Summer is here!!!

Hey Everyone!!!

 We have been very busy so far this summer, and HOT! It has been in the upper 90's and over 100 for the last 2 weeks or so. Lucky for us, it is supposed to drop off to the upper 80's this week, YAY!!! The girls have been very busy working hard on the farm every afternoon. They are learning lots about just how much more goes into running an operation than teaching lessons. Although, I think their favorite new skill has been driving the mule around the farm. Their driving leaves a little to be desired however. Last week Lisa and I both rode in the Verne Batchelder clinic. I work with him twice a month, but this was the first time Lisa has ridden with him. She did a great job and learned alot from him. As always, I got my tail kicked but he was thrilled with Moose and we worked on lots of new fun stuff. We also took all the horses (Including Moose, biggest miracle of all!) on a trail ride through the foundation the other day. It was a much needed reprive from the hot arena for everyone. Saturday Paisley and Gingersnap and Isabelle and Sutter went cross country schooling. Isabelle rode great and is getting tougher all the time....and Paisley and Gingersnap wowed us all. We had no idea that pony could jump that well, or that Paisley was that confident...wow. All in all we have had a great start to the summer. Looking forward to all the other activities comming up. Stay tuned!!! B

Everyone is having fun painting jumps!! (Including Hailey!)

Moose and I fine tune our shoulder-in with Verne

Lisa and William looking great working with Verne

Yes the sign said 108 when we went to the Verne Clinic!!!

Paisley and Gingersnap XC Schooling!!!

Isabelle and Sutter XC schooling!!

FenRidge Farm Horse Trials!!

Isabelle and Sutter, Alexa and William, and Allyson and Clover all rode in the maiden HT at FenRidge yesterday. Overall it was a great day and everyone learned alot...including some world geography ;)!!! Allyson had an overall much improved weekend from the last show, and it paid off with a 3rd place finnish in a large class!! Way to go!!! Alexa had a great weekend too with some awesome riding. She showed great confidence, especially for her first time cross country and her dressage is much improved. Isabelle had an awesome dressage and foot perfect show jumping round, unfortunately Sutter had some serious separation anxiety on XC having to leave his buddys behind and had a meltdown. But Isabelle handled it like a rockstar and we learned alot about how to request to schedule his rides....next time will be awesome for sure!!! Thanks to everyone for the help and the entertainment haha....if nothing else, we know how to have a good time :-)

I have been looking at the calendar of events for the rest of the year to start to plan out our schedule. My plan right now is to not compete over the summer, and spend that going XC schooling at some different places and then in August we will start back up again. Here is the plan of horse trials we will be going to so let me know which ones you are interested in doing so I can put you on the list:

8/21: Foxtrack Horse Trials (Southern Pines)

9/18: Hillcrest Farm Horse Trials (Mocksville)

10/17: FenRidge Farm Horse Trials (Mebane)

10/31: Five County Horse Trials (Zebulon)

11/13: TTC Horse Trials (Mocksville)

11/21: CHP Starter Trials (Raeford)

Here are a few pictures from yesterday:

Isabelle and Sutterby Good

Alexa Pollat and Willy Nilly

Allyson Salas and The Blonde Bomb

Big Changes!!!

Hey Everyone!!
 Big changes are happening here. Due to some changes in Briana's personal life the riding program is moving to her farm, Second Chance, effective June 1, 2010. While we are very sad to be leaving Fleet of Foot we are also very excited to be moving in this new direction with our lives and the program. Everything will remain the same for the students so no worries there guys. We will just be at a new location. The physical address is 169 Talbert Road, West End, NC 27376. We will be just 5 miles from the traffic circle in Pinehurst and are centrally located within Moore County. We hope this change will be a positive change for everyone and look forward to what the rest of the year has to offer. Happy riding. B

MacNair's CT, April 18th!

