My final Florida weekend was March 12-14 at Rocking Horse Spring Horse Trials. I rode Slim Jim training level and Ashmore's Sioux beginner novice. Both horses totally rocked, but to be chronological: Thursday, the weather held for long enough for me to ride Finn, Sioux and Jim, but then as Scott Langton arrived to do the prepurchase exam on the (then) potential new guy, the skies opened up. New guy, whom I have bestowed with the show name Meritage in honor of his very blended heritage, and the barn name Tag, got to stand in the aisle a lot as we waited for lightning to stop, then hoped for rain to stop. We ended up not finishing the flexions or under saddle evaluations, but x-rays were clean and we agreed we would be surprised if physical exam was not also, so I have a new horse. He went with us on Sunday to walk around at Rocking Horse and the wonderful folks at Xpress Foto gave him his own photo shoot: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbPage.aspx?e=6368004&g=00FD00G777. Once I buy some pics, I'll post one on the blog home page. Meanwhile, Friday was only a bit drizzly. I did dressage and SJ on Slim Jim and he was a star. Were it not for my error, I would have gotten a 33.5, but I was happy with both of us. Then back home and a ride on Sioux preparing for Saturday and time to hit Full Circle Yoga one last time for the season. Saturday, Slim Jim xc in the morning and being a total bozo, I buried him to a jump even he couldn't get us out of and popped off landing on my feet standing on the jump. He stood quietly and we walked back in, an
ignominious end to that attempt, but I still really enjoyed him. Sioux did dressage and SJ and was great in both, tied for 7th place at the end of the day. Saturday evening took me back to my last visit at the Cheesecake Factory. Heard that Mary had her baby and had a lovely evening. Sunday was xc on Sioux. She totally rocked and (unlike Hilda :) ) I managed to navigate the course with no speed faults. Hilda ended up 6th on Godsend in the Preliminary and 3rd on Cracker in the OBN. I was right behind her in the OBN, with a 4th. So sad to have the season end. Monday, I headed out and drove as far as Petersburg, VA, where I stayed once more at the Walker-House bed and breakfast. It was lovely once again. Then drove home Tuesday. I parked my car at Maripeg's house where it would be safe full of stuff, which it was other than the minor taillight smashing incident (quickly repaired by Maripeg's dent guy - apparently, he has had some good business in the Bruder driveway). Work at CMTP the remainder of the week and then a really, really first weekend of spring. I took lessons Saturday and Sunday at www.comstables.com in the new Radnor location and it was great. I got to ride Mimi, a lovely mare in to become an event horse and eventually be sold. She is fabulous. Sunday, we reinstated the adult jumping and champagne lesson, which we plan to keep on the schedule going forward.

Meanwhile, Hilda and Extravagance finished 5th at Poplar. The Michigan gang had a great time at Southern Pines running over Jeff and Tremaine's great new courses. The only sad note was that Missy's Critical Decision injured himself, although I hear the prognosis is good. Missy will be heading home next week with Tag, so stay tuned for more green pony updates.