Have I Created a Monster?

I'm off this Thursday to Vermont to shoot the Training 3-Day at GMHA. Once again I will have a team of (wonderful) helpers so that I can operate a viewing station on-site. To the casual visitor this may not seem like a big deal, but trust me, it is. And after the first two events doing this I am beginning to wonder if I haven't created a Monster.

On the rider's side... being able to see one's photos while still at the event is a fun thing. No waiting a few days/weeks until they are posted on the website. My set-up works well too because the person manning the viewing station can show how the images would look straightened, cropped etc. and it seems many like this feature. They can of course, order prints etc. right then and there and I offer Event Specials (ex. free shipping) to encourage orders. Many do place orders, but frankly, the majority seem to just want to look at their pics and those of their friends, critique them, laugh at them, admire them, but not order them.

On the Hoof Pix side... this whole venture is stressful and very expensive to operate. I won't itemize what it takes, but the costs, so far, out weigh the proceeds... BIG time. For one, having a "team" means payroll. Luckily for me (and my customers), my team has consisted of FANTASTIC friends who just want to help and are OK with not getting paid. That said, I take care of all travel, accommodations, food expenses for my "team". Multiply that by 5 or 6 people ...and the sale of a few 4x6 Proofs @ $10 each ain't gonna cut it. Plus I feel I am living on borrowed time. How long will these wonderful friends want to keep helping me? With each new event, I struggle to find enough "volunteers" to help. The caveat is that I can't do this with just one or two helpers... I need at least 4 more bodies who are computer-savvy and/or able to shoot AND are happy working long hours with no pay!

So what is the solution I ask myself? Should I continue to offer this service (on-site viewing) at selected events or return to my usual business workflow of shooting alone (or with an occasional assistant) and posting the images a week or two after the event? Sure would cut down on expenses. If I no longer continue the on-site service, will I start hearing the complaints? get passed over as official photographer for another who can do this? I fear the Monster has raised it's ugly head, the Monster being my customers who now have expectations but don't want to pay for them.

Priorities

I knew when I started this blog in the winter that posting in the busy summer would be a challenge. Not surprisingly, I was right.

It all comes down to setting priorities of which I have waaayyyy too many! According to the dictionary, a priority is: a thing that is regarded as more important than another. So, here is my list IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER OF PRIORITY):

- Hoof Pix® (= happy customers = income. hahahahah, that always cracks me up);

- Digital Imagery (the card/poster side of Hoof Pix®, the website of which is buggy right now);

- riding / competing Irish (= happy me / loss of income);

- barn/farm chores (includes organizing weekly lessons / clinics on Hoof Pix® Farm)

- posting to this Blog / FaceBook (= staying in touch & promoting the business);

- husband, cats, household stuff (paying bills, groceries, cooking, cleaning (NOT!)

Since it's inception (1992) Hoof Pix® has taken top priority with respect to my time. And believe me, travel and computer work could easily occupy 28 hours of the day, if I let it. But for the next few years (I hope), this will change, somewhat. What has happened is Irish and me. We are finally on the same page and have begun to event again after several years of lost confidence following a nasty fall. With tons of wonderful instruction & support from my coach, Babette Lenna, including the past two winters with her in Aiken, SC, I am psyched and thrilled with our progress and intend to get out there this year as much as my shooting schedule allows.

For the summer months at least, this Blog will have to take a lower priority, not because I don’t enjoy it, but because I want to spend my time with Irish, and I MUST spend my time running the business. A friend commented recently that this is OK. She and other “fans” of the blog are also busy this time of year and have less time to visit the Blog.

I guess its a win-win situation. I will do my best to post when I can, and my readers can visit on occasion to see what’s new.

Tally Ho!

  A great weekend.  Not only the glorious summer-like temps, but two excursions with Irish that worked out exactly as I had hoped.  The plan was to drive to the Cheney's farm in Lyman (Rest and Be Thankful Farm), have a jump lesson with Babette, spend the night and continue to Hamilton Mass on Sunday morning to partake in a ride with the Myopia Hunt hounds.  Well, that's exactly what happened, as planned, no glitches, no delays... and lot of fun to boot!

