KCB has done a lot since our last blog post!! Before coming home to Canada mid-April, we did our last show in Florida. We all competed in the CCI* at Ocala Horse Properties. Hanna had to complete a CCI* in order to do a CCI**, so KCB ended up going head to head! All the horses put in solid dressage tests, and clear cross-country rounds. Mustard was amazing and only had one rail to finish 7th in the very competitive division. Benny was really spooky in the ring and took down a few rails to finish 33rd. Yoshi jumped really well, having two unfortunate rails down to drop to 10th. Juliet also jumped an awesome round with only one rail, but with an unlucky crossing of the start flags before beginning, she set the timer off early and crossed her path earning a bunch of time penalties and an extra four penalties. None of us will make that mistake again!! Jamie also had Reuben in training, and had solid clear jumping rounds on him, finishing 8th! Overall, KCB had an awesome last weekend in Ocala, heading home with NAJYRC qualifications for Lauren and Jamie. 

Now, onto the beginning of our Ontario season! We gave Yoshi, Jules, and Benny a couple weeks off in April to relax after an intense Florida season. Meanwhile, Mustard went to Jersey Fresh to compete in the CIC** May 10-12th. Mustard put in a solid test, putting him in 15th place. He jumped great in show-jumping, knocking down two rails. He had an unfortunate run-out on cross-country, to finish in 23rd. Because of the 20 penalty points on xc, Hanna has to reroute to Dreamcrest in hopes of a clear cross-country round to qualify for the CCI** at NAJYRC! At the beginning of May, Jamie and Lauren started gearing up for their first event of the Ontario season. First up was Grandview HT on May 19th. Yoshi and Jules made the big intermediate upgrade! Juliet laid down a sweet dressage test, putting her in 4th! She had four rails in show-jumping, and a solid xc round up until one tricky combination. She had an unlucky run-out half way through the course but came home with just the 20 jump penalties and some time to finish 14th. Yoshi didn't have one of his best tests, but he had some good moments. He went into show-jumping tied for 7th. He jumped great, taking down two rails. He was a machine on xc, jumping clear with some time to finish in 7th. Benny put in a good test in the prelim division to sit in 6th going into show-jumping. He jumped a really good round, having just one rail down. He was awesome cross-country, adding a few time penalties to his score to finish 6th. Reuben also had a great go, jumping clear show-jump round, a clear xc round with a bit of time to finish  5th! We had a great time, and Jamie and Lauren were happy to get their first intermediate done!

Next up was Glen Oro on May 26th. Hanna had Mustard in intermediate and Jessie's past upper-level horse Digby (aka Exploring) in training for their first event together! Jamie had Reuben in in the junior training division. Mustard laid down a sweet test, earning a 49.7! They had three rails down in show-jumping and a great xc round other than one run-out. They finished 11th in the OI. Digby was awesome, putting in a solid test and double-clear show-jump and cross-country rounds to finish 3rd in a competitive open-training division! Reuben had one of his best dressage tests yet, and jumped a clear show-jump round. The training cross-country proved to be very tricky, and they made it around with a few green moments to finish 8th! 

In between events, KCB attended the Young Rider Clinic at Eventing Canada. We all had an awesome time, having lessons on the flat and over fences. Jacquie Brooks came to talk to the YR's and we all learned from her speech. All the declared horses jogged for the team vet and they all look great! We met some more young riders trying for NAJYRC this summer and we are so excited!! Fingers crossed for our last events before the championships!

