First a quick report on the Aiken contingent. As  anyone who follows our Facebook pages knows – Peyton and Snowy went to their very first recognized horse trial this past weekend at Paradise Farm and they both were fantastic! (And by the way, if you haven’t “liked” our Facebook page – please do so! We try our best to keep the status updates fun and informative.  Tebogo Sport Horses Facebook page. )

Both boys finished in the ribbons in their big open classes and according to Katie who had the pleasure of piloting them around their first cross country courses – they were a blast to ride! Looking at all the pictures on HoofClix it was amusing to notice Katie’s big smile as she pats them on the neck as they trot across their first waters. A big day in any fledgling event horse’s life.

Back up north in Virginia, Paige is hard at work cooking up the next batch of prospects. Pele, Stanley, and Seattle are at various stages of their baby horse education, those very first few lessons which make all the difference in the world for a young prospect. Seattle is already jumping, flatting well and progressing steadily every day. Stanley is currently Paige’s favorite as his sweet people-pleasing demeanor is hard to beat. He also bravely jumped his first jumps last week including “scary” flower boxes and baby oxers. Willing, brave and honest will probably be the headline for this horse. And finally Pele is up and going! Mr. Cool as I call him – handsome and steady – Paige is just starting his flatwork education which he is taking to like a duck to water. Today, another big day, Pele’s first solo hack. He was perfect and according to Paige – really seemed to enjoy himself! (Nothing like a 60 degree February day to get them started hacking out well.)

This upcoming weekend Katie will take her mare Pandora to Pine Top for her first Prelim run of the season and then the week following baby Crumpet heads to HIS first event. We’ll update sooner than later with all these exciting “firsts” of 2012.

Katie’s schedule is as follows:

Feb. 5 Sporting Days Schooling show (yes, this has come and gone – pictures with blue ribbons to come soon.)

Feb 11-12 Pine Top

Feb 17-19 Paradise Farm Horse Trial

Feb 22 Paradise Farm Jumping Derby

Feb 24-26 Pine Top

March 2-4 Sporting Days Horse Trial

March 7 Sporting Days Schooling Show

March 8-11 Southern Pines I

March 14 Sporting Days Derby

March 21 Jumping Branch Derby

March 23-25 Southern Pines II

March 26 – HOME!

As I said to Katie when she sent me the schedule, that looks FUN! And EXHAUSTING! But hopefully mostly FUN! Of course not all the horses are going to all the events. She’s got a few that are ready to rock and roll at the recognized events and a few that need to do little field trips and jumper derbies. It is what we love to do with the young prospects – get them out and about – no pressure. Getting them to understand that not every trip on a trailer means they are going to the track to race! Aiken is amazing for this because as you can see from the schedule there are so many lovely opportunities to get this part of their education done.

Now, as mentioned, Sporting Days Schooling show has come and gone and sure enough, Peyton (Zippy Cat Rules) won his Beginner Novice Division. He finished on his dressage of a 30.5 wherein he got an “8″ for gaits. Not too shabby a start to the 2012 event season!

First trip out was at a local show here in Middleburg, Virginia. Foxchase holds both hunter and jumper shows throughout the year and for some reason we mostly kept missing them. But Paige noticed that a Jumper show was being held on January 14th and saw it as the perfect opportunity to get the greenies out to see the world a bit before the first rated show of the year.

Morning arrived and it was very, very cold and very, very dark but off we went. Paige took Kaz and her own new horse Corey, a just turned 9 year old, sweet, solid, brave hunk of a horse who has never ever been to a show. Luckily on top of being brave and handsome he has an A+ brain because when we got there we found ourselves in the midst of QUITE a few ponies. Kaz was remarkable but of course – he’s been to two shows in his life so that made him officially the old pro of the group. Paige took him in the indoor and he jumped around like he’d been doing it his whole life. Clean and fast! Then Corey went in and over-jumped everything, apparently offended by the Hopeful Jumper fence heights. With that we head home – by then it had warmed up to 23 degrees.

A few days later Paige packed the trailer for the first rated show of the season, Stonewall Country Horse Show held at the Virginia Horse Center. This time it was Promise, out to try his hand at the 2nd year Pre-Greens, and the now worldly Kaz and Corey ready to rock the Hopeful Jumper division (.80 meters or 2’6″ ). Promise knocked the cobwebs off after a couple of months of not showing and rocked around his new height with ease. And the excited report on Kaz came in over the phone from Paige: “He was brave! And honest! And quiet!” Apparently both Kaz and Corey were mildly offended by the height of the fences so they will be moved up for the next Stonewall show coming up in February.

