Thank You Everyone

Where to even begin....With the largest thank you to everyone is the best place to start....My life has been turned upside down and the shock is still strongly there.  Posting anything is incredibly difficult right now, so please bare with me.  I am in tears sitting here, so as I am able to cope better, I will post more...I need everyone to know though how thankful and grateful Chris and I are...We are going through the most difficult thing we have been faced with and the support from all of you is what is keeping us going...I feel like I have lost my life, my identity, and to even begin to pick up the pieces seems nearly impossible...My life was truly in that barn...Scooby...Kaz....they were everything to me..everything.  I loved Scooby more than any horse I have ever met.  The only horse to ever even come close to my love of Scooby, was Kazzy....and to lose them both, in this manner...is just unimaginable.  My heart has been torn out and stomped all over...They deserved so much better...all of the horses in the barn did.  They were all wonderful and we all took such good care of them.  As I am able to cope a little better, I will be posting pictures and info on all of them...they all had a special place in our hearts...

Chris and I will be forever and ever grateful for everyone's support.  You are what is keeping us going.  I don't want my cherished horses forgotten...I need to keep them alive and loved in spirit...We spend a lot of time checking out the facebook page that our dear friend Shane has put together...I can never thank Shane enough for getting the word out and bringing in all of this support for us....All of the kind words people have to say have been lifting our spirits like none other.  And the donations....I can not express my gratitude enough for them.  I feel so guilty even taking them, but we lost everything....Horribly, I let Scooby's insurance lapse because of the cost of the new policy for this year.  I was planning to pick it back up in March when competitions began....he has always been insured..from the moment I purchased him off of the track, and to let it lapse for even a couple months, was incredibly stupid...please learn from my mistake...it's a sad situation to even have to think about finances in a time of tragedy...

I will be posting again in the next week...We will be burying our beloved ponies tomorrow or Saturday.  It is so heartbreaking to know that I will never see Scooby again....I go to see their remains everyday...it is the only thing that has given me any closure...Everyone handles grief differently, but I needed to know what they went through and I want them to know that I am still here for them...all of them...I will never be the same after experiencing this tragedy.  To have to stand by and watch a fire tear through our barn, knowing my babies were in there...it will forever haunt me...At the moment Chris woke me up Sunday, January 15 at 1:45 am.....my life was changed.  I promise though, I will put all of the donations and love into a new horse/horses and rebuilding what we lost.  With everyone's support, I will be out there again in our signature blue and pink.  I know Scooby wants me to move forward and accomplish my dreams...please, if you ever recognize Chris or I at a show, please, please approach us...We want to thank and hug every person out there who is rooting for us....We love all of you.....more than you will ever know...
 
Becky

January 15, 2012

As most of you know, this past weekend there was a catastrophic barn fire at the barn where Becky boards her horses. Nine horses including her two, Scooby and Kaz never made it out. It’s been a tragic loss for all involved. Becky’s horses were her world, her friends, her loves, her life. Not only did she lose her horses in the fire, she lost a large part of herself. She still does not have the strength to come on here and post.  However, she wants everyone to know that she will forever be grateful for all the support she has received.  She cannot thank everyone enough and I know she finds comfort in knowing so many people care. I also personally want to thank everyone. It’s going to be a long hard road, but with everyone’s support we will come back from this. Becky will post as soon as she can.  Thank you again.

Her Husband Chris

Reflections Of A Wonderful Year!

Now that the competition season has wound down, it has been awhile since I have posted any updates! I am vowing to be more dilligent with it!  I have been taking the last couple of months to reflect on the past year.  So much has happened and changed, and I am so thankful for all of it.  It has definitely been a year that has made all of the blood, sweat and tears over the last 6 or so years, completely worth it!  I got married, made a good sale, bought Kaz, I am training and teaching full time to a group of amazing people, and I had an awesome eventing season with Scooby!  He even qualified for the American Eventing Championships in only his first two outings at Prelim!  What an amazing guy!  Prelim always seemed like a dream and to be able to accomplish that on my own, with a horse that I started from scratch, feels amazing!  We have lots to work on, but I am embracing it all!  I just want to get better and better!

Below is an update on the ponies that I actually started writing weeks ago!

  I have been enjoying the break, but the horses are still in consistent training.  Typically, Scooby takes about a two month break in the winter, without any work at all.  This year is quite different!  While I have cut out all conditioning and a 6 day training schedule, I am maintaining four days (3 days of flat and one jumping).  I feel like we have so much to work on that taking a long break just is not realistic.  I think Scooby is happier this way also.  He is a worker and gets incredibly jealous when I work other horses and not him!  Hopefully, by keeping him in training and jumping, he will go to his first horse trials in the spring a little less of a fireball than normal!  He was a BEAST at Fair Hill last April.  Dressage went just fine, but as soon as he was geared up to Show Jump, he was tough to say the least!  He then came out Sunday for Cross Country just as beastly as he was for Saturday's Show Jumping.  He was an eager, tough ride ALL weekend.  I can do without that!  Hopefully this way, we come out competitive right from the start!!  That would be awesome!

I decided in October that I will be keeping Kaz until the Spring/Summer before I put him up for sale!  I am sooo excited to compete him alongside of Scooby!  He has been doing amazingly well and I have always said that when I find something that I truly enjoy and feel has the talent to do very well in the sport, along with exceptionally desirable attributes when it does come time to sell, I will hang on to them and put the extra time and money in.  I am more excited about Kaz than any other resale horse that I have had since Scooby (and you can see what happened with Scooby...he was never put up for sale!!!).  He has the goods and I can't wait to show them off!!  His flatwork is going quite well.  All of the fundamentals are rock solid.  I am just ironing out the fine details right now.  I am still working to fine tune the trot to canter transititons.  They are pretty good, but attention to detail is so crucial for the Dressage test.  I am also working on his free walk-medium walk, without getting any stiffening through the change.  He tends to still get the tiniest bit heavy and inconsistent with it, but definitely not bad.  I just want it smoother.  I am very picky, but in a good way =)

His jumping has been incredibly impressive!  He is probably my best natural jumper since Caesar.  He is very careful and I really LOVE that!  After doing a Hunter Pace in November, where he jumped several Beginner Novice fences, a Novice drop, and a small drop into water, I can't wait to get his Beginner Novice entry ready for Morven!!!  It is very exciting to think about having two of my own horses competing competitively in recognized competitions in 2012!  April can not come fast enough!  My full tentative competition schedule will be posted to my website very soon!

                                      Ohh the things we do to Scooby!

I was totally drained in November, but I am now super energized and ready for 2012!!!