At River Glen, I was told that I was riding "like an 80-year old man." This is habit I'm working very hard to correct, and unfortunately the picture to the left doesn't show much progress in that.  But who is that flashy beefcake of a horse? 


With all my current stress and all the issues mentioned in my last post, I need a new horse like a hole in the head.  But.......life has a way of working in strange ways and sometimes an opportunity is too good to pass up.  Though we still don't have a new property, Stromboli has a new baby brother named "Hez my Huckleberry" aka "Finn,"  a 16.1hh, 4 year old OTTB.  He probably needs a show name change to something a bit less AQHA sounding, but not sure what that will be yet.  Finn is really easy and uncomplicated to ride on the flat, but definitely still green. I'm really excited to work with him over this winter and hopefully we will do some events in the spring!  

Everyone has moved over to the new facility and I've handed the keys to the old Always August Farm to its new super-nice owners. We are all settled in at our temporary home and enjoying the amenities that a big barn has to offer!  A couple weeks ago, Stromboli and I made a long trek to River Glen in New Market, TN and got to catch up with a lot of old friends.  


Dressage and stadium were definitely not our best moments.  With that experience behind us,  I decided to ride very slowly on XC to see how he felt, and of course he still pulled through with a double clear.  Our "slow" ended up being spot on the optimum time.  Despite his crookedness at the first few fences he jumped beautifully through an ABC coffin, out of a barn, and did a sizeable skinny into a water drop.  Following River Glen he came home with a terrible heel crack and a boot rub, and I gave him a couple weeks off.  Since he still seems extremely reluctant to bend right, I am getting him looked at by the vet next week --fingers crossed it is nothing serious!  


River Glen was a huge wake-up call for me and my 12-year old dreams to go Prelim, as Jon gave me a pretty harsh talking to after witnessing my ugly 3-rail stadium round.  Though I've been working on my own and taking lessons sporadically, my currently best is definitely not good enough.  With only one horse to jump (who isn't exactly the easiest) it's been hard for me to work on my jumping technique/position/timing/etc...this coupled with Stromboli's firecracker dressage has really illuminated a definite "hole" in my riding.  With Stromboli getting time off I've been trying to ride as many other horses as I can and at least make myself a stronger and more versatile rider. I am very good at making horses go over jumps and not falling off --but all that other stuff definitely needs some work.  

In the meantime, I have been looking desperately for the next location of AAF but so far have had no luck.  We've had properties fall through due to title issues, last minute offers from other parties, crazy owners who up the list price $30K immediately preceding my offer, and pretty much every other issue that could occur. For now all we can do is put all the dreams on hold and wait.  August has not been a big month of success for Always August.