  The last time Irish & I were at RABT farm was Jan. 25th when he shipped to Aiken (see the January archive). I hardly recognized the place when we pulled in Saturday.... green grass, flowers, no snow or ice. George & Michele are working hard to prepare their beautiful 40 acre farm for 3 clinics with Babette, and other festivities. George started "small" by building a multi-level water complex!  Below are Meghan Smith & Rikita testing the waters during their lesson with Babette. Makes me wonder what George has in mind for the next obstacles he plans to build.

   Our jump lesson with Babette was great, picking up from 2 weeks ago. We finished with a few rounds through the water too!

Up early Sunday morning and off to ride with the hounds!  I am exagerating here of course... more like a walk with the hounds.  But that is exactly the experience I wanted for Irish since he has never A) seen a pack of hounds nor B) ridden with more than 5 or 6 horses in a group. Thank goodness I had introduced him to cows a few years ago, with the wonderful help of Elijah Moore in Belfast, Maine. 

The skills I learned from that experience helped tremendously when Irish first saw the pack of hounds running towards us across the big, lush green Myopia polo field. I could feel his heart pounding under the saddle & knew what was coming... spin, bolt, spin, bolt. I turned him away and moved him to a position where he could watch the hounds from behind.  This is what works with the cows, they are scary when they come at the horse, but when the horse can follow the cow, life is much better.  

 

Irish loved herding the cows! it gave him a sense of power to know he could make them run away. It also gave him greater confidence when dealing with other scary things in the world (except for crickets and horse-eating chipmunks).

   So, this was how we dealt with the hounds. Before I knew it, Irish was right up front and wanting to get as close as possible to the pack. Normally, this is tabu in the hunt field, but Myopia started these Sunday walks to specifically allow new horses & riders a quiet, safe, casual way to get used to everything.  The Huntsman would stop occasionally and encourage everyone to ride up closer to the hounds, who of course had no fears about running behind & under the horses.  The other accomplishment was riding in a large group of horses... 30-40 others showed up, some seasoned hunters, some very cute ponies and very small kids, one green horse who was jumping and jigging and in near panic.  Irish took it all in stride and remained well behaved in the front, middle and back of the field.

Are we ready to take on an actual hunt? not likely anytime soon.  Myopia is a drag hunt which means face paced.  Walking around the countryside as we did yesterday is one thing... galloping behind baying hounds surrounded by other galloping horses, is another.  Maybe we'll try our hand at roping cows first, then think about a hunt!

(cow photos taken by fellow cowgirl, Halla Black)

It's the Little Things...

Sometimes, as with life in general, it's the seemingly trivial moments that give us the most pleasure with our horses. I was reminded of this recently during my trip to get Irish from Babette at Gathering Farm.  There, I re-connected with Ashley Ireland, a delightful young lady (from Maine) who began working for Babette last summer.  Ashley was not able to come to Aiken with us, but joined Babette a few weeks ago to be her barn manager at Gathering Farm. 

 I know Ashley from photographing her for many years and watched her develop into a lovely rider/eventer.  The last photos I took of Ashley and her mare Dream, were from Snowfields H.T. 2007.  Sometime after that, Dream sustained the dreaded suspensory injury and was laid up until a few months ago (sorry Ashley if I'm not totally correct on the timing).  As with so many horse injuries, Dream's recovery must have seemed like a very long road filled with worry/dread that she might not be able to event again.  It's times like these, after an injury, accident or otherwise bad ordeal, that we are most likely to experience and really appreciate the "Little Things" with our horses.

 Ashley got the green light to proceed with Dream's rehab this winter. When I pulled into Gathering, she gave me a big hug and a review of her year. She was bubbling and ecstatic and SO excited with each step of Dream's progress.  A few weeks ago she started Dream back over ground poles and with giggles and laughter related how difficult it was to contain her mare's enthusiasm (wanting to leap over the poles). You would have thought Ashley was talking about her first ride at Rolex.  The next day (of my visit at Gathering), the ground poles became X-bars. When Ashley described the lesson one would think this was her first time jumping and they were flying over 5 foot oxers!  Hopping over the little jumps was just so much fun!!  With her super-positive attitude, I have no doubt Ashley and Dream will be tearing up the XC courses in no time!

