Red Hills!

It was great to go back to Red Hills! The event did not run in 2009 and there was some concern that it wouldn’t come back. Fortunately for all, it is back on the calendar and what a truly amazing event it is! The organizing committee does such a phenomenal job of making the entire experience great for everyone — riders, horses, spectators, sponsors, volunteers, and vendors. Everyone is happy there and it is great to ride in front of a crowd with the atmosphere of a big time show. This year Red Hills used a new cross country course designer, Hugh Lachore, which was a welcomed change by all. The courses were beautiful — they were all challenging (Red Hills is supposed to be a challenging event) but fair. The World Cup showjumping was HUGE and technical — just what Arthur and I needed to practice! Arthur had a phenomenal weekend! His dressage wasn’t a bit excited so we didn’t score as well as usual (we actually should have scored as well as usual, but of the three judges I had a 70% a 69% and a 58% — obviously the 58% was way off mark with an 11% difference… oh well). Cross country he was a super star, although we did have a loose horse chasing us for the first part of the course! The best part was the show jumping. We had a great warm up and then went in the ring nailed it!!! He jumped beautifully, I rode well, and we finished 5th!
Another highlight of the weekend was my student Claire Kelley’s success. She was in an incredibly competitive CIC* division. She needed this qualifier for the North American Young Riders Championships this fall. We were mostly concerned with having a solid performance to ensure the qualifying result, but a HUGE added bonus to have her ride so well and finish 2nd!! Well done Claire!!!!