I am happy to bring you a post from Laramie Maxwell who is out east preparing to do her first CCI**. Laramie has been a part of the AF family for several years now so we are excited and proud to have her represent AF on the east coast!

 Laramie has also started her own blog for her and Wally, check it out at http:// wallyandlaramie.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Whew! Has it been an exciting three weeks. It feels great to finally be settled down in Ocala, FL at Five Ring Stable, owned by Jon and Suzy’s good friends Kyle and Jen Carter. Wally and I have been given the wonderful opportunity to train here for a couple of months to complete a two star and go from there!

I must begin at the beginning though…our adventure across the US from Washington to Florida. I jumped in the truck with Jordan Linstedt who I did not know at all, and Wally got on board with Jack and Capato. Jack is bound for Rolex and Capato is soon to make his debut at Intermediate, so Wally was in good company. After sliding up Snoqualmie Pass, it was smooth sailing through the rest of Washington, Idaho, and Utah. Wyoming, however, welcomed us with some serious roadblocks. Between Wamsutter and Rawlins the spare tire fell off the front of the trailer, we ran it over, popped both tires on the passenger side of the trailer, and were ultimately stranded for 24 hours. The horses were absolutely incredible, waiting on the side of the interstate for five hours and loading into a strange trailer in the pitch black after having already been on the trailer for over 24 hours. Through the generosity of both my wonderful friends as well as complete strangers, we got new rims and tires and eventually made our way further east. (Thanks a MILLION to Joe in Sinclair, WY

Well we got back on the road and ended up in Kansas before the truck decided to quit on us and we spent St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Augusta Kansas at the Palmer Ranch. Miraculously the Ford dealership was right next to a facility with a cross country course. What are the chances… We had some fun killing time in Kansas while the truck cab was completely detached from the chasse to replace a fuel pump. They managed to get it fixed and we made it to Poplar in Hamilton, Georgia a week after we departed! I couldn’t believe my eyes when we finally pulled into the property. Gorgeous rings, perfectly manicured cross country courses, and a giant barn with hundreds of permanent stalls. We had arrived.

The weekend went very well. Wally came off the trailer feeling and looking great and he came to work on both Saturday and Sunday. Friday, well, he was not quite so willing. A disappointing dressage test was not what I was hoping for, but it’s what I got, so I moved into Saturday hoping that we could redeem ourselves. Wally did not disappoint and he was incredible on one of the stiffest intermediates we have run around yet. I was very excited that he felt so great after having not run since Rebecca Farm last July. Show jumping on Sunday also ran smoothly, aside from one rail that was entirely my fault. Overall we ended seventh and I was happy with the weekend.

We are now settling into Ocala and ran a combined test at Rocking Horse HT last weekend, where he was excellent in the show jumping with a clean round and had some lovely moments in the dressage. I am excited to continue working with Kyle and getting to know all of the girls and the horses better.

I am so thankful that Jon and Suzy have given me the tools to enable me to pick up and move Wally across the country. I feel competent and confident in my skills, but there is, of course, always room to learn and improve. I’m looking forward to what the next few weeks

bring! Next time I will give more details about the program down here and what Wally and I have been working on.

Until next time!

Wally & Laramie

As promised, though very late in delivery, above is from the Aspen Farms Costume Christmas Party! I think this may become an annual thing, it was fun to dress up and certainly made the party feel festive!

Happy New Years! This will be a short post, mostly to remind you to get our derby dates on your 2012 calendar. The derbies are an excellent way to get some show practice in before the season gets underway, please join us!

