In response to the growing number of horses with neurological dysfunction, Spirit of Equus Rescue’s board of directors decided to become part of the solution. The “Spirit of the Horse” Photo Contest is a national fundraiser through which the Rescue hopes to raise $20,000 to create a neurological unit for equine rehabilitation at their sanctuary. Photo submissions will be accepted starting September 1. The “neuro unit” would work in collaboration with the Rescue’s integrative and holistic veterinarians. “We are a holistic healing center, and I know we can make a difference,” states Jan Meyer, Director of the Rescue. Meyer is also an equine bodyworker and energy worker. The vision the Director has of the unit is a 3 horse shedrow-style stabling area with a ¼-acre turnout for each horse to encourage free movement 24 /7. A pasture with trees, herbs and seasonal grasses would need to be planted to provide natural forage to encourage grazing. The healing program would incorporate elimination of toxins, providing appropriate vitamin and mineral supplements, high quality hay and grass . Herbs, homeopathy, and energy based modalities would be available as well depending on the needs of each horse. Horses would typically stay for 6 months-1 year or so then return to their owner. The owner of the horse would be responsible for paying for nutritional supplements, vet calls, board and care during rehabilitation. “We are basically supplying the environment, administering the nutritional support and other therapies indicated by the veterinarian in charge of the case, “ states Meyer. “We need 800 entries to meet our goal and we can use everyone’s support in spreading the word across the country,” says Meyer. Individuals or companies who wish to help us meet our goal are welcome to donate directly to the “Neuro Fund.”

Interested parties should submit a photo that “exemplifies the spirit of the horse.” First, second and third place prizes will be awarded. In addition, there is a special entry for “Rescue Horses.” The winner in this category will earn a donation for the 501© 3 rescue organization that legally owns the horse in the photo.

Deadline for entries is October 1, 2011. Winners will be announced October 10. Entry fee per photo is $25. To enter the photo contest, contact the Director at spiritofequus@earthlink.net or visit the Rescue’s website at www.spiritofequusrescue.org for instructions.

Spirit of Equus Rescue is a project of Institute of the Southwest, a non-profit 501©3 public charity, equine sanctuary, holistic healing and educational center, currently located in Apple Valley, CA. Spirit of Equus Rescue has been serving horses in crisis in California since 2002.

Cañada Larga Ranch Opens Doors With A New Face And New Management.

Cañada Larga Ranch Takes Equine Boarding Service to the Next Level With Individualized Service. 

VENTURA, California, March 1, 2011 – The new managers of Cañada Larga Ranch announced today the immediate availability of equine boarding opportunities. 

Horse lovers at heart, new managers Kristin Burke and Cesar Perea brought their three decades of combined equine experience to Cañada Larga Ranch on January 1, 2011. They have spent the first two months of the new year renovating and upgrading the property and amenities.  “With great enthusiasm and after plenty of elbow grease we are now ready to accept boarding clients,” Says Burke

Exceptional service and affordability will prove to be Cañada Larga Ranch's hallmark. “Our goal is to provide horses and their owners with the finest care, service, amenities, and riding options available anywhere in the county, at a competitive price,” says Perea.  “Cañada Larga already enjoys a stellar reputation among professional trainers; we aim to make the same quality of service available to first-time horse owners and the weekend riders who enjoy an occasional trail ride”

Cesar Perea, Manager, is a career law enforcement professional formerly with the San Diego Sheriff's Department and the San Diego Police Department.  Perea previously owned and operated a large-scale equine boarding facility in Lakeside, California.  He was most recently the Lieutenant in charge of Investigations at the San Diego Humane Society & SPCA, where he provided justice to the neglected and abused animals within San Diego County.  Perea has earned top accolades in both public government work as well as in the private sector as an entrepreneur. His extensive administration and equine management background enabled him to launch Cañada Larga Ranch.

Kristin Burke, Manager, comes from several generations of trainers and successful equine entrepreneurs.  Burke began riding as a young child and has developed her equestrian career over the years, mainly in the show ring of the Arabian horse circuit, training in a variety of disciplines including English and Country English Pleasure, Hunter Pleasure, Show Hack, Western, and Driving. She previously worked for a large animal veterinarian in San Diego, where she gained knowledge and experience relating to all aspects of equine medicine.  She has also successfully managed equine businesses relating to boarding and training. As an Adoption Counselor at the San Diego Humane Society & SPCA, Burke placed several animals into new homes and was also a part of the Behavior Assessment team and a Certified Euthanasia Technician. Her detailed equestrian background and passion for animals provides Cañada Larga Ranch with exceptional care and service for all horses and their owners.

