Fair Hill was this weekend and the weather couldn't have been lovelier. Such an excellent way to spend the weekend outdoors. Saturday, I volunteered as dressage steward. It was a smaller show than often at Fair Hill, so the intermediate and training dressage ran from 8 until about 1 pm. Lots of nice horses. Sally won another intermediate division, as did Boyd. Phillip was there on Jennie Brannigan's Vamor, finishing 2nd in their division and Kate Chadderton and her Cole had a great run to finish 4th. The early finish time allowed me to head up Saw Mill road and watch Bouncer and my Cole jump. Rachel has Cole going really well. This was his first recognized training level outing and her first run around the training on a green horse. They were great, just adding some time to their dressage score. Bouncer apparently had a plan that did not correspond well with Missy's so they had one stop cross country while Ike took home a red ribbon and Emily and Khoi also successfully moved up with only time added to their dressage score. Caitlin Silliman and Ballyneety finished 3rd. We headed back to Blue Hill and had a dressage lesson with Missy, which was super helpful as always, Missy putting in a long day teaching 3 lessons after showing and coaching at Fair Hill.
Sunday, I actually got to sleep later on competition day than I had on volunteer day. Steph Cauffman broke out the showmobile to trailer Ben and Keegan. It is a very nice rig to work out of. Cindi and I had ride times quite close together, which made for fairly easy logistics. Missy had another long day, as Jason Racey managed the first dressage time of the morning and she again taught lessons after coaching all of us. They had a great morning, finishing in third. Another preliminary shout out to Chris Talley (from whom I bought Gin and Tonic). He and his super pony made their preliminary debut and finished in 8th place, with a couple show jumping rails, but a clean cross-country round. Bruce Davidson, Boyd Martin, Ryan Wood and Allison Spring also had top 3 preliminary finishes. I managed to arrive at the show with all the appropriate gear and clothing, although I completely forgot to braid. No this was not, it's just novice, I don't really need to braid. This was head over, get bit check, see Kate on the lovely Lightning with both mane and tail braided and realize I've forgotten that part of the program. Need to kick off the show prep rust, obviously. Keegan was a bit up on the ground. He wasn't happy when Ben left for warm-up and danced around looking for a friend. I attempted to lunge him, but he was distracted and didn't really want to do that, so I just got on. And like magic, I had an attentive, focused pony. He did want to look up at each horse coming into the warm-up area, but was otherwise quiet and very workmanlike in both the warm-up and the show arena. We ended up with a 37.4 and judges comments of "very nice and consistent, work toward more spring and elasticity in step" and I even got a 7 for rider collective mark with the comment, "organized and thinking rider." I was really pleased. The left canter depart is still rough, but the right was very good and his free-walk was a little distracted (though he still got a 7). Doing dresage on this boy is actually a lot of fun.
Next, we headed up to walk the cross-country and watch a couple jump the stadium. Missy did a great course walk with us (Jamie also joined us) and I felt quite ready. The course was a hard enough novice with a 90 degree turn to a bench in the shadows for fence 2, a bank down at fence 3, roll top to ditch half coffin at 5 (with a bigger ditch than anything we have ever schooled), brand new house of bright yellow cedar right before the water, bank up out of the water and another bank up onto the mound. So, I planned my riding, knowing I have a very brave horse, the main thing is being organized and giving him time to see the questions. We tacked up and then hacked back up, taking advantage of the little creek crossing on the trail there to get their feet wet. We warmed up for stadium. Keegan did leap once when a horse coming toward him hit the oxer pretty hard at the same time we were going past the (for some odd reason) scary yellow flower boxes sitting along the edge of the sj roping, but was jumping great and listening well. We headed in (thanks to Alex Maskowski, who did the flip and had a great training level outing Saturday, then stewarded the SJ on Sunday) and suddenly, I had quite a bit more horse. He was brave and forward to everything, but jumping and galloping enthusiastically enough that tidy turns just weren't happening, so we jumped clean, but added 4 time in the SJ. That will be something to work on. Headed straight out to cross-country where it was rockstar time! Keegan totally ate up the course. There were a few steering issues as he was quite strong, but I was able to get him turned in sufficient time to all the jumps. Turn to park bench? No worries. Bank down? Careful look and off we go. Half coffin? Was there something there I was supposed to look at, I'm galloping. Picked up speed through the next 4 galloping fences, leading to a rather interesting line to the barrels at 10 and then he suddenly settled (maybe it was being further away and heading away from the warm-up or maybe he just got a little tired). Jumped the roll top at 11 and the flower box at 12 perfectly. I gave him a strong ride to the water. He didn't get a perfect spot to the house, but popped over (it was quite small, though bright. Missy said it probably provided a bit of an optical illusion). Very bold through the water and up the bank with a great take-off spot, then around toward home and no trouble at all through the last 4. I wasn't sure where we would be on time (we ended up 29 seconds under, with the time set at 350 m/m), but could not have been happier with the day and with my horse. We ended up in 9th place, but everyone ahead of us was a 4* rider (2 Boyd Martin, 3 Ryan Wood, 2 Allison Springer and 1 Kate Chadderton). Kate Chadderton was also riding VS Lightning (the other horse she got off the track when she got Keegan. She called them Thunder and lightning, but if you go back to the Keegan naming blog, you will remember that Thunder was a no go from the start). Lightning ended up not doing xc, so hopefully he is ok. Cindi had a rough go, unfortunately ending up in the ditch rather than over it, but she and Ben are both ok and have a plan to compete another day.
