtown on Friday June 7, do drop in and say hi!

5) See the Horse Shows page for all the dates for the Centaur Horse Shows.

6) MINI-EQUESTRIANS ARE STARTING UP this Saturday. First lesson will be this coming Saturday, May 11 from 3:30 to 4:30. See the Lessons page for information on this class.