In the coming months, Burke and Perea intend to expand upon Cañada Larga Ranch's wide variety of boarding options, amenities and custom services.  Construction is already in progress to build hundreds of acres of open pasture areas, with sturdy and safe fencing that will insure the well-being of the horses. “The pasture program will provide personalized and custom boarding packages in the best interest of each individual horse,” says Burke.  “We hope to have a boarding program that is second to none.”

The new managers are also restructuring the entire layout of the ranch's equestrian center. New amenities will include:

· Designated riding arenas for various disciplines

· Covered arenas equipped with quality lighting for riding at night or in inclement weather

· Approximately fifty miles of private riding trails, with panoramic and breathtaking views of the mountains and ocean

· A horse riding lesson program for riders of all ages

“We hope to have it all in place within the year,” Perea says. 

For additional information or to schedule a tour of the facility, visit Cañada Larga Ranch at . www.canadalargaranch.com/

Celebrating our 10 th Anniversary in 2011!

Congrats to 2011 Drawing Winners:

American Horse Products - Winner of Professional Sponsorship for 6 months - $1050 Value

Winners of the Individual Sponsorships - $145 value each winner!

Anaheim Equestrian Center

Peace Place Ranch

DeFeet Horseshoeing

Dreamor Realty/Mindy Sullivan

The Southern California Equestrian Directory is celebrating our 10 year business anniversary this year.  We welcome our loyal following of viewers and equestrian businesses who have come to use the Directory for "everything horse" online over the past ten years!  For our new visitors, we invite you to browse the site and see why SoCalEquine.com ranks higher in the online world of equestrian websites! From a start up site back in 2000, SoCalEquine.com has become the premier online Equestrian Directory for all of California. Our mission is to give an immediate, effective and affordable advertising medium to equine businesses of all types and all sizes. "In helping horse people grow their businesses," says Publisher Pam Bowman, "SoCalEquine in turn continues to grow."

Now that the internet has become mainstream in the horse world, equestrian business owners can rely on the proven track record of SoCalEquine.com which has been cultivated before horse people even knew they needed the internet! With the yellow pages categories, the Classifieds, the Event Calendar and the Community News, viewers turn to SoCalEquine.com to find whatever they are looking for in the Southern California horse world. More articles were added throughout 2010, including Home Page Featured Businesses, Facilities and Trainers. These articles can also be found right on the category pages - so not only can viewers click over to an advertiser's website, but they can read in more detail about the business right on SoCalEquine.com.

New for 2011, SoCalEquine.com is excited to kick off our new look! There will be new features to the site in the New Year, so visit our Booth at the event and check out what's new. For the first time ever, advertisers will be able to get their message across with a large full color display ad on the most premium pages in the Directory - The Home Page and the Site Index. We're calling it the SkyScraper Ad!! Also, ask about the new Double Banners and the Rotating Top Banners! These will be great tools for clients to capture the attention of the viewers on SoCalEquine.com!

DAILY DRAWINGS - Also to celebrate our 10 Year Anniversary, SoCalEquine will be offering special pricing promotions and a new drawing every day to win advertising in the Directory. Stop by the booth and enter every day. Winners will not need to be present to win, but you have to drop your business card at the booth to enter!

As always, we look forward to this event each year so we can meet with you in person and share your "horse stories," and to hear your feedback about the Directory. Everyone is invited to check out the SoCalEquine.com site in the booth, kick around some new ideas for promoting your equestrian business, and most of all, to enjoy "horsin' around!"

PHOTO  Credit : Riders4helmets

Dr. Allen Sills, a Vanderbilt neurosurgeon with expertise in sports traumatic brain injury and concussion, gave several presentations at the symposium. Other speakers included: Debbie Stanitski, President of the Equestrian Medical Safety Association; Dave Halstead with Southern Impact Research on current testing standards; Sara Ike USEF on the history of helmet rules; Dean Moran with Safety Equipment Institute ; Tom Cafaro with G-Form LLC ; Beezie Madden (jumping), Anne Kursinski (jumping), PJ Cooksey (racing), Lauren Sammis (dressage) and Peter Rizzo (polo) in a panel discussion; and presentations from the helmet manufacturers.

