Middleton Jumper Show

We are gearing up for Middleton this weekend. The show starts at 3 on Saturday afternoon. We'd love for any of you to come and cheer us on. Here are some pictures from last year.

Cowboy Rules

COWBOY RULES

Cowboy rules for: Arizona, Texas , Colorado , New Mexico , Wyoming , Montana , Utah , Idaho and the rest of the Wild West are as follows:

1. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.

.2. Turn your cap right, your head ain't crooked.

3. Let's get this straight: it's called a 'gravel road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're gonna get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

4. They are cattle. That's why they smell like cattle. They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-10 & I-40 go east and west, I-17 & I-15 goes north and south. Pick one and go.

5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 Combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

6. Every person in the Wild West waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during the hunts, we WILL shoot it outta your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

8. Yeah. We eat trout, salmon, deer and elk. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.

9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.

10. We open doors for women. That's applied to all women, regardless of age.

11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak, or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham and turkey.

12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup! Oh, yeah ... We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat ... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!

13. You bring 'Coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.

14. College and High School Football is as important here as the Giants, the Yankees, the Mets, the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.

15. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards - it spooks the fish.

16. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers! Refer back to #1!

Sadness & Condolences

I want to send my deepest condolences out to Dorothy Willoughby and her family. Many of you will remember India as one of my lesson horses. She was given to Dorothy by John her husband last year as a birthday present. Very sadly India was put to sleep last evening. As horse owners many of us fear the day we have to put our mounts to sleep. There are a lot of us who escape ever actually having to do it. So many horses are not kept by one owner for their entire life as we change mounts to suit our riding level as we progress. (That's a really akward statement, but I'm not thinking totally clearly at this point) Dorothy was always destined to be the exception. Before I brought India home I made a propehtic statment to Dorothy that I had a mare coming that I thought she would fall in love with. I just didn't know how deep that river of love would run. India was one of my best adult lesson horses, and vital to my program. At the same time when the idea of her becoming Dorothy's birthday present came up it was very difficult to resisit. I have been in this business a long time, and the bond those two shared was unique. I waffled heavily on not letting her go. Finally, at the 11th hour after saying no a final time I called John and said I would do it. He asked me to bring her to the party, so Dan and I loaded her in the trailer and took her to the party.

From that day on there was no doubt in my mind that they would have a life long relationship. I just didn't expect it would end within the year.

Both of you will be in my prayers during the weeks to come.

Classic Week 1 Recap

We are at the end of the first week of showing at the Charleston Classic. This week was full of suprises. The first being that Pickles carded as a medium. Well honestly that isn't that suprising, but we had all hoped he would make it as a small. Being a medium isn't a huge problem because he jumps the heigh without a problem. What it does challenge us is in distances. But the little man is mighty and will just have to boogie. Pickles is officially 12.2 3/4 hands.

The second suprise was the judge position on the schooling pony classes. This is a unique class as it is frequently used as a warm up and is a precursor to classic round style scoring. Each round is assigned a numerical score 0-100. If you score higher than 75 you receive a blue ribbon. 50-75 receives a red ribbon and below 50 doesn't score. We went into this class feeling that we would't be suprised if we didn't get a ribbon. We were not suprised when WE didn't, but we were suprised when only 1 of 9 medium ponies received a ribbon. The horse round earlier in the day resulted in almost everyone receiving ribbons. A horse even circled on course to fix a lead issue and still earned a ribbon.

The third suprise of the weekend wasn't a suprise to me, but certainly was to Elizabeth. No need for explanation here, just see the picture at the top for the details. Congratulations girl!!!

The final suprise is that Riley is officially a pony. He received his USEF card and is officially 14.2 hands. He may never show pony class, but we can if we want to.

Clemson count update

The herd is growing for Clemson. This is where we are to date.

Gia on Jessie Yes
Kaijsa on Em Yes
Lexy on Pickles Yes
Lexy on Em Yes
Chipper on Pickles Yes
Julia on Little Joe More than likely
Nicole on Houston Probably not (Matt is coming home)
Sean on Maggie Yes
Bailey on Sassy Yes (pending trainer approval)
One more on her own horse. (can't post who yet)

Right now I have a total of 6 probably 7 travelling.

Anyone else in??? Oh yeah I think J & B is bringing 3 and Brandy is probably bringing 4.

-Holly

Commentary on the equestrian world

I don't often fall into the typical blog commentary style. Tonight I feel the need to. There are a couple of things on my mind. Perhaps sharing them with all of you will help me sleep tonight.

The first is why equestrains feel the need to stretch the truth on things that are so readily checked on. For instance what is the purpose in sharing your standings in the points unless you are honest? Don't tell me that you are 8th if in act you are 12th. When I can go home and check for myself in 10 minutes. OR When you win a class, but there was virtually no competition and you act like you beat George Morris himself for that ribbon. Don't get me wrong there are times where the turnout at a show is low and we earn ribbons based on not going off course and not falling off. When we do though I try not to post like we hung the moon. I try to highlight that turnout was low, or whatever else played into the equation.

The second thing is not about the participants in this sport, but rather the professionals. My attitude with every relationship I have in this industry is that everyone needs to be where they are based on what is best for them. I work very hard to not take it personally, and recognize it as the business decision it is. So many professionals in this business take personal offense at client turnover, or client concern. I just don't understand it. Clients come and go, there is always someone else. It is not about running a kingdom and maintaining a harem of like minded individuals. Varietey and differences make the world go round.

Let's all commit to helping each other when we can and not hurting each other when we can't.