Castle Farm headed out to Mebane this past weekend to attend one of our favorite shows at Fenridge Farm!  Five horse-and-rider teams attended this event.  Lois Mercer competed in dressage (Intro A, B, and C) with her trusty mare Patti.  Ashley Godfrey and her mare Annie competed in the Novice CT division.  Gabby Navarro and her "partner in crime" Cisco competed in Intro A and the 2'0-2'6" jumper class.  Heather King was finally able to compete on her up-and-coming stallion Butch, who was laid up for the past three months with an injury.  Camille Sullivan made her combined training debut on Gypsy (also a first show for this pair together), competing in the Green-as-Grass combined division and the 12"-18" jumper class.

First to ride for Castle Farm was Heather King and Butch.  Despite only being back to work for the past couple of weeks or so, the pair had a lovely test and earned a 63.7% in Intro A, which placed them 2nd in their class.  Next to compete after Heather and Butch were Camille and Gypsy.  They had a very consistent and smooth Intro B test and earned a score of 36.9%, which put them in 2nd for their division.  They went on to jump a double clean stadium round and moved into 1st place!  They also competed in the 12"-18" jumper division, and won that class as well!  Not a bad start to this pair's show career :)

Ashley and Annie were up next, and this pair put in a lovely Novice A test, earning a 43.5%, which put them in 4th place.  They had a very smooth and relaxed stadium round, and despite pulling a rail they actually moved up and finished in 3rd place!  Gabby and Cisco were next in the ring, and they had a very lovely dressage test, earning a 60.6% in Intro A (I believe this might be their best score together!) and they won their class!  With little time to change tack and warm up, they headed immediately to the jumper ring after dressage and despite going 13 seconds too fast, the pair jumped a lovely round and placed 4th in the 2'0-2'6" jumper class.  Watch out for this pair in the Moving Up and Beginner Novice divisions soon :)

Lois and Patti were the last to compete from Castle Farm.  They had a lovely Intro A test, earning a 62.8% which placed them 3rd in their class!  After a short break, they re-entered the ring to ride Intro B.  They earned a 60% and tied for 2nd in this test.  After yet another break, they entered the ring for the last time to ride Intro C.  All their hard work since the last show paid off, and the pair took home a blue ribbon for this test, with a fantastic score of 63.75%!  Way to go Lois and Patti!

Even though we were through competing for the day, we still had a little more riding to do.  Ashley and Gabby decided to school cross country while we were there, and take advantage of the obstacles we don't have at home, such as the water complex, larger ditches, and banks!  Both riders focused on the technical questions asked at each element and had a blast while doing so!

The weather was fantastic and everyone had a great time!  We'll be taking a small break from the show ring next week while a small group of us head to Kentucky for the Rolex Three Day Event (!!!), but Castle Farm will be back in the ring the following weekend at Sharon Oaks for their hunter show!

Castle Farm headed out to one of our favorite shows this past weekend at Tamarack Hill Farm in Southern Pines.  It's been several years since we've competed there, and we were glad to be back!  The Castle Farm show team for the day consisted of Ashley Godfrey and Annie (Novice), Heather Mercer and Patti (JR Beginner Novice), and Dominique Major and Sandi (Grasshopper).

Ashley and Annie started our day off with one of their best dressage tests yet!  They earned a 30.5% in Novice B, and were very happy with that score!  This put them in 8th place out of 15 riders - what a great way to start the day!  Heather and Patti were next to ride, and they too started their day off with one of their best dressage tests.  They earned a 27.86% in Beginner Novice B, which put them in 2nd place out of 7 riders for their division!  Dominique and Sandi also had a wonderful test.  They hadn't been to a show since November, and they were both ready to have some fun off the farm!  They rode a very lovely and consistent Beginner Novice A test, and earned a 35%, which placed them 6th out of 21 riders!

Everyone's favorite part (jumping) was next.  Ashley and Annie jumped a very nice (and fast) stadium round double clear, and went on to have a very consistent and rhythmic cross country round.  They had a few time penalties on XC, but maintained their placing and finished the day with a final score of 34.1% and 8th place!  Way to go Ashley and Annie!  Heather and Patti were next to jump, and like usual they had two very lovely and steady jumping rounds, going double clear in both stadium and XC.  They finished the day on their dressage score of 27.86% and moved into 1st place!  Awesome job Heather and Patti :)  Dominique and Sandi were last to jump from Castle Farm, and they had two lovely rhythmic and relaxed jumping rounds, going double clear in both stadium and XC.  They finished the day on their dressage score of 35% and moved into 4th place!  What a way to start their show season :)

Everyone had a great time at this show.  We couldn't have asked for better weather, and we can't wait to head back out to the next event.  Look out for Castle Farm next weekend at Fenridge :)

Castle Farm headed back out to Mocksville, NC this past weekend for Hillcrest Farm's second horse trials of the season.  Ashley Godfrey and Annie returned for the Novice division.  Heather Mercer and Patti returned for the Beginner Novice division.  Brittany Spicer and her recently partnered show mount Gypsy also went and competed in their first horse trial together in the Green Bean division.

