I’ve been super busy this summer with the horses. I went backwards a little bit with Storm after talking with Phillip, just to fill in some of the holes in his training, and decided to compete three weekends in a row—Louden Training, Loch Moy Modified (and snuck to a jumper show on Wednesday), then back up to Preliminary at Loch Moy 2. It was actually a super easy progression and thank goodness the footing wasn’t as hard as it is now because I would have had to modify my plans if that were the case. It’s amazing how quickly Storm got some good experience and how mature he finished cross-country at Loch Moy. Thank you Janet Gallay for the photos below.
Being able to do the jumpers at HITS and other venues has been a lot of fun and a great experience for all the horses. I find it extremely helpful for them to get in the ring again and again for several days of progressive jumping and not just single rounds as we have in Eventing. I’m so proud of student Kaylin Dines and her Urrem, who won the Classic at HITS Culpepper, and Volcan, who was second with Kaylin. She has really found her stride with both horses and it’s been so much fun to help her and watch her progress. As a bonus, I still get to ride her horses a bit.
I’ve been lucky enough to have Ella MacMaster, who is from Woodstock, Vermont, join us for the summer. She was with Clayton during all the restricted Covid months, and she’ll be heading back to finish school this fall and then hopefully go on to vet school. She has a young Thoroughbred that has been super fun to help her with, plus, if you haven’t noticed, Inmidair (JR) has been competing with Ella, which makes all of us smile. That tells you how special I think Ella is, because as we all know, JR is my heart horse.
Earlier this week, I taught in Vermont for a couple days and visited with my friends, Susan and Barton Merle-Smith at their High Wind Farm. Then, I headed to the Green Mountain Horse Association (GMHA) to help teach at the Area 1 Young Rider Camp. Until next time!
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