Bently

Hello Everyone!

Most of you know I adopted Badger. Well his previous owner is helping me sell him and she is also sending me some other prospects for my next horse. Well, she sent me a horse that is in Camden, SC. The funny thing is, she owned him when he was a few months old, then she had her baby girl Abby! She sold him to a lady who is now in California but the horse is at her moms place in Camden.

Me and my madre went to look at him last weekend and absolutely fell in love!!! He is a 16.2hh light Bay TB. He has never been raced, he has olympic bloodlines! and he was gelded last month, and is turning 5 in May. When we were there they put a western saddle on him for the first time in 2 years! He was funny at first and then eventually worked into it. I even got to sit on him:) His training was put off b/c they didnt want to do anything to his growth since he was still young and a stallion. I'll have lots of work to do but I'm looking forward to it. The part I absolutely love is his personality and he also has NO CONFIRMATION FLAWS!!! He is built so perfectly its ridiculous! We are going to get him this coming Sunday....and since Badger has not sold yet, I am paying for him myself!!!! Here is a link to my youtube page with some videos of him on there. Oh and his name now is Dub but I'm renaming him Bently...b/c he reminds me of that luxury car...to my mom it reminds her of the roy royce (sp?) whatever that is.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GPJumperDRM#p/u/2/M6fVrTCLrlY

Nationals

Hey!

Well Zones went great! Well, Saturday wasnt that great, I knew I wasnt going to have a good ride, it was just one of those days. Anyway, I got a great draw Sunday and won my whole class! I got 1st out of 12 riders!!! So...you know what that means! I QUALIFIED FOR NATIONALS!!!! It is a HUGE deal! Its being held in Conyers, GA where the Equestrian Olympic games were held in the 90's! I am so excited, this is the first big thing that has happened to me in the horse world:) but you know it wont be the last! Our season started out with about 10 Highschool riders and 8 Middle schoolers. So a total of 18 riders and 4 have made it on to Nationals including me:D I've been training really hard.

Also, some barn news! JP has been shaved! The girls are going to their first show since the summer this weekend! They have also been practing really hard (trust me, i'm their trainer and their legs are on fire by the time there lesson is done:) Well I'll let ya'll know how NATIONALS go!!!!

Zones

Hello,

Well I qualified for Zones!! This means that all state in Zone 4 will be showing against eachother. So, I will be showing against people from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. I qualified Individually over fences as well as a team over fences! To qualify you had to get a first or a second and I got 3 seconds! So I will be showing against some tough competition but I think it will be fun:)

Sunday, I am having a BIG lesson with my trainer Alicia Story then having a brunch break then having a lesson with Bob Story the coach of College of Charleston Equestrian team. Zones are next weekend in G.A.!

Some barn news:) Rosie is leaving this coming week! She is going to one of Karens friends. We are planning a show in April not sure of the date though. All for now:)

Past Month

Hey!

Well this month has been CRAZY! First off, Bodie is now with his new family! He is with a lady named Pam in Hollywood, SC. She is going to use him as a dressage horse, she loved him from the moment she saw him! He's probably been gone for 3-4 weeks now. Also, I showed Huck to a girl who ended up buying him! They said that they loved the way I rode and could watch me all day! I told them about the IEA shows and everything I'm apart of and the girl (her name is Amie and she's going to be a senior next year) is actually going to try-out for a team where she lives, which would be Evermore. My team actually competes against Evermore so it will be really awesome to see her again and see how she's doing with Huck. We've had sooo many people look at Badger! One lady was sooooo close to buying him but she thought about it and she has a 2 year old and she has no time to ride, so she said she would feel bad if he was left in a pasture all day to do nothing, which we totally agreed. But, there is this one lady who is very interested in him and she's coming to see him March 7th!

So, thats it for the horse news! But I did make the Wando JV soccer team! We had our first game last night, we tied 0-0 and it was against a Varsity team. Well, regionals are this weekend! Cant wait!

Regionals

Well this past show I placed 4th in my o/f class and 2nd in my flat class:D I have gained enough poits to qualify for Regionals!! I have one more show before Regionals and thats the 7th of February in Hilton Head. I'm also hoping to qualify for Zones after Regionals! We have somebody coming to look at Badger Saturday so i'm super excited and nervous all in one! I'm looking at this one other horse that I cannot go a day without thinking about! He is just the kind of horse i've been looking for! He's young though, which I want. I'm planning on getting a young one so I can train him from scratch the way I want, i'm not that nervous about it because everyone knows I got Badger and trained him but he wasnt totally from scratch. This horse is saddled and was breezed but thats about it. He has clean legs, amazing conformation, spectacular muscle for his age, and i've heard that he has a great personality! All for now!!

