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
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Plantation
Hey Everybody,
Tag was good yesterday ending up in 5th in the dressage, he was lacking in some activity behind and was good just not as brilliant as he can be.
In the afternoon he started to act just not quite like himself and so I kept an eye on him and consulted with our vet and had him relooked at this morning by our vet and our farrier. He was sound, nothing really seemed amiss, but, in my heart of hearts I did not feel he was 100% himself.
Rather than risk him, I chose not to run him and save him for another day.
So we will head off to Flora Lea with young horses next weekend and then follow up with Morven!
Hope to talk to you all soon.
Courtney
Link to video of Tag's dressage test on the website:
http://www.csquarefarm.com/plantation-field-international-horse-trials-unionville-pa-september-16-18-2011/
Tag was good yesterday ending up in 5th in the dressage, he was lacking in some activity behind and was good just not as brilliant as he can be.
In the afternoon he started to act just not quite like himself and so I kept an eye on him and consulted with our vet and had him relooked at this morning by our vet and our farrier. He was sound, nothing really seemed amiss, but, in my heart of hearts I did not feel he was 100% himself.
Rather than risk him, I chose not to run him and save him for another day.
So we will head off to Flora Lea with young horses next weekend and then follow up with Morven!
Hope to talk to you all soon.
Courtney
Link to video of Tag's dressage test on the website:
http://www.csquarefarm.com/plantation-field-international-horse-trials-unionville-pa-september-16-18-2011/
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Faith, Bits, Seneca and Fair Hill Starter...
Hi everyone,
It has been a whirlwind since I last wrote...it started with Faith feeling under the weather and having to have colic surgery two weeks ago. Luckily she is happy and well and was at home 3 days after her surgery with her foal at her side the whole time...just one of those weird things the surgeons said...
On a super positive note, we have started and backed Believe in the Stars, aka Bits. Some of you might remember Bits broke her leg in two places as a foal and with the tremendous effort of Dr Liberty Getman and the entire crew at New Bolton Center she has recovered and shows no signs of her past trauma. We hope to have video of her up soon.
After Faith got sick, we decided it would probably not be best to go to the AEC's and so rerouted to Seneca and Plantation.
Seneca was a great event, minus riding in the rain once more. Tag again was super and had I been one second faster on cross country he would have won, he ended up 3rd as we were tied for second with Sally Cousins and she was closer to optimum time.
We are really looking forward to Plantation this weekend and with all the rain from last week the footing should be ideal.
We also were able to do the Fair Hill Starter Trials since we were not at the AEC's. Hope started us out and was good but fussy in the dressage and jumped two good clears to finish 8th. Our sale horses Kilo and Song were also very good. Kilo was awesome in dressage scoring a 24.8 and jumped a double clear to win and Song was also very good in the dressage scoring a 29.1 and also jumped a double clear, but I unfortunately made her jump the second fence twice instead of the second and the last in the show jumping...fiddlesticks! She was in 4th after dressage so that would have been the worst she finished...a silly mistake.
Gillian Cowley also rode Always Laughing, a new sale horse. And the two young ladies had a learning experience between them but finished 7th overall.
We hope that your homes, farms and friends all survived the weather over the past week and that today we remember those lost in the 9-11 tragedy with sadness and celebrate the heroism shown that day and in the days since...
All the best,
Courtney and Neal
It has been a whirlwind since I last wrote...it started with Faith feeling under the weather and having to have colic surgery two weeks ago. Luckily she is happy and well and was at home 3 days after her surgery with her foal at her side the whole time...just one of those weird things the surgeons said...
On a super positive note, we have started and backed Believe in the Stars, aka Bits. Some of you might remember Bits broke her leg in two places as a foal and with the tremendous effort of Dr Liberty Getman and the entire crew at New Bolton Center she has recovered and shows no signs of her past trauma. We hope to have video of her up soon.
After Faith got sick, we decided it would probably not be best to go to the AEC's and so rerouted to Seneca and Plantation.
Seneca was a great event, minus riding in the rain once more. Tag again was super and had I been one second faster on cross country he would have won, he ended up 3rd as we were tied for second with Sally Cousins and she was closer to optimum time.
We are really looking forward to Plantation this weekend and with all the rain from last week the footing should be ideal.
We also were able to do the Fair Hill Starter Trials since we were not at the AEC's. Hope started us out and was good but fussy in the dressage and jumped two good clears to finish 8th. Our sale horses Kilo and Song were also very good. Kilo was awesome in dressage scoring a 24.8 and jumped a double clear to win and Song was also very good in the dressage scoring a 29.1 and also jumped a double clear, but I unfortunately made her jump the second fence twice instead of the second and the last in the show jumping...fiddlesticks! She was in 4th after dressage so that would have been the worst she finished...a silly mistake.
Gillian Cowley also rode Always Laughing, a new sale horse. And the two young ladies had a learning experience between them but finished 7th overall.
We hope that your homes, farms and friends all survived the weather over the past week and that today we remember those lost in the 9-11 tragedy with sadness and celebrate the heroism shown that day and in the days since...
All the best,
Courtney and Neal
Sunday, August 21, 2011
The wild month of August....
Hello everyone....
Well I went to England right after Fair Hill and while I saw some beautiful horses none of them were just right for my next partner so we will continue to look. If you know of any young prospects please let us know.
Then we headed to Waredaca, Nevaeh has been dealing with a bad rub on her hind leg and it reopened while she was competing and while she was good, she was not quite herself. She did earn her first qualifying Young Event Horse score so we will try to go to one of the remaining classes to get her qualified for the finals at Fair Hill.
We have made the decision though to give her some time off to let her leg heal. It is just in a bad spot and already looks better.
We went back to Waredaca and after getting wet on Saturday, we got even wetter with Walking on Broadway in the Preliminaries. He was super, doing dressage in the pouring rain that left puddles in my boots and show jumping and going cross country in the rain as well. He pulled a shoe cross country to add more insult and so I slowed down as we were as they say, slip sliding away, and he ended up 8th with some time.
A busy week with just Laura, my wonderful new groom, Rebekah Gilbert, my long time student help and me left us tired after having several different clients in to look at horses.
