October 2009 - Jennie Brannigan & Cooper need your help!
As you may already know, Jennie Brannigan's Cooper injured his leg during show jumping at Fair Hill on Oct 18, which required surgery - he then underwent colic surgery right after coming out of the first surgery! Talk about having a really bad trip to the vet's! Jennie is one of the nicest people I have met in a very long time, and I think she is just a fabulous (and fun!) horsewoman. Cooper's medical expenses have already exceeded his insurance coverage - please consider making a tax deductible donation to Cooper. Go to Jennie's website to make a donation - any amount (even $2!) will help Cooper!
http://www.branniganeventing.com/
You can also read more about Jennie and Cooper on her blog for the Chronicle of the Horse -
Fall 2009 - A Lesson in Trailer Safety
More information and pictures to come... On a sad note, my wonderful green & white Merhow trailer that I LOVE is going to the trailer graveyard. I was a pony clubber for years, and I've read more trailer safety articles than I care to remember. I have an emergency kit that I imagine many fire departments would envy! I check the floor boards, lights and tire pressure regularly. What I never ever knew is that the sides of your trailer can rot and fall apart! Luckily, without any injury to horses, a stumbled across some dust coming from the trailer sides. Upon closer inspection, I discovered the wood sides (which I had no idea were wood!) panelled by fiberglass had entirely rotted. The frame broke apart and when I pushed on the sides, I could see the ground between the floorboards and the trailer side wall. I cried. I just cannot imagine the nightmare that could have been had a horse been in the trailer and we had been in an accident or the horse had paniced and began kicking. I feel like the luckiest person in the world right now - although my bank account sure isn't going to agree by the time I pay for a new trailer! So, I am searching for a new trailer - all aluminum this time, I think. As I'd never ever heard of this kind of thing happening, I thought I should put it out there for others to learn from.
In the meantime I must put out the BIGGEST AND HUGEST THANK YOU EVER to my wonderful student and friend, Ilkim Boyle of The Vet Taxi, who has so graciously loaned me both her truck and trailer to let me finish off Katchi's show season and give me time to really look into what I want for a new trailer. Again, I feel like the luckiest person in the world to be surrounded by such fabulous people who look after me.
A final farewell (and hug!) to a wonderful trailer before its last drive, to the trailer graveyard. Hopefully pictures of a NEW trailer will be posted soon - exciting, but so so sad!
October 15-18 2009 - FAIR HILL!
My mom flew out from sunny San Diego to go to soggy Fair Hill. Oh My! Fall is my favorite time of year on the East Coast - Winter is not. And Fair Hill got winter. I made excellent use of my Dubarry boots in all the mud, rain, and more mud - Love those boots!! And I even added the furry liners to the ensemble this year! You'll see from the pictures below of XC day that as the day got colder and wetter - a fashion show it certainly was not! I'm SO glad the porta-potties didn't have mirrors!
My biggest accomplishment of the weekend was surviving - in fine form - the XC walk with Jimmy! He had two students riding the 3-star course, and I smiled real big and asked to tag along again this year. What an opportunity to listen in on the thoughts of such a master! When we got to the coffin complex - Jimmy says, quite objectively "You have options here - jump it or die". I laughed very hard - the riders, not so much. So, I was so disappointed when they took out the A part of the A-B-C combination which made the effort significantly easier - but, it still earned quite a few riders a 20 on the scoreboard. Anyhow, after a year of running and training to keep up with Jim Wofford - the course walk was, well, not quite but almost, a breeze! I think I'm almost more proud of myself for that than for anything else Katchi and I have accomplished this year! And I have to add that my mom has also spent the last year training for both the Dutton Camp and the Jimmy Fair Hill course walk! A huge cheer to her for really hangining in there! She cut across the field to make a few galloping stretches a bit shorter, but she was right there for every big question which is no easy accomplishment, given Jimmy's average MPH speed, the mud, and the hills! Way to go Mom!!
Overall, the competition was great. I was really looking forward to seeing upwards of 150 horses run between the 2 and 3 star courses, but I would guess about 1/2 withdrew. The footing seemed to hold just fine on the galloping tracks and the jumps that remained on the course (a lot of combinations and corners were wisely taken out) - no doubt due largely to the gallant efforts of all the organizers and volunteers with a hefty supply of grey stone and rakes!
You'll also see from the pictures below that there was a distinct lack of spectators this year. Sad for the riders, horses and event profits - but it was certainly easier to get a good view of the popular combinations like the water jump. The best part of the whole weekend was cheering for friends! And wow - they did great! I also had great fun running into a gang of old Texas friends (including my old coach Mike Huber) who made the trek to cheer on Heather Morris - a name to watch - all eyes on London 2012!
September 12 2009 - Jim Wofford XC Clinic @ Waredaca
Thank you to everyone who came out to this great day! And a huge thank you to Robert & Gretchen at Waredaca (for the land) and to Jim (for the brains)! Below are a few pictures...
Katchi and I fly over the big table! And Jimmy gets technical...
And the BN/N group listens to 'the man'...
September 5 2009 - Katchi WINS Seneca Valley!!!!!
Katchi completed his second Training level HT on Saturday, and I couldn't have been more thrilled with him! Everyone was saying the XC course was really tough, but Katchi just ate it up! The ditch complex was a deja vu of Loch Moy, and I was determined not to lead him to another silly run-out. I did my job right this time, and Katchi was thrilled! Maybe he'll keep me after all! He also jumped off the SCARY bank (okay, he walked off, but he went!) - I wouldn't have blamed him one bit if he'd said I was crazy when I steered him that way! He was just fabulous! I don't think anyone had a bigger smile than I did coming through the finish line! AND THEN... I looked at the scoreboard - would you believe it - HE WON! What a wonderful horse I have! And thank you so much to Debi, Amanda and Kathy for cheering us on! Debi even found a lucky penny in the grass that day - maybe I should feed that penny to Katchi?!
Photos of us are online at the GRC Photo site.
July 26 2009 - Congratulations to students Adrianne & Debi!
Congratulations to Debi riding Roxanne for her win at Equilibrium Horse Center's Combined Test - and close on her heels was another student, Adrianne riding Tori (finishing 3rd)- competing at their first combined test! I'm predicting many more competitions and ribbons to come for both of these talented pairs! Excellent work, ladies!
July 18 2009 - Maryland HT @ Loch Moy
Horray for Katchi! My little guy's really growing up - check out his face while jumping Loch Moy's REALLY SCARY Trakehner below! Seriously, have you seen the ditch under there? Katchi sure has! Anyhow, Katchi completed his first Training level HT at the Maryland HT2 @ Loch Moy. He was so fantastic! Brave and bold and so easy! Unfortunatley, I led him astray on his line in the ditch combination, which cost us a run-out on the scoreboard. And I told myself not to do that when I walked the course! This is when Katchi says, "stupid human!"
