More Success at Morven!

Lucie Hughes on Kitty's Topaz
Photo credit Sumner Crosby

Team Lily had another successful outing at Morven Park this weekend in Leesburg, Virginia. This was the first outing of the season for many riders who wintered in PA, so I was excited to get them out competing. Kate Hicks has been teaching them for the duration of my stay in Aiken, and their progress showed at Morven with their great performances!

Lucie Hughes (pictured here) brought home the win for the weekend on her mare, Kitty's Topaz.  This was a well deserved result for Lucie, as she has been sidelined for the past nine months by an injury.  She has spent the past few months rehabilitating Kitty, and it was great to see them out in top form at Morven.

We had three other riders in the Beginner Novice this weekend and one riding in the Training.  Eliza Crosby rode her new mount, Woodstock Rawley, in his first event and had a great start to his career to finish 7th.  Miranda Webb rode Expresso to a 6th place finish, adding just a few time faults to a great dressage score.  Kaelen Speck finished just ahead in 4th on Rosenharley Romello.  These girls all rode so well and are looking ready for Novice at Plantation Field in a few weeks time.

We are fully moved in to our new location at Farideh Farm, and I want to express my deep appreciation for all the helping hands in the past week.  It was a huge task to embark upon, so thank you all for your efforts!

Bucky is off to the Fork CIC*** on Wednesday, stay tuned for updates!

What a Weekend at Southern Pines II !!

Photo Thanks to Gayle Hughes!

During a weekend that saw plenty of top riders find challenge and disappointment on a tough XC track, our team of Erin & Bucky showed us that they can rise to the challenge!  With a solid dressage, clear XC and only one rail in stadium, they moved from 11th to 5th to edge out some of the top competitors in this country!  Bucky was great from start to finish & they're off to The Fork next weekend.

Wyn also had a great weekend finishing 10th in a competitive Training division, and Andi had a very impressive weekend finishing 3rd in the JYROP division on a score of 34.8!  Abigail had an educational weekend, popping out of the tack on the corner, but she was no worse for the wear!


Full Event Scores

Erin & crew are in the process of moving, so Lilybridge Eventing is a busy crew right now.
More updates after next weekend!

PINE TOP RECAP AND A VISIT TO PA!

Photo credit Livvy Saber

We wrapped up our last competition in the Aiken area this past weekend at the Pine Top Farm March Horse Trials.  Six horses and five riders competed from our farm in the novice through preliminary levels.  Pine Top is one of the best competition venues on the southern circuit, so it was suiting to finish up our season there with a great weekend!

Andi Lawrence and Armani IV brought home the blue ribbon of the weekend in the JYOP.  Andi lead her division from start to finish, which is quite a feat on her mount as he is not an easy ride in the dressage.  She has been working hard this winter developing a partnership at the preliminary level with George, and her hard work is clearly paying off.  She has now qualified herself for the CCI* at Virginia, and has her eye on NAYRC this coming summer! 


Annelise Aurillo and Julie Henk rode in the Training with their new mounts, the Cobbler's Son and Merry Sioux, and despite a few hiccups in the jumping phases they had a good weekend.  I had another outing on the young ones, Peace Proposal and Paddy the Caddy.  They both impressed the crowd this weekend finishing second place in each of their divisions!  Following the wrap-up of Pine Top cross-country, most of our horses made the trek home Sunday evening to Pennsylvania.

I had a slight change of pace Monday as I had an opportunity to squeeze in a quick cross-country school at home with a few of my students.  Lucie Hughes, Miranda Webb, and Cassidy Heitzenrater rode their horses while I rode Eliza Crosby's new mount, Woodstock Rawley, in his first cross-country school.  The weather and ground were perfect at Judy Jefferis' Laurel Hill Farm, lending us to a great cross-country school.  All the horses were surprisingly well behaved, and it was great to see the progress each rider has made through the winter.  These riders are all looking forward to kicking off their spring season next weekend at Morven Park, and I am excited to get them going!

