Back to MD

Most of the last ten days involved moving my team from Aiken, SC, back to Damascus, MD. Not an easy task by any means. Mostly it means I sit in my truck dodging drivers on the 95 north and south. This is between using my ipod as entertainment and arguing with Kaden as to what colour the sky is! I still managed to compete at Southern Pines, NC, and Morven Park, MD, with great results. Morven Park is the first event back up in this area and can mean variable weather conditions. Fortunately for Cole and Lois, the horses I was riding, the footing and weather were absolutely perfect! Lo was 3rd in a tightly contested class, Cole 8th after a super cross country round. This horse is a super jumping horse and is aimed at Bromont three day event in June. Alex MacLeod had her young horse in the novice finishing fifth, a good result. In the intermediate she unfortunately lost a bet with me as to who would be the first to inflate the air vest. She took a tumble which resulted in no injury to her or Arrow, just a little bruised pride and a look back at the drawing board. Tricia Tripp had a super weekend winning the Beg Novice in fine style. I actually think she shouldn't have been allowed in that class due to the competitiveness of her and her horse!

Last weekend in Aiken

The last weekend finished with a couple of highs and lows, the highs being Lois Lane finishing on her dressage score which kept her in 3rd. I just love this mare, she just tries so hard and showed a lot of improvement by scoring a 31 this weekend. Her class cross countried before they showjumped which works great for me, I always know she's going to jump clear. Alex MacLeod competed in her first intermediate on Arrow and did her best which turned out to be better than anyone else. 1st in her first intermediate is an awesome effort! Particularly as she has just about the busiest schedule of anyone I've ever met by juggling competitive hockey and her last year of school. Not to mention her young horse that she trains and having to travel down to SC from MD each weekend in order to compete. That takes a lot of focus and dedication. Chaney Taggart completed her first event on Titanium with a great result by finishing on her dressage score which meant she ended up second. She's another who's juggling school and riding and has been very diligent with the limited rides she was able to get on Ty due to the fact he was in Aiken. Brittany Meyer has also been going well ending up 2nd today on her own Parker.

Back to Pine Top

So after a snowy Pine Top we were happy to go back there and find the sun shining and NO snow! Pine Top Advanced Horse Trials is widely considered to be a very tough and prestigious event with only only classes offered being preliminary (CNC 1 star, Australia), intermediate (CNC 2 star, Australia) and advanced (CNC3 star, Australia). The entry list reads like a who's who of Olympic and World Championship riders and horses who are using this as the beginning of their World Equestrian Games preparation. Accordingly the courses are built to height and quite complicated. I had three horses competing, Mario (Patrick McCuan), Collection Pass (Rege Dvorsky and Jeanne Leonne) and Canyonleigh Sirecho (Lisa Kurr). In the past six months I've been working very hard on my showjumping and it shows, three clear rounds. Indeed this year I've had just 3 rails in about 20 or more rounds. Alex MacLeod, student, also jumped clear. Onto to the reason we event, the cross country!

Walking the course kind of made me a little sick, not just because I had to walk so far and I'm not good at physical exercise, because each jump was BIG and WIDE! This doesn't bother me normally but my three horses where green (Cole) or competing at that level for the first time in a long time, Rocco (1 year) and Mario (6 months), I get a bit scared! After the big jumps then it got quite technical with a bounce up a bank to an apex, one stride into the water followed by a one stride out of the water. As I was walking the course with Alex we made the worrying observation that at least half of the course was in the intermediate course from two weeks earlier. Luckily for me my horses are great jumpers therefore I had three clear rounds that were practically perfect and left me feeling on top of the world! This was topped only by Alex's ride which was also clear, a great feeling for her as that was her last prelim before going intermediate next weekend. I can honestly say I love the four horses we had at Pine Top, each one of them has a huge heart and tried their absolute best.

Unfortunately our experiences were not shared by everyone with 16 falls, a few of them being very bad. We wish Jan Byyny and Rebecca Howard the best in their road to recovery. I also want to thank Jan for some extremely useful advice on the best riding technique for Mario in the week before Pine Top. Jan imported Mario from Ireland and fortunately sold him to his current owners and has some tactics pretty specific to him that make him even more of a dream ride than normal.

Today I rode Mario and Lois at a AA rated show with Mario jumping super finishing 3rd and 4th. We had the fastest round in the biggest class but had a couple of rails that relegated us to fourth. This makes a difference from us having the clear jump off with the third fastest time. I enjoy show jumping competitions a lot and a grateful to be riding a horse that makes me competitive in that field. Alex rode Alex and did amazing in the biggest class to end up third. Lois (Carla MacLeod)jumped in the 1.05m class with just one rail, she showed a tonne of heart and I had a huge smile on my face when we finished, I just love her!