  

Waking Up to Spring

  Our lake "opened up" totally yesterday (for you Southerners, that means no more ICE). This is always a sign of Spring despite what the thermometer says. I woke this morning (sunrise ~6:00 *yawn*) to a crystal clear, blue sky, above freezing temps ... and critters galore. Our house sits ~100 ft from the shore of a small, very small lake, Medomak Pond, decorated with a handful of houses and no motorized boats.  The glassy surface was disturbed ever so slightly by the wake of a beaver paddling close to the shore.  Along side the beaver, in V-formation were 8 Harlequin ducks, barely causing a ripple as they glided along.  

Watching intently from above, in one of the oak trees just outside our kitchen window, was one of 'our' bald eagles.

  

I never know which of the eagle family is in the tree until I tip-toe out with my camera and huge lens. The adults have eyes in the backs of their heads and sense my approach early on. The juveniles are less skittish and often let me get to the base of the tree before flying off. This is a game I never get tired of, and am still trying to get that one great shot.

And then we have our fox families with whom I have a love/hate relationship. I love them because, well, they are foxes... beautiful, fluffy, healthy red coats with white-tipped tails. They run effortlessly, almost on air. And the cubs!  cuter than any puppy. A few years ago, the den was in a thicket between my barn and riding arena. Seven cubs were always out and about, playing in the bushes, basking in the sun on the warm sand of the arena. Mom & Dad were never very happy when I got close with my camera and eventually moved the pups to a safer location. Each year the den was somewhere else, but we always saw the fox families in the early morning or evening, frolicking like kittens.  

I hate the foxes because they LOVE my cats.  We have been lucky so far, but Yang in particular has had too many close calls. She is always the one who manages to get chased and treed by a fox several times each spring. I soon learned whenever she was AWOL for 24 hours to look UP during my searches and listen for her YOWL. Twice last year I saw a fox sitting at the base of a tree in which Yang was perched high above. In one summer, Yang was treed at least 5 times (that I know of). She failed the "Climbing Down from the Tree" class in kitten-school so many of those times we would lug a ladder to the tree and help her. The one time she tried to come down by herself didn't go so well...

 

Two days ago, Kevin looked out the back and saw the first fox of the season.  We were delighted until we noticed he was hunched down, ready to pounce.  I stepped outside, clapped my hands and yelled until he ran off. 30 seconds later, FuzzButt and Yin came roaring out of the bushes as fast as all 8 legs could carry them to the house... tails in full fuzz!   This is why part of me dreads seeing the beautiful foxes on the farm.

I end this post with a sad note from Polly in Aiken. Our community Bunnie (remember Sophie?) has passed to the Great Carrot Patch in the sky. Polly saw her limp body just across the street from her house. Soon after, a woman appeared, put Sophie in the trunk of her car and drove off.  We hope it was her original owner who will give her a nice memorial service. Now I face the difficult task of breaking the news to FuzzButt whose last meeting with Sophie was a Pax de Deux of sorts in our back yard one evening.  The tides turned when Sophie began to follow FB everywhere she went.  If I called to her and she'd come up for a pet, Sophie would charge up too!  FB was NOT going to let this mammoth thing get close to her, so she'd run off only to be hopped after.  Kev & I got quite a chuckle watching the interaction.

Here's to you Sophie... it was lovely knowing ya'. 

  

What Goes Around Comes Around

  It's hard to believe, but my time in Aiken is over. Two months... wow, seems like just a couple of weeks. But here we are, in bumper to bumper traffic somewhere in NC crawling along due to construction up ahead. This is actually a good thing... Kevin is driving the trailer for the first time, so moving at 15 mph is giving him time to get use to it!

Recapping the past week post-polo... on Monday Pol, Em, Susan and I took one last glorious ride together at Hitchcock Woods,.  a 2000 acre forest on the edge of Aiken with miles and miles of sandy trails and no motorized traffic. The Woods is home to one of Aiken's fox hunts, so jumps are everywhere.

  The next day was pack-up at the farm & prepare for TJ's arrival Wed. Polly & Em moved Tahd, Doug & Matty to a wonderful stable in town, sitting on the edge of the track. Irish, Rakita and Spider loaded into TJ's van noon on Wed. and arrived at Gathering Farm (new home of B-Eventing!) about 30 hours later, tired but in good shape.

   Then the rains came on Thursday which made it easier to finish up loose ends related to work and start the packing process. We enjoyed a last supper with Pol & Em at a brand new cajun restaurant Thurs. night, finished packing Friday and hit the road early this AM.

