Maggie's Richland Update!

I have just arrived home early Monday morning from a great weekend at Richland Park.  While everyone on the East Coast was hunkered down in the fury of Hurricane Irene, competitors at Richland Park were lucky enough to enjoy perfect weather and footing out in Michigan.  The event served as the selection trials for the Pan Am Team, so the competition and pressure was intense!  I took Bucky to Richland to compete in the CIC***, and Parris went along for the ride to compete in the Training.  

The weekend started off well with the dressage.  Both horses tried hard and had good tests, despite being wound up from the twelve hour drive.  Bucky's test was lacking engagement in his trot work, so we will look to improve that in the coming weeks.  Parris tried very hard during her test and took the lead in her Training Horse division from the start.  

The cross-country courses designed by Ian Stark were forward and challenging courses for all levels.  As many of you know I have had some tough luck getting started this summer with Bucky, so I was looking to have a confident and smooth ride on him.  Parris is still green at the Training level, so I was looking to give her a good ride and have her jump around clean.  Both horses exceeded my expectations, jumping around the courses with ease.  Bucky finished the 3* course with about eight time penalties, reflected mostly in the time I took to give him good rides at the larger fences on the course.  He did not blink at any of the challenging combinations on the course, which was a great feeling to have!  Parris jumped well into both waters, which was the challenge we had at Millbrook.  Both horses recovered well from the cross-country and were ready for the show-jumping.  

I have been working with Anne Kursinski this summer to improve my show-jumping skills, and I was pleased to see the progress made at Richland this weekend.  Parris show-jumped clear with ease which was very encouraging to see.  This was the first weekend Bucky has had to show-jump after a rigorous cross-country run, which makes him harder to ride.  I was very pleased with his round, just having two rails down.  He felt nervous in the warm-up, as he usually does after a big cross-country run, and he went into the course and was trying very hard and jumping well.  My goal is to get to a point where we are jumping clean, and right now I am confident we are moving on the right track.  

The other big news of the weekend is Team Lily's newest edition, Maggie!  She is an eleven-week old puppy I adopted while at Richland, and she clearly brought me some good luck for the weekend! 

We will be changing gears and heading to the Jumper Show at Ludwigs Corner this Monday for some practice in the show-jumping ring.  Next weekend we will be headed to the Fair Hill Starter Trials and Bucks County Horse Trials.  Stay tuned!

TEAM LILY DOMINATES THE TRAINING 3-DAY AT GMHA!

I apologize for neglecting the Team Lily blog for the past month, however I have great news to report from Vermont!  Our girls Andi Lawrence, Eliza Crosby and Annelise Aurillo have finished competition at the GMHA Training 3-Day in second, third and fourth respectively.  We were very lucky to have beautiful, cool weather the whole week and it made for a great competition!

The girls started off the week strong with their dressage results on Tuesday.  Annelise lead the division on a score of 30 with Andi close behind in third on a 33. Eliza rounded out the top four on a 34.  The Training 3-Day is run as a long format competition, so the girls had heaps to focus on as they headed into Wednesday's competition.  All the parents had an intense day and lots to prepare for on Wednesday, as the Training 3 day is the only opportunity to experience a long format cross-country day. 
(Click Here for more info on the Training 3 Day)

We had a second great day on the endurance day of competition, with Annelise and Andi posting double-clear cross-country rides and Eliza adding just 1.6 time to her dressage score on phase D.  We had a phenomenal support crew from parents that were on top of everything in the cooling boxes.  I also want to make a special thank you to Ally Aurillo who has helped the entire week and was my right-hand girl in the boxes yesterday!  Wex, George and Leroy proved to be quite fit and recovered extremely well from the cross-country.

Show-jumping rounded out the competition today with Annelise adding eight penalties to her dressage score, while Andi and Eliza posted clear rounds.  These girls have had their eyes on this competition since the start of the season, and they have been working very hard to get here. I could not be more pleased with their efforts this week! The horses are going to have a very well deserved break now, and the girls will be looking forward to coming back for a few more competitions in the fall.  

Congrats to Annelise, Andi and Eliza on a phenomenal performance!

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