FEB 25 DERBY, FEB 26 CLINIC

MARCH 24 DERBY, MARCH 25 CLINIC

APRIL 28 DERBY, APRIL 29 CLINIC

Ask and you shall recieve.....well, sometimes. I just happen to have a few spare moments on my hands so I am using them to grant Laramie's wish of a blog post to distract her from school and the fact that she is way to far away from her beloved Wally, who is fat and happy to be back in work after his post season vacation. Life on the farm is good, we had our first day of rain for December today which is shocking....2 weeks of sunshine in December in Washington? Unheard of. Every day another massive advanced jump appears on the driveway...I know your heart rate just sped up thinking about jumping them Lar:) I had a super fun ride on Lee today (3 year old off the track); he jumped a mini course with his first oxer like a pro and was relaxed and happy to do it, love him and love my job. It's incredibly rewarding to give a OTTB a new career and have them make the transition to it with ease and happiness. Cindi, Laurie, and Char were super in their lessons with me today and Jessica, Allie and Carly looked great with Jon. Secret has been back in work for a little over 2 weeks  and has been mostly hacking but with the warmer weather today I couldn't resist having a little trot and canter out on the xc track, I think he enjoyed it as much as I did! All in all, a great day in the barn. Yesterday we said goodbye to Herc and Rachel. While Rachel goes to school, Herc will be teaching people to ride and enjoying a little more laid back life. Rachel won't be too far away so hopefully she'll pop back in to say hello from time to time. Tomorrow is a big day at AF....the annual Christmas Party with the addition this year of  .....costumes!!!!! Photos WILL be taken, don't worry. Everyone in the house has a costume ready, including Rudy. Hmm, what else is new. Jon and I went for a 3 day holiday to Cannon Beach last weekend; it has become an annual trip for us that we look forward to and love. It's so relaxing to have nothing to do but walk the dogs on the beach and eat delicious food. This time we made our to the Tillamook factory on the way out since we were going south to look at a horse anyways. We came home with A LOT of cheese, yum, some of which will be available for sampling at the party tomorrow:) Ok, that's all for now, I'll leaving you in eager anticipation of the Christmas Party report!

As most of you have heard, Jon's mother, Gail, passed away September 24, after a two year battle with cancer. She was at home and surrounded by family. Gail was a huge supporter of Aspen Farms, always present at the horse trials and ready to pitch in and help with whatever needed to be done. Even as her health failed, she continued to organize volunteers from her computer and came out to the September event to see the new water jump and make sure all the volunteers were well looked after. Hopefully some of you were lucky enough to get a smile and thank you from her as she watched from her golf cart. In healthier times, Gail loved to come out to the farm to ride her horse Linus, and would spend hours here letting her dogs roam while she planted us some flowers that she brought from her garden or watered plants that I had neglected! She loved getting to know the working students; she gave them advice on colleges, invited them over for fourth of July or whatever holiday was approaching, and made them feel welcome and appreciated. I know she applied the same warmth and commitment to all areas of her life, and so will be missed by many. We love and miss you Gail.

Gail Williams Elliott

 This New England-native (b. New Haven, CT, 1939) moved to the Northwest after her marriage to Neal M. Elliott (1940-1998), whom she met at International House at Columbia University, over a bowl of chocolate ice cream. Prior to her master's degree at Columbia, Gail studied at Middlebury College and the University of Edinburgh. She brought her love of history, travel and classical music with her to Washington, where she discovered horses and boisterous board games with her children. In 2002 she fell in love again with another intrepid traveler, Bill Boris, and the pair have spent the last nine years traveling the world. Gail is survived by sister Gene Hoyt, her brother Harold Munson, her husband Bill Boris, her three children--Ingrid, Eva and Jonathan Elliott--four grandsons--Avi, Micah, Isaac and Jasper--one horse--Linus--and seven dogs and granddogs--Bruno, Monti, Lucy, Scooter, Kirin, Rudy and Odie. A memorial service will be held at the Chapel on Echo Bay ( 400 6th Avenue, Fox Island, WA 98333), 2:30pm, Tuesday September 27th. The family welcomes donations in Gail's memory to the Second City Chamber Music Series: P.O. Box 967, Tacoma, WA 98401. This is an arts organization which performs professional chamber music, as well as provides ensemble opportunities for high school musicians. Gail introduced her children to classical music though their concerts in the seventies and eighties, sat on their board for years, and found great joy in their music for decades.

It's hard to believe it's been almost 8 weeks since surgery and I get to jump in 36ish hours! My last post was 3 days after surgery and the 6 weeks ahead seemed like a very long road, but I have to say, it really hasn't been bad at all. I was up and moving around very quickly, which meant I could spend time in the barn and teach which kept me from getting too bored. I have now been riding on the flat for almost 3 weeks and it feels great. Of course a few little logs may or may not have gotten in my way while cantering around the ring... shh, don't tell my surgeon;) This probably sounds corny but I have been reminded over these 8 weeks that I really do love horses; whether I can ride them or not, it makes me happy just being around them. I guess that's not such a bad reminder to have had.

