Finalized Times for Saturday!

Clinic Times 9/22

10:30 Demo

11:15 Pat T

12:00 Megan S

12:45 Jill M

1:30 Dawn

Clinic Times

Clinic Times 9/22

10:30 Demo

11:15 Pat T.

12:00 Megan S.

12:45 Jill M.

1:30 Kathy W.

The shortened day makes it easy to scamper over to Plantation Field to watch those brave eventers leaping over massive obstacles! :)

Yeah, it's pretty awesome!

Wylie waiting to go compete

As it's a tad chilly out there this morning, I'm taking a minute for some self indulgent "Atta boy Wally!" praise! His daughters were simply rockstars this weekend...

They were fine with being caught in the pitch dark at 4 AM, being brought in the barn, cleaned up, loaded like they've done it every day all year and shipped like champs to Bel Air. Then they calmly unloaded, got tacked up, whinnied a few times, and then hung out until it was their turn to show. No fuss. No great prep routine with hours of lunging or tons of schooling. Briana had come up a few days before and jumped over 1 X, a vertical and a small oxer several times...other than that, they've been working on their dressage training! So the show was a Holiday from that!

Wylie hanging out waiting her turn

Wilona catching a nap

Wilona watching Wylie head to the ring

Now we have carefully picked the mares we bred to Waldaire - several generations into this whole breeding adventure, there are some do's and don'ts that we've figured out...but he really does make "rider friendly" horses. They learn their job (do whatever the humans tell them to do) and go do it. What more can a rider ask for?

'Nuff said.

Last call for Long Lining Sign Ups!

This is the last call for participants to sign up for the long lining clinic on Saturday September 22nd!

Email Ellie (elllie@watermark-farm.net) to reserve your time slot of choice!

Auditors, please remember to bring a chair!

Times will be posted later today!

Videos!!

Wylie Hack - http://youtu.be/Cbio0R61ezE

Wylie Round 2 - http://youtu.be/OyossXKQj_E

Wylie Round 1 - http://youtu.be/c9n8nwDoYO8

Wilona Hack - http://youtu.be/ttJNZcd_Y54

Wilona Round 1 - http://youtu.be/qejOzwKqsMU

Wilona Round 2 - http://youtu.be/4zW7r-XxNHA

So they're pages are being updated on the server! Enjoy! 

It's SHOWTIME!

So we packed up two of the mares that enjoy their bit of jumping and met one of our working students from the summer of 2011 - Briana for a day of fun! We went to what our Dressage friends would know as Heavenly Waters...but in the land of hunters - it was the Hartford Hunter Show Series Benefit Show! :)

Wilona and Wylie had a BLAST! They've only hopped over jumps a handful of times here at the farm this year but (obviously) do not need much prep work to go compete! Their intense dressage lifestyle worked just fine...

Wylie competed in the Schooling Hunter Division which had a fairly large group of competitors, from amateurs to professional coaches and trainers.

She jumped very nicely but was not quite "the type" that they are looking for in Hunterland that day. But her changes were clean, her form is tidy and she enjoyed herself, so we consider the day a resounding success!

Wilona rocked the Baby Green Division. Plain and simple. She went in right after Wylie's hack, jumped a beautiful round to capture the blue ribbon, had a small rider error in the 2nd round, a good hack for a 2nd place and returned home with a Championship to her credit! So it's safe to say she enjoys life as a show hunter! :)

So many thanks go out to our crew here at home! Thank you to Monika for videoing the rides! Thanks to Briana for riding with her fantastic style! Thanks to the organizers of the show for running such a friendly show - even my DQ self felt comfortable in the strange environment! :) 

Links and embedded videos will be posted later! Happy Riding!

11,900 FANS! THANK YOU!

Facebook is an interesting creature. No, it really is an entity of it's own! We rolled 11,900 fans yesterday and are motoring along closer and closer to 12,000...which is just huge.

I'll be working on a celebratory album for that milestone...there are some ideas floating around but it is something that had to be commemorated.

But for what it's worth, our most popular countries are Jordan, Argentina, Greece, the US, France, UK and Czech Republic. There are no US cities in our Top 10. It's definitely neat to think that we're more popular overseas than here at home! Thank you to all our foreign friends, fans and supporters! You guys are awesome!!! :)

Ticking along! Updates on what's around the corner...

Wylie

Wilona

So let's see, there is a hunter show (unrecognized) coming up this weekend. If all goes according to plan, there are few horses that will be going to compete a bit with one of our working students piloting. :) So that will be fun!


Then there is a chance of taking a few horses next door for a local dressage schooling show the following Friday...just have to decide who is ready to go for an adventure in a new location! Lots to look forward to over there, too! The debate is on for who will go do that!

Then we have our own long lining clinic here on the farm on the 22nd! Sign up sheets and more information are available HERE.

That is also the same weekend as the Plantation Field International Horse Trials over in Unionville! What a super opportunity to see top horse and rider combinations tackling all three phases at a high level in a beautiful venue!

Almost immediately after Plantation, it's time for Dressage At Devon! 

The Breed Show starts on Tuesday the 25th and Thursday the 27th is the overlap day with the start of the Performance Show which runs over the entire weekend! So if you're a breeder, this is a super opportunity to see all the fashionable bloodlines in person, followed up by some of the top partnerships at the highest levels!

That's getting us through September! October 6th brings a Young Breeders Training Seminar out in New Oxford, PA (near Gettysburg) at Magic Rose Farm. It is also an open Breeders Seminar. There is a sign up form with more information available HERE. If you're curious what the YB Program is, you can learn more about it HERE. One of our working students won awards in France last summer and had a marvelous learning experience about what goes into the "science" and selection of breeding stock!

Don William (L) Adelaide (R)

Wallace 

All in all - things are just getting busier! We'll be trying to get more horses out and about to school and compete off of the farm! All of the sales horses are improving daily - we have a handful schooling through the 4th level tests, so we might hold off on showing until those movements are confirmed and "show ready"! :) 

 Happy Riding!!

Whodini