Fair Hill CCI** and CCI*** Horse Trials (October 16-19)
First CWF would like to congratulate Josh Barnacle, who is out from California, on a successful completion of his first CCI*** with no jump penalties around Fair Hill's notoriously difficult track. Well done! Both Ashley and Krissy had their shares of ups and downs competing in the inaugural CCI** division. After disappointing dressage scores for both Ashley and Krissy, both girls rode like super stars around cross county. Ashley and Bentley jumped a clear round with just 2 time penalties and Krissy and Taz looked equally as great. Unfortunately, the final day brought only disappointment. Bentley was too sore and Ashley decided not to present him to the Ground Jury for the morning Jog, which ended their competition early. On the up side, Taz looked great and showed no signs of his efforts the day before. With the job behind them, Krissy and Taz headed off to the Show Jump. While warming up Taz misjudged a small warm-up oxer and threw Krissy to the ground breaking her collar bone and she was unable to complete the event due to her injury. Krissy was treated at the hospital and released that day and will be good as new shortly. We all wish her a speedy recovery.

The full three day event is truly the ultimate challenge in equestrian sports. It is difficult at the CCI* level (preliminary) and just gets more difficult and complex with each additional star. Three day eventing is tough, disappointing, discouraging, and darn right frustrating. So you may ask, why do we do it then? We do it because when we reach our goals and met success it is one of the most rewarding, fun, exciting, and exhilarating experiences you can have; not just as a rider, but as a person. This fulfillment is almost magical and is what keeps us coming back after a disappointing weekend.

Middleburg Horse Trials (September 27-28)
The two Young Riders bring home ribbons in the Intermediate 3 section. Ashley and Bentley finished in first place with another consistent and solid three phases. Krissy and Taz had a wonderful dressage and the only clear show jump round in the division to put them in the lead after the first two phases. They had a few XC time penalties to finish in 6th. Way to go! Both Ashley and Krissy are more than ready for the Fair Hill CCI**.

Leslie rode Sara around for a nice, clear round in the Open Preliminary. Sharon and Mickey finished 12th in Open Novice 3 division and Pamela and Graham finished in 17th in the Open Novice I division.

A New Pony!
Congratulations to the Boyd's on the purchase of Calvin, show name Without a Trace. Calvin is an adorable 14-hand, 5-year old, paint gelding. He is a fantastic jumper and a good mover with an adorable personality. He doesn't have a ton of show experience yet, but with the Boyd's he will come along quickly.

Maryland Horse Trials II (July 19-20)
Colleen and Connor topped their 2nd place finish the weekend before with a Blue ribbon. DeAnna walked the course with Colleen on Friday, but after that Colleen rode at the event on her own, without Paul and did great (of course her mom was as there supporting). Paul was up a Lake Placid completing in his second Ironman distance triathlon. Paul finished the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run in 13 hours and 4 minutes. A great weekend for both competitors, Congratulations!

Maryland Horse Trials I (July 12-13)
Day one the Prelim riders rode in the hot and humid weather at Loch Moy. Both Christie and Colleen McKitrick had great rounds on their two horses and so did Ashley and Bentley and Martha and Garth in the Young Rider divisions. Ashley and Colleen were placed 1st and 2nd in the YR, with Martha in 7th place in Prelim A division, can't complain about that! Christie was 4th in the YR Prelim B division. Leslie rode Sara in her first event back since last fall and had a good, easy round with one minor bobble at the first water. Sharon moved up Lover this weekend and had a wonderful Show Jump, but had a few disappointing stops at the trakehner, where she then lost her whip. Without the encouragement of the whip, Lover wasn't convinced he had to keep going so Sharon retired at the water later in the course.

Day two was Training level. DeAnna rode Marco around his third Training level and he was a super star with two double-clean rounds to finish in 1st place. Leslie rode Graham around his first Training level with a few problems here and there, but completed in good form.

Bromont CIC* (June 12-15)
Molly and Savannah made a wonderful rebound after their disappointments at the Virginia CCI to finish in 8th place in the CIC*. They are now fully qualified to compete at the North American Young Rider Championships in August and we are all looking forward to seeing what they do.

