January 1, 2001 (or, 01/01/01!)
     It's 2001.  Can you believe it?  I can remember, back when I was in High School, and that movie came out, Space Odyssey 2001.  The thought of living until the year 2000 or 2001 seemed like science fiction in itself, totally unobtainable.  And here we are!
     We had a really fun New Year's Eve party last night, the theme was 'Windchase Survivor'!  It followed the theme of the TV show Survivor, with team challenges and voting off participants, one by one.  The game featured the orange relay, a 'sucking up' contest, the slick willy catch game, a theatrical rendition of 'Indecision 2000', and a Striptease finale!  All 'G' rated, of course. Amanda Draper was the grand winner of the coveted 'Windchase Survivor' Award.
     Imp, Sirius and Temair are all back in work now after their holiday, since the first of December, starting to leg up and get fit in preparation for the spring Event season.  Both Imp and Temair are very naughty doing their conditioning work, any noise is an excuse to spook and buck.  Too much pent up energy! All of the horses are officially a year older now, so I told them that it is time to start acting like grown-ups. 
     Things have been kind of quiet and easy around Windchase during November and December, as far as horses in work, and I have enjoyed having a little break.  But now that the holidays are over, it is time to start getting more serious.  By the time I get back from my (much needed) vacation, it will be starting to get really busy.
     I am trying to get everything done that I need to at the last minute before going off on my trip, so I will make this short, as I need to start packing.  I'm off to Ireland day after tomorrow, I can hardly wait. 
     Oh, Danny Boy . . . . 

Until next time,
Phyllis 


December 29, 2000
     Well, I think White Christmases are over rated.  We have had snow on the ground now for over a week, and it has been wicked cold.  The water troughs have all been freezing, and the ice has been packing in the horses feet when they are turned out.  It has been too cold to sprinkle the arena, so it has turned into a dust bowl.  I think we solved that problem today though, with two truck loads of wood chips added to the footing, to hold a bit more moisture.  Unfortunately, we had to spread it largely by hand with pitchforks to get it smooth and even, so it was quite a busy day.  And six more inches of snow predicted for tonight!  OK, enough whining, let's get on to the fun stuff!
     I am off to Ireland on January 3, for a week's vacation and possibly a little horse shopping as well.  Jineen is going with me, and so is my sister Patty.  We should have a great time, and I am really looking forward to it.  We will be based in County Tipperary, and will probably travel all over the south of Ireland.  I can hardly wait.   Oh, Danny Boy, the pipes are calling! 
     Have a Happy New Year! 

Until next time,
Phyllis 

December 15, 2000
     I can't believe that it is almost Christmas already. How the time seems to fly! I still have quite a lot to do to get ready for the Holidays.
     We have started a new Christmas tradition in the Dawson family. Instead of giving gifts to each other, among my siblings and I, we decided to instead donate money to a charity of our choosing, in the name of the person we would have given the gift to. Actually, my brother George started this last year, when he told us, "I decided to take the money I would have spent on your gift, and give it to a worthy cause, and to take the time I would have spent shopping for your gift, and do something I enjoy." The more we all thought about this the more we liked it, so this year my whole family is adopting that plan. My Mom and I have decided to give our Christmas money to a school in Africa for the Masai children that we learned about when we visited Kenya. They are extremely poor, the average wage for those people that have jobs is about $35 per month. They have few desks and books in the classrooms, and they don't even have a bathroom in the school. They are trying to make improvements, and we felt that this is a place that our donation could really make a difference! 
     We had our pump for the well break down the other day, that was an adventure. With no running water all day, we ended up having to carry water by hand for the some 65 horses at Windchase. I have always said that if worse came to worse in a situation like that, we could dip water out of the lake to water the horses in the stable, but this is the first time we have ever actually had to do it!
     Yesterday we had a fabulous ice storm, in the morning after a freezing rain every leaf and twig was coated with a layer of ice. It was unbelievably beautiful, like a crystal fairyland, especially when the sun came out and the ice glistened like diamonds. There is not a day that goes that I don't go around the farm here at Windchase and appreciate how beautiful it is, but one of the most wonderful things about it is how totally different everything looks in different seasons and weather conditions. 
     By the way, do you know what you get when you cross Santa Claus with Britany Spears? 
     (Scroll to the bottom of this page for the answer)

