I was recently talking with someone who said they were having a bad day – I said “You going to remember this day in a year? Then that is a bad day. But if you remember this day in three years, its a really bad day.”. It was three years ago today that Teddy was killed, and I remember that day like it was today.

The actual date was the 28th; I know because it’s my nephew Sam’s birthday and I was a day late calling him. But it happened on the Thursday of Memorial Day weekend -

I was on a trot up the gallop today on a young horse and stopped on my way down to the barn to say hello to Ted – Ted is buried on the top of the gallop overlooking the entire farm, keeping an eye on all of us.

I can vividly recall when Wynn brought him to us in Virginia – he had been being hacked a few days a week for a few months by a young kid near Wynn’s farm in North Carolina. He was FAT, sassy, spooky, long mane on both sides of his neck, shinny and happy. He was sent to us to take to Radnor and sell for Wynn, who always knew he was great. THIS is going to Radnor – its a pony!! I ate my words, I became a believer – He became “Super Ted” to us and a hero to all that knew him.

Who is to know what his competitive future was going to bring, but Ted came into all of our lives when eventing was at a low. He was so much bigger than his 14.1 stature; he gave us hope and made us believe that there is something great in all of us.

Most will remember Ted going around Rolex in such amazing fashion and winning the Pan Ams and  exceeding doubt. I will remember the way his ears felt when I put a bridle on, the way he would put his head in your hand when you put it out and scratch his forehead and his stare when I would try and catch him in the field.

We try and move on – winter, spring, summer, fall and again and again – other horses will make us believe and break our hearts, eventing will continue to have its highs and low, but still the sun rises tomorrow. Enjoy all days with these remarkable animals, they do so much for us and its our duty to keep them safe. I couldn’t on this day and that will always be with me.

I guess I write this hoping that it will be therapeutic; I miss him and am so lucky to have been a part of his life!

I seriously can’t believe that April is almost here -

The winter has gone very quickly and it it is very much spring here in Ocala – sun, pollen and thunderstorms – and the stress of the upcoming spring events.

Where to begin? Our winter has been pretty okay – some cold weather came and went. The horses have are progressing as they should:

Doodle (Mandiba) is back in action, having shrugged off all that ailed him at the WEG and has had a great run at Red Hills – he was meant to run at Pine Top, but pulled a shoe off and stepped on the clip half way around the show jumping…. and run at Poplar, but the ground was unusually hard and we wanted to keep him fresh for BADMINTON!!!!! Oh Ya – the little man is going to the BIG DANCE! I am so excited – I have never been and it has been a dream for years to be a part of it! So we have 2 gallops, 1 run at The Fork, 1 shoeing, and 1 vet checkup before he gets on the plane – I hope it all goes to plan…

Quin (Quintus 54) has really stepped it up this spring – he (and we) lost his owner, Becky Broussard, in December – and now the Rebecca Group, Becky’s husband Jerome and daughter Sara, are keeping her passion alive – Lucky for him and us!!! A leg stretching run at Ocala, followed by a combined test at Pine Top, set him up for a test at Red Hills to see if he could handle the crowds and atmosphere… And sweet Quinny was great! He had his best dressage test to date; Karen didn’t plan to go fast on the xc, he jumped great and came home full of run; he had a cheep rail in the show jumping, but all in all – he earned himself and entry to Rolex! He had another great weekend at Poplar too…. So he has 1 run, 5 gallops, 2 vet checks, 1 shoeing till he goes to the Horse Park – Magic!

You may think I am odd counting it down – but you gotta set your little goals and check each one off the list!

The Rebecca Group just purchased Veronica for Karen to ride. Oddly enough, we have known about her for a few years and sometimes you don’t buy what is on your own backyard… My boyfriend, Scott Keach, imported the mare 2 years ago and has taken his time producing her to be the little motor car that she is now… Veronica was sent to Lauren Kieffer to help promote to sell and after she broke her arm (bucked off a young horse… really hard) Karen took over the ride – and when Laura Kraut needed a horse for the derby cross and Karen gave her Quin to ride, Veronica became Karen’s mount… and the rest is history. The little mare has game and we are excited to see what will be in her future – she was 4th in the intermediate at Red Hills and 4th in the CIC** at Poplar…. She is onto The Fork as well.

