Rolex is coming!

I was lucky enough to be asked if I'd be interested in writing a blog leading up to Rolex this spring. The first of four parts has just gone live on Rolex's website. The link is found here.

HITS Ocala...so far so good!

It's been a busy few days. It all kicked off on Wednesday. We started at Sporting Days dressage and CT. Gus did 2nd level 1 and 2 scoring 61% and 65%. It was a solid start for the year for Gus. I also rode Shanon Baker's Landis and Farley Davidson. Landis is a very exciting young horse who has the upper levels in his sights! This was his first show jumping off the farm. We ended up trotting half of the course but what a jumper!

Melanie brought Larry along as well, he had a hiccup in the first round but made great strides in the second. Farley jumped very well also. As soon as we finished up. I headed back to the barn to switch horses and head down to Ocala.

With us to Ocala came Larry, Courage and Llama. They've taken HITS Ocala by storm. Larry finished 4th in the level 4's and 6th in the level 5's yesterday. Llama finished 2nd this morning in the level 5's.

Courage jumped like a rock star as seen below in the $15k 1.40m Mini Prix. He finished up on 6th. We're sticking around until Sunday for the $25k Grand Prix.

Unfortunately, I have limited Internet access down here. I'll try to get a video up as soon as possible.

Check back soon for updates!

-D

** We also have a working student position open for the winter in Aiken, come down and enjoy the sun for the winter! If you are interested send a resume and video to jess@dpequestrian.com **

Check out HJU today!

Click here to view

Podcast #6 is Live

In this episode we cover a number of results from the past week. Some good and some not so much! We also cover the final installment of Running Order's profile as well as the professional portion of my career.

Click Here to Listen!

We're exausted, but the truck is here!

 

The last 72 hours have been crazy. As I had mentioned in the Podcast, we left around 2 pm on Monday to head back to NJ. That trip is a long one, we arrived making good time around 1:30 am. Promptly woke up to get all of the loose ends tied up. Turns out getting insurance for this truck was a challenge to say the least, one that took me until about 2 pm Tuesday afternoon. Once that was all set, Jess, my Dad and I headed up to the dealership to finish the deal.

We arrived at the Freightliner dealer with no troubles, and signed my life away. I did have one minor panic attack when the salesman informed me that the policy I finally found was not sufficient. Luckily, after a quick call to the insurance agent all was well and good.

Then off to the DMV. I'm not sure if this is a worldwide problem, or just one specific to the US. It is not an enviable place be, not a model of efficiency by any means. They know the power is in their hands. You just hope that the agent is not going to try to be a hero and give you a hard time. We got lucky, this might be a record being that we only spent 30 minutes!

Sounds like that should be enough for a day, but I still needed to sell my pickup. I had spoke to some wholesalers in NYC about buying it. Over the phone it sounded like no problem. Funny enough my dad who was following us wanted to make sure it wasn't a problem as well. He too called and was told bring it in. So 40 minutes later, just before closing we arrived. It's a tight fit to get in the door. I think the building was designed for honda's rather than a dually pick up.

"It's too big, we can't do anything with this..." is the first thing we hear. I'm thinking to myself what the @#%^ !! Long story short we drove into NYC for nothing. Back out to NJ we go...

We all met my Mom for dinner and then back to the barn. A few weeks back there were a few things we forgot and a few that simply couldn't fit. Kristin is heading down today and is going to grab those as well as a few more jumps on her trip to Aiken.

Wednesday morning came bright and early. We had to be at the Newark airport for a 7:30 flight meaning we left my place at 5:15 am. We met up at my parents place and my dad once again played chauffeur. We then flew to Atlanta and onto Gainesville, FL to meet the former owner of the truck. Luckily he lived just a few minutes north of the airport. We hopped into the truck and headed North to Aiken!

On our way back, I got a call from my Dad who had actually just sold the pickup. What a relief! Looks as if we have everything sorted.

I'll get some better pics posted soon, but these will give you an idea. I still need to spend a day or two setting up all of the cameras that are in the trailer etc...

I want to add special thanks to Larry and Amelia Ross and Kristen Burgers for their extraordinary help.

-D

Podcast #5 is up...

 Courage's Mini-Prix, YR days with Jimmy Wofford, Running Order and more... Click here to listen.

Courage Finishes 3rd at the PSJ $10k Mini-Prix

DPE Podcast #4 is live on itunes...

Today's podcast is live by clicking here. This week we cover everything from our trip down to NJ to this weeks news and my early childhood with horses.

Keep warm!
-D

New Year's Eve...Aiken and More...

It's hard to believe that it's nearly 2012, there's a very good chance it is by the time your reading this entry. The last few weeks have been hectic. I've been detailing the truck saga on the podcast, and it continues. I should be here in the next week or two.

We departed cold NJ for Aiken, SC 2 days ago (68 degrees today). It's always a bit of a cluster getting the entire barn packed and ready to pick up and move. We had my trailer with 5 horses and loaded to the ceiling with equipment as well as a 10 horse 18 wheeler.

Jess offering the horses water at the gas station - yes there are 5 horses in there too!

The trip is roughly 14 hrs and it seemed to take every bit of it just getting out of the driveway! You'll have to check Tuesday's podcast for details, but it involved removing the tailgate and extending the neck of the trailer in the middle of the road and this was within the first mile...

