The eventing season is under way, and this week was a busy but good one! With Phillip and Emma still away in Wellington, Fla., for all the team training going on down there, things were cracking up in Aiken at Red Oak.
We got the first cross-country school out of the way at Full Gallop Farm. The young horses I took out were quite good, and the ground was a bit wet with all the rain that we have been getting. I am excited to have some nice young horses down here to ride and compete, and I think that the spring will be a good one.
Next, Silva Martin came to the farm to tune us up on our dressage. I rode Walkabout with her, which was great because she worked with Will quite a bit this winter. He has really started to come along, and Silva was quite pleased at how much he’s improved. Now that he is getting stronger and learning to go in a more correct, softer frame, we were able to work on more movements, which was great. He even did his first flying lead changes in my first lesson, and he did them clean, which is quite exciting, although I don’t think we will be needing that movement in our competition schedule for a bit.
Cambalda seems to be coming along quite well, and thanks to Cat Hill he is all trimmed up and looking good for the training sessions in a couple weeks. I look forward to getting some more help from Mark, but I have to say that I still find myself feeling odd about not having Cooper in the group down here. I think I will be missing him for a very long time.
We also had the first trip to Pine Top farm this weekend, which was great. Walkabout did the training level, and I had a young horse for Phillip named Strong Speed in the beginner novice, which was a blast to do.
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The weekend was very mellow, and other than some poor weather on Saturday it went very well. Walkabout ended third in the training, and I am really happy with how he is coming along and progressing. Speedy did wonderfully at his first event, and I think he will take to eventing quite well.
This weekend I have a few going to the Sporting Days Horse Trials and am looking forward to it!
Hope all is well with everyone!
Cheers,
Jennie
