Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...

Call it what you want...karma, generosity, luck, blessings, sponsorship...I call it
Amazing
Unbelievable
A Dream come true.

From the time I started doing this sport I wanted to do something cool.  I dreamt like good little horse girls do of having a "big time" horse that would compete on the national stage. My friend Janet and I were really extreme, and played with our Breyer Horses of Might Tango, Jet Run and a dozen others, "taking them to horse shows,"  and we were even known to run on hands and knees and jump books to "practice"! (You know you did it too!)

 A lot has changed since then, (thank goodness cuz my knees really took a beating!)  I have been given the opportunity to ride so many spectacular and amazing horses in the dressage ring, but have not had the same luck in the event world.  It became apparent to me earlier this spring that while I know "Z" would jump anything for me, and try his heart out, Preliminary was probably going to be his topping out point. He is such a special guy and it breaks my heart, but I know that he is better off doing the job he loves at a bit lower level.  So, the search began. 

I think I looked at over 150 horses since February, and only a handful made the short list.  For one reason or another, something would fall through or not work out, and the roller coaster that is horse shopping continued on.   Then, in the most unexpected way I was given a game changer: some anonymous people offered to purchase me a competition horse for the purpose of competing in the upper levels.  I was stunned at such a generous gift!  It allowed me to pursue avenues that I would not have thought possible, and opened so many doors to finding a really special horse.  Working with Alex Robertson and Bastian Schroder I must have looked at hundreds of video clips of horses in Germany, and we vetted one that didn't work out.  They were so patient and really kept after it!  I happened to give another friend of mine, Courtney Cooper a call to keep her eye out for me as well, and lo and behold, she was making a trip to Ireland the following week to look at horses for herself.  She kindly offered to look around for me as well, and I didn't think too much of it until I got an email a few days later.

Some of you probably know Courtney or have heard of her and her husband Neal's place C Square Farm.  Let me tell you, Courtney is an amazing lady.  First off, she is a MASTER baker; I hope I get cookies this year.  We have had the pleasure of working with Courtney on several buying trips, and she helped  match us up with the lovely Zophie for Jessica.  She has seen me ride a fair bit, and knows what I like, so I had full faith in her judgement. 

When I got the call/email/video of two horses that she thought I might like, I couldn't get home fast enough to see the footage.  Right off the bat, I thought Clover Joe was a great jumper with a good walk and canter.  She sent video of her riding as well as the current owner, Steve Smith.  They kindly posted more video at my request, and after talking, and thinking, and talking, and talking, (Courtney is a saint) and getting more pictures, we decided to go for it and vet him!  I have never bought a horse without riding it before and never off a video, but I was confident that having Courtney ride him would tell me what I needed to know.  I knew that whatever I bought needed to be a very good jumping horse with quite a bit of Thoroughbred blood, and that it was ok if it needed a little help on the flat.  This horse was right up my alley.  He passed the vet, and a deal was struck! 

Now that everything is done, and arrangements are being made for his arrival from Ireland, its starting to sink in.  I randomly get goosebumps and teary eyed when thinking/ talking/blogging about this whole process.  It seems so surreal that people would do something of this magnitude for me.  I have so much still to learn, and that they would put their faith in me is well, I don't know what it is.  I am so completely touched that really I am speechless (not that you would know it from this book I just wrote). 

Thank you Courtney Cooper.

Thank you Anonymous Friends who made this all possible.

How do you thank Santa Claus? 

One Event at a time.

Kentucky Wrap up

Sunday dawned sunny and hot with the temp at 85 degrees at 8am.  Tsjesse was first on the docket at 8:15 (thankfully due to how hot it would be later)and was a bit tired after putting everything he had into the test on Sat, but did a good test finishing 3rd out of 15 in the final PSG of the weekend.  This horse needs lots of carrots!!!! He was such a good boy and I was so proud and grateful to ride him for Marian and Michael Shaughnessy!

Tiffany was up next and put in a super confident, powerful stadium round on Cisco coming in within the time and leaving the rails in the cups.  She did a great job training her horse this weekend, and while she may not have finished where she wanted, she learned alot about him, herself as a confident rider, and became a better horsewoman and rider than she already was. Great job!  I then shot over to XC warmup with Jessica and Zophie, where Zophie told us she was super excited to finally run cross country!  Jessica piloted her around the BN course with ease finishing in 3rd place!  Congratulations!