Meanwhile, at Chatt Hills, Natalie Bouckaert Pollard was scoring a 15.2 in the dressage. Keebler was having a very good weekend as well, getting a 34.5 in the dressage and a clean sj. He was assigned two stops at a drop for foot shuffling, but Lynn said he was jumping all the way, just wiggly. He was also galloping like a goofball and so barely avoided speed faults even with circling. I believe his next two outings will be IEA and Encore. Look for Keegan at the Plantation unrecognized on June 10th.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Grey horses rock, small horses jump and Neville drops in on the cocktails
I spent the weekend volunteering at Jersey Fresh. Many top horses were there including Mystery Whisper with Phillip Dutton in the irons. They won the 3* by a significant margin and just looked great. My vote for most handsome horse is Boyd's new ride, Trading Aces. He is also quite the well behaved gentleman on the ground, which is always nice. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Friday was dressage. I was acting as assistant to Katie Lindsay, the FEI steward all weekend, so got to watch horses in warm-up, which was interesting. The weather was lovely all weekend, although there was a rather chilly wind on Friday. The Coffee Connection was there, so I was able to keep myself in properly made Earl Grey Tea all weekend. Saturday was cross-country day. The horses I helped cool-out - Loki (Jeff Kibbie), Hoku (Caitlin Silliman) and Art (Donna Miller) all jumped beautifully around the cross-country. Among the other riders, there were stops, a few spills and some eliminations, but the ambulances never had to roll so that makes it a great day. Once again, I was watching the warm-up, so only saw bits of actual cross-country rounds. Mystery Whisper looked super in the warm-up (actually he came out looking a bit tense, which seemed odd, but then he stopped, parked out and had a big pee after which he looked perfect). A few riders were there doing their first runs at the level and so there were some nerves. The coaches worked hard, many of them including Boyd, Buck, and Phillip fitting in coaching between their own rides. The weather was a bit warm, but the horses seemed to do very well in the vet box at the end of the cross-country.
Saturday evening, I spent some time in stabling observing the procedures for evening veterinary treatment under FEI rules - plenty of paperwork and then spent some time with the Windurra gang, including several riders and owners. Neville came by during cocktails and then all the horses went off for a jog and a hand graze. Trading Aces was very quiet and easy. CrackerJack was very well behaved, but super intent on finding the best clover and was very clear in directing me to where he wanted to go to eat. All the horses looked great after their cross-country run. The drive home was easy. I arrived home around 8:30 pm and while this would normally be shower and bed-time for me, this weekend it was shower and out to dinner with Henry and Mark time. We had a lovely meal with some very nice wine at Melograno, leading me to hit the pillow around 11:30. This meant that it seemed really early when my alarm clock rang on Sunday morning, but I was up and out and making excellent time (right up until the point where US-1 was totally closed for a major accident). Luckily the detour didn't take too long and I arrived back at the Horse Park before the jog. 4 of the first 6 horses were held, which seemed rather unusual, but it got much smoother after that. The adorable palomino pony, Willya Love Me did not re-present. Both Merging, Laurie Cameron's lovely mare and Nyls du Terroir were not accepted on reinspection. Holly Payne's Santino was accepted. Jog outfits ran the gamut from riding wear to chinos and shirts to full out suits and dresses. I've posted some fashion thoughts (though not all related to the jog) here: http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=353228.
The stadium jumping was very influential this weekend, http://www.evententries.com/livescoring/14957.html. Karen jumped clear to take first and second in the CIC** with young Connor Husain finishing 3rd. I've been watching Connor since he bought Folk Lore (previously owned by Kaiti Saunders) and have been impressed. He really put it altogether this weekend at his first 2* Meanwhile, Boyd and CrackerJack, another great jumping grey horse, won the CCI**. Jeff and Loki conquered their stadium woes, dropping two rails, but having a much better looking ride, with Loki pretty obviously trying a bit more than in some past runs. Hoku also had two rails, but finished up 9th and incredibly impressive job for a pair that had their first advanced start at the April Fair Hill in 2011 and then 8+ months of healing and recovery after Hoku's burns before their next outing. It was fun watching them going and getting to see Jenna back in action as eventing mom. On the 3* side, the top of the leaderboard jiggled around a fair bit, though Rebecca Howard held on to her lead to win the CIC*** division. Phillip and Mystery Whisper started with 2 rails in hand and by the time they went in had three in hand. They did drop one, but still won finishing 8.8 points up on Michael Pollard and Jude's Law. Selena O'Hanlon and Colombo were third. Both the US and Canadian selectors were out in full force for the weekend.
In other places, Lynn and Keebler returned to action in Michigan, and Keebler even scored a ribbon http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=353162. Closer to home, Emily and Rachel from Blue Hill Farm headed to the Plantation unrecognized event to see what Cole and Khoi thought of training level. Apparently, they both thought training level was just fine as Khoi won the training horse division finishing on his dressage score and Cole ended up 7th with 2 rails in the SJ, which Rachel claimed were hers, and a clean xc round. Rachel said he felt really great on the cross-country. The day before Sally Cousins captured the top 3 intermediate ribbons and a few at other levels as well.
And, on a final note, the weekend wrapped up with a Phillies win with Cole Hamels looking great and wonderful Henry margaritas with dinner. The first mother's day without my mom hit home watching Sunday night baseball, seeing all the pink that the MLB sports for this day and remembering a year ago knowing that my mom was reaching the end of her time. She will always be in my thoughts, and I am a believer in the tenet that we live on in the memories of those who love us.
