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2009 Snapshots & News
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December 3-6 - USEA 50th Anniversary Convention
Wow! What an event! I feel so lucky to have had this special event right in my backyard! Tthe USEA will be posting videos of several of the sessions, so I will put links here to my favorites when they come online. It's a total tragedy, but the Open Forum with Jim Wofford and Denny Emerson was not recorded! They are quite a show - I was laughing so hard, I was wiping tears off my face for an entire hour I was laughing so hard! People were saying they should have a roadshow called "Dimmy"!! Another session of special interest was Abigail Lufkin's talk on sports psychology. It was quite interesting as she walked nearly 100 people through a series of relaxation and visualization exercises. Through the process, I was really struck by something I was not entirely aware of about myself. Abigail spoke at length about some experiences she had many years ago which put a real fear in her of getting hurt, or worse, on a cross country course. As we were thinking through things in our own heads, I realized that I've never really been especially concerned about myself. But my greatest fear is that my wonderful and trusting horse will get hurt, or worse, doing something I have asked him to do. Afterwards, my friend Kim Clark and I were talking, and she asked me the best question - "if I could ask Katchi right now if this is what he wanted to do and if he wanted to do it with me, what would his answer be?" I know without a doubt that he LOVES eventing, and he LOVES eventing with me and he would scream, "YES! Let's go mom!!!". And with that in mind, we'll charge into the next competition season! :)
Okay, so here are some video links - definitely worth watching, especially on a cold snowy winter day! I'll try to keep them in order so that my favorites are listed first - there are more on the USEA website, but I'll only list my favorites.
Breeding and Preparing the Four Star Horse and Rider (and much more!) - Bruce Davidson, Buck Davidson & Denny Emerson http://useventing.com/blog/?p=7433
USEA Hall of Fame Inductions http://useventing.com/blog/?p=7441
December 2 - Richard Jeffery Show Jumping Seminar
Thanks to the generosity of the CDCTA for hosting the outstanding show jumping seminar with Richard Jeffery at Frying Pan Park. What a great day away from the office! The day began in the "classroom" where Mr. Jeffery spoke about the responsibilities a course designer bears as well as many of the technicalities of course design. He stressed that it is not in the spirit of the rules to run Beginner Novice through Advanced horses over the exact same show jumping path, even with minor changes to combinations. Course designers should be more clever in identifying quick changes which make significant path changes to challenge the upper level horses and build confidence in the lower level horses. He also discussed that desining a good BN/N course is one of the hardest levels - you are dealing with potential upper level horses who have long flowing strides and great scope at the same time that you have lower level riders who cannot see their distance and who may be aboard an older arthritic school master with a limited stride. The course designer's job is not to train horses, but he must give them good experiences - a bad course can frighten a young horse in two seconds and ruin their career! Did you ever think just how hard a course designer's job is?!
In the afternoon, we moved over to Frying Pan Park's indoor arena to work with jumps, decorations, flags and horses! The hi-light of the session was running a series of "experiments" to see how horses adjust their strides, take off point, and landing point over varied obstacles and combinations. We assessed that the spread of a horses's jumping arc remains pretty consistent, but they take off and land closer as the jump increases in width. So, the next time an oxer looks really wide, try to keep in mind that your horse is going to make just about the same jump he does over a verticle of the same height - but he'll come in a little closer on take off - so just stay calm and let him come a foot or so closer to the base - don't panic! If only it was so easy!
 
THANKS FOR A GREAT YEAR!
As 2009 is coming to an end - Katchi & I want to thank everyone who helped make this a great year. To all my students and friends who came out to look after Katchi (and me!) at the shows and to cheer us on - THANK YOU! Thanks to Adrianne, Amanda, Debi, Ilkim, Bridget, Anna, Rebecca, Kathy & Kim. Thanks to my dad for building me an arena full of chevrons - and a ditch! And to my mom for being amazingly supportive - as well as being one heck of a horse treat giver (Katchi LOVES you!). And to Area II for selecting me (and Katchi!) as a scholarship recipient - and of course to all the awesome riders we have in Area II who motivate and inspire me - and make me laugh too! Have a great winter and keep watching my website for pictures of my new trailer & for my 2010 competition plans!
 My mom and Katchi enjoy a beautiful fall day!
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
December 2009 Update - Farewell to Cooper
Sadly, the wonderful horse with a bright future, Cooper, was put down this week. Below are a few links to some beautiful memories of Cooper - have your kleenex handy because these are serious tear jerkers.
"Goodbye Cooper", by Jennie Brannigan http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/goodbye-cooper
"Memories of Cooper", by Jennie Brannigan http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/memories-cooper
"From the Beginning, He Made us Smile", by Stephanie Diaz http://useventing.com/blog/?p=7439
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'...
 
