Sea Island

We had a great weekend. We all moved in and settled in on Friday. The showgrounds were very quiet so schooling was nice. We all brought something for dinner and Sandy manned the grill. Randall and KJ came down to camp with us for the night. The girls (Nicole came to hang out too) had a great time bathing Pickles, and Sandy practiced braiding on Jessie Friday evening.

Saturday morning Erin got to the showgrounds before any of us were awake. We all got up and I fed Brandy's horses for her, so she didn't have to get down quite so early. Lexy and Erin both schooled in the morning before showing. Gia took the morning off to conserve Riley's energy.

Erin took reserve on sebastian in her division, Lexy took reserve in the pony, and pre-children's hunter divisions on Pickles. She also won her first championship in the pre-children's eq. Gia took reserve in both of her divisions.

We also got to see Sara, Bailey, and Badger with some other friend's from J&B in the afternoon. Here's a slideshow courtesy of Kellie's new camera.

All in all it was a great mileage fest. We're all looking forward to the Charleston Classic now, and have LOTS to work on between now and then.

Lessons today

I saw almost every student today. My day started with Karin learning to haul the trailer in prep for tomorrow. Erin used that time to work on clipping Sebastian. Both ladies will be having mounted lessons at Mullet Hall tomorrow afternoon.

After dropping Kenzie off I headed to Whistle Stop to ride the ponies. I got on Jessie and wandered the arean for 15 minutes or so yacking on my phone. I never got beyond that because I got interupted and had to take care of something else. Amy was on school trip today, so I helped Tara feed. It was nice to do some physical labor for a change. I do miss the day to day chores of running the farm.

Kellie got an awesome new camera today. We all had fun playing with it. Hopefully you will get more pictures from the show this weekend than you have been lately.

Chipper finished up his finals today. He had a lesson on Pickles and was starting to look like the confident rider we had on Riley. Kellie hadn't made it into the arena, so I don't have any pictures to post. I promise next week we'll get some. Gia and Elizabeth both hacked Riley today. Gia put off her normal lesson until tomorrow when we hit Mullet hall.

Lexy has started riding Jessie again this week. Jessie is officially on the market for lease or purchase. Lexy will be showing her in addition to Pickles this weekend. Kellie worked really hard to get some pictures of Jessie jumping today to put on a sale flyer. If you know of anyone looking for a very talented pony please send them our way.

Pics from the trip

Here are a couple of pics from the weekend...

Sea Island This weekend

It's show time again. We have been all over the place trying to decide what shows everyone wants to do the next couple of months. It's finally settled. We are off to Mullet Hall this weekend for the Sea Island schooling show. Gia is going to return to the hunter ring showing Riley in short stirrup. Lexy is making her debut on Pickles. She is probably going to show 2'6" jumpers for playtime, and then get serious and show the pony hunter division as well. Karin and Erin are bringing Sebastian down to hangout. Since he has been off the last couple weeks we will be making a last minute decision about him showing. We'd like to put him in walk/trot just for some mileage.

It also looks like Jessie is going with us. She is on the market looking for a new home. We have put her back into full work, and she is raring to go show. I'll hopefully get some pictures of her this evening to post. Help us spread the word that she is on the market.

We are planning to camp Friday night at Mullet hall. If anyone wants to come join the party we'll be cooking out Friday evening and then throughout the day Saturday. We'd love to come have y'all come hang out with us.

New York, New York

Dan and I are having a fabulous time in New York this weekend. We arrived Thursday at lunch time. We spent some time catching up with my extended family in the lobby of the Beautiful Barclay Hotel. After a quick deli lunch we walked up to FAO Schwartz for Kenzie to do some shopping. She thought the escalators were more fun than even the big piano. (Video of her and daddy to come as soon as I'm home). Thursday evening Kenzie had a sitter, so Dan and I could go to the rehearsal dinner at PJ Clarke's. We dined on raw oysters, 1/4 lb sliders, filet mignon, and more. Never mind the excellent Piper Champagne.

