I’m still here at Chattahoochee Hills in Georgia. It’s a bit of an odd experience continuing to train and condition your horse for potentially the biggest competition of your life that you most likely won’t even be competing in. Bench warming to the extreme!! Arthur feels amazing. He is an entirely different horse and I know that if I am called in off the bench I will make the US proud. I so wish I had a definite spot on the team, but it is truly an honor to be in this company. I think Boyd said it best tonight: every rider and horse here is exceptional — there are no one hit wonders amongst us. I think the depth that the US team ended up having to choose from was so much better than anyone ever expected. I’m not sure how this happened, but it has and Team USA is only getting stronger. We do have a few older horses, but we also have many great younger horses coming along. The team camaraderie has been amazing here. I do wish Holly, Stephen and Will were still here as they are missed. The training has been going very well. Oded has helped produce a trot in Arthur that is absolutely unreal — I’m not entirely sure I can properly sit it! (Side note: Bettina Hoy is on grounds this week teaching — I hope I can somehow connect with her too — I think the quality of the gaits Oded has helped me to create combined with the incredible ringmanship and polish that Bettina produces would be a most deadly combination for the rest of the world)!!!! We had a gallop day today. Arthur did pull a shoe (which I didn’t realize until I got all the way home — after hacking all the way back on a gravel road). I think he will be OK as he is tough as nails and Steve Tichman (team farrier) will be here tomorrow. I have iced and packed the foot and he seems fine… fingers crossed. We have all found ourselves with a ton of extra time on our hands (just having one horse to train on).  I am getting caught up on computer work and organizing stuff. Arthur is in hog heaven being my only horse. He LOVES the individual attention. I probably should dedicate some of my extra time into training my dog, but I have decided he is soooo cute when he’s naughty that it just wouldn’t be right to change him!!!!

We just got word:
The team of four:
Phillip on Woodburn, Buck on Bally No Castle, Kim on Paddy, Boyd on Neville Bardos
The individuals:
Karen and Becky
The alternates:
Me, Amy, and an additional horse for both Boyd and Phillip.

I am disappointed not to have a definite spot but I know it’s not over until the fat lady sings. I have to stay here in GA for the next 10 days and train alongside the team just incase I am needed.

Arthur has been super so far! He did win the dressage by a healthy margin, but once again I wasn’t very satisfied with my effort. I felt like I gave away some very important points through pure pilot error. All in all, it was still very good!
The cross country looked like a lot of fun. It was definitely on the soft side, but unfortunately not the footing… Which was atrocious!!! It was so hard! They did aerate the course, but unfortunately there wasn’t a way to put much needed water on it. I was told (by the team selectors) go as fast as needed to jump the jumps well, but they didn’t care how slow we cantered around the course. It was definitely in my plan to win Richland & the AECs, but winning this competition by going fast on hard ground just wasn’t in my horse’s best interest. I think I showed the selectors exactly what I needed to show them today. My horse, once again was super!!

I am standing here with Arthur icing him after his last gallop prior to the AECs. I am so thrilled with how he has been training. We have developed such a wonderful partnership throughout these years together and I feel like we are at such a great place. This is such a tough sport to excel at and I am so grateful for all the experience I have gained from the challenging times. I cannot thank everyone enough for all the support, love and faith that has been shared with us to get us where we are today!

I think it’s a huge sign that things are going really well (as planned) with Arthur when I finish a competition mostly disappointed with my dressage — regardless of the fact that he won the dressage on a 29.1!!!! I chose Advanced test A because it had the most walking to do of all the tests — walk has been our weakest part of our dressage so I thought it would be a good idea to practice it. He was really super for the trot and canter work, but for the first part of the walk I kind of just “survived” it instead of riding it. Needless to say, there was a big chunk of my test that was not particularly good. The next day I had a walking only lesson with Oded!!!! I expect my walk to improve tons and hopefully leave my competition further behind!!! He was brilliant cross country. He skipped around and made time easily. I so wish the jumps were bigger and that there were a few more technical questions. It was a really fun course and the crew at Richland did a great job ensuring that the footing in the galloping lanes was great for us. My only complaint was that I was a little gappy to the coffin — and of course Capt. Mark was there to watch. I did, however, have a consistent forward thinking ride around the course and my horse made easy work of everything. It was great to have Katie and Henri Prudent at Richland to help all the US shortlisted riders. Arthur had a lovely smooth round so we finished on our dressage score with the win!!! Yay Arthur!!

