It’s so nice that the weather has started to change, fall is my favorite time of year. Knowing that winter is looming makes me a little sad, but I love the changing temperatures and turning leaves. Fall makes me appreciate what I do every day because I get to be outside hacking and training and enjoying nature. I’m lucky!
The horses have been good and fun to work with, and I’ve continued to horse show. I’m changing the way I do things with my young horses because I’ve found doing two weeks of horse shows educates the horses, and myself, more than one horse trials. It’s not that I didn’t know this, but sometimes I think we forget how things influence horses and our riding until we revisit different training methods and disciplines. Horse shows provide multiple classes per day for multiple days. I’ve found the young horses realize a show is just another day and not something to get excited about. Also, shows give them great tools without much risk of them getting hurt.
I also got to take my young horses to two horse trials. At Seneca, Gino (Jinshallah) and Storm (Beautiful Storm) did Novice and Training and were super. I was going to do Lilly (Helloway) in the Preliminary—she’s been doing the hunters as well schooling cross-country—but her fitness wasn’t quite where it needed to be to be fair to her, so I decided to just do the Training. Lilly’s quick because you don’t have to set her up and she ended second, tied for first.
Thanks to Janet Gallay for the photos!
The horses have been good and fun to work with, and I’ve continued to horse show. I’m changing the way I do things with my young horses because I’ve found doing two weeks of horse shows educates the horses, and myself, more than one horse trials. It’s not that I didn’t know this, but sometimes I think we forget how things influence horses and our riding until we revisit different training methods and disciplines. Horse shows provide multiple classes per day for multiple days. I’ve found the young horses realize a show is just another day and not something to get excited about. Also, shows give them great tools without much risk of them getting hurt.
I also got to take my young horses to two horse trials. At Seneca, Gino (Jinshallah) and Storm (Beautiful Storm) did Novice and Training and were super. I was going to do Lilly (Helloway) in the Preliminary—she’s been doing the hunters as well schooling cross-country—but her fitness wasn’t quite where it needed to be to be fair to her, so I decided to just do the Training. Lilly’s quick because you don’t have to set her up and she ended second, tied for first.
Thanks to Janet Gallay for the photos!
 Lilly |  Gino |
Storm
The next weekend I went to CDCTA with Storm and Gino. Gino was a little bit of a home boy going by the trailers parked along fences two through five, he wanted to go back to his trailer! Otherwise he was great, though I never trotted in my lengthening in dressage. Storm moved up to Training and gave me everything he could. His score showed he had a rail (I disagreed), and I even provided a video of our round, though you couldn’t really see the jump in question. It’s not the easiest warm-up there because it’s so small, but Storm handled the new level easily. I decided not to do Lilly at CDCTA because she was doing the Middleburg Classic in the hunters. It’s nice to have horse that’s so versatile.
I’m spending last week and this with Volcan, Rem, Storm and Gino in Upperville at the Piedmont Horse Show and then at Tryon. Hopefully, I’ll finish the year at the Maryland Horse Trials.
Things on the farm are great, and I’m so lucky to have Tom making sure everything is mowed and beautiful and of course to have Kelsey and Marlene being the great team they are in the barn.
I’m spending last week and this with Volcan, Rem, Storm and Gino in Upperville at the Piedmont Horse Show and then at Tryon. Hopefully, I’ll finish the year at the Maryland Horse Trials.
Things on the farm are great, and I’m so lucky to have Tom making sure everything is mowed and beautiful and of course to have Kelsey and Marlene being the great team they are in the barn.
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