Saturday evening, I spent some time in stabling observing the procedures for evening veterinary treatment under FEI rules - plenty of paperwork and then spent some time with the Windurra gang, including several riders and owners. Neville came by during cocktails and then all the horses went off for a jog and a hand graze. Trading Aces was very quiet and easy. CrackerJack was very well behaved, but super intent on finding the best clover and was very clear in directing me to where he wanted to go to eat. All the horses looked great after their cross-country run. The drive home was easy. I arrived home around 8:30 pm and while this would normally be shower and bed-time for me, this weekend it was shower and out to dinner with Henry and Mark time. We had a lovely meal with some very nice wine at Melograno, leading me to hit the pillow around 11:30. This meant that it seemed really early when my alarm clock rang on Sunday morning, but I was up and out and making excellent time (right up until the point where US-1 was totally closed for a major accident). Luckily the detour didn't take too long and I arrived back at the Horse Park before the jog. 4 of the first 6 horses were held, which seemed rather unusual, but it got much smoother after that. The adorable palomino pony, Willya Love Me did not re-present. Both Merging, Laurie Cameron's lovely mare and Nyls du Terroir were not accepted on reinspection. Holly Payne's Santino was accepted. Jog outfits ran the gamut from riding wear to chinos and shirts to full out suits and dresses. I've posted some fashion thoughts (though not all related to the jog) here: http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=353228.
The stadium jumping was very influential this weekend, http://www.evententries.com/livescoring/14957.html. Karen jumped clear to take first and second in the CIC** with young Connor Husain finishing 3rd. I've been watching Connor since he bought Folk Lore (previously owned by Kaiti Saunders) and have been impressed. He really put it altogether this weekend at his first 2* Meanwhile, Boyd and CrackerJack, another great jumping grey horse, won the CCI**. Jeff and Loki conquered their stadium woes, dropping two rails, but having a much better looking ride, with Loki pretty obviously trying a bit more than in some past runs. Hoku also had two rails, but finished up 9th and incredibly impressive job for a pair that had their first advanced start at the April Fair Hill in 2011 and then 8+ months of healing and recovery after Hoku's burns before their next outing. It was fun watching them going and getting to see Jenna back in action as eventing mom. On the 3* side, the top of the leaderboard jiggled around a fair bit, though Rebecca Howard held on to her lead to win the CIC*** division. Phillip and Mystery Whisper started with 2 rails in hand and by the time they went in had three in hand. They did drop one, but still won finishing 8.8 points up on Michael Pollard and Jude's Law. Selena O'Hanlon and Colombo were third. Both the US and Canadian selectors were out in full force for the weekend.
In other places, Lynn and Keebler returned to action in Michigan, and Keebler even scored a ribbon http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=353162. Closer to home, Emily and Rachel from Blue Hill Farm headed to the Plantation unrecognized event to see what Cole and Khoi thought of training level. Apparently, they both thought training level was just fine as Khoi won the training horse division finishing on his dressage score and Cole ended up 7th with 2 rails in the SJ, which Rachel claimed were hers, and a clean xc round. Rachel said he felt really great on the cross-country. The day before Sally Cousins captured the top 3 intermediate ribbons and a few at other levels as well.
And, on a final note, the weekend wrapped up with a Phillies win with Cole Hamels looking great and wonderful Henry margaritas with dinner. The first mother's day without my mom hit home watching Sunday night baseball, seeing all the pink that the MLB sports for this day and remembering a year ago knowing that my mom was reaching the end of her time. She will always be in my thoughts, and I am a believer in the tenet that we live on in the memories of those who love us.
Monday, May 7, 2012
The advantage of Area II
One of the great things about Area 2 is the easy proximity to so much going on. Usually, there is no trouble finding what you need (especially at the lower levels), it is more just a matter of picking among offerings. This weekend, I both competed and volunteered. The competition was a combined test at Blue Goose Stables. Cindi Cauffman and I went. We both ended up with ribbons. Keegan was a champ, staying calm and settled through all of it. We grazed a bit while watching Ben warm up for dressage, then headed back to tack up and did our warm-up, with help from Steph Cauffman. Keegan put in a very nice test, there was a bit of tenseness here and there, but never for long and the only time he really came off the aids was a few steps before our final halt, which was when Ben called to him from the side of the ring. I was quite pleased that while he did look up and over, it was only a step or two before he willingly went back on the aids. We went straight back to retack (as I did dressage in my new dressage saddle), and then headed over to stadium. The warm-up jumps were interestingly in the stadium jumping ring. Kind of a nice thing for the young horses, so they could have a tour. Keegan didn't really get a tour. We jumped the 3 warm-up fences, jumping one bending line twice for a total of 5 warm-up jumps, then jumped around, clean and easy as could be. The fences were on the small side for novice, but there were a couple that were scary enough, though a total non-event for Keegan the brave. We finished up and were back at Blue Hill before 1 pm (pretty good given that we didn't leave Blue Hill until just before 9am). So time for a few errands before a very nice dinner with friends at Marigold Kitchen in University City.
Sunday, I volunteered as the stadium steward for the Fair Hill starter trial. We had a lovely, efficient day. A little bit cooler than forecast, but I had plenty of warm stuff in my car. It was great seeing the Cairn O'Mount crew there in force. Lots of great young students getting inculcated into the eventing culture under the excellent guidance of Susie Beale, assisted by her daughter Gillian Beale King. Amanda Clement was 3rd on Lesley Collins' Ruckus. They made a great pair. It was also great to see Jenn Cain (former Blue Hill Farm working student) and her Jester looking good. Lots of professionals out on their young horses and Erin Sylvester was coaching a big crew with the same focus and concentration as she brought to Rolex just last week. There were only a couple of falls in the SJ and those were fairly soft landings, so a good day. Many nice young horses, ridiculously cute ponies and a fairly large number of people making their first forays into eventing.
