Fall Prep!

With the sale of Simon, this means we've been working hard on our up and coming projects.  The timing was really good for Simon to head to his new home as we're in the hottest part of the summer and show season is coming up.  Naturally this means that we need to keep the big horses in work for fitness reasons but otherwise, we're not pushing anything new on them.  

Our current horses in training (to be resold in the near future), are Wesley, Luna, and Patrick.  Wesley has been here since the spring and came with little training.  We've put weight on him and started him in our boot camp where he's been enjoying himself and learning really quickly.  He's a doll of a horse and we look forward to seeing where we go with him.

A newer horse is Luna.  She is a warmblood cross mare that has lovely movement and a super fun and loving temperament.  We've only had her since July and we are working on her fitness but hope to do some schooling shows with her in the late fall when it cools down and we're done with recognized shows.  She has an excellent canter and lots of pieces pre-existing knowledge of eventing/dressage/jumping so hopefully we can work through the pieces and make a cohesive unit.

That trot tho... <3

Patrick is our newest addition.  While we officially obtained him in July, we were busy with our events and had him vacation at a farm until we could go pick him up to come home.  He's in great shape and we had Jason work a little farrier magic on his feet and we're good to go.  Patrick is working in our Foundations program but has a good start to begin with.  Like Luna, we hope to hit some schooling shows with him in the later fall!

I know this is called "Fall Prep," so here we go.  My plan right now is to simply show Vana at PSG at the Laborious Day shows in Katy in a few weeks.  We've both been off this past month for the most part and while I-1 is a better test for us, I figure we can chill out and do the "easier" PSG test while we get back up to full speed as the heat breaks a little (luls).  Hopefully we can do I-1 in the fall and then work all winter on our Intermediate Freestyle and Grand Prix debut.  Thinking the Jan show in Katy?  We'll see!  I just want to finish up my Silver Medal at this point and maybe play at Regionals.

Jade has been doing pretty well but kind of in a holding pattern this summer.  As a heavy built black horse, she doesn't do terribly well in the summer here for more advanced work and by the time I'm done riding Vana at 10pm, sometimes it's easier to just hug on her and go to bed.  #reallife  I'm thinking (pending how Vana does), that I'll hit another schooling show with her and maybe go to a recognized show in November.  My plan is to do just 1st level.  I need 2 more scores for my Rider Performance Award at that level and while she's capable of more, I figure it'll be an easy entry into the "real" world of showing since her off property showing is limited.

I'm debating what Sarah (working student) will be doing at this point.  Now that she has #dressageskillz , I want to keep her working on them.  She rode Feina last night and it was a good ride for both of them.  I think Feina really enjoyed being under saddle for the first time in over a year and she was so gorgeous.  Luna will probably be the horse for Sarah as they're really liking each other so we'll see.  Lots of great options at our farm right now so we're excited to keep growing!