2008 News

TVDCTA Riders Compete at USDF Region 3 Championships

Several TVDCTA riders competed in the Great American Insurance Group/USDF Region 3 Championships at Poplar Place Farm in October.  Debbie Hill was the champion in First Level Open (71.11%) and Cindy Latham was runner up in Third Level AA.  Hill was also Training Level Open runner-up.

Among Junior riders, Michelle Miles and Aubrey Torrez were second (13 and under) and sixth (14-18), respectively, in the USEF Dressage Seat Semi-Final.  Torrez and Miles also were fifth and sixth in the Training Level Championships.  Jordan Wright took home fifth place in the Third Level Championships.

Click here to see results of TVDCTA members.

Based upon her performance here, Michelle Miles and Gismo have been invited to the 2009 USEF Dressage Seat Medal Finals Presented by Dressage Today in July at Lamplight, Illinois.  Junior riders qualify for the 2009 Finals by competing in the USEF Dressage Seat Medal Semi-Final classes held at each of the 2008 Great American/USDF Regional Championships. A total of nine juniors will compete for the national title in her age division (13 and under).  Way to go Michelle!

Miles also finished eighth in the Final Award Standing on the 2008 National Junior List for Training Level.

New TVDCTA Officers

Elections were held at the October meeting and we have some changes in the officers and committees of the club.  Sonja Hinds is our new President, with Virginia Moon moving into the Vice President slot.  New member Lindsay Waite will be our Secretary.  Paulette Harrell will continue to serve as Treasurer and Membership.

The other committee positions are shown below:

Awards and Judges:  Debbie Hill

Shows/Clinics: Donna Barnes, Cindy Latham, Lindsay Waite

Treasurer/Membership: Paulette Harrell

Web/newsletter: Bob and Karen Duncan

Meetings/Programs: Virginia Moon

Volunteers: Sonja Rich

TVDCTA Dressage Ride-A-Test Show

The last TVDCTA fall show of the year was held on November 29th at Red Horse Ridge in Brownsboro.  Jim Graham "I" was the judge.  A cross country clinic was held the next day at Meadow Run Farm in Florence, AL.

A day-long drizzle kept several of the riders home but most entrants managed to trailer in and compete.  While the indoor arena at Red Horse Ridge offered great protection against the elements, the cooler temperatures no doubt affected many of the scores, which were more modest than those in previous shows.  

Debi Crowley and Vandiver had the highest score of the day, a 68.92% for Training 2.   Crowley also had a 66.52% for Training 1.  The best Jr./YR score was Blythe Bowman on MacAlister with a 65.00%.  Sonja Rich on Pekco won both of her Training Level classes, including a 65.00%. 

In the upper level classes, Sonja Hinds and Arlo had the best AA score with at 58.29% and Andrea Pappano and Catharina scored a 63.33% for the best Open division score.

A big thanks to all the volunteers and especially to Jane Hays and Red Horse Ridge!

Show results are posted here.

Fiorentino Receives USDF Gold Medal at National Convention

Judith Fiorentino received her USDF Gold Medal at the USDF national convention in Denver.  She had achieved the final score necessary on September 25th at the Music City Open Dressage Show in September in Murfreesboro, TN.  Riding the Dutch Warmblood Goliath, Fiorentino scored 60.625% in winning her FEI Grand Prix class.  She had earlier scored a 58.333% in FEI Grand Prix at the same show.  

USDF rules stipulate that the Gold Medal Award requires four scores of 60% or higher, where two are at Intermediate I and/or Intermediate II from two different judges and two different rides and two are at Grand Prix from two different judges and two different rides.

Bill Fiorentino reports that "According to USDF there have been 663 gold medals awarded up through 2007. With all of that, there has only been one awarded in Alabama (Judy Pirtle in Tuskegee in 2004) so Judith's will be the second gold to come to the great state of Alabama."

Judith is now listed in the USDF Awards register on their website.

In addition to Judith's great performance, other club members had good success at Music City.  See the October newsletter for results from our club member or go to the competition website to see the scores from the entire show.

September TVDCTA Dressage Show A Success

The first TVDCTA fall show was held on September 20th at Red Horse Ridge in Brownsboro.  Jeanne McDonald "S" was the judge.

