Christmas is here...yippee!

Christmas 2012 has finally arrived and with it my wait to ride is over....

I was grazing one of the horses today and talking to a friend who had stopped by to watch "the first Rides back" and she asked me to remember everything...it seems a very long time ago, and I have a bunch of people to thank for keeping my spirits up.  They know who they are, they have called, or emailed, or texted or simply kept me in their thoughts, and to all of you, I am forever grateful.

Who's a Star (Tag) and R Star (Hope) had the chore of being the first ones...I was a little awkward, and a bit unbalanced, but we got back into the groove quickly.  I really look forward to what the year will bring with my two "stars."

Back in the Saddle on Tag

On Christmas Eve, we learned that Hope was the Silver Stirrup Preliminary Champion for the country with only 6 months of competing, which was unexpected and exciting.  She is a wonderful girl, and I hope we can fulfill all of her promise

Tag and I look to pick up where we left off, and then I have a few new ones in the wings.

I hope the Holidays found you and yours happy and enjoying each other, and that the Season brings you health, wealth, healing, love and laughter.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and Happy Riding!

Courtney

Finding inspiration and noticing courage...

Several recent visitors to the farm said I should update the blog, and to be honest, I am not sure where to start or what to say.  Since my accident, the farm business has gone on; we have continued to show and sell horses, and I have an amazing new working student and rider who are on board (I will write more on them in the future).

But for me personally, it has been a time with lots of different emotions and feelings: pain, loneliness, jealousy, fearfulness, luck, gratefulness, happiness and joy.

Being laid up and not riding has given me a very different perspective on a lot of things.  I have spent a lot of time wishing I were riding, figuring things out, appreciating changes I make in the way my horses go, or just enjoying a hack.  However with the reality of the situation being that I still have four more months to go before riding again, I can get frustrated, feel angry, alone and just downright in the dumps.  So what do I do?  Try to find inspiration and courage to move forward...and keep plugging away.

My inspiration has come from a variety of sources, one source has been my husband, friends and especially my groom, Jodi, all of who have gone out of their way to stay in touch, help, and just call to say hello to catch up and keep me in the loop of their activities.  I am ever grateful for their support, good cheer, inclusion and well wishes.

Another easy inspriaton came from the great performances of our clients and friends at Burghley and the American Eventing Championships; the competitors were, as a whole, outstanding and proved that hard work and relationships produce definite dividends.

Courage has sometimes come from unlikely places.  Recently I had someone come and try horses and unfortunately her previous horse had made cross country schooling not so much fun. After trying my horse in the ring, she decided to go and try him at a cross country schooling facility.  Her body language to start was down trodden and not very confident.  After she had jumped a few sets of fences, we added a larger fence at the end of one of her loops; she was scared, and her coach and I had to convince her to give it a try.  The smile she had on her face after she jumped it was, as they say, priceless.

The courage to face her fears and to start conquering them gave me hope about doing the same with some of mine.

Putting things into perspective has also played a big part in this whole experience. I've been reminded that looking outside my own world can bring a different hue to the colors of every day.  The Olympics and  the Paralympics have made me appreciate that there are a lot of other athletes with struggles much greater than any of mine who have continued to progress again by putting one foot in front of the other.  And being involved with physical therapists make you appreciate you never have it as bad as "the other guy."

Tag and Me at the 2011 Fair Hill International - GRC Photo

I wish it were easier to put into words how I feel, perhaps it is best represented by the kind words and acts of one individual which especially touched me.  She has been here, after an injury, knowing the road to recovery was a long one with bumps and setbacks along the way and to be frank, she was just kind, and caring and thoughtful.  I will remember that for a long time.

I've had some setbacks in the last few weeks, and it would have been easy for me not to confront some of the issues or let them get me down. Instead, I thought of the people who inspired me and found solutions to my problems.  Relying on some of the intestinal fortitude that life with horses has given me, I kept at it, and things are now looking better again.

