Today is Friday, Aug 28 and it is 1:23 in the afternoon. We have had a really easy day so far. David O’Connor, the Canadian Team coach, got into town last night and came to the farm early this morning to do lessons with each of the riders. So instead of getting up at 7 this morning, those of us with Canadian horses were in the barn feeding at 6:45 so that our horses could be fed, groomed, equissaged, and hand walked before David arrived at 8:00. By the time the other riders and grooms on the farm showed up to start feeding and doing chores, we were all done and ready for the day to formally start. Kyle had the first lesson on Parker, and then Jess and Trevor were next. They had an amazing lesson today. David really had them working well and Trevor was moving better than I’ve seen him go in quite a while. It seems like David and Trevor are really on the same page when it comes to Dressage and lessons with David are always fun to watch because the end product is always a beautiful thing. Jess even smiled through most of the lesson because Trevor was being so good, and she never does that! She’s usually concentrating on making him *stay* that good, but today she was very happy with him. (picture from this morning’s lesson)

Jess, Jessica Phoenix, and Amanda (Jessica P’s groom) went into town after the horses were settled from their rides. We had a nice lunch and went to a few little stores. Marlborough is SUCH a cute little town! Unfortunately it was raining almost the whole time we were there, but it was still absolutely adorable. I took a couple of pictures on the main street in town where we were walking. Such a tourist thing to do, but hey let’s face it…. I’m a tourist!

We are all very excited about tonight! We are all going to the Windsor Horse Show for the Eventing Grand Prix! I have never been to one before, and there aren’t many of them in the States. I believe it is basically just an indoor thing in a big arena that is a mix of Cross Country and Show Jumps at around the 2* level in height (so not quite 4’). Izeb from the farm is riding her 4* horse in it as well as Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks and many other big name riders. So it should be really fun to watch. Hopefully tomorrow’s blog post should have some fun pictures from that outing. The only problem with going is that the EGP doesn’t start until about 9:00pm and it’s a little over an hour away. Needless to say it is going to be a late night! And David will be here tomorrow morning again for lessons starting at 8am. I should probably go take a nap… or atleast get comfortable and watch a movie for a bit.

I’m still missing home and everyone there. This is so much fun and I’m not ready for it to be over, but I’m going to be looking forward to hanging out with Walter, seeing Mom and Dad and picking up Madi, having Game Night with Candice Randall and Clay, and hanging out at my barn with my ponies and all of my girls. J I am getting reports though that things are going well at home, so that’s always good to know.