ASAV Membership Stories

Membership News: Stories & Updates from ASAV Members
Last page update: 05/23/2011

2008 Membership Stories 2009 Membership Stories

Apr. 2011	Submitted by Darlene Steven: May 1st results Bluegrass Arabian Horse Association Spring Blast show Gelding - Stallion Shagya Halter class 1) D'Zolton 2) D' Zigmond 3) SA Keid 4) D'Zevon Mare Shagya Halter: 1) Thea Supreme Shagya Halter: Champion: Thea Resv. Champion: D'Zolton Thea recieved a 4th in a Walk-Trot Green Rider Pleasure class with my student. SA Keid also received ribbons in performance classes. March San-n-Tone End of Season Show Shagya Halter 1) D'Zevon 2) D'Zolton 3) D'Zigmond End of Season Champion D'Zevon Resv. Champion D'Zolton	<Click here for all pictures>
Jan. 2011	Denis & Irmi Atam: We received an updated about *Nadjsha IDA, the 9 year old Purebred Shagya-Arabian mare. Nadjsha went to Qatar in 2009 and is developing nicely according to her trainers. She will be participating in longer endurance rides in the near future. Below a picture of Nadjsha ridden by Beth Smart. More information about the stud and the whereabouts of Nadjsha can be found here: http://www.alshahaniastud.com/Endurance.asp
Nov. 2010	Kilian & Drena Dill: Our 8 1/2 year old gelding RWR Horus [Bold Bravo x Spiritualitee (ox) by Pattrone*] is in the process of training to be an endurance horse. Dean Hahler has taken him to Fish Creek Farms where he will be worked out to begin his training career. Dory Jackson will be leading the way. Dory says, if he makes the progress, we will try him out on a slow 50 at "Home on the Range" endurance race that is held in eastern Washington in late March. His progress will be described as he makes his way in the endurance world. http://www.fishcreekfarm.com
Nov. 2010	Ellen Rapp: (second from right) rode SA Ireesh Tenor, an 8-year-old USA-bred Shagya Arabian, trained by her husband Jeremy Olson, head endurance trainer for the Al Shahania Stud, founded and owned by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani. "We have been training him for three years now," Olson (first from right) said. "He came from Sun Arab Shagyas in Verona, Kentucky. Breeder is Daunna Sellers. He is also a half brother to SA Belshazzar, (who was Ellen's second horse on the USA Team for the 2010 Kentucky WEC and he was also 1st alternate after Smokey came up lame), and SA Edashick, who was third and BC last year here in Qatar at our biggest race 'The Emir's Cup', a 120 km held here in March. Their sire, the Shagya Stallion 'Bayram' stands in Kentucky, and throws wonderfully talented endurance horses. We have had 8 of them and they are all great, with wonderful temperaments, huge bone and great feet and conformation." http://news.endurance.net/2010/11/qatar-american-ellen-rapp-is-first.html (Note: All horses are registered with ASAV)
Oct. 2010	Kilian & Drena Dill: Pictures from Zawabi, he is 20 month old in this pictures.
Oct. 2010	Kristen Camper: Thanks for the support, and for the video. We are actually in there in the beginning when they are making the turn to the right before the truck, we are the last one and are riding by ourselves. Any way we finished 19th out of about 99. We did our personal best time of a bit over 4 and 1/2 hours, cantering approximately 50 out of the 55 miles. The most fun I have ever had bar none! The winner did it in 3 and 1/2! Can you believe it? At the start of the ride we were flying and I made the choice to stop and walk until she wasn't in "race mode" for about 15 or 20 min. Then we picked up and cantered on a loose rein for like I mentioned above for the majority of the ride. It may have cost us a top 10, but it was so enjoyable after she remembered that I was back there. I think it was worth it and I hope that we can keep on improving without "racing" but just doing our best and what we train to do. We have entered 7 rides and finished 7 rides this season and I hope and pray to continue this trend. As always I can not thank you enough for such a great horse, it never fails at the rides to here what a great extended trot, what great huge hooves, how beautiful, how friendly. You should be proud of yourself! On a different note I met Steve Boles at the ride And could you please pass him my info , we would like to get together and do a training ride sometime, maybe we can include Brian, and have a little reunion. We actually passed him as we were racing in, and he yelled "Go Shagya"! Thought you might like to know!	<no picture available>
