This is one of my favorites from ECP — leaves my horse’s back cool and dry with NO SLIPPING OR BUNCHING!

Order in white or black, Eventer ($94) or Dressage ($125)

http://equinecomfort.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14.

Ali Smallpage will be at Copper Meadows this weekend applying FREE FLAIR Nasal Strips on your way to cross country!

Don’t miss this great FLAIR freebie — your horse will thank you 🙂

#freeflair #breatheasysuperspeedy @FLAIRstrips

FLAIR Equine Nasal Strips is hosting a contest for EVENTERS ONLY now through October 31, 2013!

The challenge: win back-to-back competitions wearing your FLAIR strips for cross country and show jumping. Make sure you snap some pictures!

The first donations toward Wort’s trip to the American Eventing Championships are rolling in! He and I are lucky to have such generous and ardent supporters – we appreciate each and every one of you!

Visit scesports.org to support ALL your favorite horses and riders. 

Wow! The list of people I have to write Thank You cards to is growing daily! I am so appreciative of the unbelievable amount of support and generosity shown by those around me; very inspiring! I am hoping this year’s Rebecca Farm will be one for the books 🙂

I would like to publicly thank a few of my current supporters, financial and otherwise:

Terry and Linda Paine, KingsWay Farm
Dr. Joe Fanucchi, Meditrax
Jim Groesbeck
Alexandra Tapley
The Robinson family
Mary Starling
Beth Cannon
Debbie Lawrence
Lori Lauver
Amy Swanton Mills
Dr. Susan Bauer
Sue Church, Elegant Accents (Spur Straps by Sue)

In addition, I owe a lot to Hawley Bennett Eventing, Temeku Equine, and Tim Shannon (Tim’s Horseshoeing) for their help with my horses getting prepped for the event.

And not to forget my other ever-amazing sponsors: FLAIR, Equine Comfort Products, Ride On Video, RevitaVet, Adeptus, Sonoma Saddle Shop, Heritage Gloves, Revere Saddlery, and Frilly Fillies Horse Bonnets,!

Who did I forget?! Let me know!

Copper Meadows was a wonderful event! Taren and James Atkinson have done an incredible job with the facility and their fantastic group of volunteers makes each event run like clockwork. The courses all looked and rode beautifully.

Poof and Wort ran the Advanced and Intermediate, respectively. Although they were both feeling frisky on the flat, they behaved and performed well; they were both sitting in respectable positions after their tests.  However, it was a bit of a mad scramble getting off of Wort and onto Poof for showjumping – I had to make a mental effort to get my head in the game and prepared to ride Poof over fences. We have been practicing hard at home, and after our last double-clear outing I was wavering between nervous to show we could do it again and confident that we could.

Poof came through, AGAIN! He jumped beautifully and steadily around the course, but an overly-aggressive ride on my part into the last combination cost us one rail at the last fence. However, I was overwhelmed by the heart of a horse who at 18 years old is changing his style and learning to go better and better, as if he were 8.

Wort came out for his second ride of the day ready to impress. He cantered around his Intermediate course as if it were cross-rails. A biiiig flyer to an oxer caused quite a gasp from coach Hawley, but luckily Wort is a little flying horse and came through with an easy double clear, looking for bigger fences to jump. Poof and Wort sat third and second overnight, respectively.

Sunday dawned cool and brisk, the perfect type of morning for cross country! Poof left the box with a big open stride and never faultered once around the turning and rolling course, cruising home with lots of run left and looking for more course. It was hands down the best cross country ride we have shared, and it made me feel really confident for my ride on Wort.

Wort was WILD waiting for his turn, and the ever-wonderful Don Trotter allowed us to go to the box early.  He flew around like it was training level, as quick and brave as he has ever felt. It was incredible to feel that little horse gallop around again after a long absence.

The weekend ended with a blue ribbon for both my boys, several good lessons learned, and areas to work on before Rebecca Farm! All of my sponsors played a huge part in their success, and I think there was a little bit of luck in the fancy blue bonnets that Nancy Dein at Frilly Fillies Ear Bonnets made them! Adeptus Nutrition keeps them fueled; ECP, Heritage, and Sonoma Saddle Shop keeps us clothed; FLAIR and RevitaVet keep them going strong; and Meditrax and M-P keep us all going down the road. My mom continues to support my dreams and Hawley helps me see them come true. Go Team!

Happiness is having two amazing horses to ride :))

First of all, I would like to publicly thank a few of the people who have already contributed in various ways to my upcoming trip to the Event at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, Montana:

Jim Groesbeck
Joe Fanucchi
Mary Starling
Debbie Lawrence
Lori Lauver
Beth Cannon
Peggy Ingles/North American Arabian Sport Horse Assn

Each and every cent goes a long way toward supporting Wort and Poof and our goals! THANK YOU!

In other news, Dr. Colleen Wilson from Adeptus Nutrition came to speak to us today at KingsWay Farm. And boy was it educational!!! Not only did she explain each of her products, but she explained why they are formulated in particular ways and how they are metabolised and digested by a horse. With a PhD in equine nutrition, she clearly knows her stuff, and she was able to explain everything to us in a completely palatable way (haha get it!?).

Did you know that horses are hind gut fermenting herbivores?? Most of the horse’s digestive processes take place in the secum, and Dr. Wilson explained that this is why ALL Adeptus products are made with a yeast culture PREbiotic base to protect and support the “healthy bugs” that break down food in the secum. Many of us are familiar with probiotics, but these are typically broken down very quickly in the stomach and never live long enough to benefit the horse’s GI tract.

Furthermore, if you are interested in supporting your horse’s joints, you should really consider adding Adeptus to his diet. While injectible Legend and Adequan are great products, you can further support joint health by adding a daily dose of one of Adeptus’s “Nimble” products, which feature LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT HYRALONIC ACID. Large molecules of feed-through HA, found in many other competing products, are simply passed through in the urine; Adeptus is unique in that all of its various ingredients are selected to be completely digestible by the horse. 

Want to learn more? Check out http://www.adeptusnutrition.com/

In the meantime, here are some pictures of our guests enjoying today’s seminar! Thanks to everyone who came today for making it an informative and fun afternoon 🙂

Forget Edward or Jacob, you can easily enjoy being part of “Team Wort” or “Team Poof” by making a tax deductible donation through Southern California Equestrian Sports. Direct donations are also accepted.

Wort and Poof are both looking to make the trip to Rebecca Farms this year for the CIC3***. Expenses include, but are not limited to: entry fees, fuel, stabling, hay and grain, shavings, vet care, and also food and housing for myself during the trip. I am expecting to spend well over $4k. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated and will contribute to making this an unforgettable event.

So the question is: who’s team are you on??? 🙂

I just entered Wort in the Intermediate division at Copper Meadows in June! He is really excited to go play over the logs with his big brother 🙂 I will not be at Woodside but I wish everyone a fun and successful event! See you in June!