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RESULTS OF ‘Summer 2004’
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Stephanie Kemp spent 2 weeks in Virginia at Carron Hernandez's camp. She had a wonderful time, and gained invaluable experience. She rode many horses and ponies, and spent most of her time galloping around on cross country courses, or so she has told me. She and her friends entered and competed in a few shows and did very well. She learned about some of the differences between keeping a horse here compared to keeping a horse in the US. All in all she had a great time, and was planning her next trip to Carron's the day she got back.
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Olivia Gracie and Meghan Diel
Olivia and Meghan attended a 2 week riding camp at the Stonleigh Burnham School in Greenfield Ma.  At the end of the 2 weeks they participated in a Dressage and Show Jumping Competition for their respective age/ability groups.
Olivia was Champion winning her jumping round and placing third in her dressage test.  Megan was Reserve Champion winning her jumping round and placing third in her dressage test.  Catrina Adcock their coach in Bermuda attended the small show and was very proud of her girls.
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Rebecca Faulks
Rebecca had her first show on her allocated horse Rob, at Trinity College School this past weekend.  In spite of heavy rain and cold (she couldn't feel her hands), she placed 4th in dressage, 3rd of 20 in equitation and was reserve champion in the division. There was also a team event where they placed third. She refers to her team mates as Christy and Alli - (Corbet and Conyers?) Perhaps you know... I suppose I should mention to her that it's only October in Canada...better get some warmer gloves!
Jill De Quincey (Faulks)
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Stephanie Wilkinson
I got to spend a month this summer, along with Raishun Burch, in the U.K. training with Patrick Nisbett at Grey Friars' Farm and Stables.  It was a working experience as well as a learning experience. A typical day consisted of stable management, riding 2-3 horses (with coaching from Patrick) and cleaning tack.
Every week  (4) I participated in a different horse show.  I started out jumping 3' 6" at the first show, riding one of Patrick's horses named Tim.  The next weekend was at Hickstead, where I jumped 3' 9" courses with Jim and came 5th out of 110 competitors.  This was a week long show, and I entered one class each day.
"Wales in the West" show was next, and the jumps went up to 4' - 4' 3". I placed 7th out of about 90 competitors.  The whole experience was one to remember. The memories of having the opportunity to experience it all, from getting ready at 3am for the journey to driving all over the country in the 6 horse Lorry, will remain with me for a very long time. Patrick entertained us along the way with his many jokes.  My host family, Patrick and Linda were super! I learned a lot about show jumping from Patrick, and Linda is a great cook!
I would like to thank the B.H.P.A., with a special thank you to Lesley Cox, for making this happen through the Rising Star Scholarship. I hope that, in the years to come, many more riders will also have the opportunity to benefit from this experience!
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Lindsay Sousa
This year I was one of the awardees of government’s National Junior Athlete Sponsorship Programme and was presented with a cheque in the amount of $5,100.00.
On July 12, 2004, I left Bermuda to travel to Canada to train and compete under the instruction of one of Canada’s best, Beth Underhill. 
The first show I attended started on July 13^th.  Alize (Aleigh) was flown out of Bermuda at the end of May, and so by the time I got to Canada, her and I had some “bonding” to do, so we didn’t start off very well.  The following week, we spent at home training.  From July 28th to August 8^th, we settled in well at Palgrave, and from there, August 9^th to August 15^th, we were in Collingwood.  At these three shows, we did very well. Our results are as follows:
Equestrian Festival July 28^th – August 1^st - Palgrave^t:
Horse Sport JR/AM Sec 2 Table A – 3^rd place (out of 19)
Horse Sport JR/AM Sec 2 Speed – 1^st place (out of 29)
CHAMPION – winning a Horse Sport cooler
Summer Festival August 4^th – August 8^th – Palgrave
Horse Sport JR/AM Sec 2 Table A – 4^th place (out of 32)
Horse Sport JR/AM Sec 2 Speed – 9^th place (out of 27)
Marshall & Sterling JR/AM Sec 2 – 4^th place (out of 25)
Collingwood Festival – August 9^th – August 15th -  Collingwood
Junior/Amateur Sec. 2 Table A – 2^nd place (out of 24)
Junior/Amateur Sec. 2 Table A Speed – 9^th place (out of 28)
Junior/Amateur Sec. 2 Power & Speed – 6^th place (out of 32)
I am delighted with my accomplishments this past summer (and proud to be known as Lindsay Sousa, “the girl from Bermuda”).  However, I have decided to sell Alize and purchase a new jumper who will take me to the next level.  I have spoken with Beth and she agrees this decision is a good one.  She personally believes that I have great potential, and we are working on my goal to attend Young Riders.