Oct. 2010	Donna Coss: Kristen and LILY CREEK DANCIN' finished #19 in the AERC championship 55 mile endurance race held 10/16/2010. There were 22 pulls over a difficult course. DANCIN and Kristen just began competing this year and have finished the Old Dominion, The Biltmore, and three other races this year, with no pulls. The little mare is like an energizer bunny, just keeps going with excellent scores. Kristen purchased the horse as a future mount for her daughter, who is six years old, and rides Dancin' around the ride camp area in a Dr. Cook bitless bridle. She gentle with her young rider, but a fierce competitor on the trail, with Kristen. (Sarver PFF x Dynamo's Dancer) Chris Evans from Canada owns her full sister LC Diva Dancer	<no picture available>
Oct. 2010	Donna Coss: LILY CREEK STETSON and his owner, Brian Coss, just completed two back to back LD rides, Fort Valley AERC in Virginia. The first day he came in second place and won the Vet's Choice (BC) The second day, he came in First. Brian stated that he just rode his ride without paying attention to the other horses--mostly trotting and did not know he was even in the lead. This was Stetson's first AERC ride since his injury a year ago. He pulsed down below the 60 almost immediately without any water or ice and had excellent recovery rates. As a side note, Carol Federighi, came in fourth the first day, riding an Arabian gelding, named Premier. Both Carol and Brian were wearing their ASAV T-Shirts, that I had sent to them!	<no picture available>
Spet. 2010	Daunna Sellers: Shagya-Arabian Horse SA Belshazzar - World-class horse at Veronae Read the full article here: http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20100911/NEWS0103/9120334/
Sept. 2010	Jamie Bratt: Finished 5th place at her first 25 miler with her Purebred Shagya-Arabian gelding. Our goal was to finish safe and sound - the top ten came as a surprise, but it feels great. Goooo Shagyas! THANK you to Sasha, MaryAnne and all my other supporters and mentors! Congrats Jamie!!
Aug. 2010	WEG2010 Endurance Ticker: ASAV-Members and ASAV registered horses in the WEG 2010 Endurance Short List/Nominated Entry Gladstone, NJ The United States Equestrian Federation has named the following horse/rider combinations to the Short List/ Nominated Entry for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games according to the USEF Selection Procedure for Endurance. From this group the Definite Entry will be named to represent the United States in the Endurance Championships. The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games take place from September 25-October 10, 2010 in Lexington, Kentucky. by Ellen Rapp, August 16, 2010: Re: WEG and Zar Zar is an amazing horse and he as to prove nothing to anyone...he has so many more accomplishments already! How many other horses do you know that can travel for 6 days across the WORLD and complete their first 100mile race and have a finishing time of 9.17???? I mean WOW what an athlete! He has his off days and when he pulls shoes he is sore...but guess what people.....SA BELSHAZZAR HAS MADE IT INTO THE TOP 12 IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA......so if your horse isn't up there.......then mind your own business. Zar has worked VERY hard to get where he is today as have we....sooooo ROCK ON SUN ARAB SHAGYAS!!!!!
Aug. 2010	Daunna Sellers: FIRST USA BRED SHAGYA ON SHORT LIST FOR WEG ENDURANCE. Access the article also here: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-breeds/first-usa-bred-shagya-short-list-62800/#post724870 SA Belshazzar (Bayram x Jay El Tongafarah ox) has been named by USEF to proceed to Shaker Village in Kentucky where he will be prepared for the 100 mile WEG endurance race. “ZAR” is the first USA Shagya to travel to Dubai, UAE to race in the President's Cup and the first USA Shagya to complete 100 miles in 9 hours 17 min. In 2006, a purebred Shagya won the WEG endurance 100 mile endurance race and "Zar's" breeder, Daunna Sellers, of Verona, Ky. is wishing for another Shagya win. The Shagya breed is a rarity in the horse world with only about 150 breeding animals in the U.S. It's versatility has been proven, as the Shagya excels in all of the disciplines, but lately it has found a niche in the endurance world. According to the American Shagya Arabian Verband, inc. the breed originated in Hungary and has been developed since 1789 from purebred Arabian stock. Recognized in 1978 as a distinct breed by the World Arabian Horse Organization,WAHO, the Shagya has struggled to comeback following WWII when it almost became extinct. The Shagya registry is holding an annual meeting and a judging clinic Sept. 25 and 27th. The clinic will be held in Finchville,KY. (between Louisville/Lexington), just off the main hwy. and easy drive from WEG grounds The registry is honored to have as clinician, Dr. Walter Huber, ISG judge and renowned speaker. Dr. Huber is interesting and fun and you will enjoy hearing about his lifetime experience with the Shagya breed. He is a resident of Germany and a board member of the Internationale Shagya-Araber Gesellschaft. http://www.shagya-isg.de/ Information about the clinic and annual meeting may be found at: Shagya-Arabian Registry - ASAV Contributions and sponsors are welcomed to fund SA Belshazzar towards his quest for the WEG race. They may be sent to ZAR Fund, 15918 Porter Rd., Verona, Ky. 41092 Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-breeds/first-usa-bred-shagya-short-list-62800/#post724870#ixzz0yXem7oKT