Little Phil (Cherubino) was having a great season with Karen and his owner Kate winning the training at Rocking Horse when we discovered a cyst type lump near his ankle – With the advise of Dr Christiana Ober, we decided to take it out surgically before it attached itself to any structures – so his spring season is cut short but he will be back competing by June It is nice to have the choice to be proactive not reactive…

Purdy (Sunset Paradise) is developing herself at the preliminary level – her past steeplechase career has kept Karen from letting her run too fast on the cross country – she will stay at this level for a while to get the education she needs to make the next level easy for her – she is very brave and smart… and VERY good looking – we are hoping she will do the CCI* at the Virginia Horse Center (one of my favorite events )

Trisciut (Bally’s Cracker) has had a light winter – she bruised her feet early on and we’ve given her time to get better – she is a favorite of mine as I looked after her mom, Bally-Mar, for years… Trisciuty will be hopefully be back running at Virginia -

Holly (Smilla) is another new horse (what is with all the mares!!!) that Karen found for Ms Mars with the help of William Micklem. She came out of the Hutchinson Family’s jumper barn in southern Ireland and has started her life eventing – the jumps are no problem, but sometimes paying attention to the jump and not the fence judge, or the people walking the course, or the other jumps, or the dog…. she is too funny -

Fun group of horses… the rest of the crew here at the farm is ticking along – mostly due to Rachel Goff who came to run our barn after working for Dr Ober for 3 years… she is witty and sharp and I am not sure how we ran ran the barn without her. Hannah is getting ready to take Nike to Rolex and William to Bromont – be such a Cinderella story to see Nike at Rolex… the ultimate comeback kid….

Lauren continues to diligently work away with the young horses – Snooze Alarm had a small injury which Lauren caught before it got bad, he doesn’t owe anyone anything, so his upper level career is over – he’ll be back teaching the next generation though! Her broken arm is healing well – she has been cleared to ride so she will be back competing at Ocala Horse Trials…

phew – I think that catches up on all the news…

Next gallop is Friday – hopefully I can check that off the list too!!!!

The Chronicle just sent an email to us asking about numbers for horses, clipping, blankets, etc… sometimes it is outstanding when you step back and look at numbers:
39 – numbers of horses that are on our farm
40 – estimated number of sheet and medium weight indoor rugs we own.
20 – number of light and medium weight turnout rugs
30 – horses have been clipped once
20 – of those 30 horses that have been clipped twice
4 – horses that did a fall three day that are about to be clipped for a third time….
Got me thinking about other numbers…

1 – events the OCET has gone to this year.
12 – number of horses that competed
11 – number of clear rounds
6 – number of horses that placed in the top 5

Sometimes number should make us smile… we had a good first outing with the young horses this weekend. I do feel though that the season is starting too early; no one (horse, rider, coach, owners) is getting enough of a break and making the time for proper training. We are so quick to have a competition as our goal and not a milestone in our training as our goal. Why not use schooling jumping shows as a means of checks and balances? Or dressage shows? And then you can work on what didn’t work instead of spending a minimum of 200 dollars on an entry, minimum or 100 dollars in fuel, etc, only to find out that your horse has trouble tuning right or you didn’t have the correct bit and you had two rails and no ribbon and you still ran it cross country to find out the same… There are very few “schooling jumper shows” on good footing; it would be great to see some! For event riders to go to a “HITS” class or a WEF class is just as expensive, if not more, as going to a horse trials.

The leading area for our sport used to be in South Hamilton – where, people ask? Yes – North of Boston was the mecca of eventing 20 years ago. How many people under the age of 25 can tell you what importance Ledyard had or that Flying Horse Farm hosted the first multi-disciplined young rider championships or that the USEA was based up in Hamilton? Very few. And tell me how many people want to spend their winters on the North Shore; none…… Where have our basics gone?

Lets take a look at England – weather is about the same there as it is in Massachusetts. Their first event isn’t for another 8 weeks – that is 60 days, give or take… Badminton is 100 days away – that technically gives them 40 days of competing to prepare for on of the the biggest 4 star in the world… And yet, they have handily beat us on our home turf and abroad for the last 10 years – Thy spend their winter time getting their horses fit, long trots, long walks, working in the indoor or outdoor on basics and going to said schooling shows; getting themselves fit at the gym, and making a plan that works for each horse. We forget that in America.

And at the end of the day – the percentage of people that actually get to start their season this early is small, but the pressure to start early is so big! The majority of eventers in the US are in an indoor until May if they are lucky – we just need to find the right exercises to keep training. It can be done…. take the geographic pressure off and enjoy training your horse. Challenge yourself to find the right distance to that pole on the ground 8 times in a row each direction; a jump is that pole and your perfect distance every time is a clear round….