While I am now healthy and ready to go, unfortunately Uno is just beginning his much longer road to recovery. After extensive diagnostics including scoping, we discovered an injury to his stifle that will require the rest of the year to heal. He has been a super patient and is handling stall rest as well as can be expected. He stall is cluttered with various attempts to keep him amused including a hanging jolly ball, a traffic cone, a hanging salt lick and an Uncle Jimmys Hanging Ball (which the birds are more interested in that he is!). I hate having to coop him up, stall rest is so unnatural for horses, but hopefully he understands that it's what he needs right now. Uno had his scoping done at OSU and while there I received a phone call that there was a horse on the track that I would love and should look at. Was I looking for a horse? No. Did I buy him? Yes!  I picked him up on the way home and have since enjoyed getting to know him in the field while brushing, feeding and admiring him as he squeals and plays in circles around his two senior pasture pals, Aspen and Linus! He is only three so will enjoy several months in the field before starting his new eventing career, though he got an education on Satuday with front row viewing of the derby rounds!

We were very sad to say goodbye to Claire on Saturday. Claire has been at Aspen Farms since last June and is now off to travel around Europe for 6 weeks before heading to Quebec for college. While I'm very sad not to have her with us, I am equally excited for her future! My next blog post is going to be a list of "canadianisms" in her honor. Whenever I said something that received strange looks from surrounding americans, I would look to Claire for back up that I wasn't making it up, that really is what we call it in Canada! Claires confidence in her riding ability came a long way in her time here, especially in the last few months. We miss you Claire!!!

Also on Saturday was our last derby for the spring. The weather actually cooperated and we had a somewhat dry, nice day! Thank you to everyone who came out and rode, we had a great turn out and a safe, fun day. Hopefully everyone is feeling a bit more ready for the first event of the season at NW this weekend. Thank you to our great set up and volunteer crew: Jay, Lauralie, Lauren, Cindi, Rick, Gail, Marney, Chelsey, Mike, Laramie, Claire, Lindsey, Vidal, Roz. Thank you to Joanna for judging and Jon for designing great courses. 

We are sending a small group of horses to NW this weekend, normally I feel like a horse taxi running horses back and forth each day but this time it will be one trip with four horses! Jon has been riding Patagonia for me while I recover so he will compete him Novice this weekend. They have been having fun together and I have enjoyed watching Gogo progress with Jon. It's different for me to be the one on the ground while Jon is in the saddle but we make a good team either way I think! Laramie and Wally are competing  preliminary to get a nice smooth, confident start of the season so they will be ready to upgrade at our event if all goes well. Chelsey is competing Cindi Carrells two lovely girls, Stormont and Israels Surprise. I will be proudly coaching two of my students in their first trainings; good luck Alisa and Jess!

What else? That might be it for now! Though I must say that in the time that it took me to write this, it's now thursday which means I can say........ I get to jump tomorrow, yay!!!!!!

Good luck to everyone this weekend!

