My Students

Many of my students have been busy competing these past few weeks as well and I wanted to write a little bit about what they have been doing.

First, we have made a convert! After several years of just lessoning for the pleasure of it, my student Helen McFie Simone did her first horse trials at the Bucks County Horse Park on October 11th. She rode in the starter class on her foxhunter Stratton. They survived the dressage and jumped clean on cross country. Helen said she couldn't believe how smooth Stratton was galloping around the course and how much he seemed to be enjoying himself. Unfortunately after such a great start they were then eliminated in stadium due to a spooky jump. Helen is still pleased, though, and is already gearing up for next summer when she plans to conquer starter!

At that same show, my students Sandra Stokes and Holley Russell also rode. Sandra, riding in the elementary class, scored a personal best in her dressage test. She jumped clean on cross country and then jumped clean in stadium with NO time faults (she likes to make VERY big turns) and finished second overall. Holley rode in the beginner novice class to boost her confidence after moving up to Novice in September. She cruised around the course with no trouble and was surprised at how much easier it felt this year from last year. She placed first in her division.

Two of my students also braved the foul weather this past weekend at shows of their own. Brittany Yard, a young adult rider who I taught several years ago when I was the principal instructor for the Amwell Valley Hounds Pony Club and I have again started to help this summer, did her first intermediate on Saturday at the New Jersey Horse Trials. She rode Gatsby III. The pair has had some bumps along the way at the preliminary level but they have won two of their last three prelim outings and placed second at the third one. On Saturday they jumped around clean with some time faults. Brittany also placed first in the novice division on a 29.4 her own mare Me Lady Rose. Brittany is planning to come to Ocala for a few months this winter to be my working student.

Lastly, Carmella Clark achieved one of her long-term goals this weekend at one of the final dressage shows of the season. Braving the pouring rain, she rode her horse Tachyon in their first recognized first level test, scoring a 61%. Carmella bred Tachyon and has trained him herself over the years with professional assistance. For the past several years Carmella has focused on dressage and she has been competing Tachyon at training level. This was a big move for her and I am proud of her for seeing it through even with the terrible weather! Carmella was also a great help to me last week. She devoted her whole day on Tuesday to helping me get Jet set up at Fair Hill.

It's been a good eight weeks for the team. Let the good times roll!

Stadium Day

Thank you Mom for guest blogging! Yes, as Mom pointed out, I think of Jet as "my boy" and my nickname for him is "Kid." Although I have trained horses from prelim through advanced before and from novice through intermediate, this is the first horse that has spent his entire competitive eventing career in my hands. He is very special to me. Brian bought him off of the track as a resale project and sent him to me just over two and a half years ago in the spring of 2007. In just that short period of time Jet has turned himself into a two star horse, and I am proud of him.

After having Jet for about a year I put him up for sale, which was the original plan. Although eight people came to try him, he wasn't the right match for any of them. In May of 2008 we lost the nice young grey thoroughbred called Blue Max that Mr. Wetherill owned. Max was getting ready for his first one star. Jet was just moving up to preliminary at the time, and he was already in the barn. Mr. Wetherill asked if he could buy him from us. Although Jet is not the fanciest horse I have ever ridden, I was very pleased with the idea because then I would be able to continue to work with him and I certainly had a fondness for him.

Jet has a great work ethic and he comes out every day ready to try. Since last November, he has completed two CCI*'s, a CIC** and now the CCI** this weekend at Fair Hill. He is incredibly consistent in his record and is a tough guy. He ran around two cross country courses this summer missing a front shoe and I didn't even realize it either time until we pulled up. In one of the cases when I went back and looked at the photos I realized he must have pulled the shoe on the second or third jump. He never let it get in his way, though. His mind was completely on the job at hand. Knowing all of this made it easier to decide to run him yesterday in the very difficult conditions. We have been working hard towards this goal and every time I have challenged him since I have had him, Jet has stepped up to the plate. I knew he would yesterday, too.

