Three weeks of snow, sleet and rain--mixed in with a little Freds and a Novice run.

"The rain, rain, rain came down, down, down and piglet started sailing..." This is the first line from one of my favorite Winnie-the-Pooh songs. Global warming is really hitting Texas hard this year--2009 was no cake walk either but the latest 2010 weather causes me to break into song and dance on occasion.








This picture was taken 3 days after the clinic!

We barely made it through the Fredericks clinic. A week of torrential down pour leading up to the Team Fredericks Eventing Clinic threatened the integrity of the footing at Denton Creek Farm located in Decatur Texas. Thanks to the great planning of Lori and Stacey the weekend went on without a glitch. For three days the Fredericks tag teamed 15 riders. Scary and I had a private lesson with Clayton on Friday. Saturday we started over poles with Lucinda and finished over fences with Clayton. Saturday night we went out for a fancy dinner and the weekend closed with a XC day on Sunday. The increased rain fall in north Texas has done Scary ‘good’. He’s been forced into puddle after puddle at home and come Sunday at Denton Creek he jumped right into the water complex without the slightest hesitation. We even jumped a small log in the water. Harry leaped and cracked his back so hard that he had all of the auditors giggling and I even caught a glimpse of his white bell boots INFRONT of his nose. I was looking ahead [not down]--that is how high he jacked up his legs! Lucinda worked deliberately with me on XC skinnys which will play a big part in all of my jumping technique, XC and SJ.
The Freds were definitely no walk in the park. I was surprised no one cried. Lucinda was really mean with her pole work and started yelling quite a bit during the Saturday lessons.






The Freds said that Scary was a lovely type, had great scope, a powerful jump, great movement and is a superb 4 star prospect.





Saturday night party with the Freds!

The best quote of the weekend:"Dressage is all about confidence and bullshit."~Clayton Fredericks~

The rain picked up at the end of my session on Sunday and was then followed by 12 inches of snow in Azle that Thurs-Fri (2/11)! We had a CT planned for the weekend but it was [obviously] snowed out (2/14). Scary has his first Novice recognized HT coming up (2/27) and I needed to get him out to jump around a novice sized SJ course (something that he had not yet done).

Quick thinking by “yours truly” landed us a spot in the Novice division CT at Quail Run this past weekend (2/21). But the rain did not stop! A major thunder storm swept through north Texas Sunday AM leaving the dressage arena a wee tad, well, gross. We had slop and sun for our dressage test and SJ warm up. Just before entering the arena to jump around the temperature dropped dramatically and the rain started coming down again. Not warm Texas rain but cold, windy, skin stinging rain. I felt like I was in England! My arms turned red due to the wind and cold but I LOVED jumping around in the inclement weather and it did not bother the Scare Master in the slightest. He jumped around clean and true to form staying well within my hand and leg. The best SJ we have had to date. He placed 2nd out of a 17 horse division and was out sported only by a veteran horse who is the former Area V Training Level HOY and T3D Champ.





We are due to receive some more rain and snow tomorrow but should be fine for the weekend to come at the Texas Rose Horse Park located in Tyler, TX. Harry’s 2nd Novice trip will take place at Pine Hill in Bellville, TX the first weekend in April.

Check back April 5th for Harry’s Novice HT results.