The Intro-level classes produced some fine results, with Patton Short on Classie Act achieving a 79.500%, Vicki Agee on Basic Black a 76.521%, and Debi Crowley on Quinn a 79.000% in winning their respective classes.  Short also had a second place 77.500% and Crowley a winning 75.500% in Intro Test A.  Jr./YR rider Tate Hall produced two excellent scores, a 79.000% for Intro Test A and 78.500% for Intro Test B.   Alyssa Nicole Arguello, Erin Downey, Nellie Stallsmith, and Lacey Richards all had non-winning scores of 70% or more!

Debbie Hill won three upper level classes, including a 70.232% for Third Level Test 3 on Dariekos.  Michelle Miles scored a 66.333% in winning her First Level Test 1 and had the highest score among Jr./YR riders in the upper level classes.  Ashley Hayes on City Slicker had the best Adult Amateur (AA) upper level score with a 67.368 in winning Second Level Test 1.

Results and photos are now posted!

TVDCTA Website Upgrade 

We completed a major upgrade to our website in July.  Our host provider, HiWAAY Internet Services, has transferred our website to the Plesk server.  This change allows us to have expanded storage capacity and also will allow more advanced techniques to be used on our web, including the MySQL database.  Previously, these features were only available through the more expensive "premium" hosting accounts.  HiWAAY has now changed their hosting policies to offer these improvements to us at no extra cost.

These changes should be transparent to our users.  Please report any problems to TVDCTA web admin, Bob Duncan.

TVDCTA Dressage Schooling Show 

The second TVDCTA show of the year was held on Saturday, May 17th at Red Horse Ridge in Brownsboro.

The scores were quite good at this show, with several scores of 70% or higher.  Debbie Hill on Guilliame scored a 74.72% in her First Level Test 2 class, winning both the lower and upper division High Score awards.  In four rides, her lowest score of the day was 71.785%.

Heide Rose, riding Brionne, won two classes in the AA division and earned High Score for AA Training through Intro with a score of 71.5% in her Intro Test B class.

Megan Zappe competed in her first Prix St. Georges competition and scored a very good 67% on Miles.  Adela Reynolds had the best Intro-Training score among juniors, winning her Intro Test A class with a score of 63.5%.   Cindy Latham and Jubi again won High Score for the First Level and up classes with a 69.3%.

Full results are now posted here and also some photos..

High scores are given below.

TVDCTA Dressage and CT Schooling Show A Success

The first TVDCTA show of the year was held on Saturday, April 12th at Cotton Meadows Farm (Debi Crowley's farm) in Elkmont, AL, with Nina Warren, "L" as the judge.

We were blessed with great weather and the show ran smoothly, thanks to club volunteers and Show Secretary Debi Gilbert.  This was our first show at Cotton Meadows Farm and a big thanks goes out to Debi Crowley for helping to make it all possible. 

Junior riders had some very good dressage and CT scores.   Michelle Miles riding Gismo had a 68.90% in her Training Level 2 class, the best overall dressage score of the day.  She  also had a 64% in Training Level 3, where she edged Aubrey Torrez on Pippen, who had the same score.  In Combined Training, Michelle Florida scored a 37.5 in winning her Tadpole class.

Results are now posted here and photos have been added, courtesy of Debi Crowley.

For more information, please contact Show Secretary Debi Gilbert at 256-828-6722 or up_n_over@bellsouth.net. 

TVDCTA Awards Banquet

The annual TVDCTA Awards Banquet was held on March 1st at Surin in Huntsville.  The banquet honored riders for the 2007 competitive season with ribbons and decorative ceramic awards.

Grace Ella Friar, Michelle Miles, and Megan Zappe won the Junior division awards for Intro A & B Level, Training Level, and Second Level, respectively.  In the Adult Amateur division, the winners were Sonja Rich (Intro A & B Level), Karen Cunefare (Training Level), Nancy Smith (Second Level), Karen Boates (Third Level), and Paulette Harrell (Amoeba and Tadpole CT).

Open division winners were Debi Crowley (Training Level), Cathy Zappe (Third Level, FEI), and Lee Adams (Amoeba and Tadpole CT).

Please click here for a link to the list of all award winners and some more photos.

TVDCTA Riders Busy in Florida

Several TVDCTA members have been in Florida competing.  Debbie Hill, Suzy Jennings, and Caroline Humphries competed at the Wellington Classic Spring Challenge last weekend with good results.  There is a nice story on their efforts at the Dressage Daily website.  Go to dressagedaily.com/2008/dd_200802/dd_20080219.html for the story.

                                                             Tennessee Valley Dressage and Combined Training Association

                                                          Last Updated 5/11/2009