So right after the New Jersey show, I headed out for a clinic at the Foster's in northern WI. Katie was getting prepared for more young rider qualifiers and she doesn't get any help except when I fly up there for clinics. That kid is doing such an amazing job all by herself!!

So the clinic went great and I had full days of lessons. I just love it when all the students are truly interested and stay and watch all the lessons. It becomes quite an interactive clinic, and I feel you can always learn something from watching. It may not be your lesson today, it may have been your lesson a year ago, or it could be your lesson in a month, but you can always learn! Never hurts to hear the principles again and again. That is how we learn. To be able to watch someone else ride through an issue you have had or may have in the future, it can all just be so helpful! I even learn and I am the teacher!  J

After I got home very late Tuesday night, I had a full barn to spend time with. I really would not be able to travel this much without the help of my amazing team! Molly is terrific with all the horse care and overall management, and she is such a great horse handler that I trust her with any of them. John, my young horse assistant & working student, is marvelous with ALL the horse. He has such a natural gift of being able to settle any horse down, and I feel an improvement after he rides the horses, even the tricky ones! Mary, my working student, is very brave and nothing fazes her. She has been doing a super job with a few of the tougher younger horses. She also keeps Fiji fit while I am away. I have to travel so much this year because with the building of the new facility Riveredge, we don't have any extra room. I share the barn with Scott and Susanne (Hassler) and between all of us; we can't take many horses in for training until the new place is ready. I am looking forward to August, when I will be able to allow more horses in for training and stay at home.

So anyway, we had one more show with Fiji that coming wknd. It would be our last Developing horse test qualifier. He did a very nice job! He won it! (67%) This time the test was pretty nice! He is such a terrific horse! He was the youngest horse in the class, and we beat a well-known beautiful stallion, as well as a horse that went to the World Championships! And they are both 2 yrs older than him! I don't think we will make Chicago for nationals this yr, but he is so special, he deserves some time to mature. I suppose I should have scheduled a drop score show for him, but I didn't feel he was ready in Fl, nor did I want to show him 3 wknds in a row. I feel his time will come around, and I didn't want to chase scores around. If he makes Nationals on some kind of miracle, then that will be super fun, but I'm not going to hold my breath!

The next wknd, I flew back to the Midwest to coach my regular students as well as Katie at her last young rider qualifier. She and George were looking great at the clinic so I was hoping he would stay reliable in the ring and perform like I know he can. Sometimes he can be a real pistol. Well the wknd started amazing! Katie needed to run through her freestyle one more time because we had changed it a little bit, so we wanted to practice it. It was actually a little sloppy, but the scores didn't reflect that! She won the open freestyle class with a 77%!!! So they must have loved the changes we made as well as the music! Mary Hanneman did her FIRST EVER PSG and got her first score for her Silver! It was so exciting! Amy came up for more schooling to get ready for her 4^th level and PSG debut later in the summer. She showed me some huge improvement and is staying on track. Jessica Davis, a new student, did an awesome job with her self trained Fresian/Trakener cross Learo. Jessica has so much talent and natural feel for her horse, it was so fun to see her score in the mid and high 60's in the PSG holding her own against all the other professionals on fancy warmbloods! It was a special wknd for me as well, because it was the first time all my students were showing the FEI classes. 2 of the horses I have taught their riders on them since they were 6 years old. It was extra rewarding to watch them succeed.

Katie finished the wknd with a high enough average to boost her national rankings to #6, which put her on the list for not only the Region 2 Young Rider Team, but also for the National championships at Gladstone! What an honor to be able to compete at Gladstone during a year they will be having the WEG selection trials there! Mary was the star of the show, earning her USDF Silver medal in her first 2 attempts at PSG! Mary and Phil have come a long way together, and it makes me so very proud to see someone's hard work pay off!

Not that doing well at the show has all to do with success, but show riding is quite a challenge to be able to over come. It's hard enough to ride well at home by yourself with no one watching or judging, in an environment you can (mostly) control, but a horse show is a whole different ballgame! I don't care if someone wants to stay at home forever and never show, it makes me the most happy when I see horse and rider thinking and doing the same, dancing together and truly enjoying each others company. Whether that ever takes you to a show ring or not, striving for harmony is where it's at! Til next time, Happy riding!! J