Upcoming events from The International Association of Akhal-Teke breeding, Moscow, Russia (MAAK) www.maakcenter.org:
July 07, 2009. Akhal-Teke events in Russia:
August 26-30: World Championship of purebred Akhal-Teke horses. Moscow, Olympic Sport Center “Planernaia.”
September 11-15: All-Russian Championship of purebred Akhal-Teke horses, Piatigorsk Hippodrome. Go to www.maakcenter.org for more information.

Competition news from Amrita Ibold, Friday Harbor, Washington: In June Jenny Rice and Amrita Ibold from Sweet Water Farm Akhal-Teke went to the Aspen USEA horse trials in Washington. It is a new place and the grounds are beautiful, the cross country course rolling hills in the trees and brand new creative jumps, including a huge pirate ship! This was Jenny’s second show of any kind. Dressage went better for both of us, and stadium was on the second day since there were so many entries. The cross country course had to be used both days. Amrita and Pan Tau had a clear stadium round, but Jenny and Dagjeir went off course and got eliminated. She was devastated! Sunday we ran cross country, and again Pan Tau had a clear round with 0.4 time faults, Amrita’s error due to using a simple wrist watch! Jenny was allowed to do the cross country and had a clear round too, but was out of the running because of the stadium elimination. Both horses did great, and Pan Tau finished 12th.
The next Monday we drove to Montana to participate in the Olympic clinic given by the O’Connor’s. The first day we were all handed out Parelli halters, carrot sticks and lines. We spend the next six days working on line in the mornings, and getting a “crash course” Parelli training, focusing on the parts that apply to riding with bridle. Then we would ride for two hours in the afternoon and use the groundwork in our riding, then use the learned techniques in stadium jumping and cross country. It was invaluable information. They had a great program; every day there was another piece of the puzzle to add to form a system to use at home. In between we had many lectures, like grooming “Olympic level” by the O’Connor’s head groom, all about studs, equipment, feeding...We were exhausted by the end! Met some really nice people, we have few pictures since everyone always rode at the same time. We got home just in time to catch a mare in heat, breed, make a new cross country jump, give some lessons, and now we are off to the next show, followed by The Event at Rebecca Farm U.S. World Cup Qualifier 3D: CCI2* wo/1* HT: CIC3* in Montana. We will have a four-day clinic at Heron Park before the Montana show.
More pictures and a full report will be on my website eventually – www.akhalteke.cc!
2009 Friends of the Akhal-Teke Award: Shannon Mayfield, who has overseen some fantastic awards programs for the Akhal-Teke breed in recent years, has created an exquisite decorative plate for the 2009 Friends of the Akhal-Teke Award. She and I will be giving more details about the award soon, such as how to enter and criteria on which the award will be given.