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!

Cindy and Amy in the rain...

Continuing my personal training is very important to me as it helps me become a better rider and trainer. Last week I took Cole and Lois to Boyd Martin for some jump training, this weekend I rode both of them with dressage trainer Brendan Curtis. Both horses are completely different rides and it was great to work on their strengths and weaknesses. Lois was great, she's very rewarding as she learns quickly. We worked on getting her softer laterally and developing under saddle the great paces she naturally has. Cole is a different story. We worked very hard on showing off the paces he has by encouraging him to use his back legs a LOT more than is natural for him. He's still figuring out if he likes the whole dressage thing, cross country is much more his style! I think he's growing to enjoy it tho, he doesn't try to spin around anymore so I figure that's progress! Amy Gaynor competed with Cindy in their first event (unrec) and went super with a clear cross country and just one rail in the sj. Now the pressure's on me with her at Waredaca on the weekend!

Fair Hill

Last weeks eventing was at Fair Hill in northern MD. I rode Cole (Rege Dvorsky and Jeanne Leonne), Cowboy (Amy Taggart) and Pheobe (Jane Gilbert)with all three posting confident, happy clear rounds. Phoebe and Cowboy both ended up on 3rd each in their respective divisions with both of them having a rail each. I do have to draw attention to their dressage scores with both of them acheiving a personal best, Cowboy on a 27! And Phoebe on a 29! I'm enjoying both of these horses progress as they move thru the levels. The highlight of my day tho was Cole having his first start back since injury his foot. While he was healing he was unable to leave the prepared surface of our ring (although he still was able to work) with the exception of just one cross country session (limited). Therefore it was a HUGE relief to me that find that he still remembers how to jump! He jumped a super clear show jumping round, one of few, and jumped beautifully around the cross country. The most exciting thing tho was that his foot held up and he was SO happy to be back. Next for us is Waredaca next weekend. This weekend I am holding a mini clinic for my students to practice their jumping rounds.

Lois Lane Photo by Pixel Perfect Photography



MacKenzie and Inky

I have been a little slow on my posts recently due to a Laptop malfunction. The malfunction was caused by one of two things, either it was my downloading of songs with viruses (but I really really NEEDED the new Lady Gaga song NOW!), or my ADD and complete lack of patience (leading to too many windows open too often) confusing my poor computer leading ultimately to a mental breakdown (by both myself and the computer). I'm very good at riding, teaching and planning programs for people and horses, not so good with technological stuff so this took a little while to resolve. In the meantime we've continued to be very busy with myself and my students having varying degrees of success. Lois is now training level which she stepped up to nicely at MCTA, but she needs a lot of work to consolidate how she feels about it. Abby Gibbon did a great job by winning the Training at MCTA. Cowboy (Amy Taggart) won a 6th place at Plantation, Alex MacLeod rode a lovely double clear on West Side Story. I had a successful ride on Jane Gilbert's mare, Queen of Pheba. This was my first competition on Phoebe and she also stepped up a level. She was super in the dressage, great cross country. Unfortunately we had a little issue in the show jumping that is now resolved. This weekend I'm very excited to have Collection Pass (Rege Dvorsky and Jeanne Leonne) back in action at Fair Hill. I also have Cowboy and Phoebe going.

As I mentioned in my last update I'm very focused on my students at the moment and am very excited particularly with the progress of Amy Gaynor's horse Cindy. Amy has worked very hard with her competing her at local show's to help the horse get used to competing in a low pressure environment. Now we're getting closer and closer to her first actual event which is looking super exciting! The other thing that's been very exciting is the selection of MacKenzie Taylor on the World Games squad for mounted games!!! Mack is not one of my students, she is the daughter who of Robert and Kathy who own (one of) my fantastic base Taylormade. Mack has been so focused and practiced extremely hard in order to make the squad (it's for under 17's and she's 14) so it's pleasing and inspirational to see how it's paid off. The other cool thing about this is that her pony, Inky, is a rescue and had been left basically to fend for herself and couple of years ago as a horse no one wanted. Now she's on the American games squad to compete at the World Games! Doesn't get much better than that!