Cross Country Day! (Pictures in no particular order....)

yI also made shannon feed her carrots every time she went to that side of the barn. haha
Kelly Loria in Warm up
The out of the coffin
Maybe this is what cost us four seconds...
jumping into the coffin
I do plan on buying all these photos!

I made me dad post up there with carrots for a very long time... :)
Bounce into water
Chloe at the last jump, still going like a champ
after I finished, so stoked!
Me and my mom in warm up
Natalia and Hawley in the box


Natalia was the first Area VI rider out this morning for the two star team, she is not called the trail blazer for no reason! She rocked that coarse. I was able to see some of her while I was in warm up and she looked great! I was next out for area VI and Chloe was awesome in warm up. I did not do too much because I knew we had a long coarse ahead of us. I went out of the box and I just had a good feeling. She was taking me to everything and I knew what I had to do to give her the best ride possible. Only one person made time and I was on every minute marker until I had a funny jump off a bank and decided to take the option. Unfortunately that added four time penalties to my score, but that is better then 20! I came through the finish with a fit horse who was still pulling me to the last fence and on top of that I came through the finish knowing that I had one special horse. I feel every show I am learning more about her, this show I learned that I am a pretty lucky girl. She cooled out great and I left her tonight with every food option possible including carrots! She deserves it all :)
The one star went after and Kelly Loria was the first out for Area VI. She was standing in first place going out and after a double clear remained in that spot! Madison Reeb went next and had the best ride of her life until an unfortunate fall. She deserves to be winning, but the best riders did not get to the top with out falling off. She will bounce back and everyone better be prepared for it!
Today was one of the most fun courses I have ever ridden. David O' Conner designed and amazing two star course and the footing was unbelievable. My horse was so game and jumping her heart out and that's all I can really ask of her. I cant tell you how lucky I feel to be sitting on her.
Lastly today would not have run so smoothly with out all the amazing help we received! For starters our coach Dayna Lynd Pugh did an amazing job preparing us. Im not just saying that because she is my mom, but because it is true. Every horse and rider that went out there was completely prepared for what was coming. Our Chef Shannon Lilley did an outstanding job in the vet box and making sure that each rider was taken care of. Without her I have a feeling things would have been a bit unorganized. Steve Pugh was amazing with the horses in the vet box and made sure each one got taken care of in record time, he was taught well :) Amanda Sanchez was awesome helping Natalia get on and then helping out more in the vet box. Hawley Bennett was also a huge help in the box and it was great having her there! Scott Kuhlman, although is here for a mentorship program makes sure on his free time he helps us out as much as possible. And all the other parents who are there with moral support, you have know idea how much that means to all of us! Everyone who has emailed and texted me, your all awesome! That extra support goes a long way! Also, we have a phenomenal team and the help and support we receive from each other is amazing.
Tomorrow we have the jog in the morning and then show jumping in the afternoon! I Cant believe tomorrow will conclude this whole experience. For now though I hope you enjoy the pictures form today and hopefully I have good news to report to everyone tomorrow!!
Xoxo Kelly and Chloe

One Star Dressage! GO AREA VI!

As much as I would like to talk about Chloe and how awesome her jump school was today im going to skip all that stuff and go straight into telling everyone about the one star dressage!!! Our area is currently sitting in first place with Kelly Loria also individually in first on a score of a 40!! She had a very relaxed, accurate, beautiful test and deserved every good mark!! Madison Reeb put in a good test and rode very well. She is on the fast track to being one very good rider. I am so proud of area VI! Kelly Loria also had her press conference which was so exciting for her! She did an awesome job representing us :)
Natalia and I both had a jump school today and I feel great about tomorrow! It is different for me to jump on grass and have terrain so it was nice to get a feel of how she would be. After walking my coarse for the fifth time I am feeling great about it! The weather was great today, lets hope it stays the same tomorrow! Chloe has enjoyed the weather and it is great the horse park lets us rent paddocks, all the horses have enjoyed it!
I'm going to keep this short tonight and go get ready for tomorrow! Any good luck vibes are greatly appreciated!
Xoxo Kelly and Chloe
Dayna Lynd Pugh warming up Kelly Loria
Kelly Loria
Press Conference

Madison Reeb. That horse has a killer lengthening!

Dayna and Madison. Hugs all around!
Chloe in her turn out!

Dressage (for the pictures start at bottom to top...

