Saturday, February 26, 2011

Pine Top

Hi,

Well, they say in order to get better you sometimes have to try different things...so I took a risk and tried the dressage in a double bridle on Tag, I thought it was ok, however the judge did not...so back to the snaffle it is....

On the positive side he show jumped absolutely super.

So off to cross country, there is enough to do....more tomorrow.

Talk later,
Courtney

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Catching up...

Sorry to everyone not to write sooner...Paradise ended great with Gillian riding beautifully cross country and moving up to second.  We were all very proud of her.

Foxy jumped a double clean in show jumping and showed he is ready to move up to Prelim.

Nevaeh was a good girl as well but lost her form in the triple, and had a rail.  She is usually such an amazing jumper and I was a bit disappointed and then Neal reminded me she will only be 5 in the Spring....yes, that does make a difference!
Nevaeh in Stadium - Mark Walter Lehner Photo

Hope and Quarry were also both good cross country with clean rounds.

Monday I had to say goodbye to Neal and today the Cowleys left for the snow in Manhattan.

I was not able to dwell too much on it as we had three different sets of clients visit us, some from California and others from Massachusetts.  We had a great time seeing horses and hopefully I will find some for everyone...

I hope all of you are well and the weather is good wherever you are...

Talk soon,
Courtney

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Paradise Weekend

Hey Guys,

Its been a long weekend so far....the weather has been tremendous with lots of sun and loads of pink people!

The horses have all been good and tried hard, huge divisions....Nevaeh and Foxy were both good and both had places were they could have improved and places that I was very proud of them, and it was hard for me to guess who would do better than the other so guess what they were tied for 9th!

Hope and Quarry also were both good but with 35 in the beginner novice division ended up down the list after dressage.

Gillian and Page Cowley are down for the long weekend, and Gillian has been awesome with a great dressage school and cross country school on Thursday before coming 3rd in the Novice Rider in dressage and jumping clean in show jumping so fingers crossed for cross country....

Gillian & Gabby


Tomorrow Nevaeh and Foxy have show jumping and Quarry, Gabby and Hope go cross country!

On a sad note Jordan who had joined us in Aiken, has decided to move on. We wish her all the best.

Talk soon,
Courtney

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Pine Top with Foxy

Wow what a day!  Foxy was great!  The course was big, the time tough to make (470 mpm), and Foxy smoked around like an old campaigner.
Dunlavin Fox on XC - Mark Walter Lehner Photo

I have Foxy into sell as his owner, Peter Blauner, who only has time to compete one horse, recently bought an upper-level eventer.  Foxy has been with me before, and he is one of my favorites.  The person who buys him will have a great friend and really fun horse.

More later.

Courtney

Pine Top with Tag

Tag had a really good outing this weekend at Pine Top.  It was his first competition at Intermediate in 2011.  He was good in the dressage, not spectacular, but pretty good, finishing 3rd.  And he show jumped really well although he had a rail.
Who's a Star - Mark Walter Lehner Photo

Today he went out like a lion on cross county, and jumped really well but time put him back to 4th overall.  A good outing for his first Intermediate of the year.

On to Foxy who goes cross country this afternoon.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Full Gallop Wednesday!

Wow what a day...Jordan, our new great working student, and Summer, a good friend of mine who is helping me in Aiken, helped me compete 5 horses.  All of them tried very hard.  Nevaeh was doing her first training and it was a big course and she was fantastic and finished 5th, I am really excited about her.
Nevaeh on XC (Mark Walter Lehner Photo)

Four of the sale horses competed, Cirque, was 8th in only his second eventing start and jumped great.  O'Larry and Ligero both were in the novices and Larry was a good boy too, just adding a rail and a pinch of time.  Ligero, aka Chip, was amazing and finished 9th in his first time out this year and had a lot of admirers.
Smudge in Stadium (Mark Walter Lehner Photo)
The last sale horse was Molten Rock and he also tried super hard, but had a green time in show jumping but really tried hard, the results just dont show on the scoreboard.  I think this is a horse for the future though and I look forward to continuing to work with him.

The weather in Aiken tomorrow is supposed to be icky, I will keep my fingers crossed it won't be too bad as I am headed off to lessons with the big boys, Havasu and Tag, with Sally Cousins.

Talk to you soon,
Courtney

Monday, February 7, 2011

New Blog!

Hello everyone,

We are starting a new blog today for csquarefarm.com and hope you will enjoy it, please let us know your thoughts.  While the website and Courtney Cooper Athlete page on Facebook are a team effort, this space will be more of my ramblings.

We have been in Aiken now for 3 weeks and have endured freezing rain and 38 degrees and sunny weather and 60's.

The horses have all been great with Tag and Nev being second at Full Gallop, and full of themselves in their warmups! Smudge, aka Cirque also was good at Full Gallop and finished 5th.

Neal came down to enjoy the weather and some time with us this weekend and he was our groom for Sporting Days.  I am thinking he would like to keep his day job!

Again the horses were all good with Foxy finishing at Training, Molten Rock, Julia Wendell's beautiful young horse, finishing 8th at his first beginner novice and our own R Star, aka Hope finishing her first beginner novice after only being under saddle for 7 weeks! The schedule at Sporting Days got a little wacky but Doug Payne and Mary Coldren were able to sort it all out!

We have also been showing  and selling horses and have met some fantastic people including Rodger Nye from Wyoming who bought True Grit from us, and Woods Baughman from Kentucky who also purchased Truckee Bash from us.

R Star Going Cross Country
I will write more soon,

Courtney