John Long CEO at USEF summed up during the closing presentation of the symposium. His thoughts included that there is a need for more data, science and education and to make wearing helmets cool. "We need to find a way to implement the rules so that it's no longer optional, and it's easy to regulate. It is incumbent on my organization to get my house right to be a model for the more casual rider" said Long.

To view presentations and interviews from the symposium visit www.youtube.com/user/riders4helmets .

Craig Ferrell, M.D. Physician for the United States Equestrian Team and chair of the FEI Medical Council stated "I am pleased with the positive response to the helmet symposium in Wellington . The participants heard informative presentations from a variety of key individuals in the equestrian world. This gathering of stakeholders in our sport was unprecedented. It is important to continue this discussion and not lose the momentum we have initiated with this symposium."

The symposium was sponsored by  USEF , Troxel Helmets , Charles Owen , GPA , Tipperary Helmets and Samshield Helmets . For more information on the Riders4Helmets campaign or the Helmet Safety Symposium, visit www.riders4helmets.com or contact Lyndsey White at lyndscw@hotmail.com . You can also follow riders4helmets on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/riders4helmets . 

Riders4Helmets was founded in early 2010 after Olympic dressage rider Courtney King Dye was seriously injured in a riding accident. King Dye, who remained in a coma for a month following her accident, was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and is currently undergoing rehabilitation. Jeri Bryant  donated her helmet campaign t-shirts (featuring the slogan "Strap One On-Everyone's Doing it") to an eBay store set up to raise funds for King Dye, and a partnership was formed, resulting in the Riders4Helmets campaign.

7 Steps to Simplifying the Sitting Trot!
by, Riding Instructor, Inge Halliday

Do you struggle with the sitting trot? If you said yes; you are definitely in the majority. I think we can agree that the trot is the choppiest of all of the gaits. It’s like the rough road to cantering stardom. I believe if you can learn to sit the trot properly then all of your riding will improve. Having a lot of bouncing and disconnect is like having a bad cell phone connection; both parties can become frustrated. The sitting trot is one of the most misunderstood riding movements. Riders of all levels seem to struggle with it. What are the keys to a smooth sitting trot? I have compiled seven simple awareness exercises and physical adjustments you can make to improve your seat in the sitting trot. Try implementing them on your own or with a riding companion for feedback from the ground. You can print it out and go over it together. First create the images of the steps in your head, discuss them if you like, and then pop on and give it a try. Have Fun!

1. Center yourself (find your core): Have your trainer or friend hold your horse for you. Measure approx. two to three finger widths below your navel and halfway between your belly and your lower back. Take a moment to close your eyes and just be in your center. Visualize being grounded in your center and connected to your horse evenly....feeling all of the points on your lower body that are in contact with your horse (or saddle).

2. Find your seat bones and lower abdominal muscles. While you still have someone holding your horse practice knee lifts; draw your knees up to touch in front of you( start with five). Notice that when you are centered your seat bones sit on both sides of your horse’s spine. ***Imagine those seat bones are flashlights shining at the ground under you. During the sitting trot, when your horse moves your seat, imagine those flashlights shining forward and up repeatedly in the rhythm of the trot. Gently engage your abdominal muscles to guide your seat bones under and forward. The spine has more range of motion this way.

3. Thighs are key to a strong riding seat . Gently hug your horse with your thighs so you stay with his forward movement. This will help you avoid putting excess pressure on your stirrups; provided your stirrup length is
correct. Even though your thighs have a bit of positive tension; you must keep your mid waist supple and allow the seat bones to stay in motion.

4. Elbows. A super important and often overlooked component of a good sitting trot: Make sure your elbows are bent at your sides. Make your reins a bit longer if necessary to start out. Keeping your elbows close to your center and your hands low and wide will cause your seat to be continuously pulled deeper into the saddle between your forearms. You can shorten your reins gradually as you ride more from your seat and the reins aren’t pulling you up and out of the saddle.

