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Ears Special Edition: A Dream Trip to Ocala

By on Feb 13, 2012 1:24 pm -

Our ears series started over a year ago with a suggestion from the great JER and since then we have been able to feature scenes from all over Eventing Nation from our favorite perspective–between the ears of our horses.  Annie has done a fantastic job managing the series, but I couldn’t resist jumping in with a post of my own.  Mostly, I was just shocked that it snowed somewhere this winter.  Please send your ears photos to [email protected].
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From Julie:

This is an “ears” photo of Trouble, a 7 year old OTTB gelding & Nila, a 14 year old TB mare at TopLine Equestrian Center in Hampshire, IL.  Their last event was in October and the cabin fever is definitely setting in! The hills they galloped all summer and fall are now covered with snow and most rides take place in the indoor arena.  Lucky for these two, their owners, Julie Poveromo & Nora Endzel, have been planning and organizing a mini-vacation to get out of the winter conditions and back into the sunny weather.

Tomorrow they will embark on the 20+ hour trailer ride to Ocala, Florida for some training, showing and fun in the sun! The plan is to attend the ICP Symposium at Longwood Farm, watch the High Performance training sessions at Meredyth South, ride in a jumper show/go XC schooling at Canterbury Equestrian Showplace, & compete at Rocking Horse Winter II HT. Stay tuned for updates from the road, and hopefully a new “ears” photo in weather that’s at least 50 degrees warmer than the current temperature here!

The Weekend That Was and Other High Performance Notes

By on Feb 13, 2012 9:00 am -

HolderComet.jpg
He’s back!  Photo of Becky and Comet courtesy of Mark Lehner and HoofClix.  For more great Pine Top photos be sure to check out HoofClix.com

There is no doubt that this past weekend will go down in EN lore as starting the 2012 eventing season amidst tragedy and hope.  As we all know by now, we lost two great up and coming horses to two tragic disasters.  Landmark’s Legendary Affaire passed away in the KESMARC hyperbaric oxygen chamber explosion that also killed one person and critically injured another.  I have not heard an official update on Scorcha Moneley, the woman injured in the blast, but several of the news reports cite her speaking with the Sherrif’s office to help their investigation from the hospital.  The second tragedy was of course the passing of Jack’s Irish Z, who broke his leg at the Ocala Horse Trials.  The incident occurred on the landing side of the second to last fence and it appears that no one but ill fate is to blame.  Losing a member of our community is hard–losing two in one weekend is sickening.  The frustrating but true reality is that the best any of us can do is keep the horses and their families in our thoughts and prayers.

Let’s put the bad aside for a moment and consider the good news.  And by good news I mean good news for anyone rooting for a good US performance at the Olympics later this year in London.  6 months ago I was about as optimistic about the US team’s chances in London as I am about Coren getting a date on a Friday night.  Our top horses were old, and several of our top programs looked dangerously thin.  But the top US owners went out and bought several terrific horses for their riders at the end of last year, we got one terrific horse healthy again, and our younger riders have continued to step up.  Whether you like the US program buying our way back to 4* high performance relevance or not, what’s done is done and I’m liking our chances a lot better for London as a result.  We are a long way from London, but after the Ocala and Aiken training sessions and a successful weekend of competition at Pine Top and the Ocala HT, US eventing high performance is looking a heck of a lot better than it did 6 months ago.

Pine Top:

—Comet is back.  Enough said.  He won his intermediate division at Pine Top by 6.4 points.  It remains to be seen how he will hold up in this year’s campaign, but you can say that for any horse.  It’s so far so good and I couldn’t be happier for Becky, who, by the way, won another intermediate division on a horse that could turn out to be equally nice (or perhaps even better)–Can’t Fire Me.   If not for all the sad news this weekend Becky and her two greys should have gotten all the attention.  The horse that Comet beat was none other than Mystery Whisper, Phillip’s new horse from Australia who is owned by James and Arden Wildasin.  5.2 time penalties on the XC definitely catches my attention but if anyone can get that horse around clean and fast it is Phillip and trust me when I say we don’t have to worry about the horse’s dressage score–it is going to be very low by the end of the spring.

–Boyd Martin won the third intermediate division at Pine Top with Cold Harbour and although I don’t think that horse will be a factor for Olympic consideration, Michael Pollard had 4 horses in the top 7 of that division and Jan Byyny had Syd Kent and Why Not in the top 5.

–Phillip finished William Penn, Ben, and Mighty Nice in the top 4 of the third intermediate Pine Top division and Stewie is back in action with Holly Hudspeth with a 5th place in that division.  Stephen Bradley and Leyland won an open prelim division.

