There is a Combined Test and Dressage Show at Antebellum in Lexington on August 24th.  If you are interested in going let me know.  We will be attending.  The entries are due by tomorrow but you can still send it in with a $5 late fee if you want to go.  Sorry for the late notice on this one.

Let me know!

Sorry for the delay in posting. I thought I had actually put this up already. 

So yes we did leave at the crack of dawn and we made it there on time, then we found out that the secr. stand was all the way down by stadium for packets. So by the time we walked down there and back we needed to rush to tack up so that Stephanie could get some warmup time in. 

Stephanie got a short warm up with about 10 minutes (thank gosh the ring was running behind even though she was only the 2nd rider).  She had a lovely test for her first mini trial. She had some true moments of connection and worked through the nerves as Wilbur called to Dixie. 

Meredith followed shortly after. You could tell she was nervous but boy did she have a great test. She even calmly fixed Dixie's head as she tossed it right in front of the judge.  I couldn't have been more pleased with the dressage rides.

Next came Meredith & Dixie's first ever stadium round.  It was a bit nerve racking as the horses and riders before her had many issues with refusals and falls.  Meredith went in and showed everyone how it was done.  With excellent teamwork they did a clear round.  Meredith's finish on her dressage score put her in 2nd place!!!!!!!  Great first combined test for both horse and rider.

Stephanie did her stadium next.  The last time she had been in this ring with Wilbur they had some issues, so I held my breath as the entered the ring.  Stephanie had Wilbur pick up a nice pace to the first fence and continued it around the course.  They had one rail on the last fence adding on 4pts.... darn, but SO MUCH IMPROVED from last time...the difference was amazing.

For the final ride of the day Stephanie and Wilbur did their first cross country course!  The course was set up nicely but had some challenging questions for a starter course.  Stephanie cantered out of the start box with a  smile on her face and looked great as they went across the course. Wilbur apparently didn't think to highly of the stream crossing the course which was not a jump, but he had no issues with anything that was actually a question on the course.  They finish clean!!!!!  For their first Mini Trial they were in the ribbons in 6th. This was an excellent accomplishment since there were a couple of upper level event riders in her division.  (Who knows how well she would have placed if they had split the division into rider and horse) .

I want to thank Meredith's Dad and Stephanie's Cheering crew for all their help during the show!

Lori

We will be going to Summer School Horse Show on August 3rd. Boy it will be an early morning.  We have Stephanie/Wilbur and Meredith/Dixie both starting right around 8am EASTERN! 

Stephanie and Wilbur have dressage at 8:06m in ring 2, while Meredith and Dixie are in ring 3 at 8:18am.  They have not posted the order or the estimated times yet for Stadium but I assume they will start around 10am. 

Stephanie will be our last ride of the day with her first ever cross country course!  Her ride time is 1:00pm. 

We will most likely leave at NO LATER than 3:45am.  WOW that sucks!  Gotta love Horse Showing.

See you Sunday!

Hello All,

We need to sign up for the next show.  The plan is to go to Masterson Station for Summer School.   The entries are due no later than July 17th, the entries can be found at http://summerschool.home.insightbb.com/

Also be sure to check the bella vista service page for our updated fees.

Let me know if you have sent your entries in and are planning on going.

Lori

Hello All,

We had a big week/weekend at the horse park.  I took 4 horses to the park on wednesday for pony club rally.  Ali, Wilbur, Jade and Gem all travelled up and got settled into their stalls nicely.  While Eli, Vasi, Libby, Sam and Morgan started their rallys at noon, Hope  was riding in her dressage rally.  Hope did a very nice Into test B but Lira accidentally left the ring during her training level test 1.  The D2's did their jogs that day and they even had to do them through the pouring down rain. 

Thursday the D1s and D2s did both dressage and stadium.  Libby was our first ride of the day and the first ride of the event.  She and Oliver did very well going first!  Next Sam and Eli went at the same time.  Both on horses they are not experienced with showing or eventing. They both had lovely tests.   Vasi and Jade came next, Vasi did  a wonderful job calming Jade down and went it to have a wonderful first dressage test ever on Jade.  Morgan and Wilbur were our last dressage ride of the day and Morgan really rode well.  Wilbur got a little spunky and she really rode well to keep him on track!   As for Stadium, Libby again kicked off the rides with a bang! She had a beautiful clear round. Sam went next on Lexus, whose jumping experience is minimal.  Sam rode her hard but just wasn't able to convince Lexus that the oxer wasn't as scary as it looked. Eli took Ali in and boy did they have a blast, a wonderful clear round with a huge smile from Eli the whole time.  Vasi rode hard with her signature saying "Agh, Agh, Agh" at each jump she though Jade minght not jump, they whole crowd got into it with her.  She then got to what she thought would be two easy jumps and forgot to use her saying, she had two stops, but she finished!  How very exciting for her first stadium round on Jade.  Morgan and Wilbur went next for their stadium round.  They were a perfect pair and made it look super easy! 

