Aiken Adventures

2012-02-16T14:05:00.001-05:00

Moose or Mammoth???

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-02-15T03:03:00.002-05:00

Or actually, it may be the 15th now... oh well! It's finally warming up again, tomorrow should be 60! Good rides today. I schooled Carino on the flat and we focused on steadiness and consistency throughout the ride but with particular focus on transitions. Beacon and Diem hacked out, I found a whole other gear for Beacon's medium trot- it's huge! The girls shipped out to have a jump lesson with Eric and they both did well, Devin is still tring to figure out the whole concept of being relaxed off property but she's getting there! Ari jumped well in her novice group and we focused on "the canter, the canter, the canter". Just a short update tonight, tomorrow we are trucking to the AppleTree Farm 2-phase in the afternoon. Beacon will run a dressage test and Ari and Diem will both run a novice combined test. Wish them luck!

2012-02-13T10:24:00.001-05:00

Stop rolling in the burrs!!!!

2012-02-13T08:07:00.001-05:00

Very chilly morning again! Yesterday thankfully got up towards 50 degrees but it started out with frozen hoses and hydrants and THICK ice in all the buckets- yuck!

Rides were all good yesterday though, Ari had an excellent stadium school where she finished really pushing through a triple combination of one strides and roll backed over a skinny wall combination. She is so much fun to jump! Diem and Devin both had a nice stretchy trot set on the track finishing in a nice loosening canter up the long back hill. They both were swinging nicely through their backs and ready to get to work. Beacon had the day off as I did some more horse shopping in the afternoon, and Marissa and Carino had a good first day back to work after his procedure.

Today both Devin and Diem will have flat schools, Ari will work on the track, Marissa and Carino will jump, and Beacon is shipping over to Jumping Branch from a dressage lesson with Eric. Let's hope it gets warmer soon!

2012-02-12T15:24:00.001-05:00

Really Diem??? Could you sleep somewhere that DOESN'T have burrs???

Sat/Sun = BRRRRRRR

2012-02-12T08:27:00.000-05:00

Brrr! It's literally FREEZING in Aiken! Last night hit a low of 22 degrees- who ordered the New England weather??? Yesterday was definitely chilly, but the wind was insane! Even still, we got all the rides done and they were (surprisingly!) good even in the gale force winds!

Ari had a flat school out in the field where we focused on transitions and consistency (common themes for her). She has such lovely moments but can't seem to hold them for very long. I'm hoping that as she gets more mileage she will keep her focus longer and become more consistent in the bridle. She's actually already a little bit straighter in between the aids, baby steps!

After Ari we packed up Diem and Devin and drove an hour to Gibbes Farm. I had an appointment to look at some sales horses there and so figured we would take advantage of the opportunity and school xc. Every year I have come to Aiken I have heard about Gibbes and never gotten there. This place is a mecca for xc schooling- they have endless options and variety for all levels, Beginner Novice through Advanced. I was expecting a lot of fences, but I never anticipated the size of this place. It is HUGE! The field is long with good varied terrain and some wooded sections and literally hundreds of jumps. And just when you think you've finally reached the end there is a corner and around it is another huge field, bigger than the first! The place is endless! And there are so many excellent questions to school, lots of skinny turning questions, two water complexes, a huge bank complex, another more technical bank complex, coffins, combinations, hedges, ditches, mounds, ..... you get the idea. It's xc heaven!

Devin was up first, and on this windy, frigid day I wasn't sure what to expect. This is also her first ever xc school (not counting one little outing at Flatlands). To my surprise and delight, she marched off the trailer and was all business right from the get go. She wasn't phased at all by the size of the place and settled into a nicely balanced trot and canter in the warmup. When we started jumping she looked a little bit, but was very game once she understood what I wanted her to do. It was quite a lot for her to be cantering around up and down terrain and come to the fences all in a nice light balance, but she did really well! One of the first jumps she did (a fat little log) she jumped only with the front half of her body so we landed with her hind feet on one side and her front feet on the other. I gave her a little nudge and she picked her hind feet up and stepped over the log- I figured she was just a little confused and wasn't at all concerned about it as she started jumping better and better after that. She really needs to learn how to come around the fences with her body so we were jumping lots of low square type of things to give her the idea. She was really starting to jump beautifully when we came to another (slightly bigger) log and she did the same mistake again!!! This time the log was too big for her to step over so she was stuck with her front feet on one side and her hind feet on the other and she was hopping a little back and forth- poor thing! So I did the only thing I could to help her- I hopped off! Without my weight she was able to hop her hind end over the log and finish the jump and then she slipped right by me- just out of grasp (dang!) and took herself for a lovely GALLOP around the HUGE field. There was nothing to do but wait for her to be done so Marissa and I stood by the trailer and watched her take a long, fast (and I must add perfectly balanced) tour of the property. She finally made her way back to the trailer, decided she wasn't quite done, and did ANOTHER lap!!! Then she came back, circled the trailer once and halted right in front of me as if to say, "Well! I'm ready now!" I checked her legs and walked her around (she was hardly even breathing hard) and then hopped back on (we couldn't end like THAT!). She was DELIGHTFUL after her little romp! Super light and even and balanced! We did a little walk/trot/canter and then popped over some fences and she excelled at everything! With that I called it a day, but I'm thinking of adding some gallops to her routine!

