Back in Aiken after a great week at HITS!

Courage - 3rd Place - 10k HITS Prix - Jump off (Photo by Bill Wertman)

We headed down to Ocala late on Tuesday. It was a quick turn around from Pine Top and I wanted to make sure to get all of them ridden before leaving. We arrived down in Ocala around 11:30 that night at Bruce Davidson's place where the horses were to be stabled. It was a huge relief to have the temperatures finally on the rise after the weekend!

Wednesday was our first day of showing. We were at the barn by 6am to make sure we made it to the show with enough time to finish entering and be ready for our first class. Courage, owned by Sycamore Station LLC, was first up in the $2,500 Brookledge Welcome Stakes. I've been working hard to make corrections from a few weeks prior. After watching the videos over and over I realized I needed to be slightly more patient especially at the verticals not to push him through the top rail. I also needed to keep him a little bit sharper overall. All of the work paid off! He was one of a handful of double clear rounds finishing in 8th!

Llama, owned by Rosie DiMola, jumped a great round in the level 4's (3'9") just following Courage's class. He finished up in 6th. This little horse has a ton of potential and is so careful I can't wait to see where he'll end up in the coming years!

Courage - 3rd Place - 10k HITS Prix - First Round (Photo by Bill Wertman)

Friday brought Courage to the 10k HITS Prix (1.45m - 4'9") He was 18th to go out of the 27 showing. There was only 1 double clear as I entered the ring. Courage was a little green at points but jumped very, very well. It was a much more technical course than Wednesday or 2 weeks prior. He responded with class and finished leaving all of the rails in place! Upon completion of the class there was 1 more double clear placing us in 3rd!

It was a very exciting result and a huge step in gaining confidence for the future.

Llama and I then headed over to the $1,000 FarmVet Level 5 class where he jumped around like a star. This was his 2nd time competing in the 4' class and he too finished double clear and in 5th! He is without a doubt a talent for the future. He'll be out again soon at PSJ's March Madness in Aiken.

We have a quiet weekend with Pine Top Advanced weekend on the horizon.

The jumpers head to Ocala and Tribute dominates Pine Top!

Courage - 8th Place Brookledge Welcome Stakes - 1.40m

Courage, Llama, Larry and Running Order all made the trip down to Ocala last night. Courage jumped great today in the $2,500 Brookledge Welcome stakes. He jumped double clear, finishing 8th.

Llama also jumped very very well he finished up 6th in the level 4's (3'9"). Larry also jumped well. I just did some light flat with Running Order over at Bruce's today with more to come later in the week.

The latest podcast is up, it was recorded on our trip down last night. It covers Pine Top from last weekend, incidentally Tali was a star, Farley finished 8th, Socks 4th, Tribute 1st (who was up by 9pts after dressage!) and Hughie rocked his first prelim! The link to #10 is here.

The photo pic of the week goes to Hughie, click here to view.

I wish I could get some video up real time, but internet on the road has been difficult especially when it's all in HD. I'll get some up on Saturday when we return to Aiken. 

All I can say is hopefully this warm weather keeps up. In the upcoming week we have Pine Top Advanced horse trials. Running Order will be out as well as Tali and Hughie. I think there might be one or two more, but without a schedule in front of me I'm lost!

Check back Friday for results from the rest of HITS.

Courage's GP Helmet Cam!

Podcast #8 is required listening...Michelle's singing is stunning!

Courage - $15k 1.40m Mini Prix - HITS Ocala

This week we have results from HITS and the upcoming USEF training sessions, but Michelle absolutely steals the show!

The iTunes link is here. If that doesn't work or you would like to subscribe to the DPE podcast with an app like Instacast the podcast link is as follows: http://dpequestrian.com/podcast/podcast.xml

Regarding Instacast...I wrote an article a few weeks back which went live today on HJU it details a number of apps and tech tips which make the day both more productive and entertaining!