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...