Diem was a SUPERSTAR. This post has already gone on too long so I will have to just be brief, but he was such a gentleman! He stepped off the trailer, and went right to work- very soft and supple and focused from the first step. After some very nice warm up fences we got a bit more technical and by the end of the school had done a variety of fences I'm sure he's never seen before (specifically a mound of turf with a couple of rails on top- he was like "What the.....???" but jumped it anyway!) He did water, banks, ditches, and then we played with some fun stuff. He was super at two different coffins, very rideable through some tricky bending lines, and excellent through a triple combination of VERY skinny logs. A fantastic first outing of the season for him! And he was so confident and focused! Love that!

Finally home I worked Beacon on the track doing some trot and canter sets- in the HOWLING wind and at DUSK! Recipe for disaster? Actually this was the calmest he has been yet and was really super focused and relaxed (finally!). This was the first time since we've been down here where I could float the reins a bit and he would keep the rhythm and balance- I think he's finally settling in!

That's all for now, time to get the rides in for today! It's freezing out there- time to bundle up!

2012-02-11T08:55:00.001-05:00

First ride of the day! And then off to Gibbes Farm with Diem and Devi!

2012-02-10T16:19:00.001-05:00

Procedure complete! Carino was a good boy, now Marissa gets to learn how to inject meds IM!

2012-02-10T09:09:00.001-05:00

Lots of exciting events in the last couple days! Wed Full Gallop ran the first of their Intermediate series Horse Trials, Marissa and I got there late enough in the day so that we could watch my friend Meghan run novice on one of her greenies and we got a chance to walk the courses. We also ran into my friend Todd who does the course design and building at Full Gallop and chatted with him about how everything ran- sounds like it was a great day!

Yesterday Beacon and Diem got the day off so that I could steal away and watch some of the Training Sessions for the team. I love watching these top upper level horse and rider teams play with improving their own challenges. I was able to watch Boyd show jump and Will C and Will F both do dressage. Many of these horses are super big and fancy, but what struck me was that Will F was riding a super cute but much more average sized and average moving mare, but she was NICE. It impresses me, and I have all the more respect for Will F to be able to take something a little less big and flashy and be able to still be super successful at the upper levels. I was also very impressed by his relationship with her- he is a very quiet rider on her and very sympathetic, you can hear him saying things like "good girl" and "come on now" under his breath as they ride around the arena, it was a very quiet and harmonious partnership. I may try to look him up and go have a ride with him on Ari who actually moves quite similar to his little bay lady (gives Ari and I something to aspire to!)

When Marissa got to the barn after school we packed up the greys (Carino and Ari) and headed out to XC school at a random little farm on the otherside of town. What an amazing little secret this place is! It has a good sized derby field with anything you could want to school BN,N, T. There were two different bank complexes, a water jump with beaches and a variety of banks, a sunken road, ditches of various sizes, and about a million different portables of all shapes and sizes! We were able to put together a really good school without ever jumping even a quarter of the various fences! The footing was excellent and in addition to the derby field they had a lovely show jump arena with beautiful fences, a dressage arena, a track, and even a place to swim the horses! And the really amazing part is the whole facility fee is only $25!!!! Marissa and I were the only ones there and we were able to have a really relaxed XC school where both horses did some very technical questions and some bigger fences. Marissa feels good about going novice at Paradise (her first sanctioned novice!) and I was really impressed with the little grey mare- she has talent and GAME for XC! The more and more I ride this horse the more she impresses me, there might be quite a bit of talent still to unlock!

On another note- I've picked up a job working for Doug Payne who was in need after loosing some of his working students. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing other than helping him and Michelle (his groom/barn manager) but it will be fun and educational to see the inside workings of a top rider's program.

Off to do my rides for the day now, and then we are shipping Carino to the clinic this afternoon to have a growth removed.

Hope all is well at home! I heard from Mike about last week's lessons and they sounded like fun! I know Red is teaching this week, Happy Riding!!

2012-02-08T11:12:00.001-05:00

Another shot of the training sessions at Boyd's lovely Bridle Creek Farm

Catching up on the Blog!

2012-02-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

We've been very busy riding! Monday everyone did a light jump school over a couple different five stride lines and turning over fences exercises. Diem and Ari both excelled and put in some very nice rounds, Devin was better than I had anticipated- she was very game on, but needs to work on technique a bit yet. Poor Beacon was a little frazzled. This being only his second time jumping since before the resection I expected it; so the plan with him is just to take it all very slow until he remembers that jumping is nothing to get excited about. Marissa had a good lesson with Carino where she really nailed some of the exercises and was able to focus on keeping a consistent canter through the lines.

