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...

Something Different

  As I mentioned in the last entry... 'someone's gotta run the business', so that is what I did this past Monday. I braved the frigid air (40's with a wind) and went out to photograph the Windsor Horse Driving Trials at Katydid Farm.

  For those unfamiliar, a driving trial is similar to an event with 3 phases: dressage, cones (= show jumping)

and a marathon (= X-country) with a number of hazards (=jumps). 

 

I am a newbie at all of this too which makes shooting all the more fun because I love learning about a different discipline. Just as in eventing, everyone was very pleasant and happy to answer questions and tell me when I was in the way... which was more of a challenge when it came to capturing the exciting images at the water hazard! 

  Depending on the level (training, preliminary, intermediate & advanced), the path through the hazard might not be taken the same way by each competitor. Just when I thought I had the perfect angle and was out of harm's way.... NOT!!

  The roster was not huge, ~ 30 entries, but a wonderful collection of breeds including minis, Modern Shetland ponies, Arabians,
Haflingers and Dales being handled by drivers well known in the world of CDEs (Muffy Seaton, Sherri Dolan, Jennifer Matheson (organizer), Suzy Stafford and others).

As is often the case when I shoot a competition like this, there is too much going on all at the same time. I found myself running back and forth between the cones and the water hazard, and only captured a few dressage tests. All in all, a great time resulting in some exciting photos.

  

   Tomorrow it's back to our world of eventing. Lucy, Meghan and Emily are all competing at Paradise Farm Horse Trials. The event runs over 3 days with one phase per day.

 This means I will be able to ride Irish before heading to the grounds to 'record' the B-Event Team at their bestest! 

Stay tuned!

Emily & Tahd Flyin' High at Pine Top

  Pine Top II Horse trials ran this weekend in nearby Thomson GA.  B-Eventing team member Emily Merrill and her trusty steed Katahdin ("Tahd") were there to represent us in the training division. She rode dressage and show jumping yesterday on a rather gloomy, wet & cool day. I opted to stay home, cozy & dry & work on designing a new home page for my website (SOMEONE has to keep this business going!!), so I missed seeing them. The report was that they had a superb dressage test and a solid, confident show jumping round.

  The sun reappeared today, and Em's XC time was not until mid-afternoon, so I spent only a couple of hours in the morning fussing with the home page, then got in a 45 min. hack on Irish before heading to Pine Top with Babette, Lucy and Meghan to see Em & Tahd go XC.

  They did not disappoint!  Keeping the theme of two great rides yesterday, Em & Tahd cruised around the XC course like pros... double clear... happy and ready to do it all again!

THE END!!