Eliza Crosby and Woodstock Rawley riding their way to a second place finish in the Junior Novice. Well done Eliza and Thornie!!
Greetings from Aiken! We are winding down our Aiken season and have just wrapped up a very busy weekend at Pine Top Horse Trials. We had seven horses competing, novice through preliminary. We were blessed with great weather, and we enjoyed every minute of it!
I had a very busy weekend, riding five horses! Peace Proposal and Paddy the Caddy had a prep run, in the preliminary division, for the upcoming Southern Pines. I had two rides in the training division, one on Marnie Kelly's Campground and another on Melissa Carson's Bo Brown. Melissa has unfortunately been sidelined for a few weeks due to a broken wrist. The Speck's mare Mimi also rode in the novice. I was somewhat surprised by how wild the horses were given the warm weather. We had a very hectic week leading up to the competition, and I did not focus on dressage as much as I normally would have. Despite a less than perfect dressage, I was ecstatic by how well they all jumped. Their performances were particularly impressive given the challenging tracks at all levels. Each horse was well behaved and focused, it was highly encouraging to see the progress they have made in Aiken.
Eliza Crosby and Olivia Saber made another journey south to compete in the novice. Their horses have been camping out in Aiken with me for the past two weeks. It was great to have the girls around for another school and competition. Eliza and Woodstock Rawley pulled in the LBE leading result of the weekend, adding yet another second place finish in the junior novice (We're counting on a win at your next outing Thornie). Olivia and Stonewall had a great dressage and show jumping, and an unlucky parting of company at a spooky fence on cross-country. We will be sure to iron the kinks out before Morven!
I was sad to pull out of Pine Top Farm yesterday afternoon, as it felt like a farewell to the Aiken season. Pine Top is one of my favorite event venues. I find the courses there are always tactfully designed and get the horses running well. The cross-country always seems to look difficult as you walk it, but all levels have open courses that always give horses confidence building runs that educate them.
We had some slight hiccups in the program through last week and the weekend. I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who helped out immensely and made the event happen. I owe a huge thank you to Olivia and Eliza for working long days and late nights, leading up to Pine Top, on the farm. You girls were troopers! I would like to also thank Wyn Maling and Tori Kager for grooming at the event, and keeping the days running smoothly. As always, we are thankful to Sumner Crosby for keeping us well fed and hydrated, but also for being our in-house photographer.
Team Lily is wishing Melissa Carson a speedy recovery from her wrist fracture. Bobo the clown is very excited to get you out on the training cross-country. He is even more excited to sass you in the dressage ring!
We have the last segment of the USEF High Performance Training Sessions this week with David O'Connor. Please check out the USEF High Performance Eventing Facebook Page for more info.
Thanks for following us, and stay tuned for this coming weekends excitement at Southern Pines!
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