Bubbles and Rolex!

     It has been an incredible start to the 2013 show season for all of us at Hawley Bennett Eventing! Just coming off an incredible weekend at Twin Rivers! I was so thrilled to be tied on my Brother and Sister horses Ginny and Chunky after dressage and both finished the weekend very well, with Ginny winning a competitive Advanced and Chunky finishing seventh adding just one rail and a few time faults to his score! My young horses are all coming along very nicely, and I would like to extend a special thank you to the owners who make it all possible! I couldn’t be happier with how my Chunky and Ginny are doing as Rolex approaches…how is it almost here already?

        So much goes into getting ready for a four star event like this, so I am staying focused and making sure that everything is being done to make sure both Ginny and Chunky are in top shape, although especially Ginny has a great deal of natural fitness just being the wild woman she is. With the help of my amazing sponsors I know we will be looking and competing at our best. I would like to welcome Bardsley Products, JoJo Sox and Flair Nasal Strips to the list of my incredible sponsors. I am so excited about these products and know my horses will be sparkling at the jogs, and competing to peak performance as a result of adding them to my team.

        Probably the biggest news this month has been welcoming my newest horse Bubbles to the team! Veuve Clicquot AKA Bubbles is a 2006 TB gelding and I am so excited about this new partnership. Bubbles and I will be aiming for the CCI* at Galway Downs in November! My long-term goal for this very special horse is to compete at the Pan Ams in Toronto. I’m looking forward to celebrating many successes with Bubble in the future, with some Veuve Clicquot! I can’t thank my friend and coach Buck Davidson enough for helping me find this amazing horse!

      As always I couldn't accomplish any of my dreams without the help of my amazing team at HBE and my wonderful sponsors and husband! Can’t wait to see what this season will bring! Watch out for Ginny and Chunky at Rolex and GO HBE!

Exciting New Year For HBE!

It is only January and HBE is off to a flying start! I am so lucky to have such a great group of students, horses, owners and sponsors!

I am so excited to welcome back Eleanor Maclean, and new to the team Geriann Henderson with her fabulous horse Kingsley. Also new to the team is Marta Tabatabai with her super cute little mare Diva! These girls will make a great addition to my stellar team!

I have also acquired two off the track thoroughbreds that I am very excited about.  They have come from Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne who have had a successful racing program. I am very excited to see what the future holds for “Booted” and “Bodark”. We have a new horse joining the program from Arizona as well! HBE is so happy to welcome Kate Shearer’s horse big boy AKA “Bear”!

I would also like to welcome a new sponsor to the HBE team, FLAIR Nasal Strips! http://www.flairstrips.com/, I have being using Flair strips with all my horses and I am so glad that they have become part of my team! Check out all my sponsors at http://hawleybennett.com/sponsors/.

Buck Davidson was out at the end of December to teach a clinic at Kingsway Farm. I absolutely LOVE taking lessons, I feel like I learn so much every time Buck comes out. I try to ride and watch as much as I can. I am super excited with all my horses, especially little “Chunky”. After my lesson with Buck, we went over to Galway to practice jumping ditch walls. At the Galway CCI *** we had a little “fall” at the big ditch wall at the end of the course. So, Buck suggested that we go practice while he was here. I put my Point Two Air vest on, http://pointtwousa.com/, and made sure my Charles Owen Helmet http://www.charlesowen.com/ was snug and off we went. Chunky was perfect! We did the ditch wall multiple times and I think that made both Chunky and I more confident. After a fall like I had at Galway, I was not sure what to expect. I have since gone XC schooling at http://copper-meadows.com/ as well and again, Chunky was super. This makes me a little more confident as the first show comes closer!! We will have time to practice yet again at the Galway Downs Fundraiser Clinic January 19/20, http://www.galwaydowns.com/?page_id=11 . I am SO EXCITED that I get the chance to ride with the amazing PIPPA FUNNEL! I have the opportunity to have dressage lessons on Friday and then have her eyes on me while I jump both Ginny and Chunky!

We had one final Team outing with David O’Connor before he officially took on the position as Team USA Coach. I was thrilled to be invited to Equine Canada Teaching Symposium held at the beautiful Thunderbird Equestrian Park http://www.tbird.ca/ in Langley BC. It was a cold and wet weekend but it turned out to be awesome!! I was reunited with my London 2012 teammates Rebecca Howard and Jessica Phoenix. We were able to express our teaching methods, while being looked over by Coach Canada. Then David taught us on borrowed horses! I was lucky enough to get the ride on the super "Rubix" owned by Andree Stow. I thought that it was a very informative weekend, and I hope that we can do that again!
   