–I’m stuck up north for a few more weeks working on some non-horsey projects, but if you braved the cold temperatures at Pine Top you were treated to a a great event putting on the best the Aiken crowd has to offer.  The high performance season will take the next step with 80 horses entered in the next Pine Top advanced in two weeks.

[Pine Top Scores, Pine Top Advanced Entries]

Ocala:

–An 8 hour drive south featured the Florida eventers out at the Ocala Horse Trials.  Caroline Martin won a few awards at the USEA convention and kept the momentum going by winning the Ocala intermediate rider division. 

–Heather Morris and First Mark beat Karen and the impressive Mr. Medicott out of first place in the open intermediate A division by getting closer to the optimum on cross-country.  Leslie Law and Irish Diamonds were third and Marilyn Little-Meredith was 6th with her late 2011 acquisition RF Demeter.

—Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen did what we would expect them to do and dominated the intermediate B division by 7 points.  I wonder why they didn’t break 20–come on Clark, sheesh! 

–Canada get’s a shout out in the same division for Selena and Colombo placing second and Pan Am champion Pavarotti finishing 13th with buckets of time penalties.  Kadi Eykamp and Double Rivers Dillon won the intermediate C division with Canadians taking the 2nd through 4th spots, eh.

[Ocala Results]

As is always the case in eventing, this weekend featured some incredible lows and highs.  Here’s to a 2012 that features many many more highs than lows.  Go eventing.

Olivia Loiacono — William Fox Pitt’s Latest American Rider

By on Feb 12, 2012 2:37 pm -

The latest addition to the EN guest blogging ranks is a real privilege for us.  California’s Olivia Loiacono and her super jumping Subway (eat fresh!) stormed onto the 4* scene with a 15th place finish at Rolex last year that would only surprise those who do not know Liv and Subway.  Olivia has been hired to work for William Fox Pitt this year–the same riding position that helped propel Sinead Halpin to the top of the upper echelon of US eventing.  Liv has a few Visa issues to work out, but we look forward to chatting with her upon arrival at William’s yard.  Thanks for writing this Liv and thank you for reading.
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From Liv:

Anxiety, Excitement, Paranoia, Amazement… Did I mention anxiety? I guess these are all normal feelings for dropping my horse off at the airport, to fly to England before me, so we can do Badminton this spring and I can work for the legendary William Fox-Pitt for 2012. To sum up my emotions, lets just call it blessed and overwhelmed.

Hello, Eventing Nation readers!! I am so excited to be able to be an Eventing Nation guest blogger this spring, I have a lot on my plate and it will be so much fun to share my UK experiences with you. To start I will give you a little history… I began riding as a youngster, in Pony Club and 4-H. I quickly took to 3 Day Eventing and bought Subway when I was fifteen, hoping he could jump high enough to get me my “A” rating in pony club (insert the emotion of amazement here). He has been an amazing horse, and I have been extremely lucky to have worked and trained with great people so far in my career. Most recently, I have been at the O’Connor’s the last 3 years, and they gave me the tools to be able to produce Subway into a four-star horse; we completed Rolex in 2012 and finished 15th. I have been working towards starting my own training facility out of Southern California, and when I was getting ready to leave the O’Connor’s place to do so I got an amazing offer to work for William as a rider this year. Needless to say I could not turn it down, what an amazing opportunity!

After a lot of thought I decided to take Subway with me to do Badminton this spring.  Although he is not the most competitive horse at that level he has taught me a lot and we are both enjoying getting miles at the 4 star level, it’s so special when you have a great partnership!

So, now I sit, having just left the airport, missing my boy already and being, yes paranoid, that he arrives to Dorset, England safely. Anxious to get my work visa in the next 10 days so I can join him (also anxious that the spring goes as planned…. Darn anxiety…), excited about the opportunities I have been given for this up-coming year, and of course absolutely amazed at where this journey of Eventing has taken me.

I’m looking for to sharing my experiences with you this year!! Stay tuned 🙂

Video Break: Ocala HT

By on Feb 12, 2012 12:26 pm -


The always classy Peter Atkins dedicates his helmet cam video from Ocala to those lost this weekend

The eventing season is officially underway around Eventing Nation and although we are off to a tough start in Ocala there have been some bright moments as well.  The below videos are courtesy of Thehorsepester.  Clark and Loughan Glen are looking to pick up right where they left 2011 off–on top form:

The great Bruce Davidson and KER Marvin:

Canada’s Kendal Lehari and Frank.  Frank is yet another really quality horse that Kendal has produced from the ground up:

Heather Morris and Slate River:

Karen O’Connor and Veronica, riding for Team Rebecca:

Lauren Keiffer and Landmark’s Legendary Romance:

Buck and The Apprentice, riding to Buck’s favorite artist, Adele.  Ok, I just made that up, but you know it’s probably true:

[More Ocala HT videos]

Go eventing.