Yesterday I schooled everyone on the flat in the arena. The arena has a bit of a hill to it which is great for schooling because it really makes you focus on BALANCE. Everyone was actually quite loose and willing to get right to work which was great. I also was able to sneak out for a little bit and go watch some of the training sessions at Boyd's farm- it's such a lovely facility with mirrors stretched down one full side of the arena. It was very informative watching these top class riders working on the same basic principlals that we all do: forward, lightness, balance. It was also helpful for me to watch one rider working in halfpass and getting a little stuck through the right shoulder (hello Beacon!) and seeing how a different flexion and body position drastically improved the movement. It was inspiring and I'm excited to start working more specifically on the dressage with Beaker!

Today everyone will do some conditioning on the track and I'm hoping to sneak out to watch some more training sessions. Tomorrow will be the first XC school! Haven't decided who's going yet, but it will be a blast!

2012-02-08T10:25:00.002-05:00

The red head glows in the afternoon light yesterday.

2012-02-08T10:25:00.001-05:00

Days end

2012-02-07T12:01:00.001-05:00

Watching the US Training sessions at Boyd's farm! What a beautiful day to watch some amazing horses/riders train!

2012-02-07T09:00:00.001-05:00

Zion says good morning!!!

All Settled In!

2012-02-06T10:36:00.001-05:00

Hello all! It was a little bit chaotic the first couple days but we are finally settled in and I can finally update the blog! This year the Valinor crew is residing in the lower barn at Quail Ridge Farm, it's an open shed row type barn but very nice.I hope to include lots of pictures in the blog this year but something is being tempermental so no pictures just yet- but I promise they are coming!!!

Wed consisted of setting up stalls, tack and feed rooms, organizing paddock space, etc ect. The horses all fared well on the journey and settled in nicely- Diem gave us a little scare as he acted a tiny bit colicky the first night, but was fine after some banamine and bute. Thursday was a full day of R&R for all the ponies as they got adjusted to their new turnouts and daily rountine,they were all so happy to be stretching out in some good sized paddocks! We also picked up and moved in Carino and Marissa. Marissa, I am excited to say, has taken on the roll of working student for me; I'm so glad to have the help!

Friday was the first day under saddle and everyone went for a hack around the track. Carino and Ari paired up in the beginning and they were all business as they settled into their trot sets and relaxed into a nice loosening canter up the long back hill. Twice around the track was a solid 40 minutes and a nice hack to stretch them out. The rest I took out solo, Devin, who I was prepared to dance with the entire time actually settled nicely half way around and by the second loop was acting like she's always done trot sets! Diem was a little looky to start, but he also settled nicely and was very workmanlike by the second loop. Beacon, naturally, opted to toss a shoe in his paddock so I had to call Tom (farrier) who was thankfully right down the road to come and tack it back on for me. He REALLY needed to work so we only did one loop around the track and then modified to do a light dressage school in the arena- he was actually really super.

Saturday (yesterday!) everyone did a propper flat school in the arena. They were ALL fantastic! Everyone started off very focused and got some really good work in- hopefully this becomes a trend!

I'm heading to drop Jim off at the airport now, then back to do rides. Check back later for more updates and (hopefully) pictures!!!

2012-02-03T08:33:00.001-05:00

Good morning all! Horses are all well rested after their journey and have all settled in beautifully. Today I play with organizing their turnout and setting up the rest of the tack and feed stall and they all get the day to relax and recoop from the long haul. More pictures to follow!

We made it!! Post to

2012-02-02T11:51:00.001-05:00

We made it!! Post to follow :)

Almost thru Virginia!

2012-02-02T04:15:00.001-05:00

Almost thru Virginia!

2012-02-01T21:47:00.001-05:00

We made it to NJ at our first pit stop- its a HUGE truck stop! The ponies are all shipping well- they have all decided that one particular hay net is the tastiest so they are all sharing that one and ignoring the others. Diem has done the best for drinking water, Ari dunked lots of hay in the bucket and then sucked on it, both Beacon and Devin sniffed a little, sipped a little, and then turned their noses up. After some confusion with all the computers being down at the pumps I was finally able to fill up (hooray for cash!) And now we're gearing up to be back on the road- Jim hasn't even threatened to kill me once yet! Onwards and Aiken bound!

2012-02-01T19:46:00.001-05:00

Major traffic on I95 in CT- a tractor trailer full of olives overturned shutting down the highway between exits 14 and 15! We WERE making good time...

2012-02-01T15:48:00.001-05:00

We're finally on our way!!!

2012-01-30T21:57:00.001-05:00

Ari's first outing- some steering issues :)

2012-01-30T21:48:00.001-05:00

Devin's first outing. wheeeeeeeeeeee

2012-01-30T21:43:00.002-05:00

Kai Kai at his first novice!