Happy Valentines Day from Florida!!! I hope everyone is able to spend V-Day with someone special!  Me well..... I am currently sitting in the local Starbucks drinking my tea latte after laying on the couch all morning watching "Becoming Jane."  But not to worry I will be spending this evening with a couple of good friends drinking wine, eating chocolate and sitting in a hot tub!  What more can a girl really ask for???? A boy that is tall, dark and handsome???? Ya I've got that too, his name is Indy!

Unfortunately this past weekend was a bit of a sad one here in Ocala.  There was a horrible accident at the Kesmarc facility where Indy used the aquatred and a horse was lost at the the Ocala Horse Trials..  I do not understand why such horrible things happen to such nice and amazing people.  Sometimes life really isn't fair.  My heart goes out to everyone involved in the Kesmarc accident, I hope that someday they will be able to recover from this catastrophy and to the Slezak crew whose horse was lost. . 

On a happier note, all of our crew had a pretty good weekend at the Ocala HT.  Troubadour won his training division, Margaret jumped around clean and both of our working students had great weekends as well!  Indy is feeling great and not too be talked about because I don't want to jinx it, BUT I have started to plan a tentative spring show season!!!  Hopefully, Indy will be back in action to do a combined test at the Southern Pines II HT and then Preliminary at the Fork! All fingers crossed!!!!!

  HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!

 PS.  I'm also officially entered in a half marathon in April!!!

Hello from FLORIDA!!!! I know that where I currently call home has a relatively "warm" climate, especially compared to Canuckistan (Canada), however it does tend to get a wee bit chilly in the winter.  So to avoid the "freezing cold" mornings and the cold days we moved the barn to Florida for 6 weeks.  I have now been down here for a couple of weeks and the weather has been absolutely beautiful.  Plus, I can keep working on the tan I got while I was in Mexico a few weeks ago!

So far Florida has been FABULOUS!!!! I actually have a "real" social life!  A lot of my friends from all over the east coast come to Ocala, FL for the winter.  So instead of just getting to see them briefly at whatever event is on the weekend, we actually get to hang out.  My good friend Meg Kep (Sinead Halpin's groom and my fellow tough mudder) and I started going to this boxing class at the gym on Monday evenings.  OMG it is intense!!! (which means that I love it!)  Pretty sure I had jello for arms the next day... 

While I am down here I have access to the "Aquatred" at Kesmark, which is a treadmill under water.  It is a great tool for strengthening and building horses muscles.  There are two types of Aquatred's.  One is an above ground tank, where the water fills up after the horse has entered.  The other is more like a long chute below ground, the horses walk down a ramp into the water, and once they reach the middle and their body is mostly submerged in the water the treadmill starts.  In just a few sessions Indy is already starting to feel the benefits.  I can't wait to see what he is like after another month!

The show season officially began with Pro's Derby Cross and then the Rocking Horse HT last weekend.  Rebecca competed Margaret at her second training level event and Troubador did his very first training!!! He is really starting to turn into a "big boy."  Both horses scored well in the dressage and jumped great in the show jumping and x-country.  The young horses will compete a couple more times while we are down here in Florida and Rupert (Rebecca's Riddle Master) will compete at Pinetop at the end of the month.  Indy is working on his dressage and will hopefully make an appearance again this spring!

The other great thing about being in Ocala for the winter is that Canadian and American training sessions are held at the O'Connor's farm.  There is so much that one can learn from just sitting and watching lesson after lesson with DOC (David O'Connor) or CMP (Captain Mark Phillips).  Plus, it is great to see all of the potential team horse and rider combinations for both countries beginning their preparation for this years Olympics!  Rebecca and Rupert had great lessons all four days and I am really excited to be part of their journey to make the Canadian 2012 Olympic Team!!!!!

Anyhow I am going to continue to enjoy my new social life while watching one of the greatest games in America, the Super Bowl!!!

Cheers!

YAY!!!!! SANTA COMES TOMORROW!!!!!! (Yes Santa does exist!!!)

Life since my tough mudder has been pretty quiet.  It is nice to have some down time at the farm after a crazy busy fall season with Rocky and the Pan Ams!  I use this time to focus on myself a little bit, which usually means I get on a bit of a fitness kick.  I tend to work out and stay pretty active throughout the competition season, but I get a little more hardcore in the winter time.  Last winter was "Insanity", "P90X" and "Turbo Fire."  This year it is the gym and running.... a lot of running!!!  Running on the farm right now is currently not an option unless we want to risk running up on a deer hunter with a loaded rifle sitting in his deer stand waiting for dinner to come along..... Gotta love deer season!  (Thankfully it is almost over!!!)   So instead of running on the farm, I meet Rebecca at the gym at 6:30 am and jump on the treadmill and get a good workout in before work.  I've also decided that I am going to run a half marathon in the spring, I figure I ran the whole tough mudder which was 12 miles, whats another 1.1....

The other great thing about getting on a fitness kick during this time of year is that it means I can eat lots of the delicious holiday goodies that my fabulous working students create!!!!  Gotta love the holidays and having working students who like to bake!!!!  This Christmas is a bit of quiet one with just myself and Jessie (one of my fabulous working students) to take care of the horses.  So we will have our own little Christmas here with our two puppies... besides Santa knows where we live and we both have been very good this year !!!!

So Happy Xmas Eve everyone! If you are at home, enjoy the time with yourfamily.  Or if you are away like so many of us eventers tend to be, then enjoy your Christmas with your friends and adopted family or families!!!  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!