Boy, girl and mom have safely arrived in Ocala! Yesterday was beautiful—sunny and warm, until about 3 p.m. when it began to rain and didn’t stop. Today, it’s beautiful, sunny and cold. Thirty-eight degrees. Of course, we are so happy to be escaping the Vermont winter that you will hear no complaints from us.
The boy went off with Grammie and Grampy for an overnight visit. I am thanking my lucky stars that their visit down South overlapped with ours, however briefly. That gives me about 36 hours to come up with ideas on how to keep him entertained for the rest of the week, which he will spend at the horse show. No hockey nets, no lacrosse sticks, not a football in sight. Suggestions? Please let me know ASAP!
The best part of our first day was getting to watch the girl’s trainer, Tara Valade, show her horse Stone Haven’s Mojito aka “Ziggy.” Tara is so busy training that it seems like she doesn’t often have time to show her own horse. I’m sure this sounds familiar to a lot of trainers out there!
She competed yesterday in the Level 4 jumpers. The weather was just starting to turn. Check out the sky in the picture.
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It is always a pleasure to watch Tara ride. She is one of those riders who is completely in tune with her animal. The girls (there are three down here from our barn, only one is showing) were as delighted as the moms to watch Tara compete.
In the afternoon, Tara rode a client’s horse named Good Gracious, aka “Gracie.” An OTTB, Gracie is a beautiful, sweet mare out to gain some experience and confidence in the baby green division. Just as Tara brought her into the enormous ring (the one with two enormous willow trees—are they willow trees?) it began to downpour. Gracie was not a big fan of water dripping in her ears and made sure we all knew it. She tossed her head around seeming to say, “What the heck? Rrrgh! Get it outta there!” But she did her job and did it well.
The girl stayed late to help Tara clean tack and take care of the horses. The nine of us that make up Stone Haven’s Ocala presence had a nice dinner out at Chili’s. The waiter was ECSTATIC to see us and to hear that we had come from the HITS horse show. Seriously, it made his night. He raved that the HITS crowd had kept him happily busy for the last several weeks, and horse show people were the nicest customers!
Elizabeth Howell grew up riding on the hunter/jumper circuit in Massachusetts. Now she is a horse show mom. She holds a day job at The Emily Post Institute and slings horse manure on the weekends. Her web site is www.sheridesIpay.com.
