I felt an instant sense of peace as the horses were unloaded and the sun came up on Riveredge West, in Chesapeake City. Scott and Susanne Hassler and their wonderful team made us feel right at home and totally welcome. Team Tate is so excited to be a part of such a special environment. I don’t think I know of a place quite as special as Hassler Dressage, and I hope everyone gets a chance to come visit and experience this atmosphere. Great training, inspirational environment, positive energy, world-class horses, serene landscape. No one ever wants to leave once they come and spend some time there, and I feel so privileged to be able to call it home!

We arrived on Thursday am, and one week later we were packing up to go to our first show up north. There is always a good young horse qualifier the second weekend in April and I have missed it every year, but this year I really wanted to attend. So I got the “limo” (my 5 horse Sundowner trailer) out and we headed to the show. It is always a little complicated when taking a mare and a stallion, but my friend Molly Xantapolous (who was up training with Scott the week before the show) was kind enough to bring my big Rosie to the show for me.

The show went SUPER!! The weather on the other hand was rainy and cold! But the young horse classes are always in the indoor, so the footing was of course fine. We started out strong with Rosie (Rosentanz owned by Jackie Nixon-Fulton) who, in her first young horse experience, got a 7.7. She is a 5 yr old so the test is about equal to 2nd level. It has counter canter and canter/walk transitions. It is a challenging test, but she went great. Second to go was supposed to be RB (Rower BE – owned by Suzanne Dansby-Bollman) in his first show, but he was scheduled for outside in 4th level test 1. It was raining so hard he kept turning his butt to the rain while I was trying to get on, but we made our way to the outside warm-up, and after about 5 minutes I decided that 4th level was not worth a suspensory, so I scratched. Riley (Rosall-owned by Rosall Partners LLC) was next to go in the 6 yr old test. He was terrific. His mind was on the game and he was ready to show how much he had developed over the winter. His final score was an 8.1. Marks were as follows: Trot: 8, Walk: 8, Canter: 8.5, Submission: 8, and overall impression: 8! We were so proud! So he won the class and Rosie was 3rd in a very competitive young horse class. Petri (Donnermuth- owned by Candace Tate) then did a great job in the Developing Horse test and got a 64%. It is still a little over Petri’s head all these flying changes and canter pirouettes, but he sure tried hard and did his best.

Sunday it stopped raining but was much colder! This was the day that the scores would count for the qualifiers, go down in their record and get these horses nationally ranked. Ha ha no pressure! I had schooled RB with Scott after the show on Sat, and he went so well we thought we would just go ahead and give the Developing horse test a go. I called Suzanne Dansby-Bollman just to make sure she supported our decision and I switched out Petri and put RB in the class. (I must say I have the BEST owners!) Suzanne was on board with whatever I think is right, so that sure makes life easier. RB was a star! In his first show with me, after only riding him for 5 weeks, and he was never showed above 3rd level, he went into that class and won with a 67%! Oh man I just adore this horse! He is so honest and gives 110% no matter what! The judges loved him, calling him a “wonderful horse” and we had some mistakes in the changes and the pirouettes are very green, but I was so pleased with him! Riley was next on the roster, and he went very well again. Not quite as full of himself like the day before, but he did a great job again receiving a 7.8. Not his best test, but still a nice solid score. Rosie came in a snorting and a little worked up. I think she got a little wind under her tail! She warmed up pretty darn good, and then went into the show ring and decided that she really didn’t want to play today. She got all spooked and was scared of this ray of sun shining on the ground by the judge’s booth. Anyway, she didn’t want to have anything to do with it, so kept stopping dead, and when I say dead I mean out of a nice collected canter, bam. . Halt! Ha ha I was surprised I didn’t loose my seat. It probably looked pretty funny because we had such a nice canter, then a full square halt, about 1 second of total stillness and then right back again into canter like nothing happened! Dang it!! Oh well that is horses; just never know what might happen. Anyway so because of her tension, we got low scores in walk and submission. But on the flip side, I did not lunge her one time at the show! That shows me she is growing up and trusting me more, and at the end of the day, that is way more important than any score. So for Rosie it was character building, for Riley and RB it was character affirming! Good ‘ol Pete got the day off, lucky guy!

We made it home safe with all 4 on the trailer, with some help from Vicks! (For anyone who does not know the special trick with stallions, Vicks in the nose helps prevent a stallion from smelling mares.) I must say I can’t wait to install my camera for the trailer, so I can see what’s going on back there while I’m driving. My awesome clients and girls bought me one for my birthday! Thanks guys!! But I think my team was pretty tired, so no one made a sound!

So back home at Hasslers feels pretty fantastic and I am looking forward to getting settled into normal life. It was a whirlwind to arrive and turn around and head to the show, but hey gotta be tough to hang with Team Tate! We don’t mess around! I’m on a plane right now heading to Minnesota to teach a clinic! So I will check in with you later! Enjoy the weather, spring has finally arrived, and I hope it is as beautiful for you as it is in Chesapeake City! Happy riding!! J :)