Weds 4/6:
Packed all of our gear, hay, bedding & Hannah & Cody into Maria's truck & trailer and headed down to Dark Horse Farm in Lakeville, MN - Kate Jensen's Farm, so we could meet up with our trailer buddy, Jen Selvig & her horse Spoofin & her groom Kate.
Unfortunately Maria's horse Pete, was supposed to come with us but pulled up lame a couple weeks before and is currently resting. We hope he has a quick recovery! My client's, the Geraci family, were kind enough to offer Maria the ride on Mia's horse Peppy's Nu Image (aka Cody). I felt very confident in Maria taking the ride on Cody & stepping up in her duties as LLE's Assistant Trainer! After settling the horses in a stall we moved all of our gear from Maria's rig to the 3-horse rig so that we would be ready to go early in the morning. Once everything was packed we went to bed for a few short hours.
Thurs 4/7:
2am - Wake up, hook up truck & trailer, feed horses, wrap legs & load.
3am - I hopped in the drivers seat & we began down the road! We stopped at a gas station quick to top off the tank and down 35 we went! As we drove south the weather improved & was starting to warm up. The horses were all traveling well & we would offer them water at each stop. Hannah enjoys sticking her nose all the way down to the bottom of the bucket & splashing around & then bopping her lips, rather then actually drinking the water! Eventually we arrived at the KY Horse Park with me behind the wheel the entire time! It was sunny & warm! We prepped the stalls & unloaded the horses so they could settle in as we unloaded all of our gear. After we were done unloading and unhitched we walked the horses all around the park and let them munch on KY's own blue grass! Wrapped their legs & then off to dinner where we met up with Nicole Zullo, long time friend from MN that goes to UK. She was kind enough to let us stay with her for the weekend - much appreciated!
Fri 4/8:
Up and off the the Park! Stopped to get some quick breakfast & then fed our ponies & loaded them back up to head over to Carriage Station Farm, Cathy Wieschhoff's farm to get in our FIRST cross country school of the year! (Yes, the day before our first show due to the horrible MN spring we have had so far! Snow expected for Saturday 4/16...)
Hannah & Cody were very well behaved XC schooling & I was very confident that they would both jump clean around the XC on Sunday.
We headed back to the park where Maria & I bathed both the horses and cleaned all of our tack. We organized our area and Nicole came to pick us up. We headed off to a Mexican dinner & then back to the farm to walk the horses, feed them & wrap their legs. Then we headed off home & settled in for some sleep!
Sat 4/9:
Bright & early! Off the to Park again and feed the horses and un-wrapped their legs, touch up cleaning & braiding & we were ready to go! Hannah put in a lovely dressage test earning us a 33.9 to put us in 3rd place in the Open Preliminary - B division.
Next it was Maria's turn. Cody looked quite snazzy in all of his show gear. They were put into the Open Beginner Novice Division A. We had my dressage saddle on him & Maria had him all braided up. They had a lovely warm up despite our slight delay due to stormy weather. They put in a lovely dressage test, earning a 35.2 to place them in 7th.
Then they switched gears and got ready for their show jumping round. After a great warm up they jumped a double clear round moving them into the 5th place spot!
It was a very successful day! I headed over to Masterson Station and walked my cross country course, which was very similar to the track I ran two years ago. It was very friendly and got you out and going over the first few fences. We also had a table, two strides drop into the water and out up and over a bank. Two large tables on a bending line, a coffin, trakehner, double up banks to a skinny and a corner to skinny question.
I was looking forward to riding it!
Sat 4/10:
Up early, finished feeding and packing the trailer and headed over to Masterson Station for the cross country. I gave Maria a course walk and talked her through what to do with Cody in each situation that could occur. She was more then ready to take him out and give him a good ride. I headed back to the trailer & got Hannah and myself ready to go out on course. We had a great warmup and I worked on going forward to my fences and not over setting up. Fired off some great fences and headed to the start box. 3,2,1 have a good ride! Oh how I have missed those familiar words! I thanked the starter and galloped out of the start box towards fence one. It all rode really well. I also changed Hannah's bit last minute after our XC school on Friday to a snaffle. I was able to run faster & we came in right on optimum time putting in a double clear round to move us up to finish in 2nd place! What a GREAT first show of the season!
Next it was Maria's turn, she geared Cody & herself up and we headed to the BN warm up. Cody was a little fresh in warm up and missing his friends. He whinnied in warm up but no one responded so he soon settled into his job. He was a little squirmy in the beginning but Maria was able to get him going forward and focused on his task. The more he gets out the better he will get, I look forward to seeing him out more this summer. She headed out of the start box and also jumped clean & finished inside to time allowing them a 4th place finish! Congrats!
Jen Selvig & Spoofin also had a successful weekend. They completed the preliminary division with only one small bobble on the XC. We all then wrapped legs & loaded up to hit the road again. Once again I hopped in the drivers seat to drive the whole way home. I enjoy driving! Unfortunately we ran into a dilemma of bad weather, bad storms through Iowa so we couldn't go that way, and bad storms through Wisconsin and Illinois so we couldn't go that way. Thankfully my friend, Jordynn Sahagian and her mother Vicky, let us bring the horses to their farm in Barrington, IL to spend the night and wait out the storms. I am glad we did because there were tornadoes all over WI! We headed out at 4am only for me to discover that I left my wallet at the last gas station the night before just outside of Indianapolis....bummer! All of my credit cards, drivers license, cash, checks & more! I spend the majority of the morning calling my banks and canceling all of my bank accounts and cards! I still am hoping someone will stumble upon it and send it back to me...
We finally made it back to the Lakeville farm and Maria and I had to switch rigs & head back to Trophy Hill. Finally arrived at our farm around 1pm! We unloaded the horses and they were very happy to go outside and roll around! We unloaded and both headed out separate ways. I went home to get some sleep! Now I am well rested and looking forward to the next show!
The plans are to have quite the crew at Otter Creek!
I hope to ride Hannah in the Intermediate, Lucy in the Beginner Novice, Cody in the Beginner Novice & possible another horse in the Beginner Novice or the Novice. Entries have already opened so I am working on sending in my forms!
I look forward for all of my other students to show this season! It is going to be a fun year! Many of my kids are hoping to qualify for the Pony Club Championships in Lexington, KY in a variety of disciplines. Eventing, show jumping, quiz, and tetrathalon.
Hopefully our ground dries up soon so we can get some cross country schooling in and ride outside!
Stay tuned, and in the meantime have a good ride!
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