Join The Journey

Well Hello everyone,

After several weeks of the swelteringly hot weather we come to be used to in Area 2, I am sitting on my couch reflecting on what has been a very successful beginning to my Summer/Fall season.

Let me tell you about the cast and crew of Summer 2011.

Vienna is a 8 year old Canadian Warmblood Mare owned by Dale Ortynsky of Calgary, AB. Vienna came to me in May with a small amount of jumping experience, and completed her first Novice Horse Trials on Sunday finishing on her dressage score! This talented mare has no place to go but up, and I’m looking forward to seeing what she can do!

William Dont Tell is a veteran of the SRB Equestrian roster. We have worked very hard on his flatwork, trying to rebuild his strengths after a long layup in 2009 and this summer we have started working over fences at least once a week. We competed Training at Rubicon Farm HT in June, and a handful of CT’s and Jumper shows locally to hone our technique over fences. He was brilliant this weekend at the Sandstone Farm jumper show and I can hardly wait to Event him again at Waredaca in August.

Kojo is a longtime friend that anyone who reads my blog will know about. He finished 2nd and 3rd in his first two Training level events in June at Rubicon and Surefire. He absolutely rocked my world both weekends, and I’m so excited to keep working with him until his as yet unknown new rider finds him! He will be a great partner for someone, but for now he’s all mine!! Combined Test this weekend, and onwards to Waredaca.

Ambler & Tarzan are two wonderful fox hunt horses that I work with a few times a week. Tarzan is enjoying some relaxing long and low flatwork, I have been trying to help him learn to slow his brain down and use his body. Ambler is slowly but surely getting fitter and quicker on his feet. We had a nice jump school on Monday afternoon and I hope his mom enjoys her trips to local hunter shows this summer!

Mighty Mariner is my little off the track 3 year old that came into my life in 2010 while I was exercising at a training track. He decided he would rather come learn to event than be a racehorse!! (Clever child) He has been working very hard on getting fat, and growing real feet! He will start his baby event horse training in September to get ready for the Florida season.

Last but not least, Port Authority! The love of my life has come back in to work and feels like a million bucks. He started hacking June 1, and to date he has had 2 lessons with DOC, done 4 gallop days up at the playground at High Acre and has given up some really fun trot work on our dressage days! He’s competing in a Prelim horse trials at the Horse Park of New Jersey at the end of the month. Then on to Intermediate at Waredaca before his 2 advanced horse trials leading up to Fair Hill in October.

 I’m a lucky girl that I have such lovely horses to work with every day, look for the updates on the second half of our summer!

 Thanks for reading.

 Steph

Well!! We have arrived at the wonderful Maizey Manor Farm in…wait for it… Ogden St Andrew, near Marlborough in Wiltshire. Whew… its a lot of names to remember when trying to give the address for where I’m staying. All I know is that its beautiful here!

The horses have travelled really well, and I have gone on a hack, done a bit of trotting around in the fields with Andrew Hoy, who is based here at the farm, and I also did a little bit of flat yesterday after the trot. This morning I did a little fitness work to get the blood pumping, and Ollie feels great!!

 Lisa Barry has arrived after a little bit of an adventure in getting here, and Ollie and I are both excited to have her watchful eyes on us in the barn through the competition. We were very fortunate to get both  Mom and Lisa booked on Delta Buddy Passes through a very helpful friend, so we saved majorly on the airfare for  the two of them! I wasn’t really sure when Lisa was arriving, because the Buddy Passes are basically standby tickets. And, unfortunately once Lisa arrived in the UK, her cell phone that she had set up to work internationally…? Suprise!! Not working. So, I couldn’t get ahold of her, and she only had access to a pay phone, and didn’t know the number to my pay as you go UK phone. The only number that wasn’t Canadian or American that she could call from the Pay Phone was for our new friend Dominic who is based in theUK. One quick call to Dominic, and Lisa was picked up from the train station in Bedwyn and delivered right to the door here at Maizey Manor!! It is sure wonderful to know that we have people who are so helpful and generous with their time and energy to help make things run smoothly! I need to find out what kind of booze or goodies Dominic enjoys so I can keep him well supplied next week!!