Onto our most recent event, Wits End! KCB had all of our horses at the event this past weekend. We all proudly wore blue & white ribbons, and rode in memory of Anne Zander who recently passed away. Mustard, Jules and Yoshi were in the intermediate, while Digby and Benny were in the prelim, and Reuben was in the training. Mustard was a little high strung in the dressage, but was still in 7th going into show-jumping. He jumped an amazing round, and just had one rail down. He had one of his best cross-country rounds yet, with an unfortunate run-out at the bank complex, but still made it home with just one run-out and some time to finish 9th. Digby had an awesome day putting in a solid dressage test and two unlucky rails in show jumping. He also had a nice and steady cross country round after an interesting cross-country warm up! Hanna and Digby finished 7th in a competitive open-preliminary. Juliet didn't have one of her best tests, but still moved onto show-jumping in 10th place. She jumped a great round, with just two rails. Jules was amazing on cross-country all the way around, but had the worst luck at the final water. Jamie came off upon landing, going for a little swim. The fall definitely didn't reflect their entire round but luckily both Jamie and Jules were ok! Yoshi put in a really solid test, putting him in the lead after dressage. He jumped great in show-jumping, having two rails down. He tackled the cross-country with a clear round and a bit of time to finish 2nd in the intermediate. Benny was a bit tense in the prelim dressage, and was a little nervous in the bottom ring all by himself. He moved onto show-jumping, and jumped an awesome clear round. He was perfect on cross-country, coming home with a few time penalties to finish 4th! Reuben  jumped a great show-jump round with a few rails down. He made it around cross-country and had a great go to finish 7th! Overall, KCB had a great day at Wits End. There's always something to learn from each event and take on to the next! 

Next up for KCB is a Young Rider Clinic at Grandview Farm this weekend. NAJYRC is getting closer, and it's finally setting in that we only have a few short weeks left before the championships. We have one final event before the teams are chosen, and that will be Dreamcrest June 29-30th. Hanna and Mustard will be in the CIC**, with their sights set on putting in a solid performance to earn them a qualifying score. Yoshi will also be in the CIC**, and Jules and Benny will be battling it out in the CIC*! Jamie will also have Reuben in the training division. Fingers crossed that all of the ponies are amazing, and that they will be chosen to go to Kentucky!!! Team selection is the week following Dreamcrest, and then training camps begin! We are all so excited and can't wait for Dreamcrest! Our ponies are feeling great and they're ready to tackle our upcoming events. We would like to thank Omega Alpha, Hayward, Tipperary, and Ecogold for all of their support along our journey. We couldn't do it without all of our supporters! We will keep you posted on our final weeks leading up to NAJYRC 2013! Go Canada!!!

        Well we have had an amazing start to our season!! We drove down to florida at the beginning of February. We quickly jumped into a busy schedule and prepped for our first show at the Florida Horse Park on February 8th! Thank you Jessie for keeping the ponies nice and fit for the month of January!! It was a great first outing of the season and left us with lots to work on before Rocking Horse HT the next weekend! 

Rocking Horse went well - Jamie and Lauren competed in the Prelim rider division and Hanna ran Mustard in the Intermediate combined test as a prep for Pine Top HT. Jamie and Juliet had a clear XC and a sweet clear stadium round and finished in 7th place! Lauren finished in 4th on Benny with clear xc and stadium and second on her new horse Yoshi in the training division! 

 Lauren and Jamie stayed home to help take care of the ponies while Hanna and Mustard headed to Georgia to compete in the intermediate division at Pine Top. Mustard laid down his best dressage test yet and a great cross-country round. Unfortunately, on the third and final day, Hanna and Mustard "parted ways" in show-jumping. Coming to the last line of the show jumping course Hanna got Mustard to a half stride. With the footing being deep due to crazy rain all weekend Mustard could not pull a miracle out of the bag and get them out of the half stride (lol woops). Although it was upsetting, Hanna  and Mustard learned a lot from the weekend and were ready to take on Red Hills. 
           The next scheduled outing was rocking horse for Jamie and Lauren. Unfortunately with the EHV -1 outbreak in Ocala we decided to play it safe and skip the event. Onward to Red Hills!! 

            The weekend started on a bit of a low note  when Jamie's horse Juliet came in from the paddock with a scrape on her right hind leg. Although it wasn't very serious, we decided it wasn't worth risking it at Red Hills and chose to reroute her to the Poplar CIC* next weekend. That being said, it was a stellar weekend for Lauren and Hanna! Lauren took her new horse Yoshi out for their first prelim together, while she and Benny did their third prelim together. Hanna competed Mustard in the CIC* division in order to be qualified to do a CIC** at The Fork. All the horses put down solid dressage tests before moving onto the jumping phases. On Saturday, Mustard jumped really well through the tough show-jumping course, ticking just two rails. Yoshi and Benny did cross-country that day and moved into 2nd and 3rd place after they tore up the course, coming in with zero time or jump penalties. Mustard ran cross-country later on Saturday, bringing it home with a clear and fast round to move them up fifteen places. On Sunday, Yoshi and Benny had their final phase of show-jumping left. Benny went first, jumping a clear round inside the time allowed to finish on his dressage score! Yoshi was the last one to go and he jumped great around the course leaving all jumps up but one. The one rail added four penalty points to his dressage score, bumping him down to 4th, and Benny up to 2nd! All the ponies had an amazing weekend and we had an awesome time at Red Hills. Next up is a combined test at Ocala Horse Properties this weekend for Juliet and Mustard, and then we're heading up North to Georgia to compete at Poplar! Mustard will running in the intermediate division, and Benny, Yoshi & Juliet will all be battling it out in the CIC*!! Check out our Red Hills Recap video from last weekend! If you read this whole blog, KCB loves you!!! 

