June 2012 – WETHERBROOKE FARM

June 25, 2012

McKinley Update……

Gus had the day off today. He was tired as he dragged himself out this morning, but looked like he recovered well from his big weekend.

Today was the first day I was able to get back on McKinley since last Wednesday. I lunged him, thank goodness, because he was a bit full of himself after his long break! The dressage is getting better each day, and I was pleased at how nice his transitions are becoming. We still have a great deal of work to do before I would call his dressage “competitive” at the beginner novice level. There are hints of brilliance, but mostly we are just one step better than unacceptable in my book. I am, however, having a blast with him. He may just be the most pleasant horse I have ever trained.

We found out today that Gemwood Horse Trials is canceled. It completely messes up our plan to move up to BN there in a few weeks. We will have to move up later in August, which gives us just a little bit longer to nail the dressage.

Here are some random pictures of McKinley at his first ever event.

P1090307 — Walking away from a horrible dressage test….but having a blast

P1090306 — McKinley doing his first starter stadium course…..do you think he cleared it?

P1090308 — McKinley’s last fence on the xc course

June 25, 2012

Midsouth Horse Trials……..a fantastic weekend for Gus!!

: Joy and Gus after a double clear stadium round!!!

P1090331 — Kelli and cavalier before stadium

P1090339 — Sapphie and Julie —-their best dressage test ever

P1090340 — Quinn and Elizabeth doing a great stadium round

P1090363 — Quinn and Elizabeth warming up for xc

P1090377 — Kelli and Cavalier headed to xc warm up

P1090373 — Our new favorite……….Lucy and “Blaze the Wonder Pony”….adorable competitors at the show this weekend

June 24, 2012

A week of activity……..and we are thoroughly exhausted

The last ten days has been exhausting. They started out with a trip to Lake Cumberland and ended with a trip home from Lexington.Last Friday, Jessica and I took Gus up to Twin Towers to do some gallop sets in preparation for his return to Preliminary this weekend. After we got back, Jeff and I loaded the kids (and all the camping gear) into the car and headed to Lake Cumberland for a weekend of Fathers’ Day and boating. Almost the whole Von Handorf clan was in attendance. We had several campers and tents filled with people surrounding Uncle Tom’s lake house. We had 2 double decker pontoon boats, 2 speed boats, and 2 jet skis at our disposal. What an absolute BLAST!!!

When we got back from the lake, Jeff and Kate decided to have a Father/Daughter ride around the farm for Father’s Day.

P1090281 — Kate on the hay loft tire swing

On Wednesday we brought in close to 700 bales of hay, and had our 2nd “Hay Party”. It was perhaps the hottest and most dusty evening in recorded history. Thanks again to all of our great helpers, random friends, relatives, strangers, and children.

We got done with hay on Wednesday and packed for Lexington on Thursday.

P1090309 — The Midsouth Horse Trials Girls

June 15, 2012

The hay is in the barn (or at least the first 600 bales)

We would like to say a BIG “Thank you” to everyone who came out to help us bring the hay in tonight. We had almost 600 bales from our field, and are expecting close to 800 from Justin’s field next week.

We had so many helpers that we got it done in record time. Thank you, everyone!!

P1090230 — Blacky—–as usual was the life of the party

P1090227 — Our helpers…..and Bentino’s Pizza

June 14, 2012

Hay, horses, holidays, haflingers, and horse trials

Those five words pretty much sum up this week and next.

Hay

Jim cut our hay field yesterday, which means we will have our first “hay party” tomorrow evening. “Party??”, you ask. We like call it a “party” to make it sound like so much fun that our boarders, friends, neighbors, and family members will want to come out and help us bring in the hay…..ha ha ha. It turns out to be an enjoyable time for most of us, I think. The little kids run wild around the farm, while the older kids do whatever they can do to help. Relatives and boyfriends and sometimes random strangers show up to throw bales onto the wagon. There is always a great deal of laughing, and sometimes a near death experience….just to keep things lively. Each year I pray that the hay loft floor will hold, and that we won’t come crashing down onto the horses for which we are doing all of this work. We order Bentino’s Pizza and sit around for a few minutes before heading back out to the field. Our legs and arms will be scratched up for days, and our hands will hurt from holding onto the twine. In the end we will be dead tired, but there is something extremely satisfying about seeing a year’s worth of hay stacked neatly (or not so neatly…) in the barn at the end of the night. Nothings smells better. So tomorrow at 4pm (says Jim) or 5pm (says Joy), we will gather at the farm for another enjoyable evening of suffering together, eating pizza, drowning our sorrows with Gatorade, and cursing this life of horses. Feel free to join us for a “party”!!!

