Ok so I have yet to get on my monthly news schedule...

Ok so I have yet to get on my monthly news schedule, sorry, work in progress! At least I have a bit of an excuse this time with the website being down for a couple of weeks! In the meantime, Uno and Chauncy have had a super start to the season with Leslie Law getting us started with the clinic in February. Both jumped very well and Leslie gave us great feedback and things to work on. Next we headed to Temecula for the Event Derby at Kingsway, the training camp with David O'Connor and Galway the following weekend. Unfortunately, we found out the night before leaving that the training camp was cancelled. I was very disappointed but ended up having great jump schools with Jon, and had the chance to have a dressage lesson from my friend Niki Zamorra which was also very helpful.  Jon designed the course for the Event Derby and taught a clinic the day before, both at Kingsway Farm across from Galway. The courses rode well and everyone seemed to have fun while getting a good school in before Galway. After a relaxing week with 4 horses between myself, Char and Caitlin, dressage day of Galway snuck up on us rather quickly! Chauncy's flatwork has been steadily improving over the years but has always been his difficult phase as he is not naturally blessed with superior movement, and is easily distracted and excitable. So, you can imagine how excited and proud I was to be in 1st place at the end of the dressage day with him! He put in a relaxed, accurate, obedient test to lead with a score of 34. It was a nice birthday present for Jon since he owns Chauncy! Uno was not far behind in 4th with a 37. Caitlin's hard work over the winter showed in the ring, leaving her in 6th with a 36 in the training. Char's and Bam's nerves got the best of them, which was disappointing after the many hours they have spent improving their flatwork. Char's show jump round the next day proved that the weekend was going to be a learning experience for a very talented horse and rider that we expect to see great things from once they figure a few things out. Caitlin and Mav had a lovely, clean, show jump round, and a silly run out xc spoiled an otherwise spot on ride. Caitlin will be working on her rider fitness and turning with her outside aids before the next show! Chauncy and Uno jumped brilliantly for me both XC and SJ. They both had about 7 time faults XC which I was pleased with for their first outing of the season. They also both jumped double clean SJ rounds to finish with Chauncy in 2nd and Uno in 3rd! They came out right where they had left off from last season which was a great feeling! Thanks to Char and Caitlin for helping me switch horses efficiently and smoothly with the tight times. Ellen Guthrie was able to continue Ideal Life's winning streak from last year with a win in their Novice division! Ellen's also finished 4th with her other horse, Son of a Gun. Whitney Weston and Gin Fizz look to have solidified their partnership over the winter and finished 6th in OT. As well as helping all of us throughout the week, Jon was able to get a few games of golf in to celebrate his birthday week. My parents brought their RV down and joined us at Galway to cheer me on, keep Jon company on the golf course and keep Odie happy and well exercised! After a quick break in rainy WA, we head back to CA for Twin Rivers, this time with Chelsey joining Jon and I to ride Cindi Carrell's Stormont. Chauncy is entered in his first Advanced, so it will be an exciting weekend!  We hope you can join us the following weekend for the AF derby, this time to be held out in the water jump field for the BN- P. The hopeful will be in the sand arena, followed by schooling rounds at all the levels. We are also offering dressage for those that need a chance to get in the ring. See you soon, fingers crossed for a bit of dry weather before then!!  Suzy

Chauncy and I .......Leslie Law clinic