Gearing Up for 2009

The team is well underway with preparations for the 2009 competition season. Horses are being clipped and prepped, tack is being polished, the NEW 4-STAR TRAILER is being organized, and last minute essentials are being ordered. The team is finalizing the "color" switch from hunter green and burgundy to black and pink by ordering new blankets, saddle pads, coolers, halters, quarter sheets, leadropes, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on forever, but the essentials are just about finished (especially considering we have only a week left!). Deacon and Willy will be making the trip down to Sporting Days in the wee hours of Saturday morning running Training and Intermediate/Prelim respectively. The horses are going great on the flat and conditioning... though the latter has been rather difficult with all this crazy weather! Both boys have a jumping lesson on Sunday with Holly Hepp, who has been absolutely wonderful for both horses.  The most stressful thing has been getting Willy's paperwork and qualifications together for the Poplar CIC** ... its been a full competition season since I have run a FEI Event... and those are always stressful! The team is still searching for sponsors and owners.... please e-mail or call me directly if interested. I'm working on placing a PayPal account on the website to make cash donations easier.  Kick on! 

Courtney

Virginia Horse Trials

What a wonderful weekend, Brian and Penny Ross due an excellant job of organizing a well run event! In addition to the normal festivities (BN-I and Adult Team Challenge) a 'College Team Challenge' was held. A number of colleges sent individuals or teams, and Courtney comprised 2/4 slots of the Wake Forest/ Virginia Tech scramble team. 

Courtney and Willy started the team off on a perfect note... having the lowest factored dressage score of the entire college competition. The pair was also in the top 5 within their own preliminary division. With the addition of the other dressage scores, the Wake Forest scramble team was in first place after the dressage portion of the competition, and both of Courtney's horses were placed very well in their respective divisions. 

Deacon showed his greenness in the show jumping phase, backing off just enough in Virginia's indoor arena. It was very exciting to see how calm he was in the charged setting, though he was a bit intimidated! Another educational experience for baby Deacon was the cross country course. It was quite challenging for training level, having several offset lines, combinations, a wide open ditch, and a scarey brush into water. However, Deacon handled the course like a champion... only incurring a handful of time faults. With his altogether stellar performance, Deacon ended up in 6th place in a very competitive division. 

Willy provided a clean and very fast cross country go, picking up only a handful of time penalities on an otherwise PERFECT GO! What a champion this little pony has become! And in true, 'Wil'Ya Love Me' form, he put in a solid round in the indoor incurring NO faults. Willy's picture perfect weekend landed him in 4th place, just a few points from 1st. 

With the addition of several time penalities, the Wake Forest College Team fell to 3rd place overall.... mere fractions of a point from 1st.  Nevertheless, Defying Gravity Eventing was very excited about everyone's performance over the past year and look forward to an even better 2009. Happy Holidays!