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/
