Greetings all... it's the Wednesday after Galway and I am still en route to home from my crazy trip to the wild west! Crazy was the word to describe it all week... every single person who heard that I drove had just one thing to say... "Seriously??". Yes.. seriously.
I can't complain, life on the road has been exponentially easier since I was able to take Joe's big LQ trailer. Having Kate Harris as my groom has been a godsend and she takes top notch care of the horses so that has been one less worry for me. We also brought along our personal driver/bodyguard/disc jockey... Adrian!
What a time we had in California. It started off a bit like vacation since we arrived so early. We went to some of the local vineyards and bought up some great wine. We went downtown to some restauraunts which was a real treat. Temecula is a very cool city and it was great to be at a horse show that was close to so many amenities.
Robert Kellerhouse, the organizer, totally gave us the hookup! Literally! We forgot our generator... and I'm too stingy to pay $250 for a weeks worth of electricity. So he found us a spot where we could plug in and we had a super posh place to park our rig for the week. Except for the possessed awning constantly trying to kill us, we had a sweet set up.
By now everyone has seen the results for the event and I have mixed feelings about my performance. I am still learning how to prepare these horses for their major competitions and I haven't been able to receive the lessons and coaching this fall that I am used to. I figured since Hewie will be moving up to Advanced next year I would go ahead and put him on the same fitness program as Donald. I think that may have been a mistake! I could barely hang on to the horse all weekend! He certainly won the warmup for dressage, until someone started a kubota! He lost his cool, and the $1,000 horse came out. I was proud of him for managing to get it together in the ring as he was literally spinning before he entered, but I had high hopes for him to win the event. He certainly has the capability, some times he just loses his head. Donald put in a lovely test despite the mud and muck in the 3* arena. It was a shame that we had to follow Buck and Reggie for obvious reasons! Although dissapointed in the score, I was thrilled with how rideable and relaxed Donald was and I think he is at a point in his dressage that is the perfect platform to build upon for next year. He will be ready for some big scores in the spring.
Out walking, my gag reflex started at about fence 5. Ian really put in some massive upgrades to the course and it was tricky.. very tricky. Extremely big, gallopy and ditches everywhere. I didn't actually start to feel good about the course until I was riding it. I was again dissapointed in Hewie on Saturday, he was feeling a bit too good I think and jumped us into trouble at the angled ditch and brushes which were early on in the course. He was really getting some air time over the fences and I just couldn't convince him to jump more conservatively. It made it difficult for me to keep him on his lines. He also spooked about mid-way through the course and spent an entire minute spinning in the arena. How embarassing. When he crossed the finish line, I finally felt he was relaxed enough to jump the course properly, and I wish I could have just cantered out and done it all again! He was barely sweating in the D-Box. I was pretty irritated at him, good thing he has the cutest smushy face, it is impossible to stay mad at him.
Donald smoked around the 3* track and exceeded all my expectations. It was the best cross country round I have ever had on him. Fit and full of running to the end, we took all the direct lines and came in a comfortable 10 seconds under time. Even though neither horse has had an injury, they both looked sounder than ever before on the Sunday morning at a CCI. I think both Hewie and Donald are really benefitting from my fitness program and the wonderful Florida footing.
They tried their bests on Sunday in the showjumping but both horses found the footing in the arena a bit difficult. Donald added just 1 rail to his dressage score to finish the CCI3* in 12th. I am so tickled with him and it is almost hard for me to give him his necessary time off now, I want to keep working on them both!
They are on holiday now and will be for the next month or so. They had a huge year and deserve a rest. Although I am not thrilled with my performance at Galway, it is so comforting to be bringing home two sound, healthy and happy horses and for now all my plans for next year are still in tact. In the end the real success is to keep a happy horse and now during the holidays I will have the pleasure of watching them graze in their field together after a job well done this year.
Until next year,
Katie, Hewie and Donald
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Gone bush
Greetings from california!! There is a saying in New Zealand that if you have run away, gone rogue, taken off, etc; you have gone "bush". We have certainly done that and more! The red boys and I made it safely to temecula for Galway, against all odds! Joes groom, Kate Harris, has come with me to help and she has been an absolute godsend. Our friend Adrian has also joined us on our gypsy quest, which he decided to do in the last 30 minutes before we left! Not sure that he has fully realized what he has committed to but he will soon find out! So far he has not asked us where the nearest Hilton is...
We set off on Saturday morning from Ocala in the pissing rain. We made it all the way to Arnaudville, Louisiana to stay at Kylie and Court Ramsay's beautiful Pharmview farm. The Ramsays' son Calvin has my Arriador to ride, they were off competing Training level at Holly Hill when we arrived but I will surely see them both on our return trip.
On to Sunday, our most difficult driving day. Today we tackled the entire state of Texas in one go. To my shock and surprise Adrian drove most of the day and did quite well. Not too bad for a city boy! He did however introduce us to the highlight of the drive tha day which was Bucee's beef jerky. We stayed the night at a cute farm outside of El Paso, where they marveled at my "Clydesdales" that were sporting "casts" on their feet! Hewie had a minor tweak-out in his pipie corral stall but he soon settled in for the night.
Here we are, Monday! We have somehow been accepted by multiple border patrol guards into the state of California! Donald and Hewie were thrilled to be off the trailer and into their big beautiful stalls at Galway Downs. We arrived at dusk so I did not get to see most of the venue although I have been told it is one of the best in the west. I also managed to pick up a job driving 6 pro logs out for the event to be used on the course. I have always brought my own horses but never my own jumps! So Big Red, Little Red and the course have arrived.
Still can't believe we have made it all the way to Califronia! These horses take us to some amazing places. I am forever grateful to have such unbelievable partners in Donald and Hewie, partners who allow me to go on these wild adventures. I will post an update tomorrow after I can get the boys out for a flat school and trot.
Xoxo
The crew
We set off on Saturday morning from Ocala in the pissing rain. We made it all the way to Arnaudville, Louisiana to stay at Kylie and Court Ramsay's beautiful Pharmview farm. The Ramsays' son Calvin has my Arriador to ride, they were off competing Training level at Holly Hill when we arrived but I will surely see them both on our return trip.
On to Sunday, our most difficult driving day. Today we tackled the entire state of Texas in one go. To my shock and surprise Adrian drove most of the day and did quite well. Not too bad for a city boy! He did however introduce us to the highlight of the drive tha day which was Bucee's beef jerky. We stayed the night at a cute farm outside of El Paso, where they marveled at my "Clydesdales" that were sporting "casts" on their feet! Hewie had a minor tweak-out in his pipie corral stall but he soon settled in for the night.
Here we are, Monday! We have somehow been accepted by multiple border patrol guards into the state of California! Donald and Hewie were thrilled to be off the trailer and into their big beautiful stalls at Galway Downs. We arrived at dusk so I did not get to see most of the venue although I have been told it is one of the best in the west. I also managed to pick up a job driving 6 pro logs out for the event to be used on the course. I have always brought my own horses but never my own jumps! So Big Red, Little Red and the course have arrived.
Still can't believe we have made it all the way to Califronia! These horses take us to some amazing places. I am forever grateful to have such unbelievable partners in Donald and Hewie, partners who allow me to go on these wild adventures. I will post an update tomorrow after I can get the boys out for a flat school and trot.
Xoxo
The crew
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