July 1st Pine Hill

 Pine Hill this summer was especially wet! Lots of rain both Saturday and Sunday made riding not so great sometimes. At least it wasn't hot!!


SaraBeth rode Buddy at Beginner Novice. They had the best dressage test ever in the driving rain! Maybe Buddy's distaste of the situation helped him be really forward, on the bit he didn't mind splashing thru the standing water at all. It dried out some for stadium, they jumped clean. And dried out more for cross-country and they jumped clean and within the time there too! Ended up in 2nd place.

JuanCarlos rode Apollo to a pretty nice dressage test. Jumped around the stadium in good form and moved up in the standing then. Cross-country for them went well, with the jumping clean, and JuanCarlos keeping an eye on the time so he came in just right! They earned another 1st place at the Novice division!

Kate rode Hank for Kim to see how it would go. Hank had a ball and was so good. Piloted around the dressage to earn a competitive score. Jumped clean in the mud! for stadium. And clean and almost a bit too fast for the cross-country! Riding the Goldilocks division, they ended at 1st place.

Rosa rode Maximus to a successful dressage test in the rain, with a poncho on - they stayed dry. Jumped the stadium clean for the first time and finally got to go around the cross-country! They had a blast and finished 4th place in Beginner Novice.

SaraBeth also rode Savvy in the Green as Grass divison. A first outing for Savvy, he did alot of looking around wondering why he was there! But he proved himself to be a real trooper and gave it all a good try. Fairly nice dressage test also in the rain, he didn't care about the puddles. Jumped around clean in a sloppy wet stadium course. He had one stop on cross-country when the entire envirnoment just got to be overload. But SaraBeth did a great job of giving him the confidence to go on. They ended up in 3rd place!

Lauren and Wiley had a terrific dressage test. But stadium proved to rattle Wiley enough that he had a couple of stops. They ended up getting eliminated on cross-country on this small bank. We went back later and schooled all the cross-country jumps and you can see Lauren's delight as Wiley finally decided to step down. Schooled alot out there, they are ready to do it again!

Sydney rode Demi in training level. Another wet dressage ride done and you can see the mud flying here! Jumped clean, but they decided to withdraw for cross-country concerned about the footing after the morning rains.

Matthew rode Radie at Novice level as well (before the photographer arrived!). Jumped the stadium as well, but withdrew also for cross-country worried about the footing.