This and that...

Photo credit to JC Kinnamon

Charly and I have our final qualifications for the CCI *** and are preparing for this big task at Bromont (Canada) in June. It will be the biggest challene that either Charly or I have ever faced and both of us are in total fitness bootcamp for the next few weeks!

I spent a few days in California teaching a clinic at Stanford University and at Eden Ranch in Sanger, Ca. California is fabulous in the spring time, as long as you have on sun-screen... ooops. I really enjoy the trips I get to take to the west coast, teaching is definitely a favorite part of my equestrian life. It's really a great feeling to be able to help people "learn" and feel how to better their riding and their horses.

I've also really enjoyed being able to help some youngsters come to the east coast and get a small "taste" of the differences from coast to coast. This summer Lauren Billys will be coming out to compete her mare and get a bit of work experience in a few different equestrian businesses.

Day 1 Jersey Fresh CIC ***

Charly and I were lucky enough to not get poured on during our warm up and I think Charly really appreciated the dry ground in the indoor when we did our test!

Last night I slept in my horse trailer and have never heard such hard rain, I woke up twice to downpours... it supposedly rained two inches, sounded like six! Mark Phillips and I talked on Wed evening and agreed that for Charly it would be best to do a condensed warm up as the footing was sure to be super sloppy. All worked out to plan, Charly had a long hand walk in the morning and a good walk hack with a 20+ min warm up. Mark said Charly looked the best that he's ever seen and all the US selectors that saw our ride agreed. We received a bit of a disappointing score of a 56, however, Couragous Comet received a 50 and he's a dressage king! Our score has us placed in 7th place, a place I'm quite happy to be in with this outstanding group.

Since we've moved up to Advanced this was our first test where we didn't have any oops moments; I'm thrilled to feel like we are now really riding at this level. I know our canter work has to continue to improve, I need to get Charly stronger in his collected canter so that he can maintain a better quality throughout the test. However, I finally got a really nice AND submissive medium canter and two clean changes :)

I got to walk around the cross country today with my coach, Boyd Martin, and we were both very impressed with the design and questions. Tomorrow we'll go out again and make a plan for Saturday. Cross your fingers that the rain goes away!

Havarah Twitter!

We are trying out this Twitter feed for keeping everyone updated at the events live, while it's going one. If you have an account already it's pretty simple. Just go to this link:

http://twitter.com/havarahEquine


Click on the follow button and turn on your device updates if you'd like to get updates sent to your phone.

If you don't already have an account I would imagine you could still click on the above link and create one. It's a pretty simple process. I would suggest adding your phone if you'd like to get text updates. The updates will be short and sweet.

I'll be updating this weekend except of course when I'm riding. Bryce will probably do some updates as I'm riding. We'll twitter the times when I'm going in advance so you can stay tuned to the twitter feed at those times but we'll also try to include some other observations and goings on backside in the stall area and at the event in general.

Stay tuned and please email me if you have any further questions or just comment here on my blog.

P.S. - The search function on Twitter is not working for some reason so if your having any issues finding my twitter page please use the link I provided above.

Fair Hill starter trials

The Fair Hill starter trials were a great success! Beaugeste had his first event and was a very good pony, he thinks this sport might actually keep him entertained for awhile! I have big hopes for this big pony, he has enough character to fill an entire trailer and is brave enough to stand up to any task. This horse has an exciting future ahead of him. It was really nice that his owner, Lauren Lenfest, was able to come witness Beau's first outing.

Hannah Metz also had her first event and finished on her dressage score receiving 4th place! Hannah has improved by leaps and bounds and seems to be pretty hooked into this sport :)

Christine, Barb and Mary; all pretty seasoned eventers, had a fun and educational day. All taking away some good pointers for how to improve upon their competition. I am a big fan of these one day events, it's a great low key way to help you become a better competitor.