Upper Marlborough

Cole, Trevor, Liberty, Fudge and I headed to Upper Marlborough Horse Trials on Saturday to excellent results. Rege Dvorsky and Jeanne Leonne's Collection Pass won for the second year in a row as the only horse to finish on his dressage score from a class of 20 horses. McCuan Farms Tremendous added another win to his growing collection of ribbons, beating his stablemate Fine Art (Tracy Ryan owned) into second place. Trevor has so far won or placed in every competition this year, making him a very very impressive young horse indeed. Liberty competed in the dressage and showjumping, without going cross country.
I've only been to Marlborough once or twice, this time was actually a last minute choice, but I'm impressed with the improvements they make and that they really seem to take feedback on board. In particular the showjumping was greatly improved on years passed with a nice flowing course that rewarded a good positive ride to the fence. With all 5 of my horses finished before 12.30, I was impressed with the efficiency of the volunteers also.

AEC wrap up

I came to the AEC's with four horses , from novice to intermediate, with my goal being to finish each one on their dressage score. I came very close to achieving this with Fudge , Bucky , and Liberty finishing as they started and well up in the placings. A very unfortunate, and extremely bad timed, problem with my tack prevented me from doing the same on Cole. He is a very good jumping horse and came in on top of his form. It was Cole's type of course and should have been a piece of cake , but sometimes that is just the way the cookie crumbles. They all jumped very well, showing their experience on the championship courses. The prelim horses both ran very well finishing within a second of each other on cross country , which is very interesting as they both have very different styles of galloping and jumping. Whilst they are both OTTB's , Liberty is your small ,weedy ,and light long legged horse that could run all day where as Bucky is a little bigger and heavier , built for short bursts of great speed. Fudge once again displayed his consistency in all three phases and takes home more prizes than he knows what to do with. He's currently standing on the trailer asking the other horses what 'Point Two' means! This is a great group of horses and I am thankful to the owners who make it possible for me to compete so well on this stage! Each horse, with the exception of Liberty, will now return to their owners who will now hopefully have as much joy and success with them as I do.

This is my second AEC's since moving to America and I am as impressed now as I was 4 years ago at my first. The event is a massive undertaking by everyone involved from the event organizers and the USEA to the gracious hosts from Bouckaert Farms. Also a really big thank you to the sponsors of the event, including one of my own sponsors, CWD Saddles. I am fairly certain their saddles are the reason my horses jump so cleanly! Thank you as well to Point Two , Back on Track, Flair, SSG Gloves, VTO, OmegaAlpha , and "Chronicle of the Horse". And an even bigger thank you to the best tack store in the world, Bit of Britain !

I am currently looking to add some horses to our successful team. Please contact me if you have a horse you would either like to see me ride to similar success or if you would like to be a part in owning a current competition horse.

AEC's Day 2

Today was a mix of fortunes with both Liberty and Bucky breezing around the xc clear and inside the time. Liberty was first to go and had the added challenge of competing in a thick fog! I could barely see where we were going, lucky Liberty just jumps whatever is in his way, so provided I kept him going in the right direction the course posed no problems. I did feel as tho we needed some fog lights! Bucky was his normal speedy and clear self. I don't have to press him to go very fast in order to make the time as he naturally doesn't waste time at the fences. Fudge is sitting pretty in the top ten after a lovely test. He goes xc tomorrow. I had a very frustrating ride with Cole with some equipment issues forcing us to walk home. This is wildly annoying as he is jumping super at the moment and a fast round would have had him in the top 10. Show jumping starts tomorrow so I had better go and make sure the horses have their jumping shoes on.

AEC's Day 1

Bucky, Cole and Liberty all completed their dressage tests and will move onto the cross country tomorrow. Cole was first to go this morning to put in a personal best test scoring a 38. Interestingly one judge had him on a 35 which would have had him up quite a lot higher in the placings. Bucky also did a personal best by scoring a 33.7, with Liberty just ahead of him on 33.3. The cross country is beautifully built and will be fun to ride in the morning. Time will probably prove to be quite tough to get, so I'll be putting on my skates and doing my best to get all three home inside the optimum! Fudge begins his competition in the morning with his dressage.

Steph Rhodes-Bosch

I'm very excited to announce the addition of Stephanie Rhodes-Bosch to our Sunset Hill family! Stephanie's impressive list of accomplishments include top Rolex placings and a team silver medal at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. She brings her team of event horses and will be working out of the upper barn. Steph will be available for lessons and training and is contactable on 571 420 3351.

Steph at the 2010 WEG.

Sunset is now the home of two elite international riders and is the premier competition and sales barn in Maryland. Take the time to check out www.sunsethilleventing.com and of course www.katechadderton.com! Kate is available for her regular lessons and clinics. Due to a brisk market of sales, she now has several openings for sales horses. Contact: 240 750 5737.