Unfortunately today was a little bit of a let down after our strong showings on the first two days. Jet passed the trot up in front of the vet panel with no problem. He was very sound today and even felt limber when I got on to warm him up for stadium jumping. Dr. Pat worked on him yesterday after cross country and I think our fitness regime at Chesterland really helped us this weekend. Jet was slightly tired, but still peppy and going well to the jumps. We have had issues with stadium since we moved up to intermediate in May. Jet is very careful up front but not as careful behind. I have been working with Bruce on this issue, but in the past four weeks I have predominantly focused on improving our dressage ride, our other weak link. Jet also jumped a clean round at the CIC** at Plantation Field in September, so I felt we were on our way through the issue. Unfortunately, though, the demons came back to haunt us today! We had three rails down in stadium. Jet actually jumped very nicely, he just jumped by brail. He tipped many rails with his hind toes and three of them he tipped too hard. This is one of the training issues with event horses. You want to teach them not to be too careful on cross country, but then to be careful in stadium. Jet has the cross country part down. Now we will have to put more focus on the stadium.

At the end of the day we finished 14th out of the 72 starters and 10th nationally, which garnered us a ribbon. Although I would have loved to have had a better showing today, I really can't be anything but pleased with Jet. He is blossoming and he was one of the youngest and least experienced horses to finish in the top tier. He is a hard worker and he will figure out his feet in the stadium. I was also pleased that Mr. Wetherill and Babbie were able to come see his rides all three days. They really enjoyed being able to watch him go, especially his heroic effort yesterday.

Today when we got home I put Jet out in the field with Doc to relax. He will now have five weeks off to just be a horse. We will start back to work in December. Tomorrow Monte, Doc, and Jasper are eagerly awaiting being ridden, and I have a truck to wash! Of course the moment I got back to the barn at Fair Hill after we finished, the sun peaked through the clouds. It was the first time I had seen it in four days! What luck! Anyway, we survived the weekend at the S.S. Fair Hill.

CROSS COUNTRY DAY

A hard won 8th place!!!!

Once again Ashley cannot get online to write a report on today's ride, so she called me to post something for her.

Ashley said today's conditions were the worst she has ever ridden in, including fox hunting. The wind chill was reported at 38 degrees, heavy rain during the night made the footing the deepest Ashley has galloped in, and it was raining during her round! Of the 72 horses that were listed on the two-star order of go for cross country, 32 were withdrawn this morning leaving 40 to start. Of those 40, 12 were eliminated or withdrew on course leaving 28. Ashley was the last to go of the 40 starts. She said the footing was so deep she could feel Jet's feet being held down in the mud so that he had to over-jump to get free, and the take-off in front of the jumps was especially cut up from the horses that had gone before her. Perhaps the studs she bought just for the occasion helped. They were the biggest she has ever used.

Ashley said that at first Jet wondered what it in the world she was doing taking him out in the frightful weather, but once Ashley started him galloping in the warm-up he put his mind to his work and made a great run. Nine jumps were removed from the course for safety, but it was still a challenge to do in the conditions. Jet's only sticky jump was the sunken road, which he made a good take-off at, but twisted a little in the air looking for the landing. However, they left the jump behind them without faults. Jet came through without a scratch on him, Ashley reported, and only one lost bell boot. He was very pleased with himself and recovered quickly after the finish. Jet and Ashley had 11.2 time penalties to add to their dressage score, putting them in 8th for the start of stadium!!

The Wetherills were on course to watch the ride and were pleased. Holley and Kristen groomed for Ashley and Brian, Dr. Pat, and Lynn and Craig with their doggie Corey (dressed in his yellow rain slicker) rounded out the team/cheering section.

Tomorrow the soundness trot will be a 9 AM and the jumping will start at 11 AM.

I would just like to add that Ashley's great ride on Jet at this international competition is especially sweet because he is the first horse she has taken to this level that she has trained herself as an event horse. 

Respectfully submitted by Pam Johnson

Dressage Day - 54.2 and 25th place.

