Prix de Ville 2012!

From left: Sanae Tanebe, Leah Fredericks, Therese Evans,
Mandy Williams, Tiffany George-Kete

 What a weekend!  I am so very proud of all our riders this past weekend at the Prix de Ville at Lake Erie College!  We had such a great group of ladies making up our team, and lots of supporters coming out to cheer them on. The camraderie was so amazing!   Everyone worked really hard to get their horses ready and it showed, with a fifth place finish out of fifteen teams!  Thrilled doesn't begin to describe how excited I was that they were able to do this together!

Tiffany and Cisco

Tiffany and Cisco made their USDF debut at First Level with an impressive set of scores in the mid sixties!  This horse and rider pair are eventers turned DQ for the weekend, and they really brought the team home with great rides each day.  Its always tough being the last team rider of the day, but Tiffany is a seasoned competitor and handled the stress with class and poise, laying down solid, competitive tests each day (highlight score of 65%).  I am so proud of how hard Tiffany has worked and how far she and Cisco have come in the last year.  Its going to be exciting watching them event this summer now that the dressage is going to feel "easy" at Novice!

Leah and Earl

Leah and Earl were our lead off pair every day, and did a fabulous job starting us off with all their scores in the high sixties. (Read 69, 68, 67%) Leah is also an eventer, and Earl is actually her Mom Pat's horse, and I have only been working with them for a couple of months.  They also have worked hard, and Pat even rode Earl every day while Leah was on vacation to help get him ready.  They were a great cheering section for all the other riders throughout the day, and considering that Earl was just figuring out his balance in the canter a month ago, they turned in an outstanding performance.

Mandy and Saint

Mandy & Saint probably had their best rides to date, and were pushed up to 1st Level at this show so that we could have a team of four riders.  Mandy has been working hard to prepare Saint without burning him out, and has improved him by leaps and bounds in a few short weeks.  I am so happy that we finally got to take her with us to a horse show!  She was amazing, showing up at the crack of dawn every morning, and helping me and Mary M get everyone ready all day long.  While Saint was a bit tired the second day, Mandy rode two good tests on Friday and Sunday, and has just begun to scratch the surface of what this horse has to offer.  I am so proud of her!



Sanae Training Level
Reserve Champion

Sanae and Leggs

Sanae and Leggs were our secret weapon, pulling out some fantastic scores(71%, 68%!) and finishing the weekend as the Training Level Reserve Champions!  Sanae purchased Leggs a little over a year ago and has been diligently developing her partnership with this sweet little horse.  She had a turning point in Aiken this year, and boy did it show this weekend!  It was exciting to see the joy on her face when she found out she got a 71% on Saturday!  If this weekend is any indication, they are going to have a great show season this year!

I can't say enough times how proud I am at the successes of each of these riders and how wonderful it was (and how lucky I am) to coach such a fun team!  I greatly enjoyed the atmosphere, and thanks to all our friends who came out to support our group!  You really made it special.

On a side note, Tsjesse and Goodman also competed as individuals, and Goodman got a qualifying score for championships and Devon on Sunday!  I was very happy to finally get this talented guy back in the mid to high sixties.  I also had the opportunity to work with a Friesian trainer from Holland who greatly helped me with the ride on Tsjesse, and I can't wait to continue developing some of the tips he gave me!

Thanks also goes out to our groom extraordinaire, Mary McKeon, for keeping us all organized, clean, and the horses gleaming from start to finish.  It is so awesome to have someone who can run the show and let me just do my job riding and coaching! THANK YOU!

Until next time~