Well, Jess left the barn this morning with 3 horses in the trailer heading off to Chicago by way of Nashville for the Maui Jim HT the weekend. After spending last week at Jan byyny's Surefire Farm, Trevor seems to be fit and ready for his Advanced run. He jumped at home yesterday and WOW was he jumping out of his skin! Jess told me to set them up "big".... yeah... I have to confess that when I'm setting fences, I'm Jess's biggest challenge. haha Somehow 4'6" doesn't look all that big when I'm standing right next to it (which seems so backwards...lol). Let's just say that Trevor should be plenty prepared for his SJ round on Sunday. :)
Remi is going to run Novice this weekend too. He's our cute little do-it-all horse. He's a stylish little hunter with an easy way of going, a fancy and easy dressage horse that has won the dressage (and then his whole division) at major horse trials, and a game "if you want me to I'll do it" type on XC. So he should be a fun ride for Jess this weekend.
The third horse on the trailer was Bo. Bo is Jess's retired Intermediate horse and one of the *coolest* horses in the world. He's the type that anyone can get on and go out in the trot field or have a dressage lesson on to learn some upper level movements, or Jess can pull him out of the field right before a show to "make sure her eye is on" and jump him around a 4' course like he never had a day off. He also is the horse that took me around my first Training Level combined test (packed me around, might I add! Lol). So Bo is going to Nashville for a few months to babysit Jess's sister's horse for a while. I hate for him to not be at the barn! But he'll enjoy chillin in the pasture and getting fat.

Like most things in life, when the old leave, new will come. That's exactly what has happened at the barn. With Bo leaving (and Salsa scheduled to go to his new home in a few weeks) we just got 3 new horses. Vicki is a 4yo Holsteiner filly that Jess's sister raised and started. She is now at our barn ready to get some education and fix herself on the road to the upper levels. She is a plain bay, and a BIG girl! Far from finished growing, she's about 17hh (totally dwarfs little 15.3hh Trevor!). Such a fancy mover and with a great brain too! She'll certainly be something special. The other new horse is known as "Shaq". He's on off-the-track Steeplechase horse and easily the prettiest horse I've ever seen. He's a 17hh dark blood bay with a white blaze and 2 even white socks on his fronts. He won't start being ridden for 6-8 months as he just came off the track, but he will be a fun one when he is ready! The 3rd new horse is a boarder, one of Jess's students. Irish is a sweet little guy that just seems very happy with life. That's a good type to have to deal with every day and I'm glad to have him there :)

So I have the barn to myself this week. It will be an interesting week getting to know the new horses and riding the ones Jess left behind. I'm excited to start getting updates from Chicago. Hopefully it'll be a great confidence-building run for both of them and a great stepping stone to being ready for our big trip in 2 months. Prayers for a safe weekend for all!