The weekend started on a bit of a low note  when Jamie's horse Juliet came in from the paddock with a scrape on her right hind leg. Although it wasn't very serious, we decided it wasn't worth risking it at Red Hills and chose to reroute her to the poplar CIC* next weekend. That being said, it was a stellar weekend for Lauren and Hanna! Lauren took her new horse Yoshi out for their first prelim together, while she and Benny did their third prelim together. Hanna competed Mustard in the CIC* division in order to be qualified to do a CIC** at The Fork. All the horses put down solid dressage tests before moving onto the jumping phases. On Saturday, Mustard jumped really well through the tough show-jumping course, ticking just two rails. Yoshi and Benny did cross-country that day and moved into 2nd and 3rd place after they tore up the course, coming in with zero time or jump penalties. Mustard ran cross-country later on Saturday, bringing it home with a clear and fast round to move them up fifteen places. On Sunday, Yoshi and Benny had their final phase of show-jumping left. Benny went first, jumping a clear round inside the time allowed to finish on his dressage score of 33.5! Yoshi was the last one to go and he jumped great around the course leaving all jumps up but one. The one rail added four penalty points to his dressage score, bumping him down to 4th, and Benny up to 2nd! All the ponies had an amazing weekend and we had an awesome time at Red Hills. Next up is a combined test at Ocala Horse Properties this weekend for Juliet and Mustard, and then we're heading up North to Georgia to compete at Poplar! Mustard will running in the intermediate division, and Benny, Yoshi & Juliet will all be battling it out in the CIC*!! Check out our Red Hills Recap video from last weekend! If you read this whole blog, KCB loves you!!!

What KCB packing looks like:

KCB has had a quiet couple of months following the final outing of the season. The horses have been relaxing and slowly coming back into heavier work to prepare for Florida 2013! We've recently had some awesome lessons with Jessie Phoenix and Jacquie Brooks leading up to our winter season! The horses are happy and healthy and ready to take on the new year. We have almost finished packing and we can't wait until we head south! Lauren and Jamie are heading down to Florida this week to help trailer horses down and to get them all settled in (and hopefully have a few lessons!), and Hanna will finish up the packing at home! We have to head back to school for the second week of January, but the countdown is now at 31 days 'till KCB goes to Florida for the season! Jessie will get our horses geared up by riding and showing them in January, so they'll be perfectly tuned up! We still aren't sure what we're going to do being horse-less for all of January, but thanks to Jessie our ponies will be all ready for us in February. Stay tuned for more updates and videos coming soon, along with pictures of our horses in their new Florida home :). Thanks again to all our supporters and coaches - we couldn't do it all without you guys!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and KCB wishes everyone a Happy New Year!! Bring on 2013!!!

Wondering how to qualify for NAJYRC? To qualify for the North American Junior and Young Rider Eventing Competition for the One Star Team, a horse and rider must have completed one CCI* or two CIC*'s. For the Two Star Team, a horse and rider must have completed one CCI** or two CIC**'s, or a CCI* and a CIC**. At these competitions, you cannot score more than 75 penalty points in dressage. On cross-country, you are allowed no more than 20 penalties at obstacles, and no more than 90 seconds exceeding the optimum time (36 penalties). However, at CIC's, you must be clear on cross-conutry. For show-jumping, you cannot have more than 16 jumping penalties.

