Bill and I got up early today to drive down to Lenoir City where my mare Bella was showing at the Windrush Farm Schooling Dressage Show. Susan Willis has been working with Bella and today showed her in the USEF First Level, Tests 3 & 4.  Bella looked great and showed very well, a little different than her normal dressage class where she has Ritza beside her and pulling a carriage! Next year Bella will resume showing in CDE's but for now she is enjoying her ridden dressage. For her dressage video's Click HERE. Bella is now available for lease to a dressage rider. Email me for questions.

Saturday we hosted the TVH Trail Ride "Jump" here at Riverplains to give people a chance to jump some of the coops in a relaxed environment. There was also a large group of non-jumpers that enjoyed riding out, many for their first time. The ride started out jumping 4 small coops to get everyone warmed up and then went on to some larger coops that are often jumped while hunting. Twenty-five riders came out to battle the heat and humidity and support the hunt.

Afterwords Cyndie Niceley prepared a tasty meal using her grass fattened beef that came from Riverplains, as well as, organic corn meal for the cornbread that was also raised here on the farm! Everyone relaxed under the shade trees at the house enjoying another good day. Kurt the new huntsman rode my mare Isabella and Lorin Grimsley rode Riverplains Evita, leading the way over all the jumps. You can watch a video of people jumping 6 of the coops HERE.

Special thanks to my husband Brian, Frank and Dino for helping weed eat and lower some of the coops (who then all got really bad poison ivy). And to our new Master Gretchen Pelham for arranging help to clean up the remaining jumps. Thanks so much!