Now that we have officially made it to December, I have been reflecting on November and what a crazy month it is for horse professionals. Here at Ashmeadow Farm we started the month of November with my boyfriend Tim and I taking a 13-hour drive from New Jersey to Lexington, Ky., with Russian Gold in the trailer and our two dogs, Ben and Toby, loaded into the truck with us for our customer Kimberly Maloomian to have a chance to show at the Alltech National Horse Show. 

Tim did all the driving duties—thank God for the iPad to entertain me. I felt like we were in the state of Pennsylvania for an entire day. I remember when I first heard that the National was moving out of New York and down to Lexington, and I was very sad about it. I had competed at the National Horse Show when it was at the Meadowlands, at the Pier in NYC, and at Madison Square Garden. I thought there was no chance that it would have the same magic in Kentucky.

For sure it is a different feeling now than it was in New York City, but I have to say it is an amazing event! Lexington itself is just so beautiful—horse and horse lover heaven with lush grass as far as you can see. And on top of that, the organizers of the National combined with amazing sponsors (such as North Star for the unbelievable exhibitor and groom lounges) have really made this feel like the top notch, special event that it should. 

We arrived in Kentucky on Sunday night, and I spent the day on Monday riding RG out around the cross-country course at the horse park. It was just spectacular and so refreshing for both me and the horse. Then his owner, Kimberly Maloomian, showed him Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We had such a great time, and I really did not want to leave. Thursday afternoon we quickly packed everything up and hit the road for the 13 hours back to New Jersey because we had limited time to get home and then get to upstate New York for Lisa Arena and Michael Davis’ wedding!

We pulled into the farm about 4 a.m. on Friday morning, got RG situated and were finally finished for the day about 5:30 a.m. We took a few hours to sleep and then woke up and started packing again. I had to get myself whipped into shape for a wedding with a visit to the nail salon for a quick mani/pedi and a visit to the hair salon.  

We left about 6 p.m. on Friday night and made the 4½-hour drive up to Turning Stone Resort, which is just outside of Syracuse, N.Y. These November nuptials seem to be a bit of a ritual for horse people—once the National Horse Show is over everyone has a bit of a break until they head to Florida for the winter, so it’s the best time of year to have a wedding that your horse friends can attend. 

For Tim and I this long weekend at the resort was the closest thing we have had to a vacation for quite a while. It was lots of fun to be able to kick back and relax with our horse friends and customers without the 4 a.m. alarm going off to get us to the show the next morning. We drove back home Sunday morning. I got the driving duties this time while Tim caught up on some sleep.

We had a few days at home to start packing everything up at the farm and the house for the trek south to Ocala. We also took some time this week to get the horses caught up with their vaccinations, dental visits and worming. I let my horses grow as much hair as they want this time of year, and we give them a few weeks off from riding and let them spend some extra time turned out as long as the weather is nice. They end up looking more like buffalo then horses, but I think they are happy to have hairy ears and long whiskers! It’s their version of no shave November!

We then headed north to Boston for our next November wedding. This time it was my childhood riding buddy, Kate Rice. I grew up in Stow, Mass., and my parents still own and operate a farm there called Red Acre Farm. I had not been home in quite a while, so we planned a long weekend around the wedding with a visit to the farm. 

My mom runs a riding school and teaches lots of adults and children on her school horses weekly. My dad has customers with show horses and goes to a lot of the same horse shows that we do throughout the year.

There was a lot of excitement surrounding my visit to RAF because a lot of the little kids had never met me before. I spent Saturday morning meeting everyone and watching my mom’s pony lessons. Saturday afternoon we headed to the wedding. It was a gorgeous, intimate wedding with lots of familiar faces from the horse shows. We didn’t get to stay for the after party because we needed to wake up early Sunday morning to drive the five hours back to New Jersey and finish the packing and preparing for Florida.

We spent all day Monday packing and on Tuesday morning, Nov. 19, Tim left with the dogs and our four-horse gooseneck filled to the brim with trunks and equipment. The grooms and I stayed until Wednesday morning to get all of the horses loaded onto our Pony Express trucks.  Then off we went on the caravan to Ocala—two tractor trailers and four cars following. Everyone drove straight through except for me. I was the weak link. I made a stop in Reva, Va., at Oliver Brown’s farm to visit my yearling Aut Of The Balou.

I tried my best to get to Ocala without stopping overnight but by about 2 a.m., I just couldn’t keep my eyes open, so I stopped at a hotel just across the Georgia border for the night. I finally arrived at our winter home in Ocala about noon on Thursday. 

We gave our horses another two weeks of vacation time while we all worked at scrubbing and organizing every inch of our permanent barn at the HITS grounds. Next we started in on the body clipping—no more buffalos here at Ashmeadow Farm.

We had a nice, relaxing, warm Thanksgiving with our friends Michelle and Robert Barber. And we took the last few days to catch up on doctor’s visits and dental visits for ourselves. Phew, that sure was a busy November. So much for the idea of November being time to rest, but I think the horses and the people are all ready now to start up again and get everyone back to work and ready for the winter season in Florida.

A trainer specializing in hunters, jumpers and equitation, Amanda Steege operates Ashmeadow Farm out of Far Hills, N.J. Read more about her and about her experience in her first WCHR Professional Finals.