Once you've qualified for NAJYRC based on the FEI requirements, you must be chosen by your province/state to go to the championships based on other criteria. Once you are eligible for NAJYRC, the team is chosen based on performance, fitness, and consistency of each horse/rider combination. The selection is based 50% on competition consistency, 30% on soundness and fitness, 15% competitive attitude, and 5% on competitive results. There is also a mandatory jog to assess the soundness of horses that are short listed for the NAJYRC's.

KCB hopes to meet all of the requirements to be chosen for the Canadian NAJYRC teams!!!

Soooo KCB got our show schedule for Florida and leading up to NAJYRC 2013! We each have plan  A B C....Z but ill (Hanna) just post our ideal scenarios, and ill be knocking on every piece of wood in my house once i post this! so here it goes...

Rocking Horse Jan 25-27- Mustard(OI) Benny+Bart(OP)

Ocala Winter II HT Feb8- Mustard(OP)Juliet(OP)Benny+Bart(OT) 

Rocking Horse Feb 15- Mustard(OI) Juliet+Benny+Bart(OP)

Rocking Horse Mar 1- Mustard(OI) Juliet+Benny+Bart(OP)

Red Hills Mar 7- Juliet (CIC*)

Poplar Place Mar 21- Mustard(CIC**) Juliet+Benny+Bart(CIC*)

Rocking Horse Mar 30 - Mustard(OI) Juliet+Benny+Bart(OP)

Ocala CCI*/CCI** April 10- Mustard(CCI**) Juliet+Benny+Bart(CCI*)

Woodwind CIC*/** May 4- Benny+ Bart (CIC*)

Glen Oro HT- May 25- Mustard(OI) Juliet+Bart+Benny (OP)

Wits End June 15- Juliet+Benny+Bart(OP)

Dreamcrest June 29- Mustard(CIC**) Juliet+Benny+Bart (CIC*)

NAJYRC 2013- Mustard (CCI**) Juliet+Benny+Bart(CCI*)  

WOOHOO so excited for 2013!!! if our plans change while we are in Florida we will post an alternate schedule! Wish us luck! :)

On Sunday November 3rd and Monday November 4th KCB got to ride in a Clayton Fredericks clinic in King City!! Clayton has just been named the new Canadian eventing team coach so we were so excited when Jessie asked us if we wanted to ride in it! We rode in a group of six which included Lauren, Hanna, me (Jamie), Christian Bennett, April Simmonds and Jessie Phoenix. I think its safe to say we were all thoroughly challenged and we all learned a ton! The first day mostly focused on the flat and a lot of pole work! (see video above) The second day focused more on jumping. We did a lot of really hard and fun exercises. Unfortunately we didn't get any video of the second day! :( We cant thank Martha Griggs for organizing this clinic enough!!

Stay tuned for our video covering all of our adventures at the Royal Winter Fair!

P.s We decided writing all these blogs in third person was way to hard so were going to take turns writing them.

P.s.s This is jamie...

KCB had a great end to the Ontario season at Will o WInd horse trials this past weekend! Even though it was freezing cold!!

Lauren and Coolum XV (Benny) had a great day! Benny did a nice dressage test and then punched out a clear showjumping and cross country to finish fourth in junior training level! After Lauren and Benny's amazing prelim upgrade at Woodwind they decided to go training level at Will o Wind to end the season on an extra positive note! Benny thought it was a breeze!

Jamie and Don't Blink (Juliet) also had a awesome weekend! Juliet was feeling the cold weather in dressage warmup and was a little bit saucy throwing in some bucks! As soon as Juliet was in the ring she new her job and did a nice test to be  in 11th place after dressage in a competitive open Prelim division. Juliet jumped a great show jump round and had just one rail. Jamie and Juliet had their best cross country round yet!!! Finishing with a clear round and 16 time faults to move up to fourth!! Watch Juliet on XC HERE Jamie tried a new bit for jumping this weekend and is so excited about it!! Juliet was jumping like a champ in it!!

