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After camp, August and September 2007 Updates Labor Day weekend, September 1-2: Some might think that as soon as camp is over, our lives at Cedar Lodge slow down or come to a screeching halt,  but that is far from the case. 2 weeks after camp, on Labor Day weekend Cedar Lodge Stables hosts a annual LMHJA horse show. This horse show spans over 3 days and encompasses both Hunters and Jumpers, Cross rails to 3'9" showing in three different rings. It can have as many as 100 outside horses being added to Cedar Lodge's grounds. It is indeed, a huge amount of work. Sunday, August 19th was kind of a day off. There were still horses to be fed, and good byes to be said. Most of the Cedar Lodge summer staff said their good byes on Sunday and took off for Chicago for more great adventures before they flew back to their prospective countries. Camp staff, Marco agreed to stay on until Labor Day and help out with all the work.  Monday we started to dig in. Over the two weeks before Labor Day  Marco, Edgar and Rapheal created 55 boxstalls in the indoor riding arena for the incoming horses. They cleaned stalls, cleaned up trash and debris, weed whacked,  put up tents, moved picnic tables,  weeded, added wood chips, painted, put in water lines, sprinkled rings, moved jumps out of three rings, moved jumps back into three rings, picked up rocks and occasionally ate and slept. Chris arranged for judges (flights, transportation, accomodations),  taught a million lessons,  made lists of riders and horses, put people in classes, took outside stable reservations, arranged for ribbons, set courses and painted jumps. Cathy taught lessons, clipped 15 Cedar Lodge horses that were showing, pulled manes, painted jumps and helped Chris out "where needed". I  built and fixed a million broken jumps, designed courses, dragged rings, made lists, directed the guys and set courses. By Friday (night, and not before) we were ready. It was a busy, busy weekend. I think Marco was surprised to see this other side of Cedar Lodge. In the end it was very successful and all outside competitors appeared to go home on Sunday happy and satisfied. Cedar Lodge had 15 riders showing. Most are also Cedar Lodge campers or staff. Check out our photo gallery for pictures of some of our riders (thanks again Taylor's dad, Shannon!): Photo gallery Updates click on Labor Day September 8-9  Vaulting Competition Finals: This year was a first for Cedar Lodge in vaulting competition. Region X (the AVA region that Cedar Lodge is in) hosted a series of 4 shows and Cedar Lodge vaulters competed in 3 out of 4 (the 4th was during the summer, and just too hard for us to commit to). On September 8th, the final vaulting competition was held in Battle Creek, Michigan. Three of Cedar Lodge's regular vaulters, Ashley, Kat and Becca competed and we were proud to add Malik to our roster for his first vaulting competition ever!  Our team had been working hard all summer since the June competition and September's goal was to move up into the trot free styles (from the walk free styles) and work on some pairs. With those goals in mind, all 4 vaulters did both their compulsories AND their freestyles at the trot. In addition, Ashley and Kat and Kat and Malik competed in the pairs  competition on the barrel and at the walk on the horse. All vaulters did amazingly well with high marks and grading in the top three, if not the top of their divisions. Malik was a super star, with high compliments from other coaches on his potential as a vaulter. Earl, once again did exceptionally well with his vaulting horse scores at the top of his class. As an added bonus, we asked Jane Egger's silver medal vaulter, Ruth Anne if she would help us out with Earl at the end of the show. We had been working all summer on Earl's canter (remember, he only started vaulting last May),  and we were hesitant to start our kids out working on their vaulting on a novice horse. Ruth Anne readily agreed to work with Earl a bit at the canter at the end of the show. Ruth Anne mounted Earl twice and did several dismounts and compulsories on him, as Earl cantered merrily along. She made it look so effortless! It has definitely opened the doors for 2008! Sunday brought in unexpected surprise. All competitors were invited back to a gymnastics clinic hosted by one of the other vaulters gymnastics coach. Jillian has been working with Hannah Horseman, a sliver medal vaulter now for about a year and with great results. The clinic was free and Cedar Lodge volunteered to take the 8AM slot to get everyone back to their respective cities on time. Unfortunately, Malik couldn't make it, but Kali was eager to take his place. I must say, I have watched many gymnastics coaches work with vaulters, and Jillian definitely gets high marks. Through her work with Hannah, Jillian has developed a program of gymnastics with the vaulter in mind. It was no longer how vaulting relates to gymnastics, but how gymnastics relates to vaulting. On top of that, Jillian proved an exceptional clinician keeping her large class working and busy for 2 1/2 hours (we were only suppose to go for an hour, but she worked with us longer). She proved able to work with several age groups and ability levels, and found something challenging for each person to conquer. We are very excited about our work with Jillian and planning on working with her again at a later date.  Tentative plans are to have her come work with our vaulters over winter camp or on a vaulting weekend. September 15th: Cedar Lodge crew treks up to Chicago for the stage play "Wicked": That may be more of a personal note, but I put it in because it was sooooooo much fun! If you're a Cedar Lodge and you haven't seen "Wicked", grab your parents and go get tickets. We sing so many of the songs at camp and the story line is just great. So many great lessons for teen agers. It turned out that the group we went with had extra tickets, so as we were traveling to Chicago we made a call to Allison, newly transplanted on the south side (anyone need a baby sitter?) and arranged for her to meet us down town and purchase one of the tickets. Additionally, we met old Cedar Lodger, Amy Kynaston (Gerson) after the show for a very nice dinner at one of the historic restaurants. The funniest part of the trip was as we were walking down the street, heading back to our bus we bumped into...........Stephanie Drozd! Boy was she surprised! Boy were we! Evidently, Steph was doing a photography project, and I'm sure Stella, Chris, Ashley, Amy and Sally were the LAST people she expected to bump into in down town Chicago. I guess it really is a small world. September 4-30 What goes on in the barn: The question could be more aptly put, "What doesn't go on in the barn?" Fall is a happening place at Cedar Lodge Stables. Chris and Cathy have been busy teaching their year around students, many of which are also Cedar Lodge campers. Many of those students have been making exciting jumps (pardon the pun) in their riding levels. September's goals were set with all show riders keeping an eye on October 7th Huntington Valley schooling show in mind. This schooling show has notoriously proved to be a great stomping ground for introducing new riders and horses to new divisions  and even newer riders and horses to their first showing experience ever. To find out the who and why and where and how of Huntington's October horse show, just click on the October 2007 update link. All that working towards the big event kept Cathy and Chris busy teaching and planning, and matching horses to riders, but that wasn't all they were working on. Many hours a day were spent by both Chris and Cathy assisting me with the training of young horses. This fall saw me commit to 5 horses full time. Penny was due to be broke for Sarah S. and John decided that it was high time that Al learn what showing was all about, but there were Cedar Lodge horses in the mix as well. Dilly came home from his summer off and the lameness that had kept him side lined all summer has finally disappeared. Chris and I have finally decided that it is time to either make Dilly a solid citizen for someone else to ride, or sell Dilly and with that thought in mind, he has been hard at work all month. Rylie, who sat unattended all summer due to my busy schedule is back on the docket. Rylie is now 5 and it's high time that girl learns how to jump.......well!!!  Who rounds out my 5? Hold onto your seat, Ari, Becca and Lauren because it is no other than your favorite mount, SPOT!!!!! Reasonably sound I held true to my word all summer and put my foot in the stirrup first thing this September. First order of business? SPURS!!!! How on earth did you ride him without, Ari? You must have legs of steel. It took most of the month of September but by the end I was seeing signs of the old Spot that I knew and loved 3 years ago before his accident. Stay tuned in October to see how things work out........