Thursday, January 5, 2012

Aiken Bound!

I get asked a lot about the biggest differences between eventing on the west coast and the east coast. Up until now I have always come up with random answers like the footing, travel time, one days vs three days and so on. Now the answer is very clear to me though, east coasters have to move during the winter seasons! Now you see I always knew this but I have not experienced it. The past three days have been dedicated to packing up all of our belongings, horse and people stuff and packing, packing, packing! Usually Allison packs up the barn heads to Wellington, Fl for a month then packs up all over again and heads to Aiken, SC for three months. Luckily this time we are only packing for Aiken! We are pretty much packed and ready to head out Saturday morning with three trucks and trailers and two cars filled to the brim! Now everyone back here finds this to be completely normal, Allison even asked if my moms barn in California was packing up and moving for the winter. They don't know any different, but to me..its insane! I guess on the bright side it gives us a chance to really clean everything and I even donated a few boxes of clothes to goodwill! The weather has been equally insane, the other night was a low of 11 and I got stuck in snow for the first time. This month has brought on a whole new side of this crazy sport we call eventing!
Christmas was wonderful for me, I got to go home and spend it with my family and since Chloe is back in work now I trusted her to Helen to ride while I was away. I cant tell you how I excited I am to have her be back in work! I think both of us were going a little crazy! She looks like a true pasture pony, long hair, furry coat, and mud stains all over her. I decided I would let her enjoy it until Aiken. She has been doing light flat work and feels AMAZING! I have a really good feeling about this season!
On the news front I have acquired a new sponsorship with SmartPak. They are a fantastic company who specializes in supplements and on top of that carries any product you could wish for from clothing to tack to gifts to dog products. I am so thrilled to be in partnership with this company!
We leave for Aiken in a few short days and I cant wait to get down to business. Chloe will be attending a lot of dressage shows and Allison will be getting in at least 6 new client horses which means a lot of riding! Chloe will be shooting for Jersey Fresh CCI three star in the spring and then we will go from there! I will be sure to keep you all posted as our season starts.
Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season and once again thank you for reading!!

Fair Hill CCI 3***
xoxo
Kelly,Chloe and Buckleigh