Because of the way the season has gone, I’ve been doing more horse shows than eventing. I was fortunate to do the Piedmont Jumpers at the Upperville show grounds. I showed Gino and Storm in the young classes—Storm was reserve champion in the TAKE2 Thoroughbreds (https://www.take2tbreds.com) and Gino did the meter and meter-10s. They were both great. REM didn’t have best meter-20 but did the $10,000 Classic with just one rail down. Volcan was also good, a little amped though, so I spent my time going back and forth through the levels between meter-10 and 20.
I did the finals on Sunday with Storm and then Monday, Laila and I went down to Tryon to jump on Wednesday through Friday. It was nice to have a little road trip because haven’t traveled much this year. Tryon was super educational for all the horses and for me. I took all four again—Storm did the TAKE2 Thoroughbreds each day, never had a rail and was super in the jump-offs and in his turning. Gino was a little gob-smacked in the international ring, or maybe I was! He went back and forth between meter and m-10. in his last class on Friday, Gino was 4th in a big meter-10 class. I started with meter-10 and m-15 with Volcan and finished the last two days meter-20. While he had a few mistakes at the beginning, both final trips were super. Rem was great, too—4th in meter-20, and in the meter-20 speed class she was third. On the third day, Rem had two down in the stakes class, I think she just stood too long at the gate before going. Live and learn. It’s amazing how much education I got and the horses got in those two weeks. It wasn’t always an easy education, but very helpful at the end of the day.
It was super watching Doug Payne do his horse Quincy (Quintessence) in the bigger classes at Tryon, and I got to visit with him and his wife, Jessica. I was also super fortunate to get help from Katie and Henri Prudent and their assistant, Paula Randall. I stayed with Penny and Don Nault, who live right on the cross-country course. It was like staying at 5-star hotel—beautiful house and company. Between Don’s ribs and Penny’s dinners, it was delicious and amazing!
We got home on Saturday morning at around 2:00 AM and then had a pretty low-key weekend getting the horses at home back going again. On Wednesday, we went cross-country schooling at Stephen Bradley’s so I could get Storm and Gino ready for the Maryland Horse Trials. Gino ended 2nd and Storm was 3rd in their Training divisions. Unfortunately, Storm didn’t have the most beautiful test because he was a little disconnected at the canter, but he didn’t put a foot wrong and ended on his dressage score. It’s been super fun to develop these two horses this year, to see how far they’ve come and how much jumper shows educate your horses. It’s also fun to put the pressure on yourself and be competitive in every class you go to.
I did the finals on Sunday with Storm and then Monday, Laila and I went down to Tryon to jump on Wednesday through Friday. It was nice to have a little road trip because haven’t traveled much this year. Tryon was super educational for all the horses and for me. I took all four again—Storm did the TAKE2 Thoroughbreds each day, never had a rail and was super in the jump-offs and in his turning. Gino was a little gob-smacked in the international ring, or maybe I was! He went back and forth between meter and m-10. in his last class on Friday, Gino was 4th in a big meter-10 class. I started with meter-10 and m-15 with Volcan and finished the last two days meter-20. While he had a few mistakes at the beginning, both final trips were super. Rem was great, too—4th in meter-20, and in the meter-20 speed class she was third. On the third day, Rem had two down in the stakes class, I think she just stood too long at the gate before going. Live and learn. It’s amazing how much education I got and the horses got in those two weeks. It wasn’t always an easy education, but very helpful at the end of the day.
It was super watching Doug Payne do his horse Quincy (Quintessence) in the bigger classes at Tryon, and I got to visit with him and his wife, Jessica. I was also super fortunate to get help from Katie and Henri Prudent and their assistant, Paula Randall. I stayed with Penny and Don Nault, who live right on the cross-country course. It was like staying at 5-star hotel—beautiful house and company. Between Don’s ribs and Penny’s dinners, it was delicious and amazing!
We got home on Saturday morning at around 2:00 AM and then had a pretty low-key weekend getting the horses at home back going again. On Wednesday, we went cross-country schooling at Stephen Bradley’s so I could get Storm and Gino ready for the Maryland Horse Trials. Gino ended 2nd and Storm was 3rd in their Training divisions. Unfortunately, Storm didn’t have the most beautiful test because he was a little disconnected at the canter, but he didn’t put a foot wrong and ended on his dressage score. It’s been super fun to develop these two horses this year, to see how far they’ve come and how much jumper shows educate your horses. It’s also fun to put the pressure on yourself and be competitive in every class you go to.
Gino on left, Storm on right. Photos by Janet Gallay.
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