Oregon Dales Pony Wins at National Mountain Trail Event
Hardy and dextrous, Fiddlehead Astrid, 4yo, Dales pony in Springfield, Oregon competed for the first time, November 2020, at the Oregon Horse Center’s National Mountain Trail event, winning her first ribbons.
Mountain Trail is a judged event designed to show the confidence, boldness and athletic ability of horses, ponies and mules while being challenged by highly demanding trail obstacles.
Astrid was shown in nine classes on radical obstacle courses with her owner/trainer, Jane Snar, who was very proud of her calm demeanor and graceful footfall throughout the 4-day competition. Astrid placed third overall in the highly competitive in-hand novice division.
Jane tells us, "The wildfire’s out west ravaged our beautiful forests. We had to evacuate, but fortunately the fires missed our home and pasture by a mere eight miles but the residual smoke and ash made breathing a challenge for humans and ponies. Life has gotten back to normal for Astrid and her herd of British native ponies: Istas the Fell, Wallace the Highland and Freddie the Shetland. They are thriving once again on their favorite foothill in the Sky High neighborhood. We have welcomed the winter rains with open arms."
2020 DPCNA Coast to Coast Virtual Dalesaganza
Autumn 2020--- our first DPCNA attempt at online showing!
Huge thanks to the brave souls who stepped up to give a try to traditional show pony competition for Dales. It's one thing to exhibit in person where you go in, come out, it's done and over but an entirely different experience when your judge is 5000 miles away and you're not entirely sure how it works! Thanks to UK's Sparket Classy Lassy (who is now a Maine resident!) and Zana Jackson for letting us YouTube their DPS videos as How-Tos.
Competitors across the USA from Washington to New Hampshire jumped right in, sending in videos for In Hand and Ridden classes judged by the generous Ellen Maxwell Jones, in Cumbria. Ponies were in western and English tack and riders did their best to exhibit neatly, if not in traditional requisite outfits, as few this side of the pond have tweed jackets in their wardrobes, especially at the height of August's 'dog day' heat.
Having a clean pony coincide with a willing photographer, a dry day, and the regulations requiring a one-take as-is video, were handled beautifully, and we are very proud of contestants' efforts to make it all work.
Our judge kindly gave us feedback for each rider and pony which in summation noted:
- Moving forward with energy and stride lengthening
- Presenting conformation in 'thirds' on video
- 'Spats' of fetlock hair, shiny coats, good manes and tails
- Correct vertical line tip of bottom to point of hock
- Pastern angle which supports that famous Dales action
- Pony standing easily on all fours, weight well distributed
- Standing quietly for judge, well behaved and calm
She also noted that we might want to think about a weight watcher's visit or two for those greedy Dales bellies, remembering au natural is the Dales look-- no trim--and putting more (or less) oomph in the ridden show.
She particularly admired our senior mares and our junior handlers!
Congratulations to each and every competitor who had the courage to go for it-- and here's to 2021!
Winners:
Class 1-A. Mares In Hand.
