Sally Cousins Eventing

Aiken News 2012
page 2

Last week we moved everything down to Aiken. The set up of the stalls was a big concern for me. We had 20 horses
moving in, so driving 11 hours and then setting up that many stalls would be overwhelming. Nat drove the Rv down a
week before Christmas and set up the stalls for the horses there. I drove one rig with 4 on it. The silly ones (I am
being kind) went down with me so we would not have to load them at the end of my driveway. The commercial rigs
can't make it up our drive so they park on the road and the horses get walked down. Nat loaded the commercial truck,
then drove the 4 babies on the older rig since we were concerned they wouldn't load easily (or possibly at all) on the
commercial truck.

The horses have settled in very well this winter. Although I'm not as fit as I would like to be, I have been pretty tired at
night (ok so even before that), even after a week I can feel some improvement. Having said that, I have already fallen
off and possibly upset my neighbors with a few choice words of endearment I used as it ran loose around the farm.

I hope to stay on everyone tomorrow since I am doing my first cross country school. All these years later I am still really
looking forward to it!

I will be back north next weekend to teach on January 14th and 15th. I will be at Rolling Acres Saturday morning
earlyish, then at An Otherwise Perfect Farm (Upperco, MD) in the afternoon. On Sunday I will be at Megan's farm in
Medford, NJ.

-Sally

January 18th

I flew back home last weekend to teach both in Maryland and New Jersey. It was so great to see everyone. I started out at
Rolling Acres Farm in Jarrettsville, then at noon started at Julia Wendell's An Otherwise Perfect Farm. Thank you to all
the riders that rode! It was a full, but really fun day. On Sunday I was at Bit O Woods Farm. We were very lucky with the
weather, one year the same weekend date the temperature was 6 degrees, so 25 didn't seem so bad.

I got back to Aiken at midnight on Sunday which is many hours after my usual bedtime, Monday morning was a little ugly.
I am getting fitter and am able to get through most of my riding pretty easily now. I don't really know any other way to get
fit. I know that if I follow this riding program I will be fit, strong, and sharp enough in 30 days to be able to ride multiple
horses well at an event. I'm sure there are other ways but this I know works for me.

Most of the horses are training well although 2 of the babies are making me work for it! Sue has been more relaxed
down here than she usually is so I hope that translates to her competitions. I am taking some horses to a combined test
on Sunday and then the babies are going to a derby next Saturday. We have riders starting to come in next weekend and
I hope we can save some of the mild weather we have had for them.

-Sally

January 26, 2012

I went to my first competition of 2012 on Wednesday. The combined test was supposed to be on Sunday but we had quite
bad thunderstorms and it was postponed (We had so many cancellations to the schedule last fall I hope this trend won't
continue). We took the upper level guys. I was scheduled to ride 8 but with the date change only competed 7. Because of
Sue's program she ended up just going for a field trip to hack around the grounds. The good news: all 7 show jumped
clear! However after the dressage I wanted to shoot myself! Their silly behavior is of course why I took them but...,... The
show jumping was more for me but they needed the time in the dressage ring. I also found myself not being as accurate as
I normally try to be. I have a good bit of work yet to do before my first event.

The youngsters go to the Sandy Hills Derby on Saturday. They would have benefited from the combined test but I didn't think
I could ride any more and we didn't have room on the trailers. On a positive note I wasn't too tired having ridden that many.

Things at the farm are in good shape . Our neighbors had helped mow and weed before we got here and I am so grateful! I
have 3 of the babies living in the big field. They know each other well and no one has back shoes. (I prefer individual turn out
so there is not much running and that no one gets injured being kicked). Walle has always been low man on the totem pole
and he has finally found a horse he can boss around. He is making ferocious faces at Colin who hardly moves over however
it is good to see him assert himself. I look forward to more students coming down this weekend!

