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Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Cornerstone Events’ L.A. Winter Dressage 2008

Tip Top and Morse Went from the Trails to the L.A. Winter Dressage 2008

The new home of Leslie Morse and her horses is located in the Hidden Hills equestrian community, which has 35 acres of trails and training rings. Morse said there is a full-size dressage ring located just off her one-acre property where she has her own, smaller dressage ring. Her 2,500-square-foot barn took more than a year to build and "is beautiful. It has a hay loft and the horses can go in and out. I designed the whole thing and it turned out just the way I wanted it."

Morse has six horses on her own property and four more on neighboring properties. Hence, she’s kept busy, but as she has no covered ring, this past month she’s been doing a lot more hacking than ring work as the rings have been a bit mucky. That means Tip Top came out for his first show in four months having spent more time on the trail this past month than in the ring. "The whole past month has been just rain. So, we’ve been out on the roads a lot," Morse said.
But the road work has kept both Tip Top and Kingston in top form and Morse said both will be competing in California’s upcoming Olympic Qualifiers this spring. She opted to keep Kingston home this past weekend because of the weather. As a result of the rains, more of the show action was placed under the Equidome and Morse felt that was a bit too much activity in one place for Kingston. "I’d rather wait til the weather calms down and put him in the proper environment. He’ll probably show in March and he’ll be fine. He’s so beautifully trained and horses forget nothing."

With his 70 percent score at the L.A. Winter Dressage, Morse said there isn’t much more that Tip Top needs. She’s pleased with the training at home, but said what needs improvement is her management of her time in the show ring. "The competition is seven minutes and you have to peak at the right time and manage things just right. The ride in the ring is the area I keep trying to learn more about. My focus these next months will be on getting really, really solid going into every new situation and environment so that I can go in and ride like I do at home."

Complete Results for LA Winter Dressage