Fair Hill, Day One

Well, it promises to be a miserable weekend with the weather, but I was beaming today! The trot up went much better than my last trot up at Rolex in the spring. Jet is feeling very sound and passed with flying colors. He does dressage at 3:12 on Friday and cross country on Saturday.

The cross country course has some changes from last year. Upon first inspection it seems a little bit easier, but Derek DiGrazia is a clever designer and I'm sure he will catch us out in new places. Jet is number 76 out of 82 two star horses. I will be able to watch the first part of the field go before I get on to ride.

Over the past three days I've gotten a few pieces of sad news. We found out that my mom's cousin just passed away. Even more tragic, we learned that his son, a prominent Chicago area musician who was only 46, also passed away this summer. I also learned that the brother of a dear horse friend of mine has been diagnosed with lymphoma and another friend's father is going to have to undergo surgery to remove a possibly cancerous tumor. In brighter news, one of my friends just completed her first marathon last weekend in Chicago. I know these are not new words, but enjoy each day and try to make the most of it. As I compete this weekend I will be thinking of my friends and family and the their struggles and triumphs. Jet and I will do our best to honor my friends who have rough waters ahead.

Morven Park and George Morris Clinic

On October 3rd Jet ran in his final horse trials before the CCI** at Fair Hill the week of October 12th. He is growing in maturity, both physically and mentally. I have had him stabled at Chesterland for the past month so that I can better focus on conditioning and training in the lead up to Fair Hill and the results are showing. His fitness level is excellent. We made time on cross country over a hilly seven minute course. He was on his job and very keen. In dressage and show jumping he was notably more relaxed and supple in his body, and I felt he used himself better, though unfortunately his scores barely reflected the change. He placed 9th out of 21, but was just a few points out of being in good ribbons.

We have one more week to consolidate. Jet has come a long way in the past two years. Sometimes I have to remind myself that he is less than three years off of the race track. Amazing! His body will continue to change and strengthen as he does more dressage. My goal for this fall is to place in the top third, maybe even the top ten, at Fair Hill, but I will plan another two star for him in the spring before we consider advanced. He is a very genuine horse and comes out every day ready to work. I don't want to burn him out by moving him up to advanced before he is physically ready for it. In his case, the third level dressage and the ability to make tighter turns are what he needs to develop. He is learning to relax his back while using it, but he needs to make it second nature. What a kind horse to have to ride!

Monte is having a big week this week too. We are participating in a three day George Morris Clinic in Leesburg, VA. I have seen George teach a few times and I decided that I wanted to ride with him once for my own education. He is an equestrian legend. Today is day three. Monte is having to negotiate a lot of turns as the clinic is held in an indoor, but he is actually beginning to make sense of his feet in his flying changes! Leslie Law, an Olympic gold medalist in eventing, is also in my group on a young horse. It is wonderful to see his example. He is one of the most beautiful riders competing today.

Off to polish my boots!

Mr. Wetherill Turns 90!

A landmark birthday! Brian and I hosted a fun little birthday dinner for Mr. Wetherill in my apartment just a few days before his actual birthday because I was competing at Morven Park on the day. I have now been riding for him for ten years.

Here is the poem I wrote for him:

An Ode to The Chief on his 90^th Birthday

What a beautiful morning! I think I’ll go on a hack

Then after lunch I’ll take the doggies for a walk around the back.

Next week I have an Open Space meeting with Dulcie and Jake.

There’s a beautiful old farm I’d really like for them to take.

The air is getting crisp, the leaves will soon begin to go.

We can take dear Eddie and Aly out with the hunt. Tally Ho!

This winter in Florida Babbie and I will pay Monte, Jet and Doc a visit.

Now this isn’t our fifth year going, or is it?

Next summer in Maine I will read, walk, sail and paint.

I love that fresh sea air and really the point is very quaint.

My calendar is booked! Lunches at Sunnybrook, the orchestra, going to the next horse show.

Who was that who won at Burghley? I wonder if Bruce is in the know?

Chief, a very happy 90^th birthday! You age with such grace

You have the rest of us young folk just trying to keep pace!