We’re home! We came back on Thursday to really cold weather in Virginia but at the same time it’s so nice to be home. I’m thankful to Kendyl for driving one rig home and to Meghan for making the trip twice so that I could stay in Aiken and ride with Katie Prudent for two days.

I felt like I needed to work with Katie as my show jumping at Southern Pines was not the best. I usually feel really comfortable with that phase, but instead I had one rail and one whole jump down. I didn’t hold my position over the liverpool— I looked down and lost count of where I was in the line. Poor Wyatt, he was trying to listen to me but I think I just confused him! Katie is a real stickler for flat work so the beginning of my lessons were filled with exercises to make sure I was able to shorten and lengthen Wyatt’s stride and move him off my leg. In both lessons we had to do trot leg yield to canter, then leg yield in the canter for the flying change. In the second lesson, we held the counter canter and did a simple change through the trot so that our horses were always waiting for us to tell them what to do. On the first day’s jumping, we did a simple four-stride line followed by a wide five and a wide six or a more direct four or five. The object was to have the ability to do both easily, whether in the beginning of course or at the end. The second day we were plagued by bad weather, but were lucky to get permission to use Peter Barry’s covered ring. We worked on trot gymnastics; a placement rail to a vertical, 18 feet to an oxer, 21 feet to another oxer, and then the reverse, so that so that the distance went from long to short. This exercise was especially good for Wyatt, confirming his ability to trot in slow and still be in front of my leg, jump out over the oxer and then come back still in front of leg as the distances were decreased. Riding with Katie was a great review for me and was incredibly helpful. Plus, it was really nice to see her and have some time to meet with her in the evening.

So back to Southern Pines and my Intermediate move-up. In spite of the show jumping, Wyatt was great in the dressage and felt I did the best yet on cross-country since my accident. It felt so good to jump around Intermediate again! I was really proud of both Meghan and Kendyl, too. Meghan ended up winning and Kendyl was second in a really tough Intermediate division. Both girls should be so proud of themselves—they can really ride, have great horses and they’ve worked really hard.

We drove back to Virginia on Thursday so we could get ready for Helen to do the Intermediate at Morven. I planned to do a combined test with Wyatt plus take my young horses, Palm Crescent and Kemmerlin. I got them in thanks to the great secretary at Morven, Shannon Pedlar. The nice thing about Morven is that Helen qualified to do a two-star so she’s still on track to try and get to Young Riders this summer. Fingers crossed! She had the best event yet at the Intermediate level and I’m really proud of all the changes she’s been able to make with her riding—Fairhill two-star, here she comes!

My horse were all good at Morven. Wyatt was fine in the dressage though I’m ready for it to be better. I feel like I keep getting the same score, but he feels so good, I think he should score higher. I’m not saying the judges should score me better, but that I need to figure out how to get more sevens, eights and nines and not so many sixes. The show jumping was much improved and that was my whole purpose for going. It was nice to get in the ring and have a fluid round.

Kemmerlin, poor thing, was plagued by bad weather at Morven like so many horses were that weekend. I think I was on and off him about six times, and he went down the center line with rain pelting him in the face. With that being said, he was pretty nice to ride in all three phases, apart from a little mis-communication at the third fence on cross-country when I wanted to wait and he wanted to go. He waited with one leg and then went ahead and hurled himself over the jump, landing on his knees with the reins over his head and caught by just one ear. We did bolt across the field in the wrong direction for about 200 yards, but luckily I got my reins back, pulled up and turned back onto the course. After that, he was so much smarter and more pleasant to ride, though I think I used another of my nine lives!

Palm Crescent was a pleasure to ride, and we had nicer weather on Sunday, though he was pretty spooky in the indoor for dressage. I don’t know that he had ever been in one. After that he was perfect in show jumping and on cross-country.

I had the day off on Monday but ended up teaching some lessons, going over stuff for our horse trials, getting unpacked from the winter in Aiken, and planning a new course to be built in the ring… plus got everything packed and ready to go down to the Fork. Both Meghan and I are going and Kendyl is staying home to concentrate on school and ride the horses here. Anisa is coming up from school because both JR and Anisa’s horse, Tigger, are back in flat work—how exciting is that? Wish us luck and I’ll tell you all about the event when we get home.

Everything always happens quickly at this point in Aiken! I decided to do an Intermediate combined test at Pinetop Advanced since the girls were running the whole event and I wasn’t ready to do the Intermediate cross-country yet. I felt it would be better, since I got hurt at Pinetop a year ago, to not put too much stress on myself. Sometimes your emotions get the best of you and I didn’t want to be in that place. I wanted to get a couple more Prelims under my belt to get my eye back at the gallop. Wyatt was great in the dressage, though I didn’t really have enough time to warm up. It was cold but I wasn’t expecting him to be that fresh! Still, he was his typical rhythmical self and the Intermediate test gave him a little more to do. He was fourth after dressage and great in the show jumping.

Meghan and Pirate had a good test for them, another personal best, and their dressage is improving by leaps and bounds. They were good in the show jumping and cross-country, too. Kendyl and Megan (Ever So Lucky) had an okay dressage, she suffered from a fresh horse as well, but went on to better show jumping and cross-country. Helen and KC’s dressage is definitely a work in progress, so is show jumping, but they were double clear cross-country, which was great. The rest is going to just take time.