That finished up the D1 rally and Morgan finished in 6th place!!!! So great for her first show!  At this point the Cs set up for their rally and we had yet another thunderstorm.

Friday brough XC for the D2s and Dressage for the Cs. Unfortunately they were at the same time.  So I was up with the D2s while Megan and Emily handled themselves at dressage.    Up at XC, Libby showed everyone how to ride the XC course making it around the course with only two stops where she just forgot to ride all the way to the fence.  Sam had a wonderful warmup on Lexus who jumped the oxer with easy on the first try. (Guess he learned something in stadium).  Sam was unable to convince him that the log on the course was jumpable.  Eli and his big smile did convince Ali that she could get over the jumps even if she was a bit squirmy. They really got into a nice pace after jump number 4 and cantered the rest of the course, even through the water which was an option!  Eli had a clear round!!! It was his and Ali's first XC course.  GREAT JOB!  Vasi and Jade finished off the group. Vasi was prepared with her signature saying. She was also incredibly nervous for their first XC course ever.  Right out of the box Jade decide to make sure Vasi wanted to do this but on their second try they got over jump number one and continued on their way. They had a stop at jump 4 because Jade was looking at the people instead of the jump but they canter through the rest of the course with easy and they finished!  I am so proud of all the D riders they really did a great job!

Eli ended up in 7th and Libby in 9th!

Megan and Emily had ok dressage rides. I don't know exactly what I missed but their scores were not as high as their last show and neither were super happy with their tests.  Megan scored a 41 and Emily a 47. 

Saturday Megan and Emily did Stadium and Rio and I did both dressage and Stadium.  I didn't feel that Rio was 100% on in his test, he really had some TB ADD, but the judge still gave him some great numbers givbing us a 36.5 and starting us out in 5th place. Megan and Emily's scores put them at 9th and 14th respectively.

Emily went first for the stadium and had a PERFECT round. They went double clear and you could really see how happy Emily was.  I couldn't have asked for more.  Megan went next and just looked at easy. The first part of the course was flawless. Gem then decided that the outside of the ring was scary and that he should look at that instead of jump number 8. He lost the great canter they hand and just barely grabbed the rail on jump 8.  1 rail and 4 points still a great round!   Rio and I went for our round and I really just wanted him to improve from IEA. Boy did he ever!  He listened to every thing I had to say and put in a stunning double clear round!  He new he was hot stuff and when he got back to the stall he made sure everyone new he was by picking up chairs and garment bags, tossing them at people...really making a funny scene.    Saturday was just a great day for everyone.

Sunday was XC day!  Everyone loves XC. Emily lead off and she didn't make the same mistake from IEA! After sailing over the first fences they ran a wonderful double clear round! Megan came next and almost went off course after jump number two but she remembered the course and they too had a double clear round!  Rio finished up our group.  He just didn't warm up great, feeling a little weak and distracted, but I figured we would just take it slow and see how things went. If I needed to pull him up I would.  The first two jumps just weren't his normal joyful XC jumps, but after the third fence something in his head clicked and he switched gears. It was like a whole new horse, his ears perked up and he started politely pulling me to each fence.  He ran the course great with a double clear round!  I was thrilled! He really is a XC machine and proving to be a great eventer!

The scoring finished up with Emily and Katie moving up to 12th, Megan and Gem taking 7th and Rio and I in 4th.

Even better news is Megan Qualified for Pony Club Championships and Rio for the American Eventing Championships!  What a great weekend for everyone!Our 4-Her Meredith  called me with an update last night. Meredith and Dixie did their dressage and Horsemanship yesterday, she said they went well but they had to wait a horribly long time.  She will be doing her jumper class and their equitation today. We wish her the best! I will post her results when I get the details. Check the website for more updates and hopefully pictures.  If you have pictures from the shows please send them to me.