Great Last Show of 2008!

At the Dressage Holiday Special at LAEC the weekend of December 6 , Mette won Prix St. Georges on Cory Walkey's horse Coby 727 with 69% and was second place in the same class on Taison with 66%. The two horses were also first and second in Intermediaire I. Mette was very pleased with her ride on the two horses and felt that it was a great last show of 2008. She is looking forward to bring them out again next year, as well as all of her other horses.

Mette takes Taison and Royal Luck to the USEF Regional Championships

Mette took two horses to this year's regional championships held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. Mette showed her own horse, Taison (see picture below), at Prix St. George and Emma Maclaren's horse, Royal Luck, at Prix St. George and Intermediare I. Mette was very pleased with both horses and we are all looking forward to great things from them in the coming year.

Mamma Mia!

Cory Walkey, owner of Mill Creek, threw a fantastic fall party on the premises. There was great food, drink, entertainment and a group of dedicated fans sang a song in honor of Cory. The song was a recreated version of "Mamma Mia" in which the lyrics were changed to make the song all about Cory Walkey. On-lookers were impressed and amused, if not completely blown away, by the talent of the group. A great time was had by all. Singers from left to right: Anna, Kat, Mette, Lindsey, and Tracy.

Taison Qualifies for the 2008 USEF National Championship for Developing Horses in Kentucky!

During 2008 show season Mette's goal was to qualify Taison for this event. The top 20 horses in America each year are picked to go. The test is similar to Prix St. Georges,but at the finals you ride both the Developing Horse test and Prix St. Georges test. The finals are September 12-14. Mette is proud of Taison for making the top but has decided not to go. The trip is very long and expensive and Kentucky is very hot and humid this time of year. Mette says: "Of course I would like to go; that's what I have been trying to do. But I think it's better for my horse to stay home at this time and wait until next year. As a 9 year old, he will be even more prepared and competetive for a trip like that."

Mette wishes all riders and horses at the Championship all the best of luck!

Basquewille Retires from the Show Ring!

After two Grand Prix wins in the CDI show at Pebble Beach in early July, Mette has decided that Basquewille deserves to retire from the show ring on a high note--while he’s still healthy, happy and well. Unfortunately Basquewille got an abscess in his hoof shortly after he won the Grand Prix Invitational at the World Cup in April 2007. The problem, which took almost a year to resolve, took a lot out of him. He has done so much for Mette and he’s not only a horse that gave her a lot of pleasure in the show ring, he’s also inspired her daily work. He has a work ethic that is very special and has a heart of gold and always tries his best. He is the type of horse that if he had a broken leg, he would never give up and would just keep on working. She would like to leave the show ring while he’s still doing well. Basquewille has given Mette so much that she doesn’t want to keep showing and showing him. He is healthy and sound now, so he will remain with Mette at Mill Creek. Mette will continue to ride him to keep up her own Grand Prix level riding skills. She will not ever sell him and will keep him with her for the rest of his life. He will still be number one in the barn. Mette feels very fortunate to have had a horse of his caliber who has taken her so far in her riding career, particularly on the extremely competitive California show circuit. Since Basquewille has done so much for Mette, she wants to show her gratitude by allowing him to leave the show ring with all of the dignity and respect he has earned over his long, successful career.

July 2008 Pebble Beach update from Mette

At the Pebble Beach Dressage Show in early July, Mette was able to bring all four of her horses for the first time in a long while since she’s been so busy showing clients’ horses. Mette showed Rockefeller and Donatello for this first time this year and she had fun getting all four of the out together. Pebble Beach in July is perfect for showing: rolling fog, 60° and Mette even had to warm up in a jacket. Mette says her horses “thought they had died and gone to heaven!” They enjoyed the fresh and healthy weather after the 110° weather at home over the previous few weeks. Overall, the show was very successful for Mette and her horses: Basquewille won two Grand Prix classes; Donatello won three of his classes and was second in two; Taison placed well and was also champion in Prix St. Georges; Rockefeller still thinks that he can just go on his looks. Mette thinks Rocky is such a gigolo; he does well, but is not ready yet to show it in the ring. He will be super one day, but has not been in the show ring enough, so he just needs go out more. Mette was very pleased with all of them them. She says “.I know I have great horses and I just have to keep on working! I really enjoy the journey.”

