Hello Everyone,
Hope you are up enjoying a beautiful day with family and friends...
As I was lying in bed this morning I started to think about what I am thankful for...it goes without saying my wonderful husband, friends, family, animals, and clients.
I am also thankful for the choice and freedom people have given me that I do not even know. Recently I was reading about girls in the Middle East with no opportunity for an education, Egyptian women who are groped and terrorized on a regular basis on their way to work and other matters in which people do not have the ability to choose their actions.
This got me to thinking about how fortunate we are in the country to have access to an education, health and the choice to make our lives what we want through hard work, character and integrity.
I am thankful to those men and women who everyday put their lives on the line, who graciously and selflessly give their time, body and service to this country. I am also thankful to their families. I cannot imagine having my loved ones a world away, in dangers way on a regular basis. Or for that matter to be in the same town and be policewomen or firemen and saving lives and keeping order in a sometime chaotic world.
I am thankful that we are allowed the ability to live our lives as we like, to be educated, and to be gracious and thankful on a regular basis, enjoy your Turkey or Tofurkey and enjoy your choices!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Courtney
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Ireland...Horse Sales and Aiken
Hello All,
The trip to Ireland was beautiful and motivating!
We were able to see a good group of horses, including some really wonderful CCI*, CCI**, and CCI*** horses if anyone is looking.
I am having one horse vetted for me once he recovers from a head cold! Darn colds!
I will let you know more when he passes. I am also working diligently on getting a group of owners together for another one I saw that I am excited about.
Since coming home things have been very busy showing multiple horses to multiple clients. November and December tend to be some of our busiest times so I am excited about meeting the new people coming in and hopefully finding them soulmates!
In addition we are starting to prepare for Aiken. We are headed to Jumping Branch this year and we are all excited about that.
We have one position open for a working student so if you are interested let me know as I can be flexible with benefits and times if you are the right person!
I hope to hear from many of you as the Holidays draw near, as always feel free to call, email or stop by the farm, we always enjoy hearing about everyones plans and activities...
Talk soon,
Courtney
The trip to Ireland was beautiful and motivating!
We were able to see a good group of horses, including some really wonderful CCI*, CCI**, and CCI*** horses if anyone is looking.
I am having one horse vetted for me once he recovers from a head cold! Darn colds!
I will let you know more when he passes. I am also working diligently on getting a group of owners together for another one I saw that I am excited about.
Since coming home things have been very busy showing multiple horses to multiple clients. November and December tend to be some of our busiest times so I am excited about meeting the new people coming in and hopefully finding them soulmates!
In addition we are starting to prepare for Aiken. We are headed to Jumping Branch this year and we are all excited about that.
We have one position open for a working student so if you are interested let me know as I can be flexible with benefits and times if you are the right person!
I hope to hear from many of you as the Holidays draw near, as always feel free to call, email or stop by the farm, we always enjoy hearing about everyones plans and activities...
Talk soon,
Courtney
Sunday, November 6, 2011
St Augustines...
Hello to All,
We headed to St Augustine today for the unrecognized event there and the cross country was up to snuff...All of my horses were good, with dressage scores from 27-34 and all show jumping clean.
On cross country again they were all good however poor Nev misread the in to the water the first time and Vegas jumped great although he was naughty in between the fences at one point and so we had to discuss that a bit...and well my constellation of competition "Stars" is getting better all the time. R Star did her first training today after many missed starts for weather and she won.
We also took Chocolate Martini who was meant to do his first training a while ago as well but again with the weather delays, and he was a delight. He had a double clear and jumped around like an old pro. He was looked at by some trainers so we are hoping he will find his person soon. If you know of anyone looking for a safe and fun novice/training packer for $15,000 let me know.
Neal should have videos up in the next few days.
I am headed off to go to Ireland...excited to see about a few quality horses...
Hope to catch up with you all soon,
Courtney
Ps Here are some pics from GRCphoto.com of the biggest star to date...Who's A Star!
We headed to St Augustine today for the unrecognized event there and the cross country was up to snuff...All of my horses were good, with dressage scores from 27-34 and all show jumping clean.
On cross country again they were all good however poor Nev misread the in to the water the first time and Vegas jumped great although he was naughty in between the fences at one point and so we had to discuss that a bit...and well my constellation of competition "Stars" is getting better all the time. R Star did her first training today after many missed starts for weather and she won.
We also took Chocolate Martini who was meant to do his first training a while ago as well but again with the weather delays, and he was a delight. He had a double clear and jumped around like an old pro. He was looked at by some trainers so we are hoping he will find his person soon. If you know of anyone looking for a safe and fun novice/training packer for $15,000 let me know.