We are off to Southern Pines on Thursday morning, so stay tuned for updates and results!

Aiken March Update

Abigail on Fernhill Flag, Photo Credit Mark Lehner, Hoofclix

It has been some time since I last posted and what an exciting few weeks it has been!  We have had successful weekends at the Pine Top Advanced Horse Trials, Sporting Days Horse Trials,  as well as Full Gallop Farm Horse Trials.

Beginning with the most recent competition, Full Gallop Farm held their March Two-Day event this past weekend.  I rode the two youngsters Peace Proposal and Paddy the Caddy in the Training and Novice, and despite a one bank complex that was out to get me, they were both great.  

The highlight of my weekend was coaching Abigail Wilson and her mount Fernhill Flag through their second Intermediate with two clean jumping rounds!  The ground was very hard, so Abigail chose to take the course quite slowly which added some time faults.  Otherwise, both her show-jump and cross-country rides looked foot-perfect as both of them cruised around confidently over the large Intermediate track.  

Abigail is a full-time student at UD, so she is only able to come down on the weekends to ride.  It is quite an attribute to her ability that with just two to three rides per week, she is able to ride her horse so confidently and precisely in competition.  With her great ride this weekend, she has laid the groundwork and created confidence in her horse for the tougher tracks she will be seeing as the season progresses.  Good work, Abigail!

One week prior we had Sporting Days Farm March Horse Trials, with just three horses entered on that weekend.  I rode Stonewall Winters in the Training for Dennis Glaccum, who had a great weekend to finish fourth in a competitive Open Training division.  Once again the highlight of my weekend was my students' performances, as Julie Henk and Mica Kane rode their respective mounts Merry Sioux and The Cobbler's Son in the Novice.  Merry is a new mount for Julie, as we have had her for just a few weeks.  Julie has only had a handful of rides on her, so it was very impressive to see her finish second on her dressage score of 31 in an open division.  With a fifteen point improvement in the dressage from Paradise just two weeks ago, I am excited to see what they will be able to do in a few months!  

Mica Kane also impressed me greatly, as she finished 6th on her dressage score with a 36.  With the exception of a few short rides over Christmas, Mica has not been in the saddle since mid-August of 2011.  She had a cross-country school and a dressage lesson in the two days before Sporting Days, and then cruised around the novice like she owned it!  These two girls made me so proud over the weekend, and I am excited to see what they have in store for this competition season!

Continuing on with my reverse chronology of the recent weekends, Pine Top Advanced is the last (but certainly not the least) of the events to recap. Andi Lawrence had her third start at the Preliminary level on Armani IV, Abigail Wilson had her first start in the Intermediate on Fernhill Flag, and our most recent edition, Wyn Maling, rode Stellar's Run in the Training.  Despite very inclement weather in the beginning of the weekend, all three girls had a good wrap-up to the competition.  Andi rode two clean jump rounds to third place in the JYOP, and Wyn had a third place finish as well in her Training division.  Abigail experienced a few bumps in the road on her first Intermediate track, but nonetheless finished her first intermediate competition with new goals and improvements to achieve.

My big star, No Boundaries, had his first Advanced start of the season at Pine Top as well, and it wrapped up as a great weekend for him.  We have been working with Bettina Hoy in the dressage and the results are showing as he is more confident in the arena.  He sat in the top six in his division after the dressage on a score of 40, just a few points off the lead.  He put in a great show jumping effort, completing his first double clear show jump round of his Advanced career!  We have been frequenting the PSJ Jumper Shows at Highfields in Aiken this winter, and that effort has been paying off!  He cruised around the cross-country with ease and moved into a fourth-place finish in the Advanced C division.  I am cautiously moving forward towards the " Event we don't speak of " coming at the end of April. . . so far, so good!  Bucky's next start will be the Advanced at Southern Pines, so stay tuned for updates!

Spring Schedule!!