Meanwhile, at MCTA Kate Chadderton was having a blast at the advanced with Cole, Sally Cousins was winning that advanced on Westerly, Kaiti Saunders and Truman having a great go in their season opener at the preliminary and Boyd Martin and Ryan Wood with a huge number of horses. One state over, the Blue Hill crowd was out in force at the CDCTA dressage show at Morven Park. Missy no doubt had her hands full, with 8 horses there. Elizabeth posted about her great TOC on facebook and I know Rachel and Taldi were making their debut at 4th level, David and Topper theirs at 3rd level, Gigi was riding JD as well as Hobbs, Mary Jordan was there after a stint at Blue Hill, and Becca and Lolu were also along, but I have no idea how things turned out because dressage lacks thestalking tool advantage of live scoring. If anyone wants to really get more amateurs into dressage, consider a good live scoring program as well as a good online entry program. I have multiple graduate degrees and can barely figure out how to enter a recognized dressage show whereas between www.evententries.com and xentry, entering events has become a snap. That digression aside, further south, Poplar Place was running, including the lower level area 3 championships. Debi Crowley and Vantage Point ended up 4th, finishing on their dressage score in the championship division and Caitlin rode my Gin and Tonic to a great experience in the non-champtionship BN (since it is after all, only his second event), also finishing on their dressage score. Chimene Evans and Sam (whom I saw at the Leslie Law clinic) had a great finish as well.
Sunday evening, both the Cubs and the Phillies won as did the 76ers taking a 3-1 lead over the 1st place Chicago Bulls (who admittedly are hampered by injuries). Sadly, the Flyers lost falling to 1-3 to the Devils, but they have come back before. Maybe they can do it again.
Sunday, I volunteered as the stadium steward for the Fair Hill starter trial. We had a lovely, efficient day. A little bit cooler than forecast, but I had plenty of warm stuff in my car. It was great seeing the Cairn O'Mount crew there in force. Lots of great young students getting inculcated into the eventing culture under the excellent guidance of Susie Beale, assisted by her daughter Gillian Beale King. Amanda Clement was 3rd on Lesley Collins' Ruckus. They made a great pair. It was also great to see Jenn Cain (former Blue Hill Farm working student) and her Jester looking good. Lots of professionals out on their young horses and Erin Sylvester was coaching a big crew with the same focus and concentration as she brought to Rolex just last week. There were only a couple of falls in the SJ and those were fairly soft landings, so a good day. Many nice young horses, ridiculously cute ponies and a fairly large number of people making their first forays into eventing.
Meanwhile, at MCTA Kate Chadderton was having a blast at the advanced with Cole, Sally Cousins was winning that advanced on Westerly, Kaiti Saunders and Truman having a great go in their season opener at the preliminary and Boyd Martin and Ryan Wood with a huge number of horses. One state over, the Blue Hill crowd was out in force at the CDCTA dressage show at Morven Park. Missy no doubt had her hands full, with 8 horses there. Elizabeth posted about her great TOC on facebook and I know Rachel and Taldi were making their debut at 4th level, David and Topper theirs at 3rd level, Gigi was riding JD as well as Hobbs, Mary Jordan was there after a stint at Blue Hill, and Becca and Lolu were also along, but I have no idea how things turned out because dressage lacks the
Sunday evening, both the Cubs and the Phillies won as did the 76ers taking a 3-1 lead over the 1st place Chicago Bulls (who admittedly are hampered by injuries). Sadly, the Flyers lost falling to 1-3 to the Devils, but they have come back before. Maybe they can do it again.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Rolex
I spent last weekend at Rolex, a usually annual trek (there have been years off here and there, but I even dragged Henry there in 2002 - epic rains and mud that year and he still talks about seeing Karen O'Connor hanging upside down in the water). It was a great weekend. The threatened rain held off and both the weather and footing were about as good as you could want.
Obviously, the results have been talked about at great length. My personal shout outs to Sally Cousins and Tsunami (looking like a million all weekend), Erin Sylvester who was one of 6 double clears xc at her first Rolex, Boyd Martin and Otis who is looking like a much more experienced horse than he is, Doug Payne and Running Order, looking very snazzy in those shades SJ, Sharon White who pulled up most of the way around realizing her horse was tired, Jordan Linstedt the last finishing competitor, overcoming her nerves to get it done, Peter Barry getting it done as an ammy, Marilyn Little-Meredith putting the eventing world on notice, Karen O'Connor for giving all the credit to her horse after SJ and looking as happy as you would imagine someone after their first completion as opposed to their ?? (anyone know how many times Karen has made it around Rolex?), Becky Holder for staying classy through a tough weekend, and William Fox-Pitt, not so much for winning as for carrying all of his own gear (saddle, bridle, horse boots, cooler) down from cross-country himself, on foot.
I had a great weekend. Friday was a bit of dressage, meetings, shopping, chatting and dinner with the Michigan gang. Saturday was the very busy cross-country, stewarding the area that included the Normandy bank and wondering both in the morning and in the afternoon, how many starters until someone got around. The best part - despite many falls and a low completion and even lower clear percentage, there was not a single serious horse or human injury - bumps, bruises, tiredness, maybe dehydration, but no transports of horses or humans makes it a good weekend. I also got to see a very excited Snuffles out on the course in the morning and had a great view of the horses running and jumping all day. Finished off the evening with mexican food with the Michigan gang. Then Sunday, SJ viewing from the KHP foundation tent. I even took pictures (probably need a camera, the phone pictures are not that good - of course, it would also help if I was not the world's worst photographer).