But here is something that doesn’t quite look right -
4 – number of High Performance riders in Ocala
7 – number of High Performance riders in Aiken
2 – number of High Performance riders in CA
1 – number of training sessions in Ocala, total….
4 – number of times Katie Prudant is planning on going to Aiken…. not including Mark Phillips and Oded’s trips there.
Not sure on the numbers for West Coast….
What is not right in that balance – how is it that the Ocala developing and high performance crew get the short stick? Where has our sport gone? How is it that a group can punish those who choose to live in Ocala? It shouldn’t be about where we are, it should be about what we do and what we need…. as it should be in life in general. People can say what they want about the quality of riders in each area, but last I checked, no one produced at the Worlds or Olympics from either place – After the debate between the two areas – The West Coast is the only area that has produced Worlds and Olympic medals in dressage and eventing in the last 4 years.

Something else to think about:
2 – teams trained in Ocala leading up to Pan Am’s
1- team gold
1 – team silver
3 – individual medals
1 – teams that trained in Ocala leading up to the World Championships
1 – team silver medal won by said team….

Don’t get me wrong – I love my country and I love this sport. It seams to me that we are going down a long and dusty path that has led us to bad horsemanship…. we are all to blame getting caught up in the energy of it – but isn’t that what our journey with horses is supposed to be about, becoming better horseman?

Been a bit of an adventurous Christmas this year – I have found myself in the sleepy town of Goowla… South Australia.
Amazing the perspective and thinking you get when you actually have sometime to take a breath and spend time doing a bit of nothing, which is actually something in the end. Does that make sense?
Christmas in the US has been SO overrun on what we are getting someone, how many parties we are going to, what are we going to wear to those parties, How many lights are on the house – and on, and on – the stress is unreal, the money spent is ridiculous – the aura here is very, very different.
The lifestyle here is so focused on quality of life. People don’t need many possessions, they buy what they need and spend the rest on helping others or spending it on a vacation or saving it for another day. EVERYONE is involved with some form of charity work – humans or animals, all tyring to help others. There is such little waste on frivolity – a lesson that has been fun to learn…
The weather has been a bit disappointing so far – Highs only 83 one day – but the beaches are stunning, the water is warm (compared to the frigid temps on the Northeast even n the summer), the people are so welcoming and have fun laughing at my accent – right… who has the accent?
Christmas day was church in the AM followed by a big picnic at the beach for the afternoon, with a pick up match of cricket among strangers… Tinsel on the pop up tent made it all very festive!
Highlights so far:
Shoes are optional here – everywhere – even in the grocery stores and banks… a bit odd but kinda cool.
My favorite saying so far – “FITH – F&*^ in the head”
I got to feed kangaroos and wallabies and pet kuala at a rescue farm… amazing. Photos to come
The wine from Currency Creek is outstanding – just 10 minutes away…
I have only touched 1 horse since I have been here, and am just now really missing my horses at home.
I have finally learned the rules of cricket… and yes, baseball is better.
Blunstone boots are not expensive.
NO ONE has “shrimp on the barbie” – lol!
Christmas – not 1 business is open – something I think the US needs to be better at.
Boxing Day is a great idea… a day to recover from Christmas!
Off to McLearen Vale on Tuesday to drink even better wine, from what I am told – my LONG journey home begins early Thursday AM from Adelaide airport, travel for about 30 hours to land back at the Orlando airport Thursday afternoon… Will be a long day. The farm at home will be in full swing – our winter camp begins on the 27th and goes until the 1st – that followed in 1 week by the first horse trials of the year – already…
Sadly, we have lost an incredible Owner of the OCET – Becky Broussard lost her battle with cancer on Christmas eve – She was a remarkable person and I am so lucky to have known her… Becky gave more to the sport of Eventing than many people will ever know and I am sure all are so grateful that they made the trip out to Rebecca Farm this year to help celebrate her passion. Her smile, wit and intelligence will be very missed. Big hugs to her family…
Off to watch more of the “Boxing Day Test Match” – really, the match will go for four days…
more soon with photos of the roos

Seems like Fair Hill was months ago… but it has only been 6 weeks – I guess when the world stop spinning, you can finally take a breath and see everything around you.