~ More Later Sally

January 29th

Sandy Hills Derby

On Saturday I took the 6 youngsters to the derby at Sandy Hills Farm. A derby is a course with a mix of show jumping and
cross country fences. It is a favorite schooling place of mine and I was not surprised to see such good courses. I took the
young guys so they would have an outing before their first event at Sporting Days. They were all well behaved. I did the
lowest division with a new baby named Rock Party. He was really brave and very well behaved. Walle went flying around
his course ( ok maybe not flying but certainly a brisk canter) and yes the earth did shake! Eva was impressive in her
jumping, and the rideability got better as we went. Charlie jumped around well with less encouragement than normal and
Charm and Oliver were very workmanlike. So all in all a good day!

We had a bunch of horses ship in to the farm that same afternoon and it will be great to get those horses going this week!

February, 3rd

Full Gallop Horse Trails

We did the first event of the season at Full Gallop on Wednesday. It is very confusing to event during the middle of the
week and I am constantly forgetting what day it is! We were fairly organized and didn't forget anything major, which
was a good thing since we forgot so much at the our first combined test. I rode Joule, Rocky (Sylvester Z), and
Robbie in the Intermediate. I had three quiet and mistake free dressage tests. The scoring was ridiculous. I was
getting quite worked up about it then I saw Will Faudree's score. He had a beautiful ride on a relaxed and impressive
mover. He was given a 36. I would have given him a 26 and wonder about the knowledge of the dressage judge.

Mark Donovan did the show jumping course and he, as usual, did a great job. His courses are well thought out and
ask great questions. All three of mine jumped clear even if Rocky was a bit perky. The ground was very hard so I
didn't press any of them too much. Rocky went fast enough to win. The layout of Full Gallop can make setting a
flowing Intermediate course tricky but this one rode well.

I felt fit enough and sharp enough to be pretty happy with how I rode. I have some things I want to continue to improve
but was happy with this as a start. I ride the babies this Saturday at Sporting Days and expect to have to work much
harder! More later. ~Sally

Sporting Days Horse Trials

Well we survived the babies first event of the season.... we didn't have an auspicious start when we got to the
event and discovered that there were no dressage saddles. I borrowed a saddle from Courtney Cooper for my
first ride while Tracey drove back to the farm to get them. After I took several deep breaths I got on Oliver who did
a good job. He and Charm were doing their first Prelim. Charm was a bit unsettled and didn't get a good score
but both of them jumped double clear and reasonably quickly to finish 2nd and 6th. I was not surprised they went
so well they have been training well and are good brave jumpers. It is always nice though when you move up and
it goes so well.

Eva was doing her first training. She is an amazing athlete but can be hard of hearing at times. She did a
mistake free dressage test but it was tense. She has been tense on the flat in her training so that was not a
surprise. At Sporting Days the hardest phase is the show jumping and she ran out at the second element of a
combination. She got in trouble and then jumped well through the combination but had the next two down before
she settled again. What she did well though, was impressive! Some of the questions on the cross country she
had never seen before but she answered them quite confidently. She can be a little fussy to ride (ok very fussy)
so when the TD (who was Sally Ike) met me at the finish I was a little concerned. She said " wow that horse can
jump!" It took a while for that to sink in since I was just so relieved not to be getting into trouble.

Charlie was the only horse I didn't move up a level. He needs a little more time and I hope to move him up at
Jumping Branch. He was my last ride and they added a minute to my time. I had left by then, but so many
mistakes happen in scoring it is well worth checking them in the 30 minute window you have before they become
final.

Walle did his first Novice. He was well behaved and quiet all day. Walle really likes dressage! His test was right
after lunch and all the volunteer lunches must have had apples in them because when he begged from the bit
checker he got an apple core and when I went to check in with the steward he got another. The dressage judge
was out of her car stretching when he came by and I think he was a bit disappointed not to get a third! He tried
hard in the show jumping (even though he thought the jumps came up way too fast) and was really fantastic on
the cross country. When we got back to the farm though, Walle practically needed to be carried to his field!

I was so proud of how well all of them went! Their scores did not necessarily reflect how hard they tried. I hope
to continue this upward trend! I have two events this week as the rest of the guys make their 2012 debut!
More later! ~Sally