I stayed for all of the SJ jumping, enjoyed a couple of mimosas over the course of the mid-day and then after the awards ceremony headed out for a last bit of shopping and schmoozing. I must say, the one disappointment was the 3-day shop. Most of the clothing was not nice, colors were mostly ugly, there was not much and there were no Sunday sales. The only thing I bought there was a hat for Caitlin Silliman (her birthday was Saturday). I did a bunch of shopping at http://www.animalstowear.com/, including some gifts and a black cadet for myself. I also picked up my (third) FiveStarTack bridle. These bridles (and I have the breastplate) are fabulous, and I highly recommend them.
Monday morning, I flew home very early and then Henry and I headed out to Chadds Ford, where we bought our new house (yes, that would be a 'u' not an 'r'). We are not the happy owners of a "country home". We will be figuring out our schedules and how much time we can spend there, but it is lovely and I am quite excited. Henry is busily shopping for furniture. I am focusing on finding a great desk and a really comfy reading chair.
Obviously, the results have been talked about at great length. My personal shout outs to Sally Cousins and Tsunami (looking like a million all weekend), Erin Sylvester who was one of 6 double clears xc at her first Rolex, Boyd Martin and Otis who is looking like a much more experienced horse than he is, Doug Payne and Running Order, looking very snazzy in those shades SJ, Sharon White who pulled up most of the way around realizing her horse was tired, Jordan Linstedt the last finishing competitor, overcoming her nerves to get it done, Peter Barry getting it done as an ammy, Marilyn Little-Meredith putting the eventing world on notice, Karen O'Connor for giving all the credit to her horse after SJ and looking as happy as you would imagine someone after their first completion as opposed to their ?? (anyone know how many times Karen has made it around Rolex?), Becky Holder for staying classy through a tough weekend, and William Fox-Pitt, not so much for winning as for carrying all of his own gear (saddle, bridle, horse boots, cooler) down from cross-country himself, on foot.
I had a great weekend. Friday was a bit of dressage, meetings, shopping, chatting and dinner with the Michigan gang. Saturday was the very busy cross-country, stewarding the area that included the Normandy bank and wondering both in the morning and in the afternoon, how many starters until someone got around. The best part - despite many falls and a low completion and even lower clear percentage, there was not a single serious horse or human injury - bumps, bruises, tiredness, maybe dehydration, but no transports of horses or humans makes it a good weekend. I also got to see a very excited Snuffles out on the course in the morning and had a great view of the horses running and jumping all day. Finished off the evening with mexican food with the Michigan gang. Then Sunday, SJ viewing from the KHP foundation tent. I even took pictures (probably need a camera, the phone pictures are not that good - of course, it would also help if I was not the world's worst photographer).
I stayed for all of the SJ jumping, enjoyed a couple of mimosas over the course of the mid-day and then after the awards ceremony headed out for a last bit of shopping and schmoozing. I must say, the one disappointment was the 3-day shop. Most of the clothing was not nice, colors were mostly ugly, there was not much and there were no Sunday sales. The only thing I bought there was a hat for Caitlin Silliman (her birthday was Saturday). I did a bunch of shopping at http://www.animalstowear.com/, including some gifts and a black cadet for myself. I also picked up my (third) FiveStarTack bridle. These bridles (and I have the breastplate) are fabulous, and I highly recommend them.
Monday morning, I flew home very early and then Henry and I headed out to Chadds Ford, where we bought our new house (yes, that would be a 'u' not an 'r'). We are not the happy owners of a "country home". We will be figuring out our schedules and how much time we can spend there, but it is lovely and I am quite excited. Henry is busily shopping for furniture. I am focusing on finding a great desk and a really comfy reading chair.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Catching up and XC schooling
I've been back in PA full time since April 1st and Keegan arrived back April 18th, thanks to Missy (although it is sad that she and BG will not be running Rolex this year). I head to Rolex tomorrow to spectate and xc steward. In the interim, Keegan and I are settling back in at Blue Hill and the other horses are gearing up their competition seasons. In no particular order, (what do you call the written equivalent of a sound byte) things of potential interest:
Caitlin took Tucker (barn name of Gin & Tonic) to River Glen, where he was quite a good boy, despite one green stop. His flat work is coming. Given that Caitlin is doing it under Debi's training, I'm sure it is coming quite impressively. He is still sensitive about contact, but getting more willing to accept it and we're looking forward to his next outing at Poplar next weekend.
Meanwhile, Rachel and Cole have become quite and impressive partnership. They started the season novice at Plantation in April and finished on their dressage score, good enough for 7th place. They joined us cross country schooling on Tuesday (more about that later) and looked great. Their next outing is scheduled for Fair Hill May 19th at training level.
I'm not even going to say anything about the spotted menace for fear of jinxing Lynn, but they did have a cross country school that made both of them very happy last weekend.
Gizmo is still looking for a new partner. I'm hoping that young Jordan Gandy will start riding him soon. Meanwhile, Hilda is riding him a bit and he is happy with pony Finn as his new paddock partner now that Keegan is home.
Horse Finn needs a new home. Please, somebody buy him.
Since I last posted, I TDed at Meadow Creek Park - great inaugural event put on by the Petersen's after dealing with torrential rains and having to completely rebuild the cross-country course and several of the roadways that run over (although for a while under) the creeks on the property. Danny Warrington and Carsten Meyers built lovely galloping courses and Robbie and Brad ran Starter-Preliminary as well as FEH and YEH and put on a great competitors party with the help of Domaine Serene Winery. I judged the SJ at Plantation, great fun to see all the area II folks there and I volunteered and judged SJ at Fair Hill last weekend. Also great fun, especially seeing Caitlin Silliman and Jeff Kibbie run at advanced. Jersey Fresh is next for both of them and I will be there volunteering as well.
