Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom!!
It really is impossible to explain to anyone who doesn't have one -- just what it means to have a horse show mom.  But for those lucky girls who have a true horse show mom -- we couldn't ask for any better mom.  It goes far beyond driving you to the barn, helping you clean tack before a pony club rating or rally (oh wait, no, not that, that would be cheating), reading every horse book she could find just to explain it to you -- because you were only 5 and hadn't learned to read yet!  Videoing you at every show.  Videoing you at every lesson.  Videoing you riding at home just for a little extra help.  It's crying together when you tried as hard as you could and gave it every bit of your heart and soul and strength, but your horse still wouldn't jump into that damn water.  And when it finally all comes together, she's the first person you see, with a huge smile watching you cross the finish line. She's your biggest fan, your confidant, and your partner.  Sometimes she's your coach -- and then you remind her she can't ride and she gives you the evil eye.  She strategizes and analyzes with you.  She talks through your goals and how to get there.  She's the one who has secret talks with your horse and tells him to take good care of her little girl on that scary as sh#$! cross country course. Horse show moms do it for all the right reasons. It's shared passion and determination and perseverance. It's for the love of horses and everything they bring into our lives. It's for the love of the sport.  And it's for the love of her daughter.
Thank you mom for everything you've been and everything you continue to be. Happy Birthday!!
Love from a lifetime of ponies and me.  

Mom, me on Hoppy, with our neighbor Cindy (nope, not my sister!) 

Mom & Me showing together in the "Produce of Dam" class

Circa 1983: Me, on Cheval with my mom's mom (Granny)

Mom 2008 on Punky - the best horse in the world who rules the barn at Thoroughbred Placement Resources

2012 Aiken -- Katchi LOVES his glamma!

2013: Dressage Drinks at Rolex!

More news from the farm...

Winter life on the farm: seems like every day has become a battle against daylight -- literally, from sun up to sun down, it's a mad panic to get through the day's list of "activities."  I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I seriously need more minutes in an hour, more hours in a day, and more days in a week!  And while lots of things are coming together, we remain stuck, painfully close, to the start of the arena and barn construction.  There are still a few final pieces that have to fall into place with the county before we can break ground, and meanwhile the days just seem to fly by and we are getting more and more into winter weather which may prevent us from starting until spring  -- as I type this, the grass I have worked so hard to cultivate all year is smushed under a solid layer of ice.  Winter.

The farm sign post is up!  Just waiting for the sign to arrive.

A 3-D mock up of the barn - LOVE IT!!! 

We've made a few minor changes to the final plans from the image above -- little adjustments to windows, overhangs, and color scheme.  But, pretty much - this is the dream in virtual reality!  Six stalls are on the right side of the barn - 5 with double dutch doors (we've designed 1 as a "separation" stall for any horse needing a bit more security or isolation pre-FEI competition).  Two grooming stalls and the feed room are contained in the center extension area, with a wash stall, large tack room, and other storage areas on the left side of the barn (main hay storage will be in a separate building).  I'm sure it isn't perfect for everyone, but we are so very excited with the plans and layout -- they feel absolutely perfect for how we will use the barn and I'm certain the horses are going to believe it's a little piece of heaven!!

Trevi Manor Progress Update

As everyone keeps asking me "how's the farm coming along" -- I thought I might give an update!  If you come by to visit, it looks like almost nothing has happened in months, but actually loads of things have been happening... mostly in paperwork.  Jeeze, there's a lot of paperwork involved in building a barn.  Seriously, a lot of paperwork.

To start, I took the better part of 4 months, give or take a month (or two!), to create just the perfect layout.  I must have asked 20 horsey friends to review the drawings, and my mom and I have (seriously!) considered every detail of the layout -- for the horses, I was determined to maximize light and fresh air and give them a quiet and calm home with all their friends nearby. For my mom and me, I wanted to minimize every step possible to not add a single extra second to our daily routine!  I'm sure we'll have some things that don't come out quite right, but at the moment, I can't think of a single detail that isn't just perfect for how I want my barn to flow!  Katchi and Mi are going to be living in the Ritz Carlton come next year!!  I keep calling it my "6 million dollar 6 stall barn" -- thankfully, we're not at that point, but if anyone wants go that route, I have some pretty awesome ideas that could put you well on the way to that price tag!

