Well, it has been way too long since my last update, lots of
balls in the air as they say. Regal has been going well, I did one more Novice
at the NJ Horse Park, dressage was much improved, still showed some greenness in
stadium with some rails, but he rocked around cross country and we finished 5th
out of 14. I have since taken a break from competing to really nail some
training points, the progress has been pretty incredible and some lessons with
Marion Georgiev have really helped to get us focused and its been great for me
to have someone to bounce some ideas off. First and foremost was creating a
more elastic uphill connection, that is adjustable. Let’s face it Regal is just
too damn big for anything other than self-carriage. We’ve been jumping a little, not much, this
past week I decided to have a good school and test out my new found up-ness. Thanks
to my ground crew I had an array of large fences ranging from 3ft to nearly
5ft. Regal was a rock star, a few times I didn’t have him up on the landing
where I want, which makes tighter lines, especially bending downhill….err umm…interesting
but all in all was feeling very good. We are still taking off too close to the
base, while a good skill to have, makes it hard for him to show off his great
knees. So that is next on the docket to work on. Regal is on his second round
of full shoes, we’ve increased the size, I think a 4 or 5 now?? Yikes, my horse
has dinner plates. Next will be Waredaca in Maryland, this is hands down one of
my favorite events - wish it was closer, and we will make our debut at Training
level. He’s really learning to flick his toes out J Then we will head down to VA
Nov 10-11th to finish up the northern season. I’m hoping to sneak
South for even just a week to train and show once late season, but a lot of
that will depend on weather up north and how fit I can keep him.
A few weeks ago, Elizabeth and I headed up to Ontario Canada
to Timber Ridge Sporthorses to shop for new prospects and came home with a boy
and a girl. Elizabeth is super excited to welcome her two new children into the
USA in Nov and I am looking forward to being their weekday training mommy. They
are both branded RPSI, complete with German passports. Lilly, is 3.5 and jumps
like she is bound for Rolex in a year and Roo who is 2.5 is a gentle giant, who
I also think will have a great future, once he figures out where his HUGE body
goes. You can see them here (look for the dark bay with big ears and a lanky chestnut, somewhere around page 3):
At home the students are working really hard, we attended
their first recognized event with some mixed results, but everyone left hungry
to work harder and be ready for the increased level of competition next year. This
coming weekend we will head to a hunter pace and then off to Bucks County Nov 4th.
Rafiki is looking for a new home soon, so if you are
interested or know anyone, let me know! I need to free up some space so good
home and a quick sale will secure someone a steal!
