When will it stop raining!

This week has beenvery busy with shows. I had a successful show at Plantation riding Mario, Tuck adn Boo into placings in all of their classes. The going was very wet for the showjumping and I was embarrased to be towed into yet another competition! Although practically everyone had to be. I was very happy with how my horses jumped, especially cross country.

Seneca Valley PC event was also very wet, particularly on the cross country. Harmony finished on her dressage score and Boo also jumped well adding only a green rail to his score. He is a super horse and has a great future.

On Wednesday I took Mario and Boo to Swan Lake A rated show jumping show. Boo was good but Mario was super jumping clean in the 1.15 round. Pilot error (missing a jump) cost him first place, we still ended up a respectable third tho. Yet another show that was in the rain, we were faced with the probability of being towed out. Thru some expert driving (mine) and a bit of luck, plus about 10 attempts, I managed to make it out without the help of a tractor! Now the truck and trailer just look as they've been off roading and will mean I'll be spending my day off at the car wash! Next week is Surefire event with Tuck, Boo and Mario.

Alex MacLeod and Arrow have had a fantastic season topped off with a second at the Virginia CCI. She finished on her dressage score in a class where the top five places didn't change.
Walking the course at VHT.

These juniors really can ride! The cross country was tough but fair and the show jumping was big and requird bold riding. It was a great experience for Alex to jump in the coleseum with a crowd and atmosphere.

Another success for us has been Abby Gibbon and her fantastic mare, Prima. They won the Area II Adult Amateur Scholarship. They've been making leaps and bounds and are a hugely exciting combination. Prima's not a big horse, (just don't tell her that!) but certainly has unlimited potential.

Abby and Prima winning at Shawan Downs.

I look forward to bringing you more stories of both my personal success and that of our team over the coming weeks.

Tri State competing.

Raleigh CDI, North Carolina.

I have had a very busy couple of weekends with two eventing competitions and two dressage shows. First of all Tony and I competed at the Raleigh CDI in North Carolina winning 4 ribbons (seconds and thirds) in 4 different classes. This is exciting as the competition was tough with very good horses and riders. Then it was a dash back to make it in time for Waredaca One Day Event. I need to put a speed camera out on the cross country course with Lisa and Rachel going way too fast and incurring time faults. This weekend I successfully rode Mario, Tuck and Boo at Plantation Fields One Day Event in PA. Each of them placed in spite of the deep going. I was particularly impressed with how Boo felt cross country, he's really getting the hang of things. This is exciting as he's a real quality horse. Sunday was the VADA/NOVA dressage competition at Morven Park, VA, once again with Tony. We ended up third in a big class and qualified for the championships in October.

Next week we're at Seneca One Day Event with Harmony, Tuck and Boo. Amy Gaynor did an awesome job organising a very successful clinic with Boyd Martin which was hosted by Robert and Kathy's Taylormade stables.

Busy weekend Showjumping/Combined Test/Dressage.

Cathy Butler's Tony made a successful start to his competition year by winning at Morven Park. This was his first time at that level so I was very happy with him. There were some mistakes in his test (like when he fell into the carlike crater half way through what started out to be the worlds best medium trot!) and he felt pretty green. Overall he was fantastic tho, especially with the mud, mud and more mud. On Saturday I rode Robin Doser's Harmony, McCuan Farm's Mario and my partially owned Boo at a jumping show. They were all great and brought home varying ribbons. Alex McCleod took Arrow and rode some very good rounds. Perfect warm up for her three day event next weekend. We competed in a couple of the same classes, nothing like a bit of student/trainer rivalry to spice up the competition!

Amy Gaynor competed at a combined test and wowed them in the dressage! She scored a 30 and one rail in the show jumping had them finishing 3rd. A strong result which is great.

Mario schooling.

Unfortunatley for our team last weekend's show at Plantation was cancelled. This was due to the huge amount of rain we've had which would have made parking in the paddocks impossible. Instead Amy Gaynor showed at Loch Moy Short Course and finished 7th. MCTA @ Shawan Downs opened up their competition course for schooling this week which I took full advantage of. This is a fantastic course and it was great to be able to use it to train the horses. The coming weekend we'll be competing at Morven Park, hopefully the rain holds off!

MCTA @ Shawan Downs.

Our show schedule is in full swing with both MCTA at Shawan Downs and Difficult Run events on last weekend. I competed on Sunset Hill's McCuan Mario and Robin Doser and my own Rythm and Blues. Mario is a new ride for me and this was my first competition, he went well and I was happy with how he felt. I didn't run cross country as the going wasn't great and this was his first show in about 6 months. Boo jumped pretty well but unfortunately didn't really take to the dressage arena. Apparently he doesn't think sliding around in the mud is a good use of his time!

Abby Gibbon and Prima won their first Novice with Lisa Kurr fifth in the same class. Brittany Meyer came 2nd at Difficult Run. Next weekend is Plantation Eventing where I'm competing Boo, Mario and Tuck. Robin Doser will be riding Harmony and Alex McLeod on Arrow. I'm hoping for some good weather, it seems that every event is a wet one at the moment!

Another show, another success!

Michelle and Shorty getting ready for their winning ride.

Abby and Prima on their way to winning.

Sunny showing us that the ditch wasn't that big after all..

The past weekend was another great success for us. We were at two events, Redlands and Fair Hill CIC. Firstly Fair Hill. Alex Macleod and Arrow competed in their first ever CIC 1star finishing on her dressage score. An huge feat given that only two people were able to do that and that it was an open class (she's only 16). The course was pretty tough, in particular fence number five which had a huge ditch under it. I have a rule that if my dog can jump a fence, then the fence is fine and safe to rode. Unfortunatley for Alex Sunny is a great jumper and can jump anything, so she had to listen to my riding instructions, which mostly involved just point him at the jump and close your eyes!

Back at Redlands Abby Gibbon and Michelle Corbielle both won their classes. It was particularly great for Michelle as it was Shorty's first one day event. Lisa was third, her first eventing ribbon which was fantastic. Brittany Meyer had a great show as well, by finishing 2nd. Her horse is very green and she did a super job. Gibby Booth rode an excellent test, great sj round but unfortunatley had a stop on the cross country. Not her day but I'm sure she'll win her next one. Amy Gaynor did a great job under difficult circumstances, I'm excited about where she goes from here. I was also impressed with Deena's jumping, she's really come a long way in strengthing up her seat.

Deb Schuman rode a couple of good tests and has started her competition year out which is fabulous. I am very excited with my own horses feeling pretty fine tuned and ready to win their next starts.