Well it was a big, successful week of A's! We managed to survive having the horse trials, the first advanced in WA, and our first child all in one week!! What a whirlwind, and yes, I'm very glad to have that week over with. I'm so grateful to all the people in our lives that made it possible to have the event go so smoothly even with us being a bit distracted. A huge thank you to our families, the course building crew, the office crew, the barn crew, all the volunteers and of course Avery for taking it all in stride. We have a handful of volunteers that have each been in charge of a certain aspect of the event since the beginning and put in many hours before, during and after the event to make sure that one area goes perfectly.  I am so thankful to them for all that they have done and continue to do with smiles on their faces. I think this was the driest, sunniest event we have ever had, making for many extra hours for the course builders on the tractor getting the footing just right. It was well worth the effort as you could sure feel the difference walking around. The advanced caused several problems on xc, but spread throughout the course, and all minor. Karen O'Neal had the only double clear to take the lead and also had the only double clear SJ to secure the win and the prize money from Tin Men Supply, congratulations on a super advanced debut for her. The Newton Amateur classes were very popular with the amateurs jumping at the chance to bring home prize money donated by Newton labs for BN thru preliminary divisions. Our fabulous working student Allie Cooney was one of the lucky winners, topping the Newton Amateur Preliminary division for her first preliminary win! She has worked extremely hard over the last year to bring her dressage scores from the bottom of the pack to earning the Kerrits leader pinny for Saturday! It was a good weekend for AF students with Lauren Benge and Tara Dunford both placing third in their preliminary divisions. Alisa Sprouffske (your stabling genius and one of those hard working behind the scenes volunteers I mentioned earlier!) almost had a perfect weekend but pulled 2 rails in SJ to drop from 1st to 10th. It was the nicest round I have seen her ride but the scoreboard can be cruel; luckily xc shot them back up a few places. Lindsay Scharmach had another great weekend on her young horse to finish a very successful year. She bred and started Gesspari and has had several top placings at BN and Novice this year in his first year out as a 4 year old, an accomplishment not many people have achieved. To be continued....hungry baby calling:)

I'm skipping a lot between these two posts so may have to backtrack in my next post but first wanted to introduce the two newest members of the AF team. While visiting my family in the Okanagan for my brothers wedding, I went to the farm that I got Uno, Gogo and several others from to see if they had any horses for sale. I ended up with two half brothers to Gogo, one on the dams side and one on the sire side. The chestnut above (King Katz) is by Gogo's sire, Mass Market, and the bay (Eagle Eyes) is out of Gogo's dam, Dancing Eyes, who is Uno's sister. It will be fun to bring them along and see if they have any of Gogo's talent. So far, they both have the movement and temperament so fingers crossed they like to jump! Katz has gone straight into training with Allie and has been a perfect gentleman under saddle after a year off, while Eli is just three and has been at the track all winter so will have some time in the field to grow up and just be a horse. Next post will include a progress report on Katz and a brief recap of everything that's happened from May til July!

On Wednesday we said goodbye to everyones barn favorite, Gogo (Patagonia). Gogo has gone south to warmer weather to start forming a partnership with his new owner, Dawn Robbins. Although I am sad to see him go, I bought him with the intention of giving him a good start through training/ prelim and then selling him, and I know Dawn will take excellent care of him and love him even more than I do! I bought him as a 2 year old from Flying Horse Farm in BC. Ogopogo also came from this farm and is Gogo's uncle so I went back hoping to find more from this line. They seem to have a lot of talent but more importantly excellent brains! Gogo did three training level events last year and finished 1st, 2nd and 1st, all with scores in the 20's! Below is a picture of him as a 2 year old and again as a 5 year old.

Good luck Gogo and Dawn!!

I am happy to bring you a post from Laramie Maxwell who is out east preparing to do her first CCI**. Laramie has been a part of the AF family for several years now so we are excited and proud to have her represent AF on the east coast!

 Laramie has also started her own blog for her and Wally, check it out at http:// wallyandlaramie.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Whew! Has it been an exciting three weeks. It feels great to finally be settled down in Ocala, FL at Five Ring Stable, owned by Jon and Suzy’s good friends Kyle and Jen Carter. Wally and I have been given the wonderful opportunity to train here for a couple of months to complete a two star and go from there!

