Tandalee horse trials

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We'd love to showcase your success story. We would like to know what you've accomplished with Chaffhaye. Submit yours today! Share Your Success Story. I could feel Kathy wanted to have fun, too, so we went zippity-fast and I leaped over everything and at the end I felt like Rocky in the movie after he runs up all those stairs and is so happy.

I really like the music in that movie, too. After that I just relaxed and ate some yummy grass for a while and then I felt a bit tired and was happy to go have a good rest. The next day we went in the big sandy place with the coloured jumps. I was looking forward to showing all the people how well I can do the jumps AND now my legs don't get so confused in the corners so it was going to be the best ever!

I did the first four jumps as best as I could, but then we stopped! I think maybe Kathy learned her numbers at the same place my person did, because she jumped over the wrong one, just like what happened last year! I hope whoever rides me there next year goes to a different school because I REALLY think it would be fun to gallop around at the end, even if I do have to have one of those fluttering colourful ribbons on.

Oh well, my people still think I'm the best horse ever and I know we can go to another place on another weekend and try again. It's not like if we make a mistake I won't get fed or anything Half-a-dozen foot tall gauzy, blowy, creepy ghosts draped in the foliage alongside the road - just daring us to pass.

Ralph looked around, took a deep breath, and calmly walked forward. Little did he know what came next Further up the road, spread out willy-nilly, were somewhere in the range of 25 or 30 people of all ages, in full makeup and costumes which frightened ME. We had literally wandered onto the set of the movie, 'Pet Cemetery', currently being filmed in Saint-Lazare! There were trucks, wires, traffic cones, cameras and other equipment on both sides of the road, and all these creepy people moving about in between.

Again Ralph stopped, took a gander at all the activity and changes to his peaceful neighborhood - and tentatively walked forward. I am incredibly proud of Ralph. I'm pretty sure none of my previous mounts would have calmly assessed the situation and bravely ventured forth, but I will do my best to give Eddie the confidence and trust to follow in his hoofprints!

After the Fall Three weeks after our rather spectacular fall at Oakhurst, Ralph and I are making progress - Ralph a whole lot quicker than me! A week after falling, I got back on Ralph and felt absolutely fine on the flat, but the idea of jumping has been a little less enticing.

Coach Claudia schooled him a few times, and while Ralph jumped great and seemed none the worse for wear, I didn't have any desire to get on and do it myself. I am at the point in my life where the Olympics is perhaps no longer a realistic goal!

I had a bad fall in my 30s and it took a long time and a lot of work to regain a level of confidence I feel is required to jump and compete safely - nevermind the level required to ENJOY what I was doing. I don't know that I am prepared to go through all that again at this stage of my life. After all, there's always dressage On the other hand, there are factors that encourage me not to give up without a fight.

Primarily, I love Eventing and the training it requires and secondly, I don't want to just wimp out! I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful partner in Ralph and after all the effort it has taken to get us to this point, it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Claudia rode Ralph at his first Event of in Ottawa, and while I totally enjoyed acting as groom especially as Ralph and Claudia won their divison with fantastic performances in all three phases!

I am certainly not ready to compete again just yet. I do feel ready to dust a little rust off the jumping skills, so I will have a lesson and see how I feel. Part of me hopes I've been over-analyzing things to death and I'll be just fine, and the other part wonders if I'll start hyper-ventilating over a cross-rail!

The only way to start is by starting, though - we'll begin with something easy, take 'the time it takes', and see where we end up. Ultimately, the main thing is to be connected to my horses and to enjoy them - what exactly that will look like a month, 6 months, or a year from now is yet to be determined!.

Unfortunately, the back rail got tangled up in Ralph's front legs, causing us to do a synchronized body slam. We were competing in the Upper Canada Derby - a sort of combination stadium jumping and cross-country competiton - at Oakhurst Farm near Ottawa. In the first round, Ralph really jumped well, but put in only four strides where he should have done five. In the second round, I was determined to fix the mistake, but apparently I didn't quite get the message through to my partner!

