It gets better and better!

Summer had her first canter under saddle today and was a wonderful girl!!!! Her canter is so naturally balanced and beautiful, I CAN'T WAIT til she is 4!!!! (so I can show her off ;-)

Also, how awesome is it that I have not one but TWO students on the USEA leader board!

Congrats Alexa Henry who is ranked 10th nationally for Novice!

Congrats Emily Youngblood who is ranked 8th nationally for Beg Novice!!!

Waredaca!!!!!

What a great weekend we had!!!!

Callie (California Comet) rose to the occasion! She ended 2nd on her dressage score of 28, after a clean cross country and a clean show jumping! She was every bit as lovely at Waredaca as she was at Loch Moy last weekend. Relaxed and rideable in the dressage, brave and athletic in the xc, and careful and confident in show jumping! I love her.

Alexa Henry did an awesome job with Fancey, getting a 34 on her dressage. We had to do cross country as our second phase, not a plus for Fancey who never really had the opportunity to school xc. She simply doesn't understand it yet! Next spring though, she will be in the top placings every time!

Lexi did awesome on little Ernie (Sesame Street). He was in a mood for dressage, which he often is, but Lexi pulled off a 46. She piloted his little rear end around cross country, and rode one of her best show jumping to date! She ended with a score of 50.7 which would have been 6th or 7th in the junior divisions. Lexi was in my division for some reason, putting her in 11th. Not bad out of a very competitive division of 20!

Kari had her best competition to date. Knick was IN A MOOD when we first got to dressage warm up, but Kari worked him thru it and it only got better once in the ring!

Showjumping was amazing, and they rocked it out XC. Knick and Kari ended on their dressage score of 32.

We all had a great weekend! Many thanks to my friends Katie and Sharon for coming and helping. Also Callie's lucky dressage charm Alexa.

Of course, a big shout out to the best husband and daughter in the whole world!

So my mares are going to have a little down time while my students finish with a few more events, and short courses. This winter we will do some dressage shows and jumper shows to stay sharp.

Check back to see how we do at Waredaca unrecognized, Rubicon, Maryland's short course, FMF, and the Jumper show series at Serra Valley which starts on the 28th of November!

Kari tearing it up!

stone bruises, the gift that keeps giving

So Knick had a stone bruise for Morven, forcing Kari to take S.S. Buckshot to his first Novice (where they were amazing I might add!)

Now my little Beasty has a bruise that popped up! We thought we had it under control, but when I jumped her with Stephen on wed, she wasn't herself. Boo.

Needless to say we left the lesson after a short 15 minutes, and took the poor girl home.

I must say that I have an amazing farrier, Kevin Oyarzo. He and my vet will have her sound and comfortable in no time. Kevin even called to see how she was doing. He always comes on time, and always gets back to me whenever I call!

Oh AND Beasts feet have never looked so good!

So Callie will have to put on her big girl clothes and compete this weekend at Waredaca.

My student Alexa had her horse Organized Chaos entered in the Novice, and wouldn't you know......stone bruise! Alexa will be taking a Clevland bay named Fancey, and this will be her first event, and close to her first time going xc!!!

Good thing Waredaca has the best organizers, and staff ever!

Kari is entered in the Novice, and Lexi is entered in the Beg Novice.

Good luck to us!

I just want to give credit where credit is due.

I have the most wonderful husband and daughter that a person could hope for.

Sometimes you have a day that puts it all in perspective.

I want to send out a big thank you to my husband Dave.

With out Dave none of what I do would be possible!

Ever since Michael Page told Dave that I ride better when he is there, in 2001, he hasn't missed an important event!

With our busy schedules, often I am teaching in the evenings, while he works the days. Dave happily joins us at the events, often when my students alone are competing, so we can spend time as a family!

I could never ask to be more blessed then I am.

Run Comet Run ;-)

Go Us!!

Maryland Horse Trials!!

What a busy day we had! Emily started us of right, winning her novice division on her dressage score of 30. She had one of her best show jumping rounds to date, and looked fantastic cross country! Go Emily!!!!!

Callie did things right and finished on her dressage score of 15.5! Do your thing California Comet! I hoped that my little 4 year old, that has only been in work since June would just not jump out of her skin at the event, she out did herself! This horse is something special.

Gena's horse Brighten started out in warm up, better then I ever have seen him go. I mean holy s#*t amazing!

Then the wind picked up, and the tents were blowing, and Gena still managed an amazing dressage test. Show jumping, the wind continued to blow, but the pair held it together, despite one iffy moment. Cross country looked fabulous, until the last fence. I can never say it enough. There are some downsides to a REALLY athletic horse.

So the side picture is Alexis, Gena, Hannah and Hannah's friend watching Em go. The Top one has Packer and Alexis's leg in it.Unfortunately , this is the only picture I have of Alexis from the event (so far).