I am very happy to report that A Midday Star has found a new home with Jerry O'Neill and his wife Giulia Robertson of Vermont and she will be well loved and well missed by the Myer family. We wish them great luck and FUN!
To end the week we went to the DVCTA starter trials. Vegas did his first Training and was tied for first but collective marks broke the tie and we ended up 2nd. He was super and tried very hard....AGAIN in the rain! While it is wonderful that we now have soft footing it would be nice if it could rain during the week!
Link to the event summary and video off Vegas in all three phases:
http://www.csquarefarm.com/dvcta-horse-trials-%E2%80%93-wilmington-de-august-21-2011/
Neal also went to DVCTA with Hope and again had a good dressage test but found the show jumping challenging and ended his day there.
We head to Loudoun next week with 4 horses so we will hopefully have a good weekend...and no RAIN!
I hope all is well with you, please let us know if you know of anyone wanting to be a working student as we are currently interviewing!
Talk soon,
Courtney
Well I went to England right after Fair Hill and while I saw some beautiful horses none of them were just right for my next partner so we will continue to look. If you know of any young prospects please let us know.
Then we headed to Waredaca, Nevaeh has been dealing with a bad rub on her hind leg and it reopened while she was competing and while she was good, she was not quite herself. She did earn her first qualifying Young Event Horse score so we will try to go to one of the remaining classes to get her qualified for the finals at Fair Hill.
We have made the decision though to give her some time off to let her leg heal. It is just in a bad spot and already looks better.
We went back to Waredaca and after getting wet on Saturday, we got even wetter with Walking on Broadway in the Preliminaries. He was super, doing dressage in the pouring rain that left puddles in my boots and show jumping and going cross country in the rain as well. He pulled a shoe cross country to add more insult and so I slowed down as we were as they say, slip sliding away, and he ended up 8th with some time.
A busy week with just Laura, my wonderful new groom, Rebekah Gilbert, my long time student help and me left us tired after having several different clients in to look at horses.
I am very happy to report that A Midday Star has found a new home with Jerry O'Neill and his wife Giulia Robertson of Vermont and she will be well loved and well missed by the Myer family. We wish them great luck and FUN!
To end the week we went to the DVCTA starter trials. Vegas did his first Training and was tied for first but collective marks broke the tie and we ended up 2nd. He was super and tried very hard....AGAIN in the rain! While it is wonderful that we now have soft footing it would be nice if it could rain during the week!
 |
| Vegas in his first Training at DVCTA |
Link to the event summary and video off Vegas in all three phases:
http://www.csquarefarm.com/dvcta-horse-trials-%E2%80%93-wilmington-de-august-21-2011/
Neal also went to DVCTA with Hope and again had a good dressage test but found the show jumping challenging and ended his day there.
We head to Loudoun next week with 4 horses so we will hopefully have a good weekend...and no RAIN!
I hope all is well with you, please let us know if you know of anyone wanting to be a working student as we are currently interviewing!
Talk soon,
Courtney
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Fair Hill and my Birthday!
Hello everyone,
I have just returned from Fair Hill on my birthday!
Our two homebreds made it extra special with a win and three fantastic phases by Who's A Star to win the Intermediate by 16 points, and a second place finish by R Star in the novice....she tried to win as well but we had an unfortunate rail in show jumping...
I also rode our two other horses, Nevaeh, who just had an off day, pulling a shoe and just not being herself to finish out of the ribbons, and Vegas Run, our latest horse purchase.
He is definitely one to watch and he was super with just a green stop at a spooky show jump which put him 10th. He did accomplish his goal for the day though which was to get his third completion for the AEC's so now all 4 of our competition horses will be headed to the American Eventing Championships in September.
I appreciate everyone's well wishes for my birthday and look forward to catching up with you.
Have a great night,
Courtney
I have just returned from Fair Hill on my birthday!
Our two homebreds made it extra special with a win and three fantastic phases by Who's A Star to win the Intermediate by 16 points, and a second place finish by R Star in the novice....she tried to win as well but we had an unfortunate rail in show jumping...
I also rode our two other horses, Nevaeh, who just had an off day, pulling a shoe and just not being herself to finish out of the ribbons, and Vegas Run, our latest horse purchase.
He is definitely one to watch and he was super with just a green stop at a spooky show jump which put him 10th. He did accomplish his goal for the day though which was to get his third completion for the AEC's so now all 4 of our competition horses will be headed to the American Eventing Championships in September.
I appreciate everyone's well wishes for my birthday and look forward to catching up with you.
Have a great night,
Courtney
Monday, July 11, 2011
Maryland Horse Trials Take Two....
So back to Maryland we went on Sunday and boy was it hot...!
Both sale horses were super. With Walking on Broadway doing a good job in the dressage and jumping a super double clean to finish 3rd.
He was point and shoot and a lot of fun in the dressage.
Magill, our super cute grey horse went to his first event or horse show ever and by the end of the day had a pretty good fan club. Magill is a very flashy being dappled grey with 4 high white socks and a blaze.
He was very well behaved in the dressage ring once he realized it was ok to be surrounded by a small white fence and he was also very good in show jumping although he had not seen as much filler underneath the fences as they had at Maryland so over the first 4 -5 fences he stared at the fences before jumping them resulting in a couple of awkward jumps and downed rails, however as he went things got better and better.
On cross country he was awesome and jumped in a beautiful rhythm and balance. He finished the day in 8th.
Both should have videos up hopefully by tomorrow.
Hope everyone had a good weekend wherever you were....next stop Stuart!
All the best,
Courtney
Both sale horses were super. With Walking on Broadway doing a good job in the dressage and jumping a super double clean to finish 3rd.
He was point and shoot and a lot of fun in the dressage.
Magill, our super cute grey horse went to his first event or horse show ever and by the end of the day had a pretty good fan club. Magill is a very flashy being dappled grey with 4 high white socks and a blaze.
He was very well behaved in the dressage ring once he realized it was ok to be surrounded by a small white fence and he was also very good in show jumping although he had not seen as much filler underneath the fences as they had at Maryland so over the first 4 -5 fences he stared at the fences before jumping them resulting in a couple of awkward jumps and downed rails, however as he went things got better and better.