Ralph is a fairly big for me , long horse who is challenging for me to reel in once he has lengthened out. I had been working hard on keeping his hind legs active without letting him get long, and he was jumping as well as he ever has, but he was also becoming a little bit cocky and figured he knew what he was doing - until he didn't.

We had a pretty good winter and spring considering I had a lot of non-horsey obligations taking up a lot of my time. Over the winter we found that feeding Ralph soley out of a hay net seemed to prevent his colic symptoms; we put bar shoes on him this spring to try to improve his underrun heels, and having my new OTTB Eddie as his pasture buddy seemed to suit him well.

We had just finished a super clinic with Jessica Phoenix where his dressage and jumping were better than they've ever been. I was also feeling as confident as I ever do at this time of year, so I really felt we were ready for our first outing. Our first round was everything I hoped it would be - other than leaving out a stride in one line, the whole round was excellent and we actually placed 2nd in a big class.

We'll lick our wounds and analyse our mistakes, then get back to work to try and improve. The best and worst thing about riding and training horses is there is alway something new to learn or improve upon, and every horse and every ride is unique. I would have preferred a gentler lesson in this instance, but am also fortunate it wasn't worse. A big thank you to Darby Delle Donne and Gracie Grandinetti for getting Ralph home for me, and my friends Mel and Geoff for getting me to the hospital and for coming up with yummy BBQ hot dogs and fries for Paul after he came to rescue me and take me home!

In an effort to keep Ralph's feet in the best possible shape, I made the difficult decision to change farriers. This was not easy as I felt Martin was very competent - but I do believe that farriers are a bit like any artist, with certain preferences, strengths and biasis, and I felt that we weren't exactly on the same wave-length.

We have been fortunate in that we have only had two regular farriers in 40 years of horse ownership - both of whom were excellent.

Ultimately, Claude Lortie agreed to come and have a look and much to my surprise, suggested we leave Ralph barefoot for a while to see if that would help. He felt that if Ralph's large frogs were able to contact the ground and work more effectively, it might help improve the way his heels grew.

The end of the season is as good a time as any to experiment, so off they came. Ralph's feet were tender and he was a bit discombobulated in how he moved for about a month, but since then has felt great and his right hoof hasn't become either duck-like or chipped and broken. If he doesn't have too much trouble with slipping on the ice, we'll leave them off and see how it goes.

As I was very busy with family issues, Claudia rode Ralph a fair bit, including in a clinic with Lee Tubman. Ralph's issue with balance is still the biggest challenge, but he shows enough flashes of brilliance that we don't begrudge continuing to work on it. Kathy's daughter, Jenna, also has been taking some lessons on Ralph. She rides him well and is undoubtedly learning a lot - but he's a lot of horse for her to put together! I think Ralph was thrilled to hear Claudia bought Freddy - he would stare at us when I was getting Freddy ready to ride as if to say, "Hey!

You're MY person - what are you doing messing about with him for?? Once when I was riding Freddy, Ralph broke through his stall guard and went into Freddy's stall - giving me an innocent look when I came back in the stable and found him there waiting for his turn. As Christmas approaches and draws to a close, Ralph and I would like to send everyone best wishes for a happy holiday and much health and happiness in the new year - we look forward to many more adventures!

Redemption Well, I see that Ralph managed to blab, er, blog about my embarrasing mental block at Harmony that resulted in our elimination in stadium. He was actually in 5th going into stadium and I was really happy with his performance, despite his silliness over the umbrellas on cross-country! Eventing's a funny sport though, and redemption can be right around the corner We had a a three-week break between Harmony and Ottawa Fall Horse Trials, but first we managed to get Jessica Phoenix into the neighborhood for two half-days of lessons.

The first session for us was on the flat, working on small circles and transitioning into leg yield in trot and canter. All this to encourage straightness and balance, and it was hard work for both of us!

Ralph was a klutz to begin with, expressing his, "oh, no - this is far too hard, I'm dying here! This is pretty common for Ralph; when we begin a new or testing exercise I often feel he hasn't a clue - no energy, coordination or balance - and then miraculously it's the easiest thing in the world and he has no problem.