The other two horses that I rode could not have been more fun to ride!! Running Woolfe finished on his dressage score in the Open Preliminary to end up 5th. He is only 6 years old and is one of the best jumping horses that I have ever sat on! Iron Cowboy, in just his third event ever, made his big move up to Training. It was a really tough Training show jumping and cross country. He show jumped very clear (leaving at least a foot to spare at every fence) and he had no jump penalties xc. We had some time as the xc had a lot of tough questions for a green horse and I wanted to ensure he had a solid and educational round. Now that he has received a qualifying result at his third recognized event he is now officially qualified for the AECs (he won in just his second outing at the Novice level).

Both Running Woolfe and Iron Cowboy are for sale — they are both tremendous athletes that are tremendously kind and fun!!! Check out my sales page!!! They will both be at the AECs!

This week exceeded my expectations. I was very curious to see if Arthur felt different to me after all the new work we have been doing with my Irish Cowboy friend Paddy. Paddy came to work with Arthur for a second time — the few days I was gone for GMHA last week — and I was really disappointed not to have been there to see his work as he said he made a huge breakthrough (fortunately I will connect with him again at Richland). Katie Prudent rode him while I was gone a couple times and she said he felt better than ever and I was curious to see if I felt the same. I DID!!!!! I DO!!!! My two lessons with Oded (the dressage coach for the US Team eventers) were brilliant. My horse is good on the flat but I always feel that if I could just get him relaxed in the ring he would blow the competition out of the water. He truly felt better than ever with Oded (and I hadn’t practiced any proper dressage since Germany!)! I got the most lovely text from a dressage friend who was watching the training sessions: “Hey don’t get big headed or think I’m just being nice because we are friends but you look a class above everyone out there today! Keep fighting for that spot!” It felt so nice to get that note from someone I respect so much. I just really hoped I would feel equally as thrilled with his jumping. And I DID!!!! I DO!!!! Today I was at the HITS Culpepper Jumper Show. My instructions going into the level 5s were to not help him at all… “If he had a rail, let him have them all.” I presume to make him think about it. I hate it when Katie gives me these instructions as we usually have a few down then which is so deflating. I also don’t like it when we don’t get a couple of really good bumps (rubs) in the warm up to make him think about the jumps prior to going in the ring. We jumped quite possibly one of the biggest fences I have ever jumped in my life in the warm up for the Level 5s (I can actually confirm that it was my biggest fence ever) and he did it with ease — it didn’t feel like an effort for him at all. So I go in the ring not having the rub I need to keep him careful with the instructions not to help him. I trust Katie completely so I gave it a go…. my horse didn’t touch a fence. He was brilliant — focused, happy and relaxed. Same with the level 6s (which was huge… bigger than a 4 Star). The only mistake we made was due to me dropping my rein and stick at the end of the course. I am so happy with my horse. I think all of our hard work is paying off!

Dusty won the Training Level Three Day event at GMHA this week! This was a goal that Dusty’s wonderful owner, Nancy Winter, and I had set for him at the beginning of the year. Dusty was bred by Nancy and is related to Nancy’s horse Tre Awain’s Belfast whom she was short listed with for the 1984 Olympic Games. It was great to have so many friends and family members there to share this special occasion with. I enjoyed spending so much time with the Smartpak Team (Lizzie, Colby & Erin). They are all really smart (and really fun) horse enthusiasts that truly represent what a great company Smartpak is! I enjoyed helping (along with fellow Haygain rider Bonnie Mosser) all the other competitors doing their first long format three day. I think everyone at the competition learned a ton, made some great new friends and had the time of their lives!
Here is a picture of Nancy “icing” Dusty’s legs Vermont style after xc.