Until next time,
Phyllis 

December 5, 2000
     Now that Event season is over, I am having a bit of a break, my schedule is not quite so busy as it always is during the Competition season. All of the experienced horses are having a vacation, so I have time to concentrate on schooling the youngsters, and also on getting some horses sold, to finance next year's Eventing! 
     We had a great Thanksgiving, hope all of you did too. Most of my family were here, and my Mother cooked a fabulous feast, as usual. We had our traditional 'after Thanksgiving dinner walk', where we all go out and waddle around the farm in the dark and cold, looking at the stars and envisioning bears chasing us. Not for the faint of heart!
     Jineen, Mom and I went to see the Redskins play last Sunday. It was really a stinker of a game, which the Skins lost, but we had a lot of fun anyway. Much thanks to Mike Nixon for getting us the tickets!
     I think we have figured out how to solve the Presidential Election mess. Have them play rock, paper, scissors. One round, no recount.
     Time now to start getting ready for Christmas, so I better get busy!

Until next time,
Phyllis 

November 15, 2000
     Last weekend, I was down at Oceana, near Virginia Beach, to teach a clinic at the Oceana stables, on the military base.  It is always one of my favorite clinics of the year to teach, with a great group of students participating.  The riders there are very enthusiastic and eager to learn, so it is rewarding to have an opportunity to work with them.  Much thanks to Katherine Waldrop for organizing the clinic.
      It was particularly fun to see how well Deana Jones is doing with her nice mare Illuminator, a former Windchase horse.  It is always exciting to watch the progress of horses that you have started and then sold on, and Deana and Illuminator seem to be a great match.  Corrine Janowiak also is doing very well with her horse 'Donkey', and we look forward to having her come to Windchase as a working student starting in January.
     I don't want to turn this into a political space, but I have to say, how can anyone NOT want to make sure that the Presidential votes are properly and accurately counted in Florida?
      I am looking forward to Thanksgiving next week, as most of my family will be here to visit during the holiday weekend.  It will be great to have a chance to see them, as we don't all get together as often as we would like. Hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving also!

Until next time,
Phyllis

November 10, 2000
     We finished up the 2000 Event season at Virginia Horse Trials last weekend, certainly one of my favorite events on the circuit.  The Virginia Horse Center in Lexington is an incredible facility, Brian and Penny Ross do a great job of running an enormous number of horses on the weekend, and the scenery and the views of the mountains from the top of the hill are unparalleled.
      Better Angel went superbly in all three phases to win the Training Horse division by a good margin, she thinks Eventing is great fun and is eager to move up to Preliminary next spring!  Unfortunately, my Preliminary ride, Pedro's nice mare Almazara, got sick just before making the trip and had to stay home, so Amanda and I had a pretty relaxed weekend.  We are not used to having so much free time on our hands!  Roberta D'Ascoli competed also, riding Pam Rosenstock's campaigner Alex, and was third in the Novice Rider division.  A nice chance for Roberta to come full circle, after having such horrible luck with her horse falling ill at these Horse Trials a year ago.
     With the Event season over, it is nice to have a chance to relax a little, spend a bit of time with family over the holidays, and concentrate on the young horses.  The experienced Event horses, or 'the big guys', as they are known around the barn, are all either on holiday or recuperation rest, so I have plenty of time to ride the young ones and the new Kiwi horses.  It has been a frustrating competition season on the whole, as Star Bright and Enniskerry Imp both missed their autumn Three-day Events due to injury, but the 2001 Omnibus schedule came in the mail the other day, and we are already making exciting plans for next year!
      Also a very tough week on the Election front!  Who will our next president be?  I had a dream that aliens from outer space landed, and demanded, "Take us to your leader," and nobody knew what to do!!! 