Ashley and Annie started our day off with a lovely dressage test, scoring a 42.6% in Novice B, which put them in 7th place.  They went on to jump two lovely double clear rounds in both stadium and cross country, and finished on their dressage score but moved up to 6th place!  Way to go Ashley and Annie!

Heather Mercer and Patti began their day with a fantastic dressage test and scored a 37.2% which put them in 4th place.  They also went on to jump two lovely double clear rounds in both stadium and cross country, and also finished on their dressage score but moved up to 2nd place!  Another successful day for this veteran pair!

Brittany and Gypsy were the last to compete of the Castle Farm riders, and despite a slow warm up (this is Gypsy, afterall!), they had a very nice dressage test, earning a 46.3% in Intro B.  Gypsy must have known she was at a show (and was really enjoying herself), because she definitely turned it on when they entered the ring!  Her confidence and excitement was not lost as the pair made their way into the stadium ring, and they jumped a fabulous double clean round.  Cross country was an adventure all of its own - Gypsy decided to take the opportunity to start her training for the Kentucky Derby.  Brittany did a FANTASTIC job of navigating the course (while holding on with everything she had!) and despite some time penalties (yes, believe it or not, Gypsy CAN go too fast sometimes!), this pair finished their first horse trial together in 5th place!

Overall, we had a blast at this show, and the gorgeous weather was a definite plus!  Look out for Castle Farm riders next month at Tamarack's schooling horse trials - we can't wait to see you there!

As you can probably tell, if you keep up with our news posts, we have been very busy the last few months here at Castle Farm.  In addition to all the events we have been participating in, our student and equine population continues to grow as well.  We have had several new students join Castle Farm in the last few months - Sarah Kennedy, Sarah Goss and Jennifer Bell.  Sarah Kennedy and Jennifer Bell are adults with previous riding experience that are picking back up where they left off, trying to get their riding muscles back and learn a few new things as well.  Sarah Goss is a young student who comes from a riding family already.  She is hoping to learn to ride so she can ride her own horses at home.

In addition to new students, we had a couple of returning students - Kelsey Crowe and Abby and Joshua Barrow.  Kelsey had started her riding career when she was very little, many years ago, here at Castle Farm.  She had left when her family moved a little too far away to keep her horse here.  She has since bought a new horse that she was competing as a jumper.  Kelsey has come back to Castle Farm to take a little time off from jumping and work on dressage.  She hopes to take what she is learning back to her own horse and practice with him.  Abby and Joshua had to take a little time off from riding, but are back and excited as ever.  Abby (one of Castle Farm's youngest students) is always a delight to teach.  Joshua was not a regular student when they were here before, but he is taking regular lessons now and really has a knack for riding!

Finally, Castle Farm would like to welcome a new horse - Me A Don Gemello, more affectionately known as "Cloud".  Cloud belongs to Lizzy and Joanne Hilmar.  Lizzy has been riding with Castle Farm for several years now and Cloud is Lizzy's first horse.  He started out as a reining horse, but Lizzy is hoping to make him into a jumping horse.  He has a great personality is very sweet and easy to get along with.  He fits in quite well at Castle Farm.

Please take a chance to welcome any of these new or returning students (and horse) whenever you see them!  If you are not currently a student at Castle Farm - set up an appointment to come check us out!

Castle Farm took two riders to Fenridge yesterday to participate in the Juliana Zunde jumping clinic.  Juliana is a Grand Prix Jumper rider and USEF 'r' Hunter judge.  Gabby and Cisco were in an earlier class, and Ashley and Annie were in the later class.  Gabby and Ashley both worked on similar ideas, just at different heights.  Their classes focused on keeping your horse in a "box" and maintaining momentum while staying on a specific track.  Both riders worked on bending lines to jumps, balancing and bending correctly through turns, and staying straight before and after jumps.  They both had a great time at this clinic and learned a lot.  Even those of us who were just watching and not participating learned a lot too!  Castle Farm will definitely be attending another clinic with Juliana in the future - and if you'd like to learn more about what Gabby and Ashley learned, just ask them the next time you see them!