Well thank you.

I am humbled and honored by the experience of owning and riding the horses that I do.
The focus of this blog post however is about my very own Mahogany Beauteo.....Beast.

I am so thankful and appreciative of this amazing chestnut mare. She is wild, weird and wonderful. She broke two halters on friday getting a bath. Both times she stood quietly after her halter breaking task had been completed. She finished her bath halterless and stood perfectly still, staring and snorting at the drain.
Beast hates back boots, and acts like a cat with plastic bags tied to her legs EVERY TIME WE PUT THEM ON.
Beast also can not wear a blanket unless she is in a small paddock with no run in. The reasons why will make me sound crazy if I write it, and I do a good enough job of that on my own.
Beasty is getting fitter and she is getting wilder. But man she tries to keep it together for me. She struggles with the dressage but she is indeed trying.

I never expected to have a horse let alone my wild little chestnut be lazy at Intermediate show jumping. Beast has been ridden by a few people in her day, especially in my pregnancy. Ask any one of them, they certainly did not enjoy show jumping her. She has a spook in her and more scope then she knows what to do with. Historically she has show jump anxiety.
My little mare was like a seasoned pro yesterday, and thankfully I caught on to her after three jumps of lazy. I asked her to try harder and she said"sure mom!".

No words can express  the happiness of my cross country machine. It has taken a lot of hard work, concept understanding, and input from Stephen Bradley , Sharon White, and Jimmy Wofford.
I put all that together and then added Beasts input to the mix, and things really started going well. The way Beasty wanted things to go.

Well there was still a little something missing. Something that I needed to do..... Adjust.  After running at Plantation, I knew I was riding my heart out but I almost felt a shift.

Weeks later, I was trying to demonstrate a concept to one of my students. I asked another student, Rachel Healy, "how much faith do you have in your horse?"

With out even the slightest hesitation, she replied "100%".
There was no other answer!

I looked at my other student and said something like you have done the training now let him be.
As I said it, I realized I was saying a quote from David Oconnor that someone had said to me.
It hit home.

My plan at Maryland was to be in the moment and I achieved that.
I rode Beasty with a supportive leg, and insisted on the right canter and I let her do her job.
She truly amazed me.

I feel like I get to feel a special piece of magic on her. Like when you are my daughters age (3) and you discover rainbows. I know this sounds cheesy but I could never do justice to the gift that horse gives me.
She is beyond special and I trust her 100%, no questions asked.
My mare wants to go advanced and I will continue on the path to achieve that goal.

On a side note, I asked Sally Cousins to walk the course with me Friday. Not only did she say yes, but she is amazing! Such cool insight! She showed me lines to avoid wasting time and energy. Explained some new concepts that really made sense. I ran Beast slow because of the heat but shaved all the turns Sally showed me. Holy crap, I came in under optimum!
Poor Beast is running way too fast and not efficiently at past events and I'm going to change that. I ran her at about our prelim speed yesterday.

To get to the point,  thank you to all these amazing instructors, including my amazing mare Beast. Thank you to my amazing students who often teach me as much as I teach them.
And thank you for the sport of eventing and all it brings, especially the people we get to see every weekend who are like family.

Mary Mack