I must begin at the beginning though…our adventure across the US from Washington to Florida. I jumped in the truck with Jordan Linstedt who I did not know at all, and Wally got on board with Jack and Capato. Jack is bound for Rolex and Capato is soon to make his debut at Intermediate, so Wally was in good company. After sliding up Snoqualmie Pass, it was smooth sailing through the rest of Washington, Idaho, and Utah. Wyoming, however, welcomed us with some serious roadblocks. Between Wamsutter and Rawlins the spare tire fell off the front of the trailer, we ran it over, popped both tires on the passenger side of the trailer, and were ultimately stranded for 24 hours. The horses were absolutely incredible, waiting on the side of the interstate for five hours and loading into a strange trailer in the pitch black after having already been on the trailer for over 24 hours. Through the generosity of both my wonderful friends as well as complete strangers, we got new rims and tires and eventually made our way further east. (Thanks a MILLION to Joe in Sinclair, WY

Well we got back on the road and ended up in Kansas before the truck decided to quit on us and we spent St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Augusta Kansas at the Palmer Ranch. Miraculously the Ford dealership was right next to a facility with a cross country course. What are the chances… We had some fun killing time in Kansas while the truck cab was completely detached from the chasse to replace a fuel pump. They managed to get it fixed and we made it to Poplar in Hamilton, Georgia a week after we departed! I couldn’t believe my eyes when we finally pulled into the property. Gorgeous rings, perfectly manicured cross country courses, and a giant barn with hundreds of permanent stalls. We had arrived.

The weekend went very well. Wally came off the trailer feeling and looking great and he came to work on both Saturday and Sunday. Friday, well, he was not quite so willing. A disappointing dressage test was not what I was hoping for, but it’s what I got, so I moved into Saturday hoping that we could redeem ourselves. Wally did not disappoint and he was incredible on one of the stiffest intermediates we have run around yet. I was very excited that he felt so great after having not run since Rebecca Farm last July. Show jumping on Sunday also ran smoothly, aside from one rail that was entirely my fault. Overall we ended seventh and I was happy with the weekend.

We are now settling into Ocala and ran a combined test at Rocking Horse HT last weekend, where he was excellent in the show jumping with a clean round and had some lovely moments in the dressage. I am excited to continue working with Kyle and getting to know all of the girls and the horses better.

I am so thankful that Jon and Suzy have given me the tools to enable me to pick up and move Wally across the country. I feel competent and confident in my skills, but there is, of course, always room to learn and improve. I’m looking forward to what the next few weeks

bring! Next time I will give more details about the program down here and what Wally and I have been working on.

Until next time!

Wally & Laramie

  Sam Bergin, winner of the preliminary, and Jonathan in front of the new Advanced table.

Thank you to those that braved the elements to come to the first Aspen Farms Derby of 2012! Despite the constantly changing but mostly terrible weather, lots of people took advantage of the opportunity to start practicing for the upcoming season and give their horses an outing. Congratulations to the following horse and rider combinations that placed at their levels and thank you to YELM FARM AND PET for rewarding them with great prizes.

Hopeful
1-Kate Sundquist & Albert
2-Hannah Sarmiento & Sunny Daze
3-Jessica Jimenez & Flower
 
BN
1-Sarah Baldridge & Zip Drive
2-Teanna Smith & The Right Prize
3-Jackie Erickson & Hot Wheelz
 
N
1-Patti Maze & Aaron
2-Sarah Baldridge & Zip Drive
3-Sarah Fohn & Money
 
T
1-Alisa Sprouffske & Tonga
2- Tara Durfare & Casey
3- Brooke Phillips & Ducky
 
P
1-Samantha Bergin & Georgia
2- Allie Cooney & Juno
3-Brooke Phillips & Jonny

As promised, though very late in delivery, above is from the Aspen Farms Costume Christmas Party! I think this may become an annual thing, it was fun to dress up and certainly made the party feel festive!

Happy New Years! This will be a short post, mostly to remind you to get our derby dates on your 2012 calendar. The derbies are an excellent way to get some show practice in before the season gets underway, please join us!

