Keeping Busy at Hooves

HOOVES HAS BEEN KEEPING BUSY!

t has been an interesting year so far for the Hooves team! We were very lucky to make the acquaintance of Rick Albertson and his partner Wendy when they came on a riding holiday with us earlier this year. Rick is a silver medal USDF Dressage rider and we have managed to persuade him to return to Jamaica to train us! Rick is now a regular dressage trainer here and everyone who has a clinic with him can’t wait to have more. It may have more to do with our beautiful Island than our talent, but he has managed to work wonders with the not-so-young-anymore ‘wanna-be’ dressage queens that make up the Hooves team! Rick is due back in August for another round of clinics and we are all looking forward to his return. Check out Rick's website at www.hrickalbertson.com	Rick Albertson and our trainer Suzy discuss the finer points of dressage as Squeaks (far right) supervises.

HERO WINS... AGAIN! Tina and Hero were picked for the Jamaica Dressage team, and went up a class for the FEI World Challenge Dressage competition in Easter this year and won their class - we are all very proud of them both! They are now lying twelfth (12^th) in the Caribbean (our region) - no mean feat when you remember that Hero was found lying in a ditch unable to stand! The Caribbean Equestrian Association will be holding their Challenge in November and we look forward to another stellar performance from them. These competitions allow us to compete on an international level without having to leave the country, the FEI (Federation Equestrian International) send judges to all the countries that participate and all the results are sent in to them. In this way you have a national and regional placing giving each country and individual a local, regional and international placing. The CEA (Caribbean Equestrian Association) holds their challenge in the same way, but is only held throughout the Caribbean Islands.	Click here to learn about Hero's rescue and rehabilitation > Read about Hero's First FEI win

ZOE PROVES A WORTHWHILE COMPETITOR Suzi our Instructor, and Zoe (aka the yellow lizard) also made their debut this year at the FEI World Challenge placing fifth (5th) in the Adults Alternate (novice) class. Zoe was rescued with her mother when she was very young, and is now five (5) years old with a promising career ahead of her. Her first show went very well, in spite of a Polo match being played while she was in the arena doing her test – which did not help the concentration levels at all! Zoe and Suzi will be going to the Caribbean Equestrian Association challenge in November and we are sure that they will do very well.	Suzi and Zoe "gear up" for the next competition

TWO MORE RESCUED HORSES ARE READY FOR THE SHOW CIRCUIT Kiara (Tina’s daughter) and her jumping horse Apollo have been having lessons with Suzi and are ready for the Jamaica Show season. Apollo came from the racetrack two years ago and although originally purchased as a trail horse, was found to have a penchant for jumping. Kiara’s second horse is Valiant - a rude little pony that promises to be an interesting prospect, Valiant came to Hooves when his previous owner sold his cattle farm and was looking to home three cowponies, the option was given to Hooves to either come and get them or the farmer was going to shoot them!!!! click here to learn more about our rescue program >	Valiant - our "rude little pony" - relaxes in between training sessions with Kiara

AN INTERN BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY In April and May we had a visit from Carmen a talented young rider from Germany who came to stay with us to improve her English! We put her to good use schooling some of our young horses and improving the jumping skills of others! After having her here for twelve (12) weeks she became part of our family and we miss her very much, we even have a dog named after her.	Carmen, during one of the clinics, shows style and grace in the saddle

EAP - ‘HORSE PLAY We are very proud of our reputation as horse rescuers, but we haven’t stopped there! Our rescued horses are now rescuing people! Horse Play - an Equine Assisted Therapy uses horses (some of whom have been rescued themselves) to help recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, enabling them to work their way through their problems, empowering them to lead active drug / alcohol free lives. With the help of Teen Challenge, a Christian based organization, they are encouraged to overcome their addictions and lead productive lives once again. The horses help them to understand and resolve any issues they may have, as well as teaching them the power of unconditional love, team work and problem solving. Visit the teen challenge website at www.teenchallengejamaica.org CSalt is an organization that works with ‘At Risk’ boys (under 16) and they have been coming for Horse Play too! Some of these boys have never been up-close and personal with a horse in their lives, and it is both interesting and awe inspiring to watch the horses interact with these children. They come with their counselors who monitor their progress throughout each session, and we have had some very positive feed-back from them. As with the adults from Teen Challenge the children are given tasks to do and problems to solve involving the horses, and it is always interesting to watch the horses reactions to the children. (CSALT's website will be available soon at: www.savetomorrowsmen.com) Horse Play was recently approached by a Japanese volunteer group who are working with Special Needs children across the island, to start a program of therapeutic riding for children from a local Special Needs school. Most of these children suffer from mild to moderate Autism as well as ADHT and other disabilities. Their therapy will include riding and interacting with the horses and we are looking forward to a very interesting time ahead! Horse Play is a non-profit organization which is funded by Hooves Ltd. Our horses give us such joy and are great therapy, so why not share with others the unconditional love that these wonderful animals have to offer. Hooves Director Tina Williams is a Level 1 EAGALA certified horse professional. For more about Equine Assisted therapy go to www.EAGALA.org	One of the EAP Excersises

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