 But for now, we are just eagerly awaiting the arrival of the rest of our crew. My mother, Dr. Ober, and Graeme should be on their way as we speak, and David is soon to follow, arriving Tuesday afternoon/evening.

 So, there is much to come in the next few days, hopefully the internet connection stays good!! Looking forward to keeping everyone in the loop…

 Steph

Please Click below to view the Press Release on Steph and Ollie’s exciting news

steph_press_release1.doc

As all of you who have been following my blog, and my guest articles on EN know, I have been very steadily working for the last few months towards my goal of competing at the Badminton Horse Trials next month. After a productive schooling at Poplar Place Advanced horse trials this past weekend, we are feeling great and looking forward to our CIC three star at The Fork Horse Trials next weekend.

In the name of fundraising, and growing our support team in the effort towards Badminton and the future beyond, we have been busy brainstorming. After a couple weeks of discussion and more volunteer hours than any of my wonderful support team would care to add up, we are thrilled to offer an opportunity for greater involvement in mine and Ollie’s campaign towards the London 2012 Olympic Games.

We are so grateful to the team at the Badminton Horse Trials for allowing us to offer up to extra owner passes for the “perks” during the competition this April. The owner passes include access to great seats for the competition, invites to owner parties, and a much more involved experience than the average spectator receives. Just going to the Badminton Horse Trials is sure to be an amazing experience, made all the more exciting by being part of our team. The details are such that we can tweak it all to suit the preference of individuals, and the idea is that new team members would be involved for the entire 2011 competition year.

Find attached the link to the lease agreement, and consider getting involved!

port_authority_lease_agreement1.pdf 

Well… My advance apologies for any delirious ramblings. I’ve just sat down for what feels like the first time in days!! I made the trek from Poplar to Ocala today, and its been a long time since 5 am!

 I have to say that my general feeling from this weekend is, although slowly improving, fairly frustrated. I know I left a lot on the table in my dressage test, and I feel so bad for Ollie knowing that he came in from cross country with NO FRONT SHOES!! At least I felt like our showjumping, while not as quiet and rhythmical as I hope it will be at the Fork, was at the very least clear and in good form…

First of all, with the dressage… I don’t know what the heck my problem was. Ollie was super soft, rideable, and moving great all through warmup, and stayed relaxed all the way through our test. On a day where I had Ollie right at my fingertips, I was the one who wasn’t available!! I guess thats part of the trouble with our sport depending on two brains and two bodies being “on it” on the day. I can tell you that I will focus on my mental preparation a Lot more in the future.

As far as the cross country, he was fantastic over alllllmost everything. I definitely didn’t see a shoe go flying or feel him slip around at all. I definitely thought I under rode the out of the sunken road, which resulted in our stop at the d element. After looking at photos, I can see that he doesn’t have a shoe at the cannons, which were right after the sunken road. Poor boy, I suspect that he pulled the right shoe in the bottom of the sunken road, resulting in a loss of momentum. If I had been more aggresive, he probably would have felt more confident. He was fantastic everywhere else, and I have plenty of opportunity to practice a sunken road before the Fork!

I am going to try to focus on taking the bumps and scrapes from this weekend and using them to make my weekend at the Fork better. Getting my mental preparation back is going to be hugely important, because I feel like that was my biggest strength at both Rolex and the WEG.

 The other half of my weekend, the half belonging to Kojo, went very well indeed. He tried really hard in the deep sand of our dressage arena, was so confident cross country, and put in a very cute showjumping round. I think he was expecting a little more, because we have been jumping 3′3″ and 3′6″ at home! He has now been sent back to Virginia with Elizabeth to hang out for R&R!

As for me, no rest for the wicked… at least not for a while!! Keep you posted…

So, apparently I made it out of Virginia just in time. There was a storm that produced that icky ‘wintry mix’ stuff the night I left, and have to say it was way nicer to wake up in Ocala Tuesday morning than it would have been to wake up in Northern Virginia! Ollie and Kojo (who are currently sunbathing naked in their paddocks) quite agree.

