Clover Ledge Farm

I honestly had thought our last dressage show of the year was going to be the Esprit show at the end of August.  I started gathering my scores together to submit for year-end awards, and I realized that if I did just one more show, I could submit scores for CMDA (Central Maine Dressage Association).  

Plus, doing this show would give me yet another two tries at Training 3 before we do First next year.  

AND, because it was the "Kur for a Cure" show, I would be able to dig out all of the pink things I bought several years ago for a Drive for the Cure event at the track and have been hanging onto just in case we ever did something similar.  Even though pink really isn't a good color on a chestnut, it was really fun to dress up a little for a show!  And the flowy scarf was uhhh, kind of fun flowing out behind me while I rode LOL!  



I made a stupid mistake in Training 3 and almost forgot the first canter depart; therefore OF COURSE I didn't prepare my poor horse and we got …

Because Ellie and I were awarded a Morgan Dressage Association scholarship this year, I spent a lot of time looking for worthwhile dressage clinics to attend.  Sadly, throughout the first few months of the show season, there really wasn't anything I was interested in.  There was a Shannon Dueck clinic I was thinking of attending down in MA, but it ended up being canceled.  I knew Ashley Madison would be back this fall, the clinician I rode with last November, but I had enough scholarship money to ride in at least one other clinic.

I saw an interesting clinic pop up on my Facebook feed in August.  The farm where it was being held is almost three hours away, so I hesitated at first.  But I inquired and there was a spot open for me on a Saturday, which was much more doable as we were back in school by this point.  The clinician was Georges Malleroni, the director of the Escola de Equitaçao de Alcainça in Portugal.  He is originally from France, studied extensively with Nuno Oliveira, …

I have always wanted to have a photo session with my horses, and I especially have loved the recent trend of black background photos of horses standing in aisles.  After meeting the professional photographer at the Vermont Morgan Heritage Days and then seeing (and buying!) her gorgeous photos, I got really excited when I realized she actually lived in Maine.  When I reached out to her to see if she would travel down her to my farm, she enthusiastically agreed!

Taylor of Lasting Moments Media is a sweetheart and has a sharp eye!  She is so fun to work with and I really enjoyed our session.  She had a sneak peek up for me that night, too!  She is a horse girl herself, so she is confident around horses and how to engage them.

We started with Ellie, who soon became bored with our antics and put on her bored mare face.  She looks pissy, but honestly, she had just lost interest in our human shenanigans LOL!  Dreamy was totally fine, as she is used to being roped into such foolishness.  She al…

After earning my D-1 and D-2 rating back in July with Epona PC, I was able to test for my D-3 in September with Atlantic PC!  It was held at the barn in NH where my DC boards her horses, where we had our striding clinic in early spring.

Like my other D ratings, there wasn't much for this test that felt difficult.  I did go over the questions I would be asked to be sure I felt prepared, but I did not have to "study" or learn anything new for this rating.  The horse management questions were still fairly basic, though I had to now identify more parts of the horse and more breeds/colors, provide more details in my health and maintenance record book, and I had to show how to apply a standing wrap.

We did the horse management section seated at a picnic table near the barn with all four of us who were testing.  It was a gorgeous early fall day to be outside doing fun horse things!  Two kids were doing their D-1, one was doing her D-1 and D-2, and I was doing my D-3.  The examine…

This event was probably one of the highlights of my summer and sadly I have NO MEDIA.  That is what happens when I attend a show alone and there isn't a pro photog.  I am kicking myself for not trying to wrangle someone into taking pics or video for me, but oh well.  I am not good at asking for someone to take media, especially when all the people I know personally are actually competing and not just spectating.

Unfortunately, there are no longer any sanctioned events in Maine, and there were only three unrated events this year.  I attended the first one in June at RABT, which was our first HT, but I did not go to the second one on 8/18 as I choose to go to my lesson barn's team dressage show instead.  

So I made the effort to attend the Rusty Knees HT at the beginning of September although it is a solid three-hour drive (one way) for me.  The organizer and owner of the farm was my scramble team PC teammate from this year, Beth!  So not only did I want a chance to try another HT…

Having tried Training 3 just the weekend before, I signed up to ride T3 twice at this Esprit show for a little extra practice. I didn't know if we would have any more opportunities to enter a dressage show again this year (spoiler alert: I did enter one more after this), and I really wanted to get a few more solid T3 tests under our belt before 2020, where the plan is to move up to First.

It was perfectly timed where I rode my first test at 9:15, then another rider did T3, and then I went back in for my re-ride.  I was only gone five hours from the time I left my farm until when I returned, and the show was just over an hour away.  THAT is the best kind of show haha!

I thought both tests went even smoother and Ellie was much more rideable from the beginning than the weekend before.  


I tried to ride both tests accurately and was rewarded with an 8 on our serpentines!  For some reason, the geometry of the trot serpentines was tough for me when we first started practicing them in the s…