Welcome to 2016!

It's 2016 and Team Sundance is off to a roaring start! With a barn full of horses and riders, we have stayed busy all through the winter months - and have even managed to avoid drowning in all the rain! However, as a reminder to all our Sundancers - if it has rained enough so that the valley is flooded, please give yourself extra time to get here as they close the bridge in Duvall, meaning some long back-ups as everyone heads over to "our" bridge. Fortunately, our hill keeps us free from the raging rivers, and horses have managed to squeak in some outside time when we get dry days!

With a busy show season in front of us. we were so delighted with how organized all of our riders were in getting their show requests in for the season. If you weren't sure of which show you wanted to attend, some shows still have room, so please make sure you touch base with your trainers ASAP so we can get you on the list! We are excited to be attending; San Juan Capistrano, Thunderbird, Thermal and the Cascade Horse Shows in Cle Elum, to name a few, and would love to have all our riders there! If you haven't signed up for a horse show yet, now is the time to get on the list!

With horse show season right around the corner, it is also time to make sure your show gear is up to snuff! Congratulations to Gigi on her brand new Antares saddle, and to Kim on her pending SE trunk! If you are in need of any tack, helmets or show equipment, please check with us first so we can help guide you to the right items - and, maybe even get you a discount in the process! For those of you who do not have Sundance trunks, covers, name plates, halter boards and standing wrap holders, these items will be rented to you at the shows. However, there is still time to order before show season gets under way, so make sure you get organized now and you will have your very own equipment to start the season!

San Juan Capistrano looks pretty great, framed by some horsey ears! 

With a busy barn, and a busy show season, we are very excited to welcome our new Assistant Trainer, Hannah Paradis to Team Sundance! Hannah brings with her a wealth of teaching and riding experience and is an exciting addition to our fantastic staff! We have loved the warm reception she has received from all of our riders and are looking forward to her contributions to the barn.

Our Sales Horses are keeping Chelsea busy, with Charlie and Kash both coming along nicely. Charlotte wiggled her way into Katherine's heart, and has also joined the team - although how "for sale" she is, remains to be seen as she continues to win everyone over with her abundance of cute. She may, instead, find herself a member of the Best Lesson Horse Brigade, that Sundance is proud to host, as she earns more miles under the saddle - and over those scary fences! Our good friend, Mexico, found a new home in Eastern Washington, where she can continue to teach, and eventually enjoy a well deserved retirement. Although she will be missed by all of us, we are delighted she has found such a wonderful new home!

Brisky, Monte, Skye and Landon all joined the Team since last year and we are excited to have them on board with us for 2016. Brisky will start the year off first, making her showing debut with Team Sundance this March, as she and Katherine head to San Juan to get the show season off and running. And by running, we mean RUNNING, if you haven't seen this mare in action!

We have also started off the year by working on some new projects around the barn, including finishing the installation of the new water heater in 2015, a new set of doors (that close!) and another layer of felt for our fabulous footing! We are excited about all the improvements and are looking forward to continuing to better our facility for our horses and riders! We hope you've enjoyed them as well!!

We are, as always, excited to get started on a new year of showing, and hope that you are as well! If you are looking for some inspiration, make sure you check out the Year-End Video from 2015 - huge thanks to Rory for putting it together and to everyone who took photos and video during the season! It is great to have a fun way to look back at another great year of riding.

And, finally, congratulations to all our horses and riders on conquering the "Open Water"! We were so excited to add this larger liverpool to the jumping equipment, and even more delighted at how well everyone did! All of your hard work paid off and we couldn't be more proud! Looking forward to coming up with a new challenge for 2016!!

Looking forward to another great year with Team Sundance!

See you at the barn!

Hiting the New Year, Hard!

After a much needed, and enjoyed, couple of weeks of downtime, we are looking forward to returning to the ring, refreshed and ready to work! A few of the horses spent Christmas playing with their riders and out in their fields, while others enjoyed extra trail rides and attention from their people. It was a great way to wrap up a busy, and productive, year, and we are excited to get back to our normal schedule - lots of hard work, flat work, maybe some of that no-stirrup work (maybe? how about, "of course"!) and a couple of jumps thrown in there as well. We hope everyone is as excited about 2015 as we are!

Can hardly wait to get back to the shows!

We are wrapping up our preparations for both Thermal and San Juan Capistrano this week. Horses will be getting all their paperwork done next month, as well as their routine care - we also expect to have Sam out this month as we look to start the year with everything in place - in mind AND body! We are excited to offer several great shows this year, including: HITS, Thermal, CA., Blenheim, San Juan, CA., Thunderbird, Langley, BC and the Cascade Horse Shows, Cle Elum, WA. We have group housing available for Thermal, San Juan and Cle Elum on a first come, first serve, basis, so make sure you let us know if you are interested in sharing the housing. These are only a few of the shows that will be on the table, so make sure you look at your calendar now as we will be entering the majority of these shows well in advance this year.

We had a lovely time at the Barn Christmas Party this year, and truly enjoyed all the lovely gifts we received, and, of course, Katherine was blown away by the new trunk (& cover!)! What a surprise and an amazing gift! Thank you to everyone who donated and, of course, a huge thank you to Chelsea for, once again, putting it all together. You will all be thought of each time it is used - and let's face it, that's a lot! We are all looking forward to seeing it, in all its glory, at the shows this year! We were also excited for the annual unveiling of the Year-End Video! If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you check it out! And if you have seen it - why not watch it again! Thanks to Rory for all his hard work putting it together and to all our photographers and videographers as well!

