Feartz and Frenchi's Epic Roadtrip
Donation protected
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
-Vince Lombardi
Life is about working hard, creating opportunities and also the luck of being at the right place at the right time. Sometimes, to move forward you have to first say YES and then figure out the HOW part afterwards.
Well, I’ve already said YES, now let’s get to the WHY and HOW part.
I have been a professional horse trainer for 17 years. I absolutely love my job and feel so fortunate that I have the opportunity to live a life that I am so passionate about.
A few years back I made the decision to work towards my goal of competing internationally at the FEI levels. A rider is only as good as their horse. On a horse trainers salary, I was unable to buy such a horse but was lucky enough to lease one. We rode our first Grand Prix in 2013 and had a fantastic time. When our time together ended I looked for the next opportunity.
My trainer friend, Siggi Wolff of Cavallis, gave me the ride on her fantastic FEI gelding French Kiss while she was growing the next pony club generation. I had the opportunity to get more show miles on an experienced FEI horse and we had an amazing show season together. We won several trophies and four out of four Championship titles at FEI Intermediare -1 level with scores up to 75% at the 2014 Regional Championships.
We were invited to Nationals but decided to set our sights on an even bigger goal, riding in my first legitimate CDI competition in California. We picked the Mid Winter Dressage Show at Burbank, February 20-22. I’m thankful to Siggi to extend my time with her special boy so that I have the opportunity to meet this next goal. She also introduced me to Christine Traurig, an Olympic level rider & coach who clinics regularly at Cavallis. To set myself up for success and be as competitive as possible, we arranged to travel 10 days ahead of the Burbank competition to San Diego to train with Christine Traurig on not one but two horses on a daily basis.
Yes, riding in CDI is my personal goal but the training I will receive by taking lessons and watching Olympic caliber riding all day every day, will give me knowledge that I can bring back to the PNW to my clients, friends and followers. I would like to share my journey, experience and gained knowledge with all of you.
Now that you know I’ve said YES and you know WHY - let’s get to the HOW part, shall we…
Making this training bootcamp and CDI competition in California happen, means FUNDRAISING as I’m taking three weeks on this the journey to train & ride amongst some of the best riders & horses this country has to offer. That means I will spend more money than I make during that time and this is where YOU, the 3rd man of this team comes in.
Here is what I have to offer in exchange for your contribution towards Feartz’s and Frenchi’s Epic Roadtrip 2015. There is nothing I enjoy more than sharing my journey and my love for dressage. But I want it to be fun! It will be our goal to talk to as many non-horse people as possible and introduce them to the sport of dressage (Olympic sport I might add). A blog will be created for this purpose. All the reactions will be video taped and shared. In addition, we created team T-shirts and we will be making a comic book along the way chronicling our journey. Both will be available to purchase for fundraising purposes.
This will be EPIC – please join our team as our “3rd man.”
-Vince Lombardi
Life is about working hard, creating opportunities and also the luck of being at the right place at the right time. Sometimes, to move forward you have to first say YES and then figure out the HOW part afterwards.
Well, I’ve already said YES, now let’s get to the WHY and HOW part.
I have been a professional horse trainer for 17 years. I absolutely love my job and feel so fortunate that I have the opportunity to live a life that I am so passionate about.
A few years back I made the decision to work towards my goal of competing internationally at the FEI levels. A rider is only as good as their horse. On a horse trainers salary, I was unable to buy such a horse but was lucky enough to lease one. We rode our first Grand Prix in 2013 and had a fantastic time. When our time together ended I looked for the next opportunity.
My trainer friend, Siggi Wolff of Cavallis, gave me the ride on her fantastic FEI gelding French Kiss while she was growing the next pony club generation. I had the opportunity to get more show miles on an experienced FEI horse and we had an amazing show season together. We won several trophies and four out of four Championship titles at FEI Intermediare -1 level with scores up to 75% at the 2014 Regional Championships.
We were invited to Nationals but decided to set our sights on an even bigger goal, riding in my first legitimate CDI competition in California. We picked the Mid Winter Dressage Show at Burbank, February 20-22. I’m thankful to Siggi to extend my time with her special boy so that I have the opportunity to meet this next goal. She also introduced me to Christine Traurig, an Olympic level rider & coach who clinics regularly at Cavallis. To set myself up for success and be as competitive as possible, we arranged to travel 10 days ahead of the Burbank competition to San Diego to train with Christine Traurig on not one but two horses on a daily basis.
Yes, riding in CDI is my personal goal but the training I will receive by taking lessons and watching Olympic caliber riding all day every day, will give me knowledge that I can bring back to the PNW to my clients, friends and followers. I would like to share my journey, experience and gained knowledge with all of you.
Now that you know I’ve said YES and you know WHY - let’s get to the HOW part, shall we…
Making this training bootcamp and CDI competition in California happen, means FUNDRAISING as I’m taking three weeks on this the journey to train & ride amongst some of the best riders & horses this country has to offer. That means I will spend more money than I make during that time and this is where YOU, the 3rd man of this team comes in.
Here is what I have to offer in exchange for your contribution towards Feartz’s and Frenchi’s Epic Roadtrip 2015. There is nothing I enjoy more than sharing my journey and my love for dressage. But I want it to be fun! It will be our goal to talk to as many non-horse people as possible and introduce them to the sport of dressage (Olympic sport I might add). A blog will be created for this purpose. All the reactions will be video taped and shared. In addition, we created team T-shirts and we will be making a comic book along the way chronicling our journey. Both will be available to purchase for fundraising purposes.
This will be EPIC – please join our team as our “3rd man.”
Organizer
Garyn Heidemann
Organizer
Sedro-Woolley, WA