Hillary Irwin Eventing: Just giving you time to breathe....or travel the world.

Poor Nicky needed a rest after all his hard work!

I have been a bad blogger! I have been better with updating the facebook, so check that out for more regular, quick updates @ Hillary Irwin Eventing. I also joined Twitter and...if I EVER figure out how to work it, I will update there as well!

So now to the good stuff:
The horses are absolutely wonderful. I cannot say enough about how happy I am with them all. Irish is being awesome, go figure. She is now doing some more serious dressage work, and as usual, she has handled it with total grace and class- sitting her trot is actual fun! HA! Her jumping is getting stronger and more correct each time. There is not really ever much to complain about with her and I haven't come up with anything yet! (She plans to keep it that way because she has discovered a new love of peaches!)
Nic has been perfect, as only Baby Nic can be! He is just the best horse to have around- I am so, so, so very sad to be selling him, but he is just lovely and unfortunately, my most saleable horse! I adore him and will make sure that he is going to live like royalty wherever he goes. He is too special not to. Next up for Nic will be Full Gallop next weekend.
Doby has gone from a bit of an "awkward" duckling shall we say, to quite the little swan. He is absolutely amazing to ride, he is going to be something seriously special- especially when he stops having red headed moments of "WHAT! WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SCREAMING VOICES IN MY HEAD!". I am quite excited to have him and my hopes for him keep getting higher everyday that I ride him...no pressure little dobs, no pressure. :)

Doby loves red and green jumps!

Africa has also grown up tons. She is a sassy little Irish lady, who sometimes prefers the sassy over the lady part! She is getting much stronger on the flat, and cause of that is jumping quite well. She is hands down the bravest horse I have ever ridden, so as long as I can channel that she is going to start making a big name for herself! She has a big future ahead of her, that is for sure.
Maddie is also back for the fall season. She had a good showing at River Glenn. The thing with this horse is that she has yet to try...ever, and she is a total knockout on the flat without effort and an incredibly good jumper. When the effort starts to come through I think I might need some sticky glue for my dressage saddle and a seat belt for my jump saddle- I also think it would be great to have those devices as standard options on all saddles!
Also, we have a new little man hanging out around. Kilbeggan is Clif's little cousin (or cuz' as the young kids like to say) and Bellamy Road's 3/4 Sibling. He is seriously stunning and I could not be more excited to see what he can do! I have put a link to his big arrival below.
Enough about the horses, here is the good stuff!

Nic in his dancing shoes!

Here are the results since I last updated everyone! (at least I hope this is all of them!):
VA HT- Irish 9th in the Training, Nicky 2nd out of 17 in the Novice (at his very first recognized show!), Africa 11th or so in the Novice, Maddie 1st in the Training (out 16 at our first show together!)
Champagne Run HT- Irish 2nd in the Training on her dressage score of 36; Nic 1st in his very first novice on a 27.5!! Go Baby Nic!
Hillcrest CT-Doby 1st at his first novice CT on a 33!
CHP HT Juny- Doby 4th at his first event in the Beginner Novice
CHP HT July- Doby did his first novice, Irish went to do some dressage tests. She was SUPER, scoring a 31 and getting called a lovely mare! She was just so excited that she asked me to frame her test and hang it in her stall, I told her that's what Grandmothers are for!
River Glenn HT- Maddie 2nd on a 31.5 in the training, Nicky 7th on his dressage of 37 in the novice, Africa 5th in the novice on his dressage score of 32.5 (Go Africa!), and Doby 5th in the Novice with a dressage score of 33 and an unfortunate green rail in the 2 stride.