Well this is our last night in Aiken.  We had a very productive stay.  Already looking forward to next year!  At just his second preliminary start, DR Basil Brush (Squirrel) won at Pine Top placing 2nd after the dressage and gaining no jump penalties on a lovely challenging course.  As he had had only 2 novice starts with his previous rider before coming down with me in January and was quite unbalanced in his dressage he has come along really well so I'm very happy with his trainability and his potential from here.  Intermediate should be soon...just ask Mark!  Noble ended up winning the Aiken Eventing Serries for beginner novice and received a bridle from Bit of Britain, a wool cooler rug from English Riding Supply and $200.  Congratulations to his owner Beth Rall of New York City and thankyou for letting me train and compete your talented young horse.  DR 2 Cool (Heffe) has moved up to Intermediate and placed 7th at Poplar Place after I let him down by not going through the finish flags on x-country and incurring 17 time penalties before I realized.  He would have only had 4 time penalties and been in 2nd.  Now I know why I tell my students to always walk the finish!  With his 2nd Intermediate now done, Heffe is now qualified for Fair Hill CIC** so his trip down south has also been progressive.  Well that's all for now.  We are off tomorrow and are heading back north.  I hope all the cold weather has finished :)

                   Noble, owned by Beth Rall winner of the Aiken Eventing Serries at Beginner Novice

                   Photo credit - Smugmug