Photos will come up soon. Take care of yourselves and your horses.

I have to stop talking about the weather I think because I seem to jinx each competition I go to! I've ridden in all types of conditions from extreme heat and humidity in Australia, drought, torrential downpours, thunderstorms, cold, winds and since I've been in America I've even ridden dressage on ice. About the only thing left was snow and now, at Pine Top GA, it seems I've checked that one off the list! After a hectic morning competing at Highfields Showjumping (were Lois won) I headed off to Pine Top with Alex MacLeod (young rider) to walk the cross country course for the weekend. It started snowing on the drive over and didn't let up until we'd had about 6 inches. The competition was delayed for a few hours and the organisers did an amazing job to keep the event running. By Sunday (for the cross country) most of the snow had melted but there was still some to gallop through and snow on the jumps. So despite the challenging conditions we still did very well with all three of my horses winning ribbons, Cole 2nd in the Prelim/Training and Mario 3rd. Mario's placing was contriversial given that he was first after the dressage and cross country and show jumped clear. There was an error on behalf on the jumping judge which rendered him third. I'm still proud of his efforts however, despite the fact he didn't bring home the blue ribbon.

Chaney Taggart made the trip down for the weekend worthwhile by doing a couple of good rounds and the PSJ show and by winning the Progressive Jumper class.

Sporting Days One Day Event was on Sunday, our third in five events within two weeks, and it was a successful one. Brittany, one of my working pupils, was second in the novice and Boo jumped clear around his first prelim (Australian CNC 1 star). When I say he jumped clear I mean he jumped AMAZING! I love him as a cross country horse, I doubt there are any better than him! Dressage is his area for improvement... Mario did great in the dressage again scoring a 28, a new high for him. I didn't run him cross country as he is going again this weekend and I don't need him to be injured. Onto Full Gallop II and Lois was second in the novice, Ty sixth as well. Both horses improved greatly ont their scores from last week, respectively scoring 32 and 33 in the dressage phases. Both then finished on those scores. Brittany went above and beyond duty by winning! Such a super job in the dressage and show jumping followed by an almost perfect round cross country.

To say this event was cold is a GROSS understatement! I was wearing two jumpers, a long sleeve shirt and a big jacket and was STILL cold! Somehow Aiken hasn't turned on it's best for us.....

I want to give a huge thank you to my owners and students who stay dedicated throughout the year and give me a tremendous amount of joy! Basically what I' saying is, thanks for letting me hang out down south. Enjoy the MD snow!

Whatever the weather, where ever you are in this big wide world, enjoy yourself and your horses! Kate.

Full Gallop Farm.

Lois and Titanium had their first eventing starts of the year mid week at Full Gallop Farm. In fact it was Ty's first eventing start ever and he excelled finishing on his dressage score in 5th place! Lois came 7th and Rocco was 8th in the training. Brittany did great as well coming 3rd in the novice with Jess Jones' Forbidden Colours. Rocco's next start will be Pine Top prelim next weekend. This weekend we're off to Sporting Days with Boo and Mario in the prelim. Brittany is taking her own horse, Parker in the novice.

This is a super busy couple of weeks for us and we're run off our feet!

Eventing off to a great start.

Not sure what it is with me and the rain but almost EVERY competition I've done in the last year has involved rain... This weekend was no disappointment with sub freezing conditions for the dressage and show jumping. I had four horses Collection Pass, McCuan Mario, Rhythm and Blues and Canyonleigh Sirecho. Mario scored a very satisfying 29 in the dressage, Cole 34 and Rocco 35. All four show jumped clear in their own styles and techniques. Sunday was better weather, and by better weather I mean the sun came out.. There was however still ice in the water jump, not very inviting! All cross countried clear with Mario taking it very slow due to the wet conditions and the fact I wanted to school his brakes! Cole ended up 3rd, Mario 8th, Rocco 4th and Boo 10th.

Then it was a quick trip back to the barn to ride Ti and Lois who are competing on Wednesday then a dash (there may have been some speeding laws broken) to the airport so I could get back to Maryland to teach on Monday. A team can only be as effective as the team members. Brittany Meyer's organisational skills and motivational force make the day to day operations run exceptionally smoothly. This Wednesday Ti and Lois are competing at Full Gallop with me and Brittany is riding Forbidden Colours. Please check back for photos and possibly video in a couple of days. Enjoy the cold! Or heat if you're in Australia!