Bucks County, Plantation, Flora Lea and more...

Time to catch up on the last few weeks! I took Ray (Lumiere Royale), my 4 yr old gelding to his first event at BCHP. He is by Lux Z out of a Cavalier Royale mare. Ray was a star! He won the dressage on a 24.3 and clean on cross-country and in show jumping. Cross-country is always fun the first time out, but by half way around he figured out what the game was; by the end he was looking for the next fence. We would have won the event, but being four years old, with no stud holes in his shoes yet, the show jumping got very slick and I decided that for his first time out, slow and steady would be in his best interest and a few time faults dropped him out of first. He really handled the day beautifully; it was a super long day and one of our first cold and rainy days as well.

My student Beth rode From to third place in their third training event together. She is doing a wonderful job getting to know this horse, and having a blast!

After Bucks County I had more lessons with Betsy, which have been incredibly helpful. At Plantation Joey, George and Rox all improved in their flat work. It is certainly a work in progress, but well on its way! Joey and George did the CIC*** and Rox did the CIC**. It's always an exhausting weekend riding these three boys! The cross-country was a blast on all three. They were all clean, quick and jumped beautifully. The courses were completely different at Plantation this year: a huge congratulations to all at PFHT, they have done a wonderful job!

Show Jumping was pretty good, we have some room for improvement, but the boys all placed. Joey was 4th, George was 8th in the CIC*** and Rox had an unfortunate 1 rail down to finish in 10th in the CIC**. Joey won the best conditioned in the 3-star and Rox won best conditioned in the 2-star, so that was very exciting! Overall, I was very pleased with our weekend and am looking forward to the rest of the fall season.

After Plantation we caught a couple more lessons with Betsy before she headed out to watch the WEG, where she is also commentating for the Eventing Dressage, so listen in! Then Ray did event numero dos at Flora Lea...and he won! He is getting better and more mature by the day. He won the dressage again on a 24.3, and jumped great. I must give another huge congratulations to Flora Lea on making some lovely improvements to this long running event, they had a wonderful turnout and I hope this competition continues to grow each year.

Now a quick jumper show for George before we head to Morven Park with Joey, George and Rox in the Advanced!

In other news: Gotteulan sold and will have a lovely home as a jumper, congrats to Emily! We also have some exciting new horses being added to our team - I will start updating as they arrive!

We are starting to book spots for Aiken if anyone is interested and also have stalls available in NJ at Everbreeze which will remain open all winter. Please contact me for more info!

Check back soon,

Kristin

Training for the fall season!

After The event at Rebecca Farm in July, Phillip and I spoke about what has been holding me and my horses (Joey and George mainly) back from really going out there and winning......the dressage. We have worked so hard on improving all 3 phases and I am incredibly lucky to be sitting on such talented animals and having great instruction! But when it comes down to it, those 2 advanced horses are HOT! This shows up the most on the flat, they can be near impossible to settle and I work so hard on our flat work so it can truly be disappointing to the point of almost discouraging at times when I can not seem to help them to pull it together in the arena.

Time to make a plan.....

I decided to pull my horses out of Richland (a tough decision because I have been wanting to compete there for so long, but there is always another year!), and find a dressage instructor that works well with my boys and me, has the time, and is willing to really give me a hand in working towards my goals.

I spoke with many people whom are part of my 'team', and sought out recommendations on who to approach. Phillip helped me to come up with some trainers to speak with and then Dr. Greg Staller again mentioned that he thought I should speak, and meet with Betsy Steiner. So I did. Let me just say...thanks Greg!

So far Betsy has been incredibly helpful in just the few lessons we have had to this point. She has sat on Joey and George as well and had nothing but praise and lovely compliments for both boys. Truly inspiring to ride with, watch, and listen to Betsy! I am trying to work with her as much as I can right now to really get a jump start on this fall season! I am feeling my confidence and motivation rising more and more each day...and better yet, I can see and feel it in my horses as well!!!

Today I went down for jump schools on my boys with Phillip before he heads to GA next week...last jump school for awhile with him while he prepares for the WEG. Joey, George, and Rox were super and it was very helpful (as always), to get a 'tune up' from Phillip!

I also took down my lovely 4 yr old, Ray, and jumped with Boyd. Boyd rode Ray for me for 2 weeks in August to help me work through some baby moves that Ray had while being ridden around other horses. Money well spent! He did a great job and Ray is becoming more confident each day! What a super horse, I am very excited to take him to his first event next weekend at Bucks County!

More lessons this week, then Bucks County for Ray and Plantation for the 3 big boys! So Fall has arrived and we are feeling great!

I have to Congratulate Vanessa on selling Poppy today, she has worked so hard on developing this young horse and her work has paid off! Poppy has turned into a lovely 5 yr old and her new owner is very lucky to have her!

Also, our working student, Melissa, from this summer is coming back tomorrow to work for us full time and we are so excited to have her back to stay!!

Till next time,

Kristin