Aiken Training Sessions

By on Feb 12, 2012 12:10 pm -

The first Aiken training session wrapped up this week at the beautiful Bridle Creek equestrian development.  EN readers and my good friends Babbette Lenna, Emily Merrill, and Pam Eckelbarger from Hoof Pix were kind enough to send us a recap of the week.  Training sessions resume Monday and Tuesday at Meredyth South in Ocala.  We love guest contributions from every corner of Eventing Nation so if you have a clinic or training session report please send them our way to [email protected].  Thank you for reading!
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©Hoof Pix ® Sport Horse Photography, LLC

From Babette:

The weather this winter in Aiken has been warmer than warm. Almost Ocala temperatures, but I am sure those in sunny Florida would beg to differ. The temps continued to impress this week during the first set of the Aiken training sessions. This year riders and spectators were honored to be able to ride and view the sessions at Ilene Boorman’s gorgeous farm in the Bridle Creek community. Ilene’s farm is the winter home of Boyd and Silva Martin, and what a fantastic place it is. The Bridle Creek community, the same equestrian development where Phillip Dutton is based, is a great horse community. Ilene’s 30 acre farm sports a 70m x 30m dressage arena with rubber footing and full length mirrors along one short end. The jumping arena with similar footing, is nearby and adjacent to a cross- country schooling field filled with newly constructed banks, water complexes and assortment of obstacles similar to those found at many competitions. A perfect setting for training event horses!

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©Hoof Pix ® Sport Horse Photography, LLC

All of the horses and riders looked in excellent form. As it is early in the season it was great to see the horses already looking very strong. It was also nice to see some very talented young riders get a chance to show their talent. Lizzie Snow, Kendyl Tracey, Alexandra Green, and Meghan O’Donoghue were the youngest of the Developing Riders List. Doug Payne, Jennie Brannigan, Susan BeeBee, Kristen Schomolze, and Lynn Symansky were also selected this year to the list, and it is clear from the riding demonstrated by all these Developing Riders that we have some extremely phenomenal up and coming talent in this country.

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©Hoof Pix ® Sport Horse Photography, LLC

Meghan O’Donoghue and her horse Pirate.

Meghan rides with Jan Byyny and has brought her horse Pirate along from the beginning. They showed true class and a strong performance in front of Captain Phillips. He seemed to like what he saw and this is a pair to keep an eye out for.

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©Hoof Pix ® Sport Horse Photography, LLC

Lynn Symansky and Donner were looking great on the flat.

It is great to see this pair coming off last years Pan Ams looking strong. I am sure she is hoping for an even better 2012 with this very neat horse. Captain Phillips and Lynn did a great job working on Donner’s balance in the trot and canter for more expressive changes and bigger strides in the mediums where the tempo did not quicken. Lynn got quality work out of the horse as the lesson progressed.

It was truly wonderful to see Twizzel and Will Coleman. I know we all wish Will a lot of good luck this year after such big disappointments last year. They both looked great and are clearly in a good place because Captain Phillips had only small corrections to make.

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©Hoof Pix ® Sport Horse Photography, LLC

With so many great riders based in Aiken for the winter it is truly informative and inspirational, as a spectator, to go and watch these training sessions. All of the riders show clearly what strong programs they have to bring their horses along in. It is only February and their horses were looking very well schooled and nicely started for the upcoming season. I was not able to watch Boyd Martin, Jan Bynny or Will Faudre but I have no doubt that as we move into this Olympic year we have some very strong horse and rider combinations to look at. Katie Prudent will be in Aiken February 20th -21st for two days helping the High Performance list of riders with their show jumping, then another Developing Riders and High Performance Riders training session will take place in March from the 13th-16th. If you have not come out to spectate the sessions yet and you happen to be in Aiken when they are going on it is HIGHLY recommended you come and watch some of the best in our sport do what they do. A lot of insight is gained and it is just plain fun. Until then!

Remembering Jack’s Irish Z

By on Feb 11, 2012 6:57 pm -

Photo via Samantha

Earlier today we reported that Katlyn Hewson’s horse Jack’s Irish Z was humanely euthanized during the intermediate cross-country for the Ocala Horse Trials.  I spoke with Team Slezak this afternoon and obviously Katlyn and all members of the team are heartbroken.  They wanted to make it clear that it was a fluke accident on the landing of the jump and not related to a mistake by the pair, or the jump, etc.  Irish did not actually fall on the landing, Katlyn felt that something was wrong following the fence and jumped off.  The hardest part about this tragedy is how much Katlyn loved Irish.  He was a very talented horse with a successful competition career and they were taking the next step towards a spring two star with a great event at Ocala.
Team Slezak has released the following statement:
We are extremely saddened by the loss of Jacks Irish Z. Irish broke his leg on the landing side at the second last fence on the Intermediate course at Florida Horse Park late Saturday February 11th and was humanely euthanized on site.

