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November
23, 2023
I am thankful for many things every day. I get to
live and work in one of the most beautiful spots in the
world, and I never take that for granted. Every day I look
around Windchase and reflect on how lucky I am.
I
am thankful for the horses, the lurchers (dogs), and the
wildlife around me. I am grateful for the green fields and
rolling hills, and the Blue Ridge Mountains looking down
over the valley. I love the way the surface of the lake
reflects the sky, and the Short Hill Mountain glows pink
in the rays of the setting sun.
I am very grateful for my excellent staff. Farm
Manager Jose Bautista keeps Windchase looking perfect all
year round. Head trainer Molly Kinnamon keeps both the
horses and riders at Windchase well-schooled and in good
form. Jineen Reed is our dressage guru, and manages to
make her dressage lessons both effective and fun. Clara
Lenhart does a great job schooling a variety of horses,
from youngsters to seasoned schoolmaster sale horses.
Kendall Doran does a fantastic job as stable manager and
super groom, keeping everything running smoothly and the
horses looking superb. Hannah Lujbli is a great help as
well, assisting with everything from barn chores to
grooming to painting jumps.
But
the real shout out goes to the Windchase Working Students.
Headed up by Kelly Bahrs, the group includes McKenna
Rhoades, Emma Beard, Natalia Escaip and Christi
Whitehouse. They do a fantastic job of taking care of all
the horses, allowing Windchase to offer the very best of
care to our clients and boarders. Thanks, all of you, for
doing such a great job!
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Some of the
Windchase Staff and the Working Students
participating in the Windchase Halloween Gymkhana.
Great fun was had by all!
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When it is time to say grace at Thanksgiving
dinner, I always think back with a laugh to that old civil
war movie Shenandoah,
starring the great Jimmy Stewart. Playing the patriarch of
a large, hardworking farming family, this is the prayer
that Jimmy Stewart offered at the start of their
Thanksgiving dinner:
Lord,
we cleared this land,
We plowed it, sowed it and harvested it.
We cooked the harvest,
It wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be eatin’ it,
If we hadn’t done it all ourselves.
We worked dog-boned hard for every crumb and morsel,
But we thank you just the same anyway, Lord,
For this food we’re about to eat.
Amen.
Cheers
Phyllis
October
15, 2023
It’s been a whirlwind of activity this autumn,
and I apologize for being so tardy updating this page. I
will try to do better, but you can also keep track of what
is going on here at the farm by following our Windchase
Eventing Facebook page.
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Kendall and Virago, winners of the BN Area II
Championships at Loch Moy!
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The Windchase horses have been going well at the
events. Molly has been campaigning her two up-and-coming
horses, with Maximum Quality now going Novice, and Athlone
moving up nicely to Training. Clara had a great go this
weekend at Morven Park with Windchase Finley in the
Training division, as did Kelly and Bojangles. Tenley has
won several starter trials with Luray. But the big
congratulations goes to Kendall Doran and her mare Virago;
this pair won the BN Area II Championships at Loch Moy
last week.
We have some really nice horses for sale; both
experienced competitors and young prospects with excellent
potential. See them on our Horses
for Sale page.
Cheers
Phyllis
July 1, 2023
Windchase hosted a USEA Eventing Coaches Program (ECP)
Assessment last week, with candidate instructors from
across the country coming to test for certification. I
have been on the faculty and committee for the ECP from
the onset 20 years ago, and I think it is an excellent
program. The goal is to promote safety and good riding
through better instruction and coaching, and I think it
has helped to raise the level of teaching and riding in
this country.
Congratulations
to Windchase’s Assistant Trainer, Clara Lenhart; she
tested at this Assessment and successfully got her ECP
Level I certification! We
are very proud of her, and happy to have all of our full
time trainers ECP certified.
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Clara gained her ECP Certification
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Putting on an Assessment is a large undertaking;
much thanks to all our staff and friends for their help.
Windchase head trainer Molly Kinnamon (ECP certified Level
III) did a great job at assisting with the logistics,
scribing and demo riding. Long time Windchase trainer
Jineen Reed administered the Stable Management and
Horsemanship test, stable manager Kendall Doran kept us
all organized, hydrated and fed, and Hannah Lujbli and
Meaghan Richmond were also invaluable helpers. The working
students, Kelly Bahr, Tenley Snow, Emma Beard and McKenna
Rhoades, were great as demo riders and jump crew. And much
thanks to all of the other riders who came and rode for
the assessments, headed up by the great crew at
Destination Farm, as well as Andy Armstrong and Jessica
Hall. And also, great credit goes to our farm manager,
Jose, for keeping Windchase looking fantastic as always.
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Some of our helpers!
