Well, another Richland Park has come and gone, and as usual, this venue never disappoints… Between the amazing weather, good parties and the horses running so well, it was really a awesome weekend.
Richland is always a fun event for me, since it draws my friends from the West Coast as well, and I really miss them and enjoy getting to spend time with them. And I was so pleased to have Cambalda back in action this weekend. I can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief at how eager and confident he was out on cross-country.
I really feel as though Phillip and I have a good plan for him, and that all the training and work that was done at home came out this weekend. The only part of my performance that I regret is my over-eagerness to nail my last halt on the flat, which resulted in him swapping his leads on the last centerline.
I think “Ping” is on a good path for Fair Hill, and we will see how the rest of the season plays out as we lead up to the event. I might just choose to a combined test with him at the last two events he’s scheduled for, but we’ll see.
Though I love a win, I was happy to take home second when I lost the tie to Buck and Reggie. And as Bruce said to me in the warm-up for show jumping, I will probably think about being in a tie a bit more the next time I leave the start box in a three-star! To be honest though, I was more concerned with him just going well when I left the box.
Buck and Reggie looked amazing in the show jumping, and Phillip was pretty amazing as well. William Penn was particularly impressive, and I was amazed at how far their partnership has come… Just another reminder as to how impressive Phillip’s program really is.
Indie had a good weekend in the preliminary, winning one of the divisions this weekend. He was spooking at the camera person in the dressage but recieved a 28, went very smoothly on cross-country and show jumped well despite having one down to take the win.
Ollie is a young horse that I am particularly excited about, and I’m really really looking forward to his career. He won one of the training divisions from the start to the finish, ending on his dressage score of 28. All in all, I couldn’t really be any happier with my horses this weekend, and a big thank you goes out to Indie and Ping’s owners, Nina and Tim Gardner, and Ollie’s owners Suzanne Kloud and Beth Battel. I couldn’t do it without you guys!
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Arianna took back the reins on her impressive horse Drummer’s Call and did a great job winning the dressage in her prelim class. She smartly ran slow and clean on cross-country and show jumped well on Sunday. I really feel like she’s on the right path, and I’m very happy to have her as a part of my team here at TPF.
A big thank you to Jackie Imholte too, who kept my horses at home going well and rode extra clients’ horses as well when Arianna and I were out of town. I am truly lucky to have both of these awesome girls.
And a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Arden Wildasin, who’s now 18, and Arianna, who also grew a year older over Richland weekend. Another highlight was Lee Lee Jones finishing second in her prelim class! She’s riding great.
Thanks to Ian Stark for the golf cart course walks, Burt Wood for being an amazing course builder, and of course Heather Morris for giving me a great place to stay (again).
Hope everyone is well, and thanks for reading.
Jennie