Jacks Irish Z was owned and ridden by Katlyn Hewson who has worked to develop him since he was first imported to Canada in 2008. His incredible talent and loving personality were cherished by Katlyn who brought him up very successfully through the ranks of the sport. Together this pair shared many victories and were well loved both on the winter circuit in Ocala, Florida and on the Ontario Eventing circuit in Canada.
Irish had the heart, talent and athleticism to compete among the best. He will be greatly missed by Katlyn, her family and the entire Slezak Eventing Team.

Jack’s Irish Z humanely euthanized at the Ocala Horse Trials

By on Feb 11, 2012 4:32 pm -


Photo via Slezak Eventing

The hardship that started yesterday with the KESMARC explosion continues today for the Ocala community and all of Eventing Nation.  Katlyn Hewson’s horse Jack’s Irish Z was humanely euthanized during the intermediate cross-country for the Ocala Horse Trials at the Florida Horse Park.  Organizer Peter Grey told me that Jack’s Irish Z broke his leg following the second to last fence on the course.  Katlyn was uninjured.

Jack’s Irish Z was an Irish sport horse imported to the US in 2008.  Samantha met up with Katlyn at Midsouth last year for an interview and Katlyn is just as charming in person as she comes across in video.  I met Katlyn at The Fork two years ago; she is well loved in both the Canadian and US eventing community. 

Weekends like this remind us of eventing’s harshness and our own fragility.  Our thoughts and prayers reach out to the Katlyn, her family, and the Slezak eventing team that was such a big part of his Irish’s development.

Schooling with James Atkinson

By on Feb 11, 2012 1:21 pm -

Here at EN we are very fortunate and thankful to have great group of tipsters who keep our mailbag full of awesomeness.  One such recent submission contained a video of Canadian Pan Am rider James Atkinson schooling Annie Oakley at a recent Galway schooling fundraiser.  Annie Oakley was purchased for James by Carolyn Hoffos (who owns his Pan Am mount Gustav) last June.  They competed at the 2* level last year and I’m told they will be targeting a move up to advanced sometime this year.  Go eventing.

JER: Could Have

By on Feb 7, 2012 11:19 am -

EN’s good friend and occasional contributor of awesomeness JER has sent us an article with a nice change of pace, trading ridiculousness for literary grace.  I won’t even begin to try to introduce this other than to say many thanks to JER and thank you for reading.
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From JER:

The sport of eventing has a poetry of its own: the shifting rhythms of the three phases, the epic struggles of humans and equines, even the unprintable haikus of frustration.  Our passion for the sport is tempered by its dangers, which will always be there, ready to darken the most perfect of weekends.  When a horse or rider ends up on the wrong side of luck, even if you don’t know them personally, you know someone who does, or you know someone who started the horse or who sold the horse, or you realize you and the rider shared a childhood instructor, or you remember when someone on Facebook shared a giddy video of the pair in happier times.  

We’re all in this together.  Next time it could be me.  Or you.  Or us.  Or no one.  Hopefully, no one. 

Last week in the real world, the Nobel Prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska died.  One of her best-known poems, Could Have, is an elegant, haunting expression of close calls and breathless relief. 

 

Could Have 

It could have happened. 
It had to happen. 
It happened earlier. Later. 
Nearer. Farther off. 
It happened, but not to you. 
 
You were saved because you were the first. 
You were saved because you were the last. 
Alone. With others. 
On the right. The left. 
Because it was raining. Because of the shade. 
Because the day was sunny. 
 
You were in luck — there was a forest. 
You were in luck — there were no trees. 
You were in luck — a rake, a hook, a beam, a brake, 
A jamb, a turn, a quarter-inch, an instant … 
 
So you’re here? Still dizzy from 
another dodge, close shave, reprieve? 
One hole in the net and you slipped through? 
I couldn’t be more shocked or 
speechless. 
Listen, 
how your heart pounds inside me.  

Wislawa Szymborska died peacefully in her sleep on 1 February 2012, aged eighty-eight. 

