Timothy Stark Raisbeck

The Atlanta Garlands drove all day yesterday, through much of the evening and arrived just before midnight last night. Christy’s brother Steve, his lovely wife Julie and their girls, Kaitlin and Kassandra made the journey to our little town to catch up with family and celebrate the arrival of the new year.

Dawn brought sunny skies with cool temperatures. That didn’t stop Kaitlin and Kassandra from making the barn rounds early and reintroducing themselves to the barn tenants, since their last stay here two years ago. I met them at the front door with cereal bowls in hand after their early morning tour. A bowl full of Reese’s Puffs followed by Tom and Jerry on Cartoon Network and they were ready to go again. A busy first day.

Snow came to our little town on December 04. Depending on where you were you might have had up to 3” worth of the new fallen blanket.

On the average our area receives snow every 7 years. I believe it has been about 5 or 6 years since the last snow fall and that was on Christmas Eve, which made it even more special. The snow never sticks around long but to most people it is always a joy to see. We have hot and humid weather for so much of the year that for many it is a welcome change.

Having grown up in the midwest, seeing a little snow fall always brings back memories. Our house was situated at the top of the street so when the snow came my brother and I were poised to throw on our winter gear, grab our sleds and head for the hill. A little bit of ice made the runs even faster.

Kendall and Vegas braved the elements during the dressage phase of the event at Pine Hill December 06.

Kendall and her new mount Gus aka Vegas competed at the Pine Hill Combined Training Show this past Sunday. Despite the constant drizzle of rain the two of them brought home the blue. Congratulations!

This was the second time they had shown in the beginner novice division and only the third time to compete in an overall eventing competition. Kendalls’s comments after picking up her ribbon “my riding was sloppy along with the weather but we were able to pull it off”. She and Vegas will most likely move up to the novice division at the next show.

The turnout was good for the show, there were a few scratches, but all in all there were quite a few rides over the course of the day. The show moved along at a good pace and if you were from the UK, you would have thought the weather was ideal for the event. Phil and Ruth always host top quality shows and this one was no exception.

Kendall rode her mom Christy’s horse Upan, a Westfalen gelding (who is now 18 years old) for the first time the other day. With Upan’s tutelage, Kendall got to experience her first piaffe and passage. She had a great time, I’m not sure if its enough to draw her away from jumping the big fences with Gus, but the seed has been planted!

Gus is a 12 year old, 16.3 hand Thoroughbred Gelding. He was raced twice as a three year old, didn’t place either time, and soon after began his new career as a jumper. He’s competed at novice and training level eventing. He’s a safe, scopey jumper with a very easy going, people-loving disposition.

His barn name is Gus, but his registered name is “Lil Kings Thing”. Hmm. We are trying to decide what name Kendall will show him under. So far Pegasus, Las Vegas, and Vegas King are in the running.

Your family congratulates you on your new horse. Best of luck!

You don’t have to go far to find champions near Fulshear. Local young ladies, Toni Gee, 14, of Pecan Hill, Kendall Raisbeck, 16, of Fulshear, along with Becky Brake, 19, of Richmond brought home First Place honors in the United States Pony Club (USPC), East Coast Championships which were held recently (July 23 – 26) in Lexington VA.

The girls are all members of the local “San Jacinto Pony Club”. In November 2008, they qualified at a regional competition and earned the right to represent the entire Rio Grande Region of the United States Pony Club at the National Championship. Although all three qualified to compete at Nationals, Kendall’s horse was unable to make the trip to Virginia so she competed in the fifth team position as the horse manager.

The girls were in the competition among a field of 11 of the highest rated teams from across the country. Our local Dressage champions, lead by team Captain Becky Brake, won the Championship of the National Dressage Training Division, and placed third in Horse Management. What makes the victory even more amazing is that they had never even met two of their team members until the start of the competition. Through a ’scramble’ start, the girls were paired up with two other girls from New Jersey. Now, that’s teamwork!

Their scores were:
Becky: 66.43, 68.40 and 69.23
Toni: 66.79, 61.20, 66.00 and 61.25 out of 100.

Kendall served as Stable Manager and with her guidance and attention to detail they came in third for Horse Management with just 2 points off throughout the competition.

Becky Brake also placed third in the Individual Musical Freestyle with a score of 69.23.

Foster High School is well represented by this group. Toni will begin her Freshman year at Foster this fall, Kendall will be a sophomore at Foster, and Becky is an 08 graduate of Foster and is about to begin her second year at Texas A&M.

All three of these ladies are also members of the Houston Dressage Society. We congratulate our local Champions!

Photos Provided by Vicki Gee and Christy Raisbeck

The second Freestyle Farm Schooling Show was held July 12. The number of entries was an increase over what we had our first show. The weather was hot and dry, as can always be expected this time of year in the Houston area. Christy expended all kinds of energy and time in preparations for the show as she always does. She is not only a fabulous rider and trainer but a gracious host as well. She has made Freestyle Farm one of the premier dressage training facilities in Texas, if not the country. Kendall had two rides on her mount and faired well on both rides. She continues to grow in her riding abilities and seems to be a carbon copy of her Mother.
I was entrusted with the show duties of runner and adding up test scores. I’m always more than happy to help out where needed.

One of Kendall’s rides at the recent HDS Summer Show. She rode Training Level Test 3 and Training Level Test 4 both days.

My son Austin graduated from high school today. It’s not the fact that I never thought it would happen, it’s just the fact that all of a sudden it was here. It snuck up on me. One day he was playing with Legos® and the next he was wearing a cap and gown and staring his freshman year at college in the face. I know it is a cliche but “where does the time go” was at the forefront of my mind today. We all feel we are immortal in our early years but I’ve come to realize that life is indeed short.

I look at my son and my daughter and pray that God grants them long lives and the guidance that they need to make good decisions as their lives unfold before them. There was a book written many years ago titled “God is My Co-Pilot” but don’t let anyone or anything fool you, God is not only the co-pilot he is also the pilot. He does give us the ability to make free will decisions and consequences arise from those decisions but what happens to us comes from His playbook not ours.

Austin’s life moves on from here. Eighteen becomes nineteen, nineteen becomes twenty, twenty becomes twenty-one and so on and so forth. He is growing up in a world full of strife and turmoil. Was the world full of stife and turmoil when I was at the tender age of eighteen, probably so, but I have a real concern that the world I am witnessing today is truly more scary and sinister that it use to be. We as parents want the world to be a better place for our kids and their grandkids but I’m not sure I can say that it is. I digress here…Austin’s original interest for a career lay in engineering but has since been swayed to a career in pharmacy. He has learned that his “tail end of the baby boomer” generation parents are getting older. Old age isn’t declining, it is inclining. The demand for medicine is not going away. Starting pay for a pharmacist is good, it is an opportunity to help people, and CVS’s and Walgreens don’t show any sign of declining in the near future.

So I shed a tear and throw my cap in the air for you today son. May God grant you a life of prosper and benefit to others.