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!

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

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

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

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!

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

Video and more info on the website.
http://www.csquarefarm.com/maryland-horse-trials-adamstown-nj-july-10-11-2011/

Talk later,
Courtney

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

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

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 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