We had quite the busy week here in Aiken. I'd say we're officially in full swing. It's a great problem to have, but we had two competitions running simultaneously this week in which horses were competing.
The first of which, PSJ's High Fields jumper show, was supposed to start up for us on Thursday with the welcome stakes for Wishfull. Due to the tremendous rain the class was delayed to Friday. Unfortunately, Wishfull had to be put on hold being that Friday we were out at Pine Top in Tompson, Ga for Tali's (Crown Talisman owned by Doug and Larry and Amelia Ross) first event of the year.
With all of the horses the first outing is always a little bit touch and go at times. Tali in the intermediate and very good, actually better than he's ever been early in the year. I did have the unfortunate draw placing us in the far ring, nearest to the cross country warm up. Every time we'd head in that direction, he wanted desperately to take a peek. Regardless, he finished up very well. We were sitting in 3rd following dressage on a 32. Not a bad start to the year. He jumped great in both SJ and XC. I took my time on XC being his first run of the year. No need to risk injury!
Saturday brought the JV team to Pine Top all of which were at training level. TopGun aka Gunnar (owned by Nicole Carolan), Cellar Door aka Little Leo (owned by Jane Dudinsky) and Lysander aka Big Leo (owned by Kristen Michaloski and Doug). All three were a little up, as to be expect but all put in very respectable tests.
The day finished well with show jumping. I had one rail with Big Leo...completely my fault! Like I said before, have to knock the rust off some how. The rest of them jumped classy clear rounds.
Sunday brought with it the most chaos! We had the three JV's XC rounds' start times shifted around a bit, by the one and only Gwen Urbanik, in order to finish up by just after 1pm. All the horses jumped great clears. The finished up as follows: Tali 7th, Little Leo 11th, Big Leo 5th and Gunnar 4th. Little Leo last to go got a quick cool down in order to get back to Aiken for at 2:30 start to the $10k 1.30m mini prix. For those unaware, Pine Top is just over an hour west of Aiken.
So we were running tight! Thanks to Michelle who runs our operation and Sally who was able to give Wishfull a ride to the show we made it just in time. I was not able to walk, but was able to see the first horse in to see how the course would ride. Wishfull jumped better than he's jumped to date. He is one exceptional horse. Whoever ends up purchasing him will be one lucky rider!
Tomorrow starts the USEF training sessions. Tali is scheduled for dressage 3:15 tomorrow and 11:45 Wed, jumping 9:00 am Thursday. Reports soon to follow!
We also had another huge milestone passed this week. Amazingly Running Order's video from Rolex last year has just passed 100,000 views! Incredible, I can't wait to watch he and William Fox-Pitt in action this spring. William has him aimed at a spring 3*.
The first of which, PSJ's High Fields jumper show, was supposed to start up for us on Thursday with the welcome stakes for Wishfull. Due to the tremendous rain the class was delayed to Friday. Unfortunately, Wishfull had to be put on hold being that Friday we were out at Pine Top in Tompson, Ga for Tali's (Crown Talisman owned by Doug and Larry and Amelia Ross) first event of the year.
With all of the horses the first outing is always a little bit touch and go at times. Tali in the intermediate and very good, actually better than he's ever been early in the year. I did have the unfortunate draw placing us in the far ring, nearest to the cross country warm up. Every time we'd head in that direction, he wanted desperately to take a peek. Regardless, he finished up very well. We were sitting in 3rd following dressage on a 32. Not a bad start to the year. He jumped great in both SJ and XC. I took my time on XC being his first run of the year. No need to risk injury!
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| Tali on XC - Photo via Facebook - Cynthia Lawler/horsejunkiesunited.com |
The day finished well with show jumping. I had one rail with Big Leo...completely my fault! Like I said before, have to knock the rust off some how. The rest of them jumped classy clear rounds.
 | |
| Topgun photo by Samantha Clark/eventingnation.com |
So we were running tight! Thanks to Michelle who runs our operation and Sally who was able to give Wishfull a ride to the show we made it just in time. I was not able to walk, but was able to see the first horse in to see how the course would ride. Wishfull jumped better than he's jumped to date. He is one exceptional horse. Whoever ends up purchasing him will be one lucky rider!
 |
| Wishfull-V in the $10k 1.30m Mini Prix |
Tomorrow starts the USEF training sessions. Tali is scheduled for dressage 3:15 tomorrow and 11:45 Wed, jumping 9:00 am Thursday. Reports soon to follow!
We also had another huge milestone passed this week. Amazingly Running Order's video from Rolex last year has just passed 100,000 views! Incredible, I can't wait to watch he and William Fox-Pitt in action this spring. William has him aimed at a spring 3*.
