Saturday at Pine Top

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It was a huge relief to arrive at sunny, sandy Pine Top Farm late Saturday morning for their Thanksgiving Event, although I have to say, there was definitely a seasonal chill in the air, especially if you moved out of the sun. Pine Top is a wonderful venue, you can read all about it’s history at the website here.

Pine Top is vast and sprawling, with barns, paddocks, cow pastures, woodland, and ponds spreading over it’s [300] acres, and the mood here is terribly relaxed; we’re all still celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend here. I saw plenty of tailgaters imbibing wine, beer, some just sleeping it off in the sun…. Jacel Charles told me she loves this event and makes an effort to come annually as part of her holiday celebrations.

Also in evidence, lots of really adorable ponies, mostly in the novice or beginner novice, like Leah Elgart’s Adanac:

However with an Open Prelim, a Prelim Rider and a Prelim/Training  Section there were some professionals out working this weekend. Werner Geven had brought two horses down from his base at Poplar to complete his young horses’ seasons here.

Michael Pollard has three in the prelim section alone, Doug Payne is riding several over the weekend, and I even saw John Williams on a nice novice. Marty Whitehouse has made big life changes recently –  moving from Kentucky to attend vet school in Alabama but not at the cost of her passion: eventing
The courses seem straight forward and inviting, designed by [John Williams].  I only walked the prelim which would have made a nice move-up course, one two-stride double, a couple of step and bounce questions. Even the corners were flagged very generously in all sections, and although there were no alternatives, I still think it will ride really well Sunday. The footing is sandy with grass cover, and everyone certainly seems happy to be out and about competing; perhaps the last hurrah of the year before the cold, Christmas, and a long, hard winter kick in. It was a real treat to bump into Roger Haller, who was finally relaxing after a jam-packed year. He was watching his wife Ann do her dressage on the absolutely delightful Master of the House, who she told me afterwards, is like a giant, beloved Labrador. She had to pull him away from the pond while hacking around the farm earlier in the day because he’s accustomed and loves to swim regularly at home!  Online scoring is available here:
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I hope to bring you some cross country footage from Sunday.  The turnout was surprisingly small today. Perhaps a lot of people were still traveling back from Thanksgiving, or in a food coma, but I had a lovely day wandering around, admittedly in a bit of a daze myself. The atmosphere was super laid back–Nicho Meredith’s soothing tones  were a great tonic. I felt as if I was almost home in England at a country show again, except of course for the Georgia sun warming my back! Thanks for reading, Go Eventing and more from Sunday!

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