Catherine's Blog (7)

On November 5th and 6th I had the opportunity to ride in a clinic taught by Christine Traurig. I had ridden under Christine before and had really enjoyed her lessons, so I was excited to be able to participate in the clinic. The last time I had seen Christine was early in the beginning of 2009, so I was anxious to see what she thought of my horse Verdicci and I. In July of this year we were able to represent Region 5 in the North American Junior Young Rider Championships in Kentucky, where we pl… Continue

This past weekend I went to the ADA Fall Fiesta with my horse Chance and my trainer Teri Patton-Rich's horse Wynsum. She… Continue

It's been such a hectic summer, I finally have a breather. Chance was so good in Kentucky, and considering he's only seven, he handled everything fabulously. We ended up 9th out of 36 in the Individual test and 13th in the freestyle. It was a blast and I already can't wait untill next year. I think we'll do Juniors again so we have a year to train the PSG. Thankis everyone for being so supportive! Continue

April 4-5: Chance and I completed our third NAJYRC qualifer and came out with a 65% average! He was very well behaved and had two very steady tests. We also performed our freestyle for the first time and earned a 67%. This was Chance's first freestyle ever and he wasn't quite sure what to do but he listened to me and performed a clean test. I am very proud of my boy! This show leaves us with a 63.9% average for the team. In three weeks we are going to the Del Mar National Horse Show and if we ge… Continue

We had a great show on the weekend of March 13-15 in Del Mar at the Dressage Affaire. We started off on Friday with the Junior Team Test. We had practiced hard for the last two weeks after the last show and I hoped all the hard work would pay off. Chance is only seven and is still green with the changes but he went out there and tried his best. This was only our second qualifier and our first CDI ever so I was amazed when they anounced that our score was a 64.054%! With a judging panel consistin… Continue

February 19-22 at the Mid-Winter Dressage Fair in California was our first qualifier for the Junior team. This weekend actually held a lot of firsts for me and Chance. It was our first time showing in California, his first time showing in an Equidome, and his first time showing at the Junior level. He was still a little green going into the competition so I was hoping we would be able to pull it together in the ring. On the warm-up day Chance was good but a little lazy and ended up getting a 62.… Continue

This past week I got to do a two day clinic with Christine Traurig. It was extremely helpful and it really brought some of me and Chance's issue's into light. I would like to share some of the great tips I got. February 4 - First Day On the first day we worked a lot on Chance's frame and the quickness of his hindquarters. He needed to have quicker, higher steps and not just run through my hands. Once we got the right engagement he was able to come into my hands from back to front. She al… Continue