Well both the dressage and eventing seasons are coming to a close with the Greater American Insurance Agency (GAIG's) Championships the last of the dressage and Rubicon the last of the eventing. Tony did very well at the GAIG's finishing third which was awesome. He's come a long way in a short space of time and obviously I'm very proud him! Also this weekend was Waredaca One Day Event where I had several students competing including Kaden Weaver on Rocco. This was Kaden's first event in America and he got the call up after Lisa suffered an unfortunate injury. Competing one of my favourite students horse and in front of a crowd (solicited by me..!) of onlookers provided him with enough pressure to keep him on his toes and he finished on his dressage score coming third. Another student to finish the year on a great note was Meghan Avella riding Fantastic. After a tumultuous year she ended up with a well deserved second place.

This coming weekend I am teaching a jumping clinic and the following weekend is Rubicon which will signal the end of the recognised competitions. Over winter we'll compete in some local jumper shows to keep our eyes in, so to speak, and in January head south to Aiken, SC. Hope all is well with your horses and that your year has been as fun and successful as mine!

Lisa with Rocco, Kaden on Lucy, myself and Brittany on board Parker, aka Parkman.

After winning on the first day at the BLM's we finished the second day with a 2nd place at 2nd level. First day, 1st, second day 2nd. A theme happening there..... Think I'll only ever ride on the FIRST day again! Tony was good, trying hard as he always does, he was just a little tired. Kelsey Schmidbauer had a great weekend finishing 9th at Loch Moy. Glenda Player as did very well winning Champion at the Irish Sport Horse Breeder Championship in Lexington, Va.

This week has mostly involved teaching and catching up on cross country schooling. Yesterday we had a lovely day in the ,albeit cold, sunshine with Brittany on Kiefer and Parker, Kaden on Lucy and Lisa with Rocco. Today wasn't so pleasurable in the cold rain with myself on Lois, Glenda on Catnip, Alex on Wes and Kaden on Lucy(again). As was successful with no one falling off and all the horses improving.

This weekend we're off to the New Jersey Horse Trials in what looks to be wet conditions which suits me just fine. I love competing in the rain, that's what real eventing's all about! Next week I have the GAIG dressage finals to look forward to with Tony.

BLM Championships

Tony was fantastic today competing at 3rd level (medium in Australia). He warmed up awesome and was great in his first test. Perfect rhythm, very obedient and tried extremely hard. He was first in that test and then for the next next he was a little on the tired side and wasn't active as he had been in the first test. Still has good even to finish in the ribbons and give us a victory lap! Dressage victory laps are very sedate for those who don't know. . . Today we have two more tests and I'm very excited with how they will go.

Update.

So much has happened since my last update. About 25 shows (a slight exageration!) and a lot of training. Firstly I didn't quite have the show at the AEC's that I'd been anticipating. Mario had gone beautifully at Loudoun and I was all set to take my blue ribbon in Chicago, unfortunately he had different ideas. After his best dressage test ever to leave us in touch with the leader all we had to do was finish on that score and we'd have it in the bag. Apparently Mario has an allergy to either blue ribbons or bank complexes. So long story short it was a long drive home thinking of the would have, could have beens. On the bright side my student Abby Gibbon finished on her dressage score at her first ever American Championships. So back to Maryland to figure out Mario's 'allergy' problem. Since we competed last weekend and won a blue ribbon I can only assume his problem is with banks which will be easy to fix with a little extra cross country schooling. Boo's been going well with a win at a Young Event Horse competition and Lois also picking up a ribbon.

This Friday and Saturday are the prestigious BLM dressage championshis with Tony. He feels great and we're expecting a great show. Already he's settled in and looks fired up ready to go. Please look back for updates.