Another IEA Show and Loss:(

Hey everyone,

Last weekend I went to Statesboro, GA for anothe IEA show! I felt soooo sick, I'm sure it was because I was getting run down. I've been so busy latley you have no idea! I have soccer every Tuesday and Thursday morning (running like crazy and working out), I also have school, and the barn after. Anyway! I got a first place in my o/f class and I got 6th in my flat class. I didnt like the horse I drew for my flat class. I was really stiff and overall it wasnt a good ride. I'm pretty sure I qualified for Regionals though so I'm happy about that! I have a show tomorrow (Sunday) at home.

We recently lost a very important member of our J&B Family. We lost Thunder:( We put him out in the pasture and he somehow hurt himself. We took care of him for a few days and Weezie decided that it got to bad and he had to go to the vet. In the end he had a severe break in his leg and Weezy and the vets decided to put him down. It was EXTREMELY hard on Weezy, she still gets teary eyed when he comes up in conversation. Thunder is buried behind the pigs and everyone can visit him. Weezy did find a horse that is being shipped from Ravenel next weekend! We went out there to look at him today and i'm not exagerating at all but he looks EXACTLY like Thunder!! Weezy cried numerous times, but she love him already:D

IEA Show & Birthday

Hey Everybody!

Well, I'll start with the IEA Show. My mom and I woke up Saturday morning at 5 and left to go to Daniell and Taylors house to leave for Camden where the IEA Show was being held! They started the morning off with flat classes first. The horse I was drawn was named Nero. He was a 17hh warmblood/TB bay. He was really nice, he framed up and had a great stride and fluid movement. I placed 2nd on him out of 8 riders! Note: This is all equitation. We brought 4 horses from home also. My draw for over fences was Moose. He was one of our horses and I got lucky because i've ridden him before:) The Jumping was at the end of the day so I had quite a wait. It was absolutely FREEZING!!!! So its my turn and I get on him and head into the ring. He's a little fast but nothing I couldnt handle. I ended up placing 1st out of 9 riders!!!

It was a great day! It was also my 15th birthday!!! Coach Alicia bought me a HUGE cake and they all sang happy birthday. It was really cool. My mom also called the tack shop in Camden because it is HUGE!!! They close at 5 and we were still at the show but the lady said she would stay open for us:D We drove to the tack shop and it was absolutely amazing! They sold brands that you usually cant get in a store like expensive jumping boots etc. I ended up buying a Sleezy (I've always wanted one), and I bought a gallon of Shur Hoof for only 30$ which is pretty cheap, I also bought Bigeloil (kinda like a liniment), and Cowboy Magic Body Shine (which is THE best body shine spray!).

All in all it was a FANTASTIC day! The Highschool team won the whole show yet again:D and the middle school team got 2nd! Danielle did great and got 3rd in her flat class and Taylor got 6th on a horrible horse! They both did great though:D This coming up weekend I'm headed to Statesboro, GA for another IEA show! Then after that weekend its a home show!

Late Post!

Hey Everyone! Its a little late for a Christmas post but i'm doing it anyway! So for Christmas I got a wireless printer for my laptop, a lot of pictures from my dad from over the year, I got new Tailored Sportsman show pants!!! I also got a Storybook Riding Team jacket that is soooooo nice! It has my name embroydered on it too:) I've been getting a lot of people interested in Badger but none of them have taken a step towards trial or even coming out to look at him. But a great friend of mine is helping me sell him which I am very grateful for! Thank you Thank you! Every weekend in January I am busy with horse shows!!! This coming weekend I think i'm in Camden or someplace like that for Storybook, then January 9th weekend (my birthday) I'm in statesboro, GA for the team again. And then another place, I think its a home show but i'm not sure. Badger is doing good:) He looks fantastic and doing good in the riding arena! I havent been able to ride anyone else latley. I just want Badger to be ready if anybody wants to come and look at him. I think if anyone does come to look at him, they'll fall in love with his personality first! He's pretty much like a puppy dog, all he wants to do is lick your hand! Anyway, I'll update more later!

Micro Pigs!

Hey Everyone!

Well nothing really new and exciting has happened to me latley! Well, I did have a IEA horse show! I rode in 2 classes (thats the max), a jumping one which I placed 2nd in and a flat which I placed 4th in! Storybook HighSchool team won the overall show! The Middle school team won reserved out of all the other middle school teams!