Jamie was also riding Exuberant (Newby) a sales horse of Jessie's at Will o Wind. Jamie and Newby's weekend started out extremely well finishing first after dressage. Newby then went on to be a superstar in showjumping picking up a couple rails. Unfortunately Jamie fell off Newby on cross country at fence four. Jamie said that Newby was being a cross country machine when he locked onto a skinny fence five strides off a bank. Jamie became unseated before the skinny and couldn't quite hold on as Newby popped over the skinny like a good boy. He then went on to continue his own cross country coarse through the dressage rings. ( Sorry everyone :) )

Hanna had an amazing weekend on Jessie's Sales horse Achilles Heel. Achilles pulled out his best dressage score yet! Then, in stadium Achilles was being a star and jumping so well! Out of the tripple Achilles gave a huge jump and tripped on the landing so Hanna got a little unseated. Achilles was already locked on to the next fence so Hanna threw herself back in the saddle and jumped the next fence with no stirrups! After that fence Hanna regrouped and jumped the rest of the course for a clear round! Achilles went on to prove what a cross country machine he is finishing the tough coarse clear and fast! Achilles and Hanna ended up in third place and won a sweet pair of SSG show gloves! 

We can't wait to continue our show season in FLORIDA!!  

  KCB had an amazing weekend at Woodwind HT this past weekend! It was Benny's upgrade to Prelim, Hanna and Mustards upgrade to intermediate and Jamie and Juliets best Prelim result yet! Jamie and Hanna also showed sales horses of Jessie's at the training level and killed it! 

  Lauren and Benny had an amazing show and rocked their first prelim! Benny is a green 6 yo and Lauren made it look  ridiculously easy! Their dressage test was beautiful (as always) with some minor mistakes in the canter. Their show jump round was awesome!! Benny had two rails due to spookiness (giant butterflies etc.) Finally they flew through XC like champs!! At the end of the day Lauren and Benny brought home a 4th place ribbon!!!! GO BENNY! 

    Hanna and Mustard had an unreal first Intermediate! They started the day off, way too early in the morning, with dressage! Dressage has been the focus of their training for the past three weeks (since hanna bought him 3 weeks ago). it was all looking promising in the trot work.. he nailed the shoulder in and travers. then came the turn on the haunches to canter transition.... Mustard got so excited to canter, and was jumping out of his skin! Long story short, it got pretty "cray-cray". After dressage was finished they had a flawless stadium and produced a clear round! Their first intermediate and a clear round! shortly after was xc and Mustard could not have been better! he was flying over the fences like they were cross rails and going intermediate speed like it was his day job. They came in with just 4 time faults and finished 2nd overall! GO MUSTARD!
Watch Mustards stadium and xc HERE

Hanna also showed Achilles Heel in Training level and came 2nd place! had 1 rail in stadium and a clear cross country! See Achilles at Woodwind HERE GO ACHILLES!!

    Jamie and Juliet had their best Prelim show yet! They had an amazing dressage with no mistakes! After dressage they were placed 2nd!!! Since Jamie has had Juliet there has always been intense training to better her dressage, but in this past year Jamie and Juliet have been rocking the dressage rings and constantly been placing in the top after dressage! AMAZING! Then it was time for stadium. Jamie produced and amazing round with just 1 rail. See Jamies show jump round HERE. shortly after stadium they headed over to xc warm up. with confusion about start times, Jamie had 2 minutes to warm up! as jamie was walking in warm up the starter was calling her number with 2 minutes until go time! jamie and jules had to quickly pick up, jump a fence, gallop a lap and then they were off! With a clear xc, Jamie said it was one of her crazier xc rounds (Juliet thinks shes still on woodbine sometimes) but they made it around successfully and clear to bring home 1ST PLACE!!!! GO JULIET!!

Jamie also rode Exuberant(Newby) in Training. Newby and Jamie had their best dressage yet (the score doesnt reflect) and an amazing XC round to bring home a fourth place ribbon! GO NEWBY!!

Overall we all had an amazing show and we cant wait to rap up the ontario season with a hat trick victory! See ya there Will O Wind!!

124 Days Until Florida. 71 of them are school days....
Two things we learned from our first year in Florida, more air freshener, less Ragu.

This summer we had some amazing experiences. We were lucky enough to be able to
fly to London to watch our coach and close friends compete in the 2012 Olympic
games!! It was unbelievable to be there and we are so inspired! We got to meet some pretty amazing people, which happen to be our idols! 

   Unfortunately C (Lauren) wasn't able to make it out so Hanna and I made it our mission to get as many pictures with hot and/or famous eventers as possible, just for her. We succeeded. See pics below.