Back to Work!!

Holidays are so called holidays because they break up long periods of work! I must say tho that I have one of the best jobs in the world. I ride horses for and train some of the nicest people in the world. Also for some that aren't as nice, but we don't generally talk about them!! I had a fantastic time back in Australia, from race days antics with my friends to my brothers wedding just hours before catching my flight back to the US. One of the highlights I must say was doing a bit of event training on one of my mum's cow ponies, Penny. She didn't really take to the dressage component but she really got the hang of the cross country!!! Aside from increasing (in my mind!) the value of mum's ponies I took the opportunity to catch up with old clients and friends. Unfortunately I missed meeting up with many people who I wanted to including Rocco's proud owner, Marg Warwick, also Jenny Brown on the Central Coast, Lara Dombrovskis, who is heavily pregnant with her first child and STILL taking care of a couple of my horses, John and Sharon Carroll, Gordo and Emma Bishop (actually Em's still an Armstrong, I think..) and of course Heath Ryan. I wish I had twice the time I had, 2 weeks just doesn't allow one to see everyone, especially with such vast distances in Australia.

So from Australia, recreation and tanning, I returned to MD refreshed and ready for the New Year!! With 26 hours of travel time I had plenty of time to plan the year ahead. First up my work involves preparing the horses for the first competitions. Robin Doser kept our future superstar, Boo, in work and he feels FANTASTIC! Robin made a big effort to keep him going, she has a family and it was the holiday season. Cathy Butler also made sure that Tony was on fire when I got back. Amanda Cross kindly helped us out by using her extensive skills to bring him back into work. I'm very excited with how he's going and what our year holds. Sydney had a month off so needs a couple of weeks to get back with the program. I love this horse and he really wants to do the job!! Sunny (my awesome dog/co conspirator) hung out with Toby and Skipper Doser and was suitably happy to see me when I got back.

I was impressed with how everyone had worked whilst I was away. Deborah and Gwynn improved their right canter, Lisa and Royal pushed their boundaries in every way, Mary-Beth has Classy going I've never seen her, Anna found the forward button, and Linda has Chevy ready for 1st level, training 3rd!! I'm humbled by what has gone on whilst I was away tanning by the pool, a LOT of blood and tears (no sweat, WAY too cold!) has been shed in the indoor arena! I'm thinking of making a new policy, if the horses have to dig thru the snow to find grass to eat, then I'm not leaving the house!!!

I'd also like to welcome Carla and Alex McLeod and Amanda Cross to the team, absolute pleasure to have such dedicated and keen eventers on board. Check back soon, I'll keep you up to date with the latest goings on. Please feel free to add your thoughts to my blog, the more feedback I get, the better it'll be!! I love hearing from everyone, whether it's on my blog or via private email. Stay warm, or cool, where ever you are!

Tony, Sunny and I enjoying our time in the MD snow! NB the sunshine, almost enough to bring out the sunnies!

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009!!

I love this part of the year, the competitions are over for a while and I use this time to set my goals for the coming year. 2008 was really successful for both myself and my students with wins in eventing, showjumping and dressage. We competed at the American Eventing Championships and the BLM dressage championships. I was so happy with how Rocco moved from Australia to America and kept performing so well, he really is such a fantastic horse. In 2009 I look forward to continuing my success with Tony. I have also recently acquired a partnership in one of my favourite horses, Buddha, and am very excited to see just how far he'll go. Robin, who part owns him, is currently riding him, so hopefully by the time I get back he'll be ready to go advanced. She will also do some competitions on him. Sydney will be started his eventing career in Feb which will be fun. Merlot made a lot of progress in 2008 so I'm looking forward to continuing on him until he sells.

As 2008 involved a lot for me, not the least of which being relocating myself and business to America, I took the opportunity to travel back to Australia for the holidays. I arrived back in Brisbane on Christmas eve and spent Christmas with my family. For Boxing Day I travelled to Sydney and spent the day at the races with fellow Aussies Eventers from America Boyd Martin, Ryan Wood and Dom Schramm (soon to relocate). We all had varying successes with the our bets with Ryan being the most successful. I started out well then got a little biased by backing horses that I had previously ridden (Tommifrancs above, Smashing and Scorched Earth) whilst riding racehorses at Limitless Lodge. I think I was even bucked off the one above once or twice.... The jockey had no trouble with him so I think I must have schooled the it out of him! And judging by my gambling success, I'm much better at picking an eventer than and racehorse!!! But I do get a huge kick out of seeing horses I had ridden going around the racetrack, they look so grown up!

Back at home in Queensland I've had the chance to see my young horses which include a really nice yearling filly by Falchrik that was born last Christmas. My other favourite is Astra, a 3 year old mare by Aspen. Really growing into a nice horse. My mum has been in poor health recently so I've also been clocking up a few hours in her takeaway shop making hamburgers, and I must say I'm pretty good at it! Unfortunately it's about 45 degrees celcius in front of the cooker. Needless to say I'm looking forward to returning to the horses and hopefully snow!!