Now, I must admit the fact that I couldn't remember my right from left and was floundering a bit myself probably didn't help him much! Ralph was super in his jumping session the next morning. He was feeling quite feisty and seemed to really enjoy the fairly difficult exercises we were doing - a mini-course which incorporated a series of bounces, offset placing poles to and from a vertical, short bending lines, and a combination. His footwork is SO much improved - I can easily recall wondering whether we would survive a simple pair of X's!

The schooling obviously paid off, as we went to Ottawa and won! Ralph had a beautiful dressage, putting him in the lead with several points to spare; then came the only hiccup of the weekend. Despite the showjumping being his second outing of the day, Ralph was very energized and full of himself when we started warming up for stadium - throwing in little bucks and jumping extravagantly.

I was quite confident going into the ring until he spooked on course and threw in a buck that put me up on his neck and completely off-line for my next fence. I managed to get organized and jump the next fence, and we did manage a clear round - one of only two in the division!

On to cross-country. I was pretty determined not to blow it by getting any time faults, and we had a nice and confident round that felt like we were really booting it. I was as excited about that as winning my division, I think. All in all, a wonderful ending to our season, and to top it of, I received an award for "Overall Excellence" - something completely unexpected!

As usual, there are many, many people that contribute to the fun we get to have, but in particular I would like to thank Alison for covering for me while I indulge in my obsession, hubby Paul for putting up with all this time-consuming nonsense, Claudia for her terrific coaching and enthusiasm, Kathy for driving us all over hell's-half-acre in luxury, and Andy for taking such good care of Ralphie days a year.

Ralph Blogs about Harmony Hi everyone; Ralph here. I wanted to let you know that I was a superstar this past weekend at Harmony Horse Trials, and if my person hadn't had a bad cramp in her brain in the last thing we had to do, I would have gotten past my worry about those fluttery ribbon things whipping around my head and ROCKED the victory gallop!

As it was, I accompanied Tracey on the walk of shame back to barn, 'cause we're a team, after all. I went up to the party with my beloved Peekay - she of the long eyelashes and the cute wiggle in her walk She's very fickle though; one minute I am the love of her life, the next she is totally ignoring me - maybe it's because she's an older woman, but sometimes she makes me feel like I'm nine years old.

Oh wait - I am nine years old. In any case, I was feeling pretty confident, and even though I don't care for sloshing around in the mud, I put my head down and practiced very hard for my dressage. My head might have been a bit TOO far down, but I get too tired when I have to hold it up all the time.

I was pretty good in the little white ring, and only lost my balance a bit when I was showing off a bit to the right - it's not my best side, you know. The very nice lady judge could see I was special and picked me 8th out of 20 other horses. In the afternoon, we went out to the sandbox with the jumps in it where some of the horses seem a little over the top and are galloping willy-nilly all over the place. Not me - I make sure I conserve all my energy in case my person wants me to make some special effort for her.

After a bit of cantering around and leaping over some jumps, we headed over to the big grassy place. The lady who is always smiling and laughing and bossing me and my person around was getting me all worked up - when the man said, " We jumped a couple of things, then I spotted some strange people with big black balloon-y things over their heads, so I took some quick, evasive action to keep us safe!

I must say, we got a bit discombobulated, but I just jumped the next thing and kept on going. We went fast up a steep hill and then through a big pond, and then I was galloping down a hill - Wheeeeee!!!! I instantly tried to stop to avoid these scary things, but I was told very firmly to keep going and I did.

We jumped some more and galloped some more and it was really, really fun! At the end when we were finished I met the people and it turned out they were trying to stay dry under the black things they are called "umbrelllas" I was told but I wasn't taking any chances at the time! After that I had to have a bath because I was sweaty and dirty, but I got a big apple and lots of pats and kisses and I knew I had done the best I could.

The next day I was feeling very pumped for some more jumping and practiced very hard so my person would be proud of me. We went in the sandy place with all the coloured jumps and I was being very careful and picking my feet WAY up when we suddenly had to stop! My person had steered me the wrong way and I had gone over number 6 instead of number 2!

Even I can count to 2! Oh well, Tracey agreed that I was the best horse ever and promised she will study more carefully next time. I will forgive her because she is so nice to me and once in a while I make a mistake, and she still gives me a mint and tells me I'm a good boy.

