A very delayed continuation of the Aiken blog.

Wow, it's been too long since I've blogged.  Sadly, this means I'm doing an abbreviated post so I can catch up.

I traveled to Aiken with Lauren Gress again.  Why she puts up with me, who knows! We also went with the mom and daughter pair of Laura and Alexa.  Laura had to leave Moose at home with sore feet but Alexa brought her rockin' mare, Jewel.

The girls were spectacular!  Lauren and Poleon looked great coming out of winter.  They entered Sporting Days and focused on preparing all week.  Alexa and Jewel were introduced to jumping Novice fences and were AH-MAY-ZING.  Jewel was on springs and Alexa did her best to analyze the new challenge and adjust.  It was so cool to watch them.  Since Jess is green and Moose was at home, Laura and I enjoyed watching the girls and learning from their lessons.

Lauren and Poleon had a great go at Sporting Days.  The dressage ring was sloppy but Poleon sucked it up.  They show jumped very well.  The XC course looked awesome! They had a near perfect round.  Poleon has a H20 phobia and stopped at a log before the water complex.  Lauren made him do it on the second try and finished the rest of the course strongly.  There were a few fences, the brush and bench combo, that Lauren couldn't have done more perfectly.  It was so much fun to watch them!  

The pieces fell together so LClark, Gwen, Kelsea, and Antoinette were all at Sally's while we were.  I love those girls!  They are smart, hilarious, and supportive!  We had several meals with them full of good food and laughs.  I don't see any of them enough, even LClark, so I tried to make the most of the week with them.

All of the girls competed at Sporting Days and kicked ass.  We had a great week training, laughing, and entertaining Snuffy.  

 Susan and Trick

 Snuffy putting Martine through bootcamp.

 LClark and the pony.

 LClark and Scotch showing off.

 Gwen and Barney

 Gwen and Barney

 Lauren and the track kitchen

 Antoinette and James

 Antoinette and James getting big air.

 Laura :)

 Jack (minus Kelsea)

 Alexa and Jewel

 Alexa and Jewel

Annemarie and Cigar

The week in Aiken was outstanding and I'm not doing it justice.  It was a sad year, too, with just losing Fred.  There wasn't a better place for me.  A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the trip to Aiken a success.