Happy New Year to everyone.

No rest for the wicked!

The competitions are winding up in this part of the country due to the cold, the snow, the wind and the cold! Maybe I'm getting soft but when I am wearing 5 layers under my jacket and thermal's under my breeches, I think it's COLD!!! The lack of shows creates the perfect opportunity for riders to tackle more difficult work with the view of moving their horses up to the next level in the spring. With this in mind I have had my students pushing their boundaries (some may say it's just an excuse for me to be yelling louder and more frequently at them!) by trying movements we've stayed away whislt the shows have been running. So this means Deborah has started teaching her horse shoulder in, Crooner's no longer allowed to spook at the mounting block and Linda's schooling Chevy's counter canter. As this is my first holiday season in the US I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of how active riders stay. I am so impressed by everyones dedication and enthusiasm.

This past weekend we held a very successful Boyd Martin Clinic. Amy Gaynor excelled with her organisation and preparation skills. With a 12 rider limit we had a waiting list which was great. In total we had about forty people helping and auditing. I performed a demonstration of a couple of my favourite jumping exercises on Merlot at the lunch break which went well. Merlot is such a clever jumper and real pleasure to ride, plus I think he loves having a crowd of people to look at him! Boyd was great with every rider and auditor leaving with more knowledge than they arrived. Boyd left with a bit of snow in his car (thru the open windows) and some food, so noone walked away empty handed!!

With only a couple of weeks of training and teaching left before I head home for Christmas, I'll be busy making the most of the rest of 2008.

Wonderful news,Kate ! Congratulations to all concerned!

November 22/23 Shows. Success!!!! Again!!!

Photo by Amber Heintzberger

Team Chadderton had another exceptionally good weekend at VADA/NOVA's 25th Anniversary weekend at Morven Park! I thought we were in for a bad show when I walked outside on Saturday and it was 24 degrees. And windy!! For an Australian who has only just learnt the term 'thermal underwear', that is COLD! Anyhow, I didn't turn around and go back inside to bed, mostly because I thought Liz (Crooners owner) would kill me, and I found myself at Morven Park. Now Crooner is an 'I wish' horse. As in 'I wish' he were five years younger, 'I wish' he were an eventer and 'I wish' he were mine! Liz has been very successful on him winning a lot in the Pas De Deux's with Sam Smith. This was my first show on him and he did very well by winning one test on a 71% and coming second in the other. Linda Lewis also had a great show along with her horse Chevy. Her husband is a meteorologist so I would have expected him tell her to not go, or at persuade her she'd be more comfortable at her home by the fire. But No,! He turned up with her, with just as much enthusiasm. Both smiling away and saying they were having fun. So I was very excited when Linda won her BLM qualifying test. Linda works very hard and has been out of the show ring for a few years.

Saturday was the first time I've had the opportunity to see Liz's Pas De Deux and I was very very excited by it. Anytime you have Disney music, enthusiastic people and grey horses in one arena I'm excited! They did a great job and I still can't get 'Fortuosity' out of my head... I grew up with all the Disney movies, which hopefully is why I know all the words to their music!'

On Sunday I had two good rides in Deborah Shuman's Gwendolyn, and Tewksbury's Merlot. Deborah has done a great good with Gwen, already winning at a PVDA show on her. This was her first recognised show and I was hoping to qualify her for next years BLM's. She not only qualified but she won both tests quite convincingly! She's a fun horse to ride so I was happy. Merlot also did very well by winning as well and qualifying for the BLM's.

While we were at Morven Park competing Amy Gaynor was showing in a Combined Test. Amy's horse Jake can be very enthusiastic in the jumping phase so we've been working on that area. She scored a 29 (eventing penalties, not %) in the dressage and then jumped their first ever clear round! I'm very proud of them as they have been working really hard and have had their ups and downs.

So overall Team Chadderton had a super weekend. Everyone won a blue ribbon and all the horses tried their absolute hardest. Everyone showed off their best work and I'm so proud to be associated with each of them. More soon, thanks for taking an interest in our work here. Kate.

Cyber Horse

Kate writes a regular feature for The Virtual Equestrian on the Australian website Cyber Horse. Be sure to keep up with all her news from the USA on this blog and by reading her regular articles. Here's a link to the July installment.

CBLM Dressage Championships

Kate had a great weekend at the Colonel Bengt Ljungquist Memorial Championships, October 23-26 in Lexington, Virginia.

Kate and Late Night, (pictured above with owner Cathy Butler) placed 4th (64.3%) in the First Level test 1 warm-up class. On Saturday they were 8th out of 24 entries in the First Level finals (65.571%.