Neal and I continue to look forward.  Tag (Who's A Star) and Hope (R Star) are enjoying their vacations; Vegas is working on his flat work; and Nevaeh & Sport are going well with different riders as we look for new homes for them.  Our horse ownership group, the Dare to Dream Team, has added new members, and I am very thankful for their continued support.  We will be looking for our next superstar as soon as I am cleared to ride.

Come January we will be ready to rock n' roll with a great staff, great team of owners and great horses.

We hope that the ups and downs in your journey provide insights into life, or as we at C Square Farm are fond of saying "character building opportunities."  I keep reminding myself that character provides the wrinkles, edges and color in our lives.

All the best, and see you soon,

Courtney

Lemonade

I have being learning to make lemonade…life recently has given me some lemons and I am working on how to make lemonade, lemon chicken, lemon squares…things to stay busy and active…

Let me explain. On June 26th, I was mounting a sales horse, and long story short, it backed up, lost its footing, and flipped over on top of me.  After a trip to the ER, multiple fractures were diagnosed.  Recovery 2-3 months, ok, not good but workable…ten days later I was back in the hospital with pulmonary embolisms or blood clots in my lungs…more time off, again, not good but I’m here alive, recovering, and wanting to work.

So this is the plan…I will have time to pursue different aspects of my business as I will not be competing this Fall.   I will be at competitions with students but my personal horses will be on vacation.

As many of you know my primary business is sales and that will continue.  I have recently hired a lovely rider, Anna Graves, who has quickly become an integral part of our farm, and she will be doing the majority of the riding with other students and friends filling in until I can hire another person.  I am hoping to find a working student with experience through training level and have a couple of applicants; however, if you know of anyone else who might be interested please let me know.

We will still be accepting horses in for training and consignment, and although I will not be personally riding the horses, I will be training them from the ground daily.  We have been successful in this process in the last few weeks and have sold a couple during my rehab already so I am confident that our success in this area will continue.

I will also be acting as an agent for people looking to purchase horses overseas as I have many connections there and have recently helped Therese Evans find her new partner, an Irish Sport Horse named Clover Joe.  I am sure that she would be happy to speak to whomever regarding her dealings with me.

Therese and Clover Joe

Additionally, I will be sourcing horses for people domestically whether it is a novice packer or a soon to be Advanced horse; please let me know if I may be of service.

I am also looking forward to doing some clinics, lessons, and Skype lessons and will be available to other opportunities should you have a special need or idea.

So if you are going to be in the area, or if you are not in the area, but want to set up a Skype lesson, or send us a horse give us a call 610.932.5832 or send us an email, csquarefarm@gmail.com

I’m off to work on the lemonade…see you soon,

Courtney

Seneca, Summer and other musings...

Hello to All,

It always amazes me how time can fly by and stand still at the same time.  Neal and I have been spending some of our most recent weekends seeing friends and family.  Most notable was our nephew Cooper achieving Eagle Scout status at the ripe age of 14.  Some of you may know that Cooper was born on the same day I had a pretty horrific accident at the old Essex Three Day and broke my neck and back, so often times I try and "forget" Coopers birthday.

Our Nephew, Eagle Scout Cooper Shumway

However as I was saying sometimes it seems like yesterday and other times lifetimes ago.  I am very proud of Cooper for his achievement and also looking forward to an achievement of our own of taking our first homebred Who's A Star Advanced.

Finding, educating, and keeping a horse sound and healthy through the trials and tribulations of going up the grades is always a challenge.  Sometimes it seems you are right on the edge of a breakthrough and then something happens, and you are back to square one.  I am not one to count my chickens yet but I am excited about jumping the blue numbers again shortly and actually looked at the Advanced dressage test today, wow there is a lot to do...

We are in the process of trying to get Tag's mother, Faith, pregnant yet again, and we are ever hopeful to get her pregnant and to have an embryo transfer foal by her as well.  It does not seem like it was 10 years ago that we started this whole process but as I said before time stands still and flies by at the same time.

