Spring 2022 Cathy Inch Newsletter

April 04, 2022

It was absolutely fabulous to have a large part of the Farm as part of my team here in Florida. Craig and Katriina's, Southern Legacy Horse Farm have been participating for a large number of years and in the past, a few clients dabbled here and there, but Foothills Farm largely dominated the group this year.

The results were beyond our expectations. With so many new partnerships, you never know how things are going to work out especially this early in the year. However, we could not have asked for better results!

Southern Legacy, as usual, put a huge amount of ribbons on their wall with their nice young horses coming along. Katriina won some great ribbons in the Novice Adult Division and then cleaned up with Berde and Dime in the 3' Adult Amateur Hunters. Paige Leclerc spent some time down here and showed some of Southern Legacy's young horses. Her results were spectacular. She brought little Evyn along and played the mom role along with being a full-time groom and amateur rider. She was living the dream! Endless energy in that girl! As usual they never let us down. A big shout out to Evyn’s caregiver Ava. She allowed Paige to pursue her dream while Ava was so wonderful with Evyn.

I also enjoyed working with and showing a lot of Southern Legacy's horses, winning many prizes, but more importantly getting Cal (European Blend), their 5-year-old stallion started in his show career. He was a star.

Congratulations to Craig and Katriina on their purchase of Classical, a 6-year-old warmblood at the start of his new hunter career. Another bit of exciting news from down here south of the border. Looking forward to a great career for him.

Mercedes Shulman brought her seasoned horse Basil and competed successfully in the 1.15m’s and 1.20m’s. Her young horse Bryer, a 5-year-old, moved up to the Meter Division successfully. He is quite careful and a little spooky but Mercedes piloted him to a few clear rounds in the Meters in preparation for the 5-year-old classes back in Canada.

Ella Palladino brought her new lease, Epiphany, and competed in the Children's Hunter Division. They were consistently in the ribbons, particularly in the under saddle classes. Ella won some very good ribbons in her Equitation classes, including a win in the 12 to 14-year-old Equitation on the flat. She also finished in 2nd place in the 1st round of the Amateur Hunter Derby, which had over 60 participants. The second round invited the top 12 to come back where Ella placed 8th overall. A fabulous result amongst a field of seasoned amateurs, both adults and children.

Ella also leased a jumper mare named Vera. She was champion in her first week at the 0.9 Meter Jumper Division and moved to the 1.0 Meter Jumpers where she finished 3rd in the Meter Classic and Reserve Champion during her last week.

Adriana Whynott and her new mount Know How also participated in the Children's Hunter Division, and by the end became a dynamic duo and were cleaning up! They won two Children's Hunter Classics which are the combination of the top horses in both Children's age groups and consist of two rounds. Scoring in the 80s both rounds at two separate horse shows put her at the top of two classics. They were also Champion of the Children's Hunter Division at the last horse show. They also won some very good ribbons in the Equitation and Children's Medal classes.

Bella Whyte, who started showing with Foothills Farm in July last year, brought her green jumper mare Billie and her hunter Jack down with Foothills. With Bella’s guidance, Jack started in the Children's 2'6 Division and moved up to the Children's Hunter Division at 3'. He was extremely consistent by the end of the Children's Hunter Division and ended up getting sold down here to a family. Billie made her North American debut in the 0.85m Jumpers and started acquiring some good ribbons in the Amateur 0.85m with Bella. Sadly we lost Billie to Colic mid-February. It was extremely tragic.

Caelan Gibson and Uno joined us from Monterra Farm to show in the Modified Juniors and the Junior working Hunter Division at a few shows. Although Caelan had a heavy school year, she traveled back and forth to make things work. They won two Junior Under Saddle classes, got great ribbons in both divisions and particularly shone in their Handy Hunter rounds, getting several 2nds in that class. Her Equitation classes won her some pretty good placings as well. All in all, they were quite consistent.

Ruby and Bronwyn Cooper were down working and getting fit, dabbling a little at the shows, winning good ribbons in the Meters and stepping up to the 1.15m Jumpers where they were competitive. Bronwyn was busy working and grooming for both Foothills and Southern Legacy; her show experience was limited, but the two were a force to be reckoned with.

The rest of the Foothills/ Southern Legacy pit crew consisted of Isabelle Gauthier, Hope Cyr, Amy and we were beyond grateful to have Shelley Ellis join us. These 5 ladies endured endless hours, lack of sleep and much blood sweat and tears to keep everyone immaculate, well-prepped and turned out beautifully. Shelley was a huge part of the team with her unlimited knowledge of horses, great coaching, truck driving skills and of course, most importantly her chef skills! Baking cookies and snacks in her very limited time off!

Bentley hauled in some great ribbons as well. He certainly rose to the occasion with some very competitive Pregreen horses.

Special thank you to Michele Travers and Miranda Travers Cavill for allowing us to call Monterra Farm South our home for the winter. We loved it a lot! Miranda could not participate this year as she is due to foal soon! We didn't need another camper baby, (inside joke), seriously though, we missed you and your team this year Mir. Looking forward to next year!

Over and out.
Coach Cathy

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