Clifton Peekachu is undoubtedly one of the greatest horses in the United States. True to the Clifton name he is an unbelievably safe and good cross country horse, sturdy and sound. He has been a pure joy to work with and to see his Young Riders (Katlyn McMorris and Claire Kelley) win many NAYRC medals, achieve Katlyn’s Pony Club A-Rating, and teach these girls how to ride REALLY WELL!!! This horse never ceases to amaze me. At Luhmuhlen this year I had the opportunity to sit down with Frances Stead (she is Clifton Eventers) and tell her all this. I told her we needed more horses just like him in the States. Everyone needs a Peek! GREAT NEWS!! Frances is sending two Clifton horses to me later this month that fit the bill. One has more experience (has already done 3* competitions) and is the ultimate packer schoolmaster. He was initially purchased for her top rider to learn how to ride better dressage on.  He has a great record. True to the Clifton name he is a safe and straightforward cross country horse. His dressage is excellent as his his showjumping. He is a pet to be around! The second horse has done a little bit of everything. He is a super cute chestnut with chrome, has been successful in the 1.30 meter showjumping, place very well at his CCI* competition, consistently gets 8s & 9s in his dressage collective marks. Is a snaffle ride in all three phases and will fox hunt as well. Pretty amazing!!!! Please spread the word about these amazing horses! They will be available to try in Virginia at the end of the month. Email me any questions you might have: info@as.mythiclanding.com

I am on the plane (yes, AGAIN) coming home from the North American Young Riders Championships in Lexington, KY. My two amazing students Jamie March and Claire Kelley were here competing in the Junior One Star Championship for Area 4 (the same area I competed for as a young rider). I love these two girls so much and it has been such a joy for me to help turn their Young Riders dreams into reality. The two of them were both very pleased with their dressage tests. Jamie’s horse is quite difficult on the flat and I am so proud of the enormous improvement she has made with this horse throughout the year. She is such a hard working girl and an amazing student – it brought a tear to my eye to hear her so happy about her test. Yay Jamie!!! The unfortunate bit of the weekend is that Jamie’s horse came up with a mysterious lameness on Saturday morning and she had to withdraw him from the competition. I know this was devastating for her. Obviously, there was huge disappointment in not being able to compete. More impressively to me, and why I adore Jamie so much, was her huge concern for her horse — she loves that horse so much.  I know she is very sad and I wish I could have said or done something more to make her feel better. (I love you Jamie!!!). Claire’s weekend was not without tears either. Competitively she was fantastic. She finished with the individual Silver Medal and the Team Silver Medal. This was Clifton Peekachu’s 5^th NAYRC and his 5^th time medaling!! Yes she had a lot to be happy about, but again her sadness of having to give Peekachu back seemed to overshadow the joy of the amazing year she had with him (Peekachu was generously on lease from the McMorris family to Claire for the year). I love how much my girls love their horses. I think this is a great reminder to many professionals out there to never lose sight of why you got into this sport to begin with.

My dear friend, Paddy McKevitt has been in Virginia for the past few days working with Arthur. Paddy has worked with a number of different “Natural Horsemanship” trainers… I always am hesitant to use the natural horsemanship title as I feel it lumps to many different philosophies into one group. What most of these people are preaching is simply better communication with and how to train a horse properly – if you think about it, that is what pure dressage is. I have been fortunate enough to work with many great people, and I’m not sure where Arthur and I would be today without the patient and consistent guidance of Charlotte Dennis so many years ago. I do recognize that Arthur continues to be a very spooky horse and this has been the constant that I have to deal with him. He has made such great progress through the years, but I can still feel the fear and tension he carries in certain situations. Even in his dressage tests at Rolex and Luhmuhlen this year (where he was second both times) Arthur carried a lot of fear in the beginning portions of his test. If we could overcome this fear and tension, we would be blowing everyone out of the water in the dressage!  Arthur’s spook is very fear based. I think there was a small element of respect based behavior that developed through habit, but I do feel like I was able to address this through my day to day training. After Luhmuhlen, I really wanted to figure out if there was a better way than what I have been doing to proactively work on his spook and get him looking to me for more guidance when he becomes fearful. I had a great telephone conversation with Clinton Anderson (graciously set up by the folks at Haygain) which answered a lot of questions I had in my head about Arthur and helped me to put a plan into motion for him. I asked Paddy to come out and help me with Arthur, because I felt that he offered something a bit more and different than I have been exposed to before that would specifically address the “extremely” fearful and spooky horse. Specifically trying to get him thinking more about his fear and looking to me for guidance as opposed to just making it that much more difficult for him when he does spook. The work that I did with Paddy in the past few days was so amazing. What I loved about working with him is that the work we did on the ground and in the round pen translated so effortlessly into my everyday riding and training. I am thrilled about the progress we made in such a short time.