Lisa Marie Fergusson’s Stuart recap and looking ahead to Millbrook

EN Blogger and Jersey Fresh CCI2* Lisa Marie Fergusson returns this afternoon with a recap of the Stuart Horse Trials and a look ahead to moving up at Millbrook as part of her quest to win $15,000 by placing first at the Fair Hill CCI3* this autumn.  Since the Jersey CCI3* winner, Andrea Leatherman, sold the beautiful Mensa to Carl Bouckaert, Lisa is the only remaining rider in the Bit of Britain Challenge.  Thanks Lisa for writing this and to Bit of Britain and John Nunn for sponsoring the challenge.  Bit of Britain’s sister companies Nunn Finer and Tack of the Day have been EN sponsors from the very beginning and for that we are incredibly grateful.  
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From Lisa:

Hello once again to all EN readers, Lisa and Smartie ( Smart Move) here with an update on our journey toward our Bit of Britain Challenge at Dansko Fair Hill being held in Elkton MD this October.  Before I start, just a quick shout out to Bit of Britain, who since my last post has furthered their commitment to helping motivate and provide incentives for the hard working riding community with their newest of challenges, the “Chase the Challenge Across America”.  I don’t know much about them but I do love a company that gives back to our sport.

Since our last update Smartie is back at work and has successfully completed his first event back.  For those of you who have not had the opportunity or the pleasure of competing at the Cosequin Stuart Horse Trials, put it on your calendar for 2012.  It really is a fantastic event that is very well organized, very well attended and have excellent cross country courses for all levels.   At the competitors’ party I chatted with Bonnie, one of the land owners, for quite a bit.  She shared with me a great story of the humble beginnings of the event which started with a maximum capacity of 26 competitors and has grown into one of the great Eastern US events.  Wonderful people, outstanding facility and an excellent event, I can’t say enough good things about it.  As you have probably already heard the ground was unusually hard at Cosequin this year, and I think most everyone was either really conservative on the cross country course or simply scratched all together.   Smartie and I chose to run conservatively and benefit from a great technical course but not to worry about making time.   As it turned out Smartie was still pretty quick with just 4 time faults but he felt more adjustable and rideable than ever, I simply let him choose a comfortable pace and we went with that.   The courses were designed by Derek di Grazia, and if you have had the chance to run any of his courses, Derek finds a way to ask all the questions but does not try to trick you or your horse.  It’s a great challenge and confidence builder for a horse and rider combination at the appropriate level.   I ran my young horse, Tali (Honor Me,) at Novice level, it was his first recognized show, and the cross country had quite a few challenging questions that you rarely see at that level, like a corner and a full coffin, which I thought was great.  Overall Smartie and I had a good show, finishing third, and got back on track after taking a well deserved month off.

Smartie’s next excellent adventure…… Millbrook Advanced.

Smartie is a cross country machine and has boldly galloped around some of the more challenging intermediate cross country courses.  He is an extremely brave and scopey horse, and – at only 7 yrs old – is still growing and developing.  He is continually getting stronger and more rideable, but he is a horse that likes a challenge, and a cookie…or two! Smartie’s attitude is “bring it on”….which is the best feeling in the world as you get set to gallop out of the start box!   I really believe he is up for the challenge and that the move up won’t faze him at all.  I have talked with several competitors who feel that Millbrook is a great event to make the move to Advanced. I guess we will know soon enough.

This year Smartie has proven himself at the 2* level with solid performances each time out and I truly believe he is ready and has earned the opportunity to give Advanced a go.  However, Advanced really is a whole other level, so we will take it one stride at a time and will keep you posted and let you know how it goes and yes…GO EVENTING!

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