I am feeling mixed emotions today as I have just released one our best horses to his new home with Jill and Henry Tallman. He will now reside on a private farm in Marshfield, Massachusetts where he will be trail riding, jumping and enjoying life with Jill.
Cowboy has been with us for the past four years since his retirement from Jonathan Sheppards Racing Stable at the age of three. He has been a stepping stone for so many of our riders, and his cute face and sweet disposition have left an imprint on all of our hearts. Most recently he has been the mount for Sarah Hughes, and the two of them have had great success at the beginner novice and novice levels of eventing.
Henry and Jill have been close family friends for many years, and Jill was a close mentor to me as a junior rider in Massachusetts. She was at my side during my early eventing career with Ross, and we traveled to many of our competitions together. Though it is tough to let a horse like Cowboy go, it gives me comfort to see him so happy in his new home with the Tallmans!
Congratulations to Jill and Henry, we wish you many happy years with Cowboy!
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| Hannah |
Hello Team Lily followers, it has been a month since the last blog post, and so much has happened! Since I last blogged following the CCI*** at Fair Hill International, Team Lily made the trek to Kentucky for the Mid-South Three Day, and attempted to join the competition at the Horse Park of New Jersey in the snow! Abigail Wilson, Annelise Aurillo, and Julie Henk competed at Midsouth, while Andi Lawrence was the only rider able to ride at New Jersey before the weather deteriorated. We also wrapped up the season with a few Starter Trials in November.
We departed for the Mid-South Three-Day just two days after the finish of Fair Hill International CCI***. We were welcomed to the Blue Grass State by three days of cold, miserable rain, but fortunately the rain cleared out just in time for dressage to kick off on Friday! Abigail Wilson was riding Fernhill Flag in the CCI*, while Annelise Aurillo and Julie Henk were riding Your Lucky Day and Regal Dancer (their respective mounts) in the Training Three-Day. All the dressage tests were respectable, placing them well in their divisions to move up through the rest of the weekend.
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| Braden |
As Team Lily usually does, we posted an impressive three double-clear rounds on cross-country day! The courses were long and tough, but the girls' training and fitness preparation paid off as they cruised around the courses without any difficulty. Each rider moved up quite a bit in the standings and were sitting well going into show jumping on Sunday.
Sunday brought chilly temperatures but another great competition to wrap up the Mid-South Three-Day. All three horses jogged up well in the morning and were ready for show-jumping. The CCI* jumped first with a difficult course with many rails falling. Abigail had a great ride and with two rails down she moved up to 13th place overall in a field of 50 starters, and an impressive 3rd place in the Young Riders division. Annelise Aurillo had just one rail down to finish 10th in the Training Three-Day and Julie jumped clear to finish in 11th with Dancer. The girls put in a great effort the entire weekend, and are looking very ready to move up in the spring!
Since I have been so busy with the fall three-days through the end of October, we spent the last two weekends of the fall season at the Maryland Starter Trials and the Full Moon Farm Starter Trials to get the younger kids and greener horses out and about before the end of the season. Jenn Cain competed her young horse In Jest both weekends as well as Andi Finerosky on her new young horse Digger. Both were very pleased with their horses and we were glad to get them going before the winter. Kaelen Speck rode Rosenharley Romello to second place in the ON at Maryland, and Cassidy Heitzenrater finished in 9th on her dressage score in the BN.
The most enjoyable part of our last event at Full Moon Farm was coaching Braden Speck and Hannah Daneker to their first finishes at a horse trials! These young stars have been working all year to get to this event, and I could not have been prouder watching them ride. Braden finished 4th in his Elementary division, and Hannah finished 6th in a very difficult Baby Beginner Novice division. As you might remember, Hannah rode to an almost-finish at Fair Hill in the summer, popping out of the tack at the second to last fence on the course. Hannah suffered a broken arm later in the summer but that did not hold her back from powering on in her progress. Hannah and Braden are just two of the many bright young stars Team Lily is bringing along!
We have just 58 days until the Aiken departure ( but who is counting ) . . .
Happy Holidays everyone!
