Barn and horse update

Dear Reader,

Life is busy. Construction has started on the new barn, very excited to see the area getting cleared, its funny how you look at piece of land and think “oh that won’t be too bad to clear” then you see it all on the ground in giant piles, it’s a lot. The guys at Aaron Excavating, http://www.aaronenviro.com have been great and  Roy has been nothing short of awesome in all steps of the process. I cannot say enough good things about them. Without further ado, photos of the destruction: 

I also signed off on the final barn plans this week, so as soon as the site is ready the barn builders will be coming in to get started, they assure me we should be done by the end of April, I can only hope winter finally goes away so they can get in and going. 

This past Sunday Ceara, Peri and I headed down to a dressage show at the NJ Horse Park, both girls rode well. We know that accuracy and a steadier connection to the bridle needs to be improved, but their efforts were rewarded with 1sts and 2nds and we had a really nice first outing. If only every show could be so low key and easy!

My own riding on Regal has been not as frequent, I have been enjoying getting Lilly going, we are having a bit of a set back as her teeth are in horrible shape and very sharp. It is causing her a lot of discomfort and some naughty behavior, so I am excited for her to get that taken care of on April 1^st. She is really a lovely mare and I am so excited to be able to train her and watch Elizabeth enjoy her (when she is being a good girl!). Regal and I had a mini jump school in the snow the other weekend, it was a lot of fun to knock the rust off and I was so impressed with his adjustability to the fences. I am trying to sneak in a jump lesson on Easter Sunday so hopefully I will have more to report back on. Meanwhile I need to tackle his wild mane, which is currently detracting from his devilish good looks...bad mommy,

Other than being frazzled from living between 2 locations, managing the barn project, getting the horses ridden and organizing 2 breedings for the Spring life is really happy, feeling so energized and grateful for such a wonderful group of clients and sponsors that are helping me reach my goals.

More soon,

Chelsea

Don't look the part - be the part

This is a good blog post:

http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/looking-part

Keys are in hand, welcome to The UpperFarm, home of Penwick Eventing

So, farm shopping has been going on for nearly a year, with many ups and downs, one deal fell through a week before closing, but that is because we were meant to find this place...two of my long time clients, Elizabeth and Leyla have partnered with me to purchase this lovely property that we will turn into an eventing and dressage training facility for 26 lucky horses to call home.  I will be living in the house, which is going to allow me to focus more on my riding and training client horses. There is a lot of stuff in the works and now that I can actually talk about it, I will share as the weeks go on, but I am feeling very lucky and excited about the future, the first time in a long time.

Future cross country, will look to have through intermediate level

Top of driveway, rings will be behind fence on left, XC field front and to the left

Some of the plans...

Where I will live...

Tips on training event horses from DOC

David O'Connor:

• Always use flags when training on skinny fences, horses recognize these and will hunt for the next fence once established.

• Bad experiences with ditches can ruin a horse for eventing, more so than water complexes will.

• Walk horses past things to familiarize them, rather than walk them towards it. (eg. ditches)

• Use a low pole over a water tray when training, it encourages a proper jump and better shape over the fence. (particularly useful when used in a combination)

• When training a combination jump the last element once or twice first to show the horse the exit. 

• Move from your 'galloping position' to your 'preparing to jump position' 5-6 strides out (I always remember Andrew Hoy explaining he prepares about 10 strides out)

What are you thoughts on stirrup length?

It can depend a lot on your body type, taller people may need to ride longer, and ironically shorter people too in order to maintain balance, but generally you should be looking for a 90 degree bend in the knee.

- Read the full report here: http://blog.talkinghorse.net/2013/02/international-eventing-forum-2013-my.html

Alternative treatment in Germany

Not for the faint of heart, but I find this very interesting...

My favorite author and charity

Every year my favorite author, Patrick Rothfuss, runs a major fund raiser for Heifer International. Heifer helps people raise themselves up out of poverty and starvation. Heifer promotes education, sustainable agriculture, and local industry all over the world. Patrick donates and gets tons of other cool authors to donate their goods to help motivate you to take part. For every $10 you give, you have the chance of winning something, there are literally thousands of prizes. Ends Jan 21st, can you give a little?

Patrick Rothfuss Worldbuilders 2012

2013

Let’s take my lack of writing as a sign that I have been super busy, because I have, there are a lot of big changes in the works (don’t worry all good things). My office job gave me a promotion and moved me to the European hours (10PM to 8AM) which is nice as it gives me more time at the barn on Sunday. But with the barn being busy and some other things in life dragging me in 3 different directions, Regal has been spending some time with my dressage trainer. This is allowing him to work more consistently than I can give him right now. I miss him like crazy in my day to day schedule but he seems happy and is coming along really well. Not to mention his new turnout buddies and he are having a competition on who can destroy their blankets the most, that new Amigo Bravo I got him, it looks like it went through a paper shredder. *sigh* On the home barn front I can confidently say Digger is making some real progress., we have gotten a new level of acceptance of the bit and his weekly treks up the trail seem to be helping in his muscle and over all happiness. As a result I got to see him jump with Ceara for the first time with no over jumping, that was awesome to see. Now if her ankle would only heal we can get back on track! Quest, who I am riding once a week is looking and going the best I have seen him. He is really coming into a higher connection that you see in an upper level horse. Lateral work is also really hitting new highs. Though as Elizabeth found out this past weekend if you are in a hurry that all goes to hell in a pretty hand basket J Lilly, Elizabeth’s new baby, who arrived from Timberridge Sporthorses in Canada a little over a month ago is coming along well, she is very smart and often reminds me of Regal when he was 3 years old. I Suspect I will be climbing on her back in Feb for the first time. Besame is also reaching new levels in her work, being in the indoor is really helping her balance more in the canter and she is loving her cavaletti work.

Looking ahead this year Besame and Noor will both be bred (I will do a post about the stallion once the contracts have been signed). Both mares will keep in work until they can’t anymore due to bellies. I am not putting any solid goals at them since they are both maiden mares but I would like to see them both get to a few local shows and XC schoolings. Rafiki will embark on his eventing career and either stick around or be sold. Regal will start the year off at Training level, I am looking at a few clinics in Feb and March in Maryland and VA to kick us off, and then I am aiming to end the season with a few prelims under our belt. Regal will also debut in some USDF shows with Marion this year, very exciting for the big boy. Lilly will go BN and maybe even Novice this year. Quest will be looking for a full time leassor or be sold this year. I would like to see Marbles partner with someone to show in dressage and eventing, he is way too nice to stay home.

On an semi-related front, someone wants to buy my trailer, so I am currently in talks with someone to buy a 4 horse trailer, very exciting!

Students, what are your goals for 2013? I have some in mind for all of you but I want to hear your own goals first. Times to road map our year…