January is going to be a busy month for me and I am SO grateful for the wonderful girls at the barn. Katy, Sarah, Eleanor, and Marta thanks for taking care of things while I am away teaching clinics!!! I am gone almost every weekend teaching clinics at Harmony Farms in Surrey BC http://www.harmonyfarms.ca/, Ann Byrons, and then Dragon Fire Farm http://dragonfiremorgans.com/schedule.php at the end of January. I love teaching and catching up with my clinic groups! In between those clinics, I have Niki Rose Hall coming to Kingsway every Wednesday for Dressage lessons, and sneaking over to Susie Hutchinson whenever she can fit us in.

I feel like 2013 is going to be a very exciting year and I want to be ready for the New Coach Canada. Clayton Fredericks has been named as coach and will be coming out for a training session before the March Galway Downs CIC***. I want my ponies to be in top form. I am very thankful to be able to have such a great instructor. Thank you Buck, Niki, and Susie!

Can’t wait for the season to begin! Go HBE!

Galway Wrap Up!

Hawley Bennett Eventing had a blast at the Galway Downs International Event. Having Ginny back at the 3* level was amazing, and we had one of our best cross country runs ever! Double clear! Chunky was so impressive on dressage day, and until he unfortunately misjudged a fence he was running fast and clean like a champ! Thank you to my sponsors Charles Owen and Point Two for keeping me safe when mistakes do happen! Demello made me love him even more, running double clear in the CCI 1* cross country, and finishing with a wonderful performance in all three phases! I can’t leave out little Sienna! Who rocked it around the Training 3day cross country, going double clear! What a blast to go steeplechase again! I was happy to sit down for an awesome interview with US Eventing, check it out on www.useventing.tv

The changes made to Galway Downs were so exciting and impressive. As usual Robert and his team did a stellar job! Hosting the Buck Clinic at Kingsway was fabulous, thank you to everyone who signed up, I hope you learned some great new things from the amazing Buck! I enjoyed having the Korean Team here so much and being able to coach them for the few weeks before Galway Downs! They were stellar at the show and rocked it! Hope they had as much of a good time with HBE as we had with them!

Huge thanks to everyone who bought raffles for the Point Two Air Vest and congratulations to Beth Tempkin for winning! Don’t forget about another opportunity to win stylish Dublin Boots and to support HBE! Check out more info on www.hawleybennett.com under Go For The Gold.

With the 2012 season ending, I can’t thank my sponsors and everyone who has helped HBE to run smoothly at Galway and throughout this season. I have the best team ever! Can’t wait for next season! Go HBE!

 Buck and I in cross county warm up! Loved having my coach there!

DeMello jumping beautifully in the CCI 1* Show Jumping Round!

This is one of the most exciting times of year around Hawley Bennett Eventing! Galway Downs is this week and people are arriving from near and far to compete which is always fun. There have been a lot of new changes across the street at Galway including new trees and from the looks of it lots of cool new jumps as well. In addition to my usual students, I have been teaching the Korean team who are in town, which has been fantastic. They are a great group of riders and people and HB Eventing is excited about the future for this team. They have been taking lessons and will ride at Galway before returning home. 

Gin and Juice was a super star in her first run back since the Olympics a few weeks ago at Woodside, finishing on her dressage score in the Intermediate division and she will make her return to International competition in the CCI3* division at Galway Downs, along with her brother 5' O ClockSomewhere owned by Sue Church. 

De Mello is also competing in the international divisions doing the CCI* and looks to be a top contender in a very competitive field of over 50 horses. Many HB Eventing Students are competing at Galway and as always we are wishing them the best of luck!!!!! 

Buck Davidson, my coach and good friend is in town to ride as well as teach a clinic and after much anxiety due to the storms back east has arrived in CA. Buck has been traveling the globe, and is fresh off a run at Pau over in France. We are so thankful that he could be here and I know everyone including myself is thrilled to ride with him this week. So many fun things to look forward to here in sunny CA and so many friends here to enjoy it all with. Thinking good thoughts for all those stuck in the storms on the East Coast and wishing everyone here in Southern, CA a safe and successful weekend. 

