Anyway - Otter spring ended up great!! Horses and students were fabulous! After Otter Spring we settled in and got almost all of the kids out at Carriage House Combined Test in June. Hannah won the Advanced with just one rail down. Lucy had her first Training outing with just one rail down finished in 8th. Emily had a successful outing at her first Novice on Tess with only one down. Sammy finished on her dressage score in the Beginner Novice to take 2nd place. Mia took 2nd on her dressage score in the Starter, Olivia jumped clear to finish 4th, Gabi jumped clear to finish 6th, Claire had one down and took 7th & Gabby and Cami finished their first show together with just one rail down! It was a great day for LLE! Congrats girls!
The kids and I had a lot of fun this summer! Lily also purchased her new horse - Boo Ya from Philippa Humphreys and looks forward to competing on him next season!
In June I headed off to Fox River Valley with Emma James & Lisa Borgia. Lucy's first training!!! She was fabulous! She scored a 30.9 and jumped double clear on the cross country and in the show jumping to move up to 3rd place! She was great around the cross country, the water was an easy question and she didn't even bat an eye! Maura Tierney & her horse Dylan finished 6th in their Novice division as well! It was a great weekend with great friends. I love coming to Barrington because I get to see my good friend Jordynn Sahagian and her mom Vicky!! They are always so generous! Lucy was very happy spending the night outside at Jordynn's! Love you!
July was a hot one and we headed off to Roebke's Run! Lucy was fabulous at yet another training - she won her division with clear jumping rounds with a lead of 11 points! Emily completed her first Novice ending on her dressage score, Maura jumped the ditch and took 8th place Novice, Kailey had a good outing at Novice, Sammy finished her first event ever on Cinder in BN taking 8th place, Rika and Jet also finished 8th in BN, Gabby also successfully completed hers and Cami's first show at Starter, Olivia and Taco took 5th in Starter and Claire & Ty 4th in Starter! First shows for a lot, new levels, new horses and many fun new experiences and memories! Many thanks as usual to my irreplaceable groom Maria - our last local show together for awhile :( She is off to Standford in less then a few weeks! So happy to have had her a part of my life & my team for so long! You will be missed! Thanks to all the adults too - you guys make the show and it wouldn't be the same with out you!!!
We had a little bit of a break the rest of July and focused a lot on training and skill work. We also had a lot of fun out on the Lake! I played a lot of volleyball and was able to enjoy the sun! I have also had a great time riding with Ralph throughout the summer at his various clinics!
August brought on our busy fall season, it seems we have almost been non stop since then! The LLE Team headed to Otter Creek Summer for another great show of ups and downs. I unfortunately had a bad fall with Hannah which resulted in her retirement from the upper levels - but happy to report she is sound, healthy and LOVING her new job! Lucy was fabulous at another training & jumped right into both waters and finished in 2nd place. Sammy had an unfortunate stop to finish 7th in the JBNR division. Emily had another successful Novice finishing on her dressage score in 5th place. Claire and Ty won the Starter division with Olivia & Taco in a close 2nd! Congrats to another great weekend & a VERY fun competitor's party as usual at Otter! Thanks to everyone for all of your support & making another FUN show!!!
After Otter I returned back to Otter for their fall dressage show! Both Hannah showed 3rd Level bringing home ribbons each time - Lucy won all of her classes!
Next I headed off with both girls to Richland. I had Hannah running around Training just to give her a good run of confidence before taking on her new kid at the lower levels. She jumped great and clear in both phases. I LOVE THAT HORSE!!! Lucy was great in the dressage leading on a 24.6 and had one down in the show jumping. She was off on the cross country though and wasn't jumping well over anything. Had two stops at the first water and a dirty stop at the second water sending me off her shoulder. Another eventing weekend of ups and downs! Thank you so much to the Turnacliff twins for all of their help at the show! Abby was fabulous getting the girls ready, taking care of them, and helping me out!
Between Richland and the AEC's - Elysium Farms hosted a Ralph Hill Clinic & LLE Fundraiser. It was very successful! We had great rides over the two day clinic held in our large grass jump field and a lot of great donors came to the fundraiser! Thanks to EVERYONE who participated!
My trusty groom Maria arrived home from a month of school at Stanford and we headed out on our journey to Georgia for the 2012 AECs! You can follow our trip down with a variety of video blogs found on my facebook page - under the video section! It was a very exciting experience that brought on many changes! Lucy was naughty at the water again which resulted in my asking Lainey Ashker to take her back to Virginia with her to work on her "water problems". Thanks to the fundraising we did this was a possiblity and I have been enjoying regular updates from Lainey - including their win at Seneca Valley PCHT at the Novice level - dominating on their dressage score of a 26.5! Congrats and thanks for all of your hard work & time!!! Lucy heads off to Middleburg this weekend followed by Morven the next weekend at Training level - go Lainey & Lucy!
And now on to the most recent event - Otter Creek Fall Horse Trial!!! What a GREAT weekend - I mean I could seriously be satisfied with showing at Otter the rest of my life - the people, the facility, everything is just wonderful! It was weird not showing - one of the first shows since their first event that I haven't shown at! Maybe one or two in there over the years - but very very rare! Although having 9 kids at the show - it was nice not riding and being able to give 100% of my focus to them! They all did AMAZING too!!! In Novice Emily had a great run at Novice to finish in 7th place & Makenna Rold on Echo finished in 2nd! Beginner Novice Sammy took 2nd, Ellis Rold on Penny took 3rd, Gabi took 4th, Mia took 5th & Lily riding Hannah B took 7th! This was Lily's first ever event and Hannah's first ever Beginner Novice! Soon she will have ridden every level at Otter Creek! Olivia & Taco won the starter division with Claire & Ty close behind them in 2nd!!! I would say it was a MORE THAN SUCCESSFUL weekend for the Liz Lund Event Team!!! GO TEAM!!! You guys are awesome and I am SO PROUD of all of you!!! Thank to all of the adults for making the weekend possible - such a fun time and so many fun memories & new experiences! It is so nice to spend time with the other local trainers and see many friends. I look forward to these shows all of the time!!! Thank you of course to the Warners and all of the organizers and volunteers! Wouldn't be possible without you!!! Check out all of the photos on facebook - we had a great time at the competitor's party - fake eyelashes, colored hair spray, face paint, beads, glow sticks & dancing! Such a fun group!
Now we are on to Roebke's Run and Midsouth in KY! Two more shows & we plan to make them good ones!!! Onward & upward!
I promise more updates more often! Lucy will be showing soon too - stay tuned!
"Sometimes I’m afraid to live. Because when you live you lose, but you also win. And those times you win, make life worth living."
Ride Strong 2012 - Onward & Upward!