Aug. 2010	Daunna Sellers: Shagya-Arabian Horse SA Belshazzar To Compete In World Equestrian Games Read the full article here: http://www.wlky.com/r/24825129/detail.html
June 2010	Marty & Chris Powers: ... looking back to a successful 2009 Marty Powers on Te Jat and Chris Powers on Debonair at the 2009 Endless Valley in Spring Green Pictures ©2009 GenieSS, Inc. www.geniess.com
April. 2010	Karen Bish - Hawkview Ranch: ANNOUNCING..... SW Daniel’s first Jump Start filly!!! CONGRATULATIONS TO: Brenda and Kurt Sellner Bred: 2009 SW Daniel ShA x GR Majors Smokie ( a blue roan overo APHA) Born: April 29 2010 at 4:30 a.m. Barn Name: Spider - She has nice long legs.Registered name to follow. She will be registered with the ASAV as a Sportlo. And her owners hope she will have a career as a limited distance endurance horse.
Mar. 2010	Quoting Ellen Rapp out of Qatar concerning the last endurance race (75 miles): ""SA EDASHICK!! 3rd and BC. Her final loop was the fastest out of all the 120 horses. She left in 9th and finished in 3rd. She was pickn them off one by one. They would try and stay with me but would die off! Eda was flying!!! What an amazing filly! She was draggin us to the vet barn for blood work after the race with a chain over her nose!!! Congrats to the Breeders you do amazing work!"
Feb. 2010	Monique Vincent received the ASAV 2009 Shagya High Mileage Award during the 2010 AERC Annual Meeting
Feb. 2010	From Kilian & Drena Dill: Boy getting his tour around the farm and into the arena. LeeAnn does take him up to the railroad tracks and around. He is getting more and more independent of being away from mom and the girls up on top. 13.5 months old. I do feed him lost of extra food---eats more than any horse around here. Drena did mention that Z is in a growth spurt again---keep feeding him!
Feb. 2010	From Daunna Sellers: (quoting Ellen Rapp) Once again Sun Arab Shagyas rock the middle east! 6 days traveling across the country.....2 weeks in the desert to train.....9 hour and 16min ride time on his 100! Great Job SA BELSHAZZAR...it was my pleasure to accompany you on this great adventure!!! A Salute to you my friend..see ya in the states soon!!! ... see more pictures here ...
Feb. 2010	ASAV Horses going to Qatar: (update 3rd week of Feb. 2010) The first ever 100 for Zar (Belshazzar), the Shagya (Oman grandson)! Waiting for Ellen's story for our newsletter. The winner does a 100 in 6:20 (flat and hard sand packed roads). PRESIDENT'S CUP- USA, A SUCCESS ONCE MORE by Heather Reynolds Well, the USA did another great trip to the President's Cup 160 km race. Sir Smith was the first overseas completion in a ride time of 8:50 (36 place! so fast here), and SA Belshazzar did great as well completing his first 160 km ride in a time of 9:16. It was a great performance from both horses! The leaders set yet another world record. I do not know the exact time but it was something like 6:20!!! At the start Ellen and Zar went ahead of Smitty and disappeared into the heavy fog. Smitty had a slow start to settle him into a calm mind set for the day. Jeremy had to actually run a bit on foot to accomplish this. During the first loop we were last for a long while and the police escort and the ambulance trailer were following us. It felt a bit like buzzards circling. The slow pace worked though. After the first loop the pair was moving well and kept it up nicely. Smitty was accompanied by myself and our driver, Fahad (sp?) (Fahad translates to "Tiger".) and there was a groom who I don't know the name of, sorry. The driver and the groom were great. The groom would jump from the truck and run and hand Jeremy a bottle and then have a second bottle that he would run behind Smitty, while he was cantering, and he would pour water on his butt. Very fast runner, and very fit! This guy was one of Sheika Madiya's grooms. Fahad was a friend of Jan Worthington's friend, Jimal. As the loops ticked by Smitty happily galloped along. He loves that sort of thing. If you know Smitty you would know this. He was truly incredible to watch. Smitty had the third best recoveries out of any horse that finished! His average for the day was 2:28. That was with galloping and having usually just me as his crew, as the other guys were parking the car while I would meet and cool Smitty. Very amazing recoveries on Smitty today. Smitty did an average of something close to 19 kph. His last loop was his