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Clara, Kelly and Kendall have been competing their
horses all spring, and the young horses have been getting
out to some schooling shows for experience. After a cool
April, a wet May and a very dry June, we have finally
started getting some good rain again. Lots of horses in
work, and a lot of fun riding every day. We
have a good group of horses for sale at the moment; see
them on our Horses For
Sale page.
Cheers
Phyllis
May 7, 2023
It has been a lot of fun raising our litter of ten
lurcher puppies, with the great help of my brother, Buddy.
Now they are four months old and have all gone to their
new homes, other than Half Magic, the lovely girl I kept.
She named after the wonderful horse I used to have of the
same name. Magice is four months old, and learning to be a
grown up.
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Half Magic and
her Uncle Speedy
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The Spring Event season is going well so far; we
don’t have a huge number of horses doing the recognized
events this spring, but getting the babies out to the
starter trials has been a lot of fun. Looking forward to
when they can all move up the ladder. In the meantime,
Clara and Kelly are doing the Modified and looking to move
up to Preliminary quite soon.
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Tamie Smith and Mai Baum, the winners of Kentucky five
star. |
It was really exciting to watch Tamie Smith and Mai
Baum win the five-star at Kentucky; it was the first time
an American has won it since 2008!
They put up a great performance, fending off the
challengers from Great Britain and Europe. Being a member
of the USEF Selection Committee, I am particularly
invested in seeing the United States Equestrian Team
return to being a top Eventing powerhouse.
Cheers
Phyllis
March
1, 2023
The lurcher puppies are now eight weeks old, and
they have been taking up a lot of my time. Much thanks to
my brother Buddy, puppy sitter extraordinaire, for helping
me take care of them the last few months – but now he
has headed back to his home in Texas, so it is just me and
14 lurchers living in the kitchen!
We have enjoyed one of the mildest winters I can
remember, with temperatures in the forties and fifties,
and occasional sixties, all through January and February.
It has been a real treat to be able to use the outdoor
arena most of the winter, and hack out on unfrozen ground.
We have a really nice group of young horses in
training, and Molly and Clara have been doing a great job
bringing them along. I have a great selection on our Horses
For Sale page, so have a look.
The spring Event Season is just around the corner,
so we are getting the competition horses ready to go.
The trees are budding and the crocuses are
blooming, and life is looking good! Contact us if you want
to come be part of the Windchase Team, as we are always
looking for new clients and working students. See you out
at the Events!
Cheers
Phyllis
January
13, 2023
We
have puppies! Our lovely lurcher, Grainne (named after
Grace O’Malley, the Pirate Queen, an infamous character
from Irish history – Grainne is Irish for Grace) just
had a litter of ten beautiful puppies. The father is
Teddy, another lovely lurcher from Surefire Farm.
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Grainne and
her Puppies!
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For those of you not familiar with lurchers, they are a
sighthound cross originally bred by the Gypsies to poach
game in the royal forests in England and Ireland. They are
not well known in this country, but are very popular in
Ireland and the UK.
The
pups were born on December 30, so two weeks old today, and
just starting to get their eyes open. They are spectacular
puppies, and I wish I could keep them all! It will be a
hard decision on who to keep, but there will be some
available to exceptional homes, so email me if you are
interested. Watch this space!
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The puppies
Auntie Rae - this is what they will look like when
they grow up.
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On the equine front, we have a super group of
horses available; see our Horses
for Sale page. And there are a number of others
that will be ready to be seen quite soon.
Cheers
Phyllis
November
24, 2022
This is the day to reflect on the things that bring
us joy, but I am thankful every day that I am lucky enough
to live on this special spot on the earth that is
Windchase. With rolling hills and green fields in a valley
between two small mountain ridges, this is the ideal spot
for horses and the people who love them, as well as the
wide variety of wildlife that makes it home. There
is a special enchanting quality to this peaceful and
beautiful spot. We call this Windchase
Magic.
I am thankful to have a wonderful staff to take
care of the horses and the farm at Windchase. I want to
express my heartfelt gratitude to all of them. Jineen Reed
has been essential to developing and managing Windchase
for over thirty years, and is our dressage instructor
extraordinaire. Trainers
Molly Kinnamon and Clara Lenhart do a terrific job
training, teaching and running the barn. They are able to
keep all the horses going great and making steady
progress. And the riders, too!
Stable
Manager Kendall Doran is super at overseeing everything
that goes on around the barn, and having the horses turned
out looking great. Hannah Lujbli is a great addition to
the staff, helping with having the horses prepared and
well cared for. Our working students, Kelly Bahr, Lillie
Miller, McKenna Rhoades, Emma Haste and Christie
Whitehead, do a super job at keeping the horses happy, the
barn clean, and doing all the chores that running a
competition barn entails.