Lastly, York and I had the Training Level Qualifier at 2pm.  It was SO HOT!  I think the heat got to him a bit and he put in a respectable test and got his qualifying score.  The judges all seemed to really love this horse with only one of 6 scores being a 68.9 and the rest being in the 70's.  I am very excited to see Angela ride this horse in competition and hopefully qualify for Regionals.  I also need to give her a HUGE THANK YOU as the unsung hero this weekend, toughing it out with me in the blistering heat doing chores, bathing, grooming & tacking horses, and being such an immense pillar of support.  It was so fun to have her there!  She is one of my biggest supporters, and I can't thank her enough for everything she does behind the scenes!

As a side note on the whole 26 thing...

After I finished recounting the events of the PSG Saturday and recurring  "26" in everything I have been doing lately to a friend of mine named Kristi, she said, "Well of course you won on Saturday, it was MAY 26th!" 

Enough said.  Lotto anyone?

26 strikes again!

When i arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park on Wednesday with two horses instead of the three I was slated to bring, I couldn't help but feel a little sad that my buddy Goodman had to stay home due to a slight injury.  I should have known as soon as I saw my stall number...oh yes you guessed it stall #226 that God had something special in store for me this weekend. 

Thursday we began showing, and I had Tsjesse in the PSG and York, Angela Hambrick's newly re-vocationed dressage horse at his first time in the Training Level.  The competition was very steep and York was in the 70's, specifically 72 and 73, but still came in 4th and 5th.  Tsjesse did a good test with some mistakes that put us in fourth with a 63.  When checking ride times for Friday, I noticed I was in ring "R".  Huh, what is ring "R" I asked the Secretary.  She smiled and said "Its the Rolex Arena", and handed me a schooling sheet for when I could get in the ring to let him check out the atmosphere.  I have always dreamed of riding in that arena, but never imagined it would be on a dressage horse! 

Tsjesse was a star in the arena, and settled right in, hardly affected by any of the pomp and circumstance.  I have to say I was a bit nervous and had a fairly good test until the changes, when I simply over rode, and tried to hard, causing us to have some major miscommunication and mistakes in both the fours and the threes.  We got a 63 again.  I was so mad at myself! Charlotte Bayley Schindelholz was watching my test and gave me a few tips as I exited that I stored away for my next ride.  Luckily, I had the opportunity to ride in the arena again on Saturday, so I was determined to redeem myself.

Saturday was crazy!  Jessica and Tiffany had come in on Friday for the event (that's a whole story of how they broke down on the road outside Cinci that I wont go into here) and I had to juggle trying to do my rides but also help coach them.  We started the day with Jess in dressage and she did a good test.  Then it was off to showjumping for her, where Zophie thought the cattle trailer was going to eat her for lunch.  Jess did a great job riding through it, and had a double clear round.  Thank goodness we had a golf cart, because I high tailed it back to the barn and started getting Tsjesse ready with the help of my friend Mary McKeon.  Off we went for the long walk to the Rolex Arena.

I started warming Tsjesse up in the walk, doing lots of traver, renver, shoulder-in, and walk pirouettes, really driving home the consistency of bend poll to tail, and keeping the hind legs connected.  As I progressed to trot, we continued on the same path, adding 10 and 15 meter circles again, addressing the balance, and bending.  All of a sudden, I started getting more horse.  I noticed that several riders were dismounting so I thought I would check to see what was going on .  Apparently, the wrong ride times had been posted, and I had to wait 20 minutes!  This is not good for a big, black Friesian in 94 degree heat!  I dismounted as well, and stood under a tree until 20 minutes before my test.  I finished my warm-up with lots of 10 meter canter circles to half pass, keeping him bent and balanced, and popped those changes each once.  As I headed into the arena, I could tell he was a little tense.  I just gave him a pat, picked up a trot and focused on moving his body so he could refocus.  I had developed alot more cadence and carrying power in my warm-up, and he was right there throughout the test.  We rode one of the cleanest tests we have ever done, and kept a good rhythm through most of the movements.  I was thrilled.  As I exited, the judge commented on what a great horse he was, and I said, "He is just so fun to ride!"  and looked up at the score board.  It was showing a 70.5%!  I couldn't believe it!  Then the announcer made the official score call and I was the new leader in the Prix St. George!  I was stunned!  Everyone started clapping, and Tsjesse was so proud of himself!  We held our lead and won the class of approximately 10 or 11 on our personal best score of 70.526%.  I can't say enough how grateful I am to Marian Shaughnessy for having me ride this spectacular horse, and I am enjoying every minute of learning!

