Southern Pines Horse Trials II

I am back in Unionville, Pennsylvania after the winter in Aiken, SC. The event at Southern Pines was a great confidence-building round for Macloud and I. We finished tenth out of 24 entries in Open Advanced Test A-B. Our dressage is still not where I want it to be be, so we still have our work cut out for us. He jumped great for me all weekend and was sharp and happy to be out on the cross-country. I ran slow, as this was his first proper cross-country this year, and it turns out no one made the time! Our show jumping is heading in the right direction: one rail down, but he was very good for me and it was just the go we needed in the lead-up to Rolex.

There is of Macloud at Southern Pines are in a gallery at Pics of You. Click here to see them.

-Steph

First Event for Path of Perfection

My young horse, Path of Perfection, went to his first event last Wednesday at Sporting Days Farm in Aiken, SC. He competed novice and I am so proud of his performance! He was very quiet and well-behaved in the dressage and jumped clean to finish sixth. There is still a lot of work to be done, but for his first event I was very happy. Even the little things like standing tied to the trailers, warming up with a big group of other horses, and the blaring loud speaker didn't upset him. I really think this is going to be a great horse.

On the road to our first four-star event at Rolex Kentucky in April, Macloud is competing advanced this weekend at Southern Pines, NC on our way home to Pennsylvania.

-Steph

Pine Top

Pine Top was a soggy event - it was raining the whole weekend! Macloud was very good considering he hasn't been out since the three-star at Fair Hill last fall, but I under-rode him on the flat and got a 42, which is pretty high for us. That is something I can easily fix about myself though, and I am still pleased with him. We jumped double clean in the show jumping and because of the extreme weather I wasn't sure about running cross-country on Sunday (they altered the schedule and swapped cross-country and show jumping), but they ended up canceling cross-country on Sunday except for the advanced divisions and we were competing in the open intermediate, so that was a non-issue.

-Steph