EN’s good friend Stephen Bradley is joining or team of guest bloggers for the upcoming 2012 season and he was kind enough to get started a few days early. I took several lessons from Stephen before my EN days and he was very kind to me then despite my terrible riding. Thanks for writing this Stephen and thank you for reading.
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Photo courtesy of Stephanie Bradley-Green
From Stephen:
I’m thrilled to have been asked by John to blog for Eventing Nation, and I will do my best to check in from time to time. I’m not an avid writer, so bear with me as I venture into my first blog. And since this is my first blog, I thought I would give a little insider’s peek at the program here in Virginia.
After a busy 2011, we’ve officially entered the off season. Unlike some folks who use this time to travel (I’m not a huge fan of flying), I use it to teach. I try to teach a number of clinics during the off season to help build up income for the upcoming season. I’m lucky to have a good crew in the barn right now that allows me to get away for a few days at a time. The newest member of the team, James Daniel Conner, started this summer and has been a great addition. Besides normal barn manager duties, James will also compete some of the young horses, as well as his own horse at Intermediate this spring. Additionally, I have two great working students right now, Matthew Ulmer and Amber Hodyka, to help keep things going smoothly.
I’m currently based at Long Branch Farm in White Post, Virginia. As you can see from the photo, the barn looks more like a house, and the horses live like royalty. The only thing we lack is an indoor arena. With the bulk of my clients in the Virginia area, I try to not leave for warmer weather until absolutely necessary. And trailering to a neighboring indoor can get quite tiresome. So my team and I have to tough it out until we leave for Aiken in February. Thankfully, our arena is at the top of the hill, with no trees around it. So even when it’s really cold, it’s usually rideable after a few hours of sunshine. Of course, the several hundred pounds of water softener salt that we spread by hand each winter probably helps too!
This year we’ll be going down to Full Gallop Farm in Aiken. The plan is to not leave until February 1st, but if the weather is really horrible, I might try to escape a week or two early. We’ll be packing up the whole barn this year, although I’m still not quite sure how I’m getting everyone down there. But I’m sure it will all work out (an eventer’s mantra, right?!). With a large group of competition horses this year, we’ll probably end up doing our first couple of canters at home in our outdoor ring. For the upper level horses who require a bit more fitness work before heading south, I’m lucky to have access to my friend Diana McClure’s all-weather track. Diana is a local race trainer, but thankfully she doesn’t mind having the occasional eventer lope around.
Now for a quick update on the most important aspect of my job … the horses!
First up is Leyland, owned by the Nicholson family. When I realized that I didn’t have him qualified for a fall 3*, I spoke with the Nicholsons and we decided to give Leyland some time off. I think this was one of the best things we could have done, as he came back in early November ready to work. I’ve spent this fall getting to know him better and solidifying our relationship. I can’t thank Leyland’s owners enough for giving us the time we needed, and being very supportive as we’ve had our rough patches this fall (including me jumping the wrong last fence at Richland!).
Next up is Simon (aka In The Fog), owned by Charlotte Harris. Simon moved up to Advanced this summer and I decided to take him to Galway for his first 3*. Unfortunately, after a spectacular dressage test, Simon put on the brakes at the 5th fence on cross country. This was very, very unlike Simon, and I spent most of the plane ride home trying to pinpoint what went wrong. He was a bit dehydrated after arrival, and received fluids after dressage, so that may have been the issue. When he arrived back home to Virginia, he seemed sound and healthy, if not a bit fatigued. So he got a few weeks off, and is already back in work. He’s working great at home, so the plan is to just put fence 5 behind us and move on.
Finally we have “The Boys,” as we call them. The Boys are made up of three up-and-coming horses: Archie (aka Marble Arch) owned by Helen Brettell, Boomer (aka Bedazzled) owned by Charlotte Harris, and Loreto owned by Peter Foley. These three kept me busy while Leyland and Simon were on their various breaks throughout the year. They all moved up to Preliminary at the end of the season, and the plan is to do one Training, then bump them back up to Preliminary in the spring, and aim for a one-star in the fall.
So that’s all that’s going on in my barn right now. Stay tuned for the next update from Aiken!
Stephen
