All posts by MKE

December 7, 2015UncategorizedMKE

Have any of you ever had to move to a new state without your family, move in with a stranger, work long hours, get over-whelming amounts of information AND be expected to go about each day with a bounce in your step and a smile on your face? If so, you must’ve been a working student!

On that note, 3 months ago MKE welcomed Faith Potorski to our team. Faith comes from Georgetown, MA and brings with her a great love of horses, puppies, a vigorous determination and athletic ability. Growing up she played some really hard core sports along with her riding hobby; luckily for us she eased up on the soccer and ice hockey to fully commit to riding.

Coming with Faith to the scenic views of Kirkwood, PA is her handsome steed “Win”. The two of them have come to MKE to hone their eventing skills and work their way through the levels. I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of this partnership; both of them are athletic, sassy and eager to take on the hard core eventing lifestyle. With all pieces moving in the right direction Aiken ’16 should be seeing a productive move up to training level for this pair.

Having been a working student myself and made a few large moves to remote places far away from friends and family… I always appreciate the challenges this presents to the “new kid”. Faith has survived her first trimester here and if you ask me, thats the toughest part. There’ll still be long days and new things to sort out, but at least now you know the way to the grocery store and tack shop!

July 21, 2015UncategorizedMKE

This last weekend my student Camilla competed at the NAYRC championships in Kentucky with her fancy pants horse, Remington. To say that she made me proud is a complete understatement. I have to say that as much as I truly wish I was there to see the Area II team in action, I truly felt at peace being back in PA. Camilla and Remington have built up a great partnership in their time together, and really seem to understand how to work with each other. They took a logical, step by step approach to getting to the NAYRC championships and from this they were truly prepared for the level of competition they were faced with last weekend.

Camilla has worked hard in all three phases of the sport and this last weekend was proof that her time has been well spent! Earning a sub 40 dressage score in the FEI CCI * class, going double clean in xc and then again in SJ earned her the individual gold medal and helped to secure the team gold medal for Area II. As if that wasn’t grand enough she then also won the horse fitness award. It has been very important to me that along her path in becoming a great upper level rider that she also understand how important it is to know her horse and to do the right thing for the particular horse that she’s working with.

All of us at MKE want to congratulate Camilla on a job well done, as well as the parents, grandparents, friends and team-mates. A very special thank you to Remington’s farrier, veterinarians and to the farm owners of Principia Stables for providing the resources that have helped Remington and Camilla along their way to winning the NAYRC GOLD MEDAL!!

**Remington has enjoyed a bag of apples and carrots and is currently peacefully resting in his cushy stall…. After he cribbed til his hearts content on his water buckets. **

June 10, 2015UncategorizedMKE

For any of you that follow along with MK Equetrian and our journeys you realize that each one of us have our own dreams, goals, and aspirations. I just told a student last night in her dressage lesson that as long as she starts her ride with a vision of what she wants, and has an idea of how she wants that to feel- she’ll get there.

Obviously each person’s vision can and should be slightly different. From the pictures you’ll see below of a young lady and then her as a cute little girl; the focus and determination shows her vision is set.

I would like to personally congratulate my student, her family and her awesome horse on making it onto the NAYRC Area II championship team for the CCI *. Camilla Grover-Dodge and Remington XXV have been a pleasure to work with. Both very talented, athletic and driven for success. In fact we attempted to give Remington a break after his busy spring season and he was not too pleased with us! After chatting with Camilla’s mother, Justina, it sounds like Camilla gives them the same grief about “taking a short vacation”. Remington and Camilla thrive on their day to day progress they obtain together, and this is why they make such a fantastic partnership.

Best of luck to all NAYRC members and I am thrilled for Camilla to be part of this super one star team.

NAYRC KENTUCKY 2015 here we come!!!

http://eventingnation.com/area-ii-announces-2015-najyrc-ch-j-squad/

2015 NAJYRC SQUAD

Inoui Van Bost / Skyler Decker

My Security Blanket/Ella Groner

Peter Pan / Amanda Clement

Remington XXV / Camilla Grover Dodge

Shannondale 54/ Morgan McCue

Twizzel/ Morgan Booth

2015 NAJYRC ALTERNATES

Castle Jordan/ Kira Statue

Flinder’s Chase / Sunny Greene

Folk’s Hero / Quinn Riddle

Wynthrop / Emma Stolzenthaler

May 25, 2015UncategorizedMKE

As we posted before one of our long time team members, Hannah Metz, will be off to nursing school this August. Lucky for us we have Katie Mays, a life long horse gal and a Equine Science college graduate to help me train up the next generation of MKE team members.

Our barn works mainly out of Kirkwood, PA where we are lucky enough to train our eventing horses out in the Andrews Bridge hunt land. We actively compete in Area II with horses of all ages and levels. We also spend a few months in the winter working down south to give our horses a good healthy start to their seasons. Our working students handle all aspects of horse care and training- to me it’s incredibly important for my riders/students/employees to really truly “know” the horses. The actual program varies for each individual working student depending on if they come with or without a horse and what their personal goals are.

Requirements- Good character; honesty and reliability

Please contact me with any questions! We will be starting trials right away and will be looking to have the position filled by August.

May 17, 2015UncategorizedMKE

A few weeks ago MKE riders, owners and neighbors joined together for a very inspirational presentation on Sports Psychology. Shannon Thompson was like bright light on what can sometimes be a bit of a dim subject! Having grown up in the equestrian world she’s been through many similar situations to what many of us face. Adding to her personal experience as an equestrian she now has a degree in psychology and a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology. Her practice and research has focused on the latest in performance enhancement; human thriving and high achievement.

The presentation was so informative and whats even better is that Shannon really grasped the audience and created as much interaction as the time could allow. It became obvious that no matter the sport you’re in or the level at which you are aspiring to work towards; we all could benefit from finding ways to help ourselves get through the good times AND the challenging times! Learning about how we can help ourselves perform at our best and train through the more difficult areas of our sport was simply fascinating. It was inspirational for me to watch and listen to Shannon as she shared with us some of her methods that she uses to help athletes balance the need for excellence and enjoyment.

This coming Tuesday, May 19th, Shannon will be back in the area and has some individual and “paired” time slots available. This is open to those that were able to attend the presentation and to any one that would just like to get some time in discussing the mental game of any type of athletic endeavor. Shannon definitely works well with us equestrian types, however, she has spent much of her career working with athletes in many other fields. In fact Shannon will soon be based out of an Olympic training facility to work hand in hand with those high caliber athletes.

If anyone is interested in a session with Shannon please email me at Molly@mkequestrian.com; private and semi private sessions available. Location will be 350 Sproul Rd; Kirkwood, PA 17536