Horses

Gus and McKinley are doing well. Gus has been a little off for the past few days, so today Dr. Miller came out to check on him. He flexed fine, and his hocks looked good. I was given the ok to gallop him Friday. We think it is a minor issue, probably related to his strange “butt” injury from March. He gave him a shot of Bute, and he is on a six day series of Bute paste. We are to continue preparing for the upcoming show……

McKinley is jumping 3′ fences now. His dressage is still slightly giraffe-like, but the jumping is really progressing. We plan to take him out xc schooling this week to get him over the Beginner Novice fences at Twin Towers so that he can move up in July.

Holidays

This weekend is Father’s Day. We will get to spend the weekend boating and playing at the lake. The whole family is looking forward to the time together to celebrate the fantastic fathers in the group!

Haflingers

Ike is coming home next week!!! The haflinger pony that I sold to Jessica and Morgan will be visiting us for the entire summer. We look forward to seeing his adorable little face staring at us over the stall door very soon!

Horse Trials

Next weekend we will take Sapphie, Gus, Cavalier, and Quinn to compete at the Midsouth Horse Trials at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. We plan to have a lot of fun, no soundness issues, and great weather! (a blue ribbon…or 4….would also be nice :)) We are excited about the show! Go, Team Wetherbrooke!

June 10, 2012

Two weeks until Midsouth Horse Trials………maybe

Gus is killing me. Little by little….. the ups and downs with his unpredictable soundness issues are wearing me out.

Since February, we have been preparing for his first Preliminary outing, and it may or may not get to happen. He has been jumping well, doing fantastic in the dressage, and he seems to be getting fitter. Unfortunately, he was off on Thursday. I was supposed to jump on Thursday, but ended up with a walking day instead. His strange butt/groin muscle injury from March seems to be bothering him again. I pulled him back out on Friday to see how he looked, and it was the same story. He is willing to go forward, but the way he is using himself in the hind left just isn’t right. Dr. Miller is coming out to see him on Wednesday, and we’ll see how it goes.

I’m trying to be optimistic, but I see this as being a very “telling” few weeks for me and Gus. He’s 15, and I have been trying to move him up past prelim for the last two years. Keeping him sound and fit enough to do the higher levels is starting to prove to be a difficult task.

On the bright side………

McKinley is getting better by leaps and bounds. I am having so much fun with him on a daily basis, and it is so refreshing to have such an easy ride. He was a big boy in his jump school on Friday. He jumped our new barrels with the liverpool in front of it and several other jumps set at Beginner Novice height. I am getting ready to send in my entries for Gemwood at Beginner Novice. We have a lot of work to do before I feel ready to conquer an entire BN cross country course, but I think I would kick myself if I didn’t try to be ready by then. McKinley just turned 5, and I think he will be the type to move up the levels extremely quickly. My “over achiever” plan would be to have him ready to move up to Novice at Octoberfest this year. At the rate he is learning, I don’t really feel that it is too far fetched.

June 5, 2012

Midsouth entries are in……

I overnighted my entries to Midsouth Horse Trials today. Gus is entered in Open Preliminary…..his first prelim since last September. I’m just slightly concerned that the cross country phase is before the stadium phase, but it will be a big test for his soundness. If he is able to recover enough from cross country to jump well on Sunday in the stadium, then I will continue my plans to push toward Intermediate this year. His fitness level is getting better, and we are planning our next gallop for Wednesday. His dressage is fantastic right now. I feel that our Preliminary dressage movements are solid, and he is starting to relax well in his work. We continue working on some of our Intermediate dressage movements in hopes that we will get to eventually do an Intermediate dressage test!

MCKINLEY UPDATE———-

Can I just say that I am having an absolute BLAST with McKinley! We are in dressage boot camp at the moment…..trying to get his dressage more solid in case we are ready to compete at BN at Gemwood. He is beginning to come round and stay in front of my seat during our transitions. McKinley is a pleasure to ride every single day. He is predictable, teachable, and enjoyable. We are going to have a lot of fun together over these next few years!

June 5, 2012

This past weekend

P1090177 — Kate after the championship game Sunday

Kate’s soccer team took first place in their division at the Creek Classic this past weekend. Her team won all four games (and all four were shut outs). Congratulations, ladies! You all played fantastic !