On cross country he was awesome and jumped in a beautiful rhythm and balance. He finished the day in 8th.
Both should have videos up hopefully by tomorrow.
Hope everyone had a good weekend wherever you were....next stop Stuart!
All the best,
Courtney
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Really cool ears...
Hello everyone,
We spent a great day today at Maryland Horse Trials. Mother Nature was kind to us and gave us some much needed rain which made the going much better.
I was meant to have 4 in the Novices today however Tsu Tsu has a new Mom....Jen Holmquest has purchased her to pursue her own eventing dreams!
So that left me with R Star, aka Hope, American Outlaw, aka Wyatt and Vegas.
Hope was a star and had a wonderful dressage test, including some floppy ear moments. Her mother, Heavenly Star, used to flop her ears when she was relaxed and it looks like Hope is following in her hooves...She finished with two double clear rounds and a blue ribbon, and is now qualified for the American Eventing Championships in September and then there was the best comment of the day by her dressage judge..."really cool ears."
Wyatt is a new horse for us as he just recently came in to be sold. His owner Kenyon Brewer is unfortunately needing to sell him. He is exactly what every person should have in their barn, kind, easy, and uncomplicated. What a pleasure he was....He finished 3rd in a large division as well with two double cleans.
Vegas is hopefully our next superstar. We recently purchased him. He is a 6 year old, 16.1h TB gelding and he has all the makings of a very nice upper level event horse, at least we hope! This was his first horse trials. He did a good dressage test, although he did spend a good bit of time calling out to his friends...He then was jumping a great stadium round when he spooked off an aqueduct wall that had been moved to the side of the ring and crossed his path. Unfortunately this gave him some time and 4 faults for crossing his path. He tried hard and jumped double clean cross country and finished 10th. We were super happy with him as well!
Tomorrow we head back with Magill and Walking on Broadway two other sale horses, so we will see how that goes.
Additionally I want to give a big shout out to Maria Granello and Laura Gilliken who were fantastic help today at the show and to Gillian Cowley and Becca Gilbert who took care of things at home...thanks for all the wonderful help!
Video and more info on the website.
http://www.csquarefarm.com/maryland-horse-trials-adamstown-nj-july-10-11-2011/
Talk later,
Courtney
We spent a great day today at Maryland Horse Trials. Mother Nature was kind to us and gave us some much needed rain which made the going much better.
I was meant to have 4 in the Novices today however Tsu Tsu has a new Mom....Jen Holmquest has purchased her to pursue her own eventing dreams!
So that left me with R Star, aka Hope, American Outlaw, aka Wyatt and Vegas.
Hope was a star and had a wonderful dressage test, including some floppy ear moments. Her mother, Heavenly Star, used to flop her ears when she was relaxed and it looks like Hope is following in her hooves...She finished with two double clear rounds and a blue ribbon, and is now qualified for the American Eventing Championships in September and then there was the best comment of the day by her dressage judge..."really cool ears."
Wyatt is a new horse for us as he just recently came in to be sold. His owner Kenyon Brewer is unfortunately needing to sell him. He is exactly what every person should have in their barn, kind, easy, and uncomplicated. What a pleasure he was....He finished 3rd in a large division as well with two double cleans.
Vegas is hopefully our next superstar. We recently purchased him. He is a 6 year old, 16.1h TB gelding and he has all the makings of a very nice upper level event horse, at least we hope! This was his first horse trials. He did a good dressage test, although he did spend a good bit of time calling out to his friends...He then was jumping a great stadium round when he spooked off an aqueduct wall that had been moved to the side of the ring and crossed his path. Unfortunately this gave him some time and 4 faults for crossing his path. He tried hard and jumped double clean cross country and finished 10th. We were super happy with him as well!
 |
| The Scary Aqueduct |
Tomorrow we head back with Magill and Walking on Broadway two other sale horses, so we will see how that goes.
Additionally I want to give a big shout out to Maria Granello and Laura Gilliken who were fantastic help today at the show and to Gillian Cowley and Becca Gilbert who took care of things at home...thanks for all the wonderful help!
 |
| Maria and Laura at the Maryland Horse Trials |
http://www.csquarefarm.com/maryland-horse-trials-adamstown-nj-july-10-11-2011/
Talk later,
Courtney
Monday, July 4, 2011
July 4th....
Well,
Its been a busy week with horse being showed for sale and prepared for their upcoming events.
Gillian Cowley and I took two horses to NJ Horse Trials this weekend. Tag and I had a good outing before moving back to Intermediate and won the Prelim at Jersey. He was super and some of the things we were working on worked out, others are still working themselves out.
Gillian won the dressage, and had a learning opportunity in show jumping and then went clean cross country to finish in 4th.
Driving home on Sunday we were already making plans for a cross country school with 5 horses on Sunday.
We took Neal on R Star, myself on Walking on Broadway and our new horse Vegas, Anna Schmitt on sale horse Magill, and Jen Holmquest trying out Tsu Tsu.
All the horses were outstanding with all of the horses and riders challenging themselves.We hope to have some video up this afternoon.
Today will be a quieter day at the farm.
Neal and I on this celebratory weekend would also like to give thanks to all of those who serve our great country and keep us free from harm and to the families that support the soldiers in all their endeavors.
Happy 4th of July,
Courtney
Its been a busy week with horse being showed for sale and prepared for their upcoming events.
Gillian Cowley and I took two horses to NJ Horse Trials this weekend. Tag and I had a good outing before moving back to Intermediate and won the Prelim at Jersey. He was super and some of the things we were working on worked out, others are still working themselves out.
Gillian won the dressage, and had a learning opportunity in show jumping and then went clean cross country to finish in 4th.
Driving home on Sunday we were already making plans for a cross country school with 5 horses on Sunday.
We took Neal on R Star, myself on Walking on Broadway and our new horse Vegas, Anna Schmitt on sale horse Magill, and Jen Holmquest trying out Tsu Tsu.
All the horses were outstanding with all of the horses and riders challenging themselves.We hope to have some video up this afternoon.
Today will be a quieter day at the farm.
Neal and I on this celebratory weekend would also like to give thanks to all of those who serve our great country and keep us free from harm and to the families that support the soldiers in all their endeavors.