Pol & Em are the lucky ones... remaining with their horses in Aiken for another month.  Miss you already!! see you at King Oak?!

 

Keeping One Eye on the Ball

   The polo leg of the Aiken Triple Crown did happen on Sunday. The rain left and skies cleared but the wind was fierce!  Sadly our plan for a big sideline party was whittled down to Polly, Em, Susan Cipolla and me.  The rest of our group had departed for home very early Sunday morning. 

   Polly purchased the sideline parking pass which we shared, and we set up our goodies alongside the "pros" who come every year, much like tailgating at a football game. When I discovered that Emily is a budding 

photographer, I loaned her my "smaller" telephoto lens so she could shoot the festivities and get closer to the action.

Polo is fun to photograph because it is so challenging. Its one thing to aim & focus on the galloping horses, but quite another to include a fast-moving, small white ball and flailing mallets in the frame too. I learned to keep my eye on the path of the ball, trusting that horses would immediately fill the frame.  Unlike eventing or dressage where I take pride in capturing the "moment" with one or two exposures (one of my pet peeves is when someone stands next to me and holds their finger on the shutter button), I lowered myself to rapid fire while shooting the polo action. As long as the histogram was telling me the exposures were on ... I figured I'd get a few cool shots, and I did.  

                            

Of course, I also had to shoot my favorite motion blurs.....

   

Upon reviewing the images, I noticed that ponies galloping side-by-side would often have the same stride, all 4 or 8 legs in sync...

   A "pax de deux" of sorts.  Care to dance?

SIGNS of Spring

  My how time flies. One week from today Kev, Kabootle (aka FuzzButt) and I will be heading back to Maine, hopefully to lovely warm weather with no early Spring snow storm, no ice, no mud. I know, I know, time to face reality. At least the spring in Aiken is in full bloom, literally. Kevin remarked yesterday how suddenly everything is flowering, not just bushes and flowers, but the trees. Look UP and flowers are everywhere. We have been taking late afternoon walks around our neighborhood, amazed at all the plants we don't recognize (i.e., remember) after spending 18+ years living in Florida. And the grass... up until the first heavy rains of a few weeks ago everything was brown, not anymore!  And to think we get to enjoy all of this again back home.

  

  Activities of the B-Eventing team post-Pine Top have wound to a trickle. Irish and I had two days after Pine Top to cram for the combined test at Sporting Days. It was a good outing for our first competition since August (before I broke the wrist). In a nutshell, Irish was a good boy in both tests, strong and forward, but seemed happy to be out competing again. We were second after dressage (33.7), a score that could have been lower had I re-read the test (one early trot-depart, and a halt at G instead of X).  Irish was quite strong in the show jumping. Major half-halts applied between fences accrued time faults, but he did come back into a "quality canter" before each fence and jumped clean. We finished 4th, happy and eager to work toward the next event.

  Today was supposed to be the third leg of the Aiken Triple Crown, the polo match. Mother Nature has decided otherwise and planned a day of strong thunderstorms, hail, high winds and a possible tornado.  If they hold the polo game tomorrow and we go, I'll put some pics in the next post.

Meanwhile, Babette and Lucy along with Bouncer, Dex, Oliver and Joey, are scheduled to leave for Massachusetts early (4 AM!) tomorrow morning. Then it will really be quiet at the barn. Irish ships with TJ on Wednesday!

Finally, speaking of SIGNS, Kev and I had quite a chuckle when we saw this one in town...

  We had fun attaching a meaning to it. Please keep your comments on the clean side!

Finishing Up at Pine Top

  I dragged my husband Kevin along to watch the team run XC.  I enticed him with promises of sunshine, scenery and exercise (he loves to take long walks)... and I fulfilled this promise with a lovely day, great viewing on the course, and about 10 trips back and forth to the trailer to get each horse ready.

  All three redheads had very good XC rounds. Babette and Dex finally spoke the same language and were in sync after the first few fences on a rather large training level course. She let him go his own pace and he jumped clean. Subtract the time faults and they finished on their dressage score. Polly and Matty had a glorious round both looking happy and forward.  Babette and Oliver took a stroll around the park, making the novice course look much too easy. They finished in second place on their dressage score. Time for the move up to training for this lovely redhead!