 I’m really happy to share that Kojo, one of the young event charges of mine from Virginia, managed to convince his mother to let him come to Ocala for the 2011 season. I dont think he really has any idea what is in store for him, but the harrowing 13 hour trailer ride may have given him some clue that his  life has officially changed. He had never been on the trailer for longer than a couple hours at a time, and he had never shipped in an angle haul before. I was really pleased with the way he handled the stress, and proud of Ollie for staying quiet in the trailer and not making things any worse for the poor little guy.

He’s turning 6 later on this spring, and is starting the season out with a few good schooling sessions before his second Novice ever at the Florida Horse Park the second weekend in Feb. I know that he will be a very good boy, which causes mixed feelings for me because he is for sale. We will certainly have a really good time until he finds someone else to have a good time with.

Speaking of Ollie, I have started him back jumping as of this morning! I figured since he had his first soapy bath since the WEG, he was probably tidy enough to make an appearance at the O’Connor Event Team farm today. It was very nice to ride over this morning and watch Lauren schooling horses, I find it really motivating to ride at a farm where there are so many talented riders and so much going on. There was even more going on once Ollie and I started jumping, though. He’s always wild the first time back jumping after vacation, but today was a little out of hand. I started off over a very small ProLog cross country log, which he jumped about 3 feet higher than necessary half a dozen times. No matter how quietly I approached….. PING!!!!  After this we moved on to a 3 foot vertical that Ollie evidently believed to be a 5 foot vertical. I think its a little ridiculous when you have to get in ‘down bank position’ for the landing from a 3 foot vertical. Over and over again. But… I guess he’ll be quieter next time?? Its mostly just laughable, and I am definitely happy to have an overly careful and enthusiastic horse than to have a lazy clunky horse.

We will do Intermediate at the FL Horse Park Feb 11, and then Advanced 2 weeks later at Pine Top Farm in Georgia. Training sessions start up soon as well, and I’m very much looking forward to having some lessons again. We are training this winter with the goal of travelling to Badminton in April, so we have lots of hard work to do!

 Stay tuned for updates on Ollie and Kojo’s progress!!

The new year is when a lot of people take the time to reflect on their lives. The 31^st of December can provoke us to look back on the last 12 months and remember the events, successes, and troubles that came our way. I am currently on vacation at the beach with my boyfriend and a couple of friends, and I have to say that sitting on the deck in the sun looking out at the gulf through the palm fronds is exactly the kind of setting that fits how I feel about my 2010.

I have had my own private bumps and scrapes along the way this past year, but nothing turned out to be insurmountable, and with the help of my wonderful friends and family I was able to carry on and enjoy a very successful competitive season. I have to personally thank several people for their generous contributions. First off, my parents and extended family. My Aunt Marian and Uncle Bob, Dan and Wendy Reimer, Daniel Brown and several other fellow Summerlanders, David Robinson, The Johns Family, Abigail Gille, Lesley Arnold, Virginia Coulter, Horse Trials and Horse Council BC, the CET and countless others are among those that have made it possible for me to do what I love, and try to be better at it.

In 2011, I am going to work towards being better at the details in my life, both inside and outside of my sport. I feel this past year I may have been successful at the end of the day, but some of the moments in between felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants. This year, I will follow a strictly managed budget, and keep an even better record of my expenses. This will mean, in the end, that I’m not spending my week between Christmas and New Years gathering receipts for the Horse Maintenance program. Very silly. I am going to flat out, no excuses, make time to stay in better touch with my family. I’ll be helped along with this by my Bell Canada phone and its International minutes that has been provided to me. (Read this, Nan&Papa, Oma &Opa, and hold me to it!!) I am also going to try to be more aggressive with my short term competitive goal setting. I will no longer work towards a competition with the mindset of competing against only myself. I have been keeping fairly moderate expectations of myself, but its time to get braver and go for what I want. I am going to train hard at home to put my best foot forward, and I want to give everyone else a run for their money on the weekends.