Happy 4th of July,
Courtney
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Clinic in Ct...
Hello Everyone,
I had a fantastic time yesterday clinicing in CT. Actually my old home town of Wilton...
The first group were a couple of C Pony Clubbers, Elisha and Shannon. Shannon I had previously met as she owns Star Dazzler, our second homebred. Elisha was new and a delight.
We worked on staying straight and forward and in front of the leg and jumped many exercises to test them on their skills.
The next group was at Wilton Riding Club and was a mixed group of adults and pony clubbers. Sloan and Elaine were the dynamic duo with cute chestnut ponies who were invincible. Katie had her generous bay gelding and the adults of the group Charlotte and Alicia had two lovely horses with loads of talent.
We continued on the same exercises as the first group and finished with jumping a corner, the first for some and a great gymnastic with the horses really jumping well over an oxer.
All in all it was a beautiful day with lots of gifted horses and riders who I hope to see again soon.
Talk to you later,
Courtney
I had a fantastic time yesterday clinicing in CT. Actually my old home town of Wilton...
The first group were a couple of C Pony Clubbers, Elisha and Shannon. Shannon I had previously met as she owns Star Dazzler, our second homebred. Elisha was new and a delight.
We worked on staying straight and forward and in front of the leg and jumped many exercises to test them on their skills.
The next group was at Wilton Riding Club and was a mixed group of adults and pony clubbers. Sloan and Elaine were the dynamic duo with cute chestnut ponies who were invincible. Katie had her generous bay gelding and the adults of the group Charlotte and Alicia had two lovely horses with loads of talent.
We continued on the same exercises as the first group and finished with jumping a corner, the first for some and a great gymnastic with the horses really jumping well over an oxer.
All in all it was a beautiful day with lots of gifted horses and riders who I hope to see again soon.
Talk to you later,
Courtney
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wow, kudos to all of you Mothers!
Fathers Day is fast approaching but kudos to all the mothers out there, and to all the foal watchers...
We had our 6th foal a week ago, which thankfully put an end to sleepless nights. The funny thing is she had been dripping milk for two days, and her calcium was off the chart, so we knew she was close, so last Thursday afternoon I tried to make the barn extra quiet early and she rewarded me with a beautiful filly at 4:30 in the afternoon.
Landon is a healthy girl who is working on getting her long legs straightened out but she looks like the others, low hock, long ears and not any white! All stamps by her mother.
We also competed last weekend at Plantation. Saturday was the recognized event and Gillian &Gabby made their training debut. After showing some nerves in show jumping, they jumped clean cross country, clean and fast on XC to win their division. Additionally Gillian told us she was on the Junior Novice Leaderboard in 6th place which is quite an accomplishment...too bad she is moving up to Training!
I also rode on Saturday with my new ride Ambassador's Rose. She is a lovely mare produced by Boyd and Silva Martin for her owner Jackie Gilbertson. It was felt a change needed to be made to get her to sold, so I was suggested. I am honored that I could be of help and hope to get her sold quickly.
Rose made a great debut with me and finished 8th, I was quite pleased.
On Sunday Neal and I returned to Plantation for the Starter Trials where Neal rode Hope for the first time in competition finishing 7th, and I rode Pippen (Clovermeade Stilletto) in his first beginner novice where he was 3rd.
Talk later,
Courtney
We had our 6th foal a week ago, which thankfully put an end to sleepless nights. The funny thing is she had been dripping milk for two days, and her calcium was off the chart, so we knew she was close, so last Thursday afternoon I tried to make the barn extra quiet early and she rewarded me with a beautiful filly at 4:30 in the afternoon.
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| Landon and Faith |
Landon is a healthy girl who is working on getting her long legs straightened out but she looks like the others, low hock, long ears and not any white! All stamps by her mother.
We also competed last weekend at Plantation. Saturday was the recognized event and Gillian &Gabby made their training debut. After showing some nerves in show jumping, they jumped clean cross country, clean and fast on XC to win their division. Additionally Gillian told us she was on the Junior Novice Leaderboard in 6th place which is quite an accomplishment...too bad she is moving up to Training!
I also rode on Saturday with my new ride Ambassador's Rose. She is a lovely mare produced by Boyd and Silva Martin for her owner Jackie Gilbertson. It was felt a change needed to be made to get her to sold, so I was suggested. I am honored that I could be of help and hope to get her sold quickly.
Rose made a great debut with me and finished 8th, I was quite pleased.
On Sunday Neal and I returned to Plantation for the Starter Trials where Neal rode Hope for the first time in competition finishing 7th, and I rode Pippen (Clovermeade Stilletto) in his first beginner novice where he was 3rd.
Talk later,
Courtney
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Waredaca, Boyd and Fair Hill
Hello to All,
Last week I kept meaning to blog however, like most of us horse lovers and especially eventers I had an overwhelming sadness for Lillian, Boyd, Caitlin, Woodsy and everyone else at Winburra and True Prospect.
A lot has been said about the tragedy and I don't know how much more I can add but to say our thoughts and prayers will continue with all of you through the weeks and months ahead.
Fair Hill was a great success. Our student Gillian Cowley had a fantastic all around go winning her division of Novice, she now moves up to Training at Plantation next weekend.
I rode 4 in the Training, 3 were sale horses...Ho Hum who won, he is a lovely classy TB gelding who is ready to go Prelim and will make someone a great partner. A Midday Star who was 4th has been a training packer for her YR for a long time and now is regrettably offered for sale, she too will make a great partner for someone wanting talent and good jumping style, and then Celidah Dancer who jumped two great rounds, she is a fantastic jumper!
The other Training horse was our beautiful Neveah and she finished 3rd to bring a great finish to our training horses...then I trotted back and hoped on R Star, aka Hope. She is starting to get the whole dressage thing and got a 33 which we all thought was great and put her 12th out of 14. She jumped great but finished out of the ribbons.
We had also ran Hope this weekend at Waredaca and she came home with her first set of ribbons.
She was second in the Young Event Horse class earning a score of 75.55 which qualifies her for the young Event Horse Finals at Fair Hill this fall.
