Good Luck at Jersey!

A quick GOOD LUCK to MLE clients Courtney Cooper and Stephen Bradley.  Both are competing at Jersey Fresh this weekend, aboard two extremely talented two-star horses.  Courtney is piloting her homebred Who's A Star (aka Tag) in the CCI**.  And Stephen is competing in the CIC** with the lovely grey In The Fog (aka Simon).

UPDATE: Stephen is in 2nd place after dressage.  Woohoo!  Courtney rides tomorrow before the lunch break.

MLE Welcomes New Account Manager!

I'm thrilled to announce that Mythic Landing Events has a new Account Manager!  Lindsay Kelley has recently joined the staff and is hitting the ground running.  From Middleburg, Virginia, Lindsay is a well-connected horsewoman with experience in eventing, show jumping, foxhunting and even steeplechasing!

If you, or someone you know, has been thinking about contacting MLE about working together, now is the time!  Feel free to contact myself (margaret@mythiclandingevents.com) or Lindsay (lindsay@mythiclandingevents.com) to learn how to get started.  No project is too small (or too big!).

Special thanks to Beth Sokohl for making the connection!

More on Lindsay:  Lindsay Kelley is a horsewoman at heart who is eager to bring her passion, knowledge, and education together to support the Mythic Landing Events team. Lindsay’s unique resume includes various positions from event planning and marketing at the Gold Cup Association to consulting for Booz Allen Hamilton. With a degree in Public Relations from George Mason University, she combines her skills, experience, and education to add value to the company and clients alike.

Lindsay grew up in Middleburg, Virginia where she became well connected in the equestrian scene in multiple different disciplines. She has been heavily involved in Eventing, Show Jumping, Fox-Hunting, and even Steeplechasing. It is obvious that Lindsay’s passion roots in the training, competing, and development of horses, in general.

Lindsay spends her free time training young ex-racehorses for their new careers, eventing, and running.

Susan Graham White Dressage Clinic: Monday, May 30th

Susan will be coming back to Oatland Stables on Monday, May 30th.  This is perfect timing for those wanting a tune-up before Waredaca, Rubicon and Seneca.  Remember that you can have a traditional lesson, or do a fix-a-test lesson.

Lesson slots are $125 for a 45-minute private lesson. Payment is due at the beginning of your lesson. If you'd like to pay with credit card, please let me know when you sign up and I'll give you directions for that.

Lessons run from 11am - 6:45pm.

Questions?? E-mail me at margaret@mythiclandingevents.com.

More on Susan: Not only is Susan an active upper-level competitor, but she also judges at many of area shows where YOU compete. Take this opportunity to learn what a licensed judge has to say! You can choose between either doing a traditional lesson OR having a "fix-a-test" lesson. You choose!

Susan is an FEI dressage rider and trainer based at Wolfhaven Farm in southern Maryland. She has been an active instructor, trainer, and competitor in dressage for 25 years, and have successfully trained and coached students through the Advanced 3-day level in eventing, and to FEI levels in dressage. She is also a licensed national USEA dressage and event judge, and an international FEI event judge. Susan travels extensively teaching and judging both internationally and throughout the United States.

Susan's web site: www.sgwdressage.com

Some things never change ...

 Yesterday was spent at A Bit Better Farm for another Stephen Bradley clinic.  The plan was to ride outside and do a "cross country position and skills" lesson in the bottom field.  But of course the weather had other plans, so back to the indoor we went.

Lissell started a series of pentosan a few weeks ago, and it's been interested to see her change.  She's officially 19 years old now, and I thought that some extra joint support would make a great birthday present.  Since we started, Lissell's flatwork is just getting better and better.  Yay Lissell!

So back to our lesson yesterday.  I was riding with Mary Macklin on her lovely young horse California Comet (related to the great Courageous Comet).  Both Lissell and Callie has been going Beginner Novice with an eye on Novice.  Well after the lesson, we concluded that the two mares skipped Novice and went right to Training.  It's been a while since I jumped a 3' square oxer, and I think my eyes got a little big looking at it.  But Lissell is Lissell, and jumping is her thing, and she's just awesome at it.  She may be older now, but she still loves the sport.  It's SO incredibly amazing to ride a horse that you don't have to worry about, you can just concentrate on learning.  Since our little tumble in the water, I've been struggling with a few positional issues, and it's so cool to be able to concentrate 110% on your own riding and position because you have 110% faith in your horse to get the job done.

