Sorry it has taken me so long to post another update!! As soon as the weather got nicer, things got crazy as they always do and sitting down at the computer gets harder (I am not complaining!!). Lets see, where do I begin? We had our first show May 2/3 at Morven Park and it was a very fun time! The weather was not the best (big surprise!), Saturday was good, a little chilly, but mostly dry. I brought Devon to school him and have Scotts help and I had 2 students showing, Mike and Chelsea. It was Chelsea’s last show with the horse (Zeno) she had been leasing for over a year, so it was a little bittersweet. Zeno is getting older and the training and showing was getting hard on him, but she did great and has learned a lot from him. She is now leasing a lovely Dutch mare that she will begin showing this month, so we are very excited. Mike did great as well, it was his first time doing first level and he did great! We had to contend with steady rain on Sunday and very wet, soggy footing, but we got through it with style and good laughs! We also had our 4th (or 5th-I have lost count) Kentucky Derby Party in our stabling area. This is always a highlight at this show; we get lots of good food and drinks, a tv (always interesting how we rig it up so that we actually get reception!) and good friends. We had another good turnout again this year, with about 30 or so people.
The next show was again at Morven Park in mid May. I showed Windsor and Bennefield and had one student riding, Beth with her TB Murphy. We have to do the shows in shifts with all the horses as we have limited trailer space. I think I need a bigger trailer! Windsor was good, but we always manage to do something in our test to bring the score down, whether it be silly exuberance or leaving our rein back at home, which is what happened this time. It has been very good at home, but for some reason, Windsor did not feel as if going backward was something that he needed to do (I think he thinks it is silly, forward it much better! That is what I have been telling him all these years!). Overall, I am really excited about him, b/c in between the little hiccups (not sure how to spell that one), he is feeling super. He feels stronger in his back and I really get a lot of push from the hind legs when I ask for it, this was something that was still developing last year, so I am thrilled that it is getting there now. He still gets tired by Sunday of the show and then he feels as if someone let the air out of him, but he gives me what he has, so I can’t ask for anything else. I see glimpses of the future with him and its a really exciting feeling! I am still figuring out the best plan for him at shows, Friday before he is always excited and a little too playful and then Saturday he can go from playful to tired very quickly. All of this depends a lot on the weather too, as he is not so fond of the heat and I have had the issues with him not sweating as much as he should.
Beth had a good weekend with Murphy; we basically had him at this show to give him some experience. This was his first Dressage show and first time away from home for the weekend. Anyone who knows Murphy knows what a talented but challenging horse he is! He was not blessed with the best conformation, but he has a heart of gold and has surprised even me! He is a very tricky horse to get up in the back and correct, but Beth has been patient and given him the time to get strong. We spend a lot of time on the basics! The really cool thing is that we are getting some really great movement from him. When I first met Murphy, I thought he was a cute horse, but he was sort of short strided and an ok mover. But now, he has really changed and it is amazing to watch him transform from the beginning of a ride to the end. He looks like 2 totally different horses once he is using himself correctly! Its very cool to see! So our goal for this show was to get a little bit of that brilliance in a different atmosphere. We were successful in the warm up, but it was more challenging in the ring as Murphy got a little distracted and tight, and then he gets really tricky to ride! He is sort of like 2 men in a horse suit, with the butt going one way and the front end the other! But I have to give Beth much credit here, she rides him great! I could not ride him myself as well as she does, it is a very fine line of timing and tact! So although their scores were lower than we would like, we were both thrilled with him as he got a little more rideable each time in the ring. Beths main focus with Murphy is eventing and he is going to absolutely shine in that field as he will jump the moon and then the stars on the other side! She has already evented him this season and won her first time out!! This is probably a good time to mention one of my other event students, Amy Nizolek who won her event this spring as well. Both Amy and Beth won on their Dressage scores! Thats what we like! I am going to try and get some pictures of them up.
At this same show, we had another party. I know, seems to be a trend with me…. but its not just me, I swear!… but I do stress to my group that we need to have fun at shows. We take it very seriously, but we also have fun. This one was a Preakness party. We got another TV and the way we set it up to get reception this time was even funnier! I got a couple really great shots of it with the camera, so I will post those. It was another fun weekend with lots of success!
Our next show is the PVDA Ride For Life at PG Equestrian Center at the end of June. This is a fun show that we all look forward to going to! We will have 6 horses going to this one, so its going to be busy! Hope to see you there, stop by and say Hi!
