Sanctuary Stables Equestrian Team Gives You the Chance to Ride with Olympic Great Beezie Madden

Feb. 18, 2010 - PRLog -- Beezie Madden was the individual Bronze medalist in the 2008 Olympic Games and also a member of the Gold medal U.S. team. In 2006 she won both team and individual silver medals at the World Equestrian Games aboard the nearly flawless Authentic. She was also a member of the Gold Medal team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and part of the 2003 gold medal Pan American Games team.

To date, Madden has competed in three World Cup Finals and has 14 wins in Nations Cup competition and 8 World Cup Qualifier wins. In 2005 year she won the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational in Tampa aboard Authentic and repeated the feat in 2007. Other notable finishes include the Million Dollar CN International at Spruce Meadows in Canada aboard Iron Springs Farm’s Judgement in 2005, a feat that she nearly duplicated in 2006 year finishing third on Wexner’s DeSilvio. She is also a two-time winner of the prestigious Spruce Meadows Atco Power Queen Elizabeth II Cup, both years riding Authentic.

There can be no doubt that Beezie Madden is the best of the best and the Sanctuary Stables Equestrian Team is giving you a once in a lifetime opportunity to win a riding lesson with her!

Starting February 5th and running through April 11th, the SSET will be hosting an online Silent Auction at www.SanctuaryStables.com in order to help cover the costs of competing at Interscholastic Shows, including National Finals (hotels/entries  and transportation). Items up for bid include a riding lesson with Olympic medalist Beezie Madden, a batch of gourmet homemade cookies, a voucher for a tie from Raphael’s Men’s Shop and much more! The team is also hosting a raffle for a custom painted grooming box from Phyllis Madonna, valued at over $150. Raffle tickets for the custom grooming box will be available at The Show Trunk in downtown Cazenovia.

In only their second year competing as a part of the Interscholastic Equestrian Association, the Sanctuary Stables High School and Middle School teams have both qualified for Zones. With four shows left in the regular season, many team members have qualified or are poised to qualify as individuals, as well.

The team’s focus this year has been on mastering the basics of equitation in order to prepare them for the competitions where they draw unknown horses at the host schools. Team members practice monthly, at minimum, in unique practices that mimic an IEA show situation.

“The goals of our practices are to get the kids comfortable on as many horses as possible. They have to have strong equitation basics and be able to figure out a new horse almost immediately to be successful in the IEA.” Said head coach Nicolle Madonna, “They are really starting to see the results of their hard work. Their confidence in their abilities as riders grows so much when they realize they can get on a strange horse and go jump a course successfully.”

Team co-captain Corinne Milnamow, a freshman at Chittenango High School, is currently the top ranked rider in the intermediate division over fences in Zone 2, winning every over fences class this season she has entered. Fellow co-captain Karen Osborn, a junior at Christian Brothers Academy is just 1 point shy of qualifying for zones, after strong finishes in her first three shows of the season.

For more information on the Sanctuary Stables IEA Team and their fundraisers, please visit www.SanctuaryStables.com. For more information on the Interscholastic Equestrian Association, visit www.rideiea.com.