And
most importantly of all, Jose Bautista, our exceptional
farm manager, keeps Windchase in top shape and looking
like a little slice of heaven.
Much
thanks to this outstanding group of people who make
Windchase Magic possible.
I am thankful for the four-legged companions in my
life. My horses, my dogs and cats, also all the wildlife
that lives here, great and small.
I
am thankful for great friends and staff, and a close-knit
family.
I
hope you all have a joyous Thanksgiving. Here’s wishing
you all some Windchase Magic, or its equivalent, wherever
you are.
Happy
Thanksgiving!
Cheers
Phyllis
October 30, 2022
I love this time of year. The
air is crisp and clear and the trees are in all their
autumn glory. The leaves have been especially beautiful
this year. Got a chance to get out for a little drone
photography last week; here is a glimpse of autumn
Windchase Magic.
Cheers,
Phyllis
October 11, 2022
Life at Windchase is busy, as always, but I
wouldn’t have it any other way - it seems I have always
been at my best and most efficient when I have more to do
than I can possibly get done. (Unfortunately updating this
page has been one of the things I have not gotten done as
often as I would like.)
The
competition season has been going well, with Clara, Kelly
and Molly doing well at the local events, along with many
of Windchase Eventing’s clients and students. We have
sold a bunch of horses, and have a whole new group of
talented youngsters being prepared to offer for sale soon.
We are enjoying the cool crisp autumn weather. Jose keeps
the farm looking wonderful as always; to help him do his
job more efficiently I have just purchased a new John
Deere tractor and batwing mower.
Congratulations to Team USA! So proud of our USET
riders for winning a Silver Medal at the World
Championships at Pratoni, Italy last month. As a member of
the Selection Committee I am very invested in their
performance. The US was represented by Will Coleman on Off
the Record, Tamie Smith with Mai Baum, Boyd Martin on
Tsetserleg, Lauren Nicholson with Vermiculus, and Ariel
Grauld with Leamore’s Master Plan.
As
I write I am at the Maryland CCI5-L, and looking forward
to a fabulous weekend of top class Eventing. It is an
honor to watch world class horses and riders, both from
the US and Europe, compete at the five-star level. Ian
Stark’s XC course is masterful, and I can hardly wait to
see it ridden on Saturday.
Cheers
Phyllis
August
7, 2022
I
recently returned from a fantastic photo safari in the
Okavango Delta with Makomkom Safaris, along with Jineen,
and friends Tracey, Natalie, Paula and Laureen. It is so
awesome to do the mobile camping safaris; the animals come
right through your camp at night, and you really feel you
are part of the wilderness. Traveling to Africa and going
on safari is my second passion after horses, and I can’t
wait to go again.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, things are going well
at Windchase. Much thanks to Molly Kinnamon and the
working students; they did a great job of not only running
things while I was gone, but cleaning up the barn and
sorting out the cabinets – it was a much needed makeover
of all the storage spaces!
We
have some exciting young horses in training that will
start competing soon, and it is great to watch them
progress. We also have an awesome group of experienced
Eventers that have come in on consignment; it is really
fun to have these schoolmaster horses available. Check
them out on the Horses
for Sale page.
Cheers
Phyllis
June 25,
2022
I
am off to Africa this coming week; this is a trip that has
been postponed three times due to covid, so I am beyond
excited to go. As you may know if you have followed my travel
blogs, Africa safaris are my second passion, after
horses. Jineen and I are going, along with four other
friends, for a two week mobile camping safari with
Makomkom Safaris, owned and operated by our friend and
superguide Gee Mange. I will have tons of photos to post
when I get back!
While I am gone Windchase will be in the capable
hands of Molly Kinnamon and Clara Lenhart; you can reach
them on the barn number, 540-668-6024.
Cheers
Phyllis
June
1, 2022
Windchase
Eventing is excited to welcome Molly Kinnamon to our
staff. Molly is a long time upper level competitor and
coach in Area II.
Molly
grew up with horses in her life. Early in her career she
competed on the North American Young Riders (NAYRC)
two-star team in 1998 and received her “A” rating
in the U.S. Pony Club. She then went on to obtain a
BS in Animal Science at California State University,
Fresno. Molly is an accomplished competitor through the
advanced level, with many successes training both horses
and riders. She specializes in developing young horses
that are sound in both body and mind, as well as coaching
riders of all ages to a deeper understanding of correct
basics and strong rider biomechanics. We are very happy to
have Molly join us at Windchase.
Cheers
Phyllis
April 17, 2022
Happy
Easter!
