What  a wonderfull weekend in Wayne, IL. My roomate and I, decided to head to Chicago late Tuesday night and experienced quite the roadtrip. Between meeting racehorse trainers, getting lost in KY, and a 16 hr. trip it was definatly an experience. We arrived in Chicago and changed our plans because Revitavet was going to work on our horses for free, and I love free stuff. So Murphy got a massage and went for a little hack around the showgrounds. Finally Ali and I made it home to get a quick nights rest before dressage for me!

Dressage Day: Murphy looked great and felt wonderful. I had a great warmup and a think he was just a tad tired from our trip. We ended up with a 36, not his best score, but I was happy because the shoulder Inn and lengthings impoved. We were sitting 4th after dressage.

Cross Country: The course looked really fun with a lot of skinny, accuracy questions. In warmup I knew I had to jump clean and fast to move up, as many people wern't making the time. Murphy exceeded my expecatations. He was super quick, and really easy to ride. Im not going to lie, I really just have to point and shoot. Guess I did a good job training him, and we just have that bond that clicks. I ended up with 1.6 time penalites adn moved into 2nd place. The only issue I had on course was at the first water, fence 5, we had a rolltop drop in, 5 strides up a mond to a roll top, 5 strides to a skinny brush out of the water. Well we got to a good distance at 5A and when he landed he jumped right, and there was a moment I thought I might fall. Thank you to pony club I k ick and finished the combination without stirrups or reins. I was very impressed with my riding skills :) So im pretty sure I lost my 1.6 time penatlies there regaining my stirrups and reins. After an afternoon of icing, I was getting pretty nervous to showjump.

Showjumping was WONDERFUL. Thank you so much to Craig Thompson who has really helped me with my confindence and adjustablility on course. He jumped clean, and I managed to stay very focused on my task at hand. I rode backwards a little to fence four, and was pretty lucky. After that I knew I had to ride forward. Clean through the triple and I knew we were going home with reserve champion.  Murphy and I recieved a ton of prizes for SSG Gloves, Saratoga Horse works, FITS breeches, Nutrena, and Bit of Britian. Thank you so much to John Nunn and Bit of Britian for getting all the prizes together, it was a fantistic event and I can't wait till next year!!!!

(Pictures to come!)

WOW.... plans always change with horses. So basically I have been super busy riding and teaching lots of students... and getting ready for Fair Hill. I feel like I live out of my trailer, I am going to gallop 2x a week and then usually a jump or dressage lesson. Its NUTS!

I must say I am very impressed with my students lately. Taylor and Morgan have really done a great job working on there positions and really starting to understand the concepts of inside rein to outside leg. Im excitied to see what the rest of the fall will bring....

But the good news is, is Murphy is all better. The abcess cleared up pretty quickly. I have decided to go to American Eventing Championships.  He is qualified for PH, JYOP, and OI but i deceided to run the JYOP as I think we can be the most competitve and will be a great confindence booster. We leave tonight and will be trenching toward Chicago on a 14 hr. trailer ride.... Wish us luck!