Today she again put in a good dressage test which scored a 26.5 and she was tied for 5th after dressage. She jumped her first double clear ever and finished 4th. I am so proud of this lovely youngster....next week she is going to start her double career of also being Dad's competition horse.
Neal is going to take her to Plantation starter trials on Sunday so stayed tuned!
Good thoughts to you all,
Courtney
Last week I kept meaning to blog however, like most of us horse lovers and especially eventers I had an overwhelming sadness for Lillian, Boyd, Caitlin, Woodsy and everyone else at Winburra and True Prospect.
A lot has been said about the tragedy and I don't know how much more I can add but to say our thoughts and prayers will continue with all of you through the weeks and months ahead.
Fair Hill was a great success. Our student Gillian Cowley had a fantastic all around go winning her division of Novice, she now moves up to Training at Plantation next weekend.
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| Gillian and Gabby |
The other Training horse was our beautiful Neveah and she finished 3rd to bring a great finish to our training horses...then I trotted back and hoped on R Star, aka Hope. She is starting to get the whole dressage thing and got a 33 which we all thought was great and put her 12th out of 14. She jumped great but finished out of the ribbons.
We had also ran Hope this weekend at Waredaca and she came home with her first set of ribbons.
She was second in the Young Event Horse class earning a score of 75.55 which qualifies her for the young Event Horse Finals at Fair Hill this fall.
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| Me & Hope - YEH Confirmation |
Neal is going to take her to Plantation starter trials on Sunday so stayed tuned!
Good thoughts to you all,
Courtney
Friday, May 27, 2011
Summer has started....
Hi Everyone,
The Summer has started, our first working student Anna Schmitt has arrived, the heat has began in earnest, a farmers tan has developed, and we are headed to Fair Hill with 6 for Memorial Day weekend....what could be better!
In other news, Hope got her first set of shoes yesterday, just fronts but she was very good for them.
We await her next sibling...Faith's official due date is still two weeks off, however she is starting to get a bag, and it may happen sooner than later; we will keep you up to date!
Hope your Memorial Day is a good one,
Courtney
The Summer has started, our first working student Anna Schmitt has arrived, the heat has began in earnest, a farmers tan has developed, and we are headed to Fair Hill with 6 for Memorial Day weekend....what could be better!
In other news, Hope got her first set of shoes yesterday, just fronts but she was very good for them.
We await her next sibling...Faith's official due date is still two weeks off, however she is starting to get a bag, and it may happen sooner than later; we will keep you up to date!
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| An Expectant Faith Grazing |
Hope your Memorial Day is a good one,
Courtney
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Jersey and Thoughts...
Well, as usual, my blog is not as timely as I would have liked. I had all the best intentions however Peyton's good snoozing at the hotel turned out that she was just storing up her energy so she could vanish right before the first horse inspection and not return until late on Thursday, which as you might guess led me to have to make lots of phone calls and visits to local homeowners, police and animal control! I want to thank Lynne Mathews at Jersey especially as she helped so much to try and locate Peyton...
You might wonder where we found her as an aside...Neal drove up from home to help me look on Thursday afternoon, knowing I was very unhappy and by the time he let Jenny, our other dog, out of the car Peyton was looking at him like "Hi Dad, what are you doing here...." To say we were all relieved is an understatement and she was under house arrest from that point forward.
Onto the event...I went to Jersey with the thought I was going to try my best, stay present in my decisions and reactions, and to try and have fun. I tend to be serious and very hard on myself, and I got to thinking about how amazing the horses in my life are and have been, and that in the moment, sometimes it is easy to forget how much we appreciate, enjoy and love them and the people in our lives. I know that might sound a little corny or strange, but I thought about how sometimes you will hear someone say after a horse gets hurt how every jump is a gift, and I thought well, every jump and every time we try with them it is a gift....so that is how I started to think about it.
I was really happy with Tag all weekend. For the dressage we had the opportunity to work with Kim Severson again which we had done in Aiken. She was a big help and very supportive and lead us to an energetic and positive performance in the dressage that had a big smile on my face as we left the dressage ring!
Saturday was cross country and we were second out of the box and he jumped fantastically all the way around except at the last where I just did not see a thing and just held it together and got it done. I was a bit disappointed to have the time faults I did, but I made the conscious decision at the 4 minute mark when he started being a little dull to my half halt to make sure that I had him on his feet and that he and I were smart on the presentation we made to our fences.
He came out of cross country no worse for wear although he had pulled his shoe and jogged up like a champ on Sunday morning and so it was off to show jumping.
Jim Wofford helped me course walk and warm up, and Tag was jumping like a million bucks, unfortunately we were unable to get back on our haunches enough to get the last vertical in the last combination done cleanly and had that rail. We ended up in 11th and while I wish somethings had been different. He was excellent, and improved on his last two CCI** results.
Also we were tapped by the USET to jog in front of the vet panel for the Pan American Selection Trials. That was an exciting opportunity and we will see where we go from here...Neal has the videos up on the website, and I also want to give a big shout to Page and Gillian Cowley who were huge supporters of mine on Saturday and Sunday.
Talk to you soon,
Courtney
You might wonder where we found her as an aside...Neal drove up from home to help me look on Thursday afternoon, knowing I was very unhappy and by the time he let Jenny, our other dog, out of the car Peyton was looking at him like "Hi Dad, what are you doing here...." To say we were all relieved is an understatement and she was under house arrest from that point forward.
Onto the event...I went to Jersey with the thought I was going to try my best, stay present in my decisions and reactions, and to try and have fun. I tend to be serious and very hard on myself, and I got to thinking about how amazing the horses in my life are and have been, and that in the moment, sometimes it is easy to forget how much we appreciate, enjoy and love them and the people in our lives. I know that might sound a little corny or strange, but I thought about how sometimes you will hear someone say after a horse gets hurt how every jump is a gift, and I thought well, every jump and every time we try with them it is a gift....so that is how I started to think about it.
I was really happy with Tag all weekend. For the dressage we had the opportunity to work with Kim Severson again which we had done in Aiken. She was a big help and very supportive and lead us to an energetic and positive performance in the dressage that had a big smile on my face as we left the dressage ring!
