Background courtesy
Destiny's Lady

Totem Bird courtesy
Bearchele, Inc.

Bright Vaquero
(aka Dax)

in november of 1997 I became the proud owner of my appaloosa horse and first horse of my own since I was sixteen. since owning dax I have realized first-hand the special nature of this wonderful breed - their affection, their intelligence and willingness to learn.

I had not known anything about the appaloosa until owning dax and ordering many great books on them from amazon.com. I was impressed at how dax took to training at such a young age (5 years old) with virtually no training prior to me purchasing him. he had been started by his previous owner, backed a few times, but the majority of his training has been done by myself

2002 eventing update

in 1999 dax and I endeavored to move forward into novice, uscta-sanctioned events even though we were still placing last in the little mini-events last season. what a difference! dax was actually eager and ready to compete, successfully negotiating five different novice-level cross-country courses in 1999 (fox river valley mini, and fox river valley, idcta, silverwood and queeny park horse trials). maybe it's the fact that the jumps are actually JUMPS as opposed to little bumps in the trail, or maybe this stuff is finally sinking in. whatever the reason, he is doing it!

Q. What is eventing?

A. Jump to the Official United States Combined Training Association web site and press "Eventing" for a good summary of what this sport is all about.

I have been very busy getting married, being pregnant and having a small baby to tote around for the past two seasons. dax and I missed the 2000 and the 2001 eventing season. we have been taking both dressage lessons and jumping lessons (averaging about a lesson a week) and will be going to the michael page jumping clinic in march at indian hills. we are hoping to do at least three smaller events this summer just for fun!

dax and just signed on a new share-boarding partner named katie who is going to help us keep on top of everything that needs to be done for a busy eventing and pony club mount like dax. katie is just about twelve years old and really loves dax. she will be doing pony club lessons and activities with dax this year and keeping him on his toes for all of the shows and fun we have planned for him. welcome katie!

{ view event photos }

fox hunting in carbondale with egon december 2001

this past december was record-breaking warm with temperatures in the 60s. we took advantage of it by loading dax into the trailer and scooting down to carbondale to stay with my favorite horsey friend, egon kamarasy. the fox hunting was wonderful and dax was an incredibly good boy!

{story and photos inside !}

dax's stuff.

event photos from may 1998 to present see us in full color action! every event to with photos to date, from may 1998 to july 1999 super bee two-horse trailer purchase this trailer was custom-created for dax with an extra foot in the length. it is an excellent quality all-steel horse trailer which I purchased for a very good price from the internet in august of 1999. carbondale/shawnee trip april 1999 april 1999 photo album of trip to carbondale (southern illinois) and the shawnee national forest with my riding partners, priscilla and tina, and their horses dinant and shiloh. amazing new dressage test october 1998 a funny interpretation of a typical dax dressage test !! new clinician in town september 1998 into john lyons? monty roberts? pony boy? then this is for you! professional photos september 1998 photos by robyn adair cook at oakwood farm polo field move to oakwood farm may 1998 our move from morton grove equestrian center to a private farm in barrington hills dax purchase november 1997 first pictures after purchase, mostly winter trail pics baby pictures, 4mos to 4yrs jill adair denker (notice the similarity to photographer name, weird huh?) sent these to me for the web site. she raised dax from four months to five years.

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