Who cares about Tom Brady, show me the clydesdales

By on Feb 5, 2012 4:52 pm -


Budweiser’s 2011 Super Bowl ad

200 million people will tune in tonight to watch the New York Giants and the New England Patriots meet in Super Bowl XLVI.  But let’s be realistic, who really cares about the Giants and Patriots; we’re all tuning for the commercials.  Tom Brady has nothing on talking animals and GoDaddy girls.  I was going to write a post about the Budweiser clydesdales, but Leslie already beat me to it over on Horse Nation.  Take it away Leslie…
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[One post, 10 years of Budweiser Clydesdale Super Bowl awesomeness]

From Leslie:

The best part of the Super Bowl is, of course, the annual airing of a new beer commercial featuring anthropomorphic horses.  Let’s get pumped by looking back on the last 10 years of Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Cyldesdale commercials.


2010


2009

[Watch the rest]
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The Budweiser ad for Canada has been getting most of the attention leading up to this year’s Super Bowl.  I’ll leave you with Connie the Ostrich’s Super Bowl prediction.  Not pictured: New England Patriots’ personnel hiding in the bushes with video cameras.    

Please cheer responsibly.  Annie will be along later with a complete X’s and O’s coverage of the Super Bowl commercials.  Thank you for your continued support of Eventing Nation.

Meg Kep stopped being a slacker long enough to write for EN today

By on Feb 4, 2012 7:28 pm -

Brace yourselves…
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From Meg:

Because John called me a massive slacker I decided to hold out another 12 hours to submit my training session tidbits. So there, John. – Yesterday marked the end of the first Ocala training sessions. Sadly, there were no cheese sandwiches and my camera did not make it in the mail… John?

Everyone seems like they are in good spirits and have a game plan. The US horses looked great. I would have to say the winner of the Best Turned Out at the USET Ocala Training 1 was most definitely Manoir De Carneville. (This award is determined by a select group of completely objective and unbiased voters). People keep asking me where his hipbones went, and keep telling them it’s an old Kepferle family secret. Speaking of red heads, I think I am in love with Kylie Lyman’s chestnut Garrison Flash. He looks like an exciting horse for the future. Kylie, if you ever feel like switching careers, G-Money Flashizzle (as I like to call him) has a place in my barn.

Sara Ike was all smiles as she cruised around on her golf cart on official business and The Cpt. exclaimed a lot of “super!”s, “well ridden”s, and “Ya-ah”s as he piaffed across center line in his paddock boots. I did see a few Canadian moles trying to extract secrets (oh, was that just David surveying his property?)

Thursday night the O’Connor’s generously hosted a team bonding dinner. Sharon Will, owner of Absolute Liberty, was kind enough to provide burgers which Papa DOC grill-mastered for all to enjoy. A BYOB event, most of the owners and riders tastefully brought their favorite wines and beers. Hannah Sue, however, beat up a high schooler and took their Mike’s Hard Lemonade with a Raspberry twist to bring to soiree. Keepin’ it classy here in SloCala! Discussions of the evening ranged from London 2012 to Monday Night Boxing (which is about to be overtaken by event riders) to “Have you tried the Cucumber Vodka?”. Unfortunately, all very classified information so I will have to leave it at that. I can say that no one got pushed in the pool (since when does, “I have my phone in my pocket!” warrant immunity to a quick dunking?) and everyone was in bed by 10.

The CPT has left the Americans to get to work, but those Canadians were still at it this morning. Sinead and I took a pair to go gallop conveniently during Rebecca Howard and Selena O’Hanlon’s XC school. Both horses and riders looking fit and happy to be jumping some solid fences!

Needless to say there is an excitement hanging in the air around Ocala – infectious to horses, riders and spectators alike! If anyone has the chance to stop by training sessions in Ocala or Aiken this winter, I urge you to do so – Not just for the sandwiches, but you may just learn how to “Ride like a Ty-Ga”.

That’s all for now. I’m going to go back to being a slacker (AKA: running an event barn).

Sinead’s Training Session Update

By on Feb 3, 2012 11:11 pm -

As the first Ocala training sessions wrap up, somehow Eventing Nation found it’s way onto an email list in which our good friend Sinead sent out an update about her lessons with Mark.  This is good news considering that Sinead’s better half, Meg, was a massive EN slacker today but don’t tell Meg I said that.  Annie will be along later tonight with your morning links and as always, thank you for your continued support of Eventing Nation. 
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Sinead wrote:

Tate was a super star at our first training session of 2012. Mark and I had our usual little “communication discussion” in the beginning of day 1 but after that we were sailing! This time last year it was day 3 of training sessions before I thought we were all on the same page (all of us being myself, Mark and Tate… who sometimes has a completely different opinion than Mark and I).
 
It really only took one discussion to get things rolling. Day1 was flat and day 2 we did a little flat and our first jump since Burghley! Tate was feeling great and jumped full of confidence, which is nice to feel after the massive effort he put forth at Burghley.
 