More to come after Galway......

GO TEAM HB EVENTING! 

Hawley Bennett Eventing is excited to welcome Charles Owen Helmets as a new sponsor! Hawley has always loved their stylish and well protective incredible helmets! Thank you Charles Owen for supporting Hawley and Ginny!

Hawley and Ginny are back in action! The girls competed at the Woodside International Horse Trials this past weekend in the Open Intermediate Division for their first show back since the Olympics! Ginny had a beautiful dressage test and continued to have a DOUBLE CLEAR Cross Country and Stadium round! Hawley and Ginny were the ONLY pair in the Intermediate division to finish on their dressage score!

Langley Times Article: Olympian Reduced to Tears

Hawley Bennett-Awad has been chosen to represent Canada at this summer’s Olympic Games in London. Bennett-Awad placed fourth over the weekend at the CCI*** Bromont Three Day Event, The Todd Sandler Challenge, in Bromont, Que. She placed fourth at the event. Calina Richie Photo

By Gary Ahuja - Langley Times
Published: June 11, 2012 6:00 PM
Updated: June 12, 2012 8:42 AM

On the phone with the owners of her horse, Hawley Bennett-Awad broke into tears.
She was on the phone with Terry and Linda Paine, shortly after being nominated for the Canadian eventing team for this summer’s Olympic Games in London.

Bennett-Awad has been chosen to ride for Canada aboard her horse Gin & Juice.
“I just started crying. There have been so many ups and downs along the way,” said Bennett-Awad, on the phone with The Times on Monday. She was on her way back to California after competing at the Bromont CCI*** eventing show at the Bromont Olympic Equestrian Park in Quebec.
Bennett-Awad placed fourth.

The competition also served as the selection trials for the Canadian eventing team.
Eventing is an equestrian sport which comprises dressage, cross-country and show jumping.
“This has always been the goal and to finally be told that yes, you are going, it is a big relief,” she said. 

Bennett-Awad, a 35-year-old from Langley, will be making her second appearance at the Olympics, having also represented Canada in Athens in 2004.

She helped Canada finish 12th in the team competition but did not place in the individual event.
“That was my first time, so I was super excited to go,” she said.

“The excitement of not being my first time is gone. I have a really good horse and am more experienced.

“I want a top 10 finish (but) it would be amazing to get up on the podium.”

While Bennett-Awad was chasing her dream this weekend in Quebec, she did so with mixed feelings.
“For me, it was a very emotional weekend because I had to miss my brother’s wedding,” she said about the nuptials of her older brother, Mike Bennett and his fiancee Jessica.
“It was really hard because I am so close to him. He is my best friend and has been my father figure for the last 16 or 17 years, so it was really tough to not be there and be a part of that.”

With that weighing on her mind, she said the weekend was one of the toughest competitions she had endured mentally. While the weekend may have been tough, Bennett-Awad is glad it is over and the team has been nominated.  The official team, featuring five riders plus an alternate, will be named on July 5.

“Now the pressure is off and you can relax and focus on your training,” she said.
“You know that you are going and can work on your own fitness as well as your horse’s.”

Bennett-Awad will continue working — she operates Hawley Bennett Eventing out of KingsWay Farms in southern California — for the rest of the month and then leave for training camp in Virginia on July 1.

The Canadian team departs for London on July 9.  The Olympic Games run from July 27 to August 12.  Disappointed when she didn’t qualify for the 2008 Games in Beijing, Bennett-Awad is thrilled for another crack at the Olympics.

The track will be hilly and long for the cross-country, “You need a horse that will be fast and quick and that is exactly what she (Gin & Juice) is.”

Bennett-Awad is no stranger to international success, helping Canada win silver at the World Equestrian Games in 2010 and the another silver medal at the Pan American Games in 2011.
The silver at the World Equestrian Games was Canada’s first medal at a major world equestrian championship since 1978 and qualified Canada for the 2012 Olympics.

She thanked her husband, Gamal Awad, her mom, Gerry Bennett, and the rest of her family and friends.  “They are the people who have been through the good and the bad,” she said.
“I know who they are.

“You don’t get to this spot without good a good support team of owners, grooms, sponsors.
“I am very, very lucky I have a good group of people around me and am thankful for that.”