The goings on of Red Hawke Eventing at Darenth Farm.

First and foremost, it is with great pleasure that I announce my new working student, Hunter Fabry!!!!!!
He is doing an internship through his senior year so I get to have him from about 1130 am on!!!!
I must say my tack has never looked better, my horses happier and everyone is getting the quality hacking and full amount of riding/personal time that they deserve.
Hunter is an excellent rider so I also have someone to help me school my horses. I even may have time to catch up on my blog!

The farm is doing beyond well. The electricity is getting finished in the indoor. This means we will have lights soon and I believe Sharon was testing out the giant fans yesterday!
We still need to plan our pole painting party.    All of our boarders are well as are the students and the horses in training. We are gearing up for an exciting fall season full of eventing, YEH, jumper shows, dressage shows, and combined tests.
Beast is wonderful. Something in her changed at Millbrook. Jimmy Wofford said this particular event was akin to her Bat Mitzvah.
She finally  has the confidence and presence that she always deserved to  have and carry. ......How ever there are days where it takes an hour before she stops acting like a fire breathing dragon. I will definitely have to rethink my warm ups, events and canter schedules. Beast plans to do the CIC 2* at Plantation and the CCI 2* again at Fairhill.
Ava continues to be, well, perfect.  I mean she has to get a bit stronger, carry a higher frame and develop a different top line but other then that there is not much to say. She shows up every day to work. Tries as hard as I ask her to and answers every question with ease. The horse is ready to run Prelim. Obviously that would be a bit quick since she only did her first event five months ago, so I'm developing her plan as I go. I will focus on her education, strength and exposure while trying not to put extra miles on her. I am also going to try to save money for her career next year. She should have an awfully exciting year in 2014!
Summer is working on her submission. It is the only area that ever affects her scores negatively. The horse has such enthusiasm.  
She also went from being pushy to a bit sensitive in this past year. I love her exuberance and love of jumping. In hindsight I may not have always brought enough discipline to her flat schools. While I will change that now, I do not necessarily regret the past. My goal will always be to produce horses that love their job, are confident, and eat cross country for breakfast.
Mr Duncan Doodles is a joy. Until we find his new forever home I am going to enjoy every minute I have with him. This gelding tries harder to please then any horse I know. He will be running training at Seneca.
That's all for now!

Millbrook recap

What a week!
First off a big thanks to the best husband in the world who literally juggled Maggie and Beast an awful lot!
I don't know what i would do with out him!
Ava was really amazing all week. She acted like a pro at her first big sleepover event. And BIG it was!
The dressage was miserable and it was very stressful to Ava. She trued very hard to keep it together. The stewards couldn't hear over the radios because it was raining so hard so they kept changing when it was my turn.
By the time we got to the ring, some horrid machine started backfiring and i thought the Piotr horse was going to lose her mind!
She tried very hard to be obedient in the ring and the judge rewarded her greatly for her good moments.
Ava was an attack horse cross country. That's all there was to it! If it was even remotely in front if her, she was gong to jump it. What a blast.
Ava was all business and very relaxed in show jumping. Such a high quality horse this one.
The Beast was fairly wild all weekend. She tried to contain herself in the dressage and was as obedient and correct as she has ever been. The flapping sponsorship signs were a great source of tension for the Piotr girl!
The cross country felt like an example of how cross country should be. Oh what a dream. That little house just feels free out there and i swear she just waits to see her line and I could just sit there and not do a thing!
I have changed the way i ride her slightly and by fence 5 b she was digging it.
"Let it flow". That's what Sharon told me to do and damn we did it! The Beast skipped around a course that caused a ton of problems.
At the end of the course my little red mare tried to run off with me!
.....I should have thought about this a bit more.
I decided to just graze Beast for an hour and a half instead of pre ride her for sj on Sunday morning. I thought hacking her would make her more tense with all the commotion. Mistake.
I should have got on and cantered her for a while and stretched her.
She was a total wild woman in sj. I have never had her be so .....well... Chestnut mareish!
This gives me a better plan for Fair Hill this fall. It's all about the journey :)
So happy to be home. All though i am exhausted!
Sorry about any typos. My phone has an aggressive auto correct!