Now that the heat of the summer is here, Mette is taking her horses down in their work to give them a break from the hotter months. She will start working them harder again in the early fall and perhaps take them to a few shows in the fall to get ready for the new show year.

June 2008 Show Update

For the Flintridge show over Memorial weekend, Mette brought 4 of her horses, plus 5 or 6 of her clients and their horses also went. There were about 10 horses leaving from Mill Creek and everyone was excited. The window for high performance shows in California is much smaller than the window on the East Coast. They start in December and finish up the last CDI first weekend in June. Because there are fewer CDI shows in California due to the shorter season, Mette needed this show. But this season has been hard to get going overall and unfortunately the weather wasn’t on Mette’s side for the Flintridge show. Memorial Day weekend at Flintridge started out perfectly and then the hail, rain, thunder and lightening broke loose. The stalls and rings were flooded and everything was miserable (see the photo of Toni Hubenette below in the flooded ring at Flintridge). The weirdest part about it was that if you came back to Mill Creek, the weather was fine, so the storm was very localized. Mette stayed with her horses that night from Thursday to Friday and on Friday, the main ring for her classes was closed. Some of her clients stayed because they needed qualifying scores, but Mette decided there was no reason for her to show her other horses under these conditions and brought them home on Friday. Mette noted that in her 20 years competing at Flintridge, the problem had always been that the weather was too hot (add in fact the weather the previous weekend was over 100 degrees), so this unseasonal storm was a big surprise and disappointment.

Mette’s next show will be in Pebble Beach on the first weekend in July. She’ll take Basquewille in Grand Prix and Taison in the Developing Horses division. It’s the last chance of the season to qualify Taison for the Developing Horses finals in September. She will also bring Donatello and Rockefeller, so Mette is really looking forward to this show.

Mette's April 2008 News Update

At the end of March at LAEC in Burbank, Basqewille went into the show ring for the first time in a year. He's been recovering from a nasty abscess that took two surgeries to repair. Basquewille has now recovered and even if he’s not really strong enough yet to be in the winning group, he is strong enough to show and do well. In the first class at Burbank, the Grand Prix, he was a little bit tense, almost nervous, mainly because he hasn’t been out to a show in so long—no big mistakes, just that he was tense. In the Grand Prix Special Basquewille was third and did a great job. He had no mistakes and he felt very good, but he’s just not strong enough yet to hold the Piaffe and Passage as well as he did before.

At Rancho Murietta the first weekend in April, Basquewille won the Grand Prix Special. He didn’t put in a very good test in the Grand Prix and Mette’s not sure what happened, but she thinks it’s because she gave him a regular work out earlier in the day and by the time he showed in the late afternoon was too tired. Mette felt that he’s probably just not strong enough yet to put in to strenuous rides in one day. On the day they won the Special, Mette tried giving him a very light workout earlier in the day with much better results. Mette also had successful rides with the other horses she competed at this show. Taison was second in Developing Horse and third in Prix St. Georges. Cory Walkey’s horse, Coby 727, placed fifth in Intermediare I.

Mette and Basquewille won't be competing in the Olympic trials:

Sadly Mette and Basquewille won’t make it to the Olympic trials. In order to qualify for the finals at the Oaks in June, you have to score 64% or above in a CDI Grand Prix at two different shows, judged by two different International “O” judges. Mette got a very late start in the 2008 show season with Basquewille since he was out of commission due to his abscess for nearly a year. Once he was ready to go, there were only two CDI shows in California before the Oaks trials. Mette was able to meet the first part of her qualification at the Rancho Murietta show. Her last chance to qualify Basquewille with the appropriate level judge is at the Del Mar show in April. Unfortunately, the original O level judge cancelled and the substitute judge that was found was the same judge that Mette had just competed under at the Rancho show. So even if Mette places high enough at Del Mar, under the international rules, she could not qualify for the trials. Mette has decided not to go to Del Mar and will instead compete some of her other young horses. She will ride at Flintridge the last weekend in May and at the CDI show at Pebble Beach the first weekend in July.