As most of you know, two years ago, I was trained by Canada’s Chris Pratt.  This past year, he decided to become a full-time rider for Lothlorian Stables, owned by Sue Grange.  He no longer teaches, but strictly rides and trains Grand Prix horses, hence, my reason for having to find a new coach.  With the help of Nick DeCosta, we were lucky to find Beth Underhill.  Beth is an excellent coach and obviously a very talented rider.  She has coached a number of people to Young Riders like Carly Campbell Cooper, who has been attending YR for a number of years, and is now working her way to Grand Prix level.  This year, I have decided to put my college education on hold to pursue my dreams of going to Young Riders.
I would like to thank the Bermuda Equestrian Federation for choosing me for the sponsorship for the second time.  I will continue, and will be proud, to represent my Country to the best of my ability.
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Kim Carreiro
On Sep 7th & 8th, I went to Peter-borough, Ontario  I had arranged to have 2 lessons with Eddo, what a great experience!  Eddo's place is only 10-15 minutes outside of Peter-borough and was very easy to find.  I was allowed to ride his grey mare Aragon, she is 16.3hh, a mixed breed that he uses for dressage competitions.  It was great to ride a horse with her experience.  It really teaches you to make sure you have your legs in the correct place in order to achieve the movements you are asking for. We worked on the basics, walk, trot and canter to achieve the rhythm in each, through working and collected gates.  We worked on leg yielding, shoulder in, travers and a little piaffe.  By the second day, Aragon and I were better acquainted and our movements were much improved, especially our leg yielding and piaffe.I found that riding a horse with her experience and accomplishing those movements allows you to feel what your instructors and clinicians mean, when they say "Did you feel that?"
Thanks to Eddo and to Aragon.
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Heidi Mello
My summer began when I flew out to Calgary, Alberta in mid June. I was hired to assist Olaf Petersen Jr. in course designing. The show was hosted by Bryan Anderson who was a member of the Canadian Equestrian Show jumping team from 1987 – 1990. They had a beautiful property, 4 miles past Spruce Meadows show grounds. The first week of the show was an off week at spruce meadows and saw a good few of the World Cup riders compete in the show.  I arrived at 11am Calgary time and was building by 2pm that same day. It was about a tough as I thought it would be to walk in to a Grand Prix ring, with jumps that I had never seen before and on grass. I began marking out and surveying the ring and quickly found out they have a huge gofer problem. Holes everywhere. I was told the holes would be filled and the ring crew was staying up late to have target practice on the gofers that night!
My week was very busy with 6am starts, and we finish working in the ring most night at about 7pm. During the day, I worked in an office trailer that looked over the Grand Prix ring. I worked side by side with Olli all week. We would be designing for the next day.
What I have learned from being able to work along side the son of this year’s Olympic course designer is incredible. The Andersons’ had gone out of their way to hire top-notch officials for this show. Peter Holmes from BC was the hunter designer for both hunter rings. Tamara Hall, also from BC and well know hunter judge, joined us as well as the one and only Sue Ashe. This was all very much to my advantage. Sue was amazing help to me; she took a lot of time out for me from introducing me to people, spending a lot of time with me on preparing my hunter class for the show I was designing for in Ontario. Almost Every day she would call me over and show me something with the courses in her ring, or to watch some horse go. One morning I was sent in to the ring and told to take pictures, go back to Bermuda and build it.
The dream I had for a while was realized when Peter Holmes informed me that he was assisting the British Course Designers the next week at Spruce Meadows and I could accompany him. This would not be easy as I was booked to work a 2^nd week for the Andersons. It was a much lighter show week, as Spruce was back on and the show would be 4 days and not 5. The next day Olli decided that the entries for the Grand prix were not enough for his likings and before I knew it we were off in a flash over to Spruce Meadows. We were going to round up some riders for Sunday. This was my first time to such an amazing show grounds. We went first and looked at the International ring, this ring is only used for 3 classes a year. The grass is a deep rich green, thick and fluffy, not a hoof print to be seen. We looked at a few more rings, and then headed off to find the riders, not just any riders, but all the pros in one place. It was an honor to be introduced to Olympic riders as his assistant. It was also an honor to meet some of these riders.
