I will have to do these updates a bit closer together as I end up writing a book after two months! This spring has been filled with highs and lows but the lows have been really low. The bad luck started with a lost foal when Jesse's lovely preliminary mare lost her Tinkatoo foal in a red bag foaling. It was awful to find a beautiful, perfectly formed foal that had never taken a breath lying in the field. Then shortly thereafter our gorgeous yearling Tinkaroo collapsed in the field and had to be euthanized after several agonizing days. I had decided to skip Poplar Place March event because the horses (and students, grooms, husband, and dogs) had been running every weekend. On Saturday we received the call that our good friend Ralph had been seriously injured on cross-country and Andrew dropped everything to head up to the hospital. No one really knew how injured Ralph was at the time and as I write this in May Ralph is still in his long, slow recovery (more info on Ralph, his condition, and how to contribute to his recovery can be found at carepages.com under Ralphhill). Shortly thereafter we received word that Oliver had been killed in a tragic accident on cross-country at an event with his new owner. Luckily, his rider was not seriously injured but we still have heavy hearts over the permanent loss of such a special horse that had been in the family for so long. It has been a very hard season for sure and the good news seems insignificant as compared to the tragic events of the season. The good news started with a beautiful Palomino foal out of Jesse's lovely Irish mare. We named the filly Tinkoutloud and it was nice to have a special youngster frolicking in the fields to put a smile on our faces. We also had a great start to March with Dusty winning the Preliminary at Red Hills. Tinkatoo put in another great performance in the CCI** there but I unfortunately took a wrong turn outside the ropes on cross-country and we ended up galloping through the spectators instead of the galloping lane. I had very costly time penalties finding my way back on course that marred an otherwise perfect performance from Tinkatoo. The next weekend I redeemed myself when Tinks won the Intermediate at Rocking Horse by nearly twenty penalties and Dusty put in another double clear weekend to finish third in the Preliminary. I knew my upper level horses were ready to go for the April CCIs so I decided to concentrate on the youngsters and students. Moet placed in every event at Training Level, Stephanie won her first Training on Agnes Grey, Rebecca continued to have top placings on Happy Daze at every event, and Drew Palmer and Stiletto continued to have rock solid performances in the Preliminaries on their way to their first CCI*. Poor Ammanda lost her competition horse when Charm hit a leg on cross-country and she missed the rest of the season keeping the competition horses going at home while we were away at shows. At least she had very nice horses to ride ... We decided to use the Rocking Horse schooling show in April as a final tune up for the CCI horses while schooling the young ones. I knew my hard work on Dusty's dressage was paying off when she put in great CCI* Test B and won it on a 31. I schooled Tinks cross-country and he went foot perfect. To top off the weekend Moet won his first Preliminary/Training on a 30 and we were set to go to Ocala the next weekend. We had a huge entourage for the CCI's at Ocala. Emily Palmus came down for the weekend with four horses and managed to tweak her ankle loading the trailer for the trip down. Our row was interesting as between Emily, Drew, and myself there were three stallions and two mares so stabling became a game of musical chairs. I had Internet to jog for Emily so trading out between my one mare and two stallions for the jog was entertainment at best and noisy at worst. All went well though and we had a fun weekend. Tinks put in a very good dressage test but I really mucked up all the walk work and turns on the haunches which in the final scoring cost us dearly. I was disappointed to be above the 50's on him but knew exactly where my mistakes were so had no one to blame but myself. Dusty went in and put in her best test to date and I was thrilled to be in the 40's with her. Andrew told me my score would never keep me in the top 10 after Friday dressage but I was happy he was proven wrong when at the end of the 1 star dressage she was lying in fourth. On to cross-country! You learn something new at every event and I learned a valuable lesson at the CCI** - KNOW YOUR OPTIONS!!!! I always go the direct routes with Tinks so when I walked the course I glanced at the options but never really walked them or paid attention and it proved to be my undoing. Fence 7a was a skinny hut on the top of a mound and I got there on an off stride - a moment of hesitation became Tinkatoo's first ever cross-country jump penalty at Intermediate. Then I got completely lost trying to figure out my option. I galloped from one fence to another trying to figure out where to go. I finally found it and Tinks was kind enough to continue on in good form although I am sure he was wondering why he had been circling around for over a minute. He was good to the end of the course and finished well despite my mistakes. I had a great run on Dusty in the CCI* and she finished easily under the time. I have to say I was really missing Ralph at the start box as he always puts my horses in and sends me off with a "go get 'um girl" and it seemed pretty lonely and quiet without him there. Sunday came and the horses all looked great and jogged well (more juggling of stallions and mares). Tinks had his usual faultless showjumping round to finish the CCI** and I was sitting in second place going into the showjumping on Dusty. Even at the CCI* level it is hard not to get nervous when you are sitting so close to the front, even on a great jumping horse. I helped Drew with Stiletto as he was sitting in third and he had a great round with only one down. I had good help from Jim Wofford in my warm up which kept me focused on the task at hand and not on my nervousness of making a huge mistake. Dusty jumped superbly and never touched a rail. I watched as my good friend Robin, sitting in first, went in to jump. She had a momentary change of pace and it cost her first place for Dusty to win. I felt badly for Robin as we have all been there before but she finished a very respectable 3rd and still got her Maui Jims, so all was well. Andrew and I were a bit emotional in the awards missing Ralph. I could not help but think of his support and enthusiasm when Tinkatoo won the CCI* championship in the fall. There was quite a bit of fist pumping and high fiving that was missing the whole weekend without Ralph at this one and we were not the only ones to miss him for sure. It was great fun winning the CCI* but I am still kicking myself over my poor CCI** performance on such a great horse. I decided to do one more run on Tinks in the Intermediate at Poplar to finish the season on a good note. He bred Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then shipped to the event to put in another great performance and finish seventh. How lucky I am to have a stallion with that kind of temperament! Dusty also did her first Intermediate there and finished nineth with a little time on cross-country. Tinkatoo has had his shoes pulled and is now on vacation (and breeding A LOT!) until August. Dusty will do one more event at the Area Champs at the June Poplar and then go on vacation until August as well. The youngsters are now going to be put in full work and will be doing a lot of schooling shows this summer. Our young stallion Gold has big shoes to fill behind Tinkatoo so it is time to get him going. I would be seriously irresponsible if I did not thank all of the people who worked so hard for us this season. Our two full time working students Ammanda Allain and Kinsey Keough have worked tirelessly and never complained even when things are crazy! I am lucky to have had great lessons and training from Buck Davidson this whole season and we have a great crew of clients and friends that not only help us at the events but cheer us on which include Jill Henneberg (hand holder extraordinaire in the warm up), Stephanie Davis, Rebecca Goad, Drew Palmer, and Linnea Boyce. Also, I have to give a big thank you to Nancy Russell who has helped me by picking up the slack with the fund raising efforts for Kim Meier and Ralph without complaint. As Steph says we really have a fun crew and they even put up with my over-competitiveness in Scrabble! A final note - congratulations to Ashley Jones on her purchase of Tinkabella by Tinkatoo. At their first event together they finsihed second on a 30!!! Andrew is still refining his photography skills - enjoy his latest photos!!! Next up - an update of the SFI horses sold this season. Until next time ... ~ Ruthie ~