We finally arrived in Aiken on Thursday evening. We're at a new facility this year, it's owned by Taryn Hartnett and it's a beautiful 29 stall facility with ring and the best galloping hill I've seen in Aiken.

The Front of the Barn

Running Order is tentitivly headed for Rolex this spring. Being that we're down here through early April, I was a concerned about getting him fit enough on the flat terrain surrounding Aiken. No worries now, it's 1.1 miles long with a steady grade and good footing, couldn't ask for much more!

RO - Tribute - Trevor (Jess' horse High Society) on the Gallop

View from the Ring back to the Barn

I have to thank Jess, Michelle, Jenny (our fellow Canadian) and Melanie for all of their hard work. It's a monumental effort transporting the 16 horses down here. Taryn and Avery, the barn's owners showed up on day one to sign the lease etc and promptly asked us if we were hosting a tack sale. I should have grabbed a picture. Use your imagination and I assure you that's about half of the actual mess we had the morning after we arrived. Only a few days in, they've established order and it all seems completely under control.

I'll try to get some more pics up online, we do have some more on the facebook page here of the trip down and around the barn.

Coming up this week we have a jumper show at High Fields and with my fingers crossed I might be heading back to NJ to get my new truck.

Podcast #3 is up, like anything else it's a work in progress.

I think this podcast will be a great thing in the future, but like anything there is a steep learning curve. I had a call with Chris from Eventing Radio earlier in the week. She had a lot of great tips. This week we have an interview with our newest working student Jenny from our friends up north.

If you haven't yet downloaded Instacast yet, you should get right to it. Instacast will allow you do automatically download your podcasts directly onto your iPhone or Droid.

Again the podcast web address is http://www.dpequestrian.com/podcast/podcast.xml

Merry Christmas and Stay Warm!!

-D

The Podcast Live!

This has been in the works for a short while now. The podcast should be a very exciting broadcast which will introduce everyone to the horses, owners, sponsors, vets and farriers as well as current happenings.

Every tuesday by 9pm. Today's broadcast is live, we cover the happenings of the week and our first horse profile. This week we have Larry and Amelia Ross' Crown Talisman.

The direct link is http://www.dpequestrian.com/podcast/podcast.xml or search DPEquestrian in iTunes.

Stay warm!
-D

Winter is here and soon will be 2012!

'Tis the season...football is in full swing! At least that's my plan from now through February. We've had a great year, so not that I'm looking forward to it's departure, but I can't wait for 2012!

I would like to thank everyone who has helped make this year a possibility.

From our Owners:

Kristin Michaloski
Patti Springsteen
Jane Dudinsky
Kristen Burgers
Larry and Amelia Ross
Wendy Luce
SNS Syndicate
Melanie Nasser
Cindy Strate

To Sponsors:

Five Star Tack
Cavalor
SpectraVet
Georgetown Stable Outfitters
Arenus
HayGain
Hit Air
Parlanti
Ecogold
Horseware Ireland
Leather Therapy
Devoucoux
Equithrive
EquineLite

To the best Farrier in the world:
Sue Donatsky

To our Vet:
Greg Staller at Running S Equine



The winter months are usually filled with a number of tasks that have fallen through the cracks during the competition season. I'm in the process of getting a new truck, which will be very exciting. The poor Chevy has just shy off 200k and has seen better days. I was up at the Freightliner dealership today signing the sales order, so hopefully within the next two weeks we'll be fully equipped and ready for our journey to Aiken at the end of the month.

As for showing, most of the event horses are just coming back to work. The jumpers on the other hand are in full swing. We made a trip over to Duncraven yesterday and came back with a bunch of ribbons! Vesko W aka Llama, owned by Rosie DiMola, finished 3rd, 2nd and 1st.

This is his winning Level 3 Speed Class


Melanie Nasser's Urlando aka Larry won both of his classes.


Last but not least was Kristin who came along with us and rode her horse Hughie. He has done a few trainings and will be looking to move up in the spring.


In addition to the jumper show, now USDF Hall of Fame Inductee, Linda Zang was up for a dressage clinic this weekend. I took Tali aka Crown Talisman owned by Larry and Amelia Ross over to her both Saturday and Sunday. Linda was very helpful, I can't say enough about her. Tali was equally impressive, I can't wait to see what happens this year with him!

We have a quiet next few weeks from showing, but of course the packing has just begun for our migration. Stay warm and see you soon!

Doug

PS Without Cam I really don't know what war their fighting, all I can say their losing. Regardless, Jess remains in the background... 'War EAGLE'

HJU and Ecogold at it again!

I have to thank both HJU and Ecogold for their support...Patricia has a great write up on HJU that I had to share. 

Click here to view

-D

The 2011 Season is finished...figured we needed a recap!

Dominant day in Jumperland!

What a difference a week makes...we headed out early this morning to Nona Garson's beautiful farm in Asbury, NJ. Nona was hosting another one of her great schooling shows.

Larry went from this performance at the Royal...


to this...


I'd say his message came through loud and clear that he prefers the colored poles! Larry finished up 4th and 1st in the Level 3's. Brandy, also owned by Melanie Nasser, finished 4th, 3rd and 1st in the level 1-2's. This was especially good considering she hadn't been out in a year! Wishfull finished off the day in great form winning all three Open Jumper classes!