Neal should have videos up in the next few days.
I am headed off to go to Ireland...excited to see about a few quality horses...
Hope to catch up with you all soon,
Courtney
Ps Here are some pics from GRCphoto.com of the biggest star to date...Who's A Star!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Catching up...
Hello everyone,
I have not written on my blog for sometime, my apologies.
To catch everyone up, I started Fair Hill with a bang with Who's A Star finishing in 2nd place after dressage. He was attentive and active in his work, and his test was very good. The canter still needs some lift and expression and the trot work was wonderful...still working on those darn turn on the haunches though.
Cross country day was beautiful, although the going was heavy after several days of rain, it was Fair Hill after all!
He was very good overall, however he jumped into the doubles of angled brushes well and then he just was short in his step to get across the distance and instead of taking 1 stride took 1 and 1/2 and bounced off the second element.
At this point there was still much work to do and he was fabulous on the way home.
Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning he was quite full of himself and acted as if the cross country had taken nothing out of him which was great.
He jumped a super show jumping course only marred when he shied from the warmup arena in the triple and had the first oxer down behind.
My overall goal for Fair Hill was to ride like I knew how and to not leave anything on the table. There are times I know as a rider that I can look back at a cross country round, or dressage test and tell you everything that happened and this was one of those weekends.
Although it would have been nice to have won the whole thing, I am proud of the work that Tag and I did, disappointed by the placing but not the work.
The girls, Hope and Nev, did the young horse classes at Fair Hill as well and they were both good performing as well up to their abilities. Hope ended up 4th overall, the same placing as her brother Tag when he was a 4 year old so hopefully that bodes well for her future.
We have one last event on Sunday at St Augustines with Nev, Hope, Vegas and Chocolate Martini and then I am headed to Ireland to look for a new partner.
This year has been a developmental year for me, lots of good, and lots of work...I enjoyed the process of being considered for the Pan American Team and my search in Ireland is going to work towards that end.
I have heard of a strong prospect for the World Championships in Fontainebleu in 2014 and am trying to work to put together a group of up to 10 owners for this. If you are interested let me know...it will be quite a ride.
I want to work on putting the goose bumps I feel when I hear the national anthem to good work with an eventual podium placing in a major international competition and realize I cannot do it alone.
I hope all of you and yours are doing well and are now enjoying the beautiful Fall weather after our Halloween snow!
Talk to you soon, and let me know if you are interested in being part of the Ireland group...
All the best,
Courtney
I have not written on my blog for sometime, my apologies.
To catch everyone up, I started Fair Hill with a bang with Who's A Star finishing in 2nd place after dressage. He was attentive and active in his work, and his test was very good. The canter still needs some lift and expression and the trot work was wonderful...still working on those darn turn on the haunches though.
Cross country day was beautiful, although the going was heavy after several days of rain, it was Fair Hill after all!
He was very good overall, however he jumped into the doubles of angled brushes well and then he just was short in his step to get across the distance and instead of taking 1 stride took 1 and 1/2 and bounced off the second element.
At this point there was still much work to do and he was fabulous on the way home.
Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning he was quite full of himself and acted as if the cross country had taken nothing out of him which was great.
He jumped a super show jumping course only marred when he shied from the warmup arena in the triple and had the first oxer down behind.
My overall goal for Fair Hill was to ride like I knew how and to not leave anything on the table. There are times I know as a rider that I can look back at a cross country round, or dressage test and tell you everything that happened and this was one of those weekends.
Although it would have been nice to have won the whole thing, I am proud of the work that Tag and I did, disappointed by the placing but not the work.
The girls, Hope and Nev, did the young horse classes at Fair Hill as well and they were both good performing as well up to their abilities. Hope ended up 4th overall, the same placing as her brother Tag when he was a 4 year old so hopefully that bodes well for her future.
We have one last event on Sunday at St Augustines with Nev, Hope, Vegas and Chocolate Martini and then I am headed to Ireland to look for a new partner.
This year has been a developmental year for me, lots of good, and lots of work...I enjoyed the process of being considered for the Pan American Team and my search in Ireland is going to work towards that end.
I have heard of a strong prospect for the World Championships in Fontainebleu in 2014 and am trying to work to put together a group of up to 10 owners for this. If you are interested let me know...it will be quite a ride.
I want to work on putting the goose bumps I feel when I hear the national anthem to good work with an eventual podium placing in a major international competition and realize I cannot do it alone.
I hope all of you and yours are doing well and are now enjoying the beautiful Fall weather after our Halloween snow!
Talk to you soon, and let me know if you are interested in being part of the Ireland group...
All the best,
Courtney
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