Today was the two star dressage and boy was I nervous! Usually dressage tends to be our weaker phase and as I went out on our morning hack I started looking at the other two star horses and thinking to myself "there canter is better then mine" or "my canter departs are not nearly that good!" I had a moment of self doubt but then I realized that I can only control how I do, sometimes not even how my horse does, but definitely I can control how I ride. I did some intense visualizing and after hacking her I was feeling way better. She felt amazing and I was confident that with all our dressage lessons with Nicole Perry and all the work I had put in with my mom that I needed to have a little more faith in myself. When I woke up this morning I wanted to shoot for high 40's low 50's and I was hoping to be in the top five. Trotting around that ring today I felt more confident than I ever had on her and I went down that center line and knew what I had to do. Chloe was fabulous and put in her best test yet for a 51 and we are sitting in second place. I know this horse has it in her and today she proved it. It was an amazing feeling. Natalia also put in a great test on her horse and although its hard being one of the first out she handled it amazingly and I honestly could not ask for a better teammate!
After dressage Natalia and I walked the cross country course with my mom and things I was originally worried about are starting to look better. After the course walk I had to rush off to a press confrenece and that was really exciting!! I met some of the other young riders and they were all so nice! I was proud to be representing California :)
Then I went back took Chloe on some walks, tucked her in and gave her a million carrots. She deserved it :)
Apart from NAYRC there is a jumper show going on where some really big names are competing. My mom, dad and I went tonight to check it out. Kentucky has beautiful evenings and it was an awesome opportunity to watch some amazing riders.
Tomorrow Me and Natalia will have a jump school, walk our course another million times and most importantly cheer on Kelly Loria and Madison Reeb as they will be doing their one star test! I have a good feeling about it!! Go area VI!
Xoxo Kelly and Chloe
Team mascot :)
Area VI!!
CAnisa, Me, Devon, and Karen at the press conference
"uhhhhhh........"
Amanda found a four leaf clover! Its going in my arm band

Best Chef!

My wonderful parents
So proud of her

she is so clean!
Area VI cheering her on!
so pretty!!
Natalia and Teqs!!!

Day One!

It has started!!
We had lessons first thing this morning and Chloe felt amazing! All the other girls came back reporting the same thing, I'm so excited for our team! We then spent our time getting ready for the trot up. We had some wardrobe malfunctions and ultimately a couple of us had to be sewn into our skirts, but all was well because in the end all the horses passed and that is what matters!! After the jog I walked my two star coarse for the first time ever and I know i have asked this many times before but cant we please just fast forward to cross country!?! The track looks amazing! It is a very galloping coarse and has some good questions and I honestly cannot wait to ride it! We also picked our order of go for the weekend and Natalia Gurmankin is first out, she is going by the name trail blazer now! Next out we have Tessa Becket and third out is Me and Chloe. I'm planning on going to the barn extra early to ride once before and the rest of the time will be dedicated to bathing her, I swear she plans on getting extra dirty the night before dressage. Today we also had the opening ceremonies and it was awesome getting to walk in the grand stand arena with all me team mates representing California. The competition has started my friends and i'm excited to trot down that center line tomorrow. For now though im going to go visualize my test some and SLEEP!!
Xoxo Kelly and Chloe

This is her giving me a dirty look. Braiding, FUN!
CHLOE IS CLEAN! This is also the skirt i was sewn into. It worked!
The worlds best groom and coach, aka my parents :)

Natalia and groom Amanda Sanchez, vet Laura Werner. Getting ready for her jog!

Getting ready for opening ceremonies, Go area VI!!!
The whole clan
Bounce into water and it goes to the turtle in the water. That is also a Styrofoam jump in. If a horse hangs a leg it will supposedly crumble.
Double corners
so many gallop fences, I love it!
Kelly Loria and Maddie Reeb and their beautiful horses!
The coach and Chef

Finishing touches...before it all begins!!!

Our area VI mascots!! My poor tortured dogs...
Area VI
Coach Dayna Lynd Pugh and Chef Shannon Lilley
Our decorated golf cart and curtains!!
Decorating the golf carts
Chloe and the young rider Antares stall guards
Area VI!!!
Today it actually started feeling like we were at a competition. Our coach, Dayna Lynd Pugh, our chef Shannon Lilley, our vet Laura Werner and our two grooms Scott Kuhlman and Amanda arrived! We rode early and had lessons. Chloe felt great! We then went on another long walk and I swear once you think you have seen the whole property, you haven't! I think maybe i got lost a few times, I was approached by more then one person saying "excuse me miss you seem to have lost your way." Whoops. The weather started out nice and sunny and a bit warm and within ten minutes it was lightning and thunderstorms. It alternated like that throughout the day, so different then California!! We spent the rest of the day hanging the rest of our banners, decorating our golf carts and checking out the shopping vendors (I'm guilty!). We had in-barns today and all the horses looked great. We also had our first mandatory meeting and it made me that much more anxious for the competition to start! Howard Simpson gave a great little talk. To sum it up he said that "yes some of us will receive medals this weekend and some of us may not have such good luck, but we have all worked so hard to get to this point and with that said we are all champions." It was so true. Looking at everyone on the area VI team, we have worked so hard to get to this point as I'm sure everyone has. The fact that we are here says a lot.
I left Chloe a little earlier tonight and I'm sure she is relieved to not have me there fussing over her every second. I think this may be one of my only chances to get to sleep at a decent time so im going to take advantage of it!!
Tomorrow we will have lessons again in the morning and then we have our trot up! That means the competition will have begun!! I will keep you all posted on the jog and hopefully have some good pictures :)
xoxo Kelly and Chloe