Well Done Hannah!!

In this crazy sport of Eventing, we often find ourselves ever focused on training, competing and anything gearing us towards our end goals. It is easy for us to lose sight of the bigger picture and what is truly important in our lives.  One student of mine, Hannah Daneker, put this all in perspective for me following a routine doctor's visit just after Christmas this year.

Hannah had been a student in my program for about six months at the time, and she was learning the ropes of the sport of Eventing on her new pony, Magic.  She had high hopes for the coming year, looking forward to competing in her first horse trials at some point in the spring, when it was discovered on an MRI December 29, 2010 that Hannah had a brain stem tumor.  She was just ten years old at the time, and it appeared the tumor had been developing for five years.  

Hannah and her family consulted many different specialists to plan their course of action.  Chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery were their options, and each had their risks and drawbacks.  It was decided that Hannah would undergo surgery on March 4, 2011.  The expectation of the surgery was to remove 50%-70% of the tumor, to give Hannah more time before it would develop again.  While much of the Eventing world was gearing up for the March Sporting Days Horse Trials, Hannah was in surgery to rescect as much of the tumor as possible.

The outcome of the surgery was better than any prognosis.  Doctors were able to remove over 90% of the tumor, and Hannah recovered from the surgery well.  She spent a month at home recovering, and started back at school half-days in April.  She began riding again at the end of April, and within two weeks it looked like she hadn't missed a beat.  Her follow-up MRI on June 14 showed no changes, giving her the go to continue on life as normal.  

Hannah had a monumental day this past Saturday, competing in her first event at the Fair Hill Starter Trials.  She and Magic competed in the Elementary division, and despite an emergency dismount two fences from home on the cross-country, they had a great day. The entire Lily Bridge event team are incredibly proud of Hannah's extraordinary strength and progress, as well as her commitment to her goals. 

Well done Hannah!

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Continue to Help Our Friends at True Prospect Farm!

Please help us continue to raise funds for the whole crew at Boyd's and True Prospect Farm!

Through the hard work & volunteer efforts of many people and many donors, we are launching the 2nd leg of the PRO/SCES online ebay auction!!

This auction features a variety of items including some great lesson packages from Buck Davidson, Ange Bean, Stephie Baer.....as well as several amazing vacation homes, tack, a Point Two Air Jacket, photography, art, etc.

Please continue to spread the word & support the fundraising efforts. Everyone at Windurra USA and True Prospect Farm is so appreciative of the outpouring of support from our riding community!

Click Here to Bid!!

Thank You Lori Daneker!

Many thanks go out to Lori Daneker who organized a "Lilybridge Fundraiser" to help Ryan Caitlin and Lillian who suffered losses in the fire at True Prospect Farm.

Lori spearheaded this fundraising effort & through the enormous generosity of the friends and clients of Lilybridge Eventing, she was able to raise in excess of $3K to help our friends!  Thank you so much to all the contributors and to Lori for taking the time to make this happen!!

The Girls Dominate at Plantation Field!

We had a beautiful weekend at Plantation Field's June Horse Trials this past weekend,  and Team Lily brought out their best.  We had thirteen horse and rider combinations competing during the weekend, with the USEA Recognized Horse Trials competing on Saturday and the Starter Trials on Sunday.

On Saturday Abigail Wilson had a great second place finish on her preliminary mount Fernhill Flag.  The pair has been ironing out some kinks in their jumping this spring, so it was great to see her hard work pay off.  She is looking forward to competing in her first CIC* at Stuart Horse Trials in July.  The Junior Open Training division finished up with Andi Lawrence and Armani in third,  Eliza Crosby and Happy Valley in fourth, and Annelise Aurillo and Your Lucky Day in ninth.  These girls are all gearing up for the Training Three-Day at GMHA in August, and they're looking ready to go!  I had a great ride on Peace Proposal in the Novice, finishing in second on her dressage score of 33.  This young Thoroughbred mare owned by Lori Daneker gets better and better every outing she has, and I have no doubt she is a horse to watch for the future.

