'Team Boots' Ties for First Place

At , we like to call ourselves "Team Boots." We even have team jackets and baseball hats. There are currently five of us on this team. Perhaps, the most important member of the team is not even a human, it is Theo, a 13-year-old thoroughbred. The rest of us are on the team to care for and support him. Well, we support him and his rider, Emily. The rest of the team members are Jayne, who is the driver. She gets the rest of us to where we are going with her truck and horse trailer. Then there is Bev, who is not only the owner of Theo but his number one groom and cheerleader. Finally, there is me---I am Emily and Theo's trainer. Each of us plays an important part on the success of the competition and we work really well as a team.

Emily and Theo compete in an equestrian discipline called Eventing. This is a sport where the same horse-and-rider pair competes in three tests - dressage, stadium jumping and cross country. When all three of the tests happen on the same day it is called a Horse Trial. The trial was held Sunday at Bucks County Horse Park. It was a perfect day for a trial, sunny, cool and breezy.The first test for Emily and Theo was dressage. Emily has been working really hard lately on improving her dressage technique and Theo has responded nicely. Plus, I had been a bit more demanding of them in recent lessons. All I can say is that all of the hard work really paid off. They had a terrific test and ended up tied for second place with a personal best score for Emily! They even got compliments from the judge. Next up, after a two-hour wait, was stadium jumping. Emily really used her head and rode a careful, clean round. The final phase was cross country. We were all a little worried about the cross country course. Specifically, we were worried about the last fence - the coop. This fence is situated between two very large pine trees and is in the shadows. The last time Theo saw this jump he put on his brakes. But, today, Emily made sure that Theo did not stop.

After completing the three phases of the trial we were absolutely elated when it was announced that Emily and Theo tied for first place in their division! We really could not have asked for anything more. It was a great end to "Team Boots'" first season of eventing. Now, with winter quickly approaching, we will continue the work which has been started and come out in the spring raring to go!