The End. Cross-country fun Where are we going?? Tandalee and Oakhurst Just arrived home from a successful outing at Oakhurst Horse Trials, despite a few hiccups along the way Unfortunately, it was difficult to appreciate the scenery through the torrential rain on Friday, and the resulting sea of mud on the weekend!

It was a very tough weekend for Ralph, beginning with his struggles in the dressage ring where he stumbled and bumbled his way though the test to sit in 15th place. Cross-country was also a challenge for him; while he jumped clear, we had 13 time penalties going carefully in the muck. We did get around, but it wasn't pretty and we had 8 faults to finish the event 16th of 27 entries.

Pooped after all that mud! All in all, a wonderful ending to our season, and to top it of, I received an award for "Overall Excellence" - something completely unexpected! As usual, there are many, many people that contribute to the fun we get to have, but in particular I would like to thank Alison for covering for me while I indulge in my obsession, hubby Paul for putting up with all this time-consuming nonsense, Claudia for her terrific coaching and enthusiasm, Kathy for driving us all over hell's-half-acre in luxury, and Andy for taking such good care of Ralphie days a year.

Ralph Blogs about Harmony Hi everyone; Ralph here. I wanted to let you know that I was a superstar this past weekend at Harmony Horse Trials, and if my person hadn't had a bad cramp in her brain in the last thing we had to do, I would have gotten past my worry about those fluttery ribbon things whipping around my head and ROCKED the victory gallop! As it was, I accompanied Tracey on the walk of shame back to barn, 'cause we're a team, after all.

I went up to the party with my beloved Peekay - she of the long eyelashes and the cute wiggle in her walk She's very fickle though; one minute I am the love of her life, the next she is totally ignoring me - maybe it's because she's an older woman, but sometimes she makes me feel like I'm nine years old. Oh wait - I am nine years old. In any case, I was feeling pretty confident, and even though I don't care for sloshing around in the mud, I put my head down and practiced very hard for my dressage.

My head might have been a bit TOO far down, but I get too tired when I have to hold it up all the time. I was pretty good in the little white ring, and only lost my balance a bit when I was showing off a bit to the right - it's not my best side, you know. The very nice lady judge could see I was special and picked me 8th out of 20 other horses. In the afternoon, we went out to the sandbox with the jumps in it where some of the horses seem a little over the top and are galloping willy-nilly all over the place.

Not me - I make sure I conserve all my energy in case my person wants me to make some special effort for her. After a bit of cantering around and leaping over some jumps, we headed over to the big grassy place. The lady who is always smiling and laughing and bossing me and my person around was getting me all worked up - when the man said, " We jumped a couple of things, then I spotted some strange people with big black balloon-y things over their heads, so I took some quick, evasive action to keep us safe!

I must say, we got a bit discombobulated, but I just jumped the next thing and kept on going. We went fast up a steep hill and then through a big pond, and then I was galloping down a hill - Wheeeeee!!!! I instantly tried to stop to avoid these scary things, but I was told very firmly to keep going and I did. We jumped some more and galloped some more and it was really, really fun! At the end when we were finished I met the people and it turned out they were trying to stay dry under the black things they are called "umbrelllas" I was told but I wasn't taking any chances at the time!

After that I had to have a bath because I was sweaty and dirty, but I got a big apple and lots of pats and kisses and I knew I had done the best I could.

The next day I was feeling very pumped for some more jumping and practiced very hard so my person would be proud of me. We went in the sandy place with all the coloured jumps and I was being very careful and picking my feet WAY up when we suddenly had to stop! My person had steered me the wrong way and I had gone over number 6 instead of number 2! Even I can count to 2! Oh well, Tracey agreed that I was the best horse ever and promised she will study more carefully next time.

I will forgive her because she is so nice to me and once in a while I make a mistake, and she still gives me a mint and tells me I'm a good boy. The End. Cross-country fun Where are we going?? Tandalee and Oakhurst Just arrived home from a successful outing at Oakhurst Horse Trials, despite a few hiccups along the way Unfortunately, it was difficult to appreciate the scenery through the torrential rain on Friday, and the resulting sea of mud on the weekend!

