Pine Top Bound!!!

Farrah and Sinead are off the wait list and are competing this weekend at Pine Top in Georgia!!!

Ride times dressage: stadium jumping: cross country.

Sinead Halpin	Forrest Nymph  Beth Davidson	Saturday	11:38am	1	Sat.	1:28pm	Sun.	2:58pm

Video Open Preliminary XC!

Courtesy of the Horse Pesterer!

Many thanks to David for shooting some excellent video of Sinead and Farrah cruising around the Open Preliminary at Ocala Horse Properties last weekend.  On to Pine Top in two weeks!  Sinead and Farrah finished in 4th place in their division, the first time this pair has been out at Preliminary!  Go Pony.

Farrah Conquers Ocala's New Water Hazard!

Farrah and Sinead toughed it out in the rain at Ocala Horse Properties this past weekend!  The rain and 500 entries was a strain at the facility and there were quite a few divisions with a lot of scratches, but many stayed to play.  So glad we did and Sunday was gorgeous and sunny and Farrah and Sinead finished on a clean XC in 4th.

Tomorrow I will post a bit of cross country video, but suffice it to say that Sinead and Farrah jumped fantastically all weekend and had a great first preliminary.  Love the RedHead and her new rider.  Wonderful weekend all the way around as former stable mates of Farrah's managed to finish well:  Mia and Lauren DeLalla were 2nd at BN and Nataly Pacheco and Mateo were 6th at Training.  Great pony weekend for Black Dog Farm and Team SHE.

First one down, hopefully many more to come!!

Farrah after her training cross country run at Rocking Horse.

Farrah and Sinead completed their first event together and I would say it was a success!  With less than 2 months together, they laid down a 30.5 in the dressage (the Redhead's least favorite phase) and came home with nothing added to their score to finish in 7th in an open training division.  The test included a few bobbles so we know that score can get lower and Farrah finds the training test a bit boring.  That's ok, Farrah, Sinead has you entered in the preliminary division at Ocala Horse Properties, so game on.

Farrah has a Question.

Farrah would like to know if she can get a plane ride to Mexico, please.

Sinead somehow picked the coldest week in Florida to jet to warmer Mexico and Farrah is a tad jealous. The pony is not super fond of the cold and is anxiously awaiting her rider's return now that their first show has been entered!!

Have fun Sinead and Tik and we will see you next week.  Hopefully you will bring back warmer weather on your return!

Farrah and Sinead Christmas Update

Merry Christmas from the RedHead!

Last weekend I got to go up and see how Farrah and Sinead were getting on.  The Redhead has never looked more relaxed and happy in her work.  Sinead is pleased with their partnership so far and we are all so excited for the upcoming season!  

Sinead will be jetting off to Mexico (there's a pesky little thing like a wedding occurring in early January) but I can't wait to see these two competing this winter!  Have a great New Year's everyone and the Redhead sends her love!

And so the whirl wind weekend begins!

The Redhead looking very red.

I always look forward to December....for me it typically means that the work load at my day job is a bit lighter, the ponies are all freshly clipped and we get to enjoy riding in cooler temperatures.  I was rather envisioning that packing up all of Farrah's finery and assorted gear would happen in nice cool weather at a pace I could enjoy.  Apparently the gods above want to make sure I am way off base, because that is not what has transpired this December.

I booked one Dressage TD gig at White Fences (14/15), but I didn't really worry as Farrah was scheduled to leave the 5th of December to join Sinead Halpin Eventing in Ocala.  After a few phone emails and calls we realized Sinead will be at the USEA convention, and moved  Farrah's trip to Ocala to the 9th. No problem, everything was still trucking along as I slowly wash and pack various items in the trailer so that nothing super important gets left behind.

I booked a clinic with Lisa Barry for my farm on December 8th.  I was super excited to ride with Lisa and managed to fill the clinic with 12 rides!  Then I get a phone call from a friend in Orlando, the TD that she hired can't come because they worked the same dates for the past two years and USEF requires show managers to vary their TD's, so by the way can you come to Clarcona to work 7/8?  Now I have to miss my own clinic and there goes the weekend time I had set aside to finish packing for Farrah!

I was still feeling super organized on Wednesday, while working on a lovely property in south Florida (field biologist), when I got a phone call from Canada.  Lee (a dressage rider and person interested in one of my young horses) called and had found out a friend was going to FL and oh, by the way, they could transport Connor back to Canada with them on the 15th.  Could I possibly get the export papers together and arrange vetting and get him to Port Canaveral for a 6am departure on the 15th?  I am pretty sure I answered "Sure, no problem" but in reality I was thinking "Wait, what and OMG!  This will never happen in time."

My fantastic vet met me that night at 8pm to fill out USDA paperwork for a one way equine border crossing. Thankfully, Connor's coggins is less than six months old and with luck, his USDA paperwork will be back by Wednesday of next week.  At this point, I was still wondering how on earth I am going to get a yearling from my farm in Plant City to Port Canaveral (or some close by farm) while working in Loxahatchee, not to mention I have yet to finish packing Farrah's stuff or laundering her blankets!  I was already using some vacation time on Monday to deliver Farrah, and asking my non-horsey husband to load and deliver a baby who has trailered a whopping three times in his life seemed like a lot to ask!  Once again, I totally lucked out in that one of my college aged boarders has a birthday the weekend of the 14/15 and is planning on going home to visit family.  She also owns a truck and trailer and lives 20 minutes from the Port!  Another college boarder at the farm dates a young man whose mother just happens to have a quarter horse breeding facility also near the Port, so not only does Connor have a ride to the east side of the state, he has overnight lodging!  I am still not sure how we managed to pull all this together, but it actually looks like it might work!

Now all I have to do is finish packing the Redhead's gear, with a Christmas Parade tonight (daughter is singing on a float) and working the Clarcona show all day Saturday and Sunday, while missing out on my own clinic with Lisa.  When we hit the road with Farrah around noon on Monday it will be short of a miracle if I don't leave something behind.

Somehow next week I need to find time to remind a yearling he does actually load in a trailer, after delivering the Redhead to Sinead.  I get to work something like 20 straight days by working the White Fences show, so if you see me after the 15th and are wondering where the farm Christmas decorations are, I hope to get around to it before the New Year!

I am looking forward to meeting Sinead and crew, seeing friends at the Clarcona and White Fences shows, and as my daughter says, "GAME ON".