Meanwhile, Keegan and I are getting back in the swing. Missy gave us a great dressage lesson on Monday and we had super fun schooling at Fair Hill on Tuesday, where Keegan continues to be brave and fun over fences and cope admirably with my less than stellar riding (apparently, in 3 weeks, I'd forgotten how to ride xc), but by the end we jumped several fences in a row and it all went very well. Cindi Cauffman was with us and she and Ben looked super for only their second time out. Ben and Keegan will be heading to the combined test at Blue Goose next weekend if all goes as planned.
Yesterday, we had Annette Galvin from www.hastilow.usa out to do a saddle fitting. We got a pad to fill in the hollow behind Keegan's wither for the jump saddle and bought a new dressage saddle (yes, I know....but this one really fits us both and I actually feel like I can sit up like a normal person in it). Bonus, it was the least expensive of all the saddles we tried and came in under half my budgeted price for a new dressage saddle. Now, I just need to keep working on selling the others. Lynn is trying the Laser for Keebler and Mirar is going to borrow one for the summer, but still available are (still all 17.5 medium):
1) CWD monoflap
2) Hulsebos WB4
3) E. Jeffries Elite
4) Kieffer Ulla Salzegeber
as well as Bonnie Kibbie's Michael Stokes Centaur and Rachel Gross's older Miller Klimke, so if anyone is looking let us know. Prices range from under $500 through around $2400, but there are deals to be had.
That's where things are. Work is busy as always and maybe a bit busier than usual. I've rediscovered spinning at www.bodycycle.com, continue with www.purebarre.com and keep trying to do more yoga as well as running with the goal of the www.jfk50mile.org in November.
Will try to be more diligent. Hope everyone is enjoying the spring.
Caitlin took Tucker (barn name of Gin & Tonic) to River Glen, where he was quite a good boy, despite one green stop. His flat work is coming. Given that Caitlin is doing it under Debi's training, I'm sure it is coming quite impressively. He is still sensitive about contact, but getting more willing to accept it and we're looking forward to his next outing at Poplar next weekend.
Meanwhile, Rachel and Cole have become quite and impressive partnership. They started the season novice at Plantation in April and finished on their dressage score, good enough for 7th place. They joined us cross country schooling on Tuesday (more about that later) and looked great. Their next outing is scheduled for Fair Hill May 19th at training level.
I'm not even going to say anything about the spotted menace for fear of jinxing Lynn, but they did have a cross country school that made both of them very happy last weekend.
Gizmo is still looking for a new partner. I'm hoping that young Jordan Gandy will start riding him soon. Meanwhile, Hilda is riding him a bit and he is happy with pony Finn as his new paddock partner now that Keegan is home.
Horse Finn needs a new home. Please, somebody buy him.
Since I last posted, I TDed at Meadow Creek Park - great inaugural event put on by the Petersen's after dealing with torrential rains and having to completely rebuild the cross-country course and several of the roadways that run over (although for a while under) the creeks on the property. Danny Warrington and Carsten Meyers built lovely galloping courses and Robbie and Brad ran Starter-Preliminary as well as FEH and YEH and put on a great competitors party with the help of Domaine Serene Winery. I judged the SJ at Plantation, great fun to see all the area II folks there and I volunteered and judged SJ at Fair Hill last weekend. Also great fun, especially seeing Caitlin Silliman and Jeff Kibbie run at advanced. Jersey Fresh is next for both of them and I will be there volunteering as well.
Meanwhile, Keegan and I are getting back in the swing. Missy gave us a great dressage lesson on Monday and we had super fun schooling at Fair Hill on Tuesday, where Keegan continues to be brave and fun over fences and cope admirably with my less than stellar riding (apparently, in 3 weeks, I'd forgotten how to ride xc), but by the end we jumped several fences in a row and it all went very well. Cindi Cauffman was with us and she and Ben looked super for only their second time out. Ben and Keegan will be heading to the combined test at Blue Goose next weekend if all goes as planned.
Yesterday, we had Annette Galvin from www.hastilow.usa out to do a saddle fitting. We got a pad to fill in the hollow behind Keegan's wither for the jump saddle and bought a new dressage saddle (yes, I know....but this one really fits us both and I actually feel like I can sit up like a normal person in it). Bonus, it was the least expensive of all the saddles we tried and came in under half my budgeted price for a new dressage saddle. Now, I just need to keep working on selling the others. Lynn is trying the Laser for Keebler and Mirar is going to borrow one for the summer, but still available are (still all 17.5 medium):
1) CWD monoflap
2) Hulsebos WB4
3) E. Jeffries Elite
4) Kieffer Ulla Salzegeber
as well as Bonnie Kibbie's Michael Stokes Centaur and Rachel Gross's older Miller Klimke, so if anyone is looking let us know. Prices range from under $500 through around $2400, but there are deals to be had.
That's where things are. Work is busy as always and maybe a bit busier than usual. I've rediscovered spinning at www.bodycycle.com, continue with www.purebarre.com and keep trying to do more yoga as well as running with the goal of the www.jfk50mile.org in November.
Will try to be more diligent. Hope everyone is enjoying the spring.
