Well....here is the BIG NEWS. Deacon has SOLD to new student Kelsey! It has been a wonderful four years brining Deacon along from a just starting out 6-year-old to a seasoned preliminary horse and even jumped around an intermediate! He is a fabulous horse, who had all the makings of being a quality, competitive upper level horse. This is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a trainer - seeing a horse I produced go on and teach someone else the finer points and thrills of the sport! Deacon LOVES having a little girl to call his own... he is eating up all of the attention (and cookies!).
This year we have paired....
Janet with Irish Star
Grace with Savannah
Hayley with Holly
Rachel with Aaron
Sue with Peaches
Janet with Bella
Hayley with Smokey
Kelsey with Deacon
Susan with Cody
..... whew! What a year it has been! Not bad for DGE's first full year in Maryland!
In other news... DGE was well represented at the January Serra Valley Jumper show. Big Kelsey was champion in the 3'3" division with her wonderful horse Louie, and put in a fabulous showing in the 3'6" division. Kelsey and Louie have been working all winter on taking their game to the next level... and boy are they a pair to look out for this season! Little Kelsey made her competition debut with Deacon, and did they clean up! They competed primarily in the 2'9" division and even won a blue ribbon! For extra measure we did one of the 3' classes... and they WON! Whew, what a way to start the year! My students definitely set the bar high for me traveling down the Aiken!
Now for my update... I HAVE BEEN BOY SHOPPING!!! I wanted to find someone close to home, long legs, a great heart, and of course a nice butt! Okay kids, get your mind out of the gutter.... I am talking about horse shopping of course! What a horribly painful process this is. (I know my teachers are cringing ending a sentence with a preposition) As soon as you say "event prospect" people start throwing horses of all shapes and sizes at you... crooked legs, "great personalities" (aka bites, kicks, bucks, rears, and dumps you for good measure), "over 16 hands" (aka medium pony). People at least around here, seem to think that horses that have failed at every other job can, at the very least, be an event horse. These days this can hardly be true, as event horses are drastically becoming fancier, braver, and jumping better than just 10 years ago.... trust me, I see them in the dressage ring ahead of me every weekend (since when is a BN horse doing 3rd level dressage????). Anyway, i digress. I vetted five horses... so much heartache... until i finally found one that met our high standards! WELCOME TO THE TEAM, ADAM! Adam was found through the help of a friend, and he is 17+ hands, 6 years old, all bay with no white, and ALL LEGS! He has fabulous jump and we hope he starts to settle in and likes his new job! He will be making the long journey to Aiken along with Woody and Willy. More about Aiken shortly... we have a 17.1 hand horse, a 17 hand horse, and a 14.2 hand pony. Guess which one will be going Advanced? :)
Until we venture down to the sunny south!
Courtney