We are also going through the obligatory paperwork of a site plan, nutrient management plan, demolition permit (for one perfectly lovely shed that is in the exact perfect location for my barn), soil and erosion plan, storm water management, and and and.  Like I said, there's a lot of paperwork.  The great news is, the end of paperwork is in sight, and I am really hopeful construction will start before the end of the year!  I'm meeting with our builder (Quality Buildings out of Pennsylvania) tomorrow to hash out the final details -- I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas to arrive tomorrow!  And then, I think past the initial excitement, and I realize when all this is really done and the barn is finished, I get to PICK OUT BARN CATS!!!!  Seriously, I may be just as excited about the barn cats as I am about the barn and having my fabulous horses just feet from my home!

And, as if I couldn't already feel the anticipation exploding inside me, then this arrives--

Golightly Sport Horses has a sign - in technicolor!!!!  A huge and overflowing thank you to Maureen Carr-York (Kerry's mom) for her bid at the 2013 Ride for Life silent auction that got me this hand crafted farm sign by David Tingley.  What a fabulous and amazing gift and what great memories I will cherish every time I come home to it! THANK YOU! It really is an incredible feeling to know that I am so very close to making this dream a reality, and having a sign ready to hang at the entrance is just about the final straw for me -- I can't take it any more - I'm going to burst!!!  

 

The Mums of Marlborough Horse Trials

As submitted to and published by Eventing Nation (with a few different pictures)  -- The Mums of Marlborough Horse Trials!
http://eventingnation.com/home/cherie-chauvin-the-mums-of-marlborough-horse-trials-not-done.html

Show Jumping ring steward Jen Amber holds a pot of mums for Intro Event competitor Kathleen Coyle’s horse, Rock N' Bid, who went on to jump a clear round. Photo credit to GRC Photo. Permission for use granted to MHT.

Last weekend, amidst the thrill of Plantation and the anticipation of the AECs, Marlborough Horse Trials hosted their 22nd annual event in Upper Marlboro, Md., on the beautiful grounds of the Rosaryville State Park. Upon moving to Maryland a few years ago, Marlborough quickly became one of my favorite events, and when I think about why, all I see are mums. Yellow mums and purple mums, and even red and orange mums. Mums everywhere — at dressage at A; mingled in with the pretty painted poles; and stuffed under, beside and on top of cross-country jumps all over the place. Marlborough Horse Trials has mums!

Marlborough is a hidden Maryland gem of an event. But perhaps I’m biased; as a rider, I’ve ridden around novice, training and prelim, always bringing home a ribbon and awesome prizes. And now, for the second year, I’ve been involved on the organizing side of the event. As a friend said to me this past weekend, “I have a whole new appreciation.” As cross-country chair — and now as this year’s co-organizer — I will never again look at a properly placed cross-country jump flag without awe and admiration. Apparently flags do not appear at their respective jumps on their own. I know — shocking. This year, we flagged five courses in about four hours with almost 20 volunteers — a huge improvement on our stats last year.  And I’d like to know why Buffy the Vampire Slayer never seemed to get a splinter in her hands. We could use her for flagging next year!

This year, Marlborough ran as a one-day event — running almost 150 horses through Beginner Novice to Preliminary on Sept. 21 — and running an Intro event the next day, followed by an afternoon of cross-country schooling. We are so fortunate to have the vision of Roger Haller behind our cross-country course, and I think Roger really had fun this year running the course over some new routes and playing with the addition of several new fences. Another amazing revelation being on the organizing side of the event is learning that Roger has a detailed plan for each level’s course all the way through 2018. That’s long-term vision! And who will make this vision a reality? None other than course builder extraordinaire Tyson Rementer. Marlborough Horse Trials is one lucky event.

Tyson, a chainsaw, and a beer bottle (in the rain) -- how do you think this ended??

Perhaps one of the neatest things about our event is that it runs on a state park, and this comes with certain special attributes. This year, our early morning dressage riders were joined by a large group of military service members out for a Saturday morning PT session in the park. Our sport has its origins in the military, so I choose to look at this as bringing us just a little bit closer to our heritage. We also have the flow of unsuspecting bikers, hikers and others who think they are heading to the park to enjoy a beautiful fall day only to stumble upon 100 horses prancing and jumping and running. Can you imagine their surprise? And what a great thing for our sport — snag the unsuspecting public and make them new fans of eventing.

To top off this year’s event, we hosted a Jim Wofford clinic over the competition course on Wednesday, Sept. 25. With 16 riders and five full courses to play with, Jim found himself in an eventing playground. We cannot thank him enough for spending such a beautiful day with us, and we hope to make this sort of schooling opportunity a permanent feature of Marlborough Horse Trials if the future. We wish to extend a huge thank you to all the riders, grooms, family, friend, and support teams who contributed to the success of each of our riders this weekend. We love hosting you all and look forward to 22 more years.