So have any of ya'll heard about micro pigs? Well supposedly they are really big in UK! I have been looking at them latley and they only get to be between 13-16 inches! Google their pictures! They are sooooo cute!!!

IEA

Hello! Lots have been going on latley. First of all, the last show we went to was at Mullet Hall. While we were there my madre (mom) picked up a flier. It was pretty much saying if you're a High School student and love to ride and so on and so on, join our team. IEA! International Equestrian Association. I went out to meet the coach Alicia Story at Storybook. I've already been out there once last year with my dad to talk to the coach of CofC Equestrian Team. So she evaluated me and just loved the way I rode! So I am now on the IEA team! I am on the team with about 8 other High School students and I am the only Freshman. She is very selective because she doesnt want her team to get too big which I like. I have 2 lessons a month and ride one of her horses and use her tack (which is amazing! She has about 30 Bate saddles!). It is also very formal! I ride with my show helmet and my hair in a net. Collar shirt tucked in with a belt and pants with either tall boots or leather half chaps. When we show I go to the farm and ride one of there horses. Pretty much luck of the draw! Then I'll be lucky if I get a warm up on the horse. I'll go right on in my class. Its all based on Eq.

I had my first lesson last wednesday. If was fantastic! It was very different from my jumper seat but I can switch on to either jumper seat or Eq. seat. I learned so much in just that one lesson! If she wasnt working with me (group lesson) and talking to another rider I could get info out of what she was telling the other rider to work on. It was a hard workout though! It was truly a 1 hour lesson with no breaks. I cant wait till my next lesson! We have our first show the 22nd at Storybook. Alicia is great! She finished Pony Club and she keeps a very low profile which is also good. She is sooo nice too! Well thats all for now!

Fell Through

Hey everyone,

Everything has been going great. Badger is once again mine!! He was never officially not mine but now he's not being sold. He is back to work and he's doing great! We gave him the adequan and he's back to his old self! He will be put back up on the market in December. For now I am refreshing him in what we left off with. Even though he's had a month or so without serious work he's performing those 1st level dressage moves fluently and still has those auto changes! Huck is still up for sale and he's doing great!!! We had to put him on a less sweet feed because he was getting fast. But now he's back to his old self!!! Steady......... he's well...STEADY!!! He's doing fantastic.... nothing new!! Sydney, Carly, Linda, and Barry are coming back from NY today!!! Cant wait to see you guys!! We've missed you!!

PARTY

Hey! I havent uploaded in a week or so. So here it goes! We celebrated Carly's birthday probably a week in a half ago! She is now 13!! We also celebrated my moms birthday yesterday, it was the 10th but she was out of town with my brother for hockey so we celebrated yesterday. I took my friend Sully and Taylor out yesterday on a trail ride for sully's birthday! They loved it! Sully rode Jack and Taylor rode JP and I rode Steady! It was a great ride! They always wonder why i'm always at the barn and teasing me about it but yesterday they couldnt stop saying how much they loved it!!! Its also getting COLDER!!!! I've been putting Badgers sheet on for now. I washed his heavy blanket two days ago and its been drying since then! I love riding in the cooler weather because its more fun to me, less sticky and sweaty! Except for the fact that my nose always seems to run! Anyway, thats all for now!

Hey!

Hey Again!
Well, I have to upload something because people have been begging me to latley. Nothing really is going on. I am on the Wando Equestrian club though with Haley, Bailey, and Paula. Its pretty fun! This Thursday were going to a tailgate before homecoming and were gonna have some awesome games! The t-shirts and hoodies are pretty cool too! I'm going to start giving Brandy (Bodies owner) lessons on Wednesdays with Stacy! My horse hunt has not yet been started, i have been looking but not seriously. Were going to start to look around December or January. I've been saving up though so that when I do get my excellent jumper, he or she will have amazing jumping boots! The ones I have in mind are called Veredus Gel jumping boots. If you google them they will pop up! They are pretty awesome! I would also like a new saddle sometime before next school year. I'm so excited though because I just love change, and I cant wait to start to show seriously. Thats all for now!

Shows!

Hey Everyone!

So this past weekend we went to the Sea Island schooling show at Mullet Hall. Carly started the day off with a GRAND CHAMPION! We are all so proud of you Carly! Last time we were at Mullet Hall, Sydney was the one who had the Grand Champion! So its great that they both do now! Sydney moved up to the 2 foot classes this show and it really challenged her and JP together. They learned what they need work on more, which is great for Sydney because she needs a challenge! Sydney did get a second place and 2 thirds! She has tough competition but really earned that second place! Danielle did great also! Personally, she should have gotten a first place in one of her classes, but I guess the judge didnt see the other rider's mount get the wrong lead and break. Haley brought Jodie and they didnt do so well but it was an experience for both Haley and Jodie! Overall it was a great day!! Were so proud of everyone of you girls!! And there are more videos of Steady and Huck on my youtube page.