  Here's a visual summary:  

  Now it's my turn. Irish and I have two days to cram for a BN combined test at Sporting Days... and I still haven't worked on the taxes!!  

Three Redheads

     Writing this from the passenger seat in Lucy's VW as we head to Pine Top horse trials in GA. Babette is competing Oliver and Dex, Polly is riding Matty. Lucy was entered with Bouncer but sadly he strained a front leg a couple of weeks ago and had to scratch. Lucy is in her Super Groom role and if I'm lucky, she'll let me help. Today they rode their dressage and stadium tests, tomorrow will be X-country.

     This is the last USEA competition before everyone heads home. Activities at New Bridge Polo Club have slowed to a crawl, at least with respect to eventers. We are the last group occuping a barn there. The polo ponies have emerged, getting legged up for their season and it's been "interesting" suddenly coming upon a string of them on the roads....two riders each with 3 or 4 ponies and all lined up shoulder to shoulder. Irish was so fascinated when he saw the first string ahead of him, it was all I could do to keep him in walk.. he wanted to catch-up and join the party.

    Writing this from Lucy's car as we are headed home from Pine Top. All riders/horses did

 well today.         Polly is teaching Matty how to be a grown-up horse and not worry when out of sight of his buddies. He did pretty well but would raise an objection from time to time. He had an overall nice dressage test, looking relaxed and rhythmic through most of it, though Polly might beg to differ. He lost focus briefly in stadium when he saw Oliver, they had a couple of rails.

     Babette and Dex  
flew around the stadium course with a clean round. 

     Oliver of course had a splendid round looking more and more ready to move up to training.      Then again, I am a tad biased.   

     I'll report again after tomorrow!

        

Where Did the Heat Go?!

        It was great while it lasted, the 70-80 degree temps we had up until two days ago. Now its back to turtlenecks and a rain jacket for the next few days. We actually need the rain. Its amazing how fast the ground dries even after torrential downpours. The good news ... I can catch up on the blog!
       The weather was perfect, if not a tad too hot, for 3 days at Jumping Branch. I set up my trailer with cards & posters and had moderate sales but a lot of interest and positive reactions. A brisk wind kept me busy policing the posters on flimsy easels as they spent more time tipping over than staying upright. Duct tape is a wonderful thing! Many thanks to Lucy's mom Michele for "manning the booth" for me on Sunday, this was hopefully the beginning of a beautiful business relationship.

     With respect to our team of competitors, all had good/decent dressage tests. Emily on Tahd breezed around the training XC course as did Lucy & Bouncer. Lucy's personal goal was to make the time, which she did. Polly and Matty had a brief bobble on the novice course, but finished up smiling (as usual). They had a lovely stadium round and finished with yet another face-wide grin.

      

  Emily and Tahd tackled their SJ course in good form but had a couple of rails down that dropped them out of the ribbons.

  The B-Eventing Gold Star for this event went to Lucy & Bouncer who finished fifth on their dressage score. Michele & George were present to enjoy their daughter's success which made it all the sweeter AND it was Lucy's birthday on Saturday!

        

  Horse people are generally dog people which means more card material for me. I can't recall ever seeing this many different dog breeds at an event before, Jack Russels and Goldens being the norm. There were also a couple of puppies who were brought to the event in hopes of finding a permanent home. Both were rescued from ditches somewhere in the county. One of the puppies nearly made it in the Cheney's suitcase for the flight back to Maine, but Michele lost out to a group of young girls who work for Kim Severson. It occurred to me that anyone feeling the need to toss unwanted puppies out the car window, should just bring them to a horse event... they would be adopted in minutes.

  Another event down... on to the next, such is life this time of year in Aiken, so we were off to Sporting Days Farm H.T. on Wednesday. Another good day for the B-Event team represented by Emily riding Doug, Polly on Matty, and Babette competing both Dexter (owned by Heidi Beaumont) and Oliver (sponsored by yours truly). The Gold Star went to Oliver this time, finishing second on his dressage score!  For the sake of brevity, here's the digest version:

  Looking ahead (3 more weeks!)... my husband Kevin arrives Wed. night! some of the B-Event team heads to Pine Top next weekend... the Aiken Triple Crown starts today with flat races at the track, steeplechase then polo to follow the next two weekends. I may have one chance to ride Irish in a combined test soon.. anyone want to take photos of us?!!