Monday, March 12, 2012
winning ribbons, losing shoes
Hard to believe there are only 2 more Ashmore weekends left. Already thinking about what happens back in PA and how to get Keegan home to Blue Hill, but meanwhile, this past weekend was great. In addition to the riding, I fit in running, the Bar Method in Winter Park, group kick and yoga at RDV. The riding was great. I had a super lesson on Keegan, who seemed not to have forgotten anything in his 16 days of shoeless no riding. I also rode Finn a bit and Hilda shot more video. Someone really needs to buy this guy. Saturday, we headed off to Rocking Horse for the schooling show. The plan was to see where we are on the journey toward training level, doing the Training Level A dressage test and both the 2'11 and the 3'3 show jumping. He was quiet and attentive as we warmed up for dressage and we headed into the ring feeling pretty good about things (despite the recognition that we don't have lengthenings yet and the test calls for 3). Two moves in and the whistle blows... WTF?! I'm sure I'm doing the right test. And I was, the judge had the wrong test in front of her due to a little ride order randomness ala schooling show. So, we started over, all went reasonably well (though there were no lengthenings in either trot and the canter transition was a little logey). And then the whistle blew again. This time because I had forgotten the canter lengthening, so we picked up, got the tiniest bit of lengthening, but then no downward transition. Quite a good halt. We ended up with a 44, so not bad, but not quite ready for prime time. It did get us a little schooling show 3rd place ribbon (out of 5 horses). Onward to the jumping. He totally rocked the 2'11. We ended up winning that one. I thought there were 14 horses, but 3 were riding HC (why do you ride HC in a schooling show were there don't seem to be any rules about who can be in the division)? Anyway, it was super easy and he was super good. We watched a a bit of Annalise's dressage test, though they had a couple issues. You can see the test here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi_xmac0MLE&context=C41ae799ADvjVQa1PpcFPV0ZAd2O70Tei2rhbzxed0YR0r0wi94O8=
I headed back over to warm up for the 3'3. Considered not warming up, but thought I would just jump one vertical and one oxer. On take off to the vertical, Keegan threw his shoe and that was the end of our day. Oh, well. Mark is coming out today to put the shoe back on. Todd is going to have fits when Keegan gets home. Despite supplement, Keratex, etc, his feet just aren't that good at this point.
Saturday night, I had dinner with Jeff, Bonnie and Annalise at Mitchell's Fish Market in Winter Park. Quite yummy. They did the key lime pie with a macademia nut crust, which might be an innovation worth adopting. Dinner was fairly late and then the time changed, so I had a later than usual start Sunday morning, waking up shortly after 7 to rain, lots of rain. It was a good chance to do a bunch of work. I headed to the barn mid-day as the rain was tapering off. Tried the Barnsby NGage on Keegan. It was a bit narrow for him and for me, the seat felt a bit too deep, although I liked where the block put my leg, so back to the drawing board on the saddle front. There are a few I am considering, pretty much all British made. I'm still waiting for the aaaaahhhhh moment I got from my Wise-Air jumping saddle to appear in conjunction with a dressage saddle. Dinner Sunday night went even later. It was at the house with Hilda and Annalise. Hilda made yummy homemade salsa with heirloom tomatoes and also did scallops and Annalise made from scratch Minestrone soup that was really good. It did make the 3:20 alarm clock seem really, really early. More like night. My rule of thumb is that before 4:30 is night, so add in the DST thing and it was pretty much the middle of the night, but got up and off to the airport. Enjoyed last nights light after 7 pm much more than this mornings dark after 7 am, but it certainly feels like spring is coming.
I headed back over to warm up for the 3'3. Considered not warming up, but thought I would just jump one vertical and one oxer. On take off to the vertical, Keegan threw his shoe and that was the end of our day. Oh, well. Mark is coming out today to put the shoe back on. Todd is going to have fits when Keegan gets home. Despite supplement, Keratex, etc, his feet just aren't that good at this point.
Saturday night, I had dinner with Jeff, Bonnie and Annalise at Mitchell's Fish Market in Winter Park. Quite yummy. They did the key lime pie with a macademia nut crust, which might be an innovation worth adopting. Dinner was fairly late and then the time changed, so I had a later than usual start Sunday morning, waking up shortly after 7 to rain, lots of rain. It was a good chance to do a bunch of work. I headed to the barn mid-day as the rain was tapering off. Tried the Barnsby NGage on Keegan. It was a bit narrow for him and for me, the seat felt a bit too deep, although I liked where the block put my leg, so back to the drawing board on the saddle front. There are a few I am considering, pretty much all British made. I'm still waiting for the aaaaahhhhh moment I got from my Wise-Air jumping saddle to appear in conjunction with a dressage saddle. Dinner Sunday night went even later. It was at the house with Hilda and Annalise. Hilda made yummy homemade salsa with heirloom tomatoes and also did scallops and Annalise made from scratch Minestrone soup that was really good. It did make the 3:20 alarm clock seem really, really early. More like night. My rule of thumb is that before 4:30 is night, so add in the DST thing and it was pretty much the middle of the night, but got up and off to the airport. Enjoyed last nights light after 7 pm much more than this mornings dark after 7 am, but it certainly feels like spring is coming.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Rain, Ribbon, Hot, Cold and Gin & Tonic
Rocking Horse Winter 3. Keegan looked essentially sound, but somehow, putting his shoe on Friday, then taking him to his 3rd event on Saturday didn't seem like that good an idea, so Hilda was kind enough to lend Godsend to me. Godsend is a lovely OTTB. He's done a couple of CCI** with Hilda and has been a hunter champion with a kid. He is a super jumper, but thinks dressage is a waste of his time and talent (although he is a lovely mover). We did a jumping lesson and a dressage lesson and both went very well. Luckily, my tack fits him well for the jumping part of the program and Hilda loaned me her Stubben for dressage. It is a nice saddle, but is not in the running for my dressage saddle shopping marathon. So far that has involved trying a dozen saddles in tack stalls and shops and test riding 4, with no keeper yet. I've currently got a Barnsby N Gage on trial and will try it next weekend, once Keegan is back in action. So as promised in the title -
Ribbon: We did all three phases on Saturday, finishing on our dressage score of 33 (my best dressage score in a recognized event ever and coming from Bill Woods, even more satisfying). Our SJ round was clear and, according to Brian Ross, who was both judging and announcing, exactly on the optimum time. Cross country was a complete blast and we finished 2 seconds under optimum time, thus ending on the 33, good enough for 6th place.
