WH News

Summer 2008
Return Flight Wins Second Top 10 Award On July 18th Valour Arabians’ homebred Polish Arabian gelding, Return Flight (Dreams of Valor+ x Flying Tessie+) won his second Top 10 award of his very short endurance career. Together with trainer Trisha Dingle-Blackwell, “Flight” competed in the Carolina Sandhills Moonlight Ride in Patrick, SC. Unlike most endurance rides, the Carolina Moonlight takes place at night, with 75% of the ride being done under the full moon. This was Flight’s very first moonlit ride, and only his fourth start in endurance. However, the six-year old gelding performed beautifully, finishing in 8th place out of 16 starters. Because of the unique challenges of riding in the dark, Trisha had to change her normal ride strategy. “We rode the first 12.5 miles faster than I usually like to go at the start, because the majority of the loop took place in daylight, and I knew that we’d have to slow down for the second loop.” Flight and Trisha rode just behind the front runners, coming into the vet check in just over an hour. The pair left out on the second 12.5 mile loop, which was illuminated with glow sticks, just before 10pm.	As fate would have it, there the first 7 horse/rider combinations were at least 10 minutes ahead, and the rest of the field were 10-15 minutes behind, so the pair rode the second loop alone. “It was a gorgeous night—the moon came out from behind the clouds about 3 miles into our 2nd loop, and it was cool, quiet, and peaceful. I really enjoy riding at night, and I think Flight enjoyed himself as well,” Trisha reports. The only trouble spot the pair ran into was at about 16 miles in, where they “lost” the trail along the power lines, and Flight tripped, going down to his knees. Fortunately he was able to regain his footing and Trisha managed to keep from going over his neck. After making sure Flight was ok, they continued on to a top finish. The Carolina Moonlight was Flight’s fourth start—he most recently placed 10th in the Pyramid Challenge 25-Mile Ride in Lexington, KY, in June. He will accompany his half-sister Direct Hit on her first ride at Biltmore in September, before moving up to 50 miles at the Hallelujah ride in October.

Whitehaven Trainer Achieves Milestones in Dressage & Endurance Whitehaven Plantation’s trainer, Trisha Dingle-Blackwell, has recently achieved two important milestones in competition. In June, she was presented with the Dressage Rider Award for Training Level by the Arabian Horse Association. To qualify for this award, a participant must receive two Dressage Test Scores of 60% or better, from two different judges for two different rides. These scores must be achieved on either a registered Arabian or Half-Arabian, and can be earned at either Arabian or Open dressage shows. Trisha has been competing Sleepy Tyme Gal (Patriot Missle+/ x Ima Tiki Ku), owned by Valour Arabians, as well as Whitehaven’s WH	Carolina Blu (Blu Epic x Phateehah) & WH Marengo (WH Bodacious x Ansata Farah) at Training level this season; all three horses have helped to win this award. In July, Trisha received her 500 Miles patch for endurance from the American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC). To earn mileage patches, riders must compete in AERC rides at 25 miles or more, and be members of AERC during that time. Trisha has been competing in endurance for 8 seasons (although she has not always been an AERC member). She currently competes on her own Cinderella Story (Curundu Java x Ann Anezeh) as well as Valour Arabian’s Return Flight (Dreams of Valor+ x Flying Tessie+).

Whitehaven Blacksmith Consults for United States Equestrian Team Whitehaven’s farrier, Mike Stine, of Indian Trail, NC, was recently asked to consult for the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF). In July, the USEF held a training session for horses & riders short listed for the World Endurance Championships to be held in Malaysia this fall. Mike was invited to help evaluate the team prospects, and to offer suggestions on shoeing and hoof care. As these are the top rated 100-mile endurance horses in the country, it is vital that they remain sound and healthy throughout the training process, and Mike played a vital part in helping the team decide which horses are ready to compete. Mike has been Whitehaven’s exclusive blacksmith for the past year. He has been instrumental in not only helping to keep our horses sound, but in improving their quality of	movement. Some of his successes on the farm include Valour Arabian’s Sleepy Tyme Gal (Patriot Missle +/ x Ima Tiki Ku)—Region 15 Champion Sport Horse Mare JTH; WH Marengo (WH Bodacious x Ansata Farah)—WCAHA Champion Sport Horse Stallion (by 10 points!); & WH The Aga Khan (WH Bodacious x FA Anjelica)—US National Reserve Champion Jackpot Colt. Mike has also been responsible for the hoof care of WH Gibraltar (WH Bodacious x JKB Monietta)—Region 12 Top 5 Endurance Horse. We are very pleased to have him as part of our team. To learn more about Mike, please visit his website at equinedynamics.com He can be emailed at mike@equinedynamics.com or 704-619-1339.