Tiffany was dealt the short end of the stick in the coaching department as since my ride on Tsjesse was so late, I could only watch her for about 10 minutes before I had to get on York.  She did a great test and was in the Top Ten in a class of 22!  Meanwhile, York scored a 73 and was fifth again...  Tiff went cross country as the last ride of the day and really shone as a rider, getting a hot tired horse through the finish flags.  She really dug deep to get Cisco around as he was definitely affected by the heat, and I am so proud of her for getting it done safely!

Tomorrow Jess has XC, Tiff has stadium, and I have the boys in one class each.  Hopefully we can pull off another great test, but in the meantime, check out this video of us executing our winning ride.  Go Tsjesse!  You are amazing my friend, truly amazing.

And as far as you 26's go, well, keep 'em coming! This is getting fun!

Happy Mother's Day at Stonegate Farm

Happy Mother's Day  to all our friends and Mom's out there!  We had a fabulous weekend at the Winona Horse Trials.  Tiffany and Cisco put in a solid dressage test sitting them tied for fifth in an Open Novice division that contained a few notable pros from the area!  They followed it up with a great stadium round, and tackled the cross country on Sunday with panache.  This pair has really come a long way since last year, and they jumped around the XC with style, poise, and an excellent rhythm throughout, landing them in fourth!

Jessica and Zophie made their comback in an Open Beginner Novice division with style! Zophie and Jessica had been on a hiatus due to an injury that required surgery and left Zophie sidelined since August of last year.  Jessica put in her time and it paid off this weekend with a lovely dressage test, and nearly foot perfect stadium round.  You would have never known they had not been on a cross country course since July as they rocked around the BN course with ease, and practically flawless tempo that brought her in 3 seconds under Optimum Time, clinching 3rd place! 

We have this weekend off, and are looking forward to Silva Martin joining us for the day on May 22nd for a dressage clinic.  We then head out to the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park for the KDA Dressage show and MayDaze Horse Trial.  Until then, have a great ride!

Keeping the faith

Prospect 1

Well, looking for a new event horse has certainly proven to be more of a task than I could have possibly imagined.  Some would say I am too picky, and others might say not picky enough.  I took a chance and flew to Florida this past Monday and Tuesday to look at two possible prospects (yes only two), one of which I was super excited to see. 
Despite a bumpy flight due to the high winds, I made it into Orlando earlier than expected, and settled in to my lovely accomodations thanks to my friend Catana!  She has a beautiful farm near Ocala, and I was very lucky to get to stay there!  My friend Alex Robertson kindly offered to take me around and show me horses-he sold us Sarotti and Tsjesse- and we had lots of fun; especially cross country schooling one of the horses that he owned and has alot of potential.  Our next stop was to see a horse at Samantha and Pierre St. Jacques, that I think will be a really beautiful horse for an AA. It was nice to meet them and their beautiful new baby, and chat with Samantha about horses.   Our final prospect was a horse I had been stalking since the fall, that has competed at an unrecognized HT and YEH class in 2012.  Maybe I built the horse up too much in my brain, but he was not exactly as I remembered. I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet Peter Gray, and tried to not be too nervous riding his horse!  So, slightly deflated and mind spinning a mile a minute, I flew home to think.  After much consideration I decided to go forward with the horse in a previous blog, Blockbuster (whom I loved right from the start), only to find out that he was sold the day before.  Talk about luck.  I keep telling myself that it just wasn't meant to be, but its still hard! 
 Finding that really special one with great gaits for dressage, a good mind, and spectacular jump is so tough! I know there is one out there and I keep telling myself to just keep the faith, let everything fall into place, and I will know when its the right one.

Chances are...