Jimmy demonstrating how to gather your reins after a drop fence.

Congratulations to the 2013 Marlborough Horse Trials division winners:

• Open Preliminary A — Katie Domino/Rush W
• Open Preliminary B — Lisa Mendell/Hokus Pokus
• Open Training — Courtney Olmstead/Young Lad
• Training Horse — Rosa W Lehnig/PL Irish Thunder
• Training Rider — Amy Boccia/Whisper Lea
• Novice Rider A — Suzy Gehris/Taking a Taxi
• Novice Rider B — Sherry Stephenson/Pygmalion Prince
• Open Novice — Skyeler Voss/MTF Cooley Caliber
• Beginner Novice Rider A — Wendy Wentorf-Owens/Landrada
• Beginner Novice Rider B — Kelsey Ann Quinn/Private Benjamin
• Open Beginner Novice — Michelle Warro/Ave Ravina
• Intro Rider — Michaline West/Double Exposure
• Open Intro — Myra McMichael/He’s My Beau

And last but not least, I want to extend a huge thank you for the tremendous efforts of the Marlborough Horse Trials board, officials and army of volunteers.  Thank you for making this event possible for more than 20 years.

Mi Does Dressage!

Very happy to report that Mi does dressage!  After his last less than stellar appearance in the rectangular sandbox, Mi earned himself a re-match... a chance to get his S*#@ sorted out.  And that he did!

Mi and I headed up to Loch Moy today for the final PVDA dressage show of the year.  He's really been coming together at home, but as soon as he sees that judge's box, little white fence, and evil letter boxes... well, the training has pretty much gone out the window!  But not today... he really held it together, and I was so very happy to have a relaxed and happy pony in that evil sandbox!

Mi's first test was so relaxed, he was almost too quiet!  I should have pushed for more, but I've never been able to do that!  So I was pretty darn thrilled with his 69.054 score and second place ribbon!! There's more in there, but now we're talking!

Mi and I had a relaxing break before we were up in the evil sandbox again... this time, apparently, in a bit more danger.  When Mi gets tired, he gets nervous.  Funny, because I think we, as riders, always think a second test should be a bit better with the horse a bit more settled - I'm starting to think Mi is a one-shot a day kinda guy.  After a quick watch of the video (THANK YOU KERRY!) of our first ride, I went into the ring determined to push for more in the second test.  But Mi was tired, hot, a little spooky, and a little rude -- so, he's a funny one.  But he pulled of a good test, for a solid 3rd place out of 10 horses, so really, we had a pretty awesome day!

We shall see what the future holds, but I really think today was a huge step forward in our partnership.  Exciting!

Did you see me do that dressage stuff ??? I was brilliant!!!

And even more Dressage!

Dressage, dressage, dressage.
Katchi says - why we still doin' dressage?
And Mi says - dressage-schmodge. Jump!

But, it's dressage, dressage, dressage!

And it ain't even half bad!

Last week, I found out that in Mi's very first recognized dressage test (and our first competitive foray together), Mi earned the Thoroughbred High Score (Open Division) at Ride for Life... which came with prize money! WOW!  I think he was just straight up showing off to win that his first time out.  I bet he said to Katchi, "I'll show you who's getting all the treats today!"

After Ride for Life, I made a last minute decision to enter Mi in PVDA's ATC Summer Showdown to see if I could squeeze out a few more points from the square sandbox.  While Mi was good at R4L, he was tense and then tired and tense, and I knew there was so much more in there.  When I got my ride times for the Showdown and saw both tests would be in the indoor coliseum, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed.  So much for getting rid of that tension.  But, oh well, might as well push the limits.  And that we did.  Little jerk.  Day one was reasonable - judge's platform still scary as heck, but he coped.  And I was hopeful we could get 5 points higher on our return into the coliseum on day 2.  Little jerk. The second I took him out of the warm up arena and pointed him towards the shoot to the coliseum - he said, oh I don't think so...  that's the primrose path to hell!  Little jerk. Technically, he performed the movements.  Technically, his score of 63.378 earned him a pretty 4th place ribbon (out of a class of 9).  And technically, he was border line temper tantrum the entire test.  And when I took him back out to the warm up arena after his test, he had a full on temper tantrum.  Big jerk. You know how little kids scream and kick the floor and roll around?  Yeah, try sitting on 1,000 pounds of that.  I kept thinking of that horse that got eliminated at Rolex (in dressage!) a few years ago for "insubordination."  At least Mi had the "decency" to hold his insubordination until we got out of the ring.  I guess I should be thankful.  So, Mi earned himself an entry to another dressage show - August 31.  Game on.