It was a very tough weekend for Ralph, beginning with his struggles in the dressage ring where he stumbled and bumbled his way though the test to sit in 15th place. Cross-country was also a challenge for him; while he jumped clear, we had 13 time penalties going carefully in the muck. We did get around, but it wasn't pretty and we had 8 faults to finish the event 16th of 27 entries.

Pooped after all that mud! The two weeks to prepare for Oakhurst in Ottawa were not all smooth sailing. A mild colic one day, and some stiffness in his neck and shoulder resulted in treatments by his osteopath and then with acupuncture.

His right front foot was also looking funky, despite a fairly recent shoeing. His feet had been growing like mad this year and he definitely has two different feet, but this was significant enough to have me concerned. In an all-too-rare example of very-much-appreciated collaboration between professionals, both Ray Matthews who used to shoe him , and Martin Campbell who does him now , put their collective experience together and transformed both the appearance of the foot and Ralph's way of going - and in the nick of time, as we were leaving the next day for Oakhurst!

Regaining control of his feet Off to the event Saturday afternoon, and again Ralph got to accompany Peekay in her very posh transport. He was stabled next to Chase, a grey, and there were two other greys in our area. Everytime Ralph turned around there was a grey coming or going - he was quite confused about which one was Peekay and who he should be obsessing over! I don't know what got into Ralph when we headed out for Dressage, but the 'airs above the ground' he was performing during our warm-up were definitely not what I was expecting!

We had a very, umm I had to get off and lead him back to the stable as he was still pulling and leaping sideways even after he was done. After a 'time-out' in his stall to ponder his silly behaviour, I brought him out for stadium jumping and was relieved to find I had the real Ralph back.

He made a good effort to jump clear and moved up to 7th. I didn't warm up much for cross-country as the footing in the warm-up area was pretty chewed up and I didn't want to dishearten him or me!

A satisfactory result after a pretty hectic week! Ottawa and Bromont It was a busy and successful start to the season, with a little health scare thrown into the mix to avoid things being too dull. It's one of my favourite events as the facilities and courses are so good - but it always seems to rain and the forecast wasn't looking too promising, so I packed multiples of everything to be prepared and the rain held off.

Dressage was good; Ralph felt a little dead to the leg, but he managed to win the dressage by a few points. Stadium Jumping felt terrific with a nice forward and positive round, but we had an unlucky rail. On to cross-country I had a bit of a time staying on before my start, but at least he was awake!

I had a pretty good round with only a few time penalties, but a few too many 'flyer' fences where my lyin' eyes saw a longer spot than they should have. Must wait All in all, a good start and we finished 3rd of On the Tuesday following the event, Ralph came in from the field with blood trickling out of his left nostril. While this went on for hours, after a veterinary consult we weren't too concerned and kept an eye on him.

Wednesday morning's stall got us concerned as it looked like Ralph had shared it with a cow - judging from the 'cow plop' manure in it. Then Andy and I both noticed Ralph stretching out to pee and not much happening. He didn't have a temperature, but I called Dr.

Again, we were advised to keep an eye on him and wait. After lunch, the vet came back to do a rectal exam, and lo and behold, things started working properly and his bleeding nose stopped! I'm going to keep in mind how effective that, "the vet's coming to do a rectal on you" works - I may use it in future! We did discuss the fact that Ralph has started leaving his breakfast and being more fussy about eating, so we put him on Omeprazole for 10 days, then a reduced dose for a while to see if that won't help his tender tummy.

Skipping through the water in Ottawa Next up was Little Bromont. If that site doesn't get you inspired, you might be in the wrong sport It was Ralph's first time there, but he was calm and happy from the beginning. As long as I find the time to take him out for grass and a wander around, he seems quite content. His dressage was decent, putting him in 8th of 24 - and only about 5 penalties away from the leader. I had a little too much time to think between dressage and jumping and my nerves were running amok; I kept asking myself, "WHY am I putting myself through this??

Off to cross-country and, for Ralph, very challenging terrain. While we had time faults, Ralph jumped everything in front of him safely and confidently and was quite happy to gallop as fast as I liked - as long as it wasn't downhill, where he felt trotting to be more his speed!