Our current foal, Grover, had a fever this weekend and instead of leaving on vacation Neal and I spent Sunday worrying over him and his low white blood cell count...this morning Neal turned to me and said "really you want two from Faith next year..."  to which I reminded him, that she and we, are getting older and she does produce really nice horses.

Which leads me to Seneca, Faith's three children of riding age were all there.  Who's A Star was 3rd after galloping quietly around with some time in the Intermediate, his sister R. Star was 2nd with me in the Preliminaries and Star Dazzler, our 2nd homebred, who we sold to the Case Family was there as well, and had it not been for a silly runby on cross country he would have won his division as well...
http://www.csquarefarm.com/seneca-valley-pony-club-horse-trials-poolesville-md-june-16-2012/

I hope you and your families, both horse and human, are enjoying the Summer and what has happened in the past and what is planned for the future.

All the best,

Courtney

A lot of thanks...

Good evening,

Almost 5 months ago on January 6th, our first homebred Who's A Star had colic surgery, and today he hit another milestone on the road to recovery.  I have a lot of people to thank including his surgeon Dr Suzanne Stewart, my primary practice Unionville Equine, especially Dr Chris Foster, my Aiken contacts and numerous people at NC State and UGA equine hospitals and most importantly my husband Neal.

All of these people have played special roles in taking care of Tag and letting him continue to recover...I know we are not out of the woods yet and will keep an eye on him like a hawk but what a day today was and it makes the sleepless nights and worry all worth it.

Tag and Hope got to go together to Plantation Field for Tag's first complete outing for 2012.  Hope put in a good test with some glitches but good enough for second behind her big brother, but Tag was outstanding and I came close to breaking into the teens with a 21.4 great fun....

Who's a Star at the Foundation - Steve Berkowitz Photo

Then it was off to jump.  Now I will tell you Denis Glaccum, the organizer of Plantation designs show jumping courses that appear deceptively easy but still there are rails usually all over...today was no different.  Both Hope and Tag jumped great and clear...on cross country Hope ran first and clocked around, and I thought only had 2 seconds of time but I must have pressed my watch wrong, and ended up with 10 seconds of time and stayed in second.

R Star Jumping Out of the Water - Steve Berkowitz Photo

Tag was just foot perfect though and jumped liked the seasoned pro he is, and was clear and inside the time!

So a first and a second with our two homebreds...thank you to all that helped care for my boy, a life with horses is often difficult but the days like today make you smile and remember why you do what you do....

A complete summary and video of both horses in all three phases is up on our website: http://www.csquarefarm.com/plantation-field-horse-trials-unionville-pa-june-9-10-2012/

Hope you and all of your connections are well and happy,

Courtney

Fair Hill and teaching an old dog new rules...

Hello to All,

We were off to Fair Hill this weekend with 3 horses...suppose to be more but Fleet was vetted and sold to Emily Moynihan of Massachusetts and so he is on his way to MA as we speak!

Persia June started off in the trainings and did her best test to date, scoring a 30.5, a really good test that I was pleased with.  She jumped a double clean and moved up to 7th overall in a very competitive division and I was super pleased with her.

Persia June on Cross Country - Steve Berkowitz Photo

The Stars came out on Sunday, with Who's A Star doing a combined test at Prelim.  He had a lovely test to finish tied for first on a 24.6 and jumped clean in show jumping...well or so I thought...

So, a note to all of you, it has become habit now I have been told for the jump judge in show jumping to say the time taken on course and it is up to the competitor to know what the optimum is on show jumping so you know if you had time faults...I did not realize this and so when they said I had jumped clean I assumed it was jump and time....bad thing to make an assumption...

Anyway I went in on Hope and did not try to quicken my pace or cut my turns and long story short, I had time faults on both of them, which could have been avoided, which dropped her from 2nd to 5th overall....I hate when I make preventable mistakes!

