My kids were stars this weekend! Four riders, all of whom I’ve helped before, stepped up to ride for the Commonwealth Dressage and Combined Training Association (CDCTA)’s First Level team at the Region 1 Youth Team Championships. For some it was a big step up; for others, this was a walk in the park. They rode well, made improvements from Day 1 to Day 2, and hit the things we’d worked on in practice.
This didn’t surprise me one bit.
What I was excited by—though not really surprised about either, as these are all GREAT girls—was the teamwork and the camaraderie. This weekend was one of the hottest yet here, and that’s saying something, as it’s been reliably in the 90s for weeks. The girls watched each other ride, and then leapt into work, sponging and scraping off hot horses, pulling tack, cooling down horse and rider like it was the last vet box at Rolex Kentucky. Pretty impressive.
The team took Reserve, making our record three wins and one reserve in three years, with teams composed almost exclusively of riders who focus on eventing. Maybe we’ll get some of them converted? (Don’t hold your breath.)
My four-legged kids are coming right along, too. The heat has made training hard; I’m constantly struggling with whether to let Ella down a bit so she’ll perk up before Gladstone, or to train in it so she’s used to it before the big show, where both my rides are in the afternoon, and I’m sure it’ll be toasty. I don’t really know what to do, so I’m splitting the difference—intense work for a short duration, and early in the morning. I’ve been on my first horse by 5:30, or earlier, all week. Not terribly fun.
Midge has been good too—more of the same for him, alternating fluffy days with “real” work. And Tres, my mom’s wonderful Andalusian stallion, is gearing up well for his domestic Prix St. Georges debut this weekend. He showed the tests a few times in Spain, and so when my mom decided to put him up for sale and asked me if I could show him PSG, I said, “Sure!” I figured I’d have plenty of time to get him fit again (he’s been working in a second level way since his arrival here). And then temps skyrocketed into the 90s and 100s, and that’s been the end of that. It’ll be what it’ll be, I guess. He’s been a super good boy; I just can’t justify the kind of fitness-building work I want to do in this weather.
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The star of the show has been Fender. I don’t have any shows on his dance card until October, the BLM Championships—he’s proven he can go away from home and wear the big horse pants, so what’s the point? So I’ve had time to focus on just the training. The collection is REALLY improving, and he really understands the half-halt now. I swapped my dressage whip for a pair of very boring baby spurs to great success—he’s sharper to respond and uses the hind leg more under, instead of just pushing off them behind him. And the lateral work is getting easier—he still thinks whole diagonals of leg yield are ASPCA-worthy, but he’s getting stronger and more organized, without losing his lovely God-given elasticity. Swell!
Speaking of kids, I went to see Farrah (as I’ve taken to calling Fairvoya), who is seven weeks old today, and is clearly starting to gray out. This doesn’t bother me—I care about healthy, not about color—but she does have a pretty cute face right now. I’m sure it’ll be less charming when she’s shedding the red and growing in the gray in gnarly patches all over her body, but today it’s cute. She also let me pet her today, a first, so maybe she doesn’t totally hate me after all.
In Cletus 2.0 news, we’re currently in with triplets! Sort of… “Triplet” No. 1 is the Rousseau, who we bred for in May. She has been sexed as a filly. Triplet No. 2 is still genderless, but is by UB-40 as well, so I’m doing the colt dance, to have a mixed set. And triplet No. 3 is still tentative—Cleo was successfully pregnant to Harmony’s Locksley, and we’ll have confirmation about whether the transplant was successful either today or tomorrow, I forget. If No. 3 holds, I can bring Cleo home, which I’m sure she’ll be happy about—she’s looking in fine form, and they’ve been taking great care of her over at Equine Reproduction Concepts in Amissville, Va., but I’m sure she’d tell you all that Her Majesty is eager to return to my farm, where she can supervise her domain and all her subjects.