I am so lucky to have this kind and generous horse, and was satisfied to finish 8th in good company. Oh, and WHY do I put myself through this? The satisfaction of seeing the work and training I put into myself and Ralph result in performances like this: Looking very confident!

Competition Prep Our first event of is just around the corner; we are confident we are well-prepared and ready to go A Coggins Test was done in April and Ralph had his vaccinations over the course of two weeks. He had his teeth floated again! Our wonderful farrier, Ray Matthews, has retired, so Martin Campbell came and installed Ralph's summer tires. Memberships have been renewed, the truck and trailer are ready to roll, and the packing list has been updated. Despite the lousy weather, our training has progressed well, and we had a very good session with Lee Tubman the day before our competitive debut at the AERSO dressage show at Beaulieu.

Ralph was very well-behaved for the most part, and performed a decent Second Level test and had a very good First Level effort. Ralph was very full of himself and acted quite the fool in the stable - whinnying and pawing at times, and even escaping under his stall guard one afternoon when he decided he should be out grazing with the others on the lawn! His extra energy was easily channelled in his dressage and jumping sessions though, and it was a pleasure to ride him.

His cross-country work the second day was also very good and he felt rideable and confident. I will not hurry him on cross-country as we haven't done any proper gallops or conditioning work, but I would like to avoid too many time penalties!

Winter Progress Ralph wanted to make sure his fans got an update - even if we haven't been doing a lot of 'adventuring' over the winter We've spent the winter working on improving our flatwork, and although the extra energy Ralph brings to his work is wonderful, it has also made the ever-elusive half-halts even more challenging.

His jumping work has been progressing well, although again, I could do without the bucks-of-glee to celebrate his success! Spring has officially arrived, and we are looking at 6 weeks before the first competition Where did the time go??

Ralph says, "I thought you said it was spring? This doesn't look like spring In the summer, although I wouldn't mind adding a little 'oomph' to his energy level, he keeps his condition pretty well as we are lucky enough to have good grazing and he LOVES his grass.

In the winter it is more difficult, and it was time to try to get to the bottom of things We did a fecal count, and he didn't have worms. Had Dr. Heather Ross out to examine his teeth, and although he had a few rough edges and that after only 6 months since he was last done , it didn't explain everything.

After talking with Dr. Although his lifestyle other than being a competition horse and feeding regimen don't support a theory of ulcers, he does crib, and really, we had nothing to lose! Within about 4 days Ralph was more interested in his food, and although not a glutton by any stretch - and he still cribs - he was eating like a normal horse.

He seemed a bit more energetic as well, but I'm not sure if that was just a little cool-weather friskiness! Colic and Clinic Ralph had a busy week - a bit unorthodox in preparing for a clinic, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow Jennifer Jobin came out on Monday to see if some acupuncture would help Ralph's head. It has been gradually getting better and he has been more comfortable, but we still felt it was worth it to try.

Tuesday he was off, Wednesday we went for a hack. Ralph was happy and forward until we arrived back at the farm, where as soon as we stopped, he started pawing and went down to his knees as soon as I got off! I hustled him into his stall and got his tack off and down he went!

Halle arrived within half an hour and Ralph was given a sedative and pain medication and then tubed. We kept an eye on him, but there were no after-effects and he was looking for food.

On Thursday we had a flat session and Ralph felt very good, but I wasn't able to ride Friday and we had Lee Tubman coming for a dressage clinic on the weekend - not the ideal preparation! Saturdays' effort was not awe-inspiring - surprise! Particularly with an Event horse who has jumping and fitness work to do each week, it is hard during the competition season to focus as much as necessary on improving the dressage. Ottawa Horse Trials Ottawa Horse Trials was our last Event of the season, and it turned out to be successful in a couple of ways.

First, we finished 3rd on our dressage score plus only 1. For those who have followed him this season, you know that in his last 3 Pre-training competitions Ralph had 17, then 7, and now only 1 time fault. Yay wild-man Ralph! The more important success was how we handled the crazy insecure whinnying when he arrived at the show.