FLORIDA HORSE PARK: Great new venue!

Kingsmeade made our first trip to the new, for us, venue in Ocala. We were more than impressed with the facility and management. Florida Horse Park is beautiful and spacious and everything was horse/rider friendly and well done. Stall and class fees were competitive and pay back was great! The jumps and courses were perfect and the office was well run, thank you Linus!!

We saw lots of our friends who were also attending the show and so had loads of fun. All the horses were very successful, with good competition.

Florida Horse Park is high on our list of places to visit again. And did I say, it’s only 80 miles from home!!

LET’S PLAY CATCH UP

The months of November and December have been busy for the Kingsmeade family! Special horseshows, banquets and first timers! We are all so lucky to have friends that support each and every member and their horsey babies. Everyone is there to show their support for every rider from leadline to the derbies!!

We always enjoy our home, CFHJA shows at the Bob Thomas Equestrian Center, and November was no exception! This was the last CFHJA show of the year. Everyone was very successful and Cal was worn out by it all. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Cal has at least one picture of him resting at every venue!

We were all excited to do the SFHJA Charity show in Wellington this year. They moved it to the week before Thanksgiving and there was lots of participation. We were all so excited to do this show and it was apparent. We rented houses near the horse show and some of the participants coerced Wendy Shell’s brother to fly them. Of course, Kristen Price provided some really good refreshments and there were two caddys waiting to take them to their house.

There were plenty of ribbons to go around, a silent auction and some night time fun!

The December CFHJA show is always a big hit because Friday night is the banquet. This year it was spruced up and there was a theme. Flapper was a big success. The food was good, everyone got ribbons and lots of fun and good wine.

So, there you have it!! We haven’t been letting any grass grow under our feet (pun intended) for the last two months!! But we are so glad to be home and can’t wait for Christmas to roll around. All the children are nestled all snug in their stalls…

CUSTOM TACK TRUNKS, WALL BOXES ETC.

Kingsmeade has been making custom tack trunk, wall boxes and saddle racks etc for 25 years. We use only mahogany, walnut or oak for our trunks, no stains. We still have trunks we built 25 years ago!!

We offer three sizes of trunks, or can make to your specifications. We can do white/cork boards, mirrors, wall boxes, with our without drawers and saddle racks.

LADIES NIGHT OUT!!

Six ladies and Jorge made the journey to the ESP horse show in Wellington. What a fun time we all had. Jorge did an incredible job with the horses and all the ladies! Everyone is always so welcoming at these shows, from office staff, in gate people as well as other trainers from the area. The ladies in the office are so nice and the small show bills keep you wanting to come back.

It was Emily’s birthday and we were all ready to celebrate! Kon Tiki was her choice for dinner and it didn’t dissapoint! Sushi and crispy duck were special and the appetizers were to die for. We were so happy to have Emily’s dad join us.

Everyone had a great show, the horses and riders were all successful. Guess that’s why we were there, but all those evenings together as a family were so fun too.

It was sad to say good bye, but we’ll see you in October!!

PONY FINALS 2019!

What an awesome two weeks! Lots of old and new friends to hang out with and the ponies and kids couldn’t have been better.

The ponies overnight with our friend AJ at the Blue Skies Riding Academy in Emerson, Georgia. We stop to visit with AJ every year coming and going. She takes such good care of the horses and ponies. Sparkles loves it cause she keeps the window stall for him so he can keep watch.

This year Kingsmeade staff took care of our ponies and six other ponies from all over the country. Bibby made the arrangements and Jorge et al did the work. We had ponies from California, Maryland, Pennsylvania and, of course, our Florida boys. It was so much fun to meet everyone and hang out.

There were lots of jumps for the kids to jump, bounce houses and of course FREE ICE CREAM! Bibby says free ice cream is the best part of pony finals. Faith Rupe jumped all the jumps everyday! All the vendors knew her and welcomed her to their establishments. The people who sold the Breyer horses and barns and minature jumps had a big barn with lots of horses and tack for the kids to play and seats for the parents to sit in to watch all the jumping. There were also some really cute rescued mini’s that everyone just loved.

Sparkles just loved all the attention he got! Everyone stopped and looked and inquired about him when he was out and about! Avery Franke hacked and jumped him and Faith Rupe did some trotting just to stretch his legs. He loved being out with the big boys and will be ready to come out Small Green for next year!!

The big week finally came and it was all up to Fred! He and Avery were 10th over all out of 160 after the model and hack! They also had a great round in the medal on Sunday!

It was sad for us to leave Bibby and Glen and all our new and old friends, but it was time to head back home.

YUM! IT WAS FUN, BUT IT’S SO GOOD TO BE HOME!!

SPECIAL DELIVERY!! TWO SPECIAL THINGS!

We were blessed with two special occurrences over the weekend! Hannah and Mo tied the knot on Saturday. It was a very touching experience and everything was exquisite. Hannah is really special to us because not only has she grown up to be a very special person, but, she has been with Kingsmeade since she was 11!!

The second beautiful thing was the birth of Tavo and Maria’s daughter Brittany! She was born on Sunday morning at 10:06 am. St. Patrick’s day and the day after Hannah’s wedding! She is just as beautiful as her mom and the whole family is so excited!

HITS 2019/WINTER’S OVER

How far is far? Try walking from Tent 1 to Ring 1!! After three weeks, our shoes, our grooms and our horses are worn out! Lack of electricity in tent 1 with temps in the high 80’s meant no fans and could have led to a rebellion, but Jorge, Ramon, Gaspar and Marucio held it together and did a great job! All the ribbons meant that the horses showed then went back to the barn. Then when the class is coming to the end, they had to return to the ring for the jog. Not complaining, mind you, everyone that competed got ribbons. Classes were really big and we’re proud of everyone!!

Caligua says he doesn’t care if he won, he’s not walking back!!

For these three weeks we had 13 horses and their families. You know you’re having fun when you are all sitting around in the dark snacking, talking and drinking wine. I think we really enjoy each other’s company and doing it all with horses too couldn’t be better. Everyone seemed to have a bottle of Kim Crawford and Wendy Shell, Wendy Rice and Susan Wright provided the snacks!! Wendy Rice even brought a Keurig one week. That was really nice in the mornings.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME: VENICE EQUESTRIAN TOUR

FOX LEA FARM is our home away from home! We love the people and the facility! We spent three weeks in Venice and were sad to leave. Don’t often hear that said of a horse show!!

We had lots of adults, which made for some fun late afternoons over a glass of wine and David Shell’s pita chips and humus, before going off to dinner. Wendy was kind enough to provide a spread, on several occasions, of cheese and meat and of course Dave’s chips and humus. Wendy is always so thoughtful and we really appreciate her generosity .

We found some nice new horses, news for another article, for a couple of adults. Everyone was very successful and were all so supportive of one another. We also had a few really nice young people and their mom’s. No one left until everyone was finished showing, so we could all be at the ring for support.