Countdown!

The countdown to our Florida departure is officially on!  Thought I would take some time to finally update this blog, have to apologize for not updating over the summer months but life has been very very busy, in a very good way but busy none the less!  This summer was a productive one for Nico and I, we did a couple of shows at the PSG/I1 level again to get Nico's confidence back up after last winter's stressful shows in Florida, he returned to the show ring well at the home shows and earned his highest scores to date with an FEI Panel in the PSG/I1 at the Calgary Dressage Show in June.  Over the summer months we participated in two clinics with Markus Gribbe, Canada's Technical Leader, the clinics were highly productive for us and I feel we gained a lot of good insight from Markus, he was very positive about Nico and I making the transition to the Grand Prix level which was exciting and a bit scary all in the same breath, big thanks to Shelagh Hohm for organizing these clinics out in Cochrane, Alberta and for inviting us to attend.  In September we showed the PSG/I1 at the Alberta Provincial and Western Regional Championships for the last time, the FEI panel of judges was highly encouraging and had much praise for Nico and I, always nice to hear "I love your horse and I love the way you ride him" from an Austrian FEI judge!  In October, we made our debut at the I2 and GP level at the Pacific Regional Championships, although very green and lots of mistakes I was pleasantly surprised with the transition into the GP for Nico, he handled it well and the judges comments basically reflected my own feelings about the test "shows much potential for the level, now just needs time to confirm, a great starting point!"  The summer and fall months also brought excitement for several Little Dressage clients, congrats to Shawneen Jacobs on her purchase of Monty, Robin Whittal on her purchase of Jake, Leanne Peniuk on her purchase of Diamond Gem and Ann McKinnon on her purchase of Akilah!  I am now prepping to head down south to Jupiter, Florida where we will train with Albrecht Heidemann for January, February and March 2012, we will be hitting the road in a couple of weeks time, Nico had his last checkup with vet Brit Mills this week and Brit reported that he is in great physical shape right now and is very happy and healthy in his body so that's a great feeling to have going in to the new year, this year Nico will get to have some company on the drive down as Rozzie (the up and coming super mare-more on her later:) will be coming along to gain some life experience as well as Tango who will be heading down to be on the sales block (if anyone is looking for a great PSG/I1 junior/young rider or adult amateur schoolmaster keep him in mind, he is a good boy!:).  I have declared Nico for the 2012 Olympics in London however I am in no way naive about the grandeur of such a challenge, Nico is very new to this level and I'm well aware he needs time to confirm and solidify, I'm proud of him for even being at this level at his age so at this point I don't have any expectations, my foremost goal is to confirm him at the GP level and take in a couple of small shows in Florida and see how things go, if beyond that he is ready for the CDIs and the qualifiers that would be a huge bonus but I'm not putting any pressure or expectations upon him to achieve that, he has all the talent and when the time is right he will come into his own, if that happens to be now that would be great, if not I am still building upon his experience tremendously and it will make him a stronger and more solid competitor in his years to come and that's the most important thing, it's an accomplishment in itself to have brought him along from the very beginning to this stage and I'm proud of how he is developing.  In addition Rozzie will get some great exposure to life on the road which will be fantastic for her, I'm thrilled with how this gal is developing she's a super worker and is brave and sensitive, I love her personality and with time and development I think she will be fantastic!  The declaration list for the 2012 Olympics is up and it's very exciting to see that 8 riders from BC have been declared which is great for the dressage industry in this province, dressage in BC has come a very long way over the years, best of luck to all riders declared, it's a strong list of horse/rider pairs and in the end when all is decided I'm sure Canada will be sending a very strong and capable team to London!  I also have to say a big thank you to all of our sponsors and supporters who have contributed to the upcoming show year (please see the sponsor/supporter list), huge thanks to Susanne Berger for the amazing support year after year and providing me with amazing mounts and the vehicle in which they travel, thanks to all of my fantastic clients who help keep me motivated and inspired, I thoroughly enjoy working with each and every one of you, and also thanks go out to Courtenay Fraser who will be traveling up to conduct clinics at Serendipity Farms for my clients while I'm absent (if anyone is interested in riding with Courtenay please feel free to contact me at jmlittle75@hotmail.com for more information), also thanks to Sylvie, Ashton and everyone at Serendipity Farms for helping to run things on the home front while I'm gone, thanks to Mary Miller and Joanna Cockerline for their ongoing technical support and friendship and thanks to Larisa for road tripping to help with the horses and to my mother for road tripping to navigate the route from the passenger seat (providing she doesn't get me lost twice like last time!;)  I'll do my best to update this blog regularly while down south, until then Happy Holidays to everyone and all the best for 2012!:)