Aiken Eventing Catch Up!

Not having Internet at our apartment is proving to make blogging difficult (typical)! To catch you all up on PDF Eventings’ Events heres a rundown of what we’ve been up to:

Pine Top 1 (Feb.8-9)- 

Fi had her first outing of the season competing in the preliminary and she ran great around a tough course! Derek diGrazia has really upped the anty and Pine Top and the cross country courses are awesome, and also a little more challenging than what we typically find there. Fi jumped clean in both phases and just had some time cross country as it was her first time out. 

Logan popped around the training but we had a bit of a “bit” issue cross country which accounts for our penalties there. Still getting to know this youngster and he’ll be able to move on forward once we come to an agreement! 

Benita had both her mares in the Training and they both stormed round superbly with Aoife picking up a 2nd place and Minnie coming in 7th!

Paradise Farm HT ( Feb 13th)- 

We went to the Friday only competition and I took Theo (A Real Cooley) and Cedric (JMF Master Cooley). It was Cedric’s first competition in the US and both of them were in the novice. Both had great days and besides some time penalties I accidentally incurred on cross country with Cedric (embarrassing but I was just having a lovely canter around and completely spaced out!) both finished on their dressage scores. Need to work on their dressage to really be at the top of the charts but that will come along shortly. I was thrilled with Cedric at his first event as he was level-headed as ever and such a gentleman. 

Pine Top II ( Feb. 21-22)- 

 

Colin finally got to get out and have a good canter round at his first event of the season. He put in a better than usual first season dressage test and added only a bit of time on cross country to finish in 7th in his preliminary division. The cross country was even tougher then the previous Pine Top and I was so happy with how Colin handled it as he hasn’t run since October. He answered all the questions boldly and gave me a great ride I couldn’t stop grinning! 

Fi did just the dressage and stadium (jumping clear) in the Preliminary and I decided to withdraw her before cross country as she didn’t really need the run and I wanted a bit more time to do some work with her at home…she wasn’t very pleased with my decision! 

Sammy Jo also competed in her first show since last June! She was perfect (if a tad bit spooky cross country…typical) and finished in 2nd! Everyone was out to cheer her on and I don’t think Training has felt so fun in a long time! I’m so lucky to get to ride this mare and will forever be grateful to Benita for allowing me the opportunity. 

Benita ran Aoife in the Preliminary/Training division they WON it! Aoife was a star and didn’t bat an eye and the increased height in stadium. Benita had Minnie in the preliminary (their first together) and though show jumping went well they didn’t quite have the control needed for navigating the difficult cross country. They’ve since done some more lessoning and have a new approach worked out. She’s such a fantastically bold mare but she still needs some of the details worked out to make her a bit more rideable but Benita is bringing her along very nicely. 

Sporting Days Farm HT ( Feb. 28th/March 1)- 

I had the weekend off to help Benita and her two mares compete at Sporting Days. Minnie dropped down to run another Training and they finished strongly on their dressage score of 30.5 and in 7th place! Aoife moved up to Preliminary and scored a 32.0 on the flat and show jumped double-clear, however she had a bit of trouble cross country reading a very difficult corner at fence 6. It came early in the course, off a tight rollback turn and she just never read it correctly. Understanding that Aoife just didn’t understand it, Benita intelligently retired her none the worse for wear. She’ll be out to school some similar questions and put that behind her quickly. 

Katie P. also had Oliver (Cooley Blue) out for their first spring competition in the Novice (and first as a partnership!) and they finished a great weekend in 7th place! It was awesome getting to see them go around and I’m so happy that Oliver has formed such a great partnership with her. He’s such a good boy and they make a great team. 

We are currently packing up and readying ourselves for the trek to Red Hills HT this weekend! We love Red Hills and are excited to be going back this year, and are hoping for some warm weather! I’m just taking Colin, Fi and Sammy in the preliminary so here’s hoping for a low-stress weekend where we will also be able to watch some top-notch competition!