Hey everyone,
 Today was over all great day. At the very least a learning experience for all! We took 5 (Yes, 5 haha) horses and students to MacNair's CT in Raleigh, NC for a day of first's. Alexa rode William, Taylor rode Sam, Paisley rode Sutter, Isabelle rode Dominic and Allyson rode Clover. Everyone did the maiden combined test. This was a first for everyone, because none of them have shown over fences before and it was Allyson's first show ever with us. The day was busy to say the least and a huge thank you must go out to our army of assistants!!! Thank you everyone, we couldn't do it without you guys.
  Alexa finnished 4th out of a huge group of juniors, Isabelle was just out of the ribbons in the same divison. This was her first time showing Dominic and her first time jumping....a big accomplishment for her! Paisley was also just out of the ribbons in her very large divison as well. A great placing overall considering Sutter felt he needed everyone to remember that he really is an upper level horse still during her dressage test. He is determined to teach Paisley all about relaxation in dressage. :-) Their jumping was spot on perfect however!!! Taylor had a wonderful learning experience about course learning at an unfortunate time but was riding like a rockstar and I was SO proud of her and everything she did. Allyson had a great round on Clover and was also riding brilliantly, but Clover got a bit too happy over one of the fences. Oh well, there is always next time. All in all everyone rode wonderfully and have all learned sooooooo much.
 There has to be something said about the incredible team effort that went into this operation today. We had all 5 riders going within minutes of each other in different rings, and everything ran like a well oiled machine. We even managed to get to the show early, which has to be a miracle of mass proportions!!! The team work and sense of unity among everyone makes me so proud to call these riders "mine". They are truly a great group and as hard as I ride them sometimes I'm lucky I have them as my students. A huge thanks has to go to everyone else that was there to lend a hand as well. Parents, grandparents, aunt, uncles, and friends alike. This truly is a team operation and everyone is amazing. Thanks again everyone. Can't wait to do it all again ;)
Congrats to everyone!!!! B

Paisley and Sutter

Taylor and Sam

Allyson and Clover

Alexa and William

Isabelle and Dominic

Team "Fleet of Foot"

Photos from Antares!!

Here are a few of the promised photos from Antares Dressage Show on March 20, 2010. Enjoy :-)

                                                  

Taylor Stack warming up "Sam I Am"

Alexa Pollat riding "Willy Nily"

Isabelle Martinez riding "The Blonde Bomb"

Taylor

Alexa

Isabelle

Isabelle, Briana, Taylor, and Alexa

Isabelle and Clover

Alexa and William

Taylor and Sam

Great job guys!!!!

Hey everyone! Things are getting geared up here for the spring competition season. We were all set to compete at MacNair's last weekend but they cancelled last minute due to wet pastures. So we quickly regrouped and decided to go to Antares Dressage Show. Alexa, Taylor, and Isabelle all worked hard this week to get ready and their hard work really paid off. They looked awesome and rode even better. Taylor and Sam finnished in 3rd, Isabelle and Clover finnished in 4th and Alexa and William finnished in 5th. I was so proud of all of them. We have lots on the calendar comming up. We have some xc and sj schooling trips in the works and our next competition will be MacNair's on April 18. Stay tuned for more updates and photos from this weekend and a bareback lesson.

Fix-A-Test

Wow, after rescheduling it 4 (yes 4) times we FINALLY held our fix-a-test. It was fantastic too. Everyone rode so well. It wasn't as big as it initally was, but that's to be expected after rescheduling so many times. The weather was beautiful and sunny. Nanci Lindroth judged for us and really helped everyone learn alot about test riding. I think everyone is geared up and ready to start the spring season off with a bang!
Results:
Intro A:
1) Taylor Stack riding Sam I Am
2) Isabelle Martinez ridng The Blonde Bomb
3) Maddy Lehman riding Dominic
4) Linn Owen riding Sutterby Good

Intro B:
1) Esther Fuller riding Twix
2) Gina Martinez riding Twix

Training Level 1:
1) Paisley Latham riding Sutterby Good
2) Alexa Pollat riding Willy Nilly
3) Paisley Latham riding Sam I Am

Most Improved Score: Alexa Pollat

Congratulations everyone!!! And thank you to everyone who helped out to make the day go so well!!!! Our next event is going to be MacNair's D&CT on March 14th. Happy riding everyone!!!

Isabelle Martinez riding The Blonde Bomb

Linn Owen riding Sutterby Good

Alexa Pollat warming up Willy Nilly

Paisley Latham riding Sutterby Good

Maddy Lehman riding Dominic

Esther Fuller riding Twix

Paisley Latham riding Sam I Am

Gina Martinez riding Twix

Taylor Stack riding Sam I Am