XC At Bromont by Lee Lee Jones

Today was the cross country day at the Bromont CCI Three Day Event. My cross country ride didn't go quite as planned. Cadet and I had a "drive by" at 5b. Jump number four on the CCI 1* course was a hanging log on top of a hill and at the bottom of the hill were two narrow houses on a turn. I put Cadet nice and deep into #4 hoping I would be able to get him back nicely for 5 a&b but he sort of grabbed the bit and ran down the hill. Anyway I was able to get him back in time to get over 5a, but I wasn't able to make the turn to 5b. So we circled around and jumped it fine. The rest of the course went really well. We jumped just about everything right out of stride and he cooled out really quickly in the ten minute box. The rest of my day was spent icing and helping out with Phillip's horses. Overall today was a great day with only four falls on course. Tomorrow morning is the jog. Phillip has been making fun of me for putting too much work into my first jog outfit ever. I told him I couldn't help it. After all I have been waiting for this day since I was like six!

Photos: My horse Model Cadet and Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen

Day Two at Bromont by Lee Lee Jones

Today was the second day of dressage here at Bromont and leading the CCI 3* is Clark Montgomery, who had a beautiful test. Today Cadet and I had a pretty easy day since we were not competing. When I got to the barns I took him out for some grass and then at around eleven I walked my course with Phillip. He gave me a lot of helpful advice. Then at around one I watched him go on his new horse William Penn owned by Nina Gardner, who by the way has become my second mother, making sure that I eat this weekend. Thank you Nina! Then after Phillip's test I had a bit of a jump school. Phillip and I jogged for a couple of minutes and gave our horses a quick sprint to get there legs moving. After that we popped over a few jumps. Cadet was feeling pretty fresh! He doesn't like the bit that I use on the cross country very much so he kept chucking his head up into the air and trying to take off with me, but by the end of the jump he was behaving himself. Towards the end of the day I walked around my course for the last time. I went by myself this time so that I could really concentrate on my plans for tomorrow, I can't wait. I am also very excited that Jennie Brannigan gave me her cross country shirt for tomorrow! Thank you Jennie (: Hopefully tomorrow will go as well as it did yesterday!

Guten Tag from Luhmuhlen by Kelley Merette

Just to make all you Entemann's eating Americans jealous, I'm sitting at the computer eating something called a schnitzelbomber from the local bakery, so if this blog ends abruptly, it's because I went into a sugar coma. Besides the stellar baked goods, we have also found some pretty amazing Chinese food (seems ironic, I know, but somehow that is better here as well), and have had our share of adventures with the local customs. Apparently it is NOT acceptable to check into a hotel at 10pm (not that we had much choice), and when Nat brought her 32-oz travel mug into the breakfast room in the morning to fill up, a very large man mildly reminiscent of Pavarotti (with a voice to match) starting yelling that that was not acceptable and that she would be charged extra for taking that much coffee. Clearly, he was the one in need of more caffeine.

Anyways, down to the nitty-gritty of the trip, which I'm sure very few of you actually care much about. We all arrived to the barn we will be at through Sunday in one piece, but we calculated out that the poor horses were on some sort of mobile equipment for 24 hours straight! After we kissed their noses goodbye at the JFK Vetport (in reality, Ping just gave me a really good nip on the forearm), we took ourselves to the human terminal and got a little duty-free shopping in before taking off. Ping does not enjoy airplane travel, and has to travel in a double sized stall so that he can brace his legs. He still tries to body-slam the walls during take-off and landing, but he was a pretty good boy overall. Once we landed in Amsterdam, we met the horses at their livestock cargo bay where we quickly found out that we were far from the top priority that day. Thousands of day-old chicks in cardboard boxes were being loaded up for export to the Phillippines, some strange looking pigeons were headed out on another truck, and probably the largest English bulldog I've ever seen (aptly named dog) was on a journey somewhere as well. Once we finally got the four horses loaded onto our lorry, we still had the final 7 hour leg of our trip in front of us. Undeterred by a flat tire on the equipment trailer and stand-still traffic on the Audubon near Hamburg, our fearless driver delivered us to the tiny town of Luhmuhlen after 8pm, our home for the next two weeks. Thankfully, all four horses are healthy, happy, and even acted a little fresh today during their hacks after a well-deserved day of rest yesterday.

We have filled our time so far with LOTS of hand-grazing, and for Ping this includes lots of rolling in the grass at the end of the lead rope (pony clubbers, don't try this at home!) as well as shopping at the conveniently located tack shops (one is literally 100 yards from our barn and another is 150). These "reitsport" shops are not comparable to any found in the US, at least that I've seen. They have the look and feel of a musty antique store, with every nook and cranny being stuffed with goods. Around every bend and down every hallway is another hidden wing of the store. However, there is nothing sub-par about the goods. When Jennie went in there for the first time this morning, she was actually speechless (for those of you who don't know her, this is a rarity). The Pikeur clothing and Sergio Grasso boots line the walls like bulk food in a Sam's Club. It is ridiculous. And after the ladies at the store realized we were in town for the competition, they handed Will and Jennie thin, hard-cover picture books…….from the 1982 World Championships that took place there. These books are fascinating and gave us a little glimpse into the past of some of the legends of our sport. And since Nat thinks she has the one up on me in the picture department of this blog war, I'm throwing in a curveball. Who can identify the two people in these pictures, taken during that competition:

Time to go feed Ping his dinner!