fastest. We were extremely happy with him. At one point today there was a string of camels being hearded across tha desert by people on foot. There were soooo many of them, probably 80 or so. It was kind of funny because the camels were just as scared of the horses as the horses were of them. So silly. Since the scenery was so sparse and the horses were so spread out the driver had an ongoing thing he would say and that was "How are you today?" He would say it new at random times with a very heavy accent and as the day grew long it got funnier and funnier. There was another time that the Black Eyed Peas, a band that I like, came on the radio. Fahad actually turned it up and I thought, "hey cool". But no, then he quickly changed the station to something local and that was it. Oh well, he was good help so I guess I didn't really care. It was warm during the heat of the day but never sweltering. If the wind was at your back it was the worst of it but for the most part there was at least a gentle breeze. The OC only gave us 7 cases of water for each horse. When we asked for more, before the ride, they said it would be enough and that there was a lot more at the venue. We knew better. By the second half of the ride we were begging people who had been pulled for their left over water. We were also refilling empty bottles and recapping them. It was what we had and it worked fine. Following Smitty on his last loop I video recorded some of him galloping along. I was smiling because I had done this earlier in the week and it had looked the same as when he had been fresh. He recovered within 2 min at the finish but we let him drink before vetting him so it was recorded as 4 or so min. After the ride Zar and Smitty ate for a short while and then went to the treatment clinic for fluids. The horses will be shipping home in 2 days and that is not nearly enough time to recover so we thought we should help them in any way possible. They had a few bags and then we tucked them in for the night. Jeremy had Baskin Robbins. Two scoops. I had the adult size, I can handle a non-child sized ice cream for godsakes. Well I am super tired now. We just had dinner at the...You guessed it, the buffet. Oh, last night they had "pineapple upside dawon cake" Yes I said Dawon. Tomorrow we are going to Dubai to ride with Sheika Madiya. Hopefully we aren't so tired that we can't enjoy it. I also hope that the cryptic directions that we got get us there!	Heather Reynolds
Feb. 2010	From Denis Atam: Lake Chelan Shagya Arabians (SHAGYA US) I was riding our stallion SHAGYA US today for the first time. He is a big boy and with lots of movement. We still have snow on the ground as you can see therefore I had to take it slow (slow was still fast, but it was ok). See more pictures here ...
Feb. 2010	ASAV Horses going to Qatar: (update 1st week of Feb. 2010) From Daunna Sellers: (quoting Ellen Rapp - rider in the middle) (Zar) What an amazing horse. Today I took him out for our first ride...just walk for 2 hours. He is very relaxed and loose! As you know the statistics on this ride are not very good. however we are just here to finish a good race. Nothing fancy...so as long as the stress of the trip didn't impact him too much we should do fine. Lots of horses got shipping fever from the trip and the other US horse lost lots of weight..so I'm VERY happy with how Zar looks! He enjoys basking out in his paddock and relaxing in the cool private barn with just us two horses...fans and all! We gave him fluids yesterday just to be safe and rehydrate after the long trip! So far so good...hope he does well. He seems to be very at home, only time will tell! I will keep you updated! He is AMAZING!!! GO ZAR AND SUN ARAB SHAGYAS!!!!! ROCK'NG THE MIDDLE EAST!!!
Jan. 2010	By Samantha Shuler: I am 15 yrs. Old. I live in London, Ohio, just west of Columbus. Last April, my aunt told me that I could take Spyder (SA Twin Spires) from their house in Kentucky to my house in Ohio and start working with him... ... read the whole story and see more pictures here...
Jan. 2010	ASAV Horses going to Qatar: (update 3rd week of Jan. 2010) From Daunna Sellers: I am very excited about these new developments for my SA Belshazzar. Ellen Rapp's comment today (01/13/2010) on face book. "I got picked to ride in the Presidents Cup in Abu Dhabi!!! And SA Belshazzar is the horse that is coming over!!!! Can life get much better??? GO SUN ARAB SHAGYAS!!!!! Just another great horse to represent!...
Jan. 2010	From Carolyn Tucker: Shagya Impressions in January at a beach in California ... Here are a couple of fun photos of Aerial (Bajar Granddaughter) and I having fun at the beach with wonderful warm weather and no one else there but us and my student riding an Oman son, Shadar, aka “LitalMon”… ... click here for more pictures ...