WOW, so much to report. Overall, we spent the whole day dodging rainstorms, but somehow–despite radar predicting tornados–the horse park avoided all rain showers!! I have to say, though, that I was happy to have three shirts and one jacket all tucked away under my show coat today… It was chilly!!!
STARTER…. Taz is such a neat little horse… Maddy rode him to a much improved dressage test, and he is looking great! He LOVES to jump, and has such nice form over fences. I think he scored a 42 in dressage in just his second time out as a 4yo, and jumped double clean for 7th! Hannah and Spud were a trip… They are so cute together! Hannah got a nice square halt in her dressage test and had a nice test. She had a beautiful showjump round with just one rail and finished 7th. Kim Hicks and Wii had a great day at BN and Starter. They jumped two great clean rounds, and had dressage in the 30’s, though my memory isn’t grand enough to remember the precise number. Ashlea and Gus were stellar in their first outing, placing 2nd after dressage on a 33! She had a clean jump round, though a couple of time penalties (timing starter is a new one by me!) to finish a brilliant 6th place! Boscoe was an absolute blast… I had so much fun riding him in his second ever outing, and he’s just 4yo. He was really good in dressage (though he is still green), and scored a 34…. Jumped double clean to finish 2nd behing a very nice young hanoverian… A great start for a 4yo paint! (And that makes three 2nd places in his first three shows… He must like red!)
BEGINNER NOVICE… Katie and Case had a great time! They jumped a clean round (I think–my memory is fuzzy on this one) with just a couple of seconds over for some trotting, and had a great round. Benny continue to prove that he is a star for the future, and despite some over ly enthusiastic moments in dressage warmup, performed very well for a very patient Chelsea, and had just one rail.
NOVICE…. It was so great to see Holly’s return to eventing Trevor! We’ve missed her while she was so busy with her successful career, and it is so great to see her back! Trevor was feeling the weather–not his age– and was also glad to be at work! He was a bit enthusiastic for dressage, but jumped well an is so excited to be out and about again! Pete and Sarah showed together in Novice for the first time… They had a phenomenal dressage test for a 33, and just one rail to finish on a 37!!!
TRAINING… Nikki is really set up to have a brilliant year with Oliver. They had a great round, double clear, to finish on their 39 in dressage! Ali and Alex had a great schooling experience, and schooled through the training to return and be brilliant in the prelim!
PRELIMINARY… Maddy and Chelsea were doing their very first Prelim! Chelsea had her best dressage test to date with Basil to score a 39 in dressage. They had a GREAT show jump round, with one rail at the last fence and once additional cheap rail that I’m not sure how it fell! 
They were brilliant. The class was filled with professional riders and even advanced riders… Yet these three ladies were brilliant! Maddy had a good dressage and jump round with a 38 in dressage and just one rail for 7th in the division! Ali had a TREMENDOUS dressage test and scored 34.1, and placed 6th in the big division. Nemo was really good today… He had a decent dressage test–was more workmanlike and connected, but not as up as I’d like. Nevertheless, he was a good boy and won the dressage with 30.0 and jumped double clean to win the division. I was really happy with him, but even more excited for Ali, Maddy, and Chelsea!!!
So that’s all… exhausted now…. Starting at 5:00am will do that to you! I’m so overwhelmingly thankful that it didn’t rain today!! (Or give us any tornados!) Congratulations to everyone on such a wonderfully successful day. We look forward to more soon!
Skip forward four years later. (Nightfall pictured left.) I wanted to geld him and have him be my future big guy, but had some very impressive horseman reccomend against that over the years… So I’ve just waited. I’ve waited for him to be naughty or difficult to handle or not as talented as I’ve hoped, and then I’d geld him. But at every turn, he amazes me… He is wonderful to deal with, and is very loving. But moreover, he is the most talented horse I’ve ever sat on. So last year I said, well, let’s see if we can get a mare and do one test breeding. Then if I don’t like the foal or he’s not fertile, we’ll geld him.
I didn’t have a broodmare at the time… But I was riding Roofie, this amazingly talented 6yo gray TB who loved eventing and loved to run & jump. (Roofie is pictured RIGHT). I thought, “Hmmm… She’s an AMAZING ride. Maybe we’ll give her one year off and let her have just one foal.” So Roofie came in heat on the day of our farm horse trial (Horses are sooooo convenient!) and Ryan was collected on the same day he did his first event. No pressure! Then I managed to acquire Kate, a lovely bay TB mare with big movement and a great disposition, so I thought “Okay, I have a broodmare now! If Roofie didn’t take on her first go, she’ll go back to eventing and Kate will take her place!” But oh no… Just like the good little girl that Roofie is, even though she is a maiden mare, she took on first try. And then we bred Kate… So now we’re at two! That’s plenty right?
Wrong!!!! I was lucky enough a few years ago to find a sister to my first advanced horse, Never Stop Dreaming (PHOTO pictured left). Wow–it was so exciting!!! Till she went two straight years without successfully getting pregnant and carrying a foal. GRRRRR! What a dissappointment. To my luck, I started working with Dr. Barbara Schmidt at Bridlewood Farm with her wonderful (and very fertile!!!) stallion Fabuleaux, and with our amazing veterinarian Dr. Chris Newton. What amazing folks! They have transformed our poor, previously reproductively injured mare Sprite into a big, wide, waddling broodmare!!! So Sprite may finally be coming through with her live foal guarantee… Ooops, that’s foal #3!!!!
And then I was speaking to a wonderful friend who finds us nice track horses. She was selling a broodmare for a client, and WOW did this mare steal my heart! She was a gorgeous 5yo gray TB mare, by the Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone. She’s big and beautiful and gray and a gorgeous mover! That’s Cameo…. And somehow, oops, I came home with her!! This is Cameo. I figured that we certainly wouldn’t be able to get all these gals in foal… So that’d just give Kate and Cameo for broodmares….. OR NOT!
And then, by now, you all know about Moonlight Memories, aka Coral. She is Nemo’s mom!@@@@ WOW! So exciting. But I bought her at the Keeneland Sale, so rather than getting my hopes up that she’d still be in foal, I figured certainly she wouldn’t be. But sure enough, she was still in foal… And to MONARCHOS!!! So there’s foal number five???
WOW, time flies when you’re having fun!! It’s already time for entering Greater Dayton HT in Dayton OH! The event will be held May 15-16, 2009, at Twin Towers Park in Dayton OH. They are offering BN to P as a sanctioned HT, and an unsanctioned Starter HT.
Hooray for warm weather! 
Team CEO proudly welcomes a new horse, Riddle Me This! Riddle is a gorgeous 16h tri-color paint gelding… He has the most beautiful markings, and a charming personality to match! We are so excited about him. 
Quin will be leasing him this spring, and we simply couldn’t wipe the grin off her face… Take a peek at how cute they look here! They are going to be absolutely adoreable. So congratulations to Quin and Riddle on their exciting new partnership!
Also, entries are open for River Glen in April!!! Any plans?
The Paul Frazier is coming up on March 28, 2009! They are offering combined tests from Starter through Preliminary. Anyone planning on going?
