It is only January and HBE is off to a flying start! I am so lucky to have such
a great group of students, horses, owners and sponsors!
I am so excited to
welcome back Eleanor Maclean, and new to the team Geriann Henderson with her
fabulous horse Kingsley. Also new to the team is Marta Tabatabai with her super
cute little mare Diva! These girls
will make a great addition to my stellar team!
I have also acquired
two off the track thoroughbreds that I am very excited about. They have come from Mr. and Mrs.
Hawthorne who have had a successful racing program. I am very excited to see
what the future holds for “Booted” and “Bodark”. We have a new horse joining the
program from Arizona as well! HBE is so happy to welcome Kate Shearer’s horse
big boy AKA “Bear”!
I would also like to
welcome a new sponsor to the HBE team, FLAIR Nasal Strips! http://www.flairstrips.com/, I have being using Flair strips with
all my horses and I am so glad that they have become part of my team! Check out
all my sponsors at http://hawleybennett.com/sponsors/.
Buck Davidson was out
at the end of December to teach a clinic at Kingsway Farm. I absolutely LOVE taking
lessons, I feel like I learn so much every time Buck comes out. I try to ride
and watch as much as I can. I am super excited with all my horses, especially
little “Chunky”. After my lesson with Buck, we went over to Galway to practice
jumping ditch walls. At the Galway CCI *** we had a little “fall” at the big
ditch wall at the end of the course. So, Buck suggested that we go practice
while he was here. I put my Point Two Air vest on, http://pointtwousa.com/, and made sure my Charles Owen Helmet http://www.charlesowen.com/ was snug and off we went. Chunky was
perfect! We did the ditch wall multiple times and I think that made both Chunky
and I more confident. After a fall like I had at Galway, I was not sure what to
expect. I have since gone XC schooling at http://copper-meadows.com/ as well and again, Chunky was super. This
makes me a little more confident as the first show comes closer!! We will have
time to practice yet again at the Galway Downs Fundraiser Clinic January 19/20,
http://www.galwaydowns.com/?page_id=11 . I am SO EXCITED that I get the
chance to ride with the amazing PIPPA FUNNEL! I have the opportunity to have
dressage lessons on Friday and then have her eyes on me while I jump both Ginny
and Chunky!
We had one final Team outing
with David O’Connor before he officially took on the position as Team USA
Coach. I was thrilled to be invited to Equine Canada Teaching Symposium
held at the beautiful Thunderbird Equestrian Park http://www.tbird.ca/ in
Langley BC. It was a cold and wet weekend but it turned out to be awesome!! I
was reunited with my London 2012 teammates Rebecca Howard and Jessica Phoenix. We
were able to express our teaching methods, while being looked over by Coach
Canada. Then David taught us on borrowed horses! I was lucky enough to get the
ride on the super "Rubix" owned by Andree Stow. I thought that
it was a very informative weekend, and I hope that we can do that again!
January is going to
be a busy month for me and I am SO grateful for the wonderful girls at the
barn. Katy, Sarah, Eleanor, and Marta thanks for taking care of things while I
am away teaching clinics!!! I am gone almost every weekend teaching clinics at
Harmony Farms in Surrey BC http://www.harmonyfarms.ca/, Ann Byrons, and then Dragon Fire Farm
http://dragonfiremorgans.com/schedule.php at the end of January. I love teaching
and catching up with my clinic groups! In between those clinics, I have Niki
Rose Hall coming to Kingsway every Wednesday for Dressage lessons, and sneaking
over to Susie Hutchinson whenever she can fit us in.
I feel like 2013 is
going to be a very exciting year and I want to be ready for the New Coach
Canada. Clayton Fredericks has been named as
coach and will be coming out for a training session before the March Galway
Downs CIC***. I want my ponies to be in top form. I am very thankful to be able
to have such a great instructor. Thank you Buck, Niki, and Susie!
Can’t wait for the
season to begin! Go HBE!
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