It’s been quite a while since I have written, and I think it partly had to do with the fact that I struggled quite a bit to write the last blog, and I found it hard to top in the terms of writing from the heart.
This season has been an interesting one so far for me in the fact that it is the first one in quite a while that I won’t have competed Cambalda. [“Ping” is out with an injury this year.]
I won’t deny the fact that starting off the season I felt the pressure to still produce good results at the top level without him, and I was so lucky to have Catalina come in and be that stepping stone for me, and I cannot thank Candace Kircher and the Gardners enough for that.
I think it is quite interesting with the timing of things that Cambalda has been out right when a number of the horses I’ve been lucky to produce are stepping up into the FEI levels.
I was gutted when Catalina couldn’t trot up at the CCI*** at Bromont [Quebec] especially since she was sitting in a great spot going into show jumping but I had a silver lining in Ibella’s result there coming fourth in the CCI**.
While Catalina is on break and will hopefully be coming back out with Ping next year it has given me sometime to spend developing my lovely young string. I always find it interesting that when you make the most of whatever your situation might be and stay hungry things tend to work out; and when they don’t you just keep going until they do.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of competing six horses at Plantation Field, and I will say that I am beyond proud at how they all competed.
Whether I was riding a horse for a hurt friend, a friend’s sale horse, or for my amazing owners, I took pride in how each horse did.
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I can say Ibella stepping up into the top 10 at her first three-star was very special to me. She’s a hot horse and probably not everyone’s cup of tea but I have loved her since the moment I sat on her, and I have been lucky to produce her from the start, and I love that. The Gardners have had an advanced horse competing this year between Ibella and Catalina even with Ping being benched, and that has made me very happy.
Ibella at Plantation. Photo by Lindsay Berreth
One person I would love to talk about who flies a bit under the radar is Elsbeth Battel, who owns Stella Artois and Cool As Ice. Beth has been one of my supporters on the East Coast from the very beginning when I started selling the young horses she breeds.
She’s had my back the whole way, and when I called her in Germany saying there was a 5-year-old mare I loved she stepped up and went in with me to get her. That young horse was Stella Artois who now competes at the two-star level and is one of my highest hopes for the future.
Beth bred Cool As Ice, and I’ve been lucky to produce her from the bottom to now. These two mares are 8 years old and came sixth and seventh out of 81 starters this weekend in the CIC**, and to have Beth there to watch them go meant the world.
She does the sport for the right reasons and through falls, injuries, and all the ups and downs has believed all along the way—to see the pure joy on her face Sunday makes it all worth it.
With Cool As Ice, Stephanie Cauffman and Elsbeth Battel at Plantation Field.
I must say I am so lucky to have the kind of people I have in my life. They are amazing.
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I was so proud of my students Alexa Lapp and Emma Hartley who each had a major setback this year at a big competition and came back strong at Plantation. Alexa ame in seventh in the CIC* and Emma did her first two-star clean. To see them grow and be a part of their careers is very, very special to me. It reminded my of why I started doing this and what is important.
Ironically some of the people who are the most important to me are all going through very trying times in their lives right now at the same time and going into Plantation it gave me some humbling perspective.
It’s so easy to look at what has gone wrong and the setbacks you have, and I find it unfortunate that it’s usually bad situations that make you realize how lucky you are. I am so grateful for the life I get to have and even more so for the people who are in mine, and I hope the best for each of their situations.
The people who sit around with you on a Sunday, win, lose or draw, mean everything!
Til next time,
Jennie