Until next time,
Phyllis

October 29, 2000
     THE KIWIS ARE HERE!!!  The three Event horses that my friend Pedro Gutierrez imported from New Zealand arrived in good shape this week.  They are all three really nice, and we have been having a lot of fun starting to ride them, and getting to know them. They are all experienced competition horses, and will be offered for sale.
      Along with all of the American-bred horses here at Windchase, and the horses imported from Ireland, as well as the Irish sport Horse breeding program, we also have horses here that came from England, Canada and Belgium. With the arrival of the New Zealanders, we are now truly "Windchase International"!
       On a more domestic note, we took the young horses out on Saturday to the Dominion Valley Pony Club Horse Trials at Foxcroft School, in Middleburg. Aside from being depressed that I was there instead of doing the cross-country at the Fair Hill CCI***, it was a lot of fun.  I rode three horses, which made for quite a tight schedule in the morning as times were tight, but things went smoothly, with Amanda and Emily keeping things organized as usual, and having all of the horses looking great and ready with time to spare.  I don't know what I would do without them!
      I rode Better Angel in her first Training level, which she won nicely. Jubilee was again third in the Novice Horse, and she now thinks she is an old hand at it.  I also rode KC, Petra Buc's nice young horse that has been in training with me.  He made his Eventing debut in the Novice, where he finished fourth.  Melissa Hunsberger had a great go on the nice Irish mare Rakish Rosebud, winning the dressage and finishing fourth overall in the Training. Kylene Sevigny also did well in Training, placing 6th, with one stop cross-country.
     Don't forget to vote!

Until next time,
Phyllis

October 24, 2000
     It has been a lovely autumn as far as the weather goes, but I have had a disappointing Event season, with several of my horses sustaining minor injuries to prevent them from competing in their Three-Day Events.  The latest and most depressing of these incidents was that Star Bright injured himself on his last gallop, and will have to miss the Fair Hill CCI***.  He strained one of the ligaments in his hock during his speed work, and pulled up quite sore.  He will now have to have a period of stall rest before resuming work.  I was really unhappy about this, because Bright is such a wonderful horse to ride, and I was really looking forward to Fair Hill.  The good news is that he should heal up and be fine for the spring, so it could have been much worse, but we are all pretty much bummed out about it.
      On a lighter note, I had fun with the Novice horses at Waredaca this weekend.  Better Angel went nicely, and will move up to Training next weekend.  Jubilee was fantastic for her first outing, behaving like a lady in every respect, and finishing third in her division.  She was quiet and smart, and jumped beautifully, even though the show jumping course was quite spooky, with plenty of Halloween decorations!
      Congratulations to Joerg Eichmann of Brandenburg Farm, who successfully moved his two nice young horses up to Preliminary at Waredaca, winning the dressage with both of them in their respective divisions, and finishing fourth with Donavan.  Pedro Gutierrez traveled up from Mexico to ride his gray mare Almazara in the Preliminary with good results, finishing eighth.  Working student Anne Clayton has also moved Blackjack up to Training and completed in good form the last two competitions, and Roberta D'Ascoli was well placed in the Novice at Elysian Hills last week.
      We are still eagerly awaiting the arrival of the three New Zealand horses, they should be here this week, having been delayed somewhat on the trip from the West coast.  It will be a lot of fun to get to know them and see what they can do!

 Until next time,
Phyllis

October 20, 2000
     We had a lovely weekend at the Radnor CCI** Three-Day Event, even though my finish was not as good as I had hoped for.  In the days leading up to the competition, Sirius was feeling extremely fit and energetic, and not really in the mood for dressage.  I rode her three times a day, which made her quite cranky!  We had the bad luck to draw the 8:00 am dressage ride on Friday, which was unfortunate, since it is not light until around 7:00, and Sirius needs about two hours of warm up time.  We solved this problem nicely, however, because there was a full moon.  I was on Sirius at 5:20 am Friday morning, and we had a lovely quiet schooling session all by ourselves in the moonlight.  She was relaxed enough to put in a credible dressage test, scoring somewhere in the middle of the pack.
      On Saturday, she thought Steeplechase was a blast, and was exceedingly fit and strong.  She was not at all tired in the 10-minute box, and actually behaved quite badly, she did not think she should have to wait to go out on course!  She jumped boldly around the cross-country, but unfortunately had a technical run-out in a corner to corner combination, resulting in 20 jumping penalties.  She Show-jumped well on Sunday, lowering just one rail, and I could not be displeased with her performance over the course of a demanding competition.
      Congratulations also to Natalie Compton, who completed Radnor in good style with High Tech, despite an unlucky fall when jumping off of the Irish bank.
      The other exciting news is, THE KIWI'S ARE COMING!!!   My friend from Mexico, Pedro Gutierrez, has purchased three experienced Event horses in New Zealand, and they are due to arrive at Windchase sometime tonight.  They will be offered for sale in November, affording an exceptional opportunity to purchase a top class competition horse from one of the leading Eventing countries in the world.  I am really excited about working with these talented horses!