Mark was very pleased with the road that we are on. But he was very clear in saying it’s good and it’s good for this time of year but we need to keep moving forward on the track to be our best by London. I’m game 🙂

An EN Surprise — Coming Soon

By on Feb 1, 2012 11:02 am -

Sometime between now and the end of time, most likely later today, we will make a very special announcement here on Eventing Nation.  Two and a half years ago I started on this crazy journey known as Eventing Nation with nothing more than a stalled riding career, a lot of time on my hands, and a mild personality disorder.  Somehow–I still have no idea how–we built a community of eventers that celebrates and unites our sport as I think only ridiculousness, insanity, and videos of Nat VC dancing can.  A year ago almost to this day I started putting the pieces in place to create a website that reaches out beyond the borders of Eventing Nation and spreads our insanity throughout the entire horse world.  I’m not sure the horse world is ready for us, but that invasion starts today.  Let’s pretend for a moment that I don’t want to ruin Leslie’s day by spoiling the surprise, so I just want to thank you our readers and friends in advance for your support and help spreading the word, and ask for your grace as we learn and figure things out.  Stay tuned.  Now, more than ever, go eventing.

Part 3: Working Students at Derby Cross

By on Jan 31, 2012 12:27 pm -
Back in November I received an email from Pam Medlin, who said that her daughter Kaylin and Kaylin’s friend Katellyn are both working students for Rebecca Howard.  Both girls are home schooled and they will be checking in with us throughout the spring about all things eventing, Ocala, home school, and training with Canada’s very own Rebecca Howard.  I’m hoping that this series will help us look into the issue of pursuing a traditional education while growing as a young rider.  Needless to say, these are our youngest ever guest bloggers on EN, so we will please keep comments at a suitable level of kindness, as always.  Let’s check in with Kaylin, and Katellyn as they look back at the Derby Cross.  You can find a bunch of photos from their trip on Shutterfly.  Previous entries: Part 1, Part 2

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Venturing Off the Farm!

From Katellyn:

Being given the opportunity to go to Derby Cross as a groom was great in itself, but getting to go and being able to see the behind the scenes part, and the actual show was awesome!

When we first arrived to the show grounds we of course got lost, but we did get a nice tour of the hunter show barns. They were very tidy. When we finally found where we were supposed to be we got straight to work with cleaning the tack and the horses for the show. I only managed to memorize one of the horse’s names and that was Big Mama, she did keep true to her name. Once all the horses where tacked and riders were dressed, we set off to the ring.

Everything at warm up was crazy with horses everywhere you looked and riders walking in every direction. You could definitely see the difference in the riders from the ground to the warm up to the show ring. It was very much amazing. One by one the riders went in and out and you would hold your breath to hear what was going. Finally the last rider came out and we were done. I don’t think we even left the venue until around 11pm. We were tired, sweaty, and hungry. I have to say that it was just amazing to get to see all of that and be part of it. For a thank you, we got Derby Cross shirts with all the team logos on it and even a gold number one on the arm. Thank you Rebecca for the shirt.

After our time of working at Derby Cross was up, we spent the night in West Palm. The next day we decided to take a tour of Palm Beach. We saw everything from trapeze lessons to a massive meditation/yoga class. It was interesting to see that much in one place. Alas, we did have to come back and continue working with our horses. I missed him a lot. It was back to our normal schedule the next day.

As of right now, I don’t have to do any school work because I just transferred from regular high school to Penn Foster online school. So they are just waiting on all my grades to come in and send me transcripts. At the barn, I ride, clean my horse and then the tack, and then I help out with whatever needs to be done around the barn and whatever I am asked to do I will do it. Then it’s back home to eat, shower, and sleep to wake up and get started the next day and to be ready for anything.
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Derby Cross

By Kaylin:

Last weekend, we went to Palm Beach to groom at Derby Cross for Jessica and Rebecca. It was very fun and a great experience! Everyone on the Omega Alpha team did great! They finished fourth. The polo players from the teams were fun! They galloped their courses and jumped everything really fast – 48 seconds for their rounds. If they jumped the joker fence they had 10 seconds deducted to make their round 38 seconds long. It was crazy!

Saturday we hung out around Palm Beach. We didn’t expect it to be 80 degrees when we woke up. Needless to say we were a bit over dressed. We spent the day just driving around all over Palm Beach. We saw some occupiers camping out in front of a bank. We also watched someone taking a flying trapeze lesson (which was pretty cool). I didn’t realize how big yachts were either. But they are huge! There were a lot of yacht clubs it was pretty funny. It was like everywhere you would turn there was a yacht club. During our “tour” we were trying to find a nice looking seafood restaurant. That didn’t happen so we ended up in Singer Beach, and by then we were starving. We could smell something really good and it was coming from the Two Drunken Goats. Afterwards, we went over to the beach. The water was so warm! I just wish I had brought my swim suit with me.
 
