Fairwind Stables Blog

Gemwood Horse Trials

July 27, 2009 on 3:47 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

Gemwood is always a fun event for everyone since it’s very close to home (less than 10 min from Fairwind Stables) so it’s the “home course” and everyone comes out to cheer the riders on. Saturday’s weather was less than ideal with heavy showers and storms rolling through during the day but it did little to squash the enthusiasm of the riders. Becca Gentry very kindly took lots of pictures which have been loaded onto the Fairwind Stables group page on Facebook.
Susie Gertz and Practical Magic (Elvis) had a really nice dressage test to start the day. Their warm-up was one of the best I’ve seen from this pair and I thought the test was consistent and steady. As they were preparing to head to stadium, a huge storm blew through and put the event on hold for a short time. Being one of the first few riders back into the ring after the break, I thought Susie and Elvis handled the wet, sloppy footing really well but had one unfortunate stop at a triple bar oxer. Sunday dawned sunny and breezy so the footing for XC was perfect. The pair headed out confident and forward – the latter being a big goal for Elvis this year – and ate up the course. Sadly, another goal with Elvis is to get him to stop looking at changes in footing so when he hopped over the ditch to find fresh gravel spread before the “B” element, he wasn’t as focused as he needed to be to continue his forward attitude! Susie did a great job of bringing him right over it the 2nd time and the pair finished the course.
Brooke Lundberg and Sierra’s Sexy Model (“Cici”) competed in their first novice event at Gemwood. This pair has been working very hard on their dressage this season and it paid off with one of the nicest tests I’ve seen from them. They also had to ride stadium after the heavy rain but rode positive and forward to a clean round in the wet footing. On Sunday, Brooke and Cici had their game faces on for cross country. They had a fantastic warm-up and set out over the bigger course with confidence. They finished the weekend on their dressage score in 6th place in a big division! Not bad for a move-up!
Jayne Whitton and Grace’s Star (“Sadie”) also moved up to novice this weekend and didn’t disappoint. They had a really solid, flowing test in dressage which was awarded with a good score. On to stadium in the wet grass ring where Jayne and Sadie jumped better than I’ve ever seen them. I think both were ready for the challenge of moving up! A clean round had them up in the scores going into XC on Sunday. Sadie is a young mare who Jayne has done a fantastic job of bringing along and teaching to focus on the job. All the hard work paid off with a forward, confident ride around the solid novice course and Jayne and Sadie ended the event in 3rd place! Way to go!
Finally, Susie Gertz and Zooby-Do competed in beginner novice. In spite of a couple of greenie moments from the young mare in the warm-up and one in the dressage ring when another rider rode very close during the their test, the pair had a really outstanding dressage test. The judge awarded them with a 30.0 penalty! This young mare has been going through some growing pains with her jumping the last couple of weeks and while she warmed up fairly well for stadium, they were unfortunately eliminated when Zooby decided she just didn’t want to play that day. I have no doubt that this pair will work it out and come back as even stronger competitors this fall.
Great job everyone!