"Pepper Glen Show"
Fiesta of the Spanish Horse
We had a wonderful time at the Western Dressage Octoberfest Show with Pacific Dressage, LLC at Hansen Dam! It was such a fun environment and to top it off we came back with 2 blue ribbons AND Show High Point!
A big "THANK YOU" to all the organizers, judges, scribes and all the other riders!
We competed at ETI National Horse Show on September 23rd and had a wonderful time! Cochise performed beautifully in Western Dressage bringing home 2 blue ribbons and Show High Point! This competition was held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank and featured every kind of discipline and style of riding you could think of! We were pleased to see that the Western Dressage segment was very well attended and we are looking forward to coming again next year. Even with the very busy environment Cochise was just as poised and lovely as he always is!
Ventura County Fair: Cowboy Challenge
This year (2017) the Santa Cruz Island Horses, Cochise and Monterey, made their debut at the annual Ventura County Fair! With a large crowd cheering them on, they navigated their way through the trail related obstacle course. A rickety teeter totter bridge, a giant tarp curtain and a heavy duty log drag are just a few of the challenges Monterey and Cochise handled with ease.
At the end of the day both horses were recognized, and Cochise managed to place 3rd in a large group of about 30 other ranch horses. We were so pleased to see Monterey's picture in the following week's newspaper! Needless to say, word is getting out that these horses are quite something!
SANTA BARBARA FIESTA RODEO: COWBOY TRAIL
What a fun day of showing for our two Santa Cruz Island Horses. Cowboy Trail class presented a handful of obstacles and maneuvers to riders to test the willingness and comfortability of the horse through each challenge. The course included Our SCI breed ambassador "El Campeon's Cochise" was shown by Abigail Anne Followwill and "El Campeon's Monterey" was shown by Jeff Ohaco. Both teams had a great run and we are looking forward to attending again next year!
SANTA BARBARA WESTERN DRESSAGE AT THE MORGAN MEDALLION SHOW. July 26, 2017
"What a special day it was at the Morgan Medallion Regional Horse Showon Wednesday!! Cochise and Abigail performed 2 different Western Dressage tests and placed 1st and 2nd in their classes. MOST EXCITING of all though was the chance to meet three incredible women who have been influential in preserving the breed since the very beginning! From going and researching the herd when they still roamed free on the Island to making sure that they were humanely and safely relocated, these ladies gave their all to save the historic Santa Cruz Island Horses! So many stories were told about this herd's journey of survival and we can't wait to share them with our followers!
For the 2017 breeding season we breed out these two Lusitano stallions to help increase the genetic pool ….
http://www.xatolusitano.com/home.html
We are working very closely with scientists at UC Davis, Dr. Stuart Meyers in reproduction and Dr. Jim Murray in genetics. PhD student, Evelyn Buckeley was just awarded a fellowship to study the Santa Cruz Island Horses and their unique genetics.
Natural Horseman, Jeff Ohaco, attended a Buck Brannaman clinic in Del Mar, California, early 2016. Jeff also attended Bryan Nuebert's clinic in Ojai, California in the fall of 2016.
Cochise and Abby rode in two, back to back Buck Branamann clinics working on horsemanship and cattle work at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center and in Riverside.
Monterey and Jeff attended the cattle work clinic with them.