To be continued?

Indra

My Summer has been busy with eventing. I have been going around to localish events with abby and we've done alright. Abby and Allegro both went to the YDD gymkhana, with allegro and i bringing home the expert champion and my friend molly and abby who were both first timers cleaning it up! It was a really fun first and maybe last gymkhana of the year. The Northampton Hunter Jumper show is next week and I already have pre show nerves. Abby and i will be doing 3'-3'6'' jumpers and i will be doing 2'6''-3' jumpers on my trainers horse Coolie.

I have started to question the future of the HSS as we all go our own directions on horses and in life. I hope we will all stick together through the tough times but it is looking like that may be false hope.

Feels like summer

Erin

It literally feels like summer outside. Every week I have been taking Maybelle swimming in the Plainfield Pond, and once in the Ashfield Lake. Indra, Claire, and Kaylee have all gone with me on these trips, usually riding Willy or Leo in Kaylee's case. Maybelle has astounded me with her enjoyment of going into the water and swimming. I've started calling her aquapony! :] Now she will trot straight into the water and then swim for quite a ways with me swimming by her side. Then I put my arm around her withers and she pulls me back to the beach. She is such a naughty, bratty pony sometimes, but it's things like this that make her my favorite pony.

Charlotte and Comet arrived about a week or week and a half ago, and they are really cute. They are both black, Shetland pony crosses, and they both need a lot of friendly game. Comet is more skittish out of the two, but Charlotte is still hard to catch. They are a lot of fun to have around, and as my dad calls it, it's like having an Extreme Shetland Makeover at the Wooldridge house.

Oh yeah, forgot to say! Big news! In 3 months Milkshake (the cow) is going to have a calf! We didn't know she was pregnant and just found out the news yesterday.

Pictures:

Top left- Maybelle shaking after swimming in the lake

Below- Maybelle and Leo at Elmers hanging out while we eat pancakes

National News

My beautiful National champ ribbon
and here it is again
Warmup
Sterling Ali and I before my class
MHC Coach and me
Me and my trusty steed
the barns

Over the winter i competed in IEA shows to win the certain number of point (15 to be exact) to qualify for regionals. Riding for the Heritage Farm Hunt Seat Team we would go to shows and compete in one or two classes flat and over fences. I qualified for regionals in both my classes and went to Stoneleigh-Burnham for IEA Zone 1 region 3 finals. I went into both my classes high on nerves and excitement and came out with two blue ribbons. Success! I had qualified for Zone 1 finals at Mount Holyoke. I had my first class (flat) Saturday afternoon and was the only girl from my barn there. I took the whole thing a little toooo seriously and came out of it with a disappointing 6th place finish not qualifying me for Nationals. the next day i returned to Mount Holyoke for my over fences class excited but still not fully recovered from my disappointing ride on the flat. I drew my horse in an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party and was pretty content with my draw. Still high on nerves and excitement i went into my class ready to rock it and ten minutes later I was standing on the side of the ring on foot terrified that i wasnt going to hear my name in the top four that would go to nationals. They went backwards from eighth place and when they got to fourth i was completely terrified. When they announced second i was even more scared. I heard my name and number announced i had won my class!

A month or so later...

7.5 hour drive to Maryland for IEA National finals. Erin and I both qualified so I had a friend with me for the long journey up here. we got to Maryland for 4 o'clock the day before I was showing to look at the ring and the horses a little bit before heading up to the Hotel.

4:15 am Friday April 29, 2011

Up and getting dressed to show.

5:05ish am

At the show grounds

11:00ish

Horse draw

I drew a 14.1hh supppper cute dapple gray pony who Erin and I automatically knew would be good luck for me.

12:30ish

On and ready to ride my course

I was absolutely terrified the butterflies were building up in my stomach both excited and nervous to be showing in such a fancy arena in such a huge show.

My ride was awesome it felt suppper good and the pony was amazing! I went up to talk to my parents to learn that i had the highest score in my class so far and was in the lead. Not excpetcy too much i went back down the the side of the ring to watch the rest of my class.

1:00(maybe later)

They announced ribbons going back from seventh (i think) to champion and the butterflies in my stomach grew and grew and grew. they announced my name as champion and I could not believe it. I was a National Champion!

Erins story will be up later this week after she shows as well as how our Western Team does.

This is a photo of my foal from a while ago (September Maybe). Sorry I haven't posted, as you may know I was in France last year and have been really busy since my return. This foal was born when I got home from my mare Breezy!

This Is a photo of my mare Breezy and me while she was pregnant!

I will Try to Post more now that I am not so busy!

New news?

Erin

Hey y'all. :) So here's the new news.. Today I went to a jumper show with Indra and her new horse Abby (as she says in her blog post), and we had a blast. Maybelle was her awesome self as usually, and we got second place in both of our jump off's, and a fourth in our 2' power and speed. I am really happy with the way things went, and Maybelle had just as much fun as me.

Indra and Abby looked g-r-e-a-t, no, actually, better than great. They looked awesome! Abby was nicely collected and Indra looked like she was having fun as they soared over the fences as though they were nothing. I am so happy for Indra, Abby is a great horse and I know that they are going to have a lot of fun in the next 2 years.

We had some of the best grooms today :). Thank you Kaylee and Claire for holding our horses, taking pictures and videos, and just being helpful. I don't know what I would do without you guys!!!

Tango is going good as usually, our bond growing each time I ride her. She needs a refresher on some of her natural horsemanship training, so that will keep us busy. Also, I will be working on her jumping and ring skills every other week in a lesson with Eve. Indra will also be in these lessons, and I know it's going to be a lot of fun. I have so much to learn, and Eve has so much to teach.

Anyways... I could write and write and write but I won't do that (haha) so I guess that's all for now!

Horse shows, lessons, and horses

Indra

So, i know i have made a lot of posts recently, but recently a lot of stuff has happened. About a week before New Years i found a Canadian warmblood cross through my trainer and hoof trimmer. Abby is a 15.3hh amazing mare. Today Erin and I went to an SBS jumper show and Maybelle and Abby were amazing. Erin did the 2' and 2'3'' divisions, getting a second in both jump offs and fourth in one power and speed class. I did th 2'3'' and 2'6'' divisions, getting a fourth in my first power and speed, and then a second in my next power and speed. I forgot both of the jump off courses, resulting in us being disqualified. Claire and Kaylee came and groomed for us, and everyone froze their toes off in the brutally cold weather. We both had a great time and the mares were amazing! Abby's official owner Michele came and watched Abby and I compete, giving us advice. Eve also came by and coached both Erin and I and it was super helpful! we are planning on having a lesson with Eve every other week, at Back Acres, practicing our skills as riders, enhancing our horses skills, and just having fun. Over the winter, i am planning on building up on my jumper skills, memorizing courses, strengthening my bond and relationship with Abby. We just bought a Brenderup trailer from a friend, and hopefully i will be showing more because of that. My longtime goal for this summer is to make it to bigger jumper shows with Abby, and to make it further with Coach and Allegro. Signing off

Indra