1st: 117 Red Prairie Anna Bea - Shuna Cerrato 2nd: 118 Raspotnik Arabella - Shuna Cerrato 3rd: 119 Raspotnik Bess- Shuna Cerrato
4th: 103 Canadale Prim and Proper-Jack Covert 5th : 112 Raspotnik Duchess -Viggo Cerrato 6th: 115 Green Mountain Gracie-Ellen Stetson
Class 1-B Geldings and Stallions In Hand
1st: 106 Poederosa Black Magic-Blackshadow Dales 2nd: 120 Kingmaker Talisman- Shuna Cerrato 3rd: 101 Lagniappe Apollo- Katrina Brunner
4th: 116 Blackshadow Superstition, Christian MacDonald
Class 1-C Youngstock
1st: 107. Dakotadales Quicksilver (Ashel)- EriMarie Langsdorf 2nd: 113. Roandale Ragged Robin- Shuna Cerrato 3rd: 121 Cascadiadales Andrew- Shuna Cerrato
4th: `104 Blackshadow Supernova- Blackshadow Dales
Ridden WT and WTC
1st: 120 Kingmaker Talisman-Shuna Cerrato 2nd: 109. Roandale Gay Lad- Meg Robbins
3rd: 101. Lagniappe Apollo-Katrina Brunner 4th: 111 Lagniappe Bri[ania- Rebecca Fawley 5th: 116. Blackshadow Superstition- Christian MacDonald
Best Stallion:
Kingmaker Talisman: Thornville Pride x Manorian Moonstone
Cascadia Heritage Farm, Shuna Cerrato
Best Mare:
Red Prairie Anna Bea: Dartdale Peter Boy x Red Prairie Anna
Cascadia Heritage Farm, Shuna Cerrato
Best Youngstock:
Dakotadales Quicksilver: Rosebarr Gambler x Lagniappe Britannia
ErinMarie Langsdorf
Best Gelding:
Roandale Gay Lad: Colliery Chance x Abbeymead Amy Rose, Meg Robbins
Dales Pony Focus, June 2020
Cascadia Heritage Farm Whidbey Island, Washington
June, 2020:
Cascadia Heritage is a small family farm focusing on breeding and promoting Dales Ponies and a few other endangered breeds of livestock. Shuna, George and their son Viggo all work on the farm daily and enjoy spending time with the ponies. This spring at Cascadia Heritage Farm has been busy! We welcomed four beautiful Dales Pony foals in the month of May, one big black colt and three black fillies. Thankfully all the mares foaled uneventfully, and the mares and foals are doing well. One of the mares, Redprairie Anna, and her filly Cascadiadales Brilliant, will be leaving us after Anna gets back in foal so they can start a small Dales Pony breeding program in Bend, Oregon. We will all miss them, and Viggo especially will miss Anna as she's his favorite pony to ride. But he understands there are other children who need to experience the joy of having Dales Ponies too, so he's agreed to let her go. Our young stallion Roandale Ragged Robin has just begun his breeding career, and we are hoping his first foal will arrive next spring. Because of our time limitations we've decided to send our older stallion Kingmaker Talisman to spend some time with Jessica Wisdom and Kenton Wright. They will take him to some shows to help spread awareness about this fabulous breed.
Equine Affaire November 6-11. 2019
We did it!
Months in the planning, changes a constant, lots learned-- we did it! DPCNA had a great booth with an exhibition stall attached in the Breed and Farm Exhibit at the Stroh Building, ably staffed by members, friends and family. Many thanks to breeders Blackshadowdales, Elysium Farms and Downeastdales for donating generously to the booth costs along with DPCNA funds, and to Deb Trudell for master-minding the extensive booth details.
Dales ponies did two 10 minute ridden demos, ably showing the versatility of the breed as well as their ability to get on with the show in a lively and engaging way. Anja Stadelmann and Clancy did a top notch job at the Fundamentals Forum, where she shared the history of the breed, took questions and Clancy stood being electrically shocked by the microphone in stride.
Our ponies had constant visitors both in booth rotations and in "C" barn with a million fingers and little hands poked in, and no one bitten. The hairy ponies were a huge hit, attested to every time a pony was changed out of the booth and visitors were exiled to the sides of the pathway leading out of the pavilion, and we heard, "Oh! There's a Dales Pony!" from pleased new fans. This is a great way to get the breed known and loved and we are thrilled that DPCNA Midwest is gearing up for EA Ohio!
Learn More
Equine Affaire is one of the largest opportunities for breeds, riders and enthusiasts to share what makes them special. We are delighted that this year DPCNA will be featured in both the northeastern and the midwestern events!
A Day Out in CT Hayfields
Roandale Gay Lad and his hairy Canadian Horse pal Dudley had a great day out sampling hay fields in hunt country Pomfret, CT last week, joining many horses interested in the kind of serious hard conditioning tempo that eventer's need. Clearly we were not going to be competition. Drenching rain, drying winds, both ponies were delighted to arrive at the Finish Line Not Last-- and there was still some pizza left!
