Sunny South

When it's cold and snowing out it's time to head south. I came to this conclusion after returning from Christmas in Australia with a suntan, to day time temperatures that couldn't reach above freezing! So this year I took the boys Rocco, Royal and Sydney with their girlfriend Harmony to Aiken, SC. Pam Evans generously let me load up her trailer and take it with me. Kadi Eykamp arranged a great barn and accomodation for us at Pine Ridge just out of Aiken. We had an absolute blast and Syd found a new home at Surefire Farm with Jan Byyny's student. This was after he competed in his first A rated jumper show, having jumped clear and making it into the jump off. I think this horse has a great future ahead of him and is one of my favourite horses in a long time.

Lisa Kurr made the trip down and had a great learning experience thru Rocco. She also learnt just how much activity can fit in one day. Yes, that does mean competing at two different shows on one day!! If your cross country times are scheduled for the afternoon then why not take advantage of the morning and go show jumping....

Harmony was great, she has really matured in the last few months. This has a lot to do with the time she spent in Florida with Marilyn and Lyn Little. She has turned a corner and is shaping up to have a good season. Sunny the dog also appreciated the trip south and made the most of the sunshine and sand by rolling in the dirt and sleeping in the sun!!! All in all a great time had by us all.

Mr Sanchez is back.

Cowboy and I spend a lot of our days taking pictures, mostly of ourselves....

Cowboy (aka Mr Sanchez at the Vesuvio restaurant) came back to work this week, thank goodness. The replacement staff just weren't really up to the task..... No more sweeping for me! Seriously, thanks to everyone who chipped in, we truly realised how valuable Cowboy is and just how much he does do. Personally I had thought he spent his whole day talking on the phone to his various girlfriends! That and listening to yet another one of my stories about 'back in Australia'. Like 'back in Australia, the GROUND DOESN'T FREEZE'!! And 'I'm going back to Australia where I don't have to wear six layers of clothing'..

Robin Doser is back into riding in a great way at the moment. Yesterday she jumped Harmony for the first time since she came back from Florida and was very impressive. Both of them did really well and it makes me happy to see Robin having so much fun. We also look forward this weekend to welcoming Deena Kleinerman to our eventing team. Along with her horse Vaughn, I know they will be a valuable addition to the group. I've known Deena since last January and have seen just how committed she is to the sport. She also bakes the best cookies this side of Germantown. Yes, this is a challenge to see if anyone can bake them better, Cowboy and I will be the judges! Both of us, as always, are open to any other offers of food.... Meatballs Mary Beth?

The barn is set for another busy weekend with everyone coming out to either ride or to see their horses. If this is how busy we are in cold February then I'm super excited to see what Spring and Summer bring!

Another busy week.

Sunny and I working hard

Today I had a lesson on Nikki Wingire's lovely mare, Flirt. This is such a fantastic little mare with a huge amount of talent. Nikki is a very good rider and has been bringing her along patiently and thoughtfully. I LOVE mares and like most Flirt has her own opinions and quirks, which only makes her more likeable to me. It has taken a while to get her to relax and use her back but with a lot of hard work she's now a lot more consistent in that area and today she was on fire!!! For a little horse she sure has a big heart and huge paces! It felt like we were moving on air and barely touching the ground! I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do with her in competition this year. Along with Harmony (Robin Doser), Gwen (Deborah Shuman), Prima (Abby Gibbon) and Classy (MaryBeth Avedesian) we have a team of bay mares going!!! I love it!!

Our team for the coming year is looking very strong at this point with everyone showing a huge amount of enthusiasm and already chomping at the bit for a start! Yesterday we set up a jumping course to put together some of the ideas we've been working on. I have to say I was impressed with the improvement Lisa has made in the last couple of months in the jumping. She really turned a corner at our Boyd Martin clinic and hasn't looked back. And Amy's horse Jake is becoming more reliable with his rhythm which makes me very happy. Sydney is really starting to go super well and is so proud of himself! He's starting to swing over the back and has the most elastic paces, and he's starting to jump awesome too. As you can see below he's a real quality horse, I'm sad to have to sell him. He'll make a great horse for someone.

Alex worked for me on Friday riding some horses. As a natural rider she has a good feel for the horses but she is getting a crash course on improving her seat. I have been putting a lot of pressure (which just means I've been yelling a lot!) and she just gets better and better. She really puts a lot of effort in and is starting to be rewarded for that.

It's heartening and motivating to see the dedication of our riders who are here day in day out (Linda, Deborah, Lisa, Marybeth, Gibby, Liz, Cathy, Alex, Amanda, Amy) preparing for the coming season. The award for the shiniest horses in the barn has to go to Cathy! Personally I get a great feeling from seeing all the growth and progress from our team. The compulsory 'Team Chadderton' uniform shirts are on their way....!

Cross Country Schooling.

