To say that 2021 was a great year is an understatement. This year I have reached so many personal goals with my horses, and I have also grown my Marketing+Design business. I have an amazing group of people supporting me in both aspects of my life. I am both grateful and blessed.
I started out the season with Spring Bay – the Area 8 season opener. I was able to keep Fox Hunting Willow and Calisto through out the winter, so the rust was not too thick. I took SS Palantir training level (6th) and SS Full of Hope novice level (4th). It was a great show and if felt great to get back out there.
Next was Miami Valley, a new show for us. I took Palantir and Willow, both in the open training. It was a very muddy weekend, but the show staff did an amazing job keeping the footing safe. I finished 2nd on Palantir and got my first TE in years on Willow, for jumping the wrong fence in show jumping. Oh well!
Next was May Daze, with Palantir (Training Level) and Willow (Modified/Training). This was another great outing, placing 2nd in both divisions on my dressage scores. Willow had a wonderful show jumping round at the Modified level, and Palantir was excellent in the XC, where we made time. Whoop!
The next outing was IEA Horse Trials. I took Full of Hope (Novice) and Willow had her debut at Modified level! What a fun experience. Dressage was decent, we had .8 time faults on XC and 1 rail (my fault) in the show jumping. We finished in 4th. Full of hope had a green but good outing and finished 6th.
Then on to Champagne Run at the Park. It was the boys turn to show! I took Palantir (Training) and Full of Hope (novice). Palantir won his division on his dressage score of 24.8! Such a good boy. Full of Hope finished third on his dressage score of 33.1. All those lessons are really helping 🙂
Next up, Hoosier Horse Trials. This time I took Willow (Modified) and Palantir (Modified). Palantir has a total meltdown in the dressage phase. He was spooking at the pony in the next ring, nearly getting us eliminated. So frustrating! Our worst score ever. I pressed on, and had a lovely, double clear show jumping round. The ground was very hard, so I just cruised him around the XC. He jumped great, with many many time faults. Willow, on the other hand, had a wonderful dressage test, scoring a 29.1. We show jumped double clear and only had 2 time faults XC. She won the division! Not to shabby for her second outing at Modified!
USEA Eventing Championships. I entered both Willow and Palantir in the Champs. After dressage, Palantir’s back leg blew up with cellulitis, so I scratched him and took him home. Willow continued and ended in 8th place on her dressage score of 30.7. It was a big class, so I was very pleased! Palantir healed up nicely.
Hagyard Midsouth HT: I entered Palantir in the T3D! We had so much fun. It was an excellent education for him and he really stepped up to the plate! He scored a 28.7 and went clear across the board for endurance day! He was very well behaved all weekend. Sadly, I had 1 rail in the show jumping, knocking us down to 6th. I am very proud of him and he is currently on his vacation. Willow was a super star in the OT division, and WON on her dressage score of 31.0.
Octoberfest HT: Since Full of Hope was sidelined most of the year, growing new hoof, I took him to Octoberfest. He did the Novice HT and we won on our dressage score of 25.9! He was such a good boy! Cosmo will be out eventing much more in 2022! He is healthy and ready to roll!
TRYON CCI1-L: This is it! FEI class for Willow. I have been working towards this for a very long time. I have had to overcome so many road blocks getting back to FEI level over the years. The 1 star is run at Modified level. Although Willow is still quite green at the level, I felt like it would be a great learning experience for both of us.
Dressage was a bit tense. Tryon is such a big atmosphere with all the grandstands and big lights. We did the best we could and scored a 36.4. I felt like is was a fair score, however, I know we can do better next time. I wore my new navy shadbelly, so I was super happy! Willow was a machine on XC! Talk about a fantastic round! She did get very strong so I had to spend too much time setting her up. I also came out of the start box a bit too quiet. We had 6 time faults, but a super clear and fun round! Show jumping was really tough. We ended up jumping under the lights of the stadium. Willow was really nervous and shaking outside the in gate. She shut down on me a bit and I did not know how to ride her like that. We had 4 (OMG) rails…. BUT we finished! Yikes! I feel like she could not read the fences very well without any shadows. In hind site, I wish I would have galloped her around the ring and kicked her harder going to the first fence. Lesson learned.
All said and done, what fantastic year! A Huge Thank You to all my supporters! Looking forward for to 2022!