FEB 25 DERBY, FEB 26 CLINIC

MARCH 24 DERBY, MARCH 25 CLINIC

APRIL 28 DERBY, APRIL 29 CLINIC

Ask and you shall recieve.....well, sometimes. I just happen to have a few spare moments on my hands so I am using them to grant Laramie's wish of a blog post to distract her from school and the fact that she is way to far away from her beloved Wally, who is fat and happy to be back in work after his post season vacation. Life on the farm is good, we had our first day of rain for December today which is shocking....2 weeks of sunshine in December in Washington? Unheard of. Every day another massive advanced jump appears on the driveway...I know your heart rate just sped up thinking about jumping them Lar:) I had a super fun ride on Lee today (3 year old off the track); he jumped a mini course with his first oxer like a pro and was relaxed and happy to do it, love him and love my job. It's incredibly rewarding to give a OTTB a new career and have them make the transition to it with ease and happiness. Cindi, Laurie, and Char were super in their lessons with me today and Jessica, Allie and Carly looked great with Jon. Secret has been back in work for a little over 2 weeks  and has been mostly hacking but with the warmer weather today I couldn't resist having a little trot and canter out on the xc track, I think he enjoyed it as much as I did! All in all, a great day in the barn. Yesterday we said goodbye to Herc and Rachel. While Rachel goes to school, Herc will be teaching people to ride and enjoying a little more laid back life. Rachel won't be too far away so hopefully she'll pop back in to say hello from time to time. Tomorrow is a big day at AF....the annual Christmas Party with the addition this year of  .....costumes!!!!! Photos WILL be taken, don't worry. Everyone in the house has a costume ready, including Rudy. Hmm, what else is new. Jon and I went for a 3 day holiday to Cannon Beach last weekend; it has become an annual trip for us that we look forward to and love. It's so relaxing to have nothing to do but walk the dogs on the beach and eat delicious food. This time we made our to the Tillamook factory on the way out since we were going south to look at a horse anyways. We came home with A LOT of cheese, yum, some of which will be available for sampling at the party tomorrow:) Ok, that's all for now, I'll leaving you in eager anticipation of the Christmas Party report!

While sitting on the couch sipping my coffee and contemplating how cold it will be outside with the fresh blanket of snow, it occurred to me that updating the blog would be a great way to put off having to find out just how cold it is! That and the friendly nudges I had from friends last night to update the website;) I have mixed feelings about Galway; I'm happy that I went, proud of how Secret handled everything, frustrated with my riding, grateful to be home with a sound, healthy horse and my back none worse for the wear, and filled with a renewed determination to be better the next time. We were lucky to do dressage on thursday in perfect weather and dry footing. Our test was good, but had one major mistake and could have been better ( of course, it can always be better!). Our score of 52.8 put us in 14th place out of 41 starters after dressage with the leader on a 47.5. Friday brought rain, and a lot of it. I was sure it would clear off, we were in CA after all, but no, it persisted ALL day. I finally gave up and bought a rain coat and rubber boots because of course I didn't pack any rain gear. There were plenty of concerns about how the footing on XC would be the next day but considering the course building team is usually up all night watering the track the night before XC to make it right, I wasn't too terribly concerned. Of course along with not packing rain gear, I also made the decision while at home not to have Secrets shoes drilled and tapped because who uses studs in CA? Well, probably 90% of the riders used studs this time. There was a line of horses waiting to get drilled and tapped the morning of XC. I did look into joining that line but ran out of time with my early ride time. The footing felt great aside from where we ran through the show jump ring and I just took it easy there. Secret was great XC, he felt super in his gallop, never felt tired and handled all the technical questions well. Our stop was at the first water; a large cabin set in the shadows at the edge of the water. It caused several problems early on which I was not aware of as I went out. I didn't give him enough time to see and understand the question and I also should have given him a little encouragement off the ground to make sure he left the ground. How many times have a replayed that 10 seconds in my head?....too many to count. It seems like I have enough experience to not be making silly mistakes like that but I guess that's the thing with this sport, you let your guard down for a second and you learn a lesson in humility. I need to improve my focus and concentration on course so I can ride more effectively. On the positive side, Secret finished confidently, jogged up great that night and the next morning, and felt fresh when I got on to SJ. Our show jumping was not our prettiest round, he got better as he went but had 2 early rails before we found a rhythm and got focused. So, lots to work on over the winter! Right now Secret is enjoying a holiday playing in the field with his 3 buddies. I was also glad to be at Galway to watch the 3* run, it was amazing to have 40 horses in the 3* the second year it has run. Some great horse and rider pairs came from the east coast and seemed impressed by the venue and by Ian Starks XC course. It was very challenging track with plenty of places that a lapse in concentration could get you in trouble. For some it rode beautifully, but there were a large number of problems spread through out the course. Riding forward in a balance was rewarded while being under paced or overly aggressive got you into trouble. I have to comment on how impressive James Alliston was throughout the weekend, all four FEI horses had double clear XC and while they were all different types of horses, he gave each one just the right ride that he needed. Congrats to him and his team on an amazing weekend.

