FLORIDA!

2009 has been a year full of changes and challenges. While the horses and riders are all making progress, I've found myself wanting more. So after some long conversations and soul searching, I've found an opportunity to increase my own skills, as a rider and trainer. This winter I'll be taking some time for myself so that I can become a better rider and trainer. So that I can bring everyone up another level and so that I can refocus to help myself and those around me achieve their goals.

My flight has been booked and I'll be heading to Florida for 2 1/2 weeks of training with Cathy Wieschhoff and her trainers, Karen and David O'Connor. I am beyond excited to have this opportunity to ride with some of the best in the country. I'll be taking lessons, riding, watching, learning, and absorbing all that I can during my time there. I will be leaving January 18th, returning February 4th. Stay tuned for more updates and my Florida Blog! - Meg

It's been a busy year and the 2009 show season has finally come to an end. We finished the year off with a trip to the Ram Tap Championships in Fresno. Holly (riding Rigs) and Gill (on Cash) were both qualified for the Novice Championship class. Both riders put in competitive dressage tests, Holly with a 32.5 and Gill with a 35.5, however x-c day wasn't meant to be. Holly had a very good go until about 2/3 of the way around the course when a small down bank into the water surprised Rigs and they had a very uncharacteristic stop on course. Holly made a good recovery to finish with just the one stop. Holly did have a fabulous sj round on Sunday, but finished out of the ribbons. Cross country day never came to be for Gill and Cash, when Saturday morning Cash came out of his stall very lame. Luckily after some probing by the show vet, it was determined he had an abscess. So Cash was withdrawn before the fun even began. Look out for them next year!

The best part of the show was Bob riding his own Lady Claire. Despite a few minor spooks in the dressage, Bob rode Claire around x-c and stadium with determination to finish on their dressage score! This was their first recognized away event and the first time Bob has completed a recognized show. I am so proud of Bob!

The summary of the event is for me very indicitive of the way the year has gone. A pleasant surprise, a hiccup, and an unavoidable lamness. I am very much looking forward to 2010!

BOYD MARTIN CLINIC (Meg and Allison Hulme's "Georgie" tackle the corner during the Boyd Martin Clinic)

Tally Ho Farms hosted a clinic taught by Boyd Martin on July 4th and 5th focusing on stadium and cross country. The whole of the THF family is thankful for such an incredible opportunity to ride with one of the best in our sport. Despite a few unintended dismounts throughout the weekend, everybody had fun and we are all well on our way learning how to “ride better”. For more info on the clinic, visit Boyd's blog http://boydandsilvamartin.blogspot.com/

After an incredibly successful event, we spent an extra day at the farm letting the horses enjoy some well deserved down time.

Kelsey and Ian, June 2009. What color is he?

Izzy and Mia meetMy Washington Herd

Ian meets the THF girls, he gets all the girls! THF on the trail. Washington June 2009On the lake at our Farm

Alexa Wolf & Kalypso's Page WIN the T3D at Inavale!

I can't even begin to express just how prous I am of this pair, all the hard work has paid off in spades! Alexa and Kalypso not only took home the blue at this incredibly tough event, but also brought home a new saddle, piles of prizes, and the award for Best Conditioned Horse. Congratulations Alexa, you have finally learned to "Ride Better"

(Julie, Danielle and Meg hanging out in the tent at Inavale)

Inavale Horse Trials:
Four THF riders and horses traveled some 600 miles to Oregon for the Inavale Horse Trials. This was THF’s first time at this event and the facility and the competition certainly did not disappoint!

Emily had a last minute swap of horses due to her horse’s sudden lameness. Having only ridden Mia the night prior to leaving, Emily stunned us all by pulling through and taking Mia around her first novice. The pair scored a respectable 34.5 in dressage, made it around a large novice course despite a couple stops, and finished the event with a double clear stadium. She couldn’t have done better. Way to go, Emily!
Holly and Rigs put in a good test, earning a 35.5 in dressage. Holly’s riding is really starting to move into a new level. They got around cross country double clear and made it look easy. The pair put in a double clear stadium round to move them up to a second place finish in her novice division.
Alexa and Kalypso also rose to the occasion in the training half star. Alexa earned a 32.5 to put them in 4th out of a HUGE field of riders including several professionals and also earned an 8 on rider in her collective marks. She rode aggressively around the entire cross country course with just 0.8 time penalties to move them into 3rd. After being double checked by the vets in the 10 minute box for an unusually low temperature, Kalypso was cleared to return to his stall. The following day, Alexa rode a double clear stadium to move them into first place. In addition to winning the half star, Kalypso was awarded for being the best conditioned horse.
Danielle and Ash rounded out the THF group with some awesome riding. Danielle has been working really hard on the flat with Ash and the work is beginning to pay off. While their score was a 43.3, she nailed her halt and rein back and the quality of all the gaits has been so greatly improved. The x-c course was big, sharing many of the fences with intermediate. Danielle and Ash attacked the course, skipping around double clear! They have moved up 9 places to put them into 5th. Danielle was one of only a couple riders out of all the preliminary divisions to finish cross country without any time penalties! She and Ash put in a double clear stadium to finish in fourth.

Danielle and "Fen Cera" 4th, JYOP

Holly and "Ragazzo", 2nd Jr. Novice B

Emily and "Mamma Mia" THF Superstars, Jr. Novice A

Inavale Final Results
1st – Alexa and Kalypso’s Page, Training ½ Star and Winner of Best Conditioned Horse
2nd- Holly and Ragazzo, Junior Novice B
4th – Danielle and Fen Cera, Young Rider Open Preliminary
THF Super Heroes! - Emily and Mamma Mia, Junior Novice A

Meg and Claire Alexa and Kalypso Danielle and Elmer

Danielle and Ash

Bob and Claire

May Galway!

