About Us    
About Us
Helen Circling @ Congress 09.jpg
 





When my wife Helen was growing up, every year on her birthday she would wish for a horse. Year after Year she would dream of the day. Throughout her childhood, she spent many summers frolicking around the lake where her Grandparents had a cottage called Fair Haven. Being there and spending time with family and friends made the horseless days more bearable, but the dream of having a horse never went away. Today, the cottage is still there, although not in the family anymore, and the name has changed. My wifes dreams came true when she turned 18, and bought her first foundation bred horse named Stinger. Many a wonderful rides they had together. Now years later, together, Helen and i are living the same dream. To have a barn full of beautiful horses. And in rememberance of the cottage, and to honor the memories, we have named our farm FAIR HAVEN FARMS.

We started our business with goal of breeding to the best horses we could afford. We bought our first two mares, and then started to reseach the industry, and looking at stallions that we could afford. We dabbled in the Halter class for a couple years as we saved money to break into the Reining industry. As things progressed, we searched for a trainer, and met an up and coming trainer named Scott McFarland. We began to ride with Scott, on our trail horses, and we talked of our goals for the future. When it was time to look for our first Reiner, we gave Scott all the particulars that we were looking for, and you could see fromthe look on his face, he was wondering how he could meet all our criteria, but he assured us he would find our horse. It wasn't very long when we received a call from Scott.

He was excited as he told us of the horse he found that met our every wish. Next we made a trip to Ohio and met Stacy and Jesse Westfall, long time friends of Scott's, who owned the horse. What a beautiful mare, and bred to the hilt. We spent the day riding her, and it was apparent from the start, that we had found our first reiner. Remarkable Freckle ( Remy ) was soon to have a new zip code !! After training for the fall, and winter, we started our show careers with Scott's guidance. Our first year was a long hard year !!! We did ok, but spent many a long ride home wondering what could have been, and learning from our mistakes.

We trained hard during the off season, and when the 2006 show season started, we felt we were going to finally enjoy success. After a very close battle, when the season was over, Helen and Remy had done it !!!!!� The were the 2006 EPRHA Green Horse Champions !! Again we started a search for a second reiner. Once we gave Scott our criteria for our new horse, we waited for the call. Again we were not dissapointed. And once again we ended up at Westfall Horsemanship.Jesse had told Scott of a horse named Beautiful Lil Whiz, that we might be interested in. She too, ended up at FHF.

Our second show season on the new mare was one of the most amazing years we could have known. With Helen and Scott both showing the mare,and Scott and myself showing Scott's horse, Conquistadors Sun, the accolades started to pile up. We ended up with our second championship buckle. This time in the CNYRHA's Rookie division. Also qualifying for the " The Tradition " in 2 classes. Helen in the rookie, and Scott in the rookie professional. Scott would end up Reserve Champion, qualifying to go to Oklahoma City for the NRHA Futurity Affiliate Finals. Helen unfortunatly didn't qualify for the show. We ended up 12th, at AQHA's Quarter Horse Congress. Scott ended up 14th in the country, even tho he didn't make the trip to Oklahoma.

We decided to breed Remy, and once again turned to Scott, Jesse, and Stacy for their input. We decided to breed to Dun It With A Twist, and now have a wonderful gelding named Twisted Little Nic,that will be our next reiner. " Nic " was started by Scott McFarland working out of Stacy & Jesse's barn. Nic appears to have a bright future ahead of him, and is now starting his 3 year old year with Tommy Milnes in Tunkhannock Pa. We are very excited to have him finished off and starting his show carreer.

We again bred Remy, to Arcese Quarterhorses stud Walla Walla Whiz , and had a 2009 filly. She is a very sharp looking filly and we are looking forward to her getting her start in 2011.

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What Is Reining.jpg
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Reining is the fastest growing sport in the Equine Industry. Reining is a judged competition designed to show the athletic ability of a ranch type horse in the confines of a show arena. The governing body of the sport is the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA). NRHA defines reining as: "To rein a horse is not only to guide him, but also to control his every movement. The best reined horse should be willingly guided or controlled with little or no apparent resistance and dictated to completely. Any movement on his own must be considered a lack of control." There are ten NRHA approved patterns containing required maneuvers, including small slow circles, large fast circles, flying lead changes, roll backs over the hocks, 360 degree spins, and the very exciting sliding stops.

In reining all horses are created equal as they all begin the competition with a score of 70. The horse can either plus or minus 1/2 to 1 1/2 points on each maneuver in the reining pattern. The above statement is the basis of all scoring with "credit being given for smoothness, finesse, attitude, quickness and authority of performing various maneuver, while using controlled speed, which raises the difficulty level." Penalties of 0 to 5 points also accrue for incorrect maneuvers, and going off pattern will result in the dreaded Zero.

In 1998 Reining became the sixth discipline approved by the United States Equestrian Team. In 1999 Reining made its debut at the Bayer/USET Festival of Champions, the first time a western discipline has been included as a competitive equestrian sport. The next goal is to be approved as an Olympic Event.

September 9, 2010