But there were other highlights like having my homebred boy and girl both compete in the upper levels together...it was sort of funny, as many of you know the "children" all tend to have tall long ears and at one point I was sitting on Hope thinking I was on Tag because of the ears...

Another highpoint was getting a 9 from Brian Ross, I always love riding in front of Brian as he uses the range of scores and will give you a high score if you deserve one and the reverse!

I also want to say the work done on the courses and the footing was superb!  The course had some new and interesting changes and I know Frank Stafford spent a lot of time vibrating on his tractor to get that course footing so good...my deep appreciation!

I hope everyone else had a good weekend, we also had another good weekend of results around the country with horses that we have sold: Kelly Beaver and Sempre Fino finishing 2nd in the Prelims at Fair Hill, Guinness St James and Danny Warrington, finishing 6th in the Prelims at Fair Hill, and Caroline Martin and Classic Touch finishing 6th in the Open Intermediates.  In the Pacific Northwest, Katrinia Bradley and Scout finished 3rd in the Training at the NWEC May Classic and in Oklahoma, Laura Szeremi and Argento finished 6th in Prelims, last but not least in Vermont, Tiffany Cunningham and Samson were 2nd in the Prelims at Hitching Post.

Congrats to all, see you all soon,

Courtney

An exciting few days...6 horses, none lower than 3rd!

Hello everyone,

Our weekend started on Thursday with Tag and I making our return to a competitive environment.  We volunteered to do the test ride at Jersey Fresh for the CCI** and enjoyed it tremendously.  Tag also seemed to weather the trailer ride well so that is all great news.  Look for him to hopefully start competing in June.

Who's a Star (Tag) at Jersey Fresh CCI

Then it was off to Plantation Field...The recognized event was on Saturday and Decorated rocked it, winning the dressage and never looking back winning his Preliminary division.  He is one heck of a horse and is the most fun to play with!

R Star (Hope) on Cross Country - Steve Berkowitz Photo

R Star was also super and while Benita Strini got an 18 in the dressage (who does that ...an 18, awesome!) to win this Preliminary division, Hope finished 2nd with a solid effort.  She had an uncharacteristic 2 rails down but tried hard and more importantly was awesome cross country with a new bit...I think this one may just work!

One of our sales horses, Larry also went and did a very good job in all three phases to finish 3rd in Beginner Novice, at what was only his second horse trials.

Larry on Cross Country - Steve Berkowitz Photo

In between all of this we trailered home and showed some horses, so it was a busy Saturday.

Sunday was Plantation Day again....but the starter trials, which run over the same courses.  Persia June went Training and put her best test in to date jumping a double clear to finish on her dressage score in 2nd place.  Then we had a pair of chestnuts in the novices, both sale horses.  Fleet Du Maison put in an excellent dressage test with a score of 24.4 and added just one rail to win his division. Rhetabenz also put in a good dressage test and jumped a double clear to finish 3rd.  Both of these horses showed class and tolerance and would be great fun for a junior or amateur to learn to event!

We also had some great results around the country with horses sold by C Square Farm...and students...


At King Oak Horse Trials
Dale Eddy and Guypowder Valley, winners at Training
Erin Renfroe and Porter Creek, winners at Training
Jessica Blum and River Rock, 2nd in Novice
Sarah Blum and Grey Street, 4th in Novice
Gretchen Creesy and Tigerlily, 4th in Beginner Novice


At Plantation Field Recognized
Liza Frazier and Providence's Maxwell, winners at Training
Kim Russell and Allia, 6th in Beginner Novice

At Plantation Filed Starter
Dailee Fagnant and Stolen Goods, winner at Novice
Michelle Bull and Masquerade Party, 4th at beginner Novice

Congratulations to everyone and to all of my owners, talk soon, and most importantly Happy Mothers Day to my wonderful mother, my sister and all of our friends and clients, I hope you had a great day!

Courtney