Rubicon Horse Trials (June 7-8)
The riders from CWF battled the hot weather to bring home top ribbons. Colleen was 3rd on Connor in her second outing at the preliminary level followed closely by her sister Christie in 8th place. Sharon and Lover seem to be unstoppable at the training level as she brought home another top ribbon, placing 2nd. Pamela also had a great weekend with Graham to finish in the top 10! Way to go everyone!

Virginia Horse Trials & CCI* (May 23-25)
This past weekend at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, VA was filled with extreme highs and extreme lows. First the highs: Colleen and Connor completed their first Preliminary event together and finished in 13th place. I saw Colleen ride XC at the barrels drop to the corner and then through the water and she looked fantastic. Competing at the preliminary is an accomplishment in itself, and even more amazing at the age of 14, well done Colleen! Leslie competed Celie for the first time at Preliminary and made each phase look easy. They also brought home a blue ribbon. Celie, who is only 5, is now qualified to for the AECs at both Training and Preliminary level! Sharon and Lover had a nice dressage test and had two double clears to end up in 1st place in the Training Rider division. Tori took a weekend break from Vet School to compete her mare, Roxy, at Preliminary and finished in 7th place. I rode Marco in the Training Horse division and Marco was wonderful in all three phases to also take away 1st place as well.

Now for the lows:. Christie was unfortunately not passed at the first jog in the CCI* division. Just when you thought that you've heard it all, the ground jury stated that they felt Luca's conformation was an issue. A very unlucky break to start the weekend. Christie is a great competitor and I know she will bounce back from this disappointment to show everyone what she can do in future events. Now for the most crazy part of the weekend. Molly and Savannah started off the weekend with a fantastic dressage test to give them the lowest score of the day in the CCI* divisions. Xcountry brought a very unexpected outcome, as both Molly and Savannah were galloping around the CCI* with ease, the ground jury pulled Molly up after the 8th fence and issued a mandatory elimination for dangerous riding. An official saw Molly at fence 5 & 6 and felt that Savannah was "out of control" and not listening to Molly. This was a huge shock and surprise to everyone watching. Although we all respect each member of the ground jury and their expertise and judgment and we understand they are under a lot of pressure considering the current state of our sport to keep everyone safe, we could not find fault with Molly's riding. Savannah is a small 15'"' hand, part clydesdale mare, who looks to gallop much more rapidly than larger horses, and perhaps this contributed to their opinion/decision? Molly and Savannah have ridden the entire spring season with the same ride, including an FEI CIC* at Fair Hill, and had no problems and was never approached with any concern for her riding or her horse. After asking the ground jury to review the professional video tape of Molly's ride so we could learn what had concerned them enough to eliminate her, they could not point out a particular point to us that would be considered dangerous riding. Their argument is that in person things appear different than on the video, but video is the only evidence we have besides our memory. Unfortunately, knee jerk reactions to recent events in our sport have affected one of our own, who would have more than likely won the YR CCI*. The real issue we need to address here is that we need clear definitions for both riders and officials to what is considered "dangerous riding." Everyone who rides in the sport of three day eventing knows there is an assumed risk to the sport, and if we begin to doubt ourselves while riding across country, jumping solid, immoveable objects, then there may be more bad than good that comes out of all of this. As riders we should be held accountable for our actions and should be subject for review, but in my opinion those same standards should be applied to decisions made by officials in lieu to this past weekend's events.

Yellow Rose Jumper Show (May 13)
Madison competed in her first show at the Yellow Rose Evening Schooling Jumper show in Middleburg, VA and brought home two blue ribbons! She and Summer were in perfect sync as they navigated around the 2' - 2'3" show jump round. Congratulations Maddy!!! Leslie also rode Yogi, the 12'2" pony around the course. Yogi was amazing as well. Everyone had a blast watching Madison and can't wait for the next one.

CWF plans to attend several jumper schooling shows this summer, check the web site for upcoming dates.

MCTA Horse Trials (May 3-4)
Molly and Savannah continue on a successful streak to finish in 2nd place in the YR Preliminary B division. With this momentum, everybody at the Virginia CCI* in two weeks better watch out! Leslie rode Celie in the Training Horse B division and tied for 4th place. Celie will be moving up to Preliminary at VA horse trials.