I can tell you that Ollie has thoroughly enjoyed his quiet  time this fall, and is ready to head down to Ocala mid January to get ready for our big spring! Stay tuned for more updates on the 2011 Competition schedule

Hi there everybody. I have just arrived back in Virginia after spending the weekend in Toronto attending Opening Weekend at the Royal Winter Fair. I was lucky enough to be invited to the Indoor Eventing competition by the event organizers, and I was very excited to attend.

I have never spent any time in Toronto, being that I’m from Western Canada, and the only travelling I have ever really done has been in relation to horse showing. Thankfully, my horse showing took me there, and I am looking forward to the chance to go back! Toronto is very beautiful, with lots of old buildings set into what is obviously a thriving and developing city.

The fair itself was tons of fun. I spent time at the EcoGold, Omega Alpha, and Equine Canada booths doing autograph signings ( which was super cool ) and also enjoyed going through the rest of the trade fair. (There should be some exciting news related to my adventures in the trade fair coming soon. Keep an eye out!!!! )

Another highlight was watching some of the other competitions, especially the Grand Prix Showjumping. Obviously, though, my favorite part of the weekend was participating in the Indoor Eventing. The little mare I had on loan for the weekend was a little greener than what the competition required, but she tried really hard, and all things considered I was happy with how it went. I learned a lot about catch riding, riding in interesting atmospheres, and just sort of going with what you have and making it work. Hopefully the mare and her owner will have gained from it as well.

 So, now that I’m back to Virginia, I’m just getting Smarts, Kojo and Spike ready for the Horse Trials at Kelly’s Ford this weekend in Remington, VA. ( Near Culpeper, I’m told) They have been very good lately, with Smarts and Kojo taking turns winning competitions. Kojo won the dressage at Sandstone Farms Combined Test with a score in the mid 20s, but then picked up a stop at a TERRIFYING yellow quarter round in the showjumping, which just helped his friend Smartie Pants move into the lead on a dressage in the 30-31 range. Smartie of course jumped around like a real pro to keep the lead. Spike was adorable in the beginner novice, scoring 30 and picking up only one rail in the showjumping. He has learned where his feet are, but had a momentary mishap after cantering past the in gate and losing a bit of momentum. Will Coulter did 2 training level dressage tests, which were his first 2 trips in the ring in almost 2 years. He was great, kept his focus, and got a 28 on one test and a 30 on the other. I can’t wait to see the scores once he is more relaxed in a show atmosphere.

 Smarts and Kojo went off the the Short Course Horse Trials at Loch Moy Farms on Halloween, and they were superstars. Kojo won the dressage on a 27, and tackled the short course (2 showjumps and then 11 xc obstacles, including ditch, bank and water) with more bravery than I expected of him. He can be very spooky, but he was totally committed the last couple steps before each obstacle. Good boy Smartie was very good, on a 30, and a wonderful jumping round. I can’t wait until that boy matures enough to score well in the Training level dressage. His jumping ability is far and above the novice level, but he’s picking up some great experience and hopefully will be very confident by the time he gets to upgrade.

 So, for now, just getting back in the groove at work, and getting super excited about the weekend!! Thanks for reading, look for the results on Monday.

S

Last week was a lot of fun for the ponies out at Sandy Hook Stables. Everyone is settling back into the routine really well, and because Spike and Smarty were worked quite a bit while I was gone, we jumped right back into it!

 Spike went out 2nd field with Old Dominion Hounds last Tuesday, which was his second outing in the hunt field. For those of you who aren’t familiar with hunting, first field does some jumping, whereas second field does not. We did some stretches of trot and canter, but unfortunately for Spike there was an awful lot of standing around while the hounds were trying to get to work. Spike, being a pretty green 4 year old in this type of situation, wasn’t so thrilled with the standing around. There were some hairy moments that resulted from his impatience, but during our third round of “stand around and wait” we walked around in circles while the others demonstrated the nice, polite way to do it. After 5 minutes of walking around in tiny little circles and figure 8s, I think Spike got sick of that and ended up standing quite nicely. He had a bit of a mouthful of grass, stood quietly for a few minutes, and then we headed back.