It was back to the grind on Sunday. I had my second no stirrup jumping lesson on Sunday. Which wasn’t too bad, it is starting to not feel so discombobulated. I’m definitely not as sore as I was the first day. I decided to run a mile the next day which really sucked! But I worked through the soreness.

We went cross country schooling last Monday at Kyle Carter’s. He has a great place. I started without stirrups which went well. Harley was such a good boy! He loves to do cross country.

I’m back to doing school again. We took a week off to just get settled in. My school hours are from 9-12 which isn’t bad. I’m in the ninth grade and I’ve been homeschooled since the 2nd grade. Being homeschooled has definitely allowed me to do more with riding and competing. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to come to Ocala if I were in a traditional school.

To answer your questions that you guys left on our last blog. I get 2-3 lessons a week. These may be with Rebecca here at the farm, a schooling lesson somewhere else, or with another upper level eventer. Rebecca and I set up Harley’s schedule at the beginning of each week, so I know exactly what I need to be working on each day, whether that’s by myself or with an instructor. I just ride Harley unless Rebecca asks me to ride another one. Last week I rode Margret on a trot set. She really hates the bugs that fly at her. It can be quite comical actually. The first week we were here we stayed after we rode. We worked from about 1-4 each day helping around the farm/barn with various things. I’m studying for my Pony Club C2 rating so everyone has been quizzing me and helping me to prep after I get my riding finished for the day.

Area VII Buck Davidson Clinic Report

By on Jan 30, 2012 8:52 am -

Katie Bornholdt-Peery was kind enough to send us a clinic report from the Area VII Adult Riders hosted Buck Davidson clinic at Jump for Joy Farm.  I have never taken a lesson from Buck, but his students always seem to do well.  My feeling is that this has a lot to do with the program that Buck plugs his students into as much as his coaching.  The one quality I respect most about Buck is his ability to ride any horse, which is something that provides the groundwork for a great training program.  With that quick introduction and man thanks for the clinic report I’ll turn things over to Katie.
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From Katie:

We were lucky enough to have Buck Davidson come to the Great (cold, wet and windy) Northwest home to Area VII the weekend of January 22-23rd! He was our guest speaker at our annual meeting and also agreed to teach a clinic for the next two days at Jump For Joy Farm in Oregon City (just outside of Portland, Oregon) hosted by the Area VII Adult Riders.

The week leading up to the clinic was fraught with crazy weather with large amounts of snow and ice in the Seattle area and in the Portland area, snow, then rain followed by flooding!! The terrible weather caused several people who were still snowed in to have to cancel their clinic plans but we did end up with 5 groups of riders from young green horses to lovely advanced horses. Despite the weather, we had a great showing of over 50 auditors who enjoyed the clinic both in the arena and from our heated clubhouse with live streaming of the clinic to the flatscreen t.v. (thanks to a techie Pony Club dad!) and great food provided by Clackamas River Pony Club.

The first day of the clinic Buck had all the groups start with work on the flat, lengthening and shortening of strides, working on control, collection and keeping the horses forward and on the aids. Once thoroughly warmed up, we started some serious gymnastic work including several verticals with step poles, up the center line 30ft apart where we were expected to keep the forward canter through the turn and all the way through the line. We progressed to oxers, bending lines, angled fences and more. For my group (experienced riders on green horses), we focused alot on holding the canter through turns, getting our horses to stop at specific points after a fence going towards the wall or a post and not worrying so much about strides in between fences but more about getting the horses to the fences correctly. There was no, ‘go trot the x,’ to start our rides, we got right to work on the exercises and the horses got better and better each time!

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The second day was focused on coursework, continuing keeping the horse forward through the turns and straight to the fences. We started with a shorter warmup and went right to jumping a square oxer with step poles. In order for the horses to get the correct strides to the oxer, Buck placed 2 poles on the ground (about 6-8in apart) about a stride away from the fence instead of the classic 1 pole because the horses always jumped the two poles in the canter and couldn’t mess up the stride to the oxer. Following the oxer, we had to stay straight with a forward canter towards the crowd of auditors going between 2 folding chairs that were placed about 15 ft from the crowd!! We could not turn until we went through the chairs. It forced us to make the turns correctly and backed our horses off enough so the turns were made smoothly and in balance.

