Well by now everyone who visited Poplar Place near Hamilton Georgia last weekend has had time to thaw out and get back to the reality of warm homes and probably barns. The weekend for the first winter HT was certainly testing for horse,  rider and organizer as well. Was everyone happy about things? No, is there ever? The organizers did whatever they could to make the weekend a success and whether the competitors came away from the weekend happy, that might have depended on how well prepared they were for the wintry conditions. And its not just physical preparedness its also mental I'm talking about. No matter how cold it is if you have the ability to get through the bitterly cold fingers and toes and the wet clothes with a clear and positive attitude, then some success will probably come your way.

There were many withdrawals on Sunday as can be seen in the final results and whether the Cross Country was a good idea for the others thats possibly a personal decision each rider made at the time. In the end the event went ahead and some went home early.

Mary Ellen Davis on Ray had a good finish to win Junior Beginner Novice. In Beginner Novice Horse there was a competition down to the wire with Lauren Weil and William Hoos only separated by a count back finishing on their dressage score of 29.0.

Donna Miller finished off her solid Saturday efforts with a clear CC round on ArdCeltic Art and Devon Brown did the same in the Junior Novice B on Dynamic Image winning their divisions. Lauren Lacefield on Pik's Raindance in Junior Novice A.was successful with two clear jumping rounds to take home the blue ribbon with a score of 31.5

Its probably likely everyones memories of the weekend will be well entrenched for a while whether positive or otherwise. Perhaps this time next year a different story will be told.

See all the results here now.