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| Rosa Cha W |
First of all I would like to thank my two amazing new girls, Jerusha (the new lady in charge at my barn) and Jessie. They made the show run so smoothly and the horses looked amazing and were very well taken care of. Secondly of course we stayed with Melinda Walton and Larry Smith. It's like a vacation for us to stay at their beautiful farm, Melinda and Larry are pampering us every time we come!
My very good friend Amy Heron came with us this weekend to help,and I loved having her there. I have amazing friends that support me and she is one of them; another one is Cheryl Griffith, who drove all the way to the show on Saturday to be there for Rosa's and my first show back together. Amazing. And of course my husband Bod and my girlfriends Kate Hicks and Mary Griffin are on the phone as soon as I leave the ring to make sure I am okay. The Rosa Cha syndicate members have all been fantastic, too. I am a lucky girl!!
It feels so great to be back! Now that I showed Rosa Cha again it really feels like it, too! To me it feels like it has been a huge amount of time recovering from my accident . It really has not been that long - six months now - and I feel like I am getting stronger and stronger every day now, and most importantly, I will be back to the same level of performance. There are a lot of ups and downs in recovery, but you have to look forward and make happen what you want to make happen. Nobody can do that for you.
Rosa Cha and I have a strong relationship because I have had her all her life and Boyd and I started her as a baby. She was so amazing for me this weekend. We won the PSG on Saturday with 71%. I was very proud of that because it was a fairly big class and we had some good competition. Second was JJ Tate, who is one of my favorite riders around and an amazing competitor. She was truly so happy for me that day and I'm very grateful. The next day she got me, though! She won the I-1 with 70% and I was second with 68.9%. JJ deserves every bit of that win and coming second to her is an honor.
Of course I showed two of my favorite horses, Benefactor RRS and Danka Shoene RRS, owned and bred by Melinda and Larry. Benny was a superstar, winning both second level test 3 classes with 73% and 77%. Danka Shoene was better then ever (I know it's hard to believe) . He scored 74% in training level test 3 to finish third.
If anybody is looking for a very special partner, he is your horse!!
Our "barn mom" Pam Murphy rode her perfect Rio Royal!! They looked so beautiful together and won the first test with 71%. In the second test Rio was a little tense because the wind had picked up and the tents were flapping but they still did a very nice test to win the amateur division. Now we have to work on polishing those two up before the regional championships in NC.
Jessie rode Min in training level on Saturday to take home a blue and on Sunday, Thayer also cleaned up in first level!! Jessie is a very talented young rider and I will make her into a experienced rider in no time.
I also took Estival to Morven Park . I only schooled him there to ride him some where else before Devon.
He really is very special horse with so much talent! His owner Kirsten Jepp came to watch us work, which was so nice. Kirsten is also from Germany and it is nice for me to speak German with her. I have big hopes for him to have a lot of success at Devon in the 3-year-old class!
Thanks to all of my friends and supporters for making this all possible, with a special shout-out to Devon, who's keeping everything in order back home. I couldn't do this without her - I know that the farm is in good hands while I'm away, with Devon looking after things. Thank you Devon!
-Silva
Wonderful to see you compete with Rosa again. Your attitude is so healthy and balanced, and I admire your ability to keep your eye on the horizon.
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