A First CCI* by Lee Lee Jones

Hi my name is Lee Lee Jones and this weekend I am riding my horse, Model Cadet in the CCI1* at Bromont! Last night my Mom, my two sisters and I had a very interesting trip up. We some how ended up on some pretty sketchy back roads in Canada, but anyway we made it! We arrived fashionably late because I had to finish up my last exam in school back in PA. Today went really well! I did some light flat on him this morning and then we got ready to do our first one star ever. Cadet was pretty naughty in the warmup; he kept throwing his head up in the air, but Phillip helped me work through it. Once we got down into the main warmup arena he started going really well. Overall the test went really well. Our trot work was definitely better than our canter work. We scored a 53.7 and we are tied for 10th. I was really happy with him considering how big the division is. Later in the day I walked around the course for the first time. It looks pretty big, but I can't wait!!

Bromont Dressage Day 1 by Nikki Lendl

Today was the first day of dressage at Bromont and it went great! All the CCI1* and CCI2* horses competed. Kevin’s horse, Fernhill Flutter (Butterfly), was really good and Kevin was very pleased with the result of his test. Phillip had some excellent tests as well. Mighty Nice, whose barn name is Happy, scored a 49.5 putting them in third and Ben scored a 50.3 putting them in fourth in the CCI2*. While standing by the dressage rings waiting for Kevin to come out, I thought about how cool it was to be able to stand here as a groom and wait for my rider to come out. Kevin dismounted and patted Butterfly, clearly thrilled with his test. We walked back to the barn and I undid Butterfly’s braids - I was sorry to see my braids go because they were the nicest braids I have ever done! I am so grateful to have been given this opportunity to come to Bromont and be able to work for the people that I do. The work can be hard and the hours can be long, but at the end of the day you are doing what you love and nothing is better than that.

Bromont Adventures by Nikki Lendl

Bromont… WOW! Whenever I thought about going to Bromont I never believed that I would be lucky enough to actually go and watch, let alone be able to groom for someone who is competing here.

About a week and a half ago I came to True Prospect Farm in West Grove, Pennsylvania to help Evie and Phillip Dutton and their amazing crew. When Evie asked me if I would like to come to Bromont to groom for Dr. Kevin Keane and help Emma out with the rest of the horses, I don’t think that I could have said yes any faster - I was so excited to go! I have always heard amazing things about Bromont from friends and my sister who have competed here and I have always wanted to go. Although this past week has been tough for everyone at True Prospect Farm we are all very excited to come to Bromont and be able to do what we all do best.

The trip up started out normal, but as with any trip there are a few unplanned adventures along the way. Right before we pulled out of the farm at 4:30am on Tuesday morning, I realized that I had forgotten my passport at the house. I expected to get a real dressing down from Phillip, but he kept his cool and asked Emma to take me to get my passport. We set off, but when I jumped out of the RV to run up the driveway I landed in a water filled ditch and face-planted into the ground! Trying to make it seem graceful was hard since my shirt got wet. We finally got on the road with a ten-hour drive ahead of us. Our caravan headed to Bromont consisted of Emma and myself in the RV. Phillip driving the big rig, Amy Ruth Borun driving another trailer of horses and Dr. Keane bringing up the rear with a rig filled with straw for bedding, hay, feed and tack.

At the Canadian border Emma and I got into a bit of trouble. The immigration officer was a little suspicious about me traveling to Canada without a parent. She asked me if I had a note from either one of my parents saying that I had permission to go “camping” in Bromont with Emma. No note meant that we had to go inside to verify that I was not being kidnapped. At that point I just though to myself, “Well great! My one shot to go and groom at Bromont and there it goes right out the window!” Of course, my mom was on the way up to Bromont too and phone service is pretty shaky in the mountains. When they couldn’t reach my parents the immigration officer decided that since I wasn’t kicking and screaming, Emma probably wasn’t kidnapping me so we were ok to go! The highlight of the day was seeing the big Bromont sign on the top of the hill and the amazing cross-country course right there in front of me.

Today was the first horse inspection. We have spent the whole day preparing our horses for the jog up and it really did it pay off. All of our horses passed the jog and none were held! I started to get a little emotional; as I was just so happy that everyone could go on and compete. I never realized how hard it is to get three horses ready to jog up back to back. Everyone makes it seem to graceful and easy. To be truthful it is pretty hard coordinating the hand offs and pick ups and making sure that each horse gets there final prep all at the same time. It definitely can be a bit crazy when presenting multiple horses. There is a very large field of competitors at Bromont and everyone is looking forward to the start of dressage tomorrow.

Nikki Lendl

First Blog by Kelley Merette

Kelley in the barns at the Kentucky Horse Park.

 I'm sitting here in the quarantine barn at JFK waiting to get on a flight with Cambalda ("Ping") bound for Germany, and thinking about how much life has changed in the past week. It almost seems impossible that only a week has passed since the fire, in many ways it feels like an eternity. However, finally beginning this trip has already had a positive effect on me. A change in scenery, spending time with my friends Nat, Tiana, and Will, and the upcoming two weeks in Europe with Ping and Jennie has renewed my energy. As long as I can avoid being contaminated with e.coli this trip is going to be fantastic!

I will be blogging about our adventures in Germany but I do want to send out a quick thank you to our eventing family in the US and abroad. I have realized in this past week how amazingly unique our sport is, because very few industries can call themselves a community, and even fewer can call themselves a family. However, that is exactly what the eventing world has proven itself to be this week. I am so grateful to be a part of our sport, and please know that the support from each and every person, no matter what it consisted of, was what got us through these days. You all are amazing. 

On a brighter note, Ping is looking cool as a cucumber, he has his gameface on, he is maybe slightly rounder than a 4* bound horse should be but he is happy as a clam, which is all I care about....... I hope we can stay on task because Nat and I have already begun the blogging wars, and the warnings about the veggies in Germany don't leave many dietary options besides beer. Oh well, sacrifices must be made...... 

This will have to be the end of must first blog as we will be loading the horses in about half an hour onto the trailer to take us to the plane, and it might take me that long to get Ping's shipping halter onto his head. 

Kelley