Pan Ams Team Gold Medallist Hannah Burnett has been a regular guest blogger here on EN. We’ve followed her throughout 2011, from Rolex to the Pan Am Games. Today she catches up with us in Ocala: going out on her own, attending David’s 50th birthday party, and the fun of PRO Derby Cross. Thanks, Hannah, for writing and thank you for reading!
Back in Ocala! Although I am here with some of the same horses as last year, the same dog, the same friends and the same goals, there is something different about my trip south this year. As many of you know, I have recently branched out and started my own business. With the O’Connor’s support and guidance we have decided it’s time for me to be a grown up and be in charge of myself. For those of you who know me, you are probably a little worried about this decision! Truth be told, it is a scary venture but I feel ready and excited for the challenge.
Over the last couple months, along with my horses, I have been taking some time off. I am so blessed to have the wonderful staff at OCET to take care of William and Nike in Ocala while I goofed off and taught a couple clinics up north. Max Corcoran, Rachel Goff, Dr. Ober and Randy Pawlak along with Karen and David have kept them safe and sound and when I arrived they looked fantastic and happy.
I have my three other horses at a neighboring farm to OCET, with Dressage rider and fellow Kentuckian, Chrissa Hoffman. She’s so fantastic and a very talented rider and teacher. I’m excited to get some help on the flat from her this winter. Although the horses obviously take precedence in my schedule, the social agenda has been fierce here so far. Slowcala has really been buzzing this year, with David’s 50th Birthday bash, the Derby Cross in Wellington and getting together with the many friends in the area to catch up.
David’s party was a blast. Karen did a beautiful job putting it together and there were so many fun people there that I didn’t even get to see and talk with all of them! Sinead (you don’t really need a last name for her, do ya?), Rebecca Howard, Lynn Symansky, Lauren Kieffer and I threw together a little presentation we titled “The Faces of David” for the party. We thought it was hilarious…hopefully everyone else did too! Lauren and I made T-shirts (Lauren did all the work while I watched), and we had props and a power point with pictures of David’s face and some a couple of, you could say, slightly inappropriate and awesome pictures thrown in there. I asked David the morning of his party if he was excited about it and all he said was that he heard we were putting something together and was “very afraid!” The party had great food, lots of laughs and roasts from Brian and Sally O’Connor and of course a rocking dance floor.
Derby Cross was a bit of a whirlwind this year but also a blast. The Calcutta was great and lots of money was raised for Operation Homefront and the teams. PRO did a great job putting on the whole event and the course was beautifully designed by David O’Connor and built by Eric Bull.
My team was sponsored by the fantastic Devoucoux Saddles (my personal favorite). They generously provided saddles and supported our team who was comprised of myself, Shannon Lilley, Jon Holling, show jumper Candice King and polo player Doug Barnes. I had never met Candice and she is flipping amazing. Such a good rider, team player and such a go-getter! No wonder she’s so successful and everyone speaks so highly of her. The bogey fence for the show jumpers was an up bank, 2 strides to a skinny brush and she totally rocked it on a green show jumper! Doug Barnes also did a fantastic performance, and put up a great time and score for our team. I think he’s the best jumping polo guy out there (I’m paid to say that… 😉 Shannon Lilley had a catch ride on a fantastic mare in Buck’s program. She literally jumped a few jumps and went in the ring and put up the best score of the eventers on our team! She rocks! Jon and I had the bogey fence down but he rode a greenish horse and did a fantastic job and put in a fast round. I had a bit of a scary moment at the terrifying ‘Key Hole’ where Danio thought he’d rather go around it than through it, before deciding that I’m scarier than any fence he’ll ever see and thought better of it. All in all, we had a great time, an awesome sponsor and game horses so we can’t complain with 3rd place. Derby Cross is something I have started to really look forward to every year and we need to get more people involved because it’s a great promotion for our sport and gives us Eventers a chance to give back with it being a Fundraiser.
I’d like to thank Cavalor for their recent sponsorship. I’ve been pining to put my horses on their feeds for a while now and I’m so excited to promote their great products and represent the company. If you see someone wearing “I heart Cavalor” shirts with a picture of Michael Pollard’s face on the back, you’ll know that’s me.
I’m looking forward to our first event at Ocala in February and then the Pine Top Advanced in late Feb. Hope to see y’all out there!!!
-HS
