Thursday, April 28, 2011

Killer llamas, Fair Hill, and oh yes Rolex too

We have been here in Virgina for a few weeks now and I have to say it is absolutely gorgeous here. The barn is beautiful, the town is cute and there are horses everywhere. Chloe seems to be settling really nicely too!
Last week Chloe and I headed to a local hill to do some hill work before Fair Hill. That was where we ran into the Killer llamas. Poor Chloe was really not having any of it and in the process of trying to load her, protect her from the llamas and doing this all by myself she managed to slice open her bum on the trailer window. So now I have a white horse, blood everywhere, llamas still threatening her life (not really) and a trailer I could not load her in all on the side of the road. Thank goodness for the nice gardener who came and helped. Otherwise I might still be there! 14 stitches and staples later she was good as new and will definitely have a nice scar to remind her of those killer llamas. I have not returned for hill work yet but I am contemplating finding a new one. Silly horses.
Fair Hill was last weekend and Chloe was fantastic! Dressage was good, definitely not our best test but it scored well. The judge really liked her trot work. The canter was a bit tense but I felt I was able to keep it together. The weather was pretty awful and unfortunately cross country day got the worst of it. The course was nice and the Fair Hill crew did a fantastic job of keeping the footing as good as possible. I ran Chloe really slow because of the footing and she felt great. She answered all the questions with confidence and walked off the course feeling like a champ. I was really pleased! Show jumping brought better weather and the course was riding really nicely. There were a few rails here and there but overall it looked like fun. Chloe went in and jumped a super double clear round and once again I felt like she had grown up.
Allison had four competing and brought Burger and Arthur along for the ride. Her two in the Two star were fantastic. Zeizos and Murray both ended on their dressage scores and Murray placed second. Congrats to the owner Sarah Hughes!
We got home late Sunday night and continued out packing for Rolex. Allison and Grace left Monday morning and I so wish I was with them! I have a full barn here but I cant complain too much because I do have a lot of nice horses to ride in Allisons absence. Allison has so far had a good Rolex trip. She won a pair of Duberrys for being the best dressed, she also won a rider drawing for a Rolex Watch and now she is currently sitting in first after dressage. I'm going to go ahead and say that she is in fist because on Sunday I rode Arthur on a walk hack. Clearly that was it.
Today I got done at 6 and to be honest I cant remember the last time I have been done that early. I almost felt guilty leaving the barn at that time. I took advantage of it and did some much needed laundry and made it to the store for grocery's. That was exciting!!
Chloe does not have a show until the end of the month where we will go to Georgia for Chattahoochee Hills. Until then we will continue our dressage boot camp and hopefully have no more run ins with llamas. Until then good luck to all you Rolex riders!!

xoxo
Kelly, Chloe and Buckleigh


It was nice for Nick to have a friend this weekend

I fail as a mom and definitely got creative with Buckleighs makeshift blanket. A rag and tail wrap.

Who knew that huge turtles were common here or anywhere for that matter??

This is Chloe and her pasture buddy (babysitter) poppy.


Can you spot Buckleigh? He loves going on our walk hacks.

Walk hack with Chloe