The summer and fall has been another busy one here at SFI. The horses enjoyed a vacation after Bromont and through July before we headed north to Virginia for some training. We took ten horses up to train with Jimmy Wofford and returned with seven so the trip was a success in many ways! After two weeks in Virginia we competed at River Glen on the way home and Bucaneer won the Prelim and Cocktail won the Novice in his first horse trial ever.

There was no time to rest since the day we got home we packed up and flew over to Ireland the next day. The trip to Ireland was as busy as always but we found some great horses. Frontliner, a magnificent Grand Prix Showjumper, was purchased for Tara Nason of Georgia. He has proved to be everything she hoped for and placed third in both classes entered at his first A show in the US. Sportsfield Imp, another handsome eventer by Master Imp, was purchased by Robin Bass of Georgia. He is getting ready to make his US eventing debut this winter and he will be turning heads in the dressage for sure! O'Dea, a young greeny by Big Sink Hope, was purchased by Donna Miller of Georgia. O'Dea had never competed before and in his first event ever placed third in the Novice at Pine Top. Not bad for a horse that had seen his first cross-country fence four weeks before the event!

Sportsfield Pick n' Mix, a spotted Advanced jumping machine, was purchased by Nicole Shinton. This is a horse you cannot miss at the shows and as Nicole says "he can jump a house!". Nicole also bought one of the fanciest mares I have ever found, Oakengrove Pamela, and an experienced advanced horse, Clayton. I am thrilled for her as she truly has a fantastic string of horses heading to the CCI**s in the spring! Sportsfield Teddy was purchased by Jenny Jakes. I was so excited about this smart young horse by Western Promise. He blew me away when I saw him in Ireland and Jenny fell in love with him at first sight. Jenny is very good about emailing me with Teddy updates and it is great to see her in love with such a brilliant young horse.

I was unable to compete this whole fall season so I was able to spend some time training the youngsters and catching up with some much needed dressage schooling on my seasoned competitors. Once again I am starting the year with a barn of new horses. It is wonderful to see our import horses we sold doing so well. Some successes of previous SFI horses are The Grey Pony placing fifth at the Virginia CCI* with Nicole. Nicole also placed fourth at the Prelim championships on The Chameleon. No Secrets won the Area 5 training championships with her new rider Madison. Midnight Masquerade also won a blue for her new owner Leah in Pensylvania in their second event together. Robin Bass and Eliot placed in the Advanced at Poplar Place and then went on to breeze around Radnor CCI** in great form. Top Deck, who placed 2nd at the CCI* in May, went on to place fourth at Radnor CCI** with Kerry Philhower. All eyes were on Outlawed, now ridden by David O'Connor, after a brilliant dressage test at Fair Hill CCI***. Unfortunately, they were unable to finish due to David's fall on another horse but they will be a pair to watch at Foxhall in the spring! Outlawed was imported from New Zealand as a Preliminary horse and it is thrilling to see him performing so well at the Advanced level. Caesar and Adrienne Irio Borden continue to clean up at Intermediate and Advanced at every event they enter and Summer Games took her jubilant new owner Jessica Leiden to a third place ribbon at their first training at Poplar Place. Corelli also won his second event ever at Pine Top in November and Miss Daisy, now renamed In The Black, was seen blazing around the cross-country with Karina grinning from ear to ear at the fall Canterbury. The diminutive and unmistakable NZ Dip jumped brilliantly around another huge advanced track with Megan McGregor in their usual style. Some tears will be shed when my Intermediate horse, Russian, leaves for his new home in California this week. I am happy he is going to Loreen Kay, a young rider that is extremely excited to have him. We will be looking out for the at the NAYRC next year! I am sure there are many more horses sold that I have missed but trying to keep up with all those horses has become a huge task in itself!

So now 2003 is quickly coming to a close. We have some new horses arriving from the UK that I am anxiously awaiting and of course a lovely group of experienced and young horses already in that are for sale. Every year brings new horses, new clients, new experiences, and we are ready for 2004! So as the horses now finish up the last of their holiday bran mash, lovingly made and garnished by our dedicated working students Nina and Cori, we hope that everyone has a peaceful and wonderful holiday season.