Preparing for Jumping Branch H.T.

  I wish I could say I am preparing to compete, but Irish & I are not ready for that yet. I wish I could say that I am preparing to photograph, but Sport Horse Studio is the official photog. So the next best job is being a vendor. I'll be setting up the trailer with my cards & posters and high hopes for hundreds of visitors and even more sales.  I designed 6 new cards,

2 of them:

    

and 2 new posters (here's one)

 

  Needless to say, I am keeping this post short so I can "get to it" because there's a lot of "it" to do!

Horse-wise, we had such nasty weather over the weekend that yesterday was the first time aboard Irish since Friday. We had a jumping lesson with Babette that went well despite all the rust that was pouring off me.  We rode a line of small verticals with varying number of strides in-between, trying to maintain rhythm, listen to half-halts and not take off 3 strides from the jump.  I lost count of the number of trips, but we finally had a couple good ones, according to Babette and the peanut-gallery hanging out watching. I commented that these rounds may have looked good, but they sure didn't feel good. So around we went again, this time with the video camera recording every move. Now I know how my customers feel when I point my camera at them! We had a final good round and watching the video convinced me that it felt good too.

  Other news in a nut-shell... this is Eric Horgan's last week, sadly. It will be too quiet around the farm when his gang heads home... Lucy Cheney's parental units Michele & George are scheduled to arrive Thursday for a much needed break from the snow in Maine. They will be here to watch Lucy and Bouncer compete at Jumping Branch... other B-Eventing team members competing will be the Merrill girls, Emily on Katahdin / Polly & Matty... Babette continues to bring Oliver and Joey back into fitness, work the kinks out of Dexter, and keep the operation running smoothly and efficiently.

  I will try to report on the weekend as time permits. If I get internet connection on-site, I might be able to report in real time!  or not... 

Gads! Where did the week go?!

 FuzzButt attacked my toes early this morning as strong encouragement to GET UP .... 1) FEED her, 2) let her out and 3) POST something on the blog.   Here's a digest of the past week.... 

  

 Babette headed north to Gathering Farm Monday afternoon to teach for a few days. This gave me an opportunity to have a lesson with Eric Horgan who shares the facilities here with Babette while conducting his 6-week winter program. 

I try to ride with Eric during the summer whenever my schedule allows, but its been a while and I really enjoyed being under his microscope once again. It always amazes me how he can give the most subtle instructions "relax your stomach" ...   

and you feel an immediate change in the horse's way of going. Needless to say, I am still not in great shape and ended up quite sore from the little we did! 

This turned out to be a good thing.  Instead of sitting my sore butt on Irish the following day, I sat my sore butt in this chair in front of the computer. Once again my work load caught up to me, especially after deciding to be a vendor during the 3 days of Jumping Branch horse trials NEXT weekend. We all know what that means!... design new cards/posters and get them to the printer ASAP!

Back to Babette ... before her flight on Monday, she re-introduced Oliver to jumps since he had not seen them for a few weeks while recovering from a leg wound. He was quite entertaining to watch. Normally an exuberant red-head, he plopped over the small x-rails with an attitude of "why bother? these are beneath my upper-level abilities".  Only after Babette pointed him at a higher vertical (which he knocked down the first time) did he tuck his knees and make an effort. 

    

   Oliver is definitely eager to get back to work.  He tagged along with Dex, Bouncer, Tahd & Matty to a 2-phase held yesterday at Apple Tree Farm South. Babette wanted to get Oliver out and about but not compete quite yet. He had other ideas and objected very loudly when put back in the trailer to wait for Dex & Bouncer to do their things.  

I photographed the activities throughout the day (rider proofs will be posted here in a few days) and almost felt like I was back north seeing so many familiar faces;  Carol Kozlowski, Suzie Gornall, Molly Springer, Lynn Coates Holmes, Corrine Ashton, and many of Alison Easton-Lawler's gang from Apple Tree Farm.  The B-Eventing team had a good day of schooling dressage and show jumping.  Anyone who wanted to could ride a second round for practice.

          

   Dex gave Babette an interesting ride on the first go. He had a hard time wrapping his brain around the task at hand and even put in one of his "I'm outta here... see ya' later" bucks. But Babette persevered and once he focused... he flew!  