Suzy

After the fall horse trials I was eager to break out of organizer mode and back to riding and competing mode! My horses had not competed since Rebecca Farm and my goal was the CCI** at Galway. So both needed to jump well (and clean xc) at NWEC to have a qualifier within 3 months and so we would feel prepared. Luckily they were both super, clean xc with some time and double clean SJ. Both Whitney Weston and Chelsey Sevigny were aiming for the CCI* at Galway. Whitney had a great weekend on Ted at NW, so was also ready to tackle the challenge of Galway. Chelsey had an unfortunate fall off Stormont at the keyhole which proved to be educational as we discovered schooling after that Story was a little unsure of how to jump keyholes. So, hoping we had filled in that little hole in her education and gaining confidence from the fact that she and Story have had a fabulous season, we set off for the long trek to CA. The horses arrived feeling quite fresh thanks to a relaxing overnight layover and unusually chilly and windy CA weather. They schooled well all week, with Chauncy getting more and more settled as the week went on and the wind died down. I made sure to spend extra time relaxing him in the walk as the test had A LOT of walk work which can be tricky for him. All four AF horses passed the jog with ease so we could breathe a sigh of relief and really focus on dressage. Uno ( Ogopogo ) got the early draw, I was first and last in the CCI** with having two horses. He was on form and ready to put in a brilliant test but unfortunately I was not! He scored a 52 which could have easily been in the 40's if I had ridden a more accurate test to show him off. Determined not to make the same mistake with Chauncy since he can't afford to give away marks, I watched some tests and got myself mentally prepared. Chauncy had his best ever test and I was able to ride for every mark. I was practically in tears I was so happy with him!! He is not naturally gifted in the dressage department and has made huge improvement with a lot of hard work. So we scored a 55; I was hoping for a little better but overall thrilled. Chelsey and Story had a lovely test showing huge improvement in Storys gaits and also scored a 55. Whitney and Ted had a pleasant test but a few bobbles left them on a 61. The xc courses were quite challenging but looked like they would ride very well. The CCI* course had a lot of questions and really tested the horse and riders ability. I loved the CCI** course and was eager to see how my horses would handle the second water. It was a decent sized bounce in and a bending 6 strides to a left point corner in the water. Neither one of them had done a either question and left corners are their ( or perhaps my?! ) harder side. There was an angled ditch & brush question early on in the course that I had decided to ride a different line through than most riders, I wanted to try to put a bending 3 strides in instead of the more direct severely angled 2 that most were planning on. I missed my line coming in with Uno and ended up pointing him at the right flag of the second brush. He still tried to jump and hit his head on the flag, pour guy. We circled and popped the second one and were on our way. He jumped the rest of the course brilliantly, a little green in places but very honest and brave. I of course was kicking myself, and still am, for presenting him so poorly at the angled ditch & brush. Chauncy again benefitted by being second as I went the straight way on him and it jumped great! He really felt like a pro around the course, it's easy to forget that he is only 7 when he makes it feel so easy. I was up on my first minute marker so made the mistake of backing off a bit in the next couple minutes which of course was full of technical stuff so got behind and couldn't make it up. I ended up with 14 time faults. I hope I am slowly knocking the rust off my upper level riding!! Chelsey and Story had a super day finishing the course with just 1.6 time penalties! Chelsey was more nervous than I have ever seen her but she and Story have a great partnership and Chelsey is a very strong competitor. She has an amazing ability to perform better in competition than at home which is rare and I think a very valuable tool. Whitney had an unfortunate run out early on; Ted was thinking about which way the barn and his next meal was instead of his job! He was able to focus after that and the rest of the course looked spot on. Our horses were very sound and happy after the xc so it was a fairly easy night as far as three days go! They all got their fair share of ice and hand walking but no major concerns and no nasty surprises in the morning. An uneventful jog so another sigh of relief and on to SJ! Whitney rode a very nice SJ round but Ted thought he had worked a little too hard the day before to pick up his feet so had an uncharacteristic 4 rails. Chelsey and Story gave us all a thrill by jumping clean and moving from 7th to 3rd place!! It was a pretty special day for Storys owner, Cindi Carrell. It was also Chesleys best finish at a major competition and her mom ( Shelley) was there to share it with her. Thank you to Cindi for allowing Chelsey to ride your amazing horse! My SJ skills decided not to be present that day much to my disappointment! I got flustered with having to be in a rush, with two horses in a small division, timing gets dicey with SJ. Luckily my horses tried to jump well despite me, Uno had 2 rails and Chauncy had one. So Chauncy finished 9th and Uno 14th. Not quite what I was hoping for but on the positive side I have two very nice confirmed CCI** horses that I have done all the training on so now I just need to believe in them and myself a little more next time so I can be more competitive. On top of helping Chelsey, Whitney and myself ( thank you Jon!!), Jon was also coaching the Area VII young riders team in the CCI* long format. The team members were MacKenna Shea on Landioso, Tessa Beckett on Sound Prospect and Brooke Bailey on Savoy Six. Jon walked them through the full format process having done it countless times himself and really pulled the team together. They all rode to the best of their ability and finished with MacKenna in 1st place, Tessa in 2nd and Brooke in 5th. Well done!! So after some minor truck trouble we made it back to rainy WA and the horses are enjoying a well deserved vacation. We plan to do a few schooling shows over the winter             ( including the derby series here at Aspen Farms) and then head back down to Galway in March. Thank you to my super groom Caitlin for your hard work, to Jon for your support, advise, help and coaching, to Chelsey for helping Caitlin and I with my two, your superb packing skills and for riding so well, and to Shelley and Cindi for your help and for providing snacks!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Galway 2009