So my second week began on the Monday morning over to Spruce Meadows.  I went and found Peter, who was building in a ring with Steve Rehinard from England. Steve works with Olympic Course Designer, Bob Ellis. Steve’s home show is The Horse of the Year Show in England. Bob is the resident designer of Hickstead. We finished the build in that ring, built one more ring, and then we went to lunch. After we all had lunch, I helped build 3 more rings. Working with the British was a experience unto its self; they work much differently to the Europeans and the South Americans. I was at Spruce on Tuesday and that night was the first time I was able to build with Bob. Yes, he is called “Bob the Builder”. He expressed a great interest in teaching me everything he was doing, but more so was amazed at how I had ended up under a German course designer. Wednesday, I had to begin work back at the Anderson’s and meet Anthony D’Ambrosio who I would also be assisting. Anthony is a FEI Candidate, as well, and is from New York.  The week went well, and I spent as much time at Spruce Meadows as I could.  It was wet and cold for most of the week and I was also able to watch Nick DeCosta and Ray Butterfield show.
On the afternoon of the 4^th of July I departed Calgary, and headed for Toronto to the next show. The same assistant I had in Calgary for the 2 weeks, Kathy, flew with me to Ontario. I was asked to hire a assistant at the last minute. Kathy had just received her small r card for designing in Canada, so she agreed to go and work with me. We arrived in Ontario and over nighted before we made our drive north past the Collingwood Horse Show and on to Y-Not Farms. We worked till dark, sorting out the footing, and finding the best area to build combinations. Off to the hotel, late that night, we were put up in beautiful accommodation at The Blue Mountain Ski resort. The next morning, 4 French Quebec Military guys greeted me; ha - this is my jump crew. I was so lucky as this was the crew from the Royal Winter Fair. Lucky for me Kathy spoke French so commutating with them was easy. The first day a ton of riders had time faults, and I was concerned for my times, I talked with the judge and we both decided the riders were on Sunday hacks and the time would stay as is. That night I decided to review all my courses, as maybe they were too much for the riders. The hunter ring went well, and the distances rode very well. On the Friday, my big class was the Open Welcome and I had 8 clear, now I was thinking that I made the courses to easy!  8 clear - I had no choice but to max every thing for the jump off.
Saturday morning when I arrived at the show the manager had a huge Dodge truck sitting at the in gate. Much to my surprise, I was told that it was to go in the center of the ring, right about where I had the triple combination!  Back to the computer again, to add a truck in to the course and move my last line! I was very quickly learning that the courses are always changing, and you have to be able to prepare a new course in a matter of minutes.  On Saturday there were a lot of speed classes with the Open Speed being the big class. 7 went clear. This was just a touch to many for the show management. I would have to have it right for Sunday Grand Prix.  I think I had 4 hours of sleep that night after working on the course for the final day.
Sunday was a big day as I had the hunter classic happening in the hunter ring with moving the striding every 3 horses from a height of 2’9 – 4’0. I spent most of the day worrying about the big class . We were on a tight time clock to have the GP start at 2pm because of sponsors. I had about 10 minutes to have the ring set for the course walk. It seemed like the longest course walk ever. The first rider went and had a rail but was within the time. What a moment of relief!  It was not until the 6th rider went that I had a clear round. I was so relieved!  I thought I had built a grand prix that could not be ridden. 3 riders were clear to come back for the jump off, and all 3 also went clear in the jump off. I think, now that I look back, that I was a little too hard, and would have like to had 5 go clear. The learning experience from this trip was amazing; I hope that I have brought it all home and look forward to putting my skill in to play this season at the National Equestrian Center for all our Bermuda riders.
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Tricia Shelton
My two kids are growing up so fast, Austin is four and is in PreK , going to school five days a week.  Anthea is two and I just started to send her to the same school as her brother in the 2 year old room twice a week
I have some exciting things going on.  Lee & I are about to start up our own riding school on a beautiful farm that was placed on the market a couple of weeks ago and our farm joins this property, we can create a trail though the back fields.  The current owner is 62 and wants to retire and move to Florida with a few of his champion horses and just show some and enjoy himself,  he is an Arabian breeder and trainer.  Very particular about his facility and has kept in very good condition.  I have a business loan and will start up on 15th October, the papers are all signed so I am starting to get organised.  I am calling my new business Devonshire Farm.
My other exciting news in that my Mare UFO is doing very well - she went to her first big event a couple weeks ago.  She had the top score dressage, went clear in her show jumping then had a very good run at the cross country.  She won her division and came away with a sporty new blanket.  I am very pleased with the lady who is riding her, they seem to connect very well.  I do ride Lottie (UFO) as well,  but I stick mostly to trail riding her and having dressage lessons - she has a huge jump and I am nervous I will hurt her mouth. I did take her in a dressage show over the summer - I won a 1st and 3rd with scores both over 60%   I was very excited even if it was only training level.  Lee was just as thrilled that I did not split my show pants and jacket! I was also surprised at how well behaved my two kids were - I was expecting confusion and everything went very smoothly.
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