The Summer is a rushing river that carries the whole barn along like uncontrolled flotsam and jetsam. The weeks are spiraling rapidly towards the WEG and I keep panicking about how I am going to get the barn packed and ready to move in the few weeks left in October…EEEEEK. I am sure it feels the same for everyone who has a horse on a competition program.
Colombo did Millbrook like the pro he is, unfortunately, he flew like a bird over number eight….the wrong number eight….the Prelim number eight, on Cross Country….ugh. I guess it happens to everybody, but it still upsets the apple cart, and when the apple cart helps to carry the WEGs, then it’s an awfully big apple cart. All trying not to feel stressed by only having two runs, one ‘ team pressured’ outing at Richland Park at the end of August and one ‘team prerequisite’ outing at the American Eventing Champioinships mid September. Millbrook was a ‘team would like you to’.
Lots of baby horses have been coming along. There is a whole new group bred by Watson farms who are great fun to bring along. Many of them have mothers and fathers that I knew, rode and sometimes owned. It makes it so much fun to find family traits that pop up generation after generation in the way in which the horses react to training. I love playing with the babies, they are the best. Some of the older ones have started competing. This keeps our working students busy at home and in the ring.
Solo is resting on his laurels after his CIC**. We would have liked to enter him in the CCI** at Fairhill but it is barely days after Selena finishes at the WEG and it would be difficult to work it in. We have not given up on the idea completely but have agreed that the logistics might make it impossible since I too would be at the WEG for a week. You can’t run a horse in a two star after a week off training, or at least you can’t run Solo after a week off training LOL. However….it’s still under consideration. It would be nice to finish this year with his CCI** and not have to worry about it next year.
Heron Hill’s Wilhelmina, Selena’s other FEI ride also needs to get out somewhere. She is only seven this month and zoomed through the ranks to the CCI* level a little faster than we expected. Her dressage was nowhere near ready to do Intermediate, nor was her physique and body strength. I felt the year at the prelim level had been hard on her, leaving her lean and ‘hard worked’ looking. At 17.2hh, she was a late maturer and way ahead of her competition schedule, so with the WEG approaching we made the decision not to compete her this year, she has been working on becoming more adjustable in her canter which absolutely has to happen before she can do Intermediate dressage or Show Jumping. She is full of beans and more than ready to go and we hope to get her out somewhere before the end of the season. I wish we had another trailer to go to dressage shows, I would love to ride her there, she is very talented I think. Same with Show jumping, it would be fun to take her to Palgrave or HITS, she is a multi tasker.
The picture is of our Prelim sale horse, Song of Songs. As you can see she is enjoying Prelim and showing that she warranted her CYEH championship last year.
All in all, the Summer is too short, too fast, too packed and way too much fun! Aren’t horses just the best life ever.
