There is already alot of news in a very short amount of time. One of my New Year's resolutions is to keep our website more current so I am trying to keep the updates at least bi-monthly. We will see how it works out...

The season down here started early this year with the Ocala Horse Trials in mid-January. I only entered my two upper level horses there as we still were not sure what was going on with the whole EHV-1 outbreak in Florida and there were some concerns that the show might be cancelled. The show went on as planned with great weather and great courses as usual. I was happy with Tinkatoo who posted the fastest cross-country time in the Preliminary to finish 2nd. Oliver (Dutch Twist) dropped from 1st after dressage and cross-country to 3rd with two down in the showjumping on Sunday. It was a little disappointing but not a bad way to start the season. It was also a great weekend for our clients Stephanie Davis and Rebecca Goad with all of their horses going home with ribbons as well.

We then went to the unrecognized show at Canterbury and Moet won the Novice and Ammanda was 2nd in the Training on Class Charmer. Stephanie also took second in both her divisions so we felt well prepared for the recognized shows coming up.

That week a surprise came when my long term partner Oliver (aka Dutch Twist) was sold to one of Clark Montgomery's students Lindsey Pearce. I had some serious mixed feelings about it at the time. Oliver is the only horse I have had that we have started completely from scratch; we were the ones to break him and I was the only person ever to have jumped him. It was hard to sell him at the time as I felt like he was just coming into his own at Intermediate. However, I have to say that things could not have turned out better. Lindsey is a great person and she is in the perfect program for this horse with Clark and Jessica which was proven by their 2nd place finish at Preliminary at their first event together. I have to admit I did get a little teary seeing him at the show with his new rider but it is very rewarding to see Lindsey enjoying him and appreciating him so much. I know he is in the right hands for a successful future.

That same week marked the arrival of my new competition horse from England "Dun and Dusted". Dusty is a tiny Dun mare of unknown breeding but what she lacks in size she makes up for in movement, jump, and attitude. She was here only a few days before she was thrown on the van to go to Rocking Horse I to take Oliver's scratched spot. It was a crazy weekend. I received a disappointing dressage score on Tinks after forgetting my test twice. Moet put in a great test as usual and Dusty was a little rough around the edges considering she had not been in work for two months. Then the tornados came and after a scary night in the RV we woke up to find there was some serious destruction in our area and the show was cancelled for the day. The organizers did some major shuffling and got all the divisions done except for Training which had to be run as a combined test. Dusty jumped a lovely clear round and Moet had one down to finish 5th. Tinkatoo was clean and fast again in both jumping phases to finish 3rd in the Intermediate but I was really kicking myself over those mistakes in the dressage! Ammanda also had a successful weekend in the Preliminary on Charm with just one down in the showjumping and a clean cross-country round.


Immediately after the show I had to fly over to England for some horse shopping. I flew back in on Wednesday and Thursday we headed off to the Ocala II Horse Trials. I was very thankful to have Andrew and Ammanda to keep my horses going for me while I was gone and the horses looked ready for the job. I had Moet and Dusty entered in the Training and I also had two catch rides at the same level - one on Rebecca Goad's horse Happy Daze and one on Stephanie Davis' Dionel. All four horses put in great dressage tests and were sitting well going into showjumping. Moet and Dusty jumped clear and I had three down on Happy. A crashing fall in the double on Dionel left me with some serious bruises to my body and my ego. Moet, Dusty, and Happy all jumped brilliantly cross-country though and I was really happy with the final results, especially Moet who has been recovering from some confidence issues last year. Stephanie once again took ribbons home on her two and Ammanda was rewarded by jumping clean and fast in the Preliminary on Charm.

No time to rest though as we left Ocala to run at Rocking Horse III. Dusty moved up to Preliminary there and was amazing. She is a true jumping machine and finished 6th; it felt effortless for her. Moet also jumped around double clear in the Training and finished 7th in his division. I was a little disappointed to move from 1st to 3rd in the Intermediate on Tinks with a little bit of time on cross-country but I really cannot blame him. I made some mistakes on course and he certainly lost time from them. I am still amazed at his record and unfailing confidence as he has not had a cross-country jump penalty in two years and in that time has had a TOTAL of TWO rails down. He wrote the book on reliable and I am so lucky to have the ride on him!

To wrap up:

• Tinkabella is in mare quarantine and we are expecting her here mid March.
• Tinkatoo is headed for 2 CIC**'s in March and the CCI** in Ocala in April.
• Dusty is headed for a CIC* and CCI*.

We are busy!

Also, Andrew is now dabbling in photography after getting a new camera for Christmas so we will have photos to go with our updates. Enjoy the photos!

Until next time ...