8/23/2011
Wrap up weekend in beautiful Kentucky. We really lucked out with great weather here! We have to jog all the horses before the first and second round of the derby. Harry was lazy and did not trot the second jog so I had to do it again and have someone chase him. That night the top 25 came back for an amazing course of brush jumps, walls and hay bales that looked like a scene from the farm. My horse jumped great but had a stop at fence two. He is never a spooky horse but at night under the lights he could not stop looking at the video scoreboard and I couldn’t get his attention on the fence. He jumped around great but did not advance to the top 12 because of the refusal.
The weekend brought top ribbons for our clients including wins for Elena Townsend and Vivaldi in the Adult jumpers and Helen, Avery, and Emma all score in the mid to high 80′s to secure top ribbons in the amateur low a/o and a/o hunter divisions. The highlight of the week was getting to ride on the Rolex field and to hack horses on the vast cross country course. To be champion and reserve in several divisions were the icing on the cake! The horses now layover in new jersey at a farm with our assistant Heather for the week. Horses ship to the Hamptons on Saturday, I’ll keep the updates coming when I get there. I have to give a big plug to Ariat who sent me their new Coolmax victory vent long sleeve show shirts. I will never wear anything else in warm weather. They are cool max but also have vents in the back and a sweat wicking material that is awesome. You have got to try them!
8/17/2011
Wednesday- my first show day at Kentucky The day was great they are very organized here all the back gates are on a computer system and they have a website that you can check ring status and orders of go that are updated regularly which is great. The walk to the arena is quite far from the barns. The foot is great And the jumps are fantastic. Lots of fill, brush, and flowers. We started the hunters with a big roll top today. All the horses were brave and jumped super. Even though I know our horses are as good as the east coast contingent it was really great to win in front of the crowd here and with such good competition. chance of Flurries owned by Helen McEvoy was 1st and 3 rd in the 3’6″ performance, CR Haribo owned by Emma Townsend was 1st and 2nd in the 3’6″ performance about 28 entries. Woodstock owned by Sabrina Hellman was 1st and 5 th out of 56 in the 3’3″ performance. Campari got and 85 and was third in the same class! Roccoco owned by Avery hellman was 3rd and 5th in the second years. In the jumpers vivaldi owned by elena townsend was 4th and Alley Oop of eleanor Hellmans was 5th. The best part is to trail ride on the vast cross country every day and ride around with all the people you read about in the magazines and have been to the olympics. Tommorrow is another regular show day, we have to jog for soundness at 3:45, we then have a riders meeting and a reception derby party to follow.
8/16/2011
Today was warm up day at the show as there is a full A rated world hunter rider horseshowtime and grand prix this week that surrounds the $100,000 ushja hunter finals. You guys can watch the rounds live on Friday it is on equestrian tv which you can link to off of the ushja website. Today we didn’t jump but a few jumps on a couple of horses as they all traveled far this past weekend and we wanted them to have a refreshing day. The horses all got out twice once for a hack in the rings and another time for a trail ride and a gallop on the cross country course. That was a real highlight all the girls galloping side by side up and down the hills we all had a blast and so did the horses. It was especially fun to hack horses I the rolex arena. It is stunning the footing is great and there are famous Olympic riders and beautiful horses all around. Tommorrow I will show a few in the hunters to get ready for the derby finals and others that are here to show with their owners this weekend.
8/15/2011
Heather Roades (SVS assistant), Hope Glynn, Katie Taylor (assistant) from Makoto farms as well as Ruben and Manuel Herrera (grooms for SVS) all arrived in Cincinnati today at 6:30 am then drove an hour and half to Lexington, KY. We spent some time getting the stalls ready in preparation for the horses’ arrival. A few minutes before 9 a.m. all the horses arrived and looked healthy, all their temps were normal and were eating up their bran mash! We took them to graze on the Kentucky blue grass which made them very happy. One of the horse, Woodstock, got loose for a minute and I thought he might head for the xcountry course! But luckily, we were able to get him back quickly. We are still settling in to this beautiful equestrian center and are looking forward to a great show.
