New Year, New Start

The New Year is here (bringing along with it unusually cold temperatures for Maryland), and with the New Year comes talk of plans, goals, and schedules. No matter how many times we say we won't make plans, we still do it, knowing that something will come along and change them. It can be rough, but that's ok, no one ever said dealing with horses, especially horses at the competitive level, would be easy.

So, now that the holidays are over, the horses' winter vacations are finished, and all the humans are home from their travels (Tom and Clare traveled to Egypt! How cool!), we are settling into a rhythm of long hacks, dressage schools, and gymnastics. The horses are refreshed and raring to go after well deserved vacations, and more than a few of the humans are happy to be back on their favorite horses (even if it means dealing with cold weather induced shenanigans!). We have a barn full of exciting horses, new and old, which makes the start of the 2009 eventing season even more greatly anticipated.

Here's our exciting roster:

• Sundown- "Dunny" is Tom's NZ horse that we imported almost 2 years ago. Dunny is the first "made" horse Tom has ever ridden, which has proven to be a challenge. Riding a horse someone else has brought up the levels can often be like trying to talk to someone speaking a foreign language. Instead of jumping around big tracks and going to three days, as we planned (there's that nasty little word), Tom has spent the last two years trying to translate his language to Dunny's. Finally, between paitence and perseverance and some management changes, things are falling into place. We are cautiously optomistic that Tom and Dunny will finally get out and compete.
• Vernon Tiger- Vernon was supposed to be a sale horse. We found him in late 2007 as a three year old, and thought he was the right type to bring up a bit and sell on. Again, things don't always go as planned! Last year as a four year, Vernon proved to be a classy little guy. Also, when tried by potential buyers, would fail to show his class (we joked that he didn't want to leave. Apparently, it was true). Then the economy started to take a nose dive, and no one was shopping. And finally it became pretty apparent that he and barn manager Amanda were a good match. So, he's sticking around, and will be moving up to Training level this spring. That's it. He's too young to make too many plans with. We'll just play it by ear!
• Idealized- How much do we love "Zeke"? Zeke raked his owner, Curran and everyone else at Faircroft through the coals the last couple of years. Lameness issue after lameness issue without an end in sight. We were sure at times we were close to having to retire one of our favorite horses at a fairly young age. But last spring we finally sorted him out and he and Curran attempted their first few training level events together. He reminded us all why we love him to pieces (despite his usual silliness and the occasional nipping and grumping). He and Curran will continue you at training level this year, with two goals in mind: a move up to prelim if all is well and the Waredaca Training Three Day Event!
• Alfie- Curran has also aquired a "little" brother for Zeke (at 17h, Alfie towers over 16.1h Zeke...so, maybe he's not THAT little). He's very green but very talented and athletic. No real plans for him other than just seeing what he can do. Tom will take him out a few times in the spring, then hand the reins over to Curran. This guy is super cool, so should be a really fun one watch develop.
• Classic Courage- Poor Julia has had a tough time with horses over the last couple of years. Between horses that just didn't work out and horses that decided to just not be sound, her eventing career has been hit and miss, to say the least. However, Tom changed all of that when he went on a hunch and encouraged Julia to purchase Indi. What a great hunch! He is proving to be her perfect partner and we are all very excited to see Julia on a horse that is good at all three phases, has been there, done that and has more than a few t-shirts, and is a charmer to boot! With Indi's help, Julia might finally get to break out of her "one event every other year" cycle.

So there's a quick run down of some of our exciting critters. There's more, of course, and the others make us smile and look toward the future just as much as these five do. How lucky are we to have a barn full of such fantastic horses!?

Happy New Year everyone! Stay warm and kick on.