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SHOW DATES
AWARDS
& PRIZES
HUNTER CLASSES
WESTERN ENGLISH & HALTER CLASSES
E-Mail us
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Dear
Competitors and Friends:
Our Saddle Series show season for
2008-2009 culminated with our awards banquet on, March 7, and a good time was
had by all as we presented awards to our winners for the series: click here to
view all the winners (Series Champs
2008-2009 ).
Summer
Specials: we have special weekday summer programs for July, August and
September, conducted in our covered arena. For the a printable Summer Specials
page click on => Summer Specials 2009.pdf
or call (760) 329-7676 and we'll give you details, or email us at don@willowbrookridingclub.com
and we'll send you a schedule. And if you want to see a great listing of options for kids'
activities over the summer, check out http://www.desertkidsdirectory.com
... it's great!
We're heading into 2009 with confidence that America will
survive the economic downturn -- in spite of our governments -- and emerge stronger than ever,
bolstered by those folks who embody the values
that made, and will continue to make, America great -- hard work, a
competitive spirit, generosity, and faith in God -- values that run strongly
in horse people! Please
note that we can host kids' birthday parties (Kids Parties at Willowbrook)
and conduct equine-assisted personal development clinics (Equine-Assisted
Personal Development Clinics): click on their pages to see
details. Also, our boarders' monthly trail ride heads out to picturesque
'Willow Hole' (a picture of which is on our opening page) located
in the conservancy area adjacent to our ranch where horses (but not motorized
vehicles) are welcome.
Once
again our four Willowbrook Spring Series Horse Shows were very pleasant and
enjoyable. The Spring weather was great and we had wonderful Lead Line
classes: young riders (Forrest is 4 years old) sitting
proudly on their horses, decked out in their riding togs, vying for the
judge's approbation. The four-show series began on March 15, 2009 with a great lineup of classes and prizes. These shows are the perfect way for beginners
to become familiar with showing and are excellent for experienced competitors
to develop their skills in front of professional judges and we look forward to
them in 2010. (We also include a
Jumper division in this series.)
As
always a great big
thanks
our sponsors and advertisers for supporting Saddle Series and enabling
us to bring
you such wonderful prizes.
And thanks all
you equestrian competitors, ranch owners,
parents, riders, and trainers
all over southern
California who receive our programs,
attend our shows, and make them such a success. At Willowbrook we patronize
Saddle Series advertisers and sponsors, use their products and services when
we can, and urge you to do the same. Thanks
also to our wonderful volunteers who give their time and do such a wonderful
job helping us to bring
you great shows and competition. As always we are committed
to provide you with excellent judges,
a pleasant, friendly venue, well-run shows, and great awards. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves at Saddle
Series and look forward to seeing you at our upcoming shows.
This year our open hunter shows contain classes sanctioned
by the Inland Empire Hunter Jumper Association, IEHJA (http://www.iehja.com) and our Western shows contain classes sanctioned the American Quarter Horse
Association (AQHA) to enable competitors to enter either association's designated
classes and accumulate points towards their
year-end awards. Hunter day
competitors may optionally sign up with IEHJA on the day of the show. Western
day competitors: if you are not already an
AQHA member,
you may consult their web site (http://www.aqha.com)
and join (in the case of AQHA your horse must also be registered with them). Whether
you are an AQHA or IEHJA competitor or not, you may enter any
non-designated/non-sanctioned classes for which you qualify to compete for
Saddle Series 'Daily' and 'Series' awards. Also,
for your (and our) convenience, we
use 'Horse Show Time' (www.horseshowtime.com)
to manage our IEHJA and AQHA entry information, fees and results
— which are available after each show on the horse show time web site and
enable you to keep track of your accumulated points. We are happy to have David Rogers back as our wonderful hunter course designer.
As in previous
years, the Premium covering Saddle Series
2009-2010 and next year's Spring Shows will be mailed out in September; we automatically mail one to every past
competitor, but if you haven't showed here before, send us an email with your address
or call and we'll be happy to send one out and put you on our mailing list. Also,
for your convenience, we will have downloadable Hunter
and Western entry forms for Saddle Series 2009-2010 available on this web site
this summer ... just click on either one and it will appear on your Adobe
reader (freely available from http://adobe.com) so you can print it on
virtually any printer. This means you can produce the entry forms at home and
complete them before you arrive. This saves us all time on
show days. Entry forms
are,
of course, also available at the shows.
If you wish, you can also complete your entry form at home and fax it to us at
(760) 251-1198, in advance to save even more time.
May we remind you that Saddle
Series Daily high-point
awards do not require any
special sign-up -- you are automatically in the running for every Saddle
Series daily award
for which you qualify. There is a one-time overall sign-up
fee for
Saddle
Series
high-point awards: once
signed up, you are entered in every Saddle Series division year-end
competition for which you
qualify: at year-end the cumulative scores from all shows are tallied.
And check out our Day Camps, Spring, Summer, and
Winter -- the perfect way to introduce kids to the joys of horseback riding
(Day Camp).
As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions. This
is a special year for us; our arena canopy is now finished, it's great to ride
in and
we’re looking forward to using it a lot, especially getting out of the
summer sun!
'Home Schoolers' Willowbrook is an approved vendor of riding training and horse care for various Charter Schools for home schoolers in California, including
Julian and River Springs (formerly Eagles Peak).
Lessons can qualify for reimbursement as PE (physical education) or eligible specialty classes. Call (760) 329-7676 for details of programs
offered.
'Dogs' We do not allow 'outside' dogs on our property at any time, no
matter how big or small, leashed or not. This is a safety consideration for
your and your children's protection and we will enforce it ruthlessly. Not
all dogs are horse-friendly; sometimes unpredictably they fight with each
other and can cause horses to spook; it's impossible to checkout every dog, so
the safest solution is to disallow dogs.
'Hoses & Bubblers' There are hoses
in the horse-trailer parking area which are convenient for filling buckets to water
your horses. Sometimes people drive or back over hose bibs even though they
are clearly marked with cones or concrete blocks. Please be aware and avoid
them. Also,
every tree has a 'bubbler': if you allow your horse to go too close to the
trees, the bubblers can be stepped on and broken. Please give a wide berth to
the bases of trees.
'Weather' A note to those who call us about the
weather.
We've only
cancelled one show (remember El Niño?) over the 150 or so shows we've held in the past
15 years!
Our arenas are on sand footings and have never flooded. We're in the desert: we
average around 5.25 inches of
rainfall per year (but get winds on occasion which proves you can't
have everything). We also now have a covered, wind-sheltered arena: rest assured we will hold the shows as scheduled unless some
very rare, extreme condition prevails. So bear in mind that even though the
weather at your home is terrible, and you're up to your knees in mud, the chances are overwhelming that our weather
here will be wonderful and quite suitable for a show; we prefer to be outside but will go
under cover if that makes the most sense. Call us or click on the following
web site and it will give you the 5-day forecast for Desert Hot Springs (ZIP
92241) then you'll know as much as we do:
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=92241
The
trainers and staff and the Franklin family at Willowbrook wish you a safe and
enjoyable season of horse competition wherever you show: we hope to see you at
our shows, clinics, and events.
Sincerely,
LoriLea and Don Franklin
Hunter Montgomery Franklin, Forrest Michael Franklin,
March 21, 2001 February 7, 2005
Future Serious Horseman
Happy Hunter/Jumper Guy
 
Hunter Montgomery Franklin
Forrest Michael Franklin
First Horse Show, January, 2003
First Horse Show, January, 2007 |
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