Event
season is in full swing, and the horses are going well. We
started off the season at the April Loch Moy starter trial
with six horses from Windchase competing; all six of them
finished on their dressage scores and in the ribbons.
Windchase trainer Clara Lenhart has taken over the ride on
my feisty chestnut mare Karat Gem, who placed 2nd
in her first Event. Congratulations also to Tara Swersie,
who was 2nd in the Novice with Chatsworth. Also
in the ribbons were Kelly Bahrs on Bee, Dharma Crabtree
with Doogie, Meaghan Richmond on Stormchaser, and Clara on
Blazer.
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Kelly and Bo, preparing for Prelim
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Kelly Bahrs had a nice ride in the Training at
Morven Park on Bojangles, preparing to move up to
Preliminary next month. Morgan McGrath is now riding my
homebred Windchase Phoenix Star, which is a lot of fun to
watch. They made their debut at Morven Park in the
Preliminary, having a great run. She then went on to
Fair Hill this past weekend, where she had good
rounds in the two-star with both Phoenix and her talented
horse ‘Newton’.
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Morgan and Phoenix at Fair Hill
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Clara also had a great ride XC with her Windchase
Finley in the Training at Fair Hill; this talented horse
has not been easy, but Clara has done a great job with
him, and he is really starting to show off his ability and
potential. It
is great to see all the horses going so well, as they
prepare for bigger and better things coming up.
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Clara and Finley at Fair Hill
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Cheers
Phyllis
March
28, 2022
Spring is finally here! Or at least I thought so
until yesterday; the temps dropped down to the low
twenties last night, and snow flurries were flying. But
remember, the last weekend in March has always been the
date of the Morven Park horse trials – it usually snows
at Morven Park in March! But fortunately this year Morven
has been moved to the first week in April, so I am
counting on sunshine and seventy for our Eventing debut
next weekend.
In the meantime, Windchase has five new horses
listed on our Horses for Sale
page; check them out!
Cheers
Phyllis
March 12, 2022
Despite
getting about 4 inches of snow today, Spring really does
seem to be upon us. The grass is starting to get green,
the horses are beginning to shed, and it is supposed to be
in the sixties and seventies all next week. I love this
time of year!
Event
season is just around the corner, and we have some
exciting changes happening. Windchase
trainer Clara Lenhart has taken over the ride on Windchase
Karat Gem; it will be fun to see what she can do with this
feisty redheaded mare – so far they seem like a great
match.
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Clara Lenhart
riding Windchase Karat Gem
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Morgan McGrath is now riding Windchase Phoenix
Star; they are going well together, and it will be great
to watch this pair out competing. And Kelly Bahr has an
exciting season planned, including moving up to
Preliminary with her Bojangles. We have quite a few other
students and boarders preparing for the start of the
season, so it should be a lot of fun.
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The Grey Team - Morgan on Phoenix, and Kelly with
Bojangles
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We also have just had several terrific horses come
in on consignment, as well as having a great group of
Windchase youngsters available. I have about six new
horses that we will be listing on the Horses
for Sale page soon – once we get a chance to get
some decent photos of them!
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Windchase has some exciting youngsters available.
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Watch
this space!
Cheers
Phyllis
January
29, 2022
Remember summer? Yeah, me neither. But we can
dream.
We had good weather right up through the end of the
year, but January has been cold and icy and miserable. We
have been short staffed over the holidays and through the
first part of this month, and everyone has been fighting
covid. But I want to give a shout out to everyone on our
excellent staff, who have all done a superb job of keeping
things going through this frigid weather. The barn is not
a lot of fun when it is 12 degrees out and we are spending
a good part of our time scooping ice out of the stall
waterers, but this group has done a great job without
complaining (much).
Great
thanks to Jineen Reed, stable manager extraordinaire.
After 30 years of keeping us all in line, Jineen is now
taking a bit more time for the fun things, and is teaching
part time instead of full time. But I am sure she can
still keep us in line.
Lisa
Bauman and Clara Lenhart are doing a super job training
and riding, and also taking over some of Jineen’s
management duties. The horses are going great, and I am
very lucky to have them both.
Our
working student group is headed up by Kelly Bahr, who has
been a huge asset to us during the past months, and I am
so happy to work with her going forward. We
also have two excellent new working students, Heather
Johnson and Dharma Crabtree; they have joined us recently
and are doing a great job. Our group is filled out by
Christi Whitehead, our long time and much valued part time
student.
Jose
Bautista keeps the farm in top shape as always; Jose is
the one absolutely indispensable person on the farm – I
don’t know what we would do without him.
And
we are so lucky to have a great group of boarders and
clients, that are a joy to work with.
Thank
you, one and all, for being part of the Windchase Team!
Cheers
Phyllis
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