Then it came time to work on Lissell.  We were supposed to quietly canter into a simple 1-stride to 1-stride and Stephen wanted me to compress Lissell's stride.  This caused a bit of a meltdown for Lissell, as she was pretty sure that I was completely out of line to ask this of her.  After a few circles, we came to a compromise and she was good (not great).  Stephen and I talk about it a little, and he stresses that at 19 we're not going to change Lissell, so we have to finesse her and meet her in the middle.

As Mary and I were cooling down our horses in the wash rack, she made a comment about how it's interesting to watch a horse like Lissell over a period of time, because some horses never change.  It made me laugh, because she's right.  Lissell is who she is.  Is she dramatic? Yes.  Is she difficult to ride? Yes.  Does she take care of me? Yes.  So while Lissell may never change, I definitely can.  I can learn to ride her better, and soak up every lesson that she has to teach me.

Stephen Bradley date added

Stephen and In The Fog at Morven Park.

Stephen has been nice enough to add another afternoon at A Bit Better Farm to his schedule.  He will be there the afternoon of Tuesday, May 3rd.  

Lessons will remain $110 for a 3-person 75-minute lesson.  If interested, two 45-minute private lesson slots will be available for $125.  These will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis.  Checks are due at the beginning of your lesson.  Credit card payments can be made prior to the day.

As an added option, ABBF has three new cross country jumps (two BN/N coops and one T corner) in their bottom field along with a few stadium jumps.  For those interested, I can put together a few groups to ride down there for a "xc pace work and skills" lesson.  Of course this is weather/footing permitted.    

Please email me at margaret@mythiclandingevents.com and let me know if you'd like a slot and what you'd like to do!

Also, don't forget that Stephen will be at Oatland Stables on Sunday, May 22nd.  The format there will be 90-minute lessons with 4-people each for the same $110 price.  If you'd like to ride then, let me know!

THANKS everyone for making this lesson series such a success!

Stephen Bradley Clinic & Raffle

Stephen Bradley and In The Fog at Moven Park Spring Horse Trials 2011

Stephen Bradley will be back at Oatland Stables on Sunday, May 22nd. Lessons will run in small group format for 90-minutes with a maximum of 4 riders per group.  Lessons are $110 per rider.

If you would like a lesson slot, please e-mail me at margaret@mythiclandingevents.com.

For those that have not been to Oatland Stables, it is one of my favorite places to host clinics.  They have a huge indoor (220' x 80') for the cold/rainy weather, and a spacious outdoor (300' x 250') for sunny weather.  There's plenty of space to park, and plenty of room for auditors.  The barn owner, Chrissy Keys Heard, and barn manager, Cate Cohen, are the perfect hosts and make sure that the rings are in perfect condition for the day.  I'm so thankful for everything they do!  Oatland Stables was the site for the photoshoot for the Practical Horseman article, "Gymnastics on the Balance Beam: Olympic eventer Stephen Bradley focuses on making the horse balanced, straight and confident."

In other news, Southern Edition Farm (the home of Stephen S. Bradley Eventing) is holding a raffle to help Send Stephen and In The Fog ("Simon) to Quebec for the Bromont International CCI**!

Raffle tickets are now available to Win 5 Private Lessons with Stephen Bradley at his Southern Edition Farm.

Tickets are $100 each, but only 100 tickets will be sold.

The winning tickets will be drawn on June 4th.

To buy your ticket, contact Stephanie Bradley-Green at stbgreen@live.com.

To see photos of Stephen and Simon in action, click HERE. 

Congrats to MLE clients at Morven

Congrats to everyone competing this weekend at Morven.  Sadly I didn't get to go and cheer everyone on as I spent the weekend moving into our new digs.  But it was worth it, as I'm so happy with the new place. We even have a fireplace in our office.  :-)

I kept checking in and it looks like everyone had a stellar weekend.  Here's a brief list of results:
Courtney Cooper and Who's a Star WON their Open Intermediate-B division.  Go Tag Go!  Courtney also competed Nevaeh at Training and R Star at Novice.  Both ladies had good runs, but finished just outside the ribbons.

Stephen Bradley and In The Fog WON their Open Preliminary-A division.  Nice way to start the season Simon!  Stephen also competed two horses at Training, but withdrew them after dressage because of the foul weather.  Apparently both horses turned their butts to the hail and rain once or twice each during their dressage tests.  Of course they still managed scores in the low 30s.

Katie Wherley and Jet had a good first run of the season to finish 11th in a very large Novice Horse division.  This horse belongs to Katie's father, Bob Wherley, and I'm sure you'll see this pair out competing later in the spring.

I believe that Glenda Player of Playland Farm was competing at the Reddemeade Combined Test with two of her irish homebreds, including their stallion PL Diamond Hill.  I'm waiting to hear how that went.