How can it be September already? Where did the summer go? Sometimes I just cannot believe how quickly time seems to fly by. At the end of this month, we have some of our biggest shows of the year, one of which is my favorite, Dressage at Devon.
The summer has been crazy busy, with lots and lots of shows. In between, my days have been completely slammed with my usual teaching and riding. I also have been fortunate enough to take lessons with Lars Petersen for two days each month since the spring. It’s so helpful to have some semi-consistent help with training my horses.
In late July, at the very last minute, and smack in between two shows, I took my two-month-old filly, Bedelia, by Bon Coeur, to the Oldenburg GOV Inspection, where she was awarded a Premium Foal designation.
I’m super-excited about this filly. She is just gorgeous, and full of personality. With this filly, and my two yearlings, Flinn, by Freestyle, and Shanahan, by Sir Gregory, I have a great line-up of future horses. I also have my three-year-old, Fidelity, who is my gorgeous, true black, 17-hand, full sister to Fauna. I will start her under saddle, when things quiet down this fall. She is an absolute sweetheart and I can’t wait to see her future. I know I will eventually have to sell one or two of my horses. Sadly, I can’t afford to keep them all. I’ll postpone that for as long as I can, though!
Upon reflection, I’m amazed at how things have worked out and how fortunate I am to have such a talented group of young horses to show and train. It would be hard not to mention, that the two-year anniversary of losing my beloved Fitzhessen has just passed. Two years ago, it felt as if the world was over. The only thing that made sense at the time was to continue riding and training his younger brother, Faolan, and the other horses that I had.
This summer, Faolan made his Intermediare I debut, scoring more than 74 percent at just seven years old. I never in a million years would have dreamed that he’d do that so soon and so young. I have three other horses– Fauna, Renaissance, and Lochlan–that also have been steadily moving up this summer too, showing at Second and Third Levels. Every one of them has amazed me at how far they’ve come this year.
Our next stop, is the NEDA Fall Festival and Region 8 Championships in Saugerties, N.Y. Even though all four horses have qualified at their respective levels, it’s enough for me to bring just two of them.
Lochlan and Renaissance, both also seven years old, unfortunately will be staying home. I’m enjoying the training process with them, and haven’t decided yet if I’ll bring them out again in October one last time this year.
Faolan will be showing in both the Prix St Georges Open Championships and in the Intermediare I Open Championships, while my five year old, Fauna, will be showing in the First and Second Level Open Championships.
The following week, both horses will go to Dressage at Devon. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain again this year! Fauna will be in the FEI 5 year-old-class both Thursday and Friday. It will be the first CDI for Faolan, who will be showing in the Prix St Georges and the Intermediare I. We spent the summer qualifying for these shows, and I’m excited to be going.
