Tag: Santana Stables

Our Own March Madness

For all the basketball fans out there, we’re not stealing your term, it just seems to fit. We are well into the madness of many horse show circuits as March comes to a close. The HITS Desert Circuit crowned its final champion on March 13th as Lucy Davis won not just one but four grand prix classes on her two mounts, Hannah and Nemo 119, during the final two weeks. More about the desert buzz in this issue’s Sporting Splendor. The FTI Winter Equestrian Festival is starting week eleven (out of twelve), with the biggest money class of the circuit, the $500,000 FTI Consulting Finale Grand Prix, on Saturday night. The circuit culminates on April 3rd with the Hunter Derby Finale as the final Saturday night class. By closing day, the three-months of consistent horse shows will have awarded close to $6 million dollars in prize money.

During the time when the world comes to Wellington, a number of social and charity events spread their wings to embrace the captured audience. Hosts of innovative occasions fill the calendar, including the Step by Step Charity Poker Tournament. Read a bit more about this international night that benefits a worthy cause.

Although always west coasters down deep, many not only flock southeast for the winter, some never leave. One of those converts is featured in this issue, Rebecca Johanson Hofmann. Although only in her twenties, this Wellington woman knows what she’s after. Take note – there’s a new California statute regarding the disclosure of commissions with sale horses. Read about it in Full Disclosure in this issue.

Santana Stables is seeking an “A” level show jumping rider, with American citizenship and fluent in Portuguese, to join their team. To learn more, visit the Santana site and click News.

As Wellington comes to a close, Blenheim EquiSports is just getting started. Opening with three shows in San Juan Capistrano, the Spring Series, their idyllic southern California season stretches into September. And it doesn’t end there. This year Las Vegas National in November will be even better than last year, with NAL finals and more. With 16 Grand Prix events, 4 Hunter Derbies, 6 Medal Finals and classes for every level in 3 fabulous locations over a nine-month period, when are you planning to come?

Highlights From Winter Circuit East and West

From all reports, all is well at winter circuits both east and west. Horses are happy in Wellington and Thermal, and prominent names are appearing in both places. Both WEF and the HITS Desert Circuit have welcomed riders hailing from the north, south, east and west including but certainly not limited to Canada, South America, Mexico, Europe, Texas, New York and California. Families flew in and settled for the winter – the Bonds and Simpsons flew south to Florida, whereas the Beerbaums, Fellers and Charlie Jayne headed to the California desert.

Seemingly everywhere, Kenneth Vinther was spotted in Wellington and is now in Thermal promoting his new company. Yes Kenneth has flown the CWD coop and has spread his wings as a distributor of exciting new products from Europe. Now you can “Koompeet with Kenneth“.

We are pleased to report from here that several exciting projects are in the works, plus many of our clients jumped into the new year with marketing on their minds, so we are juggling but jazzed. Our team continues to expand. We’ve added a new Account Manager Selena Frederick who hit the ground running in Thermal. Thank you Erin Gilmore for the solid recommendation. Erin also flew south for the winter and is thoroughly enjoying Wellington as seen in her blog. She wrote a piece called “Use Your Head – Wear A Helmet” after attending the Helmet Symposium and interviewing Beezie Madden on our behalf.

Active with the North American Riders Group, our friend Will Simpson participated in the dynamic annual meeting. Proud to be a part of it by producing the NARG Top 25 booklet, we were also in attendance. Read “The Chronicles of NARG Continued” in this issue.

Wishes from Wellington continue as we feature the FTI Great Charity Challenge coming up next week. The EquestriSol family will fly south as well to not only witness this event but some top-notch hunter (and a bit of jumper) action. We know John French is switching coasts for a couple of weeks and hope to see him in the WEF winner’s circle.

Speaking of Wellington, Santana Stables is seeking an “A” level show jumping rider, with American citizenship and fluent in Portuguese, to join their team. To learn more, visit the Santana site and click News.

January came and went like a flash, and we are well into February. Read up, as come March we will be back in your Inbox with more. Selena, who also happens to be a professional photographer, will provide prose from the Desert and we will be enjoying the beaches and the showgrounds in the Sunshine state.

Peeking back into 2010, the Inside Indoors article in our fall issue failed to mention Whitney Downs and her fabulous Coffee Talk – they were Champions in the Small Jr. Hunters 15 & under, plus won Grand Hunter Champion at Capital Challenge. We may miss other shining stars and welcome emails telling us so.

