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.

Eventing in rain. Again.

This past week has gone by in a flash with so many things going on, one minute I'm planning for the up coming shows, the next I'm checking out the photos on the internet!!! Last weekend Harmony, Buddha and Ivy competed in their first eventing competition which was fantastic. Weather.com called for rain and rain it did. From 10 on Friday night until 3 Saturday afternoon, and all of my rides where to be completed before 2. So I got wet. Robin got wet. Ashley got the wet. The tack got wet. Even my phone got wet, and goodness knows I am protective of my phone!!!! So you get the picture, it rained. Anyhow we came home with a couple of ribbons and 3 horses who now know what eventing is and are looking forward to the coming shows as much as I am.

Harmony.

We are settling into Taylormade very well with Robert and Kathy being absolutely awesome by accommodating our horses and team. On Wednesday night we had a great wine and cheese night whereby I introduced my riding and training techniques on Lisa Kurr's horse, Royal. This went very well with a good turnout, I look forward to similar evenings in the future.

Austin Doser braving the cold with one of the cutest ponies in the world, Sunny.

I have some great photos to come up later this week. We have a big weekend coming up with Alex Macleod competing at Fair Hill CIC 1Star and Amy Gaynor, Abby Gibbon, Gibby Booth, Deena Kleinerman, Lisa Kurr, Michelle Corbiegh and Brittany Meyer all doing their best to bring home the blues from Redland Horse Trials. Allison Sirna has a race this weekend as well and, going off previous form, should do well.

Take care and look after your horses!!!

Morven Park/Clinic.

This past week has been a very busy one. Alex MacLeod competed at Morven Park in hideous conditions. It rained all night before the competition and throughout the dressage. The cross country was tough enough for the begining event of the year with a bounce up the bank to a big enough oxer, plus some maximum size fences. Alex did a super job riding very well and showed great horsemanship in looking after Arrow by monitoring his fitness and taking it easy in the bad going. She went clear in the cross country and show jumping, with a minor directional problem ight at the end that cost her a place. Arrow still has a long year ahead of him and she was wise beyond her years to make sure he made it home sound. They ended up sixth which was great and are on track for Virginia Three Day Event in May.

Boyd Martin and I taught a clinic at Loch Moy which went very well despite the poor weather. Everyone had a great time and jumped very well. Each rider had the opportunity to work with both trainers which was great as it allowed everyone to get two sides of advice for their horse. Amy Gaynor did a super job, as always, of organising the whole thing. The next one is at the begining of May.

Not sure what happened to March 'in like a lion, out like a lamb', it didn't seem to warm up at all, but thankfully we're seeing some better weather now.

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.