Saturday was cross country and we were second out of the box and he jumped fantastically all the way around except at the last where I just did not see a thing and just held it together and got it done. I was a bit disappointed to have the time faults I did, but I made the conscious decision at the 4 minute mark when he started being a little dull to my half halt to make sure that I had him on his feet and that he and I were smart on the presentation we made to our fences.
He came out of cross country no worse for wear although he had pulled his shoe and jogged up like a champ on Sunday morning and so it was off to show jumping.
Jim Wofford helped me course walk and warm up, and Tag was jumping like a million bucks, unfortunately we were unable to get back on our haunches enough to get the last vertical in the last combination done cleanly and had that rail. We ended up in 11th and while I wish somethings had been different. He was excellent, and improved on his last two CCI** results.
Also we were tapped by the USET to jog in front of the vet panel for the Pan American Selection Trials. That was an exciting opportunity and we will see where we go from here...Neal has the videos up on the website, and I also want to give a big shout to Page and Gillian Cowley who were huge supporters of mine on Saturday and Sunday.
Talk to you soon,
Courtney
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Jersey Fresh Day 1: 1st Horse Inspection
This post by Neal back at the farm in Nottingham
Courtney and Tag finished the first horse inspection and are looking ahead to dressage tomorrow. Based on the tentative time schedule and their number, 3, they should do their test before 9 am Thursday.
While they have yet to do any hard work there, Courtney reports that another member of the team has already found the event tiring. Luckily, Peyton knows how to make use of their hotel accommodations.
Stay tuned to the blog and Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/csquarefarm) for updates throughout the event.
Courtney and Tag finished the first horse inspection and are looking ahead to dressage tomorrow. Based on the tentative time schedule and their number, 3, they should do their test before 9 am Thursday.
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| Courtney and Tag at the First Horse Inspection |
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| Peyton Tuesday Night |
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
MCTA and Jersey...
Good morning to all,
The sun is shining, birds are chirping and I'm blogging!
We spent Saturday at MCTA horse trials with Hope, Ho Hum and Gabby and Gillian. Gillian led the crew with a lovely test and two clear jump rounds to finish 3rd. Ho Hum was also very good, and ended up 7th out of 26 in a novice section, and Hope put in a better dressage test, added a rail and was super on cross country!
Neal also got to take Hope out cross country schooling the weekend before and is chomping at the bit about getting to take her out...we will do another cross country school first!
We have a few new horses that have come in, mostly Training packers with the ability to go on. We also have sold a few, including Jeeves who went to a wonderful man, Matt Morrison from Ithaca, NY who trains with one of my first working students Chloe Ota.
His sale makes 26 sold for the year, so let me know if I can be of help with any others.
Also we are looking for some additional horses for me that show some potential for upper level eventing.
Speaking of upper level eventing, Who's A Star, goes to Jersey Fresh CCI** today. He has been training really well and has matured this year. It is hard to believe he is 8 already. Having his sisters around definitely reminds me of how things start and proceed with young horses, big improvements and then like watching grass grow they make slow and steady progress.
I am very lucky to have been able to breed and train our own.
I also want to thank everyone who has helped my riding and training develop, it is very exciting to consider that I have put in an application to be considered for the Pan American Team.
Please remember..."It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; Who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
We will be keeping up with you from Jersey....stop by if you are there....
Courtney
The sun is shining, birds are chirping and I'm blogging!
We spent Saturday at MCTA horse trials with Hope, Ho Hum and Gabby and Gillian. Gillian led the crew with a lovely test and two clear jump rounds to finish 3rd. Ho Hum was also very good, and ended up 7th out of 26 in a novice section, and Hope put in a better dressage test, added a rail and was super on cross country!
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| Courtney, Gillian, and Gabby before Stadium at MCTA |
Neal also got to take Hope out cross country schooling the weekend before and is chomping at the bit about getting to take her out...we will do another cross country school first!
We have a few new horses that have come in, mostly Training packers with the ability to go on. We also have sold a few, including Jeeves who went to a wonderful man, Matt Morrison from Ithaca, NY who trains with one of my first working students Chloe Ota.
His sale makes 26 sold for the year, so let me know if I can be of help with any others.
Also we are looking for some additional horses for me that show some potential for upper level eventing.
Speaking of upper level eventing, Who's A Star, goes to Jersey Fresh CCI** today. He has been training really well and has matured this year. It is hard to believe he is 8 already. Having his sisters around definitely reminds me of how things start and proceed with young horses, big improvements and then like watching grass grow they make slow and steady progress.
I am very lucky to have been able to breed and train our own.
I also want to thank everyone who has helped my riding and training develop, it is very exciting to consider that I have put in an application to be considered for the Pan American Team.
Please remember..."It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; Who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
We will be keeping up with you from Jersey....stop by if you are there....
Courtney
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Spring and things a bloomin'
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| Some of the Daffodils in Bloom at Home - Gillian Cowley Photo |
The last few weeks have been quiet ones...at least in terms of competing.
I was thrilled with Tag at Morven and was looking forward to riding him at Plantation Field but a small miscue with his sister Hope resulted in me being sidelined from competing for the weekend, which was in the end just as well, as the soaking rains caused poor Denis and Bambi to have to cancel Sunday.
The Glaccums' and every organizer try so hard and do so much, much of which goes unpraised or unnoticed, and after a day like last Sunday I can only imagine the cleanup they will have to do to make the grounds look like they usually do when we all show up in May! Thank you in advance for the work!
Easter weekend had my Mother and sister Stefany come down from Massachusetts to enjoy the beautiful flowers and good food, two of my favorite things. Our daffodils are in great form now and we have put some pictures up with the blog to let you see them....if you are in the area stop by, there are lots of different types and it makes the farm very picturesque.
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| More Daffodils - Gillian Cowley Photos |
Food and cooking are another outlet for me and this weekend, with Gillian, my student and her mom, Page down for the weekend, we made two huge dinners which included a few new things, including veal scallopini which was yummy and a new recipe for Creme Brulee and Chocolate Mousse both of which were decadent!