Moving On

Hello Everybody,

I havent written about Badger lately in much detail. This is what's been going on with him and I. About a month and a half ago we were consistantly jumping 3ft-3'3 courses. Then on the flat he started to buck at the canter. We thought it was his back because he's so long. Its not his back though. Its his hocks. We talked to the vet and we purchased some Adequan which is NOT a hock injection. It is a shot that goes in the muscle and helps inflammation in the muscles which for Badger is his hocks. We came to the conclusion that he would not be able to jump over 2'9 now without getting sore. We're not going to push him. My time with Badger has lasted 2 years come December. It is time to move on and get a horse that suits my level of riding. Badger is now being leased by a great lady named Stacy! She just adores him and it seems like he really likes her! He lets her do things that he wouldnt let anybody else do. She is leasing to buy!! Were so excited for her and Badger. She is going to keep boarding him at J&B too! I'm going to start giving her lessons to teach her his little quirks and all that fun stuff! So that's whats been going on with me and Badger! We couldnt of asked for a better horse or a better person to buy him! <3 Sara

Wow!

Hey everyone! Yesterday Syd had her lesson while Carly was at a sleepover! So we really concentrated on jumping since she's a pro at the flat, who wouldnt be when thats what you practice pretty much everyday? So she was doing excellent. She had her stridings down and she was able to lengthen and shorten his stride to fit the lines. Her two point was perfect as always, but we did have to work on staying up in two point longer since she was jumping higher! I set up a little oxard probably 2'ft. She jumped that amazingly so when she wasnt looking I raised it a hole to 2'3. She came around and jumped it again and I was blown away at how great she did! I told her after she was done and she was sooooo happy! I'm so proud of how great she is doing. I got on Bodie afterward and he's been on a calmer for the past few weeks and he was amazing! He did everything I asked. I rode him in side reins and he's been lunged in them before so it wasnt new to him. He did excellent. The barn is red now!!!! It absolutley looks amazing and pretty much brand new! Today Barry, my mom, and linda are gonna roll the inside. I'm planning on riding Bodie, Badger, and Steady today so lots of horses to ride! ***Sara***

Brand New Barn!

Hey everyone! Well I have some great news! A few days ago the inside and the outside of the barn was powerwashed! It looks great! Today they painted the outside of it a beautiful red!! They also re-painted the gurders because the paint was oil based so when it got hot out it would stick to you! So they also painted them so that we wouldnt have that problem. We also have one baby duck! Its a few weeks old. We did have 3 but sadley mother nature got the best of them. We have all been doing really well. Thats all for now! I'll post pics of the barn soon!

Clemson Results!!!

Hey Everybody! Clemson was a huge hit! sydney was first in the morning and Carly was supposed to be after her. But the Halter classes got done early and we had to rush from arena to arena!! Sydney did get reserved champion in the whole Amoeba Division!!! Carly did excellent and placed in the top 4 in every class. Haley won the jumper Divison too! I did fall off due to a girth mal function!!!! But I totally made it up on Steady the following day getting 1 second away from haley and placing 2nd. I then got a 4th due to a pole knocked down and a sixth because I slightly forgot which course i was riding so I picked up alot of speed to make up time! I didnt do that bad! pictures coming soon!

J&B Vs. Clemson!!!

Hey everyone!! Over the past few weeks we have been getting ready for Clemson and training real hard. I on the other hand hasnt been so prepared! Our plan was for us to take Badger, but then Huck came and I was gonna show him in hunters. Now the plan has taken a U turn for a different horse! I feel more prepared than ever with this horse! The girls (Carly and Syd) are showing Saturday morning. Haley is doing a few Hunter classes Saturday but she has more classes Sunday. I will be showing in the Jumpers. Were leaving tomorrow around 3-4 o'clock. We are all excited because we get to bring our tack boxes! Usually we'd have to stuff our stuff all in one or 2 because of limited room in truck beds. But we are taking the 3 horse trailer which has a HUGE tack room!! All for now! ***Sara***

Expecting!

Hey Everyone! I think its time to announce some fantastic news. Denise is pregnant!!!She's just about 10 weeks along now! she's also starting to show! Were so excited for you Denise!! Congratulations! ***Sara!***