Meanwhile, I had a super fun opportunity at the same show - for a not-so-fabulous reason.  My long-time student Debi had her beautiful mare, Roxanne, also entered at the Summer Showdown -- but the weekend before she fell very ill and was not going to be able to compete. As I ride Roxanne regularly, I thought it might be a good bit of fun to spin her around the dressage ring, so I picked up the ride in Debi's place - and fun it was!  She kicked butt in all 3 of her classes, winning her mom 3 beautiful blue ribbons and engraved wine glasses!  And our score of 75.172% in First Level Test 1 received an extra award as the show's Reserve High Score!  What good fun!  A huge thanks to Debi for letting me have the ride -- and especially to Debi's Patrick for being my groom extraordinaire for the weekend!

Me & Roxanne - winning First Level Test 1

I guess I was happier about the blue ribbons than Roxanne!

As much fun as we've been having Dressaging-it-up this summer, Mi and I have also been working very hard on putting together our partnership over fences.  I'm learning a lot about him, and he's learning a lot about me!  We have a few more holes to fill and understandings to reach, but I'm getting very excited for the future... and taking the time now to be sure we are ready to do it right soon!

P.S. Katchi wants everyone to know that with all this rain, he's been allowed out of the dressage ring on the nice soft ground a few times this summer!  A huge thanks to Sharon who has been riding him out on the hills for me, accompanying us while Mi does his conditioning work.  Last time out, Katchi was so good and the ground was so soft, that I gave the go-ahead for a little canter spin around the field!  KATCHI LOVED IT!  They both had big smiles on their faces! So fun to watch!!

GOOD BOY KATCHI!

So much to catch up on! First, RIDE FOR LIFE!

Oh dear, I just looked at the date of my last post.  I knew I was late, but eek.  I'm way overdue - and I'm blaming the grass!  I seem to have found myself in 10 acres of lush grass, needing to be mowed every 5 days!  Between a full time job, 2 horses, plus students and their horses...  there hasn't been a spare second in weeks!

The best thing about being crazy busy, if you love what you're busy doing, is you love every minute of your life!  I had a moment yesterday when I had to stop and pause and smile at just how good life is...  after 4 hours on the road, driving back and forth to West Virginia for a (wonderful!) jumping lesson with Jim Wofford... having an epic battle with Mi about peeing in the trailer, and trying to gather up the energy to tack up Katchi...  I had Katchi half tacked up in the cross ties and Mi, wet, in the wash stall... and the two of them, looking across the aisle at each other (each wondering with baited breath what the other was getting that might be coming his way next), and watching me - the giver of treats, and any passerby who might have a treat too...  it made my heart just swell... it was the cutest thing I've seen in ages. Their innocence, and anticipation, and delight.  And I thought, I must be the luckiest girl in the world to have such incredible ponies in my life!

Thinking back to everything that has happened the past TWO MONTHS...  the first big event was Ride for Life!  This was the 10th anniversary of the event, and my 7th consecutive year as a competitor... and as it turned out, my 3rd year winning the high pledge award for the "open" division!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who made a donation to this event in my name.  Each year, I ride in memory of my first dressage instructor, Joy Court, who valiantly fought and won several battles with breast cancer until we lost her in 1997.  Joy's love for dressage, horses, and her students was incredible and I like to think that I carry a little bit of her with me each and every ride (I know she's with me every time I put on a polo wrap as she's the one who took the time to show me how and why, and made sure I did it properly every day!).  I was especially thrilled this year to enter the arena with both Katchi and Mi, and Joy on my shoulder, watching over me as Mi and I embark on our new adventures together.

Both the ponies were really outstanding, bringing home many pretty ribbons and making me very proud!  And while everyone wanted to check out the new pony in his dressage debut, Katchi was a star as well, and made some new friends too (specifically, he has a two year old boy who learned to say "Good Boy Katchi!" and who cannot stop talking about him and his treats!!!!).

Kathi and his new little friend, Beckett

Mi checking out the BEAUTIFUL high pledge cooler and ribbon

Good Boy Katchi!

Mi, very proud of himself after his first test - and looking for the jumps to come after dressage!

Mi in his first recognized dressage show!