OK, so I am probably the oldest pony rider in history, but it is just so much fun! My partner in crime is Foxcry Nicodemus, "Nick" (or a few other chosen names I will not repeat in public) for short. He stands VERY confidently at 12.1 hands, and let me tell you, he feels a lot taller than that. More times then I care to admit, I have jumped off him, only to hit the ground with my behind first—he just looks around with this expression of "DUH, again?!"
March 29th through 30th offered the last of the five USEF High Performance Eventing Training sessions, held either at Three Runs Plantation or Paradise Farm, both here in Aiken, S.C.
Katie Prudent was coaching our top eventers this time, concentrating on gymnastics as well as the controlled approach to fences.
The groups were split up in 3 to 4 riders, many of whom brought numerous horses. Imagine you had to ride in a group consisting of Phillip Dutton, Kim Severson and Doug Payne—talk about intimidating.
Yesterday was one of the reasons why I LOVE living in South Carolina—a balmy 83 degrees, bright blue skies, perfect footing and, oh yes, it is the end of February!
So instead of working on our new Grand Prix freestyle, my beloved Andalusian stallion Oyente' and I joined the fun-loving and highly entertaining Charlotte Nagle, Heather Carlson, Susan Trotter and Arden Mason for a leisurely hack. And yes, it was a blast.
A number of years ago, I decided to breed two of my competition mares (one successful thru FEI, the other in-hand) to one of my favorite stallions, with hopes for two healthy equine athletes. Well, fast forward a few years and here we are—starting those youngsters under saddle.
The Grand Prix freestyle on Friday night was promoted as the "Big Event," and it certainly was. The stadium was sold out, and everyone was in a good mood. Moorlands Totilas fulfilled everyone’s expectations and won by a big margin. Mistral Horjis did an outstanding job for Laura, and Ravel just made all of us smile with appreciation. However, the ONLY horse which received a standing ovation from just about every individual in the stadium was, yes, the Spanish horse Fuego.
On Thursday, we had our ‘mini WEG’ at Kentucky Equine Research. Robin and Ralee were the first to go in front of judges Kristi Wysocki (S) and Janet Foy (I). The test was smooth, maybe a bit too smooth. Janet had some wonderful suggestions and both Robin and I discussed them and how we will implement them during competition next week,
Our stalls at the WEG will be directly across from the covered arena where all of the para-equestrian tests will be ridden. We ran into ‘I’ judge Jayne Ayers, who loaned two horses to the Japanese team and one to the Argentinian team.
Wednesday morning was just gorgeous. It started out rather cool, but warmed up fast. Robin and Ralee rode thru both the para individual test and their freestyle. Missy Ransenhousen, our team trainer and chef d’equipe liked what she saw and had just a few suggestions.
After our daily training session Robin and I went over to the Kentucky Horse Park to watch the second day of the Grand Prix. Tomorrow we will meet with Dr. Stacey Kent, Missy Ransehousen and Sharon Schneidmann to discuss the schedule for the next few days. On Thursday we will hold a small “Mini WEG,” a prep show, which will be judged by Janet Foy.
The last few days have been rather hectic. Saturday started for us at 4 a.m., with a drive from the house of my good friend Cindy Vimont (who has been playing hostess for us—you rock, Cindy!) to the barn at KER (thank you again to Joe and Anna Pagan, as well as their incredible staff for being so generous and friendly and helpful and supportive).
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