Chances Are was the name of my first "real" event horse.  He was (you guessed it) a chestnut Thoroughbred that I competed to Novice. While I mostly did unrated horse trials with Chance, he  was a great horse, and I sold him before going to college to a sweet girl who wanted to do dressage.  I was a DQ even then.  I loved his name because I felt like it was full of hope and promise of the future; one that would take me to competing in equestrian sports at a high level.

Somethings can be left to Chance.  There is a chance that you can achieve things that you have only dreamt of. Chance meetings, lucky chances, chances of a lifetime.  Sometimes, you have to take a "chance" and wait to see what will happen.  Life is full of "Chances", if we could just recognize when they are happening .  Sometimes they are small everyday occurances that we take for granted, or the interaction with an aqaintance, friend or client.  Everyday, we are given chances, and its up to us to make the most of them. 

I am so blessed to have been given so very many chances, opportunities, and straight out gifts, that I am in awe of  God, the Universe, and people around me.  As I embark on what is sure to be the beginning of a great adventure and chance of a lifetime tomorrow, I feel like a kid in the candy store. I can only pray that God will continue to guide my path and lead me to the right series of events.  Thank you to everyone who is being so supportive and keeps making amazing things happen in my life.

"Ask and it shall be given you."
"Knock and it shall be opened unto you."

"SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND."

My faith is in You!

Lets go Eventing!

Moi, Jim Wofford, & Sarah Greer

After a month of fun and successful Dressage shows and clinics, I was ready to hit the cross-country track and play with some stadium rails!  The first week of April we headed out to Jackie Smith's Stonegate Farm in Hanoverton for a fun day of schooling with Tiffany, Myra, Marie's horse Princess, and Zigzag.  We had a gorgeous day with sunny blue sky, a gentle breeze, and practically perfect ground.  Tiffany & Cisco schooled the Novice and a bit of Training like pros, showing that they are ready to hit the first horse trial of the year with confidence, and Myra & Mikey had their first successful outing together!  Myra is building a great partnership with this cute horse, and it was fun to see her get really brave as the school went on, doing the water, bank and putting several fences together.  Zigzag schooled with his regular poise and vigor after shaking off some rust, and eagerly hopped around the Prelim water, bank and shelter.  Princess is a new horse to us and this was my first time with her cross-country.  She is a bold, fearless mare, and we had a great run around the Novice and Training working on rideability and the transition from galloping to preparing for a fence.  She was lots of fun, and its always great to have the opportunity to ride a client's horse in order to get a birds eye view of what's going on.  Thanks Marie!

April 14th and 15th we attended the Jim Wofford Clinic at South Farm put on by Sarah Greer and Chris Gable.  First of all, a huge thank you to Sarah and Chris for bringing one of Eventing's Legends to our area.  Its not easy to put these clinics on, and to bring someone of this caliber to our backyard is really special.  I rode two horses in the clinic, one a catch ride of Kathy Henry and Sarah's named Klue, and the second my faithful companion Z.  I was excited and humbled that Kathy and Sarah would ask me to ride Klue for them as I had not ridden him since the summer, and really enjoyed being teamed up with one of my old pals.  He was a really good boy, and though a little past having to stand around, jumped great, and gave me some good points to think about in my daily riding.  Klue is a fancy horse that will make a SUPER dressage horse...I have no doubt that we will see him in the FEI dressage ring at some point.

 "Z" was stellar the first day for all the grid work and I enjoyed working on letting him figure things out without so much help from me.  I have to admit riding to a grid with no leg and long reins is a bit unnerving, but it was a great exercise in training the fifth leg of the horse!  The second day was course work and riding related distances, which for us can sometimes be a challenge as "Z" likes to head on down the line (read: charge down the line to the next jump)! Jim gave me some great tips like staring at the pole of the fence I was jumping to help keep him focused and not override to the next fence, as well as making the half halt quickly at the landing to let him move evenly up to the next jump. 
This was my second time riding with Jim, and I enjoyed his "playful" banter and thoughtful comments that got to the point.  He gave great examples and multiple analogies to help drive home ideas and training principles, and it was fabulous to have the opportunity to pick his brain about my "next steps."  I was seriously pinching myself during our discussion!

A huge thank you to the person who sponsored me for this clinic~what a gift!