Wednesday, May 30, 2012

New Sales Horses!



Royal Justice
ROYAL JUSTICE - AVAILABLE
Royal Justice is a 7 yr old 16.1 hh TB gelding with mileage at the training level. "Echo" is an OTTB and began his eventing career two years ago with a young rider.

He is a nice mover, great jumper and shows potential as an upper-level prospect for the sport. He would be a great mount for a young rider looking for their next upper-level prospect!
Priced at $20k
Stonewall Winters


STONEWALL WINTERS - AVAILABLE
Stonewall Winters is a 10 yr old 16.3hh TB gelding. "Stonewall" is an American bred Thoroughbred who has never raced, and has extensive experience competing through the Preliminary level in Eventing.

He has a soft mouth and is easy to ride on the flat and over fences. He is a nice mover and a good jumper, and would suit best as an amateurs mount of a young rider looking to get experience at the lower levels.
Priced at $20k

Keep an eye on all our sales horses on the website!!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Record Number at Plantation!

Plantation Field brought yet another successful outing for Team Lily this past weekend.  We had an impressive thirteen horses competing from the farm, with levels ranging from Intermediate to Beginner Novice.  This was an intense feat for a one-day competition, but with the help of Wyn Maling, Jenn Cain, and many great parents, we were able to make it a success!

Our upper level riders of the day kicked off the morning with great performances.  Abigail Wilson rode her own Fernhill Flag to an eighth place finish in the intermediate adding just a rail and a few xc time to her dressage score. Abigail is looking forward to competing in her first CIC** next weekend at Virginia Horse Trials and she is looking very ready!  
Parris - Photo Credit Gayle Hughes
Andi Lawrence rode Armani in the JYOP, and had a great ride to finish third.  This was her last run leading up to the CCI* at Virginia, so I was pleased to see her have a confident ride here.  Wyn Maling also competed in the preliminary on her own Stellar's Run, and finished the course with a few hiccups along the way.  This was a first preliminary for both horse and rider, and I am looking forward to ironing out the kinks for a smoother performance next time out!

We had three horses in the Training, and each had a great run.  I was apprehensive about the course as my last two Plantation Training rides did not go so smoothly,  but the course rode surprisingly well.  Julie Henk rode her mare Merry Sioux in the JOT to finish third.  This pair is looking better and better each time out, and I am really excited to see their progress through the year.  They are looking ready for a move-up soon!  I rode Peace Proposal and Stonewall Winters in the training as well, and both horses had great performances.  Parris jumped double clear to finish second, and Stonewall finished close behind her in sixth.  
Lucie - Photo Credit Gayle Hughes
The success continued with our Novice horses and riders, as we had four clear cross-country rides.  Phoebe Hering started out our novice rides on her own Perfect Man, and despite a little rust in the show jumping, they had a great cross-country.  Kaelen Speck and Miranda Webb cruised in the JON division, finishing fifth and sixth respectively.  Lucie Hughes had a great day to finish third in the Open Novice, and Paddy the Caddy jumped well to finish third with me on board in the NH division.

Jenn Cain and Olivia Saber were our sad soldiers of the day, looking forward to another weekend.  

Thanks Team for another great weekend!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Check Out Our New Competition Horse Page!

Paddy The Caddy
Photo Credit Mark Lehner
We're in the process of updating the entire site, and have uploaded plenty of new pictures to our Competition Horse Page!  New photos by Mark Lehner, Cynthia Lawler and yours truly (Lisa Thomas), so go check it out.

Soon we'll have the new facility page up as well.  Cheers!  LT

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

A Great Start to the Season for Many!

Fair Hill International kicked off their first Starter Trials of the season Sunday in Elkton, MD.  Team Lily proudly had eight riders out to compete!  This competition was the first of the season for some of the riders, and the first horse trials ever for a few!  The Starter Trials hosted four divisions of Novice, Beginner Novice, Introductory, and Elementary, and our riders were dispersed through all the divisions.  

The day kicked off with the Novice divisions early in the morning, where we had Lucie Hughes, Eliza Crosby, and Jenn Cain riding.  These riders have all had one or two starts this season, and they were looking to have a good, confident experience out on the course.  Eliza finished fourth on her dressage score, while Lucie and Jenn added just one rail to their dressage scores to finish sixth and ninth.  

Olivia
The Beginner Novice division brought out three more of our riders; Olivia Saber, Cassidy Heitzenrater, and Nicole Spiroupolos.  For Cassidy, this was her first start of the season, while Olivia and Nicole were having their first crack at a horse trials!  Olivia impressed us all with a first place finish on her dressage score in the Junior Beginner Novice!  Nicole had a great ride but unfortunately had to pull up half way through her course due to a tack issue.  Cassidy had a great ride as well until an emergency dismount at the ditch late in the course.  Both Nicole and Cassidy are looking forward to getting back on the course soon to finish what they started!

Our last two rides of the day were Hannah Daneker and Braden Speck.  Hannah and Braden were having their first start of the season in the Introductory and Elementary divisions.  Hannah had a great dressage test on her pony, Magic Carpet Ride, and had an unfortunate parting of company in the show-jumping.  Hannah has been riding so well this spring and I cannot wait to see her iron out the kinks at the next event!  Braden was our other blue ribbon winner with Rosenharley Romello,  adding no jump faults to his dressage score.  
Braden
What pleased me the most about this weekend was how prepared our riders were despite inconsistent training over the last month.  It did not matter that their lessons have been sporadic through my traveling and competing; they went out and rode incredibly anyways.  We will have many more starter trials in the coming months, so our stars of tomorrow can get out there and get cracking!

On a side note, I am especially proud of No Boundaries, who is currently ranked 5th in the country on the USEA Overall Leaderboard!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Erin Reflects On Rolex

Photo Credit Mike McNally
Well its late Thursday night after Rolex and I am FINALLY getting a chance to sit down and put my thoughts together on the whirlwind week that was Rolex.  As anyone reading this can imagine, my week was even more incredible than I could have anticipated.  I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to ride at Kentucky, and even more lucky to have a phenomenal four-star horse in Bucky.

Bucky has recovered incredibly well from the competition.  As you could see at the jog and show-jumping Sunday, he was feeling very fresh and no worse for the wear on cross-country.  He is now going to enjoy some well-deserved down time with unlimited treats, grazing and grooming.  I was amazed at how easy he made the weekend for me, as if he was a seasoned four-star horse helping me through my first crack at Kentucky.  We just have to sort out those nerves in the dressage and he will be unstoppable!

My true reason for making this post is to take a moment to recognize each and every supporter that made this weekend happen for me.  The list is endless, so please do not feel left out if I miss you!  First and foremost, I owe a huge hug and thank you to my parents and my brother, Blair.  They have been my biggest fans since I first hopped on a pony when I was five,  and their support has helped me become the rider I am today.  


I also want to thank Jenny Berryman for finding me this crazy wild animal, Bucky,  just four and a half years ago.  We definitely did not know what we were getting into!  I owe a huge thanks to all of my students and clients not only for coming to support me on this amazing weekend, but more importantly for being understanding of my crazy schedule in the past four months.  You have all been so understanding of my goals and your unwavering support allowed me to do what I did this weekend.  Lastly, thank you to Lisa Thomas for keeping my blog going for the weekend!  I definitely did not have time to keep up with it!

Also, a thank-you is owed to Theault for documenting my weekend on video, they are so fun to watch!


Theault-America's Dressage Video Coverage with our favorite stars





Theault-America's XC Video Coverage with our favorite stars!!