Alexis rode perfectly all day. Packer was pretty perfect also. Packer has made a full recovery from a leg injury. He lives in the stall next to Callie and every time I try to go in Callie's stall, I feel a nose shoving in my neck or my pocket. Packer. It was cute the first 45 times. ;-)

What I am trying to say is that I think both Packer and Alexis were so happy to be back at it, after all the hard work and waiting. They got 5th place, no small feat considering the competition! These lower divisions are no joke! At least half seem to be professionals!

We were joined by the wonderful Alexa Henry, and Katie Cindric. What a great group.

Congrats everyone!

SUMMER!

So Summer had her first solo ride today in our round pen! She was fabulous! A little walk and a little trot! We are so excited. Before I got on her, I cantered her under saddle, Oh My Gosh!

This little filly (Well not so little for a two year old, shes like 16 hands!) has an INCREDIBLE canter. I would say I want the next two years to fly by, but now that I am a momma, I swear time does move faster!

Morgan Run!!!

In this picture we have, the beautiful Callie, Sienna, Satin, Freckles, and Annie. Gena and Lexi on their horses also came, and the Martin family was there as well!

What a beautiful day to go for a trail ride!

All of the horses were on their best behavior, my brave little 4 year old took turns with the other boss mare Annie, leading the pack!

We had a wonderful time and can't wait to do it again and watch the leaves change!

Sienna sure has become quite the well rounded horse, fox hunting, trails and quite a nice jumper also!

Summer was ridden for the second time in her life today! She was wonderful, and we even did a little trot!

What a wonderful day! Congrats to all our students and friends at Loch Moy!!!

Wind down

Its been a low key week! It's "family weekend" ahead, spattered with a xc school and a trail ride at Morgan Run!

Today, I rode Darenth farms "Summer Reign", our up and coming show stopping 2 year old. She has had a saddle on, but this was her first person, she was great! She was much more concerned with mom (Sharon) and her treats! I can't wait to show this mare off as a 4 year old!

Beast is relaxing, and getting ready for Waredaca. Callie is getting ready for her first unrecognized event next week, maybe followed by Rubicon.

We have our Susan White clinic next week, followed by Stephen Bradley the next week! Margret Rizzo does a great job planning these clinics at Oatlands in the Olney area.

Hopefully the girls will get in an additional school with Jan Byyny.

All my students are gearing up for Waredaca, and the unrecognized Loch Moy.

Alexis will make her big Debut back after Packers full recovery from a partial tendon tear.

Tomorrow will be a relaxing outing for me and Buckshot, over at Morgan Run. I will do my best to return straight home, and watch the Michigan State game with my Hubby.

I will try my hardest not to creep over to Loch Moy!!!

We were suppose to have a vacation, but instead its turning into a staycation!

That's all for now!

The Beast at Morven!

MORVEN!!!

WOW!! What a weekend! It started earlier this week when Knickerbocker came in with a abscess brewing. So I got on the phone with Morvens wonderful secretary and switched Kari's spot from training to novice, not quite sure who she was going to ride! This is also all happening while Kari was at work, unaware of my scheming.

So long story short, she took Buckshot, who she has ridden twice in the last 2 months, once on sat and once on Fri! Before that, he has been used by the kids all summer!

So Buckshot did his first novice, and Kari was AWESOME!!! She rode perfectly in all three phases, and I think the little red man was happy to be back at a recognized event. He loves cross country! She pulled off a 44 in dressage, one green rail in show jumping and a clean, careful cross country! Ending 12th in a very competitive LARGE division. WAY TO GO KARI AND BUCKSHOT!

Alexa Henry piloted her own horse, Organized Chaos to an 8th place. She ended on her dressage score, 38.5! She was in a big competitive class, and showed off her new show jumping style and her awesome cross country skills! This mare will be moving up to training soon, and claiming ribbons the whole time! Great riding Alexa!

Beasty was even more amazing this weekend then ever! Her dressage is really coming along! She earned a 44, and is really starting to settle. Once we perfect the warm up and get rid of the tension in her little mare body, her scores are going to blow everyone out of the water! Beasty was an angel in show jumping, the longer warm up, matched with the show jumping being in the grass this year helped her feel very focused. Beasty jumped clean, but her pilot had a rail! After pushing for a longer one, after not enough prep coming in, Beast tried to pat the ground....it wasn't good. I asked her to keep going and she said OK, with her wonderful little attitude. She is something else!

The cross country was SOLID. This was the hardest cross country Beast has had to do to date. I am not quite sure what 5 abc was, a coffin?,A mound with a ditch one stride from the top? It was a ditch that was a little surprise to them as they were taking off at A, that's for sure. Then on to angled large roll tops, a second full coffin, hanging log to a corner, that was both large and had a beautifully inviting run out to the left! A couple skinnys down hill in the woods, and a tough water question! All the fences in between weren't small either!

What a breeze for this mare. It amazes me how she just rises to the occasion and skips around the course! My watch wouldn't start, but we still came in just a few seconds from optimum!

Beasty finished a respectable 11th, in her big division! Lots of carrots in store for her!

Thank you so much to my besties, Kari, Katie, Sharon, Dave, Maggie, Alison and Alexa!!! You guys are the best!!!!!

We are looking forward to Maryland horse trials, both recognized and unrecognized!