A special thanks to Judith Lamb for submitting a raving review of the clinic to the Chronicle of the Horse - "A Great Experience at a Jimmy Wofford Clinic"
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!"
 
  Photos by GRC Photo
** BLOG: Cherie & Katchi Get Duttonized - http://cheriegetsduttonized.blogspot.com/
July 5-10
Katchi and I spent a week at the Phillip Dutton Eventing Academy - and what a great week!!! My mom flew out from California to be my "groom extraordinaire" and she even brough the San Diego weather with her! We had a tremendous week of HARD work, amazing lessons, and leaps of confidence! I made daily (and more than daily!) entries into the blog linked above, which developed quite a following - there was a Chronicle of the Horse Forum discussion on it that had almost 2,000 hits!! And Katchi and I even made it into Jennie Brannigan's COTH blog posting about the camp (we're the horse/rider on the left) - CLICK HERE. Below are a few pictures from the week at Phillips - there are many more on my blog - check it out!
* New - I've uploaded a few videos from camp to my blog!
  
Phillip, Katchi & Cherie Phillip & Evie Dutton - he cooks too! My mom & Katchi
June 14, 2009
Seneca Valley Horse Trials - it's another muddy one! But, at least we didn't have to ride in the rain again. Katchi is getting the hang of his new studs and was brave and bold and gave me a fantastic ride! You can see in the picture below just how deep the water jump was. As we were cantering through, I thought - wow, there's some serious drag in this water! Guess the fact it was up to his knees may have had something to do with it. Katchi finished 4th (Novice), just 1.5 points behind the leader, and I was thrilled with how easy it all felt - yep, Katchi's got his eyes on Training level!
 
Photos by GRC Photo
June 7, 2009
CONGRATULATIONS to Cherie's student - Amanda Norman & Touchy - for their 3rd place finish at the MCTA Starter HT, Beginner Novice! WAY TO GO AMANDA & TOUCHY!
Photo by GRC Photo
28 May 2009 - THANK YOU AREA II!
I just learned that I was selected the receive a 2009 scholarship from the Area II Adult Riders. THANK YOU! The scholarship is to be used to pursue an equestrian educational opportunity like clinics or lessons - my scholarship is going straight into the pocket of Jim Wofford for lessons. Thank you Area II and thank you Jim!
29 April 2009 - ROLEX KENTUCKY
Last week, after having the most fantastic clinic with Lucinda Green, three great friends and I made the pilgrimage to watch Rolex! It was such an amazing trip! We were part of the first crowd into the new stadium just built in anticipation of next year's World Equestrian Games - it was spectacular, and was almost entirely full on Sunday - with almost 20,000 spectators! The cross country course was beautiful, and everyone loved the squirrels (pictured below). And, oh the shopping! It was almost a race against time to get through all the shops!
 
XC Day - Cherie, Kim & Kathy Bill & Kim
 
Squirrels New Stadium
17 April 2009
Spring is almost here, and we've been taking full advantage of the improving temperatures! We've enjoyed sunny days at a Frying Pan Park jumper show, Marlborough HT Jumper Derby, Morven Park XC schooling, and Rosaryville Park XC schooling - and one very rainy day at the Marlborough Unrecognized HT! Over the winter, Katchi has really grown up through numerous training sessions with Jim Wofford. He is solidly schooling Training level XC jumps now and even jumped two Prelim jumps at Morven Park! I couldn't have been more proud! Next week we're off for a two day clinic with Lucinda Green and then I'll be making the pilgimage to Rolex! I've been to both Badminton and Burghley, but I've never had the chance to make it to our own American four star event. I can't wait to start shopping! Katchi's entries for his first two horse trials of 2009 have been mailed, so check back soon for more updates and pictures.
Below are a few photos of Cherie's students XC schooling at Rosaryville Park
  
Debi & Roxanne Amanda & Touchy Debi & Roxanne
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