San Diego...

I know this is a week late...but I have had a whirlwind of a week since I have been home...which I will explain later in this post!

San Diego was a blast!!! We did a 2 day clinic earlier in the week, a day off, then a 3 day clinic that weekend at Julie Zumstein's farm in Fallbrook CA.  The 2 day clinic was the "professionals" clinic and the 3 day clinic was a normal clinic.  I was disappointed that more professionals did not ride in the clinic...there is always so much to learn!  However, it was still a fabulous clinic.  Each group was small so the riders got to do a lot! Julie loaned me a horse for the 2 day clinic! I rode Royal Flair in the 3ft-3'6 group.  Flair is a 9 (I think?) year old TB who was a super fun horse to ride! I really appreciated Julie letting me ride him in the clinic! It was fun to get to ride for a full clinic after doing so many others with George as his assistant! The 3 day clinic had full groups in each section, which was a great thing!

The clinic was held out on a huge grass field (except the last day of the 3 day clinic...it rained too much so we had to move to an indoor ring close by).  The field had tons of natural jumps...different size hedges, banks with multiple different  heights and ways of using it, grob, 2 different open waters, ditches, stone walls, etc.  It was a LOT of fun to ride on such a lovely field.
I'd say my favorite horse to ride in this clinic was a little Haflinger pony! The girl was young and small and did a fabulous job for such a tough clinic! I schooled the pony multiple times and had an absolute blast on him!! He had tons of scope and step and was a pony that is truly worth his weight in gold!

I will post pictures in a later post early next week.
The whole trip summed up: 9 cities, 5 states, 6 flights, 7 clinics, 3.5 weeks, 91 rides total....sort of insane when I see it all spelled out like that! I met a TON of fabulous people, had a lot of fun, learned an insane amount, and I truly cherish every moment of that trip! It was really a trip of a lifetime!

But, I am beyond glad to be home! While I was away, my mom had a lot to deal with.  My Grandma (her mother) was in the ICU not doing well, and my other grandma (her step-mom) was on death watch for a week and passed away a week ago Christmas Day.  So she had a lot on her plate and I wish I could have been home to be with her and my family during that time The funeral was last week, which I was able to be home for, so we have been very busy with that and Christmas stuff.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas!! I know I sure did! It is nice to be home with my family, horses, and dogs, eating home cooked meals, and having a few days of down time before starting back to work on Monday! I am excited to have a set schedule again! :)

Happy New Year everyone!!