Civil Liberty at Pine Top
The winter season is well under way here in the US. As usual I took my main horses south right after Christmas to take advantage of the warmer winter weather. Back in Maryland we've had a huge amount of snow and ice, quite possibly the since I've moved here. I'm so lucky to have Rhiannon Bosma taking care of, and riding, the horses I left behind.
Prior to heading to my normal winter base in Aiken South Carolina, I spent a month in Florida honing in on my dressage skills. While my horses are great jumpers, this is an area I find I have to work very hard at. As well as my training I also competed at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington. If you've heard the rumours about the Wellington grandeur allow me to tell you one thing: multiply your expectations by 100! If you've never heard of Wellington I'll give you a quick rundown. Basically if every character of Gossip Girl, Entourage, The OC, Nip/Tuck and Real Housewives rode, this is where they would winter. Plus they would bring their friends. And helicopters. You can literally be in a bar with Steven Spielberg (his daughter rides), and it's normal. Or you can hang out at the competition with Bruce Springsteen (check Boyd's facebook page!).
It's a seasonal town near Miami that plays home to 25, 000 (yes this is correct) migratory horses from all over America and Europe, almost entirely made up of polo ponies and dressage/show jumping horses. The town layout has horse paths mixed in with roads. In fact the traffic lights have pedestrian crossing buttons up high so you can press them from on your horse! Texting and riding (or driving your golfcart) is illegal punishable by a large fine, bigger than if you're caught on your phone in the car. Repeat offenders are banned. You can imagination the calibre of horse power entering the shows! So I arrived with my off the track horses, which are very successful eventers, to be inspired and learn. We did well enough picking up a few ribbons before heading to Aiken.
Buckharo at Pine Top
In Aiken we've just completed our first advanced horse trials of the year. My three advanced horses Collection Pass (Rege Dvorsky), Buckharo (Beth Sokohl) and VS McCuan Civil Liberty (CL Syndicate, Pat McCuan and Adrienne Wisenberg) all jumped around very well and are feeling very well prepared as we start to head into the thick of the season. Our next event is just over a week away, Carolina International CIC 3 star, and they've never felt better. Each horse has improved their dressage score by 5-7% from last year. They're jumping fantastic and, thanks to Phillip's generosity allowing us to use his uphill gallop, they're really quite fit. After Carolina we head to The Fork CIC two weeks later followed by Fair Hill. The three advanced horses are all preparing for spring 3 days: Cole will do Rolex Kentucky, Bromont (in Canada) or Rebecca Farms. His owner, Rege, and I will decide a little closer which event will suit him best. Both Civil Liberty and Buckharo are headed to Bromont.
I look forward to bringing you an update after The Fork, hopefully with some more interesting stories!
Collection Pass at Pine Top