More March 2008 News

Mette had a successful show the Dressage Affaire in Del Mar, March 13-15. She brought Emma Maclaren’s horse Royal Luck and he placed 3rd in Prix St. George and 5th in Intermediaire I. He performed well in both tests, but a small mistake in the I1 test led to some costly deductions. Taison had a good Prix St. Georges go, but he she feels he is still on his way up. Mette says that one day soon she expects to feel that she “owns” the test on him, but he is doing well for so early in the season. Mette is looking forward to the show at LAEC the weekend of the 28th, which will present a big challenge with 20-25 horses in each Prix St. Georges class. She is particularly looking forward to showing Basquewille in this show for the first time since the World Cup last April.

BIG NEWS!

Be sure to read Mette’s fabulous article on page 64 of the April issue of Practical Horseman. The article is entitled “Perfect Figures—A Key to Dressage Success,” and includes many great photos of Mette riding Royal Luck. Mette is also featured in a full page Heritage Gloves ad on page 59 of the same issue.

Mette's March 2008 News update

My last show at LAEC during the first weekend in March, I call “wine and water.“ I think that Taison was the wine, although he has a lot to learn and do better, he pulled off a pretty good test. We had some eights for pirouettes and flying changes and then I had some other small bubbles, for miscommunications and all that, but for my first time out with him in this developing horses program and at Prix St. Georges level, I thought he did well.. He’s so new to it and he’s so big and he’s come such a long way, that I hope by the end of this year he will be pretty solid in this test and I hope he can still qualify to go to Kentucky in September. In the Developing Horse Qualifier, he scored almost 66% was third.
Emma Maclaren’s horse, Royal Luck, had a very good test in Prix St. Georges, but the score wasn’t that high. He got nailed for his walk and I lost one of the pirouettes because he had to go the bathroom and couldn’t do both at the same time. That cost me too much in points. He has a nice presence and he does a lot of good stuff in his tests, so I’m looking forward to the next show which will be in San Diego at Showpark the weekend of March 15. He did well in his Intermediare I test, he scored 64+% and was third place. It was almost the same in that test; I had a good ride and did a lot of good things, but one big bubble. That’s why I call this show wine and water.

The first show out for them was okay. It’s a long way until this year is over, so I hope to do well. The next big show is at Burbank, the last weekend of March. I’m going to bring Basquewille out in Grand Prix. I’m looking forward to that because he’s now been out of the show ring since April last year at the World Cup in Las Vegas. I’m not nervous, just excited that his foot now seems to be okay after that having to deal with that abscess for so long. So he is now entered in that big show at LAEC the last weekend in March.

Mette's February 2008 News Update

"I was fortunate enough to have my best friend, the international judge, Birgitta Bergsten to help me with my horses and prepare me for the show season. She came in January and unfortunatelythe weather was awful, so I had to move six horses to a barn with an indoor ring. I was lucky to find a place to stable six horses where I could also practice. I had a great time and learned a lot again. To me it’s extremely important to have the judge’s point of view, it’s not only that you train and practice, because the judges are the ones who will tell you how you are doing—at least their opinion-- and in the end they will dictate the results of the show. I had my four horses, Donatello, Basquewille, Taison and Rockefeller and Emma Maclaren’s Royal Luck and Cory Walkey’s Coby 727. Basquewille is still trying to recuperate from his abscess and he is coming along very well and I hope that I will be able to bring him out to the CDI shows and hopefully make it to the finals in June. I’m not sure if I will compete Donatello in the six year old competition, but that is what we worked on with the flying changes and half pass. He will be ready to go, but I’m not sure if I will do it. Taison is going out on Prix St. Georges and the developing horses test. Rockefeller sits around a 3rd level workout. With Coby and Royal Luck I’m trying out for the high performance national championships and I hope I will make it with them as well. We worked all day long each day that Birgitta was here. Birgitta put in a lot very good work and I enjoyed working with her. I think she has a phenomenal eye and is very patient and correct: straight is straight and through is through and pirouettes are pirouettes and there is nothing in between. She does it in a very nice and humble way. I wish more judges had her point of view of what is correct and what is incorrect.

Debbie McDonald is back in town and she’s coming to Mill Creek to help me with my horses. I enjoy very much working with Debbie. She has a wonderful eye and is a very good teacher. I used to say that we speak the same language, not that we are speaking Swedish, but we have the same point of view of training and how things should be done. Without good help from the ground, you are sunk. I wish I could work with her more often and keep her here to myself. But that is not how it works, so I’m thankful for every time she can be here."