Our spring HT schedule is going up on the website. Take note of the April 25th - 29th date!!


March 23-25 Southern Pines

March 31 - April 1 Morven Park

April 5-8  The Fork CIC***

April 14-15 Plantation Field

April 20 - 22 Fair Hill International CIC

April 25 - 29 Rolex Kentucky CCI****

May 12 - 13 Plantation Field 

May 24 - 27 Virginia Horse Trials and CCI

A Paradise Recap & More Bettina!

Team Lily wrapped up another great competition over the weekend with the help of many visitors from home!  I was so pleased to have parents, owners, and a few families down for the weekend as riders and horses put in yet another great performance at Lellie Ward's Paradise Farm.

Andi Lawrence and Annelise Aurillo had their second preliminary runs this past weekend on their respective mounts, Armani and Your Lucky Day.  Andi wrapped up a great competition finishing four in the JYOP while Annelise had a great run, finishing seventh. Wyn Maling rode well in the training to finish sixth in a very competitive division.  Julie Henk was back on the competition scene with her new ride, Merry Sioux.  The two had their first start at novice after just a few days of getting to know each other, and despite some time faults on cross country had a great first outing.

I was pleased to have Lori Daneker and Frank McEntee down for the weekend to watch their young horses, Peace Proposal and Paddy the Caddy in the competition.  Both horses were great and jumped well to finish on their dressage scores.

We were lucky enough to have Bettina back for two more days of lessons this week!  My first lesson was very insightful as Bettina broke down the Advanced A test for me to ride.  We worked on having a plan for every movement in the test, and this helped Bucky be more confident in the arena.  I have one more lesson with her, and we are then off to Pine Top for the Advanced Horse Trials on Friday!  Stay tuned for updates!

A Frigid Pine Top Recap!

It is a rare and unfortunate occurrence when the temperature is colder with us down south than it is at home in Pennsylvania.  Such was the case this past Sunday morning as I walked my Training cross-country course at Pine Top Farm and the temperature was a blustery 22 degrees.  Despite the frigid temperatures and brutal winds, Team Lily had a great weekend at Pine Top Farm's Winter Horse Trials.  

Abigail Wilson had her second run of the season on Fernhill Flag in the JYOP and finished up in fifth place, just a few points out of the lead.  Abigail is looking forward to having her first intermediate start at Pine Top in two weeks, so she went out on the weekend with the plan for a strong, confidence building run.  The wind and cold temperatures did not lend to a soft and relaxed dressage test on Rory, but he made up for it by jumping a very clear and confident round in the show-jumping.  She and Rory looked unimpressed by the preliminary questions on the cross-country as they cruised around with ease.  I am very excited to coach her around her first intermediate in two weeks, as she and Rory are looking very ready!

The two young ones had their second competition of the year this weekend as well.  Peace Proposal rode in the Training and Paddy the Caddy had a blast in the Novice.  Both horses could have behaved better in the dressage, but were unfortunately very distracted by the heavy winds and cold temperatures.  They made up for disappointing dressage tests by jumping very well around their show-jumping and cross-country courses.  Both horses will be competing this coming weekend at Paradise Farm with their owners' watching, so the pressure will be on!

The highlight of my weekend was, of course, Bucky's first run of the season at Intermediate.  He was very excited to be out and competing, and he felt on his game for all three phases.  He was very steady in the dressage and scored a 34, which left some room for improvement before his Advanced in two weeks.  He jumped very well in the show-jumping, and just had an unlucky last rail down.  I was most pleased with the way he cruised around the cross-country, as we set off to have a smooth and steady first run of the season.  He did just that, jumping very smoothly and finishing about 45 seconds over the optimum.  He felt great around all three phases and I am looking very forward to our Advanced run at Pine Top in two weeks!

I now have to focus on being prepared for all our Team Lily visitors coming down for Paradise Farm Horse Trials this weekend!  Stay tuned for updates on the weekend . . .