Rain: There was rain in the forecast, but apparently, we were in Camelot as it ended up only raining at night. The high winds did some damage, including taking apart one of the temporarily stabling roofs at Rocking Horse and knocking over a couple of porta-johns, but we all stayed dry.
Hot: Saturday was hot. They waived coats by 9 in the morning. I didn't wear mine, though many folks did. There was a stiff breeze that made it bearable, but the temperature got up close to 90 degrees.
Cold: The rain was accompanied by a cold front and the temperature plunged over night. Since I only evented on Saturday, I spent Sunday hanging out in control with Cindy. We had a tent with sides to keep the wind out, no rain, and eventually sunshine, but pre-sunshine, I was decked out with hat, gloves, fleece, vest and toe-warmers. A huge change from Saturday. Getting to watch the cross country was great fun. Even better since being in control, we got to hear how the parts we couldn't see were going. I don't think I've ever seen so few clear rounds cross-country. There were a lot of falls (although none resulting in serious injury), vast numbers of refusals, a lot of BN horses that appeared never to have seen water before and some really cute horses. Weekend shout outs to Justine Dutton, who won the intermediate, Madison Llloyd, who had a great intermediate run; Morgan McCue who was first and second in her two Training Rider Divisions, Gabby Ledger who looked great on Super Frank, finishing 4th; Hilda and Sally as Shaquille was impressive (and unimpressed) in his Preliminary debut; Anna Kjellstrom who was there with a string of great looking horses; Leyna Merrill and the ever adorable Mr. Binx, looking very grown up on the xc; Chris Grant, whose lovely youngster won his division on the very impressive dressage score of 26.5; Chris Cox, who won on the wonderful Slim Jim, one that I was lucky enough to ride 2 years ago - great to see him with someone who is enjoying this really super horse. As always, a huge shout out to the organizers, course builders and especially the volunteers for coping with the hot, the cold, and the rain so that we can be out there competing.
Gin & Tonic: No - not the drink, though it would have been a good choice on Saturday. Rather, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld5_HFm_-Yc a lovely young horse that I bought on Friday and that Caitlin Milford will be riding as she completes her stint as a working student with Debi Crowley http://www.cottonmeadowsfarm.com/people.htm. I'm hoping she will have a good time with him - and maybe he'll join me in Florida next winter, but that is getting way too far ahead of myself.
Ribbon: We did all three phases on Saturday, finishing on our dressage score of 33 (my best dressage score in a recognized event ever and coming from Bill Woods, even more satisfying). Our SJ round was clear and, according to Brian Ross, who was both judging and announcing, exactly on the optimum time. Cross country was a complete blast and we finished 2 seconds under optimum time, thus ending on the 33, good enough for 6th place.
Rain: There was rain in the forecast, but apparently, we were in Camelot as it ended up only raining at night. The high winds did some damage, including taking apart one of the temporarily stabling roofs at Rocking Horse and knocking over a couple of porta-johns, but we all stayed dry.
Hot: Saturday was hot. They waived coats by 9 in the morning. I didn't wear mine, though many folks did. There was a stiff breeze that made it bearable, but the temperature got up close to 90 degrees.
Cold: The rain was accompanied by a cold front and the temperature plunged over night. Since I only evented on Saturday, I spent Sunday hanging out in control with Cindy. We had a tent with sides to keep the wind out, no rain, and eventually sunshine, but pre-sunshine, I was decked out with hat, gloves, fleece, vest and toe-warmers. A huge change from Saturday. Getting to watch the cross country was great fun. Even better since being in control, we got to hear how the parts we couldn't see were going. I don't think I've ever seen so few clear rounds cross-country. There were a lot of falls (although none resulting in serious injury), vast numbers of refusals, a lot of BN horses that appeared never to have seen water before and some really cute horses. Weekend shout outs to Justine Dutton, who won the intermediate, Madison Llloyd, who had a great intermediate run; Morgan McCue who was first and second in her two Training Rider Divisions, Gabby Ledger who looked great on Super Frank, finishing 4th; Hilda and Sally as Shaquille was impressive (and unimpressed) in his Preliminary debut; Anna Kjellstrom who was there with a string of great looking horses; Leyna Merrill and the ever adorable Mr. Binx, looking very grown up on the xc; Chris Grant, whose lovely youngster won his division on the very impressive dressage score of 26.5; Chris Cox, who won on the wonderful Slim Jim, one that I was lucky enough to ride 2 years ago - great to see him with someone who is enjoying this really super horse. As always, a huge shout out to the organizers, course builders and especially the volunteers for coping with the hot, the cold, and the rain so that we can be out there competing.
Gin & Tonic: No - not the drink, though it would have been a good choice on Saturday. Rather, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld5_HFm_-Yc a lovely young horse that I bought on Friday and that Caitlin Milford will be riding as she completes her stint as a working student with Debi Crowley http://www.cottonmeadowsfarm.com/people.htm. I'm hoping she will have a good time with him - and maybe he'll join me in Florida next winter, but that is getting way too far ahead of myself.
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