So an excellent start to 2012. Now trailers are being packed for the Aiken-bound horses who leave in a week. And once they leave, the new batch (Pele, Stanley, and Seattle) will be started up in earnest.

Of course as we all know making plans and setting goals with horses can be an exercise in frustration tolerance. You have your plan, they have theirs. Sometimes, bless their hearts, things go better than expected. Sometimes, not so much.

But you can not work with horses professionally and not have a plan. So this past week Paige Cade, Katherine Adams and I sat down to map out the first six months of 2012.

Sadly, the Olympics are not on our goal list. This year. Taking Snowbird Beginner Novice and Novice is. Attacking the puddle jumpers with Kaz and Seattle – also in the works. Throwing a leg over Pele and Stanley for the first time – nearly as exciting as an Olympic go, not quite as much glory. But it all starts somewhere.

Winter in Virginia and Aiken Horse Country

Pandora, Crumpet, Peyton, and Snowbird head to Aiken, SC

Aiken is definitely on the books for February and March. Katie will take Pandora, Crumpet, Peyton, and Snowbird and will be based out of Full Gallop Farm. She is excited as she has every right to be – that is an exceptional line up of young horses. Pandora will continue her Preliminary runs. Crumpet and Snowbird will rock out the Beginner Novice and Peyton will be going Novice by March. We have taken our time with Peyton (some horses require this) and we think the pay off is just around the corner. His jumping and flatwork have progressed at such a rate recently that even we are a little taken aback. And we were expecting this turn of events!

Indoor Training and Hunter/Jumper Shows in Virginia

Paige will stay here and hold down the fort while making good use of our indoor (with its fancy new footing) and the winter A shows held at the Lexington Horse Center here in Virginia. Promise will begin his Pre Green Highs year at the Stonewall show there. Paige’s own new horse Corey will also head down as will Kaz, both to compete in the jumper ring. So far the winter has been mild (though it’s unexpectedly snowing as I write this) and the hope is to be able to keep Seattle, Kaz, and Promise going and showing and for Paige to start Stanley and Pele in earnest, maybe even getting them out to some local shows.

Spring Plans

Once the winter is over then things really get rolling. The eventers will go to Morven, CDCTA, Fair Hill, Plantation, Virginia Horse Trials. The hunters and the jumpers plan on HITS Culpeper, Lexington Spring Encore, Upperville. It is a full book but an exciting one. I’m not going to lie – when Katie, Paige and I finished our planning meeting I felt a little preemptive exhaustion! But I know from experience that once the ball starts rolling the adrenaline kicks in, and we get into a groove and then somehow it all just seems perfectly doable. Almost normal. And even fun.

First outing of 2012 is the local Foxchase Jumper show next weekend (if this snow decides to stop.) Look for updates and pictures soon!

Since Santa might be reading let’s start with where we’ve been good – lessons. Both Katie and Paige have been catching up on their lessons and working on their homework with their various charges.

Winter Lessons: Fun With Grids

Since I’ve known Jenn Simmons (I won’t say how long cause it’s long enough to date us all, sigh) winter lessons have been all about fun with grids so I was not surprised when I ambled out to the outdoor to see Katie and Peyton make their way through a series of gymnastics. Peyton is a smart horse, a sharp horse, so I was equally unsurprised to watch him figure it all out. His brain just whirs and his footwork is quick – bounces and grids that incorporate poles on the ground were pretty much sorted out after one time through.

Pandora has come back from her vacation like she owns the joint. We were joking the other day that her thought bubble reads, “Do you know who I am?!” She is keen and ready to get back in the game. While this was evident in her jump lesson with Jenn it was even more so during her dressage lesson with Inga Janke.

In the meantime Paige is squeezing in lessons left and right with Gavin Moylan before he heads for Florida. This week Kaz, Seattle, Kiwi, Promise and her own pony Snapdragon all head over to  The Oaks to be put through their paces. All were truly impressive in their own rights – Promise because he came back from his break better than ever, Kiwi cause he never misses a beat, Kaz because his increased confidence in his new job is impressive, and Seattle because he has fully earned his new barn name of Baby Genius.

Horse Shopping and Growing the Tebogo String

Next – shopping. We’re technically full but the thing is this – we are so very picky when buying horses to add to the Tebogo string that finding them is no easy task. So if one comes along that fits all the criteria (looks, age, size, temperament, soundness, etc) we are forced to buy them. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

Enter Molten Lava.  Mo? Lava? Cake? (he doesn’t have a barn name yet) is exquisite – a 5 year old with plenty of starts under his belt he is now resting and relaxing over at Simon’s View. Pictures forthcoming.

Finally, eating. Why do we have so many friends who are so blessed with exceptional baking skills?! We’ll power through. Because while December is good for eating, January is good for diets.