The trip to Florida was bigger than normal with more horses than ever making the migration down for the OCET – 32 and still counting… So fun to see my perfect little house again – and all my photos, books, etc that I leave behind for the summer. And I just dig Ocala… in all its oddity and quirkiness – the people are so true and kind, the roadside BBQ is plentiful, and pickup trucks are a norm. I did go out for a Saturday night with the girls that work with me to the Urban Cowboy – and my little Honda Accord was dwarfed in the parking lot of trucks… a guy tried to pick me up that night; he was originally from New Jersey and he scrubbed operating rooms, when he found out what I did for a living he basically shot himself in the foot (don’t worry, wasn’t going there anyway….) when he said “hu, hu… I spend my whole day trying to be clean and you spend your whole day getting dirty…” Real winner!!! I was in bed by 12:30… the rest of the crew hours after me!

I thought I may get a bit twingy going back to Chattahoochie Hills with two training level horses…. Our time there before the WEG was so hot, buggy, dry and really not too much fun. I was VERY pleasantly surprised… Getting to see Jess and Clark is always fun, we found little parts of the town that I wish we had known about during training camp. I never thought i would say this – but I am looking forward to going back… I did also have a good laugh watching Lauren riding a baby around the novice… her air vest worked great when he bucked her off in the cross country warm up when he spooked a bad rider running at her… she did win the division, one of the hardest fought wins!

I followed that weekend up by spending a day grooming for Lauren at Rocking Horse… it did refresh me a bit to not be somewhere so competitive again – and everything a young horse does well is so great… she did win almost all her divisions again!

last, but not least… the LAST event of the year for the OCET – Ocala… I don’t know if I was more excited about it being the last event of the season, or the fact that my brother and his family was coming to visit me for the first time since I started working for Karen and David…
Hannah unfortunately hit the dirt on Ms Mar’s Harbour Pilot (William) – Hannah has had a pretty solid year – sadly it ended with David driving her to the emergency room to rule out a broken collar bone… she is back riding already, shoulder still sore, but what doesn’t kill ya makes ya stronger!
Karen’s young horses were great… looking forward to a big winter for them both. And Lauren is the training champion – more ribbons…

My brother Rich and his wife Kerry are the nicest people I know…. well – I vote more for Kerry as she can deal with my wacky family and my brother and raise two kids and run a business and still smile all the time… The Corcoran family left northern San Fran for a little farm time – what is cooler than riding tractors, going on pony rides and playing in the water jump? Well, when you are Sam and Miles… not much! It was so great to see them – they live so far away and my time off is so limited that I don’t see them nearly enough… We followed that day up with time in Orlando with my mom at Harry Potter and a fabulous day at Sea World (thank you Alice for the passes and for setting up Steve… it was amazing!)

Thanksgiving morning was a nightmare though! I had to leave my mom and my brother (they we flying out that morning) and co early in the morning to get to the farm to help with chores, cook a big breakfast and put a turkey in the oven… bad number 1; then I get on the expressway the wrong direction… bad number 2; and had to pay a toll to turn around.. 3; and then got lost as there was no re entry… 4; then get a phone call that one of the young horses is colicing… 5; then am 8 miles from getting off the interstate and get pulled over for going 82 in a 70 mile an hour zone… 6;
But I did come home to a great group that had the horse looked after, helped chop vegetables for the breakfast and had the kitchen ready to cook a turkey in time for the Patriots to kick off!
We ate so obscenely at dinner with 26 people for sit down dinner at Karen and Davids… followed by 6 different types of pies courtesy of Karen’s mom, Joanne, who happily doesn’t know the meaning of moderation! I missed my own family so much, but with the Ramsays, and the Gregorys – my sadness was curbed.

The horses are all back to work… Doodle is SO fat and sassy – he doesn’t know he has done anything wrong and we have long chats on our walks; horses are great listeners. (Can’t seam to figure out how to rotate this photo… Doodle watching the young horses jump) He had his first swim today at Kesmarc – along with Nike and Quin trying their legs on the aquatred…. all very good! They are great there – great to be able to cross train them! The horses have all come off their holidays so well… Lucky us! (Karen watching Quin in the aquatred)

The temps are low for Florida tonight, 30 degrees for a low, and Scott has just made falafel for dinner…. The next few weeks are all about walking and trot sets… and getting ready for my holiday to Australia with Scott for a few weeks of nothing but sun and reading my book and maybe a trip to a vineyard or two?

Off to throw the horses some hay…

More soon