               

 

Today we plan an afternoon XC school at Paradise farm, hopefully before the rains come. I just pray I can sit in the saddle comfortably!!

  

Movin' On

   Very cold, blustery winds kept us company for show jumping on Sunday at Paradise Farm. Devoted team member that I am, I stayed in my nice warm cottage "working" while Em and Doug made their early morning round. Doug was a bit spooky (who wouldn't be under those conditions?) but finished with a clear round. 

  Bouncer also decided it was wiser to stay in his nice warm stall. When Lucy pulled him out to get ready, he was a tad "off", nothing serious that some rest and cold water couldn't remedy, so she did the smart thing and scratched. They went out for a hack yesterday and Bouncer seems ready to bounce again.

  Meghan & Rikita had moved up to 4th after their XC ride, so we all braved the chill and went to cheer them on.  (Disclaimer:  my apology for getting Rikita's nick- name wrong all this time, but since no one corrected me I went on my merry way until I overheard Meghan talking about Rikita... *sheesh*).  The two did not disappoint and rode a stead clear round to keep their 4th place!

  As tired as we all were, we went out to dinner that night, partly to celebrate a fun weekend, but also to say good-bye to Meghan (and family) who had to head back to Maine and school.  It was great having you here Meghan... we look forward to riding with you come summer!!  This one's for you & RIKITA!!!

Triple Clear X-Country Day

  Another cool, but gorgeous day. Office work (filling orders! yay!!!) kept me inside until late morning. First on the agenda was to take Irish for a hack. Then buzz over to Paradise Farm to catch Lucy and Meghan ride their XC. Below is a view of the courses as seen from the parking area... a sea of jumps.

 Emily & Doug went early so I missed them but the report from Pol is that they had a lovely ride. Doug was a star and Em did well to stay the course despite a very sore body and stiff neck from yesterday's dump.

Lucy and Bouncer were next to go and they had a very smooth, steady ride.

 

  The novice course seemed to flow well, but there were a number of challenging questions for the novice level including a sharp bending line through the water to a log jumping up and out (demonstrated here by Meghan & Takita):

   

They also finished up with a clear round, making it a triple successful day for the B-Eventing Team!

  Before heading home, they walked the stadium course which will be ridden tomorrow morning.  Calvin lead the way and was quite informative despite his lower angle of view.

 "CSI:  B-Event Unit"!!!

  And finally... Dog of the Day:

  

Dressage Day at Paradise Farm

  First task for today was another flat lesson with Babette, expanding on yesterday's work, with similar exercises at the canter. The morning was quite brisk (37 degrees) but crystal blue sky and no wind. The lesson field was busy with Eric Horgan & his wife both teaching, and other riders waiting their turn. Irish went right to work and felt great! Babette and I feel as if we are picking up right where we left off last fall.

  Meanwhile, the girls packed the trailers, braided their steeds and double-checked their lists. The B-Eventing string for this weekend at Paradise Farm H.T. is Lucy & Bouncer, Meghan & Takita and Emily on Dougie. They are all competing at novice so their ride times are relatively close. I went along with my camera (duh!) to take more fun photos and stock.

  Meghan was the first to go and she had plenty of (ahem) ... 'help' as Mother Linda and several family members came down from the north to get her ready and cheer her on.

                               

       

  Meghan had a nice test despite a very uneven grass arena. Takita was a little tight in places, but Meghan rode her through these moments like a pro.

Next to get ready ... Lucy & Bouncer. Lucy entertained us (well, me actually) with a cold-weather strip-tease! (calm down George... its not what you think, kind of like a snake shedding its skin)

        

Then it was Bouncer's turn... lucky guy. It took 3 ladies to get him dressed! and our coach to style his tail.

        

Lucy and Bouncer looked good in the warm-up and also had a nice test, but instead of uneven grass... they had deep sand.

      

 

 Em and Doug did their test in another deep-sand ring, at the same time and adjacent to Lucy & Bouncer.  Despite the fact that poor Em took a spill earlier in the day, nay ... she was catapulted off of Tahd while hacking in the morning (landing hard in a ditch), and was feeling understandably sore, she also rode a good test!

       

  Of course, I can't go to any event with camera in-hand and not snap some of the dogs. Today was no exception...

     

  ... including two Merrill pups who always seem to be laughing behind Polly's back... how sad.
     

THE END!

Tomorrow is X-country...