My blog started in August 2005 to chronicle my progress in training "A First Romance" (a.k.a. Solo) into a world class eventing horse. Born in 2002, as a 10-year old, Solo is close to competing in the four-star division. He's fabulous XC, but does still tend to voice his opinion during dressage... never a dull moment.
Solo's ridden by my daughter, Selena, who competed at her first Olympics in 2008 and the WEG in 2010 with Colombo. Selena also rides several different horses including Pan Am Silver medals, “Foxwood High” out of our home base, Balsam Hall in Kingston, Ontario.
This blog chronicles both our adventures as we continue to train eventing horses. Occasionally, Selena will make an entry on her progress at competitions particularly on the lead up to major events. Please feel free to ask questions or send comments.
Onwards and Upwards
Well, MCTA went well….sort of. Selena was not performance happy despite a competitive dressage test from Solo with his best mark ever at this level and a third and fifth placing in the Advanced division for Woody and Rocky respectively.
A Busy Spring
The Fork not being our best outing of the year, Selena is off to MCTA, in Maryland, to ride the three boys in the Advanced division, giving them another run before the CCI*** at Bromont in June. The training schedule
The Fork Horse Trials
The Fork wasn’t the boys’ best outing. The dressage scores were not as good as hoped for, although Selena was still happy with the tests that the boys put in. Woody had put in a good test, but bucked against
Final Post from Florida
This will be the last Florida post – next week is North Carolina. Anne Marie flew down on Sunday to pack up the troops and I fly home today…my airport bus leaves Ringwood in the New Forest at 3:15 a.m.,
Will Winter Ever End?
O’Hanlon Eventing South is busy, busy, busy. There is another Canadian Team Training session this week that Selena is looking forward to. Angie Huber arrived on Saturday to spend a couple of weeks down south riding her lovely mare Wisher.
Gearing Up for Next Weekend
Selena is not competing this weekend. With two of the three star horses belonging to ourselves, the competition budget is tight. No optional extras. However, in this instance it was just as well. Selena was out riding Solo a couple
Red Hills Recap
Some days it’s easier to blog than others. When a much anticipated competition outcome is less than expectations and hopes, it takes a day or two to find a positive aspect to blog about. I am happy to say that
Debut delayed
I had planned to chronicle the first four weeks/first four shows of our season, and this weekend should have been number three. Selena had planned an eventing debut at ‘Rocking Horse,’ at the Novice level, for ‘Rosein’, our beautiful sale
So far so good
On their second outing the boys really pulled their socks up. Rocky and Woody were moved up to Advanced at Pine Top this past weekend. Solo had to stay at the OI level after having taken issue with the corners
Off to a Good Start at O’Hanlon Eventing
The season has finally begun for O’Hanlon Eventing. On Friday last, Selena rode Bellany Rock, Foxwood High and A First Romance in the open intermediate at Rocking Horse in Florida. Dressage first, they were all great. We were particularly pleased