5. Open your heart! Make sure your chest is properly held open. You can momentarily check yourself by holding your reins in one hand and putting your free hand across your lower back grabbing a hold of your opposite elbow...or putting a long dressage whip across your back. Rest whip on the inner angles of your elbows.

6. Shoulders must be either directly over your seat bones or slightly behind. If your shoulders are in front you will bounce. Everyone does, it’s just physics, English or Western; it’s all the same.

7. Breathe! Regulate your breathing. Listen to the hoof beats. Four counts in; four counts out. Expand your belly and lower back as you inhale. This is quite possibly the most important step. When you breathe your body is supple and in tune with the horse’s motion.

My hope is that both you and your horse will enjoy the sitting trot more after implementing these steps.

Inge Halliday is a Holistic Horse Trainer in Malibu, California. For more riding tips visit Inge’s site @ www.MalibuHorsesinc.com .

Emergency Animal Rescue

The Emergency Animal Rescue is an all volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing any animal, domestic or wildlife, from a life threatening situation.

Emergency Animal Rescue was conceived in 1993 following the Tijuana River Valley flood. Trained rescue personnel, on call 24/7, were needed in San Diego County. By January, 1994, they had received their 501(C)3, non-profit status from the IRS.

Then we were noticed; and called upon-

• Northridge earthquake
• Flooding in Conroe and Liberty, Texas
• Harmony Grove fire
• Viejas fire
• Pines fire
• 9/11 (on call)
• Cedar fire
• Hurricanes Katrina & Rita
• Witch Creek fire

When not working major disasters, Emergency Animal Rescue performs day to day rescues of domestic animals ranging from cats in trees, to dogs down wells to horses over cliffs to "something" in my attic or chimney. Emergency Animal Rescue members get trained on all aspects of animal rescue including technical rescue techniques as well as first aid, both animal and human. Several members are also SRT1 (Swiftwater Rescue Technician) trained and LAR (Large Animal Rescue) trained and certified by the California State Fire Marshal.

As Emergency Animal Rescue is a non-profit organization, they depend on the charitable contributions of the general public. There is no federal, state, local or corporate funding. Members use their own money, vehicles and equipment to rescue the animals.

If this excites you and you would like to get involved, either as a member (in the San Diego county area) or become a financial contributor, please contact us at (760) 789-5775 or email us at ear@rescueteam.com . Or visit our website at www.emergencyanimalrescue.org   We thank you, and the animals thank you.

Emergency Animal Rescue, P.O. Box 2462, Ramona, Ca. 92065 (760) 789-5775

Huntington Beach, CA, March 28, 2011 -- Dr. Jenn Winnick, DVM, CVA of Gold Star Equine Medicine, and Dr. Silvia Colladay, DVM, of Coast Veterinary Medicine, gelded a total of seven stallions here earlier this month for area residents in a low-cost clinic sponsored by the National Equine Rescue Network (NERN) in cooperation with Red Bucket Equine Rescue in the first of a series of these events being held throughout the state this year in an effort to reduce California's excess horse population in the future.

Shirley Puga, Executive Director of NERN who organized and directed the day-long clinic, noted that the current recession has forced many private horse owners to give up or be unable to properly care for their animals since 2008 and this has created a problem for state equine rescues and sanctuaries attempting to rehome them.

"Since horses can live 30 years or more the number of animals needing new homes will not diminish in the near future and the simple fact is that there are not enough homes for any new foals in today's economic climate,"  Puga pointed out. 

She added that the nonprofit gelding clinics, which offer this veterinary procedure to private horse owners at a fraction of the cost normally charged by equine vets, is designed to reduce the future population of horses and therefore the amount of abandonment, neglect, or sale through auction for slaughter in Mexico or Canada.

She said that since the average privately owned stallion sires a total of five foals in its lifetime, the future horse population in the area has been reduced by as many as 35 horses.

The clinic was held at the Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center, with support from Susan and David Peirce of the Red Bucket Equine Rescue and their volunteers. Portable stalls were provided by West Coast Stall Rentals.

Contact: Shirley Puga 760-419-2462 nationalequine@gmail.com

Total of 62 Stallions Gelded
In First Two Months of NERN Pilot Gelding Program