Sunday was a great day for my younger riders at the Starter Trials.  Congratulations are in order for Emma Stradley and her family not only for her win on Gem in the Novice, but also their recent purchase of this Thoroughbred gelding.  Emma and Gem are a great combination and they will be a pair to watch together in the coming months.  We also had six horse/pony and rider combinations in the Beginner Novice, with Ada Plumb bringing home the win on her pony Willie, Kaelen Speck and Rosenharley Romello in a close second,  Ali Corkran and Mr. Snickers finishing fourth, and Miranda Webb finishing eighth on Expresso.  Lucie and Sarah Hughes are looking forward to the Plantation Schooling Day to smooth out some small challenges they were faced with on the cross-country the day before.  Both girls are great riders with very green horses and they will undoubtedly be back out to clean up at Surefire.

On a side note, Bucky is back into work and feeling great after his short break following Jersey Fresh.  I am very excited to announce I will be working with Anne Kursinski in the coming months to sort out the challenges we have been faced with in the show-jumping.  His summer competition schedule will include Stuart Horse Trials in the Intermediate, Millbrook Horse Trials in the Advanced, and Richland Park in the CIC***.  

Our next big competition will be Surefire Horse Trials at the end of June, so stay tuned for updates!


 Photo Credits by Sumner Crosby - Thank you!!

Jersey Fresh XC Photo Gallery!

Compliments of Sumner Crosby, who has been quite the photographic contributor.
Thank you Sumner!!  Gallery Link

A Great Weekend at Jersey Fresh!

Bucky has arrived home safe and very sound after an exciting weekend at the Jersey Fresh CCI***.  I am so pleased with his performance throughout the weekend, and I am ecstatic that we have together completed our first CCI***!  

We started off the competition with a great dressage test on Thursday afternoon.  I have been working hard with Silva to put together the parts of the test, and I felt like it all came together in the arena.  Bucky felt very focused and worked hard through each movement of the test.  Since we are both green at this level there is still much room for improvement, but the performance we had on Thursday was a great place to start.  

I could not have asked for a better ride from Bucky on the cross-country Saturday.  The course designed by John Williams proved to be tougher than we expected when the first few horses set out.  Boyd helped me make a plan for the course, as it was most important to me to have a clean and safe ride around our first CCI***.  Bucky was focused and bold through every minute of the course, and despite a few mistakes here and there on my part he jump a very clean round.  I was so thankful to be greeted at the finish by Team Lily to help me in the cooling box!  It was great to have so many of my girls there to support me and cheer me on.  Now that they have a taste of the CCI competition scene, I am looking forward to helping them through their first training three-day in August!

As all of you can imagine I would have hoped for a better show-jumping round on Sunday.  Bucky was jumping really well in the warm-up, and I think I lost our rhythm once we got into the arena.  The course was very winding with a few tricky lines, and I felt that we had a very green ride.  Both Bucky and I are very inexperienced at this level of show-jumping, and I will look to improve our skills in the next few months.  I think some lessons with a show-jumper are in order!

Now that we have our first CCI*** successfully completed, I am excited to announce that I will be training for the next year to compete in the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** next spring!  This has been a lifetime goal of mine and it is finally coming into fruition.  I have been so thankful for all of the support and help all of my clients, students and friends have given me this spring in order to get to the Jersey CCI, and I hope you will continue on with us in our quest to Kentucky!  

Jersey Fresh Kick Off!

The Jersey Fresh CCI kicked off yesterday at the Horse Park of New Jersey with a beautiful first FEI jog. All the horses looked fit and fresh as did the riders! After the jog I had a chance to walk around the CCI*** cross-country, and at first glance it looks good.

The dressage for the CIC** and CCI*** took place today at the horsepark. Bucky and I had our dressage ride later in the afternoon today, and I was really pleased with our test. Though we have much to improve on, I felt it was our best test to date. He was really consistent throughout the test, and we were able to get both of our changes! We are sitting in 9th on a score of 59.6 going into the cross-country. The course is long and a true three-star test, so I am sure the scoreboard will shift on Saturday. 

Tomorrow we will spend some time preparing for the cross-country, and I plan to walk the course a few more times. Stay tuned to the blog for updates and a virtual coursewalk!