Training updates....

Got back yesterday afternoon from the VA Horse Trials. My little 6yo TB mare, Vanity's Revenge, showed a lot of improvement.... despite all the "atmosphere" at the VA Horse Center, she was pretty chill all weekend, was much improved in dressage in her throughness and straightness (just not consistently!), and showjumped well (just tapped one jump down) . XC was Saturday, and the downpours all day left the footing in the warmup extremely deep and chopped up, so I warmed up w/t/c in the dressage area and went xc "cold". The galloping lanes were deep but they had put down a fair amount of screenings around the jumps so those weren't too bad. Revi was great! I thought the course was a little harder than some of the training courses I've ridden there, which suited me down to the ground with the way Revi is going.... there was a 3-stride downhill bending line at four... no problem... a one-stride with a faux corner at seven.... no problem.... coop, bank, off over a log drop.... no problem! I didn't wear a watch as I didn't want to be tempted to chase the time with the condition of the footing, so we had about ten time penalties, but she handled the footing so well that next time I will go for it!

Melanie and Drayco had a great dressage (first place), an uncharacteristic jump down in stadium (he was surprisingly attentive in the coliseum, but there were only two clear rounds in her division so she only dropped to third!). On cross-country, he warmed up nicely but Mel was ready for his usual fireball antics on xc... which didn't happen, and she is so used to him being "hot" that she was a bit at a loss!! As a result they had stops that knocked them out of the ribbons, but next time he comes out of the start box like he's going for a Sunday hack she knows to give him a couple of pops to wake him up!!

A lot going on at home.... training horses are doing well, although there is one so hard-headed that I told her owner this morning "If a human told her to eat, she'd starve to death for spite!" But we're going to give her a while longer before deciding what to do with her, she is a very spoiled mare who raced lightly then sat in a pasture for four years so she has some definite OPINIONS. I'm confident she'll be a nice horse (the tough ones usually are!).... but maybe not for her owner, who is not a very 'insistent' sort. Ah well! Tide is coming along nicely, Tessa is doing GREAT w/t/c and going over poles, chasing the ducks from next door out of the arena (a month and a half ago it was a challenge to get her IN THE RING, now she thinks she is the bomb!). I am back to working Scamper and he is getting over his idea that whenever things aren't going his way he can buck his way out of it. He's going to make such a nice horse when he learns to think about his options first! It will probably take quite a few more Come To Jesus incidents before that really clicks..... (repeat, the tough ones usually are the best in the long run.....)

Rode Jones, my 3 yo colt, for the first time since the xc schooling a couple weeks ago. He was fabulous, of course. Oh, about the cross-country schooling.... that went so well! Heather and Christine and Laura went for their first-ever schooling and had a great time. Drayco went and he and Mel jumped mostly Training and Prelim stuff very nicely. And Jones trotted and cantered around like a perfect gentleman, walked and trotted through water, over ditches and tiny banks, and cantered a few Maiden fences.... a great start for his eventing career!

Upcoming we are going to the CHSC show at the Ark to do Jumpers, then the schooling HT at the Ark with all the greenies and Revi and Drayco, then Jones has a FEH show in Virginia. Summer is going to be busy!

Three lessons and one training ride and I'm taking the afternoon off since it is Sunday! And hot. Again. Supposed to rain tomorrow and then I hope it is dry Tuesday, Revi and I are going to be the demo ride for an ICP Level III Stadium assessment. Paul Ebersole is the candidate giving the lesson so that is pretty exciting!

Revi is doing well, she finished about midpack in the Training division at the Fork, still working on dressage! She ate up the cross-country course, and we are putting up mirrors in our arena which is already helping a TON with dressage! We will see how that turns out when we do VA in May. Thomas (Heather's horse) finished on his dressage score at the Fork, which was good for midpack. Then I rode him Novice at Longleaf and he had a good dressage test, a really FABULOUS cross-country run.... we were doing better than Training speed on a light rein, and loped over the last few fences to avoid getting a speeding ticket!... and two rails in stadium, he just felt tired. He has no muscle in his topline so it is to be expected, I can't wait to see what he looks like in a year though! Melanie and her horse Drayco did great at Longleaf, finishing on their dressage score for SIXTH place out of thirty!