Clover Ledge Farm

Ellie and I had SO MUCH FUN at our first Pony Club jump rally this year.  We drove up to Clay Brook Farms, where we had our D-1/D-2 rating, in order to compete for the day on July 20.  This happened to be one of the hottest days of summer, so the organizers modified the schedule a bit.  Instead of doing two rounds in the morning and one in the afternoon, we all did just two rounds (with a ten-minute break in between) all in the morning, so we were done and headed out just after lunch.  
Everything ran so smoothly despite the condensed format.  We were able to do our formal inspections right before we mounted up, and we were all encouraged to limit our warm up time.  We were not allowed to wear jackets, and there was a TON of horse water and ice cold human water available at numerous stations around the field.
I was competing with Epona Pony Club, but I was again put on a Horsemaster team with two other adults from Foxcroft Pony Club, Angie and Beth, the two riders I competed with at the…

Ellie and I tried her first recognized show in July.  It was quite an interesting experience; I don't know why this has been such a weird year, but sadly it has!

I signed up to ride Training 2 and 3, paying the little extra to have T3 count as a qualifying score.  It didn't really matter since we cannot do enough rated shows this year to qualify for a USDF award, as I want to do horse trials and other things on weekends when the rated shows are scheduled.  But I wanted it to "count" just in case because you never know lol!

I didn't get any media as I went by myself.  Training 2 went great!  Ellie warmed up well and we had a really solid test.  She was calm and rideable, and I honestly thought we had done quite well!  The judge didn't agree and we scored a 62.241%, for third in a class of five.  Not a terrible score, but it seemed lower than the performance.  I figured it was just a difference between normally doing schooling shows and this was rated, so the sco…

As I wrote about earlier, I joined a second, more active pony club this year and I am glad I did!  Through Epona PC, I was able to test for my D-1 and D-2 rating back on July 13.  To their credit, Atlantic PC did try scheduling a rating but nothing actually panned out.

Basically, without boring you all with how Pony Club works, there are two levels of certifications (ratings): local level is D-1, D-2, D-3, C-1, and C-2 in that order, while the national level is C-3, B, and A.  There are also "horse management" national ratings, which are non-riding.



I chose to follow the Eventing track, which used to be the only option, but now Pony Club offers several different disciplines.  D-1 and D-2 are the only ratings you can do at once, which makes sense since D-1 is literally the easiest level ever designed for six-year-olds.  ;-)

Nothing I had to discuss or show under saddle for the D-2 certification was difficult for me personally.  The horse management questions were basic, the jump…

One of the big goals this year was to compete at an overnight show with Ellie.  I hemmed and hawed a little about which show to choose, but in the end, I decided to head over to Vermont at the beginning of July for what is known as Vermont Morgan Heritage Days.  It is a three-day show, with dressage on Friday open to all breeds, in-hand and rail classes (with both open and Morgan only classes) on Saturday, and carriage driving all day Sunday.  

Just fair warning, there are a gazillion photos in this post!  All pro photos were purchased from the show photographer, Lasting Moments Media (you can see her watermark), and some photos are from friends, and otherwise, they are my crappy phone photos haha.

Ellie and I left on Thursday afternoon around 1:30 in a nasty 90+ degree heatwave.  It was far from ideal, but seeing as I was traveling alone (and needed to find my Airbnb after settling Ellie into her stall at the fairgrounds), I did not want to be doing everything in the dark.  I had never…