Quick inflight update!

I’m in the air somewhere between Atlanta and Dallas heading to Texas to judge for the weekend. Since the last update, Tali had his first Advanced run of the year. He was exceptional, especially in trying conditions! He wrapped up the day with a win. Not a bad way to start off 2014! All of the others competing on the weekend were excellent. All finished well continuing our top 5 finish steak in 2014.



Monday and Tuesday following I had the great opportunity to ride in the George Morris clinic held at Boyd’s place. It was a great chance to ride with one of the greatest coaches this country has seen. It was an excellent reminder of how much the basics position flaws can negatively influence our horses performance. I came away refreshed and motivated to continue to improve my riding and jumping. As he said in casual conversation, in a stressful environment we can not always rely on instinct, but our basics will always be there at our disposal. They have to be perfect!

Tali is back in the game

Morning Sunrise at Pine Top

Tali's first outing of the year wrapped up today at Pine Top. While still a little rusty, he showed a number of great signs of progress. His video is below:

Following our successful outing at Pine Top, just about home I received a call from a good friend and local vet Sarah Thompson asking if I was close enough to make it in time to ride her horse in the Cupid Classic's $5k Welcome Stakes. Just in the nick of time, I was able to drop Tali and Michelle off and make it to the show. Qatar was excellent, having jumped him once a month earlier I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. He finished up in 6th!

Back to Pine Top tomorrow to ride Susan Cipolla's de Kooning in Novice and Sunday in the $10k Mini-Prix at the Cupid Classic on Eli owned by Mike Rubin.