Friday we were set for a bit of wandering, but again Kenzie just wanted to ride elevators. We headed to Bloomingdales so we had 9 stories worth of escalators. Kenzie has been fantastic with all the walking. She was a huge fan of the subway with Gramps (my dad). Our sitter came at 3 on Friday so we could go to the wedding. The priest knew my cousin well as he served for 5 years at the private school she teaches at. He is now at St. Patrick's cathedral. He was an absolute hoot. It was strange sitting through mass, but enough to make me question my thoughts on the Catholic Church. The reception was held at the United Nations. My uncle has been the stamp wholesaler (or some such thing) for years, so pulled some strings for pictures in the rose garden too. The dining room had a beautiful patio overlooking the river and Long Island. Lots more pictures to come. We met some of my parents friends from years gone by including "Tony" who owns a construction/real estate business and finds "family" quite important.

Saturday we took Kenzie to Central Park and the zoo there. She had great fun with the animals and the super designed children's zoo. Lots of up close contact with the animals, and better was all the stuff to play on. Stay tuned for pictures of her and I as turtles:) After a sponge bob popsicle in the park and a sushi/japanese lunch with my parents it was time to say "Good Bye". My parents and Kenzie flew home on Saturday. Dan and I changed hotels moving in to the Algonquin in the theatre district. A historic hotel famous for it's writers, and stage actors of the '20's and '30's. We spent the afternoon going down to the old Miller's Harness company that I haven't been to in 20 years. The last time I was there I had been given a $100 gift certficate by a rider that they sponsored who was friend's with my dad. I spent hours wandering around the store looking at everything trying to decide how to spend my "lottery winnings". Back then $100 seemed like all the money in the world. Yesterday Dan managed to escape without me spending a penny. After getting changed we went to the theatre to see God of Carnage with James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, and Marcia Gay Harden. We had excellent seats in the front row of the balcony, and laughed for a non-stop hour and half. We finished the evening with a late meal at an irish pub that served some of the best bread pudding I have had this side of the Atlantic.

Today Dan and I are off for a hotel breakfast, Ground Zero, and the Ikea store in Brooklyn. Our flight home is late afternoon. We'll be spending tonight with my parents and home in the morning. I'll be at the barn in the afternoon, and teach lessons as usual.

ATTENTION

I am experiencing technical difficulties with my gmail account. Well actually my pc won't load the web page. If everyone could please e-mail me at cratrainer@yahoo.com I don't have anyone's addresses either, so even drop me a line just to say "Hey, here's my address" that would be great.
Thanks,
holly

Almost a month

It's been almost a month since I last posted anything. In that time we have finished the move to the new digs. Our official "home" is Whistle Stop Stables in Wando. Tara Osment is providing excellent care to our boys. Surrey has moved on to a new home of trail riding and loving cuddles. We're excited to again be sharing barn space with the Friedman's, and are having fun getting to know all of our new barn buddies.

The kids have all been working really hard to prepare for the last couple of shows of the spring. We will be going to both Sea Island the last weekend of this month, and the PSJ at Mullet Hall the first weekend of June. Chipper is opting for a trip to Mexico with 35 of their families nearest and dearest instead of showing this go round. He'll be missed:(

I have some pictures from Gia and Chipper's last lessons on Johns Island. It's amazing the impact riding on the uneven ground had on the kid's positions. You'll notice there has been a change to Chipper's mount. He has regained his confidence and has moved on to Pickles. We will be focusing on schooling pony or the green pony division in the near future.

Gia on Riley

Chipper's First Lesson on Pickles

Now that you've seen Pickles "plopping" over the small fences with chipper aboard here are a couple of pics of Lexy and Pickles. They have improved tons since the first pic a month ago. They are jumping up t 3'6" high and wide...yes at the same time. They will experiment with pony jumpers, but Pickles will be out sized by about 8 inches, so they may not have enough boogie no matter how hard he tries. If they don't have it for the jumpers we will try to fine tune him a bit and they'll be doing the green pony division.

2'9"

3'

3' 6" (notice the gap between the standard's feet)

I have more news to announce tomorrow, but need to take some pics to go with it first. Stay tuned.