Well it was another wet one at AFHT in Sept as most of you are well aware after braving the pouring rain on Sunday! Luckily the footing held up very well on xc and just required some smart riding in the SJ ring. I think the worst problem we had was the poor people in barn B-1 getting flooded! Thank you to those in that barn for being so good natured about it. Jon, Trav, Matt, Joe and Josh put in many happy hours leading up to the event working on their bunker complex complete with very realistic looking tanks for the prelim to jump. I think everyone would agree the time spent was well worth it, the complex looks amazing and seemed to ride very well.  The team competition was as entertaining as ever with some fierce competition in the musical chairs portion. We decided to test the riders knowledge over the rulebook a little bit in the trivia section which was educational for all, myself included thanks to Malcolm! A huge thank you to all our wonderful volunteers who do such an amazing job, I really can't imagine doing this without the incredible crew we are so lucky to have. Competitors, please remember to thank the volunteers at all the events and treat them well, our sport would be lost without them. Another huge thank you to our sponsors. Toklat & Irideon, Gallops Saddlery, Devoucoux, Revitavet, Auburn Laboratories, Ice Horse, Baydo Chevrolet, World Equestrian Brands, Four Star Equine Therapy, Yelm Farm & Pet, CWD,  Moving Images, Bobcat West, Tack Room Too, Olson Mills, US Rider, Antares, Northwest Equine Practice, Meriwether Saddlery, County Saddlery, Sauvie Island Coffee, Valley Vet, J&I Power Equipment, Dover, Safer Building Materials Inc. We are able to have wonderful prizes and equipment thanks to the generosity of these companies. And finally thank you to all the competitors for coming out and supporting us and cheerily riding in the rain! We are very excited for next year with the addition of a CIC** and CIC* in September. Goodbye for now,

Suzy

Well as usual I have a lot to fill you in on and not a lot of time as we are busy preparing for our recognized event in two weeks. I suppose the first local event, NWEC Mothers Day Classic is a good place to begin. Aspen Farms had a great showing with everyone coming home happy with their performances and most with a ribbon to show for it. Working students Lexy Funk, Laramie Maxwell, and Char Paasche placed 6th, 5th, and 6th in their respective divisions. Aspen Farms assistant trainer Chelsey Sevigny rode Alison Uttings Aerolite to yet another win in the Novice and also rode Cindi Carrols Stormont to a 4th place finish in training in their first event together.

I was lucky to ride 3 very nice horses; my own Chauncy did his first OI at the age of 7 and was super. Bridgette Sales lovely young horse Dane the Great was very fun to ride around the novice and finished 8th. Tiger Time did his first training and was green but wonderful to finish 1st! I am so very excited to share the news that I have been given the permanent ride on Tiger by my good friend and mentor Dale Irwin. Tiger is a very talented horse and I am honored to have this opportunity given to me and excited to see how far we can go with it. Thank you Dale!

Lauren Benge rode Obsession to an 8th place finish in the training while Whitney Weston finished 6th and 4th on her two training horses.

After recovering from NW, we hit the road and headed down to CA yet again, this time to Woodside, to contest the Preliminary Challenge. The Challenge is a wonderful new idea of Robert Kellerhouses and I would encourage anyone who qualifies to go down and do it next year. There was 30,000 dollars worth of cash and prizes up for grabs, a super course to jump and show jumping in the evening in front of hundreds of rowdy spectators and sponsors. It was a great atmosphere and a very fun competition to be a part of. I competed Ogopogo in the horse portion of the challenge and finished 3rd , so shockingly came home with a check that paid for my trip! I also brought Chauncy and did his second OI. It was a much more challenging course than NW and he handled it very well other than one steering mishap early on! He had a lovely clean SJ round the next day to finish 7th. Lexy and Laramie made the trip with me and both rode their personal best dressage tests on their current horses. Lexy sat in 1st place after dressage with a 28! Both had super xc rides, other than Laramies horse deciding to amuse the crowd with an impressive bucking display in warm up! Laramie had a clear SJ to finish 5th in training and Lexy also had a very nice round with one rail to finished 2nd in training.

Then it was back home to deal with the mound of entries, unanswered phone calls, and ignored emails waiting for me! We are full and have a waiting list which is great, thank you to everyone for entering and supporting our show. We are excited to see everyone in a few short weeks. If anyone wants to be a part of the action but is not quite ready to ride, we are always looking for volunteers to help things run smoothly…there’s even a free T-shirt involved to sweeten the deal! Be sure to stick around for the competitors party Saturday and watch the games portion of the team competition, it was highly entertaining last year and I think I can safely say a good time was had by all!

Bye for now,

Suzy