Well, I have proven once again that I am not good at keeping a diary, journal, and now add blog. I'm going to try again, since I just started another one to talk about my other passion, crewel embroidery. Let's see if I can't be a bit better at this!
To catch up... Afton Mountain is doing really really well! His barn name is Owen, and it fits him very well. He's my little punk kid -- puts on a tough exterior and gives you "the eye" but when push comes to shove, he's not nearly as tough as he thinks.
Here is a video of his 2nd Cross Country Schooling session, at Bucks County Horse Park. Not bad!!
I have taken things very slowly with Owen, letting him learn and grow at his own pace and not some pre-determined schedule. He takes things personally, hates to make a mistake, and when he does make a mistake, it takes some time to get his confidence back. He had a good season last year (2010) at Beginner Novice, winning at New Jersey Horse Park, and qualifying for the Area II BN Championships. That was only his 3rd recognized HT, and he didn't pin, but took everything totally in stride! I decided he had earned to move up to Novice, so we went to Virginia for the VA HT in November. He was a star, calm and steady in dressage (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CMqmoLzYlQ), not at all intimidated by the coliseum for show jumping, and brave and fast on XC. He finished in 5th place, behind at least 3 professionals on young horses.
Over the winter, we didn't get to jump very much, and when we started up in the Spring, we both had some issues. I was not riding forward enough (too much time in the indoor) and Owen wasn't confirmed enough to forward on his own. Our timing sucked, and he began stopping at jumps when he wasn't sure. We had two crashing stops in show jumping at Loudon PC HT in April at Novice (but he was good on XC!) I decided it was back to the drawing board, big time, and sought the assistance of Debbie Adams, a pro in South Jersey with whom I had ridden in the past. I was going to scratch the Flora Lea HT, but stayed entered and dropped to BN instead. Between Debbie and my 'home trainer' Maureen, we got him going more confidently forward, and at Flora Lea, he only had one bobble, but kept moving forward so only a rail down, not a stop. His dressage was really good, his cross country even better, for a nice pretty red ribbon. If I can figure out again how to get the videos off the camera and onto YouTube, I'll post them!
Debbie really really likes this horse :-) Eric Smiley said he was a lovely upper level prospect. I am taking my time, to let this horse develop to his best potential. He will be for sale at some point, but I'm having too much fun with him and learning too much. I am not sure I'll have the guts to go Preliminary again, but we'll see when we get there. If not, Debbie has said she will ride him, and then he will be on the market.
So, for now, my money is going into training and not competing. Hopefully we'll be back to competing in the next month or two.
And I promise... I won't to over 2 years without posting again :-)
