Mario's continued recouperation.

Mario's new BFF, Brenda. (temporary till he gets back to Paula!)

The roller is to keep his attention away from jumping the edge of the water. I will DEFINITELY take it off when we go cross country again, I love when he jumps the edge of the water...

Mario showing his love of the water. Especially now he's figured out how to go into it!

A couple of days before going to Canada Patrick McCuan (Mario's owner), Paula Bollinger (Mario's manager) and I travelled up to Nor Mar Farm, Freeland MD, to check on Mario's progress. As you can see from the pictures he's a pretty happy horse! Despite a couple hiccups in the beginning, (Mario showing everyone just how great a jumper he is by trying to jump the WHOLE pool!) he's settled in super and is hard at work. He's currently up to 12 minutes in the water on the treadmill which is enough to give him a solid workout where he's really puffed out by the end. The injury is healing just as Dr Cooper expected it to and we are now starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. He'll now be there for another 6 weeks and be rescanned, at which point hopefully he'll be ready to come back and start some work (trotting) under saddle. This will be very controlled exercise and will be timed down to the minute to optimise his recovery.

Bromont Wrap Up

Cole was his normal brilliant self cross country, showing me that he is definate intermediate/advanced material, by understanding all the questions and jumping boldly and carefully. The only place I wanted to improve was the way he gallped up the hill. I wanted a slower pace but he was more interested in going fast. I knew the hill was long and he would run out of energy but at some point I had to make the decision whether to let him gallop freely or argue with him to go slower. Arguing can often take just as much away from the horse so I let him gallop on. He was right on his minute markers until the last 1 1/2 minutes wher he did tire.

The show jumping caused a lot of trouble so I was happy with his round even tho he had a couple of rails. The course was big and technical with a lot of changing direction. Add to this the atmosphere and it was easy to have a rail or two, esp on a horse that hasn't had exposure to this type of event. All in all I was very proud of my horse and the way he handled himself. He felt as tho he grew up a lot, in a way that they only can by going to the big competitions. We are no going to focus really hard on the dressage with him and then back out again at Loch Moy in July.

On a side note, there are still some things that remind me I live in America. Like the crossing of the border. EG, the only way I knew we left America and arrived in Canada (expect the guards who look at the papers) was that the roadsigns changed from English to French! On the way back, however, there was NO doubt we were heading back into America!

Bromont CCI Day 2

Sometimes I have to remind myself that eventing is not a dressage competition, which is what I have to do today! Cole's not a dressage horse by any means and is getting stronger and stronger in that phase but he struggles quite a lot to maintain the quality of paces we're able to achieve schooling. His test was great in places and not so great in others. Let's just say that hopefully his great jumping abilities keep him on that score and he finishes there..

Bromont CCI Day 1

Cole, me and Alex and Charmer

A bit of background about Bromont three day event, it's in Canada. And it's where they held the 1976 Montreal Olympics. This much I did find out in my research of the event and venue. What my research failed to uncover, however, is that it is in the french province of Quebec and that they speak french. I do not. This is some cause for confusion when after 13 hours of driving we cross the border and all the road signs are in french! They only thing I could figure out from them is that the French/Canadian deer have bigger antlers judging by the pictures on the signs. It only got more interesting, when we hit the town of Bromont, trying to locate the venue and talk to the limited-english speaking guard to find our stalls at 1 o'clock in the morning, when the horses had been standing on the trailer for 14 hours, is not fun. Fortunately the all travelled well and we were able to settle them relatively quickly and head to the hotel for some much appreciated sleep.

With me I have Alex Curtiss, young rider champion, with her mare Charmer, and Leslie Chelmstrom with her mare Cecelia. Cole (Collection Pass, Rege Dvorsky and Jeanne Leonne) is in heaven with his two girlfriends and has been in a super mood ever since we got here. Today was the trot up which I find nerve wrecking having been spun in the past. Today Cole was fine and trotted on thru. The organisers have done a great job with putting together this event to make it run as smoothly as possible for the riders. A very rider friendly event. Tomorrow will be the dressage and I will update further then.

Waredaca eventing

What a great weekend! A super win by Meghan Avella riding her own Fantastik. Alex MacLeod posting the BEST rounds in the intermediate, finishing 5th in a class on a par with the Rolex, and Chaney beating most of the professionals in the Beginner Novice! Cole (Rege Dvorsky and Jeanne Leonne) had a perfect last run before Bromont CCI 1 star, 36 in the dressage, a showjumping round that needs some improvement and perfect xc!