fancy pants rocket

tate and katie

katie P training sessions

Well Katie takes no prisoners!! Tater did preform very well but between Oded and Katie there are here to whip us eventers into shape! Katie's attention to detail is fantastic. It is expected you get to the jump correctly but she wants to figure out the exact jump that your horse need to jump at his best.. meaning does he need support at a gappy distance, does he like to get close to the fence and have a soft rein, does he need a quiet rhythm does he like more of a gallop.. all these things that on the third day are not only vital to know but essential to be able to execute. We have sessions with Oded Monday and Tues and with Mark on Wend. I am planning on spending a lot of time at the sessions this next week,both Oded and Katie are excellent at not only teaching the rider but teaching the spectator. In other news we will be getting a new 4 year old on the farm this weekend!! Sobe is a baby from the fork that mom we imported from Argentina several years ago. She is a bit of a shrimp but so was her mom and she had a great jump. Last time I saw Sobe I could have confused her with a hippo! She will spend the next while getting into shape and will start her eventing career in the summer. Rocket also went and schooled around the warm up at a local show and was quite impressive! He will begin competing is some local dressage shows next month.. should be exciting!

oded tater stephen bradley

Tater and oded

Tate and oded

clayton and tate

Been a while

Well i know its been a while since my last post but things have been a bit wild! .. So we have been in Aiken now for a few weeks and things have been going well. The horses seem to know its time to get to work. Tate has attended 2 training sessions with Oded Shimoni. He is a fantastic dressage coach. I really feell he got a lot out of tate and I and showed me how to step up to the next level. He is to the point and direct and not afraid of rattling you a bit to get you to preform but I feel confident enough in both tate and I that we are ready to take it and get better!.. Nigel unfortunatly pulled something behind a few weeks ago so has been having some recoup. time acupunture seems to be doing the trick and I think he will be back in action by March. Geof has been making stides forward in his education and rideablitiy. He has tackled cross country schooling, jumped clean in two classes at the PSJ jumper show and seems to be understanding the dressage a little more everyday. I know it is a long process but he continues to impress. Rocket has seemed to turn over a new leaf. He is becoming more confident everyday with his job and understands more and more what is asked of him. He is also excelling with a new product we are using called the Haygain. It is a hay steamer that eliminates spores and mold from the hay. Rocket barley touched his hay and now he cleans it up which is making him a happier healthier boy every day. Bally has been show jumping well and might end up taking a trip down to Wellington to Anne Kurskinskis to further his jumper training. Tommorow if it doesnt snow !! We are off to Pine Top for Tater to do his first Intermediate of the season and Geof is gonna start out with an easy training. Chrissy and the gang seem happy and sharing the barn with DP Equestrian is actually going smoother that one would have thought! so ciao ciao for now and check out the pics from the training sessions and a lesson with Clayton Fredricks!
xx