We also have had several people in over the last few weeks looking at horses and several new horses have found home all over the country. Leslie and Brittany Clark came from California and worked with me and Paul Ebersole in trying and purchasing Paul's young exciting prospect Porter II, Brittany was all smiles and we are excited about them and their adventures to come.
Also coming and finding a new horse was Kathy Rauch, who had the misfortune of coming on the Plantation Saturday to try several horses. To say we were wet would be an understatement! But she absolutely loved Liz Stewart's mare, It's Hilca, and she is on her way to NY as we speak!
Finally Erin Renfroe made a trip south from Massachusetts and ended up finding a beautiful young horse for her to take through the levels through us. His name is Abercrombie and Kelli Temple had brought him over from England and they will be ones to watch in the future.
So, that's about all from here...flowers are out, horses are going well, and we head to Loudoun this weekend.
Hope all is well with you and we look forward to hearing from all of you,
Courtney
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Morven and a week with Gillian.....
Hello everyone,
As the title suggests, Gillian Cowley one of my Summer working students came back for Spring break. We had a great time with her helping in the barn a great deal and we celebrated her becoming an "old" lady of 15 by going out for crepes and cupcakes which were yummy!
Then it was off to Morven. This was our first event after coming home from Aiken. We ended up with Tag in the Intermediate, Nevaeh in the Training, Hope in the Novice and Gillian also in the Novice.
Neal and I were going to be studs and get up early on Saturday and drive down but thought better of it when we had the dreaded 8 AM dressage test so we were able to go down on Friday and enjoy the night there.
Saturday, was a good day with Tag putting in another good consistent test although I think I left some points here and there as he was in the Indoor ring and distracted by the noise outside and some people sitting near the ring. He show jumped well, having one down and cross country he went around well as well, both of us finishing the course together this time!
I still have more homework to do to find the right bridle for the jumping phases but it seems the dressage tuneups I have been having have been paying off so that is rewarding.
Nevaeh went next and had a lovely test although at the last halt she tripped and had one of those splat moments for a halt...oh well, she was 5th in a big field so I was pleased with her.
She found the show jumping distracting and the cold, windy weather also did not help our girl and we had two down which was disappointing. She went on to jump like a lion though cross country and I finished with a grin and laughing about her.
Saturday afternoon we headed off to Middleburg for some shopping which was fun. It is a great town with lots of nice shoppes and I have to say sometimes it is just nice to get away from the barn!
Sunday morning it was time for Gabby and Gillian and they were first to go in their big junior novice division. I think Gillians test was her best ever and she earned a 28.5 which was great and put her in 5th where she finished with a double clear.
Hope also went novice and her work in the dressage phase will continue but boy, does she know how to jump! She had a double clear but there were some scoring irregularities that were not corrected until after we left so she was given some time but no worries, she lived up to the family name of "Star."
Here's hoping all of you are enjoying Spring like weather and lots of green grass,
Courtney
As the title suggests, Gillian Cowley one of my Summer working students came back for Spring break. We had a great time with her helping in the barn a great deal and we celebrated her becoming an "old" lady of 15 by going out for crepes and cupcakes which were yummy!
Then it was off to Morven. This was our first event after coming home from Aiken. We ended up with Tag in the Intermediate, Nevaeh in the Training, Hope in the Novice and Gillian also in the Novice.
Neal and I were going to be studs and get up early on Saturday and drive down but thought better of it when we had the dreaded 8 AM dressage test so we were able to go down on Friday and enjoy the night there.
Saturday, was a good day with Tag putting in another good consistent test although I think I left some points here and there as he was in the Indoor ring and distracted by the noise outside and some people sitting near the ring. He show jumped well, having one down and cross country he went around well as well, both of us finishing the course together this time!
I still have more homework to do to find the right bridle for the jumping phases but it seems the dressage tuneups I have been having have been paying off so that is rewarding.
Nevaeh went next and had a lovely test although at the last halt she tripped and had one of those splat moments for a halt...oh well, she was 5th in a big field so I was pleased with her.
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| Nevaeh in Stadium Jumping |
Saturday afternoon we headed off to Middleburg for some shopping which was fun. It is a great town with lots of nice shoppes and I have to say sometimes it is just nice to get away from the barn!
Sunday morning it was time for Gabby and Gillian and they were first to go in their big junior novice division. I think Gillians test was her best ever and she earned a 28.5 which was great and put her in 5th where she finished with a double clear.
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| Gillian and Gabby on Cross Country |
Here's hoping all of you are enjoying Spring like weather and lots of green grass,
Courtney
Monday, March 21, 2011
Full Gallop, and Coming Home!
Hello to everyone...
So, with packing, shipping horses and getting home after being gone for 8 weeks, the blog just did not get done!
My apologies!
Where to start....our last event at Full Gallop had its shares of ups and downs. Courtney Olmstead came in on Saturday to help me out as our super help for Aiken, Summer Cogan, had a birtheday party for her recently turned 5 year old Jersey. Courtney was great help and after Saturday, Tag lead the OI, and Connie and Hope were both tied for 5th and Caylee was, I think, 9th in her division. More jumping followed on Sunday and Tag had some really good moments and then, well, all I can say is one very misunderstood moment at the sunken road where I popped off! Oh, the humbling sport we do!
Connie and Hope came in to brighten my day as they both jumped well in show jumping and cross country with Hope just adding a rail and Connie won and Hope got her first placing, a 7th in her second novice. Not too shabby.
Caylee, aka Cedilah Dancer, had a mysterious swelling on her leg so we did not take the chance to run her but after more tests she was determined to be fine, but better safe than sorry.
Some of the horses then shipped home on Monday with Neal coming down Tuesday morning and helping me take the rest of them and me and Peyton home on Wednesday.
Our new wonderful groom Liz Hammond joined us at home and has helped the settling in process and we are now back and for the most part caught up.
It is super to be home and the weather has been beautiful and the daffodils are coming out.
We hope to see you soon as we head to Area II events, as always feel free to stop by and say hello.
Talk soon,
Courtney
So, with packing, shipping horses and getting home after being gone for 8 weeks, the blog just did not get done!
My apologies!