Last weekend we took advantage of this lovely weather we've been having by cross country schooling at Frying Pan Park in Virginia. This is a fantastic training course for horses and riders starting out as it has everything you need; water, ditch, bank, scary bogey men lurking behind the bushes.... I was accompanied by Lisa Kurr, Deborah Schuman, Gibby Booth and Alex Macleod. I took Amy Gaynor's horse and two of mine, Boo (Robin Doser) and Sydney. Lisa's pretty new to the whole riding thing and is an absolute champion. She lives her life by the theory 'jump in the deep end then learn how to swim, fast!' She's also new to the challenges that come with driving horses around. As we had 7 horses we had to take two trailers, one being Lisa's. Gwen (Deborah) and Roy (Lisa) were very comfortable and happy with Lisa's driving as was Deborah. They certainly looked to be having a good time chatting away.. The same could not be said for poor Gibby who was stuck in our truck with the two worst singers in the world, Alex and myself. And even worse for her was the fact that both Alex and I know ALL the words to ALL the songs on my Ipod!!! Think she'll be traveling with the horses next time.... For Lisa the only hiccup of getting a bit bogged which she turned into a learning experience, and that learning experience was that Kate, being the country girl I am, sure knows how to get a truck out of mud!!

Thanks to Alex for the great pictures, they were much clearer until I 'improved' them with Photoshop!!

The great weather encouraged a lot of people to Frying Pan on Saturday and we were lucky (or not!) to share our cross country course with a harness horse, coloured horses, crazy horses and hunters. The going was very slippery but we made the most of it and the horses all jumped well.

Australia is probably best described as a temperate climate so I'm still learning about all this ice and snow. I learnt two lessons on Saturday; 1, when the ice melts it makes the ground slippery, no rain necessary, and 2, get the person standing on the ground to test the thickness of ice in the water jump, not quarter horse having his first experience cross country!! Evidently even in 60 degree weather the ice can still be a few inches thick, lesson learnt!!! Lisa and Roy were the stars of the day and they had a blast. I LOVE helping people learn the ropes of this awesome sport, especially we they show as much enthusiasm as my students always do.

Rocco and Harmony came back from showjumping in Florida this week which is fantastic. They look awesome with their suntans and 'too cool for school' attitudes. Both of them feel great and have busy schedules planned. This week is pretty busy as Cowboy had a car accident and I have taken the bulk of his job. Hopefully he'll have recovered soon and be back on deck.

And also congratulations to Lara Dombrovskis (and her partner Alex of course, Australia) on the birth of their first child.

Winter, wonderful winter.

Every now and then I am reminded of just how great a climate Australia has and this week has surely been one such example. We've had a serious ice problem. My recent meteorological learning's (thanks Norm!) have taught me that this occurs when the snow melts and then refreezes as ice. Everything is covered with a deadly coating that is akin to walking down a water slide blindfolded and with your hands tied behind your back! Needless to say Cherie had to make the very wise decision to keep the horses in for a few days in order to avoid any accidents.

I was really fortunate tho to be able to go cross country schooling at Loch Moy right before the bad weather. For both Buddha and Royal this was their first ever schooling session and they both excelled themselves by jumping beautifully. Roy in particular was a champion. Boo is really starting to feel like a grown up and he is such an exciting horse to me. He did however have a rather unfortunate misinterpritation of directional control resulting in Robyn (co owner) meeting the wall of the arena at Walnut Pond with her shoulder. Robyn's one tough cookie but even she was agreeing she needed a few days off riding, at least until the swelling in her shoulder reduced so it looked like a shoulder.. Come back soon Robyn, we miss you!!!! Back to Loch Moy and Gibby Booth with her fantastic little Connemara horse, Delaney, also had a successful schooling session. All indications are that she'll have a great year ahead. Rocco is still in Florida showjumping and enjoying the much warmer weather.

This week my dressage trainer also arrived to teach a clinic at Tewksbury. I train on Tony with him and as always he helps us find even more gears. Today was an especially good day with Tony really showing us his unlimited talents. I've never had a horse that could passage as easily and with so much fun as this horse. Lets just say, if he were an eventer he would be a four star horse!!! Several of my students also train with him, in particular Linda Lewis and Anna Uchmann. Anna has really improved in leaps and bounds with her horse Roccoco. It's so great to see her hard work paying off, and I know Wout was VERY impressed with her improvement. Particularly that now Cocco can pass an open door without spooking at the monsters lurking outside!

Our barn is very busy at the moment with Cathy arriving early in the morning and the last riders (usually Mary Beth) finishing at around 9pm. Tonight Alex was still riding at 10.30pm, not bad after a whole day at school, then hockey and then two horses to ride! If she keeps up this dedication she'll do very well this season. Both Liz and Amy started the barn off to a great competition year with a win (81%) for Liz (and Sam Smith) in the Pas De Deux and with Amy picking up a couple of placings at a local hunter show.

I had very unhappy news this week with Confetti (Australia) breaking her pelvis. Unfortunately it was severe enough for her to have to be euthanised. This is distressing for both mum and I as she was a charm to own and a valuable horse. Mum is such a star in these situations by taking care of everything and keeping things in perspective. Adding to this sadness was the news that Becky Gordon (from Australia) lost her awesome little horse Prince. While Becky and Prince were training with me I developed a huge respect and affection for this horse. Both he and Becky were able to progress through the ranks winning against the 'big guys' at prelim.

On a better note we welcome Pam Evans and her cute Morgan Tuck to the barn. We have such a great bunch of people and horses in the barn at the moment, we are truly blessed!!! I also have to take this opportunity to sing the praises of the Nutrena feeds. We have 37 horses, all in different amounts of work, with different personalities and needs. Nutrena has a feed solution to suit each horse perfectly and for that I wholeheartedly thank them!!!

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.