That's all for now, time to go teach. We are having a ladies fun clinic here this weekend with myself teaching a group of ladies that want to learn while spending time with friends on horseback and over drinks and good food!

After much consideration, I made the decision to make the trek to CA for Galway in November. Although there is a CCI* in the spring at Twin Rivers, it makes more sense to me to do it at the end of the season when Secret is fit from running all year. He is healthy, so am I, and we're feeling great together, so, time to take a shot at it. I decided to leave Gogo behind; he's had a great season and finished with winning the training championships at NW.  He's only 5 and did three trainings this year, finishing on his dressage score at all three and was 1st, 2nd (behind Rimsky), and 1st, so I think he's earned a break! I will now spend the next few weeks obsessing over Secrets legs, fitness program, and wondering what details I've forgotten to organize, or what fences I've forgotten to educate him about. Let the three day stress begin!

We are now accepting applications for a working student position to begin December.1. Please visit the working student page of the website for more information or email me for details, suzypettman@hotmail.com.

As most of you have heard, Jon's mother, Gail, passed away September 24, after a two year battle with cancer. She was at home and surrounded by family. Gail was a huge supporter of Aspen Farms, always present at the horse trials and ready to pitch in and help with whatever needed to be done. Even as her health failed, she continued to organize volunteers from her computer and came out to the September event to see the new water jump and make sure all the volunteers were well looked after. Hopefully some of you were lucky enough to get a smile and thank you from her as she watched from her golf cart. In healthier times, Gail loved to come out to the farm to ride her horse Linus, and would spend hours here letting her dogs roam while she planted us some flowers that she brought from her garden or watered plants that I had neglected! She loved getting to know the working students; she gave them advice on colleges, invited them over for fourth of July or whatever holiday was approaching, and made them feel welcome and appreciated. I know she applied the same warmth and commitment to all areas of her life, and so will be missed by many. We love and miss you Gail.

Gail Williams Elliott

 This New England-native (b. New Haven, CT, 1939) moved to the Northwest after her marriage to Neal M. Elliott (1940-1998), whom she met at International House at Columbia University, over a bowl of chocolate ice cream. Prior to her master's degree at Columbia, Gail studied at Middlebury College and the University of Edinburgh. She brought her love of history, travel and classical music with her to Washington, where she discovered horses and boisterous board games with her children. In 2002 she fell in love again with another intrepid traveler, Bill Boris, and the pair have spent the last nine years traveling the world. Gail is survived by sister Gene Hoyt, her brother Harold Munson, her husband Bill Boris, her three children--Ingrid, Eva and Jonathan Elliott--four grandsons--Avi, Micah, Isaac and Jasper--one horse--Linus--and seven dogs and granddogs--Bruno, Monti, Lucy, Scooter, Kirin, Rudy and Odie. A memorial service will be held at the Chapel on Echo Bay ( 400 6th Avenue, Fox Island, WA 98333), 2:30pm, Tuesday September 27th. The family welcomes donations in Gail's memory to the Second City Chamber Music Series: P.O. Box 967, Tacoma, WA 98401. This is an arts organization which performs professional chamber music, as well as provides ensemble opportunities for high school musicians. Gail introduced her children to classical music though their concerts in the seventies and eighties, sat on their board for years, and found great joy in their music for decades.