The meet was right across the road from our stables, so I knew where we were at that point, and we had already been out for almost 2 hours! It was a pretty successful outing, and I look forward to the next time! But, for this weekend, I think Spike will work on his skills as an event horse instead of his skills as a hunt horse. We are hoping to go up to Sandstone Farm in Millwood, VA for a combined test on Saturday. This is about 45 minutes from the barn, so it will be a nice quick morning for everybody.

On Saturday, Smartie did his first Novice HT at the Commonwealth Dressage and Combined Training Association’s event in Culpeper, VA. This was held at the Locust Hill Preserve, and the weather was perfect for a horse show! Abigail and I got up ridiculously early to get loaded and drive the hour and a half to Culpeper for our 924 am dressage test to learn that there was no judge for the novice ring!! We ended up going an hour late, but that was actually an OK thing for Smartie. This was his first solo adventure away from home, and he spent the first half an hour screaming for his friend Kojo. After a bit of hand grazing and a bit of time back on the trailer chilling out, he was pretty relaxed by the time we got on to warm up. He was very obedient and well behaved in the dressage, but unfortunately for Smartie he hasn’t learned how to move his big ol’ body in any kind of fancy fashion quite yet. Obedient and well behaved kind of looks a little boring at this stage. But, he scored somewhere in the high 30’s, which is perfectly acceptable right now. He was a little green in the showjumping, and showed it by having a couple of rails, but he only jumped once or twice the whole month of September, so he is forgiven. He absolutely rocked around the cross country, though. It was a pretty good novice course, with some well decorated jumps and good terrain for the big guy. He never took a second look at anything, trotted right into the water and right off the little bank. I was really proud of him, and I think he was really proud of himself I’m looking forward to riding him this weekend at Sandstone, too.

Now, I mentioned earlier that there wasn’t a dressage judge at 8am at the CDCTA event. I dont want this comment to reflect badly at all on that event, I think it was one of those things… its tough to put on a horse trials, and the volunteers that make it happen have a lot on their plates. S*** happens, but the show goes on, and it did when the judge got there! I will definitely be back next year, hopefully with more than one pony!!

 Thanks

Well, after an incredible week of competition in Kentucky at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Ollie and I have arrived back in Northern Virginia. I made the 9 hour trek “home” with my parents on the Monday right after the competition. Needless to say, there were champagne headaches all around!!

 I’m so happy to be back in Virginia. My friends and clients here were all so supportive of me all summer in the leadup to the games, so to return successful was great.

After a couple days of unpacking the trailer, doing horse and people laundry, and reorganizing the apartment that I left uninhabited for a month, I got back into the swing of things at work.

Smartie, Kojo and Spike were kept in work while I was gone, so they didn’t lose any ground at all. Smartie is going down to Culpeper on Saturday to compete in the CDCTA Horse Trials at the Novice Level. Spike and Kojo will be doing some more unrecognized CT’s and HT’s over the next month before the season is really and truly over. They all feel great with the nice cool weather and the ground that has finally seen some rain. My friend “Will” Coulter had about 6 weeks off in total before I came back, so he is just getting back at it. He will hopefully go to do some dressage tests at the Sandstone Farm CT on October 23rd.

The next month or so is looking pretty busy for me, but Ollie is at Sandy Hook Stables being turned out each morning with his three pony girlfriends Rose, Lacey, and Lily. Rose, who is probably about 25, and under 13.2HH, has decided that Ollie is her property and makes sure he doesn’t socialize at all with Lacey and Lily. Its actually pretty hilarious to see her bossing him around. He will be feeling great by the time his vacation is over, he will go back to work about December 1.

I keep re-living the week in Kentucky, and looking forward to some more World Championships experience, But for now, just on with life.