Until next time,
Phyllis

October 8, 2000
      Congratulations to Kathleen Dingus on her awesome performance at the Morven Park CCI*.  It was her first Three-day Event, and she rode both of her horses to excellent finishes.  Kathleen placed 2nd in the Young Riders division with Excelsior Springs, and 5th with Springcroft Tiamaria, having clean and fast cross-country rides on both horses.  It was an impressive performance for a talented young rider in her first CCI.  It is really exciting to me when my students do so well!

      Unfortunately, I was not able to compete Enniskerry Imp in the CCI* as planned.  He sustained a very minor injury to a leg at his last Horse Trials, and it was just enough to make it risky to run him in a Three-day Event at this time.  As he is young and very talented, I opted not to take the chance, but to save him for another day.  I rode Star Bright in the Advanced division, but it was just not our weekend.  He won his dressage, but bobbled while jumping into the water on cross-country, and I had a fall.  Having bruised my back somewhat, I opted not to continue on course.  This was a disappointment, but Bright is fit and well, and basically in good form for Fair Hill, so it should not be much of a setback.  I now look forward to taking Sirius to Radnor this week! 

Until next time,
Phyllis

October 1, 2000
     Last weekend I ran both Star Bright and Sirius in the Advanced division at Menfelt.  Star Bright was awesome, putting in a good dressage test, show jumping clean, and then sailing around the cross-country foot perfect, to finish fifth.  It was an excellent preparation for the Fair Hill CCI*** at the end of October!
      Unfortunately, I did not have quite as good a go on Sirius, who was doing her first Advanced.  She did a credible dressage, and show jumped well. On cross-country, she went great for three quarters of the course, but when we got to the water jump we ran into problems.  She jumped in fine, but didn't understand the second element, a log in the water.  She started to jump, but at the last minute put on the brakes and I took a dive. I was pretty much completely submerged, in quite a comical fashion.  In fact, I was told it was worthy of a gold medal in the Synchronized Diving competition!
      I ran Sirius back in the Intermediate this weekend at Middleburg, and that went much better, she was fabulous around the cross-country, so she should be in good shape for Radnor, which will be her next outing.
      We have been enjoying the fabulous autumn weather, and the footing has been superb.  I love this time of year, with the leaves just starting to turn, and the air so clear and crisp.  This week is Morven Park, where Bright will do the Advanced, and then it is off to Radnor the following Tuesday with Sirius.  Then with Fair Hill at the end of the month, it looks to be quite a busy October.
      Congratulations to the USET Three-day Team, who won the Bronze medal in the Olympics in Sydney, and to David O'Connor for winning the individual Gold.

Until next time,
Phyllis

September 20, 2000
     Seneca Valley Horse Trials was a definite success.  The weather was beautiful, the footing was good, and both of the horses I ran won their divisions!
      Temair was excellent in all three phases, and won her Preliminary division.  This was her third Preliminary Event, and having jumped quietly around the first two in good form, I decided that she was ready to go for time on the cross-country.  This suited her perfectly, as did the rather difficult show jumping course on Sunday, leaving her the winner.

      Better Angel also won her Novice division, putting in a much improved dressage test.  This time she realized that she was not supposed to jump the little white chains!  She jumped great, and seems to love her job!  Being only four years old, I won't compete her much this year, but she will be ready to get really serious in the spring.
      Other Windchase students did well also, with Anne Clayton placing fourth in Novice, Kathleen Dingus having good runs in the Preliminary with Jasper and Excelsior Springs, and Emily Curtis completing the pre-novice in good form.
      It's Menfelt this weekend, with Star Bright and Sirius in the Advanced, and Enniskerry Imp in the Intermediate.  Sirius in particular is excited, it will be her first Advanced.  I'm looking forward to it!

Until next time,
Phyllis