All the things to be thankful for in October

 The first week of October saw Orion and I in Hungary at the Kaposvar World Cup CDI which was head from the 8-10  of October. Kaposvar is about an 18 hour drive from our home here in Winsen, Germany. So we arrived in Hungary on wednesday, a day before the show so that the horses had a day to get settle after the journey. 

Here is the LKW (horse semi- truck) in Hungary, after the long drive it was sure nice to park! Its funny, although I grew up in Canada and am most certainly familiar with far distances, I have really gotten used to only driving a couple hours maximum to a show, so this really felt like a big (european) trip.

 On the friday Orion and I placed 5th in the Int 11, and Heike won the class with her Felieciano. Orion was feeling quite rambunctious after the long journey and even bucked all the way across the diagonal during what was suppose to be an extended canter. I couldn't help but smile because his fiery sprit is what I love about him.  

On saturday Orion and I came in 10th place in the Grand Prix, and Heike placed second and fifth with her horses Felieciano and Quantico respectively. I must honestly admit I came out of the Grand Prix a bit frustrated with myself, on the one side I was able to improve specific parts of our test, but with the cost of making mistakes in other areas. But Sunday was another day and a fresh start which promised many good things. Orion and I rode our freestyle together for the first time and placed 5th overall with 67%, I was quite nervous leading up to the freestyle because there is so much more stuff going on. Not only do I have to get all of the movements executed correctly, but I also gotta stayed in rhythm, on pattern and most importantly in` time with the music, pheww! But we did it :-) 

Heike and Felieciano beside Orion and I after the presentations. Happy Horse, Happy Jockeys! 

 I am now back at home with the rest of the gang, Blitz, Zeph and Anited. Who are all doing fabulous and looking a bit fuzzy! After the freezing cold winter from last year, all four of my horses have started growing thick winter coats early and are all most certainly prepared for that wonderful German damp crisp cold, that so plesentaly creeps right to your bones (can you tell how excited I am about another German winter ;-) But the good news is that I'm prepared, long johns, toques and thermos mugs of hot tea here I come, that cold weather will not freeze production over here!

October is also the month of thanksgiving! So Meaghan (who comes from Boston) and I decided we would introduce the magic of Turkey dinner to our German Colleges. And although it was the first time that either Meghan or I cooked the whole entire meal ourselves, we did it! And everyone was successfully stuffed!

This month was also another first for me, as I rode in my first Hunt! My cousin let me borrow his cheeky little pony, and despite the rainy muddy weather that pony and I tore up the terrain in high speed after those hounds. 

I also had some of my Canadian family over for a visit this last week, which is always a highlight for me. Above is a picture of me with my grandmother and my Aunt Liz. Thanks for the visit guys :-)

And finally, my last bit of exciting news is that I am proud to announce that I passed my "LKW" test today! Which is the German version of our Canadian Class one licence, which means I can officially drive the big horse transport trucks here.

I hope everyone back at home is staying warm, thanks for keeping up with me. Greetings from Lecoya and I.....

And stay tuned for our next adventures :-)