Plantation Field Horse Trials

Path of Perfection placed second in his division of novice at Plantation Field last weekend and I am so proud of him! There were so many novice horses they divided it into about six divisions and it was very competitive. There was a torrential downpour but the footing on cross-country held up well and he handled the course brilliantly. His dressage is getting better; it's still not where I want it, but there's definite improvement. He was jumping really fantastic.

Now he is qualified for the American Eventing Championships at novice level, so that is my goal to work towards. I plan to keep him at novice for the season to make his dressage more competitive before I move him up to training level. It's early in his career - this was only his second event - and after doing poorly at the track, he is showing so much promise as an event horse.

We are also counting down the days to Kentucky. Macloud has been training well; we had our last jump school with Phillip on Saturday and it went really well.

-Steph

Photos from the event are available at Amy Dragoo's website: click here.

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

Thanks to Katie and Cuyler Walker

Great news on the sponsorship front!

I am deeply grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Cuyler Walker for their financial assistance in achieving my goal of competing at the Rolex Kentucky three-day event! The Walkers have agreed to become part-owners of Macloud for Kentucky, and their assistance tremendously eases the huge financial burden of preparing a horse for this major event.

Katie Walker commented, “We are happy to help Stephanie accomplish her dream and we are looking forward to seeing her and Macloud in action in Kentucky.”

The Walkers own Plantation Field in Unionville, Pennsylvania, home of the Plantation Field International CIC***. They are active in the horse world but have not been involved in eventing since they owned a horse that Buck Davidson, who is Cuyler’s cousin, competed in 2005.

Macloud and I continue our preparations for the big event, training hard from our current base in Aiken, South Carolina.

-Steph

Training in Aiken

As Macloud continues his preparation for Kentucky, my young horse is gearing up for his first event ever. He went schooling with Phillip at the Gibbes' Farm in St. Matthews, SC and was really good. I will probably start him out at some of the one-day events around Aiken to give him some mileage.

I'm also getting on some racehorses for Richard Valentine on my day off, and I'm riding some young horses for Julia Steinberg. I've got seven horses to ride as well as my own two, which are at Jose'e and Tiger Rievere's farm in Aiken.

Looking toward Rolex I am pursuing sponsors to assist in this big financial undertaking. It really takes a team to get a horse to a big event like Rolex. I also want to take this chance to mention my farrier, Dave Kumpf, who was here last week. He has been shoeing my horses for six years now and he is a big part of my program!

-Steph

Stephanie In the February 2009 Issue of Sidelines Magazine!

I just picked up my February copy of Sidelines magazine and there is a great article written by Amber Heintzberger about my horses and me. I am really proud of it and I hope that everyone will pick up a copy and check it out for themselves. If you can't find it at your local tack shop, have a look online at www.sidelinesnews.com.

Steph