After Pine Top, I asked Mark Phillips if I could have a lesson on the flat before I went to Sporting Days because I felt I needed to re-confirm my half-halt. It felt like I haven’t really had enough time to get to Sylva’s and Mark was kind enough to teach me. He watched Wyatt go for a bit and then got on him. Mark just told me to really keep Wyatt over his neck, and to remember there’s only one answer when I put my leg on: he has to move his hind legs to the bit. It’s amazing how well Mark rides and how much feeling he has. You could see as he went that Wyatt got better and better and happier and happier. When I got back on him we did a little re-confirming of the half-halt, then shoulder-in, counter-canter, half-pass and lead changes and all of them were great. It was really fun to have Mark’s help again.

So on to Sporting Days. Wyatt was really good until we got to the water on cross-country and had a stop. I was so mad—even though I may not have ridden the best, I still felt he should have gone. I know I need to do my homework now because that water had been a problem before. Bebe was good all day with just one rail in show jumping. Allie won the dressage on a 20.4 and also had one rail down in show jumping. Both young horses were really good cross-country. I’m excited for Ashley Worrell, who has bought both Allie and Bebe. She wanted me to do Sporting Days and Southern Pines with them before sending them on to her in Colorado.

Charlie (BT Ten Mile) moved up to Training at Sporting Days with Meghan and had a better dressage test, though it’s hard to relate because the test is harder than Novice, and his cross-country and show jumping were good. Mark my words, Charlie’s going to be the dressage winner in the next few months. He’s a really nice horse, such a good mover and a great brain. Courtney Carson and Sunny had some trouble in both the cross-country and show jumping, but it was better than their last event at Paradise. Ashlyn Dorsey ran Culcairn 14 in JOT for his first event and was second, and JYOP with Cosmic Girl, finishing ninth.

After Sporting Days I took Wyatt to have a jump school with Phillip. I also wanted to have him watch me into the water. Wyatt was great for the school, but when we went practice the water, I got him in the first time but it took everything I had to make it happen. He was really naughty! Phillip said he was so glad we did this, hopped on Wyatt and told him, very politely, to never stop with me again!

I decided to take my horses to Southern Pines I because I really love that facility and the cross-country—the whole event is so well done. Also wanted another run in Preliminary with Wyatt, and a more difficult water. I also took Allie and Bebe for new owner, Ashley, plus I brought a horse I’d just bought from Patricia Vos and Jen Simmons. His name is Palm Crescent and they’d bought him through the Canter program. Jen had him entered at Southern Pines anyway, and even though I only had about five days with him, I decided to take him along and see what parts of the event I’d do. We also decided to take Kendyl’s mare in the Preliminary for more practice and to really work on galloping cross-country and the show jumping. Sometimes it’s a good idea to go down a level to practice some of the finer points before you go back up to the level you’ve been competing. Since Kendyl’s aiming Megan for the two-star at Young Riders this summer, we thought it would be a good time to work on technique.

Wyatt was second after dressage on a 23.5 and finished the event on that score for second place. I was the most confident I’ve felt cross-country as far as having my eye back into the gallop. Plus, the course was a great course for Wyatt in terms of being a good fitness run and having some great exercises on it—they had skinny house then two strides to a down bank with a left turn to another skinny, up a bank then a bounce over a roll-top. As always, Southern Pines had great water complexes and Wyatt didn’t bat an eye, though he did jump in huge!

Bebe was the first horse in the ring at 8:00 in a big Novice division, won the dressage on a 21.5, was great on cross-country and in show jumping, and won her division. Allie was tied for 7th after the dressage and was the best she’s ever felt in the jumping, finishing ninth in a 3-way tie. I’m so excited for Ashley because she’s getting two of the nicest horses in Allie and Bebe, and I’m also really excited for Melinda Walton and Larry Smith, who bred Bebe and have more horses coming along.

My new horse, Palmer was in the other Novice and ended up fifth after the dressage, was amazing in show jumping and cross-country and finished fourth overall. Let me tell you, the Novice course felt like the novice Olympics, we even had to jump a trakehner! It was only Palmer’s second event, and his first was Beginner Novice, and I had no idea what to expect. I was so sad to sell both Allie and Bebe because I think so much of them and was really hoping to keep Bebe for myself. But that’s not the way things work out, so I spoiled myself and bought a horse!

Kendyl and Megan (Ever So Lucky) were fifth after the dressage and great in the jumping to finish fourth in the Preliminary and our plan for Southern Pines to be a remedial outing was a success. Ashlyn Dorsey was good on both of her horses in Preliminary Rider; she’s getting ready for the one-star at the NAYRC. Cosmic Girl is a new ride for her, and she’s proving to be an education. I’m sure Ashlyn will figure her out. Her other horse, Culchairn 14, which she bought from me, was back after nine months out with an injury, and even though Ashlyn went a little slow she had a great ride. It will be nice for her to hopefully have two horses qualified for this summer. She’s here in Aiken for now and is planning to go to the one-star at Poplar.

Meanwhile, we had Helen and Courtney both run Full Gallop as well as my friend Vicky Jessop, who I’ve been helping on the flat with her horse, Desert Mystery. Vickey’s a great professional, and is helped by Stephen Bradley over fences. It was really fun to have her with us for two weeks, culminating with a win in OTB on a 25 in the dressage. Vickey rides beautifully on the flat and has done a great job with her thoroughbred, and it’s fun to be with her and see her do so well. Both Helen and Courtney had weekends where in some ways things were better, but the two ended with stops cross-country and I know they were disappointed. As we all know, that happens in eventing—we have to just keep working on what needs improving.

The great news is we got home from Southern Pines to learn that Vicky Jessop’s client, Sue Southard, had tried Tazzmania and on Monday she decided to buy him, so we have another one sold. I think Meghan, Kendyl and I are all looking forward to Southern Pines II, and Helen is looking forward to other events, and then will be happy to head home to Surefire north. It is amazing how quickly time flies when you’re in Aiken!