Where to start....our last event at Full Gallop had its shares of ups and downs. Courtney Olmstead came in on Saturday to help me out as our super help for Aiken, Summer Cogan, had a birtheday party for her recently turned 5 year old Jersey. Courtney was great help and after Saturday, Tag lead the OI, and Connie and Hope were both tied for 5th and Caylee was, I think, 9th in her division. More jumping followed on Sunday and Tag had some really good moments and then, well, all I can say is one very misunderstood moment at the sunken road where I popped off! Oh, the humbling sport we do!
Connie and Hope came in to brighten my day as they both jumped well in show jumping and cross country with Hope just adding a rail and Connie won and Hope got her first placing, a 7th in her second novice. Not too shabby.
Caylee, aka Cedilah Dancer, had a mysterious swelling on her leg so we did not take the chance to run her but after more tests she was determined to be fine, but better safe than sorry.
Some of the horses then shipped home on Monday with Neal coming down Tuesday morning and helping me take the rest of them and me and Peyton home on Wednesday.
Our new wonderful groom Liz Hammond joined us at home and has helped the settling in process and we are now back and for the most part caught up.
It is super to be home and the weather has been beautiful and the daffodils are coming out.
We hope to see you soon as we head to Area II events, as always feel free to stop by and say hello.
Talk soon,
Courtney
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sporting Days Recap
Well our little girl is growing up...Hope did her first novice yesterday and while her dressage work needs a 1,000 more transitions, like her brothers and mother the girl knows how to jump.
In show jumping she cantered sweetly around like a show horse and had a couple of rails when she became distracted by things outside of the ring, not to worry nothing that more mileage can't help!
On cross country she was galloping around so well and I was thinking to myself how much fun Neal is going to have on her that I did not ride very strongly down to the ditch and she just spooked at the painted rails...oops!
She still was great and jumped in a lovely rhythm and so I am thrilled with her...
It sometimes is easy to forget that 7 weeks ago she had never been off the farm, never been in water or jumped a show jump course or even a cross country fence....!
This weekend we have Full Gallop with Connie and Cedilah Dancer two sale horses and Tag and Hope will go again as well.
Then we head home and although the weather has been lovely and the horses have been going well, I miss home and Neal....
Talk later, and hope to see you soon,
Courtney
In show jumping she cantered sweetly around like a show horse and had a couple of rails when she became distracted by things outside of the ring, not to worry nothing that more mileage can't help!
On cross country she was galloping around so well and I was thinking to myself how much fun Neal is going to have on her that I did not ride very strongly down to the ditch and she just spooked at the painted rails...oops!
She still was great and jumped in a lovely rhythm and so I am thrilled with her...
It sometimes is easy to forget that 7 weeks ago she had never been off the farm, never been in water or jumped a show jump course or even a cross country fence....!
This weekend we have Full Gallop with Connie and Cedilah Dancer two sale horses and Tag and Hope will go again as well.
Then we head home and although the weather has been lovely and the horses have been going well, I miss home and Neal....
Talk later, and hope to see you soon,
Courtney
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Success with Both!
Hi everyone,
We had a really good day at Sporting Days with Foxy finishing well in his first preliminary with a clean cross country run! The show jumping caused problems all morning and he jumped well but had two rails early in the course, his dressage was also very good.
Nevaeh was a star! She was very good in the dressage ending up 4th in a big division. And then she jumped a double clean in show jumping and cross country which was beautiful and FUN!
She is now qualified for the Eventing Championships after just 3 training level events....go big Nev!
Onto Hope tomorrow.
Talk later,
Courtney
We had a really good day at Sporting Days with Foxy finishing well in his first preliminary with a clean cross country run! The show jumping caused problems all morning and he jumped well but had two rails early in the course, his dressage was also very good.
Nevaeh was a star! She was very good in the dressage ending up 4th in a big division. And then she jumped a double clean in show jumping and cross country which was beautiful and FUN!
She is now qualified for the Eventing Championships after just 3 training level events....go big Nev!
Onto Hope tomorrow.
Talk later,
Courtney
Friday, March 4, 2011
recap of the week....
HI,
My apologies for not writing about Pine Top earlier, I had tried a couple of different ideas at Pine Top and some were successful and some were not but I now have feed back that I can use and try to get better with....as they say nothing ventured nothing gained!
The sale of Gretchen and George Wintersteen's lovely Irish horse Ringwood Murphy that our friend Boyd Martin rode to Preliminary was finalized to the Holtzman family in California this week...we wish them all the best of luck and look forward to hearing about his continued success!
We also sold a lovely horse Simply Fred to the Rowley family near Erie Pennsylvania they came to visit on Pine Top weekend...we also wish them the best of luck and continued success! Also thank you to Babette Lenna for her help with this sale.
The rest of this week has been busy with several people looking at horses including Leo and Lynne a lovely couple from Virginia who work with Kristen Bachmann.
We have other folks coming in over the weekend and we also have a busy weekend at Sporting Days with Foxy doing his first Prelim, Hope doing her first Novice and beautiful Nev Nev doing training.
Hope to be reporting in later this weekend.
Talk later,
Courtney
My apologies for not writing about Pine Top earlier, I had tried a couple of different ideas at Pine Top and some were successful and some were not but I now have feed back that I can use and try to get better with....as they say nothing ventured nothing gained!
The sale of Gretchen and George Wintersteen's lovely Irish horse Ringwood Murphy that our friend Boyd Martin rode to Preliminary was finalized to the Holtzman family in California this week...we wish them all the best of luck and look forward to hearing about his continued success!
We also sold a lovely horse Simply Fred to the Rowley family near Erie Pennsylvania they came to visit on Pine Top weekend...we also wish them the best of luck and continued success! Also thank you to Babette Lenna for her help with this sale.
The rest of this week has been busy with several people looking at horses including Leo and Lynne a lovely couple from Virginia who work with Kristen Bachmann.
We have other folks coming in over the weekend and we also have a busy weekend at Sporting Days with Foxy doing his first Prelim, Hope doing her first Novice and beautiful Nev Nev doing training.
Hope to be reporting in later this weekend.
Talk later,
Courtney
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
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!
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
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....
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
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....
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| 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.
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
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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.
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
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| 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 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.
I will write more soon,
Courtney
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.
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| R Star Going Cross Country |
Courtney
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