Madison McClarren is Alex’s new working student.
Unlike the west coast of Canada where I grew up, South Florida has no fall. It’s still hot and humid with the summer rains and storms continuing. As I am out in the strong sun for a good part of the day I am liberal with the sunscreen and I wear a long sleeved shirt. Generally I wear a Kastel Denmark shirt; my favourite. Fortunately I have a covered arena to ride in.
Vitall is really fit and very muscular and has finally grown into himself.This is reflected in his strong self-confidence, which he has re-discovered. I am proud of him as we have both been on quite a journey and experienced so much of life over the past few years in Canada, Europe and now in the United States. The next couple of months will be devoted to competition preparation with mostly light work to keep him supple and fresh.
Cooper is now improving in leaps and bounds. He is a different horse from the spring and he looks terrific. We plan our debut this year at National shows before moving on to the CDI ring over the winter competition season.
Princess Faye, as we call her, has rapidly picked up her flying changes with ease. She has a good mind and a willing disposition and I am proud of her. She is a delight to ride.
Jesse is the newest member of Alex’s team.
I also brought a new member into the family, namely Jesse, a 7 year old Blue Heeler mix. I adopted her from one of the Wellington quarantine barns where she was not at all happy. On meeting she seemed to instinctively be at ease and comfortable and would not leave my side. She kept looking up at me for assurance and I gave to her. On leaving and on opening my car door she just jumped into the car without any hesitation and that was that. I am still not certain who adopted who but she is a delight. Needless to say it took a few days for Oslo to come round, but they are now the best of friends and it is interesting to see how they look out for each other.
I am also pleased to introduce Madison McClarren who will join me as a working student for the Wellington season. Madison is from Massachusetts and has a passion for horses. I look forward to working with her.
As all of the horses are fit and ready, we will enter some national shows as a lead into the show season .Vitall has a fantastic new freestyle and a very big thank you goes to Karen Robinson for putting together the incredible and beautiful music. I am looking forward with a lot of anticipation and excitement to be in the ring with Vitall to ride the freestyle.
So that’s it for this summer. The beach, which I did not get to if only to dip my toes, will have to wait until next year. Happy fall.