The course progressed into some 2 strides on the diagonal, 1 strides on the long side, lots of precise turns, bending lines, plenty of square oxers (which were growing regularly!), rollbacks to a vertical on the short side then down to the 1 stride on the long side and more! Challenging and super educational! Buck made a great point that schooling lines, courses and questions way more difficult at home then you would ever see at an event would make your horse much more rideable on the courses in competition. Our green horse group finished with everyone having a beautiful final round finishing with a 3’6-3’9 oxer that all of ours horses jumped beautifully!

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Buck Davidson was a fantastic clinician and really enjoyed watching the changes he made in every pair. He knew exactly when to push each horse and rider to improve them each round. On day 2, I was sitting on my horse thinking of ways to afford to go to Florida to ride with Buck 🙂

I came away from the clinic feeling more confident in both myself and my horse and I know that the feeling is shared with many of the other riders. I also have some valuable tools to share with my students!

Thank you to Area VII Adult Riders for bringing Buck to the Northwest!!

EN Hearts Pony Club

By on Jan 28, 2012 5:39 pm -

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From L to R: Loranne, Elizabeth, Sally, Katie

In a bit of Pony Club news from this weekend’s annual meeting, we want to wish a quick congratulations to Loranne Ausley for being inducted into the 2012 United States Pony Club Academy of Achievement at the PC annual meeting this year held in New Orleans.  Loranne was an avid pony clubber and eventer before she became an elected Member of the Florida House of Representatives for 8 years.  Loranne’s sister, Sally, was the founder of Red Hills Horse Trials and ran it for 10  years with Sylvia Ochs.  The above photo also shows current pony club members Elizabeth LoChiatto (B Old North Bridge, CNER) and Katherine Platt (C3 Old North Bridge, CNER) who are National Youth Congress members.  Thanks to EN tipster KL for sending the photo.  Go eventing.

EN Up All Night

By on Jan 27, 2012 5:42 pm -

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The photo tipster writes: “Well I’m not the best with a pair of clippers but I did manage to get an EN in on my 21 year old OTTB on his 3rd career – BN eventing.“

Welcome to the weekend Eventing Nation!  Thanks to the EN Team and of course you our readers for a great week on EN.  As Leslie alluded to this morning, we have a very busy spring ahead of us and I’d suggest getting ready for more insanity.  If you, like Coren, have nothing to do with your Friday night I suggest looking at the Buck Davidson domination that is the Rocking Horse live scores.  As always, if you are going out tonight stay safe and have fun.  Thank you for your continued support of Eventing Nation. 

David’s Birthday Poem

By on Jan 26, 2012 1:06 pm -

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We are a few days removed from David O’Connor’s 50’th birthday celebration.  Here’s a quick look back with a poem for David composed by the great Brian O’Connor and read at the party:

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for us back in ’73,
We’d just ridden 1500 miles – Sally, David, and me.
Resting the horses in a small shady wood,
David again dropped his map – it wasn’t gonna be good.

You see 11 yr old David, future equestrian on the year,
Couldn’t remount his tall charger – a major pain in MY rear.
So, off I got again, and tossed it back up –
With thankful words from a sibling “Oh, just shut up!”

His career suddenly blossomed under the watchful eye of Jimmy,
And then the team called him up from the minors – the USET.
With years of trot sitting for the master Le Goff,
David’s future launched skyward – he indeed was off.

OFF INDEED…@ Bromont he fell, so too at Kentucky,
Across the pond in Holland, he was Mr. Unlucky.
But Wilbur arrived and set him aright
With a brand new watch – he had the go ahead green lite!

With Jacqui came TEX , with Joe Custom Made (well….)
With Biko came Karen…a match made in…..heaven (pray tell…)
Team OConnor was formed and history was born,
Gold, silver, and bronze medals were soon to be worn.

Then the country called out for DOC to be prez,
We all hoped they would just do as he says.
And when responding to his critics, he lightly doffed his cap,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt – twas David at the bat.

When Karen (who is much older) turned 50 that year
We gathered together to drink champagne and cold beer.
You see 50 is big – a milestone in itself
A half century of stories now down off the shelf.
He sung with the choir – he sung on the stage,
Billy Bigelo his triumph -another turn of his book’s page.

We gather tonight to celebrate this man
Thanks to Sally and Jay -where it truly began.
His foolish old brother is never left out,
He rides an inflatable horse – what’s that all about?

Now a worldwide traveler for the good of the game
An FEI official, coach, trainer – he’s always kept his good name.
Even crossing the border to help where he may,
Brought silver to Canada..not too bad for the rookie..eh?

Oh somewhere in this favored land, the sun is shining bright
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light.
And somewhere men are YONGER and somewhere girls are pretty,
But here my friends in Ocala, mighty David has just turned 50!!