Monday, April 27, 2015

Weekend Show Results, Congrats and Exciting News!

This past weekend was the Loudoun Hunt Pony Club Spring Horse Trials held at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia.

Fighting off a bad cold, Glenda took KA Clover and PL Irish Pearl to compete. Clover did very well in her move-up to the Novice level and finished in 3rd place on her dressage score! Glenda said she had a "game on" attitude the entire time and went around like a pro! She is really turning into a lovely competitor and has hopes for another move-up to Training level by the end of the year.

Pearl also had a good day at Loudoun even though the results could suggest otherwise. Pearl had her best-ever dressage test and was 4th after dressage in a large group of Preliminary horses! (PS-dressage used to be her least favorite phase, and it has now become one of her strongest!) When it came time for stadium-jumping, a little miscommunication in the warm-up ring from another rider caused a warm-up fence to come crashing down right before Pearl was going to jump it. Understandably, this shook Pearl a little bit (she doesn't like to touch fences... let alone see them come down!) but she continued on like a pro. However, she was caught off guard by the liverpool jump in the show ring and had a stop. Glenda was able to go on to the cross-country phase and Pearl felt great! The first few obstacles were large and Pearl soared over them with ease. Once they got to an A, B, C combination on course, Pearl over-jumped the B obstacle which put her at an awkward spot to the C jump resulting in a stop. Pearl is the type of horse who is intelligent and likes to take care of both horse and rider. She really wants to understand the difficult questions and once she does, she clears them with flying colors! Glenda said that she loves how Pearl takes the time to study jumps and doesn't fault her for wanting to get another look at them. We know now that is under her belt, she will continue to excel at the Preliminary level.

Also,  Olivia White with her horse PL Lucky Valentine finished 13th in the Novice Rider division!

And we want to congratulate Karen Wurster and Mark Wurster for the grand opening of their therapeutic riding farm.  Karen has PL Dakota (since renamed) who was the dam of PL Indy!
For more information on Gaits of Hope, click here: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/health/treatment/ijamsville-woman-opens-therapeutic-riding-farm-after-a-lifetime-of/article_4b822ab6-e1b2-5f5d-ab0a-0e07aa5c42af.html

We are also excited to announce that Playland has scheduled our summer schooling show series! This year, we are also featuring the dressage fix-a-test option in addition to our regular jumper classes. These shows are a fun way for riders and green horses to come out and practice their skills before the fall eventing season. For more information follow the event on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/393129164213164/


Monday, April 20, 2015

Great Weekend for Playland!!

This past weekend was full of fun and exciting things for Playland horses and riders!

First we want to welcome new student Nicole S. and her horse Adrian to the Playland team! We are so excited to have you two join us for lessons!

We also wanted to congratulate Olivia White with PL Lucky Valentine for their 8th place finish in the Open Novice division at the CDCTA Spring Horse Trials II this past weekend.

This past weekend Glenda also took Izzy (PL Diamond's Inspiration) and Layla (PL Layla) to their first dressage show of the season! Izzy who is a 3-year-old, did two dressage tests in the Intro A division and ended up winning Champion!! Layla, who is a 4-year-old competed in the Intro C division and won 1st and 2nd place.  Both of these girls are showing great talent already! Way to go!


PL Diamond's Inspiration aka Izzy:




PL Layla:




(All photos thanks to Maya Kuntze Photography)

Yesterday, several of Playland's students took a cross-country schooling trip to Loch Moy. Everyone did really well and was able to learn a lot from the trip! 
Maya and PL Indy

Erinn and Millie 

Sophia & PL Contessa 

Sophie & PL Queenie 

Nicole and Adrian 

Great job riders!!


Monday, April 13, 2015

Good Weekend at Plantation Field Horse Trials

Hello Everyone!

We hope that you were able to enjoy this beautiful weekend we had here in Maryland.  As you know from our post last week, Glenda took PL Irish Pearl to the Plantation Field Horse Trials this past weekend to compete in the Training-level division.  The pair was 6th after dressage and then moved up to 4th with a great show-jumping round. Unfortunately a little error on cross-country caused them their 4th place finish, but everything is well and Glenda was still proud of Pearl after the event.

Here is what Glenda had to say: "Pearl and I had a great weekend at Plantation HT. It is a gorgeous facility, and I highly recommend it! Pearl did one of her best dressage tests to-date, had a fantastic double-clean stadium round, and then had a moment of being mesmerized by the new open field so she jumped into and wasn't focusing on the next jump in front of her. Unfortunately, that of course cost us our 4th place spot, but was early enough in the XC course for her to still get a positive run in. I still love my little grey mare!" Way to go!

On another note, stay tuned for some exciting announcements to come later this week about a few fun activities we have planned for this summer!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Don't forget about our youngsters for sale!

Good Afternoon everyone!

It's a gorgeous spring day here at the farm in Union Bridge, Maryland! The sun is shining and the horses are happy. Coming up on the competition schedule is the Plantation Field Horse Trials this weekend. There is also the Maryland Horse Trials starter event as well. Stay tuned next week to find out how these events go!

For now, we want to remind you about our talented youngsters for sale! These babies are growing quickly and ready for their new homes. We have a wide variety of yearlings for sale suited to many disciplines. If you or someone you know is looking for your next project... please come out and meet our babies! You can visit our website, www.playlandequestriancenter.com, for more information and to set up a time to come out. 

Here is an overview of our current offering of horses:

  • PL Sultry Gem, filly by PL Sultanna 
  • PL Incomparable Diamond, colt out of PL Indy 
  • PL Ardan Hill, Colt out of PL Apache  
  • PL Diamond’s Inspiration 2012 ~15.2h bay Irish Draught Sport Horse Mare