We made the long trek down to Galway for the 2nd time this spring with 4 horses in tow. Danielle and Ash finished their 3rd prelim and even got past the scary down hill hanging log that they were afraid of! Alexa and Kalypso were in their finest form, finishing on their dressage score and taking home 3rd in the Jr. Training! Alexa has finally learned to growl and I think "K" is scared.

I competed Claire again for second ever event and she was a true star, coming home with 5th and a blue ribbon for winning the BN team competition :) Claire felt even better than Ram Tap and was much more settled about the jumps, though the scary stuff around the jumps is another matter... a work in progress as always. Bob got a chance to do a dressage and jump round on Friday for schooling and I do believe there may be some progress :)

Noah has had a tough month with something clearly bothering him physically. We had a jump school with Gina Miles the week before the show and while he had some great jumps, there were definately moments where he wasn't himself. I did 2 practice rounds on Friday in hopes of working out the kinks, to no avail. Saturday's dressage was my best EVER earning a 28.2, good enough for second place. However when doing a final check of his jump boots before our stadium I discovered some slight swelling in his knee. Had to make the tough call to withdraw as something just wasn't quite right. We've since returned home and had Wayne out twice. I'm happy to report that Noah will be just fine! He had some iritation in his knee and an old splint had acted up causing him to be sore. I am so thankful I listened to the horse and pulled him out when he was hurting. He's good as new and will have a relatively easy outting at Woodside with Xander in the Training division as we want to ensure he is 100% before moving him up again.

Updates?
I just can't keep up! Here's Everytime I think about doing updates I realize just how far behind I am which makes me put off updating:)

March Galway:
Danielle and Ash-pants made the move up to Prelim this spring! They got around and had some awesome moments.
Meg and Noah finished 4th in OT
Meg and Kalypso had a discussion about going FORWARD, Meg won :)
Sophie and Cooper successfully made the move up to Novice despite running x-c with a temp (Sophie, not Cooper)



It's a BOY!
Kelsey gave birth to a healthy colt while we were on the way home from Galway! "Just One More" aka "Ian" (after Ian Stark, of course) is by Formula One.

Twin One Day:
We brought plenty of horses to the Twin One Day. The results!
Jennifer and Jamaica 1st Elementary CT
Emma and Matilda 4th Elementary
Tricia and Toby 2nd Beginner Novice
Caroline and Bodie 3rd Beginner Novice
Bob and Claire 5th Beginner Novice
Emily and Bodie 4th Novice
Sophie and Cooper 1st Novice

April Ram Tap:

No Rain! Really nice to finally have a Ram Tap with no rain :) Alexa and Kalypso finished the Jr Training in 7th, Nikki and Patton conquered the down bank and coffin, finishing 6th. Danielle and Ash completed their 2nd Prelim and went CLEAR! Finishing 8th. Meg and Claire made it through their first Beginner Novice together and were 6th and Emily and Bodie finished 7th in the Jr. Novice.

April Twin HT:

The Twin HT went well with everyone riding strongly in all 3 phases. Meg and Noah finished 7th in Open Training, Sophie and Cooper were 9th in the Jr. Novice, Kyana and Seeker made their Novice debut and were 6th in the Jr. Novice, with Sydnee and Zara finishing 9th in the Jr. Training.

Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!
Ram Tap this weekend was wet to say the least! There seemed to be a black cloud over the THF team from the beginning. Syndee's mare Zara came down with a cold the weekend before the trials so we withdrew her from competition. The day we were to leave Alexa spiked a temp of 102 so I took over the ride on Kalypso, making that 2 open training rides for me (I was already scheduled to ride Danielle's mare Ash as Danielle is heading to Hawaii for winter break.) The team was down to just 3 riders (Sophie, Nikki, and Meg) and 4 horses. Thursday's weather held out but Friday we weren't so lucky. The rain began just as we arrived at the barn to feed the horses and made my first ride on Ash "challenging". I can honestly say that this was the first time in my competitive career I've worn a rain coat into the dressage ring. Despite the downpour, Ash was a trouper and put in a decent test. Kalypso was not quite as happy about the mud and while he found his brain about halfway through, it was definately not our best effort. Nikki's gelding Patton was very consistent and Sophie's boy Cooper was his usual workman-like self. We finished the day with all 4 horses scoring in the 30's.

The rain let up on Friday but left the cross country course un-rideable for Saturday. The organizers re-scheduled the weekend, moving the show jumping to Saturday and cross country to Sunday. Saturday morning we headed up to the show jumping ring for a team evaluation of the ring The arena was not quite as wet as it was for the Combined Test we attended last month, however it was the same course. So after a quick deliberation, we made the decision to withdraw our horses and head home.

The horses and riders are home safe and sound. Although it was dissapointing to come home without getting a chance to run the course, it was in the best interest of our horses. I'm hoping we'll get to go for a schooling weekend in March and we're looking forward to Ram Tap in April when things are bound to be drier.

Congratulations to Sophie and Cooper, Area VI Jr. Beginner Novice Champions!

Sophie and Cooper placed in the top 3 in every horse trials they entered this year, with a 5th place finish at the Championships in November. Sophie and Cooper came to THF in 2006 from a local riding school where jumping a cross rail was a challenge. Not only are they coursing around 3' easily but they're doing it against some tough competing and winning. It's been a joy to watch them grow, keep up the good work Sophie!