Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Amanda Bailey's Journey to Dressage at Devon - In Her Own Words

Hilltop Heaven

The trip to Hilltop from Ohio should have taken about nine hours. Again, I was plagued by rain as well as one traffic back up from an accident. I pulled into Hilltop about 5:30 pm. I had never been to Hilltop Farm, and it was like driving into a dream. There were acres and acres of lush green hills dotted with horses. The main barn looks like something you would see in Europe. It was absolutely gorgeous. I was met by one of the barn workers who were friendly and helpful.

I was able to turn Faulkner out for a couple of hours in a huge pasture with a ton of grass. As I was getting the trailer cleaned out and scooping out his dinner, I looked up to check on him in the pasture. There he was, standing on the hillside underneath a beautiful rainbow. It was the first sign that things would work out. He got to strut around, stretch his legs, roll and eat grass before retiring for the night in a huge stall. I had made arrangements to stay on site at one of the guest houses where I had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth Poulin and Melanie Pye the owner of Canaan Ranch in Texas. They were staying in the guest house as well. I ended up staying up much later than I should have, talking with the two of them.