Aiken Adventures- Life in Full Swing

The schedule is in fast forward now.  Saturday was a full dressage day for all horses and then Sunday was the first cross country outing!!!  Everyone had a great school and seems to have remembered everything from last season.  There were no issues; banks/water/ditches were all a breeze!  We even put them to the test a bit with a sunken road and a series of skinnies which all four horses (Diem, Stew, Ari, Devi) attacked confidently and seamlessly.  Go ponies!  Beacon had his first lesson with Suzie Gornall and finished up nicely over some show jumps, and I was FINALLY able to resurrect my poor soaked saddle from riding in the hurricane earlier in the week (three separate sessions of soaking it in oil)!  Monday was a well earned day off for all horses and I spent the day body clipping Beacon, buying some more hay and feed, and cleaning tack.  Tuesday kicked us right back up into the swing of things with a lesson on Beacon with Doug Payne first thing in the morning, Diem and Stewart competing at their first combined test of the season, and then the mares doing gallop sets.  Beacon jumped phenomenally well with Doug and is all prepped to run Paradise on Friday.  The boys were excellent at Apple Tree with Stew finishing in second and Diem with an unlucky rail still pulling sixth in competitive classes.  The remainder of this week will be focusing on getting everyone prepped to run at Paradise!!