As an added perk to our riders without "standard sized" trunks, this year we have an extra trunk for riders to rent during show weeks. Outside of looking great, this will reduce the clutter in our Ready Room at the shows and allow us to all use that space more efficiently. This is a great way for our riders to have access to a trunk, while saving up to get their own. This is also a great time to make sure you have your show supplies order in at Olson's. Make sure your horse has a name plate for the shows and we would like everyone to look into the halter boards as well. We have a very limited supply, and halter boards keep your nice show halter off the ground and away from curious pony teeth. Please contact Mike at Olson's and he can get you set up - do this early so it is here for the shows! We are also in the process of ordering barn jackets - please let us know if you need one! One must wear all the cool clothes, after all!

Wednesday lessons will be returning to our schedule in February, so please look ahead at your calendars and let us know if this is something you would like to utilize. This will be a temporary addition, so if you have been dying to ride on Wednesday, make sure you let us know so we can get you on the schedule! As a reminder, during the wet weather, if there is flooding in Duvall, traffic is quite bad coming out to the barn as the second bridge floods. Please allow extra time to get here!

We are looking forward to the WSHJA Awards Banquet this weekend and want to remind everyone that now is the time to re-new your memberships! Riders should have memberships in the WSHJA, USHJA and USEF. If you have questions or are unsure what to sign up for, please check with your Trainers. As a reminder, horses need memberships too, so make sure your four legged friend is up to date! We also want to congratulate all of our riders on their year-end awards! Too many to list here, but check out the Sundance Ad in the Flying Changes to see your name in lights!

We have two fun clinics for riders so far this year. Jay Duke will be returning to the barn on February 7th and 8th and, rumor has it, George Morris will be at Potcreek this summer. Space is very limited for both these events, so sign up now to make sure you are able to participate.

We are excited for another fun and competitive year in 2015, and can't wait to spend it with all of Team Sundance!

Stay warm, stay dry, and we will see you at the barn! 

Summertime at the barn

Well, we are back from Thunderbird and getting ready to head off to The Emerald Classic! This is our first year showing at Emerald, so we are excited to see how the show goes!

Thunderbird was a ton of fun - not only in the show ring, but at the exhibitor's bar-b-que and bull riding and the horseless foot race as well! Our group won in both the bull riding and the foot race so we had some other fancy items to add to our Thunderbird weeks - as well as 3 Reserve Championships: Chelsea and Finesse in the .90's, Vera and Finesse in the Pony Jumpers and Aidan and Phalcon in the Short Stirrup Hunters - a great couple of weeks for all!

At home, Farley continues his struggle with his "lumps". He is quite bumpy for anyone who hasn't seen him, but is under the care of several different vets - hopefully they can all decide on what will return him to show form before the shows are over for the year! We are truly blessed to have Finesse to take over for him while he recovers.

Jasmine tried her hand out in the Grand Prix field at Thunderbird - although she was quite sure some of those jumps were out to get her, the experience, over-all, was a good one and hopefully we will get some fun pictures out of it as well!

Titan/Sinatra has progressed so much on the line! We are so exited about him! He is now able to canter calmly and quietly as well as trot like an old pro -we are all very proud of him and the work the Danika and Chelsea have put into him. With the addition of his new bridle, we were able to add the rig into his routine this week - readjusting him to work with bridle and tack in order to prepare for the day we can hop on for real! Danika is planning on trying to raise some more money in order to purchase a girth to fit her saddle - if anyone has a size 40 that they would like to donate or loan to a good cause, we'd love it!

Everyone else is getting ready for the Emerald Classic this coming week, followed by Wild Waves on August 6th and The Evergreen Classic in August - make sure you get signed up at the barn if you haven't already!!

We are breaking out the fly masks and fly spray so that means summer is officially here! Enjoy it while it lasts!!

See you all out at the barn!

Sunny Days!

The weather has suddenly turned amazing & we are all out loving that spring sun - at least while it lasts!

Sinatra has continued his new life out at the barn, &, as Danika is still without a girth (I've heard rumors of a bake sale at Gold Creek so make sure you come to the horse show hungry!), we have continued to work Sinatra/Titan (sorry Girls - I forgot!) on the line. This week he made amazing progress & started to get more comfortable working to the right as well as the left and even some consistent cantering on the line both directions. He has a way to go before he is truly soft & comfortable each way without having a wall to lean on, but we are really excited about his progress. AND his ground manners are AMAZING! He is no longer nibbling at us and has really taken to some "in-hand" halter type training - walking, backing, the whole thing -who knows, we may get really fancy & try a pivot next week! ;) We are also thinking about introducing a bridle into his lunging experience - we just need to get them smaller - he may have a big head, but it is still dainty compared to the critters out here!

In other barn news, all of the grass gates are open for May & the horses suddenly look a little chubby! But they are all enjoying their larger turn outs and have even had some "naked" days in the sun when we have been able to take blankets off during the day - hopefully you all have had a chance to come out & take your favorite equine for a grass walk - & I know Javier would love not having to mow the hill - a win-win for everyone!!

Gold Creek is coming up at the end of the month - if you are going, make sure those forms are done & turned in to Gold Creek or Katherine ASAP - need help - just ask!

Bainbridge is also coming up next month & we are excited to head over there - it'll be the 1st time the barn shows over there as a Team so we are looking forward to it!

Come on out & enjoy the weather while it lasts - I hear rumors of rain next week....!!