May 05, 2012 2:25:35 AM by
Jon
Wow I just checked the blog and realized it has been a LONG time since the last update. Sorry about that, but I am happy to say it has been so long because we have been crazy busy! I am going to try to give you a quick update on all of the horses in our competition string.
First up is Downtown Harrison. Will has had a great start to the 2012 season. He made the move up this year to the advanced level. Will has now finished second in the advanced division at the Fork, and in the CIC*** at Fairhill. This has set him up for a good run at the Bromont CCI*** in June. We have one final run before Bromont at Chatt Hills in a few weeks. I will be sure to update you about his final run and preparations for Bromont as we move along.....I PROMISE!
Quigase Du Lac is also heading to Bromont in June. Q will be competing in the CCI** division. Q is an incredible athlete, but he sometimes gets in his own way. I have spent most of this season trying to show Q that life is not nearly as complicated as he thinks. I am happy to report that we are making good progress on this and I expect a great performance in Canada.
Next up is Blue Rondo. Joey had a great debut this spring at the intermediate level. He was pretty competitive the whole year and had a nice finish at the Ocala Horse Properties CCI**. He remains a work in progress, but the progress has been good and I expect Joey to move up to advanced late this year or early next. Joey is currently enjoying some well deserved vacation time and I plan to put him back to full work in a couple of weeks.
Zatopek is the next horse on the update list. Zak is a fabulous 8 year old Dutch bred horse. We imported him early this year. We decided to forego a spring three day event so that we could make the move up early this summer to advanced and hopefully take a shot at the Fairhill CCI***. Zak is an incredible jumper and has a great gallop. At this point the dressage is the project, but he is coming right along. I think Zak has huge potential and I am so excited to see what he becomes over the next few months.
Kompass has been the biggest project in our barn thus far. He was bought about two years ago as a super young project. I will admit that he has been a bit more of a project than I thought, and think this is in no small part due to his size. Kompass has matured to a beautiful 17.2 hand stamp of an event horse. In the end I don't feel that his size will limit him, but I do think it has slowed down his early progress wile he grew. Good news is that he seems to be coming together nicely now and I expect big things this year (no pun intended!)
Last but not least is Simply Priceless. Johnny is the newest member of our team. He is a fabulous horse, and we thrilled to have him. Just getting the opportunity has been exciting. Johnny's dressage has historically been his Achilles heel. We have been working hard on it and I think we will be able to make some significant steps forward in the first phase. Now all I have to do is put things into action at the first run at Chatt Hills. If all goes to plan I hope to have him at a CCI*** this autumn.
As you can see we have a pretty fantastic group of horses. he one thing I have learned over the years is to enjoy where you are in life. I must say that right now things in the barn are very good, and life is fabulous. Having said that one also needs to never be satisfied or rest on their laurels or others will pass you by. We are always looking for the next opportunity whether that is a new clinic or a new horse. It is that drive that keeps us competitive in all that we do. Till next time...and I promise it will not be so long.
January 21, 2012 2:25:42 PM by
Jon
Friday night was a great opportunity to for horses and riders to gain valuable experience. There really is nothing like riding in a huge arena under the lights with a ton of atmosphere. I was a little worried about how Blue Rondo "Joey" would react to all the atmosphere. He is a very reactive horse and I wanted to find out if he would come unglued with the situation. In the end I could not have been happier with his reaction to everything. Joey trotted into the ring and preceed to jump a beautiful round. He showed a couple moments of his greeness, but overall he put in a very respectable round. RIding in a derby cros is a very tricky thing. On one hand you want to go fast over the jumps but on the other you need to be sure to leave all of the show jumps up, The big difference for the event horses compared to the jumpers is that when our horses go fats we also ask the to flatten out a bit. That works fine over long galloping cross country courses, but not so goos over twisty show jumping type derby courses. I think that showed a bit between the two different groups. I also have to mention our superb mare Safdie. I took her down for one of the polo riders to ride. She was super and really thrived in the situation. I am hoping to sell her as a preliminary packer, but I must say tha if she were to stick around to make future event horses for me I would be fine with that too. She is a beautiful mare and a great jumper.mmWe leave the farm on thursday for Rocking Horse and I will try to update after that event.
January 16, 2012 1:04:13 AM by
Jon
We are in the week between Ocala and Rocking Horse horse trials. Ocala was a great start for the horses and riders.
January 03, 2012 3:08:06 PM by
Jon
The 2012 season kicks off this weekend!
December 08, 2011 11:17:24 AM by
Jon
Jenn and want to formally welcome Dave and Jill Hopcroft to our team.