I love it down here. Everything that it has to offer for horses and the people is just fantastic. It’s a fun community atmosphere and environment, there’s always something going on to be a part of. I feel really involved –it’s exciting!

The showgrounds is wonderful. We don’t have many opportunities to create something like that in the U.S. and it’s beautifully done, offering the feel you get in a European show.

We declared for the World Cup Finals but we only have two shots to try and qualify. Unfortunately, one is right after the Nations’ Cup this coming weekend, so I might not be as prepared as I would have liked to be. But Wizard’s health and happiness are more important.

So he’s having four days off and trail riding and I’ll just school him the day before the Grand Prix and we’ll just have to go like that.

We’ll have a weekend off after this, and then the next World Cup qualifier is the following weekend, in the middle of March. After that, I’m through showing Wizard at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival here. It all sounds very busy, but there is breathing room through the spring and summer.

The Reem Acra FEI World Cup finals is in the middle of April in France. If we make it, we’ll have an easier trip from the East Coast than the West Coast, where we usually fly out, because it’s a much shorter distance to travel to Europe.

Then the next big thing we have to do is the selection trial for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. That’s in June at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation in Gladstone, N.J. Eight horses will be selected to train in Europe, and after that, they’ll pick the team for the WEG, which is being held in August in Normandy, France.