Brown’s Valley, California: Wildwych Eclipse (Glenormiston Flurry Knox X Widwych Dreamtime [by Aran Milano]), owned by Lisa and Max Gerdes, has been in Ohio for more than a month participating in the Sport Horse Stallion Testing, LLC (a joint venture of th ISR/OLD NA and American Hanoverian Society). Four year old Eclipse is the first Connemara Stallion in the US to attempt the 30 day test for pony stallions, which until now has been the exclusive domain of popular New Forest and German Riding Ponies. Lisa reports, “Eclipse has passed a most prestigious test for Pony Stallions. A passing score of 60% is what is required and under three International Judges Eclipse earned a passing score of 71.25 %. Eclipse earned a 9 for character, an 8 for Temperament, and an 8 for Ride-ability as well as 7's across the board for his jumping ability and work cross country. The training director Helmut Schrant who worked with Eclipse for the past thirty days awarded Eclipse 7's across the board for for his gaits. Wildwych Eclipse is the first American Bred Connemara Pony Stallion to successfully complete and pass the Performance Test for Pony Stallions in the entire world!” Lisa also said, “The decision to take Eclipse to Ohio was NOT taken lightly, nor is sending a pony to the testing ever to be taken lightly. It took commitment and faith and above all a true "belief" in our pony. I have not slept or been well for nearly thirty days---I even lost my voice and nearly passed out when the results were announced! ……Our main judge for this testing was Cord Wassermann who is the president of the stallion licensing commission for the Verband Hannoverscher Warmblutzuechter (Hannoverian Horse Breeders (GER)) and plays a major role in Stallion Licensing (including Pony Stallions) for the principle breed registries in Germany. He is a committee member of the German Olympic Committee for Equestrian Sports and of the German Equestrian Federation….. I am proud to say that Mr. Wassermann told my German speaking husband that we have a "VERY NICE PONY!"

Mantua, Ohio: Shammer Jake and Courtney Yeager competed at the USDF Championships at FEI levels. They got a 63.75% at PSG and a 65.9% for their freestyle. They came in 3rd and 4th respectively. Courtney also represents the ACPS in the newly created United States Equestrian Federation Youth Council. See last week’s news for a message from her.

Baltimore, Md: Courtney Sendak has sent this update on Will Ya Love Me, aka Willie, (*Grange Finn Sparrow x *Lady Doreen). They had been competing at the Intermediate Level of eventing but school got in the way for their last event. Courtney says, “ Since I was unable to travel far due to impending midterm exams at Wake Forest, Willy and I chose to end our season a bit early at NCDCTA Horse Trials in October at preliminary. We both were experiencing a little wear and tear physically along with being pretty exhausted mentally from our grueling but successful summer campaign. After a very relaxed warm-up, Willy entered the dressage arena and put in a solid test....marked with only a few tense moments when Willy was expecting haunches-in, leg yield, turn on the haunches, etc....none of which were required in this test. We received a well-earned 34.6 putting us in 4th or 5th after the first phase. A quick change, and then off to cross country...which proved quite interesting since we hadn't schooled over fences since our last competition. Luckily, Willy made child's play out of the course and FLEW around it to incur no jump or even time penalties..... he was full of running when we crossed the finish line and even gave a little buck... he knew it wasn't intermediate and was quite offended that I had moved him down.

The next day began bright and early, with us in 2nd place, just 3 points behind a gorgeous, huge bay warm blood. After a slight miscommunication in warm up, which left me somewhat covered in dirt and a little shaken, Willy entered the ring and jumped around like a champion....never touching a rail, and making neat, tight turns to finish on our dressage score. The first place horse pulled an early rail, giving us the win and letting the smallest horse of the bunch lead the victory gallop ( We had the lowest final preliminary score of the entire weekend...even beating the winner of open preliminary!!!!) .... It was a great way to end the season and Willy absolutely LOVED galloping around the ring with no one in front of him.... he knew he had won and he was most definitely showing off! Hopefully in January we can start where we left off! “

Caherlistrane, Ireland: Karen Vicencio has written about prices at auction of Connemaras in Ireland. Too bad the dollar is worth so little against the euro!! (One Euro worth about $1.45) Karen says, “These are just a rough figures from what I've seen at the sales… Weanling to two year old fillies go from 1500 to 5000 (euros) on average, colts 1000 to 4000. Inspected grade one fillies 2-4 years 2500 to about 8000, approved mares either in foal or with a foal at side 3500 to 12000. For mares and fillies, training doesn't seem to have much influence on price, it's mainly quality and breeding. Colts(not yet inspected or not grade 1) and geldings age 2 and up, 1500 to 8000 depending on quality and training, with training and show record having a strong influence on the price. Approved stallions are selling on average 10000 to 15000. I know there are a few who have sold for quite a lot more than that, but they have been private sales, not at the auctions. Prices on trained show type ponies are generally 3000 to 18000 depending on age and level of training, with of course the top ponies currently showing at the international levels going for much bigger money than that.”