On a final soulful note, occasionally we are reminded of why we tirelessly entrench ourselves in this world of equestrian sport. Certainly the excitement of competition, the plethora of interesting people, the cherished relationships all play a role. But where would any of us be without the horse? As our daughter is days away from her 4th birthday, we succumbed to the purchase of a giant pink unicorn. Tidbits of a recent NPR story on girls, horses and unicorns were both touching and amusing.

EquestriSol News: June 28, 2008

Summer is sizzling!
From Calgary to Germany, San Juan Capistrano to Lake Placid, West coast riders are competing and winning all over the world! We welcome Paulo and Jennifer Santana of Santana Stables to California and we’re looking forward to working on a new campaign for Cam and Becky Smith’s Freelance Showjumping. Very soon we will be launching the long awaited Pegasus Show Stable web site, where we’re adding multiple wins to the results page each horse show.

Congratulations to all of the graduates – we wish everyone a fun and successful season. Next newsletter series will be at Showpark in July. Contact Tammy Chipko for GREAT deals! 818.472.5930

News from Jump Del Mar
Canceled: The 2008 Del Mar International, including the World Cup Qualifier.
  Location change: The 2008 Del Mar Fall Festival II will be held on Oct. 22-26th at the Del Mar Horsepark (Showpark) with a $25,000 1.45m Grand Prix. For more information, contact Dale Harvey.

Oakhill Shockwave
The June newsletter from Oakhill Shockwave discusses suspensory ligament injuries and equine shockwave treatment. Check it out here.

 

A Stable Story: Santana Stables

By Tammy Chipko

Santana Stables, situated in the Mexican city of Puebla, has chosen southern California as its home for the summer. I spoke with the owners, Paulo and Jennifer Santana, about their location, sale horses and summer plans.

Crocodile Z is an 8 year old Grand Prix prospect from Santana Stables.

Santana Stables is located in the lovely community of HARAS in Puebla, about 60 miles southeast of Mexico City. Surrounded by volcanoes and snow-capped mountains, Puebla is an important industrial, cultural and educational center of Mexico and one of the oldest colonial cities in the continent.

Known in California by her maiden name Preletz, Jennifer rides as an amateur. Now married and handling the sales aspect of their business, she explains that they live and work on one of the 50 beautiful farms in this community. Each farm shares the International Facility that includes, among other amenities, a Grand Prix Field and miles of green hills for galloping and conditioning. A medical hospital and an additional competition site are in the future plans. Their location provides a unique environment for keeping competition horses fit and happy.

Paulo Santana, originally from Brazil, started his professional career developing young riders and horses. He has successfully competed at the International level and continues to compete in Mexico, Europe, and the United States. At the request of a family whose son had Olympic aspirations, Paulo came to Mexico from Brazil in 2003 as the young man’s private trainer. In 2005 he opened his own business in Puebla training a small group of clients
and developing a select group of young horses.

Paulo characterizes his training method as the “natural” approach. Jennifer feels that he has a special talent for developing young horses. Patience is at the core of his technique and this calmness carries over to his horses and riders. His success spans from starting young riders as well as young horses in the 1.10m classes all the way to the Grand Prix show jumping level. Paulo explains that he prefers to keep a small group of horses and riders, so he can carefully tailor his step-by-step program for each individual’s needs.

“My approach is the same with sale horses. I don’t like to have more than six or seven sale horses at a time,” adds Paulo. “We typically keep a horse for a year or more prior to selling it. Each horse is given personal attention and goals are set individually. We represent young horses, amateur horses, and Grand Prix prospects and have a great track record of selling quality horses. That is most important to me!”

Competing in the young horse classes, 1.40-1.45m, as well as in a number of Grand Prix, this year’s select group of six sale horses and a couple of Paulo’s students will be in southern California this summer. The group’s plans include competing at Oaks Blenheim and Showpark during the June, July and August “A” rated shows.

As we welcome Jennifer, Paulo, their students and horses to sunny SoCal, we hope to have rtunity to visit their facility and competitions in Mexico in the future. See a great video clip from Mexico produced by Showjumping Unplugged!TV on www.santanastables.com.

Santana Stables contact information:

Jennifer                      Paulo
(310) 486-5345         (310) 925-2369