For those of us who were cold and wet at last fall's Meadow Creek Horse Trials, the 85 degree temperatures and cloudless skies this year were wonderful! It set the stage for what was, in the most part, a successful and exciting weekend for both competitors and those of us on the sidelines, burned calves and all.

Curragh had enough participants to make up three teams, a training team, a jr. novice team, and an adult novice team. Good dressage rides put our "Kamikaze Kids":

• Flora Baird on Brutus
• Caitlin Sewell on Paddy
• Laura Toledo on Irish
• Katie Bennett on Roan

in first place collectively and they stayed there after everyone had clean stadium rounds. Technical problems (can they read their watches?) resulted in some cross country time penalties for a couple of the team members, but a third place team standing deserves a mention.

The training team:

• Susan Halbower on Lin D Gray
• Trina McCollom on Misty Shadows
• Katherine Barber on Pride
• Gayla Bacus on Dusty

wound up as stars of the show as their team snuck up on everyone and won!   Despite the trakehner that had all of the riders thinking forward, everyone came back to the barn happy with their rounds. In addition to the team ribbons they received, Susan came home first individually, Katherine moved up to third, and Gayla was also third in the restricted training division. Good job!

In addition to the good performances of the Curragh group, Percy made his debut as a spectator at the show. He offered helpful tips to his competing barnmates and generally lightened the atmosphere with his cheerful attitude and playful jokes. That Percy! Now he's after my job!

Hopefully this weekend's results will set the stage for the future shows this season. My pink legs will have turned to brown by Cedarwood, and then won't you all be jealous?

Until we meet again, I'll sign off.

Your roving reporter,

Chrissy.